Battle Royale '03
Part Four
26
Daisuke and Takashi were hiding out by the southern mountain, just passing the time and trying not to get seen by anyone, no matter if they felt like playing the game or not. It was just about to be 3:00 pm. Takashi was carving into the ground using his big wooden pole while Daisuke looked on, staring at his shotgun.
"I feel like shooting something," he suddenly exclaimed, standing up and grabbing his gun. Takashi poked him in the stomach with the pole.
"Are you crazy? If you shoot, people might be able to know where we are. People who are playing the game might be able to know where we are." Takashi jabbed Daisuke again until he sat back down. "We're just going to sit here quietly and hope nobody comes by."
"You know, if nobody's killed for so much time, all the collars detonate anyway," Daisuke pointed out.
"No they don't, that's just an urban legend." Takashi tried to shrug it off.
"Really? Explain, then, why the 1992 Program in Hokkaido ended due to 'time expiring'? Time expiring. Nobody was killed for so much time, I think 12 hours, so everyone died anyway. What if everyone else is hiding out just like we are and nobody is dying? We'll all die anyway, right?" Daisuke looked over at Takashi, who was at a loss for words.
"You're right," he said after an uncomfortable silence. "So, if you want to shoot something, go ahead." Daisuke nodded, then stood up and aimed his shotgun at a tree. Quickly he cocked it back and then fired...
...right as it turned to 3:00 pm.
Both Daisuke Kirishima and Takashi Hirai felt a strange sensation, as if someone was choking them with strangely hot hands. Then they could feel no more, as their collars detonated and their heads exploded.
Daisuke and Takashi were in square H-2, which had just become forbidden.
15 students remaining
27
The phone rang inside Okishima School. Toyama picked it up.
"Hello? Oh, Mr. Shaku. How are you doing? I know, there's only fifteen left. Can you believe it? It's not even 5:00 yet! These kids work fast, don't they? Someone wants to win. Who are you betting on? I've got my money on Umeboshi. He's got a lot going for him. You think Yanagi? She's pretty headstrong, I think she'll do just fine. The kids are doing great. The first one is in fifth grade. He's just elated that his father got to host the Program like you wouldn't believe. Lots of pride. The second's in third grade. She's also very proud of me, you know? The third one's on its way. They're saying January. Only two months. Isn't that unbelievable? You guys have a pool going on the students? Who all have you chosen? Well, of course pretty much everyone's selected Umeboshi or Yanagi. What? Someone selected Arai? Shizuka Arai? She won't survive. She's messed up, you know? Messed up bad, if you pull up her permanent records and her counseling records. She had to stop wearing a girls' uniform in fourth grade because her legs are covered in scars. If you take a look-see at her counseling records you'll see that her stepdad inflicted all her wounds. Mmm-hmm. Suicidal, too. You should tell that guy to bet on Umeboshi. Trust me. Well, thank you, sir. Good day." Toyama hung up the phone.
"Sir, Kirishima and Hirai were caught in square H-2," someone reported to Toyama.
"Hm, the first 2 to be caught in a forbidden zone. They're doing good so far about staying out of forbidden zones, huh?" Mr. Toyama lit a cigar and puffed it. "How many are left?"
"Fifteen, sir. Out of thirty."
"I know that, I can do my math, you know! I'm excited to see how this turns out." He grinned a strangely evil grin from behind that smelly cigar.
15 students remaining
28
Toru and Kanako were hiding in an abandoned farmhouse, stuck inside bales of hay. The rain still pounded steadily outside.
"It's not going to stop raining, is it?" Kanako asked, glum. Sayaka's sword was now attached to her skirt and she had an idea how to use it from seeing movies and terebi dramas.
"I'm afraid not," Toru replied, also glum. He had no idea what kind of situation Shinji's blowdarts would come in handy in, but then again he did still have Tomoko, Shuko and Naomi's weapons at his disposal. "Do you want to do more weapons practice?" He pointed to a bale of hay that looked damaged. Large, thin gashes were all over it and stray hay was all over the wooden floor.
"Do I?" Kanako replied, her glum face becoming a small bit happier. She hopped up out of her pile of hay, holding her sword. "Can I use one of the girls' weapons?"
"Sure, which one?"
"I want the whip." Toru reluctantly handed his sister Tomoko's whip, still wrapped up because it hadn't been used by its former owner. Kanako dropped the whip at her feet and unsheathed her sword like she'd seen in a movie, then held it out in front of her, aligning the very tip of the blade with the center of the hay bale. She stood silently for a moment, then slashed the bale of hay from the right side with the sword, moving it so fast you could hardly see the blade moving, The blade emerged from the other end of the hay a few seconds later. Kanako simply held it where it exited the hay, then watched as the entire top half of the bale fell to the ground, all in one clean sweep. Toru applauded as he reset the bale of hay by putting the top half back where it belonged, then patting it down. Kanako put the sword back in its sheath, then attached it to her skirt once more. She knelt down and picked up the whip, then unwrapped it and held it at the ready so the actual whip part was trailing on the floor. She stood back so as to allow room for it to lash, then raised her arm up and quickly brought it back down. The whip tore through the hay, then hit the floor, making a loud cracking noise. Kanako pulled on the whip and wasn't one bit surprised when one half of the hay surrendered and fell to the ground. Kanako continued this pattern of sword then whip for a little while until her wrists were throbbing in pain and she was forced to stop. Then she heard a noise and reflexively cracked the whip against the door, which was open and was letting the rain in.
