Chapter Text
Hasegawa Ken is.. what you'd call a visionary.
He's had it since he was a kid, and kind of thought it was normal. After being more exposed to the world, he learned that having visions wasn't the norm for people. Ken saw it in a few movies, and finally understood.
You'd think with a superpower of sorts he'd try to do something with it.. But, not really. It's not like the visions he has are useful anyways, they might save him some time and warn him about stuff he needs to focus on in a future test. Other than that, his visions aren't that important. He sees traffic jams on streets he never takes, he sees a surprise party definitely not made for him. (He can tell with the name decorations, it's happened more times than it should.)
But no, his powers.. are kinda useless.
After he caught onto that pretty quickly, he decided it wouldn't be worth telling his parents or Mao. Ken might've been able to prove it.. but then what? They take him to get checked up? It wasn't worth the trouble for something so minor. It doesn't affect his life, so he tries to ignore it most of the time..
This time.. he might make an exception.
As per usual, his visions come whenever he falls asleep. Sometimes at the start of the day, almost like a dream. Or when he wakes up from a nap. His visions are kind of realistic. Ken follows his dream-self (He doesn't have control over what he does in his visions) in a.. dark room? Was this an actual dream this time? When would he.. Ken's visions aren't even about him sometimes. But who would have business being in a dark room? And.. other voices? Was this vision about him?
His dream-self blinks, and he's gone. The scene changes, he's now walking in some sort of medical bay. The normal stuff you'd find in a medical bay. He can't really make out the person next to him. Like an orange blur, has he ever met someone with bright orange hair? He can hear them talking to him. But he can't really make out the words.
They continue.. exploring. Wherever they are. That's another thing, where was his dream-self? The hallways his dream-self and the orange blur walk through look basic. Yet.. he blinks again. And he's in an auditorium? Was he in school? The hallways don't resemble one of a school. At least, that's not what his school looks like. Multiple people were in the auditorium as well. And yet.. he can't really see any of their faces. What kind of creepy event was he witnessing? And if this was his future.. Why would he be in this situation?
He pondered for an answer, none came. What did come was his alarm clock.
Should he be worried about this kind of vision? Was it really a vision? Or a dream? Hm. No.. Dreams go off of memories... and recognizable things. Nothing in that was recognizable to him. And it's been a while since he's last had a dream anyways. Ken thought about it the whole morning, but.. he might just be panicking. If it belongs to someone else, and they get kidnapped. Maybe he could help the police out? He didn't have much info from that either. So he couldn't help out. That'd just be outing himself and his weird powers.
It.. Should be fine. Before heading out the door, he paused for a second. "Bye Mao!" He quickly said. Something just felt right about saying goodbye. "Bye Ken!" She replied, even when his call out was a bit unexpected. "Don't get yourself into trouble, Ken." Mao added. Ken snickered, she knew that wouldn't happen.
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Mao was more right than he'd like to admit.
Blinking, instead of being met with his.. well, anywhere familiar. He was instead met with the faint edges of shadows in his vision, and confused voices. If this had to do with his vision.. then.. would he be in that school (maybe) area? Pairs of arms shook him up, he groaned, sitting up straight. He looked all over the place, people scattered all around. Faintly listening to the people in the background.. but not exactly paying attention. The fact that his visions predicted something useful for once shocked him. Did Ken get kidnapped?
After standing up, the grey carpet was still feeling pressed up against his cheek. He counted all the people.. fifteen others. Including him, sixteen.
Who would have the ability to kidnap sixteen teenagers? And.. isn't that the famous actor Chiba Airi? Who could do that? And also.. why him? He hasn't done anything important.. Other than his quiz shows, but.. would he really get kidnapped over something like that? Everyone seemed just as confused as him. Probably having the same questions. Now that Ken thinks about it.. He didn't remember being brought here. The people (it can't be a one person job) who took him and the others have to be really good. He doesn't even remember getting hit on the head or something...
"Everybody, stay calm. Please, don't panic." A girl with straight black hair, round glasses, and.. an intimidating presense. She seemed like the leader type.. Ken could've sworn he heard her voice while everyone was waking up.
"Yes."
He certainly didn't remember a talking rabbit from his vision.
"Please just breathe. I'd appreciate a moment of your attention." Was.. what? Ken doesn't remember doing anything to get a talking rabbit acknowledged by all of his senses. So either his kidnappers did something.. Or this is real. Maybe he doesn't get to be the judge of what's crazy or not. He has weird visions. "Please take a moment to settle yourselves. It seems some of you are still rather dizzy." Rabbits don't even have the vocal cords in order to talk. So.. this is probably like a robot or something. It's just definitely not a rabbit.
