*** Important: This fic is rated MA and contains a high level of violence and character death. You have been warned! :)
Disclaimer (which I usually forget to add :/ Though this is a fanfiction site...): In addition to Junjou Romantica not being mine, neither is Battle Royale, the concept of which inspired this story.
Junjou Battle Royale
Misaki rubbed his eyes tiredly as he plodded down the stairs. He and Usagi-san had been rudely awakened early in the morning by a loud hammering at the door. Usagi-san had bolted upright, furiously spitting violent curses, so, even though his whole body was still exhausted from the previous night ensconced in Usagi-san's arms, Misaki quickly heaved himself out of bed and went to answer the door.
There was no way he could have guessed who was on their doorstep. A beaming, obnoxiously handsome man with perfectly styled dark brown hair stood next to a skinny woman wearing too much makeup. Behind them was a photographer.
"...Huh?" Misaki intelligently articulated.
"Takahashi Misaki, yes?" The sparkling man standing in the doorway said. "Congratulations! You and your partner have been nominated in our competition for Best Couple in Tokyo and have been selected as one of five couples to take part in the final stage of the competition! Oh, you lucky thing, and the prize is just to die for!" he squealed excitedly.
"And what prize is that?" rumbled a deep, irritated voice behind Misaki's right ear. Akihiko had padded silently up behind him, wearing nothing but his pyjama bottoms. If it weren't for the fact that not only did they have company, but there was a photographer as well, Misaki felt he could get quite distracted at the sight of Usagi-san's chest.
Forcing himself to pay attention, he dragged his eyes away from the delicious sight of Usagi's manly pectorals and listened to the strange man.
"The prize is a romantic trip of a lifetime, to the destination of your choice."
"Really?" Akihiko replied sceptically. "Don't need it, I can already afford it." And he started to close the door; but he hesitated at the flash of disappointment on Misaki's face. He knew how Misaki hated it when he paid for everything, and even if he himself didn't mind, here was a chance for them to earn the holiday together, equally. Still, he was suspicious.
"Who nominated us, anyway?" he asked.
"The nomination came from a woman named Aikawa Eri," the heavily-made up woman replied.
At her answer, Akihiko merely rolled his eyes and sighed. He should have known from the start.
"Ok... What do we have to do?"
"If you''ll just pop some clothes on and come with us, we'll explain everything."
And that was how Akihiko and Misaki soon found themselves in a car with strangers, speeding away from their apartment, with no idea when they would ever return.
Akihiko and Misaki rode for almost an hour and a half before they arrived at their destination. In keeping with the extravagance of the competition, they were actually being driven in a black limousine, which had made Misaki's eyes pop out when he saw it, although Akihiko merely rolled his eyes at the banality of the experience. However, it meant that as the two of them were comfortably cushioned away in the spacious body of the limousine and their escorts were at the front of the elongated car, hidden behind a screen, they were not available to answer their many questions.
At last, they pulled into a less built-up area of Tokyo. The driver slowed the car as they approached a large, nondescript, flat-roofed, concrete building, then turned and entered the underground car park. As they were ushered out of the limo, Akihiko caught sight of one of the other five couples arriving at the same time. His mouth dropped open in surprise as he realised he recognised them.
"Hiroki!" he called, and the short, brown-haired man in question looked up sharply at the sound of his name being called by such a familiar voice.
"Akihiko?!"
"Well, well! What a surprise! I never expected you to enter yourself into a lurve competition, Hiroki," Akihiko winked, smirking at the angry, embarrassed flush on Hiroki's face as he walked over to his childhood friend. "Or, maybe it wasn't you, maybe it was your overlarge boyfriend?"
Said boyfriend emerged from their limousine at that moment and frowned, pursing his lips.
"Akihiko." Nowaki acknowledged the other man's presence none too happily. He had been looking forward to spending some quality romantic time with Hiroki and definitely did not want this man interfering with his jokes and teasing, not to mention his irritating over-familiarity with Hiroki.
"No, actually, it was neither of us!" Hiroki retorted in answer to Akihiko's question, determined to make it clear that neither he nor Nowaki would deliberately engage in such nonsense as a bid to become known as Tokyo's Best Couple.
"What are you doing here, then?" Akihiko pressed, curious now.
Hiroki mumbled something.
"What was that, Hiroki?" Akihiko asked, unable to hear.
"A student bloody nominated us, alright?! Some stupid prank…" Hiroki burst, his voice trailing off at the end. His face was now crimson with embarrassment, made worse when Akihiko promptly burst into laughter. He was saved at last by the approach of his ex-student. Misaki looked nervously at his old demon professor and tugged on Akihiko's sleeve.
"Er, Usagi-san… They want us to go inside, come on, we have to hurry up."
"Alright, Misaki, we're coming," Akihiko replied, ruffling Misaki's hair and heading to where their escorts were waiting for them, chuckling at Hiroki's expense all the way.
Hiroki encountered a second surprise as he followed the others into the building, huffing as he went. Led by the escort who had collected him and Nowaki and the woman who had banged on Akihiko's penthouse door, they passed down corridor after corridor, each as bland as the rest.
Where were the decorations, the sickening posters of lovey-dovey couples, the montages of previous competition winners, he wondered. This barren place was depressing; as much as he loathed the colour, he couldn't help but feel that a splash of pink would have suited the situation more than the monotonous grey walls they trolled endlessly past.
Come to think of it, he hadn't even seen any other staff since they entered the building. What was this place? Hiroki searched his memory, but couldn't even remember if they had been told the name of the company running the competition. He had assumed it was some magazine he'd probably never heard of, but he wasn't sure at all.
His disconcerted musings were interrupted as they turned yet another corner and proceeded down yet another corridor. Turning into the same corridor from the other end and murmuring in quiet, yet unmistakeably familiar voices, were none other than Professor Miyagi and his annoying brat, Takatsuki Shinobu.
Hiroki felt the colour drain from his face. Akihiko being here too to share in this embarrassing experience was already a nightmare, but adding this pair to the mix had just made the experience a living hell. Unfortunately, at that same moment Miyagi caught sight of Hiroki.
"Kamijou! Haha…erm…" Miyagi rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment at being caught with his underage lover by his employee.
"Professor…" Hiroki acknowledged dully. "How did you end up in this stupid competition?"
"It's not stupid!" Shinobu burst, interrupting. "I entered us, of course! Because we are the best couple in Tokyo, and we'll just prove it, so you'd better not get your own hopes up!" he threatened, grabbing and squeezing Miyagi's hand as if that show of affection proved their superiority as a couple.
