"What?"
"Kayano just killed Okano," Kimura says again. He ducks behind a tree as Kayano, whom he can see through the leaves a few dozen meters away, slightly turns in his direction.
A few moments of silence pass, and Kimura fidgets with the comm speaker. Then Karma says, "Did she see you?"
"No, but I can see her. Maybe I can go and kill both—"
"Don't." Karma's tone has a strange, slight edge to it. "If she could keep up with Okano, she'll be able to keep up with you, too. And we still don't know just how much more she's capable of."
"Ah... All right." Kimura can't help let a bit of disappointment spill into his voice.
"It's fine. Just go find a different target."
"Okay."
Kimura pulls out his guns and heads off into a different direction of the forest.
~.~.~.~.~.~
Karma twirls his knife in his hand, watching it spin and flip and whirl in the air in its familiar rhythm. But for the first time ever, as Kimura's report replays in his head, the weight of the knife feels too light and the swing of its movements feels too unsteady.
As Nakamura glances at him, he closes his fingers around the hilt and forces his hand to still.
Calm down, he mutters to himself. One curveball isn't going to ruin everything. Even if it is Kayano.
"Nakamura." He turns to her. "Now that the forces of both teams should be approaching half—"
"It's almost time to start preparing to secure the flag, right?" She tilts her head. "You already went over this."
Karma shrugs. "I know. Just making sure we're on the same page."
Well, that's the best excuse he can come up with right now. He doubts that Nakamura forgot such important details of their strategy.
It's just that he has to do something to quell the restlessness gnawing inside him, and retracing the details of the plan, something concrete and reliable, is the only thing he can do right now.
"I'll be in charge of getting the flag while you remain at defense for ours," Nakamura says, slightly raising an eyebrow. "At some point they're probably going to focus on getting rid of Hayami. That'll create the diversion I'll need to make it to the Blue Team's flag. And I'm assuming I can also use those three meatshields you put up for defense at Face Rock?"
"Okay," Karma says, letting out a huff that's halfway between a wry laugh and a sigh. He leans back on his boulder. "Same page indeed."
~.~.~.~.~.~
Kayano narrows her eyes at the bushes in front of her. She could've sworn she just heard a noise coming from that direction. But she turns back around as she hears Kurahashi's voice.
"Wow!" Kurahashi runs up to her with a big smile and wide eyes. "You killed Okano. That was amazing!"
Kayano lets out a small laugh. "Thanks. But we still—"
Then there's a rustle and Kayano freezes. She holds her breath and scans her surroundings in a circle. Her gaze passes over the trees and bushes, the uneven bumps on the ground, the high ledge nearby, until—
A movement. She can make out the vague form of someone moving through the forest in the distance.
We're supposed to be moving in groups.
That's not a Blue Team member.
Kayano turns to Kurahashi. "I think I just saw an enemy. I'm going to go check it out."
"Okay!" Kurahashi nods. "I'll go join up with Maehara for defense in the meantime."
~.~.~.~.~.~
"Found anyone yet?" Isogai asks.
Okuda lowers her binoculars, shaking her head with a small sigh.
"It's okay." Isogai gives her a smile that he hopes is reassuring. "There are only a few places where you can get a clear view of our side of the forest. We've checked most of them, so it's only a matter of time before we find the spy."
"That's true." Okuda's face brightens up a bit. "We can do it!"
As they walk down the forest path, Isogai pauses.
Were those footsteps he was hearing...?
Or maybe that was just the rustle of leaves in the wind.
He tries to shake off the apprehension inside him, but as the noise grows louder, he turns around—
—just in time to see Kimura leap out from the bushes.
Isogai instantly raises his gun and fires.
Simultaneously, Kimura darts to the side in a burst of speed, raising his own gun.
Blue paint explodes on the trees behind where Kimura stood a moment ago as a splash of red paint bursts on Okuda's shoulder.
Then, before Isogai can fire another round of paintballs, Kimura dashes back into the trees.
"Not so fast!" Isogai follows, keeping his eyes trained on Kimura's retreating figure.
~.~.~.~.~.~
Kayano hears a round of gunshots echo in the distance. And was that a yell?
Quickening her pace, she heads towards the direction of the sound. And soon enough, she sees a figure standing in the midst of the trees a few meters in front of her.
She runs up to them. "Hey—"
Okuda turns around.
