Chapter Six

Bachiko Fujiwara was always a very happy child. Not only was she happy, but she brought joy to everyone around her. She didn't realize it, though. She wasn't full of herself; she just wanted to make others happy. She absolutely couldn't stand seeing people suffer.

Bachiko's best friend was a girl named Leiko. Coincidentally, they shared the same last name. Everyone often mistook them for sisters. Sometimes, they forgot that they were only friends; it felt like they really were related. They were always laughing. It was very rare for you to see either one of them without a smile on their faces.

There was a third person with the last name of 'Fujiwara' in Fukuoka Junior High School's Third Year Class C. He was related to Bachiko and his name was Akako. They were twins, he was two minutes the elder. On the surface, it seemed that all was well.

As soon as he heard about the Program, Akako smiled. He couldn't wait. There was one thing that he had to do and he was going to do it whether it killed him or not. He had to find his sister, he had to.

That is what he did. He tried to think like her. He figured that she'd want to go to one of the buildings which had been vacated. She'd want protection. She'd want safety. He had headed for the town as soon as he stepped out of the classroom.

It was approximately three o'clock on the first day when he found her.

He saw her running down the paved street of the towns, going from building to building searching for anything that could be useful.

"Bachiko? Bachiko, is that you?" he called. He knew that it was risky to do so, but he didn't care.

"Akako?!"

She ran towards him and hugged him as tightly as she could. "Akako, what's happening?! Do you know?"

He held her tightly, too. How was he going to go through with this? At least he now had an excuse: the Program. "I know that we got out on the island just after six in the morning. The first announcement was at noon. Eight dead. Did you hear it?"

She nodded. "Can you believe it?"

"Of course I can. I also know that your name will be on the next announcement as well."

"W-What? What are you talking about, Akako?!" she asked, fear obviously in her voice. She was shaking.

He laughed. "Think mom's watching? What about dear old dad, huh? You were always their favorite. They loved you. Bachiko, Bachiko, Bachiko. That's what it was all about."

"Akako," she said softly "they loved you, too! You know it."

"Maybe a bit, but they always loved you more. I tried so hard to make them proud of me, but they didn't care. I could have been killed right out on the front porch and the only worry they'd have would be making you dinner."

Bachiko tried to pull away. He only held her tighter. "Akako, this isn't funny! Let go!"

"What do you think, Mom?!" he yelled to the sky. "What do you think of all this?! Both your kids in the Program?! That's hilarious! I'll kill her because of you!"

Bachiko had always loved her brother, despite what he did. As a kid, he would take her toys and hide them. As they got older, he began to ignore her completely and she didn't know why. She figured that he was just being a boy.

She also figured that there was no way he'd kill anyone while in the Program. She was wrong there, too.

He wrapped his hands around her neck. She tried to fight back, she really did. She kicked and scratched. Overall, she knew that she couldn't hurt him. She just couldn't. There was some invisible bond that she couldn't break. It was the bond of blood, the bond of brothers.

The fight she put up didn't matter. She knew what was going to happen, so did he. It was inevitable from the moment that she saw him coming towards her.

Bachiko, once a happy child, died a death filled with betrayal.

"Akako. . . Mom. . . Dad. . . I thought that there was nothing more sacred than family?"

Girl #4, Bachiko Fujiwara – Dead

30 Students Remaining

"Bye-bye, Bachiko," her brother said as he dropped her lifeless body.

"Bachiko?!" someone called. "Bachiko, get up!" Akako quickly turned around. The person calling to them was Leiko.

"Hello Leiko," Akako said calmly.

"Bachiko?! Cut the shit, get up!" Leiko's eyes were filling with tears. "Don't play games with me!"

"She's dead, Leiko. I killed her. Walk away now while you can." Akako said. He took his knife out of his pocket and held it tightly in his hand.

"You killed her?" Akako nodded in response. "No!" Leiko quickly took out her weapon. She held the silver pistol in her hand. It was loaded.

Akako did the first thing he knew to do. He turned and tried to run. Leiko screamed. She shot him five times. He was dead as soon as the first bullet hit his skull.

