Previously:
"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.
Chapter 17: War
The crescent moon glowed in the dark sky.
"The sun has set, huh… Soon, they're going to move out as well," Nishikiori said with his face cast partially in shadow. "Hurry up and come! Sengoku Akira!"
"Nishikiori-san… they have over thirty people, right…?" an older man with glasses asked, starting to get nervous.
"Yeah, but it seems the majority are women," Nishikiori said. "Listen, there's no need to fight with the men. Aim solely for the women! After the men are disposed of… you can do as you please with the women..." Again, dangerous and lecherous expressions appeared on the other men's faces.
Meanwhile, all the middle school kids and their allies were watching the camp from a safe distance. It was lit with torches burning here and there, so they could see it clearly, but they couldn't hear what was being said.
"..." Akira and Mariya had furrowed brows and frowns. Everyone looked tense.
"There he is! It's Nishikiori!" Akira said when he spotted him standing in a the center of a circle of armed men. His jacket was distinctive.
"He's quite at ease, surrounded by his subordinates, huh!" Kokonoe-sensei said.
"Hmph… Laugh while you can! We're going to make you cry!" Suzuki said.
"Listen up… our opponent has numbers," Akira said. "So capture Nishikiori first! He's the one at the top of this pyramid. Only by capturing Nishikiori can the command system be disrupted. In other words, they know as well as we do that we can't kill Nishikiori. They'll probably fight to get him back. Then it just becomes a cleanup operation. Don't leave a single person standing!" Everyone nodded to show they understood.
"… All right! Then let's review the specifics of our strategy," Mariya said. "First, my team and Sengoku's will make a pincer attack. We'll draw away our respective opponents and try our best to make a big show of it. Then, in the chaos of the battle… when openings start to appear around Nishikiori and the others..." Mariya looked at Yarai's group.
"We, the strongest—Yarai's team, are up!" Segawa said. "When Nishikiori's bodyguards are getting knocked around, we'll capture him in one fell swoop!"
"Leave it to me..." Yarai said. "I definitely won't let him get away."
"Ah… um… you say to crush them, but it's fine not to kill anyone, right?" Yuki asked.
"Yeah, of course!" Akira said. "After all, our ultimate goal is to save Kurusu-sensei… to make Nishikiori perform her surgery…!" He looked at everyone. He could see they were determined to save Kurusu-sensei. "All right! Let's move out. Move to your respective positions."
"Yeah… Don't mess up, Sengoku!" Yarai said as his group and Mariya's moved away.
"Let's go, as well," Akira told his group.
"Yeah, we're to the west of them!" Rion said. They crept along carefully as they moved into position, passing one of the chipmunk-like creatures with prehensile tails, which was hanging upside down from a tree branch, eating a berry as it watched them go by.
"Huh?" Rion said when she saw something fall on the ground. "Akira-kun, something dropped from your pocket." She leaned down to pick it up.
"Eh? Yeah, thanks, Rion," Akira said.
"… What is this…?" Rion asked, looking at the item in her hand as she handed it to him. It was small bundle that was sort of shaped like an omamori, and it had 'safe passage of the great divine Minna' written on it.
"It's a charm," Akira said as he took it back. "I got it from Miina."
"From Miina-chan…?" Rion asked.
"Yeah, she flagged me down before we set out..." Akira said, putting it around his neck.
««« Flashback «««
"A present? What is this..." Akira said when Miina handed the charm to him, about to open it.
"Ahhh, you can't open it~" Miina said, grabbing his hands. He moved in really close to Akira's face, blushing and grinning at him. "I made this a special charm, after all… When you're caught in a pinch, open it… Okay? " Akira sweat-dropped chagrined at the inappropriate 'seductive' behavior that was being aimed at him.
»»» End Flashback »»»
"… Hmmm You're a popular one, Akira-kun," Rion said jadedly.
"Oi, oi, Miina's just a kid. And a boy, no less," Akira said. "Geez..."
"..." Rion smiled. "Hey, Akira-kun..."
"Eh?" Akira said, glancing back at her.
"Let's do our best!" Rion said, smiling.
"… Yeah!" Akira said with determination.
"Ah, um, Nishikiori-san..." one of his men said, getting nervous.
"Hmm?" Nishikiori said.
"You should hide, after all," the man said.
"If you're just defenseless like this..." the man with glasses said.
"Yeah, it's too dangerous," another man agreed.