"Whatever, brat!" Hiroki retorted. "I don't even care about this stupid thing, so go ahead and win, I've got better things to do with my time!"
"What, than celebrate your love for your partner, well, he's a lucky bloke then, isn't he," Shinobu snorted sarcastically.
"Alright, children, that's enough!" Miyagi called over their bickering heads.
"Yes, thank you, Miyagi-san, that is quite enough," one of the escorts interjected, sounding displeased. "We've arrived, so if you will all please quietly enter this room, you will meet the other two couples who will be your opponents in this competition and the process of what you will need to do will be explained. This way please."
The man held open the door for them all and the prim lady gestured for them to follow her and led the way into the room.
The men all piled into the room after her and spread themselves out, looking around themselves with curiosity. The room was large and quite dark. There were no windows to provide natural light, simply a few low voltage fluorescent bars across the ceiling. Just like the corridors, the room's décor was dull and minimal, the walls painted grey, the floor under their feet cold concrete, two Spartan tables in the centre of the room surrounded by a number of empty chairs.
As Shinobu peered around, he noticed that the light cast their shadows against the wall, dark and stretched and ominous, and he shuddered suddenly, feeling the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. This was alright, they would be ok, he told himself. It was his destiny to live long and happily with Miyagi. Nothing was going to happen. It was just a silly, fun competition.
"Ahem," the woman who had led them into the room coughed to get their attention. "Now that everyone is here, we will introduce you all and then we will get down to the details of the competition. To my left are Usami Akihiko and his partner, Takahashi Misaki. To my right are Isaka Ryuuichirou and his partner, Asahina Kaoru. In that corner over there are Kamijou Hiroki and Kusama Nowaki. Just behind me to my right are Kato Takeshi and his partner, Takatsuki Risako. Finally, to the right of Takaha-"
"What?!" Shinobu burst, striding forward and pushing past Misaki to be able to properly see the last couple the woman had announced. "Risako?!"
"Huh, Shinobu?!" Risako started forward, her mouth dropping open in surprise. "You're here? I didn't even know you had a girlfriend!"
"You're mistaken," the woman corrected her, "You are the only heterosexual couple that made it to the final stage of the competition. Takatsuki Shinobu is here with his partner, Miyagi Yoh."
Risako blanched. "M-Miyagi… Yoh…?" she whispered in shock, staring at the woman, before turning and searching the room with her eyes until she found him, her ex-husband, stepping up to stand behind her brother, a guilty expression covering his face. "Yoh?" she repeated.
"Hello, Risako," he replied softly.
"What – what's the meaning of this? What are you two doing here together? What does she mean, my brother's partner?!"
"It means what it sounds like," Shinobu declared in a loud, clear voice, although he actually felt far from confident. "Miyagi and I are together now. Since around a year ago…"
Risako blinked. She looked between the two of them, confused for a moment. "Yoh, we only divorced a year and a half ago… And Shinobu, you were in Australia…"
"Wait, wait, wait," a loud voice called from behind Risako, and the thickset man who had been introduced as her partner, Kato Takeshi, stepped up to stand beside her, waving his hands in front of him as though gesturing for them to slow the conversation down. "Risako, babe – are you saying that these men here – the kid's your brother and the other guy's your ex? And they're banging each other?!" He turned to stare disgustedly at Miyagi and Shinobu.
"…Apparently so," Risako answered softly.
She was staring at her brother with such hurt that Shinobu couldn't take it. He started to walk towards her, a pleading look on his face as he said,
"It's not like that, Ri, really – we can't help it, we fell in love with each other. And it was only after you'd divorced Miyagi anyway, you were with that other guy, Ryuu, at the time. Risako… We never meant to hurt you. You do understand that, right?"
Risako didn't reply; she just kept switching her gaze from one betrayer to the other, her lips pressed thin, arms crossed tightly across her chest, a mixture of sadness, anger and shock burning in her eyes. Kato merely slung a thick, muscular, hairy arm across her shoulders and pulled her against his hard body, all the while throwing looks of disgust and disdain at Miyagi and Shinobu.
Almost imitating Kato's actions, Miyagi gently took Shinobu's hand and turned the teary-eyed boy to face him, slipping his arms around him, one hand stroking his hair as he pressed a tender kiss to the trembling boy's temple.
The woman from the competition stepped forward and once again cleared her throat for attention.
"Ahem, anyway. Moving on to the competition. We advertised widely and received many nominations. Based on the strength of the application, a shortlist of five couples was compiled for the final stage. I congratulate you all on your success so far. Now the time has come for me to tell you the real reason why you are here. We are not hosting a Best Couple in Tokyo competition. This contest will be of a very different sort."
This last information caused all five couples to look up at the woman in surprise. Shinobu suddenly remembered his earlier sense of foreboding and clutched tighter at Miyagi's shirt as he focussed entirely on what the woman was saying.
"The contest will be a test of your strength and agility, your speed and cunning, your courage and daring. You will need to be ruthless; for this is a test of your desire to survive."
All ten contestants were starting to panic now, and they milled about the woman, shouting and demanding answers. It was impossible to hear anything over the din, and so it was only because Nowaki was so tall that he could see over most of the others' heads that he saw the line of heavyset, muscular, armed men file into the room and take up position around the wall.
Grabbing Hiroki, he attempted to pull the irate man behind him and out of sight of the armed men, all the while shouting in vain for the others to stop yelling and focus. The woman had merely stood there, all the while calmly letting their loud questions and demands slide over her as she knew that the armed guard would be entering the room at that moment.
When Isaka finally grew too angry and impatient at her silence, he reached out and grabbed the woman's arm, shaking her in his ire. The moment he touched her, a deafening shot rang through the air, and immediately they all fell silent, whirling around in shock and finally seeing that they were hemmed in, trapped in this room, encircled by a wall of guns.
"Please sit down," the woman continued in a pleasant voice as though nothing had happened. "As I was saying, this contest is about survival. You will all shortly be transported to an uninhabited island. Before we release you, you shall each have a microchip inserted under the skin on the back of your head. This will enable us to track you, to know where you are on the island and to know whether you are alive or dead. You will each be given a pack. This will contain some form of weapon. There are many types of weapon, not only guns and the like. You will have to use this to survive.
"We will not be providing you with anything else. Food, water or shelter you must find for yourself. We deem it highly unlikely that you will need any of those in any great quantity. The reason is that you will only be on the island for twelve hours. Remember that: you have twelve hours to end this contest, or you will all die. The island is uninhabited for a reason – there is an active volcano at the heart of it. The volcano last erupted three months ago and has been showing strong signs of an imminent eruption. Eminent volcanologists have determined that it will erupt in approximately fourteen hours time – if not earlier.
