A hundred realizations hit him all at once as the messenger of God bore down at a grinning face of evil. The words of his declaration had turned to ash in his mouth, and for a moment he felt the threat of his own despair escalating sharply; creeping over him in waves.

Later, as his life blood pooled beneath him and his memories flashed before his eyes, he would realize that this faltering was what determined the moment of his defeat.

He need to get to Yukiteru—now.

A savage shriek followed by a demented peal of laughter burst from blood-speckled lips. Pale, pink eyes, wide and trembling reflected like precise, stained glass. The handle of the knife protruding from her rib cage trembled in his loosening grip. Trying to gain both an inch of dominance and the weapon, he struggled to think of what he should do once he finally had the latter in his possession.

Leave it?

The delirious girl beneath him laughing in craze abandon was still alive, though seemingly on the verge of blacking out due to the severity of her self-inflicted wound...if the uncontrollable shaking and excessive blood flow were any indication. While it would seem that she was at a clear disadvantage, he could not risk leaving his enemy with a weapon he knew she could still use against him if given the chance.

...That, and—and Aru kept this admittance at the rear end of his mind, quiet and fierce—he would not allow himself to be offed by his rival in love before he reached his destination and solved this mystery once and for all.

I have to tell Yukiteru-kun. I want him to know that I...that he can't...

"He'll blame you if you leave me here to die," Yuno hissed through gritted teeth.

Ah, and there were those compromising words.

Aru felt himself breaking into a nervous sweat as Yuno lapped up his uncomfortable expression like a ravenous dog with a grin and barked out another peal of laugh.

Guess he wasn't good enough for the cloying, innocent act anymore. Not that he had really found it appealing or convincing in the slightest—that ship had sailed on day one.

Right now, growling and mewling and wriggling on the ground, Yuno looked less like an enticing young school girl and much more like a wild animal having been provoked.

"My...Yukiii...You can't..."

He knew she was right; that, as much as he wanted to—oh, did he want to—he couldn't just leave her here to die. If he finished what she had started and then returned to meet the others, chances were that the first diary holder would eventually turn on the group after discovering the news and write them all off as traitors.

After all, Yuno was Yukiteru's lifeline. She was the person who had dragged him through the hell that was this technological battle royale, and had managed to keep him alive. He could admit that it was more than he'd been able to do for his friend, but...

Here, now, at the end of the line, Aru was going all in.

The young sleuth understood that it would be no easy task to rip the boy away from his false sense of security and force him into true light, but if he were given just one moment…

Just once second and he could snuff out the dark and dangerous path this mysterious girl walked upon, and make the way clear for a future of promise.

A future where Yukiteru will become God.

Yuno leered up at him, fighting him with an enervated grip on the weapon with an insidious smile plastered across her face. The knife plunged deeper as it rocked back and forth, but her struggling hand gradually relented and fell limp at her side. Aru stared down at her and held his breath as he waited for the moment when her eyes would snap open and the fight for dominance would resume. Instead, her eyes remained closed; finally, she appeared to have stopped moving.

The silveret took this opportunity to crawl off the unconscious second diary user's lap and toss the knife over a broken cement wall where she would have to make a strained effort in order to retrieve it. Then he took off, shoes pounding the pavement hard and fast as he pulled out the teal cellular device in his pocket and frantically scrolled through his virtual phone book for a number set to speed dial.

He found it, mashed the call button with careless haste and then lifted the phone to his ear.

Worrying his lip between his teeth as he continued to run, Aru waited for the long, monotone sound that served to indicate that his phone was addressing the other line.

But it never came. Instead—

Beep, beep, beep, beep…

No...

The Detective's diary owner nearly tripped over a rise in the pavement upon nearing the end of the fence. Palming the wooden plank, he forced his feet to skid to a halt. The brightly lit screen in his hand stared up at him while an automated voice informed him that the line he was trying to reach was currently unavailable and to call back later. Aru's mouth fell open in disbelief and then snapped closed as the color drained from his face when a shrill voice suddenly pierced the air.

"Yukiii! Akise Aru is killing me!"

Shit.

Yukiteru's hands trembled as his finger inched towards the trigger on the gun. Blood from the two recent casualties pooled in from both sides around his feet and coated the soles of his shoes.

Blood from the people he had learned to trust until this very moment.

Now their bodies lay strewn under the remains of a busted up building along a rocky, fractured landscape. The aphotic, spherical orbs that symbolized and reminded Yuki of the world's shortage of time spun idly, the contraptions within them whizzing and whirring in preparation for what was to come. Kousaka roughly shouldered past him after grumbling that he was a coward to still be crying now when he could do whatever he wanted.

Do whatever he wanted?