"I don't want to give you any particularly heavy information before you're ready to receive it."
"Where are we?" A guy with blue hair demanded, Ken heard the black haired girl ask for his name- Ojima. "Ah, how lucky that you asked. That's actually exactly what I wanted to discuss with you."
"Tell u what's going on."
"I'd love to. You're here to play a game." Ken didn't understand why they'd do something so excessive for a game.. A girl with bright fiery red red tied into a ponytail and loads of muscle refused to. Promptly leaving the room before getting anymore information. Ken drew his attention back to the rabbit. "Welcome to Fujioka Memorial high school. This is where you will call home for the foreseeable future. That future may be a couple of days. Or it may be forever. Ultimately, the decision is yours.”
A guy with a large hat called out for his tiger.. quite small for a tiger. Must be a baby. The tiger seems harmless.. At least while the environment is big enough and leaves it in a comfortable condition. With how the school looked in his vision, it should be big enough. Ken didn't react, well he did but not as strong as the others.
The rabbit then began listing all of the rooms in the 'school's' basement. Ken kind of wondered if this was an actual school before. Or if it was made specifically for this.. whatever it was. A girl with a red suit and dark skin (she had a sort of fire to her that made her feel kind of big) interrupted the rabbit. The rabbit said it would explain if they would all let it. So, everyone became quiet.
“The only way to escape this building is to kill somebody.”
Oh.
Ken was a lot of things. He considers himself smart and studious. He gets nervous easily. And isn't much of a people person. He's a lot of things, but one thing he never wants to do is murder. What could the rabbit possibly do in order to push someone to the point of murder? What kind of power does it have in order to believe that someone will take a life from another? Ken can't do that. He can't do it again.
He barely caught onto the words of the rabbit. Something about life or death. And using words like 'won' or 'play'. Was murder really a joke to the rabbit? Or to whoever brought them here? He shook his head. If it wasn't joking, then he needed to know the rules of this 'game'.
“To win, you must either kill one of your peers without getting caught, or you must survive through 5 trials and reach the game’s ending state.”
Ending state..? So there's an end to this. Murder is out of his options.
“If a student is found guilty during a class trial, they too will meet the fate of death.”
Again, that makes murder out of the question.
“Death is the only way one can lose this game. It isn’t so hard.”
The rabbit talks about it as a game. Is this a form of entertainment? Is someone watching this along the rabbit? Is there someone controlling the rabbit?
“We’re all very happy to have you here. Please, enjoy your stay.”
We. It's multiple people, just as he thought.
“Wait–” A girl with long black hair called out. “What the hell is this..” She muttered. After a few seconds of everyone sulking in what they had heard, the black haired girl instructed everyone to explore the area. Eventually, she introduced herself as Sasaki Hitomi. A natural born leader by the looks of it. After everyone spread out into his group, a familiar orange blur approached her.
"Hi! I'm Isono Miki, do you.. wanna look around together?" She held out a hand. Ken shakily took it. Even in a place like this.. he can't really let out the right words.
"I-I'm Hasegawa Ken. Nice to m-meet you. Sure." He let go by the end of his introduction. He seemed to have held on for too long. "Right, then let's find a room that people aren't looking in. We wouldn't want to disappoint Sasaki or the group." She gave a bright smile. It was practiced, like she had done the very same genuine look a thousands times over. But Ken still found it nice she wanted to be supporting in a situation like this.
They walked around the hallways. And ended up in the medical bay. Just like he saw in his visions. Does that mean that they'd also mean there would be a vent in the gym? Like the one they had surrounded in his vision?
Isono made small comments on the area as they checked the cabinets and the beds. "Man it's pretty chilly here." She said, eyeing Ken. "I could really use a jacket right now." Ken looked at her, then back at himself. Oh. He had a jacket. "O-Oh r-right!" He quickly shuffled off his jacket. Awkwardly holding it out to her. Her eyes seemed grateful, but her tone was a little too high to be a natural reaction. "Aw, thanks, Hasegawa!" Isono took it immediately, putting it on. Ken just watched. What could he really say in this situation? She noticed the curtain, blocking something.
Ken pulled it to the side, revealing lockers..
"What are these?" She asked, maybe to Ken, maybe to herself. "Th-They're cold lockers.." He answered anyway. "Like for dead bodies..?"
"I-I mean.. I-It would make sense.. as to why it's so chilly here. A-And.. because of what the rabbit said." He muttered. "Oh." She said back, not meeting his eyes. Ken didn't really know if he should comfort her.. He didn't know how. He didn't know Isono well, and what words could he give?
