Author's Note
In a sort of mini-celebration of the release of the Higanbana no Saku Yoru Ni visual novel, I've decided to do a very slight crossover chapter here and have added a character to this story that appears in the game (so if you have no idea who he is and I didn't give a description of him that's why). There are absolutely no spoilers to the visual novel in this chapter (since it has yet to be translated), so you needn't be concerned about that. He doesn't have any influence on the overall story either, so he's basically a cameo who I threw in for no other reason.
Yokai's Daybreak Chapter
This tale is significantly different from the material you are used to. Instead of a series of events that pertain to the Hinamizawa Disaster, you will be subjected to a very different scenario where the characters you've come to know will be set against each other in a battle royal. This tale is more for raw entertainment value than anything else. But beware the user-defined truth, as despite the nature of this tale the truth has elements hidden here as well. I hope you enjoy this action-packed tale, but I hope you do not become too engrossed in its flashy and style-based nature. In all honesty, if you do enjoy this story that much, I'll have no choice but to have you see our local psychologist.
~ Dr. Saturn Anne
The Pivotal Actors are as follows (Perspective character gets the bold):
Ryuugu Rena
Sonozaki Shion
Sonozaki Mion
Maebara Keichi
Houjou Satoko
Furude Rika
The Black Tea Gentleman
The Unreliable Narrator (Faceless)
The crowd went wild as the grand show's host appeared on the stage, as if out of nowhere. He stood on the marble, checkerboard patterned, circular platform, gleaming at the crowd with his trademark smile plastered upon his face. The crowd went wild with the anticipation of the oncoming performance by a number of individuals the man had selected for the show beforehand.
He'd become a tad famous for these performances. But of course, in order to have gained such fame from a diverse audience of people and creatures from every corner of the Sea of Fragments, these performances were not of the classical or poetic sort, where actors would project the roles of men and women from some of the greatest tales of all time. No, in these performances, the actors were murderers- or more specifically, people who would kill without a second thought, ignoring all reason. But this performance was said to be the most anticipated yet- a battle between adolescent teenagers and even younger children. It is said to be a battle between close friends- friends who would go so far as to kill each other if they were brought to do it. These actors were special, in the sense that their reasons to kill were far more personal than that of any of the other killers featured before, which was received with much more excitement than any performance before it.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, Yokai and Demons, Witches and Wizards! I, the Black Tea Gentleman, welcome you to tonight's performance!"
The crowd goes wild as he bows dramatically.
"Tonight we have quite a show prepared for you all. But first things first. We need to introduce our lovely cast for the evening!"
The crowd goes quiet as the man begins the introductory phase of the evening.
"Tonight we have a group of tightly knit friends who have nothing but feelings of affection for each other. These friends have done many things together, and are as close as can be. But with the grand prize of their most precious wish being granted up for grabs, they will do anything and everything to become the victor. These close friends will fight to the death in our glorious arena!"
The man claps his hands and a spotlight focuses on one end of the circular arena.
"Our first contestant! The elder of two siblings, and the future successor to a prestigious family that was once tied to the Yakuza. She may be young, but she knows the pain and anguish of unrequited love. Her jealousy and greed are what drive her in this battle. A competitive game player herself, she has been deemed by those around her as a master of games. But will she be able to use her cunning and wit to conquer this game? I give you- Mion Sonozaki!"
The crowd cheers as the seemingly lifeless Mion appears as if out of thin air where the spotlight had been focusing.
"Our second contestant! The daughter of a slaughtered family, she lived on through sheer force of will and with the love of her older brother, who was taken from her as well. Since then, she has been able to live on through the comfort of her best friend, and has found an older brother in one of her dear friends."
The audience makes a collective sigh, as if expressing fake sympathy for the girl.
"But in the end, there is only one thing she truly wants, and will fight to the death for it. She is a master of traps, and has fooled many a man with her cunning. She has been known to insult her enemies into submission, even! Perhaps this conniving child, despite being so young, may have the mettle to usurp the game master! I give you- Satoko Houjou!"
The crowd cheers once again as Satoko appears out of thin air, in a similar state to Mion.