"… Hmph, it's fine..." Nishikiori said dismissively. "Our opponents are just a bunch of kids… I'm sure everything will go our way." He spread his arms wide. His dark shirt blended into the night. "Behold… the darkness of this night… will serve as our ally..."
"Huh..." the man with glasses said.
"Haa…" the first man to raise concerns said. They looked like they had no clue what he was talking about.
"They… They came!" another man reported urgently as he came running up to them. "It's those kids!"
"!!" Nishikiori said. He grinned evilly. 'I was getting tired of waiting. Sengoku Akira.' "All right, do as we planned! Don't let a single person escape!"
"Yes!"
Chaos erupted as the different teams of middle schoolers and their allies attacked.
"Ohhhh!"
"The kids are coming from the west..."
"Listen up, everyone! Let's push in all together!"
"Guwaaa!" a man yelled as Akira smashed his shield into his face.
"!" Akira said, looking around.
"Fu!!" Tokiwa said as she injured the wrists of a man who tried to attack her so that he could no longer hold a weapon. She gritted her teeth as she looked around. 'The middle-aged one that whacked me before… Where is he!?'
'That's Tokiwa for you!' Akira thought, sweating and grinning. 'Since we have more girls, than the others, I though our battle strength would be weak, but… that's not the case at all!'
"Ei!" Rion shouted as she slammed her stick into the back of a man who tried to attack Yuki, while Yuki quickly whacked his shin with hers.
"You..." Yuki said, determined to take him down.
"Ei. Ei!" Takahashi said as she, Mami, and another girl beat the back of the man wearing a vest of hard sticks. He had fallen to the ground, and they were whacking him as hard as they could.
"Guaaa! Yaa!" he cried, shielding his head.
"Ohh… Everyone's doing well," Akira thought.
"Uwaaa, fresh troops!" one of their enemies yelled in a panic. "They're coming from the east, too!"
"You came, Mariya!" Akira said, grinning.
"Don't break formation!" Mariya ordered his group as they charged into battle. "Push in as one!"
"Oraaa!" Miyauchi yelled, delivering a violent kick to the face of the first man unfortunate enough to be in her path.
"Guaaa!!!" he cried in pain as he was sent flying back.
"Hahaha, compared to those animals, they're like straw men!" Miyauchi said, punching another man away. "It's going well, Mariya!"
"Yeah!" Mariya said. "..." Privately, he was a little bothered. 'Is it my imagination? I feel like their resistance is far too feeble...'
"Ch… They're trying to sandwich us?" a dark-skinned man said as he and the man wearing a bandana on his head pulled back, moving closer to Nishikiori.
"Impertinent brats!" Nishikiori said.
"Waaa… they're coming from here, too!" the man wearing the bandana on his head cried, looking horrified.
"What!? More fresh troops!?" Nishikiori asked.
"It's Yarai!" the man wearing the bandana on his head said as Yarai charged toward them, plowing mercilessly through everyone in his way, grabbing them by the heads and throwing them harshly into the ground. "Yarai's coming head on!"
"What did you say!?" Nishikiori said.
"!!" Yarai glared when he spotted Nishikiori.
"Shit..." Nishikiori said, turning tail to run away.
'Nishikiori...' Yarai thought, speeding up. "Like I'd let you escape!"
"You brat… Do you remember me? The pro boxer, Saitou..." Saitou said, Charging at him with a spear that had a rock blade. "It's payback time for my chin… Fugaaa!" He was instantly K. by Yarai, who destroyed him with one punch without hesitation as he continued to run after Nishikiori.
"What.. What strength..." the president said, a little startled.
"He's like a storm..." Yashiro said, warily impressed.
'Yarai...' Torako and Segawa thought, grinning.
"Hieeeeeeeeeee!" Nishikiori squealed with fright as Yarai grabbed him by the back of his neck, hoisting him into the air.
"Settle down, Nishikiori!" Yarai said.
"Gehhh!" Nishikiori cired.
"!!" Akira said, grinning when he saw what had happened. "All right!"
"Did Yarai do it?" Mariya asked.
"Haa, haa, ugh… let… go..." Nishikiori said feebly as Yarai turned him around, holding him in place.
"Still so noisy, Nishikiori! Give it up already!" Yarai said, grabbing him by the front of his jacket and getting up in his face. Yarai's eyes widened. The sweaty man he was holding… had the wrong face! He was wearing Nishikiori's jacket and the hair was similar, but it wasn't him! "!?" '… Who is this!?'
"Oh no…!?" Torako said when she saw the man's face, too.