They walked in a sort of uncomfortable silence (at the least for Ken) he wasn't sure how Isono felt. Everyone else was in every other room, so eventually, everyone was called to the auditorium. "The vent." He said to himself. "What?" Isono looked back at him. "U-Uhm. N-Nothing important." He replied, fiddling with his thumbs. He didn't want to be called crazy by everyone. And if he's wrong... then what? He doesn't want to risk it.
Everyone gathered around. Isono tried changing the topic, and started asking around about him. Ken answered in short answers, afraid he'd start rambling. He can't be annoying.. that'd put a target on his back. And Isono seems nice. He doesn't want to bore her or anything.
He looked up to the vent, just the same as his vision. It was high up and unreachable. There's no way someone could get up there without proper training. And if they do fall, the risk of injury would be pretty high.
People went through different sorts of ideas to get up, and it was hard to keep up with. It might've been a good idea to say everything that they've found.
It was kind of hard to vocalize when everyone was shouting their ideas.
"U-Um e-excuse me."
The light blonde haired guy with a blue suit continued his back and forth with Sasaki. Yanagi Shigeki? His name was..? He's seen him at the Olympics. He's even had a question about him before..
"Excuse me." He tried speaking up, but with people with two loud voices, it was hard to interrupt. "Hey." Another voice chimed in. Kamimura Kazutoshi. (He heard him briefly say his name to Sasaki) A guy with blue hair, a black sweater, and for some reason, red shoes. Maybe to match with his red eyes.
"Um." Kamimura made eye contact with him, before breaking it off himself and looked at Sasaki. "Hey. Can we let Hasegawa talk?" He said, matching the volume Sasaki and Yanagi. "What?" Sasaki asked, facing him. Her voice almost presenting as a sigh. "Um." A little taken back by the sudden focus on him. "I-I think we should probably talk about what we found first. It might help spark some ideas. If we know what we actually have available.” He explained. A few others agreed with him. Instead of heading to the dining room like what Sasaki said. Hayashi- the red head girl who stormed out early. Asked if Sasaki was in charge. Ken didn't mind the take in leadership, mostly because she's doing a fairly good job.
Even if she's a little bossy, Ken's gotten used to that part of people. They always have some sort of quirk that makes them a bit irritating. But he knew there was never much of a point to complain. Eventually, Sasaki headed off to the dining room. Ken quickly followed, he still thought the idea of learning what else was in this place was a good idea.
Others followed, then everyone else after that. From the meeting he gathered that the rabbit was some sort of mystical being..? Kamimura and a few others claimed they had seen the rabbit disappearing. Ken would've doubted the ability if it weren't for his own. If taking sixteen people to some unknown school, and foretelling the future is possible. Then maybe a talking teleportation rabbit wasn't too far off. It's anatomy might've had to have been changed though. A storage room, a kitchen, a bathroom, an incinerator, the auditorium. All of those being said by the rabbit. They were there. The vent was the only possible escape everyone could find.
"Hasegawa, what did you find?" Sasaki turned to him.
"I-I searched the medbay.. and there was medicine. Bandages. The sorts you'd find in a medbay." He said. Isono took off after that. Explaining how they were together. She also mentioned the cold lockers, which Ken had to add onto. Reminding everyone about the situation that they're in..
After a few more people talking, the guy with a tiger. His name Harada, Ken inquired by what Sasaki called him. Harada asked if they could talk about the vent again. It wasn't like Ken to be against something like this. But he didn't know if this plan would really work.. In theory it would. But, would whoever took them here just let them go near it if it was really an escape exit? If they had the skills to pull off a kidnapping like this.. then would they leave an exit in the first place? Or maybe it was to distract them.. give them false hope.
False hope could definitely leave people more crushed in situations like these. When the others realize it's a plan that'll go nowhere.. then what? Someone snaps, and understands that the only way out of here really is killing someone. Maybe that was what the people running this is trying to do.
Ken isn't sure why someone would kill just by being here. Some of these people are famous, they're bound to get noticed. Someone will at least know that they're missing. And some of their group would be looked for. This place isn't some crazy torture machine. It's really just a school. Or, as best as a school it's trying to be. What could the rabbit do in order to push someone to the brink of murder? No one here looks like a murder. But he just met them a few hours ago, he.. shouldn't count on that if he wants to go home.
He kind of zoned out while the rest of the group talked. This plan won't work. At least when you look at it through the perspective of the people running this. But trying is better than nothing. Ken watched as everyone else flushed out the room. He walked with everyone, staying a little bit at the back.
Telling them about his thoughts might not be of any use... Sasaki would probably continue anyways. Ken wouldn't want to discredit her efforts to get everyone out.
