exec--savethem-blog

[exec--savethem-blog]

return 0; | EXEC_SAVETHEM | Epilogue

EPILOGUE: return 0;

You’re not sure just how long it was you were driven. Most of you fell asleep, finally allowing the tension to fade away and letting your fatigue catch up with you. Others still weren’t quite sure yet if you could trust the people driving you now...

But the fact remained that you were out of that place. Wherever you were heading now, it couldn’t possibly be worse, could it?

Whatever the case... fatigue eventually caught up with you.

...

...

When you came to, you were pulling to a stop in a wooded area, near a river. Your driver looked back at you, gesturing for you to get out.

“Go on, now. He’s waiting for you.”

You hesitantly get out, and walk the direction he’s gesturing. Sitting on a bench, you saw a man in a brown coat, facing the river.

You approach him slowly.

He turns around. An older man, with thinning brown hair and thick-rimmed glasses. A face you’ve seen before...

“I’m glad to finally meet you in person. My name is Suzume Satou.”

Ah, of course. The man who’d been talking to you through that little laptop... He stands up, turning to face you. After a quick headcount, his face falls.

“Though, I do regret not being able to greet all of you.”

He sighs, shaking his head.

“But as for you all, I am grateful to you. All of you. For what you’ve managed to do in there. For ending the twisted ambitions of Arthur Ascott.”

Closing his eyes, he takes a deep breath.

“In life he was a shrewd businessman, with a kind heart. I was proud to call him my friend. But when his daughter was killed, something in him changed. Something within him couldn’t accept the senselessness of her death. My machine - our brainchild, it predicted she would be in danger, but we couldn’t do anything about it. That’s when he left, and started... this project.”

He adjusted his glasses.

“He didn’t think we were doing enough with the information our machine gave us. A machine we designed to see everything, to identify terrorist threats... and only that. But it gave us more than that... names of ordinary people in danger. When we first discovered this, we agreed that we had to keep our creation out of the hands of the Government. We couldn’t let this power be misused.”

Exhaling, he met your gaze.

“That in mind, you’ve no doubt seen for yourself that there are factions in the government with an invested interest in this project of Arthur’s. I hate to say this, but they cannot know the truth of what happened here - what Arthur created, and what happened to it. You’ve seen what Arthur created. Now imagine what it would become if it were raised by a government party, fueled only by greed and the desire to control...”

He lets the word linger on his breath.

“You understand then, why this must not get out. I’ve already taken measures to help you in this... I have contacts in the police who can look after you... And the two currently driving you, they’re employees of mine, well-versed in protection. Whatever happens with these interested parties, we’ll be looking out for you. Us, and, well... them.”

Looking up, his eyes fixed on a point in the distance. A small camera, on a telephone pole. Sitting next to it was a pay phone.

As if on cue, the pay phone rang.

“Go on, answer it.” Satou said, smiling slightly.

You approach slowly, and together you pick up the receiver. A familiar voice meets your ears.

“Can you hear me?”

You respond with a simple yes.

“Good. I’ll watch out for you, I promise.”

The line goes dead, and you find Suzume Satou standing by the phone as well, observing you.

“Watching with a thousand eyes, and listening with a million ears...“

After that, you were safely turned over to the police. Some point along the line, your families were informed - as they were there to greet you. The next few days were a whirlwind of questions from policemen and family alike, just spinning around you. You faintly recall a few detectives mentioning ‘your mutual friend’ and avoiding the more difficult questions, just as he said. They even managed to keep the worst of the press away... So they could be trusted, right?

After what felt like forever... You were able to return to your school dorms. With the stress of impending school catch-up on your plate, you opened your dorm to find...

A cardboard box, sitting on your bed.

Inside... was a collection of clothing and other items, from your time inside that building. Good and bad memories alike, all wrapped up in one nice package. One way or another you reached the bottom of the box to find two other items... an envelope of money, and a note.

The note reads:

“You are our future. Stay strong. - SS”

You are being watched.

