Previously:

"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.


Chapter 18: Counter Attack


Oomori and the captured girls were being held in a huge wooden cage, but there were so many of them that they couldn't have moved much even if they weren't tied up. They were currently trying to persuade their captors into believing the truth about the location of the island.

"How many times do we have to say this before you understand!?" Oomori asked anxiously. "Please listen to what we have to say! This island is close to Okinawa! We're going back to Japan!"

"She's right! There's no need for doctors anymore!" Rion said.

"You don't have to follow Nishikiori's commands!" Yuki said.

"Besides, what has he ever done for you besides terrorize you and order you around like slaves!?" Torako added.

"Whoa, listen to them!" one of the men watching them said, grinning.

"Who's going to believe that crap?" the shirtless man wearing a bandana on his head said. The men all laughed at them.

"Besides, you asked what he's done for us? Nishikori-san promised us we could do whatever we wanted to you!" a man said, leering at Torako.

"Yeah, when I last saw you all, I thought you were a goner, burning at the stake," the first man, who was wearing a black tank-top said to Oomori, smirking. "And you know, you're kinda to my tastes..."

"…!" Oomori said.

"You've got a good body, and you're a CA to boot," the man in the black tank-top said.

"So you have that kind of hobby, huh..." another man said, looking at Rion. "I'll totally take those black knee-high socks..."

"You and your fetishes!" another man said. "What about that honor student girl? Doesn't she just turn you on? She's got that traditional pretty girl air to her."

"Hii..." Yuki whimpered nervously.

"I'm personally all for that little one there," the man who had leered at Torako said. "Just look at those eyes! If you go by the face alone, she's the clear winner here… and I don't care what anyone else says, small boobs are the best!"

"Geez, you're such lolicons," another man said, looking at Rei. "I'm more into that dark-skinned one over there! Just so hot and erotic!"

"Been a while since we've been with any chicks… Especially hot stuff like these ones..." the dark-skinned man said as they all watched the women with dangerously lecherous looks on their faces.

"No doubt..." another man agreed. "Heeheehee..." Most of the girls were nervous and tried to avoid making eye contact with the creeps, but Miyauchi and Torako glared at them.

"… Hey. How's everything here?" Nishikiori asked, walking up to them.

"Ah, Nishikiori-san! What are you more into, Nishikiori-san? Big boobs or small ones?" the dark-skinned man asked.

"… Neither," Nishikiori said, wishing they wouldn't try to drag him into such stupid conversations. "Anyway, did you have them write it out?"

"Huh?" the dark-skinned man said.

"The ballots for their order of execution," Nishikiori said, smirking.

"Oh, yes, of course, sir!" the dark-skinned man said, picking up the wooden ballot box. "We were about to open it up." They brought it over to a table near the cage and dumped its contents out. They started unfolding the papers to read and tally the votes.

"… Wha… What the hell?" the dark-skinned man and the man in the black tank-top said when they saw the results. "They're all blanks!"

"What the hell are they thinking..." the dark-skinned man said angrily.

"Hmph. What did we do, you ask? We're not going to take this lying down," Rion said. No way were they selling out their friends.

"You bitches!" the dark-skinned man snapped with a vein throbbing on his head.

"Whatever. I thought this might happen," Nishikiori said carelessly. "They like pretending they're all nice and friendly." He held a finger up and gave them a nasty look. "No choice then. I'll add another rule to this game. … Kay then, let's go by the alphabet. You there. Your name?" he asked Rion.

"It's Akagami. What of it?"

"Akagami… huh. We can probably decide it with you, then," Nishikiori said.

"Decide? What do you mean…?" Rion asked.

"If everyone's ballots are blank this time, we'll execute you, Akagami!" Nishikiori declared.

"!?" the girls exclaimed.

"Hey! Pass out all of the papers and pens again!" Nishikiori ordered.

"Got it," one of the men said. They were handed out to the girls again.

"All right then, all of you… We'll go through the same thing again," Nishikiori said once they all had a piece of paper and a pen. "Except this time, it's a ballot of trust!"

"A ballot of trust?" Torako asked.

"Precisely," Nishikiori said. He looked at Rion. "If no one writes any names on the ballots once more, we'll deem this girl trustworthy and kill her. In other words, your not writing down any names will essentially be as if you wrote down her name."

"..." The girls didn't know what to say back to that. Cold sweat dripped down their faces.

