The sadism of humans

As Katie began bleeding out, Daria ordered Mariano to come with her as they warped to WWCF HQ with Katie. Sherbert and Sandy also warped away with them leaving Hazel as the sole remaining SPCM.

Mimoko then took notice of Iori filming the scenario and promptly slapped her across the face. "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!? SHE WAS DYING!"

"What? She had it coming," Iori shrugged.

To Mimoko's shock, Hazel voiced a similar sentiment and even patted Iori on the shoulder. "Job well done. One less damn hippie plaguing our country."

Mimoko couldn't believe what she was witnessing. Why was everyone acting so heartless? Carol however, more or less figured what had happened and simply stared off into space, somberly.

Suddenly, a blinding flash entered the room as police and press corps attempted to barge in.

"Oi, WWCF members only!" Hazel snarled as she walked over to the entrance.

"But we heard there was a murder!" the officer protested.

Hazel reiterated that WWCF cards were a must, but that as long as they had the cards, they could enter freely.

The crowd quickly thinned out as only a few members of it were WWCF members. One officer who was able to get in, began taking testimonies, while the press members began taking pictures and trying to interview witnesses.

Things seemed fine until the arrival of one reporter caused Carol to go pale in the face. It was a small rotund man with a small tuft of blue hair and a thin mustache.

"H- Horner..."

The man was Jacque Horner, the chief editor of the internationally acclaimed newspaper, The Blue Hornet. However, he was also Pewler's right hand man and sadistic to boot. Ruining lives with the power of the press was his bread and butter. He didn't care if the facts were right, all he cared about was ruining lives and kissing Pewler's ass.

He took notice of Carol and shot her an evil smile, but that was all. For now, his main target was someone else.

"So you're Mimoko Inoue, the heartless woman. I hear you wagered your own brother in a death game and sacrificed him for victory. Care to explain?"

Mimoko was in no mental shape for this and quickly walked away, however, Horner kept hounding her. Iori stepped in to try and stop him, however, that caused Horner to bring up the incident with her mother and sister.

"Iori Ishikiridokoro... In contention for one of Ewetube's most degenerate streamers... I did some digging on you. And what do you know, it was a murder case. Prefectural governor, Rio Segawa, murdered in a teahouse along with one Saeko and Mika Ishikiridokoro. All died by drinking tea maliciously poisoned with sulfuric acid, and as it so happened, you were working a guest shift there for a stream."

"You implying something, fatso?" Iori snarled as her tone became more menacing.

"Yes, as stated in the hour's headline, you murdered your mother and sister, sacrificing them in order to kill Rio Segawa."

"You trying to cancel me or something? Well bring it. I'm un-cancellable."

Horner scowled and got right up in Iori's face. "So heroic, but that attitude won't last long. Especially not in the face of a compassionate army."

He then took his leave and stormed away in a huff as Iori looked into her pocket and smiled. "An army you say? Bring it fatso. I've already got the perfect mating net for you all."

Once things quieted down, Mimoko decided to confront Iori on her behavior.

"Sheesh, I saved you from fatso and this is how you repay me?"

"You were gleefully filming Katie-san's death. Why?"

"Well duh, cuz it was hilarious."

"IORI!"

"And so that I could review the footage to see who was faking their shock."

"Huh?"

Iori's eyes narrowed as she stared Mimoko in the eye. "Mimo-chan, why do you think that hippie suddenly burst into blood?"

Mimoko scowled in confusion for a second before she came to the startling realization. "No... I thought DESPERs couldn't be set off in secret puzzle cafes."

"Maybe normal ones, but look at this place; it's huge! It also doesn't really look and feel like the ones back in Japan so maybe its construction was done in a way where there's a small section of it that allows a DESPER to be activated."

"But that would mean-"

"Yeah, there's a Desperado amongst the American SPCMs."

Mimoko stared in shock as Carol inquired as to whether Iori had an idea on who it was. Iori revealed that she did, but changed topics to Horner.