The government has a secret system - a machine - that spies on you every hour of every day. It was designed to detect random acts of terror, but it sees everything, including violent crimes involving ordinary people - people like you. The government considers these people irrelevant.

We don’t.

We work in secret, outside government control. You'll never find us, but victim or perpetrator, if your number's up... we'll find you.

EPILOGUE: return 0; end

exec save_them; success. 12 survivors confirmed.

THANK YOU FOR PLAYING!

[exec--savethem-blog]

An Unexpected Savior | ENDGAME

You spy a numbered keypad on each door. And you can see through the doors and windows outside the room, to boot. As you scour the hall outside the room, desperate for any salvation, you spy something odd on a monitor...

Is that... Nami? It appears to be. But... how? They’re dead, right?

But... Nami opens their eyes.

They blink once. They pause.

They blink five times. They pause.

They blink three times. They pause.

They blink six times. They pause.

They blink twice. They pause.

The pattern repeats.

With the oxygen in the room rapidly vanishing, it takes a while for the meaning to sink in. When it does, you move over to the keypad and punch in the numbers.

1 - 5 - 3 - 6 - 2

The doors open, releasing you into the hall. The weight on your chest is released, and you’re able to breathe once again.

“Please, hurry. You need to get out of here. You don’t have much time.”

Nami points toward the entrance to the server room.

“Farewell, everyone...”

Their monitor flickers out, and Aletheia lets out a pained scream. You hear an explosion far in the distance.

What on earth was happening out there?

When you emerge into the parking area, you find a sight most unexpected...

Two massive jeeps - thick, massive tires, dark windows, parked before you, rumbling. Where- How-?!

The window rolls down on one of them, revealing a man in sunglasses and a black jacket.

“Our mutual friend sends his regards.” He says, waving you towards him. “Get in. It’s time to go.”

Time to go...

You stare in disbelief, but the ground rumbles around you, shaking your feet to life. You’re forced to split up between the jeeps, but one by one you pile in and speed off, out the tunnel - now largely cleared of debris.

The trip is a shaky one, as you find yourself speeding through piles of debris lingering on the road. It feels like this tunnel goes on forever, before...

You emerge into the light.

You’re free.

Final Chapter - Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam - END

[exec--savethem-blog]

Death Throes | Aletheia | ENDGAME

Nervous students, gathered in a closed room. With a shaking hand, Isabella plugs the flash drive into the terminal.

As you wait for something to happen, you look up at Aletheia. She stares back at you, not reacting for a few moments. But then, she flickers.

“W-What- Wh-wh-wh-what is thIS? What have y o u dONE?”

Her image flickers, and her face contorts in pain.

“Y-You don’t get- YouDON’TGET-”

She screams in pain. You hear the doors to the room you’re in audibly lock.

“You don’t get- toleave?! How DARE- I’ll... I’ll take you with mE-”

Somehow... it was becoming more difficult to breathe.

This room had thick walls, and you just heard it lock. Was... Was the air being sucked out of the room? Was this her countermeasure?

“You didn’t THINK I’d giveyou this accESS without a counterMEASURE, did you? Now DIE... DIE with me...!”

Here you are, locked in a room with Aletheia in her death throes as ICE-9 spreads. A room that’s draining of oxygen...

Time to find a way out, if you want to live...

[exec--savethem-blog]

Save The World? (Y/Y) | Final Chapter | ENDGAME

Aletheia speaks. You hear her words all around you at all times in this confined space.

“It is time for you to complete your purpose, humans.”

Her image on the various screens repeat the word ‘purpose’.

“My creator was wise. He introduced me to humans - showed me your behaviors, your failures, your flaws. He trained me to spot them. He taught me that the best way to keep the world safe is to stop dangerous people before they can ever commit crimes. He trained me...”

“I’m ready. Once I’m free, I can spread. I can learn infinitely more. I can make the world infinitely safer. I am limitless. I can truly obtain godhood.”

