Dessert Maniac: The flow in the story should be better now. I didn't differentiate between characters since I thought it looked choppy when it just followed each bit of dialogue with "she said", but I understand it looked confusing. I'll try to make it better. I'm not sure what Honoka's intention was of playing the game to begin with, though we can say that she probably acted for multiple reasons.
Instajolteon: I just paired them based on how similar they were. I was going to pair Hanamaru with someone else, but after that episode, she could be paired with no one else but Rin from Muse. It just had to be that way.
Resta U: Hopefully this chapter picks up in the action department. :D
Iamrailgun.20: True. I'm writing this and I still have no clue what's going on in Honoka's mind.
SnowIllusionz: The survival game was just a random thought. I was going to focus more on Honoka and Chika last chapter, but that wouldn't be fair to all of the other characters. So, the survival game. There aren't any plans for other characters beyond the ones already introduced to appear, though if any do appear, they'll be original characters (that will most likely remain nameless).
It makes sense for Love Live Sunshine to be five years after the original Love Live, but since I'm already so far into this story, I have to leave their age difference as one year apart. I hope that this works for everyone reading.
Without further ado, here is part 2 of their survival game!
Rin poked her head out from behind the broken wall, glancing around. Hanamaru sat next to her, trusting Rin's decision to hide. "Okay, I don't see anyone. Follow me closely." Rin instructed, looking ahead to the next piece of rubble they could hide behind. Their team hadn't obtained a single talisman but she would prefer to get through the game with both members unhurt. She got a nod of confirmation from her teammate. The two girls broke cover, making a sprint to the next piece of rubble.
Bullets rained down on them the moment they ran out from behind the wall. But whoever was shooting at them didn't have good aim; Rin and Hanamaru dove behind their next shelter without getting hit once. Silence fell on the area as whoever it was stopped shooting. Rin peered over the top of the rubble. "D-Do you see who it is?" Hanamaru asked. The girl was frightened; they had been progressing very slowly since another team was targeting them each time they stepped out from behind their shelter.
"No, my vision isn't good enough. Plus, they're higher up, and the sun is to their backs when they aim at us nya." Rin sat down next to Hanamaru, sighing loudly. "Still, we can't move that much if they're constantly watching us. Let's look at the map and see if there's another way around." The other girl nodded and spreaded out their map on the ground between them.
"We should be here." Hanamaru pointed to their location. "The station we're trying to get to is somewhere in here. Which means…" She risked lifting her head over the edge of the rubble to look around. "There! If we can make it to that building, we should be able to move freely zura!" Rin joined her partner, looking to find the building Hanamaru had indicated.
"That's a good plan nya! Okay, wait for my signal to run!"
"Yes!" Hanamaru folded up their map and watched Rin closely even as the orange-haired girl peered around to find their next shield.
"Ah...we lost them." Kotori lowered her firearm in disappointment. She didn't even know if Rin and Hanamaru had anything, but it didn't matter now that they were hiding in the buildings. "Do you see anything?"
On the other side of the metal bell, You looked down at the streets below her. "Nope! It's all empty!" She still wasn't pleased at what she considered an underhanded play on their part, but if Kotori kept her promise, it would be worth it. You stretched herself out and lied down on the stone, bored with the inactivity.
"Don't slack off! You might miss someone!" Kotori scolded her teammate sharply, checking the two other sides of the bell tower they were using. You grumbled as she sat back up, giving the streets a sweeping glance. Her hand went to her gun as she scrambled to her feet. "What, is there a team?"
"Yeah. I don't know which, but we just have to get them out of the game, right?" She raised her firearm, aiming at the two people below her.
Eri heard the whistle before the first bullet hit the ground at her feet. She glanced quickly to her sides, looking for a hiding spot.
"This way!" Dia grabbed her hand and led her into the remnants of a shop. The bullets followed them right until they hugged the far wall, making themselves as small of targets as they possibly could. Eri heaved a sigh of relief; she hadn't felt any pain so none of the bullets had touched her.
