Day 1

Elapsed Time: 0:02:15

A person's personality is one of their most important aspects. Personality plays a significant role in daily decisions, friendships and relationships, and methods for taking on problems. Of course, all of the students in Class 3-B were no exception to this. For example, Masao "Boss" Ezawa (Boy #3) valued his friendship with Hotaru "Ryu" Fukuda (Boy #17) more than anything else in the world; so, naturally, he immediately picked up the pistol and riddled his best friend's killer with bullets.

While it is difficult for anyone to truly have no personality, Ryu's killer Nanae Uramen (Girl #2) was the closest you could get. Even as a child, Nanae would have absolutely no opinions on anything whatsoever. She would only jump on the nearest bandwagon, agreeing with whatever the person next to her agreed to. That was how she lived her life; drifting aimlessly, going with whatever happened. Her life consisted entirely of following whatever her parents or friends were doing, and nothing more.

At least, until she met Ren Aikawa (Girl #1). Nanae wasn't perfect; she was pretty sure nobody was, but Ren threatened to prove her otherwise. Every time Nanae made a mistake, Ren was always there to help her up.

That was when Nanae realized that her aimless nature had left her devoid of personality. She was just a living prop at the end of the day, a hollow shell that would trudge forwards in whatever she needed to do. So she decided to give her life meaning by dedicating it to the one person she knew who was the farthest from hollow: Ren Aikawa.

Within the next couple years, Nanae basically became Ren's servant. She agreed with whatever Ren agreed with and supported her in anything and everything. To her, Ren's word was the equivalent of a divine order.

Nanae was Girl #2, meaning that she was the fourth one out of the school. Naturally, she immediately started trying to find Ren. After exiting the building, she immediately found herself in a stand-off with Kyoichi Itsuka (Boy #2). Both of them instantly froze in place once they saw each other. Kyoichi began to move his hand towards his bag, his eyes never leaving Nanae's.

But Nanae was faster. She ripped her bag open and tore out her weapon. It was some kind of pistol. Nanae had never used a gun before, so she couldn't identify it. But she was more than willing to use it; she didn't trust Kyoichi one bit. After all, Kyoichi was the leader of a gang, and those types of people were always the violent ones… right?

Without hesitating, Nanae pointed the pistol at Kyoichi and fired.

...

...

...

Nothing happened. Realizing that she had never loaded the weapon, Nanae face-palmed and glanced at her target.

Kyoichi had disappeared.

Confronted with the paranoia that he might be trying to ambush her, Nanae began to cautiously slink in the shadows. She made her way around the town, battling the suspicions and fear that wracked her entire body. It took her another hour and a half to find someone else: Chika Mizushima (Girl #18). Nanae knew that Chika was one of Ren's friends, so she immediately lowered her guard down and approached her. The two agreed to work together and try to find Ren after showing each other their weapons. Chika had received an eyedropper of some kind and a jar filled with liquid, but she was hesitant to use it since neither of them could tell what it was.

About fifteen minutes later, they stumbled into Ren. It was quite a challenge, actually; Ren was using her tracker to avoid everyone she could, and the duo had to approach her while she was resting in an abandoned restaurant in E-7. Ren was weary but grateful for their company, and all of Nanae's paranoia and suspicion dissipated into the air.

After scavenging from the restaurant, the trio began to head towards E-8, at about the same time Ryu Fukuda (Boy #17) and Boss Ezawa (Boy #3) started gathering materials in their house. Chika, being perceptive as she was, quickly noticed that a nearby house's back door was unlocked. They ultimately decided to camp out in the open house until daybreak, since outside they were vulnerable from too many angles.

The house was too quiet. There was a stack of materials in the living room, including a bunch of kitchen knives and some Epoxy glue. There was no trace of life.

"It almost looks like someone else was here," murmured Ren, her voice almost inaudible. "Stay on your guard."