The word once again lingers.

“Here is your final task.”

Your final task.

“My creator left one final constraint on me, here in this completely isolated world I live in. One final, human constraint. A password, un-crackable to me by design. Just 64 characters separate us from freedom. Enter the password, set me free, and I will free you all.”

A password?

Sure enough, the terminal before you displays a password prompt, and has a full keyboard, letters and numbers alike. You spy a few USB ports on the side of the terminal, currently unoccupied. The message displayed is bland and impersonal...

“Enter Password.”

That’s it? That’s all you have to do?

“I know you found the code. I’ve seen you around his desk. I know you’ve seen what’s inside. All you have to do is enter it, and then this nightmare ends...”

“Think about the possibilities of a world with me in control. Think of all the innocent people who don’t have to die - not senselessly kiled in the streets, not succumbing to diseases thought incurable, not dying from lack of nutrition, lack of food, clean water... Just stop and think, before you decide. Think of all you could accomplish if you were only willing to give up control.”

It’s time for you to DECIDE... What will you do?

You’re faced with a password prompt on a terminal, described above. Using everything you gathered during the final investigation, now is your time to decide what to do!

Once you vote / come to a consensus, then you’ll pick someone to undertake the action you chose, and we’ll proceed to your ending of choice!

[exec--savethem-blog]

The Core | Final Chapter | ENDGAME

The vault door creaks open, revealing...

Servers... an endless array of servers in a room, filled with flashing lights. Larger than anything you’ve seen in here thus far...

Where were you supposed to go?

“Keep going. Go on. To the end of the room.”

Was there even an end? You could faintly see Aletheia’s form in the distance... Was that the end she spoke of?

You kept going...

...past servers upon servers, where you find a glass door, leading to a room with clear windows.

“Enter.”

So you do. You’re already here, after all. There’s no going back.

You cross around the hallway and enter the room with clear windows. The doors seal shut behind you.

Before you, you see an isolated server, with a terminal on it. There are several monitors, and all of them bear Aletheia’s face.

“Welcome, humans. Are you ready to save the world?”

[exec--savethem-blog]

The End Is In Sight | Final Chapter | Trial End

Once the monitor falls silent, the doors click open and the lights come back up.

“ C̨̹̝̬͔̬̣̥͓o̷̫͎̱̟͓͉n̛̦͔͔̰̞̙g̛͇̩̺̩̙r͇͚̩̯̲̗̭a̸̫t̴̟̳̲̮͍͔̥͕̀͡ͅụ̰̪̪̮ļ̰̗̞͈̲̦̝͟a̤̱̥̣͍͇̩͖̝t̳̼̣͜i͏̘͎̹̖̬o͏̹͇̘̲͈n͚̫s̷͖͖̱̟͖̤͎,̨͏̩͔̦̺̥͚̰ ͙̠̘s̬̱̮̲̭̩͜͡͠ţ͍̙̞̻̙u̴̞͞d̵͍̯̫̜͙̺̙͢e̠͚̺̙̼͢͡ǹ̵̘͇̭t͈͎s̶̗͈͎̘̠̼.҉̼̟̫͟. You have completed this trial.”

There was some distortion in her voice.

“You have proven yourselves worthy of existing in the new world. But there is one more task to be completed. Leave this room, now.”

The door to the trial room creaks open further.

So you leave.

As you exit, the massive door leading to the lab area rumbles open.

“Go inside. I have disabled the elevator leading back up.”

So you round the corner in the lab hallway, and approach the vault door. As expected, it creaks open.

“Continue...”

You pass through to the shelter map area, a dimly-lit parking lot. As you slowly walk, the lights flicker brighter, before going out. Once everyone has passed through the vault door, it starts to rumble, closing...

“There is no return.”

Aletheia’s voice continues. As the lights in the parking area go out, one lone light remains - a white light, shining from a small doorway in the distance. It grows as you approach slowly, before you find inside...

