Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

‘The players in the waiting lobby before the game are split into Crewmates and Impostors’…

Nah, just kidding. I shall not bore you with the rules of the game because they are indeed very mundane.

For the rules of the game, simply refer to the Prologue of my first book, ‘An Among Us Story - Live on the Skeld’. Hope that you like this book!

Chapter Text

“Urgh… I told you that it was Yellow and Pink!!!!” I exclaim in frustration to no one in particular as the game ends, with Yellow and Pink having won the game by sabotaging the reactor with 3 Crewmates left. I watch the replay that is playing in the transport ship and see that the surviving Crewmates didn’t even freaking try to fix the reactor but instead spent the remainder of their limited time running in circles and screaming like a horde of prisoners set free.

Bruh… why don’t the Crewmates whom I play with in the public lobbies get it??? Like in all of my previous games, I see people faking the card swipe right in front of my eyes so obviously and I always rat them out during an emergency meeting that I call, but of course, NO ONE listens and they all skip. Then, I immediately get killed by those fakers and I still lose!!! How unfair is that??

Facepalming at the Crewmates’ obvious ‘intelligence’, I sigh as I close my eyes and lean against the chair that I am sitting on. I feel my artificial heart, which is pumping with a ferocity which is as strong as my anger towards the remaining Crewmates’ obvious failure to vote Yellow and Pink out… I really need to find a smarter lobby to play in…

“Bruh… he’s such a know-it-all… always thinking that he knows who the Impostors are…” I hear someone’s voice in the darkness.

OMG… that is the last straw.

In a heartbeat, I am on my feet and am stomping over to the person who uttered that sentence.

“How dare you!!” I yell at a shocked Orange and Green. “I was RIGHT, wasn’t I? I said that it was Yellow and Pink and all of you didn’t vote them out!! Like why?? Why???”

Orange and Green glare at me silently, their eyes piercing me like daggers as they clutch each other protectively.

“Dude, we weren’t talking about you…” Green mutters irritably. “We were talking about Blue. He literally said that Brown vented in the Laboratory because he ‘suddenly’ appeared in one of the toilet cubicles below the Laboratory, but actually, Brown had passed by him and he didn’t know because he was doing a task.”

“Oh, um… is that so? If th-that’s really the case, umm… sorry…” I apologise abashedly. Orange and Green, however, continue to stare at me, obviously because they are pretty pissed off at my outburst towards them.

The bell which signifies that we have arrived back at the waiting lobby rings out, breaking the awkward tension between the pair and me. Turning around, they start to huddle together and whisper to each other, all while glancing back at me every now and then.

It is only when I step back into the waiting lobby that I realise that Orange is the host of this lobby.

“Sorry, dude, but you’ve been kicked out of this lobby…” A guard who was stationed in the waiting lobby suddenly approaches me, putting his hands gently on my shoulders and towing me out of the waiting lobby. Startled, I jump and start to resist him a little.

“But… But why?” I protest. “What did I do?”

However, the guard continues to push me wordlessly out of the waiting lobby into a random ship.

“I don’t know. The host of this lobby has just told me that she is kicking you from the lobby, but you can rejoin if you want to,” The guard simply says before I step into the ship.

’Not dreaming of it,’ I think as I realise that Orange had probably kicked me out of the lobby because of my ‘extremely rude’ outburst towards her and her ‘BFF’. Rolling my eyes in exasperation, I sigh as the random ship that I am on commences its journey, going around to different lobbies at a snail’s pace. I am able to view the settings of each of the lobbies on screens attached to the outside of the lobbies.

That is when my eyes catch a particular setting of a particular lobby.

‘# Common Tasks: 2’

2 Common Tasks. 2. Like, woah, nice… I will definitely be able to ascertain who the Impostors are if I am a Crewmate. The lobbies that I am in always have either 0 or 1 common task(s). Like, come on. Proper lobbies need to have some sort of commonality between the Crewmates’ tasks, right? If there is no commonality, how would we know for sure who the Impostors are?

Smiling with the satisfaction of coming across a perfect lobby, I ask the person who is manning the ship to stop and he does obligingly. I step out of the ship and into my new waiting lobby.

What greets me immediately is a myriad of different characters. Some people hang out in pairs, while others just sit alone. This is unusual to me because in the lobbies that I join, everyone is usually very chaotic as they talk over one another’s voices. This lobby, though, seems to have a pretty good mix of people.

I see Pink and Green hanging out in a pair (urgh, Green again) and chattering about random stuff, from what they had eaten for lunch to what they would do if they were Impostors to how they were going to convince their friend to join them in an Among Us game? Okay, that was weird. Deciding not to approach them, I instead go over to Purple, who is sitting alone and looking down at her hands (clearly not the extroverted type).

“Uh… hi…” I don’t even know why I am so nervous. Typically, I am pretty smooth with people...

Hmm… maybe I am nervous because I haven’t joined a new lobby for a long while… I had played with my previous lobby for 2 hours straight so I was familiar with them already (before they decided that they wanted me out :/).

Purple looks up at me and for some reason, our eyes meet and we stare at each other for an extended amount of time.

“Black, start the match, please…” Someone’s rather loud, commanding voice (probably Pink’s or Green’s) cuts Purple’s and my ‘staring contest’. Shaking my head, I laugh uncomfortably.

“Let’s go, Purple… the match is starting soon…” I comment and Purple complies politely, following me towards the exit of the waiting lobby. “I’m Cyan, by the way.”

I don’t know why I said that. She already can see my colour and we usually call one another by our colour names (I haven’t told a single soul in this game my real name, for obvious safety reasons). I am acting so weird right now, for some reason (acting as weird as Pink and Green were acting just now…).

Game starting in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…

I watch as the usual transport ship arrives and comes to pick us up to send us to Planet ‘Polus’. I am so hoping that I am a Crewmate because other than the fact that I like to pick out the Impostors (which you already know), I am reallyy noob as An Impostor. The last time I was An Impostor, I literally killed in front of a Crewmate and she had laughed in my face before reporting the body (like, actually laughed OUT LOUD, for goodness’ sake). That was… extremely humiliating for me and I certainly do not wish to relive that again by becoming An Impostor again.

“Cyan? Is it your turn to visit Dreamland? Let’s go!” A voice suddenly breaks me out of my reverie. Jumping a bit, I refocus on my surroundings and observe as Purple beckons me hurriedly into the ship from the ship itself. I laugh sheepishly, apologise to the other 9 people in the lobby (who are all somehow already in the ship) and run into the ship. As I am doing that, however, I scan the people in the ship (I didn’t really do that earlier) and make a shocking observation.

Except for Pink and Green, everyone else is alone. No one else has made friends with one another… hence there won’t be any teamers! No annoying Crewmates whose friends are Impostors and no protecting one another (with the exception of Pink and Green, of course, but hopefully, none of them would be An Impostor).

There is one downfall, though. The tension in the transport ship is highly-strung like a string which is about to break as people warily size one another up, trying to imagine the various situations in which those they are sizing up are Impostors and maybe, just maybe, also wondering if they have a fighting chance against them. Out of the corner of my eyes, I notice Black sizing me up for a while before she scoffs subtly and looks away.

Ouch. Does my physique look that unimpressive? I mean, I do work out sometimes… the last time I worked out was a few months ago… but somehow, I still look quite skinny…

Ding-ding! I vaguely register that the transport ship reaches our destination but I don’t snap out of my daze. Rubbing my eyes to get myself out of it, I stumble blindly out of the ship.

Suddenly, and without warning, I feel my body lose a significant amount of heat, causing me to shiver uncontrollably. And it is not just the alarming cold that I am exposed to which is causing me to feel like this. For some reason, I have inexplicably been exposed to anxious thoughts about my survival which surface out of nowhere.

What if I really am An Impostor?

Would I be able to pull it off or would I fail miserably again and get voted out again?

And if I am a Crewmate, would I be able to pick the right people and get everyone to listen to me?

I mean… I am unusually tired today for some reason… must be because I haven’t slept for 3 days… work as a Crewmate is hard, you know?

Well… hopefully, I get the role of a Crewmate…

Everyone else gathers in a circle, taking out his/her IPad. I do so as well and brace myself for the worst.

Please don’t get Impostor, please don’t get Impostor…

Crewmate.

I sigh in relief as the familiar cyan words pop up on my screen. Yes! I am a Crewmate! And I can watch people do their tasks!

Looks like my first two questions were for naught… but as for the third question, the answer is yet to be determined…

Looking around, I try to see who looks suspicious but despite the fact that the other 9 take off their space helmets, it is still impossible to see them clearly through my helmet due to the icy climate.

I look at my tasks on my screen.

***

Tasks:
Dropship: Insert Keys
Office: Swipe Card
Communications: Reboot Wifi
O₂: Monitor Tree
Specimen Room: Store Artifacts

***

So… it seems that inserting the keys and swiping the card are the two common tasks in this particular game… time to watch everyone do them…

In an instant, I watch as the other 9 people swarm around the dropship task and crowd around it like a swarm of bees, 2 people doing so to fit in with the rest of the crowd and 7 people doing so to tick off one of the many things to do in their checklist. Drawing slightly closer to them, I toggle my eyes between the movements of the other 9 and the dropship task to see who would fake it.

Just then…

“Brrrr!! Why is it so cold??” I gasp in shock as a gust of wind blows right past me, blowing my hat right off my head. Even my furry red coat is unable to prevent the cold from getting to me and I shiver.

In that moment that I break my gaze away from the crowd, I suddenly hear someone walking away from the insert keys task.

And the task bar obviously did not go up.

Jerking my head up, I watch Red as he retreats into the ship, thinking that he has diverted any form of suspicion away from him by ‘doing’ a common task. Laughing internally, I continue to watch, amusedly, as he stops and sneaks a surreptitious glance towards me and the crowd. Now, why would he do that? He must be An Impostor because in doing that, he is not even trying to do the rest of his tasks… won’t any normal Crewmate focus on his/her other tasks after they have done their first one? What is he doing just standing around?

Well… I have my first suspect in mind… but the second? Still have to watch people do the dropship task…

But wait! Are people leaving the dropship task? Ah crap… Red had distracted me and eliminated 1 of my 2 chances to identify the other Impostor! Now, I also have to go to Office to see people swipe their cards…

Growling softly in irritation, I follow the others out of Dropship. However, my irritation increases when I notice that others flock to different directions. Urghh…

My feet stomp on the pristine, white snow as I tail Red… to Office? Why is Red walking into Office? To fake the swipe? But why?

Quickening my footsteps, I continue to follow Red into Office and see as they pass by the meeting table and turn into the part of Office where the swipe card task is. I don’t peek into that part of Office, though.

Should I go and swipe my card too? Or should I just lie in wait and catch Red red-handed after he possibly kills someone else there?

If I swipe my card with him, I would be able to catch this elusive guy red-handed when he fakes yet another task… but that is not as solid an evidence as if Red actually kills someone else while I am lying in wait at the left part of Office… I would be able to outsmart Red after he kills him/her…

The choice is obvious. Nodding my head resolutely, I hide behind the wall separating the two parts of Office, perking my ears up to hear any signs of a struggle going on on the other side.

Chapter Text

Oh finally! My key somehow found its way to its respective keyhole! Now, I can get away from the jostling crowd in Dropship… crowds make me feel a sense of enochlophobia…

Okay, where is my second task? I should do them in chronological order so that I can tick them off… ohh wait, my IPad does that for me already? That’s cool.

And my second task is…

‘Office: Swipe Card’? That sounds easier than the first one. At least I don’t have to deal with a surging crowd when I do it.

But where is the office though? I should probably use my IPad’s digital map to locate it… andddd AHA!! Found it! (I think…)

Just pass by Storage, Comms and Weapons, then I’m there already… the thought of the lava pit scares me so although it’s actually shorter to pass by the pit, I’ll… rather not.

Staring at my map, I vaguely process leaving the Dropship to pass by Storage. However, as I pass by Storage on my way to Office, a tingle creeps up my spine. Frowning, I turn around but there is no one following me. Strange… I could have sworn that someone was stalking me earlier on…

Eh, that must have been a figment of my own imagination. The iciness of the climate here is so overwhelming that it is making my brain freeze over and making my nerves get excited… and for a rather jumpy first-timer in Among Us, that is not good…

Shaking my head, I continue going to Office. Making a beeline for the swipe card task, I take out my card.

Swoosh. Easyyy…

‘TOO SLOW. TRY AGAIN.’

To my annoyance, however, the swipe card detector rejects my first few attempts to swipe the card, showing the message above in blaring green letters.

Jeez. Why so particular?

Okay, fine, you dumb machine. I’ll swipe faster. Happy?

‘TOO FAST. TRY AGAIN.’

‘BAD READ. TRY AGAIN.’

My futile attempts to swipe my card continue as my swiping speed increases.

Oh wow. This… This is unbelievably impossible. Simply… impossible. I should lodge a complaint after this game is up… basically, a few hours from now.

But as for now, I shall just give up on this insurmountable task and move on. I promise, though, that if the next task is as hard as this one, I’m out of here. Like, dang, I know that this is my first time playing Among Us, which makes me a giant noob, but does the game really have to throw me like this??

I am so engrossed in my thoughts and trying to keep my card in one of my many side pockets that I do not see the knife at my throat until a few seconds later after it is there.

When I do, though, I yelp and stumble backwards in alarm, my eyes widening in horror.

However, when I stumble backwards, I collide into someone behind me.

That someone behind me… his or her arm grips my throat, almost choking me to death. And to my utmost horror, the knife continues to draw ever nearer to my throat. One inch more and it may actually damage one of my veins which are vital to my life.

“I… I…” I start to stammer, lips quivering, knowing that there is probably no one else around apart from my attacker and me… and that if I scream, he or she would be all too happy to slice my throat open…

“Heyyy, Orange…” The whispered voice in my ear bounces around in my head as I try to associate the voice to a very, very familiar person.

Am I going to die? Why is the person behind me not killing me? Is he (or she) relishing my suffering? Or worse, is he (or she) about to make my death so long and gruelling that I would bleed out even before he (or she) actually damages one of my vital organs?

Or even worse, would the person… would he (or she) force me to kill myself?

Would a human be so cruel as to actually do that to a fellow human?

All of these thoughts circulate around my head like blood which circulates around my body (and which, ironically, would not be circulating around my body after either a mere few seconds, or several long minutes).

“Sorry, dude, but you read the rules, I presume? So you should know how the game works…” The person murmurs as the knife starts to make a small cut on my throat.

Wait a minute… it’s coming to me… I… I had always heard his voice (yea, my future killer is a guy)… before the match started, he was literally flitting from person to person, trying to socialise with everyone on the ship… we had only talked for around a minute before he had disappeared in search of another person on the ship to talk to…

“R-Red?” I manage to force out of my mouth, in the few seconds that it can actually open, before my mouth clamps back shut again.

“Ah, dang…” Red sighs bitterly as he continues to press the serrated edge of his knife against my throat. “Guess I’m not the mysterious type of person after all… but what am I doing wrong?? Every time I try to sneak up on someone, it always backfires… like bruh…”

What the heck is this crazy guy talking about? Don’t tell me that he is An Impostor so often that he has the luxury of experimenting how he should approach his victims? That is the case, isn’t it…

Yup, I’m doomed.

Feeling the cold metal against my throat, I wait for my end to arrive. I can’t run, after all… he’s literally holding me in a headlock and I… I’m not even strong enough to consider resisting him, an expert in the game…

Tick. Tick. Tick. The ticking of my second-hand in my analog watch makes itself present in the noiseless room as Red and I continue to stand stock-still in the Office, with me silently choking and Red with the knife still at my throat.

“Uhh, R-Red…” I stammer, squirming slightly to avoid getting asphyxiated. “What exactly are you doing? A-Are you trying to choke me before, you know… knifing me or something?”

At that moment, Red recoils back, letting go of me.

“Urgh… and I did it again…” He mumbles as he makes a zipping sound with his spacesuit pocket. Confused, I whirl around to face him.

Just to see him zipping open the side compartment of his suit and placing his knife gently into it.

Wait. H-He’s not going to kill me?

“Red?” I frown at him. “Y-You’re not going to kill me?”

“Urk… seriously? At a time like this, you plan on disappearing on me, you stupid gun?” Red mutters furiously under his breath as he rummages through the many pockets of his spacesuit. “Wait, actually, no… I’m horrible at using the gun… argh, you know what? I should just use the knife…”

Huh. So Red’s a noob Impostor? Seems like it.

I’m in luck, then!

Without wasting any more time, I speed to my left, avoiding Red altogether.

I must make one round around the perimeter of Office and then come back and press the emergency button… ejecting the Impostors is of utmost importance to me right now…

C’mon, Orange… run run run…

Bang! All of a sudden, a shot rings out behind me, and before I know it, I am on the floor as blood flows out of my shoulder.

“Oww…” I whimper as I clutch my left shoulder. This action, however, does not help me in any way as I find myself instead pushing the bullet further into my shoulder, inducing a fresh wave of pain at that area as I howl.

“Oh, shucks… sorry, I was aiming for your chest, but I somehow hit your shoulder instead…” Red chuckles sheepishly as I continue to lie on the floor, my screams subsiding into groans.

At this point, I am unable to even tell if he’s being genuine or not… as blood gushes out of my wound at alarmingly spasmodic rates…

“Nevertheless, though… Did you really think that I was so bad an An Impostor that I would let you slip away? I was just putting up a pretence the entire time!” He looms over me as he does his ‘bad-guy’ talk, before adding, “Umm, except for the part when I said that I’m bad at using the gun… that’s actually true…”

He’s above me and I’m crawling on the floor… it’s useless to fight back…

He stomps on my right ankle, causing tears to well up in my eyes and disabling my ability to escape.

“Ah well. Target practice for me, I guess,” Red’s nonchalant voice rings around the empty room. “Oh yeah, Orange,” Red addresses me by name, causing my body to seize up involuntarily, “after I kill you, you’ll, uhh, get fixed up on the medical ship after your body is reported or after the first meeting is done… so you won’t really die per se.”

And that’s the reason why this guy is so uncaring about death? Seriously?

“Still, though, do me a favour, will you? Stop wriggling around… and more importantly, don’t scream.” I feel my killer raise his right arm towards my head as a flurry of butterflies swarm my stomach, causing a tingling sensation there.

I’m really going to die… ironically, the only small source of comfort for me is about what my own killer said - that I’ll somehow get revived on the ship…

What ship was it again? Ah yes… the medical ship… I’ll be fixed up on that ship… but of course, an intrinsic part of me knows that I’ll never be the same old Orange again…

Welcome to Among Us, Orange.

P.S. I completely disobeyed the last part of Red’s request about screaming.

Chapter Text

The silence around me is nerve-wracking. Like, I am standing in Storage, all alone, with absolutely NO ONE around me, and the only sound that I can hear is the steady drizzle of oil that I am pouring from the oil can in Storage into my own canister…

Imagine that you are in my position. You are filling your fuel canister in Storage, with no one accompanying you around, and thus you are an open target. Anyone can just come in and kill you, just like that. Even if someone doesn’t shoot or knife you from behind, someone might jump out from the vent (‘hole’) right in front of you and snap your neck… I’ve overheard Red’s horror stories about his many deaths in the past (I hope that he’s alright and not dead…).

