Previously:

Yarai and Torako stood on the outskirts of the pyramid's territory with Akira and the rest of his group.

"Finally, Sengoku," Yarai said.

"Yeah!" Akira said, furrowing his brow.


Chapter 16: Sudden Assault


"Please… save her," Shigeno said as she and Matsumoto kneeled before Nishikiori, who had come into their hut with a group of men.

"You're a doctor, aren't you…!?" Segawa said.

"..." Nishikiori stared down at them.

"If… If it's something we can do, we'll do anything!" Matsumoto promised.

"So..." Shigeno said desperately.

"… Fu… Anything?" Nishikiori said, smirking. "… Then, why don't the three of you… become comfort women for the men over there…?"

"… Eh?" the three girls said, shocked.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Nishikiori asked, mocking them. "You'll do anything, right? With just a little tolerance, you can save a person's life. If you're really worried about this woman, you'll do it, right?" He said with a nasty expression.

"..." The three girls' faces were flushed and tears were in their eyes. They were horrified. They trembled. Shigeno crossed her arms over her chest. Segawa was disgusted. Despite the tears in her eyes, she glared at Nishikiori and the men behind him, who were suddenly looking at them with creepy, lecherous expressions.

"Hehehe," the men said, grinning.

"Fufu..." Nishikiori laughed quietly, enjoying the power he had over them.

"Please… Stop it..." Kurusu-sensei

"Se-Sensei, but…!" Matsumoto said as the three girls turned to her.

"Sensei!" Shingeno cried.

"W-What about you?" Segawa asked.

"I'm… fine, so…." Kurusu-sensei told them. She couldn't let them go through something like that.

"… Pu," Nishikiori said. His cheeks puffed out and he burst into laughter. "Hahahahahahaha!!"

"!?" the three girls said, looking back at him.

"It was a joke, a joke!" Nishikiori said, looking at them as if they were single-celled organisms. "Do you think I'd be moved by something like that?" He held his head. "Do you really think your bodies have such value? This is precisely why women are trash..."

'Wha… What a terrible...' the three girls thought, still trembling with tear-stained cheeks.

'You're the trash here…!' Segawa thought, glaring at him.

—∞—

Nishikiori left without doing anything.

"Ah… Um… Nishikiori-san… those brats really do have nice bodies, huh…?" one of the men said. The rest of them grinned.

"Hehe..." the man with glasses laughed.

"..." Nishikiori thought they were pathetic. 'How worthless… But, well, sometimes giving candy is necessary too.' He looked over at the pyramid. 'That pyramid, though… It was a facility meant for DNA research. I only checked hastily, but it's quite an impressive facility. It's hard to believe that something of this scale would simply be unknown to anyone… and on top of that, there's something that really bothers me...' He held his chin. "..." Something dropped on the ground in front of him. "… Huh?" He leaned over to have a closer look. "… What? This is…?" It was a cylindrical item with a fuse.

FLASH!

There was an explosion of light. They all tried to shield their eyes, but they were already blinded.

"Guwaaa!!" one of them men yelled.

"My eyes..." another said.

"Light!? What is this!?" asked another.

'This… What is this!?' Nishikiori wondered. 'What happened!? I can't see anything!!' Someone grabbed him and twisted his arm behind his back. "Whoa!?" He was restrained by Akira, Suzuki, Miyauchi, and another boy. They all had on eye masks made from wood with thin slits to see out of. "Wha…? Who are you guys!?" Nishikiori asked as they tied him up. "Gu… What are you doing…!? What's the meaning of this…!?"

"We're taking you captive!" Akira said.

"!?" Nishikiori said. "Taking me captive!?" While Akira's group worked on him, the men with him were restrained by everyone else.

"Oi, it seems like the light's disappeared now," Suzuki said.

"Guess we can take off these uncomfortable masks," Miyauchi said.

"Yeah," Akira agreed, and they pushed the masks up to sit on top of their heads. "You're coming with us! Nishikiori!!"

"Amazing, Kokone-sensei!" the vice president said, watching from a distance with the rest of their group. "It was a huge success! That was an amazing flash of light, though. It was like it was suddenly daytime."