"Mom? Dad?. . . Why? . . . Why didn't you love me?"

Boy #19, Akako Fujiwara – Dead

29 Students Remaining

Leiko repeatedly pulled the trigger. No bullets would be fired. The weapon was now useless.

"You know," a voice interrupted. "You really should have saved your ammunition, Leiko."

She turned towards the speaker. Erisa Sakamoto stood there. Leiko looked to the body of Bachiko. She held the pistol against her head and pulled the trigger. An empty "click" was all she received. Erisa laughed and then laughed again.

"So you don't want to win, I take it?" Leiko didn't answer. She just stood there with the empty gun to her head. "I'm going to kill you," Erisa said. "And it's not because you want to die, it's because I want to win. Remember that, okay?"

Erisa walked closer. The machete was the only thing that separated the two girls. Erisa took another step forward and the weapon stuck itself into Leiko's stomach. She didn't even feel it.

"Bachiko? . . . Bachiko? . . . You shouldn't have died this way. . . . Bachiko?. . . Where are you?"

Girl #13, Leiko Fujiwara – Dead

28 Students Remaining

Erisa smirked. "Well, that was amusing."

. ~ .

Kinjiri Matsumoto wanted to find some sort of shelter. As he looked down at his map, he couldn't help but feel a massive pang of sadness. He wondered what had happened to the people that lived on the island. He figured that they were simply brought to the mainland for three days. At least, that's what he hoped.

He knew what it felt like to be literally ripped away from all that had ever been known. He had to move away when he was a child. He thought that it would be fun. He didn't understand why his parents had been too frightened to talk. He had tried to make them laugh, but all he succeeded in doing was making his mother cry. She had put her hand over her mouth before a scream could force itself out.

After that was somewhat of a blur to Kinjiri. He knew that there had been a car behind them. He knew that there had been an accident. He knew that a total of two people had died in that accident. He didn't understand what had happened.

What he didn't know was that his father was a glad rebel. He opposed the Dictator with all his heart, strength, and mind. Naturally, what would a Dictator do with a disobeying citizen? Make an example of him. In other words, the Dictator would send the word to kill him.

Their car had been run off the road. The first one to die in that incident was Kinjiri's mother. She had been sitting in the passenger side where as Kinjiri and his father occupied the front and back of the driver's side. The small car had flipped over.

Kinjiri looked to his mother first. She was always warm and inviting, but something had changed about her. Her eyes no longer had their usual light in them. She looked colder and emotionless. Her eyes slowly dimmed and her skin grew pale. Kinjiri was shocked. "Mom?" he managed to whisper. She didn't hear him. She was dead.

Kinjiri looked to his father, who had also been looking at the only person in the passenger side. "Miyu. Miyu, I'm so sorry," he had said. He looked to Kinjiri. "Are you alright, son?"

"Dad? What happened?!"

"We have to get out of here."

Kinjiri's father moved quickly and got his only child out of the car. A man walked out of the car that had slammed into them.

"Kazuya Matsumoto, this is what you get for opposing the great Dictator!" the man took out a gun.

Little did the man know that Kazuya had known of this long before it had happened. He knew that they were going to try to get to him,. He didn't know what time, he didn't know how it would happen, all he knew was that he had to be prepared to protect his child and his wife. He had failed at that and he knew it. That's why he wouldn't let his son die. He wouldn't die. The man across from them would.

With Kinjiri still in his arms, he shot the gun. All of the bullets had hit their designated target. Kinjiri saw it all. It was a miracle that he and his father had escaped and he knew it.

Ever since the day he saw the light of his mother's eyes slowly fade out forever, he had developed an irrational fear of death. He knew that everything would die one day, but he was terrified of that. He knew that his death would be sooner than everyone else's because he had cheated Death. How come his mother died and he didn't? Was he supposed to die there with her? He knew he would die young, but he didn't know that his curse would take his entire class down with him. It was all his fault, all his fault and he knew it. At least, that's what he felt. Maybe he was right, but it is more likely that he was wrong.

