Confessions.

Several minutes passed, the silence occasionally interrupted by my coughing, deep breathing, and even a few screams of pain.
I couldn't get up from the ground; my hand was completely flattened; it was one with the floor.
Kami looked at me, puzzled, and then moved the monitor closer to me.
"I think the decisive moment has arrived." The ghost chuckled.
I stared at him closely and then asked,

"But who are you, really?"
Kami stared into my eyes as if to imprint his image on my retinas.
Then he changed shape; it was a hooded man with a skull for a face and a tall, sharp scythe in his hands. Without speaking, he answered me; he was death itself.
"What have I done to deserve all this?!" I whimpered.
The spirit returned in the form of a child and looked at me, as if he were sorry for me.
I was a complete wreck, physically and emotionally destroyed.

"Issei, do you really think you're the good guy?" he replied.

"Don't you remember what you did in life? You probably just got used to it, so you don't even know." He continued thoughtfully.
I looked at him in disbelief. I was the bad guy?
This whole supernatural situation was getting on my nerves, I couldn't take it anymore.

"I'm tired of just watching!" I shouted.

"Really? You're getting to the point yourself, Issei, congratulations!" Kami looked happy; this time he wasn't wearing a creepy grin, but a real smile.
Had what I said really made him happy? Why?

"Back to what I was saying; we've reached the crucial point." He continued, ignoring me and grabbing the remote. He pressed a button, but nothing happened.

"Now we can continue enjoying the show!" he exclaimed, all excited.
Kami rushed to the screen, kicking like a child. He reminded me of a dog wagging its tail. I stood there, watching him, then he turned to me.

"Aren't you moving because your hand hurts?"
Hand? What hand?

My hand was a pulp, no longer a limb but a mass of ground flesh and bone.
Without thinking too much, the spirit snapped its fingers, and my hand returned to its original state.
Why didn't the damned god of death just kill me?!
Can't I even bleed to death in peace?!
Wasn't it my time to die yet?!
He's planning this all to have as much fun as possible, changing reality to his liking.
I hate him! I hate him! I hate him!
On the screen, I saw poor Sora walking, holding onto the wall. Then, from behind, a figure grabbed him and dragged him away. Sora's nails scraped the wall, his screams muffled by not having a mouth to scream with. His breathing labored.

"How do I deactivate this trap?!" I asked angrily.

"This isn't a trap, there's nothing you can do here." He answered calmly.
With eyes filled with anger and tears, I looked at the screen, holding it in my hands, as if to crush it and get my brother out.
Without my permission, the monitor changed frame, returning to show my friends.
They continued walking down the corridor, unaware of the dangers.
In front of them, a wall covered in holes awaited them.
From what I read on the map, endless arrows will come out of the holes.
I'm too tired to sacrifice myself anymore; they have to make it on their own. I told myself, but I didn't want to see them die; I was at a standstill. Should I help them or not?
They walked against the wall again as before, and as soon as Kaito felt a crack in the wall, he instantly understood what was about to happen.

"Drop down immediately!" he ordered.
The others obeyed, slithering along the ground like snakes.
The arrows flew, but they remained unharmed; Luckily, the holes didn't cover the entire wall.
They continued on without a scratch. Ahead of them, they saw the hole where the axe had fallen, but there was no trace of it. Someone or something had picked it up from the ground.
After passing several traps, they found themselves in a room with a locked door. The door behind them closed, trapping them inside.

"There'll be a puzzle to solve to open the door..." Kaito thought aloud.
The sound of a waterfall began to grow louder and louder.
The room was filling with water!
With no way out, they'd die, but what could I do?!

"Kami, what can I do?!" I asked without even turning to him.

"There's nothing you can do." he chuckled.
I can't do anything?!
There was no button indicating that trap; it was inevitable.
My friends' bodies remained still, but inside them their hearts were pounding, and I could see Isabella's belly continually expanding and contracting.
The panic was evident, but they all remained silent, as if speaking would lead to their death.