"Kuhaha, you noticed, huh? This is the power of Gigaflash DX!" Kokonoe-sensei said, laughing.

"Is it something like a flash grenade?" the vice president asked.

"Yeah," Kokonoe-sensei answered. "The magnesium mixed into Gigaflash DX, is a metal that creates an extremely bright flame when heated in the air. It's also something that the stun grenades from special military units use. You don't die even if you get hit by it, but… you'll lose your sight temporarily! Kuha… Kuhahahah!"

"Geez… That guy's a teacher…?" Yashiro asked, watching Kokonoe-sensei laugh like a mad scientist. "He's crazy."

"The masks that you made were amazing too, Yashiro-san," Kirino said. "No one was blinded even in that light..."

"Yeah. When I traveled to Alaska in the past, the inuits taught me how to make them. It's a type of shades," Yashiro explained. "Alaska is blanketed with snow… and with the strong sunlight, the reflected glare from the sun is very strong. To protect against that glare, the inuits use sunglasses made with wood and sealskin, with narrow eye slits cut in the wood."

"Wow..." Kirino said.

"That's an adventure novelist for you…!" Kashiwagi said.

"… That voice… You're Sengoku Akira, aren't you!?" Nishikiori asked as he was marched away.

"Yeah.. that's right!" Akira said.

"Ku..." Nishikiori said, gritting his teeth. 'Did Yarai fail!? That good-for-nothing!'

"…" Akira glanced in the direction of the pyramid camp. 'I wonder if things are going well on Yarai's end...'

On Yarai's end, they could hear talking people outside their hut.

"What!? There was a flash!"

"In the direction of the pyramid!"

"Ya… Yarai!" Segawa exclaimed when Yarai and Torako slipped inside the hut.

"You came back?" Shigeno said. "That commotion just now, was it you!?"

"We'll talk later. We're leaving here, now," Yarai told them. "Get ready."

"What why?" Segawa asked. Yarai didn't answer. He removed his jacket and wrapped their teacher up in it, and Matsumoto and Shigeno grabbed their bags. Even though she didn't get the answer she wanted, Segawa grabbed hers too. "Let's go, Sensei!!" he said, holding Kurusu-sensei in his arms.

"There's some commotion in the direction of Nishikiori's base!" Akira said. "Damn it, were we noticed already!?"

"Let's hurry, Akira-kun!" Rion said.

"Takahashi, keep a lookout! Tell us if you see anyone!" Akira ordered.

"Yeah! Leave it to me…!" Takahashi said. The ground shifted beneath her feet. "!" she gasped. "Kya…!" she cried as it came loose, and she slid down. "Eh?" she said when she suddenly stopped. She looked up behind her and saw that a girl and a boy from their school had saved her.

"A-Asuka…?" the girl said.

"..." Takahashi was surprised. "Shiraishi-kun… Arisa-chan!" She launched herself at the girl to give her a hug. "Kyaaa…! The two of you were here at the pyramid!? Thank goodness you're both all right!"

"Same goes for you, Asuka…!" Arisa said. They were both so relieved and happy to see each other again that they had tears in their eyes.

"W-What is this… all the commotion…?" Shiraishi asked.

"We… We were working around here and this commotion took us by surprise..." Arisa said. Takahashi grabbed her hand. "Eh?"

"Arisa-chan… both of you should come, too," Takahashi said. "Join us!"

" 'Us'… you mean with you and the rest of the group?" Shiraishi asked. He and Arisa were taken aback.

"Yeah…!" Takahashi said.

"Wh-What are you talking about?" Arisa asked. "There's no way we can do that."

"That's right..." Shiraishi agreed.

"Eh? Why…?" Takahashi asked.

"B-Because… Nishikiori-san wouldn't allow us to do something like that," Shiraishi said.

"That has nothing to do with it!" Takahashi said earnestly. "Nishikiori is making you suffer, isn't he!? And… even if he's a doctor, he wouldn't help you, right…? Just like with Kurusu-sensei, the previous leader and his daughter… There's no need to listen to what someone like that says!" They still hesitated.

"… But..." Airsa said.

"But..." Shiraishi said.

"..." Takahashi didn't understand their hesitation. "It's okay… there's nothing to be scared of! We've already captured Nishikiori!"

