Maybe, you know, I'll die
Maybe I'll die, maybe you'll miss me
You're like poison, I don't know if I'll come back
Maybe I'll die, maybe you'll miss me
Free in the sky and that's where I'll fly
12th of March 2016 - Island Forest
Haruka felt his sight slowly going away, Hinano's face became very blurry. He relaxed as death was at the door, howling his name but suddenly something stung his arm.
"The hell?! Is this what you feel when you die?" he thought, as his vision was slowly coming back.
The others watched in disbelief as Haruka's wound slowly healed itself.
"How the hell did you do that?!" Okajima asked.
"I've injected him with an enhanced tentacle serum" Nobuharu explained.
"An enhanced tentacle serum?!" Jiu was startled by what he had just heard.
"Cool" Maehara was intrigued.
"How the hell did you manage to get hold of that?" Sumire asked the boy.
"Food, ammunition and medikit aren't the only things scattered around the island" Nobuharu explained, "I found another pair of really special syringes"
"Cool, would you give me one?!" Okajima reached out to get a syringe.
"They are for erectile dysfunction..." Nobuharu said.
"Ah, keep them then" Okajima immediately withdrew his hand.
"So, since you've injected him with that stuff, will Haruka be saved?" then, Hinano realized something "Wait a minute, but by doing so will he become one of them?!"
"Relax, I've injected him with enough quantity to heal the wound" Nobuharu explained "He will not be invulnerable, but his wound will heal"
"What a relief" Hinano looked at Nagisa.
"Eh eh... yeah" Nagisa avoided eye contact.
Sumire glared at the boy.
"That's the psychotic killer...having him around is dangerous" the girl thought.
As the teens finished aiding their wounds, Nobuharu cleared his voice to obtain the teens' attention.
"Well guys...the fact is that all the zombies and the predatory guinea pig are dead," Nobuharu assested the situation.
"Thank you, Professor Ide..." Jiu thought, face down.
"Considering what just happened, we're in the same boat, aren't we?" Nobuharu said, "Why don't we go to the beach? We'll be safer there."
"I agree, miss. Me and my plotoon were heading there" Jiu explained.
"Miss but I am a..." before he could say that he was a boy he was cut off by Eiji and Kaho.
"We're not coming with you!" they said together.
The teens were shocked by that phrase.
"Kaho and I are leaving" Eiji princess carried Kaho and kissed her.
"Whaaaaa?!" Sumire exclaimed with dismay.
"You're leaving, but why?!" Nagisa asked.
Kaho wasn't sure she wanted to tell everyone the truth, but suddenly Eiji took her hand. She turned around and he told her to do it, so she took courage.
"Guys, I'm dying. I've been diagnosed with a fatal disease and I have a few days left to live" Kaho revealed to the shocked teens.
"What?!" Yada exclaimed.
Sumire was saddened by the news, but when she looked at her friend who, despite the fatal disease that was consuming her, was there smiling and jocking, she smiled because if there's something she learned: if someone is dying with a smile, it means that he/she liked it that way.
"I'll spend my last days with Eiji" Kaho took Eiji's hand.
"Eiji-kun, you know that if you are in close contact with her, will you be infected and die?" Nobuharu asked.
"And what do I care! I just want to stay with her" Eiji kissed her.
Sumire smiled seeing that scenes.
"Aw, this is so romantic!" Hinano's eyes shined like stars.
"Good for you" Nobuharu shrugged "So...this is goodbye"
Eiji picked up Kaho and said : "So, are we going?"
Sumire then reached for her pocket, that's when she remembered something.
"Kaho-chan, wait!" Sumire stopped the black haired girl. "Before you go, there's something I would like to ask you..."
"Anything for you, Sumire-chan" Kaho said "What can I do for you?"
Sumire took the pendant out of her pocket, handing it to her friend.
"Yuuki's pendant? What does this mean?" Kaho could not understand.