"What happened, Yarai!?" Akira asked. "Hurry up, and..."
"We were wrong..." Yarai said.
"Eh?" Akira said.
"This isn't Nishikiori!" Yarai yelled, showing Akira the man's face. "It's an impostor!"
'Wha…!?' Akira thought, startled. "What!? Oi, where did Nishikiori go?!"
"I don't know. Nishikiori just ordered me to put on his clothes..." the man Yarai was holding said nervously.
"Kukukukukuku," the real Nishikiori laughed as he watched from a safe distance, far away from the battle. He threw his head back. "Hahahahahahaha, they fell for it! The fools, all of them!" He thrust a hand out in front of him. "All the rats have entered the trap… There's no need to hold back any longer! The women… Aim for the women!"
"Buhehehehe," the bald man with thick eyebrows laughed. The man with the bandana and the dark-skinned man laughed, too. They were all grinning darkly, looking at the girls with lecherous eyes.
"Wa… Wait… What's going on with these guys!?" Rion asked nervously as she, Oomori, and Yuki were suddenly surrounded by men with similar expressions.
"..." Yuki was disturbed by the way they were looking at her. A group of men lunged at her. "!!" she gasped. They were grabbed at her legs, arms, hair, and clothes before she could stop them. "Noooo! Ahhh!"
"Settle down..." one man said
"Stop struggling!" another told her.
"Yaah!" Yuki screamed.
"Hey..." a voice said lowly.
"Huh?" the dark-skinned man said, glancing in its direction. Akira's shield slammed into his face. "Guaaaaa! Wha… What the…?"
"You bastards… Let go of Yuki!" Akira shouted, beating the crap out of the men holding her.
"Gah… This shitty brat..." one of the men said angrily.
"You… You bastard..." another said as they ran away.
"Are you all right, Yuki!?" Akira asked, kneeling down to help her up.
"Ye… Yeah..." Yuki said, even though she was crying.
'Shit… just what were these guys...' Akira thought, gritting his teeth.
"You… You bastard…" Rion cried.
"!!" Akira gasped in alarm when he looked over and saw that and Oomori had been grabbed just like Yuki. Rion had a cut lip, as if she had been hit. "Rion! Oomori-san!"
"Hey! Don't move, brat!" the man with dark skin said as another man held a knife to Rion's throat.
"Hiee!" Rion exclaimed with tears in her eyes.
"Who know what might happen to this one if you keep moving!?" the man with dark skin finished his threat.
"Gu..." Akira gritted his teeth, furious. 'These guys… they're different from before!'
It wasn't just Rion and Oomori, all of the girls were being targeted.
"Chiiii!" Miyauchi gritted her teeth as she kicked and elbowed away the guys who tried to grab her. She made them seriously regret messing with her.
"Guah!" one of them cried.
"Haa! Haa!" Tokiwa said, attacking the men who came at her with her two sharpened sticks.
"Gaa!" a man groaned.
Miyauchi and Tokiwa moved to stand back to back as they were surrounded again. Both girls were dripping with seat from having to fight off so many opponents without a break.
"Haa, haa. These guys' movements are strange..." Miyauchi said.
"Haa, haa. Yeah… It seems like they've only been going after the women for a while now..." Tokiwa said.
"That's as far as you go, the two of you! Look here!" a voice said.
"!" Miyauchi and Tokiwa gasped when they looked. Pretty much all of the other girls had been captured and tied up with ropes while the boys were held at bay.
"E… Everyone!" Miyauchi exclaimed. She and Tokiwa were horrified.
"If you disobey, we'll carve some wounds on their faces that will last the rest of their lives," one of the men said, holding his sore face. "It'll be your fault!"
"You… You guys…" Miyauch said, gritting her teeth. Tokiwa grudgingly dropped her weapons. One of the men grinned and laughed.
"Kukuku… You sure had us good..."
"Gu..." Akira raised his hands in surrender, frustrated. "That's not fair! All of you bastards!"
"Not fair…? Hehehehe," the dark-skinned man laughed as he swung his club at Akira, hitting him right in the face.
"Bu…!" Blood came out of Akira's mouth.
"Stop with the pretty words, brat!" the dark-skinned man said, grabbing the front of Akira's jacket to hold him up. "You guys started this battle, didn't you? All's fair in war!" He slammed his knee up into Akira's back. Akira felt the impact all the way to the back of his eyeballs.
"Akira-kun!" Rion cried with tears streaming down her face.
