Welcome to Chapter 3 of The Program.

This chapter is dedicated to Zecharia "BloodyBrit" Cloudsley (1988-2004) of the EFO forums.

34 participants remaining...
"You have not seen them, have you?"

The chilling, but all too familiar voice of the former NERV commander echoed behind Kozo Fuyutsuki.

"Ikari," he said, turning around to face Gendo, as they both stood in the hallway leading to the Chamber of Guf, the large tank where the spare dummy plugs used to reside. "I expected you to be here."

"Have you seen the pilots?"

Fuyutsuki shook his head confidently. "I have not seen either Sohryu or Ikari, nor have I seen Ayanami."

Gendo slid his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.

"I see," he replied.

After many years, Fuyutsuki learned how to read the emotions (or lack of) that Gendo Ikari exhibited. He knew when he was happy, sad, disappointed, what he was thinking of… He knew exactly what Gendo wanted at that moment; he also knew that Gendo could tell he was lying.

Nothing I can do. I shall just play along.

"You're thinking about continuing your plans, aren't you?"

"Of course, Fuyutsuki. Hope is not lost yet."

"I see," Fuyutsuki simply replied.

"If you see any of the pilots, especially Rei, you must keep them with you and find me. You will know where I will be."

Gendo continued to walk towards the Chamber, and disappeared into the darkness. Fuyutsuki continued in the other direction.

Gendo's chest felt heavy as he stepped inside the Chamber itself, staring at the various body parts floating in the water— Reis' body parts. He thought of Ritsuko, decided that he would have the opportunity to right the wrong she had done to him before his ultimate plan was accomplished.

Something on the floor caught the corner of his eye, he bent down to pick it up. Merely a wrapper— a food wrapper for the rations the JSSDF had supplied them. Indeed, Fuyutsuki had been lying.

Not a problem, he thought. I have plenty of time to find Rei, and I will soon be with you, Yui.

I should have killed Ayanami when I saw her, Kozo thought to himself as he walked down the hall.

But I didn't. She's just a doll, an experiment by men playing God… but she's also human, despite what she is. She deserves to have a chance to live, like everyone else, and if a miracle happens, everyone in this damned game will be able to keep that chance. But as it stands, we were all given the death penalty.

He stepped inside the high-speed elevator and pushed the button for the doors to close. Once it started moving, he procured his provided weapon— a mirror, from his backpack.

Why a mirror? Certaintly an odd choice. It won't hold its own against anything else. I will have to find another means to defend myself if such means are necessary.

You never know what's out there.

The Program

An Evangelion fan fiction

based on the novel Battle Royale

by Koushun Takami

And the movie directed by Kinji Fukasaku

Written by:

Bad Ronald

Kenshiro Mitsui-san

Chapter 3: Cat amongst the Pigeons

"So, you have a gun."

"I sure do…" Misato replied cautiously, trying not to avert her eyes away from the creepy grin on Bunrakuken's face. It was hideous, like the look a pedophile might give to a child, it made Misato's stomach turn.

"What do you want with it?" she asked, trying her best to suppress the wariness in her voice.

Bunrakuken grinned even wider, his slightly stained teeth, probably from smoking too much, giving off a malevolent gleam under the humming phosphorescent lights in the hallway.

"I was wondering what I could do to… persuade you to lend me your firearm, Major."

Misato immediately tucked her gun back under her jacket, shifting it away.

Bunrakuken continued, speaking slowly, softly. "Well, Major, you see, I was given a quite… unorthodox object to use to defend myself, and obviously; it just won't do at all. So if I could just, perhaps, borrow your gun-- and I swear I'll return it to you—"

"No," came the terse reply. "Sorry, but you're not getting it."

The smile from Bunrakuken's face quickly faded, and a short, uncomfortable silence followed as Misato glared at him with an appalled look.

"… Very well. I won't hold you up any longer. I do hope you will successfully find who you are looking for." He gave Misato what could pass for a bow, and stood still where he was.

Misato was thrown back by this gesture. She was certainly expecting a little more resistance from him. Just go, she thought. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. Just get going and find Shinji and get the hell out of here. She turned around to continue to look for Shinji, when she heard a quick rustling from behind, followed by a comment from Bunrakuken.

"By the way, would you like to see the weapon I was provided?"

