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Takumi takes a step forward, and-
The scythe flies through the air, shattering the container, and before Takumi can react, he’s shoved to the side by- Eito? Why would Eito-
The thought doesn’t finish in time. He doesn’t react in time. Those moments of shock are all Eito needs to retrieve the scythe and completely cleave the container, as well as the person inside.
“I’m sorry,” Takumi hears, and for a moment, he thinks it’s directed at him, “All I can do is make it quick.”
And then-
Then, the Cryptoglobin bursts from the pod, and flows into Eito’s body, causing the teen to hiss sharply, before biting back something and turning to face them.
“E-Eito…?” Takumi asks, still in shock, still not sure if this is Eito, or if it’s another situation like- don’t think about it here- “What are you doing?”
“What am I doing?” Even now, his voice sounds the same, soft and kind, almost trembling, “What I have to.”
“You…” Yugamu stares, and face a mask of calm, but Takumi knows he’s probably hiding as much shock as Takumi is showing, “Actually killed him?”
“Unfortunately,” Eito says, clutching his weapon, and Takumi realises he can’t see the ghost, “It was the only way to ensure the weapon would never launch.”
“Hey! Can you hear me?” Takumi calls for him as he glances around the room but- nothing, “If you can hear me, say something!”
“I’m sorry, but they’re gone completely,” Eito says, as if he wasn’t the one insisting they name the ghost the moment he learned that it didn’t have a name, “If I left even a trace, the humans on the complex would just begin this all over again.”
“Y-You…” Takumi tries to talk, tries to say something, but the idea of Eito killing so easily -
“What the hell were you thinkin’?!” Takemaru interrupts, putting himself between Eito and Takumi, “Do you even know what you just did?!”
“Of course I do,” Eito says, not taking a step back, but clearly preparing to fight, “I stopped a weapon of mass destruction by ending an innocent life.”
“Wow,” Darumi says, already in her class armour, her voice high and cutting, “Don’t tell me Eito’s giving into the darkness?”
“D-Does this mean…” Kako begins, trembling but also prepared, “The true identity of the traitor is…?”
“Traitor?” Tsubasa asks, glancing between Kako and Eito, her hands on her back as she takes a step back.
“I suppose ‘traitor’ isn’t an incorrect term for what I am,” Eito says, smiling as he looks at Kako, “And I did know you were looking for one, but it seems I managed to evade your efforts and abilities, thankfully. I’m sorry I caused you so much stress.”
“What?” Kurara asks as she readies herself, her voice too furious to be anything but a growl, “What is the meaning of this?!”
“It’s him! He did it all!” Kako says, taking several steps back as she points at Eito, “Sirei and Hiruko… He killed them!”
“What? Sir Eito?!” Kyoshika asks, her hand only brushing her blade- and Takumi grimaces, because the idea of it being Eito was something he never wanted to think about, but- they need to be ready to fight, because-
“Yes, it was me. You deserve to know that much, at the very least,” Eito sighs, “I killed Sirei while his back was turned, Hiruko in her sleep, and set the food ablaze while you all rested.”
“N-No!” Shouma cries, hand covering his mouth, “It’s not true, is it, Eito…?”
And Eito-
Smiles. Not a cruel one, but a sad one, a gentle one, the one Takumi’s seen so many times before, when there was bad news to give, and he tried to soften the blow, or when they were faced with overwhelming odds, and he would assure them that We're going to get through this, because we're friends.
“I wouldn’t lie to you about this, Shouma,” Eito says, voice still far too gentle, “It was me.”
“Then how did you manage to kill Sirei?” Yugamu asks, face still calm- Takumi’s honestly more unnerved by that than his smiles. For the teen to forcing himself to act calm-
“Well, since you’re a friend, I suppose I can tell you. It really was simple,” Eito says, hand resting on his scythe, “As our commanding officer, his guard was down. I simply waited until he was distracted, and cleaved him before he could react. The first blow was fatal.”
“W-Wait a minute!” Tsubasa says, voice not loud, but strong enough to be heard, “We weren’t supposed to be able to touch him! H-He said he had bombs implanted in our bodies…”
“Oh, that was just a bluff.” Eito says casually, almost with a wave.
“A Bluff?!” Gaku yells, running his hands through his hair.
“No. He actually did have bombs implanted in our bodies,” Eito almost- jokes, as if this is the time for that, and Takumi is torn between yelling at him to take this more seriously and and wanting to treat this entire situation as one big- what? Prank? “But if he’s killed without knowing the attacker, he can’t erase the data from the Revive-O-Matic, so I simply accepted that I would have to be killed and brought back. It seemed rather fair, in a twisted way.
“Then, gathered the evidence of what I’d done in a rubbish bag, and I went out and disposed of his remains in the ruins outside the school.”
“Why would you do that…?” Kako asks, already a safe distance away, “What was the point of destroying Sirei?”
“You mean besides everything he did within the first day of kidnapping us?” Eito replies, a strained smile on his face, “If you knew how far he was willing to go to make us fight, perhaps you would understand. Very little of the ‘truth’ he was going to tell us was so.”
