----- H4
Yukiko slowly opened here eyes. She felt drowsy... and nauseous.
Then it suddenly hit her. She didn't know where she was! She was staring up at... greenery? Up at the leaves in a tree...
She sat bolt upright, gazing around frantically. She was in a forest that was bathed in gentle morning light. The sound of wind blowing through the leaves was a very calming sound, and the tranquil setting had a soporific effect on the disorientated girl. But she knew that something was very, very wrong. The last thing she could remember was sitting on the coach with Yumiko… and nothing after that…
Something had definitely gone wrong…
Though she had taken in the setting quickly, the first thing that had caught her attention was the boy sitting only about a meter away from her. The boy was fairly tall, though to her, almost everyone looked tall. His hair fell down to the sides where it flicked up slightly, and two free strands hung lightly against his forehead. His thick dark eyebrows set emotionally above his sad eyes. Though he forced a smile as he looked up and saw Yukiko was awake, it was still evident that he had been crying.
"Hey, how do you feel?" he asked soothingly.
Yukiko slowly backed away over the soft grass before her back bit rough tree bark. "Yoji?"
Yoji bit his lip nervously. "Yukiko, are you OK?"
"Where am I?" the small girl cried helplessly. "What's going on?"
"You... don't remember anything?" Yoji asked, his expression returning to sadness, almost as if he had been expecting this reaction.
Yukiko shook her head. "We... we were on the bus and then... where is Yumiko?"
Yoji looked down at the ground, and exhaled deeply. Yukiko winced. She could tell it wasn't going to be good news. There was something deeply distressing about where they were. She had only just been on a coach trip... she wasn't supposed to be alone in a forest with Yoji... she barely knew him.
"Yumiko's... " Yoji began, the words catching in his throat, as if they were refusing to allow him to speak out loud. "She's... dead..."
"What?" Yukiko said, her voice a mere whisper, barely audible. Yoji wiped away a fresh tear.
"We… tried to save her… but…"
Yukiko's eyes widened. Something else had caught her eye. She was staring down, at her chest and legs.
Blood… she was covered in fresh blood…
"But… we couldn't save her in time…" Yoji said sorrowfully, seemingly unaware that Yukiko wasn't paying much attention to him.
Covered in blood…
Fresh blood…
Yukiko screamed. A deep scream, rising up frantically like an insane beast trying to break free from an entrapment.
"Calm down!" Yoji urged soothingly, but Yukiko continued to scream, her eyes welded shut as she collapsed forward.
Yoji hung back. He simply had no idea what to do to make it better, and it was killing him inside. Yukiko was going through pain so intense that he could barely watch, and he couldn't lift a finger to help. You can't do a thing! You worthless little...
Yukiko's lungs finally emptied of air, as she sat hunched over. Then, her body quivered a little before she began to throw up. They hadn't eaten, so it was just stomach acid and bile burning against her throat.
Yoji reached over to the water bottles, ready for once she had finished.
She was sobbing now, her whole body jerking forward with every cry.
Never before had she felt so much pain. Yumiko was dead. Yumiko...
Her whole life had been with Yumiko. Every moment worth remembering. The time they had gone bowling, and decided to play with each other rather than against. They got a lot of funny looks as they both stepped up together with the same ball, and rolled it down. Both of them trying to roll the same ball hadn't worked that well, and they knocked over hardly any pins, but Yukiko couldn't remember a time she had laughed that much.
The time Yumiko had stood up for Yukiko back in elementary when one of the other girls was being mean.
The time Yukiko had done really badly in a test that she had spent hours revising for, and Yumiko had done really well without that much study. Yukiko had been so upset after they finished the test, knowing how badly she had done, so Yumiko had switched the papers and got the bad score.
All the good memories of everything happy, everything fun, Yumiko was in all of them, and with each new wave of vomit, and each new tear, it felt like Yukiko was loosing Yumiko more and more. Loosing a part of herself...
"It hurts Yoji!" she cried painfully.
Yoji had moved over to her now, holding the water bottle out.
She raised her tearful eyes, and reached out weakly to take it. She tipped the bottle back, and the lukewarm water flowed into her mouth. She took several gulps before handing the bottle back.
"It still hurts... it hurts so much!"
Yoji himself was still crying too. You did this. You shot Yumiko. This is your fault!
"I'm sorry Yukiko..." he whispered.
She didn't reply, but simple reached out her arms and placed them around him, sobbing against his chest. Yumiko had been the only person who really knew Yukiko. Because they were such a close pair, the other girls had never really got to know them, and so now that Yumiko was gone, Yukiko was totally without friends. Yoji was all that she had.
