Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Defy and Comply ❯ Lesson 22: Not A Single Soul Gets Through ( Chapter 24 )

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Defy and Comply

By: Melissa Norvell

Lesson 22: Not A Single Soul Gets Through

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Gaz slammed his guitar down on top of a male student's head. The sound of the instrument reverberated through the air as the body fell to the ground, motionless. "Outta my way!" The Korean shouted as he continued to dart through the hall way.

Kiyomaru moved his sword in a circle, trying to keep his attackers at bay, rather than actually kill them. Above anything, he wanted to keep from killing anyone to avoid putting further guilt on his shoulders. One of his female classmates jumped out at him and attempted to slash his throat with her bastard sword. The blue-haired boy was quick to block his vitals, but her assault was relentless and she continued to swing at him. Their blades clashes together as they continued to struggle for dominance and power.

"Please, I do not want to kill you!" It was Kiyomaru's way of begging her to stop, but the girl wasn't listening. Taking her sword, she attempted to cut him down the middle, bringing the weapon down as he evaded it by jumping back. She spun around and their blades clashed together. The metallic klink reverberated through the air.

"I'm going to be the one to graduate and you're not standing in my way,” she charged at him again. The school girl had come so far, she had killed so many, and she knew that once she had soaked her hands in blood that the only thing to do from here on out was to continue to kill.

"I do not like killing innocent people!" Kiyomaru proclaimed as he ran his sword across the girl's side. It drew blood to the surface and the pain registered in her as her eyes widened. "In this case, no one is innocent." Her body hit the ground as Kiyomaru ended his sentence.

It was time to move past this. It was time to embrace his fate.

Sunoma swung her sword two and fro with precise strikes her blade dug into the bodies of her classmates as they tried time and time again to stop her, but to no avail. One by one they were all toppled and taken to the ground by the force and accuracy of her strikes. The lolita wasn't playing around anymore.

Suddenly, one of the former baseball players, clad in his school attire jumped out from a door beside of her and swung his bat, eager to take her out. Sunoma jumped up and landed a forceful kick to his neck, sending him to the ground. A girl with a crossbow stepped around the corner and fired an arrow at her, like an animal being hunted. The lolita swung her sword and chopped it in half before it could pierce her body. Quickly, the girl loaded up another arrow and drew it back, but before she could fire it there was a sickening pop as the end of an umbrella was rammed through her body. The archer glanced down in shock as viscera and blood covered the umbrella.

It was shoved further through her body as its victim released a gurgled scream. Her body jolted and undulated in indescribable pain. Her flesh and organs tore inside of her as the umbrella was popped open, droplets of blood dispersed through the air.

Sunoma couldn't mistake that battle move. "Ame!"

"Touché," the lolita said simply as she pulled her weapon through the body and allowed it to fall to the floor in a crumpled heap. Sunoma thanked her and Ame shook off her precious tool. "One less obstacle in my way."

From on a balcony nearby, a male student took out shurikens and tried to throw them but his body jolted backwards as he was shoved over the rail and fell five stories to his death on a concrete walkway below. Masato glanced down over the rail, scowling at his enemy. "I'm sick of y'r hiding and snipin' shit."

"Have you seen Zoen?" Ame questioned the biker.

"Not yet," Masato replied.

"Keep looking," she commanded.

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Leonardo swung his chain around and his weapon hit a student, spiraling and cutting them down with each rotation of the blade. It dug into their flesh, bones and organs with deep slices. Behind him, three students ran up to attempt to gang up on him but he retracted his weapon and used his upper body strength to bring it around. The scythe lay across all three students and took them out efficiently. Their bodies all fell to the ground.

Taiga drew back on his pick axe and rammed the tip into his assailant's throat, butchering him where he stood. Spinning around, he hacked another male's arm off. While he was committing those acts of brutality, another student came up behind him in an attempt to murder him while he was killing someone else.

However, Leo saw him and just as he drew his weapon back, the green-haired man threw his scythe. The weapon spiraled through the air and struck him in the back between the shoulder blades. He fell to the floor with the blade sticking out from his back. The rock star pulled it out, leaving a massive hole in his torso. Taiga turned around and thanked him.