Carol revealed all she knew about him, informing the two of his unsavory ways. Mimoko was most taken aback, especially when she checked the Blue Hornet's website to notice some hit pieces had all been posted on her, Iori, and Carol.

"How could he be this cruel?"

Iori scowled and leaned back. "Simple, for the same reason I was gleefully filming hippie bitch bleeding out; humans are sadistic."

"What do you mean?"

"Humans are sadistic. We take pleasure in putting down others and making them bleed. That's why so many stories have characters suffering, because it scratches that sadistic itch humans have deep within. But some humans can't control their sadism and seek to inflict worldwide pain in order to satisfy it. Sometimes, they even become so sadistic they cross over into masochism. Though masochism is just being sadistic to yourself, so the point stands; humans are sadistic. We love making ourselves feel better at the expense of others. Our sadism is so strong that it's like a daily necessity to make someone else's day miserable to make yourself feel powerful. This is why bullying will never go away, why wars will always be raged, why opposing sides will never see eye to eye. Because we are all sadistic. Who cares about right or wrong, all that matters is asserting dominance and degrading your victim to shit. Happy endings? Nah, people want to see characters suffer because it excites them. They say the only constant in life is change, but I say human sadism is the other constant. You say there are heroes that seek to save the day? Nah, they're just culling their sadism by bashing monsters and demon kings. Then there's politics. Nothing but a sadist slug-fest. "Craft better policy for the good of the populace"? Nah, more like pass OUR policies to make the other side miserable. After all, to the victor go the spoils and the power to subject the losers to hell for pleasure. Sadism is an innate human trait. Even babies can be sadistic at times, and only get more sadistic as they age. And no matter what path they take or how their life goes, there will be looming sadism. Vengeance itself is rooted in paying back those that were sadistic to you with even greater sadism. We claim to cheer for a bullying victim beating the shit out of their bully, but in reality, we're cheering because we're sadistic and we love seeing people bleed. Then there's games. They're nothing but ways for humans to soothe their sadism either by beating other humans or NPCs. Chess just so happens to be one of the most sadistic games out there due to it being purely skill-based and cutthroat. As such, the results of the game can land a critical hit on someone's mental state. More so if you beat them in the most humiliating fashion. Sadism will always be within every human, even if you actually do show someone compassion, in the back of your mind, you'll be thinking, "What if I kicked them while they were down? Would it feel great? How hilarious would it be to watch them die in agony?" Sadism is inescapable for humans. The only question is how much they let their innate sadism leak out and control their life."

Mimoko went quiet as she struggled to digest Iori's speech. Carol on the other hand, somberly nodded her head.

"Seems Carol-chan gets it, probably cuz she experienced human sadism first hand. On that note…”

Mimoko’s eyes widened in surprise as Iori slipped her the DESPER key case. She opened it up to notice two keys were present.

"You still got that key I slipped ya in London right? Well keep that in your pocket and give one of those keys in the case to Carol-chan. Then leave the remaining key as a spare in case of an emergency."

"This case looks like it can hold more keys. Where are they?"

"I got em."

Mimoko nodded and did as she was told before getting up to get some fresh air. As she stepped outside the secret puzzle cafe, she noticed Sheila standing nearby staring at her phone. Sheila took notice of Mimoko and immediately began corralling her back into the secret puzzle cafe.

"Um, you mind?"

"YES! I heard what you did to Katie. Your ass ain't leaving until everyone’s back!”

Mimoko let out a sigh and decided to put up with it as Sheila went up to the counter and ordered Hazel to leave while she took over. Hazel refused, but after some back and forth, she decided to leave in a huff. Once she was gone, Sheila immediately locked up the cafe, preventing anyone from leaving or entering.

At first, it seemed fine, as Mimoko and co were the only ones there. But the true nefarious nature of the plan came when a few minutes later, she opened things up to allow two individuals inside. And both were individuals that sent Carol into a cold sweat as they were both figures from her past.

"Nice job, Sheila. I'll be sure to tell Manuel about your loyalty," Horner sneered as he zeroed in on the girls with DESPER in hand.