"Moving right along- Our third contestant! She is the sibling of Mion Sonozaki. She has lived her life in her sister's place, and has watched her fall in love much like she had. But alas, she cannot find completion in love, as she fell for the late brother of Houjou. Because of her deep and unending love, she has become a broken woman, willing to do anything for the love she lost! Perhaps she truly is the most ruthless killer of them all….I give you- Shion Sonozaki!"
The crowd continues the cheers as Shion appears. The audience gasps and the cheers grow louder as the bloodied katana appears within her grasp.
"Our fourth contestant! A tragic girl, warped by her delusions and fear. She has been deemed insane, and all because of a near absurd belief in the god of her village. She remains ever faithful, but remains living in fear because of the terror that her god has rained upon her. She is akin to a crazy heretic! And her reason for fighting? A place where she can be happy." He placed pitiful emphasis on the last sentence he spoke.
The crowd collectively laughed at the description of the girl. It seemed that the crowd wanted to see the poor girl as a sort of insane lunatic- the crowd immensely enjoyed contestants with such a back-story.
"But don't take her too lightly! She may be a lunatic, but her lunacy gives her unending strength! She is capable of a great many things, but above all- murder. I give you- Rena Ryuugu!"
The crowd continues their unending cheer as Rena appears next to Shion, her eyes filled with terror. A meat cleaver appeared in her grasp, which made the audience converge in a collective "Ooh." They hadn't gotten enough out of humiliating her just yet.
"Now for our fifth contestant! He is an outsider. He was born outside the village he now resides in, but has been accepted by this group of friends, all of which have fallen in love with him!"
The crowd goes wild. Indeed, the secrets and feelings of these children were exciting to expose and witness.
"But what they do not know may indeed hurt them…He has been exposed in many ways, he has been deemed both a genius and an ingrate, he has failed at a grand deal more than any other man on earth, but on top of all of that he is guilty of the assault of a small child!" Of course, he would never specify what kind of assault he was talking about. The truth would be left to the gleeful minds of the audience to discern.
The crowd was mixed with gasps and cheers. They wanted to see this boy, if only for the mental image they had of him.
"Without any further ado, I give you- Keichi Maebara!"
The crowd cheered louder than they had for Shion when Keichi appeared, holding two handguns much like a hero in an action movie.
"And now, our final contestant! At first glance, she would appear to be an innocent, sweet little girl. But give her a few drinks and she becomes something far more sinister. She's spent years and years suffering in the same, endless month of June, and she has become hardened and ruthless as a result! She's the cruelest witch in the world, and could probably give even the Endless Witch herself a run for her money! I give you- Rika Furude!"
The crowd cheered as Rika appeared. They were amused by her small body, but were suddenly made very interested given the huge scythe that appeared in her hands.
But the crowd collectively gasped when Rika did not remain completely motionless as the others had, but instead chose to rush towards the Black Tea Gentleman, the sound produced from her mouth sounding like a sort of curdled battle cry.
"Oh? What's this?"
The man grinned at her, blocking the deadly scythe with a single finger.
"I thought I explained it to you already. You can't attack the host." He spoke with a completely non-serious tone of voice.
"You could at least look at me when you taunt me, instead of keeping your eyes shut like that. It really pisses me off."
"Now now, Miss Frederica." He'd been calling her that ever since he found out it irritated her to no end. "Won't you calm down and save the murderous intent for the show?"
Without opening his eyes, he seemed to sneer at her.
"Or would you rather I just kill them all in front of you right now?" His tone of voice completely changed.
"Don't think for a second I'm doing this because I want to humor you and your 'audience,' yokai." She spoke with deep malice in her voice.
"I wouldn't dream of it." He smiled. Rika lowered the scythe and backed away, returning to the spotlight.
"I apologize for that small interruption. Now I have a special announcement to make. As this show has had a greater turnout than any show, I have decided to make this arena the most entertaining yet! I have decided to forgo the help of the witch of vanishing objects, Beatrice."