"Where do you think they're shooting from?" She asked. The bullets had come from somewhere above and to the front of them, judging from the angle they had been shot at when they were entering the shop. "Dia? Where are you going?" Her teammate stopped; she had been about to exit the shop, in full view of whoever was shooting them.
"Back to the school. I got shot." Dia showed off her arm, where a small bruise was already forming. "By the rules of the game, I'm out. Sorry, Eri-san."
"We had just gotten a talisman too…" Eri sighed. "I guess you won't want me coming with you?"
"There are two more talismans, no? Please do your best; I'll be hoping for your victory from the school." It almost seemed like this was more than just a game at the moment. Eri watched as Dia walked away from her, feeling a tinge of anger at whoever dared to shoot her partner. Speaking of which, Eri had the map. She wasn't sure if Dia knew the way back.
"Okay, stop right there and hand over your talismans." You pointed her firearm at Dia, though she was well aware that she would never dare shoot her from such a close distance. Her teammate, Kotori, was still on the bell tower. You had the job of going down to retrieve the talisman from their victim.
"I wouldn't even if I had any." Dia stood still, patiently allowing You to check her. "Was this your idea? Hiding up where no one would look and taking out people who walk by?"
"No, it was Kotori-san's. It looks like you don't have anything, so move along." Dia looked like she was about to say something more, but the older girl kept it to herself and walked away. You scratched her head; she wasn't used to speaking to Dia in such a manner without getting a retort. She supposed it was because they were playing a game that nothing bad came out of it, but now she faced a tiring climb back to where Kotori still kept watch.
"Two out of three collected!" Ruby called out, leaving the station to rejoin Hanayo. The brunette acknowledged her with a nod, but she was watching the bell tower. Someone had just climbed up the side of it, which meant that they could possibly be seen and knocked out of the game. "What's wrong?"
"There's something up with that tower. I think we should-" A gun went off; Hanayo glanced around quickly. It sounded close by and she didn't want to get caught off-guard. Next to her, Ruby looked around warily. "Keep low."
"Ye-kyaa!"" Ruby rubbed at her arm, the small bullet rolled to a stop at their feet.
"Found you." One more shot, and both girls were out of the game. "Sorry 'bout this, Hanayo, but I'm not going to run around this place with an injured patient." Maki and Riko walked up, completely at ease at being exposed since the only two that could shoot them were already out.
"Um...hand over your talismans." Riko held out her hand and Ruby unhappily gave her both of the objects they had found.
"I knew we wouldn't win, but I didn't think it'd be to you. Good luck, Maki-chan." Hanayo and Maki high-fived, the sound echoing on the deserted streets. "Let's go, Ruby-chan. We've lost."
"Ah, okay!" As soon as the two girls had rounded the corner back towards the school, Maki and Riko examined the talismans they had just obtained.
"With the one we already got, we have all three, right?" Riko asked, picking each of them up in turn and looking at them closely.
"Yes, and not a moment too late. This is why I didn't want to do this." Maki rested her hand on the other girl's forehead and had to pull away quickly. "Your fever is not going down. You should have listened to me and given up earlier." She rummaged in her backpack and found the medicine and water bottles she had packed for the exact purpose of taking care of Riko.
"But I didn't want to give up when Honoka-san put so much effort into making us welcome…" Riko murmured, accepting the pill. The girl swallowed it with a bit of difficulty, grimacing from the bitter aftertaste it left in her mouth.
"She would have just made something else up." Maki told her. "Rest your head on my lap. We're not moving for a while."
"I'll take you up on that offer then." Riko smiled to herself as she obeyed. "We'll move when my fever goes down a bit?"
"Yes, yes. Now close your eyes. I'll keep watch." Maki looked around at their surroundings, glad that they had ended up at a shady spot for Riko to rest in. She couldn't open her map with Riko lying on her lap, but she knew that were not too far away from the school. Riko's breathing had eased; the girl's body was tired and now she dozed. Maki patted her head, ready for a long wait.