It only hurts a little... with you...
----- E9
It only hurts a little... with you...
"I'm sure we'll find him!" Mayumi said soothingly from where she stood, a few meters away.
Yoshimi was standing a few feet from her, gazing sadly out of the window of the Sightseeing Association. The building was old and stuffy, but the two girls had managed to barricade the door quite well, and they both felt a lot more secure there than they had before. But their thoughts had strayed to the other classmates...
It only hurts a little...
Yoshimi nodded. "Yeah, we'll... we'll find him." she agreed weakly.
Mayumi nodded enthusiastically. "That's the spirit!" Maybe... maybe we'll find... who I'm looking for too.
"How can you be so optimistic? Even now, after Mitsu is dead?" Yoshimi asked, turning to face Mayumi.
Mayumi shrugged. "The rest of us are still alive. I guess that's something..."
"Mitsuko is dead!" Yoshimi cried. "Don't you care?"
"Of course I care!" Mayumi answered back. Though she had drifted away from Mitsuko in the past year, she had still felt sad hearing her name on the report.
But you can't be sad, oh no! Happy smiley faces! Happy smiley faces!
"Your father will be home soon!" Ms. Tendo said with a fake enthusiasm. "So let's all look happy OK?"
"Why do we have to look happy, mummy?"
Ms. Tendo's smile didn't fade, though she seemed to be struggling to find an answer that would satisfy a child of 7.
"Is it because he won't hit us if we smile?" Mayumi asked innocently.
Mayumi smiled. Happy happy happy. You have to smile. All the time.
Yoshimi turned away to gaze out of the window once more. Mitsuko was gone. Now she felt so lost. How could she know what to do now? Mitsuko was dead... and she had always relied on Mitsuko to know what to do! Because Mitsuko always knew! Mitsuko was always the clever one. The one who looked after her and Hirono, and who had looked after Mayumi too the year or so ago before Mayumi had become a complete recluse.
She was like a mother to them. Other kids didn't understand. They thought Mitsuko was a bad person, but she wasn't bad! Someone probably shot her thinking she was bad! But they were wrong! Mitsuko wouldn't have killed anyone! Mitsuko was good! Mitsuko shouldn't be dead!
"Hey Yoshimi, it's OK, calm down..." Mayumi urged.
Yoshimi turned to face her again, realising that she had broken into tears again. "It's... I'm sorry... I'm fine..."
Mayumi looked around "It's a shame the gas doesn't work... what you need is some nice soup. That'll cheer you up!"
Yoshimi stared at Mayumi in confusion.
Mayumi smiled and began to walk around, evidentially searching for some soup. "Soup makes everyone feel better."
Yoshimi's jaw opened in disbelief. Was Mayumi serious? Mitsuko is dead and you're worried about fucking SOUP?
No... no, it's just her way of coping. She's... just trying to do the best thing...
Yoshimi turned once more to stare out of the window. The island stared back at her, but what she could see made it look completely deserted. "Yoji..." she whispered. "Where are you?"
----- H4
Yoji and Yukiko remained in the same position for what felt like an eternity. The pain refused to go away.
"I'm sorry..." Yoji whispered.
"You did everything you could..." Yukiko replied. Yoji didn't say anything more. There wasn't anything he could say. Admitting he was the one who had shot Yumiko would simply cause more problems... as well as the fact that he was scared to admit he had done it.
"Hey, Yoji!"
Yoji looked up, realising who it was from the familiar sound of the voice. A voice he had heard nearly everyday over the past few years. "Kazushi!"
Yoji was so overwhelmed by the sense of familiarity and security that he felt upon finally seeing his best friend, that he hardly noticed Yukiko flinch in his arms. He also didn't notice that he was hugging her instinctively closer.
"Hey Yoji boy!" Kazushi said, grinning from where he stood a few meters away. "Are you guys OK?"
There was a slight hint of suspicion in his voice, and as Yoji shot Yukiko a quick glance, he saw why.
Yoji had been stained with the blood from when Yumiko's body had fallen onto him, and Yukiko had the blood from Mitsuko. Yukiko had probably assumed the blood on Yoji was from his earlier fight with Mitsuko, but Kazushi knew none of what had happened, so as far as he knew, the blood could have been from anything.
"We're both fine." Yoji lied. "You?"
"Hell yeah!" Kazushi said enthusiastically. "You guys are the first people I've ran into! You seen anyone?"
"A few people" Yoji said hurriedly. "But let's not talk about it..."
Kazushi smiled. "Hey, sure, chill Yoji! At least we're still alive, hey? Unlike Hardcore! Still can't believe it..."
"Shut up!" Yukiko screamed explosively at him. "Just shut up!"
