The game begins here... - I translated this chapter for a few months, but I haven't got too much free time.:/ (Sorry for the bad Eng. again^^")


Chapter 5


The boy was running with great speed. Sonoko was a good sprinter and also had talent for long distances, still she could barely keep step with her classmate. She got tired soon and breathed very hard. She continued running however, thanks to the boy who held her by the wrist. Without him, Sonoko wouldn't been able to carry on.

As they had stepped under the open sky, they had found themselves in the middle of a dark, thicket forest with impenetrable vegetation.

It was about midnight or later, huge and frazzled clouds were floating on the the wide, starry night. The moon hid beyond such a group of clouds somewhere. So the class saw not sunlight in the corridor of the war bears, it was maybe a high-powered reflector.

Indeed, Sonoko realised, that after the waking here in captivity, she discovered the watch they all have got and checked the time. It was about 10 in the evening. One or two hours could pass since that time.

Now, as she and her boy partner winded themselves into the forest deeper and deeper (the classmate forced their way through the bushes as hell), they both heard the voice of others - those were in general desperate crying, bitter screams mixed with the howling of the wolves. The mild may-wind shepherded these sounds toward them form different distances.

Sonoko took a look at her male partner first, but it was such dark in there, that she could see only a blackness in front of her - as it was mentioned, the boys in the class had black uniform. 'Black... now, it's almost time to mourn.'

The bushes were rustling behind them without cease, the wolves were still on track. The wild growls and wows made the hunt more frightening.

These beasts could have been starved for weeks - okay, just for a few days, because they wouldn't have lived yet - the main thing is, that in such condition, in the hope of prey, the animals were far way persistent. Who knows how long the chase lasted, Sonoko had already started to loose her strength for good - she has never been so drained, never run that much at one go, even in football training.

But their persistence maybe fructified, soon the enthusiasm of the hunters had eased. They rolled away a bit from the humans, but stayed on track.

The next turn came just after that. The boy stopped immediately and lurched, and if Sonoko wasn't there to pull him back, he would have fallen into a deep pit. Thus they got off with a tiny scratch or two by falling to the ground. The pit ran across the forest transversally, looked like it had no end in every direction. It seemed like an entrenchment or something similar things used in the war. Alas, it was also too wide to skip over. And now what? They really become wolf food?

The boy got up soon and as it was much brighter here - because of the pit, trees grew here sparsely - they could see the sky. Sonoko also managed to identify him on the score of his faint silhouette. She didn't know how to react in the moment of recognition. It was so... not, what she expected. Why him? Anyone, even Fukashi Murata would be better - even those two is always mocked by the others, how much they fit each other. Why even Riki Ryusaki?

It is true, he is one of the hottest guys in 3/e, but he is so mysterious and unpredictable. And he always has a cold, unkindly look. Nobody knows about him anything and it is the same in his twin brother, Kinji's case.

The main computer drew the worst partner for Sonoko.

'Err... can we ask for recounting the votes?'

But if you view it from another angle, at least the others got more predictable mates. The rest of the class know one another relatively well. Or do they?

What if in such an impossible situation your best friend - or who you think of he/she is the best - will turn against you without hesitation? There is only one rule here, that there aren't any rules, so no one is the same person like before.

Sonoko shook her head, she picked up on the growingly upcoming noises of the wolves. They couldn't go anywhere, the pit looked endless to the left or right, if they try to run that way, the beasts will easily get up to them. Or! There's the other option: jumping into the hollow deepness, where probably the bare ground will waiting for them, not pillows for example.

Riki Ryusaki's (boys #15) voice sounded so gentile in her ears.

"It's around 4 metres." he said.

The girl realised after a short reasoning, that Riki investigated the width of of the groove. If he is right, she still won't been able to jump that big. She at least, not. On PE lessons she managed to jump 3m and 95 or 98 cm for the third shot by long-jumping, but it is not 4. That one or two centimetres is count indeed. It is no match for Riki, he's very good at sports as every boy, but now they have to solve this problem together: without Sonoko, Riki may die because of Moskvin's stupid duo-system.

'Riki is a perfect student, without any effort. I hope Mr. Whiz can figure something out...'

And whereon the wolves reached that entrenchment thing, the students were safe. If we can call this BR game "safe". Just as much happened, that they found a big tree on the edge of the cove, which had stiff branches and rich foliage, so they could climb over another tree with similar parameters on the other side of the cove. The foliages of the two tree was almost abutted. This one was the only climbable tree in the near and they had also just a little time to act.

Sonoko had done the climbing a bit uncertain, but luckily, all went okay. They saw from the other side, how some wolves tried to snatch at them so those were fallen into the deep. They were too blindfold because of the hunger they had. The rest of the horde stayed in their place, then they slowly started to fall back.

