A/N: It's been a tiring week for me, though on a more mental and emotional note. My desktop took a nose dive into oblivion (not the game, though interestingly I only recently uninstalled that game to give my desktop more space before it crashed) and I had to buy a new hard drive since the old one was corrupted beyond salvation. I don't even think an unhealthy dose of hyper rainbow bread with ultimate jam oozing from all corners would help.
Glad to see that everyone still remembers the deadly jam and the deadly bread. Yes, how unforgettable that episode was... I still get shivers each time I think about it.
About 'that guy' that Kyou mentioned in the previous chapter... well, I will not be spoiling anything. Just imagine what happened to her on you're own. I may put out an Omake to provide some back-ground story on the characters in this story. After all of this is over, that is.
To answer a question, Ryusei Suou is the captain of the sniper squad of the assault division. She is actually taken from the show 'Darker than Black 2: Ryusei no Gemini'. In that show, she is half Russian, so her last name was actually Pavlichenko, but I changed it to Ryusei, a tribute to the show she came from. Ryusei actually means 'comet'.
I was actually waiting for some people to give me names of their characters (some of my friends), but since I could not wait any longer, all of the new recruits are my creation. I gotta think of their character design when I get the time...
Angel Beats!
What We Live For
Operation 7
First Battle
Katsuragi had always wondered if this was truly the afterlife. That 'meal', if one should ever so dare call it that, was proof that this was a cruel and harsh World that he entered. He looked down into the shallow grave, with the other members of the recruits gathered round.
"He was such a good guy."
One of the guys said, wiping his tears and crying onto the shoulder of another.
"There, there, it was merely... his time."
"Is this how we would all end up eventually."
"Ashes to ashes... dust to dust."
Everyone looked down with sorrow at the one in the shallow grave.
"He looks so peaceful."
"... Let's do it."
The boys in the group took the shovels and started to shovel back the soil back into the grave. Some of the girls started to weep slightly.
"Farewell... Daisuke."
At that moment, a hand suddenly burst through the soil, making some of the girls jump back.
"I'M. NOT. DEAD!"
Daisuke crawled out of his shallow grave, coughing and trying to get dirt out of his mouth.
"Don't kill me off just like that!"
He screamed at the guys. The guys all looked at each other, then to him with the most 'whatever' look.
"But you weren't waking up after so long."
"Plus, you ate one whole pot of that poison while trying to impress one of the cooks."
"Even the senpais also thought you were a gone case."
"Well, that's what you get for trying to show off."
Daisuke had no come back for that. Katsuragi only sighed, thinking about how all of this was simply stupid. And it was a good thing that this ended since Kyou now walked up to the group.
"Alright, break's over. We will now commence night training."
Kyou announced, causing some of the recruits to groan and complain.
"Don't 'eehhhh' me. Shadows have a higher probability of attacking at night. It is important that all of you get used to fighting in the dark. Of course, there are perks to fighting at night, like how there aren't any pesky NPCs who would stop you."
Kyou said, sounding like she really enjoyed the night part of fighting. Either that, or she was planning something evil for their training. It did not matter, however, since either prospects did not seem to suit the recruits well.
"I'll tell you what you guys will be doing for here on out. Right now the time is 20:00 hours. In one hour, you all will head into the forest with full gear. Each of you will be given standard issue rifles with five magazines each."
Kyou explained, but immediate some one saw a problem with that statement. Narusaki Yue, the one who never fails to question something.
"Fujibayashi senpai, wasn't it to train us to be used to our own weapons? Why a standard issue?"
"Good question."
Kyou smirked, surprising most of the recruits, who thought that Yue would finally get shot in the head for asking too much.
"The standard issue is not to familiarize yourselves with your own weapons, but rather to feel of combat. And you will all need to know how to use another weapon in case your primary and secondary weapons are either empty or unable to be used. Survival does not mean being good at what you have, but rather it means using anything and everything that is around you to your advantage. You're not good at something? Train until you are at an acceptable level. We do not expect all of you to be super soldiers, but you will need to know how to utilize even the smallest item around you as a weapon, find every exit in any situation, turn any dangerous situation completely around, and ultimately, survive. That is what we train you for, and that is what you all will learn. The greatest weapon to humans isn't a gun or a sword, but anything you put into your hands. Your mind is your ultimate cheat weapon with unlimited ammunition, and it is also the one weapon that is effective against anything we stand up against. Learn to use it and you will live. We all will."