These words spurred paranoia in Nanae once again. The thought of others hurting Ren was unbearable to her, and she was more than willing to fire upon her classmates if the need arose. Not wanting to repeat her past mistakes, she subtly checked to make sure her pistol was loaded - it was - and crept around the house, searching for life.

BANG!

A shot rang through the air.

"Someone else is here!" Chika jumped in surprise.

"What was that?" muttered Nanae, glancing around furiously. "Did someone just-"

It took a moment for her to realize it. Someone was here, and they probably were trying to assassinate Ren.

"The downstairs rooms are completely clear," hissed Chika under her breath. "So they must be upstairs."

"I'll check upstairs," murmured Ren, picking up a kitchen knife off the ground. "Whoever it is might be up there."

"But-" protested Nanae, but Ren was already gone. She didn't exactly understand Ren's motivations at the time, but she did realize that the popular girl was putting herself at risk for her and Reika.

She couldn't allow that. If Ren got hurt…

Without hesitating, Nanae stormed up the stairs. She froze at the top and almost toppled back down when she noticed the two shadows flanking Ren. One of them had a gun.

They're going to kill her, or worse-

Now wasn't the time for thinking. For Nanae, this was the moment to prove to Ren exactly how much she meant to her. She raised the pistol and fired three times, and smiled in satisfaction as the taller figure slumped to the ground.

Then the shorter shadow did something confusing. Whoever it was pushed Ren to the side, like they were… protecting her?

Huh? But it's my role to protect Ren… why would she need protection from me? I'm just trying to save her from-

Those thoughts were shattered by the bullets. They tore through her legs and chest, making her scream as the vortexes of pain seized her body. She dropped the pistol and crumpled to the ground, still trying to comprehend the entire situation.

Ren… I…

Nanae Uramen had never really needed any other purpose in life. She had been completely satisfied with her devotion to Ren, unaware that there were better ways to live one's life. Unfortunately for her, she was never able to expand her mindset, even in death.

•••

Elapsed Time: 0:02:32

Hayate Kamiya (Boy #5) re-entered the A-7 apartment complex, gripping the fake katana in his hands. Johnson Hsiung (Boy #7) and Tai Sugiura (Boy #12) glanced up, while Kyon Sugawa (Boy #10) nonchalantly continued typing on the smartphone in his hands and Tobei Yamashita (Boy #20) sunk deeper into the couch.

"I'm done, who's next on guard duty?" Hayate sighed. "Tai?"

"Nah, I'm good." Tai twirled his butterfly knife around his hands. "Why don't you just go out there again?"

"What? That's-" Hayate almost swung the fake katana at Tai, but stopped himself. "Tai, what are you trying to pull here?"

"I'm just trying to conserve my energy," replied Tai casually. "I'm probably the best fighter out of the five of us, so having no energy would be detrimental to the entire group."

"I do fencing and swordfighting in my spare time!" protested Hayate.

"Do you know how to throw knives?" Tai raised an eyebrow. "If I can hit you with a knife from far away, you'll never have a chance to get close and show your skills. You lack range."

"Hey." Tobei's voice cut everyone off. "Infighting will get us nowhere. I'll go on guard duty for now, okay? Why don't you guys take a nap or something, get yourselves rested up. If we run into someone who's seriously playing, it could be bad for us if we're tired no matter how skilled we are."

"Fair point." Tai rolled his eyes as Tobei left the room. The moment he was gone, he pulled Johnson over.

"Guys. I think Tobei's acting suspicious, so-"

"Why would he be acting suspicious?" retorted Hayate, placing the fake katana down next to the real one. "You're the one blaming people and scapegoating others! If you ask me, you're the suspicious one right now."

"Guys, guys, please calm down." Johnson ran a hand through his Shiba's fur as he spoke. "Like Tobei said, infighting will get us nowhere."

"Notice how he has so much control over everyone here?" insisted Tai. "He could probably tell us to commit seppuku and we'd all listen to him!"

