Sara's POV

"Miss Sara? Is everything okay? You look unwell." Kai said in a concerned tone.

"A... Ah, I'm fine..." I can hardly get any words out... I can't let him suspect me. I can't let him realize...

Just who is this person...?

"...Miss Sara." Kai grabbed my attention again.

"Sara! Are you okay?!" My savior Joe had come to the rescue.

"Joe..." I turned to him. "It's okay... I just feel a little drained."

"Don't push it! Lean on my shoulder and we'll rest!"

'Leaning on Joe's shoulder might not be that bad of an idea. But I need to get away from Kai. As far as possible.'

"Yeah sure... That might be nice. Let's go on a walk first though." I suggested.

"Got it." Joe stood to my side, wrapping his arm around me, like guiding me out the door as if I were blind.

"Joe I'm just drained, I haven't lost the ability to walk."

Once outside, Joe turned to me. "Sara..."

"I'm okay now." I lied. I was not okay. If anything I was the opposite of okay.

"For real?" He asked, furrowing his eyebrows, as if he'd detected my lie.

"Yeah." I nodded. But looking up at Joe, I saw the pools of blood coming from his face. I blinked those thoughts away. "I... I don't know. Why do you ask?"

"Well, you've been acting a little weird ever since we got here." He scratched the back of his head, looking away.

"Oh..." I realized why he'd wanted to walk with me.

'Yes, there are so many things wrong, Joe! I just realized I've been talking to my stalker, I'd had a vision of you dying, I almost died myself!' And I couldn't tell him anything.

"In exchange... If I say any complaints... You better come help me straight away!" I said.

"Sara, I've known you far too long to know when something is wrong," Joe said. "What's bothering you?"

I looked at him. I decided telling a white lie was better than fully lying.

"I... was... afraid... that I could've killed you. I... almost did."

"Hey, it's okay. Look, I'm not dead." Joe grinned at me. I tried to smile back, but I couldn't. His face was still looked as if it was coated in blood. 

'I wanted to sit down and tell him everything, but I couldn't. I can't tell Joe yet.'

Joe's POV

Sara wasn't telling me something. But I knew better than to push her. I mean... yeah, it was scary when Sara pointed the revolver at me, especially when she'd shut her eyes, and split-second before shooting pointed the gun at the doll farthest from me. She sent it to hell alright.

'That could've been me.' I thought, swallowing.

Meanwhile, Sara picked out a dart from her pocket. It looked fancy and extremely solidly made. After a bit of thinking, she put the dart in the revolver.

'What did I say? Steelmind.' I grinned.

"Oh! You can play darts here!" I chimed in. 'Despite the fact that we all just played a shooting game where Sara could've killed any of us, darts sounds fun to play right now.' "Darts and billiards are cool, aren't they?!"

Something else clicked in Sara's mind and she nodded.

"...!" Sara stood in front of the target and fired. How could she do it so calmly? I've never held a gun in my hand, and if I did, I'd probably not be able to fire anything. Probably because I didn't know how to load a gun but because it would kill me that I killed a person with the power of my own hands. As Keiji said, it's quite frightening.

"Congratulations! Congratulations! A fantastic bullseye!" the intercom shouted.

'Huh?' I looked over at Sara, who was trying to hide a grin.

"For hitting a bullseye, you get a wonderful gift!" the intercom continued. "Please look into the hole!"

We both cautiously walked to the hole, which Keiji said 20 meters deep, we peeked over the edge of the hole. Sara reached in carefully and picked it up.

"Yahh!!" I staggered back. "That's fr... freaking nothin'! I'm not freaked out at all!"

Sara pulled out the left leg of the doll.

"Sheesh... all these incomprehensible setups. It's just a fake leg, huh?" I made sure. Doing what was the right thing, I reached out with my hand. "I'll hold onto it. It's heavy, right?"

"Oh... yeah. Thanks, I guess." Sara shrugged and handed over the fake leg. It was pretty heavy. I wonder what this is for... "Alright, let's head out."

We walked out into the smoking hallway. Despite having bad memories there, I followed Sara.

"...Sara..." I heard a small voice mutter her name. Looking over I see Kanna, whose older sister she hadn't been able to save.

"Kanna...!" Sara exclaimed.

"H-Hey, is it okay for you to be up?" I asked.

"...I... I..." Kanna tried talking, which wasn't working out for her.

"What happened? Did something happen in the hall?" Sara asked, slightly bending down to be on level with Kanna.

"No... it's not that..." Kanna shook her head. "I just... really wanted to ask you..."

"...!" Sara had Kanna's full attention. She didn't do that thing with me though. At least, not before all this happened.