Even if you're looking at the big picture, he still should give her credit for taking on the leader role. Especially with people against her.
“I don’t mean to interrupt but I’ll need everyone to vacate the auditorium soon. It's just about nighttime.”
The rabbit appeared in front of the vent. But, Yanagi did mention on how the rabbit said that a few of the rooms were looked during nighttime hours.. So they must've slept in a fair amount of it's already 'nighttime hours'. Sasaki pressed the rabbit on further explanation. And got flat answers again.
“If you don’t leave the auditorium, I’ll have to lock you inside." The rabbit flatly said. "All night?" He questioned. Sasaki stated that separating the group would have to regroup. Sleeping was probably the best option.
But, Ken wasn't sure if he could sleep in a place like this.. especially with how his visions are.
They might pop up, and distract him from doing anything to help. Ken cut off from the group, and headed to his room. Quickly finding his key in the pocket (which he doesn't remember getting there) and twisted the knob. Even when he doubted his ability to get rest, he had to try. Like Sasaki said, they'd have to do work tomorrow. And he didn't want to hold off the group or anything. So, despite of his thoughts of the matter, he sat on the bed.
It didn't even take a second before-
A rope.
No, not a rope. A noose.
A noose hung from the auditorium pillars. A limp body hanging from it. Then, bloodied mattresses. Right below where the vent was..
What?
Where was he? Why can't he see the corpse? Why can't he see who died?
Ken shook himself awake.. that wasn't meant to happen. He.. doesn't get visions like this normally.. Not more than one a day. Even then, they usually aren't for important events. This time.. a murder. Did that really mean the game they wanted them to play had started? Who.. he couldn't even see who died. It was a blur between staring at the limp body. Swinging gently back and forth. With the face blocked out. And even their figure.. Ken couldn't make them out clearly.
He.. he didn't want to fall asleep after that.
At least.. with the rules for his visions he understands, then it must've taken them a while to bring him here. At least a day. He only gets one vision per day. So his house certainly isn't nearby. Ken looked at himself, he was still wearing his suit. (He's not sure why he came here in it, last he remembers, he was in his school uniform) But, Kamimura brought up how there was stuff like sleepwear and snacks in the storage room. So he should probably stop at some point.. right now, he needed a coffee after his vision.
While he lingered near the doorway, he saw Kamimura sitting at the dinning table, who had his hands firmly around a mug.
"Well well well," Ken chuckled in return of the smug grin of his face.
"Looks like I'm not the only one who couldn't sleep." Ken nodded, making his way to the counter. "Yeah, frankly, I don't know how anyone's sleeping." He commented, trying not to think too much about his vision. "I get we're all tired, but.."
"Yeah, no I'm with you. I'm not letting my guard down around any of these people."
What could push someone to murder in the first place?
"And yet here you are in the dinning room in the middle of the night?" He questioned. "That doesn't count, you're different. You're fine." Ken laughed a bit, not really sure what Kamimura meant by that. "What?"
"You're not a total goddamned freak like Hama or Okazaki or any of those guys. I can sit here comfortably without worrying that you're gonna stab me or something."
"I- guess I'm flattered." He responded honestly. Preferring to stare at the wall rather than completely at Kamimura.
But someone will get murdered.
Well, if he just had a weird nightmare of sorts. But.. he doesn't get dreams often.
"You're welcome." Ken tapped the side of his leg while waiting for his coffee to finish. "So we already talked about me, what about you? What do you do for a living?"
"Oh uh, I-I'm actually just a student right now. Unemployed."
"Unemployed in a suit that nice?"
"Well, um- Th-This is mostly just for TV. I don't really wear it any other time." Was he in the suit too in his visions? Maybe he should stop saying 'visions' so much in his head..
"TV?" Kamimura questioned. "What do you do on TV?"
"I go on quiz shows. Talk shows too, sometimes, if I'm invited."
"No shit, seriously?" His bright red eyes perked up. It was a kind of interest he wasn't used to besides his family showing towards him. "So we've got three famous people in here?" Ken shook his head. "Famous is a bit of a stretch. I don't think people really care about quiz shows that much."
"Nah, it totally counts." Kamimura insisted. "I dunno if you're up there with MikiMiki and the Chiba Airi, but you're up there."
"Thanks, Kamimura."
Ken's hands shook less since he's seen the vision.. Talking to Kamimura felt natural, and his responses weren't stuttered out or slurred.
He really hoped the body he saw wasn't Kamimura's.
"Kazutoshi's fine."
"Then, you can call me Ken." He offered. "Sounds like a deal." He accepted.
Ken didn't know what else to add on top of that. Honestly, Kazutoshi has been leading the conversation the entire time.