"There are a lot more students hiding in the upper levels than I thought." In all honesty, Leo didn't expect this many to still be alive.

"I think all the smart ones came up here and set up posts so they could pick people off," the yakuza said before he heard a savage screaming from behind him. They both turned to see a student running at them with an axe in his hands, drawn back, ready to attack.

Just then, a black chain wrapped around his neck. Shock and horror etched themselves across his face. He was hoisted into the air and struggled violently, kicking and desperately trying to pry the chains off, but they only further embedded themselves into his neck. Desperately, he tried to claw at them but they restricted his airway and eventually choked the life from him. He went lifeless and swung there as Tsukimi held a tight grip on the chain. Following the metal links, they reached skyward and were strung up over one of the exposed beams in the ceiling.

"Gotcha!" The bass guitarist smiled confidently.

Kazoo swung his chain of knives around. The circles of blades spiraled in towards a few stray students, wrapping around them as the knives stuck through their bodies, their blades dug into the fresh flesh. Blood surfaced and oozed down their skin. The chains restricted even more, squeezing them, breaking their bones before it was released.

"Hey, maybe we should check below the school." As much as he didn't want to, Kazoo knew that there might be no other choice.

"I didn't know there was anything below the school." This was news to Taiga.

"There's a secret facility down there," Kazoo's face turned to stone as he mentioned that horrible place.

"Secret facility?" Tsukimi asked as she gathered up her chains.

"I'll show you," the blue-haired teen instructed as he gathered his bloody knives, pulling them from the bodies before the group of them began to walk down to the first level of the school.

"How do you know about this secret facility? Is it on the blue prints?" Tsukimi wondered just how he knew of this place, and why he didn't say anything about it before. Why did Kazoo keep it a secret up until now?

"No," Kazoo answered.

"Do you think that Zoen will be down there?" She continued to ask, curious as to why they were being led down there.

Blue eyebrows knitted together, "something will be."

"What are you getting at?" Taiga had the feeling that there was something going on, and he wasn't about to put his trust in the man who started off the string of murders and executions. What he said sounded ominous, too ominous for him not to believe that Kazoo might betray him.

"Remember what I told you earlier? I know about this school," Kazoo paused and then his voice darkened, "things none of you know."

"How do we know you're not with Zoen?" Before he took any more steps, Taiga wanted to be reassured that Kazoo wasn't trying to get them all massacred.

"I wouldn't show you what I'm going to show you if I was. Trust me; you're going to be shocked when you figure out what I did." Kazoo wanted his complete trust on the issue. He wanted the yakuza to comply with him for just this one time.

"What is it?" Taiga was still skeptical.

"It's the answer to the mystery of one of the things that happens here." More than anything, he both dreaded this moment and felt as if it took pressure from his shoulders. Kazoo was going to solve the riddle of what happened long ago and unlock the clues of the past.

"I have a feeling I won't like this," Taiga growled as they stood before a door that was built into the floor. Kazoo had to remove a large piece of carpet to uncover it. The wooden structure stared at him, aged and dusty. Aqua eyes glanced towards the architect. "What the hell is this?"

"It's a door to the underground room," Kazoo instructed as he pulled the door back, opening another level to the school. They all began to descend down the stairs and into the darkness. Glancing around them, they noticed that the room was lined with silhouettes of machines that resembled medieval torture devices. The pungent smell of something that resembled urine filled their senses.

"It smells horrible over here, like something has been dead for a while," Tsukimi noticed that the smell of decay mixed with the one of urine, combining them into an assaulting cocktail to the senses.

"There's a secret room here," Kazoo's feet landed on the ground as the stairs shook and creaked behind him upon the other's descent. "In fact, it's a secret area entirely.

Taiga was the second one to step out onto the cold, concrete floor. In the background he noticed the faint rhythmic sound of hydraulics. It was the sound of a pummeling machine that had still was in operation. What the hell was this place?

