Sorry . . . still don't own it! I hate to disappoint!
Hello everyone! Wow . . . 5 reviews! I'm really proud of myself! I know that only 5 isn't much to be proud of . . . but considering the fic type, I think that's blood good! I wanna say thank you all for reading and reviewing! Your comments all mean so much to me! I'm happy that you enjoy the story!
Oh, to 'The 18th Angel' I just wanted to say that, yeah, I know that Noriko had a brother and I understand where you're coming from, but in Chapter 1 (or 2 on Fanfiction.net) Yuki mentions her older brother, I just thought it's be cool to have a sister as well! Family are fun! I'm glad that you paid so much attention to it!
Anthony, I'm glad that you reviewed me again! Yay! I wrote a special bit in here about Shizuka for you . . . it give a bit more of an insight to my character.
Battle Royale 2 is going to screen in England this year! ::jumps about:: Wooh! Ok . . . yes . . . I had my moment, and I hope that you enjoy! Keep on commenting! I appreciate it VERY much! ::huggles::
Battle Royale: The Final Bout.
By Bubblegum Thai.
Chapter Two. Losing faith.
"Good morning sleepyheads! Yes! It's 6am! Time to wake up, ready for your first ever update!" Mr. Sato's voice drifted across the island from loud speakers up high above the terrain, "Now, let's get down to business. The list of your now deceased classmates, in order that they died." Mr. Sato cleared his throat, holding the list in front of his face; "Girls #4 Satsuki Chiba, #8 Yukiko Nakagawa, Boys #1 Masaru Hijikata, #6 Yasunari Konishi, #11 Toshio Nishi, #15 Jun Oochi. That's a total of 6. You've done good so far. Keep going, now . . . the danger zones . . ."
Kensuke whipped his map out from his blazer where it hung around his neck, beginning to mark on the map with a felt tip pen. He glanced up at Suguru, his eyes softening from anger to sadness when he caught sight of his best friend,
"Suguru . . ." He whispered softly,
"She was my best friend . . . Kensuke . . ." He choked, kneeling on the edge of the ledge that the two had spent the night on, tears brimmed thickly in his eyes, tumbling down his cheeks clumsily, "I . . . I shoulda protected her . . ."
Kensuke glowered as he turned his head, Mr. Sato bidding good luck and farewell for another 6 hours. He crawled to his friend, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder,
"Suguru . . ." He breathed, "You couldn't have done anything . . ."
"Yes! I could!" Suguru growled, "I could've waited for her! Helped her! Protected her! Now she's gone, but I'm still here! I don't deserve to be!" He muttered bitterly, "I don't deserve to live . . ."
Kensuke looked at his hands and sighed heavily,
"We should find the others . . . here just has to be a way off of this island." Kensuke sighed sadly, looking up at Suguru again, "Suguru, man, please . . . be strong . . . be strong for us. For the others. We need you. We'll be lost without you! We need you to stay calm and coherent! Please Suguru!" Kensuke pleaded, "We need to get going . . . I . . . I know it hurts to lost someone . . . but . . . but please . . ." Kensuke whimpered.
Suguru looked up, narrowing his eyes slightly,
"If I ever find out who did it, I'll return the favour." He said simply, picking up his bag and rising to his feet. He looked up, five metres or so til the top of the cliff, "We can probably climb that pretty easy, don't you think?" He asked quietly, looking over at Kensuke who gently pulled back some loose strands of spiked hair from his eye,
"Yeah . . ."
Throwing the strap of his cross bow over his shoulder, Kensuke grabbed a firmly planted looking rock in the cliff face and another slightly higher, pulling himself up, he then got a foot hold and began to scale the cliff face, Suguru following slowly behind him.
- - -
Shizuka Yadate strolled down an overgrown pathway, her head tilted to one side with her bag slung over her shoulder. She stopped dead in her tracks at the sound of voices from somewhere overhead. Glancing up, she caught the sight of two random bobbing heads near the edge of a ledge about 20 minutes up. She mused silently, bouncing her pistol up and down in her hand slowly, thinking,
"Suguru . . . you couldn't have done anything . . ."
Shizuka smirked slightly; Suguru Kamazaki and she recognised the voice to be that of Kensuke Takahashi, the boy with the spiky, scruffy, overgrown hair that sat beside her in Math class. She couldn't help but smile as she thought of his dark eyes and huge grin, flicking hair off of his face as he struggled with equations and decimal points.
Shrugging off the nostalgia, she continued, neither one proposed any major threat to her. Both were considered the 'sweetest' guys in the class. No killer instinct what so ever. She followed the winding path, her white blouse spattered with Yasunari's blood. Ahead she heard screaming strait after a few short gun shots. A female's screams. Then footsteps. Heavy. Panicked. Fast.
She dived behind a nearby bush as a shadow loomed along the path in the early morning sun. Soon a figure slowed along the path beside her and she silently cursed. It was that of Daisuke Okawa, a small silver hand gun loosely in his palm. He stopped in front of her bush, leaning over, double over his knees which were slightly bent, breathing heavily. He glanced back along the path guiltily before standing slowly and continuing almost cautiously, his bag slung over his shoulder carelessly.
Shizuka waited a few minutes before venturing out from behind the bush. She looked down the path in the direction that Daisuke had disappeared down and tightening her grip on the pistol which she'd been given as her weapon she slowly advanced down the path in the direction that she'd been heading originally.
After a few short steps and a corner turned she found a small house with a well standing proud in front. Sprawled around the base of the well were three bodies. The first was a girl, Osayo Asagi. Her throat had been slit wide open, presumably with the small hand scythe which lay beside her covered in the sticky, red liquid which had flooded the small courtyard.
Picking her way cautiously across the large puddle to the crumpled form next to her to find the bullet ridden body of Ryouji Miyano. Clasping his hand tightly was Reiko Sumisawa who was breathing heavy and writhing in agony. She rolled slightly and opened her eyes a crack to stare up into the face of Shizuka, her eyes full of twisted pain, her free hand clasping at her blood stained blouse,
"Shiz . . . zu . . . ka . . ." Reiko gasped, her hand tightening against her stomach slightly, "I hoped I'd find you . . ." She coughed slightly, blood splattering against the collar of her shirt.
Shizuka dropped to her knees beside the girl, splashing in the blood which went up her legs and knees,
"Reiko!" She whispered,
"You . . . you're hurt . . ."
"No. I'm fine." Shizuka shook her head sadly, "It's Yasunari's blood."
Reiko frowned and coughed again,
"Yaz . . .?" She whispered hoarsely, "But, why? Who?"
"It doesn't matter." Shizuka whispered, "I'm sorry I wasn't here."
Reiko smiled slightly her eyes beginning to slip shut,
"I'm just glad that I got to see you one last time . . . be . . . before . . . y'know . . ."
