Utau's muscles ached as she ran, trying to ignore the feeling that she would soon collapse. She didn't know if the killer was chasing her or if she was chasing Nagihiko and Rima, but she didn't care. She was going to keep running until her legs gave out from beneath her.
She glanced over at Kukai and saw he was looking incredibly beat as well. If something happened to him….
Utau shook the thought of the killer from her mind; scaring herself shitless wouldn't do any good at all. She was just racing Kukai. It was just another competition. And besides, Utau honestly didn't think the killer would chase after them. It still had to complete it's mission of getting Rima first, right?
Utau wanted to ask Kukai where they should go, but she could barely run much less talk. She just settled for following him run off to the left.
The small path they had been following broke off into a large empty field, the school off in the distance. If they ran that way the could circle around to the front of the building and run somewhere else, perhaps the police station. If they just could make it to the front of the school….
Utau glanced back nervously as she ran, not seeing anything out of the ordinary. Maybe the killer had chased after the other two!
Upon reaching the school the two ran along the side of it, Kukai reaching the corner and rounding it a few yards ahead of Utau. She turned the corner as well, hurrying now as they were so close to safety, but stopped abruptly, trying not to smash into the halted Kukai.
"You moron! What are you stopping for?" Utau barked at him harshly, staring at the back of his head. Upon receiving no reply she moved to step around him, but he shot out an arm and restrained her. She was about to question his actions when she noticed his fear filled face. And suddenly she knew.
She peeked over Kukai's shoulder, horrified as to what she may see. Her suspicion was confirmed: the killer was standing several feet away, a newly acquired baseball bat held between her hands.
Utau froze, fear temporarily controlling her mind, before she snapped back to reality. They could turn around and run. If they hurried they could get away, run around the school in the other direction, and still escape.
But they were thoroughly exhausted, and the killer seemed to be just fine, smirking as she bounced the baseball bat in the palm of her hand. Could they really escape like this?
"Well hello there, Souma-kun," the killer said in a rather smug voice. She grinned at the two in front of her, "You have a very nice girlfriend, don't you?"
Kukai tensed up incredibly, shifting slightly so that Utau was even more obscured by his figure. "What do you want with us?"
"Like my message said, I want to hurt you all," the figure replied, swinging the bat playfully before holding it within her arms again.
"But you're not the one who went after us the first time…" Kukai muttered, looking over the girl closely. Besides from earlier that day, he had never seen her before. How could he have abandoned, or forsaken, someone he didn't even know?
"Ah, but I was. In spirit, but not body." Neither Kukai nor Utau had any idea what the hell that was supposed to mean.
"This is the incompetence that will get you killed," the killer said with a sigh at seeing the baffled teenagers' faces. Kukai froze, his mind reeling. Of course part of it said to run as fast as he could to get away, but another part was frozen in fear, knowing he couldn't get far on his strength alone.
"Now Souma-kun, you have two options. One, you run off with your little girlfriend and I chase after you, eventually killing both of you and maybe even your other friends, or two, you come with me willingly and I spare her life. What will it be?"
Kukai was horrified. On one hand there was a chance that they could both get away, but if they didn't he knew the woman would kill Utau for sure. But if he could be taken and Utau would be left safe, then maybe it was worth it.
"No! Kukai don't! It's not worth it! I couldn't live knowing I caused you to die!" Utau was frantic, her eyes wide as she grabbed on to Kukai's shoulder from behind. She shook him roughly, tears springing up into her eyes already knowing his decision.
"I couldn't live with myself if I let you get hurt," Kukai said solemnly. Rage bubbled up beneath Utau's fear. How selfish! He wanted her to live hating herself just so he wouldn't feel guilty?
She would protect him, no matter why the cost.
"I won't let you take him," Utau said confidently as she stepped out from behind Kukai and glared at the killer, who smirked right back at her.
"So be it."
The killer lunged forwards, the baseball bat swinging around with an insane amount of momentum. Utau let out a loud and terrified scream as the bat approached her, squeezing her eyes together tight as her arms flew up to cover her face.
