The Last Page, Ch2

"Miku, watch out!"

Miku dodged to her left, avoiding a burst of bullets, as Meiko, who had just shouted, fired her pistols at the enemy shooter. Miku heard a cry of pain, and a body slumping to the ground.

"Shit, this is worse than I thought," Meiko muttered, as she ducked behind the low wall that was shielding Miku.

"You got any ideas?" Miku asked the other woman, as another burst of fire went over their heads.

"Wait until they reload, and pray they don't have any grenades."

"Grenades..." Miku muttered, an idea forming. "Meiko, I need a distraction."

Meiko sighed, "Sure thing."

Miku crouched and took out a grenade, as Meiko moved a little way away, then stood and fired a few times with her pistols. Meiko ducked as the men they were fighting shot back.

Miku took her chance and stood, pulling the pin from the grenade and hurling it straight at the men. She then raised her rifle as fast as she could, and fired.

The men, still distracted by Meiko's performance, did not see the grenade until it was too late. One of Miku's shots glanced the grenade, making it explode before the men could dodge.

Miku had ducked behind the wall, as clods of earth flew over the wall from the explosion. She and Meiko looked at each other, then in unison, they stood and pointed their guns over the wall. The remains of the men lay there, rather unsightly.

The two girls stepped over the wall, and continued onwards. They neared a large building, similar to their base. Miku took a radio from her belt, and spoke into it, "Control room, this is Miku, do you read me? Over."

"This is the control room, we read you clearly Miku. Please give your current location. Over," Neru's voice came out of the radio.

"Meiko and I are at point B, ready for stage 2. Over."

"Confirmed, hold for a minute." Neru's voice stopped for a minute, then she came back on, "Stage two commencing..."

A loud explosion came from nearby, and Miku smiled, knowing that Luka had made her shot again, "Confirmed, going now. Over and out."

Miku put the radio back on her belt, then started running after Meiko, who was already jogging towards the centre of the explosion: the main entrance. When they got in sight of it, they stopped, and hid behind a wrecked car, watching the door.

A man and woman, both armed, stepped out of the hole that was their main door, and looked around. They kept their guns up and ready, and the woman spotted Miku's bright hair, and trained her gun on Miku.

That was when the second shot hit.

Miku had never actually seen the results of Luka's shooting up close and personal. Suffice it to say that there was not much left of either of the pair who had been about to attack Miku after a 9 inch high-explosive shell hit them.

Miku and Meiko dashed round the car and into the building. They ran down a corridor, seeing a trio of men ahead. Bullets flew, and Miku and Meiko dashed past the mens' bodies. They neared the storage room that Miku remembered, and slowed, seeing a group of four guards standing ready by the door.

The pair hid themselves, and watched the men from their vantage point, in the shadow of some crates which must have been left there in the rush to defend the building. Miku slipped a grenade from her belt, but Meiko raised a hand to stop her. If Miku missed, she would destroy the food.

They kept watching for a few minutes longer, until one of the men put a radio to his ear. Somebody else had evidently got their hands on a working radio set after the EMP. He spoke into it, but neither of the crouched girls could tell what he was saying.

The man with the radio put it back on his belt, and nodded to one of the others. The two of them started walking towards the crates, presumably intending to go to the front entrance. Miku and Meiko both knew they would likely be spotted if they did nothing, so they raised their guns, ready to attack.

A hail of bullets flew past them, over the crates and into the men who had been advancing. The other two men quickly raised their guns as their comrades collapsed. They shot, apparently blindly, at whoever had shot at the now dead men. Miku and Meiko took their chance and shot over the top of the crates, taking the two men down. They then spun around to face whoever it was behind them.

"Hatsune, don't shoot!" a voice came out of the darkness, and a figure stepped forward.

Miku blinked, "You're..."

The black-haired figure smiled, "Don't worry, it's me, Mist Valley, you remember?"

Miku did remember, he was one of her boyfriend's best friends. "What the hell are you doing here Misty?"

Mist, or Misty whichever is preferred, smirked, "I think we have rather bigger concerns at the moment. I assume you came for the food."