"Don't talk like that!" Shizuka growled,
"C'mon Shiz!" Reiko croaked, her face contorting in yet more pain. Arching backwards she made a slight gurgling sound as a few small crimson bubbles popped against her already blood-stained lips. Shizuka grabbed for her friend's free hand as she quickly fell back onto the blood soaked patio, her entire uniform becoming drenched in the liquid,
"Rei'?" Shizuka whispered, "REI'?!" She repeated; more desperate this time, yet no reply came. Gasping she released the girl's hand quickly, shuffling backwards as she flipped from her knees to her behind, her hands and feet running backwards along the ground until she hit the outer wall of the building, which she discovered to be a rather small temple. She jumped up and whirled around, her shoes completely under the blood, her mouth open as she gaped up the stairs. In a sudden burst of energy, she ran up the steps at full speed, breaking through the doors and fell to her knees dramatically, "Forgive me!" She whimpered, lowering her head, "Forgive me for hurting Yasunari . . . forgive me for not being here for Reiko . . . forgive me for what I've done!"
"You bring dishonour to your family."
Shizuka stood and glowered at the doorway, the light from outside now blocked by a large presence,
"Who's there?!" She gasped, narrowing her eyes,
"Hiroshi. Where's Yasunari." He replied coldly.
Shizuka narrowed her eyes at Hiroshi Tekuka but her attention became distracted as she noticed the bloody scythe which was slightly hidden behind him,
"He's dead." She snapped,
"Why?"
"Because he couldn't handle the pressure. That's why!" She snapped back in response. Hiroshi smirked slightly before continuing,
"Did you kill him, Shizuka?"
"No! Why do you think I killed him?"
"That's his blood on your shirt, isn't it?"
"Yeah, so? That doesn't necessarily mean that I killed him."
"What about Reiko? Did you kill her too?"
"I didn't kill anyone!" Shizuka lied, balling her fists slightly, "Why're you accusing me? You're just as guilty as I am! Standing there with a scythe behind you!"
Hiroshi bought the sharp implement out from behind his back and eyed it wickedly. Smirking evilly,
"Wonderful things, these are. Very useful. You can get right behind your enemy whilst the curve provides an excellent angle to slit a throat."
Realisation gripped Shizuka with force,
"Osayo!" She growled, "And Ryouji too?! Reiko?!"
"No. You see . . . little Osayo came out of the temple, as you can see; their bags are al laid here. They were obviously camping here. Fools. It's pretty open. But, anyway, this morning I was just, y'know, strolling along when I heard a soft humming sound. At first I thought that it was Yoko so I got ready to teach that slimy bitch a lesson. However, I found it to be Osayo. Stupid girl had put her weapon down to get water out. It was so simple. In one quick motioned I had her in my arms and she was slipping from them gasping at the air as all oxygen left her body. It was rather entertaining. But, before I could advance, that prat Ryouji decided to come and see how she was doing. I hid; I didn't know what weapon he had! But . . . he appeared to be unarmed. He found her, but he didn't say anything. Just stood there, his hands bloody from examining her body. I'd dumped this thing when Id' heard his voice. I cursed myself thinking that he'd have the smarts to grab it in defence, but instead he just stood there with it by his feet, looking guilty. Eventually Reiko ventured out and badda Bing, badda boom, blames Ryouji for the reason that Osayo is lying dead there on the floor. Whilst all the time I sat there and laughed quietly to myself. Her paranoia must've taken over because she charged at him with her knife. Somehow, in the confusion he must've turned it on her because she ended up with a huge gaping wound in her stomach. Oh dear." He tilted his head to the side at this point, "Poor Reiko." He sighed, "Killed by her own Boyfriend." He smirked slightly, "Ryouji just stammered pathetic apologies and tears and he grabbed her trying to help her . . . bless . . ." He continued dryly,
"What about Daisuke?! I saw him running away from here! He must've helped you kill Ryouji!"
"Ah yes . . . Daisuke . . . well . . . he was a pleasant little surprise, now, wasn't he?" Hiroshi grinned more to himself than to Shizuka,
"What do you mean?"
"Well, as Reiko and Ryouji began to whisper sweet nothings to one another, Daisuke decided to come along the path," Hiroshi grinned happily as he relived the moment in his head, telling Shizuka as he did so;
Daisuke began to tug at his tie as he turned the corner, he didn't even know why he was still wearing the damn thing. As he turned he arrived at the Well Shrine. Standing beside the well were two of his classmates, Ryouji Miyano who he played baseball with and Ryouji's girlfriend, Reiko Sumisawa,
"Hey guys!" He greeted, happy to see friendly faces at last. All of a sudden he stopped in his tracks. His eyes focussed on the corpse of Osayo who lay at their feet. Paranoid eyes shakily looked up and looked at Ryouji who now looked suspicious. Perhaps he wasn't hugging Reiko; perhaps he was trying to keep her still. That was when he noticed the large wound in her stomach, "You . . ." He whispered, pointing a quivering index finger at the tall boy, with large spikes and light brown eyes,
"I can explain . . ." Ryouji whimpered wearily but Daisuke was already beginning to reach for his small yet useful handgun.
With one quick movement, Daisuke had let off several bullets and Ryouji was on the floor beside Osayo. Reiko screamed loudly,
"NO!" She screamed, eyes wild, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"
Daisuke frowned,
"I thought that I was . . ."
"He didn't do it . . . it's not his fault!" She sobbed,
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Daisuke stammered, stepping back as Reiko dropped to her knees, grabbing Ryouji's hand,
"Ryouji! Ryouji-kun! Speak to me! Please!" She begged, "BASTARD!" She screamed, looking up at Daisuke again. Daisuke gasped loudly and began to stammer backwards. He turned and ran away from the scene,
"I'm so . . . so . . .sor . . .ry . . .Rei' . . ." Ryouji stammered.
She smiled softly, curling up beside him, cringing as pain pulled in her gut,
"Me too . . ."
Ryouji fell silent whilst Reiko whispered his name repeatedly, waiting for a response.
Fresh tears began to well in Shizuka's eyes as Hiroshi repeated the story with perfect details,
"And then you came along and I watched the last of my handy work. I figured, 'Eh, one more won't hurt'. So, be a dear and don't struggle. This will only take a second . . ."
"NO!" Shizuka screeched, jumping up and kicking against Hiroshi's legs. Hiroshi growled as he stumbled backwards slightly before charging forwards, wielding the scythe madly. He grinned manically as he brought it down upon her. Unfortunately for him, he missed, breaking through the wooden wall of the temple. As he struggle to pull it out, it brought away a good portion of the wall, it fell to the ground, causing a large dust cloud. In the confusion, Shizuka dived through the hole and into the next room, where a large window had been left open. With amazing stealth she launched herself onto the window sill and off into the forest,
"COME BACK!" Hiroshi yelled as Shizuka disappeared into the forest, "BITCH!"
Girls #3 Osayo Asagi, #12 Reiko Sumisawa, Boys #9 Ryouji Miyano dead. 31 to go.
