The island (chapter 3)

                                                       The island (Chapter 3)
(This is part of a multi-chapter story, if you haven't read the first one, go to https://pastebin.com/DAVKrwkq or click my name 'MREN' on the top left, to continue where you're at in the story!)

Hisao: 'Who has the first guard?'

After Shizune's bold claims, they spent some time debating it, denying it... But in the end, they were forced to recognize it was a possibility; The killer, if there even was a killer, might be among them. But there was no use trying to play detective to try and find out... How would they even go about it? In the few minutes they discussed it, there was some talk about how Emi couldn't ever have done it because Rin was her best friend, and Lilly being blind, she would have a hard time physically overpowering anyone, even Rin having no arms... Shizune put an end to this discussion before they went further; They weren't having a witch hunt.

She told them to focus on the important thing, which was, keeping safe until the storm stopped, so they could leave the island, and let actual policemen do the police work. So, as agreed, they prepared for the night; All in the same room. Now, they only needed to figure out the sleep schedule... And more importantly, the guard schedule.

Hanako: 'I-I can take first. I'm not t-tired.'

She was tired, of course... Everyone in the group was. But no one felt like sleeping. Hisao translated her words to Shizune;

Shizune: [Two people per guard.]

She would've liked three people per guard, but that would mean only two pairings, which would mean a short night of sleep, unless they woke up late. With three pairings, they could get five, six hours of sleep.

Hisao: [Any preferences?]

Hisao was used to Shizune bossing people around, so he would ask her for the pairings, rather than coming up with pairings that Shizune would rearrange anyway in a more efficient way. Shizune pondered the question for a while, then gave her answer.

Shizune: [You and me. I need a translator, if I have to speak to someone without waking the whole group. Emi and Hanako. Lilly and Misha.]

Hisao couldn't help thinking she made those pairings simply to spend some time with him - both in the guard, and when they would go to sleep together - but there was no arguing with her. There was at least one reliable person in every pairing, that was good. The Lilly and Misha pairing might be the weakest, but Lilly had a good mind on her, and Misha could see. Together they would do just fine.

Hisao: 'I'll take the first guard, with Shizune. Three hours or so. Then I'll wake Emi and Hanako up for their turn. Lilly and Misha will be last, and you wake up everyone at eight in the morning.'

Shizune signed some more;

Hisao: 'If you feel yourself falling asleep, don't try to fight it, just wake up the next group right away. Lilly and Misha, wake me and Shizune if it happens to you, and we'll take another shift.'

Shizune signed one last time;

Hisao: 'If you see anything suspicious, again, don't investigate. Wake up the group. And if you see... Someone, don't try to fight them off. First thing you do, scream as if your life depended on it.'

Shizune signed more than that, something along the line of "Because it might really well depend on it", but Hisao chose not to translate it. Another thing he didn't translate, was Shizune's actual thoughts. The ones she left unsaid and unsigned, but he knew her well enough to know what she was thinking; That the 'someone' they might have to fight off, could be no other than the guard they were paired with.

After that, four of them went to sleep, Hanako and Lilly sharing a bed, Emi and Misha sharing the other. At first, it didn't look like anyone would get any sleep this night, but after half an hour, all four were asleep. That, or pretending, anyway.

They had left a few lights on around the house, even a small one in the room they were in so they could see, which also allowed Shizune and Hisao to converse in signs, as their chairs were facing one another; Still, they didn't sign anything for a short while, as if they were trying to figure out what they could even talk about... Was it wrong, tactless to talk about normal everyday things?
But eventually, Hisao asked the big question he had on his mind...

Hisao: [You really think there's a murderer among us?]

Shizune signed back almost instantly, without thinking; She knew that question was coming.

Shizune: [There might be. Better safe than sorry.]
Hisao: [Who do you think it is?]

In the dim light of the room, Hisao thought he saw her grin, but only a split second; Was this a game to her, like so many other things were?

Shizune: [I have my theories. It's not proper to discuss that though.]
Hisao: [It could be you.]
Shizune: [Or you.]