Now, if you are in my position and have heard horror stories about death before, how would you feel?

That is exactly how I am feeling now as I fill my fuel canister, alone, in Storage, all while looking around wildly to see who is around me. To my relief, however, I manage to fill my canister successfully and nothing has happened to me… yet.

Relaxing a bit more, I exit Storage, lugging my canister to the engine on the right. As I do so, however, my mind starts to drift towards the new guy…

Cyan though. He’s the only one who has really talked to me… the others just… don’t. Not like I really talk to them, though… I tend to shy away from people in general, even most of my family members… which is why when Innersloth opened up Among Us, my mother, who is one of the very few people whom I am actually close to, encouraged me to sign up for it.

As you can see, it just didn’t work out… until now.

Slam! All of a sudden, I ram into somebody in front of me, headfirst. To my horror, the impact of the blow causes my hands to drop the canister, spilling the oil which I had painstakingly filled my canister with.

“Oww…” I gasp as I sprawl onto the floor painfully, my head throbbing as precious oil continues to flow out of my canister.

“What the shit…” A rather snappy girlish voice rings out as the girl whom I had knocked into gets up, rubbing her forehead. “Not again!”

Oh crap.

No… not her again…

“Oh no! Black, I’m sorry…” I apologise quickly as I continue lying on the ground. “I swear, it was an accident…!”

“Purple, what the heck, man…” Black grumbles. “How is it that you are so clumsy? Like, are you blind??”

Dang it. Fancy running into her again. She’s the worst. Not only is she a noob Crewmate who accuses random people, but she also has a reallyyyy short temper. Trust me, I’ve played enough matches with her to feel her wrath in all of those matches.

The way she accuses people… I can’t believe that she can so freaking convincing when she points fingers at random, unsuspecting Crewmates for doing the least sus things, such as taking too long on the download or strolling around, supposedly not doing their tasks when in reality, they are actually going to do their tasks or they have already finished their tasks.

I freaking attest to the fact that she’ll be a really good Impostor. I’m serious.

Anyway…

“Purple, stop whining like a spoiled brat on the ground and GET UP! You owe me a proper apology!!” From the blurry scene that fills my eyes, I am able to notice a strange glint in Black’s eyes as she narrows them at me.

“I… I… Black, I…” My lips start to quiver under her scorching glare.

“Uh, hello?? Did I not say ‘get up’, you moron?? Or do you not understand what I am saying???!!!” She snarls.

Damn… sh-she’s so rude…

Feebly, I try so hard to ignore the excruciating pain in my head as I get up, but… but the world is kind of dizzy… my head is spinning…

This time, I slip on the oil.

“Oh my gosh… not again…” I whimper as I land on my back, causing ripples of pain up my back.

“I… I can’t get up… dang it…” Helplessly, I look up at Black, just to see her stalking away and muttering under her breath furiously.

Well… at least I don’t have to apologise to her now. After all, she should have been more c-careful too…

HONKK!! The sound of an airhorn emanates from my right side, causing me to snap my head to the right.

What happened? Did… Did someone die?

Chapter Text

“…she okay?”

“…going to wake up?”

“OH GOSH, A-”

“Honey, there are others around…”

Voices. Voices all around me. Voices in my head… and voices around me.

What’s happening? What’s going on? The Polus game… who died? Was the airhorn pressed for that reason? Even though it was just the game before the last, I had already forgotten some of the details… it’s as if I had gone through a slight amnesia episode…

I remember stumbling blindly to the Office after hearing that… oh wait, yes. Cyan had been the one who had reported the body… and he… he had told me all about it-

Chapter Text

The moment I hear the howl of pain, I cover my ears and bend over, closing my eyes in the process as well. That scream is the most unearthly and high-pitched one that I have ever heard in my entire life…

After what seems like an eternity, though, it stops.

Cautiously, I uncover my ears, bracing myself for another scream.

Worst mistake of my life.

The next scream which comes my way can literally shatter the glass trophy which is just outside Office. Rubbing my eardrums, I stay in my spot for a while.

Gosh! Red’s victim has a really shrill scream… is he torturing him/her or something? I hope that Red is not stabbing him/her with his sharp knife…

Wait, what am I doing? Why am I still standing here, frozen? OMG… What's wrong with me... I should be helping Red’s victim and put an end to his or her suffering…

Without any more hesitation, I dash out of my side of the Office and manoeuvre to the left, zipping open my front pocket just in case I need to report a murder. (Which I would most likely have to do.)

I blink at the scene right in front of my eyes.

Red’s right arm is extended to the ground as his body blocks a mass on the ground. On closer inspection, however, the mass on the ground is… orange in colour. And Red’s carrying a… a gun in his hand.

As if on cue, Orange’s screams stop.

So… Red killed Orange. And now… Orange is dead.

Why am I not surprised? These Impostors are just too predictable, man.

Getting over the initial mild shock of seeing Orange’s dead body on the floor, I am about to fish out my airhorn when the Impostor in front of me lets out a sigh.

“Finally! A straight shot! Man, it feels so good to be able to shoot straight for once… the number of times that I was voted out because I kept on missing my shots is way too many to count…” Red muses.

“Or the number of times that you were voted out due to you being caught in the act?” I smirk as I raise my airhorn, my index finger on the report button.

However, it seems that Red is not done with his act yet.

One second before my finger hits the button, Red quickly fishes out his IPad and hits another button on it, causing him to seamlessly morph, with a short rumbling sound, into a certain female Crewmate with a purple suit.

H-He’s… a SHAPESHIFTER??? Or is it Purple who is the shapeshifter? (Honestly though, the imagery of the game is amazing. The nature of the shapeshifting ability of the Impostors is such that even a seasoned player like me would be unable to look past the holographic image of the Crewmate whom the Impostor is faking the identity of.)

No… it can’t be Purple who is the Impostor. Red was the one who faked the Dropship task, after all.

All of a sudden, a few milliseconds after I had pressed the report button, a black mass of static covers my visor, temporarily blinding me.

That part never fails to wow me. You see, if the host of a lobby sets the settings of the game such that there is a chance (even a small one) that at least one of the Impostors would be a Shapeshifter, this will happen after a body is reported or an emergency meeting is called. Cannot have the reporter see the Shapeshifter immediately morph back into his/her original form, can we, now? In this scenario, all the players on the map would also be required to put on their helmets so that they can see the same scenes in front of them - the black mass of static, followed by the original view which the players were seeing before the disruption, just without other players in the view. The last part, though… the only flaw of the mechanics of the game. You’ll see my point later.

“Ow!” A high-pitched voice rings out shrilly outside the Office as I am entering the left side of the room (where I had hid just now). “Who stepped on my foot? I just had a pedicure yesterday, you know…!!!”

“S-Sorry! I… I didn’t mean to!!” Another voice rings out, garnering a few sniggers from other people. Letting out an exasperated sigh, I trod into the left part of the room, arms outstretched to feel for the presence of any other people around me.

The moment I enter the room, however, a circular cyan-coloured spot on the floor appears on my visor, with a cyan arrow pointing to the middle of the spot. Gratefully, I bound towards the spot, which lights a green colour when I step into it. Almost immediately, my visor changes back to its original setting, allowing me to see the others stumbling into the room from both entrances.

“Woah! Careful!” I exclaim in surprise as someone crashes into me from behind, causing me to tumble into the table a bit.

“S-Sorry!” An apologetic voice rings in my ear as I whirl around. “I… I… uhh…”

Purple, the girl whom I had chatted with before the game, chuckles awkwardly as she gets off my back, which she had used to break her fall.

She’s so clumsy… but somehow, that’s cute. Even her awkward, tinkling laugh is cute… and as she takes off her helmet, I cannot help but notice the distinctive outlines of her face, which exhibit a kind of grace and beauty as she smiles sheepishly at me.

“Ah, it’s okay,” I get into a dignified position as I clear my throat, ignoring the soft snickering of Brown beside me at my right side. Not taking off my helmet, I do a mental headcount as the rest of the Crewmates find their spots and start to take off their helmets.

Okay, good… seems like everyone is here already…

Time to kick out An Impostor, then.

“Guys… I present to you… our first Impostor!” I announce smugly as I point at Red.

“Me? Why me? I was just humbly uploading data in Comms after having downloaded it in Office!” He raises his eyebrows innocently as he places a hand on his chest. “Any reason for why you’re blaming me, Cyan?”

Bruh, is this guy serious? I literally caught him in the act!

“Uhh, Red… I really don’t think that there is a point in trying to cover up for yourself here,” I roll my eyes behind my helmet as I face him. “I saw it for myself. You were standing right in front of Orange’s body after killing him! All you have to do now… is to admit it!”

“Cyan, why are you blaming me?” Red chuckles awkwardly as he maintains his facade, much to my irritation. “I mean, I admit that I did see Orange in Office while I was in there downloading the data… he was swiping the card… but after downloading, I promptly left. And when I left, he was still alive!”

“Dude. I saw you. Just admit it!” I exclaim, facepalming as I shake my head.

“Cyan, you couldn’t have possibly seen me. When you reported the body, I was in Comms uploading the data. Unless… you were the one who killed Orange after I left… and since you saw me with Orange last, I am the perfect cover-up for you?” Red questions me.

W-What? What the frick??

“No!! Why would I self-report so early in the game??” I exclaim, exasperated that I had caught Red so blatantly killing Orange and yet he is still so unwilling to back down. These kinds of guys are the worst, I tell you.

All of a sudden, an idea strikes me.

“Wait… Was anyone watching the cams in Security?” I address the rest of the Crewmates. “If someone was watching cams, that person may have noticed that Red did not leave the Office and that therefore, his theory holds no grounds!”

Silence.

“Umm… no one was watching?” I iterate slowly, looking around at the others. To my absolute consternation, however, some seemed to have just noticed the feud between Red and me. Pink and Green are frowning confusedly at me (they must have been gossiping to each other or something), Brown is still busy taking off his helmet and Black is fiddling with her helmet. Honestly, only Yellow, Lime and Purple actually seem to be paying attention to the dispute between Red and me.

This is going to be harder than I thought.

“Okay, fine, so no one was in Security. Then, where were all of you?” I sigh.

“Uhh… I was in O₂ with Lime,” Yellow raises his hand by a slight inch, as if he is asking for permission to talk. “He was monitoring the tree and I was doing the trash… so I think that he’s safe?”

Much to my surprise, however, Lime simply nods, remaining silent and not contributing anything else. What unusual behaviour.

Yet again, silence falls on the room as all the people in the room eye one another, as if they are secretly willing one another to speak up. These people really remind me of students in school when the teacher is asking for volunteers.

Seems like I have to pick people, then. JUST like in school.

“Green? Where were you?” I inquire, scrutinising every inch of her face for any signs of guilt.

“Oh, me?” Green points to herself innocently as she raises her eyebrows questioningly.

Who else???

“I was in the Boiler Room with Pink. We were doing tasks together,” She drapes an arm around her best friend’s shoulders and chuckles nervously. “I think I did see Yellow just outside the Boiler Room… as he said, he was doing the trash.”

Okay, so I guess Yellow, Lime, Green and Pink are safe. For now.

“Brown, Black, Purple…? You’re the last ones. Where were y’all?” My voice changes into an interrogatory one, knowing that if Yellow, Lime, Green and Pink are temporarily cleared, Red’s Impostor partner is probably among these three…

Okay, maybe not Purple. Firstly, Red wouldn’t shapeshift into his fellow Impostor mate, and secondly, she’s behaving too innocently to be An Impostor (although that could just be a front, but she doesn’t seem to be one for fronts)…

“I was in the Lab,” Brown states. “No one else came in, though. At least not while I was there.”

“Brown, I literally entered the Lab after you did and left earlier than you,” Black pipes up haughtily as she glares at him. “Wow, if I didn’t say anything, I would have been sussed, man.”

“I didn’t see you, though,” Brown mutters. “When did you come in…?”

“Seriously, Brown? Seriously?” She snarls at him. “Are you that blind?? I came in while you were busy doing samples, then you went to align the telescope! I mean, you may not have seen me, but did you seriously not sense my presence in the Lab??!!”

Hmm… Brown didn’t see Black in the Lab? Could it be…?

“Uhh… I… I guess I was so engrossed in doing my tasks that I didn’t see you. Sorry, Black…” Brown apologises (rather meekly, in my opinion) under Black’s furious glower.

This is definitely going to be harder than I thought.

“You… You… Haizz…” Black sighs as she rubs her forehead. “Okay, never mind. While I was leaving the Lab, I saw Purple outside. She can vouch for me. Right, Purple?”

Wow, that last part sounded harsh. Why does she sound like she’s forcing people to vouch for her? Also, she’s staring pointedly at her… as if she’s accusing her instead of getting a vouch from her.

And… I can see Purple’s face. From listening with rapt attention to the events in this meeting to suddenly flinching under Black’s gaze. Ironically, instead of looking less sus due to the people whom she forces to vouch for her, she’s just looking more and more sus by the minute. At least in my opinion.

Lips trembling, Purple looks down.

“I… I…” She stammers. “Uhm… y-yeah, I… I b-bumped into her while I was c-carrying the fuel can to the r-right of the Dropship…”

“Ah, there we go! Thanks, Purple,” Black smirks as she directs her gaze towards me. “Cyan, everyone’s said their locations already. What’s the conclusion?”

Uh, duh. I literally said, just a few minutes ago, that Red is An Impostor.

“Well, since everyone’s said their locations already, and most of y’all saw one another at the places which they claimed to be at, I’m telling you all to vote for Red now, before it’s too late,” I comment calmly. “After all, no one saw him in Comms because no one really passed by that area. Makes it easier for him to get away with this…”

“Stop capping, Cyan,” Red retorts. “I said that I was in Comms before everyone said their locations. How would I know where everyone was beforehand? It’ll be impossible for me to fake my location so accurately, especially since I didn’t check the Admin at all throughout the whole game.”

“Let’s say that I really was in Office when the body was reported and I faked my location, saying that I was in Comms. If someone was in Comms before the body was reported, and that person said that I wasn’t in Comms, my plan would have been ruined straight away. Now, why would I do that? If I was caught red-handed by you, don’t you think that me saying that I was in another location would be unwise of me, especially given the fact that I didn’t check the Admin map throughout the whole round? As An Impostor, don’t you think that I would try to accuse you of the murder first, before saying my location? Instead, I said my actual location first, before presenting the possibility that you could have self-reported. So, by this reasoning, isn’t it logical to conclude that your chances of being An Impostor are higher than mine?” Red rambles on and on about his fake theory.

Dammit. He can really talk up a storm.

“Urgh, Red… but you are An Impostor! The moment I revealed myself to you, you shapeshifted into Purple!!” I yell frustratedly at him.

“Hold up, what?” Another voice chimes in. “You didn’t mention that in your earlier testimony… Cyan.”

Oh no. The ‘shapeshifting into Purple’ part… I left that out just now…

Shucks.

They’re going to suspect her. They’re SO going to suspect her.

“But… But it’s not her, Black,” I take in controlled breaths as I look steadily at her. “Didn’t Purple say that you two bumped into each other just now?”

“No, SHE bumped into ME!” The abrupt coldness in Black’s voice freezes me, almost making me gasp. “And when she did, she spilled some sort of liquid from her can and she couldn’t get up and say sorry so I just left her there… but I think that it would have been possible for her to have faked the task, though. Yeah, she could have simply filled her can with water instead of fuel and when I left, she could have shapeshifted into Red and committed the murder before shapeshifting back to her original colour again at the moment that you saw her! It’s highly possible!”

That explains the harshness in her tone when she was asking Purple to vouch for her. But dang, her rudeness and condescension towards Purple when she asked her for a favour… poor girl…

All of a sudden, a soft sniffle arouses my attention. Head snapping towards the noise, my heart melts at the sight of the source of the sniffle.

Right next to my left, Purple has buried her face in her hands, shuddering with each breath she takes as she sobs quietly into them.

“I… I did b-bump into h-her… but… b-but… I already said… th-that I was s-sorry…” She blubbers into her hands shakily. Thrown off course at this unexpected situation, I watch her awkwardly as she sniffs a few times.

What do I do now??? I… I have never seen girls cry so openly during meetings… I’ve played 147 matches before this… and yet, this is a new situation for me.

What do girls want when they’re in this… this state? Do they want to be alone? Do they want to be hugged? Is physical contact even suitable in this situation?? A million questions run through my head like gerbils on a wheel.

Her next words, however, galvanise me into action.

“C-Cyan, I… I…” Purple whispers to me and me only. “I d-don’t know w-what to say… h-how am I supposed to d-defend myself against that argument? B-Black’s theory, i-it’s not impossible… but… b-but I’m r-really not A-An Impostor…”

A strange, warm sense of empathy fills my heart at those words, breaking the iciness of my unfeeling heart. Her tiny stature which can be broken so easily… her long, wavy hair which, despite being slightly plastered to her face and neck, still manages to cascade down her shoulders… and her pitiful cries for help…

How can I not at least try to comfort her?

Gently, so as not to make her feel even more sorrowful, I place a consoling hand on her left shoulder.

“Shhshhshhshhshh… Purple, it’s okay… no one is blaming you…” I caress her hair as she continues to hiccup, not removing her hands from her face. “It’s okay… everything is going to be okay… I know that it’s not you… and I’ll tell them that…”

“B-But she’s b-blaming me, Cyan… and I… I d-don’t want to get e-ejected…” Purple stutters but her breaths become less shaky as she starts to lean on me.

“Aww… I ship…” Much to my utmost embarrassment, Brown (who just happens to be on my right) eees and awws as he faces me huddling Purple uncomfortably.

“Cutee…” Pink makes cutesy faces as she makes her fingers into a rectangle-like shape. “Wish I had my phone here. I would have taken a picture… my followers would slurp this up instantly!”

My face flushing, I pat Purple’s shoulder before righting her.

“Uhh… I think we should vote. This meeting has gone on for, uh, far too long already…” My body starts to heat up rapidly in the cold climate of Polus as I vote for Red on my IPad. “All of you, just vote for Red and get it over and done with.”

“Well, I’m voting for you, Cyan,” Red murmurs as he presses some things on his IPad as well.

When he is picking up his helmet, however, he smirks.

Chapter Text

Note before chapter: Due to the fact that Red understands Japanese, I put the Japanese-English translation here. Yepp, my characters aren’t monolingual… (some of my characters are even trilingual and Red’s partner is one of them).

I watch triumphantly as the others vote, unsure of who the liar is even though the answer is obvious.

Red: 2

Cyan: 2

Purple: 1

Skip: 4

Whew! That was a close one! I thought that I was a goner for sure...

My, my, this crew really isn't the smartest. Only one person has decided to believe Cyan... that guy should really be more convincing. Lol.

With that, the meeting ends and several people start to file out of the room. Time to increase my kill streak after slacking in the room for a while.

How would that be done, you may ask? Simple. A sabotage.

The lights sabotage, of course.

Behind my helmet, I grin mischievously as I scan my surroundings. Seems like the majority of the crew has really cleared. Lime (my best friend), Cyan and Black are the only other ones in the room apart from me.