A loud crack echoed across the school grounds as the wooden bat met the hard bone of a skull.
(Break.)
Ikuto raced through along the small path his sister had earlier taken, ignoring the screams of those behind him urging him to stop, warning him that he could be attacked as well. He didn't give them any regard. All he could think about was his sister. If she died now… no, she wouldn't die now. Ikuto wouldn't let that happen, and he was pretty sure Kukai would do whatever it took to keep that from happening as well.
He ran rapidly, the others all racing behind him frantically, trying to stop him before he got hurt as well. But he didn't care. He had let Tadase get hurt, and he sure as hell wasn't going to let Utau get hurt as well.
He came to the open field and scanned the surroundings. If he were being chased where would he go? Probably to the front of the school, he supposed, so that he could escape.
He ran in that direction, Nikaido yelling at him desperately, trying to convince him to return to safety, "Stop! Do you want to be hurt as well? You have no idea what you might see!"
But he, the black cat of misfortune, was causing this. It was his fault entirely… didn't he deserve to be hurt as well? Didn't he deserve to to witness the horror firsthand?
He raced towards the front of the school, scared as to what he might find, but scared to leave things to be by themselves as well. He turned the corner and stopped dead in his tracks, horror enveloping him in such a way he had never known.
There his sister sat, in the middle if the yard, tears flowing down her face, and blood splattered on her shirt.
"Utau!" he screamed, racing towards her with such ferocity he had never before exhibited. Utau looked up weakly as he approached, sobbing heavily to herself.
Ikuto collapsed besides his younger sister, pulling her into a tight hug. She sobbed, the blood staining her pale blue shirt soaking into Ikuto's own clothes.
The others all ran up to the two as well scanning the surroundings with such horror they hadn't before experience. There was a discarded baseball bat laying several yards in a small puddle of red but besides that absolute normality…
It looking so normal was somehow what scared them the most.
"Where's Kukai?" Amu asked hurriedly, worried about the older boy. Utau swallowed back her tears as Ikuto pulled back for her to speak.
"We ran into the killer at the front of the school… I guess she didn't chase us outside after all…. she said some stuff to us and offered Kukai to choose to run or give himself up and in exchange she'd spare my life…" Utau broke off, tears leaking from her eyes as she struggled to contain herself. After a painfully long moment she continued.
"I didn't want him to do that for me, so I guess I sort of challenged her inadvertently or something and she sprung at me with a baseball bat, set to kill I suppose, but… I… the next thing I knew Kukai was on the ground, blood pouring from his head. He… he dove in front of me to sa… save my life. I freaked out. I went to check if he was okay and he was still breathing but …I was so scared! The killer, she grabbed his body from beneath my hands and I tried to stop her but for some reason I just couldn't move! I tried to stop her but she just punched me in the face… and then he was gone."
It was a good thing the retelling ended there, because Utau seemed as though she wouldn't be able to say another word about the ordeal for a long time. Ikuto gently stroked her hair as he examined her face.
"I think she may have broken Utau's nose," he noted dully, noticing that some of the blood on her had come from said appendage. But the rest he could only assume had come from Kukai.
Kukai… unless he got medical attention immediately, he would surely die. But then again, taken by the killer was practically a guaranteed death.
Ikuto had never really cared one way or another for the boyish teenager, but now, in his final moments of life, Ikuto respected him and appreciated what he did. He had given up his life to save someone he truly loved, and if someone had to go, he thought that would be the best way to do it.
(Break.)
Everyone sat around the table in Nagihiko's house, having left school before it even started, the police having told them that they would do "whatever in their power," but that they were very busy with the kidnappings of the teenage girls that they probably could not do much.
The guardians could barely process what had happened. Utau kept sobbing to herself, Ikuto's attempted comfort not helping at all. Amu cried quietly, trying to restrain herself for Utau's sake. But she had lost someone akin to a brother, and although she wasn't hurting as badly as Utau was, she was still in a lot of pain.