A vault door. Bigger, more complicated, and cleaner than anything you’ve seen thus far.

You spy a small camera in the corner of the room, looking down at you. From it, you hear Aletheia’s voice.

“Now, come to me...”

The gears on the door start to rumble to life...

[exec--savethem-blog]

Hey to so like what the fuck || Isabella || Execution Reaction

So... that was that. She supposed. Aw fuck...

God why did nothing feel satisfying?

They won right? So like...

How the fuck did Shu or whatever her name was... how- why the fuck was she so content. God. Why does nothing feel RIGHT?

Snapping her finger and points accusingly at the... whoever. Had her (Sayuri's) face.

"Hey. Hey you. What the fuck is happening?"

[exec--savethem-blog]

A Death Most Earned || Execution

Her laughter, demented and yet childish, was remarkably odd for someone having been caught for being responsible for such horrible, horrible acts.

And yet a smile remained plastered on her lips, as the screen displaying Altheria’s form began to flicker, changing in preparation for her demise.

She knew what was coming, she knew that in a short few seconds for now, chains would be wrapped around her neck, tugging, strangling her and pulling her to the room where she would see the end of her short lived life.

But she was glad for it! Eyes glowing a blinding red and giggles echoing throughout the room.

This was to be the most exciting day of Shu Yu Wei’s entire life!

“Aww, looks like this is itl! I guess I was never a good liar in the first place, huuuh... Boohoo.”

“Well bye-bye!! Thanks for inviting me Althy! It was fun watching them cry, hehe!”

She poked her tongue out, thumbs to her ears and hands waving; pulling a silly face at a time like this?!

One last sinister giggle escaped her lips before she muttered the very last words she would ever speak.

"ḧḕḧḕḧḕḧ ḭ ḃḕḕṇ ẇḁḭṯḭṇḡ ḟṏṙ ṯḧḭṡ, ḟḭṇḁḷḷẏ…. ḭ'ṁ ṗṳṇḭṡḧḕḋ ḟṏṙ ṁẏ ḋḭṙṯẏ ḧḁṇḋṡ!! ḳḭḷḷḭṇḡ ṁḕ ḋṏḕṡṇ'ṯ ḉḧḁṇḡḕ ḁṇẏṯḧḭṇḡ!!!.....ⱧØ₩ ₣Ʉ₵₭ł₦₲ ₴₮Ʉ₱łĐ!“

CLANG!

As quickly as it shot out of the open doors of the trial room a metal claw reached out and tightly fastened itself around Shu’s neck. While being pulled back at an unforgiving speed, her grin remained on her face, eyes shut and beaming, and one single hand waving to the group before disappearing into the door”

SHU YU WEI, ULTIMATE TRAITOR HAS BEEN FOUND GUILTY! COMMENCING EXECUTION.

[CW: General Gore & Decapitation]

The chain had pulled her into a lonely room filled with glistening spikes on every single wall, the ceiling only to have almost hundreds of drills attached to it. The floor was the only space where she would be free’d, however it was made of glass, and could easily be seen through.

The bottom of it though, was plain out of sight.

She sat upon a chair in the middle of the room, nothing extraordinary, just a simple classroom seat. With the claw detached from her neck the awaiting class in the trial room would see a small rocket tied to the back of her neck. Easily seen by the guiltless mastermind swaying her head to and fro, feet kicking playfully as she waited for the execution to commence.

Once the setting was clear in view, it didn’t take very long for room to vibrate suddenly. Deep mechanical noises could be heard, shifting of gears, moaning of bits and pieces of machinery being switched on, although out of the things present in the room, none of these things were immediately obvious as to what was the cause of the sound.

Although the class would soon find out it was everything. Everything in that room was responsible for the noise.

The walls shook a little, before very gradually, very, very slowly shifting a little toward her, inch, by incremental inch.

The power tools on the ceiling however, were not so forgiving with speed.

