I'm getting the feeling that maybe I should upload my drawing of the map, so readers might have a better idea of what the area looks like. I'll see about getting it up in a couple of days! Maybe with the next chapter or something. Also, thank you to the two anonymous reviewers! I have no other way to tell you, so I hope this is okay! :3
Somehow he'd wandered to the area farthest from the school. From where he was, he could see the shops that were marked off on the map, but something told him avoiding them was probably in his best interest.
Originally, Saeki had wanted to end up at the beach, but by the time he got close enough he could already see that guy - what's his face - from Higa, and decided to avoid it until later on as well.
So, due to his avoidance of two areas so far, Saeki was currently "relaxing" on the side of a grassy hill, which was in the very bottom corner of the allowed zone. He figured if someone was willing to take him out while he was unprepared it was partially his fault for letting it happen, which he was okay with, and partially because the other person must really want to win if they're willing to kill someone who's defenseless.
Laying back on the grass and stretching out, Saeki closed his eyes. At this point he'd already heard enough gunfire to know this wasn't a joke, but part of him still just wanted to wish he was going to wake up any second from a really bad dream. The fact that this was on TV was probably what bothered him the most. Sure, his family would be worried about him, but would they feel the same if he had to kill someone? If they saw him kill someone? The thought made him rather uneasy. A slight breeze blew over him, and Saeki shivered slightly. Ahh, how he wished he'd brought his jacket.
x-x-x-x
This was not his lucky day. Sengoku had actually been looking forward to the camp. He'd been texting both Momoshiro and Kamio consistently for a good part of the week, mostly without response, but he'd been excited to see them again.
The excitement, however, had died, as it now seemed that any hopes of playing a match against either of them - ever again - were gone. Sighing, the redhead looked down at his map. E3, he guessed by comparing the map to his surroundings. If he looked ahead he could see the forest, but the school was now hidden behind hundreds of trees. To his left he could see the shops and houses that were marked off, and just beyond those was a hill. The hill lead into mountains, which would have been the perfect spot to camp out had they not been right outside the boundaries marked off.
So unlucky.
He'd managed to wander over to the opposite side of the area without really paying attention to his surroundings. He hadn't seen anyone in the time it had taken him to get to this side and had figured most of the others were either in the forest or hiding in a building somewhere. It was logical, since they gave the most shelter, but a bad choice if too many people thought the same way.
Tugging absent mindedly on the collar around his neck - it was a bit too tight for his liking - Sengoku decided to just stop thinking and let his feet go wherever they decided was best. There was no point in trying to pick where to go, since he knew that at one point or another he'd end up in a less than favourable position. For now, apparently, his feet decided the hill was his best option and so he tucked his map into his pocket and set off to his right, holding on to the small bit of hope that he'd make it out of this alive.
x-x-x-x
If he'd known he was going to be taking part in a death match instead of playing tennis, Chitose might not have gotten on that bus. He probably would have just stayed at home, maybe watched some Ghibli movies, and gone on with his day.
But, that was the past and that was not how things had happened. This was now, and now involved being on the roof of the apartment building, laying down on the tiny raised area above the doorway and smoking a bit of the "parting gift" Osamu had been so nice as to toss Chitose before he'd left.
Now was great, because he was actually pretty comfortable - the backpack made an alright pillow, and his jersey was a decent enough blanket, too.
Instead of focusing on what was going on around him - Chitose always did pride himself on thinking outside the box - he preferred to lay back and watch the clouds go by.
He wasn't sure how long had gone by, but he was kicked back to reality when he heard the door below open, creaking slightly.
Oh, this was going to be interesting.
He could hear light footsteps below, cautiously walking out onto the roof. Peering over the side, though, Chitose couldn't actually see anybody. Rolling over on to his stomach, Chitose crawled a bit to peer over the other side of the ledge. Thinking perhaps they'd gone around the other way, Chitose was prepared to sit up until he heard the door shut.
Ah. So they hadn't gone around anywhere. Leaning back over to have another peek down at the door, there was still nobody there.
"Senpai."
A hint of alert crossed Chitose's face, and he turned over to his other side, coming face to face with Shitenhouji's tensai.
"If you're not careful, someone's gonna kill you."
"Zaizen!" blowing a puff of smoke into Zaizen's face, Chitose grinned at him. He looked happy to see his teammate despite their current situation.
"Senpai, are you really smoking-"
"Always, Zaizen. It helps me think," Chitose smiled at him before taking another puff.
"If that's the case you should think of something better than sitting unarmed on a rooftop, senpai," came the monotone reply.
"Ah, but I needed time alone, see," another puff of smoke made it's way to Zaizen's face.
"Stop that," a somewhat irritated look crossed the second year's face.
"You're no fun."
"That's okay."
"Zaizennnn."
"I'm leaving."
"Eh? You're not gonna kill me? But I'm such an easy target!"
"Maybe, but I'm not an asshole," said Zaizen, before climbing back down the small ladder and heading back through the door.
Laying back down, Chitose realized that he'd probably just let his kouhai wander off to his death, but there was nothing he could do about it at this point. All he could do now was resume his cloud watching and hope no one else decided to come up and interrupt it.
x-x-x-x
Kite had already been on the beach when he saw Momoshiro hit the rocks, he had seen the other fall from a few feet away. It had definitely not been a pleasant sight, but overall Higa's captain seemed unfazed by it.
In fact, rather than turn around and avoid the mess entirely, it was Kite's idea to instead walk over to the body and check for anything that might be useful. Another weapon would never hurt.
Coming closer to the body, Kite was actually thankful that Momoshiro's face wasn't visible. He was sure that it wouldn't be any better than the back, where fragments of broken skull had burst through skin.
The backpack had flown off to the side during the fall, the contents scattered around due to it being slightly open. Kite had no use for the food or map, but picked up the backpack itself to see how useful whatever Momoshiro had been given was. The bag felt light in his hands, and rummaging down to the bottom of it, Kite came up with a small padded pouch. Pocketing it and dropping the backpack back to the ground, Kite gave Momoshiro one last glance before continuing on along the beach.
~64 remain~