Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Defy and Comply ❯ Lesson 24: Kugutu - Marionette ( Chapter 26 )

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Defy and Comply

By: Melissa Norvell

Lesson 24: Kugutu - Marionette

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Slowly, Sunoma cracked her eyes open. A small groan escaped her lips as she turned her head, struggling to pull her hazy vision into clarity. Her form ached and her joints felt stiff. As she pulled herself up, it felt like she weighed twice as much as she did before. Each of her limbs was like moving a brick structure. "Ugh...Man, I feel like I fell off of a building."

When her vision cleared she saw her classmates laying around her. They were all asleep, their bodies laid everywhere haphazardly. Well, everyone but Kiyomaru, who was awake. Did he wake up before she did? Why didn't he wake her up? Where had he gone?

Pulling herself to her feet, she spoke audibly. "Hey guys, wake up."

Taiga's aqua eyes fluttered open and he found himself staring up at a high ceiling. "Where are we?" His groggy voice questioned.

Tsukimi slowly at up, placing a hand to her head as a sharp pain shot through her body. It felt like someone had just assaulted her with a baseball bat. Bi-colored eyes glanced around her surroundings as she took in everything around her. "What is this place?"

"We're in the faculty conference chamber," Kazoo informed everyone as he stood and glanced around him. There were two large windows, and a mahogany desk with a plush chair. Over to his right there was a meeting table, long and imposing, lined with many chairs.

"Man, it's scarily quiet. I don't like it," Gaz could feel the dead air all around him. There was no noise at all. In fact, this was one of the areas that didn't even have a faint sound of machinery or students being killed in the distance. How long had it been since he had experienced quiet? He had long since forgotten, and now that he had, it was eerie.

"How did we get in here? Weren't we in the execution room?" Taiga was confused. Just how long had they been out? How deep in a state of unconsciousness were they?

"I blacked out when I saw Ame and Masato die." That was the last thing that Gaz remembered.

"I think we all did," Kazoo helped confirm his story.

"Where is Kiyomaru?" After glancing around a couple of times, it finally hit Leo that he was gone.

"I don't know. He wasn't here when I woke up," Sunoma let everyone know that not even she knew of the fencer's whereabouts, and she was the first one awake.

"Do you think he went looking around?" Gaz thought that he surely had to be around them somewhere. He couldn't have just disappeared like that.

"There's not much to look at. The rooms up here are just conference rooms, just like this one and the room the owner and the principal stayed in," Kazoo knew the layouts of these rooms very well. It didn't make any sense to dedicate any time to looking in them when they were all the same.

"Then, this is the top floor," Sunoma was a little shocked that they got there. From what she knew, the top floor had been off limits until now.

"That means the mastermind is ready to see is," Taiga was sure of that. They had played right into the mastermind's hands.

"Oh man, whose clone will it be?" Gaz shuddered in fear. He was afraid to know who it was. What if it was a clone of him? That would be like fighting his shadow, like an evil persona with his body!

"Something doesn't add up," the yakuza looked contemplative for a few moments as he mulled things over in his head. "Ame and Masato said that one of us works for the mastermind and that person has a clone that we don't know about. The only question is..." He eyes shifted to the group of students. "Which one of you is it?"

Leo's features hardened, "I think I know who it is."

"You do?" Tsukimi glanced to him.

"We'll find out when we meet the mastermind," Leo confirmed.

"Where do you think the mastermind is hiding?" Sunoma asked. If Leo had a clue as to who it was, maybe he had figured out something else as well.

"In the principal's office," there was no other place that he could be. Leo knew that they would have him corned if they went into the principal's office. This was just like the last killing that happened.

"Are you sure?" Gaz asked. That seems really anti-climatic for the clone to just be sitting in there.

"I'm positive. They've been there this entire time, if my hunch is correct," Leo began to walk ahead, followed by everyone else. The group glanced around the room, taking in all of its oddities.

"Does this room seem different to you?" Kazoo didn't know about anyone else, but there were things he noticed that hadn't been there before.

