Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sara Chidouin was about to die. She had nothing to say. She was in a room with six others, who’s fate was the same as hers. A massacre. They had made a stupid decision.

They were in the main game grounds, all standing in a circle. Sara Chidouin. Keiji shinogi. Q-taro B.B. . Gin Ibushi. Alice Yabusame. They all stood, frozen. All except for the last of them, sou Hiyori. The man was laughing.

He had been the one to kill them. He had stayed silent throughout the entire main game, and people had already claimed their roles, so they figured Sou was a commoner.

They were mistaken. Sou Hiyori was the keymaster. And if the keymaster got the most votes, everyone would die.

Sou continued laughing.

“You’re all a bunch of idiots. You really think I was a commoner? You really think me staying silent would confirm I needed to die? You’re all sick. You think about who would be the most useful to pick out and then kill us.”

Sara was shaking. This was all her fault.

She knew gin had the sage card. So, she asked him to play along with the plan that Sara was the sage and gin was the Keymaster. She told gin to never look at his card, but never confirm or deny anything.

Of course, gin would never say it out loud. If he did, he would face punishment.

At first, gin had the keymaster card, and Sara had the sage. Sara switched with gin. Then, someone switched with Sara. They were all to busy frantically trying to escape before the main game started, so they never looked.

In the end, they had decided to vote for sou. Alice had claimed to be the sacrifice. He was right in that.

Suddenly, another voice was heard laughing along with sou. It was Miley. Sara clenched her fist. This woman, no, this demon had killed her best friend. She ruined her life with just one snap of a finger. Push out of a door frame.

“Alright everyone, it’s time for your punishment~!”

The bot smiled genuinely, as if the thought of a massacre was something enjoyable to her. It probably was.

Miley’s voice crept up every inch of sara’s Body until it had fully engulfed her in a sea of darkness. There was no escape. All their hope and plans had been crushed in seconds, and all they could do was stand, dumbfounded.

A sound of a machine started. Sara was suddenly chained to a wall filled with small needles. At first, they only prickled. But soon they got longer and more sharp.

Pleading echoed on either side of her. This was happening to the others, too. They were all dying. She couldn’t save them.

The needles were only a centimeter away form her body until they reached her completely. Every park of her instantly was shot with numbness.

She closed her eyes. There was a light in the distance. She walked closer and closer to the light, feeling elevated with each step until she reached the stop. When she did, she walked through the light and outside into a clear field.

Then Sara Chidouin woke up.

Chapter Text

It was a clear morning. Not a cloud in the sky, only sunshine. And in her room, laid Sara Chidouin, sweating in her bed.

She looked around. This was her room, for sure. But it didn’t make any sense. Was this heaven? No, it couldn’t be. Heaven wasn’t real.

A knock on the door arrived. “C-come in” Sara said horsly. she touched her neck. No collar. She shivered.

She had expected keiji to come in. Maybe gin or alice. Instead, it was her dad.

“Hey Sara, honey.”

Sara’s dads voice was calm and collected. Like there wasn’t a death game he was involved in, like his daughter hadn’t just died.

Her father continued.

“You May be kind of confused. I was working late last night, and I found you fainted in our bedroom when I got home. Your friend joe was there, he told me everything. Your mother got extremely sick and is in the hospital, luckily, she’s ok. Are you alright, sweetie? You look pale. You’re shaking, too.”

Sara hadn’t realized she was shaking. Cold sweat had dropped down her face. All of these events matched up to the night that she entered the death game.

There was only one logical conclusion left: the death game, everything about it, had been a dream.

Her father looked at her with a face of concern. He was usually so chipper and silly, but he looked mature and worried.

Sara nodded. “I’m ok.” She said. She gulped.

Her father suddenly went back to his normal personality in a pinch. He stood up.

