Chapter 9
Nine chapter already! It goes fast, it seems. A quick warning for future chapters: do not expect any direct flashbacks, as there won't be any. There'll be sections with the characters remembering memories, but not of actual separate flashbacks, much like in the original novel. Please review my chapters! I would love to know what you guys think of my story.
Rena Kuroda and Natsumi Moriguchi sat together on the wild grass.
According to the map, Shizuko Honda's best friends were now at zone D-7, near the district's center. (The map was divided between letter A to letter H and number 1 to number 10). Unlike the urbanized areas from the rest of the city, that one was grassy, clearly a park. It had an average size, with some benches, a small playground on the right and lots of fruit trees. The two friends were lucky that it was summer: thanks to all the fruits they collected from the trees, the pair did not feel hungry at all.
"Sitting here in peace while eating an apple is almost making me forget that we are in The Program." – said Rena, the taller and slightly prettier girl, her dark eyes shining with pleasure.
"You should better be careful then. I have the GPS tracker, but nothing will work out if you are not ready for a fight." – Answered Natsumi, her long pigtails shaking in the air. A GPS was a very good "weapon", for obvious reasons. However, it didn't work for a combat: if they were attacked, only Rena's Browning Hi-Power pistol would save their lives. Natsumi had taken a heavy wooden stick as her weapon, just in case.
"Natsumi, you know that I won't have the balls to do it." – answered Rena. At school, both girls and Shizuko were known as the class "neutrals". They were not popular but also not bullied, were not invited to all parties, and did not have friends outside of the group of tree. Their grades were decent and their love lives only generated additions to the gossip mill occasionally. In other words, Rena wasn't exactly the type of person to stand up and shoot someone in the head.
"Well, you will have to, unfortunately. I also do not want to do that, but you know what happened the last few times some people tried to escape this game: they all failed and died. So or we kill, or we hide, or we die." – Natsumi was an extremely funny girl, but at that moment she was surprisingly very serious. Being funny and happy all the times wasn't an easy job in The Program.
"Yeah…" – Rena mourned lowly. "I'm just… worried a lot about her."
Both girls silenced themselves. Without them, Shizuko wouldn't have many chances of surviving long enough until her friends could find her. Shizuko was, out of the tree, the most fragile and non-aggressive. Besides, she was pregnant and couldn't run much. It would be easy for an attacker to shoot her down or slice her throat.
"I told her that guy was no good." – Natsumi broke the silence, clearly indignated by what happened. Yes, she was still friends with Shizuko, but would never forget her friends' irresponsibility. Shizuko had decided to go out with a guy she barely knew, and after getting pregnant because she forgot to ask him to wear a condom, she simply dropped the problem into her friend's hands. It was selfish, to say the least.
"Natsumi-chan, she was in love. Who are we to judge her?" – Rena knew well about doing crazy things for love. When she was in fifth grade, Rena reached the point of falling over a small wall in order to attract her crush's attention. But every child in love does that, right? What Shizuko did to them was much, much worse.
"I know. It just pissed me off, that's all." – The pair had only seem the father of Shizuko's baby once, and did not even know his name. They met him during a weekend like any other else, when the three best friends went to a karaoke to have some fun singing. They spotted a boy their age in the crowd who was clearly impressed by their vocals. He was quite attractive, but Rena and Natsumi didn't see anything special on him. Shizuko, though, fell in love at first sight. Shortly after she sneaked next to the guy to talk to him, and from then on Shizuko started ignoring both of her friends to be with her new boyfriend the entire time. She almost missed Natsumi's birthday party, for example. When Shizuko and her boyfriend finally decided to have sex, Rena and Natsumi only came to know of the incident because of a text message saying "We did it."
"Let's forget about it, girl. It doesn't matter. If we can't forgive her for liking him more than us, then she'll be alone in The Program and die for sure." – Rena tried to cheer her friend up. Of course she also got angry at Shizuko, but during the nine months of her pregnancy they had all made up with each other. Natsumi still had a small grudge though, which Rena suspected it was actually envy for Shizuko, who found a boyfriend while Natsumi was now single for a very long time.