She hit Toshiya in the stomach and he fell to his knees.
"Oh man!! I'm sorry!" she pleaded with Toshiya as he tried to catch his breath. Toshiya looked completely trustable and Kanako brought the whip back to her feet when he suddenly took out his diver's knife and slashed up, creating a huge gash on her left shin. Immediately Kanako brought out her sword and held it to Toshiya's throat, right above his collar. "You're trying to trick me, aren't you? You want to play the game!" She was about to go for the slash when there was a "tuk!" sound and Kanako noted there was a small dart protruding from Toshiya's neck. She looked over and saw a thin bamboo pole in Toru's mouth and another blowdart in his hand.
"Maybe these things WERE going to come in handy sometime?" Toru asked, extracting the bamboo pole from his mouth. Toshiya was still alive and trying to get the dart out of his throat.
"I think you need to shoot another one," Kanako said, stepping away so she wouldn't clog up Toru's aim. Toru nodded and shot another blowdart, which hit Toshiya right above the first one.
"Sorry," Toru said after removing the bamboo pole once more. "But anyone who fucks with my sister fucks with me." A strange gurgling sound came from Toshiya as he coughed up blood and tottered around before falling forward. Kanako bent down and listened for a pulse, then for breath, and upon hearing neither she declared him dead.
14 students remaining
29
It was nearing 6:00 pm and Kazuhiko was alone. Kaoru went out to the general store a few hours ago and hadn't returned yet. Either everyone else was also there and they made a nice line to wait for whatever was left there or...he was killed. Remembering that this was, indeed, the Program, it was probably the latter. Would the laptop still work? He decided to find out by turning it on and watching as it switched itself off due to not having adequate battery power.
'Well, Kazuhiko, here you are, alone again, like always. Whatcha gonna do?' He shook some of his hair out of his face and looked over his gun, the same one used by the government. The government that allowed children to kill each other in the most unusual ways possible. The government. And now he hated the government more than ever. Great. He looked out of the window, where it was still raining steadily. What else was new, right? So, who was dead? Shinji, Shinya, Kazuo, Minami, Tomoko, Naomi, Shuko, Akito, Junji, Sho, Sayaka and probably Kaoru. Only seventeen kids left? This was crazy. Get me out of here. Now.
He picked up his gun and stared at it, almost as if he was holding a staring contest. It was small, shining black and had the model number listed on the handle. This was the first tme he'd ever handled a gun in his life and if it weren't for the Program, he probably would still be naive. He stared into the barrel of the gun like he had seen in movies before, but never dreamt he'd be like those guys in the movies.
Outside, Shojiro and Sakura were walking down the road, which was the only paved road on Okishima. Every so often they'd step in a puddle and get splashed, but that was only a slight hindrance. What they were really looking for were signs of people. People to kill, of course. They'd already taken out almost everyone else. Well, okay, Daisuke and Toru were still missing in action, but eventually they would have to meet up, right? Okishima was a small island. And suddenly Sakura longed to go back to city life in Kobe as it was before. Arcade nights with Tetsuko and some other girls who were in different classes. Ramen shops at 12 midnight when the nice old chefs would make anything you wanted. Even getting in fistfights in alleys would be so much better than this.
"You don't want to be here, do you?" Shojiro asked. He had a deep voice for a 15-year-old...Sakura liked that.
"No. Anywhere but here would be fine."
"That's understandable." He looked away from her but she knew he was also a bit homesick. And why not? He came from a privileged family. He had a reason to be homesick for a place where there was a nice heater, nice hot food and a nice bed. Sakura lived in a fleabag roachtrap apartment complex with her mother, on the other hand. Sometimes the heater wouldn't even work, which is why they were still trying to get a space heater. He was lucky. Maybe she could steal something from his house. You know, pawn a pair of his mother's earrings or something?
"I think I saw something," he reported a short while later, walking by the house Kazuhiko was alone in. Sakura unzipped her day pack and took out Kaoru's baseball bat as well as her gun. "Good, you're getting quicker at that."
"Thanks. So, we're going in?"