Battle groups
Alpha:
-Ishida (Male)
-Todoroki Wataru (Male)
-Fujita Yoshihiko (Male)
-Minamoto Kaaya (Female)
-Kuroe Hitomi (Female)
Beta:
-Motoyama Rei (Male)
-Wakamoto Souichirou (Male)
-Kawaguchi Naoyuki (Male)
-Shinagawa Mina (Female)
-Saya (Female)
Charlie:
-Kashiide Kazu (Male)
-Hiroshi (Male)
-Ooguchi Daisuke (Male)
-Narusaki Yue (Female)
-Wakase Izumi (Female)
Delta:
-Katsuragi (Male)
-Kusanagi Yamato (Female)
-Mitsuhide Ayane (Female)
Katsuragi stared at the group organization charts. There had to be something wrong with this arrangement. He looked to his two team mates. Both girls. Kusanagi Yamato was one who kept asking questions to Tanaka, but she looked like she had a good strong trigger finger. Mitsuhide Ayane, a silent and rather stoic girl. She wasn't training with guns at the range, so Katsuragi figured she must be one of those close quarters combatant. As if reading his mind, Ayane took out a machete from a holder tied around her waist to sharpen. Why sharpen it now? Wasn't this exercise meant to be using guns? But something about this whole set-up did not seem right. Why give them live rounds? To get used to it? Something still did not sit right with Katsuragi about this.
"Alright! Everyone is in their groups? Good! I will now explain the rules of this exercise."
Kyou shouted to gather the attention of the recruits. Katsuragi also noticed that a number of assault members were standing around with their guns, but they were all facing the 'other' way. Kyou knocked her fist against a large board that was rolled out and had a map like drawing on it.
"We will now commence the night exercises. As all of you have noticed, we are in the middle of the forest behind the school. We have bordered off a five kilometres radius of forest to simulate this exercise. Each team will enter the forest from a separate entry point led by your senpais. The entry points are marked on your maps."
The recruits took out their maps, as did Katsuragi. He noticed that the map showed one entire section of the forest being circled. One arrow pointing in was marked D. He guessed that was his entry point.
"There are targets within the forest with which we have set up for you to take out. The targets are these-"
Kyou snapped her fingers and two assault members brought out a large cardboard cut-out of what was a shadow.
"We have rigged these targets to pop up at random along each of your assigned routes to the rendezvous point. From there, you will all receive additional instructions. Remember, everything you have is a weapon, including your mind. Right! Let's begin!"
Each group of recruits was led a separate direction by accompanying assault members, but for Katsuragi's group, Kyou approached them.
"I will lead you three personally to your starting point. Since you lack numbers, I will get two of my own men to follow you. Ryougi! Osakabe!"
Kyou called out to a group of assault members who seemed to be arming themselves, almost like they were preparing for some sort of attack. Two members walked away from the group to Kyou. One of them Katsuragi recognized. Ryougi Mana, the one who taught him how to shoot. The other was a guy with short buzz cut and constantly had his eyes closed, or extremely narrow.
"This is sergeant Ryougi Mana and sergeant Osakabe. They will be accompanying you three to make up for numbers, but they will not be doing everything for you three. They will only step in if they sense you are doing something wrong or in case of emergency. Got it?"
Katsuragi and the other two nodded their heads.
"Good. Ryougi, Osakabe, make sure your have enough ammunition."
Kyou turned to the two assault members, who nodded their heads.
"Good, follow me."
Kyou stood by the window of the watch tower, overlooking the large stretch of forest that they had prepared for this exercise. The recruits had already entered the forest and it would not be long before the first gunfire would be heard. Ein walked up from behind, passing Kyou a can of Key Coffee.
"Thanks."
Kyou smiled, before opening the can to take a swing.
"So, how are the preparations for this exercise?"
Ein asked, mainly for formality. He trusted Kyou completely for this, but sometimes he just felt like he needed to make sure she knew what she was doing.
"We have about a hundred targets for the recruits to hit, of course, I would not be counting on them to actually take out all the targets."
