SURVIVAL 36: PROMISE

"That's enough, Brenille. You're being paranoid." Trake is changing the heated atmosphere because it is getting intense.

“First’s body-”

“Leonthan,” I interrupted Brenille. “His name is Leonthan Hortaia.” I want them to remember Leonthan using his real name.

"I'll go outside and reexamine Hortaia, Leonthan’s corpse," Brenille left us in disbelief.

"Don't,” Trake interrupted him. “It’s not yet safe."

"Yes, and who knows what’s outside? If you really want to, we'll go with you," I insisted.

"No, I can handle myself.” Brenille persisted. “I should not even trust any of you.” He held onto his glowing eyeglasses. “Remember, we're enemies." He glared at us.

"What did you say?!" I stopped Trake because of his hasty feeling. “Well, you’re right. Do you think we could trust you?”

“You’re doing better, Trake. I have trained you well, being your leader from the very start of the Tri-Games. I just hope that you all learned something from me.” Brenille replied then he went out the door and left the mansion.

He looked at me. "Cy”

"Mm?”

"I’m aware you've lost your trust in me, or maybe it lessened because you think I might be one of the killers-”

"Not that, Trake-”

"Even if you don't say it, I know it. You're afraid I might hurt you, and I'm also afraid I might hurt you. But I wanted you to promise me something.”

I suddenly got nervous when he was staring at me. The seriousness of his face and eyes.

"Many of your friends here died. I hope... I hope you accept the truth no matter how mortifying it is."

"Huh? I don't understand you."

"Right now, you still don't understand. But I know you're smart and you'll figure things out by yourself.”

Trake doesn't seem to be the one I'm talking to. Only now have I seen him like this.

"Can you promise me that?”

“With what? You know, Trake, I’ll do anything I can just to save you and even Brenille. If there’s a way that we can all get out of here safely, I’ll do it.” I proclaimed.

“Yeah, that’s so you. But promise me that you’ll accept the truth and don’t hate yourself.”

I am slowly coming to hate myself for what I am not capable of doing. Trake is making me forgive myself.

I nodded, even though I was confused by our situation.

We waited a few minutes for Brenille to return. There’s a rumbling thunder and lightning that escalates the eerie ambiance. I guess the weather is not good.

“He’s late,” I noticed he’s getting later. Brenille is taking so long to get back.

I remain seated on the sofa. Trake is lying down, watching the ceiling. Trake and I chatted for a while. He told me about his mark on his chest, and that was ‘Neptune’. And ‘Mars’ was on Brenille’s.

"Oh, sh*t!" Trake exclaimed.

He sat up from lying down and picked up the clock on the table. I also looked at the clock and...

"Brenille!" My eyes widened at the sight.

The hands of the clock are now aligned to the number 3! Trake held his hand out to me, and we ran out of the mansion. The hands meet at 3, meaning Brenille (3rd)...

“Let’s shout so we can find Brenille,” I suggested to Trake, so that we’ll find him faster. "Bren-mm!”

I was surprised when Trake covered my mouth. "Shh, don't yell.” He slowly removed his hand from covering my mouth.

"Why?" I asked him out of confusion.

"It's all right. We'll look for Brenille quietly. As much as possible, let's not make any noise that would attract unwanted attention.”

I think he was keeping me safe so that Jecko wouldn't track us down and might attack us. If my suspicion is correct... Jecko has something to do with Brenille’s disappearance.

We slowly walked to the side of the mansion. It is dark and only the moon gives us light. There were trees all around, so if we hid, we wouldn't be very visible.

It suddenly misted and then rained quite heavily. We had no choice but to let the raindrops pour while finding Brenille.

Trake walked ahead of me while holding my right hand to guide me. I look around in case I see Brenille when there’s a figure of a person and...

*tskg*

I stepped on a tree branch. I felt like I saw a human shadow, so I didn't pay attention to where I was going and stepped on a branch.

"Trake? I think I saw something.” I called him.

"Let's go!" Trake pulled me all of a sudden.