"Yeah. If the door's locked, I want you to bash the shit out of any keyholes or locks you see. You might be able to open them by force. If not, give me a nod and I'll shoot." The two arrived at the front door. Sakura tapped it with her foot and it didn't open. Immediately she began to bash the lock above the doorknob with her baseball bat, which seemed to work, as the lock popped open and dangled by only one screw. She tapped the door again and it swung open. The two stepped inside. Kazuhiko jumped up from the living room desk, where the laptop was, and saw Sakura and Shojiro coming down the hall at him. He held out his gun and, without even thinking about aim, fired. One bullet whizzed past Sakura's hair and the other hit her in the hand. She let out a bloodcurdling scream of pain as she looked down and saw her hand rapidly turning red and the butt of a small golden bullet sticking out of her wound. With a gasping scream, she managed to remove the bullet from her hand and simply grasped the baseball bat with a bloodied hand.
"Bastard, you messed up my beautiful hand," she said to Kazuhiko. "Oh, but I do feel pity for you. You're about to die, aren't you still a virgin?"
'Doesn't this seem like the wrong time to be asking that?' Kazuhiko asked himself, raising an eyebrow. "Is that any of your business?"
"That means yes," Shojiro commented, snickering.
"Don't be ashamed." Sakura took a step forward, then grabbed at the end of her skirt with her unharmed hand, beginning to lift it up slowly like she had done so many times before. "Come on, you know you want to." She kept stepping closer and closer to Kazuhiko, lifting up her skirt more and more. She saw Kazuhiko's eyes getting bigger and bigger. Yeah, he wanted it. What else was new? "It can be just quick and easy, you know, so you don't have to die without ever having this experience." Then she sealed the deal with a whore's kiss. There was no feeling behind it on her part, but it was quite obvious Kazuhiko was enjoying it. 'Analysis: He's sucking too damn hard. I feel like I'm going to come out of this without any lips. Damn...' Finally she got sick of it and jabbed her gun into his stomach. She pulled herself away and then pulled the trigger.
"And that was the last sensation you'll ever feel," she commented as Kazuhiko died.
13 students remaining
30
Once again, the crackling noise came over mysterious speakers nobody could see.
"Hi everyone, it's Mr. Toyama again. We've got a lot of things to announce, so be quiet and you can hear. First off, the forbidden zones. At 7pm, F-1. At 9pm, H-8 and at 11pm, B-9. All right, now here are the deaths. First, the males: No. 10 Kaoru Sengakuji, No. 6 Daisuke Kirishima, No. 3 Takashi Hirai, No. 14 Toshiya Wakabayashi and No. 15 Kazuhiko Yamatani. Actually, no other females have died yet. Girls must be better at hiding. Well, this is the last for a while until midnight. Oh, by the way, Takashi and Daisuke were caught in a forbidden zone. You should all be careful to not step in a forbidden zone. Good luck!"
"There are only four guys left," Shizuka observed. She, Masao, Junko and Kiyoharu were still in the same house, taking notes on the news.
"Dammit," Junko hissed. "We're in H-8. We're going to have to move by 9:00." She looked over at Shizuka, whose lips were now completely blue and her skin was sallow and pale. She was a wreck. Kiyoharu, out of the goodness of his heart, ransacked about 5 other houses and returned with old suitcases full of blankets. Sure, some smelled of moth balls and others had holes in them, but they would have to do. Now Shizuka was wrapped in six different blankets.
"Well, we could move to the clinic, that hasn't been banned yet," Masao replied.
"We should probably do that. Shizuka's getting worse." Kiyoharu looked over at Shizuka, who managed a weary smile.
"Who was the sadist who had the great idea of holding a Program in the middle of November?" Masao asked, looking out the window. "Fool."
"I know, most Programs are held in April or May, sometimes even in the summer," Junko added.
"Nothing makes sense anymore," Shizuka finished. Kiyoharu rose from his chair and went over to the couch Shizuka was reclining on, then gently placed her head in his lap so she was staring up at him. "Damn. I won't even live to turn 15."
"Now whoever said we had to die?" Kiyoharu asked Shizuka, running his hand through strands of her red hair.
"I'm just thinking morbidly."
Sakura and Shojiro were finished with Kazuhiko (obviously), so they decided to go look for more people. They would open up every house in the quietest way possible, which involved a complex system involving bobby pins, credit cards and looking under potted plants for extra keys. They would go inside and search every room, then leave because nobody else seemed to be hiding in the residential area. Finally they came upon the house Junko, Masao, Shizuka and Kiyoharu were hiding in. They simply crawled in through the already opened window, but if you sat in the living room you could very clearly see the dining room, which is where that broken window was. Suddenly Kiyoharu rose to his feet.
"What's wrong?" Shizuka asked.
"Stay," he commanded, placing a hand on her shoulder. She nodded and quickly obliged. "Masao, come with me. Junko, you stay, too." The two boys made sure they had their weapons ready and headed into the dining room only to come face-to-face with the barrels of two guns. Kiyoharu turned to Shizuka.