- - -
Tommoyo had successfully wedged herself into a small slit in the side of a rock face. The problem now was that she was stuck. Silently she cursed as she continued to wriggle, attempting to free herself. After several long minutes, she gave up, resigning to defeat and falling back against the jagged cliff face. She began to sob into her knees, sniffling slightly,
"It's so unfair!" She muttered, "Why us? Why me? I'm not cut out for this survival shit!" She growled, kicking at the mud in a temper tantrum,
"Tommoyo?"
"Akito? Akito, is that you?!" Tommoyo called back,
"Are you alright?"
"I'm stuck!"
"Hold on! I'm coming!" Within mere seconds, Akito burst through the overgrowth followed by Shinji and Ami. They all looked pleased and relieved to see her,
"Oh there you are!" Ami sighed happily, "We looked for you all night!" She continued you giggle, her eyes rimmed with red,
"I'm sorry I stormed off guys! But, I'm stuck!" She whined as Akito knelt beside her. He grabbed her hands and pulled. She popped out quite easily but winced as pain coursed through her sides and hips, "It seemed like a good idea at the time." She said, shrugging half heartedly,
"Did you hear the reports?" Shinji asked his face deadly serious.
Fear struck Tommoyo as she shook her head. Ami now clutched to Shinji's arm tightly, sobbing into his blazer sleeve,
"Masaru, Satsuki and Yukiko." Akito breathed, his entire posture shifting to one of forlorn,
"Oh," Tommoyo raised her hand to her face nervously, tears beginning to well once again in her eyes, "Any . . . anyone else . . .?" She whispered hoarsely,
"Yasunari Konishi plus Jun and Toshio."
Tommoyo nodded silently, the four of them all not knowing where to look. Shinji was the first to speak, his eyes dim with sadness yet a spark of determination flared up,
"We have to find the others. We're safer as a group."
"We thought that last time and look where it's gotten us." Tommoyo mumbled quietly, "The four of us our in an even smaller group and Jun is dead!"
"I know, but that was Jun's own fault!" Shinji replied,
"Jun . . ." Tommoyo whimpered, more tears beginning to roll down her pink cheeks, "He didn't deserve to die! He'd never done anything wrong before last night! It's this game! It turned him into a monster!"
"I know it does, but we've gotta fight it!" Ami suddenly yelled,
"We need to think of a way to escape. Get everyone together and think! If we haven't beat this thing after 72 hours then we're all dead!" Akito sighed wisely,
"Then we're all dead. There's no way of beating this! The Government designed it!" Tommoyo panicked,
"They're not so smart!" Shinji answered,
"If it means that we don't murder anyone then I welcome death!" Ami snapped, "I'd rather die all together in innocence than kill my friends to survive!"
Tommoyo nodded in agreement,
"Then let's go. We have to try, at least." Akito pointed towards the South, "Let's head that way. We need to find Suguru and Kensuke; they must be out there somewhere."
The foursome began to make their way steadily through the thicket. Tommoyo walking ahead, alongside Akito whilst Shinji and Ami brought up the rear,
"Shinji, will you trade weapons with me?" Ami asked nervously,
"Why? What did you get?"
"Nun Chucks and I don't know how to use them. What about you?"
"I got a whip." He snorted, "Nun Chucks are simple enough to use."
"That's easy for you to say!" She snapped, jokingly, "You've trained with these before! When I pulled them out of my bag at first I thought I'd been given a saucepan handle!"
Shinji grinned at the sheer naivety of the girl beside him,
"Alright Ami, I'll swap with you. I can protect you better that way."
Ami blushed, lowering her face to the ground,
"Y'know . . ." She whispered, "Yukiko always liked you."
"She did? I thought that she was Suguru's girl?" Shinji smirked,
"They were only friends. We've all known each other forever, or, at least, it seems that way." Ami smiled slightly, "But they were never more than friends. I don't think that either one wanted that."
Shinji tilted his head to one side,
"Yukiko was great, but, she wasn't the girl for me."
Ami smiled warmly as the group continued through the forest.
- - -
Yoko Fugunagi approached the cliff edge, a maniacal look in her eyes as she advanced onto a smaller girl with long, curly dark hair, copper highlights shimmering in the morning light,
"This game's not so fun when it's you that's being hunted, is it? Mimarin?" She said with an evil smirk, continuing to advance on her former friend,
"Wh . . . what are you doing, Yoko?" Mimarin whimpered towards the girl, a slight breeze blowing her uniform slightly, causing the black and white uniform to sway dramatically,
"What does it look like?"
"You wouldn't dare!" Mimarin snapped back to her friend, "You wouldn't DARE!" She screamed, lunging forwards, grabbing her friend by the shoulder.
The pair began to struggle, pulling at hair and clothing, blouses were ripped and their feet slipped on the mud as they stumbled around, making small screaming sounds. They stumbled closer towards the cliff edge, Mimarin losing her footing and slipping partially over the cliff edge. The rock crumbled beneath her feet and she slipped down, gripping onto Yoko's hands tightly,
"Help me! Yoko!" She begged, clawing at the remains of her friend's sleeves, "PLEASE!"
Yoko grinned slightly and tried to pull her hands away,
"NO!" Mimarin screamed, placing her feet against the rock face and leaning back, pulling Yoko towards her. The pair tumbled over the edge, plummeting towards the rocks below.
Girls #5 Yoko Fugunagi, #20 Mimarin Yasushiko dead. 29 to go.
- - -
"Good afternoon! Sit down, take a break, have some lunch . . ." Mr. Sato chuckled into the microphone, looking down at the piece of paper in front of him, "I have before me the list of the last six hours worth of fatalities." He began to trace over the names with his eyes, scanning the text quickly and with a smirk began to speak again, "Ok, in order that they died . . . Girls #3 Osayo Asagi, #12 Reiko Sumisawa, Boys #9 Ryouji Miyano, Girls #5 Yoko Fugunagi, #20 Mimarin Yasushiko. That's 5 in total . . . hmmm . . . for six hours worth of work, that's not too bad . . . however . . . at this rate, you're all going to explode! Now, for the danger zones . . ."
- - -
Paige, who was still hiding in the small kitchen-ette with Ai, jotted down the new danger zones and looked at Ai with a soft smile,
"Even though my friends have died . . . and I know that I'm going to die too . . . I still live in the hope that we'll make it through this . . . with Kensuke . . ." She said warmly.
Ai smiled back and nodded, until her tracked began to beep,
"Paige!" She hissed, "Someone's coming!"
"Who?!" Paige asked, running and grabbing a sharp slither of glass that she'd found and her sharpened rock,
"Boys # 3!" Ai replied, looking to the sky hurriedly, "I don't know who that is!" She sobbed, running on the spot in a panic,
"It's . . . it's . . ." Paige struggled to remember.
The door suddenly opened and Hi Ike stood there grinning madly,
"Hello, ladies!" He grinned, "I could smell you're cooking, got any spare for a weary traveller . . .?"