"Yeah, it's really creepy," Gaz pointed to the pictures on the wall. "Those pictures don't have eyes. Any of them. They're just all frowning." Where the eyes were on all of the portraits, there are just holes where they used to be. It looked like they had the dark abyss in their sights, like they were dreaming their own eternal nightmare.

"It's quiet. I could hear a pin drop if it wasn't for you all talking." There was absolutely no sound. Taiga thought he'd be at peace knowing that he couldn't hear the murderous screams anymore, but this was actually worse.

Leo stopped in front of some crudely scribbled kanji on one of the walls. It looked like it was written in red paint. "There are messages on the walls."

Sunoma walked up beside of him and gazed at the words, reading them aloud, "Wake up. I hate you. Sime for the camera. Why won't you all just die?"

"That's creepy as shit," just knowing what they were made Gaz tremble.

"Shake if off. They're trying to scare you," Leo reminded his fellow rock star to keep his composure.

"It's working..." Gaz didn't want to even try anymore. He was scared of what was to come and the anticipation was killing him more than anything. He hated to think about what they'd find in the principal's office.

"Come on, let's head towards our goal," Kazoo's voice held a little uncertainty in it, but he wasn't going to let it get the better of him. It was now or never, and freedom was in their grasp.

"What about Kiyomaru?" Sunoma was worried. They should all face off against the mastermind together.

Kazoo turned and leveled her with a dire expression. "Leave him," his voice was cold and commanding. "If we can defeat the mastermind, we'll find him later. He shoulda stayed with us anyway. Follow me," the long-haired teen ran ahead as everyone followed him to a set of doors. They pushed them open to see a hall lined with pictures of each student that had died.

They all stopped in their tracks as they looked at the elaborate frames. The faces of the dead stared back at them. All around them, they felt eyes upon them as photographs judged them.

"What's this?" Gaz tried not to sound like he was scared, when in reality he was petrified. Why was a place like this in existence?

"Everyone who died in graduations...this is like some hall of the dead memorial," Leo stated as he glanced around at all of the pictures.

Gaz noticed something written in the same red paint on the corner of the wall that had no picture. "Another message, die."

Taiga ran down a few feet and glanced over at another message. "There's another down here." He shouted down the hall as all eyes rested on him. "They're still asking us why we won't die."

The group continued to run. The only sound that filled the air was the sound of their shoes on the white linoleum and their heavy breaths as they continued to make their way to the principal's office.

In an extra bolt of energy, Gaz ran ahead of everyone and picked up his pace. His black boots clacked on the floor as determination coursed through his veins. More than anything else, he wanted to quell the fear inside of him. He wanted to find the mastermind.

Ahead of him were two wooden doors. He flung them open and ran inside, slamming into a glass wall and falling backwards on a curved floor.

Rubbing his head and closing one eye, he stared at what seemed to be the inside of a glass ball. "What the hell?" He picked himself up and tried to run back towards the doors, but glass covered his exit and he was hoisted high into the air. He ran around like a gerbil in a plastic, hollow ball and beat against the glass, trying desperately to get out. Backing up, Gaz tried to ram into it with his shoulder, only to bounce off and fall onto the ground in pain.

"You can't get out," a familiar voice informed him. Gaz froze in place and ceased his beating against the walls to look down below and see Kiyomaru standing there. Dark green eyes looking up at him and a serious expression had adorned his face.

Something was wrong.

"Kiyomaru!" The rock star's face lit up in relief. "Kiyomaru, come on, man! You gotta help me!"

"I cannot."

Just then, it hit him. The Korean's face lit up in revelation, and horror and dread coursed through him like adrenaline. "Don't tell me! Man, no! You can't be the mastermind!"

Kiyomaru shook his head softly. "I am not."

Just then, everyone else ran into the room and saw Kiyomaru standing there. His expression was stern and solemn, and he wasn't dressed in his usual attire. The blue-haired boy's Japanese uniform was now a jet black one that resembled that of a German Gestapo. In his hand, he held a horse whip and on his head was a military cap with a gold crest.

"Kiyomaru!" Taiga shouted, shocked to see that he had made it there before all of them had.

