Chapter 21

Was she watching too many rom-coms?

Certainly, t was the only possible explanation for what she was seeing. The place that surrounded the girl was so beautiful and colorful that it bordered on artificially. It wasn't from the mortal world. Nothing could be so breathtaking and genuinely tasty as that garden.

There, every single flower, leaf or root seemed to produce a special glow of its own. The many colors and species of flowers were full of life, every one of the roses, tulips, violets, daisies and lilies. It was impossible to pick the most beautiful one, because all of them were equally mesmerizing. Except for their artificiality and fake looks, they were all perfect.

At the center of the garden, inside of a circle created by a ring of bright green grass and red roses that blossomed around it, the girl stood nervously. And in front of her, there was the most amazing thing that garden could offer. It wasn't another flower, but a man. He wasn't a student, and his unshaved beard and mature looks only confirmed this. His body seemed to exhale power and virility, perfectly capable of taking the girl to the moon and back, while massaging her body as she moaned his name in pleasure. His beauty, though, was as artificial as the flowers around him. Otherwordly. Unreal. Unattainable.

The man and the girl talked for a while, words that she would soon forget because she wasn't paying any attention to them. Only he mattered. And before the girl could know the reason why it happened, they were kissing. Her eyes were closed, her breath turned deep and lovely, and her lips became one with his. She could feel his tongue inside of her mouth, his breath on her face, and suddenly she came to know that, in her entire life, she had never felt better.

It was too good to be true. And it was a dream.

Suddenly, the man disappeared. The garden was gone, replaced by darkness of closed eyelids and the icy feeling of coming back to reality. The girl could move her numb members again, and open her eyes to see the bedroom that surrounded her. Chitose Higurashi would give anything to come back to that sweet dream.

The world surrounding her was what she wanted to escape from. The Program, Miki getting killed, Kumiko attacking her and Yoriko, the loss of her hand… those were all abnormalities in a life that was good before The Program started. Chitose was still hurt inside, and the physical and psychological pain from the blood loss remained strong, blurring and numbing her senses. Still, the girl woke up. And after waking up, Chitose rarely managed to sleep again. She was a very light sleeper, and for once, the numbness came like a blessing. Even though she could die at any moment, she had managed to sleep quietly.

For a while, everything Chitose could see was the tall ceiling, which for her was even higher than normal, due to her small body. When she was younger, the girl sometimes told her mother that if she jumped higher enough, she would be able to reach the sky with her hand. But Chitose wasn't tall or powerful enough to even reach the top of the bed she was lying at. Dreams never come true.

Except for that one. The one the girl had experienced only a few seconds ago. It was something that came t-

"Chitose! Oh my dear, Chitose! You are awake! Thank the gods!"

All of a sudden, Yoriko Shibasaki's arms got hold of Chitose, and the smaller girl was trapped in a tight and strong bear hug. The pressure crushed her back, and her chest was uncomfortably heavy, but the feeling was warm and pleasurable. Once more, Yoriko could not control her own strength, crafted by years of track, volleyball and many other sports. Maybe this was why Chitose adored her so much. Yoriko was a bit brusque and euphoric, in more ways than one, but it was all a consequence of her heart of gold.

Chitose asked her to stop, and Yoriko did as such. She sat on a small and wooden chair next to the bed. Chitose was feeling much better than before she slept, and now had a question to ask.

"Ah girl, sleeping on this bed was so good that I don't even want to leave this house again." Said Chitose, with a wide smile on her thin lips. "I mean, how long do you think we should stay here?"

"I…I don't know." Yoriko was caught by surprise. She had not thought about it yet. "They did not mention anything like a time limit in this game. It will last until only one is alive, no matter how long it takes. So yeah, I think we'll stay in this place as much as we can." Yoriko's confused expression quickly morphed into a false smile. She didn't want to talk about The Program anymore, but it had already become all of her life.

Chitose analyzed her friend's face. Although Yoriko pretended that everything was OK, the small girl could see that she wasn't looking at her in the eyes. Instead, Yoriko's face was moving downwards, staring at Chitose's chest and left arm, and finally landing on her destroyed hand. The small girl also looked at the forbidden place, and soon she became as bitter as Yoriko.

"It's not your fault." Whispered Chitose, attempting to console her friend. "It's the same as when you killed that bitch. I didn't lose my hand because of something you did wrong. And I'm better now. It still hurts, but not as much." Yoriko's mouth was half open, not knowing what to answer. "Stop looking at my hand, worrying if I'll make it to the next hour. I'm the tough one here, remember? I can take care of myself."

Chitose felt like a weight had been lifted from her chest. In her group of friends, the power dynamics were interesting at best. They were composed by the popular and gorgeous Kyoko Tachibana, the loyal sidekick Asuka Yamanaka, the gentle giant Yoriko, and finally her, the weak and girly midget.

At least it was what others thought.

"No, Chitose, you are not." Yoriko answered, and her face darkened.

"Listen to me. If it wasn't for me, you would be dead by now. So try to valorize your life more, OK? I can't keep saving your ass forever." Yoriko was as angry as a mother who had just found out that her son had stolen something. "Did you hear me?" she yelled.