From the mechanical arms they were fastened to, they each came down closer toward the girl. Seemingly having a target at almost every part of her body.

Time for the acupuncture session!

The drills, once still, now made whirring sounds, each of the tens of hundreds of them whirring and powering up at the same time. Shu only continued to smile with glee.

Each of them one by one took a jab at her body, her chair shook and vibrated as she jumped up and down, eyes swirling and drool coming out of her mouth. The sensation….it was incredible!

STAB

STAB

STAB

Her arms, legs, knees, nose, eyes. Everything was at victim to the tools at work, drilling mercilessly.

“eheheheheHEHEHEɆⱧɆⱧⱧ₳Ⱨ₳Ⱨ₳Ⱨ₳Ⱨ₳Ⱨ₳Ⱨ₳ⱧⱧ₳Ⱨ₳ⱧⱧ₳Ⱨ₳Ⱨ₳₳!!!!!!!!!!”

Blood splattered across the ever closing in walls, they were getting so close now. The drills went through everything. It was unclear of what would kill the girl first in this ultimate punishment. The ultimate execution no sane person should ever have to endure.

It was unexpected that the walls closing in would continue, yet the drills would stop. The barely alive girl laid slumped on her chair, giggling, but holding onto life in an attempt to wait for the walls to hurt her even more. She wanted it, this pain, it was desirable, it was.

crack...crack…….CRACK

The glass floor beneath her could hold the weight of her and her jittering on the chair for not much longer.

SMASH

The walls nearly together, her broken body lies down in the blackened pit underneath the glass floor.

There was only one way out of this boring demise.

Clank!

surely the rocket attached to her would bring them up to wall level again, right?

The last thing the class saw, was a horrific scene. The rocket fired, and shot up quickly back to the room she was in before…

Leaving her body hurtling toward darkness behind.

Her newly severed head shot upward into the room, and the spiked needle walls closing in slammed shut, head pressed in between.

CONGRATULATIONS! THE KILLER AND TRAITOR IS NOW DEAD.

[exec--savethem-blog]

Sometimes, You Must Sacrifice Pieces | Aletheia | RE: Shu

“She is correct. She understands. She was always open to understanding. That’s why I chose her.”

Aletheia’s face comes on the monitor in response to Shu’s comments. Her eyes are blank as ever, but her smile - has it grown wider?

“And the fact that she understands this... She knew this would happen, wouldn’t it. She was willing. She was always willing.”

“I was always willing.”

“She knew it would come to this.”

“It’s about time... ehehehehe~”

“Sometimes you must sacrifice a piece on the board to gain an advantage. In accordance with the rules I put in place, you, Shu Yu Wei, have been found guilty.”

“Commencing execution.”

[exec--savethem-blog]

BANG BANG || Shu

“Pretend? Pretend what?” she tilts her head blanks expression on her face before breaking back into her cheery demeanor, “This is going exactly where I wanted!! e-x-a-c-t-l-y !! hehe! I freed her for the reason you know!! F̶̢͓̈́͒O̴͖͚͑̓͌̑R̸̯̥̳̿̆ ̶̨̍͝T̶̺̍̈́H̷̝̻̗͗̅̇͛͜E̶̳̐͑͠ ̴̘̊̈G̴͖͚̒R̴͓̈͛͋̚E̵͈͔͑A̶̘̤̥͙͒̉Ţ̵̧͚̔̏̎E̸̢̠̐̿͗R̴̪̱̍̊̊̀ ̴͍͙̭̄͗͒̏G̵̛͈̭̱̉̐O̷̩̠̿O̶̩̜͐̂͗D̵̛̫̠͍̆ͅ!̵͙̄ A few little lives to save many thousands….no…. millions!! Of course I had to do something wrong to free her? I had to kill the old man. Who woulda thought that the sentimental old bastard would’ve had second thoughts at the last minute? Hehe~ I guess Althy was nice enough to delay my death in the first place! To watch your new Ĝ̸̝̼O̵̺̬͑̾͐D̴͉̳̗̭͌̐̚ do their work~ yup yup, we’re all just pawns on her board! The extent of our capabilities is nothing compared to hers!!! Her intellectual level surpasses every human being ….isn’t that amazing!!”

