Chapter 27
Sonia Tenzai (girls #14) shook her head while she took a look around at the mansion in E8. The walls on the side of the windows fell in completely, one could tell the border of the first and second floors based on the pattern. The loft remained undamaged but did not seem too stable.
Sonia waited for a long time until she found this place free from any other classmates. With caution, she decided to explore what was left of the mansion. She dove into the sky-high smoke of dust smelled some kind of metal and as she would have guided by a transcendent power she started her search at a huge pile of rubble. Before the explosion that was the ceiling of the first floor.
The supernatural power kept on guiding, she felt she has to examine that rubble closer. By the way, Sonia was catholic, not that zealot type though, but despite the Yoshiro-cult, she kept her religion. She could not stand without smiling when she stumbled upon a slim, fragile-looking hand at the edge of the pile. She thanked God for the guidance, and her faith in him became stronger than ever. It took some effort to clear the rubble around the hand, but she succeeded, Rumiko's head finally appeared.
Unfortunately unconsciously. Even though Rumiko's heartbeat could be felt and she breathed, Sonia's worries became deeper. She almost started to run to the hill to that dirt road to ask for help, where Yaeka was left. She forgot about her best friend, but she also did not want to leave Rumiko behind like that. So she stayed.
She managed to drag Rumiko into the neighboring building, to an old ruinous stable and collected some dry hay as a bed for the injured. Should she try to help Rumiko come to her senses? But how?
She took a glance out from the stable, into the garden of the mansion. Right! Water!
Under the pale moonlight there stood a water well. Would be useful, Sonia was thirsty anyway. But she did not want to be hasty, she was aware of the danger of others could be in this killing game. She walked toward the well slowly, step by step, while she had a look around again and again. She did not let the eyes fool her, she found it hard to believe that nobody wanted to check the explosion or tried to take the opportunity and ambush the injured survivors.
Everything was so calm, so peaceful. Sonia's heart almost stopped beating though. As she reached the well and looked into the deep, she found someone there. A young boy. Their classmate. Asuya Fukuda's body was floating in the water, next to a bucket with a string on its handle. No way I'm gonna drink this!
She was so shocked that she forgot about being cautious, she just wanted to run away from that horrible sight. With the next step she took behind, her heels bumped against something solid. A stone, she thought and checked it automatically, then had the next heart attack.
Another classmate. Laying on the ice-cold ground with her face gotten into the dirt. No! Not Nana!
Her heart beat inside her chest with incredible speed at the sight of the blood-soaked uniform. She spotted a large hole between the shoulders. Her dull senses sharpened, as she could smell the strong, rammy blood around the body. It made her nauseous, as if someone had turned her stomach inside out. She realized in panic, that someone here had cruelly dealt with two of their classmates, probably the same person – Sonia did not even assume that Nana would harm her friends – and that one was most likely still nearby, hoping to catch more victims. Maybe that one was lurking in the bushes waiting for the right moment.
Sonia left the well with pani fear, so she almost had a fall over a pile of dirt a little further away. That way she could not see someone standing right in front of her.
Another classmate.
"WOAH!" she screamed. Her voice was so sharp and high.
"Calm down, it's me!" said the newcomer on a tinkling, yet apprehensive voice. "What's wrong?"
Sonia recognized Yaeka, but she did not want her to go to the well and notice her boyfriend beneath it, nor Nana outside the moon's circle of light, at the root of a huge bush. Sonia did not want to burthen Yaeka with such a horrible sight, she had enough shock instead of the two of them. There's no need to have extra grief because of that, they are all going to die anyway, it was better not to watch each other's torture. Otherwise, we're talking about Asuya! They were a couple!
The idea of how Yaeka would act if she found her love, was more than enough for Sonia. She experienced herself what was it like when that SOB Russian commander killed Fukashi Tenzai in front of the whole 3/e. She has been haunted by that terrible memory since, still unable to get rid of the burning pain in her chest. That feeling was as if something was slowly eating her up inside. That was the reason she thrilled so often since this game started.