Nagihiko was just starring off into space with a blank look on his face, doing everything in his power to prevent himself from cracking, from breaking down into tears and wails. Kukai was very close to him as well; they had known each other for years, and Kukai had even been in on his cross-dressing secret when it was still a secret.
"I didn't want to leave my house earlier today, but now I don't have the faintest idea how to remain safe," Amu stopped crying long enough to say this, and wiped her eyes off with her sleeve.
"Being without someone obviously didn't help. Being with someone didn't help, on the contrary it just put them in danger too. Staying home is dangerous, going out is dangerous…" Kairi cut himself of before he could say that the whole situation was futile, but he was pretty sure everyone else already knew that fact.
"We are going to die. We are all going to die," Rima said in a rather emotionless voice, staring straight ahead at some spot on the wall. She was the first one who dared to say it, but everyone somehow knew it was true. Four days ago they didn't have a care in the world, but now they woke up everyday to another death.
"Don't say that, we could live," Nagihiko said quite weakly, but not sounding like he quite meant it. Rima turned to glare at him.
"Oh stop denying it. We're all screwed. The killer can get into anywhere and kill us with ease. If it keeps up at this rate we'll all be gone in less than a week." Amu gasped as he heard this, subconsciously knowing it to be true but not wanting to hear it said. Everyone fidgeted uneasily, not knowing what to say or do.
"You don't have to have such a negative outlook on things," Nagihiko muttered uncomfortably. He knew that if he wanted to keep everyone sane this kind of talk wouldn't do any good whatsoever.
Rima jumped to her feet, rage livid in her face. "Well what about you? I think it's better to face the dismal reality than be perfectly fine when three of your best friends are murdered! You don't even give a damn that people you've been friends with for almost ten years are being killed off right in front of your eyes!"
"You think I don't care?" Nagihiko jumped to his feet as well, his usually calm and peaceful voice now unsteady with anger. "You think that this isn't killing me as well?"
"You sure as hell don't seem like it! Even Kairi showed some fucking emotion!" Rima screamed at him, her body shaking with anger. Everyone else in the room shifted uncomfortably, not wanting to leave but definitely not wanting to stay as well.
"If I showed any emotion at all at this point I'd break down too, and in case you didn't notice it before now I'm the only one in this room keeping himself together at all!" Nagihiko spat at the short girl, looming down at her with a fierce look on his face. "Since Tadase died Ikuto's been a complete mess, Amu's been uneasy since the very beginning, Yaya dying caused Kairi to lose it completely, Kukai being taken made Utau break down, and you've been crying your fucking eyes out every night since your mother died!"
Rima stepped back uncertainly, knowing she had somehow, inadvertently crossed a line, but being unable to stop Nagihiko now.
"If I don't keep my head on straight who else is going too?" Nagihiko said harshly. He paused for a moment and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down before he continued in a slightly calmer voice.
"You think it didn't kill me seeing the people I've loved since the very beginning being murdered? It's taken everything I've got to get up everyday or do anything like normal. But I knew I had to be there for you. You, who was attacked first, who's mother was killed right in front of you. You think I haven't been seeing her being murdered every time I close my eyes? You think I haven't spent every night tossing and turning imagining the same thing happening to you?"
Before he knew it his calm facade had completely disintegrated, and tears were falling from his eyes. His body shook not from rage, but from sadness and fear.
"Everyday I wake up scared that I'll look over and you'll be gone. And as more people keep dying the only thing I can do to comfort you is to keep myself sane, so that I can be there for you like you need someone to be."
Nagihiko stopped talking as a uniform gasp was heard throughout the room. Rima had done something no one had ever expected her to; she had pulled Nagihiko into a tight hug, reaching up to wrap her arms around his neck. He nervously wrapped his own arms around her torso, not quite sure what had brought this sudden change in her attitude on, but quite liking it.
"I'm sorry," she said in a quiet voice, not quite sure of what she was saying, "I didn't know what you were going through."
"That was kind of the point," Nagihiko muttered somewhat awkwardly, mad at himself for letting her know the truth, but thinking it was maybe better this way.