"Please... give me an answer... Back then... could Kanna have... actually saved her sister?"

Shivers ran down my spine. I couldn't tell her. Neither could Sara. How do I communicate to her that Kanna couldn't know she wasn't smart enough to save her sister?

Sara was thinking over something too, which meant she was thinking.

"I was disoriented..." Kanna continued. "So I didn't hear what everyone else said. "But you and Joe... and Mishima and Nao... All had the same trial, right...? Kanna... Could Kanna... have saved her?"

Sara opened her mouth to say something, when...

"Oh my, miss Kanna. Reko and Nao were looking for you, you know?" Professor Mishima appeared in the doorway and walked down the hall to us.

"...Ah..." Kanna looked lost.

"I heard you talking here, so I came over."

Kanna didn't look very happy to see Mishima.

"Mr. Mishima..." she finally said after a long silent gaze. "Please tell me... I..."

"You were unlucky miss Kanna." Professor Mishima started.

"Eh...?"

"Because we only had one key, we... we had to remove the other strains by force." He lied. He'd said it so naturally as if it were actually the truth.

"...!" Kanna looked at the professor with shocked eyes.

"Luckily, miss Nao had myself, and miss Sara had Joe." Mishima continued.

I imagined myself, desperately trying to remove Sara's strains with only my bare strength. If I were to only be able to remove Sara's cuffs like that, I'm afraid she wouldn't be standing next to me right now.

"Due to our having a strong man, we barely managed to survive."

"N... no! That's a lie... It can't be!" Kanna said, shaking her head, fighting back tears.

"I... It's not a lie. This is the truth, Kanna." I said, more harshly than I meant to.

"I suppose it was a trial of... both assessing the situation, and of might." Professor Mishima nodded. "For you and your sister... it was a trial with hardly any chance of success."

"I... don't believe it! I won't! You're all lying to deceive me..." She looked at both us, then set homeful eyes on Sara.

'C'mon... play along...' I pleaded.

"It's true, Kanna." Sara responded bitterly.

"S... Sara..." Kanna stumbled over her words.

"E... even if it sounds like a lie, it won't change the reality... We're all telling you... the truth..."

Kanna looked at Sara for a couple of seconds.

"Miss Kanna, you regret it, yes?" Professor Mishima asked.

"I... Kanna..." the girl was still having trouble talking. "...Killed her sister...! Her sister was frantically trying to help! But Kanna's an idiot... she didn't listen...!!"

"What was your sister like?" Professor Mishima asked, leading her away from the topic.

Kanna fell silent. "...Sister..." She said, as if trying to grasp at a childhood memory. "My sister was... kind..." She finally said. "Even when we fought, she'd never been cruel...! She was always thinking about Kanna...! Why... didn't she use the key for herself...?!"

"Was it not that your very existence gave your sister happiness?"

"...!" Kanna said, trying to fight back verbally, but didn't say anything.

"Miss Kanna, I can sense that you were loved, as if it were in the very air." Professor Mishima spoke. "Surely... surely you were raised with the utmost care, were you not? I'm sure she was a wonderful sister."

"...Ah..." Kanna mumbled, unable to yell back. "...Ahah... sniff..."

It seems professor Mishima had another idea, because he turned to Sara. "Miss Sara, if you were her sister, what would you say to her?"

I looked over at Sara. 'She'd always been cold and emotionless. Did this experience really change her way around things?'

After thinking for a long moment, Sara looked at Kanna. "Kanna..." she started. "When you smile, it makes me happy. And when you cry, it makes me sad. As your big sister... Let me protect the little sister I cherish. The fact that you're alive... makes me happy!"

"...Sis... ter..." Sara had said the right words, making Kanna tremble. "I miss you... sister..."

"Now... the time for blaming yourself has passed. Your sister is surely watching you from somewhere." Mishima said.

Kanna gave a small nod. "...Kanna..." her eyebrows furrowed as tears streamed down her face. "Kanna won't give in...! Because... her sister is watching...!"

"Kanna!!" I heard a voice coming from down the hall. Turning around, I saw Reko running over.

"Reko..." Kanna put on her innocent kid eyes.

"Dammit, you nutty professor! What happened to 'shout when you find her'?!" Reko snarled, but I could see she was clearly worried.

"Oh dear, it appears I'm being yelled at." Professor Mishima said, his confident smile not fading from his face.

"That's not it, Reko. See, um... Let's go and I'll explain, okay?" Kanna said. I'm glad she stood up to the professor.

"...Hm? R-really? Sure, okay..." Reko seemed a little confused, but softly smiled.