“Good, that’s my little Sara-poo~! You’re such a big kid now, you’re gonna make your old dad cry~ wahh~”

“Dad…”

“Oh! Right, sorry, Sara-poo! Today is a school day, so get out of bed and to school~! Our house keeper is sick today, so your old man has to do everything by himself, what a bummer~”

house keeper? Does he mean Kai? Sara pondered. It had to be, right?

That would mean kai was still alive. And if kai was still alive….. joe was too.

Sara lunged out of bed and into her closet, ripping out her uniform. She shoved her dad out of the door, causing a “wah~Sara!” To come out of him. She didn’t care, she had to see joe.

She quickly put on her uniform, put her hair up, brushed her teeth, grabbed a piece of toast, and was out of the door.

There he stood. The 5’9” boy with brown hair all over the place. His figure was indistinguishable. It, for sure, was joe-tazuna.

Sara’s feed thought before she did, running towards the man at full speed, arms wide open. She saw his eyes catch hers and widen. He ran towards her as well.

“Sara!!” He yelled. She spotted tears streaming down his face.

“Joe!” She screamed back, an ugly sob accompanying it.

They met in the middle and embraced each other, both crying.

“Sorry, Sara…. I just had a really bad dream last night.. *hiccup* there was this death game, and.. and I died…”

Sara’s eyes widened for a brief second. This happened to him, too!?

Sara let go of the hug and scanned him up and down. Concern was painted onto her pale face.

“Joe, this May sound weird, but…. I think I had the same dream.”

—

On their way to school, joe and Sara talked about their dreams. This was no coincidence.

“So… d’ya think the others are out there too? They had the same dream?”

Joe asked Sara, his familiar blue eyes full of life. They made Sara want to cry. Oh, how she missed those eyes.

Joe started running ahead before Sara could answer. She turned her head. Joe had ryoko, Sara’s friend, in her arms.

Joe picked the girl up and spun her around, laughing.

“Hey, cut that out, joe!”

Joe put her down, and ryoko gave him a little slap on the arm.

“You can’t just do something like that in public, geez… oh, Sara! Hi!”

Relief washed over Sara. If this was heaven, they were having it spot on.

Sara went up to ryoko and gave her a big hug. Joe joined in.

“H-hey, what’s up with you guys today….?”

Ryoko softly snapped at them. A blush was on her face. Sara couldn’t tell if it was from joe picking her up or the embarrassment of being hugged publicly by her friends.

“We’re just relieved to see you. We love ya, ryoko!”

A shiver went down Sara’s spine at the thing joe just said. Those words were so similar to the ones joe had said right before…. that. did joe intend to do that?

Sara ignored it and continued hugging ryoko till she had to push them off of her.

—

School was a bore, like usual. But this time, it was comforting. Having everyone around her be alive, be here, be safe.

On the way home from school, joe and safa talked about the death game again.

“Do you think kanna’s sister is alive? I mean, she died before the game even started… the other participants, too… “

safa trailed off. If joe was alive, if she was alive, there was a strong possibility that the others were, too.

“Joe!”

It seemed joe had spaced out. Sara instantly alerted him.

“If everyone else was out there, and they had the same dream as us…. we need to find them! Then maybe, we can solve this!”

Joe’s expression went to one of suprise, them proudness.

“Classic Sara, haha! Always comin’ up with smart ideas. You know what? Lets find em’, Sara!”

The boy shoved an open palm into her face. Sara replied by gently slapping her open palm into his as a high-five.

“Yes, lets search, joe.”

Chapter Text

chapter 2

They were in a dark, large room. Keiji shinogi was laying on a bed of needles. slowly, they reached further and further into his back. his eyes were empty. He was prepared.

Of course, he had expected this. When he joined the police force, it was like making a contract with death. There was that huge risk of it.

Keiji had been in risk of death several times. He had managed to escape each and every time, however. Except for this time.

To his right, Alice Yabusame had his eyes closed. He looked tired. ‘ He probably just wanted this all to be over already…’ keiji assumed. It was understandable.