Hisao meant it as a joke to lighten the mood, but Shizune's way of signing looked serious. It didn't even look like she just considered it now, it was much worse than that; It looked like she had already considered it before. So much for lightening the mood.
They didn't sign anything for fifteen minutes after that, then Hisao went at it again;

Hisao: [...Rin might've had cold feet, and put her socks back on after tying the rope. It's Rin we're talking about.]
Shizune: [If she can put her socks on by herself, yes. Or she really well might have tied it with the socks on. I considered all possibilities.]

After this, they spent another hour without signing. This wasn't exactly the kind of time a couple would expect to be having on vacation.

Hisao: [If there's a murderer among us, what do you think happens next?]

This time Shizune didn't have an answer all planned out, and took some time before signing back.

Shizune: [Two options. One, he or she tries to murder more people to avoid getting caught. Two, he or she was only after Rin.]
Hisao: [Who would want to kill Rin?]
Shizune: [Emi.]

This answer was given as soon as Hisao was done signing the question. So much for "not proper to discuss that".

Hisao: [Emi? She was my last pick.]

Hisao thought he saw Shizune's eyes shine competitively; He was challenging her, and even if it was a morbid game with rules they didn't know, Shizune seemed to be enjoying it;

Shizune: [So you do have picks! Who would be your first?]
Hisao: [I don't know... I didn't give it much thought, to be honest. I only know that Emi wouldn't kill Rin. Hell, she's the only one who even cares about Rin.]
Shizune: [Which means she's the most likely to have done it, Hisao.]
Hisao: [I don't follow.]
Shizune: [You and I aren't really Rin's friends. We barely hang out together. Lilly doesn't care one way or the other, same as Misha. The only person with strong feelings toward Rin is Emi.]
Hisao: [Which means... she isn't likely to have killed her?]
Shizune: [Most murdered women are killed by their husbands.]
Hisao: [Rin isn't Emi's wife. They never even dated as far as I know.]
Shizune: [Perhaps not, but they're the closest we have. No one else has any motive.]
Hisao: [Fine. Emi is the murderer. What's her motive?]
Shizune: [Mental illness and God complex.]
Hisao: [Pardon me?]

Emi wasn't exactly a genius or an honor student, but her heart was in the right place, and she wasn't mentally ill...

Shizune: [Murderers are all crazy one way or the other, Hisao. Emi might've gone crazy over the thought of not seeing Rin anymore. Or perhaps she developed a God complex about taking care of Rin for years, and assumed Rin wouldn't be able to take care of herself once she left, so she killed her to spare her a terrible fate; To live without her.]

Was she actually serious? Hisao wasn't sure... But she seemed to be enjoying herself a little too much, it was getting morbid. Hisao didn't sign anything back to that and simply thought it all over, waiting for their shift to be over.

Hisao: 'Emi... Emi, wake up.'

Emi opened her left eye slowly, and it took her a few seconds to realize where she was, and why Hisao was waking her up;

Emi: 'Yeah... Coming up.'

She shook Hanako's shoulder, the partner she was assigned for her watch.

Hanako: 'T-three hours, is that it?'
Hisao: 'Yes, three hours, then you wake Lilly and Misha. Don't forget, anything happens, you just wake everyone up. Even if you're not sure.'
Hanako: 'R-right!'
Hisao: 'Going to try to get some sleep now.'

And with this, Hisao and Shizune went to bed; Hisao wanted to get close to her, but it might not have been appropriate, considering they were all together in a room, and they were the only couple. Plus, he couldn't help thinking Emi was staring at them in a strange way, but perhaps that was only the light's reflection in her eyes. "Damn it, Shizune! She's not mentally ill!". He gave Shizune a quick kiss on the shoulder, and closed his eyes for the night.


...


A ray of light pierced through the window, waking up those in the group who were facing in that direction. It took them some time, but eventually, they realized something was off; No one was supposed to be woken up by the sun. That's not how the plan was supposed to go. Hisao and Shizune sat on the bed around the same time, and Misha gently touched Lilly on the shoulder, to wake her up. She was always a heavy sleeper. When they looked across the room, they realized what was wrong right away;

Emi was asleep in her chair, which was already a problem, but there was another, more important; Hanako wasn't anywhere to be seen.

