Damn it damn it damn it damn it damn it damn it DAMN IT! I knew this would happen! I always knew those feminist bitches would do something like that! I fucking knew it! No one would listen! No one ever listens! They pretend and nod and move their eyes and wave and then go without really understanding my warnings! All of them! No one listens, and now they'll die! That's what happens when you don't listen! You die! Die die die die die die! Just like Hisao! He never listened! Now he's dead! Dead!
My legs hurt. I'm not used to running so much. I don't like going out. Never did. It's not safe outside. All kinds of traps set by the feminists to decrease our numbers. Broken street lights. Alligators in the sewers. Supposedly random muggings. All part of their plan. They want domination. They want control. I'm not gonna let them control me! I'll show them! Dirty feminists! I'll kill every single one of them, then we'll see who'll get the last laugh!
Indeed, I was blessed in my quest against the feminist conspiracy. It must have been a sign from heaven that I received the best weapon in the game! The revolver weighs five tons, but those bullets can kill anything! I heard on TV once that you can kill an elephant with just a few. That was while I was still watching TV. I don't anymore. Too many damn subliminal messages. All saying the same thing. Obey. Obey. Obey. Obey.
Shit, it's so heavy and uncomfortable. Maybe I should put it back in my bag? No, what if a feminist jumps out? I should be ready to kill her! Safety's off, barrel is loaded, I am just a second away from ending the life of anyone who opposes me! I must not get careless! I can see them! Their shadows running across the trees. Never stopping. Never attacking. Just observing. From a distance. Once I look up and focus my eyes, they're gone.
My eyes. They're broken. No part as a part of a conspiracy. I'm special. The chosen one. The messiah. The last sane man in an insane world. No doubt the feminists realized that. They did this to me. Who else could have the technology needed to mess up my eyes that badly? No one else. Just them. Gotta be them. Damn, dirty feminists. I can't see. I can't see anything at all. Not even a little. But I outsmarted them. Got myself some glasses. Bet they didn't expect that.
Now I can see, but not too well. Just a little. But it's enough. Enough to see the madness around me. Madness back home. Madness here as well. They're watching. Observing. They want me to die. This whole thing is their setup. It's gotta be. No other explanation. They've observed me all my life. There hasn't been a single day in which I haven't been under their influence, in one form or another. They sent me to that feminist-controlled school just to keep me in check. When that didn't work, they sent one of their filthy spies to seduce me!
Damn you, Yuuko! I hate you so much, and I love you so much! I hate you for what you did to me. I hate you with a passion, from the bottom of my soul. But I also love you more than anything. You opened my eyes. You let me see the conspiracy around me. If it wasn't for you I still would've been one of those sheep that blindly follow the orders of the feminists! You helped me see through their deceit, and I thank you for that. But it still doesn't change the fact that you broke my damn heart. You cut me more deeply than anyone ever has. The pain this feminist island has caused me is nothing compared to the one you inflicted!
I lean back on a tree to catch my breath. I'm dead tired... I just want to go home. Back to my room. It's safe there. I had it all figured out. All of my anti-feminist tools were there. If they had assaulted my home, I would've been safe! Clever bitches, they are! I bet they knew all about my secret weapons! That's why they dragged me all the way here, didn't they? But the joke's on them! A real man can survive even in the wild! I have trained my body just for this occasion! I can do it! I can win their fucked up game, and then I can go and kill that shithead Raiden. Yes, I'll enjoy putting a bullet straight through his eye!
That bastard... There's nothing more disgusting than a man who has bowed his head to the feminists! His very existence makes my insides turn! A man like him is no man at all! He deserves to die for his treachery! I'd be doing him a favor! Death would be a release next to this travesty! Indeed, it is my moral obligation as the last sane man on Earth to put him out of his misery, but there's also something else.
