«NOOOOOO! SHUN!»
Shun Takahata and Amaya Takeru.
Survivors of the first cube.
Children of God.
Guilty of trying to kill God.
Judged by God.
Sentenced to death by God.
Killed by God.
Foolish.
«SHUN ! SHUN !»
Akimoto was screaming; crying; fighting against those who tried to hold her back; just like a caged animal. Her tears ran down a round and pale face. She was wearing her sport clothing; a tight white t-shirt and black shorts. Her short dyed pink hair brushed against her forehead as she shook her head violently.
«-LET ME GO! LET ME GO! SHUN!
-She's having a hysteria attack; hold her back! »Junko yelled out.
The young black haired woman was having trouble keeping Akimoto from running away. Her thick black leather rangers were digging into the ground as she was being pulled forwards. Her black t-shirt stopped just above her navel and her baggy military styled trousers dove into her shoes.
Akimoto spun around and with a swift move violently hit Junko's arm with her elbow, breaking free from her grip. In this one moment, she wasn't thinking about survival anymore. She needed him. Shun. She needed him even if it meant dying, even if it meant jumping out of the cube, even if it-
Yukio pulled her out of her thoughts by grabbing her shirt and yanking her backwards. Akimoto fell back on the ground and was held down by the athletic young man. She fought with all her strength but to no avail as Kris rushed over to help Yukio. The two young men had black hair tied for the first one and blond messy hair for the second. Yukio wore white sport trousers and a warm blue sweater. As for Kris, a young rising star singer, his sponsor had given him top quality sport clothing, white sneakers and black shorts.
Just like Akimoto, they had known Shun and Amaya way before the Undokai had started. They had even become good friends. The shock caused by their death had been just as brutal for them and was still fresh I their memories, but for the moment their priority was to keep Akimoto from throwing herself out of the cube.
«Don't make things harder than they already are and stop fucking fighting.» Yukio ordered in a neutral tone.
Kris gently rubbed her back with compassion.
«Shhh… There, calm down…»
The two last members of the team who had remained a little on the side walked up to them with hesitant steps. Ookuma, rotund, large shouldered, black messy hair and wearing a grey shirt and black shorts was shaking from head to toe. As for Kabu, straight and short dark red hair, wearing a dark green sweatshirt and tawny colored pants, his expression was hard to identify; halfway between surprise and disgust.
«Shun… Shun…»
Akimoto was holding her face between her hands and sobbing silently. Kris slowly helped her up and put an arm around her shoulders to keep her up.
«Akimoto I… I-I'm so sorry…» a soft and timid voice murmured.
Kyouko slowly walked up to her head down and hands joined over her chest. Ah, Kyouko. The younger sister of Shouko, the girl Shun had fallen in love with and who had died during the 'Un' game… She was in fourth year and thus not in the same team as the others were. He face was the exact same as that of her sister's; almond-shaped and framed by silk-like hair. Akimoto was about to answer when she was interrupted by the slow approach of Kamimaro floating on his giant dice. The foul divinity sat hunched forwards and entirely naked. His hair and nails were long and filthy, his body skelandal and his gaze showed a mischievous and cruel glow. He slowly leaned over to look down at the first and fourth years, his face partly hidden behind a greasy curtain of hair.
«Well… Well… Well. What am I going to do with you?»
Kamimaro observed all the participants gather on the Zetsubo-Taoshi field. Most of the fourth years were in a really bad state… Kabu took a few steps back to stand behind Ookuma. If God got angered, there was no way he was gonna be on the front line. Kamimaro pensively triturated his beard.
«…Where you aware… Shun Takahata and Amaya Takeru were going to cheat? Or were you not involved ?»
Akimoto stayed still for an instant. Shun had insisted on not saying a word about his plan. Had he planned the eventuality where he wouldn't have been able to kill Kamimaro? If it was the case, he had probably saved their lives…
«-Shun and Amaya didn't say anything, Junko intervened.
-Uh- Yeah! They were the only ones wanting to cheat! We're out of this!, Kabu cried out with ardor.
-In that case- Mmmh ~! Killing you too would be unfair- Oh yes ~!» yelped out a high-pitched voice.
Ikuko, Kamimaro favorite live-sized figurine had just irrupted from the floating cube. Straight out from a hentai manga, she was in consequence dressed in revealing clothing and talked almost entirely by moaning out words.