Chitose was shocked. She had never seen Yoriko yell at her that way. Usually, what happened was the opposite, with Chitose giving orders to her friend to the point of some other girls laughing at them in the hallways, before receiving Chitose's angry, blood-curling stare. That was a new feeling, the feeling of being under someone else's wings, and completely dependable on them. Finally, and after so long, Yoriko had accepted the role society had given to her, due to her size and physical strength.

But Chitose didn't want to make Yoriko angry. She was the powerless one now, and would have to play by her friend's rules, whether she liked them or not.

"I'm sorry, Yoriko." Although many people would not believe in her, the small girl actually meant what she was saying. "I just went overboard. That's it." It wasn't just the power dynamics. Chitose loved Yoriko as well. They had spent their entire childhoods together, even if pretty much everything in their interests and looks contributed to set them apart. They didn't have the same afterschool activities. They didn't have the same interest in boys. But opposites attract each other, and Chitose had learned it the moment when she met Yoriko.

However, no matter how much she cared for her, Chitose would never love Yoriko more than as a friend.

"Why the hell am I thinking about this?" And then she was interrupted.

"You know, if you didn't get so…. Moody at times, I don't think I would still be your friend." From behind the tears, Yoriko was smiling.

"Why?"

"You would be pretty boring that way."

Chitose began to laugh, for an instant almost forgetting of the high infection risk she still had. Yoriko had a very open way to deal with things. If she thought something, she would say it out loud. Sure, sometimes she said a lot of bullshit, and the two best friends had already gotten into trouble more than once because of this. But during her entire life, Chitose had never seen her friend keep a secret. And therefore, it was very hard to notice if Yoriko was doing that.

"OK. I just got an idea." Thomas Edison had invented the lamp, and then put it into a time machine. It had suddenly arrived, right above Chitose's head.

"Which one? You'll get up and begin dancing until you fall dead and I have to clean up the mess?" Answered Yoriko. When Chitose wasn't talking about the 100 boys she had a crush on, or trying to meticulously correct Yoriko's behavior and choice of clothes, she had her so called "ideas". And oftentimes, they involved doing something really stupid, but ultimately fun.

"No, we are about to die anyway, in 24 hours at best, what about revealing our secrets to each other?"

"You know that I don't have any, girl."

"Well, not in this way." The smaller girl's face was almost seductive, slowly licking her lower lip and making a funny, almost foxy look with her eyes. "We'll just ask each other questions, and answer then with the truth. There'll be a lot of stuff I don't want to talk about, but hey, the secrets always come out when you're about to die, or when you are drunk."

"Why not we just get drunk them? I found some beer in the fridge. It'll make a good start."

"I'm on it." Chitose had never drunk a lot in her life. Being fourteen, of course she had tried it on during parties, and sometimes she casually drank from some bottles her alcoholic father had. Thankfully, he wasn't the "aggressive" type when drunk, but the "sleepy" one instead. He was a good father, intelligent and strong, just a little distant sometimes. While Chitose got ready for school every day, prepared by her mom, her dad was casually sleeping next door, since his work as a store clerk only led him out of bed at 8 am.

Chitose didn't see anything but the ceiling and some of the old furniture of the room, until Yoriko came back with two cans of beer. Smiling at each other, the two girls stared excitedly at the cans, while Yoriko opened both of them with noisy pops, and gave one for Chitose to drink. It didn't take long for the two girls to feel the hot, burbling alcohol entering their throats and stomachs, and by the third round of cans they were so disconnected from the outside world that, if someone began shooting the door, they wouldn't notice it until it was already too late.

"OK, so I'll begin." Chitose's throat emitted a wet sound, filled with gas, as she asked the first question.

"Sooooo, before we had to come into this fucking game, and started to kill each other…." She made a small pause before continuing. "Did you have a crush on anyone?"

"No." Yoriko was fighting against the effects of the alcohol. If she suddenly let the truth slip through her lips, Chitose would take it very, very seriously.

"What? Come on. This is not true." The small girl laughed again. "Yori-chan, you are fucking fourteen now. Did you hear me? Freakin' fourteen. At this age, you've got to be dating, or at least having a small crush on someone!" If there was one thing that Chitose would never understand in Yoriko, it was her lack of interest in the opposite sex. As far as Chitose knew it, Yoriko had only been kissed once, because Chitose asked a boy from another school to hook up with her friend during a party. The kiss on itself was fast; it lasted for maybe five seconds. And after they got back to Chitose's house for a sleepover, Yoriko commented that his lips felt "disgusting".

That was another enigma. Among the girls in their class, Yoriko had always been one of the most outgoing ones. But upon seeing a boy, she suddenly turned extremely shy. A bad past experience, perhaps?

"Honestly, I think I'm weird." Answered Yoriko, staring at the floor. "I never felt really that need of getting it on with a guy, if you know what I mean."

"You know, Yoriko, pass me the phone, please."

"Why? You know it does not work."

"What a shame. I need to call the school as soon as possible. They need to know that a contestant in this game is mentally unhealthy, and so needs a psychiatrist fast, as well as the exit from this The Program."