'If all her makeup was off and she was dressed differently, that smile would've suited her. She just looked weird now.' I thought to myself, watching Reko and Kanna head down the hall.

"I will return to searching, myself." Mishima said. "Um, miss Sara, is that a lighter? You're not going to smoke, are you?"

Sara sighed. "No, I've already told you before. Plus you already took that cigar from me."

'Cigar?! Why on earth would Sara be carrying around a cigar?'

"Ah... well, do you mind if I hold onto it?" Professor Mishima asked.

"Sure..." Sara reached in and grabbed the lighter, dropping it into the professor's hand. "Professor Mishima... Thank you very much. For the thing with Kanna."

"No, I am thankful to you... It's thanks to you too for following along that I was able to make something of it."

"Nah, I couldn't do a thing..." I muttered, slightly disappointed.

"Miss Sara. Do you understand why miss Kanna came to talk to you?" Professor Mishima either didn't hear me or had no desire to pay attention.

"Eh...?" Sara didn't understand.

"It's surely because you resemble her sister. That is why she wanted to hear it from you."

"...I do...?" Sara asked, as if professor Mishima knew Kanna's older sister in person.

"Miss Sara... Until we leave here, please take the role of miss Kanna's older sister for her."
"...!" Sara seemed surprised at the suggestion, but didn't say anything.

I was about to walk away with Sara before he said anything else, but Mishima turned to me. "And Joe, her younger brother."

"C'mon, not the elder brother?!" I asked, cringing.

"Hahaha... Well then, another time..." Professor Mishima nodded with a smile and walked away. 'I think he told me that phrase just because I was standing there and he didn't want me to feel left out.' I watched him retreat from down the hall. 'I guess he is a really good teacher.'

Sara was thinking something over, when I suddenly remembered something she said. "Sara, why did you have a cigar on you?" I patted her shoulder, forcing her to face me.

"I wasn't gonna smoke it..." Sara said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Well, where did you get it from?"

"In that red vending machine over there. It was just laying there." Sara shrugged. "C'mon, lets go look for Sou somewhere else."

'Had that cigarette been there in the first place, or did it tumble out when Keiji... slammed me against the vending machine?' I thought before following Sara out the corridor. 'I guess I'll never know.'

Walking to the central hall, we noticed Nao, Reko, and Kanna chatting calmly.

"Glad you regained consciousness, Kanna." Reko smiled.

"Thank you very much... Sorry to worry you." Kanna said apologetically.

"Kids don't gotta be all respectful! Let your feelings out as they are." Reko shook her head. I was beginning to think she might be a bad influence on Kanna, but who knows. She does like chatting with younger kids, it seems. I wonder if she has younger siblings at home.

"Y... Yes! Thank you very much!" Kanna's eyes sparkled.

"Reko, it seems like you're enjoying yourself too." Nao noted. We left the trio alone, walking into a hall. It seemed to be a cafeteria.

'For how cruel the culprit is, they were kind enough to give us a cafeteria for us to eat. We even have a homemaker. How convenient.' I thought back to Kai. 'A homemaker that has a part-time job as a professional stalker, that is.'

Sara tried the door to something, but it didn't open. It seems she's already tried opening the door before. Trying to open it myself after her, it didn't budge either.

Sara sighed and we both walked to the back of the cafeteria. There was a pitch-black hallway, a door with a low red light gleaming above it. Feeling out Sara's shoulder to see if she was there, I said what immediately came to mind.

"The door gives me a bad feeling..." I shuddered. "You going, Sara?"

"Yeah." responded with a nod.

"Open 'er up...!"

Inside was a blinding pink room. There were two white shelves on either side, some purple eerie stuffed animals, and a vent shaped like a heart. Right under it was a very creepy mannequin body with a dress over it. My stomach turned at the room. It didn't give me very many good feelings.

"Let's search somewhere else first, Sara." I said.

"Alright..." Sara nodded and we walked out. I didn't feel comfortable that I knew this room existed.

We went to another hallway out of the cafeteria. There was a green vending machine over here. Not getting a chance to look in there, I followed Sara to the room that had "BAR" on it with red letters.

"Hey, could you open this? Sou couldn't do it so I thought you'd be able to." Sara pointed to a cabinet door.

'Looking at Sou, I'm not even surprised that he couldn't open it.'

I rolled up my sleeves, as if it would help me in opening the door. "Alright, let's open it up then!"

Squatting down, I pulled in the direction it was supposed to open. After a few seconds, I gave a hard pull and the door chunkily opened. Prying it open even more I slid it open all the way.

"Whew... that was one stiff door!" I breathed out heavily.

"Thanks." Sara gave a smile.