Ai and Paige exchanged worried glance but agreed due to the pure intimidation that he placed upon them. Hi took a seat at the table in the centre of the room, a satisfied smirk carved onto his lips. He looked at Paige and then at Ai,
"Well . . . women! Serve me my food!" He demanded, slamming a fist onto the table top.
Paige muttered something dark in English and Hi grabbed her wrist,
"WHAT?!" He growled,
"I was just thinking something to myself. Working something out inside of me."
Hi grinned knowingly and winked,
"Oh yeah . . .? What would that be? Thinking about Kensuke . . .?"
Paige gasped and narrowed her eyes,
"Nothing of the sort!" She snapped back.
Hi fished something out of his bag and placed it onto the table in front of him, keeping his hand on the handle of the blood stained blade,
"Who . . . whose bl . . . blood is that . . .?" Ai asked, eyeing it worriedly,
"Hard to say, really." Hi replied with a shrug, "Could be any number of people really . . ."
The pair gasped as he tightened his grip on the handle, Ai shakily placing a bowl of something which resembled soup in front of him,
"You call this food?!" He growled menacingly,
"It's soup . . ." Ai stammered,
"Well . . . I suppose I can't complain . . ." He muttered menacingly, "You never really were much for doing even the simplest of things . . . we were only there for your looks really, weren't you? Probably slept with the principal to pass to the next grade, huh?"
Tears began to well in Ai's eyes and Hi began to sip at the soup gingerly,
"Tastes like shit . . ." He muttered. Paige tightened her grip on her rock, creping forwards silently. She brought it up over her head and brought it down quickly. Hard and fast. She repeated the process until not only blood gushed to the floor but a thick, pink goo also,
"P . . . Paige . . ." Ai stammered, "What . . . what have you done?!" She cried, "You've killed him!" She screeched,
"What do you think he would've done to us, Ai?!" Paige asked, her eyes wild, "At least now we have some more weapons!" She sighed with relief.
Ai began to back up, away from Paige, staring at her accusingly,
"N . . . no . . ."
"Ai . . . it had to be done!" Paige sighed, moving towards Ai who continued to back away until she was against the door,
"No . . . stay away from me!"
"Ai . . ." Paige said, still creeping forwards, "Calm down . . . I had to do it!"
"I SAID NO!" She screeched, thrusting the jagged piece of glass that Paige had found earlier towards the girl.
Paige made a small gurgling sound as the thick, shard of glass was ripped into her ribs. She spluttered, spitting specks of blood onto Ai's face. Ai backed up against the door again, closing her eyes and turning her head away as Paige tried to pull at the glass embedded in her side, tears trickling down the side of her face. She tried to form a coherent sound, trying hard to form her mouth into words until she fell to her knees, falling forwards onto the floor, coughing more blood onto the wooden floor.
Ai watched as Paige was reduced to an unmoving form. Gently, using the back of her sleeve, she wiped the blood from her face, leaving a sly smirk,
"That was easier than I thought . . . obviously, Yoko and Mimarin had NO idea . . ." She declared happily, moving and prising the Katana from Hi. She kicked the blood soaked rock away from her as she riffled through the bag, busying herself with preparations to move on.
Boys #3 Hi Ike, Girls #11 Paige Stevenson dead. 27 to go.
- - -
Mitsumi Hayashi and Matsumi Kanbe ran forwards, hand in hand, splashing through the small waves lapping at the beach towards a large dark cave where a small fire was lit. They fell into the open mouth of the cave, panting and breathing heavily.
A tall boy with shoulder length hair approached them, kneeling before Mitsumi who had gained a thick scar since he'd last seen them,
"What did you find? What did you see?" He asked carefully,
"Oh! Kazuto!" She spluttered, "Oh! It's horrible! A massacre!" She whimpered,
"Who? Where?" He asked inquisitively,
"Up . . . up by the big house, beneath the porch . . . Mari and . . . and . . . Hiroyuki!" She gasped for air.
Kazuto Yamaoka straightened up and took in a deep breath,
"I think that we have to realise that . . . we're never going to survive this . . ." He mumbled sadly, looking back at the trio huddled about the fire side, "We're all going mad . . . there's nothing we can do but wait for someone to come along and . . ."
"Don't say that!" Yurika Tokita pleaded, "We always look to you for guidance!" She growled, standing up, "And now you're just going to give up?!"
"Why not? You don't need me anymore!" He growled, "I am not your father, Yurika! I don't need to protect you!"
"Stop fighting!" Matsumi sobbed, now standing, still gripping Mitsumi's hand as they moved towards the group, "We have to stick together if we want to beat this!"
"Kazuto's right!" Yashiko Yuzuki said as he stood up, running a hand through his scruffy dark brown hair, "We have no hope!"
"DON'T SAY THAT!" The three girls screamed back at him.
At this point, Tsuyoshi Taguchi went to stand, but his sister shook her head, grabbing his arm. Her lower lip tremble and she hugged her brother,
"Tsuyoshi!" She whimpered, "Is what they say true? Is there really no hope?" Tsuki asked.
He gently placed a hand atop of her head,
"Maybe it would be quicker if we just ended it like Mari and Hiroyuki did."
"NO!" Kazuto and Yashiko growled,
"A man who kills himself, taking the cowards route out, has no pride! I will not die that way!"
Tsuki ignored the two boys and looked up at her brother,
"I follow your guidance . . ." She whispered. He nodded but looked up as three figures blocked the sunlight into the cave.
Kazuto shielded his eyes against the glare of the opening, regarding the figures in the opening,
"Kon . . . and Hiraga . . ." He sneered, "What a lovely surprise . . ." He said, looking at their machine gun, "Are you sure that you're even holding that the right way round?" He asked with amusement at the two boys and girl, who had been considered popular,
"I never liked you, Yamaoka . . ." Tetsuya Kon muttered,
"Great! Now that we all know everyone's surnames . . ." Hikaru Aoki giggled wickedly, clapping her hands together, "Let the killing begin . . ." She added, backing up to be protected by Tadashi and Tetsuya.
Tetsuya smirked, releasing the safety from the gun and showering the inside of the cave with machine gun fire. The bullets peppering the darkness with an evil glint, the fire stage raging on in the centre of the cave.
Matsumi and Mitsumi, still clutching onto one another's hands ran towards the back in a desperate attempt to evade the bullets, but were knocked down quickly. Tsuki buried her face into her brother's blazer as Kazuto and Yoshiko also fell to the ground,
"Brother . . ." Tsuki whimpered, her face tight against him,
"Shhhhh . . ." He soothed, closing his eyes too, bracing himself for the pain.
As the smoke cleared, the trio in the opening all smirked, looking at one another proudly. They let the soft waves begin to flood the cave, extinguishing the fire so that it fizzled into nothing but a small puff of smoke.
Girls #1 Mari Aiida, #6 Mitsumi Hayashi, #7 Matsumi Kanbe, #14 Tsuki Taguchi, Boys#7 Hiroyuki Kyogoku, #16Tsuyoshi Taguchi, #19 Kazuto Yamaoka, #20 Yashiko Yazuki dead. 19 to go.