And suddenly, both of them were laughing together, with their eyes closed, until a few tears came out from both girls' eyes. It was a magical moment, simply so… happy. It was just like before they had been attacked by Kumiko. After a hurricane comes a rainbow, after all. Until another hurricane comes, much stronger than the first one.

"It won't work." Answered Yoriko, casually wiping away one of her tears in the corner of her eyes. "Those fuckers like insane people, they bring the ratings upwards."

"Well…" Chitose replied, "I don't think the same goes to two virgins like us."

That was the thing Chitose thought about constantly. Sex, man, boys, and anything in between. Unlike Yoriko, she was boy-crazy, and had hooked up with a few boys at parties, after making the first move herself. Chitose knew that she was attractive, but with her undeveloped breasts and child-like looks, no boy would see her more than a little sister. The girl did not have the reputation of being a whore, like Kumiko Noma or Tsukiko Amano certainly earned and deserved. However, every time Chitose came into a conversation with her friends after school, it was certain that she would, at least, comment how cute that boy at the intersection looked. It wasn't something to fit in better with her classmates. It was just the way she was.

Yoriko remained quiet, almost frozen. Her brain was turning into mush while desperately searching for an answer, something that would not offend Chitose and also hide what she was really thinking. Meanwhile, Chitose wondered if Yoriko's hesitation to answer her question was due to pure shyness in something she did not know much of, or actually a secret being kept hidden.

Yoriko took another gulp from the beer, and answered quietly.

"I don't think it's that important to lose it this early."Although she respected her friend, Chitose began to say several words of sarcasm, partially due to the effects of the alcohol in her body.

"Come on, Yoriko! You know that it's important! I'm pretty sure that half of the girls in our class already did it, and the other half would soon get laid by the next year, if we weren't caught in a Program! Do you want to be the last one, huh? The one who does not have any experiences to share? It truly, sucks, and you know it." After she stopped giggling for a while, Chitose continued: "So, on to the second question: how would your ideal first time be like?"

"Well…." Yoriko began to blush again. "I think it would be in a very romantic way, with roses all around the bed, some candlelight, in my house or in a motel… I wouldn't like it to be in a party. And more importantly, with a nice guy." The tall girl carefully changed the last word. Thankfully, she wasn't drunk enough… yet.

"Mine would be in a car, and with an older man."

"In a car? Why? I mean, it's very tight, you can get caught…"

"Well, the fear is part of the fun. And I know the guy would protect me if something happened." In 3A, there wasn't a single girl who did not know about Chitose's obvious fetish for older men. However, there was something only Chitose knew about: her secret date with Mr. Ono.

Mr. Ono was the Japanese teacher. It wasn't Chitose's favorite subject by far, but the presence of was enough to keep her from spacing out. He was younger than the average teacher, on his mid twenties to early thirties, and most of all, he was handsome. Tanned skin, muscular body, and spiky hair: everything Chitose liked in a man. During the first two months of the school year, many giggling teenage girls playfully flirted with him in class, and made open their opinions that they were more than willing to date him. Until the day he revealed that he already had a girlfriend. Most girls stopped commenting on his looks after that day, and burieMr. Onod their dreams ten feet under the earth. Chitose wasn't one of them.

On a very special day, Mr. Ono told Chitose to write something in the blackboard during class. It was the first time she had been less than a meter away from him. It was hard to focus on the exercise, but eventually she did the job. Later on that day, she visited the teacher's room, saying that she had a question about the Japanese language. As they talked, their conversation soon turned into many other topics, and before they knew it, the teacher and the small girl were leaving the school to eat ice cream together, during break time. After tasting the delicious dessert he had paid for her and himself, Mr. Ono leaned down and kissed Chitose softly in the lips. The girl already knew that he would do that. She saw the fire burning in his eyes, the flames of desire glowing in them. What she didn't expect was what he said afterwards.

"I'm sorry. I like you, but I already have a woman waiting for me at home."

After that, they resumed eating their food in awkward silence. Then they went back to school, and the only words they said to each other were "see you later".

Chitose admired that he still had some morals, but still, she regretted that experience. Sure, she had gotten something out of it, but it wasn't enough for her. Maybe that was why her dream with him, the product of her subconscious, still haunted her to the present day.

Yoriko spoke again.

"OK. Now call your "ideal man" right now, and tell him to come here to save us, while avoiding dozens of bullets. Tell him this, and I hope he doesn't find our corpses when he finally arrives, for God's sake!" Once again, Yoriko had gone ballistic on her friend, apparently for no reason at all. Chitose tried to reply, but she was too tired and drunk. In a moment, she thought she would go back to sleep, and that would be a good thing. Sleeping is better than being awake to think about the many ways you might bite the dust at the end of The Program.

Chitose closed her eyes. She did not want to listen to Yoriko anymore.

The pain started.

The amputation on her left arm began to hurt again, bearably, but also quickly spreading. Chitose moaned a little as the pain reached the entire wound. She couldn't move her arm anymore, it had gone totally numb. She tried shaking it, but only a little movement happened. Yoriko noticed it.