"Get me down!" Gaz shouted from above them, trapped in a glass sphere.

Leo looked up, shocked to see Gaz trapped up there. "Gaz!"

"Kiyomaru, where were you?" Sunoma didn't know what to think. At this point, she didn't even know if she wanted to approach him. Everything was wrong about him, from his newly acquired form of dress, to the look in his eyes.

"I was taken here," Kiyomaru replied in his uncharacteristic, short sentences.

"Wait...something's weird about this..." Kazoo looked him up and down, taking in the flowing tassels on the boy's shoulders and more importantly, the expression on his face.

"Why are you in the principal's office? Why do you have Gaz in that...thing?" Tsukimi pointed at the round encasement.

"Please, man, let me down. You got to help me," Gaz continued to beg for his life. He had no idea what was going on, but he didn't like it at all. In fact, he had a bad feeling about all of this.

"What's the meaning of this?" Taiga clenched a fist in irritation. "You'd better tell me right now, or I'll kill you and make your ass a cushion."

Kiyomaru turned from all of them and began to walk towards a gold lever on the wall with a red handle. "I apologize but I cannot let you down." Green eyes stared at the lever, as if his mind was waging war on itself on whether or not to pull it.

"I thought we were a team! Kiyomaru! Hey! Why are you going over there?" Gaz screamed at the top of his lungs. Desperation and paranoia were clear in his voice. His heart raced and he felt himself on the verge of a panic attack.

Kiyomaru's hand reached out, and he pulled the lever down.

"What are you doing?" Gaz was then assaulted with high frequency sound waves. He covered his ears and stumbled back, screaming bloody murder.

"What are you doing?" Sunoma whirled around.

Leo charged towards Kiyomaru and drew back his weapon in an attempt to end him, but the fencer was quick to defend him with his sword. "I cannot let you interfere."

"I can't believe you work for the mastermind," Leo gritted his teeth. All of this time, Kiyomaru was the traitor. It was right under his nose and it only took until now for him to figure it out.

"I told you that you'd hate me later. This is why I told you to go after Taiga," Kiyomaru's words pierced Leo's heart like a javelin, and it was in that moment that the rock star figured out that he had been trying to tell him all along.

"Kiyomaru..." Blue eyes widened as his body locked up, staring at the boy in shock.

Taiga drew back, hurling his pick axe through the air like a boomerang. It flew through the air and clashed with the glass, not even so much as scratching it before it fell to the ground with a clank.

Gaz thrashed around, screaming so much that his vocal chords eventually tore. Blood cascaded from his ears and down his fingers, and out of his mouth before he collapsed and died in a growing pool of blood.

"Gaz...He's dead..." Sunoma's voice trembled. It was too late to save him. Their group had decreased by another member, and they didn't get to see the mastermind.

Most of all, it was Kiyomaru who killed him. The man that she loved now stood before her as a villain, as the one who helped everyone become the killers they were. Kiyomaru was the one who permitted the killings. He was the one they had fought all this time to see. Why? Why would he do such a terrible thing?

Tears streamed down Tsukimi's eyes as she sobbed. "I don't understand!" Her fists clenched at her sides. "Why would you kill Gaz? Why would you betray us? I thought we were a team! I thought we'd graduate together! Weren't you the one who upheld justice? Weren't you the one who wanted to fight for the greater good?" Her eyes stung as more tears fell. "We trusted you! How could you!?"

Taiga's fist clenched even tighter as he barked at the military man before him. "You son of a bitch! You put us through hell!" Out of all of the people, he didn't expect Kiyomaru to be the mastermind. It made him sick.

"You killed them...it was all you," Kazoo drew back, shock written on his face. "I hope you're proud of yourself."

Tears clung to Kiyomaru's eyes. He could feel their hate upon him. It was a saddening tale, indeed. Penitence for his crime, penitence for his life. If he prayed right now, who would hear him? He couldn't go back now. He had tricked everyone, and now there would be one final judge. He would do what he must as they would all turn to dust in the end. "I am not. I am very disgusted with myself."