The audience gasped and cheered. During all of the past performances, the Black Tea Gentleman would send the contestants to separate dimensions making use of Beatrice's (or rather her recently acquired and distinctively more fitting name of Gaap) vortexes and have them battle there, while the audience watched by the means of something akin to a television screen. But forgoing her assistance meant that the contestants would be fighting on the platform before the audience.
"But without any further ado, let the games begin!"
The crowd continued to go wild, as if they had no shred of conscience or dignity. How else could they have found the emotional plight of these poor children so entertaining?
"To start things off: two women, both in love with the same man. Perhaps their suppressed spite for each other stems from their conflicting feelings. But tonight, in this area, for the very first time- these two women will fight to the death for their right to advance towards their beloved wishes."
The man waited for the cheers to die down so he could properly announce the match.
"Round One- Rena Ryuugu versus Mion Sonozaki!"
The previously motionless Mion and Rena stepped forward as the Black Tea Gentleman floated upward towards his seat above the area. Rika looked on in agony as the two prepared to fight. Rena brandished her cleaver, while Mion simply stood still with no weapon in her hands.
"The First Movement! Fight!" The man cried out. He would always start off any match with a random call-out.
Almost as if they'd been injected with the energy they'd been lacking entirely until just now, they both leapt into action. They did not speak a single word- they simply fought.
Rena ran at Mion with the full force of a swing with the cleaver- enough energy to shave her head off entirely. But Mion dodged the first swing and the second. Rena went for the third, but as she did Mion un-buckled the stun gun that she always carried with her. Upon firing it, Rena staggered slightly, letting out a sharp cry. Her grip loosened on the cleaver, and in that instant Mion managed to rip it out of her grasp. She took a single swing and managed to rip off Rena's left arm.
The audience gasped, some of them wincing, and some of them even cheering.
But in this game, you had to die before you were killed. If that made any sense to begin with. It added to the entertainment value, even if it were physically impossible. It didn't stop the pain one would feel from losing their arm, just the blood. If one's organs were completely inoperable and it was impossible for them to rise and fight, they would be allowed to die. Otherwise- you would just not bleed.
Rena wildly ran at Mion, managing to land a single punch on the Sonozaki sibling before forcing her to the ground. She continued to wail on her, pinning her right arm to the ground, making it impossible for her to wield the large cleaver properly. Rena, using a fragment of sharp bone sticking out of her arm, cut a long line down Mion's arm, rendering it useless. She managed to grab the cleaver and managed to spear Mion through the chest with it, pinning her to the ground.
The crowd went wild. They hadn't been expecting a move like that.
Rena stopped to breath for a second before letting out a high pitched scream. It was more like a howl than a scream, though. It appears she was still agonized by the murder of her friend, even though she was the one who dealt the final blow.
"Oh, it seems that Sonozaki-san is finished. But there's one rule I put in place for tonight that's a little different from usual…." The man grinned.
Mion suddenly came alive again, ripping the cleaver out of her chest and speared Rena in a similar way- except straight through the skull, crushing everything in between.
"…Only heart and head-shots count as a kill! Sonozaki-san is the victor!"
The crowd went wild once more as Rena fell over to the side. The half dead Mion rose to her feet and nearly stumbled back over. She didn't make a sound.
"Oh, but it seems that Sonozaki-san took a few fatal blows…Let's fix her up."
Rika couldn't help but wonder what he meant- but what he did mean was far more atrocious than what she had expected.
He snapped his fingers, and in that instant Mion let out a curdled scream. In a matter of seconds, all of her skin had melted off of her body, leaving nothing but a floating mesh of bone. But a few moments later, her skin and organs began to reform themselves. Eventually Mion was completely reconstructed, with all of her wounds completely gone. Once the process was completely finished Mion puked on the ground in front of her. The audience laughed at the reaction. Rika growled at them. This was far too much.
A few seconds later she returned to her standing position from earlier, dragging the meat cleaver along with her. Rena's entire body seemed to melt away into nothing.
"Now, onward with the second round! These two haven't been friends for too long, but they have become close enough that one could say they are siblings! These two, as close as they are, will both fight for their precious wish, no matter the cost!"
"Round Two: Keichi Maebara versus Satoko Houjou!"