When everyone had stepped down from the stairs, Kazoo turned to them with a dire expression. "You're all about to learn that this school's sugar and spice are more like sludge and tar."

"That was obvious from the killings," Tsukimi held her arms over her chest. Why did he bring them down there just to tell them things they already knew?

"Even that's nice compared to this. There have long been rumors about how the dead are dealt with in Shinjinku." That was why they were down there. That was the true nature of this room and its purpose.

"What's with these vats?" Leo glanced around him and all he could see were vats that lined the walls. They were more like clear tanks with some kind of clear substance in them. It appeared to be carbonated, but he knew better than to go based off of assumptions.

"What about that machine? What is it and why is it even here?" Tsukimi pointed to the hydraulic pounders.

"While most of this school is charming and extravagant, the lower floor is harsh and has potential hazards and death. Once you're down here, you're forbidden from leaving. I'm sure whoever runs this machine lives in Shinjinku, " Kazoo walked over to one of the conveyer belts and listened to the rhythmic pounding for a few moments. "No one sane could tolerate the chemicals or hazards of this place. However, this school is easy once you get to know it with the help of the magic of this deathly device!" He held his hands out to either side and the machine's pillars continued banging, bringing themselves up and down behind him.

Taiga merely stared at the monstrosity before him, tension seeped into his body and he felt his muscles tighten.

"But...What is it for?" Tsukimi asked.

"It's delving deeper into school philosophy far beyond that of its amazing mythology. It's easy to misjudge this place with its alluring decor and social psychology," Kazoo continued to explain.

"This is a horrible place," Tsukimi drew back. She hated it. She couldn't stand the sickening pounding over and over again. She hated the way that it smelled of death, chemicals, and must. She hated the sight of the old and outdated machines. Tsukimi wanted out of that place as fast as she could.

"With all great things come great responsibility, I suppose." If they wanted to refer to this as a great thing. Kazoo still found it degusting. He glanced up at the metal pipes, running along the cieling. The old paint was flaking off, exposing the rusty exterior. A loud whirr sounded in the background.

"I'm so confused at all of this," Tsukimi wanted to know what it all meant.

"This is where you'll be for the rest of your lives if you die," Kazoo's words brought shock and dread throughout the room. It infected each student, like an ominous plague, attacking their hearts and minds.

"What did you just say?" Taiga's voice was infused with anger, but on the inside, he felt a panic overtake him. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

"This is where they get rid of the bodies of the dead," he hated saying it, especially to the yakuza, but there was nothing else he could say. Kazoo had to break the truth in, no matter how much it hurt.

"No..." Leo's voice was lost to the whirring sound and the intense pounding. Each strike was like a hit to the epicenter of his body.

"If you thought they buried them, then you're definitely wrong."

"What about the graveyard?" Tsukimi wondered what the purpose of it was, if no one was ever buried. Was it really just a scare tactic?

"There is nothing there but useless head stones," Kazoo confirmed.

"That can't be..." Taiga could hardly speak. His body locked up and he felt an intense anxiety hit him. He panicked on the inside, and he could hardly think straight. Desperately, his mind wanted to block it all out. His thoughts raced at a hundred miles an hour. Taiga had come all of this way just to recover a body that couldn't be found.

"It's the truth, and I have proof," Kazoo forced the words out of his mouth and closed his eyes. This was the tough part.

Tsukimi walked over towards the tanks, staring into one of them at the clear liquid.

The long-haired teen turned to his roommate and gave her a warning. "Be careful, there are a lot of nooks and cracks and vents and vats for you to fall into. Don't go accidentally killing yourself." The group advanced through the darkness. The only light that they could see were the operating panels of machines and a large, dome light that ran atop of the hydraulic machine.

The group made it down a hall with a series of vibrating machines and conveyer belts with nothing on them. They stepped over steaming pipes that spit clouds of white from the crevices and holes in their rusted surfaces. Then, they ducked under low-lying pipes. Everyone glanced around trying to catch a glimpse of anyone they could, or any other ways out besides the one they came in.