"Go, get away from here, you two take the day pack with all the food, we'll be there, don't worry about us," he hastily commanded. Shizuka was clearly panicking no matter how much she was trying to hide it. Junko helped her gather the day pack and the two girls fled the house, Shizuka still wrapped in five different blankets. She turned in the doorway and cast a glance at Kiyoharu before taking out her pistol, aiming and firing. The bullet soared through the air and hit Shojiro's right thigh. He stumbled for a moment but then got back up and was ready to shoot at Shizuka when he realized that she was out of his line of sight. He instead turned his sights on Masao, armed with his axe, and Kiyoharu, armed with his pistol.
"Hehehe," Shojiro laughed. "You're fucked." Quickly thinking, Masao slashed Shojiro's right arm, the one holding his machine gun. This caused him to drop the gun and Masao hurriedly kicked it away, then blocked the path to it with his axe. Kiyoharu was preoccupied blocking Sakura from going to get the gun. Eventually he tired of Sakura waving around that damn baseball bat like she knew how to use it, so he simply blew a hole in it with his gun. It turns out the bat was wooden, not aluminum, so the wood was extremely weakened above the bullet hole. Sakura swung the bat once more, which Kiyoharu dodged, then they watched as the top of the bat slid off, leaving a splintered, sharp edge. Kiyoharu realized this and was about to shoot another hole in the same bat when Sakura let out a hiss and dropped her gun, which was in her wounded hand.
"Sakura, are you okay?"
"No, Shojiro, I'm not..." She hissed again. Shojiro looked over Masao and Kiyoharu. Neither of them were hurt at all, they looked just fine. He scowled at them.
"Listen up, Suzuki, Moritaka. If you give me back my gun I won't attack you. Sakura needs some first aid or something for her hand."
"I don't trust him," Masao replied almost immediately. "Don't do it, Kiyoharu."
"Can you see anything?" Shizuka whispered. She and Junko were huddled in a bush underneath the other, not broken dining room window.
"Yeah, Sakura's really hurt and now Shojiro's saying...um...something. Hold on. He's trying to make a deal with them. He keeps gesturing to his gun."
"He's going to shoot them!" Shizuka screamed, grabbing her gun and dashing back inside.
"No! Shizuka! Come back! You might get hurt!" Junko screamed after Shizuka, who had already kicked open the front door and was diving into the dining room. She saw Kiyoharu, then drew her gun and rushed over to him. She put her arm around his shoulder and screamed to create a distraction, then the two dove to the ground as she shot wildly into the air, hoping a bullet would ricochet off something and hopefully hit Shojiro or Sakura. The two landed on the ground with a "flump" noise, much of the force of the fall absorbed by all of Shizuka's blankets. Shizuka was panting. She couldn't take running a lot in her delicate health condition. What did she have, anyway? Had she ever been that cold before in her life?
"Shizuka..." Kiyoharu began, looking up at her. "Why?"
"Why did I do this? Because...because I really care about you, Kiyoharu," Shizuka answered. Shojiro and Sakura gave up due to Sakura's hand and turned to leave, but not before Sakura scratched Shizuka in her leg with the broken-off baseball bat. Shizuka let out a high-pitched cry of pain and whimpered in Kiyoharu's arms as the two left. Masao looked outside, then looked back at Kiyoharu and Shizuka, who were hugging each other on the ground, still in the same position that they fell in.
"Are you two okay?" Masao asked. Shizuka nodded slightly, still breathing heavily. Kiyoharu gently touched the injured leg and his hand came back bloodied.
"We need to get her to the clinic right away," he informed Masao. "Go get Junko, tell her we're going to the clinic. Can you walk, Shizuka?" Shizuka tried to stand up but found it was excruciatingly hard to put pressure on the injured leg. "You might have some splinters. Here, I'll carry you."
"I'm heavy," she said quietly. "I eat a lot."
"That doesn't matter," he answered, carefully lifting her up. She wrapped her arms around his neck and put her head on his shoulder as he carried her to the clinic, which involved going past about 20 houses, then past the general store where Kaoru lay dead and finally to the last stretch of forest before hitting the clinic, which was a plain 2-story building made of brick painted an ugly beige color. Kiyoharu carried Shizuka all the way inside, every so often looking back to make sure Masao and Junko were still following behind. The quartet went inside, past the waiting and examination rooms into the rooms which were used more for minor operations and such. They were basically miniature hospital rooms, with beds and all. Kiyoharu set Shizuka down in the first bed he could find, then layered the blankets on top of her. The group decided to just set up their new home base in there, which was signified by Junko moving in a folding table and placing all the food on it. The group also organized a watch system where someone would stay awake for a shift of the night, then go to sleep while someone else watched. Right after the basics were out of the way, Shizuka's splinters got their second wind and began to hurt all over again.
"Masao, help me look for some medical books," Kiyoharu asked, standing up from Shizuka's bedside. "I'm going to find out what's wrong with Shizuka and how to fix it."