"Stop!!" Oomori yelled with a tear-stained face.
"…!" Yarai paused in beating up a guy who had tried to grab Torako, while she jabbed another man who tried to attack her in the gut with the blunt end of her spear.
"Gah!" the man grunted in pain, falling to his knees.
"Ch… Sengoku!" Yara said, throwing away the man he was beating up. "Get ready! We're going to Sengoku!" Yarai told Torako. She nodded, determined to help save their friends.
"Hold on there..." Saitou said.
"!" Yarai and Torako said, stopping. Saitou stood there, cracking his neck as he took up a boxing stance. His jaw looked like it night be broken and he was bleeding from his mouth.
"Your opponent is me!" Saitou said with a nasty expression.
"You bastard, you're still..." Yarai said.
"However, you can't fight back..." Saitou said, snapping his fingers. Another man stepped forward, with Segawa as a hostage. He held a sharp stick in front of her face, which looked as thought it had been punched.
"Ya… Yarai! I'm sorry..." Segawa apologized, looking terrified.
"!!" Yarai and Torako gasped.
"Let her go!" Torako said, taking a step toward them, about to lunge at the man and hit him in the face with the butt of her spear.
"Hold it! If you move even a little, I'll put out her eyes," the man holding Segawa threatened.
"…" Yarai and Torako gritted their teeth, glaring at the two men as sweat dripped down their faces.
"Drop it!" the man holding Segawa told Torako, moving the sharp stick closer to Segawa's eye.
"..." Torako glared at him as she grudgingly dropped her spear. Two men came forward and grabbed her, dragging her away from Yarai. One of them held a blade to her throat.
"..." Yarai glared at them with a look that could kill.
"Have a taste of a pro's punch!" Saitou said, punching Yarai with all the strength that he could muster. "Hahaha!" the punch was so strong that Yarai was knocked back.
"Gah..." the boys groaned. "Gah!"
"Ah..." Rion gasped as she, the rest of the girls, and Oomori watched the horrible scene in front of them with tears flowing down their faces.
"Ahhh..." Oomori sobbed.
"Ora!" one of Nishikiori's men yelled as he kicked Mariya while he was already down.
"You had us really good earlier… you brats..." another man said, hitting Suzuki with a stone hatchet. Suzuki managed to shield his face with his arms, but he couldn't fight back with the girls being held hostage. Miyauchi and Tokiwa were thrown harshly to the ground near the other girls they had been tied up, it looked like they had been hit. Miyauchi's long skirt had been ripped.
"Yarai… Yarai..." Segawa cried. She and Torako were still being held hostage. Shingeno and Matsumoto were being threatened as well.
"Stop it!!" Torako shouted as she glared hatefully at Saitou.
"Don't doze off now, stand up!" he taunted Yarai, who had been brought to his knees by the vicious punches that had been aimed directly at his face.
At the same time, they kept hitting and kicking Akira over and over again, even though he was already unable to move anymore.
"Stop already!" Rion screamed. "Akira-kun's going to die!"
"Fufufu… What a wonderful cry..." the real Nishikiori said, finally returning to confront them.
"!!" Rion gasped, staring at him with wide eyes.
"Hic…!!" Akira said when he saw him through swollen eyes. "You… You're..." Nishikiori gazed down at him with a superior look on his face. He was surrounded by bodyguards. "Nishiki… ori..."
"Haha… That's a good face you've got there, huh, Sengoku Akira," Nishikiori taunted. He kicked Akira so his body rolled over onto its back. "How about it? Have you realized you can't defy me?"
"..." Akira glared up at him.
"Hmm..." Nishikiori said. He could see Akira was still defiant. "Kukuku… I don't like that look in your eyes… I guess I'll have to kill you guys after having you suffer some more, after all."
"Wha… What did you say?" Akira asked.
"Let's play a game!" Nishikiori said, smirking. "First, we'll just release the men from amongst you."
"Ni… Nishikiori-san, if we do that, they'll come back again to save the women..." the middle-aged man with glasses said nervously.
"That's fine. If you can save them, then do it," Nishikiori said.
"!?" Akira said.