"Okuda?" Kayano blinks. "I thought you were finding the spy with Isogai. What..."
Okuda covers her mouth with her hand. Kayano notices the splash of red paint on her shoulder.
"Ah," Kayano says. "You were eliminated."
And eliminated players aren't allowed to communicate.
Kayano turns to her surroundings, taking in the blue and red paint scattered across the trees and the ground.
"Okay, I think I got the gist of what happened." Kayano turns to Okuda. "I'll go ahead then."
She smiles and gives Okuda a wave of goodbye.
Okuda doesn't wave back. She simply glances away, her lips tightens into an uneasy frown and her body tilted away from Kayano ever so slightly.
Kayano continues on her way and ignores the small sting in her chest.
~.~.~.~.~.~
Kimura shoots a quick glance behind him. Isogai is hot in his pursuit, but he isn't holding up his gun.
He won't be able to fire without slowing down, Kimura realizes, summoning a burst of speed. As he continues running, he weaves between the bushes and trees to try to lose his pursuer. But although the footsteps echoing behind him seem to get fainter, they still don't fade entirely.
A few moments later, he glimpses a figure through the trees to his right.
Is that...
Kimura makes a sharp rightwards swerve with his guns eagerly raised.
If Isogai's determined to chase me down, then I'll get some more free kills before I get caught.
Then he leaps out of the trees at the defenseless, unsuspecting Hara.
~.~.~.~.~.~
A muffled scream rings from Karma's comm speaker.
"That's... Kimura," Karma says flatly. "Did he run into a tree or something?"
"Oh, I think it might've been Hara's traps," Nakamura says. "She's always been good at those. She probably set some up in the Blue Team territory."
"Makes sense," Karma says. "I guess he got ahead of himself and saw her as an easy target."
"Ah, well." Nakamura does a half-shrug. "But it was about time for me to start taking action anyways, wasn't it?"
"Pretty much," Karma says. "Use those three stooges well."
"Gotcha." With an airy wave, Nakamura heads down to the field.
In the meantime... Karma raises his comm mic to his mouth. "Hayami, you there?"
"Yes," is Hayami's immediate response.
"You know where Kimura got caught? That area should be within your range." Karma slightly smiles. "Let's do a little avenging."
~.~.~.~.~.~
As Kayano follows the direction where that weird scream rang out, she expects it to be from another victim of that Red Team intruder. But to her surprise (and relief), she's instead met with the sight of Hara without a drop of red paint on her and very much alive.
"Oh hi, Kayano," Hara says pleasantly.
Kayano blinks. "Hara?"
Hara stands beside a large net trap that's splayed open on the ground. Kimura sits in the middle of it with a streak of blue paint on his side.
Groaning, Kimura pushes himself to his feet.
Hara smiles at him. "Never underestimate motherly power."
Kimura sighs. "Okay, Mom"—he begins violently coughing—"Hara. I mean Hara."
Hara simply hums contentedly as she goes over to her trap to begin resetting it.
"So it was you who I was chasing, Kimura," Kayano says. "No wonder it was taking me forever to catch you."
"You were chasing me too, Kayano?" Kimura says.
"Huh?"
"Kayano?"
Kayano turns around at Isogai's voice. He's panting as slows to a stop beside her.
"I didn't know you were chasing him too," he says. "I guess I really didn't need to run that far then."
Kayano opens her mouth to respond, but she freezes a soft hiss sounds in the air. Then she blinks and red paint bursts on Hara's shoulder.
~.~.~.~.~.~
"I've just eliminated Hara," Hayami reports.
"Nice," Karma replies. "See anybody else?"
A small pause, followed by, "Isogai and Kayano just arrived at the scene. Who should I aim for?"
Hayami's tone is urgent. Of course it is. She has a few seconds at most before they find cover after just seeing their ally get shot.
But the question makes Karma freeze and he hates it because Isogai, the Blue Team commander, strategist, leader, is the most sensible option, yet still Karma can't quite get rid of the annoying, irrational buzz that loudens inside him at the thought of Kayano—
He crushes his thoughts and tightens his grip on the comm mic and sharply says, "Isogai."
~.~.~.~.~.~
"We're in Hayami's range," Kayano shouts, alarmed, whirling to stare in the direction from where Hara got hit. Alertness fills Isogai's face at the same time, and he immediately shoots a glance around him for the nearest cover.