Misato turned around to hear a great roaring clap, a ball of fire racing towards her face. She raised her forearm just in time to keep it from scorching her face. The flames clung to her red jacket and began to burn away the upper material, and Misato, panicked, tried to stifle the flames with her other arm. Another small cloud of fire flew towards her, and she instinctively stumbled backwards, accidentally dropping her gun to a corner in the process. She now had her back to a wall, and Bunrakuken closed in methodically, like a lion cornering its prey. In one hand, he held a lighter, and in the other, a blue aerosol spray can.

"At first, I was disappointed. I thought this can of paint would be useless, but then I saw the lighter that accompanied it," Bunrakuken commented as he smiled wider than ever. "You could say that I underestimated its use… But yes, I still want your gun."

Misato was speechless, looking down at her burnt jacket, then up at Bunrakuken Takamuramaro with an enraged, yet bewildered expression on her face. As she stepped backward like a sheep to a slaughter, she looked to be almost… betrayed.

"What are you doing?!" She demanded, stepping forward. "Takamura—"

One flick of the lighter and the nozzle of the blue can sprayed out flammable fluid and the roaring was greater than ever, an immense cloud of fire pinning Misato back onto the wall. Her eyes went wide, and then they tightened in so much determined anger, much of that of a wounded cat.

Bunrakuken merely stared on, puzzled, yet amused. Maybe she wasn't expecting him to go this far.

"Oh, come now, Major, don't tell me you weren't expecting this?" he said, almost jokingly. "They didn't call you the 'Director of Operations' for nothing, you know."

Misato growled angrily in response to his comment. Bunrakuken's leering face suddenly contorted into a sad frown, and the flames jetted out wider than ever, forcing Misato to slide to the right with a very peeved glaring attitude.

"Don't be so angry, Major." Bunrakuken shouted over the flames, almost to the point of panic, his eyes suddenly bulging. "Please! Please don't be so--"

Misato suddenly lashed out, throwing a flashlight at his head with sudden ferocity. It glanced off his brow and Bunrakuken shrieked in pain and surprise as Misato pounced forward, her hands groping for his throat. With one desperate lunge, she screamed with all the rage she could muster.

"I'm gonna kill you, you bastard!"

The quiet hum of the high-speed elevator was almost soothing to Ritsuko Akagi's nerves, and she let out a small sigh as she enjoyed the brief respite from all tension outside. She was a meticulous woman, and she inventoried the contents of her backpack, as well as the backpack of the late Yuki Namai.

I did the right thing, she told herself.

Or did I?

No, it was the right thing. It was the only thing. She was running a high fever. She was in no condition to be moving around. She would have died a much grislier death had I not done what I did. She died peacefully.

Ritsuko grabbed a water bottle from her own backpack and took a sip.

Why are the children here? What threat could they possibly possess against the government? They have nothing to do with NERV, unless…

They knew. About the Marduk Report. All of those kids were selected as potentials. Someone from SEELE must have leaked this information to the government.

But it still doesn't make sense. There are no more Evangelions to pilot. It looks like they're trying to cover all of the bases.

Maybe they're trying to learn something. She frowned. It was something about NERV, and the event she thought was narrowly evaded when the JSSDF invaded the Geofront—

Ritsuko suddenly pulled her hand out of her bag from reaching inside for nothing in particular. Her finger was pricked, bleedings lightly, and she picked up whatever it was that cut her. It was a sickle, the kind you use on the rice paddies.

The answers can wait for now. I've got something to take care of first.

She took something else out of her backpack. It was the revolver Yuki carried. Looking inside Yuki's pack, she found a box of bullets for the gun, and placed that inside her backpack, along with anything else she found useful.

She had a multitude of thoughts swimming through her head, most of them difficult to sort out, but she knew one thing for sure.

Gendo Ikari is going to die.

Misato was running out of fight in her body. Bunrakuken's docile appearance belied the strength and cunning of a madman, and it threw her off guard. She was exhausted, and her jacket had several dark burn marks.

She had one last card up her sleeve: the Bowie Knife she received in her pack. The challenge lay in getting past Bunrakuken's makeshift flamethrower, getting close enough to hit him. She had to try. She unsheathed the blade and ran towards him, holding the knife in her left hand as if to stab Bunrakuken, and using her right arm to protect her face.