Hisao: 'EMI!'

The loud scream startled her, and Emi fell down her chair.

Emi: 'What the hell? Why the...'

She stopped herself mid-sentence, realizing what happened.

Emi: 'Sorry... I didn't mean to...'

She paused a moment to rub the sleep off her eyes, and continued;

Emi: 'Where's Hanako?'
Misha: 'Don't you think you're the one who should know?'

Misha talking back to someone like that was a rare sight, when she wasn't speaking for Shizune anyway... but in this situation, it was understandable.

Emi: 'I don't know! I fell asleep!'
Hisao: 'Yeah, we saw that.'

There was some venom in his voice as well, but he calmed himself.

Hisao: 'Let's find her.'


...


They didn't have to search much to find her; She was in the bathroom, more precisely, in the bath. The water was such a deep red, it looked like it was only blood, and no water at all.
This time, no one screamed, but Lilly seemed to sense their reaction, even in their silence. A tear formed in her eye, and she made herself ask the question;

Lilly: 'Is she... Is she dead?'

No one wanted to answer that question, as if this is what would make her death become real... But someone had to, and Hisao confirmed it;

Hisao: 'I'm so sorry, Lilly.'

Lilly, for all her pride, looked like she was about to break in tears and, perhaps motivated by the fact that Hanako wasn't there to do it, Emi got closer to Lilly to take her in her arms... But to her surprise, as soon as Lilly figured out who she was by laying her hand on her arms and shoulders to find out her height, she moved away from her, and slapped her across the face so hard, even Shizune recoiled in shock.

None was more shocked than Emi herself though, and it took her a moment to come back to her senses.

Emi: 'Lilly! It's not my fault... I fell asleep!'
Hisao: 'How convenient.'

This time, the anger in Hisao's voice wasn't subtle; They all noticed it.

Emi: 'What are you saying? That it's my fault? Or that...'

She couldn't get herself to finish her sentence, and no one replied anything; They were all looking for someone to blame and it made them impulsive... In these situations, sometimes it was best not to say anything at all.

Lilly went back to the bed, and turned away from the group so they could not see her face. Her shoulders moving up and down revealed everything anyway, even to Shizune who could not hear Lilly's cries. She considered going to her a moment, after all, they were cousins... But they weren't very close, and perhaps Lilly didn't want anyone at all at this moment. Shizune didn't want to get hit like Emi.

So instead, she went to the bathroom and looked at the scene in front of her... Hanako's wrists were cut deeply, and a razor blade was on the floor, the edge red with blood. Hisao followed her, to ask what she was doing. Shizune was looking around the room, like she was searching for something that just wasn't there.

Hisao: [What are you doing?]
Shizune: [How would you do it?]
Hisao: [Do what?]
Shizune: [Kill Hanako.]

This time, Hisao lost it;

Hisao: [What are you talking about? It's not a freaking game, Shizune!]
Shizune: [I'm not playing. Just trying to figure it out.]
Hisao: [Figure what out?]
Shizune: [Whether it's a suicide or a murder. So again, I'll ask: How would you kill her?]

It took Hisao some time to calm down, but eventually, he thought about it; Shizune had it right. The best way to figure out what happened was to examine this logically. If he wanted to be a scientist someday, he would have to think rationally, conduct experiments, test hypothesis...
He looked behind them to see what the rest of the group were doing, but they were all around Lilly, trying to comfort her. All but Emi, who respectfully - and carefully - stayed a couple feet away.
No one could see them signing, at least.

Hisao: [I suppose she went to the bathroom, so I'd follow her and then... I don't know. Hanako wasn't very strong, but she wouldn't just let someone cut her wrists without fighting back.]
Shizune: [If she fought back, likely we would've heard something. One of you anyway. And someone would have bruises, cuts, scratches from her nails.]
Hisao: [What else then?]
Shizune: [Well, if it's not suicide... She could not, or would not fight back.]
Hisao: [Why would she not fight back?]
Shizune: [Perhaps she didn't want to hurt the assailant. If it was Lilly, for example.]