"I should have asked you before but..." Sumire tried to find the right words "Could you...let me see Yuuki's last moments? I know you can do that"
"Sumire-chan...I don't think I can do that..." Kaho politely refused.
"Please..." the girl asked her on the verge of tears.
Kaho hesitated again, but seeing her friend's desperate face made her think.
"Ah to hell! You and Yuuki have been like brother and sister to me... I will" Kaho told her.
Sumire smiled at her and handed her the pendant. As soon as the two hands touched, Sumire was suddenly teleported into a flashback.
23rd of March 2016 - Island's shores
Yuuki managed to hide from a group of people wearing a tracksuit with a jaguar drawn on.
"Whew... they almost got me" he thought.
He stood up and noticed in the distance a red-haired boy completely lost.
"Hey, everything okay?" Yuuki asked worried.
"I...you...where the fuck are we?" the redheaded boy asked.
"That's what I was wondering too" Yuuki looked around, looking for a point of reference.
The redhead was suspicious of Yuuki, he was perceptible for over a mile.
"Anyway, it's dangerous here! There are a lot of crazy guys..." Yuuki explained "Here, you might need it... I'll use the sniper rifle"
Yuuki handed the redhead a shotgun.
"Oh, thank you..." the boy said and loaded the weapon.
Yuuki didn't have time to turn around that the redhead shot him behind his back. In that moment, Sumire saw the face of the bastard that murdered her boyfriend: Hiroto Maehara.
12th of March 2016 - Island Forest
The flashback ended, Sumire unhanded her best friend, still shocked for what she saw in the flashback.
"So, did it work?" Kaho asked.
Sumire did not answer, instead her face filled with blood-chilling rage, looking at the redhead.
"Sumire-chan?" Kaho tried again, but no answer came.
"What about the sniper here? I'm not carrying him" Maehara complained.
"Don't worry, I'll do it" Hinano carried the passed out Haruka.
"Ok, good" Maehara said.
Sumire wanted to draw her gun and make the redhead eat lead, but before she could do that, Eiji called her girlfriend.
"Kaho-chan, we have to go!" Eiji put his backpack on his shoulders ready to leave.
"Hold on a sec..." Kaho took off her lucky cap.
"Kaho-san..." Sumire found herself with Kaho's lucky cap on her head.
"I want you to have this" Kaho said.
"But..." Sumire was cut off again by the distinctive sound of sobs.
"I would not thank you and Yuuki enough for accepting me and make me feel loved..." Kaho said between sobs "...Thank you"
Sumire hugged her tightly, passing her hand through her friend's silky black hair for one last time .
"Farewell, my friend" Sumire said.
Eiji smiled as the two friends separated.
"Eiji-kun, take care of her" Sumire recommended to him.
"You can count on me!" Eiji said "And when Haruka wakes up, thank him for risking his life to save ours"
"I'll do it, don't worry" Sumire said.
After the final farewell, Eiji and Kaho got back into the forest while the others proceeded towards the beach.
Night of the 12th of March 2016 - Island Main Beach
After a long walk, the group managed to arrive at the beach, where was the pier in which the boat will arrive.
"Here we are. That's the pier from which the boat for the final 30 contestants will arrive" Nobuharu pointed towards the slightly lit pier.
"Finally! We are safe now!" Jiu felt a sense of relief.
"At this point someone might ask: why don't we build a raft and escape?" Yada asked.
"Well Yada-san, I think that if you look up in the sky you'll find your answer" Takebayashi pointed at the sky.
Yada didn't even have time to look up that the sound of a helicopter pierced the sky.
"Helicopters?!" Sugaya said.
"Yes, the same helicopters that brought the zombies to the island" Nobuharu explained "They're everywhere...when they notice a raft, they'll put you down with their high-tech weapons"
"Aaaah, after everything we've been through, now we have to stay alert from people-killing helicopters!" Jiu exclaimed.
In that moment, Haruka's eyes began to open.
"Guys! Haruka-kun is waking up!" Hinano warned her classmates.