"I wonder when we'll get out of here."
He yawned before replying with "Hopefully sooner than later."
"Got anyone important you're waiting to get back to?" Kazutoshi asked. "My mom, mostly. I'm pretty close with my family, so I'm hoping that they're looking for me."
"They definitely are." Kazutoshi interjected. "And on the bright side, if they're not, somebody's definitely looking for Isono, so we're gonna get found anyway." Ken doubted it was that simple, but he smiled. "I'm liking the optimism. It's a good color on you."
"I'm a ray of sunshine." Ken yawned yet again. "I might go back to my room now. Do you really think those bedroom door locks are as pick-proof as the rabbit says?"
"Well hold on a minute, did the rabbit say that, or did Wada say that."
"..Shit. Now you've got me more paranoid than I was before."
"Maybe he's just telling us they're pick-proof so that we can feel safe. Then, in the dead of night, bam. He picks the lock and stabs you in the throat. Dead."
"Should we be sitting in the dorm hall right now? At least then we can see if anyone tries anything. We'd be some extra security. On top of-.. um. Never mind." Kazutoshi raised a brow, but Ken avoided his eye. He scoffed instead. "Are you serious? What are we gonna do if somebody starts murdering?"
Oh.
Kazutoshi has him there.
What should he do about his weird visions? If they really are the truth.. which all of the times they happen, they were. Then somebody will get hanged in the gym. And he has the chance to stop it.. but the thing is, he has no clue who will get hanged. Or.. if it was a murder at all. He can't just ban everyone from coming into the gym, chances are, the same person would still get murdered. Just in a different way. If, the murderer had planned it.
Why was he given the ability to see the future anyways?
Now he kind of has to do something about the person's death. He can't live with himself knowing he could prevent something like that, and just leave it alone.
"Ken..? Hello? Earth to Ken?"
"H-Huh? Oh. Sorry. I was in my own head for a little bit there. But.. anyways. If someone starts murdering, we y'know.. stop them."
"You think you could take Hayashi down if you need to?"
Ken grimaces for some reason. He rubs the temple of his head, a blurred motion of blood staining the pool water flashes in his mind. "Dude, seriously, are you okay?" Kazutoshi asks, looking directly at him. "You're pretty out of it.. not really the best place to do that, you know?" Kazutoshi warned, a.. kind of joking tone. But Ken still couldn't move the image of the noose and the pool blood.
"I-I'm sorry. I'm.. I think I have a headache. I think I have to cut this conversation short. Sorry, Kazutoshi." He poured a cup of coffee anyways. "I'll just take this to my room, if you don't mind."
"Don't let me hold you up. Hope you start feeling better, headaches suck ass. Bye, Ken." Ken nodded, and walked out of the door, giving Kazutoshi a small wave. He really did want to spend time with Kazutoshi, mostly because he's pretty easy to talk to. And because.. he doesn't want him to die. Despite his hands quivering, he made a stop by the storage room to grab a pair of pj's to wear to bed. If he's given the advantage of figuring out how to prevent murders, he should at least use that.
It didn't make sense this time.. Why would the pool blood show up when Hayashi was mentioned? Kazutoshi was clearly just joking around, he'd probably never be able to kill someone like her. Did.. did that mean he would get killed in the pool? Even so, Hayashi was the person who decided that the pool should be closed.
Did that mean someone was going to die in the pool regardless of her suggestion?
Was that the connection?
He needed to figure out what in the hell his brain is deciding to tell him. A hanged up body, (or maybe a suicide) and pool blood.. Was it telling him people's deaths? It's never clear enough to be seen..
Ken wasn't sure why the universe wanted to pick him to have this ability.
There's a superhero right there if they wanted to have a hero save everyone. Ken likes to think he's a decent you know that's a lie person. But, is he equipped to change the fate of everyone? When his brain gives him mixed signals and doesn't know what it wants him to do?
The brain is a complex organ in the skull which gives directions to every single aspect of the body. It's like the control panel. The things it has control over includes body movement, thoughts process, emotions, and instinct, things like that. But, in every single text book Ken has read has never once mentioned something about for telling the future. As far as he's aware, he's the only person with this kind of thing.
Nothing that screams 'can predict the future' has been noticed within his brain. So, premonitory magic was handed to him for no good reason. There's nothing that's ever been found about premonitory abilities in humans. Ken has researched it enough to know. He goes off of facts and statistics for a lot of things, but if he said nothing with magic exists, he'd be refusing his own existence.
Ken has to at least try. With whatever facts and magic that helps him, he can't let others die when he has the future literally shown to him.
He cannot fail.
Not like before.