Hisao made a weird face upon reading that on her hands.

Shizune: [Or, more likely, she was paralyzed. Catatonia.]
Hisao: [Wouldn't that be too much of a coincidence, that it just so happened as someone was about to kill her?]
Shizune: [Not a coincidence if the murderer provoked it.]
Hisao: [Provoked it? How do you provoke that?]
Shizune: [She's had a few of those at Yamaku. People know what caused them.]
Hisao: [Who knows?]
Shizune: [Lilly. Misha.]

She paused a moment.

Shizune: [Me.]

Hisao gave her a weird look, but she continued.

Shizune : [Probably half of Yamaku's students really. Everyone in class three-two, plus Lilly. Plus anyone who heard about it, which may or may not include Emi.]
Hisao: [I'm in class three-two, and I don't know.]
Shizune: [You don't?]

Was this an accusation, or a simple question?

Hisao: [As I just said. No, I don't. How do you cause them?]
Shizune: [No point discussing that now.]
Hisao: [I thought you wanted to solve the case?]
Shizune: [To be honest, inducing a catatonia episode would be quite difficult and mostly, unreliable. If it doesn't work and she screams, everyone wakes up and the murderer is caught. I was just throwing out ideas.]
Hisao: [What else then?]
Shizune: [Drugs. Knocking her unconscious before cutting her wrists. Finding her asleep in the bathroom. Killing her before using the blades, to throw us off.]

Shizune looked over Hanako's body, mostly the back of her head; There was some blood there, but there was blood everywhere... And with half her skin scarred, it was hard to see if there were any new scars or bruises in there, that could indicate a blow to the head.

Hisao: [Or, maybe she just killed herself? She was always a very fragile girl... And we've had some rough time lately. Plus the exams, and likely losing Lilly forever...]
Shizune: [Lots of people killing themselves around here lately. I don't believe in coincidences.]
Hisao: [...You might be right.]

Some time passed, Shizune still looking like she was trying to make sense of the scene. Then, she signed again;

Shizune: [There's still something we don't know. Tell everyone to come to the table, in the kitchen. We need to talk.]
Hisao: [Sure... What should we do about Hanako? We'll need to use the bathroom at some point, and I doubt people will want to do it with her just three feet away. Even if we pull the curtains.]
Shizune: [You're right. We need to move her.]

Of a gesture of the hand, she pointed to the rest of the group;

Hisao: 'Huh, everyone... Listen up, please. I don't like it, but we need to move Hanako... We can't just let her there.'

Hisao and Shizune both observed the reactions; Lilly didn't even react in any way, not that they expected her to volunteer. Emi didn't even seem to understand the implied question. Misha simply shook her head twice, then looked at everyone else, trying to make herself small, like a kid who doesn't want the teacher to ask her to come at the front of the class to write something on the chalkboard.

After a moment passed without anyone saying anything, Shizune frowned, pulled the sleeves of her vest and to everyone's surprise, she reached down in the bath to pull the plug and let the water flow out. Then, she took Hanako's legs at the ankles, and gestured for Hisao to move to the other side, and grab the arms.

She had done this so naturally, like it was something she would do every day... Was she not as affected, as creeped out as the rest of the group? Or was she simply soldiering on and doing what needed to be done, as she would do with any other kind of work? Well, there was no use pondering that now... Hisao moved in position, and not wanting to touch Hanako's sliced wrists, he grabbed her under at the elbows... Which had the unintended consequence to make Hanako's arms flail around freely, provoking some screams from the girls still in the room, observing them. Hisao was quick to reassure Lilly, who couldn't know why the other girls screamed;

Hisao: 'Sorry, Lilly. We're just bringing her onto a bed.'