"Eh!?" Arisa and Shiraishi gasped.

"See? We have more than thirty people. You're also friends with Miki and Yamato-kun, right? They're with us too. So let's all go together, all right?" Takahashi said, holding a hand out to them.

"..." Arisa and Shiraishi stared at her. They made up their minds and nodded their heads.

"Everything's fine now!" Takahashi said as they walked back to rejoin the others. "You can depend on everyone here!"

"Y-Yeah..." Shiraishi and Arisa said, exchanging an uneasy glance. "..."

"Takahashi-san! Did you spot any enemies!?" Rion called.

"It's all right, no one was coming!" Takahashi replied. She turned to Arisa and Shiraishi. "See? Over there, it's Sengoku-san and the others..." She pointed to them.

"Ah… Yeah…." Shiraishi said.

"!" he and Arisa were startled when they saw Nishikiori.

"Oi! Walk faster!" Akira told Nishikiori.

"I'm going to hit you if you keep walking so sluggishly, you bastard!" Miyauchi threatened.

"Calm down, Miyauchi!" Akira told her.

"!" Nishikiori noticed Shiraishi and Arisa. He glared at them.

"Eek..." Airsa said as she and Shiraishi froze with fear.

"..." They trembled.

"Umm… Hey, Takahashi-san… Those two people…?" Kairi, one of the twins, asked.

"Eh? What?" Takahashi said. "It's fine, these two people aren't enemies..." She turned to look back at them. They were gone. "… Huh? Arisa-chan? Shiraishi-kun?"

"Good. It seems like we'll be able to get away like this," Akira said, holding the rope for Nishikiori.

"Yeah!" Rion agreed.

"Waaaah!!" someone shouted behind him.

"Eh?" Akira said, turning to look.

BAM!

Someone slammed a stick against the side of his face.

"Guaaa!" Akira exclaimed. He was bleeding.

"!? Akira-kun!?" Rion gasped.

"Wha…?" Akira said, holding the injured side of his head as he looked at his attacker. "Shiraishi!?"

"Haa haa," Shiraishi panted, sweating as he clutched a long stick. "Whoaaaaaa!" he yelled, waving the stick around.

"Kyaaaa!" Rion cried.

"Wh-What are you doing!?" Akira yelled as Miyauchi fell while dodging.

'I… I'm sorry… I'm sorry...' Shiraishi thought with tears in his wide eyes. "Ah… Ah!!" 'I'm scared!'

"Stop it!" Akira shouted. "!?" he gasped. "Nishikiori is gone!"

"Wh-What!?" Miyauchi exclaimed. "Since when!? Did someone let go of the rope!?"

"That..." Akira said. "Ah! Shiraishi ran off too! Find them!!"

"Hahaha… Well done, both of you!" Nishikiori told Shiraishi and Arisa as they hid in the bushes nearby.

"Y-Yes!" Shiraishi and Airsa said, relieved that he was pleased with them.

'Too bad, Sengoku Akira!' Nishikiori thought with an evil smirk. 'You guys were too naive. The true nature of terror that's been imprinted upon their minds… no matter the time of place, they will always be my slaves. Down to their very bones! Nonetheless, for them to do something like this to me… I won't forgive you, Sengoku Akira.' He gritted his teeth. 'I'll make them slaughter each other!'

"It's no good, they're nowhere to be found!" Akira said. "Our strategy failed!!"

"Why did you bring along those guys!?" Suzuki asked Takahashi. "They're Nishikiori's slaves!"

"B-But… we're friends..." Takahashi cried with tears streaming down her face. She held her face in her hands. "A-Arisa-chan..."

'… The way those two looked… it seems his hold on them is quite strong,' Seigou thought, holding his chin. 'By means of fear and unease, those kids might be in a mind controlled state. If I recall correctly, about ten years ago there was a confined homicide case… under the direction of just one man, a family of six became victims… until they were killed, the victims had numerous chances to escape, but they didn't try to do so. By having their weaknesses exploited, and suffering various kinds of abuse, they were being mind-controlled by the culprit. Even when the family members were ordered to kill each other all they could do was obey. Men's hearts are that fragile…' He was sweating, thinking about what that meant. 'It seems my sense of unease was accurate… man against man… This... might become a blood-soaked conflict...'