Bunrakuken only laughed as he let out a prolonged burst of fire from the spray can and almost engulfed Misato's upper torso in the cloud of flames.

Pain seared Misato's left hand as she rushed through the fire. The burning was only temporary, and she shoved towards Bunrakuken's body. She caught him off guard; a look of surprise shot upon his face, there was no time for another flame burst.

I've got you now...

A sharp jolt of pain shot through Misato's wrist, cruelly twisted by Bunrakuken's outstretched hand. Bunrakuken dropped his spray can, caught Misato by her knife hand, twisting it around forcing her to drop her weapon, then shoving her into a wall.

Misato rubbed her head as she tried to clear her vision from the impact of hitting the back of her head on the wall. She saw two Bunrakukens coming towards her; ready to stab her with the knife he stole. Not more than a few feet away, a shadowy figure rushed towards her assailant from behind. She saw the former NERV worker jerk forwards as if he was struck by something, he fell on top of Misato, unconscious.

Misato's vision stopped swirling, and the figure in front of her came into focus.

"God! I think I really underestimated this thing…"

It was Makoto Hyuga, wearing a rattled, yet relieved, wondrous expression as he stared at the pot lid cover in his hands.

The back of Ryuhei Kamogawa's head thrummed in scorching pain. He covered his head the second time something hard struck him there. It took him a second to realize he was being attacked, but by that time, he was already on the floor.

"You m-monster! Quit following me or I'll k-kill you!" a shaky female voice shouted at him.

The pain traveled down from his head to his upper back, letting Ryuhei have a chance to clear his mind while his attacker continued to hammer away at him… though the hurting wasn't as bad as he thought it was initially. Was I following someone? I don't think I was. He quickly reached inside his backpack and grabbed his broken liquor bottle, the first thing he was able to get a hold of.

With a primal, throaty growl, Ryuhei easily overpowered his assailant. He tore the weapon out of her hands, tossed it away, tackled her to the floor. With one hand, he held the girl's throat, flipped his broken bottle to grasp it by the neck with the other, brandishing it high in the air, ready to apply the final blow.

"Oh! Please, no! Stop!" the girl screamed.

Ryuhei paused before he could finish her off, staring at the frightened girl's face. The side of his head started to pulse.

"Hey. You okay?"

Ryuhei wiped his eyes and turned around to face the direction where the kind female voice came from. It was Hitomi. Hitomi Nakagawa. She offered him a water bottle she had purchased from the school store.

"I thought you might want something to clean your hair, so I bought—"

Ryuhei quickly got up from the ground and snatched the water bottle from her hands, startling Hitomi. Facing the other direction, he opened the bottle and proceeded to clean the tomato sauce from his face and hair.

Both of them stood there silently in the schoolyard, long enough to cause an uncomfortable silence.

"I'm… sorry if I startled you, Nakagawa. I'll pay you back for that water bottle."

Hitomi smiled pleasantly in reply. "It's fine. It wasn't that much money." She began to walk towards Ryuhei.

This startled him, and he involuntarily stumbled backwards as Hitomi advanced.

"No, no, it's just that you missed a spot. Let me get it for you." She took out her handkerchief and proceeded to wipe the side of Ryuhei's face.

"You know, Kamogawa, you clean up pretty nicely," Hitomi said as she fixed his hair with her handkerchief. "You look… nice."

Ryuhei blushed slightly.

"You shouldn't let those two get you down." Hitomi was referring to Seto Araya, and his girlfriend, Miki Fukada. "It's not good for you. There, all clean." She handed her handkerchief to Ryuhei, which Ryuhei handed back.

"I… I c-can't take this. It's yours—"

"It's fine. I've got lots of them. Keep this one."

When was the last time I smiled? When was the last time I could smile? I want to smile for her, I can feel it on the corners of my mouth, but it just won't come out.

I hate what I've become. A sniveling scared coward, devoid of all joy. I don't deserve her friendship.

Ryuhei backed nervously away from Hitomi.

"I'm sorry, Nakagawa, but I have to—"

The tranquility of the scene was broken by klaxons echoing in the air.

Hitomi gasped. "Another angel! Come on Kamogawa, we've got to get to the shelter!"

"I-I'll meet you later. I got to get my grandparents first. I got to take them along."