«Eh, you're right…, the God approved, …Mmh… And we don't have enough bombs left for them to start another match… Mmh… Yes… That should do it!»
Kamimaro brought his attention back to his terrified audience.
«As the cheaters from the first year have been punished and since there are not enough bombs left for another you to fight again, the fourth and first years will compete together in an unplanned game. It will take place after the last Zetsubo-Taoshi match which will oppose the fifth and sixth years.»
As Kamimaro gave the last explanations the Committee -composed by an unknown number of «Nut-Cracker Robots» all about two meters in height- had installed two new masts each bearing a bomb. Both teams took place on the field while thinking of the best strategy to adopt.
«-Whoa… That was… Close…, Kabu sighed, Good thing Shun didn't put us aware of his plan…
-He saved all of us!» Akimoto sobbed loudly.
Kris helped her up, carefully walked her to the benches and sat her down before they were joined by the rest of the group. The Zetsubo-Taoshi match started at the same moment and, surprisingly, none of the fifth years took a step forwards or even moved. They had formed a triangle around their mast and waited for their opponents to attack.
«-Hey, that looks like-!, Kris began.
-They're copying our defense technique, Yukio interrupted as he watched the sixth years charge and break the triangle's point, But looks like we're the only ones getting it right…»
Ookuma timidly approached Akimoto's crying figure and gently pressed a hand on her shoulder.
«-Are you gonna be okay, Akimoto?, he asked with the most sincere tone.
- … I… Wanna die.»
All first years suddenly turned towards her, mostly baffled by what they had just heard.
«Y-Yeah… You heard right!… I'm gonna let them kill me! Without Shun I don't even know how I'm supposed to carry on! I'm fucking sick of all these games! Don't even try to stop m-Ah !»
Akimoto was interrupted when Yukio smacked her- still not hard enough to really hurt.
«Shut the fuck up already. We haven't come all this way to get killed just now.»
Akimoto didn't respond and silently placed a hand over her cheek.
«He's right you know. We survived the Daruma, the Maneki-Neko, the Kokeshis, the rope pulling, à the Un, the courage race and the Zetsubo-Taoshi games thanks to Shun and Amaya. Giving up on life now would mean all they did up until this moment for us was useless. It would mean letting Kamimaro win. Is that… Really what you want?» Kris asked softly.
Junko, Ookuma, Kabu and Kyouko decided to stay a little to the side.
«…Shun is… He's-
-He's dead, I know. We all saw what happened and we all know Kamimaro is the one to blame for it.
-…
-…You wanna avenge him, right?
-...
-Akimoto?
-…I… I wish I coull… But that's just impossible!
-Alive, Akimoto! You are alive! As long as you're alive everything is possible, 'kay?, Kris exclaimed himself with conviction, So you can't die until we've killed that bastard Kamimaro, okay?
-…I… I-
-We'll avenge Shun and Amaya's deaths, you'll see.
-I'm gonna help you!, Kyouko said as she approached them, I know we're not in the same year as you all… But even if I haven't known Shun for very long, I saw how much of a good person he was and I think he deserves justice, just like Shouko and all the others…
-See? We're all on your side so there's no way we're gonna let you die before we're done with Kamimaro!
- I… Ah… But-»
A powerful explosion caused the fourth and first years to scream out in surprise.
«Mmmh ~ ! Congratulations- Ah~! To the sixth years! You win! W-I-N! Oh yes ~!» Ikuko cried out.
In the midst of the carnage, hardly ten participants had survived, covered in blood and shaking in fear. They were evacuated by the Committee who began cleaning up the field from human remains with astonishing speed.
«Alright; fourth and first years please get on the game field; all behind the line- Oooh ~!»
The Committee quickly disposed a new rectangular field of around thirty meters in length and fifteen in width cut in half by a white line in the middle. An electronic clock had been set up on top of a wooden post facing the participants from the opposite side of the field. Yukio silently walked up to Akimoto as she was hesitating whether or not to step into the terrain.
«I'm on ex-Fatso's side for this one. If you die I'll fucking end you. »
He pushed her inside the field as he finished his sentence.
«-Good… Next game shall be…''Dodge Ball-ing'', Kamimaro coldly announced.
-Rules are simple ~! You have to survive for 3 minutes! Stepping out of the field is strictly forbidden- Ah ~! It's every man for himself- Kyaaah ~!
-''Dodge Ball-ing''… ''Dodge… Bowling'' ? W-Wait, is this game really what I think it is?!, Ookuma worriedly asked.