"Yeah…"- Natsumi burst into tears. "In the beginning… I thought nobody would play. I mean, we are just a bunch of teenage girls who never used weapons before. But now, after hearing those gunshots, I'm not sure anymore." – An hour ago, the two best girls heard around two gunshots, coming from the south. It was followed by another one sometime later. Thankfully, Natsumi's GPS did not identify anybody, but it was a clear sign that the game had started.
"Look, Natsumi"- Rena cupped Natsumi's round face in her hands. –"We are not going to die, OK? I know that in the previous editions, the winner is not always the one who kills the most. I promise you we'll stay alive for at least a long time without having to kill each other." – And then Rena hugged her friend. For a while, The Program ceased to exist.
That was, until they heard a beeping sound coming from Natsumi's GPS.
"Who?"- exclaimed Rena, her eyes opening wide with shock as the beeping noise increased and the small red dot on the GPS screen got closer and closer. She instantly released Natsumi and pointed her gun, without any specific target, to the area behind her back. She did not see anyone, though.
"Who's there? Stop moving or I'll shoot!" – Rena was now sweating as Natsumi looked around with frightened eyes.
"Hello."- A slightly familiar voice reached them, and the two friends turned their heads to the direction of the sound. Standing in a clearance, with a katana in her right hand, the person was one of the strangest girls in class, Aya Tsunaba.
Misa Fujiwara wrapped her right hand on her sweaty forehead, cleaning the dirt. "Why do the school uniforms require us to wear these coats?" – It was a very hot day, and everything Misa wanted was to wear sporty clothes, much like the ones she wore in gym practices when she was still in Osaka. Of course, it was impossible in The Program, unless she found a good house with plenty of soft clothing in the closet.
That was another problem. Right now, Misa was on zone H-3, on the south bottom of Saitama. A few more steps south and her collar would explode for escaping the delimited area. Misa was well aware of it (as a good observer, she was basically aware of everything around her), but what really got the beautiful girl worried was the fact that there were no houses in the area. The southwestern zone of the district was, for the lack of better words, a commercial place. No chances of finding a house there, much less an open one. But hope is always the last one to die, so Misa still kept searching for a good place.
"It's just so… quiet. I might be the only one near this place, after all." – There was nothing in this world that Misa enjoyed more than peace and tranquility. Being born and growing up in the countryside, she was not used to living in a large city. When she was outside in the busy streets of Tokyo, Misa couldn't stand the high-pitched noises, the always shining neon lights, and the feeling of being watched by others all the time. "When I leave this place, the first thing I'll ask to the government will be to move back to Osaka."
She finally started thinking about what she never wanted to think of: The Program. Misa was sure that she would not play; it was against her moral codes to do so. Her weapon, a large brick, wasn't much of a help, unless she decided to throw it on someone's head. However, Misa couldn't think of anybody to ally herself with, either. Not that she was shy and uncharismatic, but simple because she was new. No one was friends with her yet, and even though she asked Kyoko to hang out for a weekend, Misa knew that it wasn't enough. "I don't think anybody would really trust me. I don't like most of the girls in this class, and I'm sure some of them already dislike me." – thought the beautiful teenager with a sad smile.
Misa had been at Tsuchihara for a very short time, but it was enough for her to feel antipathy towards many classmates. Some, like Miki Nakayoshi and Kageri Shouzaku, placed themselves at the center of the world whenever they could. Others, like Mari Shikamoto or Aya Tsunaba, always seemed like there was something wrong with them. And of course Misa could not forget about Kumiko Noma and her gang, especially Tsukiko Amano. "If there's anyone I think I would kill without hesitation, then it would be her." – Misa would later regret thinking that.
Misa recalled the incident with Sato Mizunoe in the locker on, during the previous day. Despite her beauty, Misa had never been popular, so she understood how Sato felt. If there was one type of people Misa really despised, it was school bullies. For her, bullying should be criminalized as soon as possible. But of course it would never happen, because the government wanted all teenagers to be violent so that they would kill in The Program.
Trying to put her thoughts on stand-by, Misa continued to walk through the streets of Saitama. She had eaten some bread with ham she took from a bakery store earlier, so hunger wasn't the best word to describe her. Realizing that she would never find a good place to stay or even to eat something else in that area, the girl from Osaka turned her feet backwards and started walking back to where she came from. Misa could have stayed there longer, just thinking about what to do, but she didn't. It wasn't time for that: in The Program, it was necessary to stop thinking and start acting.