- - - To be continued . . .
Hello everyone! Wow . . . 5 reviews! I'm really proud of myself! I know that only 5 isn't much to be proud of . . . but considering the fic type, I think that's blood good! I wanna say thank you all for reading and reviewing! Your comments all mean so much to me! I'm happy that you enjoy the story!
Oh, to 'The 18th Angel' I just wanted to say that, yeah, I know that Noriko had a brother and I understand where you're coming from, but in Chapter 1 (or 2 on Fanfiction.net) Yuki mentions her older brother, I just thought it's be cool to have a sister as well! Family are fun! I'm glad that you paid so much attention to it!
Anthony, I'm glad that you reviewed me again! Yay! I wrote a special bit in here about Shizuka for you . . . it give a bit more of an insight to my character.
Battle Royale 2 is going to screen in England this year! ::jumps about:: Wooh! Ok . . . yes . . . I had my moment, and I hope that you enjoy! Keep on commenting! I appreciate it VERY much! ::huggles::
Battle Royale: The Final Bout.
By Bubblegum Thai.
Chapter Two. Losing faith.
"Good morning sleepyheads! Yes! It's 6am! Time to wake up, ready for your first ever update!" Mr. Sato's voice drifted across the island from loud speakers up high above the terrain, "Now, let's get down to business. The list of your now deceased classmates, in order that they died." Mr. Sato cleared his throat, holding the list in front of his face; "Girls #4 Satsuki Chiba, #8 Yukiko Nakagawa, Boys #1 Masaru Hijikata, #6 Yasunari Konishi, #11 Toshio Nishi, #15 Jun Oochi. That's a total of 6. You've done good so far. Keep going, now . . . the danger zones . . ."
Kensuke whipped his map out from his blazer where it hung around his neck, beginning to mark on the map with a felt tip pen. He glanced up at Suguru, his eyes softening from anger to sadness when he caught sight of his best friend,
"Suguru . . ." He whispered softly,
"She was my best friend . . . Kensuke . . ." He choked, kneeling on the edge of the ledge that the two had spent the night on, tears brimmed thickly in his eyes, tumbling down his cheeks clumsily, "I . . . I shoulda protected her . . ."
Kensuke glowered as he turned his head, Mr. Sato bidding good luck and farewell for another 6 hours. He crawled to his friend, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder,
"Suguru . . ." He breathed, "You couldn't have done anything . . ."
"Yes! I could!" Suguru growled, "I could've waited for her! Helped her! Protected her! Now she's gone, but I'm still here! I don't deserve to be!" He muttered bitterly, "I don't deserve to live . . ."
Kensuke looked at his hands and sighed heavily,
"We should find the others . . . here just has to be a way off of this island." Kensuke sighed sadly, looking up at Suguru again, "Suguru, man, please . . . be strong . . . be strong for us. For the others. We need you. We'll be lost without you! We need you to stay calm and coherent! Please Suguru!" Kensuke pleaded, "We need to get going . . . I . . . I know it hurts to lost someone . . . but . . . but please . . ." Kensuke whimpered.
Suguru looked up, narrowing his eyes slightly,
"If I ever find out who did it, I'll return the favour." He said simply, picking up his bag and rising to his feet. He looked up, five metres or so til the top of the cliff, "We can probably climb that pretty easy, don't you think?" He asked quietly, looking over at Kensuke who gently pulled back some loose strands of spiked hair from his eye,
"Yeah . . ."
Throwing the strap of his cross bow over his shoulder, Kensuke grabbed a firmly planted looking rock in the cliff face and another slightly higher, pulling himself up, he then got a foot hold and began to scale the cliff face, Suguru following slowly behind him.
- - -
Shizuka Yadate strolled down an overgrown pathway, her head tilted to one side with her bag slung over her shoulder. She stopped dead in her tracks at the sound of voices from somewhere overhead. Glancing up, she caught the sight of two random bobbing heads near the edge of a ledge about 20 minutes up. She mused silently, bouncing her pistol up and down in her hand slowly, thinking,
"Suguru . . . you couldn't have done anything . . ."
Shizuka smirked slightly; Suguru Kamazaki and she recognised the voice to be that of Kensuke Takahashi, the boy with the spiky, scruffy, overgrown hair that sat beside her in Math class. She couldn't help but smile as she thought of his dark eyes and huge grin, flicking hair off of his face as he struggled with equations and decimal points.
Shrugging off the nostalgia, she continued, neither one proposed any major threat to her. Both were considered the 'sweetest' guys in the class. No killer instinct what so ever. She followed the winding path, her white blouse spattered with Yasunari's blood. Ahead she heard screaming strait after a few short gun shots. A female's screams. Then footsteps. Heavy. Panicked. Fast.
She dived behind a nearby bush as a shadow loomed along the path in the early morning sun. Soon a figure slowed along the path beside her and she silently cursed. It was that of Daisuke Okawa, a small silver hand gun loosely in his palm. He stopped in front of her bush, leaning over, double over his knees which were slightly bent, breathing heavily. He glanced back along the path guiltily before standing slowly and continuing almost cautiously, his bag slung over his shoulder carelessly.
Shizuka waited a few minutes before venturing out from behind the bush. She looked down the path in the direction that Daisuke had disappeared down and tightening her grip on the pistol which she'd been given as her weapon she slowly advanced down the path in the direction that she'd been heading originally.
After a few short steps and a corner turned she found a small house with a well standing proud in front. Sprawled around the base of the well were three bodies. The first was a girl, Osayo Asagi. Her throat had been slit wide open, presumably with the small hand scythe which lay beside her covered in the sticky, red liquid which had flooded the small courtyard.
Picking her way cautiously across the large puddle to the crumpled form next to her to find the bullet ridden body of Ryouji Miyano. Clasping his hand tightly was Reiko Sumisawa who was breathing heavy and writhing in agony. She rolled slightly and opened her eyes a crack to stare up into the face of Shizuka, her eyes full of twisted pain, her free hand clasping at her blood stained blouse,
"Shiz . . . zu . . . ka . . ." Reiko gasped, her hand tightening against her stomach slightly, "I hoped I'd find you . . ." She coughed slightly, blood splattering against the collar of her shirt.
Shizuka dropped to her knees beside the girl, splashing in the blood which went up her legs and knees,
"Reiko!" She whispered,
"You . . . you're hurt . . ."
"No. I'm fine." Shizuka shook her head sadly, "It's Yasunari's blood."
Reiko frowned and coughed again,
"Yaz . . .?" She whispered hoarsely, "But, why? Who?"
"It doesn't matter." Shizuka whispered, "I'm sorry I wasn't here."
Reiko smiled slightly her eyes beginning to slip shut,
"I'm just glad that I got to see you one last time . . . be . . . before . . . y'know . . ."