"It will take us a couple of hours to reach the island. Therefore, if the contest has not been won within twelve hours from the time of arrival, any contestants still living will be left to perish in the eruption. The contest will have been won when there is either a single person or a single couple remaining. Original couples are accepted only. For example, if Isaka-san and Kamijou-san are the final survivors, they do not constitute a couple and one must die. However, if Isaka-san and Asahina-san are the final survivors, as they are an original couple, they will have won the contest and both will live. Do not think of trying to escape from the island. It is fifty miles to the coast of the nearest island and there will be no boats or planes to rescue you. Even if you did find a way to escape, the microchip would enable us to find and exterminate you.
"Are there any questions?"
There was a moment of heavy silence after the woman finished speaking as the weight of her words sank into each contestant's mind. Finally, Akihiko spoke up.
"This isn't legal. I studied law, I was the best student at the university, I know this is completely illegal. We're free citizens, you can't hold us like this, and you most certainly cannot kill us or force us into a situation like you've just described. Order these men to stand down and let us out of this building, now!" he commanded.
Misaki, standing next to him, closed his eyes and slipped his hand into Akihiko's, gripping it tightly. Thank goodness for Usagi-san! Misaki had felt sick to the stomach with fear as he listened to the woman rattle out their death sentences, an excited smile on her face, but of course, Usagi-san was right, this wasn't legal! And he was so strong and confident, the woman must immediately see that he was right and she was wrong and let them go. Surely?
"On the contrary, Usami-san," the woman now directed a gleeful, sadistic leer at Akihiko. "I have right here a document giving our company special permission to perform this test on a random sample of ten citizens, signed by the head of the military, a personal friend of my boss. It's in the name of science, of course, to see how far ordinary, law-abiding citizens will go to save themselves and the effects of stress on their relationships with both strangers and people close to them; but honestly," and now she slowly started to approach Akihiko, holding him fixed in her fiery gaze, a mocking lilt to the tone of her voice, "watching you all reduce yourselves to animals, all restraint broken and superseded by violence and desperation… well, my colleagues and I are just going to enjoy the show!"
Akihiko snarled and lunged at her then; Misaki cried out and tried to hold him back, but Akihiko was too quick and slipped past his fingers.
"Halt!" yelled a deep, forceful voice, and all around the room came the click of guns being primed as the guards around the wall each aimed into the centre of the room, training their guns on Akihiko.
"Usagi-san, stop! Please!" Misaki pleaded, and Akihiko reluctantly obeyed. Casting a fearsome glare at the bitch of a woman still smiling placidly in front of him, he returned to Misaki's side and crushed the boy protectively to him.
A pounding of feet suddenly came down the corridor towards the room. Misaki pressed his face into Usagi-san's chest, hoping desperately that this was the cavalry, here to rescue them from this insane bunch of sadistic maniacs. His wish was not fulfilled.
A group of four men entered the room, each carrying a small piece of equipment. They walked to the right side of the room and stood in two parallel lines. The woman guided the contestants into two lines of five in front of the men and they moved without protest in fear of the guns.
It soon became apparent what was happening. Nowaki and Hiroki had been placed into separate queues and Hiroki glanced over at Nowaki nervously as he watched what was happening. Risako's boyfriend, Kato, was at the front of Nowaki's queue, while Miyagi was at the front of Hiroki's. Each stepped forward and was told to turn around. Then two of the men who had just come in each took a razor and shaved a small patch of hair at the back of Miyagi and Kato's heads. When they had done that, they sent them on to the men standing behind them who each held a device to implant a microchip under the newly-shaved skin. Hiroki saw Miyagi wince perceptibly as the microchip was inserted, and he gulped, feeling his heart pumping wildly at the thought of pain.
There was a sudden loud squeal to his right. In the queue ahead of Nowaki was Risako. It was her turn next, and the man with the razor held her by the arm and was pulling her forward but she twisted and tried to wriggle out of his grasp.
"No! No, I'm not doing this! I won't! Get that thing away from me! I don't want to be part of this! And you will not shave my hair!" she spat the last part indignantly, her right hand patting the luxurious, long, black hair at the back of her head.
A guard stepped forward, holding his gun out threateningly.
"Risako! Stop it, don't be an idiot! You can't resist this," Shinobu called to her angrily, willing his sister to calm down and submit before she was shot right then and there.
Risako merely shot him an angry glare. A second guard stepped forward and, together with the first, they held her still while the man with the razor cut a snippet of hair and then shaved clean the remaining bristles. As they pulled her over to receive a microchip, she gave a loud sob and patted the patch of bare skin on the back of her head in anguish.
At last all five couples had had a microchip inserted. Surrounded by an armed guard, they were led out of the room and up an endless stream of staircases until they finally spilled out into the bright sunshine on the flat roof of the building. A small private plane had arrived while they were being briefed and they were shunted into it and strapped down in their seats. Five of the guards and the woman also climbed in.
The flight to the island took about two hours. It was truly remote, a tiny speck of land surrounded by the vast Pacific Ocean. A billow of dark grey cloud was rising from the concave crater in the centre. The slope of the volcano was red and black and bare, but circling the base was a ring of trees. One side of the island was edged with a beautiful, golden, sandy beach; the rest fell away over jagged cliffs into the sea. Here and there dotted about the island were small, rectangular, ramshackle wooden huts.
"I thought you said no-one lived on the island – but there are houses down there," Asahina pointed out, finally breaking the silence that had pervaded throughout the journey.
"No-one does live on the island now. I told you, the volcano erupted a few months ago. Those houses are only the dilapidated remains. Feel free to explore them if you want, but don't be surprised if they fall down on your head. Though that would at least save your opponents the hassle of hunting you down," she laughed.
The plane started its descent and finally came to a halt in a clearing near the trees at the base of the volcano where the ground had levelled out. The contestants were marched out of the plane and made to stand in a line about a hundred metres away. The woman stood calmly in front of them, her hands clasped in front of her, as one of the guards went along untying each contestant while another two dropped a khaki bag a few feet in front of each of them. When they had finished, she said,
"In front of you is your weapons bag. They are anonymous, we have distributed them randomly, hopefully you will find something useful to you in them. The contest begins now. You have a maximum of twelve hours remaining. Remember, only one person or one couple can survive. Good luck!"
Turning, she returned to the plane. Only once she was safely inside did the guards also retreat, and within moments the plane was once again airborne, leaving ten shell-shocked people behind to die.
No-one moved for several moments. They simply stared at each other in shock. Not one could believe that that morning they had woken up as usual and planned their day around work or study or meals, not having a clue that for most of them, that day would be the last of their lives.
