Taku slowly opened his eyes and let out a groan of pain. The last thing he remembered was Kamome with a machine gun, spraying bullets everywhere. She must have hit him, that would explain the pain. She was upset, she was upset that they made her play in the band. This was her opportunity for revenge and she had taken it. Taku looked around. The rest of his band was lying all around the shrine. They were dead and their blood poured over the steps. Taku looked at his own body and it was also bleeding. He would be dead like his friends soon, he had lost too much blood to be saved. As he was thinking of his last words, his eyes fell on his weapon. The loudspeaker. He might not have been able to save himself or his band, but he would do his best to save everyone else from Kamome. Taku tried to ignore the pain as he stretched his hands towards the loudspeaker. He put the narrow end to his lips and took a breath, right before his voice rang out across the island.

"Everyone! This is Taku from the band Fight the System! Kamome, our keyboardist, killed the other members! She.. she hit me too, and I'm gonna die, but I'm not yet! Not before I can tell you! If.. if you see her, kill... kill her..."

Taku's voice fizzled out and went quiet as his eyes glazed over. His injuries had taken their toll as he died. Fifteen minute's walk away from the shrine, Kamome cussed under her breath. Now anyone she'd come across would consider her an enemy. She slipped on the buster-knuckle gloves, they were gothic looking and appeared to be something a student would wear. Then Kamome tucked her machine gun in her skirt, using her belt as a makeshift holster. When she stood straight and made sure she kept her balance, the gun looked smaller and less menacing. The rest of the weapons she dumped where she stood. Hopefully the vermin in need of extermination wouldn't recognize her as the Kamome that Taku warned against until she was close enough. Meanwhile, in a bordering zone...

"Ungh.. Elle... where... where am I... is this a dream..."

"Kohaku!" Elleanor jumped up when she heard her friend wake up. She rushed over to him and nearly crushed him with a hug of relief.

"Gah! Elle! Geroff me!"

"Heh, sorry about that, it's just such a relief to see you up. Now I don't have to lug you around anymore!" Kohaku looked around, noting that his surroundings were different then he previously remembered.

"You really carried me all the way here? How far was it?"

"Well, judging by our approximate distance from certain landmarks, and the scale according to the map, it was about a mile. Heavy work too, carrying you and four bags the entire way. After about half an hour my body couldn't take anymore and I came to the edge of that cliff which is about three feet away from me at the moment. That was about ten minutes ago. Something else, Taku was on some sort of intercom saying that Kamome shot him and that we need to look out for her or something of the like, did you hear that?"

"Yea, I think that's what woke me up. Where did you get the katana?" Elleanor bowed her head in shame.

"It was Kiyo, he came by when you were out. He would have killed us both if I hadn't done anything, this was his weapon..." Kohaku put a consoling hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Don't worry about it, you did the right thing. If you weren't there I'd be dead by now, so I owe you one."

"Thanks Kohaku.. what's this?" Another dot had appeared at the end of Elleanor's scanner. Judging by its position it was on the top of the cliff like Elleanor and Kohaku. And it was getting closer.

"Um.. Elle, maybe we should get out of here..."

"Nonsense, whoever it is might be able to help us. We're open to any semi-feasable plan of escape, right?"

"Right. But whoever it is might also want to kill us!"

"And we won't know if we don't find out, right Kohaku?"

"And how are we gonna find out!"

"We're gonna wait here and- shh!" Elleanor and Kohaku quieted down as their new arrival became more than a dot. There was rummaging in nearby bushes which was consistent with the tracker. Elleanor took a few steps forward and strained her eyes to try and get a glimpse of the intruder.

"Hey! It's Umi!" Kohaku froze. Umi was a shy and gentle soccer player and would be a great addition to their small group. Still, she always wore her hair up in a conservative bun and her pale skin made a great contrast against her pitch black hair. Before he could shout a warning, Elleanor stood up and started to wave.

"Over here Umi!"

"Elleanor no!"

Seized with adrenaline, Kohaku grabbed his friend's uniform collar and ran towards the cliff. His charge carried both her and the bags off the edge and they plunged through the trees down the thirty foot drop.

Over in the bushes, Kamome had her gun drawn and was ready to shoot. But when Kohaku started to run towards the cliff, her gun was still safely tucked away. The only way she could have been seen as a threat was if she was identified as herself, Kamome. But Elleanor wasn't able to tell the difference between her and Umi when she was about to attack, so why could Kohaku when he wasn't even looking their way? It didn't make sense, but it didn't matter anyways. Neither of those vermin would be able to survive the fall. And if they did, they were vermin which Kamome wanted the pleasure of extinguishing a second time.

30 students remain

---End