"Chitose, are you alright?" Her face was filled with worry.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just a discomfort. Maybe I left my lost hand in the same place for a very long time. It's nothing serious. I'll get over it." The pain kept Chitose awake. Maybe it was a bad reaction from the still healing area to the alcohol in her veins, but it did not matter. She began to trash around in the bed, struggling to get up. Finally, she did, helped by Yoriko, and managed to sit on the bed.

She wanted a shower. Better, a hot one. It was the only thing that could evaporate that horrible sensation.

"I'm showering now, Yori-chan."

"Like this, all of a sudden? I think that what you need is even more rest."

"…Yeah. I just feel in the mood for it." Although Yoriko sometimes got angry at her friend, she never came to dominate her. Chitose was independent and a mistress of her own will. And so the small girl slowly left the bed, stumbling, painting, disoriented. After a few steps towards the bathroom, she stumbled and almost fell. Yoriko offered help once more, and received Chitose's rejection in response. Although her body felt rigid and disjointed, the small girl needed some time for herself.

"It will be quick. I'll come back soon." Yoriko could see that Chitose's eyes were tired and sleepy.

Ignoring the intense and strange feeling of discomfort, which felt like several ants crawling underneath her skin, Chitose got in the small bathroom, clearly made for only one person, and began to undress. Pedophiles would be delighted, but horny teenagers would turn their heads away from the sight of Chitose's naked body. The girl certainly was beautiful, with milky white skin and a thin figure, but her lack of curves and short stature almost made her look like a dwarf. Chitose was pretty comfortable with the way she looked like, although it was certain that she had a tremendous disadvantage in every single sport she tried playing. She wasn't made for it. The opposite of Yoriko.

"She's creeping me out now."

Being boy crazy, Chitose was very good at the interpretation of subtle signals that indicated interest. Only by looking at a boy's eyes and talking to him, the girl already knew if he would correspond her or not. She could feel the flame in his eyes, the nervousness on his breath, and most of all, the large, confident smile. The smile was the most important part, and the first thing Chitose looked at in a guy. If she had to choose between a confident ugly guy, and an insecure and boring handsome one, she would go for the former.

Although her entire body, mind and beliefs told Chitose that she was just seeing things due to the alcohol and the numbness that continued to spread on her body, something in her couldn't stop saying that Yoriko had looked at her that way less than a minute before. She didn't feel safe there, after looking at Yoriko's eyes. Probably, she would forget about them as soon as she left the shower, but Yoriko's luscious stare wasn't something to be completely ignored.

Chitose's hands began to tremble as she reached for the shower. Her body felt cold and rigid. She wasn't a fan of hot showers because they damaged her skin, but it was time to make an exception.

The girl turned on the tap. Water began flowing over her head and pale body. The warm temperature was supposed to give her a sense of peace and protection, which did not happen. Chitose felt dizzier than ever, her body still trembling as her mind began to leave her body. The girl had slept in classes too much to not realize that she was spacing out.

"Stay focused, damnit! It's just some water, nothing more!" Chitose began moving her feet and arms vigorously, trying to shake that bad feeling away. She twisted and turned around on the hot marble on the floor, to a point when she could have been confused with an erotic dancer. Maybe it was the temperature, but suddenly Chitose's arms and legs began to also feel hotter, like in a fever. It soon took over her head and the rest of her body. Heat, disorientation and weakness were everything the small girl was able to feel.

Chitose looked at her left hand one more time. It was red with the water. Her body began to topple sideways as she lost consciousness.

The ceiling was replaced by blackness.

Irony is one of the most powerful forces in the universe.

The intelligent people manage to notice it, and so are immune from it. The dumb ones are not. They cannot understand it, and so they attack ironic speeches and speakers, only to be defeated by them.

Yoriko Shibasaki certainly belonged to the first category. She was smart to understand irony, and even smarter to laugh at it sometimes. Since the moment she entered The Program, until the time when Chitose went to the bathroom in a hurry, there was a specific case of irony that annoyed her constantly. However, she couldn't even giggle at this thought, and much less find it to be funny. Strange thing, since it was something extremely simple.

The irony that she was one of the students who were most likely to win The Program.

Superficially, the tall girl had it all; she was much stronger than the average female, able to lift up to five bags in a supermarket and having a better time than her classmates in gym class. She also knew how to win a fight, since the sports she did at school gave her good reflexes and agility. Her father, being a doctor, had taught his daughter a lot about how to treat her own wounds, which would certainly make her victory much harder in case of infection and severe wounding. And finally, she was smart enough. Not a goddess of wisdom, but decently intelligent.

All of these qualities, though, were nullified by a single defect.

Simply put, she didn't have the guts to kill.

Yoriko liked the term "gentle giant". As a child, she had read a few novels with characters like this, and always wondered in her developing brain if it was possible for this personality to exist in real life. The girl didn't believe in it much. From several examples she had seen, like the Japanese dictator or male bullies from elementary schools, Yoriko had the firm belief that the ones who are stronger and more powerful will ALWAYS want to destroy the weaker ones, because they were evil. And stupid.

