"There are some defeats more triumphant than victories."

-Michel De Montaigne

"'Winner Shogo Kawada – Found Dead.' Sucks for that guy, huh?" came a light chuckle from behind a newspaper, the words spoken in an obnoxious Osakan accent.

"Shut up, Katsu. You're deader than I am."

"Aw. Is Shogo grumpy because the pretty girl's up and left him for another man? What did you say her name was again?"

"Noriko Nakagawa. And for the last time, she's Shuya's girl. She always was. It's so obvious."

"Right, right. Noriko and Shuya. They're faces have been all over the news too."

The recently deceased Shogo Kawada broke out into a knowing smirk. "Well, it's no wonder. They're such pretty faces."

"And the infamous sense of humor makes its equally infamous comeback. I sense a disturbance in that grey, overcooked stew you call a brain. We're not really out for a simple, little jog, are we?" Katsu Inoue, a tall, lanky teen with his long hair pulled back into a ponytail and a Walther P99 semiautomatic pistol tucked in the shoulder holster beneath his jean jacket, lowered the paper he'd been reading in order to gauge his companion's reaction. "You wouldn't have asked me along if you just wanted a breath of fresh air."

Shogo's smirk did not waver. He merely reached into his pocket and pulled out another of his Wild Sevens, holding it between his lips as he searched for a lighter. It was an interesting new quirk that Katsu found endlessly amusing. Ever since Shogo had recovered from his second game, he would smoke no brand other than Wild Sevens. If a store didn't have them in stock, they moved on to the next one. "Don't sell yourself short. You're great company, Katsu."

"Yeah, sure. Now how about answering my question?" Katsu grinned right back.

"What if I were to say that Noriko and Shuya aren't completely gone yet?"

"I wouldn't be surprised. It's damn hard to get out of this place," Katsu replied, an obvious gleam in his dark eyes. "So you managed to track them down and got worried because if you were able to find them, then…" He didn't finish. He didn't need to. "So why are we here here?" he asked instead.

"Because they're standing across the street," Shogo beamed. "In really bad disguises."

Katsu whirled around. Low and behold, there they were. He'd never actually met them, but their faces were all over the news, and he recognized them on the spot. He blanched. They were watching their own faces light up on television, and yet they hadn't done anything to try and hide themselves. They were no longer wearing the bloody school uniforms, sure, he could give them credit for that, but their faces looked exactly the same. Even their hairstyles. Even Shogo had gone and let his hair grow out, and he was supposed to be dead. Bad disguises? They didn't have any disguises at all. "These are the so-called brilliant kids you saved?"

"I only helped them out; I didn't save them," Shogo grunted as he finally found his elusive lighter and lit up the end of the cigarette. "You know as well as I do what that damned program does to people. It brings out the worst in everyone. But, like I told you, with them it was different. It brought out their best. They really trusted me to the very end, even when I pointed a gun in their faces. And they trusted each other even more."

"Yeah, yeah. I've heard it all before. But I've gotta say, you were right about one thing. They do make a cute couple." Despite the cheesy grin lining his lips, Katsu was still stuck on Shogo's absentminded words. You know as well as I do what that damned program does to people.

Actually, Katsu Inoue had been spared the deadly game in his third year of middle school. His younger sister, on the other hand, had not been so lucky. Miki had been spirited off to some god forsaken mountain in the middle of nowhere the same year that Shogo had first been chosen. With his parents at gun point, they hadn't protested. Neither had he; it had all still been too surreal back then. The game went on without a hitch. She won, just like Shogo did a few months later. But unlike Shogo, she had come back empty. She would never talk, and sometimes, for hours on end, she would simply zone out, oblivious to the world around her. He heard her nightmares every night. And then, two months after she'd returned, she pulled a gun on their parents. What the government hadn't done before, she did for them. He had been next, but he had managed to throw off her aim so that the bullet ran through his arm instead and pinned her down. When she realized she couldn't kill him, she pulled out a knife and slit her own throat. She died laughing, laughing because she had finally been able to lose.

She'd only been a year younger than him.

The authorities had decided that no one would care about a wounded runaway whose entire family had been massacred. They'd reported his death along with the rest of his family's as a headline tragedy. To say the least, his uncle had been very surprised when he'd shown up on his doorstep the next day.

Oh, yeah. He knew.

But now was not the time to dwell on past grievances. He and Shogo had already shared their sob stories; there was no reason to do it again. Katsu knew all about Keiko, and Shogo knew all about Miki. Both were gone and would never come back. Shuya and Noriko though, were still alive. "So. What's the plan, Oh Great and Powerful Matchmaker?"

Shogo became instantly serious. "We watch their backs. If nothing happens, I'll be happy, but I doubt it. There's too much hype about their escape for things to go smoothly."

"So you're not going to say hello?" Katsu prodded teasingly. It was a serious question, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to ask it directly.