Hisao thought they would simply put her in the first room they'd pass, but Shizune kept going, bringing her into Rin's room. Not being able to sign with his hands otherwise occupied, Hisao had no choice but to follow her. They placed her on the bed next to Rin and covered her with the sheets. It felt like they were stacking corpses, and they both seemed uneasy about this... Would someone else join these two before this was over?
They went back to the bathroom to clean their hands - using a lot more soap than people would normally use - then Shizune signed something for Hisao to translate;

Shizune: [Kitchen, now. We'll have some food too.]
Hisao: 'Everyone... Shizune wants to speak with everyone. At the kitchen's table. We could grab a bite too...'

She didn't expect anyone would eat much, but might as well offer it. They all walked to the kitchen and sat on the table, resigned.

Hisao: [So, what is it?]
Shizune: [Ask her what happened.]

He didn't need to ask who "her" meant;

Hisao: 'Emi... Shizune wants to know what happened. Last thing you recall?'

The girl fidgeted, and Hisao couldn't help thinking back to his first days at Yamaku, when she bumped into his chest and felt remorseful.

Emi: 'I already told you... I fell asleep. It's not my fault.'

Her voice was low, almost a whisper.

Hisao: 'No one said it was your fault, Emi. We only want to know what happened.'
Emi: 'I don't know any more than you, ok? Stop asking me the same question over and over!'

She was definitely getting angry now, and she wasn't keeping her voice low anymore.

Hisao: [She doesn't know anything... She just fell asleep.]

Shizune signed something for him to translate.

Hisao: 'Hanako is...'

He paused a moment. Considering what he had to say, he wanted to make it clear these weren't his words;

Hisao: 'Shizune said that Hanako was a smart, and more importantly, an obedient girl. We told her repeatedly not to go anywhere alone. We told everyone.'
Emi: 'Ok? So what?'

There goes nothing...

Hisao: 'Shizune thinks Hanako didn't go to the bathroom without telling you first. She wouldn't let you sleep either.'

When Emi heard that, Hisao couldn't say what her expression meant... Was she embarrassed? Or angry, defensive? When Emi frowned, there was no mistaking it; She was past embarrassment now, and she was seriously getting angry now... But her expression quickly changed again, and she looked extremely sad; Crushed.

Emi: 'Yes. She told me first."

She paused a moment, brushed a tear off her eye, and kept going;

Emi: 'It's all my fault. Are you're happy now?'
Hisao: 'What did you do? What happened?'
Emi: 'She told me she had to go to the bathroom. She wanted me to come with her. I told her...'

This time Emi couldn't hold it any longer, and tears flew on her face, and she stopped talking. For a while, it seemed like no one would even move to comfort her... But Misha eventually brought her chair closer and passed her arm around Emi's shoulder. After a few minutes, Emi looked calm enough to continue.

Emi: 'I told her I couldn't leave you alone and asleep... Would be too dangerous. I asked her to wait until our guard was over.'
Hisao: 'And what did she say?'
Emi: 'She said she couldn't wait. I... I even told her to piss in the hallway. So I could watch everyone from my chair. She didn't do it.'
Hisao: 'So she left?'
Emi: 'She begged me to come with her again, but I told her I had to stay with the group. She looked angry, she turned around and left...'

Everyone else was listening to the conversation intently, and Misha, having let go of Emi, was translating for Shizune, who wasn't signing anything back, letting Hisao lead the questioning.

Hisao: 'And then?'
Emi: 'Then... I thought about waking everyone up. But we were only one hour into our watch... You and Shizune didn't get much sleep, and Lilly and Misha would have a five hours watch if I woke them up at this point. So I thought... I thought I'd just wait, and listen for any strange noise.'
Hisao: 'And was there any? Anything? A scream, a loud noise, people talking, anything at all?'
Emi: 'No... I don't think so. But there's so much rain because of this stupid storm, I couldn't hear anything! And I suppose I fell asleep before she came back...'

Shizune waited for the translation, and signed back this time, but Lilly spoke up before Misha could voice her words;

Lilly: 'This is why you should've woken us all up!'

Emi was speechless, the implication behind the words was clear enough to her.

Emi: 'IT'S NOT MY FAULT!'

Back to her first words... Emi stood up, and was basically screaming at this point; She was losing it.

