Chapter 11

First of all, I would like to thank the user Terryllennium for the constructive review he gave me. I promise I'll pay attention to everything that you wrote. In this chapter, some connections with the original appear, with the inclusion of events I do not own. (This story is set five years after the original). I created a poll on my profile, and would love to receive some votes. Please review.

"Friends. What are they? People I'm supposed to spend my entire life with or merely the ones who will temporarily help me? Everybody says that it's impossible to be happy without friends, and they're right. I wish I had a good friend, but would she really like me? Would she want something from me, in exchange for being friends with her? Probably. It would be so awesome if I could read minds. I would then know what they think of me, and if they are really my friends or not. I would probably get disappointed, because nobody likes me. People are like this, they only care about themselves. They use their friends for their own self-advantage, to get more popular, to feel accepted. The popular girls are always the worst, always the most selfish. They pick an unpopular girl and then abuse her, make her their slave. And when this girl is not useful anymore or refuses to obey, the popular girls just get rid of her, and find another one. Like what Rin does to me every day. There are no real friends in this world. Yeah. Who needs friends, in the end? Friends are useless."

"Kagura, are you alright?" – asked Sachiko Kirihara from behind her glasses, abruptly interrupting Kagura's internal monologue.

"What…?" – Kagura Soga raised her head and looked at her "friend". She had been talking to herself for five minutes, or even more. For a while, she came to forget that she was sitting on a sofa.

"If there's something bothering you, tell me. Don't hide anything." – Sachiko's calm and reasonable face was now filled with worry. She couldn't hear what Kagura said because it was too low, but she was sure that it wasn't something good. "We're all in this game together. If you think you are going to die, and you are not, by the way, just tell me what you're feeling. Secrets are only going to bring us apart from each other."

"Y…yes." – Kagura lowered her head again, avoiding Sachiko's gaze. She was not going to tell the truth, not by any chance. If Sachiko knew that Kagura was planning the death of all the other girls, she would tell Rin and her friends, and then they would quickly kill Kagura. Out of all the people in Rin's group, Sachiko was the one Kagura was most attached to. She seemed to actually care for her, instead of just tolerating her presence in the group as a matter of pity.

"Kagura, you are not the only one."- continued Sachiko. – "You need to know one thing: I'm just as scared as you are. I might seem like I'm not taking this game seriously, but I'm actually terrified. You're not alone, girl. We are all fighting for the same survival. Don't be afraid to talk to us. After all, we are all friends." – Sachiko was a model student with very high grades in all subjects, and yet no one would ever call her a nerd. She had friends, was involved in several school activities, and was elected class representative for the high school freshmen year. Her acting skills were a joy to watch in the school plays, and her appearance destroyed the popular belief that people who wear glasses glasses cannot be beautiful. Kagura had recently lost count of how many times she had asked for Sachiko's help while studying for a hard exam.

"I'm sorry Sachiko. I have to lie to you, I don't have another choice." – Of course Kagura did not say what she was thinking. She was too cowardly for it. "Sachiko, what is the point of saying that we are all fighting for the same survival, if only one of us is going to remain in the end?" – Kagura turned her head away from her friend, from her only real friend. She did not want to see Sachiko's reaction.

"Don't say that." – Sachiko got nervous and started to blush. – "Rin's smart and is going to find out about a way of escaping this district very soon. Besides, we can survive for a long time in these apartments."

"Rin…always Rin… always her…" – Kagura did not want to kill Sachiko, but she would have no mercy towards Rin Tosaba, Hitomi Nara and Hana Nozaki, the three popular girls who treated her like a pet. Although she never watched The Program on television before, Kagura knew enough about it to be sure that big groups like that one always had it's members turning against each other. Sooner or later. Those were usually the best moments in The Program, when the audience cheered and clapped after watching a bloodbath on TV. Kagura would need to accelerate the process, destroying her friends trust on each other, and then get ready for the explosion.

Sachiko was right about one thing, though. The apartments were a great place, for the ones who wanted to live. Localized on zone C-5, the tall building had five floors, and Rin's group was occupying the apartment number 405. The place had one bedroom for two people (where Kagura would spend the night with Sachiko) and another one for three people (occupied by Rin, Hana and Hitomi). Also, there was a large living room containing many sofas and tables, a kitchen, one bathroom and several Japanese doors. In other words, people who came there would have a good time, as long as they could trust and get well with one another.

"It's already lunchtime, Kagura. Come eat lunch with me." – interlacing her right hand with Kagura's, Sachiko took her unhappy friend to the kitchen table and made her sit down. Both did not know how to cook, but it did not matter, because Hana and Hitomi were cooking for them. The two popular students were gossiping about boys while they cooked, and seemed to be having fun. Suddenly, Hana exhibited her newly manicured, red fingernails to her friend. A long session of beauty compliments ensued.