-We'll see when it starts…» Kabu sighed.
A team of ten Nut-Crackers positioned itself on the other half of the field, each of the wooden robots carrying a heavy cloth bag. A Referee-Nut-Cracker sat at the edge of the terrain. It slowly lifted its wooden arm and the gun it was holding. Ikuko was excitedly hopping up and down.
«Ready… Set… Go!»
As the shot was fired each Nut-Cracker pulled a bowling out of its bag. Several participants stepped back half-surprised half-worried.
«Wait, they're not really gonna-?!» started a girl standing at the front.
She couldn't finish her sentence as a ball thrown at full-speed brutally collided with face. Her bent back and broke so hard her head was thrown back against the top of her back. Her body fell to the ground, inert. The ball continued its way and smashed into another fourth year's abdomen. His guts spilled onto the ground with a squishy sound, to the horror of those watching.
And then panic took over.
Everyone was running in every direction possible. Several players were pushed outside of the field and immediately devoured by Committee members as its size couldn't allow such a large number of people to walk freely. Hustled from every side, Akimoto did her best to keep standing. She noticed Kabu a little further away, hiding behind other players and Junko who was standing in retreat. Kris and Yukio had fallen back to the opposite edge of the field just like Ookuma. She was standing alone at the front line where fear was the strongest, the most overpowering… The most exciting… Oh…
«Akimoto! Move!»
A high-pitched voice pulled Akimoto from her trance. For a split second she saw a black, round mass coming her way at an astonishing speed and the next second she was on the ground. The ball missed her by a handful of centimeters and crashed somewhere behind her.
«-K-Kyouko ? Did you just push me?
-'You can't die before we kill Kamimaro', remember?» she responded with a soft smile.
Akimoto shook her head, smiling back slightly in response. The two of them quickly stood up and ran to the side of the field where they wouldn't be such an easy target. At the same time Kabu was moving right and left on the field sometimes standing, sometimes on all fours and sometimes even lying down in blood and human remains. The number of participants had severely decreased which surely eased displacements but at the same time alarmingly reduced the number of hiding spots. He had to find a solution fast or he would probably get beheaded as well.
The said solution eventually came in the form of Ookuma who was having a hard time trying to dodge the lethal blows.
«-K-Kabu help me! I can't stand this anymore!
-Come with me; the Nut-Crackers can't throw to the left!»
Ookuma followed him headlong and crossed the field as fast as he could, surprised by this all new information.
«-You- You're sure about that?!, he worriedly asked.
- Just trust me!»
Kabu took a few steps to watch the Nut-Crackers. Of course they could easily shoot to both sides, but it was the only way he had to convince Ookuma to follow him. He had to watch his back, for sure.
«-I-I think they can shoot this way too!
-I told you they can't-!»
A bowling ball which had already broken off two heads was coming full-speed in their direction. In one quick and swift move Kabu grabbed Ookuma by his shirt.
«H-Hey! What are y- AAHH!»
The projectile violently hit him in the stomach. Ookuma fell to his knees with, wrapped both arms around his stomach and spat out a large quantity of blood. An agonizing pain took over his body, spreading from the impact point. However, in a way, he was lucky. Because of its two earlier collisions the ball had lost in speed, making the blow painful but not violent enough to kill him.
«Ookuma?! You okay?! I'm sorry, I didn't want to hurt you it was a reflex- Hey!»
Someone pushed to the side and grabbed Ookuma's arm to pull him to safety. It was a feminine figure with long black hair Kabu didn't get the time to recognize as another projectile crashed just next to him. He stood up as fast as possible and fled to the opposite side.
Behind him, Kris and Yukio had fallen back to the edge of the field.
«-One more step back and we're gonna get eaten, Yukio calmly stated.
-I know, Kris breathed out while looking at the clock with a worried look, and there's still one minutes and a half left…»
Yukio looked away for a brief instant in order to look for the others. Junko stood a few meters ahead near Ookuma who was having difficulties standing up. Kabu was hiding behind a pile of bodies in the midst of the field. As for Kyouko and Akimoto they were standing on the right side where-
«YUKIO! IN FRONT OF YOU!»
Yukio didn't get enough time to react when he saw a black mass flash towards him. Kris was the one to push him to the side at the last moment. Shit! He had lowered his guard at the worst moment possible! Yukio fell on the side and got up just in time to see blood spurt on the ground and his white shoes.
«No… Fuck…»