Emi: 'Yes, I messed up, I should've woken you up! I should've tied her to the chair so she doesn't leave! But someone out there KILLED her. Whoever that was, this person is at fault. NOT ME.'

Shizune signed something again, but Hisao missed it, staring at Emi; Thankfully, Misha was also there to translate;

Misha: 'Unless you're the one who killed her.'

The way everyone tensed up upon hearing those words, no one saying anything... The scene looked like the murderer had just entered the room;

Emi: 'What... What did you say?'
Misha: 'Well it's... I mean Shicchan said... Shicchan didn't mean...'

Misha wasn't used to having to defend Shizune, but as she wasn't giving her anything else to translate, it was on her to do the best she could to explain her words; Emi wasn't looking at Misha, and from the look of it, she wasn't even listening to her anymore;

Emi: 'First it's my fault, and now you say I'm the one who killed her?'

Shizune didn't sign anything, not even after the translation; She seemed more willing to let Emi keep talking.

Emi: 'I did NOT kill her! You're all crazy!'

Before anyone else could react, Emi rushed to the knives drawer and grabbed the largest one. She pointed it toward the group randomly, going from one person to the next;

Emi: 'I did not kill her. I KNOW I did not kill her. So I know one of YOU did!'

Shizune stood up, and so did Misha; Shizune was backing away slowly, while Misha was walking forward, her arms kept low in a reassuring manner... But Emi turned and pointed the knife at her;

Emi: 'DON'T COME CLOSER. You all stay where you are, I'll kill the first one who comes closer.'

Misha, unwilling to test the validity of that threat, moved back to the other side of the table. Hisao stood up, but didn't move closer;

Hisao: 'Calm down Emi. No one's gonna do anything, ok? We wanted to know what happened, and now we know. Drop the knife, please. You could hurt someone.'
Emi: 'How do I know it's not you? Tell me, how do I know? What if it's you, and when I drop the knife you just kill us all?'

She turned to Misha;

Emi: 'What if it's her? You pink bundle of joy, always there to comfort us when we're down, so we lower our guards?'

She turned once more, this time toward Shizune;

Emi: 'And what if it's y- Hey, what are you doing?'

Shizune, using Emi's yelling and knife-waving to her advantage, was doing something they couldn't see, her hands in a wooden drawer.

Emi: 'I asked you a question!'

She turned to Misha again;

Emi: 'Sign! Tell her to turn around!'

Emi wasn't thinking it through, obviously; As Shizune wasn't facing the group, it wasn't possible to sign to her, unless they were to move all the way to her.
They didn't have to wait for long to see what she was doing though, as Shizune pulled a revolver and pointed it toward Emi. Hisao and Misha recoiled in shock. Lilly wasn't sure what was happening, and stayed still...
But Emi had too strong an adrenaline rush to fall back, even facing a gun.

From her other hand, Shizune pointed directly at the knife, and at the floor; It didn't need translation, but Misha did it anyway;

Misha: 'Drop the knife, Emi!'
Hisao: 'Emi! Drop the knife now, she'll shoot you! You look crazy!'

He didn't really believe Shizune would shoot her... But there was some truth in there; Emi looked like a madwoman. Hisao's words might not have been chosen wisely, as Emi, perhaps fearing Shizune would shoot, threw the knife in her direction - missing her by a few inches - before rushing straight to her;

Emi barely had the time to get to Shizune and swat her hand away, before the shot was fired. When they heard it, everyone stopped moving, paralyzed, like deer in the headlights. Emi was the first to get back to her senses, and knocked the gun out of Shizune's hand, and after backing her up against the drawer, she began hitting her in the face, yelling at her at the same time, though Shizune couldn't hear anything;

Emi: 'You could've KILLED ME, you fucking lunatic!'

They were getting most of the attention, and only stopped fighting to turn around when they heard another, different loud noise; Hisao was laying on the floor, his hand on the left side of his chest, a few inches under the heart.