"Don't say that bullshit! You could give a fuck less about us," Taiga was livid. They were all fools that he fed dirty lies to. He couldn't keep his virtue and thus it turned to vice. There was no hand to help him out of here now. There was no god to help him find his way out now.

"I care far more than any of you think. I want the clone overthrown," Kiyomaru didn't expect them to understand. His devotion to them turned to dusty tombs. There was no hand to help him find his way, and he felt the weight of his lies.

"Then why would you kill Gaz? How could you be so cold?" Tsukimi didn't understand. If there was a way that they could have saved him, then why did Kiyomaru do what he just did?

It wasn't fair.

He lied to her.

He lied to everyone.

He tricked them all.

"He's making me do this. I have to try to kill you all. At the same time, I wanted so desperately for you all to graduate, for you all to defeat the clone, because I wish to be saved as well," Kiyomaru turned back towards them and frowned. This would change nothing. If he prayed, who would hear him now? He was drowning in their cheers. They hated him. They wanted him to die and he could see it.

"If that's true, why didn't you tell us?" They would have tried to help him if he were truly in that type of danger. Sunoma couldn't speak for anyone else, but she could for herself. She would have never abandoned him.

"I could not. If I told you all, then my father would be executed," Kiyomaru's grim words brought them all shock. Gasps spread across the room. Kiyomaru silently asked them if his love for his father was a curse? If so, he had only tears to cry. He felt the weight of death and lies. However, he did it for good reason.

"You mean, the clone has the ambassador held hostage?" Tsukimi cast a sympathetic glance towards the blue-haired boy. All of this time, he was just a slave to his clone. He killed people, and he betrayed them just to save his father.

"Yes, I could only hint things to you all and desperately hope that you got the word, but nothing I said got through," Kiyomaru's voice saddened and he tipped his head down. The brim of his hat covered his face. He tried to tell them all. He tried to give them so many hints, but they fell upon deaf ears.

He wanted them to save him, but he soon came to terms that he had been abandon.

"So, you were holding out this whole time, hoping the clone didn't kill your father," Taiga felt sorry for him. On many levels the yakuza sympathized, as their situations were the same. Much like Kiyomaru, Taiga came to this graduation hoping that his brother's body would have been able to have been recovered, but it was all futile. Kiyomaru was just like him. He longed to have his father alive.

"It's more than that. The clone has killed many people. He killed Karaya's father, and several government agents. He also killed the Emperor of Japan," Kiyomaru's words were low. He doubted anyone would even believe him. They more than likely thought he was spewing more lies.

"What?" Leo's face lit up with shock. Did he just say what he thought he said?

"He has the power of an unknown ELF wave cocktail that can kill anyone if he wishes. It can do many things, depending on its frequency," Kiyomaru pointed to the round container that held the dead Korean. "In that bubble, the most lethal mixture is contained. He wanted me to demonstrate to you all how the cocktail works. I never wanted to do any of this, but I cannot allow Japan to fall under the clone's rule. If my father is spared, we have a chance at least." It wasn't just about the love that Kiyomaru had for his father; he was literally trying to save the fragments of Japan's government that were still alive and functional. Kiyomaru felt that he was the only savior Japan had.

"What about the guy who created the clone?" Kazoo wondered if he was still alive.

"The man who created the clone was Zoen's father, Dr. Hisato Matsuda, a bioengineer who worked on human cloning. When the clone found out what it was being used for, it turned on him and killed him. It will do whatever it takes to see us suffer and it has the power to do so." In the end, they were all right. No one would be spared against Kiyomaru's clone's superior knowledge and use of the sound waves to his advantage.

"So, this is all part of a terrorist plot, and we're all hostages...but why?" Sunoma wanted to know why the clone would take a bunch of high schoolers and make them kill each other.

"I am not sure. It does not tell me everything. You have no idea the amount of guilt that's on my shoulders. I am so sorry....I never meant for any of this to happen." Tears streamed down Kiyomaru's cheeks. This was the worst case scenario and he placed his gamble on people who never read between his lines. He truly couldn't fix this.

He would forever be a prisoner of his clone's evil doing.

