DAY ONE ; 7:01 P.M.

Leon Kuwata and Sayaka Maizono neared the clinic at around seven. Leon couldn't help but grin a little as he walked, baseball bat slung over his shoulder and gun in his other hand. He felt almost carefree, because he had a pretty girl depending on him. And he would probably get some action.

He had a weird feeling about the clinic – Kuwata, though his luck had taken a fantastic turn, was sort of looking out for Ishimaru. He'd said something about a clinic, and now he had the Uzi…

"Can you check out the clinic?" Maizono asked. Her eyes were large and wide and blue. He had a hard time saying no to those eyes. "I- I don't know if there's someone in there, or…"

"Yeah," Kuwata said, nodding. Though she had a gun of her own, he gave her his as well. When she looked at him quizzically, he reddened a little and explained. "If someone comes and you run out of bullets, you won't have to reload or anything."

She gave him a shaky smile, hiding her mouth and faint blush behind one perfect hand, and he turned to go into the clinic with only a baseball bat in his hands. He left Maizono by the gate, with both of their bags and both of their packs.

He kicked the door in. It slammed against the door and Kuwata glanced around the clinic, eyes narrowing a little. It was a mess – there were bandages everywhere, as well as pills spilled across the floor and a dead body in the cot. Kuwata took a step toward the body, half-wondering if it could be alive, but then he realized who it was.

Mondo Oowada. Mondo Oowada with his legs obliterated and with a few bandages pressed hastily to his side, like it was going to save him. Mondo Oowada with vomit and blood crusting around his mouth, Mondo Oowada dead.

He pressed a hand against his mouth, nearly dropped his baseball bat, and took a shaky step backward. So he was dead. It looked like Ishimaru had tried to save him, but Oowada was dead and Ishimaru was nowhere to be found. Kuwata was suddenly, shockingly afraid. He was afraid that Ishimaru would come back and kill him like he'd killed Souda. He was scared that he wouldn't be enough to protect himself, or Maizono. He'd meant to grab some bandages and pills if nothing else, but he didn't even know if he could force his feet to move forward.

He'd… he'd tell Maizono that they needed to get out. They'd go back toward the residential area. The lighthouse was a bust anyway; it was going to be a danger zone in three hours so there was no point in continuing to head that way.

Confident in his new plan, he tightened his grip on the bat and turned to leave. He sent Oowada one last look before he left, almost wondering at the sight of Mondo Oowada dead. Souda had been bad enough. Souda, who had been so fragile and emotionally volatile, had been horrible. But Oowada had seemed invincible. And now… now he was gone.

Legs shaking and knuckles white from clutching the bat, Leon Kuwata took a step outside.

As soon as he did, a shot rang out and a bullet hit the wood beside his head. Splinters cut him, nearly taking out his eye, and he ducked to the side, whipping his head from side to side wildly.

Nobody but Maizono…?

Maizono with a gun pointed straight at him. She was kneeling. The other gun was right next to her knee.

"Maizono?" he asked. He took a step toward her, unsure, and she steadied her hands to aim again.

He dove out of the way just before she pulled the trigger, rolling and clutching his bat. What was she doing? She was… she was –

He had no time to think. She'd run out of bullets and was reaching for the other gun now, now was his chance. He leaped for her, knocking her fully to the ground and grabbing for the gun. He hit her over the head with the baseball bat and her grip on the gun slackened. He managed to grasp the gun and he turned it on her. And he shot her. And he shot her. And he shot her.

She laid on the ground, blood bubbling up from her chest and throat, and she was dead. He stood up, shaken, and backed away. He was holding the gun tightly. He was holding the gun so tightly that he thought he might drop it.

He didn't though. He just collected their bags into one with a numb feeling in his chest, reloaded the other gun, and backed away from the body. He couldn't keep his eyes off of her. Of her hair, splayed across the ground beneath her head and the blood from her throat soaking into it. Of the blood soaking her white shirt, and of her skirt riding up around her hips. He shouldn't look, because she was dead, what was wrong with him, but he couldn't help it. He couldn't help but look at her panties peeking out from underneath the skirt that was so high up. At the soft, pale skin of her thighs and the blood sticking the shirt to her skin, melding it to her skin, showing off that body.

He didn't know if he would have done anything, because the next thing he heard was someone crashing through the trees. He whirled around, holding the gun in front of him, and backed into the shadows as best as he could.

His best wasn't good enough. Sakura Oogami saw him, and she charged, and he shot, and he missed.

It felt like a freight train slammed into him. He flew backward, hit the ground, and couldn't do anything but gasp for air as Oogami pinned him with an elbow to his throat and a knee to his lower stomach. "You killed her!" she growled, and he couldn't manage anything other than a pathetic squeaking noise. Oogami glanced behind her as if looking for someone, and, apparently satisfied, increased the pressure on Kuwata's stomach.

Kuwata didn't have enough air to speak and wheezed until Oogami got off of him. Once she did, he got on his hands and knees and retched. "I- it was- it was self defense, you have to, you have to believe me, I didn't mean to!"

"I saw the whole thing, Kuwata," Oogami said, and Kuwata stifled a sob. He pressed the back of his hand to his mouth. "You could have walked away once you hit her with the bat. That was self-defense. And I saw how you looked at her afterward."

Kuwata felt his heart plummet into his stomach and curled forward, pressing his forehead into the ground and shoulders shaking with sobs. "I-I didn't mean to- I didn't- mean to- didn't mean- to-"

"Someone who looks like a woman like that after murdering her is someone that barely deserves to live," Oogami said. She paused, she sighed. "But I can't kill you, because that would mean that you are worthy of me recognizing you. As well as that, I believe Asahina would think lesser of me."

Kuwata gasped out a thanks to whatever god had just saved him, to Aoi Asahina, to Oogami's pride.

"But that does not mean I will not beat you within an inch of your life."

The prayer turned into a curse.

19 STUDENTS REMAINING

Kuwata was going to die, but this just didn't work out like that. So, I guess there's that.

One more chapter today! It probably won't be that long, but. One more!