"Pitiful. We are in a life or death situation as long as we are here, and they are talking about their fingernails. What did I see in these people?" – Kagura's anger towards the girls slowly started coming back. Those two were so voluble and empty-headed (for Kagura) that she was starting to regret wanting to be their friend once. "There's no true friendship among teenage girls. They only want to get more attention. It seems that I was right." – continued the group's ugly duckling, filled with rage.

"The lunch is served, ladies!"- yelled Hana while playfully playing with her braided hair and serving the food. Hitomi followed her, doing the same. While Sachiko smiled beautifully, Kagura was trying to fake one. The food was certainly delicious, fried chicken with rice and baked potatoes. After looking at the lunch, Kagura couldn't stop thinking about poisoning it. But she knew that it would be useless. She would not be able to put poison on Sachiko's food because she liked her. After all the others were dead, Kagura would be the only one left for her friend to blame and kill, out of mad revenge. To do the job right, Kagura would have to make them kill each other somehow.

"Kagura, come on, try to smile! We're not in such a bad situation; it's obvious that we'll be the last ones standing!" – Hitomi sat next to Kagura and started eating, forgetting about her shortly afterwards and talking to Hana instead. Kagura tried not to laugh. Was Hitomi so stupid to forget that she would have to kill? Kagura doubted that any of those girls would have the balls to kill someone. As she started eating the first potato, Hitomi's words remained in her head as Kagura politely thought back:

"You're wrong, Hitomi. I'm going to be the last one standing, and you'll bite the dust, bitch."

Rin Tosaba was the only one in her own group who was not having lunch.

Her current duty was more important than that. Right now, she was in charge of watching over the apartment. With her shotgun aimed at the street, Rin was struggling to hold the heavy weapon and analyze the situation at the same time. The girl was glad that she had learned a few things about firearms when she was younger, the proper way of holding a shotgun being one of them. That shotgun had enough power to rip someone's head off with a single blast, but it would knock the shooter on the floor if he did not know how to use it.

"Thanks dad. You couldn't stop the government from selecting me for The Program, but at least you did something right."

Rin smiled with irony. All of her classmates knew who her dad was, but in reality they did not know anything about him. A famous actor, Shigehiko Tosaba was extremely rich, possessing a large fortune he made out of his own talent and hard work. His wife divorced him shortly after Rin was born, making the girl quickly get used to living only with her dad.

Every time Rin said who her father was at school, several girls giggled and said that she was a lucky girl. "If they knew better…" Most people expect rich parents to spoil their kids as much as possible, turning them into unredeemable monsters after they reach their teens. Rin's father wasn't like that. He was extremely strict, and charged his daughter with several obligations and rules. If Rin did not always get As at school, made friends easily or found a boyfriend soon after ending her previous relationship, her father would get angry and force her to do things she didn't want to, in order to improve herself. A few years ago, when Rin told her father that she wasn't able to sing in her chorus class, he answered that it was all her fault and started slapping her.

Rin still loved him; after all, he was her father. But she never dared to raise her voice or tell him that he was asking too much from her. Thanks to him, though, Rin managed to get popular quickly, although the girl still wasn't sure if she had so many friends because of her own merits or only because she was rich. After all, Rin did not see anything special with herself. She was good at many things, but she wasn't the goddess everyone else thought she was, not by far.

"Rin! Where did you put the kettle?" – asked Hana from the kitchen. Rin was the one who did the breakfast, earlier on that day.

"It's inside the small drawer, on the left!" – Rin answered back to her friend. Hana found the kettle in less than three seconds.

"Why can't they just think for themselves?" – Thought the rich girl, angrily. Since the moment she came to Tsuchihara, everyone clung around Rin so much that it annoyed her. They thought that Rin knew everything, that she was a natural born leader. When in reality, the girl did not know the answer to several things, one of them being how they would escape that game.

"Inside this apartment, I know we're going to make it far. But if we make it to the end…" – Rin would never want to use her shotgun to kill her friends, but if they turned out to be the only ones remaining in the game she did not see any other choice. Escaping was impossible, as the government's defenses were strengthened after an incident on a previous Program. Five years ago, a couple of students whom Rin didn't remember their names managed to escape the game after successfully removing their collars and faking their deaths. From then on, the government decided to make sure that escaping was impossible. Cameras were installed on every urbanized area, and also in the woods. The Program started to be broadcast on national television, in a channel that was reserved for the government. Right now, there was a camera behind Rin, on the left corner of the living room's ceiling. But the girl knew that breaking it would mean instant death, as Mrs. Suzuki would detonate her collar.