Oh no. Cyan... is he going to press the button again? Or... does he have another reason for staying here? He's looking at Black (who's playing with her helmet) strangely... is he going to talk to her?

And about Lime... I should get him to stick with Yellow. He may see through me if he's around me too much...

Inching towards Lime, I put a hand on his shoulder.

"Heyy, Lime... could you tag along with Yellow for this round? I need to do my tasks quickly, and, uhm... it'll just be easier if we split up until I'm done with all of them..." A flood of lies spill out from my mouth as I glance at Cyan and Black, still curious as to why they're still in the room with us.

Nodding firmly, Lime leaves the room. Out of the corner of my eye, however, I glimpse Black suddenly snap her head towards Lime's retreating figure.

It's not the first time that she's shown interest in my best friend, though. Throughout all of the times that we've played together (like 7 games), Black has been eyeing him. Of course, he doesn't return this interest in her.

No offence, but I wonder why she even tries. I mean, Lime is wayyy out of her league, being a true badass and all. With a 6th Dan black belt (I think it's called rokudan) in karate, his fighting skills are not to be underestimated. I mean, I've never actually seen him fight in real life, but he's shown me videos. Also, as one may expect from a karate expert, he doesn't have much interest in girls.

This is the exact reason why he's perfect when he is An Impostor. When he is one, at least.

Anyway... time to sabotage. I turn away from the remaining two people in the room, my IPad in my hands and my finger ready to press the light sabotage button.

3cm away from the button... 2cm... 1cm...

A scuffle behind, however, stops me from pressing the button.

"Uhh, Black? Can we talk?" Cyan's rather hesitant voice reverberates around the silent room, causing me to furrow my eyebrows.

Talk? Talk about what...?

"Not now, Cyan," Black mutters snappishly as the sound of someone colliding against the table causes me to whirl around. "I need to talk to... someone."

"Hey hey hey, calm down, guys..." I start, but undaunted, Cyan grabs her hand right before she steps out of the room.

"Cyan, let go of me," Black growls. "Because if you don't..."

"What you did to Purple... that was uncalled for," Cyan begins crossly. "She cried while you were accusing her, for goodness' sake. She cried."

The tension in the air is growing. I can just feel it. And it won't dissipate any time soon.

"What are you, her caretaker?" Black snarls as she jerks her hand sharply away from Cyan's hand. "She doesn't need protection, you know. She's just pretending to be weak. She wants to hide her true identity from everyone in this room, you rookie!"

"As a matter of fact, Black, I've played 147 matches before this one. How many matches have you played?" Cyan retorts, his voice rising in an unearthly manner as he glares hotly at her.

Watching the scuffle, I snicker quietly to myself.

How uncharacteristic of him. He must really like Purple.

The two of them hugging during the meeting though... thank goodness it happened. It was the distraction that I needed to divert the Crewmates' attention away from me... and it was kinda cute as well. Definitely ship material. Cyan must have been blushing under his helmet the whole while when people were goggling at him.

"As a matter of fact, Cyan, the number of matches that one plays does not determine how well one can read emotions, y'know," Black scorns him as she stalks out of the room, leaving Cyan bewildered at her rudeness.

"Gosh, she's so rude, man..." Cyan mutters under his breath.

Tell me about it, Cyan. Tell me about it.

"How do you even put up with her?" He turns to me questioningly, his expression unfathomable under his helmet. Then all of a sudden, he gives a start as he realises who I am.

"Oh, it's you..." He crosses his arms. "Waiting until I'm alone before you decide to kill me, like how you killed Orange?"

Oh wow... seems like this guy really hates me now. His grudge, however, is going to lead to his demise soon... because I had actually forgotten my role as An Impostor before he mentioned it.

"Maaaaybe?" I raise my eyebrows as I shrug my shoulders, making sure to flaunt my sabotage screen in front of Cyan. Upon seeing the screen, Cyan's eyes widen and he dives towards the emergency meeting button, determined to have me ejected this time.

Unfortunately for him, though, my finger meets the lightning bolt on my screen right before his fingers connect with the plastic flap in order to lift it and slam the button. As if by magic, the sign below the emergency button displays the words, 'Emergency Meetings Cannot Be Called During Crises' as one of the lights starts to flicker.

"Shit, the lights..." I hear Cyan mutter as more of the lights start to flicker around us. Surreptitiously, I fish out my 'contact lenses', slipping them onto my retinae before I start to chase down a desperate Cyan.

But it is not all it is meant to be.

Whoosh! All of a sudden, he comes rushing back into the room as he collapses onto the floor.

"Wait, what...?" I murmur in astonishment as someone else enters my field of vision, advancing towards Cyan as he backs into the corner.

Ahh, so it seems like my Impostor partner was justt outside the doors... How sneaky.

As the knife in my Impostor partner's hand meets the Crewmate's heart, I raise my eyebrows.

"Not bad..." I chuckle, impressed, as I clap. "Not bad indeed..."

Smirking, my Impostor partner pulls the knife out from Cyan's chest, causing blood to pool around his wound.

"At least we won't have to worry about him making any more trouble for us... right, partner?" I grin as my partner wipes away the last drops of Cyan's blood from the knife. Focused on cleaning the knife, she/he nods, eyes glinting menacingly.

Silently, I watch as my partner slips her/his stainless steel knife back into her/his side pocket and pats it closed.

"Soo... who should we go after next?" I whisper to my partner in hushed tones as she/he continues to stride over to me. "I mean, the duo are pretty hard to take down now, since they're a pair, obviously... and..."

"紫を殺すべきだと思う (I think that we should kill Purple)," My partner murmurs. "結局のところ、彼女は私たちにとってあまり役に立たない人です...つまり、私たちは彼女のボーイフレンドの死を彼女のせいにすることはできませんよね？ 彼は最初の会議で彼女を保護していました... 彼女が彼を殺す理由はありません。 (After all, she's not very useful for us... I mean, we can't blame her for her boyfriend's death, right? He HAD protected her in the first meeting... there's no reason for her to kill him.)"

Purple? Oh man, but her sobbing during the meeting... I really don't want to kill her.

"Umm... can we choose someone else? I think that she's going to start crying the moment I take out my gun. After all, she did that when she was accused during the meeting..." A sense of discomfort and uncertainty starts to creep up my body at the thought of having to kill Purple.

However, my partner is not having it.

"勝ちたいですか？ (Do you want to win or not?)" She/He mutters harshly as she/he crosses her/his arms, frowning at me.

Of course I want to win... but can't we avoid killing Purple? I mean, killing Lime is already out of the question, but Purple... I'll definitely feel bad after doing it.

"C-Can't we save her for last? We can kill the others first..." I stammer as she/he saunters past me coolly.

"罰金。 あなたがそれをしないなら、私はそれをします、 (Fine. If you won't do it, I will,)" My Impostor partner snaps as she/he disappears into the vent.

Well... I guess we're separating ways again, then, like in the 1st round. At least I don't have to do the dirty job of killing her...

Welp. Since I'm alone, I should probably find someone to kill. Maybe there's some lone soul around who would be an easy target... (hopefully not Purple...)

Wandering out of the meeting room, I find myself headed to the side of the Office where I had killed Orange earlier. (He's probably still mad at me... rip. But eh, he'll get over it. They all do.)

Nope. No luck. There are already 2 people trying to swipe their cards. I'll have to exit the Office, then.

I am about to brisk-walk past the duo when all of a sudden, someone calls my name.

"Red?" Brown's voice stops me in my tracks. "Is that you? I... I can't really see in the dark..."

Yeah, that's me... but why would Brown suddenly ask me that?

"Uhm... yeah?" I whip around to face Brown and the person next to him, who is still frustratedly trying to swipe the card.

"I... I think that we've met before," He taps his fingers against his chin as I walk over to him. "If I'm not wrong... we met in the Airship... ah! The Vault, remember?"

Waittt a minute... that guy? The guy standing in front of me now is the same guy as that guy who got away from me back on The Airship?

"N-No way..." I gasp. "Th-The guy who ran past me when I was reloading?"

Closing my eyes, I recall what had happened in that match.

A few weeks ago...

"Hands up when I can see them!" I pointed my gun towards an unassuming guy who had been trying to position a yellow hat onto a mannequin in order to complete his task. Shocked, he dropped the hat onto the ground and (much to my amusement) actually obeyed, raising both his hands fully and positioning them by his sides.

'Wow, so compliant...' I almost wanted to mock him out loud for his willingness to follow my instructions... but of course, being the sensitive and kindhearted Impostor that I was, I didn't.

"Uhh... R-Red? Y-You're An Impostor?" My new victim stammered as he continued to remain frozen in that position, not daring to move lest I decided just to prolong his suffering or something.

'What kind of question is that?' You may ask. And let me tell you something.

I have absolutely no idea as well. Maybe... a dumb one?

"Umm... obviously? I mean, I'm literally carrying a gun, bro," I furrowed my eyebrows quizzically at him as the question had thrown me off balance (I had expected him to plead for leniency, not state the obvious). "And now, prepare to meet your fate. Goodbye, Brown..."

Impassively, I stared straight into Brown's fearful face, slowly squeezing the trigger of my gun like I had done so many times before.

BANG! The thunderous sound of the gunshot made my ears ring as I fully squeezed the trigger, expecting the bullet to embed itself into my victim's heart and for him to suddenly collapse onto the floor, spewing blood from his mouth.

However, that didn't happen.

"What...?" The pitch of my voice grew progressively higher as I directed my confused gaze to Brown's heart.

Nothing there.

'W-What's going on?' I thought, genuinely puzzled.

And that was when I decided to check my magazine.

And I saw the problem.

And I facepalmed.

"Dang, forgot to load the gun. Dumb, right?" I laughed uncomfortably as I desperately felt around in my pocket for some bullets, with Brown staring at me with astonishment.

'Is he a rookie or something? If he were smart enough, he would be taking the chance to run away, won't he?' was the thought constantly on my mind as I loaded my magazine with bullets. Just a few more and Brown would be in the palm of my hand yet again...

Much to my horror, however, that didn't happen.

"Sorry, Red," Brown murmured as he startlingly pushed past me and bolted out of the room.

Oh, shit! He... He escaped... and he's running straight for the Meeting Room!

In a moment of desperation, I shoved my still partially-filled magazine into my pistol and fired some bullets in his general direction.

"ARGH!" I screamed in frustration upon remembering my ineptness in using a gun. In situations like those, I always tended to forget that my body and my luck disallowed me from shooting straight at my targets.

Bang! Bang! Bang! My trigger finger slammed my trigger over and over again as I chased him down, while praying and hoping that at least one of those fired bullets would slow Brown down in some way.

But of course, that hope was extinguished when Brown reached the base of the ladder leading up to the Meeting Room and immediately started scaling the ladder-

"Red? RED!!" A voice jolts me out of my recollection, causing me to jump in surprise. "Are you okay? You closed your eyes for a while... Are you feeling nauseous?"

I don't want to (no, I cannot) embarrass myself again... I must be the one to kill him this time. (Properly.)

My face flushing slightly, I open my eyes as I smile sheepishly.

"Oh, sorry," I apologise, hiding a smirk behind my sorry facade. "Just trying to remember what happened that match, that's all. Goodness, that was humiliating..."

Brown returns my smile innocently as he waves his hand dismissively.

"Ah, it's okay. We've all made our fair share of mistakes in the past. All we have to do is that we don't make them again..." Brown grins as he holds out his hand. "Cool?"

Man, this guy... I tried to kill him and he just treats it as water under the bridge. How forgiving of him.

This guy's being too nice. I'll be a monster if I disregard his kindness and kill him again...

What should I do?

"Aw, how adorable," A sarcastic voice emanates from behind Brown, making my eyes flicker over to the person swiping the card behind him. "But can you both shut up already? As you can see, I'm trying to focus on getting the dang swipe (GAH!) right!"

Wow, what an entitled Crewmate. It's a pity that I can't kill the Crewmate in front of Brown now... (although I'm sure that he won't actually mind, lol)

"Ah, right. Sorry," He acknowledges the flustered Crewmate with a nod (not like the Crewmate can see it anyway, since it's dark for the both of them) as he calmly pulls me in the direction of the doors, trying to hide the excitement in his eyes at the thought of getting to know his potential murderer better. "Red, let's catch up outside instead. After all, it's not every day that you see a player twice in 2 different lobbies unless you two are friends or something."

Suppressing the urge to chuckle at his poor attempt of hiding his excitement, I nod in agreement at his words.

"That's very true, Brown," I murmur smoothly as the jovial Brown unlocks the Office doors, causing them to open with a hiss. "Very true indeed."

Following him outside the Office, I sigh internally.

Forget it. I can't kill him again.

Maybe next time. But not now.

Definitely not now, when it is dark. Doing so would really make me inhuman.

"So, how are you doing?" Brown enquires, gripping my wrists so tightly that they actually hurt.

Hmm... How am I doing? You mean how am I feeling, other than feeling embarrassed about not having successfully killed him in the Airship? How am I feeling, other than guilt at the fact that I am not doing my role as An Impostor and am therefore not adding $500 to my family's bank account? How am I feeling, other than overwhelming relief at the fact that I could escape said family's incessant quarrelling and fighting back on Earth?

All of these feelings swirl around in me as I stare at Brown, unsure of how to answer his question.

"It's okay, I guess," I end up deadpanning as I give him an expectant look. "How about you?"

Brown grins at me.

"That's great to hear! I'm okay too!!" Much to my shock, he reciprocates my weak answer with an enthusiastic one, indicating his interest in the conversation.

Before I know it, we have delved into various topics, from our various experiences in Among Us (not to mention our shared one) to whether cats or dogs are better. Just as I was about to shoot back a retort about how dogs are better because they don't laze around like cats do, however, the blare of an airhorn stops me short, causing me to groan as black static coats my visor.

Gahh... Of course, my partner just HAD to kill now, when I was busy catching up with someone.

Subjected to the same treatment as the Crewmates, I stumble back into the Office for the meeting to start, hoping that it wouldn't involve me being sussed out again.

Chapter Text

O-Oh gosh… Y-Yellow… h-his neck… his s-snapped neck…

Who could have done this to him?

My body trembles involuntarily at the sight of Yellow’s crumpled figure on the ground as my legs collapse below me. Shaking, my hands try to find a good grip on the zip of my front pocket in order to unzip it and take out my airhorn.

Despite the fact that the sound of the airhorn is supposed to reach every corner of Polus, it hardly registers in my ears as I continue to stare at Yellow, whose still-opened eyes seem to be staring straight at me, imposing upon me the task of finding out who his killer is.

Red. Lime. Green. Cyan. Pink. Brown. Black.

These people flit through my mind as static envelops my visor, causing me to grit my teeth as my world changes. Seconds later, however, the static switches back to the same scenery as before.

Casting my eyes away from the body in the room, I start my journey to the Office, the next step always being heavier than the last.

What should I say to the expectant crowd in the meeting? What would remove any possible suspicion placed on me?

The thing is, I don’t know. I really don’t know. Before I reported the body, there wasn’t anyone whom I had seen… and I wasn’t with anyone (Cyan promised that he would join me in Weapons after he had finished talking to Black, but he must have talked with her for a long time because he didn’t come back and join me). In addition, I don’t have any visual tasks to clear myself.

Crap, this meeting is NOT going to end well for me… and this feeling of impending doom is amplified by the state of the previous meeting.

These thoughts cycle in my mind as I make my way into Office’s meeting room (thankfully this time, I don’t bump into anyone). Stepping on the circular purple-coloured spot on the floor which has a purple arrow pointing in its middle, I take off my helmet, only to see the rest of the players staring at me expectantly while unclasping their helmets. At this point, however, my mouth clamps shut as I struggle to utter a single word.

Pink, unsurprisingly, is the first to break the silence.

“Where?” She enquires as she takes off her helmet, revealing her flaming auburn hair which she tosses upwards, allowing it to flow comfortably down her shoulders.

“Where?” Green chimes in as she, too, removes her helmet from her head and folds her arms.

“Where’s Yellow’s body?” Red raises one eyebrow curiously as his eyes flicker to me, then to the far right side of the room, causing his other eyebrow to shoot up in surprise. “Hmm… and it seems that Yellow wasn’t the only victim this round…”

W-Wait… Yellow’s not the only one who died?

Fear coursing through my veins, I follow Red’s gaze, praying earnestly that it is not who I think it is. Who I don’t see among the people gathered around the table.

But of course, it is.

“N-No! Cyan!!” A strangled cry escapes from my throat at the sight of Cyan’s mangled body, which is marred with a huge stab wound straight through his heart. My vision blurring, I stumble backwards into the wall behind me as I sob.

I’m not going to survive this game. I’m not.

Cyan… W-We were going to go around together. I… I mean, we trusted each other. We knew that the other was not A-An Impostor… a-and that-

“Yeah, yeah, continue with the lovey-dovey crap, Purple, and make us wait for you to calm down and tell us the location of Yellow’s body,” Black snaps, jolting me out of my thoughts and causing my lips to quiver. “We need answers, Purple, not emotions.”

R-Right, Yellow’s body… in Weapons. I need to tell them where it is at…

Fighting back tears, I am about to voice out a “sorry” to the people in the room for keeping them in suspense when something surprising happens.

“Woah, Black…” Red intervenes. “Chill, man. You don’t have to be so mean about it.”

Red… who’s likely to be An Impostor. Did he just defend me? That’s… kind of sweet…

“Wow, Red… what a sensitive person you are,” Black retorts sarcastically as her eyes gleam, irritated that someone has dared to challenge her. “However, time is finite… and I don’t want to spend any more of my time waiting for Purple here to finish with her little emotional outbursts when she sees dead bodies.”

E-Emotional outbursts… That’s what my mourning is to her. That I am overreacting to the deaths of our fellow Crewmates.

Like all this is really just a game to her, not a fight for life or death.

Cyan’s death… Yellow’s death… It’s all just a game to her. Things to be glossed over.

She’s… She’s so apathetic…

“R-Right, I… I’m sorry…” I apologise shakily as I look down and walk back up to the table. “Y-Yellow’s body was at… at W-Weapons…”

There is a silence that follows my words… before Brown breaks it.

“Hmm, okay… where was everyone?” Brown ponders as he casts a sympathetic look in my direction. “Red, Black and I were hanging around in Admin for the majority of the time in the game…”

Hold on a minute.

About Black… Cyan said that he was going to talk to her after the previous meeting ended. He mentioned something about having to settle some… things with her… but not before assuring me that she’ll never “intimidate” me again. (I think what he meant to say was ‘bully’, in my opinion…)

D-Did she…

Did she kill him?

In shock, my chapped lips form the word ‘Black’ as Pink’s whiny voice reprimands us.

“…we were at Electrical, trying to fix the lights… which we had assumed that you guys were going to fix!”

“Yeah,” Green comments simply in response to Pink reprimanding the others.

I sneak a glance at Black.

Could she really be An Impostor?

Nah, what am I talking about? She’s too much of an open book to be An Impostor. For Impostors to remain undetected, they have to be less talkative (like how Lime is a lot of the time… but he’s always like that, though, even in the previous games when he was definitely a Crewmate).

