"Ha...hah..." Heavy panting. Then— "HahahahahaHahaha!"

The laughter rings in your ears, mixing with the white noise slowly covering your mind.

There was a lot of blood. For a moment, you think it's the floormaster who laughs at something like this, but as you look up, all you see is Sou. Or more correctly, Shin. He had lied about a lot of things ever since you all were forced to participate in this damned Death Game, including his own name, so you can't decide what to call him.

0.0% Shin Tsukimi Self Employed

No chance to survive. In the list, he was placed at the very bottom. Even children and teenagers had a higher probability—isn't it pathetic? He knew his first trial was made specifically for him as a personal torture. It wasn't anything dangerous to his body—only to his mind. He was the first to see all those papers and standing there, in the cold, dim room, he swore to abandon his identity for the sake of survival. If Shin can't live, then Sou will. No mercy, no compassion. Not to himself, and definitely not to others.

But then there's you. A pretty little thing that just had to ruin everything. Attachment is a weakness, so he did his best to either manipulate you correctly or push you away. But you were persistent. No, not you—the thoughts of you. He was too fixated, too frustrated, desperate, spiraling, and yet unable to do anything against your charms.

Here are the consequences. Eight corpses and only you two still standing. Safalin is keeping quiet somewhere, but doesn't show herself this time.

"I...I'm alive." Sou takes a moment to glance down at himself as if to confirm that he wasn't a ghost. Then, at you.

"See? I knew my plan was going to work." He grins—not like he told you.

Normally, he wouldn't ever take the Sacrifice card for himself, even with all its perks. To survive, you really have to make an impressive job at acting like a moron and feign the fear of death. But as it turns out, he managed to.

The plan was rather simple. Everyone knew the rules by the time the second Main Game was announced, and with the trade feature enabled by Ranger (rest in piece—pun intended), Sou forcefully took the sacrifice card and made everyone think that poor Kanna had it. As for the voting part, he barely had to do anything—it was obvious he would be the candidate number one, after all his lying charades. And well, when the person with the Sacrifice card is chosen to be eliminated, everyone else dies instead, aside from them and the second person the survivor chooses.

"Finally." He lowers his scarf and takes off the collar, tossing it behind him carelessly. The corpses and the fresh smell of blood make him dizzy, but he still finds some strength to take a few steps towards you.

"Fuck this system and fuck those collars. Let's go home."

Sou really speaks as if you were lovers for many years. As if he can return to his shitty life as a job hopper named Shin Tsukimi like all of the deaths of innocent people meant nothing.

As if his hand wasn't shaking as he reaches out for your neck to take the damn device off.