"If you don't want her to be killed, then write down someone else's name," Nishikiori said. "Someone else's name who you don't mind getting killed off!" He smirked at the distressed expressions on their faces. "Kuku… simple enough, right? No matter how well you guys get along, there's going to be that someone you don't like or aren't really close to. Write down that person's name." He held out a hand. "Okay! So shall we decide who the least necessary person… who the one with the least worth is?!" He looked at Takahashi as the girls trembled, putting pen to paper. "Is it you?!" He looked at Rei. "Or maybe you!? Kukuku… Decide the one who's next! Twenty five minutes until the execution deadline left! This is the end of your happy-go-lucky friendship!"

"Akira-kun will come for us!" Rion said.

"… Huh?" Nishikiori said.

"He won't let you freely act as you want!" Rion said.

"Yarai will come, too!" Torako said. Rion furrowed her brow.

"Akira-kun and the others could never lose to people like you!" Rion said.

"… She's right. If everyone..." Oomori said.

"They'll help us!" Yuki said.

"Yarai won't let it end like this!" Segawa said.

"Mariya-kun is there, too!" the vice president said.

"Ryouichi-kun, too!" Kashiwagi said.

"Kukuku… And how are they going to save you?" Nishikiori asked with a disturbing look on his face.

"!" Rion and the girls said.

"Do tell. How will they go it? At best, they're ten junior-high students on their deathbeds," Nishikiori said. "So how are they going to go up against fifty armed adults and take you hostages back? Please, do tell! How do they plan to win against me!?" The girls didn't answer him. "Kukuku… I eagerly await the results of the ballots." He turned his back on them and walked away. One of the men followed him.

"… Um, Nishikiori-san? Could I talk to you a bit?" the man asked quietly.

"Huh? What is it, Kubo-kun?" Nishikiori asked.

"They were spouting out some crazy things earlier..." Kubo said.

"Crazy things?" Nishikori asked.

"Yes. Something about this island being close to Okinawa..." Kubo said.

"Yeah… and they said they were going back to Japan, right?" Nishikiori said, predicting the natural outcome of such a claim.

"W-We thought they were full of it..." Kubo said.

"… Hmph. Impossible," Nishikiori said.

"Huh?" Kubo said.

"The reason it's impossible, is because I know it is," Nishikori said confidently. "Everything considered, those guys are late, aren't they? Well, they were never coming to the get them… Kukuku..."

At the sight of the last battle, Katsuragi, Arisa, Shiraishi, and three adults were picking up the discarded weapons that littered the ground.

"Hey… do you think they'll come?" a man in a dark shirt asked.

"There's no way they're coming," a man in a light shirt said.

"..." Shiraish stared at his hand. He was kneeling on the ground, holding a few spears bundled up together in his other arm.

"What's wrong, Shirashi-kun?" Arisa asked. "You were staring at your hand..."

"Kogure-san..." Shirashi said, looking up at her. "I still feel from when I hit Sengoku… They tried to save us, but I..."

"Shiraishi-kun..." Arisa said.

"Hey now, don't brood over that, kid," the man in the dark shirt said.

"Aikawa-san," Shiraishi said, looking at him.

"Well, there's nothing you can do about it now, is there?" Aikawa said.

"He's right. If you'd resisted Nishikiori-san, we'd be in a bad position here..." the man in the light shirt said.

"Don't look at the big picture much," Aikawa said. "Besides, they don't even have the guts to come… They left the girls for broke and ran for it. Of course they did. Anyone would do the same in their positions. … I do feel a bit bad for those girls, though. We can't do anything about it, though..."

"I wonder… if they're really not coming..." Katsuragi said.

"… Huh?" the man in the light shirt said.

"Whoa, hey. Didn't you hear a thing I said?" Aikawa said. "They're not coming!"

"… I was Sengoku's classmate, so I know him," Katsuragi said. "He's in a really hard place right now."

"That's why we said he isn't coming!" the man in the white shirt said.

"He was practically killed not long ago. he's got to be running away by now," Aikawa said.

"Yeah, but then don't you think that's odd?" Katsuragi asked.

"Huh?" Aikawa said.

"In that case, why do the girls' faces have that expression?" Katsuragi asked. "And why do they wait like that?"

Over at the table they used earlier to count the ballots, Nishikiori was drinking some water, waiting for the ballot box to be brought to him.