Shogo Kawada inhaled deeply, letting out a long, drawn out breath as he lifted the Wild Seven from his lips. "They think I'm dead."

"They'll be happy that you're not."

"They'll want me to go to America with them."

"And you won't?"

Shogo was quiet. Then suddenly, he just started laughing. It was only a snicker at first, but it quickly escalated into a full blown laughing fit. He dropped the cigarette, stomping on it to put it out. When he asked his question, he was still chuckling. "Do you remember that first CD we illegally imported? The one that wasn't dubbed?"

Katsu didn't know where Shogo was going with this, but he kept Shuya and Noriko in his peripheral vision and nodded his head. "'Born to Run' by Springsteen. How could I forget? It took forever to find a translation. They don't exactly look highly upon English in this place." He often referred to the Republic of Greater East Asia as "this place." It had started because he would have preferred to refrain from using stronger words when his sister was around, but he wasn't sure if he could get over the habit at this point.

"Yeah, well the translation left something out."

Katsu frowned, going through the song in his head. Realization dawned on him, and his eyes widened. "Oh, right! He said something before the song actually began. They didn't have it in the translation or the dubbed version, but I remember he said something before he started singing."

Shogo grinned again. He looked better when he was grinning, more like the kid he really was. "Yeah, that was it. Well, I looked it up later that night because I was annoyed I couldn't find it anywhere else, even after you taught me how to access the real internet."

The high school drop-out nodded again. Their first conversation had actually been held over the internet, when Shogo was still in the hospital recovering. It was several months before they trusted one another enough to meet in person. Katsu still couldn't believe how lucky that decision had been. Shogo was the one who taught him how to use a gun, how to protect himself, and how to always stay one step ahead of the authorities; he was the one who taught Shogo how to access the uncensored internet servers used outside of the Republic and how to hack into the government archives and check the status of the Program before it got out to the media. In fact, it was Katsu's uncle who was the doctor that had been hiding Noriko and Shuya until now. Katsu didn't know where either of them would be if it weren't for the other. Probably dead.

Oh, wait. They were dead, weren't they?

"So?" he asked, pushing aside that train of thought. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"During the game," Shogo began with just a slight hesitation, "Shuya would go through his guitar chords for hours, and we talked about different songs we liked to pass the time. He couldn't seem to get that song out of his head; he sang it over and over and over again, even tried to come up with his own solo, though he gave up and said nothing he could do would be as good as the original. Anyway, that reminded me of what Springsteen said. He said, 'Remember in the end, nobody wins unless everybody wins.'"

Finally, Katsu understood. After everything Shogo had been through, he had always come out the winner. He was the winner of two of the Program's skirmishes; he had survived this long in a place like this with his so-called 'dangerous thoughts.' And yet, every time he came out on top, someone below had to suffer. Twice now he had lived at the cost of nearly forty others' deaths.

"You know, I told Noriko that she and Shuya were the first true friends I ever had."

"Hey," Katsu pouted. "What about me?"

"Shut up and let me finish." Katsu grinned sheepishly, motioning his hand for Shogo to continue. The other boy turned away, staring through newly grown bangs off in the vague direction in which Shuya and Noriko were standing. "I told her they were the first true friends I ever had, and I was telling the truth. I've always thought of you as just a means to an end. You had what I needed; I had what you needed. It was like a business deal. But," he paused, eyes narrowing, "I want to know that I can make friends even when I'm not in the middle of a life or death battle. So, Katsu, wanna be friends?"

"Sure, why not?" he replied easily, smirking wickedly at Shogo's surprised reaction. "On one condition."

The surprise disappeared instantly, replaced with an emotionless mask. Katsu could understand. Shogo had just said he wanted their interaction to be more than just business, and here he was adding conditions. "Like what?"

"You have to follow them to America."

"We just had this conversation."

"I don't remember it," Katsu instantly countered, lieing through his teeth.

"They think I'm dead." His voice was considerably more strained than the last time he had said it.

"Well, you're not."

Shogo pulled out another cigarette, but this time he didn't light it. He bit down hard on the flimsy material, nearly chomping it in two. "If they find out I'm alive, everything we said on that boat will lose its meaning."

"What could you have possibly said?" Katsu snorted. "Did you confess your undying love for Noriko or something?"

Silence. The tense, angry kind.

"Look," he hastily amended, "I know that's not it, okay? Shuya's girl; I remember. But try thinking about it this way: Would they rather toast to their poor, dead savior on their wedding day, or would they rather toast to their closest, living friend? I know all about your death wish, getting back at those bastards for Keiko. I wasn't going to argue with it; I wasn't even going to mention it. In fact, if you had asked me along, I would've said yes without hesitation. But that was then. It's different now. Those two brats obviously still need you."

"They don't need me."

"Are you kidding?" Katsu finally burst. "You say they don't need you, and then you stalk them because you're worried something might happen to them? How does that make any sense? You're like their damn guardian angel, for goodness sake! They'd be dead if it weren't for you!"