She can’t possibly be An Impostor, yet alone a good enough one to remain undiscovered for this long.

“Welp, sorry,” Brown chuckles nervously as he smiles sheepishly, embarrassed at the thought that he had neglected his duties. “I was waiting for Black to finish swiping her card so that we could go together. People always die while fixing the lights alone…”

“Yeah, Brown, it’s all my fault, right? Then tell me… couldn’t you have gone with Red to Electrical while I was swiping my card? However, you two were so engrossed in conversation with each other that both of you failed to fulfil your duties as Crewmates!” Black interjects sharply as she scowls at him.

Wow, this girl is really sharp-tongued… not that I didn’t know that already, of course.

Another reason why she’s not An Impostor, I guess. But still…

“Bruh… we didn’t want to leave you alone,” Brown scoffs at her rudeness and ingratitude towards him. “Thinking about it now, though, we should have just done that.”

“You little…” Black growls, but Green slams the table before she can get another word out.

“STOP, YOU TWO!!” Green screams at the arguing pair, causing me to flinch and them to quieten down, but to nevertheless continue stewing in their hatred for each other. “Wow, you guys are REALLY quick-tempered, y’know that??”

Woah… I’ve never seen Green looking so angry in my previous games with her. She must have finally cracked after having to put up with Black’s attitude for the past games. I don’t blame her, though. After all, she’s been here longer than I have… and I’m starting to reach my breaking point soon, too.

“Tell me about it, man,” Pink mirrors Green’s vexation levels as she glares at all of us (including me), causing me to wither under her glare. “We’re veering wayy off-course here. My point wasn’t even about the stupid lights… but about the sus levels of you three!”

Pink points an accusatory finger at Red, Brown and Black.

“You three were in the room right next to the Office! 1 or 2 of you could have killed Cyan in the Office and gone into that room!” She yells at them in a condemning manner, causing Black to fold her arms and growl at her.

“Yeah, Pink… but I entered that room from its right side… and joined Brown and Black who were swiping their cards,” Red shrugs, “so it couldn’t have been me.”

He entered the room next to the Office by its right side? But why would he do that? After all, the new round starts IN the Office… right? Therefore, the logical course of action would be to clear all of the tasks in the Office and in the room next to it before going to other places… which would mean that he wouldn’t have to come here again…

Sus. Very sus. And Brown seems to be harbouring the same thoughts as I am, for he frowns and starts muttering things under his breath, which even I (who is next to him) cannot hear.

“Purple, did you see anyone around Yellow’s body?” Green questions as she exhales slowly, trying to dissipate her annoyance at the meeting’s failure so far.

Shit. I knew that someone would ask me that question… but my answer…

Is ironically not going to be in my favour.

“N-No… I… I didn’t see a-anyone…” I stutter as I nervously look down, my stomach clenching up as I clearly imagine the thoughts running through their heads. What they must think of me right now.

That I’m horrible at concealing my emotions. That I’m either an extremely bad Impostor or a really foolish Crewmate.

That I killed him.

This… This is exactly why I d-don’t like talking to people. I… I c-cannot handle talking to strangers… but I didn’t w-want to disappoint my p-parents, who were so ardent in persuading me to sign up for this…

“Self-report, maybe?” An all-too-familiar scathing voice cuts through my thoughts, making me squirm away from the table as I cross my arms tightly (I tend to do that because it feels comforting). “I mean, I did find her sus last meeting… she could just be trying to seem less sus by reporting Yellow’s body now!”

Dammit. I shouldn’t have said it like that. I knew that I shouldn’t have said it like that.

W-Why did I say it like that? W-Why couldn’t I make my own life easier for myself by s-saying it in a different way?

C-Cyan… H-He would be a perfect alibi for me now…

Tears welling up my eyes at the harsh accusation, I cast my gaze entirely away from the table as I blink them out of my eyes.

“N-No…” My whimper sounds as broken as my chances of not getting ejected are as I shakily slide my helmet onto my head, even though that is not recommended in a meeting. “Pl-Please…”

Shucks… and now, they pity me because they think that I’m weak.

But you ARE weak, aren’t you? That’s why you need people like Cyan in your life… That’s why you leech onto them, even though they don’t need you. You just want to protect your oh-so-helpless self from danger~

That condescending sneer in my head… Ever since I joined Among Us, it has been mocking me, taunting me, even, about my obvious shortcomings when I am face-to-face with people.

Why am I such a failure when it comes to interacting with others?

Sniffling, I freeze up as hot tears start to roll down my face and I start to ruminate on my situation.

For those of you who expected to know everything that happened during the meeting, I’m really, really sorry… for I’ve mostly tuned out of it for now. All I know is that Lime’s name has been mentioned because Brown seems to sus him… but it doesn’t matter, I guess. In everybody’s eyes, I’m still a huge suspect. Lime is just a small digression from me… and they’ll focus their dagger-eyes back on me.

The problem is, I really, really don’t know how to defend myself. I-If Cyan wasn’t killed after talking to B-Black, I… I could have asked him about it. I could also have sought comfort in knowing that I would be safe from any harm, whether it be physical or emotional.

Most importantly, I… I would have an alibi… which wouldn’t leave me totally defenceless now-

“Brown, didn’t you hear what Pink said? Lime’s not An Impostor!” All of a sudden, a rage-filled and very aggressive snarl snaps me out of my thoughts as an especially hostile Black slams the table, her eyes blazing with fury as she grinds her teeth together.

If only I were in Lime’s shoes now… I mean, he’s quiet like I am, and yet, there are people (yes, people, not just one person) to deflect the blame away from him. To verify that he’s safe.

I mean, even though the people who are doing so are not very credible, they’re still people…

However, it seems that someone else doesn’t share the same sentiments as Black and Pink do.

“Oh, really?” Brown frowns sceptically as he eyes the duo. “And what gives both of you the confidence to say for certain that he’s not An Impostor?”

“Do you not trust me, Brown?” Pink retorts exasperatedly as she glowers at him so intensely that I’m surprised that her eyes haven’t burned holes through him.

No offence to Pink, but despite her fire, I still wouldn’t trust her… even if she’s the last person on Earth. Even though she’s not as temperamental and half-witted as Black is, her tendency to run her mouth and to blurt out things without thinking makes her unreliable.

“Of course I don’t! For all I know, both you and Lime could be the Impostors!!!” Brown throws out his hands dramatically to emphasise his point.

Ah, right… that, too, although it’s pretty unlikely that Pink is An Impostor.

As for Red, however… He could be An Impostor, right? After all, Cyan had accused him… and now, he’s… he’s d-dead… but I can’t confirm. The Impostor could also have wanted to frame Red by killing the people who accused him…

“WHAT???!!!” Green yells in disbelief, drowning out Red’s attempts to mediate the situation as she hugs Pink’s shoulders. “Brown, are you even hearing yourself??? I’ve been with Pink for the whole time, man! Stop throwing the blame arbitrarily!!!”

“I don’t care!” Brown exclaims vehemently as he directs his already-narrowed eyes towards the lime-suited player, who is still watching the heated debate nonchalantly (or at least, that’s what it looks like, although that is hard to believe). “Lime is still-”

“Guys!” Black cuts in brashly as Brown is about to finish his sentence, causing him to shoot a withering glare in her direction (which she either doesn’t notice or ignores). “We don’t know who the Impostors are for sure yet… but what we do know,” Much to my horror, she turns to me again, her eyes blazing with determination, “is that most people were either in groups or were too far away from both bodies to have possibly killed them… with the exception of Purple, who reported Yellow’s body! It has to be a self-report!!”

N-No…

Why does she want to get me ejected so much? W-What did I do to her?

“B-But… it’s n-not me…” I stammer as I cower under Black’s glare, but she doesn’t let up. In fact, her expression hardens at my feeble defence.

She… She doesn’t seem like An Impostor… but she’s still d-dangerous… I mean, despite her random accusations, there would still be people who would just f-follow her lead because she’s always the loudest in the room…

W-What if these people decide to do just that? E-Especially Pink and Green… They’ve been doing that for the past few rounds without fail, even though Black is wrong a lot of the time…

What if they vote for me? I… I really don’t want to be voted-

“Okay, look…” Brown intervenes, interrupting my worried thoughts. “Why don’t we skip this vote? After all, we cannot afford to vote wrongly this round… because if we do, we’ll lose. Double-kill, y’know?”

The knot in my stomach loosening up a little, I surreptitiously scan the room, causing me to be met with the sight of people slowly nodding their heads in agreement.

Phew… Thank goodness for Brown. Thank goodness for him indeed…

“Okay, fine…” Black exasperatedly facepalms before sliding her palm down her face. "but the moment another body is reported and no evidence is given, y’all better vote for Purple. She’s been sus all game and we’ve been letting her get away with this for too long!!”

I know it. I just know it.

I don’t have much time left… I mean, I don’t have any visual tasks to prove my innocence, and I still haven’t made any friends here (apart from Cyan, who’s the closest to a friend, I guess)…

“Woah, Black… grudge much?” Pink raises an eyebrow mischievously as she teases her.

S-See what I mean by her running her mouth? I… I know that in a way, she’s trying to protect me… but she shouldn’t have done that.

She really shouldn’t have done that.

Through my helmet, I wince as the air around Black seems to warp due to her smouldering rage, which is directed at one and only one person right now.

“It’s not a grudge, Pink,” She snaps crossly at her as she folds her arms. “It’s the truth.”

I… I w-want to get out of h-here… the atmosphere, it’s suffocating… and I… I feel sick…

“Whatever you say~” Pink does not let up with her rather playful nature as she continues to bait the infuriated serpent into lashing out at her.

And of course, that’s exactly what happens.

“What’s THAT supposed to mean?” Black’s nostrils flare as her eyes glint murderously (strangely, her eyes seem to have a red tint to them), as if she wants to dive at Pink and choke her to death.

Slowly, I back away from the arguing girls, clutching myself tightly as cold shivers creep up my spine. Fear in an intensity as I had never known before takes a hold on me, bringing me to my knees and eventually my bottom as I shut out the world.

“I-It’s okay… B-Black won’t hurt you…” I whimper as I quickly ‘unhug’ myself and instead hug my knees to my shuddering chest. “Sh-She w-won’t…”

Trembling tears roll down my cheeks as I bury my head between my knees to tune out the arguing that I’m pretty sure is still going on.

I stay in this position until someone is tapping on my arm.

“Um, Purple?” A hesitant voice calls me, but I force myself to remain in my position. After all, what if it’s a trap?

“You need to vote,” Brown murmurs to me, causing me to slowly inch my head out of my knees to face him, whose facial features are fraught with worry.

Brown… He strikes me as a very innocent and genuine guy. Surely he won’t be trying to trap me?

With this thought in mind, I slowly push myself up from the floor and go back to the table.

“You okay?” Red enquires anxiously, causing me to turn to him gratefully and nod.

“You were shaking and rocking your body on the floor…” Brown frowns at me concernedly. “Why were you so scared?”

D-Does no one else find Black scary? The look on her face after Pink t-teased her… It’s a look that I’ve never seen on anyone before.

The look that portrays a burning desire to kill.

O-Of course, however, I c-can’t say that.

Heaving, I take a peek at Black, who is simmering but who seems to have calmed down considerably from just now. Thank goodness…

“I-It was n-nothing…” I stammer to everyone in the room. “I… I was just overwhelmed… I-I’m sorry…”

Anxiety twisting my stomach into a knot, I vote to skip, knowing that my ordeal isn’t over and that Black is going to be on my tail again very soon.

Chapter Text

That red guy... HOW HAVE THEY NOT EJECTED HIM YET??? Like, Cyan voiced out his name before he died... isn't it obvious that the Impostors wanted to keep him quiet???

And about his Impostor partner... that person sticks out like a sore thumb!!! It's just SO obvious as to who Red's partner is. Now, 2 more people are dead... and all the 3 of us can do in the medical ship is to sit and watch as the Crewmates continue to debate amongst themselves as to who the Impostors are.

Like, seriously? Grow a brain, people!

"Why..." A sigh from the bed beside me causes me to snap my head to the sound. "Why does this always happen??!! These days, the Impostors mostly win... and not because they're actually good but because the others don't listen to a word I say about their identities!!!"

Cyan... It seems that he's being driven insane by the stupidity of the Crewmates as well.

I shouldn't have been so eager to listen to Oscar on playing this 'game'... or at least, I should have asked him to play with me. However, I was so eager to play this game that I had neglected to tell the admin lady of Innersloth to assign us to the same waiting ship, and we were separated...

How unfortunate.

Never mind. I'll wait out this match, and hopefully, just hopefully, when this match ends, I can call Oscar up and join his lobby... that is, if he has also by some miracle finished his game. (sigh)

Chapter Text

Seriously, man… Black is a handful. She’s the most quick-tempered of everyone here… which makes it so freaking hard to get a unanimous vote across.

I swear, if I were the host of the lobby instead, she would have been kicked from this lobby a long time ago. Like, no one can tolerate her and her rudeness!

I can’t believe that she’s the host of this lobby… ugh!

Glowering at Black, Green and I stroll out of the meeting room and towards the Lab, where we had planned on going while the others had their turns quarrelling with one another.

“That absolute b****,” My bestie rolls her eyes as she sighs, while making sure that we are out of earshot of the other Crewmates. “I can’t believe that she threatened you like that! And Brown… Why would he even think that you’re An Impostor? I’ve been with you this entire time!”

I know, right??? Like, what’s wrong with them???

Geez… I can’t believe that Black and Brown are levels 19 and 29 respectively. They sure do act like they’re level 1!

“Exactly!” I chime in as I likewise roll my eyes. “And do you remember the part at the start when they were arguing with each other? It was like I was watching the video of the baby and the toy cactus fighting all over again! I swear, if you hadn’t intervened, the meeting would never have ended!”

Man, thinking about it now gives me the chills.

Would we actually lose this round?

Nononononono, we cannot lose this round! If we do, I would lose $500… and my 5-streak win as a Crewmate would be lost!

“Those people… They’re really getting out of hand,” Green sighs. “We should leave the lobby after this game so that we don’t have to play with them anymore. After all, we came here to get money, and these people are going to mess up more of our chances of getting any in the future!”

Hmm… I agree with her first point, but…

Among Us isn’t just about gaining money from the ever-wealthy big shots working at Innersloth. I also wanted to play Among Us to… to spend more time with her by playing a rather interesting game.

IPhone games just don’t cut it for me, man.

“Yeah, true…” I murmur aloud, betraying myself as we both enter the corridor leading to the Lab.

“So, moving on…” The serious look on Green’s face makes me snap mine to hers as I listen, with rapt attention, to what she is going to say next. “How should we get Cadence to stop mugging during the holidays and to join us? Our current method doesn’t seem to be working…”

Ah, right, that.

As much as it’s admirable how much passion our dear friend has for her work, it’s infuriating when it comes to trying to tear her away from it. Like, why does she love studying so much?? It’s such a bore!

Memorising the whole textbook, having to do worksheets dished to us daily, scrawling out answers to past-year examination questions… and for what? A series of ‘major’ tests at the end of every year?? Like geez, aren’t there better things to do in our lives rather than study for an endless stream of tests?

Anyway, back to our plan of saving Cadence from the clutches of the education system. How should we do it?

We enter the Lab, where the thunking sound of the wooden floor when we step on it does not help my thinking process at all. Even the newly-bought carpet doesn’t seem to want to help me here. How utterly useless!

“Idk, man,” I shake my head as I flick the switch on the weather node panel. “Any ideas?”

Next to me, Green slides a palm down her face. I guess that she hasn’t thought of one, either.

“No…” She exhales defeatedly as she throws up her hands. “Man, I have no idea why she likes mugging so much. Like, why?”

Wow, it’s crazy how similar our thoughts are. I mean, people did mention in the past that the two of us are like sisters… but I had always brushed that off.

Now, however… I’m starting to think that they had a point.

“I don’t know…” I murmur as we stride towards her task. “Maybe she just wants to retain her 1st place for math in her class? Math DOES seem to be part of her identity, after all.”

Wow, that reason just came out.

“Not to mention that she can write really well too…” Green mutters, a slight tinge of jealousy in her voice as she reaches the telescope.

She can write well too?? I thought that she was only a STEM nerd!! Man…

“How can someone like both the arts and math, right?” A sense of envy creeps into my voice at how gifted my friend is. “Most people who I know either like the arts or the sciences, but not both…”

“I don’t think she likes the arts that much, though,” Green cuts me off as she handles the telescope gently in her hands, looking through it and moving it in order to find whatever she has to find to complete the task. “Clearly, she prefers math to the arts… but she just happens to have a flair for writing as well because she reads a lot.”

Dang, if only I could get some of her artistic flair for my English… then I can actually excel in it.

“Is that so?” A burning sensation fills the pit of my stomach as I raise my eyebrows nonchalantly (in order to hide my envy). “Wow, what talent she has…”

“Yep, indeed…” Green sighs as she freezes in place, the telescope staying stagnant in her hands.

Huh? Why did she stop moving? Is she having a seizure or something??

Whump! All of a sudden, the part of the telescope nearest to us drops as Green releases it, making my heart almost leap out of my chest at how fast it is dropping. (Thankfully, though, it doesn’t get damaged.)

“Wait, didn’t we just deviate from our original conversation?” The animatedness in my bestie’s voice jolts me as I once again focus my attention on her. “We were supposed to find another way to get Cadence to join us!”

Ah, right, that! Goodness, I really get distracted too often. Thank goodness she isn’t having a seizure, though.

For a solid few minutes, we simply stand around in the Lab, thinking about our problem and how to solve it.

“Perhaps we could-” Green mumbles, but I cut off her musings as an idea hits me.

“Ah, maybe we can con her into thinking that there is studying involved in Among Us too!” I suggest as my voice starts to grow more excited. I mean, it could possibly work, right??

Green, however, does not seem to share my excitement as she shoots me a look of incredulity.

“What??? But we’ve been telling her about our experiences thus far and none of them have been about studying!” She exclaims, dismissing my idea in a matter of seconds.

Damn, that’s true… Not that feasible of a solution, then.

“How about we just abduct her?” I joke.

There is a pause as Green tries to process what I just said. Then, her features start to turn up as she bursts out laughing.

“LOL. You can be so funny sometimes, you know that?” She chortles, bending over to catch her breath. I swear, if she were any closer to the ground, she would be ROFL right now.

“I know, right?” I praise myself sarcastically as I roll my eyes.

We continue to think… for 3 seconds, before Green’s perky voice rings in my ears again.

“How about this?” Her eyes widen as she holds her arms out to me. “We just bug her more persistently until she has no choice but to cave in. There’s no way that she’ll be able to resist that!”

More persistent than we already are being? Really?

“Have we not been very persistent already, though?” I counter, furrowing one of my eyebrows at her.

“We can afford to be more persistent, though,” For some reason, Green’s eyes roll up to the ceiling above as her features form a smirk. “Also, we can sprinkle in some interesting events that happened in this game. I’m sure that she would love to hear them…”

“Like, c’mon, who wouldn’t like to hear of the drama that happened during the previous meeting?” Green sneers (rather cruelly, in my opinion) as she looks back at me, bundling her hair into a ponytail. “Not to be mean, but Purple was acting like such a wimp the whole last meeting! Did you see the way she just broke down after Black accused her of being An Impostor?”