The finger closest to the trigger twitched again as he steadied his aim at the back of the King diary user's green shirt. If he could really do whatever he wanted… he wouldn't be in this mess to begin with. How was he supposed to know that any of this existed outside the realm of his lonely imagination? Before he met Yuno, and before this crude war for the position of God had begun, he would have been nothing but a normal, quiet boy who would encounter the occasional bully in the hallway after school. People thought he was weird before, texting away in his innocent, mobile diary about the nondescript facets in his life. He never would have imagined that this odd little past time would leave him wound up in an incessant battle to stay alive.

If only he had known that he would make friends only to go and kill them off. His family had been nothing close to perfect, but it worked until the chaos ripped the wires of their carefully gilded little home, ruining everything he had submitted to oblivion for in order to maintain. He didn't know much about her or who she truly was, but it was evident enough that she cared for him. It was thanks to her guidance that he was, shaken from the horrors that had only brought them closer, but still alive and standing here today.

And what had these people done for him? Deceived him? Betrayed him and sought to extinguish the only flame of hope he had left of surviving this abounding apocalypse? He couldn't say they meant nothing and had not contributed to promoting his cause, but it was only now that he allowed himself to question the true motives behind all their past ministrations.

Was it really all to help him? Was it really just so that he could become…

Oh, god... He had killed all his friends.

Yukiteru sank to his knees and dropped the gun in his lap to put his hands over his face. His insides felt like they were going to cave, and he was sure his emotions were going to betray him and leave him to drown in a pathetic puddle of his own tears. His stomach lurched at the sight of a trail of blood flooding under his legs, but he was too overwhelmed with his misery to be driven over by a fresh pang of anxiety.

Kousaka stopped at the jagged edge overlooking the shallow drop to where their violet-haired friend had taken a baleful fall. Tears born from anger sprang to his eyes and then evaporated on the wind as a hiccup followed by a strangled sob carried on the current and sailed over his shoulder.

Damn it! How could he cry? He had shot them all mercilessly! How dare he cry now, after he had gone and done what he'd done?

"You're pathetic, like Mao said," The King diary owner spat, turning around to face the trembling boy kneeling on the ground. He suddenly remembered all the reasons why he ever beat up on this kid at school; he was fragile. He stood in the world and refused to move when others were moving. His little haven of virtual safety had become the catalyst to his nightmares at the start of this game, and then he'd been shuffled around the board by the other players, one especially. They could only grace him so much by turning a blind eye before they were forced to attack, but a select few had chosen instead to step down as his opponents and assist him as his friends.

What fools they were, believing that such a frigid person with essentially no existence would end up becoming the winning piece on the final turn. This was the end, where he would throw them all aside like expendable pawns despite their selfless sacrifices.

They had all died for a vain cause and maybe Kousaka would too. But he wouldn't lie down before he let the kid have it first.

Yukiteru scrambled to reclaim the gun as Kousaka wheeled around and stalked back to him at a pace that set alarm bells off in his head. It tumbled between his knees and skittered across the smooth cement, but Kousaka toed it back in his direction without breaking his stride. He knew that avoiding death at this point was useless. What good would it do to become a god with no capability of reviving his friends; his family? He should have known there would be some sort of loophole involved with such a compromising reward, but now he supposed thinking on it bitterly was irrelevant. He would go where his friends were within the next few minutes; wherever that was.

The first diary owner clutched the gun as it slid under his hand. This guy had been nothing but a bully to him in the past, and somehow turned into a friend in the midst of this discord. The last thing he wanted was a lecture from someone who had hurt him, helped him and then hurt him again. The resolve that had resurfaced the sentiments of animosity and humiliation served as the strength in his grip as he lifted the gun and aimed it at the dark-haired boy.

"You don't know anything," Yukiteru whispered, as that was all his shaking voice would allow. "You don't know what I've been through," his eyes grew wide. "My mother and father, all of the people I've killed! They died because of this stupid game. But once I become God, I can… I can bring them back and—"

"You won't." Kousaka stepped closer until the barrel of the gun was pressed against his chest, and he grabbed onto the collar of the brunette's shirt. He leaned forward, sizing him up and daring him to do away with him in the way he had with the others. Yukiteru's eyes shook like small, cerulean sapphires, a pain-stricken look marring his features.

Why did he look so afraid? Was he reluctant to kill again? To take another life, or was he shaking with fright at being talked down to like this?

"You're useless. You'll never succeed at anything because you're a coward. Who are you saving? How can you say you'll save your friends or the people you claim to care about when you didn't even trust them?"

"Th-that's… that's not… no, you tricked me!" First screamed. Tears streamed down his cheeks as his fingers curled around the trigger. Kousaka only clenched his jaw, fists balled at his side as he resisted the temptation of lashing out and hitting the boy in the face. Maybe it did seem as though he had been deceived—it was just their bad luck that Yuno had somehow managed to best Akise's strategy and they had failed to enlighten him with the truth. Kousaka guessed that after receiving that call from the rosette, the boy had quit trying to believe in anything they were attempting to tell him.