"Maybe there's some clue in there!" Feeling what was inside, I put my hand into the darkness. "Hm... what's this?" I pulled out a small metal object. It had two holes on each side and an indent in the middle. It was oval-shaped, and about finger-length.

"I think I saw this online once..." Sara took the metal piece from me and inspected it. "It's a tool for cutting cigars to smoke them."

"...Why are you looking that up online? Aren't there more useful things to do to waste time online then looking at cigar cutters? Don't smoke Sara."

"... try... but... stalker..." Sara muttered so quietly my hearing could only pick up three words.

"Huh?" I looked at her, reaching into the cabinet again to feel if anything else was in there. "Weeeaaagh!!" I almost fell on my back as I felt a soft touch of skin. It was an artificial right leg.

"Looks like this one's a doll limb too. Take it, Joe." Sara said.

"Wh... why are you so calm..." I shuddered, taking both legs I had and putting them under my arm.

"Ah, please tell me if you need anything, Miss Sara." Professor Mishima smiled, turning to Sara. "Oh, oh? What is that?" He pointed to something Sara was holding.

"Huh? Oh, you mean the cigar cutter?"

"Precisely. It's a tool used for smoking cigars."

"...You won't be smoking, will you, miss Sara?"

"Professor... You took the cigar and the lighter I had on me. Even if I did smoke, how would I be able to?"

"Ah, well... Then... err... Could I take it anyway?"

"Uh... Professor Mishima, are you going to smoke a cigar?"

"O-o-out of the question! For a teacher to smoke."

Sara shrugged, but handed over the cigar cutter.

"Bars are just full of alcohol, meow." Gin said, looking up at me. "I hate alcohol, woof! And I hate my drunkard dad more, meow!"

I slowly opened my mouth to say something, but quickly closed it, continuing to gaze at the grade-schooler.

'Gin's dad... is an alcoholic?' I looked him over. 'That must be really hard for him to deal with it, especially since he's around 12.'

"What...? You've got a quiet look, woof." Gin took his hood and pulled it further onto his face.

"...Nah, it's nothin'!" I grinned. "Hey, once we get out of here, let's play together, Gin!"

I thought giving him support would make him feel about himself, but he gave me a critical look and spoke,

"Huh! Then I'll beat you up in video games 'til you're crying, woof!"

I fought all my willpower to not stagger back. Besides, it's been a very long time since I've last cried, I don't even remember it. If anything, I might've forgotten how to do it.

"Alright, let's go somewhere else. We'll come back later if we remember something." Sara said to me heading for the door.

"Never gotten something confiscated from you before? Huh, Sara?" I teased.

"Shut up..."

Out in the hall, she looked at the green vending machine.

"Both water and soda cost 1000 yen!? Wow! What must that even taste like?!" I exclaimed.

"Very holy water." Sara joked. Walking next to each other, I looked at Sara. She seemed distracted like there was something on her mind that she wasn't telling me.

"What's on your mind?" I asked anyway.

"Uhh... I don't know. I'm lost in a building and the only person I know is you. Aren't you scared of what might happen?" She looked at me. Looking back into her eyes, I saw it.

'That's not it.'

"Yeah, guess that would make sense. Well, we're gonna get out of here, okay? Together."

She looked at me. "Promise?" She asked. 

"Promise." I nodded.

She seemed happy with that answer. After a couple of seconds, I realized where we were.

"Hey, that's the room where we did Russian Roulette!" I pointed to the blue door. Sara's face went pale again.

"Yeah." Testing her strength, she tried opening the red door.

"Won't open, huh..." I grinned, trying the door again. Still didn't open.

'What could be behind it?'

"Sara, when I was sitting in that chair, and you had the gun pointed at me, you shut your eyes, like thinking about something." I finally got to the point.

"I-... No." Sara denied.

'Got 'em.'

"Were you revisiting old memories?" I teased.

"Joe- I saw you die!" Sara snapped, looking directly into my eyes. "I closed my eyes and thought. What would happen if you died? Is that what you wanted to know? Because congratulations, now you got it. Anything else you want to be nosy about?!"

'She... saw me die?' I thought about the shock in her eyes at that moment as she shot the door farthest to the left from me.

"Listen, man, I'm sorry, I got curious," I admitted my mistake. "Let's... just go find the doll's left arm and get it over with."

"Yeah." Sara nodded, walking out.

'Seems like this escape-room-esque  building is affecting everyone.' I thought to myself as we walked in silence.

'She saw me die.' I tried to imagine myself dead, slouched in my seat, with blood everywhere. Would I fall over from the chair to the ground, or would the force of the bullet slam my head back? Lots to think about.

