Chapter 5

One thing Shinji Mimura prided himself on was his ability to think on his feet and work under pressure. Yutaka was still watching him expectantly. Keita was staring off into space, apparently sulking and waiting for him to come up with the answer. Well, screw Keita. Not like Shinji liked him anyway. Let Yutaka explain to him, as soon as he'd made sure he was right. And he had an amusing and novel way to find out.

"Hey, Yutaka, there's a bug on your neck," he said casually. The expression on Yutaka's face was almost comical. No, scratch that, it was downright hilarious. Yutaka had never liked insects, not since Shinji had first met him, and probably even before that.

"What?" He was so panicked, it took everything Shinji had not to burst out laughing. "Where?!"

"Here, I'll get it." The sight of Yutaka keeping meticulously still, not even daring to move his eyes almost set him off, as he moved over to him. It would have been a good joke if it hadn't been so important. But he stopped himself from laughing and concentrated on Yutaka's collar. There was no bug, not in the insect sense. But there may have been another kind.

Found it.

He was right. The collars were equipped with microphones. They'd been listening to every word he said. He was working in overdrive. Couldn't they set the collars off at any time, regardless of where you were? Oh shit. Shit, shit, shit. On the upside, we're still here. But I should have been a lot more careful.

They were safe for now, as much as this situation could be considered safe. He'd have to think of another plan yet, show those mother fuckers that they couldn't keep him down with their backstabbing techniques.

But first, he should probably tell Yutaka about the whole microphone thing. So he searched through his pack, pulled out his map and a pencil, and settled down to write a note.

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The way Mitsuko approached him, all big eyes and coy movements, you'd think butter wouldn't melt in her mouth. Had Hiroki not heard (and seen) from Takako exactly what she could do, he didn't doubt that he'd have been taken in by her 'scared defenceless damsel' routine. He guessed, from the surprise evident in her face, that she'd been following him, but he'd unwittingly caught her off-guard with his sharp about-turn. Hiroki was going back to see Shinji.

He'd got up and turned around, only to be confronted by a blinking, scared-looking Mitsuko. She held a gun loosely in her hand. Hiroki didn't waste a moment, but lunged at her and snatched it off her (she wasn't pointing it). Well fair enough, so she wasn't pointing it. It was always better to be safe than sorry with a snake like her.

Mitsuko looked shocked that her gun had suddenly disappeared, but wasn't put off. She burst into tears. "Hiroki," she wailed. "Don't kill me, please, I'm so scared!"

But his heart was already hardened towards her. "You killed Takako," he stated flatly. He aimed the gun at her, and she fell to her knees.

"She attacked me! I- what was I supposed to do? I didn't mean to-"

"Save it," he lashed back.

She shut up then. Mitsuko looked so terrified, her huge eyes brimming with tears, sweat streaming down her beautiful face, that for a second Hiroki wondered whether she was still acting. Well stop wondering, you fool, it doesn't matter either way! "Please don't kill me," she whispered.

He glared at her, his dark eyes stone cold to show her he wasn't falling for her pleading. Not like I can bring myself to kill anyone anyway. But I'll at least make sure you don't kill anyone else. "Fine," he said slowly. "But I'm keeping this." He waved the gun, and she flinched, as if expecting him to shoot her.

Screw this, Hiroki had better things to do than hang around here threatening Mitsuko Souma. Throwing her one last death-stare, he turned and walked away. I have to find Shinji, make sure he's okay. I can't be too late, like I was with Takako. He broke into a run.

Not for long. A sharp, hot pain pierced his shoulder, and he cried out, stumbling. Mitsuko leapt at him, knocking him to the ground. "What the-?!"

"That wasn't my weapon," she hissed into his ear. The pain increased and spread downwards as Mitsuko pulled out what she had thrown at him, viciously tearing a diagonal slash across his back as she did so. "This is." The silver, curved blade of a small sickle waved in front of his eyes. It was dripping with his blood.

He could only gasp in reply. "Bitch!" She stopped toying with him; wrestling the gun from his slack grip and racing off. Hiroki just lay, panting, for about a minute. This is going to be fun, he thought, dragging himself upright. He reached his arm back to see if it was serious, but the movement ripped through his torn muscles. He let out a yell. There was no way he was doing that again.

I'll just ignore it until I find Shinji, he told himself.

And off he ran again, blood soaking the back of his school coat.

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"So what do you propose we do now?"

"Shut the fuck up, Iijima." Shinji was in no mood to feign politeness. "I don't see you coming up with any bright ideas.

Yutaka butted in, ever the peacemaker. "Keita didn't mean it like that, Shinji, did you? Come on, we're all stressed. Just calm down, and we'll work it out together."

Shinji couldn't stop a smile. Yutaka played his role well, although the naiveté was probably real. The twelve o clock broadcast interrupted him, and Sakamochi's magnified voice told the island who had died in the last six hours. The conversational tone of voice he used set Shinji's hackles bristling, but his thoughts were halted when he heard, "Girl 13, Takako Chigusa."