"I see."
Ein nodded, taking his coffee as he was satisfied with what Kyou had reported. He knew he could count on her.
"Also, we've released a few 'live' ones in there too."
"I see... PFFT! WHAT? !"
Ein spat out his drink when he realized what Kyou just said.
"Live? ! Live what? !"
"Shadows, of course."
Kyou replied flatly.
"Shadows? Are you mad? Those are still recruits!"
"Don't worry, Ein. I've gotten Yuuko to supply us with tracking devices, and I've gotten every inch of the forest covered."
Kyou pointed to the other watch towers, where assault members were all training sniper rifles into the dense woods.
"... This is still risky. How many did you release in there?"
Kyou raised her eyebrow as she started counting in her head. Not a good sign. Kyou mulled over it for a while, then came a certain realization.
"... I forgot how many."
Really not a good sign.
Alpha Group
Minamoto Kaaya was not afraid of much. In fact, when she first came to this World, she was rather... out of it, to say the least. That characteristic has, unfortunately, not changed over the past week she had spent here. But while she was outwardly 'in a daze', she was rather sharp on picking up on things. For one, she knew that the one in-charge of this exercise, the demon from hell, Fujibayashi Kyou, was hiding something from the recruits. There was something else within these woods besides popping up targets. Two, she knew that some of the higher-ups were somewhat interested in one of them. The one called Katsuragi. But whether it was something 'about' him, or something 'with' him remains a mystery.
"Oi, Minamoto, hurry up or we'll leave you behind."
Todoroki Wataru shouted, making Kaaya turn her head. Wataru was the one who was most grumpy out of everyone in the recruit group. It seemed like he had a problem with just about anything or anyone. Still, it was true that Kaaya was trailing behind. She gripped her standard issue M-16 and quickened her steps to follow behind. The backpack they were given was not light by any means, but somehow that mysterious 'soup' (read as poison) they had for dinner must have invigorated her. That, or after reviving her strength returned to her and she just doesn't care any more. Probably the latter. The forest was dark and extremely dense, making the entire trek seem almost impossible.
"We're lost, admit it, Todoroki."
Fujita Yoshihiko said, shouldering his rifle.
"I'm not! It's that these trees are in the way!"
Wataru snapped back in his defence. Not a good defence by the way. Kaaya, however, was not bothering to listen in.
"T-there's something moving in the bushes!"
Kuroe Hitomi, the only other girl in the team, said, nervously pointing to the source of the noise. Kaaya also noticed it and it was the reason why she wasn't bothering with the stupid arguments of the guys.
"It's probably one of the senpai, watching us."
Wataru waved it off. Kaaya highly doubted it. She brought up her rifle in the direction. Whatever it was, it was coming closer. Then she saw it. Those dark red eyes. She opened fire.
Beta Group
"What was that?"
Saya looked up at the sound of gunshots. Did some other group encounter their target already?
"We cannot some other group get to the first point before us! Come on!"
"Ah, wait! Kawaguchi!"
Saya called out futilely at the guy as he dashed off into the forest.
"We can't do anything but to follow. Stick close though, I don't like this feeling that we're being watched."
Motoyama muttered. Saya did not disagree, neither did the rest of the group. At that moment, they heard a loud scream echo from the forest.
"What the-... That was Kawaguchi's voice!"
"Let's hurry!"
Saya nodded and ran with the others. She wasn't liking this at all.
Delta Group
Katsuragi could hear the screams and gunfire in the distance. There was certainly something wrong with this. He turned to his two team mates, Kusanagi Yamato, whose eyes narrowed as she turned the safety of her rifle off. She was aware of the danger. Mitsuhide Ayane had not changed her stoic expression, but she too had prepared her weapon, slotting a magazine into the rifle. He turned to the two seniors, who did not seem alarmed by the screams.
"There is something out there, isn't there?"
Yamato asked the two seniors. Osakabe simply shrugged, showing a hint that he really did not care at all. As for Ryougi, she was checking her pistol. She slammed a clip into her gun and pulled the slide back to chamber a round before looking at Yamato.
"Osakabe and I are only here as a last resort. Deal with anything you meet by yourselves."
Mana said with a bored tone.
"... Hmph, so much for getting hints."