Akise would probably show up soon, but by then he would already be dead.

"You weren't deceived," Kousaka muttered quietly. He wasn't sure why he was trying to sound convincing anymore; the odds were officially stacked against him. Maybe it was a last effort made as a testament to his friends. They had tried, and so would he. "I don't know what happened with Akise-kun and Gasai-san, but we were meant to stay here and tell you everything."

As he suspected, the brunet didn't appear to be any more convinced than before. The barrel of the gun remained pressed up into his ribs.

"No, I…" Yukiteru whipped his head from side to side. "This can't be…Yuno said…" His resolve seemed to falter and Kousaka was granted a fleeting moment to wonder if it even made a difference...before a shot rang through the air and a bullet went through his chest. His grip lessened gradually around Yukiteru's shirt and he fell into a lifeless heap on the ground.

Silence swallowed the deafening sound, but it was soon followed by an unrestrained wail that caused the first diary owner to drop the weapon and clamp his hands tightly over his ears.

He realized then that it was his own.

Bodies surrounded him in every direction he turned. How could he do this? Everyone was dead! Unbidden, Hinata's pleading voice returned to his memory; the pitiful look from Mao as she pressed a trembling hand to her mouth when she witnessed her best friend's death was forever burned into his memory.

He had done that. He had killed her, and then mercilessly wiped out the rest. The scarlet puddle forming beneath Kousaka's body flowed over the edge of the cement and spilled down the steps with a soft splash. Yukiteru's stomach pitched and he turned away and doubled over.

Oh, god.

He was going to be sick.

Aru shoved the cell phone into his pocket and hurried up the jagged steps that entranced the demolished remains of an old building. He only paused in his swift bound to visually identify the bodies lying on the ground. He had been aware that he would probably not make it in time to rescue the other three, but it still shook him to know that the quivering, timid boy up ahead had caused all this to happen.

As Aru predicted, he had taken Yuno's word over theirs and shot them all down where they stood. Chances were simply not in his favor today. He'd been too generous, patching up the pink-haired girl instead of leaving her to die. His only regret was that he hadn't done away with her then and there, because now she was likely on her way here.

The detective boy found the last male diary holder kneeling in front of the body of his latest victim. His fingers were coated in the dark red substance as he clutched the phone between his hands, and he looked for the entire world as though he had no idea where he was or what he had done. So as to not startle the boy, Aru slid his hands from his pockets and lifted them in front of himself in a gesture of surrender.

Yukiteru eyed him warily and switched the phone in one hand to itch the other towards the weapon lying on the ground beside him. The detective continued to study him coolly, having no ill intentions; if it came to it, some twisted part of him mused, nothing would be more satisfying than to meet his end through the means of the boy sitting in front of him...

He couldn't understand it.

He couldn't explain it, but Aru felt as though it was something that did not need any clarification. It was an attraction that felt familiar and so right that he felt no obligation to question it. From the beginning right up until the very end, and now as he stood here with a gun shoved into his chest, he could only smile at the realization that it was a wonderful feeling that would probably never leave him, even if he was reborn a thousand times.

No, they would surely meet again, he was certain, and again he would fall in love.

Yukiteru warily observed the calm smile on the silveret's face. The boy walking towards him sidled up until they were toe to toe, and the brunet, in a fumble for a better grip stumbled back and dropped his phone. Aru caught it with no lack of stealth and slipped it into its owner's pocket, allowing the tips of his fingers to linger at the rise of his hip. Yukiteru took the sudden movement for an ill gesture and braced himself before shutting his eyes and pulling the trigger.

Click.

Nothing.

Click click.

The brunet cracked open a dark blue eye to see a remorseful face smiling down at him. Aru mourned for those lost, round blue eyes; his smile thinned and his expression gentled.

Carefully, he slid his hands over the tops of Yukiteru's shoulders and steered him backward until the boy's back brushed against the stack of cement rubble behind him. Yukiteru stared up in confusion. The panicked realization that he was now without a weapon began to settle in.

"You've killed them all, huh? And it looks like you're out of bullets now." Aru sighed and raked his fingers through his silvery hair. The soft tone of his voice was non-threatening.

In fact, Yukiteru felt from them a measurable amount of…

Regret.

They were running out of time as he spoke and there were so many things he wanted to do. Aru hoped there would be another future where he would have the opportunity to meet the first diary owner once more... What would be done differently? What would remain the same?

Yukiteru's bottom lip had begun to tremble, and Aru stared on; the desire to do something drastic was growing unbearable. There was no room for comfort in a situation like this. Yukiteru would be on his own within the next few minutes. Gaze set upon the boy surrounded by his arms, a sense of desire he knew would never be satiated came unbidden, uselessly clouding his thoughts and his keen, better judgment. Aru dipped his head and pressed his lips against the brunet's his ear.

