Author's note: Oh my god...a whole year has passed since I last updated. At least I get to pick up where I left off. At the same time, I'm busy with other fanfics, too. Well...let's get crackin'.

Battle Royale II: The Game

Chapter 19: The Rebellion

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By now, the sun had begun setting, and Keigo was present standing by a dam. He soon heard the sound of feet running, and turned to find Shiori.

Unfortunately, she soon collapsed to the ground, as if she were exhausted. "K-Keigo..." she muttered.

He ran over to her, and took her into his arms, a rather worried look on his face. "Shiori...you can't die. I know you'll live!" he told her.

"Keigo...I can't...I can't go on much longer." she replied between short breaths. "I...I know someone did this." she added.

Keigo felt as though his heart would sink as he kept his anguished gaze down at her. "Who?" he asked.

"It's...Ibuki. Please be careful."

He let out a long, drawn out sigh as he closed his eyes, before muttering, "I'm...I'm sorry."

"Huh?"

"Honestly, when I exited the school, I waited for you. But...you weren't there. Did you run at full speed? Because I didn't think I'd catch up with you." he said.

"I'm sorry...hey, Keigo..." Shiori said, before asking, "Do you...do you like any of the girls?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like me?"

Keigo, slightly surprised by her words, sighed again as he replied, "I'm not sure."

"I see that...well, I ain't got much left, so..." she said, before taking one last breath. "Keigo...I want to say something to you..."

With an earnest look in her eyes, Shiori finally said, "I always thought you were good-looking."

His eyes widened in bewilderment, before he smiled and replied, "And...I always thought you were the most beautiful woman in the world."

Before long, Shiori died in his arms, and as Keigo held onto her, he closed his eyes. A tear or two ran down his face, and then opened his eyes as he looked up at the sky with a vengeful expression.

"Shiori...I will avenge you someday..."

Shiori Araki, Girl #3, deceased

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"Hello, everyone! It's 6 o'clock; in other words, it's evening. Allow me to run down the names of the students that have slaughtered lately. Boy #3, Ichiro Okamoto. Girl #3, Shiori Araki. And finally, Girl #18, Kazue Inoue.

Right now, you guys must have slowed down the pace, have you? Well, I suggest you keep moving, unless you all want to die. And now, here are the new danger zones..."

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Back at the clinic, Takagi was able to make Keiji and Kanami bowls of porridge, which both of them began eating eagerly. Kanami looked over at him with a smile, and said, "This is so good."

"I take up after my mom; she's a pretty famous chef." he replied.

Keiji was still in deep thought over where to go next in his plans to escape and stop Ayatsuji. As he continued to contemplate, Kanami still kept her eyes on the dark blond-haired msn as she mumbled, "Um..."

"Hm?"

"Thank you so much for helping us out."

He shrugged, before he looked at Keiji and asked, "Hey, you want something to drink?"

Takagi then handed over what appeared to be a silver hip flask to him, and the brown-haired boy replied, "No thanks. My parents always warned me not to drink that stuff until I'm older."

He nodded, and soon a long silence befell the trio as they continued eating and drinking. From out of nowhere, though, Takagi took out a pack of cigarettes, and lit one up with his lighter.

As he smoked, he said, "There's also another reason why I wanted to get out."

He took out a photo of a girl with brown hair, and added, "I want to see my friend Ayaka again; I bet she's flat out scared out of her mind that I'm in the Program with 41 classmates."

Kanami softly took the photo from him and gasped in surprise. "She's really pretty. Are you in the same class and year?" she asked as she returned the picture.

"Same year, yeah. But same class, no. Still, we got along very well." he replied, then looking at Keiji as he asked, "What's your reason for escaping?"

"Well, a couple of months ago, my father plotted a rebellion against the current government..." he replied.

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Miyazaki took a deep breath as he looked out the window, hoping their plan would soon come into effect. He was confident that things would go his way, and that the chaos and tyranny in Japan could come to a much-needed end.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of the door being knocked. He quickly answered, and noticed one of his aides standing in front of him with a rather worried expression. "Is there something wrong?" he asked.

"Uh...Mr. Miyazaki...I...I think I have some news to tell you." the aide replied, tapping his fingers together.

"Really? This should be good."

"Actually...no. Whirlwind made it too late, and the actual bus driver that was supposed to escort Class 3-B to their destination simply apologized. But Whirlwind was able to reassure him that there is a second chance."

Miyazaki's eyes squinted as he thought of the possibility of redeeming himself. "It seems dangerous...but this time, I'm ready for us to go all out on Yonemi Kamon and his goons!" he told him.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"I am definitely sure. Even if it means risking my life, and even my men's lives in doing so." Miyazaki replied confidently.

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Soon, Miyazaki was able to lead a rather large army into the rebellion. At first, things were going quite swimmingly, until at the very end when they were greeted by an unexpected surprise.

"So, you've made it, huh?" a voice asked.

"You must be Kamon, I assume?" he asked.

"Actually, no." The owner of the voice turned to face him, and she smiled almost serenely.

"Who the hell are you?!"

"I am Renge Ayatsuji." she replied, before a small group of soldiers joined her. "You see, I was once a participant and eventual winner of a past Program, before I began working alongside my father for Yonemi Kamon. Since Kamon was busy dealing with a new class - your friend's daughter's class - I had chosen to take over his duties."

Miyazaki blinked in surprise, while Whirlwind said, "So it seems that you're a possible successor to him, aren't you?"

"Perhaps." Ayatsuji said with a grin. "But enough talk; allow my men to deal with you personally. And when we're through, the great Shouichi Miyazaki's reputation will be permanently tarnished."

"You wouldn't dare!" Miyazaki exclaimed.

Whirlwind and his allies charged right after Ayatsuji's soldiers, with the family bodyguard being able to do away with some of them by slashing and stabbing them with his prized katana. He had even decapitated one soldier's head off after narrowly dodging his attacks.

It seemed that the rebellion would prove to be an unexpected success, with a much-needed victory. Unfortunately, their momentum would soon dwindle when more and more of Ayatsuji's army began to outnumber them.

Eventually, defeat was inevitable, with the dark-haired woman being able to shoot down any possible people that refused to break. Surprisingly, she was able to subdue both Miyazaki and Whirlwind by having some of her soldiers handcuff them.

"Put them behind bars, and make them pay for their insolence!" she commanded.

"You'll never get away with this, Renge Ayatsuji!" Miyazaki yelled.

As he was escorted to his new cell, she looked over at Whirlwind with a seductive grin and said, "Before I fully detain you, I'll have to do more than just commend you for having plenty of balls to try and stop me."

He grit his teeth in anger, his rage-fueled eyes locked on her.

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With love for my fans,

Chrissy