Isn’t it kind of mean to use someone else’s suffering to spice up a story, though?

“Pink? Did you hear what I said?”

Smiling forcefully, I choke up a response. “Yeah, we can do that-”

“Heyyy, guys!” A rather familiar voice rings out, halting my conversation with Green as footsteps echo around the room and towards us.

Chapter Text

Note before chapter: Due to the fact that Red understands Japanese, I put the Japanese-English translation here.

Like a couple of frightened deers, the two musketeers whirl around at the exact same time.

“What do you want?” Green demands, folding her arms and glaring at me.

Damn, what a rude response to my polite greeting… I guess she doesn’t like me all that much. Or at all.

“Nothing!” I clear my throat as I hold out my arms in a show of nonchalance. “We’re just here to do tasks, like you two!”

Was that too much ‘extra’ gesticulation? Did that make me sus? I don’t want to get ejected and make my partner ‘carry’ both of us…

Crossing my toes, I wait for the girls’ responses.

The slightest furrow of Pink’s eyebrows tells me all that I need to know.

“Okay, sure…” She narrows her eyes sceptically as she folds her arms in a judgemental manner, mirroring Green almost perfectly.

Shit. They both sus me. My partner and I must eliminate both of them, fast, before they have the chance to voice out their suspicions about me in the next meeting.

Despite this thought being in my head, however, my legs and heart do not cooperate with me as my legs freeze in place and my heart pounds in my chest. Something just doesn't feel right.

“大丈夫、赤？ (You okay, Red?)” The soft voice of my partner drifts into my ears as I tense up.

Releasing the breath that I did not know I am holding in, I give her/him a shaky smile.

“Y-Yeah, I’m okay. Are you ready?” I whisper, hoping that her/his response would give me the courage to do my job this round.

“あなたは私がいることを知っています、(You know I am,)” My partner smirks as she/he surreptitiously reveals her/his knife to me.

Wow, she’s/he’s so prepared to take them down… so cool.

I take a deep breath as I set my eyes on the girls, who have turned back around to do their tasks.

“Okay, we kill them in 3… 2…” I move my lips as little as I can to produce the softest sound I can with them.

Much to my consternation, however, my countdown is cut off by Pink whirling around.

“Hey Red, why’re you behaving so weirdly?” Pink snaps at me. “Like, the way you’re just standing there and whispering makes you really sus, man.”

Oh, crap. They must really sus me now. I have to, and I mean have to, draw their sus away from me and my partner ASAP.

Time to improvise.

“Me, sus?” I widen my eyes in an overly-dramatic manner as I place my hand on my chest. “You wound me, Pink.”

Next to me, my Impostor partner sighs.

“たぶん、赤、話すことは減って、もっと行動することになるでしょうか？ (Maybe less talking, more doing, Red?)” He mutters as he closes his eyes.

Man, this dude is always so serious… too serious, in fact. Still, though, his humourless attitude does not stop me from laughing slightly at my own act.

“Okayyy, sure, sure,” My voice takes on a rather playful tone as Pink and Green goggle at me as if I am a goldfish at an aquarium.

What should I say, what should I say…

…

…aw man, my hand’s already touching my gun. And my head’s still empty.

Ugh, guess I’ll just have to wing it again.

“Say goodnight, Pink!” I chuckle at my own words as I whip out my gun in a flash, causing her to scream in a mixture of fear and frustration as I swiftly shoot her.

Immediately after Pink slumps to the ground, I turn towards my Impostor partner, just to see a smile splitting his face apart as he advances menacingly towards the terrified Green, knife in hand.

“N-No…” She stammers as she backs up against the wall behind her, shaking her head furiously as tears well up in her eyes. At that sight, a tinge of guilt wells up in my stomach (she looks so much like Purple during the meeting) but I tell myself that it is my job to do this. After all, if I stopped myself from ending the lives of those who cried in front of me, my kill count would probably be halved (or maybe even less than that).

Still, though. Killing boys like Orange was one thing… but killing girls just seems plain ruthless. They’re just more defenceless and less courageous than boys, y’know?

But who am I to judge? After all, I HAD just killed Pink, who is the closest to a girl I have ever seen.

The screeching of Lime’s victim is almost immediately muffled by him as he plants a firm hand on her mouth, his eyes glinting.

“Shhh…” The excited glint in his eyes does not go unnoticed by either me or his victim as he puts a finger to his lips. “動かないで下さい。 (Don’t move.)”

Wow, Lime really does enjoy his job, doesn’t he? How… committed.

Thinking about it now, I wonder why, though. I mean, he HAS delved into the martial arts, so getting to defeat his opponents in a fight is probably extremely cathartic for him.

But does killing really give the same sort of catharsis as taking down opponents on the mat? I should ask him about that later.

“W-Wha…?” The usually petty princess, who is somehow as annoying as the girl lying next to her, now drops that trademark trait of hers entirely as her eyes widen like a doe’s when it spots a bobcat locking eyes with it.

Without gracing that with a response, Lime plunges his knife into Green’s heart, finishing her off immediately.

No doubt. No hesitation. No mercy.

Would he kill me like that too if we were on opposite teams in the future? Surely not, right? After all, we ARE friends…

The quick wrenching of a knife from Green’s probably cold body puts a hold on my thoughts.

“Wow, Lime…” I whistle, putting on an impressed facade as I attempt to stamp out the feeling of paranoia beginning to take hold in my stomach. “Your clean kills are always one to behold.”

A satisfied chuckle escapes Lime’s lips as he steps away from the corpses.

“何て言えばいいでしょうか？私のスーツに血が飛び散るのは、非常に…プロフェッショナルではありません。 (What can I say? Letting blood splatter on my suit is extremely… unprofessional.)”

Before I know it, my paranoia seeps away, making me gawp at him.

So cool… How do I become as badass as him? Seriously, how can someone be so cool??

I watch, rather entranced, as he fishes out a cloth from his side pocket and starts to clean his knife. Dang, he even thought to bring one in the case when he is An Impostor… That completely slipped my mind.

The sudden clattering of stuff behind me, however, snaps me out of my trance as I whirl around to find…

OH SHUCKS. OH. SHUCKS.

“I-It was you two…” The witness chokes out as she shrinks into herself, making her seem even more like a preschooler than she always acts as. “It was you two!”

Fumbling around with the zip of her front pocket, Purple covers her mouth to muffle the sound of a sob as she gets a better grip on her zip. The only thing I can physically do now is to stare at her, frozen not in awe but with ice-cold horror.

Purple… I’ve been trying my best to avoid killing her so far because of how wimpy she is. She’ll definitely steer clear of me in the future if I ever attempted something like that… and I don’t want that kind of relationship between us.

No. I can’t kill her. Killing her is definitely an actual crime as compared to killing other people.

6… 5… 4…

Suddenly, for some reason, the drone of a countdown makes itself known to me… in Japanese. Before I know it, my arm is already shooting out in front of my best friend to hold him back as he makes a move towards her.

“Lime, NO!” A yell is wrenched out of my throat as I snap my head left and right as fast as I possibly can.

“なに… (What…)” A perplexed look crosses my normally cognizant friend’s face as he frowns, pushing my hand aside rather roughly.

However, he is too late.

“いいえ！！！ (No!!!)” Lime growls as the shrill scream of Purple’s airhorn almost deafens me, making me cringe (whether it’s more due to the airhorn or the sheer intensity of the growl, I’m not sure). In the split second that I take to blink, black static fills my visor momentarily before the same scene (without people around) replaces it.

Ugh, not again. I mean, forgive me for being hypocritical again (after all, I caused it to happen), but why, oh why, must literal STATIC appear in front of me? It’s so freaking disorienting, and won’t people who are only a bit more sensitive to stuff like this than I am have fainted or something by now?

Ah. That must be why those who are sensitive to flashing lights are not allowed to play this game in the first place.

Sighing through my nose, I trod towards the meeting room in the Office from the Laboratory, trying not to bump into my Impostor partner and the very alive witness who is still alive because of my own stupid, irreversible actions. Man, I did not want to kill Purple there… but why did I have to stop Lime from doing so??? It’s not like he cares about his (non-existent) relationship with her, anyway! Argh…

“赤、なぜ私の手を押しのけたのですか？ (Red, why did you push my hand away???)” I can clearly imagine the glare directed at me through the accusatory tone of his voice. Yeah… Lime may be my friend, but he treats his job as An Impostor (when he gets the role) as, if not more, seriously than the former role.

No getting out of this one easily, then.

“Sorry…” I mutter to him, trying to inject as much genuineness into my apology as I possibly can in order to avoid yet another tongue-lashing.

“そうしなかったら、紫は死んでいて、この会議は開催されないでしょう!今、私たちの誰かが退場になる可能性が本当にあります! (If you hadn’t done that, Purple would be dead, and this meeting won’t be taking place! Now, there’s a real possibility that one of us would be ejected!)” Lime begins his rant as we walk past the lockers outside the Lab without bothering to lower his volume (it’s not like Purple can understand, anyway).

Man, he’s upset. And I made him upset.

“Lime, I’m sorry! I don’t know why I did that… but it was really just an instinctive reaction-”

“W-Which one of y-you killed C-Cyan?” My pathetic excuse of an apology is cut off by her soft stammering, making my head snap to her voice despite myself.

I am unable to see her face, but for some reason, something twists in my stomach in a way that it never has before. Anxiety? Guilt? Sympathy?

No. No, I wasn’t the one who killed Cyan. It was Lime… I shouldn’t be the one dealing with such feelings.

“Ah, about that…” I prepare to throw the ball in Lime’s court but my plan is quickly derailed.

“It was you, Red?” Purple interrupts me, the agitation in her voice informing me that she is certain of it and will not hear any of my excuses.

Ugh, why did I even bother saying anything? Now, she thinks that I did it-

“それは私でした。(It was me.)”

Lime’s gruff admission of guilt, frankly, makes no sense because:

1. Purple doesn’t understand Japanese.
2. I already know that it’s him because I literally saw it.

Still, it makes my head whip towards Lime’s voice in surprise. After all, the dude has never actually confessed anything before.

“Yeah… It was Lime who killed Cyan, but I-” I try to get an apology into the conversation but Purple’s sobbing, of course, cuts through it.

“L-Lime… W-Why? C-Cyan… He just w-wanted to talk to B-Black about how she w-was in the previous meeting, and you… you k-killed him…”

Sighhh… Today is DEFINITELY not a good talking day for me.

But yeah, about what Purple said… It corroborates with what Cyan was trying to talk to Black about earlier in the meeting room. I had forgotten about that amidst Lime’s rather cool kill of Cyan. Those two dudes literally just whooshed back into the room, man.

The way she talked about Lime, though… it really portrays him in a different light. A cool ninja to some… but a heartless murderer to others.

A sigh next to me snaps me out of my musings.

“紫って不思議ですね… (Purple is so weird…)” He grumbles. “私はただ自分の仕事をしていただけだ。なぜ彼女はこのゲームについてそこまで感情的にならなければならないのでしょうか? (I was just doing my job, man. Why does she have to get so emotional about this game?)”

Yeah… As you can see, the concept of emotions is rather alien to my best friend.

To be honest, it has been a recurring problem in the course of our budding friendship. When I complain to him about the problems that I faced with other people in past lobbies (such as people making the dumbest decisions known to mankind), he would always respond with an indifferent ‘mmm’ or a ‘mhm’ or a ‘はい’ (meaning ‘yes’). I even tried to talk to him about it once… but he instantly switched to another topic, halting that conversation entirely in its tracks.

I know that it seems like he does not care about me, but… he does, right?

”Look, Lime…” I make another attempt to introduce my best friend to the concept as the frigid air of Polus hits me the moment we take a step outside (apparently, we had stopped in our tracks outside the rocket room). “I pretty much agree with you, but I also don’t blame Purple for acting this way. I’m sure you’ve observed that she’s a loner… right?”

“紫がシアンにかなり近いことはわかっていますが、それでも！ 彼は実際に死んでいるわけではありませんよね？ (I know that Purple is pretty close to Cyan, but still! It’s not like he’s actually dead, right?)” Lime growls aggravatedly, actually seeming annoyed with her now. Not unlike how I’m feeling towards him.

Sorry, correction. I mean towards his lack of empathy. I’ll never be annoyed at him. I can’t.

He’s too good for that.

“I don’t need you to accept her emotional state, Lime,” I shake my head in exasperation. “I just want you to understand why she’s acting like this!”

Does he understand? Or would he divert the conversation again?

The answer to my questions comes in the form of a breath of rushing air. The Polus wind getting stronger? An inhalation? An exhalation?

“はい、わかりました、 (Yes, I understand,)” Lime concedes, although the drop in his voice sounds like he’s just trying to placate me rather than understand anything I just said. “不機嫌になってごめんなさい、赤… 感情的になりすぎる人はとてもイライラします。 彼らのことは理解できません… (Sorry for acting up, Red… I just find overly-emotional people very frustrating. I can’t understand them…)”

Wow, one having self-awareness about his weaknesses isn’t something that another comes across every day.

”Yeah, you mentioned that before,” A bittersweet chuckle escapes my lips before I can stop it. “I was just thinking about that a few seconds ago-”

“What are you two talking about?” A feminine voice cuts through my words AGAIN as we pass Storage and round the corner of Office. Of course, both of us have the right mind to zip up immediately.

The rare silence, of course, does not last.

“I knew it,” Purple’s anguish is revealed as she forces words out. “Both of you are plotting what to say during the meeting and your moves after that, aren’t you? A-And you’re doing it in front of m-me, w-who’ll probably get voted out this time b-because 2 always beats 1 in meetings…”

A sniffle.

“B-Black… She’ll be onto me again… and with at least 3 out of the 5 of us voting for me, I’ll be e-ejected…”

She’s not wrong about the ‘2 beating 1’ thing. She’s really not. There’s been no shortage of incidents in the past when I had foolishly separated from Lime for a few seconds during lights out… and I stumbled upon dead bodies on the floor.

Dead bodies, which were right in front of two savagely grinning Impostors.

Let’s just say that those incidents never ended well for me.

A nudge to my side interrupts a particular flashback of me getting shoved roughly off the platform.

“​​私の言っている意味が分かりましたか？ (See what I mean?)” Lime groans in irritation.

See what he means about what again…? Oh right. Purple being emotional.

I mean, yeah, she’s definitely one emotional bean, but still…

“それでも、何？ (Still, what?)”

Oh. I said that out loud.

Okay, about Purple… It’s obvious why she’s like this. Let’s get more into her now that we have more time, shall we?

Black. I have many things to say about her, yet two words summarise it all. Absolute moron. I’m not even exaggerating anything here. In all of my previous matches when I had the misfortune of being on the same team as her (which to be honest wasn’t much because I haven’t been in her lobby for that long, but still), she has been passionately accusing random people of being An Impostor, which led to the majority voting for them despite the fact that she’s always wrong. Seeing how the dumbest of humanity acts really makes me want to leave the lobby… but something else holds me back. Mainly, a desire to teach this girl a lesson or two about how shouting your way through things doesn’t guarantee one’s success by any means.

This match, though, her accusations seem to be homed in on a singular person.

“Black seems to really be targeting Purple this round for some reason,” I whisper, internally crossing my fingers and hoping that Purple cannot hear us. “You get that feeling too, right?”

Expecting an answer, I make a conscious effort to keep my mouth shut. I really want to hear a firm response from him this time rather than his usual non-committal ones when it comes to people.

For some reason, though, the only sound I pick up is the cold air of Polus whistling in my ears.

What’s up with the non-response? Usually when I complain about Black, he would at least acknowledge me with a ‘mhm’ (which I will press this time)… but he is sure taking his time to answer now.

“Lime?”

“​​まさか紫を狙っているとは思えないが、 (I really don’t think that she’s targeting Purple, though,)” My best friend’s response forces my eyebrows up instantly. “たぶんあなたはそれを想像しているだけですか？ (Maybe you’re just imagining it?)”

No way. There’s no way that Lime, being so sharp, missed the especially caustic jabs directed at Purple during that meeting which eventually made her curl into a ball on the floor. And I’m not judging the amount of venom based on Purple’s reaction.

It’s the way that an involuntary shiver crept through my spine in the moments the third Impostor addressed her.

I’m not just imagining those moments. I’m not, right?

“I don’t think so, though. I mean, she literally made Purple cry at the last meeting…” I think aloud.

“紫が敏感な子だということは知っていますよね？ (You do know that Purple is a sensitive girl, right?)” Lime retorts rather harshly (he’s probably getting sick of this conversation) as we are about to step into the right part of the Office. “また、 紫を怖がらせた発言は彼女ではなくピンクに向けられたものでした。 彼女は弱すぎるのです！ (Also, the remarks that scared Purple were directed towards Pink, not her. She’s just too feeble!)”

That’s valid, actually… but still. Black… Her words are outlandish and impudent, yet they still cut deep into people’s skins… no. Through people’s skins… and into their hearts.

“Y-Yeah, but…” I try to articulate that point but Lime seems to have lost his patience as his tone takes on a hint of aggression.

“でも何？ でも何？？ (But what? But what??)”

Weird. He’s almost never like this… eh. Maybe he’s just in a slightly bad mood today and it’s only showing now.

“The way Black was targeting her…” I muse. “Even I felt a little intimidated by her.”

“おい、君は過剰反応しすぎだよ、 (Dude, you’re overreacting,)” His response, coupled with a laugh, comes swiftly, leaving almost no room for argument. “私を信じて。 (Trust me.)”

Strange… Why does he have so much confidence in that fact? He… doesn’t know her more than I do, does he? And the mood change… hm.

“Yeah, maybe,” A slight sense of uneasiness rattles my insides as I try to keep my voice level. “I… I really want to win this, y’know? Being An Impostor is so rare… and I was already sussed at the first meeting, so-”

A sudden weight on my shoulder informs me how successful I was in keeping the anxiety out of my voice.

“心配しないで、 赤、 (Don’t worry, Red,)” Lime murmurs reassuringly to me. “大丈夫です。 (It’ll be fine.)”

“計画を忠実に遂行すれば、紫を追い出すことができます。 一緒に。 (Just stick to the plan and we’ll get Purple out. Together.)”

Right, the plan.

Both of us cut off our conversation as we enter the main part of the Office with Purple, whose laboured breaths are the only thing I can sense from her. If I were not the one about to be put on trial, I would feel sorry for her… y’know what. I do feel a bit sorry for her. After all, how could anyone not feel sorry for this poor girl whose (probably) tear-streaked face reveals all the fear that she doesn’t actually want to reveal?

However, there is absolutely no way that I am letting her accuse me without me fighting back. No amount of puppy eyes from Crewmates, past or present, would EVER make me back down. That will just be me being hopeless.

As usual, a circular red-coloured spot on the floor appears on my visor, with a red arrow pointing to the middle of the spot. Marching towards the spot, I waste no time in wrenching the stupid helmet off my head.

Ah, finally! I can see normally now! Okay, let’s see the situation…

Much to my shock, Purple beside me looks even worse for wear than I had thought. Her sweaty and ashen face… it’s as if she had seen a ghost or something. She looks so… so pitiful-

No, no, no. Stop it. Stop thinking about that. STOP THINKING ABOUT THAT.