Hitomi sounded worried. "…Okay. Please be careful. Let's meet up there, okay?" She ran towards the school, where there was a shelter nearby. After looking at Hitomi one last time, Ryuhei ran towards the city, where his grandparents lived.

It would be the last time in a long time that Ryuhei would see Hitomi Nakagawa.

Ryuhei's broken bottle dropped harmlessly onto the floor, and he released the girl from his grip. The pulsing in his head ebbed down to a mere throbbing. He collapsed to the ground, and sank his scarred face into his hands.

"Oh, God. Hitomi, I'm awful sorry," he cried over and over again.

Hitomi scrambled backwards until she hit a wall, not knowing what to think or say, or comprehending who her attacker actually was. It slowly sank in as Hitomi stared past the scar tissue on his face, and looked at his tear-filled eyes, which were staring right back at hers with remorse and regret.

Hitomi's vision blurred as tears of her own started forming.

"K-Kamogawa. Ryuhei…"

Takumi looked down at the crumpled toilet paper path, leading all the way up to a corner of the hallway. Strange, he thought. He shrugged and shifted his pack as he brandished his butcher knife, walking to the corner, holding it up. He looked around the corner; saw an empty hallway with a toilet roll. He put down his knife and stared curiously at the small toilet roll, which was propped up next to an open doorway.

He walked inside the room and rubbed his eyes... a rec room? It had old-fashioned oak tables and two leather couches, and then he narrowed his eyes as he noticed something peculiar. Walking closer, he saw a wooden chair was propped up backwards on the corner of the table, one of the legs missing.

It must've been like that for quite a while. Maybe even a joke that an employee planned on another? It would've been something he'd do to one of his friends.

His friends.

When he was taken to this place, it was from his group of friends while they were at a popular video game store, browsing the many selections and even taking some out to steal out from under the sleeping cashier. When they took him away, it was quick, but it hadn't gotten unnoticed by one of his best friends.

"Takumi! Let him go, you fuckers!"

As he screamed out for the men in black suits to release him, the three others in his posse turned and, seeing the dire situation, started to rush towards them. One of his friends, Kaeda, revealed a switchblade he carried in his jacket pocket and lunged toward the man holding Takumi, who was starting to pull out a gun with his other hand. Before Kaeda's knife could reach its target, his neck exploded, and a hole appeared on the side of it, blood squirting all over—

Stop.

Thinking about this isn't going to do any good. Right now, the only thing you can do is survive.

Takumi rubbed his eyes, red from holding back tears. He turned around and walked for the door, his head hung low as he scratched the back of his head, sighing.

Swish.

Hmm? He turned around at the sudden new sound.

His bicep was smacked very hard with a resounding slap! by something wooden and he felt his hand seize up suddenly, dropping the big butcher knife. What the hell?! Takumi looked up and only saw a blur that looked like a girl holding the broken wooden chair leg. She swung it on his neck, the bottom of his adam's apple, choking him.

Takumi fell to his knees easily, hacking and coughing, as she loomed over him, holding the end of the chair leg with two hands like a bat. The side of the chair leg smacked onto the bridge of his nose with a mighty clout, slamming over his eye sockets. Takumi howled in pain, the girl reared back and shoved the leg into his open mouth, cutting off his horrified shriek. He gurgled as she pushed the leg forward onto his front teeth like a crowbar, forcing his head further back, looking to the ceiling.

Then she saw her eyes— furious-looking eyes, the left pupil a dark brown color, the right bright green.

Her eyes were so cold.

Hot tears of pain streamed from Takumi's shut eyes as she put more pressure on the top of the wooden leg, shoving it down his throat. With his eyesight wavering, his nostrils flaring, his throat clenching in retaliation to the sudden burning and chafing being forced down into him, he lifted up a weak hand and tried to push the girl's hand off, and she lifted a brow as his gurgling became more frantic, his movements sporadic.

The girl smiled grimly as his death rattle reverberated throughout the room..

He shivered, trying to control his withdrawal as he wiped his grimy face with his scarred hands. It had been some time since he had been popping pills to control his erratic twitching, especially that of his left eye. He used to be nonchalant about such things, though, even carefree. But it was hard to be carefree and nonchalant when you were a prisoner of war trapped into a small, dirty jail cell, awaiting your "punishment".

"One little piggy…" Someone rasped out into the darkness, the dreaded voice of one of their tormentors sounded out into the cell, laughing.