But before they can move, Kayano catches the slightest flutter of movement in the distance.
Is that—
Kayano grabs Isogai's arm without thinking and pulls him to the side with a swift, sharp jerk right before red paint explodes on the ground where he stood a split-second ago.
~.~.~.~.~.~
Karma hears a tch come from Hayami. "Isogai avoided my shot."
"What?" Karma straightens. "How?"
"He..." She pauses. "I think Kayano detected it. She pulled him out of the way."
Kinetic vision too, Itona said. I was able to visually track Korosensei's movements back then.
Karma shakes his head, but that buzz inside him doesn't ease.
"So now we know for sure she's likely retained most of her kinetic vision and reflexes. That's fine. Don't stress about it, Hayami."
"Okay."
"On that note," Karma says, "the Blue Team is probably going to try and take you down soon. So don't worry about finding picks anymore and start preparing for a large assault with Itona."
"Roger."
~.~.~.~.~.~
Kayano and Isogai find cover behind a pair of trees before another shot can fire.
"Wow." Isogai glances at the splotch of red paint on the ground. "Did you... see the paintball?"
"Well..." Kayano says. "I saw movement from the same direction that Hara got shot. And I intuitively predicted it, I guess?"
She pauses as uncertainty flutters inside her, but she pushes it down.
I'm not going to hide anymore.
"Back when I had tentacles," Kayano says, "I was able to accurately control them at mach speeds. I could also keep track of Korosensei's movements while I was fighting him."
Isogai blinks at her.
"My kinetic vision and reflexes probably haven't fully worn off yet. That's how I sensed it." Despite it all, Kayano still can't help letting her voice waver at the end. The guilt and shame burning inside her is still too fresh and too hot.
Isogai nods slowly. "I see. That does make sense. Itona also maintained his abilities for a bit." Then he smiles. "But thanks for saving me. If I died there, then things would've looked really bad for us."
Kayano's never had trouble seeing through fake grins or empty laughs, and she detects no trace of insincerity in Isogai's smile. But even as she nods at Isogai in response, she can still hear Karma's bitter words, see Okuda's nervous frown, sense the uneasiness that spread across her teammates when she first walked up to them—and the weight of something that feels like doubt sinks inside her nonetheless.
"Anyways, Hayami's way too dangerous," Isogai says. "As long as she's in action, there'll be no way for us to safely approach the Red Team's flag."
"Yeah," Kayano says. "But how are we going to deal with her?"
Isogai puts a hand on his chin, thinking. Then he raises his mic to his mouth. "Yada, Kurahashi, meet me in the left forest. We're going to take down Hayami." He turns to Kayano. "You stay at defense with Maehara."
"Huh?" Kayano says. "That's a really small group you're bringing to confront Hayami though."
"I know. I'm not expecting to make it out of this alive."
Kayano frowns. "But then what..."
"Once Hayami's out, we'll have a much better chance at winning this. I'm going to give my all to take her down," Isogai says. "And after that, I know I can leave it to you and the rest of the team to finish things up for us."
Kayano blinks. "Isogai—"
"I'm going now." Isogai pulls up his hood before smiling at Kayano again. "I trust you, Kayano."
Then he's off, and Kayano begins making her way back to the flag to join up with Maehara for defense. As she walks, she hears the echo of Isogai's words in her head and realizes that the weight inside her might just feel a little bit lighter.
~.~.~.~.~.~
Soon enough, Mimura's voice comes reporting from Karma's comm speakers.
"There's a group approaching from the right. Towards Hayami."
As expected.
"Can you see who's in the group?" Karma says.
"Isogai... and Kurahashi. Oh, and Yada, too."
"All right, thanks," Karma replies. "Hayami, Itona, they're coming for you guys. At the very least, stop them. But if you can, eliminate them."
"Roger," Hayami and Itona respond.
Isogai, Kurahashi, Yada, huh...
One of Karma's fingers begins tapping on the hilt of his knife.
So Maehara's on defense probably. Makes sense, with his close range specialty.
In the distance, Karma can make out Nakamura getting into position beside Terasaka's squad by the big rock sitting on the edge of the field.
And Kayano...
A bit further behind them, Mr. Karasuma overlooks the battlefield from the top of a high outcropping of rock.
Karma pauses.
"Mimura?" he says.
"Yeah?"
"Good job spying so far. I have a new job for you now."