Brown is looking at the crying Purple with a mixture of pity and sympathy on his face, which completely contrasts the pretty obvious narrow-eyed glare that a certain teenager is shooting at her. How magnanimous of her…

And of course, Lime right opposite me, with a small smirk on his face. He looks more assured of our victory than I thought… in fact, he looks so assured of it that looking at him makes me feel so, too.

“Where?” I exchange smirks with Lime as I face the trembling Purple, who still seems traumatised by what she saw.

At the question, Purple freezes, her tremors stopping as if she is a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car.

“IT’S RED AND LIME! THEY KILLED IN THE LAB!!” Purple bursts out as she breaks down. “I… I saw how they… they killed P-Pink and… and Green…”

I am about to shoot out a retort when a vehement Black shakes her head, glowering at Purple.

“I’ve been mentioning this every single meeting, and I’ll just say it again,” She enunciates every word with unsettling clarity as she clenches the meeting table. “Purple’s An Impostor! She’s reported 3 bodies in a row now. 3 bodies!!”

Point proven. Black’s obviously targeting Purple!

“Black, believe me!” Purple pleads imploringly as she clasps her hands together, her eyes shining passionately. “The Impostors are Red and Lime!! I saw them kill…”

Despite Purple’s obvious innocence, however, Black continues to maintain her stance, hounding her to seemingly no end.

“Do I look deaf to you, Purple? I heard you the first time, y’know,” She snaps as she grinds her teeth so hard that sharp, grating sounds slice the air, making me wince at every sound.

“S-So… you just don’t b-believe me?” Purple unclasps her hands and instead plants them onto her mouth, stifling a sob.

“No, I don’t, Purple,” Black states matter-of-factly as she glares at her. “In fact, I’m pretty sure that you killed both of them and hid their bodies, then reported when Red and Lime approached you!”

Wow. WOW. That must be the most ridiculous thing that someone has ever said in an Among Us match, ever.

Can someone please tell me how you reach that IQ (and EQ) level? Her behaviour somehow never fails to surprise me!

“Black, that’s a really ridiculous first theory to jump to,” Brown stresses on the word ‘really’ as he furrows his eyebrows. “Why don’t we hear Purple out and then make our decisions? There are 3 Crewmates and 2 Impostors now. We can’t afford to vote wrongly.”

Finally, someone other than Lime with actual brains. And someone who is really friendly, too.

At Brown’s interjection, Black directs her smouldering glare to him and I realise, instantly, that she is about to direct her ire towards him instead.

However, that realisation seems to have been wrong as a sigh escapes through her clenched teeth instead.

“Okay, fine,” She grits out. “Purple, your testimony, now. And don’t you dare leave anything out, or else.”

Goodness me. What the heck is her problem? Purple deserves a voice too, for goodness’ sake! At least listen patiently to what she has to say??

“Th-Thanks, Brown,” Purple puts her arms down and grabs one arm with her other hand instead. “So yeah, uhm… I saw Red and Lime kill Pink and Green in the Lab… and when I arrived, they tried to kill me but I reported the body. Point is, he and Lime killed the girls!!!”

I have to shoot down her testimony somehow. Starting from… the Lab.

“No, that’s not true!” I successfully clamp down the feeling of a laugh rumbling in my stomach as I protest. “I wasn’t even in the Lab!! I… I wasn’t even near there!!”

Okay, that came out sounding a bit sus… but whatever. The only thing I can do now is to forge ahead.

“Then where were you, Red?” Purple challenges, pressing her lips together.

It’s winging time. (Okay, not really pure winging like I usually do because I obviously have the rough outline of an excuse in my head already. Obviously.)

“I was doing the maze of one of the nodes!” I make my voice more snappy in order to sound more ‘aggro’. “That thing was so freaking hard to do!! And then you had to go and report a body while I was almost done with it!!!”

Please don’t ask me which node… I didn’t have the foresight to see which nodes were already done and which were not before killing the duo of girls…

“Red, stop lying!!” The agonised scream of the desperate witness sends me reeling in surprise. “C-Cyan, he… he also said that it… it was you… before he died!! You… You and Lime decided to silence him!! And now, he’s… he’s g-gone…”

Dang, what a loud voice she has when she’s accusing someone… so unlike her usual mousy demeanour. Of course, this contrast has been highlighted already in previous matches, but still.

“それは私たちではありません。 私たちは紫が少女たちを殺害し、その後自己申告するのを見ました、 (It’s not us. We saw Purple kill the girls and then self-report,)” Lime shakes his head confidently as he addresses Brown and Black. So confidently, in fact, that I’m sure the two of them are convinced that he’s innocent despite not understanding what he’s saying.

A sense of hope lifts my heart as I turn towards the two Crewmates, expecting them to smile and nod at Lime and to vote to eject Purple… just for it to drop as confused faces enter my view.

“Uhm, Red… What did Lime say?” Brown enquires puzzledly, furrowing his eyebrows.

Dang, so much for that.

“He said that Purple killed and self-reported,” I intone, glancing at Purple (who is glaring at me) before making eye contact with Brown again.

“N-NO!! Both of you… Both of you are covering up for each other!!! Guys… you have to vote for them now!!!” Purple’s voice becomes shrill as the corners of my eyes catch her thrusting a finger at Lime and me.

Lol, at least I translated his words truthfully.

Toggling my gaze between Brown and Black to note their expressions, I hold my breath as I begin taking mental notes.

Black, as everyone dead or alive would expect, is glaring daggers at Purple, her beady eyes scrutinising every inch of her (maybe she’s looking out for any sus signs, but I doubt she’s smart enough to do that) while Brown is crossing his arms, deep in thought.

One more on my side, I think. (Until another one of her mood swings hits her, that is.)

C’mon, Brown… believe me. Please.

“Hmm… it’s possible that it’s Red, though,” Brown ponders out loud. “It’s unlikely because Black and I were with him in the round that Cyan and Yellow were killed… but he could have refrained from killing because both Black and I are Crewmates. Also, Red said in the previous meeting that he entered the room next to the Office from its right side… but I’m pretty sure that he actually entered it from the left side because he was walking to the right side of the room to exit it when I called him.”

OH SHIT. If he somehow manages to convince Black to vote for me, I’ll be ejected…

“Et tu, Brown? You would push me away once again?” I feign a heartache in a half-joking manner, making it look like I was punched in the chest.

The next words that flow out of Brown’s mouth really make my chest feel like it was punched.

“I’m sorry, Red, but I’m pretty sure that it’s you.”

Dammit… even after our conversation before the previous meeting?

“It’s not me, I really don’t think that it’s Purple, and as much as I hate to say this, I don’t think that it’s Black because she’s been with me for pretty long periods of time during the game. So yeah, sorry, mate.”

Then why me? Why not L-

…No. I cannot think that.

We are fellow Impostors and more importantly, friends. How could I think of getting them to eject him over me? Also, he is more likely to be able to win this for us alone than me, being more ruthless and able to kill someone like Purple. I didn’t even have the guts to do such a thing, just as I don’t have the guts now to get ejected and let Lime win this for us…

Can I still turn this around for us and get Purple ejected? Although I cannot guarantee that, with Black being such a wild card-

Clink! The sound of someone pressing a name on his/her IPad sends my heart into a frenzy.

It must be Purple. It must be Purple pressing my icon to vote me out.

I must do something now. Anything.

Anything to avoid ejection.

“Okay, fine! I admit it!! Lime and Purple are the Impostors!! Yes, I was covering up for Lime earlier on because he’s my friend… but that’s the truth!!! I… I wasn’t doing the node outside. I… I saw it happen… Lime and Purple both shot the girls in their heads… and when I walked in, Purple reported Green’s body!!!” My mouth automatically starts blurting out stuff before Purple can confirm her vote for me.

It takes me about a full second for the realisation of what I have done to crash into me and it takes my full effort not to crash into the ground. The look of utter disbelief on Lime’s face does not help.

I’ve messed up. I’ve messed up so badly. Worse than when I accused the wrong people of being Impostors in previous matches, worse than when I let Brown get away back in The Airship, worse than when I accidentally revealed myself as An Impostor in a more recent game in MIRA HQ.

This is betrayal. Betrayal of my most loyal friend, which has never and I swore would never happen no matter the situation…

“待って、何？？？ 皆さん、それは私ではありません！！！ それは… それは紫です！！！ (Wait, WHAT??? Guys, it’s not me!!! It’s… It’s Purple!!!)”

And the worst part? I have to continue with it. If I backed out now, the game would definitely end with BOTH of our ejections.

A tremor passes through my body as I cover my face, turning away from the crowd of people.

“W-What have I done…” I whisper into my hands as waves of guilt wash over me, each one more forceful than the last. “Lime, I… I’m so sorry…”

“Red, stop lying!!! The other one is YOU!!!” The witness’ equally forceful voice seeps in through my hands and skull and into my brain.

At this point, a nasty thought enters my head.

I can use this. I can use this to cement my story. And then once Lime is ejected and he’s proven as being An Impostor, I could be in the clear. I could win this for us.

“Lime, I’m so sorry… I can’t cover for you anymore!” I lament in a loud voice as if I am paying respects to a dead person. Which, I guess, is not that far off…

Yet another wave of guilt (‘How could you do this to your own friend??’) crashes into me but I hold the table to support myself in time.

“赤… なぜ？ (Red… why?)” A sense of sorrow, which I have never heard from my friend before, threatens to break my performance.

I guess everyone has feelings after all.

I should stop. I really should stop here and just get thrown out with Lime before I lose him altogether. After all, our friendship is more important than a stupid game-

No! You’ve come so far already! You can just apologise to him after the game. No point in stopping now!

My non-response does not sit well with him.

“それならそれでいいのですが、 (So be it, then,)” The stiffness in Lime’s voice nails the final coffin of our friendship. “彼らに伝えてください。 私と紫だと言い続けてください。 (Tell them. Continue telling them that it’s me and Purple.)”

I really have to give him a sincere apology when all of this is done and dusted.

“Guys… the Impostors are Lime and Purple,” My neck is starting to ache from the effort of looking down to avoid Lime’s steely gaze but I soldier on. After all, what other choice do I have? “I apologise for keeping Lime’s identity from all of you… but we’re friends, y’know. So… yeah.”

Chapter Text

Note before chapter: Due to the fact that Purple does not understand Japanese, I did not put the Japanese-English translation here. It is NOT meant to be understood (but you can Google Translate if you want).

WHAT AN ACTOR. Does this guy have ANY redeeming qualities at all?

First, he ceaselessly accused me of being the one to kill Pink and Green. Then he threw his own Impostor mate under the bus???

He’s so horrible… Someone like Cyan would never do such things.

“Hmm…” Brown ruminates, his fingers drumming the table slightly. “Since both Purple and Red both tearfully say that Lime is one of the Impostors, I think that the logical course of action is to vote for Lime now.”

Red, ‘tearful’? Seriously?

Whatever. At least one of the Impostors would be voted out.

Hopefully.

“Wait, huh? Can’t both Red and Purple be acting, though? I mean, Red did lie that Cyan was An Impostor before Cyan was killed. What makes all of you so certain that Red isn’t lying this time? In fact, what makes you think that Red and Purple are not just using Lime as a scapegoat???” With every growl that the only other girl here makes, a shiver passes through my spine.

Scary… so scary… she must be trying to burn holes through my skull with those burning eyes of hers…

“Black, I didn’t LIE about Cyan being An Impostor,” The jerk, ironically, lies once again. “I just presented the possibility that he could be one. I was so sure about that then… but it turned out that he wasn’t one. However, as for Lime… I’ve actually seen him kill. He’s definitely An Impostor. And… his Impostor partner is Purple.”

Grr… This Red! Does he not feel any remorse about what he is doing?? I mean, at least he should feel sorry about betraying his friend, right??

It’s only human to feel as such, after all.

Okay, just calm down. Be confident. You can do this.

“Guys, it’s really Red…” Much to my own consternation, I find my confidence waning as I chance a glance at said guy, who is smirking at me. “C-Cyan said it too… but he’s r-right about the other one being L-Lime… th-they both k-killed-”

“Whatever you say, Purple,” The 3rd Impostor rolls her eyes at me in an extremely exaggerated way that rivals Pink’s.

“Guys, guys, please. Don’t confuse one another. We’re voting for LIME now. If you confuse one another, everyone won’t vote unanimously and both Impostors would stay in the game. We don’t want that to happen, do we?”

Thank goodness for Brown… His level-headedness really saved me this round.

“Yeah, Lime first. Then R-Red…” For some reason, despite the fact that I’m not even the one being put on the stake, the tremor never leaves my voice. Probably because it’ll be my turn soon.

“Okay, fine, we’ll vote for Lime first,” Black mutters begrudgingly as she presses her lips together. “But if we lose, I’m just going to say that it’s all your fault, Brown.”

W-Why is so adamant on the f-fact that it’s me? Do… Do I really look like An Impostor to her? Why… Why does she hate me so much?

“Black, just vote for Lime,” Brown facepalms as he shakes his head, looking so done with her. “Ugh.”

At least no one else has bought into her madness yet.

Everyone casts their votes and our IPads tally them. In no time at all, the results are out.

Lime: 3
Purple: 2

Phew, that was a close one. At least Red and Lime’s strategy to try and frame me didn’t work… I only wish that the votes were not anonymous so that everyone can see Red for the liar that he is. Narrowing my eyes at him slightly, I expect him to shoot a triumphant look at me.

However, his sights seem to be set elsewhere.

“ごめんなさい、ライム…でも、私がそうしなければならなかったのは分かっていますね。クルーメイトが私を信頼するためには勝たなければなりません…” He clasps his hands together as he continues speaking the other language (which I suspect could be Japanese or maybe Korean?). He is clasping his hands together… Could he be anxious? Or perhaps… sorry for throwing his friend under the bus?

Yeah, it’s probably the second one. This guy won’t be caught dead looking anxious.

Well, at least he’s human enough to be sorry.

“そんなことする必要はなかった、赤。そしてあなたはそれを知っていました、” Lime grits his teeth as an unmistakable growl emerges from his throat. “一緒に紫を妨害することもできたのに…あなたと紫が両方とも私を責めたとき、ブラウンは私を投票で排除するのが当然だと考えました。紫でも同じことができたでしょう！”

Man, Lime sounds really angry… This must be his first time getting betrayed by his friend in these games. It’s insane how Red can still keep his cool in the midst of his friend’s unusually fiery temper.

The latter’s rather desperate voice rings out again in the Office (yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s Japanese) before his friend shakes his head furiously, muttering something in Japanese and stomping towards the lava pit.

Much to my surprise, the normally brash girl sheds her brashness entirely as she finally stops glaring at me and turns her attention to Lime, widening her eyes.

“Wait, Lime! You can’t eject yourself!!” She yells almost desperately as she runs towards him like he is her best friend or something.

Bruh, like he’ll want to do it himself… like, which person would actually have the guts to freefall down? Or maybe it’s just me…

It’s very strange, though. She’s the last person that I would think of when it comes to someone caring about such technicalities. In fact, she’s never cared about the small details, as can be seen by how arbitrarily she accuses people and how she did not notice that OIL spilled out of my tank instead of water. Like, didn't she feel how viscous the liquid was?

“She’s an odd duck, that one,” Brown murmurs to me as we watch her and Lime muttering to each other. “Don’t you guys agree?”

‘Guys’? What’s up with the ‘s’?

Oh, right. I forgot that the jerk who betrayed Lime is still here, too.

Also, yeah, I am pretty sure that ‘odd duck’ is a euphemism to describe the 3rd Impostor. I am not joking when I say that she’s going to be the death of us one day…

“She’s definitely one heck of a character,” The jerk chuckles softly as he puts his helmet and blue cap back on. “But at least she voted Lime out, unlike SOMEONE here.”

Huh? What was with that insinuation of someone not voting for Lime…

A clicking sound emanates from Red’s helmet as he turns to face me.

“Right, Purple?”

Wait a minute, WHAT?

No! You… You’re the one who voted for me and not Lime, Red!!

“I… I didn’t! Why would I vote for myself?” I protest as I glare at him. “It was you… you voted for me, Red!!”

Silence falls on the 3 of us for a moment… before Red laughs.

“I was just messing with you, Purple,” He waves a hand nonchalantly. “I don’t know how the other vote for you came about, since both of us accused Lime and Brown told Black to vote for him-”

“Yeah, I did!” Brown chimes in earnestly. At the interruption, Red sighs in a rather long-suffering way (I don’t know why, when HE’S the one causing trouble for me) before continuing.

“Maybe Black didn’t listen to him and voted for you in the end, since she seems to have some weird attraction for him. See, look at them, talking to each other-”

Lime’s yell cuts Red off again as Black pushes him over the edge.

Chapter Text

I'm sorry, Lime... we were supposed to win together...

That is the first thought that comes to my mind when Lime's scream tears me away from the conversation with the Crewmates. His accusatory gaze of betrayal bores into my soul as he plunges down into the lava pit.

I mean, I know that the lava is not really lava and that it is really just a huge orange bouncy mat, but I'm sure that it's still a really painful landing for him... and it's all my fault.

If only I had solely blamed Purple. Then we would have already won... together.

But of course, my mouth had to be the faster worker as compared to my brain, as usual.

Not to mention that my family mantra when it comes to things like discussions is something along the lines of, "Blame first, discuss later". I mean, everyone does the same, right? Especially in Among Us, when no one uses their brain to their advantage... and if you actually do, you're the odd one out. Either that, or you'll be ejected or killed pretty quickly... as what had happened to Cyan, right?

Anyway, no matter the reason for what I have done... I'm sorry, Lime. I promise that I'll win... for you.

Ding-ding! My tablet rings out as the thump sound reverberates from the pit.

Those incriminating words flash on my device as I inhale deeply.

Trying my best to hide the overwhelming guilt crushing me with the weight of its waves, I force a smile as I look around at the Crewmates.

"Well? I told you that he was An Impostor!" I chuckle mischievously.

"Good work, Red," Brown murmurs as he slaps my back affirmatively. "You did it!"

I did it, indeed. I betrayed my Impostor partner... for the first time in our friendship. And now, I've broken it...

"Hey, Black... you've been standing there for a while already," Brown calls out to Black, who is standing stock-still at the lava pit, as if truly shocked at the discovery that Lime was An Impostor. "You okay? The meeting has ended already, y'know. Lime was An Impostor, in case you didn't see."

'And you looked like you were just fraternising with him.' went unsaid.

Instead, he continues with a scoff that does not fit him in the least.

"I told you so, Black. Lime was obviously just playing you in his little game of chess, and you let him do so."

Lime, I'm sorry... Please don't be mad at me for long...

I'll win this game for you. I will.

But man... Black though. Why is she still standing there? I mean, she does like him a bit... wait. Could she be...?

Oh gosh. OH GOSH. Don't tell me... UGH.

She's pining for him.

Disgust filling me, I leave the scene, not wanting to see her mourning over my obviously single best friend any longer.

"B-Black? A-Are you o-okay? You're... You're trembling a little..." Purple stutters suddenly, making me stop in my tracks and stare at her as she herself quivers slightly.

