A Commitment No One Wanted

The moment I came back to the laboratory, everyone was already waiting for me. My head was down as I walked toward Yukawa.

"Is there something that matter?" He asked.

"No… I'm fine," I replied with a quivery smile.

Yukawa announced another meeting to settle the problem. I can see his eyebrows winking unconsciously. From the looks of it, he's nearing his limit.

"Starting from this day, we will watch each other. We will cycle through each half of the day so that everyone can get enough rest," Yukawa explained. "To avoid any more murders, we will uncover the hunters in the most obvious way. Everyone will be watched till now."

"You're imagining big again, Yukawa. Are you just telling us to watch each other? Your so-called 'plan' has so many holes," Manabu replied.

"I'm not going to accept any more complaints. If you're going to lead this group, feel free because I'm done!" Yukawa shouted with noisy breaths after. This is the only time I've seen him shake extremely. I can say that he can't think straight anymore in this situation, and the same as Manabu.

"What are you saying? You're leaving us again? Are you going to repeat the same mistakes you did back then!? You're the worst man possible Yukawa!" Manabu shouted back.

"That always happens, Manabu, blaming everything on me. Even my words back then, the truth about the reason, you didn't even listen. Even why am I in that position, you, the whole class picked me for that!

"I'm an inexperienced leader who can't even talk straight when situations got worse. I'm a fearful man who isn't willing to take risks for something unsure. But the whole class changed me, and it's all thanks to you, Manabu. The role you forced on me is why I caught all the blame!

"And why am I like this? Don't try to open your mouth, you insensitive retard! You already know! People like you deserve to rot in solitude!" Yukawa shouted.

"I'm already rotting alone, but I'm not going to be like you with twisted realities! You should go back to kinder, drawing dinosaurs!"

Their quarrel continued into unreasonable arguments, like… No, it's far from Rise and Hirari's fight. Both their words emit an aura of death. The people around me are all getting the contagious negative energy they're emitting.

"Both of you, stop! Please!" I cried with desperation. I didn't expect Rise to agree with me so quickly.

"Yeah, she's right. Calm down you two. Couple's quarrel after, we have another problem in hand." The room became quiet as they all looked at Rise. We heard the squeak of metal when she turns the knob. "The water is out."

"No way," Yukawa, who had foreseen these before, stuttered with dilated eyes. All of us flinched back with our trembling chins.

"Damn. That's our main problem right now. We can't survive even after two days without water," Manabu added.

"I guess so. This is only a 5-day game. Good thing I stocked water yesterday, but…" Yukawa stuttered as he remembers something and it is very obvious with his raised eyebrows.

"But what? You have something to add?" Rise asked with narrowed eyes. "Or have you intentionally cut off our supply? What you did is just too out of the box."

"No, that's not it. I and Hirari heard it from him that it might be possible if they cut off the water from us," I reasoned.

"If someone has cut off the water supply, is there proof that there's another place other than here? At the three rooms, we're at, we didn't even see a valve nor a pipe," Manabu added.

"We've not even seen even a single gap out of the rooms. And how do we capture the hunter in the first place? We can't just rope the two and wait for us to die. There should be some other way they didn't mention," Yukawa said as he pinches his chin while on focus mode.

"You two just fought earlier. Why are you in sync now?" Rise asked. They didn't realize it soon, but they looked away from each other afterward, with a blush on their face.

"Let's stay calm and think about the situation. I'm sure we can come up with another solution for this, right?" I asked.

"Yeah. For now, let us check the water supply that I stored," Yukawa said.

"Where did you store that? I didn't even see you stocking up water," Rise asked.

"I didn't tell you this because the water supply isn't cut off yet. I'm just using the laboratory's beaker to transfer water. Anyway, just follow me."

We all followed Yukawa towards the other room, but the sight we are going to see is the most heartbreaking one. As we open the door, there are only two things that we've seen. One is the stash that we already emptied since the chips are lost, and the other one is…

"Hirarin!" I screamed as I run towards her with my puffy eyes, tearful voice, and a cry. Hirari was there, lying down with bubbles on her mouth and eyes open. The first thing I quickly checked is if she was still breathing but… "No pulse… No… No way!!"

My mind went blank with screams. A thousand knives can't equate to the pain I'm feeling from the loss of my friend. Even after death, the pain will surely follow me. There's no way I'll accept this fate!

"Why do you have to die!? We have the same dreams, right!? Why are you leaving me alone!!? YOU LIAR!!!" I shouted with screams of anger as I shake her body repeatedly.

Rise is the second to come to me after freezing in shock. "Hirari… Are you really… No way…" We have felt the same feeling of losing someone near to us. Everyone followed us with their eyes appearing red.

All of us went emotional, except Manabu. He's the objective person that even emotions couldn't pass through. "Can we believe that there's only one suspect now?"

Because of frustration, Yukawa held his collar. "Are you the type of person who annoyingly ruins the mood!? Do you even have some sense of respect!?"

"You're the one who said it, Yukawa. 'We're already running out of time.' Don't you think we're wasting too much time already?"

"Tsk… At least, show some respect by shutting your mouth, or else, everyone will be your enemy here." Yukawa comes near us after to check about the situation, but he notices the voting paper she's holding.

'I poisoned the water.'

What's written in the paper gave him a more narrow conclusion. "I'm sorry if this is the time to say this, but her cause of death…

"It's suicide."