"Yukiteru-kun. She plans on killing you too. She only strung you along so she could take you out in one shot. Let me protect you. I..." he trailed off, uncertainly, brows furrowed.

...He what? Was his own desperation starting to get to him? Where had he been going with that thought just now?

Yukiteru's warm breath fanned gently across Akise's neck as he leaned in to cradle the boy's cheek...when the tell-tale sound of the phone diary in his back pocket caused the two of them to jump with a start.

He knew she was here now; knew that she was closing in on them, prepared to kill, but he wouldn't have it.

Just this once, before he was taken from this world he decided he would be greedy.

Guiding Yukiteru's face close to his as he heard the angry sound of footsteps stomping against the steps behind him, Aru pressed his lips onto the other's for a kiss he wished to burn into a memory that would carry him into the next life.

The rest of it wouldn't even be history.

It all happened so quickly...

Roseate eyes met; one pair charged and frantic, and the other calm as he broke away, so sure of his predetermined victory and prepared for the violence he was about to commit. There was an enraged screech of his name, and then she was swinging recklessly at him with blind rage…

And now he was lying on the ground on his stomach, bleeding out as he strained his ears to focus on the quiet conversation above him. He only knew the words on the screen in his hand that read in bold text:

Dead End.

…Wasn't he supposed to win?

Aru rolled awkwardly onto his back on the middle of the steps, the action taking an abnormal amount of effort and causing him a world of pain he'd never experienced. Through his hazy confusion, he tried to recall what had happened. He was bleeding a lot from the shallow cut on his jugular, so he figured it must have been attack meant for his artery.

This wasn't how it was meant to be...It was all he could tell himself for what seemed like forever

He laid there blinking and staring up at the sky as he tried to keep himself awake.

It wasn't easy.

The corners of his vision were darkening and his head felt as light as a feather.

At this rate he would die...But, why was that? How?

It was becoming increasingly difficult for him to breathe.

Aru coughed weakly, attempting to clear the blood collecting in his airways and call out, but the sound came out as a choked gurgle.

This is bad, Aru thought as his body went into a fit of tiny spasms. The thought registered much like a boulder falling onto him. Crushing; fatal.

The soft hush of voices above threatened to lull the detective boy to sleep; struggling for consciousness, he shifted his brain into high alert. He delved into his thoughts for specific things he had learned since the start of his case; about Gasai Yuno and the mysterious third body buried at her house, and how it was obviously her intention to keep it all a secret, especially from Yukiteru.

As much as he wanted to theorize more on his clues, (as any good detective should towards the climax of a mystery) the lack of oxygen and the rapid loss of blood was making it more and more difficult to concentrate. His thoughts instead drifted to simpler things; images and memories he found were much less painful to think about. Aru didn't want to believe that all they had done had been in vain, and even though it turned out this way, he wasn't exactly sure what part of it he would have preferred to change if granted to chance.

Rather, make their time together last a little longer... His new friends and all of the adventures they went on…what if he could just…what if—

Aru closed his eyes without realizing and blacked out for a moment.

Ah...Was all this reminiscing really helping his cause?

Squinting and wriggling through his previous musings, the detective's diary owner tried to focus once more. A blur of images bombarded him, random, nonsensical and seemingly irrelevant at first.

The hole in Yuno's backyard.

The three bodies buried there.

Two...Two...

But, what if there were two?

His head snapped up and he turned on his stomach to crawl up the steps. His body protested, discursively expressing the favor of just lying down to die. Getting his vocals to function would be asking for too much, and so he typed his final message on the slippery device in his hand with trembling, blood-stained fingers. Then he got to his feet and hugged the contorted iron railing with one arm for support and began to make his way carefully up the steps.

Yuno turned around at the sound of his impending footsteps, eyes steeled pink and paling in fierce, menacing disbelief.

He was still alive? Curse him! The pinkette squeezed the blade of the knife she had retrieved and tensed in preparation to attack.

Despite the weapon glinting in the sun and the barbaric woman brandishing it in the air, Aru carried on. Something told him that if he just went the small distance…just made it there, he would accomplish something. He held the phone out in his hand. Yukiteru only stared on with widened eyes as he drew closer.

I need to get to you…

"Yuki, don't look!"

Unconsciously, Yukiteru backed away until he bumped into a fragment of wall. His eyes flitted to the vision of the girl coming up behind the detective, knife upraised and ready to swing. A cry or a scream rose in his throat, but his mouth could only fall open in horror as the knowledge of how to operate it suddenly vacated his mind.

No! No, oh god no.

The first diary user let out a strangled scream as Akise Aru's head was sliced from his neck and it sailed into the air, far away from his body as it continued to move.