Tsukimi looked down. The true fear of the situation coursed through her body. There was no way in hell they could fight this clone. What in the world did they just get involved in? "What do we even do? How do we beat a clone? We can't do this...we really can't..."

"We have to try. I didn't come all this way to lose. I'm going to go down fighting," Kazoo wasn't about to give up. Surely, there was a way to beat the clone at his own game. They had to help Kiyomaru save his father. They were no longer exceptional high schoolers, but modern day heroes.

"I will, too. Kiyomaru, I want to save you." Sunoma's voice was comforting to the broken fencer before her.

"Sunoma..." Kiyomaru's voice cracked with emotion.

"Tell me, Kiyomaru, who is this clone? Which one of us is it?" Leo had a feeling he knew the answer, but he was going to ask anyway.

"The clone...is my clone," Kiyomaru admitted with a hand on his breast.

"What?" Sunoma asked, shocked.

"He's a clone of me that goes by the name is Kaizerschmarren Karchov," the blue-haired youth unveiled the clone's true identity.

"Wait..." Something just hit Leo. "Did you say Kaizerschmarren?"

"I thought you'd know him," Kiyomaru knew it.

"You know the clone, Leo?" Sunoma turned towards him.

"He was my classmate, but I thought he was murdered in the mutual killings. From what I understand, someone threw him into the incinerator and he burned alive." That was how the story went, but when Leo thought about it, there was no true confirmation on the event. Kaizerschmarren was never seen again and presumed deceased.

How did he escape then? The dome had no exits, so how did Kaizer get out of the school?

"That means whoever 'killed' him worked for him," Taiga wondered which of Leo's classmates that was.

"He's been attending this school over and over, except for this class. He would erase their memories of him afterwards," Kiyomaru let them all know the secret behind their missing memories.

"We never saw Kaizerschmarren or found him out as the mastermind, so he wouldn't have a reason to erase your memories...just the graduating class before." It was then that it hit him. Leo had figured out a few things about his own memories, and it petrified him to the core.

"We were all his damned puppets," Taiga's fist shook with malice.

"Man, I don't get it. Why would he do that?" Leo couldn't believe what was going on. This was a plan to kill people, and it spanned over years.

"It's because he-" Kiyomaru was cut off. His eyes widened and blood streamed from the corner of his mouth. He tried to talk but only a squeak came out. Shrunken pupils glanced down to see a fencing sword rammed through his chest. Shock and horror was etched on everyone's face as Kiyomaru fell to his knees and slid off of the sword, falling face first. 'I'm sorry I couldn't save you...father...'

With that final thought, Kiyomaru died in regret.

"Kiyomaru!" Sunoma screamed as she rushed over to him and fell to her knees, weeping loudly. She felt a harsh pain, as if the sword Kiyomaru was stabbed with had pierced her heart.

"Kaizerschmarren..." Taiga seethed as he glanced over to the clone that stood before him like an imposing, black shadow. Kaizer was dressed in the same black, Gestapo garb. The only differences in the two were that Kaizer's hair had turned white, stripped of its color during experimentation, and his eyes were a lime green in contrast with Kiyomaru's dark ones. The clone was highly decorated, with many medals and badges encrusted on the breast of his suit. His sword was drenched in blood and a wicked smile was plastered to his face.

Kaizer held out the bloody sword. "Hello, you bastards," he then looked to his old classmate. "Leonardo Sukichi, I see you've changed. You grew out your hair and dyed it." His voice was different than Kiyomaru's, of a sardonic, condescending pitch. "Green is a nice color, the color of inexperience. I preferred you as a blonde. You were much more attractive that way." The clone was clearly amused at the reaction he had gotten. Oh, how he did love stepping on Leonardo's shoes. The angry look plastered on his face only helped lighten his mood. "What's wrong? Aren't you happy to see me? I expected more of a shocking revelation than this."

All of that planning and the big unveiling turned out to be a bust.

Well, that was disappointing.

"Fuck you, Kaizerschmarren. We aren't here for bullshit reunion time," Taiga cut into their little moment.

