Chapter 6

Sixth chapter, focused on character development. I would like to apologize of a plot hole I committed by mistake. In the first chapter, I said Shizuko was 6 months pregnant. Later, I said she was nine months, and the baby about to come out. I would like to apologize to everyone that got confused.

Splendid, perfect, magnificent! – Kagura Soga now remembered these words like if they had been said yesterday. In the middle of all the sadness and suffering for being in The Program, her frightened mind was trying to find an island of light, a good memory, so it would not fall into insanity. It had succeeded.

Kagura now remembered the day when her chorus class teacher praised her unique voice and excellent singing abilities. It was during an individual exam, where each student sang an entire song all by herself. The teacher's name was Mr. Sakai, an old man who played little of piano, and also did not sing well. But he could recognize a talent after seeing one, finding it in Kagura. The ugly, fragile girl had a beautiful first-grade soprano singing voice, doing many solos and standing out on every class. Her friend Rin Tosaba, whom Kagura secretly envied, was a painfully mediocre contralto and was well aware of it. She might be more popular than me – wandered Kagura in her own thoughts. – But I've got something she'll never have. A singing voice. A smile grew on Kagura's face, in the middle of The Program.

Right in front of Kagura, all the other girls in Rin's group were walking together, and talking loudly about their plans to escape. Except Kagura, who, as usual, was a few steps behind them, all alone. As Kagura listened, she thought: Can't you girls understand that the louder you speak, the bigger are your chances of dying here? – She didn't dare to say it out loud, though.

Rin, as usual, was the one who was talking the most. "Girls, don't matter what you think, do not leave this group. We should never separate." – Rin deserved her position as the leader of the group. She was the one with the most initiative in everything. Maybe that's why she was so popular and loved. "I wish I was also like this." – thought Kagura.

Around Rin, the other girls were desperate. Hana Nozaki couldn't stop crying on her friend's shoulder, but Sachiko Kirihara and Hitomi Nara still had some self control. "I'm glad our class has no boys." – said Hitomi all of a sudden. – "If one of them who decided to play attacked us, we would probably get raped." – The girls developed nasty looks upon hearing this, except Kagura. After all, no boy would want to rape an unattractive girl like her. She would just get instantly killed.

The mention of the word "boys" made Hana cry even louder. "What's wrong?"- Rin asked her friend. "It's that boy I have a crush on, Rin. Koichi. I'll never see him again in my life." – Rin was immediately touched by her words. She would also do anything to see Shuya, her boyfriend, again. Taking Hana's pain for herself, Rin tried to console her friend.

"Look, Hana, you'll not die. None of us will. I'm sure there's a way to escape this place. We just need to get together in a comfortable place and think about it. We will find a way to turn off these stupid collars and then Koichi will instantly fall for you as soon as he sees you." – These words made Kagura think about her life at school. Did she have anything, anything, which she wanted to see again? Well, besides the chorus classes with Mr. Sakai, not much. It has been only one year since Kagura came to Tsuchihara, and most of this year was made of bullying and suffering. Kagura suffered at the hands of Kumiko's group, until Rin opened up to her and decided to be her friend. It wasn't enough for Kagura.

"Thanks." – Hana now felt better and did not cry course, Kagura was sure that Rin was lying, a white lie made for her friend's comfort. There was no way to escape that place. "She probably wants to win the game herself." Kagura was not grateful to Rin for befriending her. All she felt was jealously of the girl. Kagura was jealous because Rin had many true friends. Jealous because she had a boyfriend. Jealous because she could do pretty much everything right. Except singing.

"Hey girls! Look over there!" - Sachiko Kirihara, her small eyes hidden behind her glasses, pointed at a tall building at the end of that street. "It's a building! We can hide in one of the apartments!" Hiding in a house was good, but in an apartment was much better. From there, a student could have a better view of the surroundings from above, and it was also much more difficult to break into an apartment than into a house. The attacker wouldn't manage to go up the place without being noticed and shot.

"Well, it'll be a good place to practice target shooting. You know, just in case." – said Rin. Another thing Kagura envied in Rin was her luck. Rin received one of the best weapons of the game, a shotgun. According to the girl herself, she would only use it in cases of "extreme emergency". "The emergency you'll feel to eliminate your friends when you decide you do not want them anymore."- Kagura knew Rin would probably kill her when she had the chance. Who would want a girl like Kagura in the group? She would only delay the others. As the other girls were quickly heading towards the building, Kagura decided to stay back and look into her bag to see what her weapon was.