—∞—

"What did you say!?" Yarai yelled. "Nishikiori got away!?"

"Yeah… We caught him, but there wan an accident," Akira explained. "I'm sorry…!" Yarai grabbed him by the front of his shirt.

"You were there, Sengoku! What were you doing!?" Yarai demanded. "If we don't make him perform surgery, Sensei will..."

"It-It was my fault," Takahashi said tearfully, grabbing his shirtsleeve. "I didn't think my friend, Shiraishi-kun would do something like that!"

"Tch!" Yarai said, releasing Akira.

"Sensei! Are you okay!?" Torako asked, alarmed to see what bad shape she was in.

"!" Akira said. He looked over at them. "..." he didn't know what to say. Kurusu-sensei looked terrible. She was trembling with tears in her eyes and sweating, clutching at Yarai's jacket, which was covering her.

"Sensei! Kurusu-sensei! Hang in there!" Shigeno said.

"Is it worse than before!?" Yarai asked.

"It's been like this for the past three days!" Matsumoto replied.

"Her fever won't go down either!" Shigeno said.

"Nishikiori said it was only a matter of weeks," Yarai said as a bead of sweat rolled down his face. "Two weeks have already passed since then. At this rate..." Torako clenched her fists.

"Th-That means…!" The vice president and several others gasped.

"Sensei!!" Yamato shouted.

"Sensei, hang in there!!" the vice president said urgently.

"..." Akira gritted his teeth as he watched. 'Shit! There's not much time left!' "But what should we do? Nishikiori wants to fight it out with us, there's no way to negotiate having him perform the surgery like this!"

"..." Yarai and Torako furrowed their brows.

"..." Mariya and Rion were uneasy.

"So it's totally useless trying to negotiate, right?" Miyauchi said, stepping forward. "Eh?"

"Miyauchi? What is it?" Akira asked.

"My point is… that guy can do what he pleases, like a king, because he's a doctor, right?" Miyauchi said.

"Ah… Yeah, what about it?" Akira asked.

"You're so dense, Sengoku," Miyauchi said. She moved closer to Oomori. "I'm saying..."

"?" Oomori said. Miyauchi ripped her shirt open, pulling it down.

"We'll just do this!" Miyauchi said.

"Kyaaaaaa!" Oomori cried, blushing furiously as she tried to cover herself again.

"Wha… Wha… What!?" Akira exclaimed as he and a few others blushed. Torako felt sorry for Oomori.

"Let's tear it all away!" Miyauchi said. "The basis of his power, that is!"

"!" Akira gasped.

"I see what you're saying," Torako said, holding her chin. "He has power while we're stuck here, but if we can leave..."

"Right," Miyauchi said. "Nishikiori's subordinates can't rebel against him because survival on this island requires a doctor. But, think about it. We're close to Okinawa. We can go home! We just have to make the ones that have turned into his underlings aware of this! If it's possible to escape the island, then a doctor isn't that important anymore!"

"But they're our enemies, right?" the vice president said. "I doubt they'll believe us so easily..."

"It's impossible," Miyauchi said.

"Eh!?" they gasped.

"I doubt they'll just listen quietly to what we have to say at this point," Miyauchi said. "For one thing, Nishikiori wouldn't just stay silent, right!?" she punched her hand. "If that's the case, we'll use all our strength, and force them to listen even is we have to tie them up! All the things we've seen so far, and the evidence that we've gathered… if we line them up and explain properly, they'll have to understand! Moreover… even Nishikiori must want to go home… If we make taking him back with us a condition, he'll have to save Sensei, right?"

"..." Takahashi stared at her in astonishment.

"That's true!" the vice president said.

"But our opponents are fifty people!" Murayama said.

"Yeah, but that's not the problem!" the president said. "We have to save Sensei!"

"No problem! Yarai's with us, after all!" Segawa said.

"Yeah! Yarai could probably take on ten adults!" Suzuki said.

"We've even taken on giant condors and sabertooth tigers and won, after all!" Rion said.