The two combatants stepped forward, but unlike Mion and Rena, these two spoke.
"…I'm sorry." That was what Keichi said. Satoko didn't make a single sound.
"Standby, Ready? Round Two, Fight!"
Normally one would think that Keichi would simply shoot Satoko and be done with the fight, but the handguns, while being loaded with a single round each, had a very limited range. They were limited to the exact distance that Keichi had once stood from the innocent girl that he'd attacked. The distance from the chamber to the 'cut off' point of the bullet was equal to this distance, and as such could not fire very far.
Satoko knew to keep her distance, and she did as such. She figured that getting behind him would be the best course of action at the time, and so she worked her way to the other end of the arena while Keichi tried to get close enough in to hit her. Keichi took several shots, most of which weren't even remotely close to the target. He wasn't a particularly good shot, but using something more accessible to him like a baseball bat was apparently not allowed at this stage of the game. He managed to pursue Satoko for long enough that she nearly slipped up, and the bullet that Keichi had fired at that moment was within range of her. It barely skimmed past her left ear, shaving of a negligible amount of hair off her head in the process. Satoko stumbled as far away as possible, but Keichi still had a few clear shots. He fired off three more, all of which missed her.
Eventually Satoko was capable of taking the lead again, and managed to leap out of Keichi's range with seemingly inhuman acrobatic ability. Aside from her ability to lay traps almost instantaneously, her movement was severely heightened, allowing her to move far more nimbly than her body would normally allow. She threw a single smoke bomb in his direction, blocking his line of sight entirely. Eventually the smoke cleared, but not before Satoko had knocked Keichi over, causing one of his handguns to fall from his grasp. The audience had been able to see the entire exchange and was already howling wildly.
Keichi managed to figure out where she was and tripped her over as she tried to flee. When he could get a clear shot she was just outside of his shot range. He took a single step forward- and into a cracked floor trap that Satoko had set up during the time the smoke screen had been up.
Keichi was stuck at the bottom of a large hole. There was no chance he could climb out.
"Ooh…It seems the fight's taken an interesting direction."
"…That's it, right?" Satoko suddenly shouted, her eyes still as wide as they had been the entire time. "He can't fight, so he loses, right?"
Rika suddenly realized what Satoko had done. She'd trapped Keichi in a hole so he would be unable to fight her- so she wouldn't have to kill him.
"Hm… I assume so. Very well, then Maebara-san loses due to inability to fight…"
As the Black Tea Gentleman said that, the crowd seemed disappointed- but that disappointment turned into excitement once more when large spikes rained from the ceiling, falling into the hole.
"…N-No…No! No!" Satoko started to shake uncontrollably. "My…Nee-nee….I…No…I…" She let out a curdled cry.
Something suddenly clicked. The gun that Keichi had dropped. She ran over to it.
"Oh?" The man seemed intrigued by the turn of events.
"Satoko- DON'T!" Rika cried.
Satoko grabbed the gun and in her shaky grasp pointed it directly between her eyes. She wasted no time in pulling the trigger. She fell over as blood poured from the wound.
"Oh ho ho!"
The audience was completely captivated by the scene before them- captivated in a bad way.
And as if the man had done so on purpose, Keichi emerged from the hole. The audience went crazy.
"So in the end it seems that Maebara-san is the victor!"
"…Satoko…" Keichi stared at Satoko's currently evaporating corpse. Clearly this hurt him as much as it hurt her. He returned to his place of his own free will, picking up the handgun from the floor where Satoko had dropped it.
"Now, with round two out of the way, let us move right on to round three! The true successor to the name of Sonozaki and the last of the Furude family line- these two powers, which have clashed in combat time and time again, will now be shown before a live studio audience. Sonozaki, and her selfish love of the elder Houjou. Furude, and her selfless love of her friends. Which love will prove to be more powerful in this arena today?"
Rika forced herself to step forward. It was far too late to back down now.
"You'll regret this." She told the man, who promptly ignored her.
"Round 3: Shion Sonozaki versus Rika Furude!"
Shion readied her katana. "It's nothing personal. But I'm not going to lose this battle."