We ran together. I was puzzled by his actions. Did he also see what I saw?

The rain got heavier which added to the terror of what I feel now. We are running until... I saw two human silhouettes. They stood about twenty meters away from us. The person on the right is just standing straight, but the person on the left is... Its hand rests on the chest of the person on the right. When the person on the left pressed the chest of the person on the right, he turned his hand. Just from the shadow of the person on the left... I already know who it was.

"Cy, come on!”

I pulled away my hand he was holding, but he held onto it tightly. "I said let go!”

I withdrew my right hand from the grip of Trake's left hand. Even though I wasn't looking into his eyes, I could see that he was worried about what I was doing... but I know he understands me. "Why didn't you tell me?" I questioned Trake without looking into his eyes. "Is that what you mean by the promise you made me do earlier?”

"You can think of it that way.”

I twitched at his answer. My hands became numb with what I figured out. I ran.

"Cy!”

I gasped as I stood glaring at the person in front of me now. We are about three meters away from each other. He turned to me while holding the bloody little knife in his left hand. The expression of the eyes staring at me is blank, with only a face visible in the light from the full moon. His hair flattened out due to the rain that drenched his uniform. There was a splash of blood on his left cheek. He wiped it with the back of his right hand. I saw the corpse lying on the side and lifeless. Brenille is dead.

"Venus," he called. He’s looking at me intensely.

"Mercury," I spoke.

"Cy!" Trake approached me, and he also glared at the boy I called Mercury.

"Nice meeting you again," Mercury replied. I couldn't read his expression now.

"Why are you doing this? What has gotten into you, L-Leonthan…”

"You're out of your mind!" I got startled when Trake yelled at him.

"Scream as you want, and I'll kill as much as I want." I was stunned by what Leonthan uttered. He grinned. He’s not the Leonthan I’ve known before.

So, this is what Trake meant about the promise. He wanted me to accept the truth that Leonthan is still alive, killing others. And not to hate myself for trusting Leonthan when he is a culprit.

"You bastard! How did you manage to kill our friends?” I restrained Trake from attacking Leonthan.

"I don't have any business with you, so don't interfere if you don't want your soul to be freed.”

I loosened my grip on Trake when I felt that he had calmed down.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked earnestly.

"To win this Tri-Games." His simple, expressionless answer.

He was just like Jecko and Seyah. They all desperately wanted to win to the point of killing their friends.

"All came to be just as planned until that guy ruined it." And he pointed at Brenille's corpse with his knife as blood dripped down its sharp edges and ends.

"Why? What did Brenille do that ruined your plan?"

"Why don't you ask that guy next to you?" It appears that he’s referring to Trake.

<Leonthan's flashback>

"Just as I thought... you're the first killer and the second killer is Seyah," Brenille grins.

He coindentally saw me sneaking outside of the mansion while he was reinvestigating the first corpse they saw.

"Audacious as always. Maybe next time I'll use a perfect method of killing." I smirked.

"A battle between two presidents, huh?" he said proudly.

“Don’t sweat it.”

“But a student council president is more competent than a class president. This is my sure win.”

"Now that you decrypted the mystery... you will be the next mystery.”

Without hesitation, I held my knife and targeted his chest. With just a little amount of force and just a scratch, he died.

"I was supposed to kill that guy first, but Brenille saw me. He knew from the very start that I was the first killer.”

"What's with Trake?”

"The two of them already knew.”

"I only found out when Brenille mentioned that one of us is the other killer. Brenille and I talked for a while, and he mentioned to me the possibility of Leonthan being alive. When he assured that one of us is a killer, I got mad because I can't believe him that he is still alive. But when Brenille disappeared, it was confirmed. Then I made you promise me… that you’ll accept this painful truth.”

Trake made me promise him that I would be strong and resilient if ever I found out that Leonthan is a killer.