Kyoshika grits her teeth, “You…!”
Eito sighs, “Is that really all you’re going to ask me? Not about Hiruko? She needed to be stopped, but she was still part of the team. She was still one of us.”
“You killed Hiruko, too?” Takumaru gapes, too shocked by Eito’s actions to even yell, and Takumi hates that he himself can’t even force his voice though his throat, “You went and laid hands on a woman?”
“I did,” Eito admits easily, “I’m too weak and sickly to win in an honest fight, but even she needed to sleep, just like the rest of us. She woke right as I struck. She looked so scared…”
“You’re so screwed up, man,” Darumi- cries, Darumi is crying- between grit teeth, “I wish I could have seen how she looked, too.”
Takumi doesn’t think about the words- he thinks about Darumi’s tears, about how Hiruko was going to tell them the truth, about how she said she was going to sleep well that night-
And Eito took advantage of that. He took advantage of her lowered guard, her relief, her relaxed mood, and-
Killed her. Why? Because she was going to tell them the same things Sirei was going to? Because it was nearing the say when she wa going to kick the others out? Ima and Kako wouldn't have joined the fight that soon, Takumi knows, but there was no need to resort to murder-
Eito’s always been stubborn, always been so Eito, caring but stubborn and and made choices that everyone disagreed with, but Takumi didn’t think he would go this far-
“Who… Even are you?” Kurara asks, fear finally entering her voice.
“Me?” Eito tilts his head, “I’m Eito, the same classmate I’ve always been. Now that this is done, there’s very little reason for me to hide anything,” He narrows his eyes, tilting his head, “And yet…”
“You mean you’ve been deceiving us all along? Lying to us?” Takumi finds himself asking, desperately, “You were always thinking of your friends and worrying about everyone…” The desperation turns to anger, “All that was a lie?! Come on, Eito! Answer me!”
“Takumi…” Eito’s eyes- soften, “None of that was a lie. You’re my friends, and I care for you more than my life itself. But… That doesn’t change that there are things that matter more than all of us.”
“That’s all you have to say?” Tsubasa asks flatly, her hand covering her mouth.
“Why did you betray us?” Kako asks, and Takumi can’t see her in the corner of his eye, so she must have moved again, “What benefit is there to taking the side of the invaders?”
“The fact that you still call them that, despite everything is reason enough,” Eito says, his grip, that had become lax from talking, once again tightens. “If you genuinely still believe that story about them being ‘world death’, even after all we’ve seen, then I have nothing left to say to you.”
“They’re evil!” Kyoshika yells, her spirit clearly found again as she grips her blade, “Their kindness was a trick, and if you’ve sided with them, we must stop you!”
Takumi winces, but holds his weapon, knowing there’s no way to avoid a fight now.
“Their ‘supreme leader’ was cruel,” Eito says, “But so was ours. Our hands are too bloody to judge them.”
With that, the battle begins.
He strikes, and there’s blood, and Eito- Eito doesn’t even look angry. He just-
He has the same sad smile on his face that Takumi’s seen so many times before.
“Why?!” Takumi asks, his voice- raw, too raw, “No lies, no assurances, no platitudes- just- why?! Eito?!”
“These flames were going to wipe out all life on this planet, Takumi,” Eito says, for once, bitterness entering his voice, “Not just the ones you call invaders, but every bird, mammal, reptile- all because the people on that accursed satellite want to control what they can’t and shouldn’t.”
“The flames will stop world death!” Kurara says, clenching her weapon.
“Hah, do you still believe that?” Eito says, spitting the blood that’s dripping into his mouth, “That the world would kill itself instead of heal itself?”
“Eito,” Takumi repeats, unwilling to let it go, “Why.”
“I wanted you to have ignorance, since it’s far too late for innocence,” Eito coughs, “And I knew if I tried- to tell you- We’d only fight amongst each other. I had hoped that you would bring the group from the second academy before they had been indoctrinated, but…”
“Eito.” Takumi says, his voice flat. Soon, Eito will bleed out, and trigger the recovery drones, and- He doesn’t know if-
“What’s more- more likely- that these are creatures made by the earth to kill itself, or that they’re humans, of a land we’re now invading, and we’ve simply been told that they’re not so we don’t feel any hesitation killing them?” Eito says with a grim smile, “I can see that look in your eye… You don’t believe me, but you don’t completely not believe me, either. If it’s you… I don’t think I would mind you taking my Cryptoglobin.”
Takumi stares in shock. Something in the back of his mind wants to say Eito, that’s too cheesy, because it’s such an Eito thing to say, but- most of it is screaming at him. He knows- he knows he can’t let Eito live- not after Sirei, not after Hiruko, not after the fire and everything else-
“From the planet I was made,
To the planet, I am now returned.”
Takumi closes his eyes, and strengthens his resolve. This needs to end, and he he doesn’t think he can trust Eito after everything- so many of his choices have mislead and killed, and he knows that if he hesitates, if he hesitates-
It can’t be anyone else-
He walks forward, and plunges his Infuser into Eito’s neck.