Shizune easily pushed Emi out of the way to run to Hisao, as if both girls instantly forgot they were even fighting. Shizune knelt next to her boyfriend, and moved his hand away to see how bad it was; The blood spurting out of the small hole in his chest was enough to show it was not just a grazing wound... but thankfully, it wasn't on the heart, only close to it. Meanwhile, Emi was rushing to the bathroom, looking for a first aid kit. When she came back, she opened it quickly and both girls almost fought again, trying to find useful items in the small box; There wasn't much... Enough to deal with various cuts, infections, the kind of things you can get during your vacation in such a place, but bullet wounds probably weren't something Jigoro thought about when he bought the kit, decades ago. Some of the gauze even looked like it was rotten... Rotting, at the very least.

She unrolled it nonetheless... It was that, or ripping off a shirt to use as bandage as they do in movies, but she knew it was the best way to give Hisao an infection - Though the gauze might do the exact same thing. She pondered trying to remove the bullet from the wound, but not only they lacked sterile tools for the procedure, it also looked quite deep inside the wound, and she was afraid she would hurt him more than leaving it there.

Her hand was on the wound, waiting, hoping the bleeding would stop... When she turned around, trying to see what everyone else was doing, she noticed the gun was now in Misha's hand; For a moment, it looked like Shizune was about to sign something, but she quickly gave her attention back to Hisao.
She hated not being able to talk to him, her hands being busy otherwise... To tell him it was gonna be alright, though she had no idea if it really would be. She hoped others were talking to him, but she couldn't spend a second to confirm it.

After some long minutes, the bleeding seemed to slow down, but Shizune wasn't sure it was a good thing. Perhaps the wound was closing... perhaps he was almost done bleeding to death. There was a lot of blood on the floor, soaked in his vest, on Shizune herself... She recalled reading an article talking about how you could survive bleeding out until you lost thirty percent of the blood in your body. Or was it twenty percent? She wasn't sure. "This doesn't look like twenty percent.", she thought. But Hisao had a weak heart, bleeding out wasn't the only concern here. Truth be told, she didn't even know if his heart problem made this situation any worse; They never talked about it in detail, Hisao didn't like talking about that. She knew he had a heart problem, and went under the scalpel for an operation, but that was it.

Eventually, the bleeding stopped entirely, and she made a bandage with the gauze that looked in the best condition, pondering her next step all the while, when more gunshots were heard; Everyone turning their head in the same direction got Shizune to look up as well; the front door was open, and Misha was shooting outside. Four shots, five maybe. Emi was the first to speak, before Shizune could sign - not that Misha would've seen her.

Emi: 'Is there someone? Who are you shooting at?'

Misha turned around, seemingly confused.

Misha: 'Huh? Oh... No.'

After a bit of deliberation, she threw the gun outside the house, and closed the door.

Misha: 'I don't think we'd be comfortable with any one of us holding it.'
Emi: 'But we could use it to defend ourselves! Did you forget there's a murderer around?'

Lilly, who had been silent all this time, unwilling to attract attention to herself while people were waving knives and guns around, stood and spoke up;

Lilly: 'Emi, please. Misha is right. Who would hold it? Besides, we couldn't defend anyone so far. Look at what we've done...'

Lilly's calming voice bringing her back to reason, Emi turned toward Hisao and Shizune, looking a little sheepish...

Emi: 'Is he... Is he gonna be ok?'

Misha positioned herself so Shizune would see her signs, and once she read the translation, Shizune stared straight at Emi; Anger was common for Shizune, yet Emi had never seen her like that. Had she had the gun still, she might've shot her, Emi thought.

Hisao tried to stand up, but either pain or weakness - or both - stopped him, and he grunted as he laid back on the floor. Shizune laid a hand on his shoulder, part reassurance, part "holding him there so he stops making efforts he shouldn't".
Eventually, he stopped struggling and fell asleep, and they weren't sure whether that was a good or a bad thing, either. But without any access to outside help, there wasn't much they could do anyway. His chest was heaving up and down, so he was still alive, at least.

They all sat back at the table, and stayed in silence;
No one seemed to care about finding who was responsible for Hanako's death anymore.

End of the third chapter.
Chapter 4: https://pastebin.com/t0mNJ3dm