"Let me tell you guys a story," Kazoo finally spoke up, getting rid of some of the tension of silence. "Once, when I was doing a bit of investigation here, I saw someone go down here, I had stalked them all the way down here. He was one of those bag-headed guys and he was talking to this chick with a pixie cut. She had black hair and wore a red turtle-neck sweat with a tight, short skirt.

"Karaya," Tsukimi noted.

"Huh?" Kazoo arched an eyebrow and looked to her in bewilderment.

"Her name was Karaya," the bass guitarist cleared the confusion. "She was killed before everyone started killing each other."

"That explains it."

"She knew them," Taiga was a little surprised that she had been working for them all along. However, why did she want to commit suicide if that was the case?

Kazoo continued with the story, explaining to everyone that one of the bag heads told her that they had a special honor of getting rid of the less than special students. The school didn't want people like her. He had said that all failures came there, to rest forever. This was how they were up to the task.

Karaya looked at him with disgust, but he told her that she had one purpose left. That she was never leaving this school. He said that her purpose was to stay down there and operate the bottom layer below the school. The bag head asked if she thought it was exciting, and she scowled at him. He proceeded to tell her what an honor it was. It was so special it left people speechless, just as much as she was.

"She had such a hate-filled look," Kazoo looked as if he was in deep thought. "It pierces my mind when I think about it."

It was a look that he would never forget.

"So, she did have something to do with the graduation," Tsukimi deduced. Now it all made sense. Her suicide wasn't just random. She probably committed suicide in order to get away from having to practically live on the lower level of the school and play grim reaper.

"It was like she was being forced. He told her that in some of the graduations past, dead bodies would pile up and they'd have to throw them into the incinerator, until her father made a breakthrough. He found a way to make things simpler, so he created what is called the student device. With the right conditions, he could just get rid of the bodies efficiently," Kazoo finished telling them of everything that he had learned.

"What did he do?" Leo asked. He had a feeling that there was more to this story than Kazoo was telling. He wanted to know the whole story.

The blue-haired architect began to tell the tale of what were the last moments of Karaya's life, and what happened to the bodies of the dead that accumulated in Shinjinku Academy. He knew they wouldn't like what they were about to hear, especially the yakuza, but it had to be said. Kazoo couldn't just keep hiding things from them all.

The bag heads took the bodies and threw them in the vats of acid that was located around the room. It took three days to completely dissolve a body. Nothing was left behind like burning often done, and it was the best way of getting rid of the bodies inside of the school.

Karaya was disgusted and fearful. She didn't know that her father was capable of doing such things or how his machines could be used for such an evil purpose. Her father was the only family that she had and as a result of that, Karaya broke down. She started crying and shouting. Kazoo didn't think that she had any idea what was going on.

Karaya said things like 'after everything, you're just going to kill me? I tried so far for you.' The sadness she felt was real. The girl thought her father loved her, and her world came crashing down around her.

The bad-headed man just stared at her with no remorse. He was an apathetic son of a bitch to Kazoo. The bag head explained to her that they needed an effective way to clean up. They saw her father's talent in engineering and they needed his inventions. He told Karaya that she failed Shinjinku Academy, Japan, and her father and that was the worst thing that she could have done. She was dead to all of them and to her family.

The girl simply looked at them like she was trying to process what she was being told. She looked like something just broke inside of her. The girl stumbled and nearly fell. The bag head shoved her down, telling her she couldn't have happiness and by not complying that they would ruin her.

What happened next made Kazoo realize what exactly they were dealing with. They brought out the girl's father, a portly man dressed in a white lab coat with a thick mustache. He desperately tried to fight against the hooded figures but they drug him, all tied up, right over to the pounding machine and turned it on. They shackled him and he tried to look strong. Her father told her that he loved her and that he was sorry for what he had done. He realized the errors of his ways and he never wanted his machines to be used for evil.

The machine lifted him into the air. From that point on, the architect couldn't see where he had hidden but he heard screaming and drilling. There was a sick popping sound and then what was left of him was drug into a vat of acid. They forced Karaya to watch as the chemicals ate away her father's body.