13 students remaining
Part Four
26
Daisuke and Takashi were hiding out by the southern mountain, just passing the time and trying not to get seen by anyone, no matter if they felt like playing the game or not. It was just about to be 3:00 pm. Takashi was carving into the ground using his big wooden pole while Daisuke looked on, staring at his shotgun.
"I feel like shooting something," he suddenly exclaimed, standing up and grabbing his gun. Takashi poked him in the stomach with the pole.
"Are you crazy? If you shoot, people might be able to know where we are. People who are playing the game might be able to know where we are." Takashi jabbed Daisuke again until he sat back down. "We're just going to sit here quietly and hope nobody comes by."
"You know, if nobody's killed for so much time, all the collars detonate anyway," Daisuke pointed out.
"No they don't, that's just an urban legend." Takashi tried to shrug it off.
"Really? Explain, then, why the 1992 Program in Hokkaido ended due to 'time expiring'? Time expiring. Nobody was killed for so much time, I think 12 hours, so everyone died anyway. What if everyone else is hiding out just like we are and nobody is dying? We'll all die anyway, right?" Daisuke looked over at Takashi, who was at a loss for words.
"You're right," he said after an uncomfortable silence. "So, if you want to shoot something, go ahead." Daisuke nodded, then stood up and aimed his shotgun at a tree. Quickly he cocked it back and then fired...
...right as it turned to 3:00 pm.
Both Daisuke Kirishima and Takashi Hirai felt a strange sensation, as if someone was choking them with strangely hot hands. Then they could feel no more, as their collars detonated and their heads exploded.
Daisuke and Takashi were in square H-2, which had just become forbidden.
15 students remaining
27
The phone rang inside Okishima School. Toyama picked it up.
"Hello? Oh, Mr. Shaku. How are you doing? I know, there's only fifteen left. Can you believe it? It's not even 5:00 yet! These kids work fast, don't they? Someone wants to win. Who are you betting on? I've got my money on Umeboshi. He's got a lot going for him. You think Yanagi? She's pretty headstrong, I think she'll do just fine. The kids are doing great. The first one is in fifth grade. He's just elated that his father got to host the Program like you wouldn't believe. Lots of pride. The second's in third grade. She's also very proud of me, you know? The third one's on its way. They're saying January. Only two months. Isn't that unbelievable? You guys have a pool going on the students? Who all have you chosen? Well, of course pretty much everyone's selected Umeboshi or Yanagi. What? Someone selected Arai? Shizuka Arai? She won't survive. She's messed up, you know? Messed up bad, if you pull up her permanent records and her counseling records. She had to stop wearing a girls' uniform in fourth grade because her legs are covered in scars. If you take a look-see at her counseling records you'll see that her stepdad inflicted all her wounds. Mmm-hmm. Suicidal, too. You should tell that guy to bet on Umeboshi. Trust me. Well, thank you, sir. Good day." Toyama hung up the phone.
"Sir, Kirishima and Hirai were caught in square H-2," someone reported to Toyama.
"Hm, the first 2 to be caught in a forbidden zone. They're doing good so far about staying out of forbidden zones, huh?" Mr. Toyama lit a cigar and puffed it. "How many are left?"
"Fifteen, sir. Out of thirty."
"I know that, I can do my math, you know! I'm excited to see how this turns out." He grinned a strangely evil grin from behind that smelly cigar.
15 students remaining
28
Toru and Kanako were hiding in an abandoned farmhouse, stuck inside bales of hay. The rain still pounded steadily outside.
"It's not going to stop raining, is it?" Kanako asked, glum. Sayaka's sword was now attached to her skirt and she had an idea how to use it from seeing movies and terebi dramas.
"I'm afraid not," Toru replied, also glum. He had no idea what kind of situation Shinji's blowdarts would come in handy in, but then again he did still have Tomoko, Shuko and Naomi's weapons at his disposal. "Do you want to do more weapons practice?" He pointed to a bale of hay that looked damaged. Large, thin gashes were all over it and stray hay was all over the wooden floor.
"Do I?" Kanako replied, her glum face becoming a small bit happier. She hopped up out of her pile of hay, holding her sword. "Can I use one of the girls' weapons?"
"Sure, which one?"
"I want the whip." Toru reluctantly handed his sister Tomoko's whip, still wrapped up because it hadn't been used by its former owner. Kanako dropped the whip at her feet and unsheathed her sword like she'd seen in a movie, then held it out in front of her, aligning the very tip of the blade with the center of the hay bale. She stood silently for a moment, then slashed the bale of hay from the right side with the sword, moving it so fast you could hardly see the blade moving, The blade emerged from the other end of the hay a few seconds later. Kanako simply held it where it exited the hay, then watched as the entire top half of the bale fell to the ground, all in one clean sweep. Toru applauded as he reset the bale of hay by putting the top half back where it belonged, then patting it down. Kanako put the sword back in its sheath, then attached it to her skirt once more. She knelt down and picked up the whip, then unwrapped it and held it at the ready so the actual whip part was trailing on the floor. She stood back so as to allow room for it to lash, then raised her arm up and quickly brought it back down. The whip tore through the hay, then hit the floor, making a loud cracking noise. Kanako pulled on the whip and wasn't one bit surprised when one half of the hay surrendered and fell to the ground. Kanako continued this pattern of sword then whip for a little while until her wrists were throbbing in pain and she was forced to stop. Then she heard a noise and reflexively cracked the whip against the door, which was open and was letting the rain in.