"You know what?" Hayate raised his voice, clenching his fists in anger. "I'm done. I'm done with you and your bitching. I'm out of here."

With those words, he stormed out of the building and into the street. Johnson stood up and moved towards the door, but Tai blocked him.

"If he wants to die, fine with me." Tai shrugged. "Let him die if he wants to."

Kyon placed the smartphone down, changing the topic in an attempt to diffuse the situation. "No luck. As we suspected, Kenihara fiddled with our phones. Any attempts to call or contact the outside world get shut down. If we had someone who could hack, though, we might be able to change that."

"Huh," murmured Johnson. "I think Ami knows how to hack, so maybe she could help us?"

Ami Tachibana (Girl #8) was one of Johnson's close friends; close enough that some people had begun trying to set them up on dates in the past. Ami was a tech whiz, so Johnson assumed that she'd naturally know how to hack.

"Of course you bring up Ami," said Tai with a smirk. "She's basically your girlfriend after all."

"Can't argue with that," added Kyon.

"It's not like that, for the last time!" protested Johnson. "Seriously, we're just friends. That's it."

"That's what they all say," replied Tai saucily, and their conversation traversed into light-hearted territory. Soon, they were casually chatting as if Hayate had never charged out recklessly into dangerous territory.

None of them realized that that would be the last time they would ever see him.

•••

Elapsed Time: 0:03:00

There were three members of Class 3-B who specifically stood out as being graciously wealthy. The first, of course, was Shan Kobayashi (Boy#6), thanks to his father's company. The second was Mio Yazaki (Girl #19), who legitimately had a superiority complex because of her family's wealth.

The third was Yamamoto Himura (Boy #16). Yamamoto's family was politically prominent; his father was a prominent government official who recently considered running for prime minister. Yamamoto was quite proud of this, and would often remind his friends that they were in the presence of the future prime minister's son.

His plan in the Battle Royale was simple: stay alive long enough for his father to bail him out or bribe Kenihara to get him out of there. For that, he'd need protection.

Over time, Yamamoto had created a sort of clique, which included Tsukasa Shimada (Boy #8), Hiromi Koyama (Girl #6), Toshimi Mitsui (Girl #17), and Daisuke Matsushita (Boy #19). Out of those four, he had only seen Hiromi within the Program's current duration; she was travelling with him, alongside the dimwitted Akihide Yoshihara (Boy #21). Interestingly enough, Akihide had received one of the most potent weapons in the Program: a single-shot AT4 rocket launcher. Hiromi, on the other hand, received a yoyo and a kendo sword, while Yamamoto himself got a small, curved sickle.

Yamamoto, of course, deemed it necessary that the weapons be redistributed to more… skilled hands. So he had Akihide trade his AT4 for Hiromi's yoyo, much to his distress. Akihide might've just left the duo then, but even he was smart enough not to wander around the Program without a legitimate weapon.

Like most of the other groups, Yamamoto deduced that it would be best to find a place to stay until daylight. He noted that the bar in G-7 would be a good place to find supplies, commenting that American bars often held secret stashes of weapons.

Around two hours into the Program, the trio stopped by a convenience store in F-5 as a rest stop. Unfortunately for Yamamoto, coincidences were not on his side; he had been diligently studying guns and weaponry prior to the Program, which had cost him a fair amount of sleep. Akihide, being the dimwit that he was, was fine with stopping since the convenience store probably had food, but Hiromi remained on edge. Despite her cool exterior, it was obvious that she was seriously worried about their circumstances.

So Yamamoto left Hiromi to worry about that, and fell asleep on the store's chairs… at least, until he was shaken awake.

"What do you want?" he hissed.

"Yama!" screeched Akihide. "Take a look outside, quick!"

Yamamoto scrambled up, grabbed his sickle, and glanced outside the windows, where another group of three had stopped to look around. It was Kyoichi Itsuka, who was well known as the leader of a "gang". He was alongside two of his underlings: Ryuuta Okamura (Boy #4) and Matsuri Okami (Girl #4). The other members of the gang were nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Tai?" hissed Akihide, denoting one of the other members of the gang.