"There must be something I can do!" I shouted at the spirit.
He shook his head, perplexed.

"I'm sorry, but they have to fend for themselves. What does it matter to you if they die?" he said seriously, as if this situation truly mattered to him.
The whole world around me seemed still. I watched the spirit intently stare at the CRT television where my friends were depicted motionless.
The sound of the water filling the room grew louder and louder in my head.

"Okay, let's get back to our dear Sora." Kami said, changing the camera angle with the remote.
I saw Sora on a wooden bed, bound at the feet and hands with brown leather belts.
The dark figure that had been circling the house was now in the room with my brother.
If I didn't do anything, something unspeakable would happen.

"Can I do something here?!" I asked the spirit insistently.

"Yes, you can do a lot here, but at your own risk," he replied.
There was probably some torture I had to endure to save him, so I hesitated.
I stared at the monitor. The figure in the darkness continued to circle the table where Sora was sitting.
After a few turns, it stopped. It took out a knife and approached.

"Sora, dear son, are you okay?" the shadow said in a hoarse yet tender voice. That voice was a frightening version of a voice I already knew.
Dear son? Can't it be?!

I had no doubt, it was my mother! What was she doing there?
Then something in my head hurt. Other memories flooded back.
When I got home, what had happened?
Something horrible had happened, but what?
The memory was on the verge of slipping from my head. I tried to grasp that memory with all my might, but I couldn't make the image clear.
Such an important memory is slipping away from me.
I must remember!
The being in the darkness moved even closer to Sora's face, where its face became clear in the light of the hanging candelabra.
In that moment, my doubts vanished. I saw my mother's face, covered in cuts and blood.
Now I remembered; when I returned home, I had seen my parents' bodies on the floor and Sora holding a bloody knife.
In a split second, my memories filled my head. I put my hands over my mouth, but the vomit still came out.
The insides of his belly, stabbed open, were disgustingly clear in my mind. All that blood, the putrid smell, everything was so clear in my head.
But something is missing. Why did he kill them? I'm missing memories.
Then on the screen, I saw my mother take the knife and stab it into the wood near Sora's face.
He was completely speechless and could only breathe heavily.
Kami snapped his fingers, making Sora's mouth reappear, and he began to scream in despair.
Finally, Sora had his tender slit with which to express himself.

"I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!" my brother continued to scream.
Along with the fear, there was also the feeling of hatred. More memories came back to me; every time I returned home, Sora and my parents were always arguing.
Could scolding have driven him to commit murder?

No, that's not enough motivation to kill one's parents.
Little Sora's limbs were moving like worms; he was thrashing like crazy.

"Kami, what happened between my parents and my brother?!" I asked desperately.

"You don't know anything, do you? Yet I gave you back all your memories. They probably left you aside. You weren't important to them," he replied.

What is he saying?! I lost something so important to my family?!
With bored eyes, the spirit began to explain to me...
In recent years, my family was a family of criminals. Kami explained to me that they made people disappear for money. Sora accidentally ended up on the scene of a mission and so, at the age of ten, he also started killing people for money.
All of this was so absurd and beyond my wildest imagination that I stopped listening.
All of this is impossible. My family is supposed to be a family of murderers?!

"You're lying, what you're saying is unbelievable!" I screamed in shock.
Kami paused for a second, almost as if apologizing to me. Then he continued explaining.
After seeing his parents kill other people, Sora began killing too, not for money, but for his own personal pleasure.

Sora ended up committing massacres that were difficult to clean up, and he was always arguing with them.
He just wanted to kill and kill and kill.

All this time, I've been in the dark about what my family was doing.
Kami then, as if fed up, said it was time to make him repent.
What does he intend to do?!
From the shadows, my mother and my father also emerged.
Something truly terrible was about to happen, but what could I do?
My brother and my parents are killers too. Should I save them?
My parents are already dead, so I don't think I can do much about it. In fact, the silhouettes of my parents in the room looked like zombies, but...
What should I do?! Someone help me!

