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'The greater self-confidence an individual possesses, the less inclined he is to put down others. This says a lot about those who constantly belittle'
—Richelle E. Goodric

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"How are you feeling?"

Katsura Inohara was caught off guard to hear the sudden tone of voice and jerked her head towards the doorway. There stood a familiar purple-haired teen, a hand to her hips. Katsura's eyes widened.

"You're..."

Mayuki Hiruko smiled at her surprise and strutted into the room. She took a seat on the stool placed out beside her bed and Katsura was on guard.

"Hold on," Mayuki stopped her, flashing her a small smile. "There's no need to be so hostile. I didn't come here to hurt you, Katsura."

"Did you come here on the mastermind's orders?" Katsura pressed, not backing down. Just the thought of him had her blood boiling.

Mayuki noticed her rage. "It seems like he did something to get you to hate him." Katsura's eyelids lifted. Mayumi propped her leg over the other. "Well, I'm not surprised. He's just that type of person."

Katsura's narrowed eyes didn't falter but she knew that with her hands all bandaged and messed up like this, she couldn't guarantee she could win. She knew nothing about the enemy before her, and because of that she couldn't be reckless. It was hard to believe this girl was Mayumi's twin.

"So you really do work for the mastermind? Not Akemi," Katsura asked, recalling the events of the human head and that day in the clubroom. Although she expected Mayuki to go all evil, psychotic villain on her, she instead sighed.

"At the same time you're right, you're also wrong." Mayuki's face was filled with a melancholic emotion. "I did help Akemi out with her plan 'cuz it seemed like it'd be fun. But it was more like a friend helping another friend out. But he's the one I work for. It's not like I'm his puppet to control. I considered myself to be the closest to him since we used to tell each other things all the time. But now..."

Shaking her head, Mayuki dropped her propped leg by her side.

"The mastermind's completely merciless. It's over."

"What's over?" Katsura's stomach clenched.

Mayuki met her eyes. "Our school, your club, this city—it's all over."

The brunette's heart panted. "O-over..." She gulped hard at the premonition that welled up inside. "What do you mean?"

Mayuki was fighting her panic as she stared determinedly into Katsura's eyes. "This entire ordeal only started with one goal, Katsura. For one person. Ta— the mastermind, all he cares about and loves is that person only. If we can get rid of him—"

"It seems like you're running your mouth without considering the consequences."

The two girls jolted and whipped their heads to the doorway where a certain blond stood. A frown was prominent on his face, but more than that, the intensity in his jade green eyes was almost deadly.

"We need to plan this out." He walked right into the room and up to the two girls, who were perplexed.

Mayuki blinked. "Who are you?"

The blond nearly tripped due to shock. He gaped at the two girls, eyebrows high. "Huh? I... don't get a big entrance?"

"Big entrance?" Katsura repeated blankly.

"Sousuke Kitoshi!" cried the teen. "You guys went through an ordeal with me, remember? I know you did!"

The two female's eyes widened.

"That's you?" Katsura pursed her lips, recalling it all. He was from the Kitoshi family...

"I still don't know who you are," Mayuki bluntly said, her eyes scanning him from behind her goggles.

Sousuke flinched, but shook his head quickly. "More importantly, I came here to discuss what we have to do!"

"What we have to do?" Mayuki questioned.

He nodded. Pulling up another stool in the sterile room, he flopped down into his seat. As if his entire persona did a 180° spin, he scowled. "Chaos will break out in the city."

Mayuki, though pretending to be clueless to induce a laugh, grew tense at the sentence.

"People are dying left and right. Bombs are exploding the city," Sousuke said and for emphasis, he flipped on the television. All the channels he went through, only reports of the accidental explosions in Kyoto were displayed. "The thing is," he went on, clenching his teeth. "They don't know they're bombs."

Katsura was lost. "How don't..."

"Sousuke, may I ask why you're getting involved?" Mayuki spoke, her eyebrows furrowed. "The mastermind murdered your family. Why don't you stay hiding?"