This death factory was a place where not a single soul got through and fears and horrors were brought into the light of truth.

"Are you sure there are no bodies in that graveyard? None at all?" Taiga wanted so desperately to believe that there were bodies somewhere, anywhere! They couldn't all just be gone. "It's lies! It's gotta be!" He couldn't take it. He didn't want to believe that his brother was dissolved with acid, never to be seen or felt again.

"Taiga..." Leo cast him a sympathetic glance. His boyfriend's dreams of being able to give his brother a proper burial were falling apart before him. It was painful to watch.

"It's the truth. Everyone in our class was put in a vat of sulfuric acid," Kazoo looked the yakuza in the eye. Then, his voice lowered. "They're gone, Taiga."

"That can't be..." Taiga's eyes widened and disbelief surged through his form. Never had the yakuza felt so utterly hopeless. He had come there, wanting to recover the one thing that meant something to him, wanting to undo the one wrong that he thought he could undo and finally putting his brother, who had died so wrongly for a twisted cause to rest. Now, it felt as if all of the effort he had put through to make that happen, his entire reason for coming back to Shinjinku after graduation had deteriorated to nothing.

"I...didn't want to tell you...because I knew how much it meant to you to find your brother's corpse. I'm sorry," Kazoo hung his head. He knew that this moment was going to happen, but he was unaware of when or how it would happen.

Taiga's body trembled as he stared at the vats of acid with widened eyes of horror. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. The yakuza's voice was low, trembling and full of sorrow. "All this time...I've busted my balls, risked my life, sacrificed others...and took countless lives for nothing. Why the hell did I even bother coming back?" It all felt so futile right now. It felt so meaningless.

"You came back to save them, just like I did. So what if you can't get his body? Taiga, it's more important that we get those who are still alive out." Right now, that was what truly mattered to Leo. They couldn't just turn back or abandon their mission just because they didn't find Raiga's body. There were other things at stake as well. They needed to get the remaining students out safely, and figure out what was going on and who the hooded figures were.

"I have nothing...Nothing to remember him by..." Tears clung to the corners of his eyes, biting at his sockets and threatening to fall. "This can't be happening." Clenching his fist, tears streamed down his face. "I came all of this way to at least bring his body back so I can give it a proper burial. Now, I can't even do that because it doesn't exist. All I have left are memories, shit that no one else even remembers but me. I wanted to give him a proper funeral...I wanted to get him out of this shit hole, just like he did for me. I can't even keep a promise between brothers," his fist tightened, threatening to draw blood as his eyes popped open and anger replaced his sorrow. "This is such bullshit!"

"Taiga..." Tsukimi could see his pain and how much the newly acquired knowledge ate him up.

The yakuza sunk to the floor, dropping to his knees as he wept. He hunched over, trembling with emotion as he began to curse and punch the floor with each phrase. "Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it!" Each time, he got louder, more emotional. Each time, his fist hit the concrete ground harder. The rough surface dug into his skin, causing blood to surface as he tore up his hand. Blood dripped from his knuckles and joints.

Taiga raised his hand to punch the floor again, but Kazoo held his wrist. Wide eyes with small pupils glanced wildly back at the architect.

"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you before. I should have told you when we were at the graveyard the first time, but...I didn't want to hurt you. I know that you really loved him. Hell, I loved Izayoi, too. I wished I could get her out of here, even if it was just as a corpse." More than anything, if there was anyone who knew Taiga's pain, it was him. Kazoo was just as emotional when he found out. "I was devastated when I found out about this. I was messed up for a while because the realization finally hit me that they were trying to erase the students from the world. It's despicable and like you, all I have are her memories. When you think about it, neither one of them would want us back here. I mean, do you know what they'd say if they could see us now? They would say 'what the fuck are you doing? Are you fucking stupid?'"

Taiga still looked at the ground, concentrating on the bloody spot his hand made. "I'm sure Raiga would tell me to just life my life...not to put myself through this again. That's just how he was."

His brother's motto was to always look forward instead of looking back. That was something Taiga had yet to learn how to do.