Hisao, my dear brother-in-arms, my comrade, my nakama, my soulmate, my best friend. Raiden killed him like a dog when he tried to protect him! He blew him up, just like that, like it was nothing! It was disgusting! No man should ever die like that! Us true, manly men must die fighting the feminist conspiracy, not on our knees begging for our lives! Look at what those dirty women brought us down to! Truly despicable! I'm sure Raiden recognized the potential within us two! He knew we'd team up and take down his entire feminist army! That's why he attacked us first! They tried to eliminate us early, but I survived! Killing him and not me will be their last mistake!
I start running again. Can't stay in one place for long. They're watching, always watching! They never cease! The shadowy figures, those damn, cloaked feminists! There's at least four of them in the trees around me right now, at least as far as I can see! I'm sure my radar at home would have picked up at least a dozen if I had it with me right now! Maybe I should have taken it. Or maybe not. The feminists confiscated my luggage when they kidnapped me. If they had learned of the existence of my radar, I would have compromised our entire brotherhood! Every man in the world would have been in danger because of me!
No, it's better that I didn't take it. I don't need it. I know where the feminists are. I point my revolver at a tree. Damn, they're quick! As soon as I have them in my sights, they disappear! Damn feminist technology! They must be cloaking out of sight as soon as I notice them! But then they show up again! There's always a few in my peripheral vision! They're mocking me, those damn women! They know I can see them, so they're playing fucking tricks on me! I'll show them! I start running towards the trees again. Maybe I can lose them here!
Shit, the shadows are just as quick as I am. Or maybe it's just that the entire forest is full of them! I wouldn't be surprised! They have the entire area under control! Those male soldiers guarding the borders? They're just for show! The real threat is among us, where no one but me can see it! I wish more people had glasses like mine! Then there would be a lot more sane men on this pitiful Earth!
Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck, my collar started to beep! Shit, it's gonna explode! No, no, no, I'm not dying! Not like this! I turn around and start running. The beeping stops just as suddenly as it had begun. What the fuck was that?! Ah, I get it, that must be one of those forbidden zones Raiden mentioned. Of course they'd place one right in front of me! They must be trying to halt my progress! Well, joke's on them! I'm not gonna just fall down and give up! I'll find another way!
I grasp the revolver even more tightly. If they cut me off here, they're probably going to ambush me up ahead. I'm not going to give them the chance! I can see right through their stupid, little plan! Who the fuck do they think I am? I AM KENJI MOTHERFUCKING SETOU, THE LAST SANE MAN ON EARTH, A FREEDOM FIGHTER FOR ALL OPRESSED MEN AND THE BANE OF EVERY FEMINIST'S EXISTENCE!
Shit, this forest has no damn end! Maybe I should have stayed at the village. Wait, no, everyone would have expected me to stay there. So it's no good. Be unpredictable. That's my No. 1 rule when fighting against the feminist yoke. If you're unpredictable, you can't be defeated! A truly unpredictable man can be an unstoppable war machine! The woods may be endless, but at least nobody suspected I would go there. I caught the feminists off-guard. The forbidden zone placed in front of me proved it!
Wait, what the... Oh shit, there's someone coming towards me! All of the other feminists were hidden in the shadows, observing me and trying to figure out what my next move should be, but not this one! She's running right at me! Who the fuck is she?! I can't see her too well, but she looks kinda short. Even if I could see her well, it probably wouldn't matter. I don't get acquainted with feminists, so I'm sure I don't know her. Shit, why is she still running towards me?! Stop it! Halt!
She won't slow down! She's coming straight at me! Shit, what should I do? She's probably trying to stab me up close or something! That's gotta be an assassin, no one else would be running at me like that! I don't know what I'm supposed to do! I'm so fucking scared! With one quick move, I pull the revolver up and point it at her.
'STOP RIGHT THERE, FEMINIST SCUM!' I yell at the top of my lungs. The short girl finally stops in place and looks at me. I can't see her very well, but I think she's kinda startled... It's gotta be an act! I'm not going to let my guard down no matter what, especially not around her! The gun is heavy and is kinda trembling in my hands, but I don't care! I still keep it pointed straight at her!