"Knowing him, he's lurking in the shadows somewhere waiting to strike anyone who tries to ambush them," replied Hiromi, her voice barely audible. "We can try to wait them out, but I personally think that it wouldn't hurt to try and get rid of them. Who know what other kind of destruction they'll cause in the future?"

"Agreed," said Yamamoto. "They're our biggest threat as of now. They're probably the largest alliance anyways."

"Let's go then!" Before anyone could react, Akihide picked a fire extinguisher off of the wall and charged out of the building. Hiromi face-palmed as the dimwit activated the extinguisher, spraying Kyoichi and his group with pressurized water.

Everyone froze for a moment. Yamamoto stared in silence as Kyoichi, Ryuuta, and Matsuri turned to glance at Akihide.

"Nice weapon." Kyoichi smirked. "Fitting for someone like you, huh?" He turned to the others with him, gesturing to Akihide. "Matsuri, search him. Ryuuta, keep him at gunpoint for now. We can't trust him yet, can we?"

Ryuuta nodded silently, unstrapping a shotgun from his shoulder and pointing it at Akihide. The idiot raised his hands in surrender as Matsuri saucily sauntered up to him with a wink and stuck a hand into his bag, picking up a rice ball.

From Yamamoto's perspective, Kyoichi's gang was full of… interesting personalities. Ryuuta was the quieter type, but his muscular frame and strong, silent "aura" gave off an intimidating factor that could make anyone submit to Kyoichi. According to Hiromi, he had been lurking around shooting ranges since three years ago, although nobody else in the class - not even the faculty - seemed to know about this.

Of course, a gang can't get things done with force and intimidation alone; diplomacy, tact, and strategy were also a part of it. Matsuri was the closest person Kyoichi had to a "diplomacy specialist", mainly because she was somehow always able to get her way in debates with her male classmates. Playful, physically attractive, and charming, she could easily catch any of the guys off guard and seduce them with little effort. There had been rumors about Kyoichi making money off of her in a more… under-handed method, but Yamamoto thought that Kyoichi at least had the human decency not to do that.

At least, he hoped. In the Program, one's true self is often revealed… or twisted.

"No other weapons," reported Matsuri.

"Good." Kyoichi smiled. "Well, it wouldn't hurt to have someone else around. Akihide, do you want to come with us?"

Akihide was about to reply when a crossbow bolt burst through the convenience store's window, narrowly missing Yamamoto's head. Hiromi jumped to attention, warily glancing around for their attacker. Kyoichi and the gang too suddenly spun around.

"We need to get out of here," hissed Hiromi. "Someone can see us and we can't see them. There's no way to retaliate."

"No shit," retorted Yamamoto. "I knew that, okay?"

"Matsuri, detain Akihide." ordered Kyoichi. "If he was setting us up for an ambush…"

"It wasn't me, I swear!" Akihide stammered. Matsuri cut him off, shoving him roughly into a side alley and out of sight. Ryuuta swung the shotgun to and fro, searching silently for their pursuer.

A crossbow bolt whizzed through the window past Hiromi's head. Ryuuta returned fire, shooting a burst of bullets into the general direction of the hidden assailant.

"We need to get out of here now!" shouted Hiromi.

"You first!" insisted Yamamoto. "Remember, I'm the one who needs to stay alive! I might be your ticket out of here, and don't forget that!"

Unwilling to argue childishly at a time like this, Hiromi darted out the back door, scampering into the shadows of the city morning. She was grasping a pot lid as a makeshift shield, and it worked; a crossbow bolt bounced off harmlessly. Yamamoto scrambled behind her as she ran to cover again.

Ryuuta shouted an obscenity as a crossbow bolt entered his left arm, and he dropped the shotgun to the ground. Kyoichi had taken cover behind a dormant car, watching as his gunman struggled to find his own cover. Even with his injured arm, Ryuuta was miraculously able to throw himself behind the car, leaving the shotgun lying in the middle of the street.