"Dead men can't feel pain. They don't have hopes and dreams. You can't help or save a dead man. That's what Raiga has always said. That's just the kind of man he was...but, I think you can put them to rest. I think you can save their souls." That's what made it all the more painful. Taiga couldn't save his brother's soul. "There was no body...it's like he vanished off the face of the earth, I'll just have to pay respects to a place where I know there is no body, I can never have the peace in my soul knowing he's been put at ease."

That was what hurt him so bad, more than anything else in the world.

"I think he's with you," Tsukimi spoke up as Taiga gasped and his body visibly jolted. "He can see you, and he knows what you're doing. I think that puts him at peace and I think he's proud of you."

Taiga just stared ahead with shrunken pupils, looking as if an epiphany slammed into him and rendered him speechless. It had never dawned on him that Raiga might be proud of him after all, despite not being able to put his soul to rest.

Kazoo smiled at the yakuza in reassurance. "It's the same with Izayoi. I think she'd be happy knowing we care this much. I feel like she's here, cheering me on from beyond the grave." No matter where he went, he knew that she was with him in spirit. He felt that Taiga's situation was the same.

"Then let's not let them down," Leo said as he too, smiled at the blonde. It was time to fight for what they could, and it was time to get to the heart of the matter. They needed to go forth and unmask the mastermind.

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In the bathing area, Masato laid on the tile floor, droplets of water gathered on his skin as Ame sat atop of him, moving her hips sensually as her hands ran over his well-muscled chest. The droplets of water sparkled on her body like crystals and her curls spiraled around her shoulders in large ringlets. The two of them made sure to be quiet while performing their intimate act. Above anything, their union was supposed to be secret. It was only fortunate for them that there was a mixed bathing area that allowed them to do such things.

Bending down, she planted an animalistic kiss on his lips. The biker kissed her back with fervor, trying to overpower her in a struggle for dominance. His large hands ran over her milky skin and petite features. The lolita jerked her hips playfully, causing Masato to release a low moan.

Before he could complete it, Ame bent down and slapped her hands over his mouth. Masato's eyes shot open as her slate blue eyes shifted to the shower curtain. The two of them were silent as they heard the door open and someone step in.

The biker gently lifted her hands from his mouth and gave her a serious look. "What is it?" He whispered.

"Someone is in here besides us," Ame noted lowly.

"Are y'sure?" Masato inquired.

"Look down at the drain," Ame instructed and as his brown eyes slowly shifted to the object in question, he could see several red streams flowing into it, as if someone was washing their blood off.

"Either they just killed someone or someone died in here. I mean, there was a body floatin' around in the bath. I almost sat on it," He remembered that a little too well. It uneased him, which was why he decided to take a shower with the lolita instead.

Crawling off of the biker slowly, Ame stood and washed any remnants of their deed from her form. Masato mimicked her actions as the girl shifted her eyes to her partner. "Let's slip out of here and move towards our weapons."

"We can't kill in here," Masato reminded her as she pulled a towel around herself. The fabric hugged her curves.

"I know that, but they may try to kill us. We need to be able to defend ourselves." After surviving all of that time, she wasn't about to simply let herself die now.

"This is frustrating," Masato cursed to himself. Of all of the times someone had to interrupt him, it was during sex. The biker had to will himself to get rid of the urges his body still harbored.

"We can finish later," Ame noted as he pulled a towel on and the two stepped out of the shower and glanced over to the door next to them, which was being opened at the same time. Their eyes met with those of blue.

It was Zoen.

Ame's eyes narrowed as she uttered his name.

"So, it's the two of you. What are you doing in here?" Zoen hardly thought they were merely just taking a bath. They had been suspicious since day one of the killings. No doubt they were in this purely for their own selfish endeavors.

"We should ask you that. It's an odd time to decide to bathe," Ame had purposely chosen a strange time for their little meeting. It was suspicious that Zoen would choose the exact same time to go and bathe.