"Don't talk like that!" Shizuka growled,
"C'mon Shiz!" Reiko croaked, her face contorting in yet more pain. Arching backwards she made a slight gurgling sound as a few small crimson bubbles popped against her already blood-stained lips. Shizuka grabbed for her friend's free hand as she quickly fell back onto the blood soaked patio, her entire uniform becoming drenched in the liquid,
"Rei'?" Shizuka whispered, "REI'?!" She repeated; more desperate this time, yet no reply came. Gasping she released the girl's hand quickly, shuffling backwards as she flipped from her knees to her behind, her hands and feet running backwards along the ground until she hit the outer wall of the building, which she discovered to be a rather small temple. She jumped up and whirled around, her shoes completely under the blood, her mouth open as she gaped up the stairs. In a sudden burst of energy, she ran up the steps at full speed, breaking through the doors and fell to her knees dramatically, "Forgive me!" She whimpered, lowering her head, "Forgive me for hurting Yasunari . . . forgive me for not being here for Reiko . . . forgive me for what I've done!"
"You bring dishonour to your family."
Shizuka stood and glowered at the doorway, the light from outside now blocked by a large presence,
"Who's there?!" She gasped, narrowing her eyes,
"Hiroshi. Where's Yasunari." He replied coldly.
Shizuka narrowed her eyes at Hiroshi Tekuka but her attention became distracted as she noticed the bloody scythe which was slightly hidden behind him,
"He's dead." She snapped,
"Why?"
"Because he couldn't handle the pressure. That's why!" She snapped back in response. Hiroshi smirked slightly before continuing,
"Did you kill him, Shizuka?"
"No! Why do you think I killed him?"
"That's his blood on your shirt, isn't it?"
"Yeah, so? That doesn't necessarily mean that I killed him."
"What about Reiko? Did you kill her too?"
"I didn't kill anyone!" Shizuka lied, balling her fists slightly, "Why're you accusing me? You're just as guilty as I am! Standing there with a scythe behind you!"
Hiroshi bought the sharp implement out from behind his back and eyed it wickedly. Smirking evilly,
"Wonderful things, these are. Very useful. You can get right behind your enemy whilst the curve provides an excellent angle to slit a throat."
Realisation gripped Shizuka with force,
"Osayo!" She growled, "And Ryouji too?! Reiko?!"
"No. You see . . . little Osayo came out of the temple, as you can see; their bags are al laid here. They were obviously camping here. Fools. It's pretty open. But, anyway, this morning I was just, y'know, strolling along when I heard a soft humming sound. At first I thought that it was Yoko so I got ready to teach that slimy bitch a lesson. However, I found it to be Osayo. Stupid girl had put her weapon down to get water out. It was so simple. In one quick motioned I had her in my arms and she was slipping from them gasping at the air as all oxygen left her body. It was rather entertaining. But, before I could advance, that prat Ryouji decided to come and see how she was doing. I hid; I didn't know what weapon he had! But . . . he appeared to be unarmed. He found her, but he didn't say anything. Just stood there, his hands bloody from examining her body. I'd dumped this thing when Id' heard his voice. I cursed myself thinking that he'd have the smarts to grab it in defence, but instead he just stood there with it by his feet, looking guilty. Eventually Reiko ventured out and badda Bing, badda boom, blames Ryouji for the reason that Osayo is lying dead there on the floor. Whilst all the time I sat there and laughed quietly to myself. Her paranoia must've taken over because she charged at him with her knife. Somehow, in the confusion he must've turned it on her because she ended up with a huge gaping wound in her stomach. Oh dear." He tilted his head to the side at this point, "Poor Reiko." He sighed, "Killed by her own Boyfriend." He smirked slightly, "Ryouji just stammered pathetic apologies and tears and he grabbed her trying to help her . . . bless . . ." He continued dryly,
"What about Daisuke?! I saw him running away from here! He must've helped you kill Ryouji!"
"Ah yes . . . Daisuke . . . well . . . he was a pleasant little surprise, now, wasn't he?" Hiroshi grinned more to himself than to Shizuka,
"What do you mean?"
"Well, as Reiko and Ryouji began to whisper sweet nothings to one another, Daisuke decided to come along the path," Hiroshi grinned happily as he relived the moment in his head, telling Shizuka as he did so;
Daisuke began to tug at his tie as he turned the corner, he didn't even know why he was still wearing the damn thing. As he turned he arrived at the Well Shrine. Standing beside the well were two of his classmates, Ryouji Miyano who he played baseball with and Ryouji's girlfriend, Reiko Sumisawa,
"Hey guys!" He greeted, happy to see friendly faces at last. All of a sudden he stopped in his tracks. His eyes focussed on the corpse of Osayo who lay at their feet. Paranoid eyes shakily looked up and looked at Ryouji who now looked suspicious. Perhaps he wasn't hugging Reiko; perhaps he was trying to keep her still. That was when he noticed the large wound in her stomach, "You . . ." He whispered, pointing a quivering index finger at the tall boy, with large spikes and light brown eyes,
"I can explain . . ." Ryouji whimpered wearily but Daisuke was already beginning to reach for his small yet useful handgun.
With one quick movement, Daisuke had let off several bullets and Ryouji was on the floor beside Osayo. Reiko screamed loudly,
"NO!" She screamed, eyes wild, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"
Daisuke frowned,
"I thought that I was . . ."
"He didn't do it . . . it's not his fault!" She sobbed,
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Daisuke stammered, stepping back as Reiko dropped to her knees, grabbing Ryouji's hand,
"Ryouji! Ryouji-kun! Speak to me! Please!" She begged, "BASTARD!" She screamed, looking up at Daisuke again. Daisuke gasped loudly and began to stammer backwards. He turned and ran away from the scene,
"I'm so . . . so . . .sor . . .ry . . .Rei' . . ." Ryouji stammered.
She smiled softly, curling up beside him, cringing as pain pulled in her gut,
"Me too . . ."
Ryouji fell silent whilst Reiko whispered his name repeatedly, waiting for a response.
Fresh tears began to well in Shizuka's eyes as Hiroshi repeated the story with perfect details,
"And then you came along and I watched the last of my handy work. I figured, 'Eh, one more won't hurt'. So, be a dear and don't struggle. This will only take a second . . ."
"NO!" Shizuka screeched, jumping up and kicking against Hiroshi's legs. Hiroshi growled as he stumbled backwards slightly before charging forwards, wielding the scythe madly. He grinned manically as he brought it down upon her. Unfortunately for him, he missed, breaking through the wooden wall of the temple. As he struggle to pull it out, it brought away a good portion of the wall, it fell to the ground, causing a large dust cloud. In the confusion, Shizuka dived through the hole and into the next room, where a large window had been left open. With amazing stealth she launched herself onto the window sill and off into the forest,
"COME BACK!" Hiroshi yelled as Shizuka disappeared into the forest, "BITCH!"
Girls #3 Osayo Asagi, #12 Reiko Sumisawa, Boys #9 Ryouji Miyano dead. 31 to go.