Niida raised his hands defensively. "Whoa! What the hell has she got stuck up-"
"Kazushi!" interrupted Yoji, trying his hardest to avoid an argument. "We missed the first report Niida... is..." his voice trailed away.
Niida nodded. "She's still alive, don't worry!"
He grinned as he sat down on the ground next to them, digging his map out of his kit bag. Yukiko released her grip of Yoji and sat down on the grass with her arms crossed. She didn't like Niida being there one bit. For one, she'd heard bad things about him. Really bad. Sure, all guys would be... guys, but Niida had apparently touched a girl in the corridor once. Sure, she didn't know who, but everyone said it was true! And he was always starting rumours about him and Chigusa.
But worse than all, it was the way he looked so... ihappy/i. Like he was pleased with himself. He made her feel uncomfortable, and if it wasn't for the fact that he and Yoji were close friends, she would want to run away. But he's friends with Yoji, he can't be that bad, right
"Hey, you left off Yumiko..."
Yukiko looked up at the sound of Yumiko's name, feeling as if she were about to cry again. Yoji was pointing to Niida's class list, looking at it in confusion.
"What?" Kazushi questioned, his eyes squinting at the class list. "Dude, Yumiko wasn't on the report!"
"What?" Yukiko cried, moving forward to stare at Niida in the face. "What did you just say?"
"She wasn't on the report man!"
"Oh my God..."
Yukiko slowly turned to face Yoji with an accusing glare. Kazushi turned as well. "Yoji, you said you missed the report... why did you think she was dead?"
"I..." Yoji stuttered, his voice trailing away.
----- H5
Yumiko rubbed her eyes. The last thing she could remember was falling over and... then it had all gone blank. She had woken up sprawled on the stone floor though, so she could work out that she'd knocked herself out.
The sun was bright now, and she was aching all over It must have been a while since she had blanked out, but more worrying than anything was that she was now alone. More than anything, she felt thirsty, and a little light headed still, though it was hardly the largest of her concerns.
"Yukiko?" she called through the ruins, but her weak voice simply echoed back to her. Oh shit...
Weakly, she stood up, and began to try walking. Her legs both felt weak, but she wasn't injured, so managed to step forward. However, as she turned around the next wall of stone, she screamed.
There was a rigid dead body curled up on the floor, with a puddle of blood underneath. "Sakura?" Yumiko gasped out loud. Oh no... what the hell happened here?
She moved forward to Sakura's body. The girl's face looked pained and horrified. Yumiko bit her lip, and reached forward to close Sakura's wild eyes. "I'm sorry..." she whispered. So the game continues... how can we stop this?
Then she suddenly remembered. There had been a gun... she had found it on the floor. It must have been Sakura's... Sakura must have been there before, and got murdered. Either that, or she had been there the whole time, hiding, and been killed after. But where the hell are the others?
She got up sadly, and turned around.
Once again, she screamed. There was someone standing in the doorway. Shogo Kawada, the kid who had only been transferred a month or so ago. Yumiko had never spoken to him, like everyone else. Of course, contact was inevitable in the same class, but on the rare occasions she had spoken to him, she found him arrogant and rude. He scared her, with his macho attitude, and the scar...
But now he was standing right there, gazing at her the same way he would if she ever approached him at school.
"Quiet!" he commanded. Yumiko raised her hands up and nodded, staring down in fear at the shotgun that was being raised.
"You did this?" he asked, pointing his free hand at Sakura.
Yumiko shook her head frantically. "No! Of course not!"
He sighed. "We'll see. What's your weapon?"
"Grenades... they were in my bag..."
Shogo smiled. "Oh, I found the grenades in the bag. Explain for me please, the other bag there."
"That was Yukiko's!" cried Yumiko, her eyes pleading with him. "Have you seen her?"
Shogo shook his head unemotionally. "We're the only ones here, honey. Except that Souma chick. She ain't in the mood for talking though..." he said with dry sarcasm.
Seeing the confused and somewhat scared look on Yumiko's face, Shogo chuckled. "She's dead, chill!"
"How can you be so cold?" Yumiko said in shock. "She might be Souma, but have you no respect?"
"I don't have time for respect." Shogo stated simply. "You don't get time for things like that in this game."
Yumiko glared at him with the most offensive face she could muster. She wasn't very practised at it though, so it wasn't that effective, but she didn't care. She took a step forward. "I refuse to believe that. Let me go now. I need to find my friends..."
Shogo shook his head. "No can do. I still don't know if you're hostile or not."
"What does it matter to you?" Yumiko cried. "You haven't shot me, so you obviously arn't playing! If you let me go, what harm could it do you? I'll be gone!"