"Oh no."

Yutaka turned worried eyes on him. "Wasn't Hiroki--?"

"Yes." His throat was dry as he listened to the rest of the broadcast, but Hiroki's name wasn't mentioned. He started to breathe again.

There were a few moments of heavy silence, when each one of them was confronted with those secret thoughts they'd tried so hard for the last day to hide and ignore. Then Yutaka spoke up in a small voice. "Do you think he's okay?"

Shinji sighed. "I don't know." He chewed the end of his pencil. "But we can't think about that. Think about what we can do now." Escaping the island was out of the question. But maybe they could still wreak a bit of havoc. The spark had lit the fire; Shinji grabbed his scribbled-on map and began to write furiously. He wrote a list of things for Yutaka and Keita to get, adding a note on the bottom, "I'll tell you later," as an afterthought.

Surprisingly, they went without much fuss. Maybe they were so desperate they'd just cling onto the slightest scrap of hope offered to them. Shinji was working out the fine-tuning of the new plan when he heard the door go. Not as trusting as Yutaka or Keita, he had his gun ready and his finger on the trigger. The pure power and potential in that trigger was overwhelming.

"Put it down, Shin-chan," said Hiroki. He was smiling faintly even though he looked exhausted. "I was only kidding about the 'chan'," he added, seeing Shinji's surprise.

"That was quick," was all he could manage.

"I guess so."

Now he had to ask The Question. "Did you find Chigusa?" It was perhaps the most uncomfortable question possible, but Hiroki took it quite well.

"Yeah." The floor seemed to be captivating him; at least he was staring at it intensely.

"I'm really sorry," said Shinji softly. "You guys were so close." He put an arm around Hiroki's shoulders.

Hiroki blinked. When he trusted himself enough to speak, his voice was thick with emotion. "No, it's okay-"

"Hey!" Shinji pulled his arm away and stared at his hand. It was dripping red. Oops, thought Hiroki. "What the hell happened?" He looked furious.

"Um..." He shrugged and winced. It hurt. I feel like sashimi.

"Turn around," ordered Shinji. Hiroki obeyed sheepishly. "Take off the coat." He did so. Blood covered his back. "Lose the shirt." Wow, how long had he wanted to say that? Hiroki hesitated, but slipped off the blood-soaked material. Funny how I never took the time to enjoy the simple things, falling in love, admiring Hiroki's body, etc. Then this sodding Program comes along, the worst thing that could possibly have happened, and now is the time I choose to evaluate my life? Sad. He realised that martial arts was indeed good for your body. He also realised, when he saw the slash across Hiroki's back, that he didn't have a clue what to do. Here was one area his uncle had neglected to teach him. "It's not deep," he conceded finally.

"I could have told you that," grumbled Hiroki. "It's not as bad as it looks."

"Whatever. What actually happened?" Shinji hunted around the room for something, anything he could use. "Take a seat if you want."

"You're cute when you're all concerned and caring, you know."

"Fuck off!" He glared at Hiroki. "Tell me what happened."

Hiroki sat on the floor with his legs crossed, Zen Buddhist style. "I was on my way back here when I... bumped into Mitsuko Souma."

"Oh hell," said Shinji, grinning wickedly. "She didn't rape you, did she?"

"Idiot." Hiroki grinned back. "She had a gun, so I took it and was continuing on my merry way when she threw a sickle at me, got the gun back and ran off."

Shinji sat down behind him with a bottle of water and strips of material he had salvaged. It was the best he could do. "The great Hiroki Sugimura, black belt in kung-fu, beaten by a girl."

"This is Mitsuko Souma we're talking about, not just a girl." Hiroki turned his head around to look at Shinji, only to cry out in pain and return to his former position. "Look, this has got to be a lot of hassle for you, Shinji... Why don't you just leave it and carry on with that computer thing of yours? I can handle a little pain."

"The plan was sabotaged by Sakamochi, I'm guessing. And if I didn't know any better, I'd think you were scared I'd hurt you." He paused. "You're not, are you?"

"Maybe a little... I don't really like pain."

"Shut up and let me do it." He started to clean the wound anyway. "Anyway, I would have fallen for Mitsuko as well."

"Watch it, that's cold," complained Hiroki. "And I didn't 'fall for her'!"

"You turned your back on her," he pointed out. "It was hardly a smart move."

Hiroki ducked his head as much as he dared. "I didn't know she had another weapon... I'd taken the gun..." He was embarrassed at being caught out over such a stupid assumption. And by a girl! Even Mitsuko Souma.

"Don't be like that. You'll just have to be more careful next time. Anyone could have done it. Anyway, I'm done now."

You can probably tell that this wasn't originally written in chapters. But thanks for the reviews XD they are very appreciated. Next chapter coming soon, promise. With maybe more action