- - -
Tommoyo had successfully wedged herself into a small slit in the side of a rock face. The problem now was that she was stuck. Silently she cursed as she continued to wriggle, attempting to free herself. After several long minutes, she gave up, resigning to defeat and falling back against the jagged cliff face. She began to sob into her knees, sniffling slightly,
"It's so unfair!" She muttered, "Why us? Why me? I'm not cut out for this survival shit!" She growled, kicking at the mud in a temper tantrum,
"Tommoyo?"
"Akito? Akito, is that you?!" Tommoyo called back,
"Are you alright?"
"I'm stuck!"
"Hold on! I'm coming!" Within mere seconds, Akito burst through the overgrowth followed by Shinji and Ami. They all looked pleased and relieved to see her,
"Oh there you are!" Ami sighed happily, "We looked for you all night!" She continued you giggle, her eyes rimmed with red,
"I'm sorry I stormed off guys! But, I'm stuck!" She whined as Akito knelt beside her. He grabbed her hands and pulled. She popped out quite easily but winced as pain coursed through her sides and hips, "It seemed like a good idea at the time." She said, shrugging half heartedly,
"Did you hear the reports?" Shinji asked his face deadly serious.
Fear struck Tommoyo as she shook her head. Ami now clutched to Shinji's arm tightly, sobbing into his blazer sleeve,
"Masaru, Satsuki and Yukiko." Akito breathed, his entire posture shifting to one of forlorn,
"Oh," Tommoyo raised her hand to her face nervously, tears beginning to well once again in her eyes, "Any . . . anyone else . . .?" She whispered hoarsely,
"Yasunari Konishi plus Jun and Toshio."
Tommoyo nodded silently, the four of them all not knowing where to look. Shinji was the first to speak, his eyes dim with sadness yet a spark of determination flared up,
"We have to find the others. We're safer as a group."
"We thought that last time and look where it's gotten us." Tommoyo mumbled quietly, "The four of us our in an even smaller group and Jun is dead!"
"I know, but that was Jun's own fault!" Shinji replied,
"Jun . . ." Tommoyo whimpered, more tears beginning to roll down her pink cheeks, "He didn't deserve to die! He'd never done anything wrong before last night! It's this game! It turned him into a monster!"
"I know it does, but we've gotta fight it!" Ami suddenly yelled,
"We need to think of a way to escape. Get everyone together and think! If we haven't beat this thing after 72 hours then we're all dead!" Akito sighed wisely,
"Then we're all dead. There's no way of beating this! The Government designed it!" Tommoyo panicked,
"They're not so smart!" Shinji answered,
"If it means that we don't murder anyone then I welcome death!" Ami snapped, "I'd rather die all together in innocence than kill my friends to survive!"
Tommoyo nodded in agreement,
"Then let's go. We have to try, at least." Akito pointed towards the South, "Let's head that way. We need to find Suguru and Kensuke; they must be out there somewhere."
The foursome began to make their way steadily through the thicket. Tommoyo walking ahead, alongside Akito whilst Shinji and Ami brought up the rear,
"Shinji, will you trade weapons with me?" Ami asked nervously,
"Why? What did you get?"
"Nun Chucks and I don't know how to use them. What about you?"
"I got a whip." He snorted, "Nun Chucks are simple enough to use."
"That's easy for you to say!" She snapped, jokingly, "You've trained with these before! When I pulled them out of my bag at first I thought I'd been given a saucepan handle!"
Shinji grinned at the sheer naivety of the girl beside him,
"Alright Ami, I'll swap with you. I can protect you better that way."
Ami blushed, lowering her face to the ground,
"Y'know . . ." She whispered, "Yukiko always liked you."
"She did? I thought that she was Suguru's girl?" Shinji smirked,
"They were only friends. We've all known each other forever, or, at least, it seems that way." Ami smiled slightly, "But they were never more than friends. I don't think that either one wanted that."
Shinji tilted his head to one side,
"Yukiko was great, but, she wasn't the girl for me."
Ami smiled warmly as the group continued through the forest.
- - -
Yoko Fugunagi approached the cliff edge, a maniacal look in her eyes as she advanced onto a smaller girl with long, curly dark hair, copper highlights shimmering in the morning light,
"This game's not so fun when it's you that's being hunted, is it? Mimarin?" She said with an evil smirk, continuing to advance on her former friend,
"Wh . . . what are you doing, Yoko?" Mimarin whimpered towards the girl, a slight breeze blowing her uniform slightly, causing the black and white uniform to sway dramatically,
"What does it look like?"
"You wouldn't dare!" Mimarin snapped back to her friend, "You wouldn't DARE!" She screamed, lunging forwards, grabbing her friend by the shoulder.
The pair began to struggle, pulling at hair and clothing, blouses were ripped and their feet slipped on the mud as they stumbled around, making small screaming sounds. They stumbled closer towards the cliff edge, Mimarin losing her footing and slipping partially over the cliff edge. The rock crumbled beneath her feet and she slipped down, gripping onto Yoko's hands tightly,
"Help me! Yoko!" She begged, clawing at the remains of her friend's sleeves, "PLEASE!"
Yoko grinned slightly and tried to pull her hands away,
"NO!" Mimarin screamed, placing her feet against the rock face and leaning back, pulling Yoko towards her. The pair tumbled over the edge, plummeting towards the rocks below.
Girls #5 Yoko Fugunagi, #20 Mimarin Yasushiko dead. 29 to go.
- - -
"Good afternoon! Sit down, take a break, have some lunch . . ." Mr. Sato chuckled into the microphone, looking down at the piece of paper in front of him, "I have before me the list of the last six hours worth of fatalities." He began to trace over the names with his eyes, scanning the text quickly and with a smirk began to speak again, "Ok, in order that they died . . . Girls #3 Osayo Asagi, #12 Reiko Sumisawa, Boys #9 Ryouji Miyano, Girls #5 Yoko Fugunagi, #20 Mimarin Yasushiko. That's 5 in total . . . hmmm . . . for six hours worth of work, that's not too bad . . . however . . . at this rate, you're all going to explode! Now, for the danger zones . . ."
- - -
Paige, who was still hiding in the small kitchen-ette with Ai, jotted down the new danger zones and looked at Ai with a soft smile,
"Even though my friends have died . . . and I know that I'm going to die too . . . I still live in the hope that we'll make it through this . . . with Kensuke . . ." She said warmly.
Ai smiled back and nodded, until her tracked began to beep,
"Paige!" She hissed, "Someone's coming!"
"Who?!" Paige asked, running and grabbing a sharp slither of glass that she'd found and her sharpened rock,
"Boys # 3!" Ai replied, looking to the sky hurriedly, "I don't know who that is!" She sobbed, running on the spot in a panic,
"It's . . . it's . . ." Paige struggled to remember.
The door suddenly opened and Hi Ike stood there grinning madly,
"Hello, ladies!" He grinned, "I could smell you're cooking, got any spare for a weary traveller . . .?"
Ai and Paige exchanged worried glance but agreed due to the pure intimidation that he placed upon them. Hi took a seat at the table in the centre of the room, a satisfied smirk carved onto his lips. He looked at Paige and then at Ai,
"Well . . . women! Serve me my food!" He demanded, slamming a fist onto the table top.