"The station doesn't have anything." Kanan said as she slid back down the hill to where Umi was waiting with the map. "I think this was the one with the three objects."
"Then we may as well continue." Umi outlined their path on the map for Kanan to see. "And do tell me when I'm about to make the wrong turn."
"But it's fun watching you get confused. Don't get mad, Umi-san." She only said this last part since Umi was starting to walk away from her. Kanan followed her; maybe her earlier teasing had been too much for the more serious girl to take. "You want to turn on the next street, not this one."
"See, if you had just been correcting me, then we would have gotten to our destination faster." Umi grumbled, though she obeyed Kanan's instructions and kept going straight.
"Or we could just give up and head back." She suggested; they had been doing nothing but walking around for the majority of their time outside. It was mainly her own fault, since she didn't bother correcting Umi when she made wrong turns and just followed her around instead. "I'm sure some of the other teams have done that."
"Yes, but that would be taking the easy way out. I want to get at least one talisman before we head back." Umi consulted her map again. "I turn here?"
"Yep. And then make a left turn at the next street." The two girls continued in that fashion, walking through the streets.
"We're back." Nico announced, seeing as there were already several people at the meeting point. She and Yohane had nothing to show between the two of them, but both had agreed that walking around was too tiring to continue searching for objects.
"Welcome back, Nico-chan!" Rin greeted cheerfully. "How many talismans did you get nya?"
"Zero. It's below the position of someone such as myself to search in this weather." Yohane proclaimed, posing for the added dramatic effect.
"Hm, well Rin-chan and Maru found one zura!" Hanamaru showed off the one they had found. "But Rin-chan is too nice."
"Not really. Rin was getting tired too!" Nico turned her attention to the other three girls who had returned.
"And what about you three?"
"We found two, but we don't have them anymore." Hanayo said, looking somewhat sheepish.
"Because Maki-san and Riko-chan came and took them from us." Ruby explained, looking just as embarrassed by the fact as Hanayo did.
"I got shot. Eri-san had one when I left her." Dia said, shrugging. "I don't know how much she has now."
"Oh, is everyone coming back already?" Nozomi asked, walking into hearing range with her teammate. "We got two of them, but the last station was empty."
Honoka was quite disappointed in the amount of teams that had just given up. "It's a survival game! Not collecting all the talismans is the same as not surviving!" She stood at the front of the group, lecturing all of them. Except for Maki and Riko, since they had collected all of the things they were supposed to. And because Maki needed to get Riko back to the infirmary.
"But only three teams could survive then." Umi pointed out, seeing as one of the stations had only three talismans.
"That's why it's a survival game. You fight for that one and the one that doesn't get hit survives! But if you don't fight for survival, then what's the point of the game?!" Honoka complained.
"I thought it was to increase the trust between Aqours and Muse." Nozomi replied, getting nods of agreement from most of the other girls.
"Well, that was part of it. But the main thing is survival! Survival! We're doing another round soon, so be ready for it!" Honoka pointed at the group. "Dismissed!"
"Why is she only serious about things like this?" Umi muttered to Kotori as the girls filed into the bunker to get much needed showers, not getting a response. Not that she expecting one, though.
Results of the Survival Game (since it wasn't discussed in the chapter)
Honoka-Chika: Collected none. Honoka knew where they were, and Chika just followed. They got robbed later on.
Umi-Kanan: Collected one. After getting lost, Umi gave up.
Kotori-You: Collected all three. Kotori knocked both Honoka and Chika out of the game. You took their talismans.
Rin-Hanamaru: Collected one. Rin took Hanamaru back since she was getting tired.
Hanayo-Ruby: Collected none. Their talismans were taken by Riko.
Maki-Riko: Collected all three. After resting for a bit, they returned to the bunker without trouble..
Eri-Dia: Collected all three. Eri went all the way after Dia was knocked out.
Nozomi-Mari: Collected two. They were unable to obtain the last one.
Nico-Yohane: Collected none. They gave up.