My parents threw themselves against the table, drooling. Immediately afterward, one of them began biting Sora's little body.
I screamed, but my screams were drowned out by those of my brother in pain.
I stopped watching the screen, covered my ears, and went to a corner to cry.
I could feel Kami hovering beside me, almost apologetically.
He paced back and forth as if checking on me and Sora.

"Don't you want to save your brother?" he asked softly, like my mother did.

"NO!" I screamed, tears streaming down my face.
I had no idea what to do; I wanted to be left alone.
I wanted all this to never have happened.
I wish this whole situation was just a bad dream, or a lie.
When I finally stopped hearing Sora's screams, I thought it was all over.
But Kami wasn't done with him yet.

"This isn't okay..." he said sadly.

"What's wrong with you?! You want to torture us more?!" I asked angrily.

"The thing is, he's not repenting. That's the goal." he replied sadly.
I turned to the screen and saw Sora all battered, covered in bite marks and blood.
I was sure he was dead.
I rubbed my eyes to see better and saw that he was still breathing.

"Can I go save him?" I asked, sniffling.
Kami smiled again and excitedly dragged me along, snapping his fingers.
A door glowing purple appeared in front of us. A magical door.
Before I could enter, the spirit stopped.

"Now I'm taking you to Sora, and you'll have to play a game of mine," he explained.
The game consists of a transparent wall between me and Sora. It will move depending on the buttons pressed on both sides of the room. Sora must apologize or be crushed by the wall.
After explaining the rules, I opened the door and walked through.
In the blink of an eye, I was in Sora's room.
I rushed against the transparent wall to say goodbye to Sora.

"Sora, brother, I came to save you!" I said to him.
Sora's eyes widened.

"Big brother, so you're alive. Save me, please," he said, coughing up blood with every word.
The restraints holding Sora came undone.
Even though he was free, my brother didn't move. The pain was so great that he couldn't move without pain.

The wall then slowly began to move toward Sora.

"Sora, at the end of the room, there's a button to stop the wall. Move!" I said, cutting off words to tell him how to get out of here as quickly as possible.
Sora was dripping blood, but little by little he moved. He threw himself off the bed with a little scream.Then he crawled toward the button and turned to me.

"If I press it, will you be the one to die?" he asked.
I couldn't speak, so I lowered my gaze and slowly nodded.
At this point, Sora was as confused as I was about what to do.
Then, as if he'd had a brilliant idea, he smiled and pressed the button.

"I've never seen a person get crushed, this will be interesting." he said, blood spilling out as he did so.
I was speechless, but then they came out without my permission.

"I know what you did..."I knew it through Kami, but I wasn't sure it was all true.
Sora's mouth dropped open, but then he smiled again.

"There's no point in hiding this secret anymore. Goodbye, brother."
As Kami had said, all he cares about now is seeing people die.

"Sora, we can still be brothers and live together happily," I said without thinking too much.
I'm actually not sure I really want that.
Sora's expression changed.

"So you love me?" he asked, almost in tears.

"Yes, of course I do! What kind of big brother would I be otherwise?" I replied with a sincere, tearful smile.
But in reality, that smile wasn't sincere. I just wanted Sora to apologize.

"Brother, press the button," Sora said, covering his mouth as if he didn't really want to say it.
I'm sure he's regretting it, but he doesn't want to die; that's normal.

"Sora, even if I press the button, I'm not sure I'll survive these deadly games," I explained.

"I love you. See you after death, brother." I ended my speech with a tear.

Sora was in tears too. Waterfalls hung in his eyes.

"Brother, don't abandon me!" Sora cried, whimpering.

"I don't want to lose you! Press the button!" he said.

"I've made my choice now. Goodbye, Sora," I replied, giving him the most beautiful smile I knew how.
A familiar sound appeared behind me. Kami had appeared.