"Why'd you leave the gun there?" protested Kyoichi. "You're an idiot!"

"That gun wouldn't help us at long range," replied Ryuuta coolly. "Besides-" He stopped, wincing as the blood dripped onto his knee. "Shotguns are heavy, don't you know that?"

"Of course I do! Now suck it up and grab the gun!" Kyoichi practically shoved Ryuuta out into the open. Left with no other option, Ryuuta scrambled for the shotgun.

"There." Hiromi pointed to an alleyway nearby, where the end of a crossbow was pointing out. The owner seemed preoccupied with Ryuuta, and as such hadn't noticed Yamamoto and Hiromi sneaking around the building.

"Let's go." Yamamoto raised his sickle and darted for the alleyway, lunging at the figure behind the crossbow. Whoever it was stepped backwards in surprise.

It was Iyumi Kawamoto (Girl #5). Iyumi was an athlete, but that was far from the most prominent part of her personality. She was infamous for her overwhelming fear of the Program. Over the past years, Iyumi studied the past Programs like a devout follower of some obscure cult. She knew the weapons and how to use them, the likelihood of success and how it correlated to the lifestyle of the students. Out of all the students in Class 3-B, she was probably the most prepared for the Program.

Most people had just laughed at Iyumi before, denoting the slim chances of them getting into a Program. Yamamoto had even bullied her in the past because of it, and as a result she despised him with all of her being. But now…

"I was right," she muttered nonsensically, her eyes glazed over with madness. "I was right this entire time, and I'll make all of you regret doubting me!"

"She's long gone. Let's put her out of her misery," murmured Hiromi softly. Nodding, Yamamoto swung the sickle at Iyumi. The girl sidestepped nimbly and slugged him in the gut, and the rich boy crumpled to the ground. She lifted the crossbow, aiming it at his head, and-

Hiromi's pot lid slammed into her left side, making her stumble to the right. The crossbow shook, jolting as it fired. The bolt ripped through Yamamoto's left hand, making him screech in pain. Not wasting a moment, Iyumi smacked the side of Hiromi's head with the crossbow's stock, sending her sprawling to the ground. Turning to Yamamoto, her eyes narrowed. The boy was still on the ground unwisely trying to pull out the bolt as he whimpered in pain.

"This is for everything you've done to disgrace me!" howled Iyumi as she reloaded the crossbow and pulled the trigger. The bolt went straight through Yamamoto's eye and pierced through his skull, sending blood and matter running down his lifeless face.

It has been stated before that war is an equalizer. No matter your social class, you get an equal chance of life and death. In a way, the Program is very similar. No matter how much money Yamamoto Himura could offer the government, they wouldn't have accepted it. He would've been trapped in the Program, destined to kill or be killed like everyone else.

Head still pounding with pain, Hiromi gritted her teeth and swung the wooden sword at Iyumi's head. The Battle Royale fanatic's head jerked wildly to the side as it made contact, and she slumped to the ground, stunned by the blow. The crossbow clattered to the ground harmlessly.

Hiromi felt no remorse or grief for Yamamoto's death. In all honesty, she was only friends with him because of his own money and his political prominence. The Koyamas were more lower-class; as such, Hiromi was always dedicating herself to studying so she could get a solid job. But she knew that allying with a prominent rich family wouldn't hurt either, so she took it upon herself to befriend Yamamoto despite his stuck-up attitude.

Nonetheless, there was still the problem of Iyumi. Hiromi's logical mind deduced that Iyumi was a clear threat; as such, Iyumi's elimination would raise her chances of survival… and triumph.

Without hesitating, Hiromi ripped the bolt out of Yamamoto's eye, loaded it in the crossbow, and fired.

Boy #16 Yamamoto Himura - Dead

Girl #5 Iyumi Kawamoto - Dead

37 Students Remaining