Such a thrill pulled her back to the present.
"Are you all right? You look horrible." Yaeka whispered, and after looking over Sonia's shoulders, she noticed the well "You could use some water!"
She was ready to act, but Sonia held her back.
"No... No, thank you. I don't want any water. "she licked her mouth at the moment she decided to lie. "I've already checked it. It's dry."
"Oh" Yaeka, with her curiosity, went closer to look at the bottom of the well, but Sonia grabbed her arm.
"Look, I've found Rumiko under the rubble. She's still alive, but unconscious. I'm afraid..." she stopped like she would bite her tongue. Every bit of her refused to add: she will not last long.
"Let's take Rumi and get outta here. I don't like this place."
She turned around to go back, and Yaeka followed her without a word. Now she did not care too much if that well dried up or not.
Sonia led Yaeka into the stables. Under the circle of the shone-in light, there was Rumiko laying. It may have been the twilight that did this to her, but her face looked awfully pale and hollow.
Yaeka crouched next to Rumiko with an empathetic face and held her hand.
"What happened?" she asked in a soft tone as she could expect an answer. Then she checked Rumiko's vital signs and found out that the situation had not changed much.
"What can we do?" Sonia slammed both hands to her hip, looking down at her classmates. "We're in the middle of nowhere, there's no chance of curing her."
"Well" Yaeka sighed "all we can do is to not leave her behind."
Then she kept on speaking at the same time as Sonia's 'That's right.'
"When I was waiting for you up there, Anri Souma showed up. A little later Ayami, too." then she told everything shortly about the events on the hill, including Souma's strange behavior with the hug and Ayami Horigoshi's accusations about Anri.
Sonia listened to the story with puckered forehead. To be honest, she was surprised by Ayami's behavior, not Anri's.
"You were right not to go after them. There's something wrong with them both. Anri's always been a good actress. She finally laid bare her fangs." she said.
"If I think of it" Yaeka agreed "There was something in Anri indeed. That sweet talk. Too humble."
"But" as she stood up next, her knees gave up a loud crackle as a sign of a sudden change of position "I only mentioned this, because it's not safe for us here. I don't know why I took things so easy up there, but now I don't think it's a good idea for us to meet them."
Yaeka felt a slight sense of guilt, why she preached about mutual trust and all that crap during the pair-game for Ayami, but every time she called the image of that weapon to mind, the cool, metallic shine of Ayami's Sig Sauer, her unwavering faith in the others faded away.
"What are we waiting for then?" Sonia asked in a hurry.
Yaeka nodded and was about to take Rumiko on her shoulders.
"Wait a sec, I met someone too," said Sonia while she helped Yaeka by moving the third girl. "I barely arrived here, guess who I ran into."
She was addressed with the look of a teacher who strictly awaits an answer. Sonia realized that it was not the right time for riddles.
"Chisato" she added quickly "We didn't talk much. She said she has something important to do, and once she's done she's going to find us. Then she left."
"She must be looking for Sonoko." said Yaeka between two moans as she put Rumiko straight on her back.
In the meantime, they left the stables. Sonia offered to help Yaeka, but she refused with a faint smile on her angelic face.
"No, thank you. Rumi is not that heavy."
Despite Rumiko's height, she was slim and thin, was not a problem at all to carry.
"I hope she will wake up." she took an anxious look over her shoulder "Was a miracle that she survived the collapse of that building."
"Its bricks were from adobe, as I can tell. The good thing is, that she evaded the bolsters.
Their way went through a small meadow before they reached the forest opposite. Sonia broke the silence.
"Should we switch? I'd be happy to carry Rumi."
Yaeka waved her blonde locks again as a no.
"I'm sure she'll be okay! It has to happen like that!" suddenly Sonia burst out, more to persuade herself. "Or? Would be better for her to leave this world without knowing it?"
As soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted her pessimism.
"Come on, Rumi. Wake up, you're stronger than that."
None of them could notice in the dark, that Rumiko batted the eyes, then opened them up a little. The crowns of the forest formed a huge umbrella over their head, leaving them almost in total darkness. On the other hand, Yaeka and Sonia were looking at the sky very often, even if they could hardly see the starry piece mixed with deep grey clouds accompanied by rummles and flashing lights.
The rain slowly started to fall. Sonia watched the other girl's face anxiously, who tried to pretend to be calm but was also worried. She was in a dilemma for minutes long, whether it was worth speaking, but she could not stay to ask at the end.
"You are thinking of Asuya, aren't you?"
Yaeka didn't answer. She just nodded.
"I haven't seen him since we were forced into that elevator," she answered, hoping to share her pain with someone will ease it. "Where is he now? What is he doing? Is he okay? I can't stand this unknown situation, we have to keep searching!"
That was true, they were originally on a search for Asuya before Souma showed up, or that huge explosion could be heard near the area. These events altered their plans, however, plus, Sonia kept the fact also in secret, that she was drawn as a partner on Asuya's side. Yaeka could not witness that, because she left the base earlier than Sonia as a member of the first ten duos. Sonia and Asuya were almost the last ones (No wonder that they got only a chisel as a weapon, and Asuya got mad because of that, saying: I have to protect Yaeka with this piece of sh*it?)
She was not able to admit the truth to Yaeka, especially because they got separated after the solo-message.
"Tell me, Yaeka." Sonia broke the silence "You wanted to break up with him?"
Yaeka turned towards her with eyes wide open. She almost dropped down Rumiko from her back.
"What do you mean by that?" she asked back with an awkward face and she put Rumiko straight again. "I can still look for him, can't I? That doesn't mean we're going to be enemies or something! He's still important to me!"
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you, that's not why I asked," answered Sonia quickly, seeing the grim look on the always smiling face. "Forget what I said. We should decide what to do next."
But they did not decide anything. They made their way through the unknown in silence. Both of them had a huge burden on their souls. So it was true. That's why Asuya was so grumpy because he found out somehow that Yaeka planned to break up with him. And I started to argue with him, that this is only his imagination and everything was because of this so-called game.
That argument was the reason (it was so loud, half of Russia could hear it) why Michio Otomo – the Michio Otomo with GUN – managed to find them. That guy could have killed them both. Asuya, however, inveigled him away from Sonia, so she could not see the rest, aka the moments when Asuya ran into Riki Ryusaki. And now, at this well, he must have been looking for Yaeka. I wonder who did this to him and Nana?
She could never get rid of the sight of the two lifeless bodies, one drowned and the other soaked in blood, abandoned there forever. She felt guilty about the arguing, she felt pity that things had been gone so bad all along. Her skills worth to be mentioned and valued left her in the soup. Her teachers did not forget to highlight it in front of the class so many times, that she was helpful, hardworking, and reliable, as well as a talented prose and poetry writer. She was also the founder and leader of the school's only autodidact literature group, aka a real community-girl. Thanks to all these, she has received countless of honorable mentions in the form of various awards, but here, it was not enough. Her knowledge now failed her. She wished she could do something, just like in school or the student hostel.
Sonia Tenzai (who had the same surname as the famous Japanese commander, Kenji Tenzai, Moskvin did not forget to mention) and Yaeka Sugiyama continued their hopeless march and they rebelled against the game only in their head, silently.
They did not have the remotest idea that Chisato Ozawa (girls #10) watched their way all along from a hopelessly dark corner. Chisato's eyes sparkled with craving as she followed the movement of the two classmates until they completely vanished behind the impassable-looking vegetation.
Once again, the sky grunted, then it turned into a noise of a plane, which became louder than everything else in the area.
[Number of students: 15]