"Man, why are you doing this? Why would you kill everybody like that?" Kazoo didn't see Kaizer as that type of person. Sure, even when he knew him, Kaizer was an insufferable prick, but to do something on such a massive scale seemed beyond him back then.

"Why, you may ask? Because humans should experience fear, horror and pain. That's really the only feelings they deserve to feel. You're all such a shallow race of people. None of you can own up to your own actions, you don't understand physical and figurative boundaries, you contradict yourselves, you can't control your own emotions, you eat yourselves fat, starve yourselves skinny and you all think you have a bigger purpose?

"Humans have a special way of fucking things up for everyone in all contexts. People think too highly of themselves. It's illegal to kill another human, but it's perfectly fine to kill lesser creatures that they decide tastes good. If you don't kill it yourself, you guys it. Therefore you hire someone to kill your food for you." He pointed his sword and motioned it around the room. Who are all of you to decide the value of your lives and others? It's illegal to kill a human because the insignificant speck feels as if he has something to contribute. People disgust me.

"You all hope to go down in history, with your special talents, but history itself dies and you'll all be forgotten. Everyone will be forgotten. All of your hard work goes to nothing. The only guarantee in life is that you'll die. We're forced into a cruel, unforgiving world. How can you all think someone is orchestrating and watching over our actions? If you think that's true then your god is sick and twisted.

"You don't think death has solved anything, but it solves everything. Look at Kiyomaru and Gazitsu. It solved everything for them. Don't you think it's nice that they're resting forever? They don't have to deal with disputes, relationships, dues, problems...pain. They don't have any problems.

"Living is painful and one day, I'll be pushed far enough to end myself. You all treasure your lives because you're afraid what will happen afterwards. How much worse can it be questioning yourself and everything every day? Death is the ultimate release. It's destiny. Thinking things will get better is just as bad as thinking it will get worse. They are both true.

"That is reality."

"In other words, you think we're better off dead," If Taiga wasn't mistaken, that was the point of his whole philosophy.

"Aren't you tired of suffering?" Kaizer's voice was laced with temptation.

"We're tired of killing people you twisted bastard," Taiga shot.

"We're only suffering because you're making us," Sunoma sobbed as she hugged Kiyomaru's lifeless form close to her. She had managed to roll him over and she was cradling his head in her lap.

"You erased them from the world by throwing them in a pit of acid. You made that hellish nightmare in the basement. Because of you, they can never rest in peace." The anger was building inside of him, and with all of the force he could muster, the yakuza charged at him with his pick axe drawn. "YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

Kaizer grabbed his arm before he was struck and used Taiga's weight to flip him over his head and slam him into the ground on his back. The yakuza was quick to get up and swung his weapon at the clone, who merely stepped to the side and avoided his attack as if it was nothing.

"I'd watch that temper. You forget what my ELF waves can do," the white-haired male pointed up towards the dead body of Gaz as a grim reminder of his capabilities. "He's sleeping soundly, and you can as well. Do come to me and relieve yourself of the worldly pains."

"Why would you do this? What makes you feel this way? You're a clone of Kiyomaru, so how can you be so awful?" Tsukimi didn't get it. Didn't clones act the same as the people they came from?

If there was one thing Kaizer was sick of, it was being compared to that man. The clone kept his smirk, never letting them see a crack in his arrogant facade. "The world should acknowledge that clones are people, too. You humans create us with sick purposes. You harvest our organs like some sort of animal that you kill without mercy. What makes our lives more insignificant than yours?"

"Wait! You were made to harvest organs from? I thought that was illegal!" Then again, Kazoo thought cloning was illegal as well.

"You believe that people would cease actions because of that? Fools." Honestly, even the smart humans were fickle.

"So, you were the first successful human clone?" Kazoo was almost certain of that. Then again, there could have been other clones he didn't know about.

"To my knowledge. I am known as the Kaizer Project, but I prefer my alias. As you can see, I am not an exactly clone as my hair somehow turned white and my eyes are lime green, but I'd kill myself if I were anything like that fool," Kaizer prided himself on those slight differences. They gave him individuality, and that was something he cherished.

"Who do you hate him so much?" Leo didn't understand. Was it because Kiyomaru was the original? Did Kaizer have some sort of identity crisis?