"You can only handle that rotting stench so long before it gets to you," the blonde dried his hair on another towel. He had been doing nothing but bathing in viscera, blood and ichor all day. When the dead dried, it was a haunting smell that assaulted the senses. Zoen didn't like smelling of rotting flesh all day.

"How sweet, for someone who is secretly plotting to kill us all," Ame let him know that she knew exactly what he was planning. Zoen wasn't going to get away with his plans.

"What did you say?" Why would she accuse him of such a thing? Did she even know what she was talking about?

"Man, y' can't hide shit from us. We know y're involved with this," Masato was going to help corner him. Zoen needed to fess up and admit to his crimes.

"Your father works in the military. I've found all of the available documentation on him. He's an AWOL bioengineer and we have more than enough proof that he's part of whatever experimentation is going on here." Ame put her hands on her curvy hips and stared him down.

Zoen turned around to face the two toweled students. He arched an eyebrow. "Experimentations? Is that what you think this is?"

Masato blinked in confusion. "Y'mean, it's not?"

"You don't even really know. Come back when you two can tell your heads from your asses," the blonde wasn't going to answer any questions until they actually got their shit together. He didn't owe them anything, and he certainly wasn't unearthing anything that they didn't uncover on their own.

"We know we're being held here by the military, and this dome is probably made by them, too," Masato wanted him to talk, and he wanted him to talk now.

"No, this is part of some military testing, That I am certain of. I am also certain that you are a part of it." Picking up her umbrella, she pointed it at the muscular blonde.

"Even if I told you, there's nothing you can do to stop it now. The games are nearly over." It was futile to try anything, or even escape. By the time they found a solution they would all be on their death beds. It was better to just accept the fact that they would all die.

"I hard y'wanna graduate, so y're doin' this sadistic shit t'prove y'rself," Masato was angry enough that he betrayed all of them, let alone that he was the one behind this horrible scheme.

"I'm doing this because I'm being forced. No matter what, I'm going to take you down," Zoen leveled the both of them with a stern glare, reinforcing his words. "It's not about your bullshit detective games anymore. There's much more behind this than you could ever know."

"Like what?" Masato arched an eyebrow.

"Even if you were forced, we could help you escape." All Zoen would have had to have done was tell them of his predicament, and then they could work from his story and find the mastermind sooner. All of it could have been shortened, and there would be even fewer deaths, or at least that's what Ame thought.

Zoen began to explain a few things to the both of them. When he was younger, his father always worked on military experiments. He longed to create a living thing that would be just as functional as anything birthed into existence naturally.

"He was into cloning?" Masato asked.

"What does that have to do with us?" Ame felt like he was just feeding them false lines or trying to avert the subject.

"Yeah, why do we gotta kill each other? Is y'r whacked out father gonna clone us and breed us like animals?" The biker's teeth clenched at the thought. However, it wasn't so far of a cry from the truth of the matter.

The gang leader continued to tell them that his father succeeded in creating a clone that was fully functional. The clone attended school at Shinjinku Academy, it was in last year's graduating class, but the clone had done a lot of damage and there was nothing anyone could do to reverse it. His father ended up working for his own creation, and he had no choice then to do the same.

"Can't your father just dismantle the clone?" It seemed easy enough for her. If something was defective, then just tear it apart. If a clone is bad, then kill it. Ame didn't see why it was so hard.

"The clone uses sound waves to alter brainwaves," Zoen's words were crushing on the other two students. They could hardly believe what they were hearing, but at the same time it made sense in the most deadly of fashions.

"What?" Masato's eyes widened as he looked like he was trying to let the realization sink in.

"Everyone's memories in all of Japan have been altered in some way, even the both of you. You live your lives accepting this. You can't be sad over losing memories that you don't recall having." To Zoen, it was cruel to live an existence where the memories you had were not yours, and even worse to live a lie. Those he killed were simply those that he was helping regain their true memories. It was a way to release them from the hell.

"That's why no one's cared about why people get murdered here!" Masato was gathering it all in, the true horror of the situation was eminent. They were tormented souls that were forgotten by the world.