"A guardian angel with a semiautomatic hidden in his jacket?"

"There's no other kind."

Shogo ground his teeth, flattening the cigarette even further. "They don't need me to start a new life away from this screwed up government. I got them out of that game alive. I'm done. They don't need me. Not anymore."

"But they still miss you."

Shogo met him eye to eye, his expression somewhere between utter disbelief and even slight amusement. Okay, so Katsu was willing to admit it sounded stupid, but it was true. And no matter how ridiculous he may have sounded, he wasn't going to take it back or cover it up with a joke.

When Katsu's uncle had called him and told him that "the gamer" was in trouble, Katsu had known he could only be talking about one person. He'd instantly gone online and searched through the Program's servers. One of the ships taking the latest winner home had gone off course and had lost contact about thirty minutes prior. He hadn't even bothered shutting off the computer.

He had found Shogo half submerged on the beach, and when he saw him, he had been sure he was already dead. Even Shogo had later told him he had thought there was no way he'd survive. But, Katsu supposed, floating to shore on another dead body wasn't exactly the best (or the most common) way to keep yourself from drowning. According to Shogo, he must have stopped breathing at some point because there was no way Shuya would throw him overboard if he had known Shogo was alive. But Shogo had made him promise to dump his corpse into the water. He wasn't going to let those bastard politicians show off his body to hype up the Republic's pathetic excuse for a media. Enough of his blood was on the deck to make them sure he was dead.

But the point was that Shogo wasn't dead. He was alive. And Katsu rather preferred it that way.

He was sure Shuya and Noriko would too.

Finally, Shogo's expression settled, and his eyes wandered back to the two runaways. "Really?" he snorted. "You're an idiot."

"Takes one to know one," Katsu grinned back.

"Fine. I'll accept your condition, but only on a condition of my own."

"Yes, Your Royal Stubbornness?"

"One last stand. I want one last stand."

Katsu's grin widened as he followed Shogo's line of sight and saw the officer putting away a cell phone, slowly advancing toward Shuya and Noriko. They hadn't noticed yet, but they would soon enough. He reached for his handgun. "One last stand, eh? Sounds reasonable. I accept."

Shogo's hand began to creep toward his own handgun as well, a police-issue M9. "This may be a lot to ask, but since apparently I'm off to America after this, this may be my last chance."

"Fire away."

Shuya noticed the officer. He was talking to Noriko, trying to get her to hurry up. Shogo and Katsu began walking through the crowd, aiming to intersect the two closing forces.

"We never did get much time to just hang out, did we?"

"Nope," Katsu nodded, pulling the semiautomatic out of its shoulder holster.

"So I was thinking," Shogo continued, yanking the M9 out from behind his back. "Wanna come with?"

The officer sped up. Shuya finally got Noriko to drop what she was doing.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world."

Shogo rammed into a large woman brimming with groceries, and she toppled in front of the officer who proceeded to knock them both down to the ground. Shuya and Noriko ran for it, exchanging a few harmless shots as the officer rose once again. Shogo and Katsu ignored the staggering officer, focusing instead on his backup. If Shogo thought they could handle it, then Katsu wasn't about to waste his ammunition.

Six more officers arrived just as the panic began to rise up. Everyone was too busy running away from the earlier gunshots to notice Shogo's and Katsu's own guns, including the officers. Shogo fired the first round. Katsu immediately followed. Two of the officers went down before the rest finally caught on to the two kids firing at them. Shogo managed to hit a third in the shoulder before they ran for cover behind a nearby brick wall.

"This must be so nostalgic for you," Katsu teased though he was scowling. The two of them had begun taking turns hiding and shooting, keeping the enemy at bay for as long as possible. Most of the bystanders had gotten out of the way, though one or two injured bodies were on the ground. Katsu didn't know whether they had hit them or whether the officers had.

"Like a damn tea party," was Shogo's equally sarcastic reply as they both reloaded with ammunition they had stock-piled in their pockets.

Katsu peeked over the wall yet again, shooting two more bullets and downing another officer before ducking back under to avoid return fire. "Two left. They're getting closer. And I'm pretty sure there'll be more of them in no time." He waited for a reply, but none came. He turned to see Shogo was staring down at his gun, looking dazed. Katsu wasn't exactly pleased by this. "Hey, earth to Shogo! We're being shot at!"

"Nobody wins unless everybody wins."

"Shogo…"

"Katsu, we're not going to die here."

"We're already dead."

"Guardian angels with semiautomatics?"

"Exactly."

Shogo smirked, a wry, twisted smirk that Katsu quickly imitated. They readied themselves for what they both knew was on the other's mind. No more hiding; no more submitting. They were busting out.

"Let's show these bastards what it's like to lose."

Katsu nodded. "One last stand, coming right up."

And they charged.

See you on the other side.