"We even defeated that chimera-like monster!" Yuki added.

"But our opponents this time are human beings!" the president said.

"We're going to need a really good plan. Humans are apex predators. Fighting them is different from fighting other animals!" Torako said. "We'll need to use guerrilla tactics."

"We'll manage!" Kashiwagi said.

"Let's do it!" Miyauchi said while everyone cheered. "We'll beat them down! It's a showdown!"

"..." Akira's face was full of grim determination.

"..." Torako was worried. She wondered if everyone was taking the threat seriously enough. Most of them didn't seem to have even considered what would happen to them if they lost. They might be killed, or worse. There was bound to be at least one death when humans fought each other like this. She wondered how many of them would die before this was over and hoped the answer would be 'none'.

"..." Seigou held his chin, wondering the same thing.

—∞—

Everyone tried to get some rest before the fight. An owl or some similar bird hooted while some people snored. Kurusu-sensei was still suffering, but she was quiet about it.

"..." Yarai and Torako watched her sleep. Suzuki and Kashiwagi were sleeping a short distance away. He had reached under his shirt to scratch his chest while he slept.

"I'll watch her first," Torako said quietly. "You should get some sleep. Everyone's depending on you."

"..." Yarai looked at her. "Be sure to wake me up when you're tired. You need your rest, too. You're injured."

"Only minorly," Torako replied. "It shouldn't interfere with my ability to fight too much."

"Hot!" Akira said, eating roasted bananas with Mariya by the fire. Mariya blew on his.

"It's turning into a war… but how should we attack?" Akira asked.

"Yeah… They have numbers on their side," Mariya said. "We have to proceed with caution."

"Ah… I knew something was roasting!" Seigou said, coming over to join them. He smiled wryly and rubbed the back of his neck. "I thought I smelled something good! I was hungry and couldn't sleep!"

"Seigou-san," Akira said. "It's just roasted banana, want some?"

"Ohhh, don't mind if I do!" Seigou said, accepting some. He blew on it. "Fuu, fuu! Hot, hot!"

"..." Akira stared at him. "I… wanted to ask you something, Seigou-san. 'Humans are the most terrible animals.' You said that before… just what did you mean?"

"..." Seigou looked at him. "Ah, that, huh?" He held his chin. "… Hey, Sengoku-kun, have you heard about this before? Once, on the border of Russia and Europe, there was a region where two tribes of people lived. The ratio of those peoples, the Isuka tribe and the Misu tribe, was nine to one, but to all appearances they lived in peace. But times of war came, and this peaceful region experienced unrest, as well. One time, a girl from the larger Isuka tribe went missing. And at the same time, a rumor began to spread, 'Men from the Misu tribe killed the girl!'"

"Was that true?" Akira asked.

"No, it seems it was just baseless nonsense," Seigou replied. "But there was prejudice against the Misu tribe to begin with. The rumor spread throughout the region seemingly overnight. And then what do you think happened?"

"What happened…?" Akira asked.

"They slaughtered each other!" Seigou answered.

"What!?" Akira exclaimed.

"That's the Jill Alba atrocity!" Mariya said "It was a famous incident that happened in Jill Alba in 1943!"

"As expected, it seems like you know about it, Mariya-kun," Seigou said. "At first, it was a one-sided massacre of the Misu tribe, but then they struck back. The people, having fallen into abnormal psychological circumstances, couldn't be stopped by anyone. In the end if the span of just two days, nearly one hundred people died on both sides."

"..." Akira furrowed his brow as sweat dripped down his face, horrified and concerned.

"Humans are different from other animals," Seigou said as a moth flew toward the flames of their fire. "They have hearts of greed and hatred. Even without claws and fangs, with weapons, they can subjugate all other animals. For above all, they carry intelligence, the ultimate weapon! Without a doubt, humans, are the cruelest most fearsome animals on this earth!" The moth burned up in the flames. "These are our opponents this time. You'd best prepare yourselves."

"… Yes!" Akira said seriously.

—∞—

The next day, Tokiwa, with her bloomers on, climbed to the top of a tree and looked out at the pyramid.

"..." She shielded her eyes from the sun. She could make out a lot of figures gathered in one place. "All of them are gathered near Nishikiori's hut!" she reported.