Opening her bag, Kagura saw a large syringe, and also a small jar containing some liquid. It was written on the label: POTASSIUM CYANIDE. Something deep inside Kagura seemed to awake. Kagura smiled. There were so many things she could do with it. So many….. Splendid. Perfect. Magnificent.

Meanwhile, Chitose and Yoriko quickly ran from the plaza were they were and now headed blindly through the streets and blocks. Fear was in front and behind them. Now their chances of surviving were destroyed. If the people who walked into the plaza saw them along with Miki's body, no one would trust them anymore. They would both die the next time any other classmate saw them.

Finally, the two friends got tired and stopped running in fear. They found a small, dark alley and decided to rest there, where no one would see them. As soon as Yoriko went into the alley, the angst and sorrow she was holding up inside her flowed out like a river. She knelt near the wall, on a semi-fetal position, and started crying over Miki's death. Chitose stared at her with pity. But she needed to console her friend somehow. Gently touching Yoriko's hair, Chitose said:

"Yoriko…. Don't cry….. Don't cry, girl, it wasn't your fault…."- Chitose actually believed in what she was saying. It wasn't Yoriko's fault. Miki started it, and Chitose was stupid, deciding to go with it instead of just walking away. Yoriko was just trying to protect her.

It didn't work. Filled with grief and rage, Yoriko cried for several minutes, each time louder than before. She didn't care if an attacker was nearby, because her death would be deserved. She killed someone. She didn't want to, but she killed. And now she couldn't go back on time, couldn't just stop that moment from happening. Chitose embraced her friend and kept repeating:

"Yoriko, it's fine, she came first, it's not your fault, it's her fault, don't torture yourself like this..."

"Leave me alone!"- screamed Yoriko, and pushed her friend against the alley's wall. Chitose fell on the floor, slightly hurt. "Fine." – Thought the short girl, - "If it can't work by the easy way, then I'll use the hardest."

"Yoriko."- Softly said Chitose for a moment. As soon as Yoriko turned her head to face her, Chitose slapped her friend's left cheek as hard as she could, causing a red mark to appear. Yoriko shrieked in pain but instantly got quiet. She would never imagine that Chitose would actually hit her.

"Listen to me."- Chitose was now extremely serious, like a teacher. "Listen to me, girl. It wasn't your fault, OK? It. Wasn't. Your. Fault. If you had not killed her right there, she would have killed me. I would be dead. In the end, you would kill her anyway, out of revenge. You saved me. Be proud of it!" – Yoriko started to smile a little. "This is the Chitose I know. Brave. Decisive. Impulsive. But also kind and a great friend. She just wants me to do well." – forgetting about the death of Miki, Yoriko got closer to Chitose and hugged her as hard as she could. Yoriko started crying again. It was time to apologize.

"I'm sorry, Chitose, so sorry…. I never wanted to hit you. I'm just weak, that's it. Just weak…" – Yoriko knew that she was weak since the day she met Chitose. That small girl was the one who always protected Yoriko, although everybody else thought it was the opposite. Despite her tall and strong appearance and her attachment to sports, Yoriko had the heart of a princess. She hated seeing blood and violence, and never solved her problems by fighting. Chitose, on the other hand, was fierce and strong-willed. She never lowered herself to anyone, and always wanted to win. Nothing someone would expect to see in a girl who looked like a child and did not play any sports.

And yet, the two had managed to be friends for life. Since their first day together at Tsuchihara. With time, Yoriko started to comprehend the reason why: they complemented one another. If Chitose died in that Program, Yoriko would lose half of herself.

"It's OK, Yori. I forgive you. Now let's find Asuka and Kyoko." – Chitose smiled as she pulled Yoriko out of the alley and went for the sunlight. Yes, they would survive, unite more people, and then find out a way to get out of there. The darkness were lifted from Yoriko's mind, a spark of light illuminated it: her friend still trusted in her. Nothing else mattered in the world. The two inseparable friends started walking through the street again. Not in silence anymore.

They still did not know the nature of The Program.