'I'm so sorry, I didn't see you!' she cries out and raises her hands. LIES! There's no way she couldn't have seen me! It's true that this part of the forest is pretty thick, but that's no excuse! If I could see her with my terrible eyesight, then I'm sure she must have seen me too! I keep the revolver aimed straight at her without hesitation. If she moves, she dies! That will be the first time I'll take an actual feminist life, but it's a ritual that every man should perform when he comes of age!
'STOP LYING TO ME!' I yell out. 'Why did you come here?! Is it to spy on me? Are those shadows all around your friends?!'
'No, nothing like that, I swear!' she speaks out. Her voice is trembling. She sure is a first-class actress! I almost believed that she's really scared! 'I was just... There was a shooting!'
A shooting? Oh, so that's what those sounds were! Yes, now everything makes perfect sense! That feminist bitch shot someone and then came after me! I carefully look all over her body. Hmm, I just noticed that her feet look kinda weird. Wait... Those aren't feet! I dunno what they are, but they're most definitely not regular, human feet! They look like friggin crowbars or something!
'Wait...' she speaks up again. 'Y-you're Kenji, right? Hisao's flatmate?'
'Your info is good! Just what I expected from someone like you! I'm sure you must have researched everything about me before you threw me here!'
'What are you talking about?' she asks and takes a step forward. I re-aim the revolver. I have no intention of letting her anywhere close to me. If she attempts anything funny, I'm shooting her down!
'You heard me! Damn feminist, how many people must suffer so you can keep your reign?!'
'I...' she stays quiet for a second. 'You've got it all wrong! I'm just as trapped here as you are! I was on the bus too, remember? And... Look!' the girl points at her neck. 'I also have a collar! I'm not one of them, I swear!'
'LIES! You'd say anything to get close to me, just so you can stab me in the back! I've dealt with your kind before, you know!'
'Oh, God...' she looks around. 'I'm not one of them! My name is Emi Ibarazaki, from the track team! Hisao probably told you about me!'
'I've never heard of you in my life!'
Of course, that's not something unnatural. I tend to stray away from any and all feminists. I wouldn't have heard of her even if she's the most popular girl at the school. She was probably just placed there by the feminists anyway.
'I'm not going to attack you! Look, I'm not even armed! What can I do to make you believe me?!'
I look at her once more. True, she doesn't appear to be armed, but looks can be deceiving! I learned that the hard way. My wonderful Yuuko, who appeared to be a cute, clumsy angel on the outside was actually a bloodthirsty feminist demon on the inside. I'm sure that if this Ibarazaki girl wanted to hide a weapon, she'd find a good place to do so.
Shit, my hands are getting tired. The revolver weighs quite a bit, and I've been pointing it at her for a while. I can see the tip trembling in front of me. Will I even hit her if I shoot? No, I can't take any chances! I spread my legs a bit more to improve my balance and keep pointing the revolver at her.
'Listen, I'll just go, okay? I'll run as far away from here as I can. How does that sound?'
Pfft, is she serious?! Like hell am I letting her regroup with her feminist friends! That's all I need, a group of them knowing my position and coming after me! There's no way in hell I could ever allow something like that, especially not when I have her in my sights!
'That's not happening, feminist!' I speak out and readjust the revolver so that it sits a bit more comfortably in my hands.
'Well, what do you want me to do?!' she cries out. Her face is all red. There's no reason for you to cry, Ibarazaki, I'm not buying it! But still, she raises a very good question. What do I really want from her? I mean, I have a known feminist right here, defenseless and without support from her buddies, and a loaded revolver. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that I have to shoot her! So I do.
The gun jumps in my hands as the gunshot echoes through the forest. The feminist doesn't fly back like people shot with revolvers do in movies. Or, more accurately, it's not as over the top as they portray it. She just... falls down on her back. I don't see any blood, but I'm sure I hit. There's no way I could have missed from this distance, even though my hands were tired. Still, the feminists know how to deceive their enemies. Maybe she's just playing dead and will jump right back at me as soon as I turn my back on her? No, I can't risk that! I have to be sure I got her!