The teen froze. Katsura's face was contorted with realization. That was true. She was there. They all died horrific deaths because of him—no, because of her. All because she led him there...

"I'm tired of running away," the blond murmured after a long pause. "My dad was the coward. He's the one that set Izumi Shinzo up and killed her just like that. He even planned to assassinate the Prime Minister. A dick like him is better off dead."

"So you say." Mayuki grinned. "But you did the same too: by trying to kill the members of the CRF."

"I don't care," Sousuke barked, gazing at Mayuki with hostility in his eyes. "That's in the past. If we don't do anything now, it'll be over."

"You do know the mastermind expects somebody to take action," Mayuki pointed out. "By doing this, you're doing exactly what he wants."

"Like you should be talking," he snorted. "Despite being one of the mastermind's underlings, you're still trying to bring him down."

Katsura's eyes darted to Mayuki whose smile had slipped off her face.

"You did research on me?"

Sousuke responded, "I am apart of the great Kitoshi family; who do you think found out information for them before?"

"I see." Mayumi closed her eyes. "You're not wrong though. That bastard deserves to be dead."

Her eyes darting to Katsura, the entire mood of the room altered completely.

"Listen, Katsura, I can only rely on you."

The way she started off the sentence left the teen in a heap of astonishment.

"We don't have time. We have only three days to end this all," she continued. "You know just how psychotic and insane the mastermind is, but trust me when I say that he has a weakness. His weakness is the only way we'll be able to take him down before he destroys Kyoto. Do you understand? Unless we defeat the mastermind, we'll all die. His reign will forever hold us down until we breath our last breaths and we will live in fear and terror, wriggling like worms under his feet like the way he wants. And to accomplish the goal, this messed up sickness he wasted his entire life up to date on, he will do anything, even kill his own family, just to see him suffer—just to see Tadashi Matsumoto despair."

Inhaling a deep breath and holding back the tears that threatened to spill, Katsura watched, jaw-dropped, as Mayuki grasped her arms.

"He took Mayumi away from me. You have to do this to stop any further sacrifices. We need to keep Tadashi away from the mastermind," she exhaled shakily, fingers along with it. "And I have a plan to do that so listen carefully."

→☺☺☻☺☺CRIME GAMES ☺☺☻☺☺←

"I brought her."

Dragging the person he held by the collar, the male made his way through the darkened building. Two people were waiting for him in the main room, both facing the T.V.

"L-L-Let go of me, Tomachi!" The purple-haired girl rocked within his grasps, begging to be let free.

"No way," Haru drawled, puffing up his cheeks. "I get snacks if I do this! Sn-a-ck-s! Why do you keep complaining?"

"I-I don't care!" Mayumi shouted, but even when she tried to sound tough, she was scared for her life. She was sleeping peacefully one second and the next thing she knew she was being dragged by her orange-haired clubmate towards an abandoned building. And just thinking that this male she had thought she had known was the right-hand man only invoked fear throughout her entire body. Where was he taking her?!

"You should care." Haru's head was forward as he spoke in a hushed murmur. "And if you value your life, you better shut up now. He's really scary when he's mad."

"H-He...?" Mayumi paled and but listened anyway.

As they reached the two people by the screens, Haru tossed Mayumi in front of him. For somebody who seemed so little and fragile, Haru's throw managed to get her to hit the ground hard.

"Ah, is that you?!"

The sudden cry made Mayumi jolt as she hoisted herself upwards. When she looked, she saw a certain girl hugging the orange-haired boy in a squeezing hug.

"Haru, I missed you! Even though we were in the same school, we never saw each other~! Wah~!"

Haru's lips were pursed as he played around with the lollipop in his mouth. Then, the teen's cheeks enveloped in colour as he hugged her back.

"Big Sis Hito."

Mayumi's heart jolted at the name. 'Big Sis?!' she cried in her head.

The girl embracing Haru pulled back, her chartreuse eyes alight with happiness. "Let's go get you those snacks!"

Taking his hand, she gave him a grin. Haru's eyelids rose and his lips upturned.