"However… if you should fail… then one of the women will be killed!" Nishikiori said evilly. "Of course, it's fine if you don't come to save them. In that case, for every two hours that pass, one person will be killed." Akira's swollen eyes widened in horror. "You can come as many times as you'd like," Nishikiori continued. "However, each time that you guys fail, somebody will die." Yarai turned his bloody face to look at Torako. He clenched his fists. "Kukuku… Try your best. As to just how much you guys on the verge of death can accomplish… I'll see it with my own eyes. How is it? A masterpiece, right? The one killing the women isn't me, but rather you, in coming to save them. It's because you guys are weak that the women will be killed." Akira stared up at him in shock, amazed anyone could be so evil. "And when you can no longer recover from the despair of your own weakness, that, precisely, will be the time that you die by my hands… Kukuku." He looked at the women. "Well, then… as for the remaining women… how about this…? Amongst yourselves, decide the order of execution."
"Wha… What are you talking about!?" Rion asked angrily.
"… Anonymous voting should work..." Nishikiori said, holding his chin and smirking. "Each of you write the name of a person amongst you that should die. And then we'll start killing people starting from the one with the most votes. This way, the most hated people will die first. It works out well for you as well, right?" Rion stared at him, shocked.
'Wha… What a guy… You're a monster...' she thought as more tears fell.
"Well, is that's all decided… Let's start the game!" Nishikiori said. "First, toss those guys somewhere."
"Yes," his men said, dragging the losers away.
"Kokonoe and Yashiro will be dealt with separately," Nishikiori said. "Who know what those two might do, so throw them in prison."
"Yes," some other men said, tying them up.
"And then… leave the monk here, as well," Nishikiori said.
"Wh? Him too…?" the man carrying Seigou asked, surprised.
"It's necessary, right?" Nishikori said with a nasty grin. " 'A doctor for the sick; a monk for the dead.' Hahahahahahahahahahaha!" His laughter echoed through the night.
—∞—
Around here should be fine, right?" one of the men who were dragging the others away said, dumping them in a pile without a care for their conditions.
"Hehe… see ya!" another man told the losers.
"Let's get back quick… women, women! Hehehe..." a third said gleefully.
"Guh… can you move, Yarai?" Akira groaned.
"Yeah… kind of..." Yarai said.
"Damn it… What should we do?" Akira wondered desperately.
—∞—
"Everyone… sure is late," Kirino said, sitting by a small fire with Miina. Kurusu-sensei lay just behind them, and Isurugi Miina appeared to be drawing her in her sketchbook.
"Yeah..." Miina agreed.
"I wonder if they're okay… I'll go take a look..." Kirino said, about to stand up. "Ah!" she spotted the others coming toward them. "Everyone!"
—∞—
"Wha… What did you say? The girls are hostages!" Kirino exclaimed after they explained the situation.
"Yeah..." Akira said regretfully.
"Oh… Oh no! We have to go save them, quick!" Kirino said.
"But… But everyone's wounded," Suzuki said.
"Kokonoe's captured as well, so we can't make bombs..." Yamato added.
"And, moreover, if the girls are being used as shields… we can't lift a finger!" Akira said, frustrated.
"We can't lose like this! There's no time to lose!" another boy said.
"But they've even taken hostages… Shit, what should we do!?" another asked.
"If you could just do something about the hostages, it'd be fine, right?" Miina said.
"Eh… Miina…?" Akira said.
"Hey, Onii-chan, the charm?" Miina asked.
"Eh? The charm…?" Akira said. "Uh… huh? Sorry… It looks like I lost it during all the fighting..."
"Hmm… You dropped it, huh? In their place…" Miina said. He smiled. "If so… then we might have a chance. "
"Eh?" Akira said.
—∞—
Meanwhile, back at Nishikori's camp, three men had found Miina's charm lying on the ground.
"… This is… This is..." one of them said, picking it up. "Mi… Miina-chan's name… Why is it in a place like this?"
"Something's in it..." another man said.
"Open it and see!" said the third man.
"Ah… yeah..." the first man said, untying the knot that held it closed. The cloth opened to reveal a small pair of panties.
"Panties!?" they exclaimed.
"… Could it be that this is a message for us?" one of them asked.
"Yeah… it must be," another said.
"If it was left here, there must be some use for us!" another said.
"Is it's decided, then let's start our strategy, Quatre!..." the long-haired member of the glasses trio, who was wearing round glasses, said.
"… Yeah, Heero!" another member of the glasses trio said. He was wearing rectangle glasses that had thick frames on top and were rimless on the bottom.
"Our strength… Let's lend it to those middle schoolers once more," the member with completely rimless rectangle glasses said, clenching the panties in this hand.
"That's right. Duo!" Heero said.
"We'll pave the road to victory! Mission… received!" they all said, putting their hands together over the panties.