So the first cross parried. How many do they have to tide over still victory?

And how many of the students couldn't make it? It is known certainly, that there are some less-sporty persons among them. Or rather they are in majority.

Sonoko sit down under that tree and lost in her thought. Then she covered her face, she didn't want Riki to see the tears in her eyes. She hated to cry in the presence of others, it was the sign of weakness for her, in vain, that it was only from anger. She thought otherwise in the case of others though, she wanted to evade showing week only herself - the hard past she had lived was the artificer of that; her "friends" outraged her a lot, gibed at her and she was underrated by everyone, only a few want's to play with the girl because she was a feebling.

Riki stood next to the tree wordlessly.

"They want that all the way." Sonoko said "for us to spread. They want to separate us, not to meet for now. To estrange us from one another, so we won't trust anyone. Thus it is a ton easier to attack someone."

Sonoko had no idea, why did she say it out loudly, as her thought formed into words, just felt to do so. Riki stayed in silence and just looked at the girl, as if he was waiting for something.

Some dim noise broke the tunelessness, came from animals or the whistle of the blowing wind at times. Everything was so quiet like in a secret date. Oh crap, in normal circumstances the temper would be romantic. Maybe in another life.

They both came to reality when a short, high toned beep clanged right from their watches. The two display started to beacon and a small envelope-shaped icon signed the incoming message. After pressing "okay", its text appeared.

"The first task folks: in this area you only have to provide weapons for your survival. Naw, don't get frightened, I don't ask impossible thing, you'll find everything in the warehouse, which is in the middle of this arena. I have already sent the coordinates, you can check them in your digital map. There is one catch: the faster you reach the warehouse, the better gun you get! Namely, the fist few pair can have an UZI for example, while the belated ones can be happy with a pocket knife. So if you refreshed yourselves after the hare and hounds, I suggest to go and head toward the location as soon as you can! I wish you good luck, you need a lot if you ask me! Oh, and there is something else: don't forget the "moving" and "standing" traps!"

Sonoko's hands quivered from anger. If they had gotten the message on paper, she would have pulled it to as many pieces she can. They also have to fight for the weapons! What, if two pairs reach the destination at the same time? They won't enter the warehouse arm-in-arm for sure.

She thought about Rumiko. She could been able to find her at least. Well, they could try to hide near the warehouse with Riki and wait for Rumiko. She wondered, what will he say about that quick-made plan.

She turned her eyes from the display, it seemed that her partner would have just waited for that. Now he started up to west, namely to the left direction. The girl opened the map on her watch, while she was following him.

Almost the whole map was dark green, those were the unreachable lands. Circa quarter of this area was lighter, it was the first game field - as the label signed. In that small part could be seen all the relief, the contour-lines and the main passages. A red spot was flickered all the way - that was the position of the warehouse. With another press, the students could visualise their own position in a form of such a red spot. Unfortunately (or not?) they saw only themselves, the others not.

When Sonoko finished studying the map, checked the list of the class, but realised, that whoever died during the wolf-hunt, it won't be made public awhile. So, still two name was grey on the list - Ben Ugaki and Fukashi Tenzai - and 34 other stood out.

Riki pulled up all of a sudden, because of that Sonoko ran at him (that's what you get by not keeping the response-time distance (like in driving), eh?).

"What happened?" she asked with perplexity, but Riki snubbed her.

He wanted to show, that something isn't right there.

They looked around carefully and stirlessly, but everything was silent. So Riki took a step forward, then suddenly an oblong, thin something bedded into the ground. Exactly over there, where Riki wanted to step to.

Riki ran to Sonoko immediately, took her and jumped with the girl into the thicket.

A soft whisper came out somewhere from a crown of a tree. There was a nervous argument between the conversational partners.

"I've already told you not to throw away yet, you idiot! You should have waited until they come closer! Now it is down somewhere, if we go and try to find it, they will get us! Who were they anyway?"

"And how should I know? Do you think I can see in this freakin' darkness? Well, what's next, if you have always such good ideas!"

"Wait, maybe they haven't noticed us yet. Let's wait a bit until they leave. Just listen in silence!"

They did so, because none of them spoke again. It didn't find out, who those two students were, just that much, that they were both girls. Someone got a girl partner? Or they have already teamed up? Then there can be a boy here in the near. Or two...

Many minutes passed in such quiet, both the girls in the tree and the other two in the bushes listened very tensely. Sonoko thought, she can be awake harder as time goes by - although she was not sleepy, she was rather physically tired. And this awaiting made her much more nervous.