Miku was about to retort, but Meiko cut in, "Yeah, we are, so will you help?"

Misty nodded, "So long as I get enough for me and a few others, sure thing."

Miku raised an eyebrow, "Others? What others?"

Misty looked down at her, a little pity in his eyes, "No, he isn't included."

Miku's face fell, "I didn't think it'd be that simple."

Misty sighed, "Well, we'd better get moving."

Meiko was already at the storage room door, and opened it. "Here we go..." the three of them stepped inside. Around them on the floor was a large collection of cans, all clearly containing some sort of food. Meiko pulled out a sack, and she and Miku started shovelling food into it. Misty took his own backpack off his shoulder, and did likewise.

Once they had filled the bags, they left carefully. There was still a fairly large supply left, but backup was coming soon. As they left, Miku saw Kaito coming towards them, his sister Kaiko following him.

"So, you ran into Mist Valley did you?" Kaito asked.

"Yeah, he gave us some help," Miku said.

Kaito stared at Mist, but then shrugged and continued past him. Kaiko followed him, clutching the backpack she was wearing.

Miku looked to Meiko, "Well, back to base I guess."

Meiko nodded, then looked at Mist, "What are you gonna do then, Valley?"

Mist glanced at Miku, "Hatsune... I may be able to tell you something about his whereabouts... well, not me personally, but a mutual friend said he saw him."

Miku eyes brightened, "He's alive?"

Mist nodded, "Well, he was two weeks ago."

Miku's jaw dropped, "Where was he seen?"

"As I said, I wasn't the one who saw him, it was a friend."

"Then take me to this friend!" Miku near-shouted with impatience.

Mist sighed, "Well... I'll warn you, he's an odd one. But sure, I'll take you."

Meiko looked not too happy about this, but took the food bag and put it over her shoulder, "I'll take this back, call us on the radio if there's a problem Miku."

Miku nodded, and Meiko dashed off. Mist then started walking off, and Miku turned to follow him.

"So who is this friend? Do I know him?" Miku asked as they walked.

"Ever met Lumi Yonnana?" Mist asked.

Miku recognised the name, she had met him once at a party her boyfriend had taken her to. "Him? I see what you meant by an odd one."

Mist laughed. It was not exactly a cheerful laugh, Miku had not heard many happy laughs in the past month, but at least this one came close to it. "Indeed, he does give off that aura."

The pair continued on, until they neared a building, which stood out in the area, being relatively in-tact. 'Relatively' being the operative word: it had taken some bad damage, and had holes in some of the walls, but was at least still standing.

"So... is this it?" Miku asked as Mist approached the building.

"Yeah, it isn't much, but it's a roof over our heads... until it collapses at least."

Miku felt a little uncomfortable entering after that, but stepped through the door, if you could call it that when it was really just a piece of corragated iron over a hole in the wall, after Mist.

"You brought a visitor Misty?" a voice asked.

"Yeah, the Hatsune girl," Mist replied to the figure who was sat on the ground, back to the wall, "Where're the others?"

"They went out to get food." The boy then turned his gaze on Miku, through the dark lenses of his sunglasses, "Hatsune-san eh? It's been a while young lady."

Miku was slightly put off by a boy, barely a year older than her, calling her 'young,' but spoke calmly in spite of it, "Mist mentioned that you saw Satoru."

The boy, Lumi, raised an eyebrow, barely noticable in the darkness, "Ah, I thought you'd be here about that..." he stood up, and walked towards Miku.

Miku took a moment to take in the sight of him, red shirt, black trousers, and a black tie, odd clothes to wear at the end of the world. He was smartly dressed, and tidy too, while the world around him went to hell. Miku began to feel a little self-conscious, in her purple tank-top and checked purple and black skirt, which were covered with dirt. This man could have just stepped out of an office in Tokyo after a normal day's work. Even his short brown hair was tidy, scarily so, combed to perfection, and even through the sunglasses, Miku could feel his unflinching gaze.

To say the least, she was more than a little scared of the man.

"Red?" she said without thinking .

"Pardon me madam?" he replied.