Sighing, I whirl around to face the scene once again as Black continues to hold us in suspense.

What the heck is she doing?

"Well, Red..." A drawling voice emanates from in front of me, making my eyebrows fly up in surprise at the fact that she called my name. "Looks like you were telling the truth after all... so I trust you."

"Uhh... thanks, Black?" I let out a silent sigh of relief as Black finally wheels around to face us, combing her hair with her fingers.

"Sooo... what are we all waiting for? Time to throw her out next!!" She announces, pointing a finger at Purple like a gun as she hightails past us towards the left side of Office, not waiting for a response from either of us.

Quizzically, I stare after her.

"Okay, now she's just being weird," I murmur. "Like, didn't Purple say that it's Lime too? Why does Black keep saying that it's her? It's like she's more sure of it than I am!"

"Umm, dude... aren't you very sure that it's her too? You said that Lime and Purple double-killed in the Laboratory..." Brown frowns at me.

Oops.

"Yah, dude, obviously I know that Purple is An Impostor along with Lime... but like, Black seems wayyy too excited to eject Purple. Why is that?" I cover up my lie (rather unconvincingly, in my opinion). "It's as if she hates Purple or something..."

"Idk, man..." Brown shrugs. "Maybe your confidence about Purple being An Impostor rubbed off on her?"

Gosh. For someone to be so blindly ignorant... I guess Lime and I win, then.

Beep! The blaring of the emergency meeting siren cuts our conversation off rudely. And then the stupid static. Again.

Well, at least I'm the one being cut off for the millionth time today. Also, at least I'm not the one who's going to be thrown out.

Sensing a figure behind me, I turn around slightly.

"Ah yes, Purp, guess I win..." I whisper triumphantly to her, unable to hide my smirk this time.

"I won't let you," Purple grits her teeth but I can tell that she is trying to hold back tears. "But Black... urgh, she's so dumb that sh-she'll vote for me no matter what I say... and sh-sh-she's scary during m-meetings..." She adds under her breath, when I had turned back around toward the front.

RIP Purple. She's nice, but she's too quiet and soft-hearted for her own good... makes it all too easy to accuse her of being An Impostor.

Sorry, Purple... I guess.

As the 3 of us file into the Office, IPads in hand, and I take out my helmet again, Black raises her eyebrows from the opposite side of the table.

"I assume that I don't have to repeat my point, right?" She presses her lips as she fishes out her IPad from her front pocket. "Sayonara, Purple..."

"Guys, wait! Pl-Please... don't vote me out!" Purple suddenly begs as Black is about to vote for her.

Good luck, Purple. Good luck trying to defend yourself against her.

"Oh, you have something to say?" The corners of her lips twitch in annoyance as she rolls her eyes ever so subtly.

"How are you so sure that it's not Red, Black? He hasn't proven his innocence in any other way other than the fact that he repeated my point that Lime was An Impostor!!" Purple protests, glowering hotly at her. "And in addition, your confidence is always misdirected! Or don't you notice?? You're always wr-"

SLAM!! Hatred in an intensity that I have never seen in anyone's eyes before blazes in Black's eyes as she slams the table, the IPad in her hands rattling.

Yeah, not really the right thing to say to someone who's going to vote for you, Purple.

"Still trying to defend yourself, Purple?? Admit it!! You're the other Impostor!! You lying, thieving, conniving little Impostor..." She seethes, gritting out every adjective through clenched teeth.

"YOU'RE WRONG!!" Purple bursts out in a fit of emotion as she returns the glare. "I SAW RED AND LIME KILL IN THE LAB WITH MY OWN EYES, JUST SO YOU KNOW!! THE OTHER IMPOSTOR IS RED!!"

The moment she has finished her outburst, however, she starts clutching her head as she shivers turbulently.

Diverting her attention to me, Black stares at me intently.

"Red? Anything that you want to say?" She enquires calmly.

Okay... I guess it's time I actually start defending myself instead of simply spectating the ongoing debate between the two girls.

"It's not me," I comment simply, trying to stifle a laugh. "I told all of y'all my side of the story already. Purple and Lime coldly murdered Pink and Green in cold blood in the Lab. I saw them simultaneously shoot both of them, so skilfully, in the head... that's why she doesn't have a single trace of blood on her suit... and when she saw me approaching the murder scene, she even had the nerve to report the body before I could do so!"

"WHAT??" Purple scoffs as her hands drop from her face and she glares at me. "Red, are you serious?? That's, like, so far from the truth and you know it!! Guys, do you see his face?? He can't even keep a straight face while recounting his side of the story! He's clearly laughing at all of us..."

"Enough said, Purple. Your defensiveness is just making it all the more clear that it's you... lol. It's, like, so obvious. Only Impostors would be so defensive... and you are being exactly that, right here, right now," Black cuts her off shortly. "Also," she exchanges a glance with me, "I was with Red and Brown in the Office when the lights went off in the second round... and Red didn't kill me or Brown, Purple. I should never have doubted him in the previous meeting... but ah well. At least I know now."

Smirking, I shoot a glance at Purple, who is covering her face from Black's view and scoffing softly. When she uncovers her face, however, her face is a mixture of utmost hatred at all the remaining survivors and incredulity at Black's utter stupidity.

"Black... y-you're not actually being serious, are you?" Purple is nearly stunned speechless. "I-Isn't it obvious that..."

"You're the other Impostor? Yeah, I was always serious about that. And Purple..." Black purrs as her fingernails scratch the table, creating prominent white streaks on its surface, "since you've obviously admitted to your guilt, I would advise you to just shut your trap, and just comply with whatever is going to happen to you next, yah?"

"I REFUSE!!" Purple retorts as she also slams her IPad onto the table, causing me to jump in shock. "I REFUSE TO VOTE!!"

Aw, man... if she doesn't vote, the meeting would go on forever because of the stupid settings... 0s voting time which becomes infinite when one doesn't vote. And I don't want to kick her when I'm the one at fault-

"Ohhh... you really want to play this game with me now?? Okay! Let's go, then!" Raw hatred and anger is etched on Black's face as she steps towards my right. Instinctively, Purple who is right beside me sidesteps towards my left.

I exchange glances with Brown. This is not good... not good at all...

Not wanting to get in the way of the 2 girls who were starting to pace around the table like wolves protecting their territories, I grab Brown's hand and my IPad and start to drag him away from the scene.

"Wait, Red, uh... what're you doing?" Brown frowns as I go out of the meeting room of Office, still gripping Brown's hand. Wordlessly, I continue doing so until we have distanced ourselves by a considerable amount from the scene (where we are out of sight from the 2 girls but where we can still hear the silent commotion in there).

"Shh..." I shush Brown. "Keep your voice down a bit, I wanna hear what happens next without imposing on them too much."

A short, rather awkward silence passes between us before Brown breaks it.

"Red, tell me the truth," Brown mutters as he returns the grip on my hand. "A-Are you the other I-Imp?"

Oh shucks.

"Uhh..." I chuckle nervously, casting my eyes to the ground. "Brown, I..."

"Wait, you really are the other Imp? Are you serious?" Brown abruptly lets go of my hand.

Argh, he knows already... no use in hiding it anymore.

"Okay, fine, Brown. You seem to be a cool guy and all, as I could see from that time back in the Airship... so, um... yes, I'm the other Impostor. Please, don't tell them..." I confess as I grimace, hoping that he would not disclose my secret to the 2 girls, especially to Black, who had so unwittingly decided to believe me, even siding with me to come to a crossroads with her fellow Crewmate...

"'Tell them'? Red, are you kidding me?? What you did... BRO, you're a legend!! You literally made 2 of my teammates argue amongst themselves without even having to lift a finger to intervene! I mean, that's a really pro move!" Brown gawps at me as he tries to keep his voice down. "Like, the way you persuade others that you're not An Imp... the calmness in your voice... you're actually, like, really good!"

In a softer, more teasing voice, however, he adds, "You really should check your weapon before you try to use it on someone, though."

"Uhh... thanks?" I have absolutely no idea how to respond to that. I mean, sure, I don't often get suspected by others when I'm An Impostor, but in public lobbies like this one, the people whom I play with are really dumb... so it's really not much of an achievement to convince them of my supposed innocence and turn them against one another.

"Don't worry, your secret is safe with me," Brown assures me as he slaps my shoulder, hard. "In fact, to prove that I am not going to reveal you, I'm going to skip, right now..."

Ping! Brown taps the 'Skip Vote' option on his screen with his finger and I snap my gaze to my IPad.

'Brown: Voted.'

WOW. He really skipped despite knowing my true identity?? And he did that for an acquaintance...

"Thanks, mate," I give the dude a genuine smile as I return the shoulder slap. "You're cool too... so if it reaches a scenario where there are 3 of us left, I won't kill you."

"Ooo... then Black is the next one after Purple's ejection, then. Yeahh... she kinda deserves it, anyway, for being such a noob at this game and for bringing the entire team down with her stupidity," Brown snickers as he rolls his eyes. "Okay, sooo... should we break up the catfight between the two girls? At this rate, they may start pulling each other's hair out soon..."

Chuckling, I drape an arm around Brown's shoulders, leading him back to the left side of Office, where Purple and Black are still pacing the room, their hands balled into fists as they glower at each other.

Brown is right. In seconds, one of them may be right on top of the other and may be pulling at the other's hair without me having to do any work at all. Purple's tightened jaw and the guttural growling which emanates from Black's throat definitely confirm that notion.

The most unnerving thing, however, is the red glint which is burning like a small flame in Black's eyes... it is rather similar to that in Lime's eyes when he was ejected earlier... but eh. Probably some sort of reflection of the light or something.

Anyway, time to dissipate the tension in the room.

"Ahem," I clear my throat at them but the two girls continue to keep up their dance, ignoring me. Geez, these girls...

"AHEM." I practically cough out.

"Red, you don't really have the right to break this up. This is all because of you, after all," Purple snaps at me as she grinds to a halt... but Black continues advancing towards her.

"Hey, Purple... Why'd you stop moving, huh? Do you have a death wish?" She snarls as she crouches down in a kind of feline position, waiting to break out into a run. "After all, there are no rules here... so I'm going to avenge my fellow dead Crewmates, and you are just going to stand there and let me do so... got it?"

Nah, Black... the Crewmates are probably rolling their eyes at you right now, at the very least.

"Woah, Black... you know that violence to An Impostor is rather unnecessary... I mean, shouldn't we let the game handle her instead?" I interject before Black can touch Purple. I mean, I AM An Impostor, but still... Purple isn't. And she is quite an innocent bean, after all.

"But Red... the Impostors obliterated the entire planet! Since Lime is, uh, gone, don't you think she should pay her dues as well??" Black stops in her tracks and faces me, her arms still outstretched towards Purple.

"Well... I mean, she did what she had to... as An Impostor," I survey both of their faces as I slowly walk up to Black's IPad and pick it up, slowly sliding it to her across the table. For some reason, there is a hint of confusion (and also triumph, of course) etched in Black's face as she keys in her vote... and even though most of Purple's face is shrouded in defeat and frustration as she glares at me, there is also the slightest hint of gratitude in it.

All in all, another win for me, I guess.

Red: 1

Purple: 2

Skip: 1

Good game, Purple. Good game.

Chapter Text

Are Purple and I the only ones who can see it??? Red is CLEARLY the last Impostor!

I had lambasted Red in the first meeting, even giving evidence as to why he is An Impostor, Purple wasted no time in accusing him in the third and fourth meetings, and in all 4 meetings, the others did not vote him out??

And as if all of that is not downright deplorable already, they are now going to eject Purple! Utter stupidity!!

Ah well. It’s not like this lobby is the only dumb one though. Almost every game I play is similar. Oh wait.

EVERY game, I mean. My previous game was like this too… but anyway.

I usually try to finish all my tasks before the game ends, but in this case… the bar showing the total number of tasks done is only, like, half-full… and I have only one task left, which is to reboot the wifi task in Comms…

Eh. I guess I’ll just return back to the medical ship and recover from my wounds while waiting for Purple to enter the ship. The game must have been so traumatic for her… especially with that numskull around…

Never mind. Since I’m so forgiving, I’ll just ignore her and ask Purple to join me in playing another game together in another lobby… but not before I go back down to Earth to do something first.

Chapter Text

Black, OMG, y-you’re such an… an IDIOT. Such a menace to the game, really.

Really? Is it only clear to me??

Obviously, Black, Red wouldn’t kill you in front of Brown! Because if he did, Brown would report the body and accuse him, and he would definitely get ejected because he had been accused by Cyan earlier, right?? I mean, it’s just common sense! Urgh… 12 matches (yeah, I’ve been counting) of this standard of gameplay… because she dominates these matches with her emotions and her weak brain instead of actual evidence and logic… I should really leave this lobby after this game… I don’t know why I even bothered to stay for another 11 games after the first one…

And Brown. Why’d you skip??? I mean, I know you were with Red for quite a while in the Office or something… but didn’t you find it strange when Red suddenly left you to go somewhere else? Or… did you know that it is him already…

After all, you and Red did leave the Office for a while… and when both of you came back, you had this impish look about you… as if you and Red knew something and wanted to keep it a secret…

URGH, Brown, you know that Red is An Impostor, don’t you?? Basket.

I don’t even bother to cry out for help when Black and Red stride purposefully over to me and grip my arms until the blood circulation at my arms is almost cut off. Imprisoned in their grips, I drag myself to the bouncy orange mattress while my two captors march, with certainty, towards it.

Well, I can find solace in the fact that one of them wouldn’t be so certain anymore the moment I hit the mattress, which is 10 metres below the ground I am currently standing on.

Unfortunately for me, the distance between the Office and the ‘lava pit’ is not even enough for me to fully regret playing this game with such undiscerning teammates.

Because before I know it, I am at the edge of the massive pit spanning about 10 metres x 15 metres x 10 metres (L x B x H)… and as I place my foot on the rusty silvery-greyish platform which seems to have lost its lustre many moons ago and which seems to reflect my feelings about my situation, panic starts to overwhelm me when I cast my gaze down to the lava below.

“N-N-No… please… there’s g-got to b-be s-some other way to d-do this!” I stammer as my head whips towards Red and Black, whose hands are placed firmly on my back.

Oh wow. Typically, when the Crewmates and Impostors push me, an innocent Crewmate, into the lava pit, the Crewmate would be rather sympathetic towards me (even if the Crewmate thought of me as An Impostor) while the Impostor would be gloating… but much to my consternation, the roles seem to have switched around this time.

I swear, from the look on her face, I can see that part of the reason why Black decided to eject me instead of Red is because she hates me so much that she wants to see the look of pure terror in my eyes before she does the honours of pushing me over… and also wants to get revenge for knocking her over just now.

It is as if she partially knew that I’m not An Impostor but just wanted to eject me for fun…

Oh gosh. I officially hate her now.

Trying to mask the look of satisfaction on her face, Black presses her lips together as her eyes glint her usual malevolent shade of black.

“Goodbye, Impostor…” She sneers as she applies a small force to my back, causing me to shuffle over righttt to the edge of the grey board and almost slip off it.

Anxiety ties a knot in my stomach as I toe the edge of the board.

Should I jump off it myself or should I wait for them to push me off? I don’t know which is worse… I mean, if I jump off it myself, it would be less of a shock than if I were going to be pushed to my ‘death’ by the actual murderer of my fellow dead Crewmates and my worst teammate… so it would be more reasonable for me to…

“...aaaHHHH!!!” My thoughts are broken by a shrill scream which resounds around the entire planet. With a start, I break out of my thoughts, only to realise that the scream is emanating from my own throat as I look down at my feet.

I am standing on nothing. I am standing on nothing. I am standing on… nothing?

Shrieking, I flail my arms helplessly as I plummet downwards at an acceleration of 9.81ms^-2, inevitably to make contact with the lava below me as Black’s chuckling echoes down towards me.

Well, at least I’ll be able to see him again soon… once the ship comes to pluck me up from the mat, of course.

Chapter Text

“Lmaoo… good riddance to all the whiny, annoying brats on the surface of this planet,” Black snickers as we spectate Purple’s descent into the ‘pit of doom’. “At least we got the Impostor… I guess.”

Man… If any one of the other crew members were here and Black were dead, I would be Purple right now. But here I am, counting my blessings while looking on sympathetically as the latter screams and free-falls to her demise.

Upon her hitting the mattress, a ringing sound reverberates around the planet. Heh, time for the epitome of ignorance to be educated now.

The white words on my screen flash my victory as Black gasps beside me.

Any moment now… Let’s see how you react, Black.

“Wait, what? It wasn’t her??” Her alarmed voice causes my hand to fly to the main pocket of my spacesuit as I glance up at her in mock surprise. Upon noticing me looking at her, she turns towards me.

“Hold on a minute. If it isn’t her, then…” Her mouth drops as a look of realisation dawns on her face. “It must be you! It must be you… because she blatantly accused you!”

The minute she starts sprinting to the emergency button, which, by the way, has no emergency cooldown, I hastily fish out my IPad and sabotage the reactor.

It’s really amazing how a simple blare from the alarms can elicit so many curse words from so many ‘self-respecting people’ whom I’ve played with over the months in this game. Yeah, because clearly she’s the only one who respects herself.

All of a sudden, I feel a nudge on my shoulder.

“Catch you later, bro,” Brown nods at me as he jogs to the seismic stabilisers (which one, I have no idea).

“See you back in the waiting lobby,” I murmur as I stroll towards the Meeting Room table, shoving my IPad back into my spacesuit’s front pocket and taking out my knife from my side pocket.

Time to end this crazy game. I hope that Lime will forgive me… after I kill Black and win the game.

Propping myself onto the table, I attempt to shut out the blaring of the alarms in order to find some peace and quiet. My mind wanders back to Earth…

How are Mum and Dad doing? I wonder if they are finding it easier to manage without me to provide for now… or maybe I never made a difference in the midst of all their children. How is Jessie? Joseph? Jade? Julian? Are the former two taking care of my younger siblings… or are they too busy to look after them when my parents are off to work? I really should check up on them soon.

Personally, I can get along with Joseph the most because he’s the closest in age to me. When I was back at home, we would live and breathe video games. Man, those were the times… until the education system forced his hand into clutching a pen rather than a gaming console. As for Jessie… She's just too serious about keeping busy to spend any time with any of her younger siblings. First it was her A Levels and then before I left to play real Among Us, she announced that she had found a part-time job which takes up most of her days. Jade, well… She’s a bit of an unusual one. Something lurks behind her sunny smiles, I just know it.

Oh yeah, and Bailey, our family beagle. He’s just a puppy, but he’s picked up a lot of tricks already. (He’ll do them when he’s not rolling in the mud, which, to Jessie’s consternation, happens way too often.)

Last and certainly the least comes ‘Prince’ Julian. Ugh, I really don’t want to go into why he is the world’s worst sibling… but there’s time now, so.

The moment he was able to walk, he would do things like tip entire cups of milk just to get his older siblings (especially me!) into trouble. Then when my parents saw the mess, he would put on an innocent face, leading to them accusing the nearest sibling of making the mess despite said sibling’s protests. This is amplified by the fact that my parents simply don’t have time to do any investigative work into who actually created those messes.