Then a constant screaming shocked him to the core, giving him a new meaning of despair.

Oh, God. It was Sakamochi. The leader of their battalion. They were torturing him, just like they tortured Kamon and Riki. And the way he was screaming, the pitch, the tone; he had broken. And he would die. Every soldier in the cell knew it.

He turned his head and saw Kitano, sitting next to three of the captured soldiers in their battalion, with a grave look on his face. Kitano stared back at him, and groaned as he lifted his shattered arms with great effort, holding his cuffed calloused hands towards him, begging, pleading.

No.

He couldn't. Not until the right moment. Then he would… he would come back. He would come back and save them all.

The cell door slammed open.

Shirota awoke with a jolt, kicking aside the intercom mic on the desk, sending it clattering to the floor. He looked around furiously and set his sights on Sudo, who had dropped a large folder on his desk. The soldier bowed hastily and muttered, "Sorry about that, sir" before walking away to watch the progression of the game on the giant monitoring screen of the NERV main control room.

Shirota looked away in disgust, but he had to admit that he was quite thankful for being awakened. It had been the third time that week since he had recalled that…

That troublesome memory.

He clenched his jaw, tightened his fists, trying to put it aside—to clear his mind for more pressing matters. Such as, where was the one they had tagged? Was he still alive? Shirota looked up at the giant monitoring screen and sat up from the desk, peering. Every one of those small screens that accumulated into the big screen were tuned into the view of the multitude of security cameras around NERV, watching the battle unfold in so many points of view.

With a grunt of disgust, he stared as many of the soldiers, sitting or squatting or smoking on the NERV technician desks, traded bets on who would survive the Program; one soldier walking around to each of them while writing down the names of the participants and calling out the increasing price on each of the participants that were popular among the soldiers.

So far, the one Shirota had tagged specifically at the beginning of the Program was number one on the list of predicted survivors.

Slipping his hands behind his back and clasping them at the wrists like an admiral, he smirked as he watched the one participant they had tagged move about in an orderly fashion, the camera dutifully tracking his movements. Shirota had to admire his single-mindedness and his dedication to where he was going. And Shirota had to be thankful for that; he had to be thankful for this one participant. After all, this one was the whole reason the Program existed.

By following a wide hallway inside NERV HQ, one would find himself in a sleek-looking lounge area with a large glass window overlooking the lake in the Geofront. However, the scene was far from a normal day at work. Outside, the landscape of the Geofront was ravaged and burned by artillery and missile fire from the JSSDF, and most of the buildings lay in ruins due to the bombings.

The destruction on the outside reflected the carnage that went on inside Central Dogma. Inside the lounge, chairs and tables, and the bodies of former personnel were overturned, strewn about, and bullet-ridden. Blood stained everything, from the ceiling to the floor.

The wreckage led to two wide doors, once meant to swing open, now only barricaded by furniture from the inside. Inside the circular windows on each of the doors, there were signs of life, a last bastion for survival within this Program.

It was a group of nine girls from Class 2-A, who kept the NERV cafeteria as their sanctuary until they would have to move again (due to the ever-present threat of Forbidden Zones), and they seemingly chose well in their location. They were able to find the place late at night with little trouble; save for the incessant whining on Asuka's part. When they got there, they found the cafeteria easy to maintain. There was a good supply of food, the place was relatively easy to guard. There were three main entrances, two of which were completely blocked, and one service entrance in the kitchens where supplies were taken to, and it was as comfortable as a place under siege could get. Most of the girls had no trouble sleeping at night, as many of them were exhausted, some using clean sofa and chair cushions from the lounge as bedding (though most were tired enough to sleep with only their packs as a pillow), while the restless individuals and volunteers took turns standing guard at the entrances to make sure they were not surprised in an attack.

By morning, the group of nine was in relatively high spirits. A breakfast was made by two of the more talented girls there, one of them Hikari Horaki. As the de facto leader of the bunch, her group was split in two, with one faction being her friends and admirers, while the other being her critics and enemies. As unfortunate as this rift in her group was, she thought, she couldn't let it break the unity in this band of survivors, because it would be their downfall.

Who is our true enemy? The people outside, or the people in here?