Isaka was the first to snap out of his shock and face reality. Running forward, he grabbed two of the weapon bags and tossed one to Asahina. Glancing grimly back at the others, he grabbed Asahina's arm and pulled him into a sprint, heading for the safety of the trees.
His actions, his seeming acceptance of their new reality, roused the others and they each grabbed a bag of their own, keeping a wary eye on the others around them as they did so. Kato didn't even bother to flee before checking what he had. As he violently ripped open his bag and withdrew a deadly crossbow, the other couples all cried out in fear and took off as fast as they could away from Kato and away from everyone else, who were all now a threat. Miyagi in particular, catching a wicked gleam in Kato's eye as he glanced in their direction, grabbed hold of Shinobu tightly and fairly dragged him out of the clearing, weaving his way slightly in case the other man had managed to get an arrow fitted to the shaft and might try to target them.
In a matter of moments, the only ones left in the clearing were Kato and Risako, and they too disappeared into the protective cover of the trees.
They pushed their way through the thick undergrowth quickly, Risako hissing at Kato to be quiet as he stomped along, crushing foliage and snapping twigs underfoot. The island must be tropical; the air was swelteringly hot and packed with moisture, so much so that despite the heat, droplets had gathered on the large, verdant leaves hanging past their heads. They panted, thirsty already, and cursed the woman who hadn't bothered to give them anything to drink.
They kept a sharp eye and ear out for any of the others, but had deliberately chosen an area of the forest that no-one else had headed towards, and luckily didn't see anyone. Finally reaching the edge of the trees, they stopped and sat on a fallen tree trunk, gazing out over the wide expanse of sand and sea in front of them, keeping to the cover of the forest. A breeze carried over from the water and cooled their flushed, sweaty skin.
Risako had barely spoken the entire time. She had checked the contents of her bag once they were alone in the clearing and then swung it over her shoulder, tramping along beside Kato in silence. Now that they had come to a stop, he glanced over at her.
"Babe, we're going to win this. Don't you worry."
She looked at him. "I'm not worried. Right now, I'm so angry I feel invincible."
He scrutinised her for a moment. "I'm furious myself too. But are you just angry about this contest, or about something else? You've barely said a word since we found out about your ex and your brother."
He was right, he saw. At the mention of Miyagi and Shinobu, Risako pinched her lips even tighter and her jaw clenched shut.
"How dare they!" she suddenly spat angrily. "How dare he! My own brother! Everyone knows that a friend or family member's ex is off limits! And since when was Yoh gay?! How dare he lay a finger on my kid brother! It's sick and disgusting and of course I'm furious, I have every right to be when I find out the man I was married to is putting his fucking dick in my underage brother!" She was pacing now, practically shouting out her indignation and fury.
Kato stood up and grabbed her shoulders, turning her to face him.
"Babe, I get it, I do. But don't worry – maybe this contest was a blessing in disguise. They can't lie to you anymore. And we can't all get off this island. I'll tell you one thing, I ain't going down without a fight, and I won't let any of them touch you either. That's a promise. We're going home together, babe, one way or another."
Risako looked up at him, suddenly a little wary. Her voice was calmer as she replied,
"Yes… Yes, I'm not going to die here. But I can take care of myself too. Some of the others – they're weak, we can pick them off easily. But some we need to take care of quickly. They'll be hunting us too. We'll need to be careful. And there's so little time…"
"We should split up, you take one pair, I'll take another, then meet up and plan our next move."
"Good idea," Risako nodded, frowning a little in concentration. "That Isaka, he means business. I'll take him and his partner, they need to be dealt with promptly. The man who tried to attack that horrible woman, the one who said he'd studied law-"
"Usami Akihiko," Kato supplied the name for her.
"Yes, him. His partner's a weakling brat, but he's strong and with his devotion to his partner, that'll make him formidable. You should track them down and remove them." Risako instructed.
"Yep, good plan," Kato quickly agreed. "I saw a house from the plane, it was just past the line of trees on the cliff side, looked fairly sheltered and stable from what I could see. Meet me back there when you're done. I'll wait for you as long as I can, but if you don't show by mid-afternoon, I'll start hunting down the rest of them. Can't leave it too late, though hopefully they'll accomplish some of our work for us."
"Alright. Let's split up now, then. I'll see you at that house," Risako replied and she watched with slightly narrowed eyes as Kato disappeared through the trees. She would corner Isaka – and Kato had better take on Usami.
Miyagi didn't have a clue where he was leading them, but he kept a tight grip on Shinobu and kept pulling the gasping, shaking boy through the trees. They finally emerged at the edge of the beach where a large wall of jagged rocks formed a line from the sea to the forest. Edging along past the rocks, Miyagi spotted a tiny cave near the water which would afford them shelter.
Pulling Shinobu behind him, he squatted and edged his way in.
"M-Miyagi," Shinobu stuttered, and the older man finally turned to his lover and pulled him into his arms. "M-Miyagi, we're going to die!"
Miyagi was silent for a moment, then he whispered in Shinobu's ear,
"Not if I can help it, we're not."
"But-but I don't know if I can kill any of them… I- I mean, that's my sister out there!"
"I know, Shin, I know."
Shinobu buried his face in Miyagi's shoulder and finally let out what was most troubling him.
"Miyagi… I'm so sorry! This is all my fault! If I just hadn't submitted us to that ridiculous competition, I mean, we're meant to be a secret couple anyway, and who cares who's 'Best Couple in Tokyo', I mean, it's ridiculous, and now look what I've done, I've put us in this mess and we have to kill innocent people and they'll be hunting us, and oh, Miyagi, we're just going to die!"
"Shinobu, don't, don't do this! Hush now, it's not your fault!"
"Yes, it is! We're going to die and it's my fault! This isn't what our destiny was supposed to be!"
"Shinobu, if you still believe in destiny, then maybe you should trust that it's our destiny to come through this safely and together. Ok? There's no point in thinking defeatist thoughts before this thing's even begun, or we will be worm-meat, ok? Have you got that? So come on – let's calm down and stop crying and work out what we're going to do. Don't lose hope yet, kiddo."
Miyagi forced his voice to sound confident for Shinobu's sake; yet inside he had never felt so scared or unsure in his life. It wasn't only his life he had to protect in this cruel game; he would rather die than allow Shinobu's short life to come to an end already.
"Come on," he encouraged, trying to keep the tremor out of his voice. "Let's see what weapons we've landed, eh?"
They opened their bags and fished out the contents. Shinobu's lip started trembling.