Out of all of these "evil people", the one the girl hated the most was herself.

Yoriko had always been big, even before the beginning of puberty. When she was seven, she had the height of a ten year old. Adults gasped when she said she was still in elementary school, and other children constantly got away when she wanted to play with them, as if they were somehow scared of her. Sometimes, the tall girl felt the need to actually use her strength. To take revenge on those midgets who excluded her. It would be easy, she would just have to push them and the fight would be over quickly. But Yoriko was too nice for it. She wasn't aggressive and never cursed back on anyone. Slowly, though, all of the bad childhood experiences began to accumulate inside of her, and suddenly there were days when she wanted to just beat the crap out of every single girl of her age she could find.

Until the day when she met Chitose.

If her secret crush walked in a Japanese subway station, in the middle of thousands of people, Yoriko would easily set her apart from the crowd. Chitose's face was special: serene, illuminated, beautiful. For Yoriko, her friend had been sculpted by angels. No, not that. She pure and simply was an angel herself.

This angel came to earth to become Yoriko's first real friend, on a sunny day when the two sat together at a tea party and began talking about dolls and what they did in their past times. Unlike the other girls, Chitose wasn't intimidated by Yoriko's size. Rather, she viewed it as something interesting, making her new friend someone special in her eyes. And like every other child in the world, Yoriko loved to feel special, even if it wasn't true.

As the years went by, their friendship got stronger and stronger. After insistent pleads to their parents, both girls began to attend the same school, and luckily ended up in the same class. Living only a couple of blocks away from each other, the time they spent together every day was often longer than the one that was reserved for their parents. During most of middle school, Yoriko viewed Chitose as her best friend for life. When the two got old and tired of life, they would sit together in a picnic and play chess, gossiping about their diseases, grandchildren and operations. The tall girl thought that their fate was to be like this forever. Eternal companions, but just that.

One day, it happened.

The first time Yoriko felt a sexual attraction for her best friend was during a party in the previous year. As usual, Chitose spent a lot of time in makeup and clothes, in order to make herself even more breathtakingly beautiful than she already was. And also as usual, she took Yoriko home to help her. The two of them spent an entire afternoon in Chitose's bedroom, giggling and talking about how Chitose's hair looked, or which boys they considered the most attractive.

Then Yoriko looked at Chitose's lipstick filled mouth, while she was putting it on her lips. And all of a sudden, she felt the sudden urge to kiss it.

The party was never the same after that. While Chitose danced and had fun, Yoriko spent hours sitting in one of the tables, with the excuse of suffering from a headache. In reality, she was deciding if what she felt for her friend at that precise moment was a dream, a delusion, or just a temporary effect of her period. When the party was almost over, Yoriko looked around. And saw Chitose kissing a boy she didn't even know the name, in one of the sofas.

Another emotion took hold of her. Anger.

Yoriko left the party shortly afterwards. She didn't wait for her "friend", like she said she would. The tall girl simply got a taxi and went back home, spending hours in the night crying over what she had become. She knew that no one would give her a chance, but she couldn't shake that horrible feeling from her subconscious. The feeling that Chitose would one day love her back, and then they would spend their last years playing chess not in a park, but in the same house.

In the Program, many months later, the attraction still remained in Yoriko, stronger than ever. And the girl couldn't stop looking at herself in the only mirror in that house, wondering if she was pretty enough to call Chitose's attention.

The sporty girl was certainly not as beautiful as Kumiko Noma or Kyoko Tachibana. Even Sachiko Kirihara, the class representative, was several notches above her in that aspect. However, Yoriko wasn't ugly either. Sometimes she felt like her eyes were too big for her face, but this was the only pet peeve she had with herself. Overall, she liked her tall and muscular body, and seeing her face every day at the mirror brought her more joy than sadness. The only thing she would want to change was her hair, a mess of shoulder length black stripes that were hard to take care of. Yoriko had thought about cutting it up to a boy's level, but Chitose stopped her; according to the small girl, Yoriko looked much better if she respected her feminine features. For the tall girl, Chitose's voice was the voice of God, and she would never go against it.

Still, her looks weren't enough. They didn't make Chitose fall for her, and would never do unless she openly revealed her feelings.

"Shame I'm too much of a coward for that."

Telling Chitose she loved her as a girl. This terrified Yoriko. She had never been shy, except when it came to the opposite sex. Probably, because she was never really interested in boys in the first place. But girls were no different. Yoriko had never fallen for another girl before Chitose. In fact, before that dreadful day, Yoriko had once wondered if she was asexual.

Living as a lesbian was even worse. In the conservative Republic of East Asia, homosexuality was a crime that resulted in incarceration if discovered, and death if practiced a second time. There were some gay bars and clubs, but they were illegal and often dangerous places, ruled by Yakuza lords and dedicated to prostitution. In other words, homosexuals could never live peacefully. There was a channel on TV dedicated to their mass executions, and the tall girl had once watched a gay man being shot in the head by a soldier. Yoriko got horrified, but her parents were clapping and saying that it was the right thing. After she began feeling for Chitose, Yoriko never saw that channel again.