"Oh... miss Sara." Professor Mishima said. I realized we'd walked back to the bar.

"Professor Mishima, did something good happen?" Sara asked.

He did look very pleased with himself.

"W-w-w-what are you speaking of?! There's nothing...! Indeed!" The professor was baffled.

"Like, maybe... you were happy about the cigar?" she suggested.

"Ooghhh...! A teacher like myself would not smoke...!" Mishima shook his head.

Sara thought for a moment. "That cigar looks really expensive, huh?"

"Yes..."

"Might not be something you can buy in Japan..."

'How does she know which brands you can buy from Japan or not?!'

"Hrmmm..."

"Should someone put it back where it was?"

"What in the world are you saying?! ...Ah, err... well... I know! Perhaps it would be good to inspect the cigar first! Yes!"

"Hmm... Let us try using a cutter on this cigar."

Professor Mishima professionally cuts it. 'So he does smoke.' I made a mental note to myself.

"Oh...? What is this?"

Amazingly, there's a bill inside the cigar.

'A thousand-yen bill?!' I looked over, then realized where I'd heard the number one thousand before in here.

"Aha...! It seems it wasn't a real cigar!" Professor Mishima said, slightly disappointed. "What a relief. Smoking is bad for you, after all. Ahh, thank goodness, thank goodness..." He went silent.

"Miss Sara, please take the unused lighter and this thousand-yen bill."

'Giving away that much money to a high school student that's also a stranger? You really don't care about money, do you?'

"When I really think about it, you will likely find more use for them." Mishima said as Sara pocketed the lighter and bill.

"Alright let's go." Sara waved her hand, motioning me to come toward her. Following her to the green vending machine, Sara put in the newly-received bill she had.

After a few seconds, something fell out. Sara picked up the left arm and grinned, showing it to me.

"Woah! ...! Is that a doll arm?!" I exclaimed. "It's way too realistic... wish they'd cut it out... Oh lemme hold onto it, Sara. Be grateful!"

Sara handed me the arm, and I tucked it under my arm as well. After a bit more thinking, Sara walked off out to the central hall.

"Yeah, that sounds like a great idea..." I muttered sarcastically.

We practically ran to the cafeteria together. Though it was a nice jog, I felt my arm was going to come off from the weight of the mannequin's limbs.

'This better be worth the suffering...'

We ran to the door in the back of the cafeteria, and took a breather outside the blinding pink room. Sara opened the door and held it for me as I walked in.

"Head, left arm, right arm, left leg, right leg..." Sara counted before turning to me. "That should be everything."

"...We're doing it...! I'll call the others!" I said with a nod, putting the doll limbs by the clothed torso, and ran out to call everyone over.

~~~

"Well now... We're finally doing it..." Keiji said, half surprised we were able to collect all limbs together.

Noticing a familiar figure in the distance that we were supposed to be looking for, I turned to him.

"Hey, actually... where have you been?" I asked.

"Oh, just... found a hidden room." Sou said enthusiastically with a grin.

"Sou...! You're okay!" I forced myself to grin as well. I highly doubted that that is where he went off to, but I'll keep my thoughts to myself.

"That's my line! 'Good, so everyone's safe!'" Sou's laugh radiated in the small room.

"My heart is beating so fast... What could possibly happen...?" Professor Mishima asked no one in particular.

"I got the door open just in case!" Reko said. Turning, I saw she stood in front of the door to keep it from closing.

"So our escape route's secured!" Q-Taro said happily.

Well, onto the fateful moment... Let's roll." Keiji said. Skillfully attaching the parts to the doll torso. I counted them off as he placed them.

'Right arm, left arm, right leg, left leg. And the head.'

We all waited for a long moment. Nothing's... happening?

"...Wait... You smell somethin'?" Q-Taro asked.

"...Huh?" Nao scrunched up her nose, trying to smell something.

Things were getting a little bland in here. "Hey... is it just me or is the room going white?!"

"It's gas...!" Keiji exclaimed.

"P... poison...?! Not good... we need to leave the room...!" Sou said fearfully.

But the white gas filled up the room in the blink of an eye. I could barely see anything. I couldn't even make out my hands.

"Sara?!" I exclaimed, pawing at the gas at random.

"Yeah?" she responded. She was close to me. Pawing my way though, I found my short friend.

'There's nowhere to run. Are we all just going to suffocate here? I'm not... prepared. Ryoko. I miss you, Ryoko.' 

A/N: then the poisonous gas got to them and they DIED. The end. Also, Sara got killed first because of Joe's dangerous hair. Hey, it was an accident!

It's a Lolbit Show