DAY ONE ; 5:29 A.M.

Hajime Hinata flopped down beside Naegi as the sun rose. The two of them were on a cliff; they'd spent the entire night traveling, trying to get as far away from the school as possible. He'd tried to call out to Nanami as she'd left, but she'd been out of there faster than he could catch up, so he'd stuck with Naegi. The two of them made a fairly good team, and out of all of the people in the class… he was glad he had Naegi. He wasn't insane, at least.

"They'll be giving the first announcement soon, won't they?" Naegi asked. Hinata checked his watch. Five thirty. Soon.

"Yeah," he said. "Do you think anyone killed each other?"

"I hope not."

"I heard a few gunshots as we were leaving the school," Hinata said. "I hope they missed."

"I hope they were just trying out their weapon," Naegi said, shuddering. Hinata nodded slowly. He didn't know if Naegi was right – in fact, he thought Naegi was a little bit naïve and 'just trying out their weapon' definitely wasn't what was going on. Someone was dead. Either someone was dead or someone was wounded, and Hinata didn't really want to know who.

"We need to find Nanami," Hinata said. "And Kirigiri-"

"Togami-kun and Komaeda-kun, too," Naegi said. Hinata grimaced.

"I don't trust either of them in a thing like this," he said. "Especially Togami. He's playing to win."

"How do you know?" Naegi said. "He's just… we're all just teenagers."

"Yeah. Teenagers who've already killed someone, it sounds like," Hinata said. "Check your weapon."

Naegi pulled out a gun. Hinata dug through his bag before coming up with an old, rusty dagger. "Great," he muttered. "Do you know how to shoot that?"

"No. Do you think you have good aim?"

Hinata looked out over the ocean, licking his lips. He didn't know. He didn't know how many of his classmates would have any good aim – Mukuro Ikusaba, Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu and Peko Pekoyama, probably… those were the only ones he really thought would be dangerous. People like Sakura Oogami and Mondo Oowada, too.

"We'll try it out," he said finally. "Aim for a tree or something."

Naegi nodded. "Do you want to go first?"

"No."

Naegi stood up and, after messing with the gun a bit – making sure it was loaded, looking over it – and aimed at the tree nearest to them.

He missed by about a foot.

His face was burning when he slapped the gun into Hinata's palm. Hinata looked at the gun with distaste – they were seeing how their aim was for self-defense, nothing else, but he still felt a little unnerved shooting a gun under these circumstances.

He was closer to the tree, but still not any good. It skinned off a little bark on the right side.

"You're better," Naegi said. "You take-"

He froze.

"What?" Hinata said.

"There's someone running away," Naegi said. He took off through the trees.

"Naegi, wait-" Hinata yelled after him, then swore under his breath and, keeping a hold on the gun, followed. He could see Naegi just ahead of him, but he couldn't quite make out who it was he was following – blue hair, he thought, either that or black. Which… didn't really narrow it down.

Then he tripped and by the time he was back up Naegi was out of sight. He panted, his grip on the gun tight.

"Hajime-chan!"

Ibuki Mioda.

He turned to see Mioda sitting crosslegged on the ground, eating her rations with a fork.

"Mioda," he said. "Wait, why do you have a fork?"

"A fork is Ibuki's weapon!" Mioda said, sticking a forkful of bread in her mouth and smiling. "Now Ibuki doesn't have to eat like a savage!"

He must have tripped over her bag. "Where'd Naegi go?"

"That-a-way!" Mioda said, pointing straight ahead. Hinata nodded.

"Go back to the cliff," he said. "That's where Naegi and I are staying. Our bags are there. Wait for us."

Mioda nodded and started collecting her stuff. Hinata went the way that she'd said Naegi had gone, not pausing until he saw Naegi in a clearing. He was trying to talk to someone – a girl, Hinata thought, he still couldn't quite figure out who it was, but it was definitely a girl.

The girl had her back pressed up against a tree, holding a gun. Naegi had his hands spread in a show of peace.

The girl obviously wasn't buying it.

The sun had risen enough so that he could accurately see the color of her hair. Blue.

Sayaka Maizono.

"Maizono-san, please listen," Naegi said. He took a step forward, and she jerked the gun up. She was terrified.

"Naegi, come on," Hinata said. "If she wants to come with us, she can. I sent Mioda back to our camp."

He realized twenty seconds too late that Maizono had seen the gun in his hand and taken it as something evil. He realized it when Naegi tackled him from the side and a bullet went flying over their head. Hinata strained to aim properly with Naegi on top of him. Maizono was getting ready to let another bullet fly.

He shot, missing her by inches. It hit the tree behind her and the shrapnel cut her face open. She was breathing out in fast, short gasps.

"Maizono-san, please!" Naegi cried. Thankfully, Maizono didn't shoot again. Instead, she ran, nice legs pumping underneath the school-issued shirt. Naegi and Hinata laid there for a bit, catching their breath, when the first announcement was made.

"Not a very exciting start…" the man said. "Only one death. Boy Number Twelve, Gundam Tanaka. We had a late start. I'll blame it on that. Now, danger zones. Get out your maps. From 7:00, zone D7. From 9:00, J3, and from 11:00, E4."

"Aren't we close to J3?" Hinata asked.

Naegi shrugged. "Maybe," he said. "We better move and hope that Mioda-san marked our maps."

"Hopefully," Hinata said. He sighed and shoved Naegi off of him. "Let's get back to Mioda.

31 STUDENTS LEFT

If I wasn't updating more than once on Thursdays, that last conversation would basically be giving you a hint as to who's next. As it is, you're just going to be able to get the next chapter immediately.