The blonde continued his explanation, shedding light on the situation. Those responsible for the incident made sure that all of Japan lost any memories of their existence. The clone had also deleted a lot of Zoen's father's memories with the sound waves. If Zoen went through with graduation, and he made sure that the clone was appeased, then he could find a way to beat it.

The clone sat back and it could see what was going on. It knew what they did and it could retain certain knowledge at alarming rates. With sound waves, it could control everything. It could make someone kill themselves or brainwash someone. A few students were approached by the clone, seduced by its promise of the future and their absence from the killings in exchange for cooperation.

Some students are forced to help it, and some died defying it because they refused to help it. He wasn't the only one in the group that was doing the clone's bidding.

"So, y'broke up with Tsukimi because y'r afraid she'd find this out then?" It would only make sense that Zoen distance himself and sever all of his ties so no one would catch on. Doing it before graduation would only make it less suspicious.

"I wanted her to be free or get out of here. I care about her, more than I should and I don't want the clone harming her. If you love something, set it free and I'd rather have her fight to get out of here. Who knows? Maybe she can save me," Zoen smiled a bit. His soul was beyond redemption, but Tsukimi didn't deserve to be entangled in the web he wove. If they two of them stayed together, then the clone might have put her through the same thing he was being put through.

"I mean, I agree with ya. That's pretty shitty but if y'love someone y'set 'em free...y'just don't set 'em free into a field of landmines," Masato knew that he had good intentions, but they were far from actually being good in retrospect.

"I don't know how the dome works or where the controls are. You're right, it's a military device, but it can be operated from anywhere and the clone has seized control over it," Zoen informed them of what little information he knew regarding it. It was more than most, but not even he was aware of its inner mechanizations.

"How do we defeat this clone, and for what reasons is it trying to make us kill each other?" Those were the two questions Ame wanted the answers to, more than anything else.

"I don't know, but I have a few theories," Zoen said as he walked over to a fresh set of clothes that he had brought with him.

The biker narrowed his eyes, "then tell us."

Bending down, the toweled gang leader acted like he was grabbing for his clothes to get himself dressed, but instead he picked up his weapons and strapped them to his arms. They were large, long blades that extended to the length of his elbows with two straps that went around his forearm. The blade had large serrations, pointed with half-circle grooves. The blonde charged at the two and swiped his arm at Masato, who jumped out of the way.

"What the hell, man?" The biker barked in shock. He didn't expect to be attacked right off the bat.

Turning around, ice blue eyes cast a cold gaze over his shoulder. "I can't let you live, knowing this information."

"I'm not going to let you get away with that." So, that's why he told them everything he knew. He wanted to murder them both, and since he was working for the clone, there would be no trial. Ame darted over to her lolita dress, which was hanging on one of the nearby racks and grabbed her blood-soaked umbrella.

She turned, her blue curls bouncing around her as she tried to hit Zoen with it. However, he simply ripped it out of her hand, the blades on his arms catching the material as the object went sailing across the tiles. Masato charged at him with his machete in an attempt to wound him but as Zoen stepped backwards, his foot slipped on a piece of soap that had fallen during their scuffle and fell backwards.

His head smacked on one of the stairs that went to the elevated pool area and a sickening crack sounded throughout the bathroom. Blood immediately poured from his head and mixed with the water on the floor. Blue eyes glazed over and his body went motionless against the linoleum tile.

Zoen was dead.

"He's not moving...Fuck, I think he's dead," Masato cursed to himself.

"He can't be," Ame's heart raced. If Zoen died in the bathroom, they were going to be trialed and one of them would be executed as a result.

"No way! We gotta hide the evidence, somehow." Even if one of them was going to get trialed, Masato had to at least try to trump them all in a trial.

Slate eyes shifted from Zoen's body to Masato, who stood behind her. "Are you suggesting we frame someone else in the trial?"

"We'll have to if we wanna live. I doubt that we'll be successful, but we have to try." If they didn't, their lives would be over and they both came too far to be needlessly punished for an accident. It was either them or them or the others, survival of the fittest. Masato could only hope that the light of hope would shine in their favor.

...To Be Continued