Strangely enough, the girl wasn't worried about what her parents would think. It wasn't important. Yoriko was now in The Program, and was very likely to die in the next 24 hours. Mom and dad would never know, and even if their daughter came out in front of the cameras, she would die shortly afterwards and so they wouldn't be able to beat her. Yoriko knew how much her parents loved her, but her mother had once said that, if Yoriko got selected for The Program and won, she wouldn't be accepted back home. According to Mrs. Shibasaki, "A killer and a normal person should never share the same ceiling."

"Yeah, but first I need to tell HER before I DIE."

Suddenly, the shower was turned on, and the noise quickly reached the room where Yoriko was standing at. As Chitose began to shower, her friend's heart began beating faster.

Girls are not supposed to think about sex all the time, and Yoriko certainly did not. However, a combination of curiosity and desire made her think about one thing every day.

How would Chitose look like naked?

Feeling like a teenage boy who's beginning to explore his sexuality, Yoriko tried to stop her own lust. It was useless. Her body was in control now, suddenly making her stand up from the chair she sat at. At that moment, Yoriko realized that the Battle Royale had made her go insane, but there was no turning back. Her eyes were fixed on Chitose's figure behind the door boards of the bathroom, which revealed the shower. The figure got closer and closer as the tall girl walked towards the door, until…

Yoriko could neatly see the girl she loved, fully naked, showering behind the bars.

She didn't think of anything. In a moment, her right hand went down and reached the inside of her skirt.

As Chitose kept showering, moving quite strangely as if dancing, Yoriko's fingers began to move insanely as she touched herself. Yoriko felt disgusting and dirty by doing that, but she couldn't stop. Her eyes did not even blink, and only the images of pleasure that came to her brain were enough to keep her into the act of madness she was practicing.

Yoriko's fingers moved faster and faster. Her body was overtaken by heat, and every single pore of her skin told her to keep moving, that the pleasure was too big to be abandoned halfway. The girl did as she was told, and after a while she was already moaning. Part of her hoped that Chitose wouldn't hear it, but the other part wanted it to happen.

Yoriko was about to have an orgasm for the first time in her life. And it felt great.

Until Chitose fell.

From behind the bars of the door, Yoriko couldn't see much of the fall. It happened too quickly. Chitose's white body hit the floor with a large thud, like the explosion of a firecracker. Her face was obscured by her long hair, but after many seconds, it was clear that she was not going to rise up again. Upon realizing this fact, Yoriko's neck began to drip sweat. Her hands immediately left her skirt, more worried about saving Chitose than exploring her sexuality.

"Oh my God, oh my God!" Yelled the repressed lesbian as she opened the white door and ran inside. Chitose had fallen in the shower stall, not moving an inch. Her skin was much paler than usual, and her feet were already red from the hot water. Her full frontal nudity was totally visible, but Yoriko wasn't worried about it anymore. Her friend's life came first. And so, after turning off the hot water that managed to make her uniform wet, Yoriko grabbed Chitose's body and carried her out of the bathroom, and to the bed.

"Come on, girl, wake up!" Yoriko shook the smaller girl's body uncontrollably, but did not get any response from her. For a moment, Yoriko thought that she was dead, and so her life was almost shattered. Fortunately, the tall girl noticed that Chitose was still breathing, and had a pulse. However, her sudden fainting and pale color left Yoriko no doubt: Chitose had suffered from low blood pressure.

"Stupid, stupid, you idiot girl; instead of helping her, you were more busy jerking off. She could have died and it would be my fault!"

Despite the knowledge that Chitose was still alive, Yoriko was still worried. The girl of her dreams could still die at any time if not taken care of properly.

There was no time to lose. The first thing Yoriko did was bringing a white towel from the bathroom and placing it over Chitose's nudity. The "blanket" not would not only keep the girl warm, but also drive Yoriko's gaze and attention away from her body. Everything that she needed.

Chitose's hands and wrists were still cold, but slowly increasing in temperature. As the seconds passed by, the girl's face began changing color again, until it reached a tone that could be considered normal. A large smile came to Yoriko's face. She did not need to be worried anymore. Her friend was going to live, and with enough luck, wake up soon.

Yoriko didn't believe in any type of God, but in that short lapse of time, she thanked Him, Her or It anyway.

Until her eyes saw something that was dangling from a closet.

It was a white piece of clothing, which certainly had belonged to the family who lived there. A dress. And as the tall girl stood up and walked towards it, she could see that it a wedding one. A bright symbol of love, filled with artificial white flowers on the skirt and two more on the shoulders.

"It's beautiful…"

Yoriko could stand there forever if she had the time and the luck. As a child, she had constantly told her parents what her ideal husband would be like. That he would be tall, handsome, loving, intelligent and educated. Upon hearing it, her parents always clapped their hands, proud of their daughter's right choices in men. Yoriko had forgotten to tell them of the husband's gender.

Yoriko began crying again. It would probably be the last time she would see a wedding dress in her life. And she would also never marry, either with a boy or a girl. If she won, she would have to kill Chitose first. And Yoriko would rather kill herself than destroy her love.