She hit Toshiya in the stomach and he fell to his knees.
"Oh man!! I'm sorry!" she pleaded with Toshiya as he tried to catch his breath. Toshiya looked completely trustable and Kanako brought the whip back to her feet when he suddenly took out his diver's knife and slashed up, creating a huge gash on her left shin. Immediately Kanako brought out her sword and held it to Toshiya's throat, right above his collar. "You're trying to trick me, aren't you? You want to play the game!" She was about to go for the slash when there was a "tuk!" sound and Kanako noted there was a small dart protruding from Toshiya's neck. She looked over and saw a thin bamboo pole in Toru's mouth and another blowdart in his hand.
"Maybe these things WERE going to come in handy sometime?" Toru asked, extracting the bamboo pole from his mouth. Toshiya was still alive and trying to get the dart out of his throat.
"I think you need to shoot another one," Kanako said, stepping away so she wouldn't clog up Toru's aim. Toru nodded and shot another blowdart, which hit Toshiya right above the first one.
"Sorry," Toru said after removing the bamboo pole once more. "But anyone who fucks with my sister fucks with me." A strange gurgling sound came from Toshiya as he coughed up blood and tottered around before falling forward. Kanako bent down and listened for a pulse, then for breath, and upon hearing neither she declared him dead.
14 students remaining
29
It was nearing 6:00 pm and Kazuhiko was alone. Kaoru went out to the general store a few hours ago and hadn't returned yet. Either everyone else was also there and they made a nice line to wait for whatever was left there or...he was killed. Remembering that this was, indeed, the Program, it was probably the latter. Would the laptop still work? He decided to find out by turning it on and watching as it switched itself off due to not having adequate battery power.
'Well, Kazuhiko, here you are, alone again, like always. Whatcha gonna do?' He shook some of his hair out of his face and looked over his gun, the same one used by the government. The government that allowed children to kill each other in the most unusual ways possible. The government. And now he hated the government more than ever. Great. He looked out of the window, where it was still raining steadily. What else was new, right? So, who was dead? Shinji, Shinya, Kazuo, Minami, Tomoko, Naomi, Shuko, Akito, Junji, Sho, Sayaka and probably Kaoru. Only seventeen kids left? This was crazy. Get me out of here. Now.
He picked up his gun and stared at it, almost as if he was holding a staring contest. It was small, shining black and had the model number listed on the handle. This was the first tme he'd ever handled a gun in his life and if it weren't for the Program, he probably would still be naive. He stared into the barrel of the gun like he had seen in movies before, but never dreamt he'd be like those guys in the movies.
Outside, Shojiro and Sakura were walking down the road, which was the only paved road on Okishima. Every so often they'd step in a puddle and get splashed, but that was only a slight hindrance. What they were really looking for were signs of people. People to kill, of course. They'd already taken out almost everyone else. Well, okay, Daisuke and Toru were still missing in action, but eventually they would have to meet up, right? Okishima was a small island. And suddenly Sakura longed to go back to city life in Kobe as it was before. Arcade nights with Tetsuko and some other girls who were in different classes. Ramen shops at 12 midnight when the nice old chefs would make anything you wanted. Even getting in fistfights in alleys would be so much better than this.
"You don't want to be here, do you?" Shojiro asked. He had a deep voice for a 15-year-old...Sakura liked that.
"No. Anywhere but here would be fine."
"That's understandable." He looked away from her but she knew he was also a bit homesick. And why not? He came from a privileged family. He had a reason to be homesick for a place where there was a nice heater, nice hot food and a nice bed. Sakura lived in a fleabag roachtrap apartment complex with her mother, on the other hand. Sometimes the heater wouldn't even work, which is why they were still trying to get a space heater. He was lucky. Maybe she could steal something from his house. You know, pawn a pair of his mother's earrings or something?
"I think I saw something," he reported a short while later, walking by the house Kazuhiko was alone in. Sakura unzipped her day pack and took out Kaoru's baseball bat as well as her gun. "Good, you're getting quicker at that."
"Thanks. So, we're going in?"