"Oh my! You two ended your lovers' spat already?" Nagihiko and Rima shot apart to see his mother standing in the doorway with a rather pleased look on her face. "This is great! I may be getting grandchildren sooner than I thought!"
Nagihiko's face turned bright red while Rima's expression turned to one of complete disbelief.
Nagihiko's mother was pushed to the side as a very cranky old woman walked into the room. She glared at her grandson irritably, her arms crossed over her chest. "You didn't heed my warning, foolish boy."
Nagihiko was baffled for a moment. What warning? Everyone else looked as confused as he was, until suddenly it hit him. Oh! About forgetting the past!
"I think if you could remind me of what I have forgotten then it would be easier for me to be cautious of it," Nagihiko said meekly, drawing looks that plainly said "what the hell is that supposed to mean" from everyone in the room besides his grandmother, who frowned at him.
"It would be no good. As it is, you have already jeopardized so much due to your insolence; if you don't think back on it immediately everyone will be hurt by your foolishness."
"Wait, so you're saying this whole thing is Fujisaki-san's fault? Why do you believe that?" Kairi was thoroughly baffled. If anyone was to blame, he would have though it would have been Rima or maybe even Amu.
"It is not entirely his fault. Others are to blame as well." Nagihiko's grandmother's eyes shot around the room, glaring accusingly at every person present. Ikuto gulped, feeling as if she knew his curse was hurting them all.
"Wait, then you know what's going on? Couldn't you tell us?" Amu jumped up excitedly, hopeful that the death could be ended quickly, but Nagihiko's grandmother shook her head.
"No, I do not know what's going on." Amu sighed dejectedly, her body going kind of limp.
Nagihiko was thoroughly confused at this. "Then how can you-"
She walked out from the room without another word, leaving everyone starring at her back in confusion.
"What the hell did that mean?" Rima stared at the doorway incredulously, "Senile old bat."
"Hm, that was rather odd, huh?" Nagihiko's mom rested her cheek on the palm of her hand as she pondered her mother-in-law's words.
"So, this thing is Nagi's fault or one of ours?" Amu asked, obviously quite confused. Ikuto shrugged.
"Who knows? I don't think we can completely believe anything that she said though," he responded, obviously finding her random beliefs without any proof rather preposterous. Nagihiko's mom nodded.
"She is rather old," she said with a slight smile.
Somehow Nagihiko had the feeling that his grandmother knew more than he was letting on, and that she was entirely correct that the whole thing was his fault. But what had he forgotten? Try as hard as he might, he could not think of even a slight hint as to what he had forgotten.
"Anyways, I'll leave you kids here for now. And Nagi-chan," his mother turned to him with a serious expression on her face, "If you and Rima do decide to cave in to your raging hormones then you are at a higher risk of being attacked; keep in mind to keep your eyes open while boning her."
She left the room, ignoring the disgusted look on Rima's face, and the embarrassed yet slightly intrigued expression on Nagihiko's.
"I like your mom," Ikuto said simply, causing Amu to give him a slightly disbelieving look.
(Break.)
Nobody left Nagihiko's house until the end of the day, before dark had come but after the sun had begun to go down. They left in pairs as well, Ikuto sticking to Amu like glue, and Utau and Kairi deciding to stay at his sister's place, not knowing if it would be better or worse to stay together, but finding some sort of comfort in the others presence. When they said goodbye to one another they did so with hugs and tears, not knowing if they would ever see each others faces again.
Wishing that tomorrow they would wake up and, like a badly written movie, it would all be a dream.
A/N: Haha, I made Nagi break down. xD Oh, and that vaguely rimahiko scene came to be after a suggestion from Hazey Rine. It wasn't exactly like what she came up with (or maybe not even relatively close), but I figured Rima would probably be yelling rather than speaking calmly at this time, and for plot reasons I can't have too much rimahiko development at this point.
On a side note, we're about halfway done with the story! Thank you so much for sticking with it this far. And, if you have a moment, please review. :)