The question made Hikari uneasy as she helped clean up plates and utensils after breakfast was done. During the meal, more tension built up, as another Asuka-related problem arose. A girl in the group named Kirie Mai brought up the topic of Asuka and the danger she brought to the lives in the group, and the antagonistic half of the girls seemed to agree with what she was saying. Of course, what else could Hikari do when her best friend was being slandered?

Despite her best efforts, the bickering continued on, heating up and threatening to become more than just fighting with words. The only girl on the table who seemed dispassionate was the girl who was the basis of all the conflict – Asuka Langley Sohryu.

The polite knock on the large metal door startled Michi Tatsumoto and Ino Hadame, the two designated for that time period to guard the main entrance to the cafeteria. Both of them pointed their pistols at one of the circular windows and peered through it.

"Who's that?" Michi said caustically.

It was a girl that stared back on the other side of the door. She was a petite teenager who wore eyeglasses and had pageboy-cut hair. Both girls immediately knew who it was.

"What do you want, Aizawa?" Michi said, her tone remaining hostile.

"Please, won't you let me in? I don't want to die out here!" Aizawa pleaded.

"How do you know we can trust you?"

Ino whispered to Michi. "Wait, Michi, it's just Aizawa. I don't think she could do us any harm. Don't you remember how she was in school?"

"That's not the point. The rule's to not let any strangers in without the whole group talking about it, and they're all at that meeting. The way everyone's acting, I don't think it's such a good idea to disturb them."

"Look, I've got an idea. Let's just make sure she's not armed or anything-- it'll be easier to handle her until the others get back."

"Fine, okay." Michi raised her voice again. "Alright, you armed, Aizawa?"

"N-no," her voice trembled, "I'm not carrying anything. I didn't get any weapons to use."

"Prove it! Empty your backpack."

The girl outside took a few steps back, unzipped her pack, and dumped the contents on the floor. There were three water bottles, a few food packs, a map, and a roll of toilet paper.

"You see? The toilet paper in my backpack."

Ino was convinced and satisfied with that. "There now. She's not armed. The random weapon she got was toilet paper."

"...All right," Michi sighed, "Let her in. Keep your gun pointed at her while I open this door. I'm going to search her."

Michi proceeded to unlock the door and remove the several obstructions blocking it. On the other side of the door, Aizawa smiled thankfully to the girls as her hand gripped readily behind her back.

Asuka sighed, hugging her knees and sitting in a corner of the huge cafeteria just outside the hallway leading into the kitchens, where Hikari and the other girls held counsel. She knew they were talking about her; she didn't even need to ask the girl with a stun gun assigned to "guard" her.

"You're fuckin' staying here 'til they're done in there," the guard groused. The girl was huge; Asuka remembered that she used to play in the basketball team as their center. Asuka had never participated in gym class. Sweaty barbarians fighting over a stupid ball.

This meeting's useless as well, she thought. We're all going to die, regardless of what I do or don't do.

It happened too quickly. The girl guard's throat exploded in a burst of dark red, a sign that her vein had been cut open. The girl tried to scream as the stranger behind her started to slice open her back, pummeling a big butcher blade into her back. The stranger kicked the girl aside, turning on her, chopping the giant blade in her face with her knife, making wet splotchy sounds with geysers of blood splattering on the floor. She continued to slice even as the body fell, squirming in agony, her voice gurgling instead of screaming.

Asuka ripped her eyes away from the display of crimson to look at the assailant. She was no stranger. Right away, Asuka knew who it was. The eyes were a dead giveaway; the left pupil colored dark brown, and the right colored green. The face stared back at Asuka gave her a smile so full of warmth it disturbed her. She never talked to her, but this girl went to class with them.

"Urumi?"

It was certainly a sight to see. On the floor laid Miyuki Sagisu's body, her neck torn and leaking red, and her back covered with deep bloody grooves. Next to the corpse was Asuka Sorhyu, her eyes wide with fear, and her face and hands covered with gore. A bloodied butcher knife sat near her knees.

Asuka looked up to see five girls staring with shock and horror at her. One face that stood out was her best friend's. Hikari was on the verge of tears.

Asuka stood up, protesting, holding up her bloody hands. "W-wait, what the hell?! It wasn't me! It was - -"

Meiko pulled her CZ75 pistol from her skirt pocket, undid the safety, thrust it into Asuka's face.

"Shut up! You killed her, didn't you?!? You fucking killed her!!"