"Nishikiori-san! We have the second round of ballots!" the dark-skinned man said, bringing him the box.

"Ah. Hurry and bring it here!" Nishikiori said. "So, what's the verdict this time…?" He began reading the votes. His eyes widened.

—∞—

"Oooooookay, girls!" Nishikiori said when he approached their cage again. "You girls ended up writing down names after all! Kukuku. See! They're written right here! On these pieces of paper!" He held them up for them to see. "Two people in your group sentenced two of you to execution! What do you mean, 'It won't turn out like you thought'? What do you mean by 'friends'? You guys are doing well in picking out your order," he mocked nastily. "And this is the end of your happy-go-lucky friendship. Kukukukukuku. Now then, let's have a look! The people's whose names are written down are..."

"Uhahahaha!" Saitou laughed, practicing his boxing form while he stood guard. "The lookout tonight is me, Saitou! One punch, and you'll die happily!" He punched the air at the same time a foot came speeding toward his face. "!" Before he knew it, he had been kicked square in the face. "Gyaaah!" he cried as he fell to the ground, missing a few teeth and making choking sounds.

"… Cool. He was the only lookout," a voice said as Saitou gasped for breath.

"Run for it! Time's almost up!" another voice said as several shadows began moving into Nishikiori's camp.

"Yeah!" the other shadows agreed. It was the boys, come to save the girls.

"… Hey! Is everything going to go right this time?" one of the boys asked. "If we fail..." They all gasped for breath as they ran as fast as they could, pushing their injured bodies to move forward.

"Dunno… But we've got to do this!" Akira said, gritting his teeth. "Whether it goes wrong or whether it's an impossible task… We've got to do it! Turning our back on our friends is something we just can't do! Hang on everyone!"

"Yeah!" the other boys roared in agreement, following Akira and Yarai into battle again.

"They're here!" a man yelled when he heard and spotted them. "It's the brats!"

"What'd you say!?" another man said, shocked.

"Kukuku…" Nishikiori laughed sinisterly. 'They've come!'

'Akira-kun…!?' Rion thought.

'Yarai…!?' Torako thought.

"What…? They came…?" Aikawa said. "Those retards..."

"Everyone, get you weapons!" the dark-skinned man said, and the men who fought before all grabbed something to fight with. "Our opponents are just some ten-odd brats on the verge of death! Let's snuff them all out!"

"Ooh!" the other men cheered.

"Kukuku..." Nishikiori laughed. 'Coming in from head on… a suicide attack, huh? The idiots!'

"Ooooh!" Akira roared, blocking an attack from a stone hatchet.

"Gaaah!" Mariya said, swinging his stick at the man who came at him.

"Listen up, everyone! This is where we make our stand!" Akira yelled.

"Nuooh!" Igarashi groaned, struggling against his opponent.

"I… Igarashi-san, hand in there!" Tooru said.

"Ch… These guys..." Yarai said, shaking off the men who tried to grab his arm.

"Yarai!" Akira said.

"Yeah… I know," Yarai said.

"Hey… don't you think he's slowing down somewhat?" one of Nishikiori's men asked.

"Yeah..." another agreed. "The damage Saitou-san did hasn't worn off yet!" The men grinned.

"All right… As long as we take care of him, the rest are just scraps!" the dark-skinned man said. "Get him!"

"..." Akira watched them make their first mistake. '… All right, they fell for it! Right now, we can't simply defeat these guys… As much as possible, even if it's a single person, we have to bring everyone's attention on us! Then… as long as all goes well for those two...'

"Alright! Let's hurry…!" Suzuki said, darting out from behind a hut, dressed in drag with poorly applied makeup. Mutou followed him, also badly disguised as a woman. "Damn it… Why do I have to dress up like a woman..."

"It can't be helped, right? It's the strategy," Mutou said.

'I can understand it, but I can't accept it...' Suzuki thought, sweating nervously.

««« Flashback «««

"… In any case, we have to do something about the hostages..." Akira said as they were planning their next attack. "According to Miina, it seem the three-man lolicon team will be our allies. But we haven't made contact yet, and time's running out… We have to do something, or… But… But how?"

"… How about disguises?" Kirino said.

"Disguises?" Akira asked.

"Yeah… While Sengoku-kun and the others act as bait… another team will disguise themselves and save the girls," Kirino explained.