"Wow! That's...nice" Nagisa didn't seem too happy about it.
Night of the 12th of March 2016 - Show's secret studio
As Homura watched the carnage by the guinea pigs that was going on in the island's forest, Tatsuno looked like she was about to explode with wrath.
"Level 3 is about to end!" Homura was ecstatic "The guinea pigs have almost slaughtered all the remaining contestants still stranded in the forest"
As Homura kept blabbing about the show, Tatsuno could only think about her ex-fake boyfriend.
"This is fucking unbelievable! Haruka is still alive! alive! ALIVE!" Tatsuno thought "Put a price on his head didn't work! Have him killed by the supreme mutant didn't work! Why wont you die, you bastard!"
"Tatsuno-san, is something bothering you?" Homura asked her.
"Mmh? Oh, don't worry about it, I was thinking about futile things" Tatsuno said.
"It's clear that the group that found the beach where the pier is located will be the finalists" Homura supposed.
"I wouldn't run too fast. The finalists in total must be 30, they are 32" Tatsuno explained "Someone will die, surely"
Night of the 12th of March 2016 - Island Main Beach
"Does being dead mean that you feel a nuisance? Like the one of the sand when you're lying on the beach?" Haruka thought "And I can't even sleep peacefully, I hear some fucking voices calling me... wait a minute..."
"Aaaah, what the hell?!" Haruka said frightened.
"Haruka-kun, calm down! You're alive!" Hinano tried to calm him down.
Haruka couldn't believe it; a person with a giant hole in his chest can't be alive. Yet he was there, with no hole in his chest.
"So it was all a dream...then Professor Ide is still alive!" Haruka looked around, but no trace of the professor "What the hell is going on?! Wasn't I dying in your hands?"
"Yeah but we saved you" Hinano explained.
"Saved me? but ho..." Haruka was cut off by Sumire.
"Hey sniper-boy, come here! I have to talk to you" Sumire called him.
Haruka followed the girl near the pier where she explained the events of the last three hours.
"Uhuhu, I see. That rat Eiji" Haruka said affectionately.
"You saved both of them, you're a hero!" Sumire said.
"Ah, please. My body leaned forward by itself" Haruka minimized the event.
"You know, this desire of yours to appear so cold and detached is so boring that I could doze off" Sumire pointed.
Haruka couldn't object to those words.
"You're a good guy, Haruka-kun" Sumire said with a smile "My boyfriend, Yuuki, was also a good guy. He was rich, yet so humble... I lived in downtown Tokyo when we first met. He didn't care about my origins; he loved me and I loved him. He gave a place to stay to Kaho, an outcast, disowned by her parents who never got a thing right, a bit like me, but he looked beyond appearances. He was a wonderful man...""
Suddenly, her mood changed from happy to pure fury.
"...and Maehara-kun killed him!" she said, holding her friend's cap tight.
"Maehara? The redhead? The one that is at only a few meters from us? He killed the first guy I met on this doomed island?!" Haruka thought.
"I've been a fool, I admit it..." Sumire blamed herself.
"Sumire-san, what will you do?" Haruka asked the girl.
"... but now that son of a bitch will pay for what he's done!" Sumire grabbed her gun and shot 3 rounds in the air.
The shots alerted everyone.
"What the... who is shooting at us?!" Maehara looked around for any potential threat.
"It was me, you son of a bitch! I'll make regret the day you were born!" Sumire loaded her gun again, ready to fire.
"What the hell is your problem, girl!" Maehara asked angrily.
"I know the truth, Maehara! You're fucked!" Sumire was ready to fire.
The others did not understand the reason for this sudden change of mood ad watched as the two kept bickering.
"What the fuck are you talking about, Sumire!?" Maehara still didn't understand.
"You killed him! YOU KILLED MY YUUKI!" Sumire screamed at the top of her lungs, flooding Maehara with all the rage and sadness she kept inside.
