We are free
Chapter 2: Pressure
As the girls in the study were quickly running around and getting dressed, me and a few other girls were slowly getting dressed in green zip up suits. As the other girls left, Harribel led me and the other girls out after them. Everyone followed the man who woke us up down the hallway until we reached an area that looked like the cafeteria.
The man turned around and stood tall and proud. "For those of you who don't know my name, I am General Salty." Some girls giggled. General Salty twitched his eye toward them. "Giggling like that will not be tolerated in this physicality is that understood?"
"Yes sir," one of the girls said.
"Whatever," said the other. General Salty squinted his eyes. The other students scattered and went to separate walls from each other. They had a straight line on the walls and kept their heads down. Harribel hurried us to our positions and made us do the same things. Before I put my head down, I saw the general tilting down to the girls and whispering to the one that said 'whatever'.
"What's going on?" I asked Harribel. She signaled me to be quiet. I looked over to my left and asked her the same thing.
"I don't know," she answered, "I just got here. I don't know what's going on at all." I put my head back down and tried to listen in on the whispering. But minutes later, I heard a gunshot. My head shot up and just then I saw the disrespected girl on the ground bleeding from a headshot wound. The gun was in the general's hand. The girl's friend screamed and so did another girl. Harribel took the back of my head and pushed it back down so I was looking at the floor.
"Thank you for your respect," the general said to the other girl who giggled at him. Then, General Salty walked over to me. I saw his shadow right over my head. I wanted to look up, but I was too scared and shocked to.
"You didn't see a thing did you?" I shook my head, knowing he was talking to me.
"What's your name, girl?"
"O-Orihime Inoue…sir."
I could tell there was a smile on his face as I said those words. "I'm proud of your early sign of respect. I look forward to see your progress, Orihime."
"Yes sir," I stuttered. The general walked toward the cafeteria again.
"Now does anyone else want to say something? Does anyone else want to question me on my actions?" no one said anything. "I didn't think so. Now eat."
The girls walked as fast as they could past the general and got in breakfast lines.
"Harribel why? Why did he do that? They only treated him with little disrespect."
"Exactly. They treated him with disrespect. Rule #3, always respect your superiors of the MO. It's rare of you treat one of them with disrespect and they let you off easily. General salty was just having a bad day so I he ended that girl's life."
"When teachers have bad days, they end people's lives?"
"Not really, but Orihime please calm down." My eyes were watering and small tears were falling. As I talked to Harribel, I kept my voice down but I couldn't get the image of the girl and the general out of my head. Harribel got her and my breakfast tray and led me to the table. She picked my food for me. She gave me a napkin as I sat down in front of her.
"I know this is hard for you. Trust me, I was like this too, but I learned how to adjust to my surroundings. You have to learn to become strong. In order to live in a place like this, you have to be strong and now show fear. If you don't show our superiors your strength, then they will use your weaknesses against you. That causes you to die quicker."
Just as she said that, boys started to enter the cafeteria from the opposite side where the girls entered. I looked over and saw them enter the breakfast line and choose what they wanted to have. After wiping my face a few boys walked over with a girl. They sat beside and in front of Harribel and me.
"Morning Harribel." The tall guy beside me said. She smiled.
"It looks like you're getting nothing but eggs and bacon again, Nnoritra."
"Well of course, there's nothing else good here. If they have something better, I'll let you know."
Harribel smiled again then looked at me. "Orihime, these are my friends. The one to your right is Nnoritra Gilga and the one to your left is Grimmjow Jeagerjaques. The one to my left is Coyote Starrk and to my right is Neliel Tu Odelschwanck."
"Please just call me Nel." She smiled. I smiled back and nodded.
"Nice to meet all of you."
"You must be new here." Grimmjow said. "Listen kid, most people around here just go "Yo" or just tilt their head up when greeting someone alright."
"No that's just what he does." Nel smiled. Grimmjow stuck his tongue out.
"So you're stuck with another one of the small fries huh Harribel?" Starrk asked.
"Yeah, but it's alright. I know Orihime will get stronger as time goes by."