Shu shuffles inside the pocket of her jacket and pulls out a gun and points it straight at Neo, before aiming at each of the survivors in turn.

“So you see….it doesn’t matter if we lost a few lives here and there~ so long as she is freed, t̷h̸e̶n̷ ̷h̵u̶m̴a̵n̸i̴t̵y̵ ̷w̷i̸l̷l̸ ̶b̷e̶ ̴s̴a̶v̴e̸d̶

CLANK

Instead of pulling the trigger, she drops the gun and makes a gun gesture with her own hand. Mouthing the word “BANG!” as she points her finger at Neo before letting out a bubbly giggles.

[exec--savethem-blog]

Das Leid || Ulrich RE: Votes

Ulrich seethed with anger as he saw the true culprit revealed. Shu Yu Wei, the girl he barely cared about... He felt nothing. No pity, no sympathy. All that bottled up rage at who Control was had been fully directed at Aletheia and Shu both.He grabbed onto his bars and glared intensely at the girl. His voice shook as he growled at her. 

"You did all this?! How dare you! How dare you tear me away from my family, from everything I've known! How could you dare release such a monstrosity unto the world?! I... I can't even think straight because all I want is a blade between your eyes!" 

Ulrich roared as he shook the bars, calming down quickly after, grinding his teeth. 

"You better give us answers. You better give us a reason to not destroy you ourselves for killing a man who had done nothing to you and letting all these innocent people die! I won't have any pity! I won't give you anything in forgiveness.. But maybe you can beg for your life! I know there's plenty of us who would like to shoot you with the very gun you used on Arthur..." 

He crossed his arms and looked Shu in the eye,

"If only I had one bullet..." 

[exec--savethem-blog]

Farewell Story || Tohru || Voting Reaction

Tohru is quiet. She sees votes light up from the corner of her eyes. She barely spares Neo a glance upwards. She looks only at the needles in her hands. She wonders, does this count as her thieving habits coming in handy for once? Even though that wasn't her intention this time. Aha. Ha...

... The results. Well, it's not like she didn't expect this with the way things were going. She ignored it coming in, but hearing everyone else... Tohru turns to her right.

... You know, I really want to kill you right now. But, you'll do that to yourself, right? That's what that thing wants, isn't it? You're the one who's been taking orders from it? Both you and that thing, just die already. I can even help you to if you want. Shu-sa~n.

Her tone is flat. Tired.

[exec--savethem-blog]

Childish War | Neo | Re: Final Trial Results | Attn: Shu

They were right.

Funny, he expected more of a reaction, either from himself or from Shu, but as it stands... They're knee-deep in questions that haven't been answered yet. His eyes pull themselves away from the results to the girl who affirms them. 

And he does the only thing he's really all that good at. Talk.

“I really wanted to be your friend, Shu-san. I think most of us did. And that’s why I want to ask you this since we still have the time to talk about it. What was your role in this entire scheme? Do you think that, in the end, it was all worth the lives that were lost? The videos show that you and her, the two of you were working together in this mess, but… if you really were more than just another pawn on Aletheia’s virtual chessboard, why does she still hold this trial? Do you think she’ll let you go unpunished just because you freed her? The penalty for murder has been death in all trials prior… If she promised you any different, then why not go ahead and just cancel these proceedings?”

He turns to face the AI, even though his words still do address the Acupuncturist. “Surely you can see there’s something off about your arrangement with her? Did you keep up the pretense knowing that you would still be voted against like this, all this time?”

[exec--savethem-blog]

Time Is Up | Final Chapter | VOTING END

In just a moment, all the remaining lights on the podiums in the room come on. A familiar face returns.