"No! I didn't!"

"I told you to shut up! Reika, go and get Ino and Michi at the entrance."

Reika Ueda nodded, and ran off to find the two other girls.

Hikari felt confused and scared, not just for her, but for Asuka too.

"Wait, wait, let's look at this rationally. How could Asuka have killed Miyuki this way? If Asuka had tried to attack Miyuki, Asuka would have been knocked out by her stun gun."

A scream was heard from outside, cutting her off— one of the girls ran to check what it was. After a quick moment, she returned with Reika, who was sobbing almost uncontrollably.

"Michi and Ino... they're dead," the girl reported. "Their throats… slit!"

"Sohryu, you monster!!" Meiko screamed. She swung her gun towards Hikari's head.

"You! You've been protecting this fuckin' bitch all this time! Both of you are planning to get us all killed, I knew it!"

Weapons of all sorts appeared out of nowhere, hidden under skirts, shirts, and jeans. Two more girls held their weapons, pistols, knives that were found hidden in the mess of bodies outside in the lounge, up to Asuka and Hikari, while the other two, one armed with a billy club, the other with a Glock automatic pistol, sought to protect their friend. They pointed their weapons towards the three who would hurt them.

Meiko kept at Hikari and Asuka, seething, "We all know Sohryu had a kitchen knife as a weapon, so it's hers! She's the killer!"

"And all of you saw that I took Asuka's weapon away from her," Hikari replied. "It's in the kitchen right now!"

"A likely story, class rep..." Meiko sneered. "You could have given her that knife at any time when we weren't looking!"

"Are you listening to yourselves? That's ridiculous! Besides, how could Asuka have killed both Michi and Ino along with Miyuki? It's impossible!"

"Listen to yourself! You're talking like you don't care about them? And you say impossible?! It's the only possibility, you damn fucking traitor!"

Asuka, who had remained relatively silent through this, chose this moment to try and defend herself. She sounded irritated, but her tone wavered.

"Hey! Look, I didn't kill those three! It was another girl, Urum- -"

"Shut up!" Meiko fired a shot into the wall to get her point across.

A sharp, short scream and three quick, consecutive cracks were heard. Howls of pain from Meiko quickly followed, and she clutched at her side. Blood spilled from where she was clutching at with her free hand, and she almost fell to her knees had it not been for another girl holding her up. She was still alive, but her breathing grew labored. Weapons were raised higher than before, the fingers slipping past the trigger guard and tightening around the triggers themselves, and one could only wait to see who would shoot first.

And in the middle of it all was Hikari, staring widely at the gaping bullet holes in Meiko's chest, as she held the smoking gun that had been the cause of those wounds.

One excuse tried to make its way out of her lips as she dropped the gun. "I… I couldn't…"

But between tear-rimmed eyelids, Hikari saw her makeshift group falling apart in front of her, and she knew she was going to die.

31 participants remaining...

END OF CHAPTER 3

AUTHORS' NOTES

Ronald: Wow, finally. It's about damn time! Reason why it took so long to bust this chapter out? School. Beer. Writer's block. And beer. Also, the new anime imports and manga were enough to keep me busy and away from the computer for a huge amount of time.

Also, the character Urumi? Yeah, cookies to anyone who can tell me the inspiration to her name and character. If you want the physical description of her, just look to Shinobu Maehara from Love Hina with glasses. I seriously cannot wait to unravel Shirota's entire history with you guys, but inquiring minds will just have to wait!

Thanks to Cast for helping out a lot with this chapter, thanks to Angry Pelican for some really good ideas for the characters, and thanks to Kenshiro for strutting his spring break vacation in my face as I had to juggle school and my personal life without a hitch, that bastard. (Kenshiro : :) )

Kenshiro: Not much to say, so I'll be brief. Sorry this took so long, but everybody gets sidetracked every once in a while. Schoolwork, personal stuff, Spring Break - - all that good stuff. Anyways, thanks for reading chapter 3, and thanks for being regular readers, as well as thanks to Cast and Pelican for their help.

The dedication is for an forum member who recently passed away. BloodyBrit was the founder of the Rose Garden group there, a fiction group dedicated to darkfiction. He died of cancer. He will be missed.

The pre-reading thank you for this chapter goes out to King Alar. Thanks for volunteering.