I already know the mystery that Brenille first solved before he died. The first corpse we saw, we thought was Leonthan's corpse because he and Jecko were the last ones to fight. But the truth is that it was Jecko’s corpse. He got beheaded, so we can’t see whose face the corpse belongs to. Leonthan replaced Jecko's corpse dressed in his uniform. Leonthan deliberately left the biggest knife stuck in the chest of Jecko's corpse so that Jecko would be mistakenly thought he killed Leonthan, claiming that it was his corpse.

But Brenille saw the marking on the chest. He saw that the marking on the corpse was ‘Uranus’ (Jecko) and not Mercury (Leonthan).

I have already figured out the pattern of our chest markings.

Leonthan (1st) - Mercury

Heavien (2nd) - Venus

Brenille (3rd) - March

Rochevel (4th) - Jupiter

Seyah (6th) - Saturn

Jecko (13th) - Uranus

Trake (19th) – Neptune

Another thing, when we saw Jecko's body, which is the first corpse, it was amazing that the hands of the clock were pointing at number 1, even though that corpse belonged to Jecko. That’s because there are 12 numbers on the clock, and it has two meanings. The number 1 represents 1 or 13. It means going back to 1 or starting with number 13. On Earth, it’s called the military or the 24-hour clock times, where 1:00 PM on a 12-hour format is 13:00 in the 24-hour format.

The death of Rochevel: This time the killer here is different because it was indeed Seyah so she is the second killer.

The death of Seyah: I was Seyah’s second victim. She planned to kill me in the kitchen, but someone went ahead of her, and my suspicion is... Leonthan killed her the moment she attempted to finish me. I saw that there was a small hole in the kitchen that someone could go in and out of. My proof that Leonthan was Seyah’s killer is that Seyah was stabbed in the left side of her chest. Of the seven of us, only Leonthan is left-handed.

The death of Brenille: He killed Brenille because he already knew he was one of the killers. That’s also what Brenille means that one of us is the killer. That means Leonthan is still alive, roaming around the mansion. There were four of us instead of three.

And now there are only three of us left...

"I want you to choose.”

I wondered about what Leonthan said. "What do you mean?"

"Choose between me and that guy.”

"Why would I do that?”

"We all know that this game only accepts one victor, so our number must reduce.”

"And when I've made a choice?" I asked him.

"Then the battle will be two against one.”

Leonthan showed that he was neither afraid nor remorseful of his actions. He just calmly looked at the two of us while waiting for my answer.

“It’s okay, Cy. Choose what you think is the best for you.” Trake leaned over, looking at me. He smiled at me sparingly.

"Why are you so complacent? Are you that confident that I will choose you?" I questioned Leonthan out of frustration.

"Haha! Think about it, if you choose him—when the two of you killed me, do you think it will be easy for you to kill him, who is a good friend of yours? If you choose me, you will be motivated to kill me last because I'm already your enemy."

He’s playing with my feelings and he’s enjoying it!

The rain finally stopped.

I looked straight at him. "Trake. I’ll be with Trake.”

"That settles it," Leonthan stated and smirked wryly.

Leonthan wiped the blood dripping from it with his right hand. He gripped the knife tightly again as if he were ready to kill.

"Cy," Trake stopped in front of me and pulled away from Leonthan.

"Running away is futile. You'll have to face the consequences. Two against one, remember?" Leonthan reminded us. "Let's end it here."

"Hyaaa!”

I heard the rumbling noise of a knife grinding. Aside from wielding a knife, they also fight each other through kicks and punches. I immediately ran closer to the two. I knelt with my left hand supported and kicked Leonthan's right foot so that he would lose his balance and fall. Leonthan suddenly raised his foot that I should have kicked. How did he do that when he’s focused on Trake? He turned his attention back to beating Trake.

"Argh!" Trake writhed in pain.

He swayed away his arm and was about to stab me when I kicked his left hand holding the knife. His knife flew away. I kicked his knees. It was effective, so he released Trake from the bondage. Trake moved away from him.

His eyes seemed to have lost their sanity. He stood up straight and attacked closer to Trake. I was surprised when Trake also approached him.

"No!" I shouted.