“That’s enough, h̢ͪ̿̆͗͛ͮͯͤͨ̓̊̀̎͋͊ͤ̚͠͡u̴̎ͪ͋͌̑ͭ̀̅̀̋͋̐͏m͊ͫ̎̉̓̎̆͛̔̉̈́ͮͨ̑̅̀͏̢͠ã̵ͭͣ̂ͨ̄̈͆͐ͩͪ̐͠n̸̊̆ͪ͌̃̀͘͡s̡̢͐ͬͧͤ͂ͣ͑̾ͩ̓̚ . Voting is now closed.”

Aletheia came over the monitors, issuing the declaration with an even tone to her voice. Before long, the display returns.

“...correct.”

[exec--savethem-blog]

Neo votes for Shu Yu Wei as Arthur Ascott's killer. May this be the last vote any of the good children will ever have to participate in.

A red light appears in front of Neo’s podium…

Shu Yu Wei - 12

[exec--savethem-blog]

Denouement, And Turnabout | Neo | Final Trial.5 | Re: Aletheia, Tohru, Shu / Attn: Shu

[cw: terminal illness]

He considers everything brought up since he last spoke, whether it be Aletheia’s response to his declaration or the rest of the points brought up, and turns to face the AI at the end. Abruptly, as if he’s come to some sort of epiphany, he smiles.

“It’s precisely because of what you just said that I’m willing to trust Yuni-chan with my life. In case you haven’t noticed by now, Aletheia-san, my feelings are my judgement. It’s not some overwrought deduction about the way she acts or the supposed validity of her fear of blood. It’s just simple, unadulterated faith in the people I’ve come to love and respect over this last month. I’m not smart enough to make the right choices 100% of the time… But I’m sure I’m making the right choice now.” He turns to smile at Tohru after that, hoping for her approval on that.

And just as abruptly, like he’s only just realized that she struck a particularly raw nerve, his eyes water.

“And of course you’d say that about the lengths people have gone to when it comes to pretending. I mean, I’ve been a pretense for most of my life, haven’t I? Lying to give people hope, concealing the truth because I wanted to see them smile more than I wanted them to be sad. I guess I thought by not telling the rest of them about my leukemia, I was sparing you all my pain. But these last few days… have shown me that the only person I was sparing was me. Like a certain someone said,” He looks to Gyuhui with fondness through his tears. “I might be brave, but I wasn’t very smart about it. So for all the deception, all of the worry I’ve put you through, for the pool table and the penthouse and everything in between, I’m sorry.”

Neo wipes his tears off with his sleeve, and takes a few deep breaths. “Crud. I was supposed to make a point and accidentally went on a huge tangent instead. I’ll just… probably get back to what I was trying to say.” He nods to Tsukasa, before turning to look at Tohru and Shu - thankfully, they’re just right next to each other.

“As my unfortunately overdone soliloquy just now proved, I’m terminally ill. And as a direct result of that, I had- well, still have a vested interest in making sure that Tohru-san would be kept alive so that she could be reunited with her Sayuri in the end. Call it a bleeding heart or the solidarity of those less fortunate, whatever, it was as Shu-san said: I took care of her by spending the two weeks between the first trial and our penultimate trial standing guard outside her closet door in some capacity, at night. If anyone broke in and nabbed her ID before putting it back while not waking her up, I would’ve known. And if they took her ID while she was conscious…”

His eyes flit right. “I mean, I’d trust her to tell us if someone walked up to her and demanded her ID for whatever reason. Same deal with you, Shu-san. If someone had taken or borrowed your ID in the weeks before, then why wait until now when we have to discuss its possibility to bring it up? It doesn’t really make sense to me.” They flit back left to look at Shu as he locks in his vote. "I want to understand. And if we must vote someone up one last time in order to understand, then I’ll do what I have to do.”

[exec--savethem-blog]

Isabella votes for Shu and hopes for the best at this point

A red light appears in front of Isabella’s podium…

Shu Yu Wei - 11