“Let go of the kid!” Ao shouted. The man startled at her voice. 

When Ao’s vision began to adjust to the dark, she could finally see the faces of the two people better. Beads of sweat dotted the man’s furrowed forehead and his lips curled into a trembling, horrified grin. On the other hand, the child’s expression looked too calm for the situation. With wide-eyed innocence, she made sobbing noises. The man breathed raggedly.

“She… she attacked me! This is self defence!” He hauled the child over the railing and dangled her there. Ao desperately wanted to move, yet every fibre of her body remained stock still. Being in that darkness, it felt as though she would fall into the same nightmare abyss if she took another step forward. So she didn’t move. Hatsuharu didn’t move either.

“This is your fault. Y-you made me do this.” The man said. Then with a strangled cry, he released the child into whatever laid below them. There was no splash that came after, or any sound for that matter. Her sobs simply were silenced the moment she was dropped. 

Then the man sprinted back into the ship. Ao wasted no time reacting to his attempt to make a run for it. But just as she entered the hallway, a tight grip on her forearm jerked her back. She glared at Hatsuharu. That fucking son of a bitch.

He frowned. “It’s not worth–”

“Don’t tell me what to do, asshole.” Ao snapped, yanked her arm away and gave chase to the fleeing man, who had already disappeared from sight. “Shit, shit, shit.” 

Ao hunted the man down, checking every smaller passage that the bigger hallway split into. In the third passage, she saw a figure tripping over his own shoes and scurrying away. Bingo. There he was. 

With each pound of her footsteps, Ao closed in on the man. He was no match for her.

She leapt and swung a right hook into his jaw. Crack! His head swivelled. His eyes rolled to the back of his head. His body flopped. Next thing the man knew, he was groggily coming round while sprawled on the floor. 

Above him, Ao raised her leg higher. She wasn’t done with this motherfucker yet. Actually, she was just getting started. Channelling all her strength into her leg, she released a kick…

Something was thrown over her. Before Ao could land the kick, a noose wrapped around her neck and yanked her back. Choking, she strained to try to pry it off. 

“Sorry, but that’s not allowed.” A woman said. To be more precise, it was the butler. Ao managed to get her fingers between the noose and her neck, leaving a bit of space to squeeze out short breaths.

“B-but, he…” The noose tightened. Ao grimaced. “Fine! Fine! Fine! I tap out! I give up! I won’t do it!”

Hearing this, the man scrambled to his feet and scampered out of there. Only after he left, did the woman let go of the noose. Ao hacked violently, spewing out mucus, then gulped down as much air as she could. How was that woman so strong? Ao could already imagine how bad the red and black wound streaking around her neck was. Their bodies might be fake (she wasn’t too sure, she was still trying to figure that one out), but the pain was certainly real and maybe even more excruciating than when she was alive. She gritted her teeth.

“That man… he killed a girl! He threw her off the side of the ship!” 

The butler sauntered towards Ao. “What goes around, comes around.” She removed the noose, held it up so that it hung at eye level and appeared to encircle Ao’s head, and gazed contently through it. “We are, after all, in a circle.” 

This woman is batshit insane. How could she let some homicidal child killing maniac off to potentially do more homicidal child killing, while punishing someone who wanted to help? Though to be fair, Ao was expecting too much out of someone who argued about the cleanliness of a corpse with an even crazier, flip-flop wearing murderer. 

“Dinner is in a few minutes. Meet at the dining hall. It’s to the left of the main hall.” The butler said nonchalantly. Then like before, she was gone. 

Ao took her own sweet time strolling to the dining hall. It wasn’t as much the running, but more so the “excitement” of the events prior that worn her out. To no one’s surprise, being randomly grabbed, interacting with a pervert, watching a child die and being strangled took a heavy toll on one’s mental and physical well-being.

Even though Ao thought she was late, the dining hall was still relatively empty when she arrived. People continued to spill in, hesitant and wary. But the moment they saw the hall before them, energy surged back into them. And their stomachs grumbled.

Hundreds of buffet trays were laid out on white tables, extending from one end of the hall to the other. They were covered with lids and had candle fire burning underneath to keep the food inside warm. Strangely, no smell wafted in the air, but the idea of a buffet was enough for people drool.

One man shoved past Ao and beelined straight to the trays. 

“Finally! It’s about time we’re treated with proper res–” He lifted the lid. He paused, then he hurled it towards the eager crowd, a blend of rage and dismay fueling his outcry.

“What the absolute fuck is this?” The man yelled. 

Ao scooted over to take a look at whatever was making him that pissed. Inside the tray, watery and pale mush boiled. Eh, she had eaten much worse things in her life. The man better be grateful he wasn’t nibbling off of scraps from a dumpster behind a nightclub. Ao scooped herself a bowl of mush. Swishing it around, she guessed it could be watered down oatmeal from the light brown grainy lumps. That wasn’t too bad. 

Upon seeing his reaction, others rushed to the trays and opened them up. Their expressions fell. You’re overexaggerating. Ao thought, drinking from the bowl as she watched disgust and disappointment struck them like a heart-attack. Some even gagged. Ao nodded to herself. It was oatmeal for sure.

“Why the hell are you whining your ass off? You brats seriously think your opinions and choices here matters? Hilarious!” The gunner was back. He pranced about on a high platform, howling with laughter. “Don’t you know where you are?”

“No! Of course not!” Some people shouted back.

“Oh yeah, I forgot. Not everyone here is smart enough to deduce it.”

Ao wondered if the gunner somehow knew of her hypothesis and was referring to her. Impossible. Then again, the entire situation was impossible from the start and nothing made an ounce of sense. She wondered even more whether there were others who knew the answer. Interesting…

The doors were locked shut, so those who refused to eat the “barf” couldn’t leave. At first, there was a unanimous rebellion among the crowd that they wouldn’t eat. However, it didn’t take long before more and more people gave in to their hunger. Most –if not all– ended up ladling a bit for themselves.

After taking her second helping (oatmeal was good for you), Ao decided to grab a seat so that she could properly enjoy it. As she combed the hall for a seat, something caught her eye. Her breath hitched. There was no doubt about it.

The child she saw die was sitting right there in the hall. She beamed widely.

Ao’s bowl dropped.