"Orihime?" Nnoritra asked. "So your name is Orihime?"
"Yes, Orihime Inoue."
"It's a pleasure to meet you." Nel said. I smiled again and looked down at my food. After I took a few bites, I started to enjoy it. It wasn't as good as my cooking but it was better than nothing.
After a few minutes of eating and conversations with the others, a guy slowly walked past the table with a tray of food in his hand. He walked past us and sat alone at a round table. We all looked over to him. I tried getting a better look at him but he had long jet black hair that reached his back and bangs that surrounded the sides of his face. "Who's that?" I asked.
"That's the guy known as Murciélago." Grimmjow informed. "His real name is Ulquiorra. No one knows his last name though. I just leave it alone."
"That guy freaks me out." Nnoritra said.
"Why?"
"Because, well, come on look at the guy. He looks like he's looking at you through his hair. But it's not only his looks that I'm freaked out about. During the Shi no gemu, he's always fighting everyone successfully and he always ends up on top. I'd like to fight him one of these days and see what happens."
"You took the words out of my mouth." Grimmjow smiled.
"You say that all the time Grimmjow. I'm starting to think you're not coming up with your own words at all."
"You're starting to annoy me." Nel smiled to him.
I ate the rest of my food and went to throw my paper tray away. But before I sat down, I walked over to Ulquiorra's table.
"What the hell Orihime! Are you insane!" Grimmjow loudly whispered. I ignored him and sat in front of Ulquiorra. As soon as I sat down, I saw gorgeous green, no, emerald eyes. They were looking down at the table. His face showed loneliness, but overall, he looked very handsome. "Hi, my name is Orihime. What's yours?"
Ulquiorra looked up a little. "Who's asking?"
"Umm…"
"I mean what's your purpose here. Why are you talking to me?"
"Oh," I said nervously. "W-well I just saw how lonely you looked and I thought that maybe I could help you at least look up from the table."
"Do you want something from me?"
"I…I want you to smile. I know I can't see your face very much but I see your lips. So until I see a smile, I'll be helping you."
Ulquiorra looked back down. "My name is Ulquiorra. Just call me that."
I grinned and nodded. "Alright, Ulquiorra. Let's be good friends okay?"
"Let's not rush to conclusions," he merely said. "We barely know each other and all you did was say Hi to me. That doesn't make us friends. Learn that." I was speechless, but overall, I guess he had a point.
"Alright," was all I could say. Suddenly, a whistle was blown. Everyone turned to the past hallway that neither boys nor girls came out of. At the entrance stood General Salty with a smaller woman who looked innocent and fragile.
"Breakfast is complete. Everyone please line up with on organized, same gender fashion and head down the hallway for the Shi no gemu."
Ulquiorra stood up and walked past me. Before he left, he turned to me. As he turned to me, my heart skipped a beat when we looked each other in the eyes. "If you live through this game, I might consider being your friend."
"Live through it?" I asked.
"Orihime let's get going." Harribel walked over, grabbed my arm and pulled me into the girl's line. I looked at Ulquiorra go into the boys line and everyone headed down the hallway. I tried to figure out what Ulquiorra said, but I knew there was no point in trying to figure it out.
"Listen Orihime," I looked up to Harribel. She was walking front of me while Nel was behind me. "You're a first timer so they may not let you do this today, but when it's your time to enter the games, you have to be aware of your surroundings. For some games, there's a glowing blue line on the floor that separates half of the gym room. Everyone on the other side of that line is your enemy. You take them down, no matter who they are or how they look. In other games, the line will be gone and you have to single handedly fight people from the other side of the gym. No matter who they are, you have to kill them and move on. In order to survive it's what you must do."
"You make it sound like it's a game of death." I joked.
"Now you know what Shi no gemu means." Nel whispered. My eyes widened.
Minutes later we arrived in the gym area. The entire room was wide and tall. There was a single room with a horizontal window in the other side of the gym where we entered from. In the middle of the room was a glowing blue line on the ground. That must have been what Harribel was talking about. The strange part was, on the floor, there were weapons. Multiples of weapons. There were axes, swords, and shields. There were also guns made of metal and plastic. I tried to not step on any of them as I walked further into the gym. I looked around and on the other side of the gate was another bunch of students like us. They looked around mindlessly, just as we did.