The 4 of us really don’t like him… but ugh, he still has to be taken care of, right? Sigh.

The pitter-patter of footsteps snaps me out of my musings, becoming louder and louder. Like a hurricane, Black rushes into the meeting room of the Office, only to screech to a halt upon noticing me on the table.

The emergency sirens for the reactor meltdown have stopped. Looks like she has already fixed it with Brown… How committed.

“Well well well…” I smirk, theatrically stretching an arm out towards the girl, who looks rather bewildered at my behaviour. “Look who reached here early!!”

At the snark, the bewilderment on her face morphs into her normal inscrutable one.

How… unsettling. Shouldn’t she be more scared of her imminent fate? She’s not so dumb as to not know what’ll happen to her, right?

“Dang,” My last victim throws up her hands in defeat, seeming to resign herself to her fate but yet not showing even an inkling of resignation on her face. “Do your worst, then.”

What a response! But eh, whatever.

Not giving the girl a chance to run, I grab her right wrist, pulling her towards one of the walls. As she slams against it, the inscrutable look on her face gives way slightly to a look of pain but it is quickly masked again.

So quickly, in fact, that it doesn’t seem to have even existed at all.

Still unsettling, especially for someone whose emotions are usually displayed on her face like the huge neon signs in Las Vegas.

”Accusing Purple was pretty dumb, Black, even for you,” I sneer, leaning into her face to emphasise the point.

“Yeah, whatever. Just finish the job, Red,” The girl spits, her eyes narrowing into slits.

MAN, seeing her like this to me really makes me empathise with Purple on why she fears her so much. She looks really threatening… almost as if she’s the one about to murder me instead.

No. I’m the one with the knife. She has absolutely nothing on me.

“Fine,” I grit out through my teeth as I raise the knife to stab her.

“Oh wait, one more thing before you kill me,” Black raises a hand to stop me, and being a decent human being, I stop.

Ugh. What does she want? Hasn’t she wasted enough of our time?

“Oh, you have last words?” I punctuate every word with annoyance as I fold my arms, making sure that my knife is well away from my victim lest she decides to make a grab for it. Seeming to detect the annoyance, her countenance hardens.

“You should apologise to your best friend for sabotaging him so badly during the game. He seemed really pissed about you selling him out,” She mirrors my enunciation and action, her stance firm and unmoving.

S-Sabotaging? She’s really one to talk??!!

“It was an accident!” I retort a bit too quickly.

For some reason, the girl’s lips seem to quirk upwards… but her lips are back to her normal position after I blink.

She couldn’t have caught that moment of hesitation, right?

“You sabotaged your entire team too, Black,” I snap, finding myself getting upset despite myself. “Don’t be such a hypocrite.”

Why am I getting upset? It’s not like she’s sharp or smart enough to have caught that moment of weakness and to be silently lording it over me now… but why…

Why do I feel as if I’m not the one in control here?

“Yeah, but not on purpose,” Black counters, folding her arms. She clearly wants to end this conversation with a victory, even if it’s a pyrrhic one.

No. She’s the one who’s wrong… This girl sabotaged her entire team!

“Bruh, I also said that outing Lime was an accident!” I throw back indignantly, more than just a little annoyed right now. Like, c’mon, man, catch up if you want to initiate an argument with someone!

“Oh, really!” She bites back, a hint of venom which is all-too-familiar to me now. Still, the sudden show of aggression from her makes me cringe internally. “Then why did you continue talking about what Lime did even after you outed him?”

Shit. She’s right… She’s right.

It wasn’t purely an accident. After I outed him, I invented a story to get him and Purple thrown out and to solidify my alibi.

But I can’t tell her that. Telling her such a thing would be akin to letting her win.

“Isn’t it obvious? I… I had to follow up with the lie!” Much to my detriment, I struggle to come up with a suitable counter quickly, making the ends of her lips curl upwards (again?).

“Ah, so you were a coward~”

That inflection in her voice… for some reason, it really sends chills up my spine… but no. I have to continue defending myself against the likes of her. I have to.

“Look, Black, that’s none of your business,” I attempt to regain control of the conversation as my heart thunders in my ribcage. “Can you stop meddling in matters that are not of any concern to you and instead focus on the ones which actually are your concern?? Like, I don’t know, having better discretion about who the Impostors are when the answer is obvious???”

I see it. I see the slight twitch in her eye that she tries to hide when she adjusts her Among Us goggles. I see her press her lips together almost imperceptibly, annoyed but unable to retort. I see… the slight break in her calm countenance before she regains it.

“Woah, why are you so defensive, Red?” Her voice adopts a challenging tone as her eyes glint. “Tsk tsk… you know that you’re in the wrong, don’t you?”

I’m not even remotely close to being in the wrong?? What kind of high is she on??

Of course you are.

…

…nah, man. I’m going to kill Black where she stands right now… and my betrayal of Lime would be all but a distant dream. After all, the ends justify the means, don’t they?

A snarl escapes before I can rein in my temper. “I SAID, mind your OWN business.”

In the moment that the knife takes to come down on her, she has dodged out of the way and gripped my wrist so hard that it grows numb in a matter of seconds. Thankfully, I keep my grip on the knife.

“This IS my business,” She growls, coating every word with poison as I stare at her in what must be shell shock. “I’m warning you, Red. You had better apologise to Lime after this game… or else.”

She’s gripping me so hard… as hard as he gripped me when I did something “out of place”, according to him.

She’s not playing around anymore… but neither am I.

In fact, I never was.

“How is my friend your business? The fact that you have a crush on him doesn’t make him your business, y’know,” Aggression, born out of the desire to keep my fear hidden, flows out of me in droves as I try to wriggle my hand out of her grasp but she does not yield.

Instead, a “what?” is her snappish reply to my suggestion.

What? Is she really that blind as to how obvious her mannerisms are to other people? Although… she’s not, though? The way she’s conducting herself now, which is so different from how she usually acts… It’s as if she’s manufacturing her responses, which shows that she’s aware of how she acts and how to act.

Or maybe I’m just overthinking this.

“Yes, Black… do you really think that your obvious stares in his direction would go unnoticed?” I level a glare at the girl, annoyance and fear bleeding into irateness.

However, she does nothing but scowl at me.

“Me, have a crush on your friend? Are you hallucinating or something?” A rather forceful wave of her other hand (like she’s swatting a fly) further punctuates her words.

Ugh, this girl… man. It’s too obvious.

“Accept it, Black. Your secret’s been revealed,” I deadpan as I stare into her eyes, trying to force her to tell the truth for once.

“That’s not true, Red. I don’t have a crush on your friend. Why would I?”

Nah. No one is buying what you’re selling, Black.

Also, what do you mean by “why?”??

My instinctive reaction to insult her intelligence (which I should have done a long, LONG time ago) is not received well by said person.

“What the heck??” I resist the urge to scream in pain as she cuts off my blood flow, forcing me to drop my knife on the ground.

“Ooo, my favourite weapon! Man, that knife looks sweet…” Black purrs, a greedy grin itching up her face as she gazes at it almost lovingly.

Well, given that there are only two physical weapons in the game (knife and gun), saying that the knife is her favourite weapon isn’t really saying much… and also, she’s not An Impostor this round! She can’t have it!!

“Well, you’re not allowed to have it. It’s mine,” I grit out through my teeth.

“Who said that I’m not allowed to have it?” The smug tone of voice that she adopts is similar to her usual tone of voice when she concludes her false accusations of other people… but somehow, this time, it seems to have some sort of weight to it.

Ugh, I hate it. I hate that smugness so much.

I know that it’s supposed to mean absolutely nothing because I have the upper hand here, and yet-

“HEY!” A yell of surprise breaks my thoughts as Black suddenly shoves me, making me stumble back, and allowing her to pick up the knife.

She… She has my knife!! She’s not supposed to have my knife!!

“Wait, what?? You… You can’t do that!!”

“Pretty sure it’s not against the rules, though,” The girl smirks as she twirls the knife (W-What?? She can do that without cutting herself??). “The only thing that is against the rules…”

She raises the knife, pointing it towards my chest.

“.…is stabbing you with it.”

She’s right… She’s right about that…

Knowing that her argument has trounced mine yet again, Black withdraws the knife and pulls her goggles down, making the glint in her eyes more pronounced somehow.

“Let’s talk a bit more about your good friend before you kill me, yeah?” Her tone becomes conversational, friendly even, as she offers her free hand out to me expectantly.

Huh?

“But before that… give me your gun.”

WHAT??? In her dreams!!

“Are you mad?? Why would I??” I yell as my hand instinctively flies to the side-pocket containing my gun, protecting my only weapon from the girl trying to confiscate my weapons from me as if I am some CHILD.

Ah, crap. Now she knows the location of my gun.

“Do you remember who I am, Red?” A thin layer of ice slides into that rather weak friendly facade that she is trying to put up, making goosebumps form on the skin on my arms.

Other than a really weird freak? No, not really.

At my non-response, my victim (I repeat, my VICTIM) straightens up, making me gasp internally at how tall she actually is. I mean, I always knew she was tall, but man, she’s taller than me!

“I’m the host of this lobby… and do you know what lobby hosts can do?” She sneers, leaning towards me slightly as malice glitters in her eyes.

What lobby hosts can do… What can they do…

Oh crap. OH CRAP.

If I don’t do what she wants me to, she might kick (or even worse, ban) me from the lobby. I’ll be separated from Lime… unless…

“I can just tell Lime to jump ship with me, y’know,” I stand up straighter to face off with her yet again, unwilling to back down just yet. “He’ll def-”

I slump as realisation hits me like a thirty-pound sledgehammer.

“…oh.”

“Yup,” The girl clicks her tongue as she lifts her chin, condescension oozing from her every pore.

Ugh… Was this how she planned it all along? Why does her IQ suddenly choose to spike now??

“Look, Lime and I are friends. I’ll obviously apologise to him after the game ends,” A sense of frustration wells up in me at having lost her petty little mind game. HERS, out of all people. “Now, can you stop wasting my time and let me kill you?”

Much to my chagrin, the only response I get from her is her pressing her nose in obvious irritation, her brows furrowing.

Time to end this, then.

My hand unzips the side-pocket and whips out my gun… before Black catches it in the span of time that I raise it up to her heart.

‘NOT AGAIN!’ My brain screeches at me.

“Bruh, what now??” I find myself wincing at the sheer strength of her grip, unrelenting in its intensity unless she wills it to release me.

I can’t drop my gun too. Doing that would render me utterly helpless against her.

Her eyes fly open so fast that I jerk back slightly, as if I had just watched the “HERE’S JOHNNY!!” scene from ‘The Shining’.

“Swear it to me,” She intones, her voice low and ominous.

“W-What?” I stammer, suddenly too aware of the matted hair plastered against the back of my neck.

Don’t get me wrong, I got what she said. I just haven’t processed it properly yet.

“Swear to me that you’ll apologise to him after this game,” Her firm voice leaves no room for doubt, giving the impression that something terrible will happen to me if I question her again. For example, my fingers might take a little trip from the rest of my hand. “Now.”

Geez, lighten up, will you?

“I swear I’ll apologise to him after this game,” I resist the urge to let out an exasperated sigh and to roll my eyes, instead using my eyes to bring her attention to my hand. “Now, let me kill you.”

It takes only about 1 second before Black shakes her head, her dark eyes having scrutinised my face.

“Not until I hear some sincerity in your apology,” She presses her lips together, her face deathly serious with no trace of emotion.

Grr… Why should I even respect her wishes on when she should be killed? Oh right, because she’s the one clutching my already bruised hand and preventing it from pulling the trigger.

What have I done to deserve this… I just wanted a fair and clean round, man. No misery involved.

Oh, and sincerity? Seriously? She’s one to talk about that.

I don’t realise that I’ve said all of the above out loud until my fingers begin to feel like they are being crushed.

“Want to say that again, Red?” Black snarls as I scrunch my face in pain.

What a Herculean grip she has on my hand… impossible to get out of…

“You… You’re hiding your emotions. Y-You keep hiding your emotions,” My voice trembles, betraying some sort of fear towards her which is probably what she’s wanted to elicit from me from the very beginning.

An Impostor, scared of a Crewmate… It would have sounded ridiculous to most (including me before this), but not me now. One wrong move, and my fingers might be good as gone.

“Me, hide my emotions? Please,” Mirthful laughter fills the air as the girl continues lying through her teeth. “I’m the last person who should be accused of such a thing. Haven’t you played enough matches with me to know that?”

But she is. It is without a doubt that she’s hiding her true emotions from me right now. (Or maybe she’s expressing them through her grip on my fingers and hand.)

Seeming to think that she has made her point, Black smirks as she releases my fingers from her grasp.

Phew. Any longer and they would have broken off. Seriously.

“We’ll talk more later,” She comments lightly, nodding towards the gun which still remains in my hand. “As for now, you should probably kill me before your good friend comes in here.”

Oh, right, Brown.

Wait, huh? I don’t hear anything… oh wait, I hear it. The plodding of footsteps through artificial snow.

Wow, her timing is good.

“Red, have you killed her already?” Brown’s peppy voice contrasts the very words that he speaks, with his footsteps growing louder and louder. “I don’t see the Defeat sign on my IP- waittt a minute.”

He screeches to a stop, furrowing his eyebrows as he looks between me and my victim. Whom I still have not killed yet.

Awkward…

“Oh, um…” He grins sheepishly, realising the situation he has put me in all too late.

“Interesting… so you two hatched a plan to kill me off, it seems,” Black’s overly-sweet voice, so different from her normal harsh one, makes pinpricks form on my skin.

Fear-inducing… voice… but ahem. Everything is fine!

“Umm, no…” Brown’s denial falls flat on the ground between the 3 of us as she raises a questioning eyebrow and I internally facepalm myself. “Well, yeah, kinda…”

Way to go, dude. Way to go.

Note to self: Brown can’t lie to save his life.

With a rare amused look, she turns to me.

“Well, go ahead then, Red,” She folds her arms, not showing the slightest hint of fear in her facial features. Does she think that I don’t have the nerve to kill her??

“Kill me.”

The moment she utters those words, a flare of pain shoots through my right hand, making the right side of my face scrunch up. Transferring my gun to my left hand instead, I shake my right hand vigorously.

Dammit, this girl can REALLY grip things.

“Wait, Red, what’s up with your hand? Did you injure it??” Brown’s worried voice rings in my ears due to its intensity.

Well, at least SOMEONE here actually cares. The girl, on the other hand…

“Yeah, Red, what happened to your hand?” Black activates her sugar-sweet voice again, so saccharine that I’d be genuinely surprised if even Brown doesn’t suspect something is amiss.

Obviously, I can’t tell him the truth or I’ll incur her wrath sooner and later… or worse, he might not believe me, and the former thing still happens.

I have to lie. Again.

“Urm…” My hesitant voice does not inspire confidence in either Brown or myself as I try my hardest to think of a good excuse for my half-broken hand. Gosh, the trauma of almost losing my hand is really handicapping my brain right now. “I accidentally slammed it against one of the walls of this place… but don’t worry, Brown.”

“It’s fine.”

The greatest lie of all.

However, Brown accepts it readily.

“Oookay… but be more careful next time, Red. That looks like it hurts,” He cringes a little at my red hand, which, even now, is gasping for oxygen.

Flinching in a mixture of pain and his naïveté, I nod.

“Right…” I mutter.

How can he be so gullible? Or maybe he knows what’s happening and is playing along (but I highly doubt so, looking at his openly concerned expression now rather than a wary one).

Feeling the two Crewmates’ gazes on my skull, I stop shaking my hand, suddenly self-conscious, and transfer my gun back to my right hand.

Of course, Brown has a comment to make about that.

“Hm? Red, why your gun? I thought you said you were going to use your knife?” He frowns, genuinely confused about my change in decision.

Dammit. How do I answer this guy without endangering myself?

If I tell him the truth about Black injuring my hand and confiscating my knife from me, I’ll probably incur her wrath as I mentioned earlier. Wrath in the form of her killing me painfully… not now, but when she’s actually An Impostor. Killing me by wrapping her hand around my neck, probably.

That thought sends shivers up my spine. So much for the thought that girls are more defenceless and less courageous than boys.

“Uhh…” is the only thing that I can get out of my mouth before I am interrupted. AGAIN.

“Why not, Brown?” Black intervenes smoothly, a serene smile forming on her face. “A gun is not a bad weapon to use as well… although for me, a knife wins out in a heartbeat.”

My dear friend, however, ignores her, instead choosing to continue prodding me for an answer.

Wait a second. The knife is with her right now. If I just point Brown in the right direction… I might be home free.

“Um… My knife is with-” I gesture in her direction. However, when I turn to look at her hands, there is nothing in them.

Huh?? Where did it go - oh.

Wait, when did she drop it?? I didn’t notice her dropping it at all!

Ugh, now I just look stupid. Again.

Upon seeing the knife on the floor, Brown’s eyes widen. Part of him is probably wondering how it ended up there and another wondering why I’m not trying to retrieve it back.

His response, however, surprises me.

“Ohh, okay…” He murmurs. “Also, like, just wondering. You’re not holding her in any way. What makes you think that she won’t just run away from you right now?”

Oh, right. Good point.

“Don’t worry, Brown… I’m not so dumb as to actually try and press the button. After all, you guys would probably vote me out if I do that, right?” There’s an edge to Black’s voice, a sliver of irritation which lines her words.

Seriously? She’s the one who’s irritated? When I’m the one who was stopped from doing my job in the first place??

“Yeah, I guess…” He mumbles, actually seeming a little guilty about betraying his useless teammate. Like, dude, why??

In order to stop the acid from rising in my throat, to be unceremoniously thrown up all over the floor, I direct it towards the girl.

“Oh wow, so smart, Black.”

The hardened gaze that she gives me makes a small part of me shrivel just a little.

“Okay, stop it, both of you,” A sharp intake of breath, followed by her pressing her lips together so tightly that they form a thin line. She’s royally pissed right now… and she might actually try to kill me soon if I don’t do that to her first. “If you want to kill me, Red, just do it already. I won’t run away, I promise.”

Oh, and NOW she’s okay with getting killed with my hand being severely injured. How ironic.

Shakily, I hold the gun in my right hand, using my left to cock it. However, it takes all of me to even get it to stay in my aching hand.

And the soft snickering of the girl in front of me, the corner of her lip turned up in a smirk and her hand poised to cover it from Brown’s view, does not help me in the slightest.

She wanted me to start preparing to kill her so that she could direct the teasing away from her and towards me… how despicable.

“Wow, Red. You’re really horrible at using the gun, y’know that?” Black licks her lips (with that weirdly-shaped tongue of hers that isn’t exactly unique), clearly enjoying the show of me struggling with my gun, a struggle which is due to her injuring it in the first place. “I mean, sure, your wrist is injured, but still-”

UGH! I can’t take it anymore. She’s SO annoying!

“Can you STOP talking?” The angry burst from me, a cumulative result of all the nonsense that I’ve had to bear from her thus far, does not end well for the latter as I point the gun at her and fire. A scream rents the air as the bullet hits its mark, her heart.

Heh. In the end, she’s still human.