She could only wonder one thing. If two women marry each other, which one has to wear the dress? Only one, both, or none of them? Yoriko wouldn't feel very comfortable in a man's suit, but she would be happy and delighted upon seeing Chitose's supernatural beauty when she arrived at the church, with drops of moonlight falling from her face.

"Yori-chan…" Chitose had woken up. Her voice was weak and low, as if she was struggling to say every single word. She was still half-unconscious, on the waking side much like an alien would be on planet Earth. But Yoriko wasn't going to wait for Chitose to recover completely. No, it wasn't her intention to reveal her feelings yet, but she needed to know something that was still suspicious.

She needed to know why Chitose decided to leave her.

"Chitose, what happened? You fell all of a sudden! I thought you were dead! Thank the gods you are awake!" Yoriko wanted to hug Chitose's body, but she was smart enough to realize that her weight could make Chitose's condition even worse. Every single move was risky, one false step and then her friend could be gone. And so Yoriko decided to simply hold Chitose's hand as tight as possible, in a completely non-sexual style but also emotionally close. Every second she spent with her grip on the small girl's fingers, which were much smaller and tinier than her own, Yoriko reminded herself of how much she was lucky to actually have someone to care about in the world. She knew what true loneliness was like until the day she and Chitose met. It was hell.

Chitose began to speak again, her once bluish lips starting to gain more color and slowly turning reddish. Clearly, the attack was weak. She was recovering much faster than Yoriko had expected her to. Maybe Chitose had a chance of winning The Program in the end. Even if a girl who was in love with her would have to kill herself for it.

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't be." And then Yoriko remembered her own regret after killing Miki. It was the same situation being repeated again; only with different roles. The universe is ironic.

" Yori-chan… I understand that you care about me, but nothing you do will be worth it if I can't take care of myself." Chitose swallowed her saliva and continued. "I shouldn't have gotten drunk while I'm here, defenseless. Much less taken a shower afterwards."

"Then why did you do that!" Yoriko controlled her voice tone at the end of the sentence. Her sudden outbursts of aggression were coming back. "If you knew something like this could happen, or even worse, then why you couldn't just stop and think!"

"To tell you the truth, Yori…" Chitose's eyes went upwards for a moment, and then came back to their original position. "I didn't want to listen to you."

Yoriko's mouth opened in shock, and her jaw dropped. She was expecting for many different answers, but not this one. Where had the old friendship gone?

"I can explain. Don't worry, it's not about you, just me." Chitose's face was unreadable. It was hard to know if she was saying the truth or lying. Yoriko wasn't good at interpretation of subtle signals, so she believed in every single one of the words that came afterwards. "I thought I was better than you. You know, I have a pretty big ego when I want to. I tried…. I tried to stop it, and it has gotten better, but sometimes…. I still think like that. As if what matters to you is not my business, and even when I'm weak and depending on you, I can still pretend like I'm on a pedestal." A small teardrop began bursting from Chitose's left eye, but it did not fell. "I did that because I was stupid. Because, for a moment, I thought your confessions were boring and not enough for me."

Yoriko knew how Chitose's personality was like. Sometimes, especially during parties or social meetings, she became a completely different person. It was visible in the expression of her face, in that particular smile that made her both devious and cunning for a while. When alone with Yoriko, she came back to her gentle self. Her behavior around others was just a show to make her seem more popular, and feel more confident. When Yoriko tried to convince Chitose that she should be yourself, the smaller girl just answered that "being yourself won't get you boyfriends." In a high school, it was true, but Yoriko didn't want to think that way.

Even with her tall an athletic body, Yoriko was still a child on the inside. And children believe on everything they hear.

"I'm sorry. I promise I won't be like this again. If it is, I'mm gonna end up causing our deaths."

Yoriko should have felt anger, but she did not. Most girls would think Chitose was a false friend, and then leave her in the house to die. But Chitose was more than just a friend, and love always forgives. At least, she was being honest to Yoriko, and to herself. She just needed help.

"It's OK, girl. I forgive you." Yoriko smiled and gently touched Chitose's face. It was much warmer than before.

"Are you feeling better now?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Now put some clothes on."

The two began laughing one more time. The clouded rain upon their relationship was over; their friendship had been reborn again. Yoriko remained in the chair for a while, enjoying every single sound of Chitose's joyful laughter. She stopped only after her friend yelled at her.

"I'm going to change now. Don't you dare looking!"

Yoriko turned away. This time, it wasn't necessary to look anymore. She could live with the mystery, the occultation. Chitose was more than a sexual object she could use and then throw away. However, the girl still wanted to do something before going to sleep. And she had an idea.

"What about we sing a song to make you sleep faster? I think we need some music for now."

"Good idea. Which one?" Chitose had quickly put on a simple green nightgown she had found under the pillow. Much better than her dirty, bloodied and battered school uniform, which constantly reminded her of The Program.

"Heart and Soul? I really like that one."

"Great choice. Let's start then!"

