¹ eliminate | the soldier game trio ✓

Try All You Can

"Nozomi." Hoseki greeted her calmly, as if nothing had ever happened.

"What are you doing here? It is dangerous." Nozomi asked, trembling in the cold and the dark. It almost felt blissful, like Eli was around here somewhere.

"What are you talking about?" Hoseki stepped closer to her, her features thrown into the small amount of light illuminated from the damaged LED bulb dangling from the ceiling. "I belong here."

She said it smoothly, as if there was nothing to fear. Nozomi fell silent as the taller girl walked around her, past Yuutsu who had stood up and moved to the back of the room, his face hidden in shadow.

"I have been brought up here, and I was the one tasked with bringing the three of them here. By that, I mean Umi, your beloved Eli and Maki." Hoseki paused in her steps and whirled around to face Nozomi, who had a look of pure shock scribbled all over her lineaments.

"Then, to make things easier, I had to-"

"Stop, Hoseki. You cannot tell her too much." Yuutsu spoke up, his blue eyes staring coldly at his younger sister.

"I'll tell her as much as I please." Hoseki leaned forward, her bronze eyes now harsh and stern. "Besides, there's nothing else left for her but to die."

"I'm not letting that happen." He growled and took a fighting stance. "I still need her."

"Have it your way." She huffed, and turned back to Nozomi. "Anyway, I was the one who handed out fake newspapers to your doorsteps. There is a reason why the police never investigated Umi's disappearance."

"Basically, I never called the police about what had happened that day. I was trying to, you know, keep it all quiet." She continued, biting her lower lip.

"How...could you?" Nozomi whispered, letting the taller girl's words sink in. "After all the hard work that Honoka-cchi went through to bring you up, this is how you repay her?! By doing all this?!"

Hoseki turned away slowly.

Her hands hung loosely by her side, and she did not say anything for a while.

"Leave her out of this."

"There is no way to do that!" Nozomi stood up, and came face to face with her, her entire body trembling with uncontrollable anger. "She has already been involved since the day you decided to whisk Umi-cchi away!"

The bronze-haired girl balled her hands into frustrated fists. "I told you to keep her out of this."

"No I will ne-"

"SHUT UP!" Hoseki screamed, her head inclined towards the cool floor and her body shaking with fury.

Nozomi did not know if she should feel mad or scared, staring at the once innocent playful silhouette standing in front of her.

It seemed impossible that the little girl she once knew could grow into such an unbalanced person. Especially after all the love Honoka had showered upon her.