"We're going to die here." – A dark shadow made of pure fear passed by the rich girl's face, and she looked at the street even more meticulously. Rin's biggest fear and trauma in life was having her house invaded. When she was eight years old and her dad was travelling abroad, two burglars managed to somehow get inside the luxurious house where she lived at the time. They held her and her nanny at gunpoint for several hours, and after the nanny tried to fight back, they shot her dead in front of Rin. They constantly threatened to kill the small girl if her dad did not give them money. A few hours later, the thieves were caught and killed by the police, but Rin would never forget the men's breathing, their threatening voices, or their insanity. Rin's last nightmare about the incident was only a few days before The Program.

She took a deep breath and stared at the empty space on the other side of the window with determination.

"I can't let that happen again. If someone tries to come in, I'll shoot to kill."

In another part of the city, Misa Fujiwara was undeniably tired and thirsty. She spent more than an hour walking back from where she was, going north. According to the map, she was on zone E-3, but it did not make much of a difference. She was yet to find a place to eat, and the extremely hot afternoon summer made her drink almost all of the water in her bottle. Misa hated extreme heat, and always preferred coolness.

"I need to get some water, fast!"- As she wandered through the streets with clumsy steps, Misa couldn't avoid thinking about her life back at home. Many students of that class had problems with their families, but Misa Fujiwara wasn't one of them: she was raised by loving parents and an awesome grandmother, in the beautiful city of Osaka. Surrounded by family and friends, Misa had the childhood every child would want to have.

"But in the end, it was all useless, because I moved to Tokyo and got selected. I lost all of the friends I had back there and came to a class of preppy girls. Why did my dad have to move? He couldn't know, but I don't give a damn. When I go back home after I win this thing, I'm going to punch him in the face." – Misa wasn't the type of girl who would hit her own family, but thirst can make people do crazy things. Without water, the average person can live for four days, but these four days would make anyone wish to be dead.

A few more blocks ahead, Misa turned to the right and saw what for her was a paradise: a bakery store. It couldn't get any better than that. Running like a leopard, the girl who lost her beauty due to her sweaty skin, messy hair and dry lips suddenly stopped.

She felt something metallic, which felt like the barrel of a pistol, pressing the back of her head.

"I wouldn't do this if I were you." – A female voice spoke behind Misa, but the girl was too scared to turn around. How did that happen? Misa didn't see anyone, she was sure that the place was empty…

"Turn around." – The voice spoke again, and Misa started to recognize who was talking. She didn't turn around, though; fear was building inside her spine in such a way that she wasn't even able to think.

"Turn around NOW!" – the girl yelled angrily from behind, and after realizing that Misa wouldn't obey her, she put her hand on Misa's shoulder and made her turn with a violent pull. Misa yelled in surprise after seeing who the girl was.

It was Kageri Shouzaku, who had the makeup that powdered her face ruined by tears. She looked like a fallen angel, with her face painted white, long black hair, red lipstick and deep dark eyeliners. She probably put makeup on during the game, as it wasn't allowed at school. However, there was something evil about her gaze, and she seemed to be ready to shoot at any moment. She also did not seem to be insane. Kageri had total control of her actions and knew perfectly what she was doing. Misa started mumbling, crying with fear:

"W-Why?"

"I don't like you." –soon after saying that, Kageri violently pushed Misa, hitting her head against the wall of one of the closed stores. Normally, Misa would have reacted, but she was too scared to do so; Kageri had the gun and she had a useless brick. "Why did I get such a useless weapon?"

"Nobody's going to look twice at you!" – Kageri yelled again, and pressed the barrel of the gun against Misa's nose, in order to deform her face as much as possible. Kageri always hated the fact that Misa looked like an angel, while she herself had to wear tons of makeup to achieve the same effect. After Misa, another one would get shot in the face, and then another, until Kageri killed everyone and could then go back home. She would not lose, no matter what.

From behind her tears, Misa stared at the blue sky that she would never see again, and remembered her family, her friends and Osaka. She hoped that being shot in the face would be fast and painful less. She still had her entire life ahead of her, it wasn't fair!

"Goodbye, bitch"- Kageri pulled the trigger of her .44 AutoMag pistol.

"Click!"

For a few seconds, the two girls remained frozen in time, trying to comprehend what had just happened. Until Kageri realized what it was.

"The safety, fuck! I forgot to pull the safety!" – Kageri's left hand moved towards her pistol, ready to its job.

"THOCK!"-a loud sound filled the air, as Misa slammed the brick on the left side of Kageri's head with all the strength she could reach with her right arm. She was moved by pure adrenaline and instinct, and now it was time to release her anger upon Kageri.

"AAARRRGHHH!" – Kageri howled in pain and stepped to the side, but did not fall. Her left hand managed to pull the safety quickly, as she pointed the gun at Misa and fired.