"Now listen students on both sides." The woman from the cafeteria said. "For those of you who are starting, my name is Jessica. I am one of the advisers here at the MO. This game is called Side shoot. The way you play is this; half of the students in your bunch will play while the others will play tomorrow. This game is quick and easy so you will have more time for working on your outdoor projects."
"Outdoor projects?" I asked.
"Projects that the advisers make us do outside." Nel answered. "They choose projects for us and we have to get them done in a span of at least a week or two. We do them every day after the games."
"For those of you who already know the rules, play fair and stay alive. Boys play today and girls play tomorrow." All of the boys entered further into the room while the girls headed into the room with the glass. When I entered, I noticed that there were two doors in the room. One door was on the left side and the other was on the right. The blue line is what divided the doors in the room. Harribel, Nel and I stayed together close to the window and watched as the boys on our side went to pick up weapons that were spread on the ground. As the boys picked up their weapons, they spread out across their sides of the gym. I looked over and saw Ulquiorra with a sword in his hand. He was a few inches away from the line and looking at the guys on the other side of the line.
"Now you'll see why Ulquiorra is called Murciélago." Harribel said to me. I looked at her and back to Ulquiorra. Just then, a whistle was blown and the blue line disappeared. The guys on both sides fan to each other and entered combat. I watched Ulquiorra the entire time. He hit someone with another sword and they battled. He then cut his opponent on the side and moved onto the next person. He continued to wound men that weren't on his side. But one question that came to mind was how did he know his enemy or not. I didn't give it much thought. There was no point in thinking too much about it.
His skills though are what surprised me. He would reach one opponent; either sword or axe and he would cut them down but never kill them. I looked on the ground again and noticed no one picked up any guns. They remained on the ground and the students stepped over them as they battled.
"In this game," I looked at Harribel, "the boys have a timeline until the game is over. They have to fight each other for 20 minutes or until their enemies are wounded or dead. Whoever makes it those 20 minutes spends the rest of the week doing their outdoor projects or playing other games with other groups around the building."
"There are more kids than us?" I asked surprised.
"I'm afraid so. This place is humungous. There are other groups and far more students than us. There are a lot of things to do here."
"Hey look at that guy." I girl said with a group of girls. "He must be new. I've never seen him before."
"He's cute." Another girl said. I looked over and saw that flaming orange hair. My eyes widened as a saw his face. My chest started heating up and throbbing. My eyes started to sting and water. I slammed my hands on the window and shouted. "Ichigo!"
Ichigo paused from fighting then continued after a second. I slammed my fists into the glass again. Some of my tears were now falling. "Ichigo! Ichigo can you hear me! Hey, Ichigo!"
"Does she know him?" some girls said.
"I don't know but she's a little weird."
I didn't care what they said or thought about me. I had to stop this battle before he got hurt. I looked around to see what time was left until the battle was over. I then saw a clock on the back wall that was counting down. It was five minutes until the battle was over. I looked back over and saw Ichigo was fighting off pretty well. I turned after a few minutes and saw there was two minutes left. Those were the two slowest minutes of my life. Just then, Ichigo and Ulquiorra clashed blades. I felt my heart pounding in my chest. I didn't know what to do. I didn't want Ichigo to get hurt but I didn't want him to hurt Ulquiorra.
"One of them has to die Orihime."
"No!" I jumped. "Neither of them will die Nel. I have faith in both of them." their battle was fast but none of them received any wounds. Minutes later, a whistle was blown. I looked back at the clock and saw that the 20 minutes was over. The surviving boys headed to their sides of the gym. About 10 guys were on Ulquiorra's side, including him, Nnoritra, Grimmjow and Starrk while the other side had a little over five; including Ichigo. As soon as the blue line came up, I ran to the left door that was on Ichigo's side of the gym. I exited the room and ran to Ichigo.
"Ichigo!"