"Yay! Is there sweets? Is there sweets?"

"Yes," the girl giggled.

Catching a glimpse of the girl's face, Mayumi was certain. And because of that, she was horrified. What was she doing here?! What did this mean? She was the mastermind?

"How rude." The low-toned voice sent chills down the Mayumi's spine. Her face had gotten as white as snow, and her heart stopped pounding entirely. Just two words and she was frozen. Her lips quivered. "Hitomi and Haru belong to me."

The voice was pouty but Mayumi was too frightened to look behind her.

"What a disrespectful girl~ Belittling the title like anyone could be you," Hitomi drawled, her eyes gleaming even in the darkness. Her glasses glinted and in a split second, she was carrying countless knives in her hands, a wide smirk on her lips. "Should I kill her?"

Mayumi jumped backwards, but it was a bad idea because she ended up hitting somebody's shins.

"Look how scared she is," chortled the male behind her whose shins brushed against the back of her head. "Well, of course people fear death."

Hitomi snickered as she sheathed the knives within her sleeves. "Pitiful people like her are so much fun to play with."

"I agree," Haru muttered with a frown. "They don't know suffering but when it's given to them, they're wimps."

In that moment, Mayumi knew she was dead. The three people surrounding her—the person behind her—had to be the mastermind. He kidnapped her to kill her. They've done that to all her companions so far so what would change?

Biting the inside of her lip, Mayumi blinked back the tears and stopped her shaking.

"You say that as if you've hated them since the beginning, Haru." The person behind her smirked.

Primming his lips, the orange-haired male threw his arms behind his head. "Because~ they were painful to watch. They don't know how to piece things together. Plus, they stopped feeding me. I was glad when you told me I could come back."

"Me too!" Hitomi chimed in with a raised arm. "I missed you, sir!"

At their answers, the male chuckled.

"Hitomi, I need you to kill people for me tomorrow," he ordered. "Eradicate everyone involved in this case but Ayame and Tadashi."

The past secretary of the Student Council couldn't hold back her surprise. "Even... Kazuma?"

"Why do you ask?" he replied. "Don't tell me you don't want him to die?"

Hitomi stared at him for a while before shivering. She giggled at the sensation. "Kyaa! Stop glaring at me like that! Of course I'll kill him!" Her eyes sparkled. "If I do that, you'll love me, right?"

He smiled at her obedience. "Of course."

His gaze flitted to Haru. He was warily eyeing him up and down and he knew the reason why immediately. "Do you want to be loved too, Haru?" he asked. "I don't swing that way, but I will if you beg me."

Haru turned his head. He grinned at his response.

"Aww, and I was hoping you'd let me experiment on you after I was done coaxing you. What a let down." Crouching down, the male eyed Mayumi who had gone silent. His eyes narrowed but his smile didn't fade. "Now, what to do with you. Your sister's such a mean person. As sisters, you should always be together but for some reason, you aren't. She up and went betraying me, too."

Mayumi could barely even hear him over how hard her heart was pounding. Even still, when the male grabbed her chin and began moving it his way to face him, she could only sit idly and wait to see his face.

"I thought we were friends, too. We always talked about you but can you believe she never wanted you to meet me, Mayumi?"

When Mayumi's head stopped, she knew she was now facing the mastermind. She had to suppress all traces of fear as she slowly opened her pressed eyelids. Tears were spilling down her face. But once they landed on the face of the male behind the horror of it all, she went mute. Her face pulled back in utmost shock and horror.

"I know! I have a new game!" His pale green eyes met hers, and they held such a vivid animosity that it sent villains home crying. His blond hair was tousled and the only distinctive feature that differed from the brunet she had grown to know was the stitch marks trailing across his entire face.

Cackling in a low tone of voice, the male dug into his pocket and pulled out a pocketknife.

"Let's see just how long it takes to squeeze every last drop of your blood out of your fragile body, Mayumi." He simpered. "After that, I'll get to see Tadashi again. Ah, I can't wait~"