He couldn't believe that his classmates were playing. He couldn't believe that they were actually killing one another. Once upon a time, a long time ago, death seemed so far away. Now Kinjiri knew that it would come in less than two days.

Why were they killing each other, though? Why didn't they unite and do something? What would they do? What could they do?

Suddenly, something bumped into him before backing away.

"Ah! I'm so sorry!" it said.

"Sakamoto?" Kinjiri asked.

"Yeah," she said almost shyly.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" That was classic Kinjiri. He always worried about everyone else. Erisa thought that it was rather foolish of him.

"Fujiwara. Fujiwara's dead."

"What?! Which one?!"

Erisa looked him in the eye and said gravely, "All three."

"What?!" he asked again. "Where?!" Erisa pointed.

"What happened?!" he asked himself after stepping close enough to see the bodies.

"Akako killed Bachiko because his parents hated him. Leiko came alone and went crazy after seeing her dead best friend and killed Akako. Leiko then shot herself," Erisa explained.

"That doesn't look like a bullet wound," Kinjiri observed.

"That's because it's not. The gun was out of bullets. I stabbed her."

"Wait, what? Is this a sick joke?!" Before he could turn and face her, he ended up wounded. A dart was implanted into his shoulder. "Erisa?" he asked.

"It's natural poison," she explained. "Sorry, I guess?"

Kinjiri gave a friendly laugh as if they had been the best of friends for all eternity. "Actually Erisa, this won't work like that. It would work if it was a massive wound, but this is extremely small. It would take a few days for me to develop symptoms. In other words, if I had been about to kill you and this had been your last hope, you would be dead. But that doesn't matter because I don't want to kill anyone and neither do you; you were just scared."

Erisa rubbed the back of her head in a casual way. "I knew it wouldn't work," she said. "I didn't make them. If I had made them, you would be dead."

"I have no doubts about that!" Kinjiri laughed. "Want to walk with me, Erisa?"

She shrugged and followed him. "Where are we going to go?"

"Wherever the path takes us."

They walked for less than five minutes before someone had begun to fire at them. It was a boy named Yukio Katō. They both knew that he was strong and they both knew that he was dangerous. Not only did he have a gun in his hands, but he also had a knife in his pocket.

Kinjiri threw his bags at Erisa. "Run, Sakamoto!"

"What?!"

"Run." He turned back to face her and he gave a smile. "Win."

"Thank you." With that, Erisa Sakamoto ran away from the boy who was almost guaranteed a death sentence.

Kinjiri took a step towards Yukio. Kinjiri had no weapons. He knew that he was going to lose this battle, but he put up a fight anyway.

He punched Yukio, and he got a few hits in. That did not change the course of this fight. Yuiko Katō won it by slicing Kinjiri Matsumoto's neck. The last person Kinjiri would see was Yuiko, but the personhe would think of in his last few minutes would be his father. Neither of them would see each other again.

"It's alright."

Boy #8, Kinjiri Matsumoto – Dead

27 Students Remaining

. ~ .

"You were a good guy, you know. You had to go and trust everybody, didn't you?! Well, you weren't as bad ass Kiyoshi." Erisa took his bag and looked for whatever his weapon was. Inside, she found a pistol, similar to Leiko's, except bigger. She smiled as if she was a child on Christmas day.

. ~ .

Ruriko Kobayashi was hiding along with her friends. She was one of a group of five. Excluding herself, the other members were Suzume Ikeda, Miwa Ibaraki, Hisa Mori, and Imako Suzuki. They had met up as soon as they left the classroom only a few short hours ago. Ruriko was one of the last ones out, but she was such a close friend, they all felt obligated to wait for her. Besides, there was one student after her. Why not form a group?

Ruriko hadn't wanted to join them. She had another friend that she wanted to join up with. She had slightly hoped that she would find Erisa waiting for her. Then again, Erisa was one of the first ones out and if she had waited for that long, it is probable that she would have been killed. She knew that, that's why Ruriko was somewhat ashamed of such a selfish thought. But aren't all humans at least a little selfish? That was one of the first lessons that they had learned and it was one that they wouldn't soon forget.