Finally something happened. The branches of a tree in the near rustled softly, then a short girl with round face jumped down to the ground. She was quite awkward, but it is forgivable for an urban fashion-kitty as Etsumi Inukai (girls #18) was. Etsumi took a cautious step forward, toward the thing they lost with her friend, while she was looking round all the way. Her arms and legs quivered but she couldn't leave that stuff there. The girl took a deep breath and ran awkwardly to her thin object and pulled it out from the soil with a quick verve.

Then a silvery blade glanced in the moonlight, so the moon wasn't behind the clouds anymore. Etsumi had an orange shafted paper-knife in her hands.

"Got it!" she spoke in whispers with a wide smile, then told to her girl friend "you can come down now."

She got no answer.

"Yurisa! I say, you can come down now! We don't have any reason to fear, we are the only one with any weapon. It's good to have the knife always in my sock." besides the white shirt and black skirt, a long, large sock made the girl's uniform. And many of them - like Etsumi did - were wearing the uniform with the socks down, so no wonder, that it was the best place for most students to hiding their things. Many stuff could be hidden there without being spotted. This paper-knife managed to escape even the notice of the soviets.

Etsumi called for her friend for nothing, she can't get an answer. Etsumi started to have bad apprehension. She headed toward the tree very slowly, but before she had reached it, Yurisa Akera (girls #20) landed by her feet with an extremely strong verve. We probably all thought, this one will never wake up here, but miraculously Yurisa sprang to her feet like a grasshopper. There was nothing wrong with her, no injuries or something. She just ran away without a single word, she left Etsumi to herself.

Who was standing humble-mouthed like a sculpture and stared a bit uncomprehendingly.

Something doesn't hold together. Paper-knife or not, she became scared after all. All unawares, like she was driven by an invisible power, turned round.

Her blood ran cold seeing Riki in front of her. The better her common sense left him, the stronger her instincts for living became. Riki moved moderately and Etsumi saw, she was the aim. She didn't hesitate longer, quickly began to scatter. Riki followed her. Everyone would expect of a superb athlete, that he catch up his prey in no time. Mainly in a case of a plaza bitch, who outperform herself by store discounts at best.

Sonoko didn't want her classmates to fight each other and even she didn't know anything about the Ryusaki-twins, she couldn't imagine any of them to be a cold-blooded murderer. Sadly, it seemed Riki attack people without hesitation, mainly a girl, so if not for this pair thing, she, Sonoko would have been such a victim to the boy. She knew it at heart but durst against the feeling. She won't been able to accept so easily.

The girl didn't care the danger or so anymore, she shouted to Riki:

"Hey, stop it! Don't do that!" she took that risk. When others find them because of her fault, so let it be.

After that she was just standing and watched the scene as an outsider. Luckily (or not), Riki failed to catch Etsumi, that was a close shave though.

Etsumi reached the tree in time, in the moment the boy could grab her by the shirt, she got round the body of the tree and headed toward the thick bushes. Straight into Sonoko's direction.

Maybe the desperate flight, the revengefulness or something else made her to run at Sonoko and push over her. Sonoko didn't tumble down, but suddenly felt heavy pain in her arm. Just as someone cut his/her finger. She grunted. At the same time she heard a silent crack, the top of the paper-knife broke down.

Yeah, Etsumi on purpose? Accidentally? cut her with the blade. Anyhow, the victim pronounced it "intentional" and stopped feeling sorrow for her classmate. She thought about her angrily. She have always hated fashion bitches and that hatred became stronger and stronger.

Riki ran by her, meanwhile Inukai forced her way screaming through the bushes. Sonoko thought, it's better to follow them. So she followed them by holding her injured arm tightly. Sonoko could take the pain relatively well, but she had some days, when the smallest pin-prick was beyond all bearing. I dare say, that day was such a day.

Sonoko noticed, that she might see worse, or why did the forest around her look paler? And at top of that, blood was just flew from the wound, she would scream by choice. She didn't see where was she running to, just followed the voices she heard.

A half minute later she heard a short crunch then as if the ground would have collapsed under her feet, she felt the well known falling and heard the whistling wind in the ears. She found herself soon in a flossy leaf-litter and she was not alone. She was blind in her misery, so tried to palpate the surroundings with the fine arm. The girl touched some flat stone in the coarse leaf-litter.

A cutting, ostentative voice sounded aloft.

"Haha, I remembered that trap, we... i mean Yurisa almost fell it down! I Knew it will be useful! I tricked you, haha!" Etsumi laughed gloatingly, like girls used to, when they seduce one another's boyfriend.

"I hope you have broken your neck!" then she snarled like a wolf and as a sign of her deny she dumped down some dust from the soil.

As Sonoko were lying with closed eyes, she just felt the dust falling to the face. She prefer used her audition at the moment. Riki was moveless next to her, Etsumi's steps were fading in the near.

They were ambushed again.


The number of students: 34