Mari and Hisame Shikamoto spent the entire time since finding Miki's body walking aimlessly through the city, without knowing where to go. During all of this time, Mari constantly reminded Hisame about how much they were unlucky and were going to die for sure, how much this wouldn't have happened if they were in America, and how much the sun was making her tired.
Hisame hated this, but what could she do? Mari was not only her cousin, but also the only person she could call a friend. Being impatient and stubborn, Hisame had the reputation of being bitchy and aggressive, making people never want to talk to her twice. Besides, she wasn't that sure about her own physical abilities. Hisame had received an axe as her weapon, but wasn't sure if she could lift it on time to attack an opponent. Both she and her cousin did not do any sports at school and, especially Mari, had little physical strength. Teamwork was fundamental, then.
"I think we are going to die by being shot in the head. Or maybe we'll find a way to escape but the government will kill us both. What do you think, Hisame?" – asked Mari, always pessimistic to the core. If Hisame had decided to leave her alone when she left the school, Mari would have probably killed herself.
"If you keep whining like this, then we are really going to die. If you want to survive, please shut up and look for a good place." – Rudely answered Hisame.
"Hisame-chan, you are so mean to me! Stop, please!" – Mari started crying, her natural reaction for everything that threatened her. The false blonde was as fragile as a bird, and had a very, very low self esteem. No matter how many times Hisame told her that she was pretty, Mari always answered that she was not. Because of her dark hair and eyes, the same characteristics that Hisame felt proud in having.
"OK, I promise you I won't get angry anymore. But we are fighting for our lives, honey. Just put yourself together and we'll make it out alive somehow, alright?" – if Mari did not stop whining and complaining so much, Hisame was seriously thinking about abandoning her cousin at her own luck. She didn't have anything to lose with that, after all Mari's weapon was just a frying pan.
"…Alright. I'll try."- Mari kept crying and mumbling under her breath, but at least she stopped saying her bad omens out loud, much to her cousin's delight. Right now the girls were on a rather decrepit area of Saitama, and according to the map, on zone B-9, near the end of the territory limits. If they kept going north for a while, the cousins would reach an abandoned hotel, described as "Kazukawa Inn" in the map.
"Hisame, wait!"- screamed Mari, many steps behind her cousin. Hisame thought it was something serious and turned her head. It was nothing especial, just one of Mari's blue eye lenses had fallen on the floor and she came to pick it up. Having blue eyes was Mari's dream, and even though she knew that she could never reach it, the wannabe American still tried her best. Hisame thought that her cousin's fixation with American looks was overly exaggerated and ridiculous. Sure, men prefer blondes and white girls, but this is because this is the standard of beauty they see in the media since the day they are born. Hisame, although not beautiful by a large chance, did not think her skin/hair/eye color were the root of all of her problems, thankfully.
After walking for twenty more minutes, during which Mari broke her promise and started annoying Hisame again, the two girls reached the hotel. It was small and a bit old, but still seemed to be functioning well before the district was evacuated. Its two stores were painted yellow and the place had a very rustic atmosphere. Besides, the front gate was open and the cousins easily got in the courtyard.
Shame the front door was locked.
"Damn. We walked like crazy for several hours and this is what we get." – thought Hisame, drowning in her bad luck.
"I told you, cousin! We're going to die, see? They are going to kill us, and if they don't, we'll die from starvation!" – Mari started again, dropping all of her hopelessness and weakness out of her mouth.
"O, shut up, please."- Hisame was starting to get annoyed, her natural impatience taking over. "Just stop being so weak and useless and come to help me with something. We can break the window with rocks, see?" – Hisame went to a small garden on the left side of the hotel, grabbed a small stone and threw it on the left window. It quickly shattered, and Hisame couldn't help but to smile. She was stronger than she thought, after all.
"Alright, Mari, we it made in." – Mari was crying again, but Hisame did not care anymore. "Now let's get in and see what this place has in store for us."
Soon after Hisame finished her sentence, the midday announcement started.