"I see! Thanks, Tokiwa!" Akira called up to her. "It's as we thought," he told Mariya.

"Yeah! Nishikiori's strengthened his defenses," Mariya said. Tokiwa climbed back down to rejoin them.

"All right, everyone!" Akira said, raising his hand in the air. "We move out tonight! When the sun sets!"

"A night ambush, huh?" Miyauchi said.

"So what strategy are we using to attack?" Suzuki asked.

"Like Fukui said yesterday, guerrilla tactics!" Mariya replied seriously.

"Guerrilla?" Miyauchi asked.

"Yeah! The numbers are against us, but there are advantages in small numbers, too!"

"Advantages…" Rion said.

"In small numbers?" Yuki asked.

"Maneuverability," Torak said.

"That's right!" Mariya said, clenching his fist. "The side with less people has more maneuverability. If we make use of that, we'll have the advantage!"

"I… I see," Miyauchi and Suzuki said.

"Kirino, who's injured, and the two Miinas will stay with Kurusu-sensei!" Mariya said. "The remaining thirty four will be split into three units! First, the Sengoku unit! Eiken, Yamato, Suzuki, Kokonoe-sensei, Akagami, Oomori, Sakuma, Tokiwa, Kashiwagi, Imazono, Shioya, Takahashi. Next, the Yarai unit! Fuki, Segawa, Matsumoto, Shigeno, Yamaguchi, Yashiro-shi, Mutou-shi, Kagura. And then, the Mariya unit… Igarashi-shi, Rinzai-shi, Murayama, the Narumi twins, Seigou-shi, Miyauchi, Hanamura, Tsuji, Hatsuse, Kanna, Ooguro-san.

"H-Hey, hey! The girls are joining in too?" Seigou said, concerned.

"Of course! Rion said, clenching her fist as Yuki and Mami armed themselves. "We're going too!"

"My fists are itching!" Miyachi said, making one.

"The guy that punched me before… This time, I'll crush him," Tokiwa said, holding a sharp stick.

"I'll definitely be useful!" Takahashi said.

"Let's get them!" Segawa said. They both picked up weapons, too. Everyone began cheering at once.

"All right, here we go!"

"Let's do it, everyone!"

"Ooh!!" they all cheered.

—∞—

Over in Nishikiori's camp, they were also getting ready, gathering supplies to make weapons and armor.

"We're going to use these for spear hilts?" one man asked, holding a bundle of long sticks that were all way taller than him.

"Yeah, put them there," said another man, who was making stone hatchets. Yet another man was practicing with a bow and arrow, shooting a tree.

"It's still dull," a shirtless man wearing a bandana on his head said, looking at the blade in his hand. "Need to sharpen it more..." A bald man with thick eyebrows was trying on a piece of armor they had made, a sort of vest made from really hard sticks.

"Nishikiori-san, what should we dot about that Yarai brat?" Saitou asked. The lower half of his face was covered by a bandana. "He's strong!"

"Huh? Yeah… There's no need to go up against him!" Nishikiori said. "Aim for their weak point."

"Eh?" Saitou said.

"The women!" Nishikiori said.

"The… women?" the other men asked.

"Yup! If we just aim for the women from the start, we'll have them!" Nishikiori said deviously. "If we take their girlfriends and beloved women as hostages, the men will do whatever we say! All the more for those fraternity conscious greenhorn brats! We have to take advantage of that, right? Of course, once the men have been taken care of, the remaining women will be given to you guys… to do with as you like!" The other men suddenly had dangerous, lecherous expressions on their faces.

"Th-That Rion brat with the huge tits would be nice!"

"That Torako would be better for me! I like them small!"

"Then, give the CA to me!"

"Idiot! As if you could have her all to yourself!"

'Perfect! They went for the bait, after all!' Nishikiori thought darkly. He looked off into the distance. 'I don't know what they're thinking, but… as long as they're carrying a sick person, all I need to do is wait here.'

"Hohoho! We'll show you hell!" the other men said, looking forward to the spoils of their war.

'Come to me! Sengoku Akira!!' Nishikiori thought, looking forward to plunging them into despair.