"Nunchucks?!" he moaned. "What the hell am I meant to do with these? I don't know how to use them, they're not exactly going to help me against that crossbow… Miyagi, please tell me you've got something better…"
Miyagi was examining his weapon grimly. It was a small, plastic bottle with a label displaying a skull and crossbones.
"Mine's poison. Not sure that's going to be a lot of help either…"
There was a moment of silence. Then Shinobu said in a quiet voice,
"I wonder what weapon Risako has… I hope it serves her better than ours will serve us. Miyagi…Risako's my enemy now. Did you see – she was so angry when she heard we were together…"
Miyagi sighed. "I saw. But she is still your sister, Shu-chin, no matter how upset she is with us, I can't see her rushing to literally kill us. There are plenty of other strangers she will have to both hunt and protect herself from. To be honest, I'm more concerned about that new boyfriend of hers. I rather wish I'd picked up his crossbow and he had my poison… We'll have to be especially careful of him, though we can't actually trust anyone." He paused, reflecting sadly, "Not even Kamijou."
"So what are we going to do?"
Miyagi took a deep breath. "Well, we can't stay in this tiny cave, especially since the tide will start to come in. Our weapons won't fend anyone off, so I suggest we look for shelter and see if we can wait it out, let them all kill each other off. We can't attack anyone with our weapons – but it's boiling hot here, if we can find a water supply, we can take our fill and then poison the rest for anyone else who finds it. I'd rather not have to improvise when we're risking our lives, but other than that, Shinobu, I haven't a clue."
Akihiko and Misaki had run, hand in hand, along the inner edge of the trees, keeping the clearing within sight so they could look back and see if anyone was following them. Exhausted as they were, panting hard and with a stitch in their stomachs, they kept going until they found a small, dilapidated hut with a back door leading to the trees.
Akihiko glanced around, checked that no-one was in sight and told Misaki to wait. He slowly crept up to the hut and peered in through the door. It was empty. Gesturing for Misaki to follow him, he opened the door and went in.
As soon as he had followed Usagi-san into the hut, Misaki threw his bag down, spun around, stared at his lover and burst into tears.
"Misaki…" Akihiko's deep voice rumbled, full of pain for his lover.
"Usagi-san…!" Misaki wailed. "What are we going to do? I can't kill them… I won't! I refuse to take part in this sickness."
"It's ok, Misaki," Akihiko reassured him. "You won't have to, I'll keep you safe. I'll destroy them all before they touch one hair on your precious head." And into his mind flew the image of Hiroki's face, his oldest childhood friend. He pushed the image away. Even him, he thought, even Hiroki…to protect Misaki.
"Let's see what's in the bags," he suggested.
He unzipped his bag and was just peering inside when a short gasp caused him to look up anxiously. Misaki was holding his weapon in the flat of his palm, staring at it as though he were holding a deadly snake. It was a handgun.
"That's a good one," Akihiko said eagerly. A gun would make it easier to pick off attackers at a distance, better protection for Misaki.
But Misaki looked up at him, a mixture of dismay and determination on his face.
"We can't use it."
"Huh?" Akihiko frowned.
Misaki suddenly stood up and started to move to the door.
"We're not keeping it. I'm going to bury it."
"What?! Misaki, don't be ridiculous, we need it!" Akihiko sprang to his feet.
"No, Usagi-san! I don't want you to use it, I don't want to see you kill anyone. And if I keep it… Well, I'm weak, one of them will be able to pry it off me. A volcano…" Misaki closed his eyes for a moment, swallowed, then focussed once more on Akihiko. "A volcano is terrifying. But, it's just Mother Nature, there's no evil in that, it's just the way the world is. But putting us here, making ordinary, decent people kill each other, that is evil. And I don't want any part of that. I may not be able to escape this, but I don't have to enter into this contest willingly. And I think I'd rather go down with the volcano than be butchered by one of them.
"So, I won't use this weapon, and neither will you, and neither will any of the others. I'm going to bury it. And that's that."
And with that, Misaki marched back out of the hut, looked around for a sign of anyone else's presence and, finding none, chose a spot, dropping to his knees and clawing at the black earth.
Akihiko didn't try to stop him, finding he respected Misaki's opinion, even if he didn't agree with it. Guess that leaves it all to me, he thought, patting his weapon inside the bag over his shoulder.
It took Misaki half an hour of scrabbling around in the dirt to dig a hole deep enough to bury the gun. When he was finished, he walked over the spot a few times in an effort to pack the earth in and disguise the edges of the hole, sprinkling a few leaves over the top for good measure.
Once he was satisfied, he returned to the hut; but when he flung open the door, it burst back with a great creaking. Misaki and Akihiko looked at each other with panicked faces. Then, Akihiko sprang forward and grabbed Misaki's wrist, pulling him towards the safety of the trees as behind them the hut started to lean slightly to the side, before finally tumbling to the ground with a resounding crash.
The two men stood staring at the debris for a long moment, each imagining what would have happened if they had stayed there a minute longer. Then Akihiko started to look around frantically, tugging at Misaki's arm as he pulled him deeper under the canopy, whispering,
"Misaki, come on, we have to move! That crash was so loud, it's bound to have attracted someone. We have to go before they find us!"
"Usagi-san – I was thinking, maybe we should try to find Kamijou-san? He's your friend, he wouldn't harm us, plus isn't Kusama-san a doctor or something? He's sworn an oath to help people, not kill them. Maybe together we can figure out a plan to get out of this!"
"Misaki, we can't afford to trust anyone, not even Hiroki or the doctor!"
"But we could try, Usagi-san, we could convince them – there's safety in numbers. And I didn't like the look of some of the others."
Akihiko stopped and turned to Misaki, studying him for a second.
"Safety in numbers… Yes, that's true." And he nodded his acceptance of Misaki's suggestion. They would try to find Hiroki and the giant. After all, he conceded, his weapon only worked up close. Only one couple could survive. He might as well start with them and get them out of the way.
Once again, the vision of Hiroki's face swam before him.
Even him, he repeated to himself, even him. For Misaki.
"A challenge, that's what this is, Kaoru, a challenge!" Isaka paced up and down, his eyes lit with a bright, fierce light.
"Calm down, Ryuuichirou, this is serious, it's not a game!" Asahina chided him, annoyed, as he opened his weapon bag.
Isaka whipped round to face him. He had already ripped open his bag and was now waving his weapon around, gesticulating wildly.
"I know that, Kaoru! It's deadly serious. That's why we have to fight to the best of our abilities. I refuse to die here, and I refuse to let them get you either. I'll hunt them all down, one by one, and spill their blood and guts onto the ground as many times as it takes until you and I can get out of here. Don't think I'm not serious about this. I'm a survivor, Kaoru."