"Nothing personal? What the hell are you talking about? You're the only one besides me who's doing this freely!"
"…I'm done talking. Either keep talking and die or fight me and end up dead anyway."
"…"
"Heaven or Hell! Fight!"
The moment the yokai snapped his fingers, Shion immediately dashed toward her at a lightning fast speed. Rika's heightened senses enabled her to block the impending slash with her scythe as she made a counter swing. If Shion were going to fight her without holding back, then neither would she.
Shion came at her again, this time with a straight jab. Rika blocked it with the wide blade of the scythe before swinging it in such a way that a large gust of wind was sent in Shion's direction. The wind was strong enough to leave cuts all over her body. But despite the fact that they probably hurt a ridiculous amount, she didn't even flinch. She ran straight at her again before leaping high into the air and landed on top of Rika, impaling her in the left shoulder with the blade.
"Crap, I missed." She growled.
Rika used her free hand to swing the seemingly weightless scythe, forcing Shion to pull the blade out of her shoulder and back away. Rika gripped her shoulder with her free hand, dropping the scythe to the ground. The audience gasped, confusion about throughout the entire crowd.
Shion looked at her with disbelief.
"Are you even trying anymore?" She rushed at her, taking the opening for what it was.
Or rather what it seemed to be.
Shion moved to drive the blade through Rika's heart. But as she did, Rika used her lower center of gravity and dived under her. It was a one-shot strategy, but it had worked. The blade missed entirely as a result and Shion stumbled forward and onto the scythe. Rika lifted the scythe and, while holding Shion in place with her foot, pressed her head into the sharp edge of the blade. She pulled the edge of the scythe along Shion's neck, severing her head. The crowd went crazy at the gruesome way Shion died.
But it wasn't the end. Rika pulled the scythe away when she believed she'd killed her. But Shion's head was still attached to her neck by what was left of her neck muscles. She couldn't move, but she was still alive. Normally she would have to be considered dead.
"I won't finish her." Rika stated.
"Very well…" The man snapped his fingers and the rain of spikes fell upon Shion.
"The victor is Miss Frederica!" He exclaimed. Rika glared up at him.
"You're next." She stated. The man grinned at her, his eyes as shut as ever. Rika stalked off to her spot next to Keichi and Mion, her scythe in tow as Shion melted away.
"Now, as we only have three contestants remaining, I have decided that we shall pit two of the survivors against each other…And I have decided that the victor shall fight Miss Frederica in the final round!"
The crowd apparently liked that idea.
"Now, with round four…Two friends, the best of friends, two people who fully understand each other. Two people who may even love each other. Two friends whose wishes practically coincide! But regardless of their wishes and dreams, they must fight each other here and now."
"Round Four: Mion Sonozaki versus Keichi Maebara!"
The two stepped forward.
"Don't worry, Mion. I'll make this quick." Keichi said, pointing his handguns in her direction. Mion's face, instead of being as stoic as it had been, seemed to be a bit more distraught. It seemed that she had yet to recover from the horrible experience of being reconstructed. She spat bile out on the floor as she readied the cleaver.
"Ah, but there is a new condition. As neither combatant has a reasonable size advantage over the other, ranged combat is not allowed. Therefore, Maebara-san must select a new weapon."
The handguns disappeared, but Keichi already knew what weapon he'd use. A baseball bat that seemed to be made out of incredibly durable steel appeared in his hands. The crowd bawled and laughed at him.
Mion's face, even if for a moment, seemed to show a pained expression. She readied the meat cleaver she'd taken from Rena and was ready to charge at him.
"Very well then…The Wheel of Fate is turning! Rebel 4, Action!"
Mion, with a burst of energy, lifted the cleaver over her head and ran straight at him. Keichi managed to sidestep the first slash and managed to deal a single blow to Mion's right arm. Mino backed off and ran at him from a different angle, trying to force his guard to break by having the cleaver collide with the bat at several different angles. But the bat was far too durable, and eventually Keichi had managed to take a single solid swing at Mion's head. She staggered back as he ran forward to push her to the ground. Keichi had realized that Mion hadn't really been fighting at all, and as such allowed her to stand.