Paige muttered something dark in English and Hi grabbed her wrist,
"WHAT?!" He growled,
"I was just thinking something to myself. Working something out inside of me."
Hi grinned knowingly and winked,
"Oh yeah . . .? What would that be? Thinking about Kensuke . . .?"
Paige gasped and narrowed her eyes,
"Nothing of the sort!" She snapped back.
Hi fished something out of his bag and placed it onto the table in front of him, keeping his hand on the handle of the blood stained blade,
"Who . . . whose bl . . . blood is that . . .?" Ai asked, eyeing it worriedly,
"Hard to say, really." Hi replied with a shrug, "Could be any number of people really . . ."
The pair gasped as he tightened his grip on the handle, Ai shakily placing a bowl of something which resembled soup in front of him,
"You call this food?!" He growled menacingly,
"It's soup . . ." Ai stammered,
"Well . . . I suppose I can't complain . . ." He muttered menacingly, "You never really were much for doing even the simplest of things . . . we were only there for your looks really, weren't you? Probably slept with the principal to pass to the next grade, huh?"
Tears began to well in Ai's eyes and Hi began to sip at the soup gingerly,
"Tastes like shit . . ." He muttered. Paige tightened her grip on her rock, creping forwards silently. She brought it up over her head and brought it down quickly. Hard and fast. She repeated the process until not only blood gushed to the floor but a thick, pink goo also,
"P . . . Paige . . ." Ai stammered, "What . . . what have you done?!" She cried, "You've killed him!" She screeched,
"What do you think he would've done to us, Ai?!" Paige asked, her eyes wild, "At least now we have some more weapons!" She sighed with relief.
Ai began to back up, away from Paige, staring at her accusingly,
"N . . . no . . ."
"Ai . . . it had to be done!" Paige sighed, moving towards Ai who continued to back away until she was against the door,
"No . . . stay away from me!"
"Ai . . ." Paige said, still creeping forwards, "Calm down . . . I had to do it!"
"I SAID NO!" She screeched, thrusting the jagged piece of glass that Paige had found earlier towards the girl.
Paige made a small gurgling sound as the thick, shard of glass was ripped into her ribs. She spluttered, spitting specks of blood onto Ai's face. Ai backed up against the door again, closing her eyes and turning her head away as Paige tried to pull at the glass embedded in her side, tears trickling down the side of her face. She tried to form a coherent sound, trying hard to form her mouth into words until she fell to her knees, falling forwards onto the floor, coughing more blood onto the wooden floor.
Ai watched as Paige was reduced to an unmoving form. Gently, using the back of her sleeve, she wiped the blood from her face, leaving a sly smirk,
"That was easier than I thought . . . obviously, Yoko and Mimarin had NO idea . . ." She declared happily, moving and prising the Katana from Hi. She kicked the blood soaked rock away from her as she riffled through the bag, busying herself with preparations to move on.
Boys #3 Hi Ike, Girls #11 Paige Stevenson dead. 27 to go.
- - -
Mitsumi Hayashi and Matsumi Kanbe ran forwards, hand in hand, splashing through the small waves lapping at the beach towards a large dark cave where a small fire was lit. They fell into the open mouth of the cave, panting and breathing heavily.
A tall boy with shoulder length hair approached them, kneeling before Mitsumi who had gained a thick scar since he'd last seen them,
"What did you find? What did you see?" He asked carefully,
"Oh! Kazuto!" She spluttered, "Oh! It's horrible! A massacre!" She whimpered,
"Who? Where?" He asked inquisitively,
"Up . . . up by the big house, beneath the porch . . . Mari and . . . and . . . Hiroyuki!" She gasped for air.
Kazuto Yamaoka straightened up and took in a deep breath,
"I think that we have to realise that . . . we're never going to survive this . . ." He mumbled sadly, looking back at the trio huddled about the fire side, "We're all going mad . . . there's nothing we can do but wait for someone to come along and . . ."
"Don't say that!" Yurika Tokita pleaded, "We always look to you for guidance!" She growled, standing up, "And now you're just going to give up?!"
"Why not? You don't need me anymore!" He growled, "I am not your father, Yurika! I don't need to protect you!"
"Stop fighting!" Matsumi sobbed, now standing, still gripping Mitsumi's hand as they moved towards the group, "We have to stick together if we want to beat this!"
"Kazuto's right!" Yashiko Yuzuki said as he stood up, running a hand through his scruffy dark brown hair, "We have no hope!"
"DON'T SAY THAT!" The three girls screamed back at him.
At this point, Tsuyoshi Taguchi went to stand, but his sister shook her head, grabbing his arm. Her lower lip tremble and she hugged her brother,
"Tsuyoshi!" She whimpered, "Is what they say true? Is there really no hope?" Tsuki asked.
He gently placed a hand atop of her head,
"Maybe it would be quicker if we just ended it like Mari and Hiroyuki did."
"NO!" Kazuto and Yashiko growled,
"A man who kills himself, taking the cowards route out, has no pride! I will not die that way!"
Tsuki ignored the two boys and looked up at her brother,
"I follow your guidance . . ." She whispered. He nodded but looked up as three figures blocked the sunlight into the cave.
Kazuto shielded his eyes against the glare of the opening, regarding the figures in the opening,
"Kon . . . and Hiraga . . ." He sneered, "What a lovely surprise . . ." He said, looking at their machine gun, "Are you sure that you're even holding that the right way round?" He asked with amusement at the two boys and girl, who had been considered popular,
"I never liked you, Yamaoka . . ." Tetsuya Kon muttered,
"Great! Now that we all know everyone's surnames . . ." Hikaru Aoki giggled wickedly, clapping her hands together, "Let the killing begin . . ." She added, backing up to be protected by Tadashi and Tetsuya.
Tetsuya smirked, releasing the safety from the gun and showering the inside of the cave with machine gun fire. The bullets peppering the darkness with an evil glint, the fire stage raging on in the centre of the cave.
Matsumi and Mitsumi, still clutching onto one another's hands ran towards the back in a desperate attempt to evade the bullets, but were knocked down quickly. Tsuki buried her face into her brother's blazer as Kazuto and Yoshiko also fell to the ground,
"Brother . . ." Tsuki whimpered, her face tight against him,
"Shhhhh . . ." He soothed, closing his eyes too, bracing himself for the pain.
As the smoke cleared, the trio in the opening all smirked, looking at one another proudly. They let the soft waves begin to flood the cave, extinguishing the fire so that it fizzled into nothing but a small puff of smoke.
Girls #1 Mari Aiida, #6 Mitsumi Hayashi, #7 Matsumi Kanbe, #14 Tsuki Taguchi, Boys#7 Hiroyuki Kyogoku, #16Tsuyoshi Taguchi, #19 Kazuto Yamaoka, #20 Yashiko Yazuki dead. 19 to go.
- - - To be continued . . .