"I see… Not bad," Mariya said.

"But a disguise that won't arouse suspicion..." Akira said.

"Dress up as girls, and you'll be fine!" Kirino said with confidence.

"Girls!?" the boys said.

"Nishikiori and the others think that men are coming… in which case, girls should be a blind spot," Kirino said. "Let's borrow everyone's makeup… and then clothing, too..."

The next thing Suzuki knew, he was dressed in drag with makeup on his face.

"Kya… It suits you!" Kirino said. "You're so cute, Suzuki-kun!"

»»» Flashback End »»»

"How is this cute!?" Suzuki asked with a pained expression. If he saw a girl who looked the way he did now, he'd run in the opposite direction.

"Well… more importantly, hurry, Suzuki-kun," Mutou said. "Sengoku-kun and the others won't hold out for that long."

"Ah… Yeah…!" Suzuki said, and they picked up the pace. The cage that held the girls came into view. "There!"

"How cruel… They locked them in a cage..." Mutou said.

"Hey! We came to save you!" Suzuki said, running up to the cage.

"… Eh?" the girls said.

"Who… Who are you!?" they asked, rearing back at the sight of him, looking appalled. Suzuki sweat-dropped.

"You should be able to tell from the voice… It's me, it's me!" Suzuki said.

"Ryo… Ryouichi-kun…!?" Kashiwagi said, startled to realize it was her boyfriend.

"Geez… and I came all this way to save you..." Suzuki said.

"Thank… Thank you, Ryouichi-kun," Kashiwagi said.

"Suzuki-kun!" Yuki said gratefully.

"Oooh… Just wait! I'll open this now," Suzuki said as he and Mutou started working on the knots of the ropes holding the door to the cage shut. 'Hehehe… All right… This is a good feeling. At this rate, my stock will rise as well, right?'

"Hey!' a voice said behind him.

"Huh?" Suzuki said, just before he felt a sharp pain as a blow was delivered to the back of his head.

"Crush them!" the dark-skinned man yelled as the boys' battled continued. "Why are you having so much trouble! Your opponents are only ten people or so!"

'Still… not yet? Suzuki…!' Akira thought, gritting his teeth.

"That's it for you brats!" Nishikiori called.

"!?" Akira said. "Nishikiori!?"

"Kukuku… Look at this..." Nishikiori said, nodding for the men behind him to bring their new captives forward.

"!!" Akira exclaimed when he saw them holding Suzuki and Mutou, who had clearly been beaten up, at spear-point. "Suzuki! Mutou-san!" 'They both got caught!? Why?'

"Kukukuku. What a childish idea..." Nishikiori said, looking superior. "I could see through you guys going for the hostages, so I set up a trap! I wouldn't take my eyes off the all-important hostages, right? There are always more than two lookouts at all times, hahaha!!" Akira glared at him. "Even if I were born again, there are two things I wouldn't want to be… an idiot… or a woman. All right then, all of you! Remember our promise?" Nishikiori smirked darkly. "You guys have failed… So, as promised, I'll kill one of the women! Hmm… You idiots! Whether or not you came, the results would have been the same. In which case, from the beginning, you should have given up on this hopeless battle and escaped."

"You wouldn't understand… You, who has nobody more important to you than yourself!" Akira said fiercely.

'Sengoku...' Shiraishi thought, watching along with Katsuragi, Arisa, and the others who had gathered.

"Hahaha! Well said! Well, let's start the execution… bring the woman here!"

"Yes!" two men said. One had long hair, and the other was wearing a plaid shirt. They were wearing bandanas on their heads that almost completely covered their faces.

"…?" Akira said. The two men returned with Rion, who had her hands tied together. 'Ri… Rion…!?' he thought, shocked. "Why… Why did Rion..."

"It's the result of the vote," Nishikiori said. "There were just two papers with names written on them. This girl's and Fukui Torako's." Yarai's eyes widened. "Among the girls, two people sold out their friends."

"…" Again, Akira was shocked.

"Someone… Someone among us would so something like that…?" Tooru said.

"But that..." Yamato said.

"..." Shiraishi was disappointed, feeling sorry for Rion and that other girl.

"See? No matter who it is, one values his own self first," Aikawa told him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We're all equal in this regard, so it's nothing for you to fret about."