"Kami, is his apology okay?" I asked, worried.

"Yes, I think his apology is sincere," he replied happily.
I was relieved and ready to die. I closed my eyes and waited for the wall to crush me.
Then I felt a button being pressed. Kami had pressed the button.

"What are you doing?! I accepted my death." I asked, annoyed.

"But I haven't. Now it's time for Sora to die." the spirit replied, smiling.
What do you mean, it's his time. Had he grown tired of him? Or was that how it was supposed to go? You redeem yourself and die. If that's true, it means we'll all die regardless of what we do. So the best choice would be to die as painlessly as possible? But if he can heal and manage the games like he did before, that means we're forced to play and die without being able to truly decide for ourselves.
I dropped my arms, turned to the ground, and heard Sora scream in despair.

"I don't want to die!"
He tried to press the button, but Kami explained that the button was only usable once.
I stood there, staring at the ground. Sora continued to scream in despair, but there was nothing I could do.
I heard the sound of furniture being destroyed, and shortly afterward the sound of bones breaking.
As soon as I heard that sound, the tears began to flow like fountains again.
I couldn't move, I didn't want to see Sora's body pressed against the wall, but Kami grabbed my head and forced me to look at the mass of flesh, bones, and blood.
Sora was dead, and I couldn't do anything about it.
I was forced to just watch.
I was about to vomit again, but I had nothing left in my body, so I found myself coughing desperately.

As soon as I recovered, I headed for the door. I was determined, I wanted to end this as soon as possible.
I walked through the corridors, filled with rage. I was no longer afraid of anything.
For some reason, Kami protected me from every trap, so I was able to move on.
As soon as I reached the door where my friends were trapped, I tried to open it.
However, there was already too much water, and since I couldn't open the door, I turned to Kami.

"What should I do now?" I asked angrily.

"Since Sora has repented, I think there's no reason to leave you in here anymore," Kami said as if thinking aloud.
With a snap of his fingers, he made the door disappear, and the water came out in a furious torrent.
I got up in time and grabbed the doorknob next door.
My friends were the last to leave. Isabella was arguing because the three of them were all huddled together, but I was happy to see them.

"You guys are alive!" I said.

"Issei!" they said in unison.

"Where have you been?!" Isabella asked me, very angry.

"What? Were you worried about me?" I giggled.

"N-no. I don't care about you." she said, still angry, but blushing.
I helped her up and then we walked towards the exit.

The door was locked with a huge padlock.
Kami conjured up a small key and told us to open the door.
The key to open the door was incredibly small compared to the padlock.
Isabella took the key and said she would open it herself.
The padlock was huge, making it impossible to reach.
Then everyone got into position. Ryu, who was a good fit, stayed down, with Kaito and I on top, and finally Isabella, who managed to open the door.
Blood dripping from her severed foot fell in my face.

"Hey, don't look up my skirt!" Isabella shouted at me, kicking.
We almost fell, but we managed to keep our balance.
As soon as it opened, we all fell on top of each other. Isabella remained unharmed, having broken her fall on my body and that of the others.

"How wonderful to be all together and with our memories!"

"What are you talking about?" Ryu said in a dry voice.

Does that mean I was the only one who had regained my memories?

"You know who I am, right?" I asked.

"Well, you told us your name is Issei, but we don't know anything else about you." Kaito said.

"Isabella, don't you have feelings for me?" I asked, looking at Isabella with tears in my eyes.
"You are cute—I mean, a normal boy!" she replied, blushing.

She was in love with me, but she was shy, as if we'd never been engaged.
Their memories were still in Kami's hands.

"Kami, give their memories back!" I said to the spirit floating above our heads.

"It's not their time yet." he explained.

I didn't try to convince him. By now I knew everything was as he wants it.
I have no power here.

"Good. The first game is over!" Kami said happily.
That means there will be more games.

I can't wait to die in peace.