Yamato muttered, turning her rifle to the direction of the screams.
"I say we investigate the source of the screams. No point in getting to the meeting point if we're the only ones who are ever going to be there. You two in?"
Yamato asked. Ayane nodded silently, drawing her machete and proceeding to cut a path through the thicket.
"What about you, Katsuragi?"
Yamato turned to him. Katsuragi sighed, shaking his head.
"You two are already heading in that direction, what point is there in asking me?"
He smirked, making Yamato smile and nod her head.
"Well, just needed to ask to make sure we're all in this together."
"Too late to ask that now, isn't it?"
Yamato laughed at that, patting Katsuragi on the shoulder.
"Yup, we're all in this, so pulling out is not an option. So, what do you think of this situation?"
Katsuragi thought about it as they followed Ayane down the path she created. There were many variables in this situation, but Katsuragi probably knew it.
"This entire exercise is extremely odd from the beginning. First off, there are eighteen of us, so they could split us up evenly into six groups of three, but they made us go in groups of five."
Katsuragi explained, to which Yamato nodded in agreement.
"That is what I thought."
"Secondly, why would they want us to shoot mere pictures of the Shadows? We could do that at the range or at the simulated building complex next to the range. Even if it was meant to get us to get used to night and forest fighting, I doubt that we would actually be fighting in the forest often, seeing as how the majority of the SSS2 operates on the school grounds."
"Hmm... I never thought about that."
Yamato admitted.
"Another factor is the use of live ammunition. Paint rounds would be sufficient for this form of exercise, unless something 'dangerous' was here with us. And the last one is what Fujibayashi said herself."
Katsuragi said, and Yamato knew what he was talking about.
"She told us to use everything at our disposal to survive. That means that she purposely released something dangerous in these woods."
"Exactly."
Katsuragi nodded.
"We must find the other groups, fast. We may not survive alone."
"That, I have to disagree with."
Katsuragi said, making Yamato raise an eyebrow.
"What? This Fujibayashi person clearly wants to weed out the weakest and probably leave them out. Isn't that the point of this exercise?"
"... No. If that were the case, then why group us in squads of five? It is much easier to get rid of the weaker ones by putting them in small groups. No, groups of five means that we all stand a chance to survive and fight back against anything that is out there. She wants us to survive with our team mates. Isn't that right, Ryougi senpai?"
Katsuragi turned to Mana, who shrugged, but her slight smirk did not escape Yamato and Katsuragi's notice.
"Who knows."
Mana said.
"... I guess that's it then. We'll still need to group up with the rest either way. Which group is the nearest to us?"
Yamato asked, pulling out her map. The entire group halted and grouped together as Katsuragi pulled out his flash light and illuminated the map while pulling a canvas sheet from his bag over the map and the flash-light to prevent any possible dangers from spotting them using the light. Yamato looked over the map, tracing her finger across the map to pin-point their current location.
"We're... here. The closest squad to us should be Charlie, if they followed their route correctly."
Yamato said, tapping the map. Katsuragi looked at the map and studied it for the moment, before looking around for something.
"Mitsuhide, I need to borrow your machete for the moment."
Katsuragi turned to the stoic squad member. She nodded and handed him her blade. Turning back to the map, Katsuragi used the tip of the blade to prick his finger and on the map he traced a line using his blood on the map, marking the different routes made by the four groups, theirs included.
"... If we continue on our original path, we'll reach Charlie squad first, but the gun fire was certainly from the South West point, which is Beta squad and it is the current direction we're heading towards. At this rate, we may reach Beta squad and miss Charlie squad completely."
Katsuragi pointed out, handing the machete back to Ayane with thanks. Yamato nodded.
"I see, so we should change our heading. Right."
Yamato packed away the map and Katsuragi packed away the canvas sheet and flash light. Just as the group set off again, Yamato ripped the bottom part of her singlet, pulling Katsuragi aside.
"Although we were not given pens, and we cannot die. Try not to bleed too voluntarily..."
She muttered, using the torn cloth to wrap around Katsuragi's finger.
"... Why are you doing this?"
He asked.
"... I hate blood. And I certainly hate stupid people who do stupid things."
She replied, trying it tightly.
"... I see. Thanks. But you tied it on the wrong finger."