"Come on. Don't you want your wish granted?"
Mion rose to her feet and swung once more. She managed to bring the cleaver towards Keichi in another swing despite her sluggish movement, but when Keichi brought the bat in front of him to block the swing, Mion suddenly dove at him, knocking him to the ground. At this point Keichi was struggling to break from her grasp, while Mion was trying to get a clean shot at Keichi's heart. She couldn't hold him in place for long, however, and Keichi managed to break free and brought the bat down on her head. As he tried to rise to his feet, Mion managed to stomach the pain from the blunt swing and forced him back to the ground and forced the bat out of his hand. She held the clever above him.
"Ah…Looks like I lose, as usual…I wonder what the penalty game should be."
Mion's grip on the cleaver was somewhat wavering. Rika could already tell what was about to happen.
Mion brought the cleaver down on Keichi.
And plunged it right into his shoulder.
"The penalty….Game….I know….You have to wear that nasty looking red thing for the rest of the day….Heh…..How embarrassing…"
"Mion…!"
"Sorry, Kei-chan….This old man needs to rest…."
Mion ripped the cleaver out of Keichi's shoulder and plunged it straight into her heart. It was almost instantaneous- she fell over, completely dead, and her body melted away right before Keichi's eyes.
"Mion!" He screamed.
"Oh my, yet another suicide! This is getting a bit old, don't you think?" The Black Tea Gentleman seemed to have realized that a repeat show wouldn't be as satisfying as one with more variety. He would have to do something about this for the final round.
The crowd had apparently grown tired of the suicide endings to the rounds. Perhaps people with strong feelings for each other weren't the best murderers?
"I suppose then the final round shall begin…But first, one final rule that will be instated for this last round. No suicide is allowed. You have to kill the other person to win. And if you refuse to fight by this new rule….Well then, no wish shall be granted to either side."
Keichi wordlessly returned to his position while Rika gazed at him sadly.
"Now, my beloved audience, I give you the final round of tonight's performance! These two are the most distant of the pack of friends, yet they are the closest! While Frederica is simply a stranger to the young man, the poor miko carries all the memories and feelings she has made with him along her endless path! He may see her as a dear friend, but she sees him as something far greater! In this match, where one must kill the other, who will be able to stomach their feelings and deal the final blow?"
Keichi and Rika had already taken their places. Keichi was apparently still using the baseball bat, but given how Rika was far more capable in combat it might have been more of a disadvantage. However, she did not have heightened senses and speed as Satoko had, so it might have been slightly fair.
"Round Five: Keichi Maebara versus Rika Furude-apologies, Miss Frederica!" Much to his disdain, Rika completely ignored him that time.
Rika's gaze was cast to the ground in front of her. She had almost been expecting an outcome like this. Perhaps if she kept her eyes shut she could bring herself to kill him. But she knew that despite the fact that she'd seen to Shion's death so thoroughly that Keichi was a completely different story. As much as she hated to admit it, the yokai was right. She had the mind of someone well beyond the years of any human being- she knew what she felt for Keichi was as real as he had made it out to be. That was why she couldn't do it. But she had to, there was no way out like there was for Mion.
But would Keichi have the same sort of hesitation? The thought that he in fact did not left a bad taste in her mouth.
"…Rika." Keichi spoke, causing her head to snap upward. He swung the bat and pointed it directly at her. "With this bat- with this power I have, I'll acknowledge your feelings." Had he understood her inner turmoil?
Rika stared at him blankly, before closing her eyes and grinning slightly.
"…Alright then, Keichi…Then with this scythe…"
She readied her blade for the impending battle.
"…I'll beat them into you!"
The yokai above them only grinned. Things were going just as planned, now that Rika was willing to fight to the death in the final battle. The crowd had seemed to have forgotten the lack luster performance the rest of the combatants had given and were now intensely focused on the scene before them.
"…I've run out of call outs! Just kill each other already!" The audience laughed, before falling silent as the battle began.