The two girls knew that song from Asuka and Kyoko. It was common for them to make a duet on the piano while visiting each other's houses, and so Chitose and Yoriko had heard this song several times, when they were with their friends. Although none of the two knew how to play the piano, they knew the lyrics and that was enough. If there was a song that could capture the meaning of true love in only a few words, it was that one.

After a few seconds of silence, Chitose lied on the bed with her head turned away, while Yoriko remained looking at her. She wasn't going to sleep much, since her duty was to keep watch. When she felt sleepy enough, she would have to forcefully wake Chitose up, and then go to bed herself. But singing would make everything better. It always did. Chitose would sleep faster, and they would be more joyful on the next day, which would probably also be the last day of their lives.

With her head already on the pillow, Chitose began to sing.

"Heart and Soul, I fell in love with you. Heart and soul, the way a fool would do. Madly. Because you held me tight. And stole a kiss in the night."

Out of the two, Chitose was clearly the one who sung better. Her voice was high, light and clean, and although she didn't compare with Shizuko Honda or Kagura Soga, she was one of the best singers in her chorus class. If she worked more on her voice, she would sound like an angel.

"Heart and soul, I begged to be adored. Lost control, and tumbled overboard. Gladly... That magic night we kissed. There in the moon mist."

Yoriko's voice was the polar opposite. As if it matched her appearance, it was low and deep for a girl. If there were boys in her school, she would probably sing with them as a tenor. Yoriko also had trouble sustaining a note, or when she needed to go high. In other words, she wasn't made to sing.

But then Chitose joined her. Suddenly, everything got better.

"Oh! but your lips were thrilling, much too thrilling, Never before were mine so strangely willing."

Together, the girl's voices matched perfectly with one another, like a yin-yang symbol. They had both the potency and the beauty. For Yoriko, the fact that she couldn't sing very well did not matter anymore. She was having fun, and making the song better at the same time.

They continued to sing, finally ending the song with huge smiles on both of their faces.

"But now I see, what one embrace can do. Look at me, it's got me loving you. Madly... That little kiss you stole, held all my heart and soul."

After they finished singing, Chitose looked at Yoriko. For a moment, Yoriko could see the joy in her eyes, the spark they contained, barely restraining itself. A wave of peace went to the tall girl's mind, after realizing that maybe, just maybe, her love was being corresponded.

Chitose slept like a log.

Over the white blanket, there was the wedding dress Yoriko thought was so gorgeous. The dress was for Chitose, its owner by right, and to no one else in the world. For Yoriko, Chitose would wear that dress sooner or later, even in death. She was just making herself sure of it.

Only the surveillance cameras, with millions of people behind them, could see the small living room. They were the only witnesses of the magical moment when Yoriko, tired of waiting, finally waited for her friend to fall asleep to take the initiative.

The girl leaned towards the one who was much more than a friend to her.

And kissed her lips.

It was a fast kiss; a longer one could make Chitose wake up. And Yoriko wasn't ready to see her reaction. She was still afraid, but a light kiss during sleep was the least she could do.

After that incident, the audience got divided. Some people begged for the government to detonate Yoriko's collar, since homosexuality was a crime in the country. Others, mostly young teenage boys, actually cheered after seeing Yoriko's move. The girl's parents, who had been watching the game since its beginning, opened their mouths wide with shock. In the school, Mrs. Suzuki and the soldiers debated if they should kill Yoriko right away, since even if she won the game, she would be executed shortly afterwards, since someone who wasn't the "ideal Japanese citizen" would never be allowed to win The Program. However, they decided not to, since it would be a waste to eliminate a contestant that way, unless she was planning on going against the game.

Yoriko didn't listen to any of them. They had all faded to the background, to become weak stars in the sky.

And Chitose was the moon, the brightest light of all.

The same moon Yoriko kept staring at for many minutes, with tears of joy running down her eyes and her chest bursting with happiness. She had finally made the first step, and would never hide who she was anymore. Never. From the chair she was still sitting at, the young girl in love didn't take her eyes of the window, nor the beautiful moon that could still exist even in that monstrosity called The Program. After a while, the landslide of emotions began to fade away. And finally, Yoriko Shibasaki said the words she wanted to say for so long.

"I love you, Chitose. With all of my heart and soul."

AUTHOR'S NOTES

I feel especially proud upon completing this chapter. It was the biggest one so far, and also the most heartwarming. It ends in a positive note instead of a negative one, and does not include violence and bloodshed. I'm afraid, though, that this will be the first and the last chapter like this.

Maybe these are the moments that define The Program. The short times when everything seems to be working well for the characters. When the reader gets touched by their back stories, and cheers at the personal progress they make. Of course, it only makes a character's death more cruel and heartbreaking, but while things stay on the bright side, they seem like they cannot get worse.

I haven't updated in a while. My school year has begun three weeks ago, and I also distanced myself from the story due to a certain laziness. However, I wrote two smaller fanfics, "No One Lives Forever" and "How to WIN The Program". For all the people who like this story, please give those ones a try if you have the time. And review it with sincere opinions, instead of a "it's amazing!" made only not to anger me.

See you all on the next chapter!

Bye!