"He is the original, the one deemed suitable enough to live. Do you even know what they were planning on doing with me?" Someone like him could never have any idea of what his true purpose was.

"Other than what you mentioned and being the first successful clone, no."

"They were going to use my organs and put them inside of Kiyomaru if and when he needed them. Can you imagine living your life thinking your creators were merciful, thanking them for being alive..." Kaizer's voice turned more bitter and less snarky. "I was grateful to Mr. Matsuda for giving me life. I considered him a father figure, but he betrayed me. He was in on it, too. Am I truly something to be thrown away like trash?" The clone felt a new wave of anger and disgust flow through him. "I will not stand for it!"

"That's...cruel..." Leo couldn't imagine living a life like that, being betrayed by the very people who were supposed to love and care for him. He wasn't even going to pretend that he did know, because it was a feeling that could never be emulated.

"How can you tell me that I'm wrong?" Surely, no one could argue with his logic. He had every right to feel the way that he did.

"You got your revenge," Tsukimi spoke, causing the clone to look to her. "We're even...more than even. I don't think anyone is going to come look for you. Please, don't continue this. Please Kaizerschmarren, just let us go." Maybe if she pleaded with him, somewhere within that cold exterior he would have a heart. At least, that's what she hoped anyway.

"No," the word came harshly and slammed into her like a freight train. "You all will feel what I have felt all these years. I want you all to live a life deprived of things that make you feel alive."

"Is that why you did this to me? You wanted me to understand your pain?" Leo could only come to the conclusion that was the main reason that Kaizer would allow him to live with the painful memories that he had.

Kaizer walked up to the green-haired man and gripped him by the chin, smiling that shit-eating grin at him and looking at him in amusement. "Do you feel it, my dear, sweet Leonardo? Can you feel the torture and anguish? Do you know you're inferior to all around you, the same inferiority that I once felt. You and I are similar." It was because he let Leonardo live through the last killing spree that they could share such emotions.

"All that time..." That truly was what he was trying to achieve. Kaizer was trying to make Leo understand him and come closer to relating to him by putting him through torture. All of the pain that he felt was the same kind of pain Kaizer felt. All of that time, when he tried to kill himself, it was the same feeling the clone felt.

"Did you know that if Kiyomaru got terminally ill, they would take his brain and place it on my body so that he could live? They would throw my brain, the singular form of my existence in this world, out like trash. The funny thing is, I got to achieve that goal first," his words rolled smoothly off of his lips, precise and timed. Lime green eyes boring into his soul. Even though Kaizer was a little short than him, Leo felt the intimidation of an army of a thousand men with guns aimed at his heart.

"But, they didn't do that to you, Kaizerschmarren. They were your friends, just like I was." Kaizer didn't have to kill them. He was certain that if Kiyomaru truly knew what his purpose was, then he would be against it. For all he knew, the Kaizer Project's true nature and purpose was more than likely not revealed to him, knowing that Kiyomaru wouldn't be for killing someone senselessly just so he could live.

Leo refused to believe that Kiyomaru would have given up his moral code just so he could live longer with Kaizer's parts.

"I have no friends, but I consider you and I to have an understanding," his words were so apathetic. It was almost like Kaizer was nearly a complete sociopath and if it wasn't for a few instances where he did she emotion, Leo would have believed him to be. "You have been to the edge of death and back, to the brink of insanity...you know my feelings. I can actually stand you."

Kaizer then turned from him, releasing his grip on Leo's chin to face the others. "Do you want to know who killed Inori?" He asked another question, taunting them.

"You did," Kazoo took the first guess.

"My original did," Kaizer corrected him.

"You mean...Kiyomaru..." Sunoma gazed down at the corpse in her lap.

"He also killed Mr. Mandio, the founder of Shinjinku Academy." Those words felt like a weight being dropped on top of everyone's shoulders. While it shouldn't have been a shock to them, it was.

Why would Kiyomaru kill the founder? For what purpose did he kill him? Knowing Kaizer, it was all part of his plan, but why?

...To Be Continued