"Well, I want to survive this too, so stop waving that bloody thing around!" Asahina snapped, his eyes focussed on the weapon in Isaka's hand. "We can't rush into this blindly. We need a plan."
"I have a plan," Isaka breathed. "We track them, keep a close tail on them, but don't get too close. Let them pick each other off. Any weak ones that fall behind, we pick them off ourselves. Then, when they're almost all dead, we strike and slay the rest!"
"'Slay'?" Asahina quirked an eyebrow. "You're enjoying this a bit too much for my liking, Ryuuichirou."
"Enjoying? I'm not enjoying this one bit! But I am prepared to be ruthless. We're going to survive this, Kaoru, for sure."
Akihiko and Misaki continued to push through the undergrowth, moving steadily further away from the collapsed hut. They moved as carefully and quietly as they could, speaking in whispers and only when necessary. Akihiko had even made Misaki rub soil over his cheeks for camouflage, and he had made a hat of leaves for himself to disguise his silver hair.
Though they had wracked their brains, they didn't really have a clue where Hiroki and Nowaki might have gone. They determined to just continue pushing through, hoping to stumble upon them. Mostly they were alone, although at one point Akihiko dragged Misaki to the ground as Kato, Risako's lover, blundered through the trees twenty feet to their right.
After about an hour and a half of walking, they passed a circle of trees whose large leaves dangled down like a screen. They almost walked past when Akihiko paused and looked back, considering the trees. The cover created by the arrangement seemed almost too convenient, and he was suddenly reminded of the clearing where he and Hiroki used to hide when they were children. He knew that the idea of a hidden room in the forest would appeal to his friend.
Creeping forward, he paused in front of one of the trees, then in a flash, lifted up one of the leaves. Something large hurtled at him, and the next moment he found himself lying on the ground, something heavy sitting astride him, pinning him down, and something small but sharp pricking the skin on his neck.
"Hiroki, you idiot, it's me!" he growled angrily.
"Huh, Akihiko?" came a familiar, surprised voice to his right. "Er, right. Um, Nowaki… you can get off him."
"I don't know, Hiro-san," Nowaki said through gritted teeth from his position above Akihiko. "We don't know we can trust him."
"You can, I promise, Kusama-san!" Misaki ran forward, holding his bare hands out in a gesture of peace. "Please, we're not here to harm you! I don't even have my weapon, I don't want it, I swore I wouldn't kill anyone. Please, let him go – don't hurt him!"
Nowaki looked up, studying Misaki doubtfully, but the boy's large, green eyes appeared earnest. Hiroki was also urging him to let Akihiko go, so, reluctantly, Nowaki stood and slipped his small knife back into his pocket.
"Can't be too careful," he said in gruff explanation, watching Akihiko intently as the man pulled himself to his feet, grimacing. It was true that under normal circumstances he wouldn't believe Akihiko capable of hurting him or Hiro-san (physically, at least; he knew only too well how Akihiko had been able to hurt his Hiro-san emotionally). Still, in these dangerous times, he wasn't prepared to risk either Hiro-san or himself. He would never let Akihiko take Hiro-san away from him.
That was why, as he later tried to explain to Hiroki, he had reacted almost instinctively when Akihiko had sidled up to Hiroki and slid his hand into his bag. The woman had said very clearly, the bags contained a weapon, nothing else. What was he supposed to do when Akihiko was clearly reaching for his weapon to use on Hiroki and he only had a split second to react?
He didn't even think about it. Nowaki plunged his hand into his pocket and withdrew the small, well-balanced knife once more. A second later, it was flying out of his hand and buried itself to the hilt in the side of Usami Akihiko's neck. The man's legs buckled and he collapsed to the ground, eyes wide, staring up into the shocked face of his childhood friend.
"NO!" Misaki cried, rushing forward and grabbing the front of Akihiko's shirt, turning the body towards him. "No…Usagi-san!" he moaned desperately, staring in bewilderment at Akihiko's lifeless body. "Berries…" he looked up at Hiroki, then turned to gaze broken-heartedly at Nowaki, "We found berries."
Suddenly terrified at the sight of Nowaki, Misaki jumped up and fled, disappearing deep into the forest.
Slowly, stiffly, Hiroki bent over his dead friend and picked up his bag. Peering inside, he called softly to Nowaki in a strangled voice,
"Nowaki – there are berries in here."
Nowaki moved over to stand next to Hiroki and peered into the bag. His heart thumped as it occurred to him that he could have been wrong, that he, a trained doctor and paediatrician who had chosen to dedicate his life to helping others, might have just killed a man in cold blood because he was about to offer them food.
There were indeed berries inside Akihiko's bag. But Nowaki spotted something else too. Lifting it out, he showed it to Hiroki.
"Look, Hiro-san – a taser. How do we know – we will never know - whether he was reaching for berries – or this."
Hiroki gave a sudden sob. Dropping the bag, he started to back up.
"Let's go, Nowaki – anywhere! I can't stay here…"
Turning, he started walking in a random direction, desperate to get away from the body – the body of his oldest friend, killed by his lover's knife.
Miyagi didn't want to say anything to Shinobu, but he had suspected for several minutes now that someone was tailing them. They had walked around the edge of the beach along the tree line for a while to head towards the other side of the island from where they'd been dropped off, before deciding to head inland, hoping to find a source of fresh water that would be suitable to drink from and then poison. It had taken them a little while to get back to the other side of the forest, whereupon Miyagi had insisted that they cover their clothes and bodies in the black dust and grit covering the ground for camouflage.
As they were breaking free from the protection of the trees, Shinobu suggested they crawl along the ground rather than walk to avoid standing out in the open area. It was hard work. Luckily there were several scattered huts and ruined houses here, which gave them periods of cover for resting and also offered the potential for a water supply. They checked each building, but so far had found nothing but rubble and lizard droppings.
It was as they were moving between two derelict houses that Miyagi had first caught a flash of movement near the trees. As they explored one of the houses, he peered out of the window and was sure he saw a human shape moving slowly up the hill behind them. The person had surely tracked him and Shinobu and seen they were in the house, but there was so little cover around, where else could they go?
Desperation started to claw at him, but he refused to let it show to Shinobu. The boy was depending on him, and ever since they had formed their plan, as futile as it was, he had seen the light of hope shining from the boy's eyes every time he looked at him.
The best thing he could do, he decided, was let the other person get near them and then try to take them out in hand to hand combat. He hoped to God that whoever it was, it was neither Risako nor Kamijou.