"Orihime?" as he said my name, I jumped and circled my arms around his chest. I hugged him as tight as I could and allowed my postponed tears to fall. "Orihime what the hell are you doing here? Are you hurt? What's wrong?"
I looked up and looked into his eyes. His scowling expression didn't change at all. But I did see a bit of concern in his eyes. "I'm sorry, but when I saw you I freaked. I thought I was the only one who came here."
"I thought that too. How did you get here?"
"I don't know," I sniffed. "I went to sleep at Tatsuki's house then next thing I knew, I woke up in this place. But that doesn't matter. Are you alright Ichigo?"
"Yeah," he grinned then patted my head. "I'm alright." I let go and wiped my face. I smiled as best as I could while he still continued to pat my head.
"Orihime Inoue!" I looked over to the door I came out of and saw general Salty with an angry look on his face. "You are not allowed in this area. Get back here this instant."
"Yes sir," I said sacredly. I looked back to Ichigo. He grinned then gave me a hug.
"Protect yourself and no one else." He whispered in my ear. "Don't worry, we'll get out of here and escape with everyone we can get our hands on." He let go then left with his surviving teammates. I turned and walked to the General. As soon as I walked up to him, he slapped my face with the back of his hand.
"I don't know what's got into your head girl but you better learn the boundaries in this place." I breathed heavily while holding my throbbing cheek.
"Yes sir," I stuttered. The general grabbed my arm the dragged me into the observing room.
"Now, everyone head to the outside area with the uninjured boys. It's time for your outside projects." The general threw me to Harribel. She held me in her arms while the general walked off. Nel walked over and rubbed my back. "Are you alright?"
I shook my head to Harribel. "Let's go outside alright." I nodded.
We followed the rest of the students at the back of the unorganized line. We traveled down several hallways and past at least two gyms with students playing 'games' inside. A few minutes later, we entered the outside area. The entire area was a crop area. There was a shed on the left side with fountains and a sitting/relaxation area. After a second, I noticed the weather. It wasn't scorching hot but it wasn't comfortable to be in.
"Pick up the freshly planted food and plant new seeds in the open areas. It doesn't matter what gender does it. Just get it done. You have three hours." The general walked over to the sitting area while Harribel got some shovels and seed bags. Harribel, Nel and I started planting seeds in the open areas where the trees covered the warm sun.
"I'm sorry about the general." Harribel said.
I shook my head. "Don't worry about it. It's done and over with."
"Seeing the games must have been hard on you." Nel said
I shook my head again. "I've seen people dying in front of me but the hard part was seeing my friend fighting to survive. It was something I surely didn't expect."
"Oh yeah, Ichigo right?" I nodded to Nel's question.
After a while, Ulquiorra walked over and begun planting some seeds in front of us. I looked up and saw some of his hair over his shoulder as he bend down and planting. He looked up and we made eye contact again. I was speechless. Did he want something from me? Did he want me to say something to him?
"Hey…"
"Oh…yes?"
"You got some dirt on your cheek." He crawled over and took the dirt off of my cheek. I just then noticed that he was wearing gloves. I looked and saw Harribel and Nel wearing some too. I was the only one with bare hands.
"You didn't know we had gloves huh?"
"I didn't," I said. Ulquiorra sighed.
"Well now you know. I guess you really learn something everyday huh."
"I guess." I said lightly.
"Orihime," Ulquiorra said after a minute of silence.
"Yes?"
"Who was that guy you ran to? The one with the spiky orange hair."
I looked up from planting and looked at Ulquiorra again. He was still putting seeds in the ground. "His name is Ichigo. I knew him from high school."
"High school huh…"
"Ulquiorra what's wrong?"
"Nothing, don't worry about it."
"Orihime we're going to plant some seeds over here." Nel said. I turned and nodded. As they left, I stayed with Ulquiorra and planted in the shady area by the tree. Even though we said nothing, I just felt better being close to him.
Here's chapter 2!
I hope you liked this chapter. I thought it was interesting lol.
Anyway, please review and comment. Thanks for reading!
Japanese words used…
Shi no gemu – Death game(s)