Author's note: What a long wait this has been. In fact, I've been more focused on my AOOO account than I have been with this one. I might do double duty with both and AOOO, so who knows?

Battle Royale II: The Game

Chapter 17: Keiichi's Plan

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Keiji had high hopes that Takagi could help him and Kanami out, and the older man most certainly did. After giving the girl treatment, he took a breath of relief.

"Thank god...the antipyretics were able to work their magic." he said.

The brown-haired boy, having sat next to him, looked over at him and said, "I just don't get it."

"What do you mean?" Takagi responded.

"Why did you choose to help us two?" Keiji asked.

"My older sister works as a doctor at a local hospital; I've been eager to follow in her footsteps as a child, so I often volunteered to help her out." he replied. "In fact, she was upset when she found out I was in the class chosen for the Program. It seemed I wanted to take it upon myself to get out of this hellhole."

Keiji had nothing else to say, choosing to close his eyes and go into deep thought, causing Takagi to get to work cleaning things up. Much like her, Keiji's father was just as shell-shocked upon learning Ayatsuji chose his son's class, especially when Ayatsuji wanted to get back at Miyazaki for his attempted rebellion.

It was quite Takagi wanted to rebel against the Program like Keiji, hence the encounter with the two teenagers seemed to be fated.

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Outside a series of ruins, Keigo had begun looking for Shiori, though he was also searching for Mizuki as well. He was very concerned about their whereabouts, and with a detector in hand, began to investigate for any possible whereabouts of Shiori.

However, he stopped in his tracks when he heard a loud 'Senoo!' not too far away. His curiosity kicking in, he followed the sound, leading him to a destroyed building in which he entered inside.

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Once he got in, he found what looked like a staircase, but having decayed almost completely. Keigo also saw three young men standing around a generator, trying to activate it.

"What's going on here?" he asked.

Keiichi turned to face him, sporting a look of bewilderment as he asked, "Aoyama? What the hell are you doing here?"

"What are you working on?" the long-haired boy asked.

"We're trying to fix the generator, just to see if we can get any light around here." Mikihiko replied. "Can you give us a hand or something?" he asked.

Keigo shrugged, and nodded his head in agreement. Keiichi then let go of the generator's switch, causing his two friends to almost panic. The taller boy then used his strength by having his hands take hold of the large switch, and in unison with the others, called out, "Senoo!"

Keigo's strength brought the switch downwards, and within seconds, light began appearing in certain areas around the island. Shinnosuke took out a blanket, and draped it over the generator, before watching Keiichi connect a cord to a nearby socket, and started up his laptop.

Clearly, his being extremely smart was starting to pay off. "Allright, it's working!" he exclaimed.

He then looked over at Keigo and asked, "What brings you here, anyway?"

"I brought this, just so you know." the taller boy replied, taking out the detector from his jeans pocket.

"A detector, huh? Looks pretty awesome for a supposed weapon." Keiichi replied with a small grin.

"By the way, have you seen Shiori or Mizuki?" Keigo asked.

"Nope, never saw either one of them." he replied.

"Then, I guess I should get going; sorry to have disturbed you guys." he said, a disappointed sigh coming out of his lips as he began to leave.

"Wait, you're leaving already?" Mikihiko asked.

"Yeah, we were wondering if you'd help us with our plans for escape. You could be of some much needed use, being a possible muscle, and all." Keiichi added.

"I'm sorry, but I'd rather be on my own. After all, I've got stuff to take care of, anyway." Keigo replied.

"I...I guess. Make sure you find that Miyazaki kid; he's been suspicious about this Program all along." Keiichi told him.

"Okay...see you." the taller boy said, nodding his head before picking up his belongings and heading off.

As Keigo left, Shinnosuke looked over at Keiichi and said, "He seems to be a pretty chill guy, much like Miss Maruyama herself." He sighed as he added under his breath, "I miss her so much..."

"Yeah, but he seems pretty obsessed with Araki and Akagi, for some reason. Are those two competing for him or something?" Mikihiko asked.

"I dunno, but I think Araki has the upper hand since she's known for him quite some time." Keiichi replied.

As he sat before the laptop, he took out some ointment from his coat and applied it around his neck, hoping to get rid of a heat rash that was bothering him since he had on the collar by force.

"Goddamn this thing is annoying!" Keiichi muttered.

He kept typing, however, until he heard a beep sound. This caused Mikihiko and Shinnosuke to look over at the monitor, and within seconds, something appeared on the monitor.

'You appear to be eavesdropping.'

Immediately, both boys gasped in shock, and another set of words appeared.

'Microphones are attached to collars.'

Shinnosuke and Mikihiko briefly glanced at each others's collars out of worry as the next set of words appeared.

'This is work. Find the next item.'

'1. Fertilizer 2. Herbicide 3. Charcoal 4. Sulfur 5. Diesel'

"Hey, what's going on?" Shinnosuke asked.

"Hurry and get moving!" Keiichi commanded.

His words allowed Mikihiko and Shinnosuke to nod their heads and leave quickly as Keiichi was typing at blinding speed, hoping that he might get some answers.

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With love for my fans,

Chrissy