"Yeah. If the door's locked, I want you to bash the shit out of any keyholes or locks you see. You might be able to open them by force. If not, give me a nod and I'll shoot." The two arrived at the front door. Sakura tapped it with her foot and it didn't open. Immediately she began to bash the lock above the doorknob with her baseball bat, which seemed to work, as the lock popped open and dangled by only one screw. She tapped the door again and it swung open. The two stepped inside. Kazuhiko jumped up from the living room desk, where the laptop was, and saw Sakura and Shojiro coming down the hall at him. He held out his gun and, without even thinking about aim, fired. One bullet whizzed past Sakura's hair and the other hit her in the hand. She let out a bloodcurdling scream of pain as she looked down and saw her hand rapidly turning red and the butt of a small golden bullet sticking out of her wound. With a gasping scream, she managed to remove the bullet from her hand and simply grasped the baseball bat with a bloodied hand.
"Bastard, you messed up my beautiful hand," she said to Kazuhiko. "Oh, but I do feel pity for you. You're about to die, aren't you still a virgin?"
'Doesn't this seem like the wrong time to be asking that?' Kazuhiko asked himself, raising an eyebrow. "Is that any of your business?"
"That means yes," Shojiro commented, snickering.
"Don't be ashamed." Sakura took a step forward, then grabbed at the end of her skirt with her unharmed hand, beginning to lift it up slowly like she had done so many times before. "Come on, you know you want to." She kept stepping closer and closer to Kazuhiko, lifting up her skirt more and more. She saw Kazuhiko's eyes getting bigger and bigger. Yeah, he wanted it. What else was new? "It can be just quick and easy, you know, so you don't have to die without ever having this experience." Then she sealed the deal with a whore's kiss. There was no feeling behind it on her part, but it was quite obvious Kazuhiko was enjoying it. 'Analysis: He's sucking too damn hard. I feel like I'm going to come out of this without any lips. Damn...' Finally she got sick of it and jabbed her gun into his stomach. She pulled herself away and then pulled the trigger.
"And that was the last sensation you'll ever feel," she commented as Kazuhiko died.
13 students remaining
30
Once again, the crackling noise came over mysterious speakers nobody could see.
"Hi everyone, it's Mr. Toyama again. We've got a lot of things to announce, so be quiet and you can hear. First off, the forbidden zones. At 7pm, F-1. At 9pm, H-8 and at 11pm, B-9. All right, now here are the deaths. First, the males: No. 10 Kaoru Sengakuji, No. 6 Daisuke Kirishima, No. 3 Takashi Hirai, No. 14 Toshiya Wakabayashi and No. 15 Kazuhiko Yamatani. Actually, no other females have died yet. Girls must be better at hiding. Well, this is the last for a while until midnight. Oh, by the way, Takashi and Daisuke were caught in a forbidden zone. You should all be careful to not step in a forbidden zone. Good luck!"
"There are only four guys left," Shizuka observed. She, Masao, Junko and Kiyoharu were still in the same house, taking notes on the news.
"Dammit," Junko hissed. "We're in H-8. We're going to have to move by 9:00." She looked over at Shizuka, whose lips were now completely blue and her skin was sallow and pale. She was a wreck. Kiyoharu, out of the goodness of his heart, ransacked about 5 other houses and returned with old suitcases full of blankets. Sure, some smelled of moth balls and others had holes in them, but they would have to do. Now Shizuka was wrapped in six different blankets.
"Well, we could move to the clinic, that hasn't been banned yet," Masao replied.
"We should probably do that. Shizuka's getting worse." Kiyoharu looked over at Shizuka, who managed a weary smile.
"Who was the sadist who had the great idea of holding a Program in the middle of November?" Masao asked, looking out the window. "Fool."
"I know, most Programs are held in April or May, sometimes even in the summer," Junko added.
"Nothing makes sense anymore," Shizuka finished. Kiyoharu rose from his chair and went over to the couch Shizuka was reclining on, then gently placed her head in his lap so she was staring up at him. "Damn. I won't even live to turn 15."
"Now whoever said we had to die?" Kiyoharu asked Shizuka, running his hand through strands of her red hair.
"I'm just thinking morbidly."
Sakura and Shojiro were finished with Kazuhiko (obviously), so they decided to go look for more people. They would open up every house in the quietest way possible, which involved a complex system involving bobby pins, credit cards and looking under potted plants for extra keys. They would go inside and search every room, then leave because nobody else seemed to be hiding in the residential area. Finally they came upon the house Junko, Masao, Shizuka and Kiyoharu were hiding in. They simply crawled in through the already opened window, but if you sat in the living room you could very clearly see the dining room, which is where that broken window was. Suddenly Kiyoharu rose to his feet.
"What's wrong?" Shizuka asked.
"Stay," he commanded, placing a hand on her shoulder. She nodded and quickly obliged. "Masao, come with me. Junko, you stay, too." The two boys made sure they had their weapons ready and headed into the dining room only to come face-to-face with the barrels of two guns. Kiyoharu turned to Shizuka.