However, the bullet did not hit Misa, because she wasn't there anymore. While Kageri was pulling the safety, Misa lunged towards her classmate's legs and headbutted her stomach, knocking her on the floor in a matter of seconds. It happened so fast. The shot fired by the AutoMag pistol hit the wooden wall behind Misa, creating a large hole in it. Misa did not even pay attention to the noise; she just wanted to stay alive.

Another cracking sound was heard when Misa hit Kageri's right hand with the brick. Her pistol felt to the floor as she screamed, and her index finger broke with the impact. A large purple bruise started growing on her hand, but Kageri ignored the pain and tried to get the gun.

"You're dead, bitch!" – yelled Kageri with violence.

If Kageri had decided to give up and stop fighting, Misa might have decided to spare her life, steal her gun and leave her unarmed on the floor. But she did not, making Misa realize that it was kill or be killed. Reuniting all of her strength once more, Misa hit the brick against Kageri's left eye, making it turn purple and bleed as her classmate screamed in pain. She held Kageri's right hand firmly, to stop the girl from going for her gun. Meanwhile, Kageri's intact left hand acted quickly, and started to violently pull Misa's black ponytail and scratch her face with its long fingernails

Misa did not give up. The pain she was feeling was nothing compared to what she had reserved for Kageri. Misa hit her brick against Kageri's nose, instantly breaking it and causing more blood to spill from her nostrils. Misa attacked again, hitting the right side of Kageri's mouth. This third blown broke several of Kageri's teeth, causing her lips to part and bleed. Kageri's white make up was now red with blood, as if she had decided to play a vampire on a school play.

"AAAAHHHH!"- All the blows made Kageri grunt in pain and caused her head to spin. It was so painful, so brutal; she never thought that her first kill would be that hard, after all a .44 AutoMag was an invincible weapon, and a superior girl like her would never lose to a worm like Misa. Letting anger take control over her, Kageri used her left hand to punch Misa's face several times, making the stronger girl release Kageri's right hand.

Not letting her opportunity pass, Kageri punched Misa in the stomach, throwing her on the floor. Turning around on her front, with her face bleeding heavily, Kageri tried to reach for the gun, only a few inches away from her.

"I won't let you escape that easily!"- Yelled Misa in her mind, and then pulled Kageri's long hair with violence. Kageri experienced pain for the second time as Misa kept pulling her hair, and then used her right hand to slam the brick on the back of Kageri's head, breaking her skull.

"THOCK! THOCK!THOCK!THOCK!"

Misa bashed Kageri's head one, two, three, four times, each one producing a more audible crack, a bigger scream and more and more blood. The impact of each blow also made Kageri's forehead hit the stone ground, deforming it and making the girl spill more blood. Soon her head became red and caved in, and by the sixth blow her hair was more red than black.

For some reason unknown to this world, Kageri Shouzaku was still alive. Her existence now was now nothing but pure pain, and one or two blows would cause her death. Yet, as the pain started leaving her body, she was still thinking: "Misa… Misa… Kill… Kill… Bitch… Bitch…"

Reuniting the last amount of strength that she still possessed, Kageri lunged forwards and surprisingly got rid of Misa's grip on her hair. She started to stand up as slowly as a turtle, forgetting about the gun. Her entire body shook uncontrollably; her nerves were not working anymore.

But Misa was much, much faster. She got up from behind of Kageri in a few seconds, and then raised the bloody brick as high as her height allowed. Misa then dropped the brick on the top of Kageri's head, destroying whatever remained of her skull and crushing her brain.

Kageri was already dead, instantly killed by the impact; however, her body did not want to accept it yet. The girl who was proud of being popular, beautiful and superior gave three clumsy steps forward while her entire head bled through every single pore. Even her ears bled. Then she finally fell on her side, deader than a doornail. A small puddle of blood slowly erupted from under her head.

Standing next to Kageri's corpse, Misa spent a long time in absolute silence. She was expecting to start crying for the girl's death, to scream and mourn because she became a murder and effectively played the government's game. It did not happen.

What Misa felt at that moment was pure pleasure. Kageri was the one who tried to kill her first, and got what she deserved. Why would she feel sorry for a bitch like her, so vain that she could not open a can for fear of breaking her nails and so stupid that she forgot to pull her gun's safety? Misa knew she wasn't going to kill again, but enjoyed looking at the bloody, gory mess that once was Kageri's beautiful face. It was almost unrecognizable, with the nose, left eye, mouth and forehead destroyed, and blood flowing all over it.

As Misa opened Kageri's duffel bag, stealing her bottle of water and her .44 AutoMag, she thought about what Kageri said while threatening Misa with her gun. That nobody would want to look twice at Misa again. While heading to the bakery store, Misa Fujiwara, one of the first killers in the 2011 edition of the Program, sarcastically formulated an answer:

"Well Miss. Perfect" – Misa smiled with malice. – It seems no one will want to look twice at you from now on."

Girl #6 Kageri Shouzaku- Dead

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