Slowly and carefully, I approach the body, still pointing the revolver at it. Emi Ibarazaki is lying on her back, trembling a bit. Oh, I see, so she was still alive after all... Her eyes shift to me, but she doesn't move. That's weird... What game is she playing? Is she just waiting for the right moment to strike? She opens her mouth, trying to speak out something. I can't quite hear her. No, it's not that... She just doesn't speak out any words. Instead, the girl starts coughing. The blood coming from her mouth quickly covers her entire face. But why, I thought she was-
Oh, now I see it. Of course. It takes me some time to focus on specific things, so I didn't really notice it, but it's certainly there. Right there, on the right side of her chest, is a big, bleeding hole. So, I managed to hit her after all... It doesn't look like I hit her heart, but I'm pretty sure I pierced a lung. I can't see it well enough, but I think the hole goes all the way through her. Emi Ibarazaki goes into another coughing fit, spitting blood everywhere, even on my shoes, and then closes her eyes and tilts her head to the side.
She doesn't move anymore. I... I think she's dead. That's gotta be it. With a wound like that, I don't think she'd be able to survive for long. Is it a trick? It looks so real... I kick her shoulder lightly to see if I can't make her move. She's just... lying there, like a doll, her face almost completely red from all the blood she coughed. She's really dead... And I'm the one who killed her.
I fall on my knees. The shadowy feminists finally reappear after their long absence. Are they here to take revenge on their fallen comrade? No, I don't think that's the case. They just stand there and observe me from the distance. I can only see them with the corner of my eye, and they disappear as soon as I look away. Wait, if they don't attack me, even though I just killed one of their own...
Oh my God... Emi Ibarazaki really wasn't a feminist, was she?
I drop my revolver on the ground. Wait, no... I didn't want this to happen! I just... I thought... Shit, shit, shit, shit! I didn't know! I swear, I didn't know! Damn it, why is this happening?! I didn't mean to actually kill her! Oh, God, what have I done?!
My eyes fill up with tears. I was an idiot, a fucking idiot! I let my paranoia overtake my common sense. I gave in to my fear, and as a result a completely innocent girl died because of me. I take off my glasses and wipe my face, but the tears just won't stop falling. I'm not a hero. I'm not the last sane man on Earth. I'm a fucking monster.
Finally, the shadowy feminists disappear. Maybe it's because I took off my glasses and I can't really see anything anymore, but I think it's because I finally realized that they were not real. They never were real. All along, they've been a fragment of my tormented mind. I let myself get lost in fear. And now I paid the price.
I hate myself. I despise my entire existence. I wish I had died instead of Hisao! Damn it, dude, why did you have to step in and do what you did?! If you hadn't, you would have saved two innocent lives! Shit, now that I think about it, dying there was actually the better option! At least I wouldn't have experienced any of this!
For a moment, I consider pointing the revolver to my own head and pulling the trigger. I'm a freak. I don't deserve to live. But that wouldn't be fair. Two people already died for me – Hisao saved my life, and Emi saved my sanity. Dying now would make both of their deaths worthless, and their sacrifice meaningless. No, I'm not going to die here, not like this. I'm going to end this twisted game not by playing it, but by saving everyone! I can do it! I'm sure that I'll find a flaw in the system if I think about it hard enough! I will-
The sharp, twisted blade quickly penetrates the back of my head. It doesn't really hurt, it's just kinda shocking. I can feel it inside my head, moving and messing up my brain from within. A second later, the blade is extracted, and then I feel its impact again, this time on a different part of my head. It hurts.
My body feels limp. I fall down. I can't really see who killed me, but I suppose it doesn't matter. Now that I think about it, trying to save everyone was a bad idea. Mostly because there's more than one person here who's determined to win this fucked up game.
STUDENT #2: EMI IBARAZAKI – DEAD
STUDENT #5: KENJI SETOU – DEAD
9 REMAIN