Shinobu was gesturing for him to move on. Stepping out of the house, he first edged around the back and stood still, sweeping the vista with his gaze as he sought out the person following them. Taking care not to present too great a target, he took a further step out, allowing the person to see him, willing them to come closer so he could tackle them.
Something whistled past his head and twanged into the wall next to him. His head shot round and he stared in terror at the quivering arrow embedded in the wall only inches away from him.
He darted back around the corner, his face ghostly white. Grabbing Shinobu's hand, he set off in a sprint, shouting,
"Shinobu! It's Kato! Run!"
They tore away, running as fast as they could up the slope of the volcano. Another arrow flew past and buried itself in the ground only a foot away from Shinobu's ankle, and he screamed in panic.
Behind them, they could hear the heavy feet and panting breath of Shinobu's sister's rugged lover as he chased quickly after them.
The slope was steep and rocky, the ground loose and gritty underfoot. They moved as quickly as they could as their feet slipped and the sweat trickled down their backs. Still the man behind them never stopped, never let up.
They were nearing the top when a gruff voice yelled at them to stop. Spinning around, they faced him, Kato Takeshi, the man who had made it his personal mission to hunt down the deceitful, unnatural scum who had betrayed his woman. His crossbow was armed and aimed at their chests.
"Put your hands up!" he barked.
Letting go of each other, Miyagi and Shinobu slowly raised their hands. Miyagi began to inch to the right, trying to shield Shinobu with his body, while Shinobu slowly edged backwards.
"I knew you'd come after us," Miyagi said with a sigh.
"Of course!" Kato sneered. "Gotta protect my woman, haven't I – not only here, but out there as well. You two, her brother and her ex, sneaking around, fucking around behind her back – you make me sick! I'd spit on you but you're not even worth that!"
"So she didn't tell you, then, that while she and I were married, she was the one fucking someone else behind my back? At least I waited until we were divorced before I moved on to someone else!" Miyagi shot back.
Kato's eyes bulged in anger. "You shut up! I know what she did, and why! You were a lousy husband, never deserved her! She's well shot of you if you ask me. And now, here we are – only one couple can go home from this. Well, sorry, but it ain't you! You should have stuck with her and maybe you wouldn't have been in this situation."
Miyagi opened his mouth to retort, but before he could say anything, Shinobu gave a loud cry behind him.
He had been edging backwards the entire time Kato was arguing with Miyagi. At his last tiny step, the loose rubble under his feet had given way, and Shinobu had slid and rolled down towards the crater of the volcano.
Miyagi spun around at the sound of Shinobu's voice. Crying out his name, he hurtled towards the boy, trying to reach him before he slid over the edge. The crossbow behind him twanged once more, and Miyagi halted suddenly. Realisation showed on his deathly pale face even before he looked down and saw the arrow protruding from the centre of his chest. He fell to his knees.
"Miyagi!" Shinobu screamed, and Miyagi looked up, seeing Shinobu's terrified face for one last second before the boy plunged over the edge and rolled down into the deep, burning hot crater of a volcano that was about to explode. Shinobu's desperate screams reverberated in his ears as Miyagi slid on his side, slumped and finally fell dead to the world.
Kato smirked. An easy job. Turning, he went to meet his woman.
Hiroki gripped Nowaki's arm tightly as he wearily stumbled up the slight hill towards the shelter of the small, derelict wooden house. A quick movement to the right caught his eye and he froze, his grip squeezing Nowaki almost painfully.
They hadn't been the only ones seeking shelter for a moment of respite. Misaki had slowly made his way over to the house, darting from the protection of one tree to another, his brown hair and dirt-smeared face providing a sort of camouflage. He had edged around the corner of the house, aiming for the door, but hearing a sharp intake of breath close by, he spun around.
Fear had made his bright green eyes glitter like jewels, and he stared in frozen terror down at Nowaki and Hiroki, only feet away. He looked like a rabbit caught in headlights, Hiroki thought. Not surprising considering the kid had watched Nowaki slaughter his lover… Though that had been an instant reaction as Nowaki had tried to protect the person he loved from what he perceived, mistakenly or not, as a threat. Misaki wouldn't realise that though.
"It's alright," Hiroki spoke in a low tone, hoping to calm Misaki down. "We're not going to hurt you."
His words had no effect, however; Misaki merely flinched and bent his knees, clearly preparing to flee for his life.
Perhaps he had been too harsh on his students, it occurred to Hiroki. A little more compassion and perhaps one of them wouldn't have felt the need to pull this highly unamusing prank on him and he and Nowaki would never have been in this situation… Or maybe they would have been, but Misaki wouldn't have been quite so suspicious of his unusually kind tone.
He was pulled out of his reflections by another sudden movement from the side of the house. He felt Nowaki surge forward, crying out, as Isaka slipped around the corner and in one swift motion, pinned Misaki back against his body, the sharp blade of a sickle held at his throat.
"Stop right there!" Isaka barked, eyeing up the lanky young man in front of him.
"What are you doing?! Let him go!" Nowaki demanded.
"I can't! Got to make a choice, you know, live or die, and me – I intend to survive this." Isaka turned to Misaki and whispered in his ear, "Sorry, Chibi-tan, but we can't all get out of this alive… Sacrifices have to be made."
Misaki whimpered and squeezed his eyes tightly shut.
Nowaki balled his fists, a look of anguish on his face. "Just-just wait a moment, please! Let's all just calm down… There might be a way out of this for all of us, we just have to think!"
"There's no other way!" Isaka snarled, and the hand gripping the sickle pressed it closer to Misaki's throat. The tip of the rounded blade pricked the delicate skin on the side of his neck and a thin, scarlet trickle of blood stained a path down the white flesh.
Nowaki's eyes snapped to the blood and he swallowed. He didn't even know this kid, but he felt a deep urge to protect him. Perhaps because he was innocent – Nowaki was sure the kid hadn't killed any of them on that island…unlike him. And maybe that was the real reason. He had killed the boy's lover… Now he would do his best to make reparation and save the boy's life.
"We have to try. And even if there is no other way and we all must die… What, you probably have ten years on him? He's so young, he has so much more life ahead of him compared to any of us, we should protect that!"
Isaka snorted. "You want to measure this out in remaining years of life to make it fair?! Well then, with that argument the boy should die! He's lost his partner, his is just one life! Get rid of him and two people can live!"
"Isaka!" Nowaki growled in fury.
Yet Isaka-san had a point, Hiroki conceded. He certainly didn't want to die, and he couldn't bear the thought of Nowaki dead… With Akihiko gone, Misaki was just one…
"Nowaki-" Hiroki started, but his words were cut off as Nowaki leapt forward in anger at Isaka, determined to break his grip on Misaki.