"I have my motives." Shogo growled. "Don't give me a reason to pull the trigger."
"What else am I supposed to do?" Yumiko cried. "My friends could by dying right now! I have to find them, whether you'll threaten me or not!"
"Even if I shoot you? That make it worth it?"
Yumiko shot him another angry look. "Get out of my way! You arn't going to shoot me!"
"How do you know?"
"You seem to be thinking clearly! No one wants to kill! You seem to be your icharming/i self right now, so I know you won't shoot."
"You're stupid if you believe that."
"What is this Kawada? You get a gun and suddenly you think you can lecture me on psychology?" She took another step forward to Kawada, the end of the shotgun only a few meters away from her now.
"I said stay put!"
"And I said get out of my way." Yumiko hissed through clenched teeth. Yukiko could be anywhere right now, and Shogo was really pissing her off. She wasn't going to be talked down to be anyone!
Shogo stared at her for a few moments before grinning and lowering the shotgun. "I like you." he said. "You've got balls."
Yumiko stared at him in disbelief. "What is this?"
Shogo chuckled again. A deep rumbling of a laugh. "Hell, I was never going to shoot you. I'm looking to join up with someone, and I wanted to make sure you had what it'll take."
"To do what exactly?" Yumiko said, highly unimpressed. She was about ready to kick Kawada hard where it would hurt most.
"Escape." Kawada said simply.
Yumiko stared at him for a moment. "You think you're the only one with that idea?" she asked sarcastically, before walking past him.
"I'm the only one who knows how." he called after.
She stopped, and placed her arms on her hips. It was never good for people in their class to get mixed up between her and Yukiko. Yukiko was always nice to people, no matter what. Even if they were being mean to her, she'd be nice as long as she could help. But anyone who messed with Yumiko needed to be prepared to take her on. And right now, Shogo Kawada had got her angry enough to snap. It hardly ever happened. Yumiko had got really angry once when a local dog had jumped on Yukiko when they were both little and frightened her. There had been another time when Oda had insulted Yukiko. Yumiko couldn't even remember what he had said, just the anger she had felt.
But now Yukiko wasn't here. Now it was personal. Kawada was acting like he owned the place, standing in her way and then being so arrogant as always! "You'd better have a good explanation for saying that..." Yumiko hissed, spinning around. "And if you don't, I hope for your sake that you don't mind hitting girls... because I'm sure as hell going to hit you..."
Kawada grinned again. "I've killed a girl before, how's that?"
"It was you!" Yumiko shrieked. "You killed Sakura!"
Kawada raised his hands. "No, I haven't killed anyone this time."
"This time? What are you talking about Kawada?" Yumiko questioned angrily, taking a threatening step towards him.
"Last time I was in Battle Royale. I shot the girl I loved."
It had been a long time since Yumiko had been totally silenced. But now, as she stood facing Kawada, she couldn't believe what she was hearing. There was nothing she could say. She didn't want to believe him. It sounded like the kind of stupid boast someone as arrogant as him would come up with, but there was something in the way he said it that made her believe. Something about the tone of his voice made her know he was being sincere.
"Oh my God..."
BOYS
#1 Yoshio Akamatsu
#2 Keita Iijima
#3 Tatsumichi Ooki
#4 Toshinori Oda
#5 Shogo Kawada
#6 Kazuo Kiriyama
#7 Yoshitoki Kuninobu
#8 Yoji Kuramoto
#9 Hiroshi Kuronaga
#10 Ryuhei Sasagawa
#11 Hiroki Sugimura
#12 Yutaka Seto
#13 Yuichiro Takiguchi
#14 Shou Tsukioka
#15 Shuuya Nanahara
#16 Kazushi Niida
#17 Mitsuru Numai
#18 Tadakatsu Hatagami
#19 Shinji Mimura
#20 Kyouichi Motobuchi
#21 Kazuhiko Yamamoto
GIRLS
#1 Mizuho Inada
#2 Yukie Utsumi
#3 Megumi Etou
#4 Sakura Ogawa
#5 Izumi Kanai
#6 Yukiko Kitano
#7 Yumiko Kusaka
#8 Kayoko Kotohiki
#9 Yuko Sakaki
#10 Hirono Shimizu
#11 Mitsuko Souma
#12 Haruka Tanizawa
#13 Takako Chigusa
#14 Mayumi Tendou
#15 Noriko Nakagawa
#16 Yuka Nakagawa
#17 Satomi Noda
#18 Fumiyo Fujiyoshi
#19 Chisato Matsui
#20 Kaori Minami
#21 Yoshimi Yahagi