"Why red? Are you trying to stand out like a sore thumb?" Miku asked, coming up with the first thing she could think of.

"Says the lady with bright green hair."

"At least you have a choice."

"You could cut your hair as well as I could take off my shirt."

Miku bit her lip, trying to think of something to say to avoid looking the fool. "But then what would Satoru-kun say?"

Lumi smiled, "You have a point there, but what would he say to me walking around shirtless?"

Mist butted into their conversation, "He would probably just tell you to put something on, and to keep that sort of thing for when the world was back in no more than five pieces."

Lumi chuckled, "True, true..."

Miku looked between the two, wondering why on Earth Satoru was friends with these two.

"Satoru's hardly the most normal person ever either," Mist replied, as if in answer to her thoughts.

"How did you...?" Miku asked.

"It was written all over your face, you're not exactly the hardest person to read," Lumi replied for his friend.

Miku coloured, "Thanks."

Lumi laughed again, though Mist stayed silent. "Well Hatsune, I see why Wolfie was all over you in the way he was."

"Wolfie?" Miku asked.

"Ah... perhaps he never mentioned that nickname to you. Never mind... so you want to know what I saw, correct?"

Miku nodded, and Lumi continued, "It was... two weeks or so ago, I forget the exact date, I and the rest of us were on the move through the South of Tokyo, when we ran into some... trouble."

"As in about eight counts of trouble, all armed. Seriously, the military really should have protected their weapons better," Mist chipped in.

"Anyway," Lumi continued, "the four of us there got split up, with me by myself. I ended up hiding from three of them who were coming closer. I had managed to hide myself in a ruined building, and was waiting for an opportunity to attack. Then all I heard was a string of shots, followed by three loud thumps."

"When I looked round, I saw my three pursuers on the ground dead. Then I saw Satoru. He was standing on the second floor of a building, holding two pistols, which he was lowering. When he saw me, he smiled, then disappeared. I tried to follow him, but when I got to where he had been, I saw he had already made it a few hundred yards away. He can be damn fast when he wants to be."

"He ran away?" Miku asked. "Why would he do that?"

"I think I understand," Mist said, "If he were with us, he would have to stay with us the whole time, when he has other things to do."

"Other things?" Miku asked.

"Use your head Hatsune, he was out of town when the earthquakes started, he had no idea where anybody was. Who do you think he'd be most worried about?" Misty said.

"Uh... his family?" Miku asked, "But I went to his house myself, and it was completely destroyed."

Misty nodded, "We checked there too after Lumi saw him, I saw what happened there. But, I don't think he was most worried about them. But even if he were, who do you think he'd be worried about next?"

Miku opened her eyes wide, "M-me?"

Lumi continued for Mist, "Yeah, and, not to be cruel, but do you think we would, out of charity, have looked for a girl we knew could well be dead? Satoru guessed we wouldn't."

"So... he stayed away from you to find me?" Miku asked.

"Probably. I suspect that he accidentally ran into us when we were in trouble, and helped out, but his main aim meant he couldn't stay with us," Lumi said.

"Bastard as he usually is, he cares enough about you to put your safety above everything," Mist commented.

Miku thought for a moment, then her eyes flew open, "But... if he was looking for me... he would have..." She turned and started to run, shouting over her shoulder, "Thanks for the information."

Lumi smiled at her retreating form, "Wow... for once Satoru's being nice to somebody with no personal gain."

"Yeah... well he cares a lot about her..." Mist turned away and skulked over to a corner.

"You worked that all out pretty fast Mist... I suppose you'd know how it felt though."

Mist nodded, and sighed, "But unlike that damned Wolf, I know when I should stick with my friends. If he'd stayed, they would have been reunited by now."

"But if you hadn't stayed, you might have been reunited by now," Lumi stated.

Mist glared at his friend, but said no more.


Miku kept running, down streets that she knew well, in spite of their current state. She should have realised sooner, that if he were alive, he would try to look in two places sooner or later. She doubted that he would be hanging around one of them by now, but the other...

She reached her destination, panting slightly. She stood and looked up at the house that stood before her: her house.


Bis Bald

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