To his left, a little boy named gin was thrashing about, screaming and crying in protest. It was awful, that even a kid had to go through this terrible death game.

Past gin, there was a teenage girl. Sara Chidouin. The girl had been with him a lot of the time, working with him to try to solve the mystery of this death game. Over time they had become something like siblings to each other.

“ I guess pain makes relationships become closer faster, haha”

He remembered nao saying that at one point, after sou had asked her about her relationship with Reko. She had played it off as platonic. Keiji knee the truth, though.

‘ I guess that’s one of the perks of being a detective. ’ he thought to himself. It was a sad thought for him. His knowledge was a curse.

Sharp pain filled his body. The needles had pierced him all over his skin. Blood started to drool from his mouth.

It felt hot all over, yet he was shivering. He didn’t expect to be afraid of death, especially through being a policeman. He expected death several times, but the probability of death had never smacked him in the face like this.

The pain suddenly got worse. With each second it increased. Hot sweat dripped down his face. His breath hitched.

On his left, gin screamed and cried. Q-taro, another participant on their death bed, was trying to comfort the small boy.

How weak of keiji. Even in a time like this, he couldn’t comfort someone who needed it most. What a terrible policeman he was. What a terrible person he was.

The pain stopped suddenly, replaced with numbness. Everything started to fade from the world. The knot in his stomach settled.

He didn’t know how much time had passed until keiji shinogi woke up in his bed. Sweat soaked through the white sheets. His head was in his hands.

He slowly sat up and checked his alarm. It read….. August 14th. That didn’t make any sense, though. If it was truly August 14th, then the death game had only been one night long, but that was impossible.

the only logical answer struck him harshly and sent a shiver down his spine. It bit at every part of his body until his breaths were shaky.

‘It had all been a dream.’ he thought to himself. Was that true? The memories, the people, everything he had gone through… was that really all a dream?

He looked out the window. Surely enough, this was his apartment. He put on his police uniform, brushed his teeth, and slowly turned the knob to exit his tiny flat.

‘That familiar hallway….’ he thought.

A couple minutes later he was in his car, on patrol. It was almost a comfort. He turned his walkie-talkie up, the voices that weren’t those in the death game providing him with ease.

A familiar voice spoke through the com. “Officer Shinogi, we have a 211 at the bank on momiji street.”

He let out another shaky breath. That was the voice of megumi sasahara, his boss. She had gone with him into the death game, but never made it all the way. She saved him from almost losing his job, too. She had saved his ass so many times and he didn’t even know why. He wasn’t special, or anything. Just a regular friendly policeman.

“Officer shinogi?”

“Affirmative.”

“Don’t be late. Over.”

He grinned slightly. His fellow officer was quite the flirt with him. Before, she had made him so flustered. He would do whatever it was to impress her when he was young. She was the one to convince him to dye his hair blond, too. He was wrapped around her finger.

He arrived at the location sooner or later. There she was, leaning against her car.

“You’re late. You ready, team buster?”

She winked. Keiji smirked. He missed her face.

“Ready as i’ll ever be, boss.”

They entered the scene. It wasn’t an armed robbery, so there was no reason for him to hold a gun. That was a relief.

“What an idiot, trying to rob without a weapon.” Keiji murmured. Megumi laughed.

“It’s almost like they’re trying to get arrested.”

They burst into the scene of the bank. Suddenly, keiji’s eyes widened. There he was. Sou hiyori, with several bags of money in his hand. Somehow, he must of infultrated some of the banks without a weapon. Keiji’s eyes widened. His breath hitched.

Memories came flooding back to him.

“I’ll kill you! I’ll kill all of you!”

“It was me. I was the keymaster.”

He shut his eyes for a moment. He looked up at the blue haired man, their eyes piercing each other. Sou smirked, and suddenly keiji came to a shaky realization.

Sou hiyori knew.

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Sorry for not posting, everyone! School has started so I’m a bit out of wack. The next chapter will be soon! 💛