"Go, get away from here, you two take the day pack with all the food, we'll be there, don't worry about us," he hastily commanded. Shizuka was clearly panicking no matter how much she was trying to hide it. Junko helped her gather the day pack and the two girls fled the house, Shizuka still wrapped in five different blankets. She turned in the doorway and cast a glance at Kiyoharu before taking out her pistol, aiming and firing. The bullet soared through the air and hit Shojiro's right thigh. He stumbled for a moment but then got back up and was ready to shoot at Shizuka when he realized that she was out of his line of sight. He instead turned his sights on Masao, armed with his axe, and Kiyoharu, armed with his pistol.
"Hehehe," Shojiro laughed. "You're fucked." Quickly thinking, Masao slashed Shojiro's right arm, the one holding his machine gun. This caused him to drop the gun and Masao hurriedly kicked it away, then blocked the path to it with his axe. Kiyoharu was preoccupied blocking Sakura from going to get the gun. Eventually he tired of Sakura waving around that damn baseball bat like she knew how to use it, so he simply blew a hole in it with his gun. It turns out the bat was wooden, not aluminum, so the wood was extremely weakened above the bullet hole. Sakura swung the bat once more, which Kiyoharu dodged, then they watched as the top of the bat slid off, leaving a splintered, sharp edge. Kiyoharu realized this and was about to shoot another hole in the same bat when Sakura let out a hiss and dropped her gun, which was in her wounded hand.
"Sakura, are you okay?"
"No, Shojiro, I'm not..." She hissed again. Shojiro looked over Masao and Kiyoharu. Neither of them were hurt at all, they looked just fine. He scowled at them.
"Listen up, Suzuki, Moritaka. If you give me back my gun I won't attack you. Sakura needs some first aid or something for her hand."
"I don't trust him," Masao replied almost immediately. "Don't do it, Kiyoharu."
"Can you see anything?" Shizuka whispered. She and Junko were huddled in a bush underneath the other, not broken dining room window.
"Yeah, Sakura's really hurt and now Shojiro's saying...um...something. Hold on. He's trying to make a deal with them. He keeps gesturing to his gun."
"He's going to shoot them!" Shizuka screamed, grabbing her gun and dashing back inside.
"No! Shizuka! Come back! You might get hurt!" Junko screamed after Shizuka, who had already kicked open the front door and was diving into the dining room. She saw Kiyoharu, then drew her gun and rushed over to him. She put her arm around his shoulder and screamed to create a distraction, then the two dove to the ground as she shot wildly into the air, hoping a bullet would ricochet off something and hopefully hit Shojiro or Sakura. The two landed on the ground with a "flump" noise, much of the force of the fall absorbed by all of Shizuka's blankets. Shizuka was panting. She couldn't take running a lot in her delicate health condition. What did she have, anyway? Had she ever been that cold before in her life?
"Shizuka..." Kiyoharu began, looking up at her. "Why?"
"Why did I do this? Because...because I really care about you, Kiyoharu," Shizuka answered. Shojiro and Sakura gave up due to Sakura's hand and turned to leave, but not before Sakura scratched Shizuka in her leg with the broken-off baseball bat. Shizuka let out a high-pitched cry of pain and whimpered in Kiyoharu's arms as the two left. Masao looked outside, then looked back at Kiyoharu and Shizuka, who were hugging each other on the ground, still in the same position that they fell in.
"Are you two okay?" Masao asked. Shizuka nodded slightly, still breathing heavily. Kiyoharu gently touched the injured leg and his hand came back bloodied.
"We need to get her to the clinic right away," he informed Masao. "Go get Junko, tell her we're going to the clinic. Can you walk, Shizuka?" Shizuka tried to stand up but found it was excruciatingly hard to put pressure on the injured leg. "You might have some splinters. Here, I'll carry you."
"I'm heavy," she said quietly. "I eat a lot."
"That doesn't matter," he answered, carefully lifting her up. She wrapped her arms around his neck and put her head on his shoulder as he carried her to the clinic, which involved going past about 20 houses, then past the general store where Kaoru lay dead and finally to the last stretch of forest before hitting the clinic, which was a plain 2-story building made of brick painted an ugly beige color. Kiyoharu carried Shizuka all the way inside, every so often looking back to make sure Masao and Junko were still following behind. The quartet went inside, past the waiting and examination rooms into the rooms which were used more for minor operations and such. They were basically miniature hospital rooms, with beds and all. Kiyoharu set Shizuka down in the first bed he could find, then layered the blankets on top of her. The group decided to just set up their new home base in there, which was signified by Junko moving in a folding table and placing all the food on it. The group also organized a watch system where someone would stay awake for a shift of the night, then go to sleep while someone else watched. Right after the basics were out of the way, Shizuka's splinters got their second wind and began to hurt all over again.
"Masao, help me look for some medical books," Kiyoharu asked, standing up from Shizuka's bedside. "I'm going to find out what's wrong with Shizuka and how to fix it."
13 students remaining