He never reached them, however. Asahina had watched the exchange as he peeped around the edge of the house. He wasn't happy with Isaka's actions either, but they had already discussed and agreed that in the current situation they would do what they had to to survive, and he had let Isaka proceed with his loathsome task in the knowledge that it brought them a step closer to home and life. And he would do what he had done his whole life – watch over and protect Isaka.
So now that he saw a tall, strong, irate man launch himself at his lover, Asahina reacted instantly. He leapt forward and blocked the path in front of Isaka and Misaki and flung his left arm out in a hard blow to the side of Nowaki's face, causing the man's head to snap round to the right. Asahina's right arm swung forward, hitting Nowaki in the stomach; his hand wasn't empty – a long, silver blade sank into the tight flesh and muscle, sending rivulets of thick blood flowing down the blade and over Asahina's hand.
At the same instant that the knife struck Nowaki, a shot rang out, the sound reverberating around the small clearing. Hiroki stood stock still, his weapon, a gun, clasped in trembling hands as he used one of his precious few bullets. It had been an accurate shot; Asahina slumped forward onto Nowaki, who caught him, trying in vain to support his floppy, lifeless body. Unable to hold him, Nowaki slowly lowered Asahina to the ground. As he bent forward, his eyes flicked to the bloodied blade protruding from his abdomen and his brain finally registered the pain that was screaming from his body. He looked up at Hiroki in shock and fear.
"Hiro-san-" he whispered helplessly.
Hiroki's anguished gaze was torn from his wounded lover as Isaka stared down at Asahina's bloodied, wide-eyed corpse and gave a great shout of anger and despair. His grip on Misaki tightened even further and the boy whimpered in fear.
Isaka's head whipped round at the sound, as if he had forgotten he held the boy. With a vicious snarl, he yanked Misaki's head back with his left hand and in one swift motion, slashed the boy's throat.
Misaki's knees buckled as the vibrant light instantly vanished from his emerald eyes. Isaka pushed the body away from himself and flicked the blood off the sickle, watching dispassionately as Misaki's lifeblood burst from the gash in his throat and seeped into the dry earth.
Isaka glanced over as he caught the sound of Hiroki cocking the gun, and saw that the weapon in Hiroki's stiff arms was now primed and aimed at him. A bitter smile crossed his face and he held his arms out and taunted,
"Go on then! Kill me like you killed my lover!"
"Shut up!" Hiroki roared back, his whole body shaking with the tension. "I'll do it, don't make me do it!"
Isaka snarled at him and leapt forward so that he was level with Nowaki and raised his sickle in preparation to destroy the person most beloved to Hiroki as his final act, when he stopped. All three men turned in surprise and stood silently, just watching, as what appeared to be a pimpled, green, metal avocado rolled across the ground and came to a stop amongst them.
"I-is that…?" Hiroki started.
"A grenade," Nowaki affirmed in a whisper.
"Oh, shit," Isaka swore.
And before any of them could react, there was a blinding flash of light, and to the sound of a cacophony of drums, a huge wave of searing heat rolled over them, killing all three instantly, leaving only a blackened mess of crisped, desiccated flesh and bone.
Several metres away, watching the action from the protective shelter of the trees, stood Risako and Kato.
"Babe," Kato said as he gazed with a mixture of admiration and disgust at the smouldering debris before them, "You sure can be one hard-arsed bitch sometimes, you know. Not to say that at this moment in time I'm not grateful for it, of course. But, wow, what an aim! You should've been on the national baseball team, babe!" he quipped.
Risako spared him only a momentary glance before striding forward and starting to pick her way through the charred, grizzled remains of her opponents, checking carefully to make sure each was truly dead and not simply maimed.
As she rounded on the flesh-torn body that used to be Kamijou Hiroki, she bent down suddenly and picked up the gun that had tumbled from his grip in the force of the blast. The metal was fairly hot, but she ignored the pain as she held it out in front of her and cocked it, aiming the gun at Kato.
Kato took an uncertain step forward. He stared at her in confusion.
"Risako, babe, what are you doing?"
"You know, I actually hate being called 'babe'," she said lightly.
Kato frowned.
"Ah, ok. Haha, no worries! No more 'babe', got it!" he laughed nervously, running a hand through his hair.
"That's not why I'm doing this," Risako continued sharply, her fierce eyes fixed on his face. "You killed my brother."
Kato suddenly turned serious. Risako wasn't bluffing – she was pointing a gun at his face and meant it.
"I didn't-" he started.
"Don't lie!" Risako snarled. "I know. I know! I told you to go after Usami, you hunted down my brother and Miyagi! Just as I knew you would. Did you honestly think I could bear to be with my brother's murderer?"
"But…but…" Kato stammered, suddenly terrified for his life. "Risako – they had to die! Otherwise if even just your brother lived, you would have had to die. You would have made the same decision, you would have killed him. I did you a favour."
"It didn't have to be you!" Risako shouted. "Whether I live or not, I never wanted my brother dead! And if he had to die, it should have been one of the others who did it, not you! Not you! You enjoyed it! You wanted it! You hunted them down and took pleasure in it! Well, I hope it was worth it, because I won't let you get away with it. I can't bear to look at you! You killed my brother, and you will pay with your life," she spat.
"No! No, it doesn't have to be like this, we can both go home now, Risako, you're safe, there's no more need for killing!"
Kato had started to back up, his stiff, frozen legs moving awkwardly. Risako moved towards him, maintaining the distance between them, the gun always aimed at his head.
"Please," he pleaded in a whisper.
Risako pulled the trigger. Kato's body thudded to the ground. His glassy eyes stared up into the burning sun as a trickle of blood streamed down his forehead.
Risako's arm fell back to her side and the gun tumbled from her hand. She turned in a full circle, surveying the damage and debris around her, then simply sat down in the middle of the carnage and waited.
Twenty minutes later, a helicopter arrived, and a familiar, overly made-up, hateful woman greeted her with an enormous smile, Takatsuki Risako, the winner, the sole survivor.
A.N. If you made it all this way to the end, yay! And congratulations! This is very long for a oneshot, I know, but it all came out and I decided to give it to you whole and not spread it out over several days/weeks in a multi-chapter fic. I enjoyed writing this fic a lot, I've not had inspiration like this for a while and have basically spent my whole weekend writing this (instead of studying, which I really should have done! :/)
I hope you enjoyed it and didn't find it too upsetting, or too rushed, or too unrealistic - I'm aware that the plot may be a little thin in places :)
Reviews/constructive criticism are enormously appreciated! I'd also be really interested to know if any of you guessed who would win, or if you were surprised ;)