"Kukuku. How does it feel? To be betrayed by a trusted friend. The feeling of being killed..." Nishikiori said tauntingly. "Don't worry about that other girl. She'll be next. You were just unfortunate enough to have a name closer to the beginning of the alphabet."

"Hmph! If you think you can do it, then try it!" Rion said defiantly. "No matter what… things won't go how you wish!"

"… Hmph. Well, well, trying to start a fight with me, at a time like this huh?" Nishikiori said, unimpressed.

"What's with that? Just what do you intend to do!?" Rion asked. While she talked, Kubo stared at her chest. The top two buttons on her shirt had come undone, and he could see more of her cleavage.

"..." Kubo couldn't stop staring at her boobs.

"If you think you can be so haughty indefinitely, then you have another thing coming to you!" Rion told Nishikiori.

"..." Kubo grinned with a dark, lecherous expression on his face. He stepped forward between Rion's guards and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Ni… Nishikiori-san… Before killing her, will you let me have her…?"

"Eh!?" Rion said.

"Wha… What are you doing!?" Akira yelled.

"It's fine, right?" Kubo said.

"Ri… Rion! Wait…!" Akira yelled.

"Fu… I get it, I get it," Nishikiori said, holding a hand to his head. "She's going to be killed anyway. If you're going to go as far as ask, Kubo-kun, then do as you..."

CRACK!

"Huh?" Nishikiori said, looking in the direction of the sound.

"…..." Kubo fell to the ground with a fresh wound on his head.

"!?" the boys said.

"..." For a moment Nishikiori didn't understand what he was seeing, but then it sank it. "Eh…?" he said, confused and alarmed. "Wha… Why… Why are the ropes… on your hands untied!?" he asked Rion, who stood there with topes loosely looped around her wrists, still holding the rock she had used to hit Kubo.

"What are you talking about… They were cut from the very beginning..." Rion said, showing him the clean cut in the ropes. She was just gripping the cut rope along with the rock.

"Cut…!?" Nishikori said, appalled. "What…!?"

"Dense, aren't you? To the fact that someone cut the ropes… But putting that aside, don't you think it's strange?" Rion asked, stepping on Kubo's crotch when he seemed like he might recover.

"Ooh!" Kubo cried, in excruciating pain.

"Why did I got to the trouble of acting like I was tied up?" Rion asked Nishikiori.

"Wha… What?" Nishikiori said.

"Thank you for speaking for such a long time," Rion said with a bright smile. "Thanks to you, I was able to buy enough time!"

"!!" Nishikiori gasped. "Buy… enough time!?"

"Well… please think about it! If these ropes are cut, then… Do you really think that I'm the only one able to move about freely now?"

"Wha… What… Why..." Nishikiori said, startled when he saw the other girls approaching, all armed with spears. "Why has everyone been let out!?"

"Listen up, don't mess up this time!" Miyauchi said. "They'll target us again!"

"Got it! Everyone stick together!" Yuki said.

"Don't leave any openings!" Torako said.

"We won't let them do as they please anymore!" Segawa said.

"Ah… Ah… Why this..." Nishikiori said, horrified.

"It went well, Heero, Duo!" Quatre said as he ran up to his friends, still holding the knife he had used to set everyone free. It was Heero and Duo who had brought Rion before Nishikiori.

"Yeah, well done, Quatre! Better than we imagined!" Duo said.

"Heero and Duo, who infiltrated Nishikiori's camp… were the ones that brought Rion along. They told her the strategy, and cut the ropes."

"And while she was drawing everyone's attention… Quatre, who had infiltrated earlier, released the other hostages while the lookouts were distracted!"

"Did you see, Nishikiori… Operation Meteor! Mission complete!" the three otakus cheered, tossing away their head coverings.

"What… What are you guys doing?" Nishikiori yelled at his men. "Go for the women again..."

"No… No good… We can't get close!" the dark-skinned man said. "They're careful… It's like a line of spears!"

"Akira-kun! Everyone!" Rion said, running over to join the other girls, who handed her a spear. "We're fine now! So fight! Bring down Nishikiori!" she yelled determinedly with tears in her eyes.

"Ehh!? This damned bitch…!" Nishikiori yelled.

"Nishikiori!" Akira yelled, punching him with all his might.

"Guaaaa!" Nishikiori grunted as he fell.

"Let's end this… Nishikiori!" Akira said, glaring down at him.