Rika took the first move, rushing at Keichi with a large amount of speed. She tried to ring the blade around him so she could simply pull and be done with it, however simplistic his death would be. But the incredibly durable bat managed to block the blade entirely and Keichi managed to land a strong blow to her stomach. Rika stumbled to the side as Keichi attempted to rush her, but Rika was already in the air at that point and decided it would be best to re-gauge Keichi's brute force. She determined the best way to go about attacking him would be with a full on strike from below his bat's horizontal range. That way he would be forced to make an imprecise vertical strike, which would give her enough of an opening to deal some damage.
Of course Keichi had been expecting something like that, and so he decided to completely step out of the way and prepare his vertical strike beforehand. Rika missed him only narrowly, however, and she managed to turn the tables on him with a swift yet completely blind slash to the side. Keichi had almost stopped paying attention at that moment, letting his guard down slightly. Rika managed to catch his arm, ripping it open before he could back away. Unfortunately for her, Keichi's stronger arm managed to crash right into the scythe, the brute force from which managed to completely knock it from her grasp. The audience gasped as Keichi leapt forward to deliver what he was hoping would be the final blow.
But Rika managed to dive under him, the same tactic she'd used on Shion.
It was unfortunate that Keichi had read her move perfectly, dropping down on top of her as she was sliding under him.
"That's about enough of that. You can't get someone with that trick if they've seen it already."
"Damn…I guess I lose, huh?"
Keichi brought the bat down on her skull, and with a sickening crack her head split open. The crowd cheered.
"…" The yokai above them was watching curiously.
It only took a matter of moments before Keichi realized that something was wrong. He tried to determine why Rika hadn't faded away even though her head was split open and she was certainly dead.
His gaze shifted to her left arm. A small trail of blood flowed across the floor from her wrist and the line she had made with the piece of floor tile along her arm.
"…Clever." Keichi grinned. Of course- suicide was not allowed. But she had killed herself before he had killed her. So technically, she was still alive.
"Interesting…It seems that Miss Frederica needs to be reconstructed." The yokai snapped his hands and Rika's body shook.
Keichi's eyes widened. He quickly dropped the bat at his side and embraced the Rika's shaking frame as she went through the exact same process that Mion went through. She managed to hold in the bile that her body desperately wanted to release as Keichi's grip became tighter. She suddenly started to breath heavily the process finished and she was hit with a wave of nausea.
"Keichi…Thanks, but…"
Rika gripped the shard of the floor tile she'd managed to relocate and stabbed him in the side with it.
"Don't forget we're still fighting."
"…I didn't." Keichi pointed out. It was then that Rika felt what appeared to be another shard of floor tile sink into her neck. Keichi released her, grabbing the nearby bat and brought it down on her in her state of confusion.
Rika was soundly beaten as the bat came crashing down on her head for the final time. He quickly forced the shard out of her lose hand so she could not repeat her same strategy from before. He reached for the discarded scythe and while Rika remained immobile he swung downwards with it- plunging it directly into Rika's heart.
"Ah…I lost…Does that mean that….Keichi really loves me?" Rika bitterly whispered as she quickly bled out.
"…That's right." Whether it was a lie or not, Keichi hoped that Rika had heard those words as her eyes lost their light and she quickly passed.
The crowd went wild as Rika remained completely motionless.
"Ah, such a pity. I was hoping Miss Frederica would have won." The yokai feigned sympathy for the girl as he descended down upon the scene. Rika's body melted away in a matter of moments and the damaged arena seemed to repair itself.
"Congratulations, Maebara-san. You've won, and so it's time your wish was granted." The yokai spoke in a completely more positive tone as he brought his hand to rest on Keichi's shoulder as the crowd continued to cheer.
"Really? So that's it?"
"Yes, it's over. You've won, and so your wish will at last be granted."
"…This is your idea of a game, huh?"
"Yes, you see, the entire tournament is held for the purpose of pleasing that large audience out there." The yokai waved his free hand in the direction of the crowd. "Right now they're calling you their champion for the evening. After all, you did manage to prove to this crowd exactly how strong you were, even though you only had to really kill one person. But the crowd is fickle- the fact that you won means that they've forgotten all of that, so you shall return home with not just your prize, but with glory!"
"Hm…Your game sounds a bit boring."
"Boring, you say?" The yokai looked at him somewhat peculiarly, although it was almost impossible to tell what expression he was making with his shut eyes. "Is the massacre of a large group of people that boring to you?"
"It gets old after awhile."
"Really…Then what game do you suppose would be suitable for a crowd like this then, Maebara-san?"
"…I've got one." Keichi spoke quietly as he raised the scythe he'd just acquired.
In a single motion he swiftly swung it in the yokai's direction. He was too slow on the swing, apparently, as the man slipped just out of the scythe's reach before it could make its mark. The audience gasped at the scene before them.
"Uninteresting adolescent teenager versus supernatural black tea faggot. How does that sound?" Keichi practically snarled at the yokai who did nothing but laugh at what he'd just said.
"Hm…Maybe it would be a tad more interesting if I took part in the fight myself. However, I won't bring myself to fight a lowly human like you. You see, I am a higher class fighter myself."
"Really? Then why are you hanging around here doing the same shit over and over again? You make me sick- making us kill each other so you can make yourself a little more important. I knew how much Rika hated you, but I didn't think you were this much of an asshole, that'd you just go off and badmouth the dead."
"You wanna keep talking like that? Do you want me to send you home in a casket?" The yokai was beginning to get irritated.
"I'd be better off than going off without my friends."
"Hm…It's an interesting proposition, I'll give you that. But I will not humor you, Maebara."
"Well why the hell not?" He hollered in response.
"It's like this. You see, Miss Frederica made me swear on my honor that in order for her to participate, that in the event that you won that I wouldn't lay a finger on you, no matter what you would do."
"What…?"
"As such, you must now be sent back home. I bid you adieu, Maebara-san." The yokai bowed before facing the audience.
"This concludes tonight's performance-"
"Oh hell no." Keichi turned to face the crowd himself. "I heard you guys don't like suicides? Then get a load of this!" Only a few moments later was Keichi dead on the floor, with the scythe he'd slashed himself with.
The yokai chuckled. "…However, she said nothing about what you would do to yourself." He turned once more to the crazed audience.
"This concludes tonight's performance, for real this time! I bid you all farewell, and I hope to see you again!"
In a flash of fireworks and a puff of smoke, the yokai disappeared completely.
And so there was no victor that evening. Only losers.
But perhaps some had lost more than others?
Yokai's Daybreak Chapter Result:
Ryuugu Rena –Her death went unnoticed by the masses for the most part, given she was the first to fall.
Sonozaki Shion- Her inhuman strength was her downfall. Such was the desire of the masses, after all.
Sonozaki Mion- Her death, while uninteresting to the masses, held special meaning for her beloved opponent.
Maebara Keichi- His death was an outcry- an outcry against the very masses that made him famous.
Houjou Satoko- She died out of fear- fear of killing the shadow of her brother.
Furude Rika- Perhaps the most meaningful death of them all, a death that symbolized love.
The Black Tea Gentleman- Off to spend time, perhaps to ascend to the highest level a yokai can achieve.
The Unreliable Narrator (Faceless)- Remains unsure what part of this story is considered reliable.
Now that we're nearing the third main chapter, I would like to propose something to my readers, of which there appear to be three (although it appears I may have lost one of you, oh well), along with x amount of anonymous readers.
I am deciding whether or not to try something a bit different for the third main chapter. It's essentially this: shall I continue to write the first person perspective as I have been, or shall I transpose it into something akin to a series of journal entries (for this chapter only)? As there are only three of you at the moment, I doubt a poll will be necessary. Anyhow, leave your answer in a review or something.
Moving right along, I'd also like to point out some things related to the story overall. We've gone a little bit past halfway point of the question arc-like portion of the story. The last main chapter will not have any side stories after it (as the contents of that chapter, as I have planned out, will give a good enough reason as to why), but without getting too far ahead of myself I'll just say that once we reach that point there will (probably) be another issue that will need resolving. Anyhow, I'll leave you at that. Also, pretty much any comments are welcome at this stage of the game. Thanks in advance.