In a flash, the redhead remembered the boy; he was now assaulted by heavy guilt.
"What would you like to hear, huh? That I'm sorry?" he asked her.
"I don't care if you're sorry or not..." she pointed her gun to the redhead's forehead "I'll kill you anyway"
"Hey! Hey! Please, be reasonable, I was just following the rules of the game , can't you blame me?" Maehara tried to find an excuse, but inside, he was rotting with guilt.
"He wanted to help you! And you, you son of a bitch, you killed him without even flinch!" Sumire roared "Of course I fucking blame you!"
"Well buddy, you've asked for it!" Haruka thought.
"Now get ready to..." Sumire was interrupted by a scream
"Oh no, Nagisa-kun!" Jiu tried to bring the boy back to himself.
"Nagisa? Jiu what the..." Haruka stopped in his tracks when he saw what happened.
The three turned around, only to see Hinano on the ground and Nagisa completely overwhelmed by the tentacles.
Night of the 12th of March 2016 - Show's secret studio
In the studio, no one, even Homura, could understand what happened in those five minutes.
"What the fu..." Homura was startled.
"Something wrong, Homura-san?" Tatsuno asked the show's host.
"Interns! Show me what happened at the same time from another camera" Homura ordered the assistants, who snapped like soldiers.
The interns switched the screen to a video recording of what happened 5 minutes before.
Night of the 12th of March 2016 - Island Main Beach
While Haruka and Sumire were chatting far away from the others, Hinano looked at them with a jealous looking face.
"Hey Hinano-chan, why that face?" Yada asked her friend.
"Nothing in particular" she lied.
"Oh come on, do you really think Haruka likes that girl?" Yada said.
Nagisa looked at her as Hinano's face became completely red and started acting crazy.
"Shhh, keep your voice down Yada-san! Do you want everyone to hear it?" Hinano whispered.
"Oh, but it's clear to everyone that you like Haruka and by the way, don't you worry about it" Yada winked at her.
"What do you mean?" Hinano asked.
"Oh come on, didn't you realize it when he returned your bandana? Do I have to make you understand everything?" Yada tried to make her understand.
Hinano started to get the idea.
"He's fallen in love with y..." Yada was cut off by Nagisa.
"Is that true Hinano-chan?" Nagisa asked the redhead.
"Huh?" Hinano was surprised by Nagisa's barge.
"That you love him? Do you love Haruka-kun?" Nagisa asked clearly angered.
"Well, I think this is not the time or the place to..." Hinano tried to reason, but Nagisa wouldn't budge.
"I have to know it!" he insisted. "Please, answer me"
Hinano looked straight in the boy's eyes and could see that he was suffering, so she gave up and admitted the truth.
"Yes, it's true" she admitted.
In that moment, something in Nagisa's snapped and he was slowly changing.
"Nagisa-kun is... is something wrong?" Hinano was getting worried.
"No, no, no. everything is... okay" he felt something inside him that was taking over.
"Oh good" Hinano felt a sense of relief, but it was cut short when Nagisa grabbed her arm.
"I'm not good enough for you?" Nagisa clinged even harder.
"W-What?" Hinano said, frightened by that behavior.
Yada's sixth sense suggested to barge in and stop them, but she decided to stand by and let the two handle it.
"I'm nothing... but a friend to you? That's all?" Nagisa asked even more insistently.
"Nagisa-kun... is everything really ok?" Hinano was getting more freaked out by the minute.
Nagisa, meanwhile, felt the tentacles taking the advantage on him, slowly leading him to madness.
"ANSWER ME, DAMN IT!" Nagisa yelled in anger, making the girl back off.
"But... but I thought it was obvious... Don't tell me you..." Hinano began to understand the bitter truth.
Suddenly, pitch black tentacles began to grow on Nagisa's back.
"Grr... you tricked me..." Nagisa's voice started to change.
"Nagisa-kun, listen to me, you have to calm down" Hinano tried to tame him, but it was no use.
Nagisa inhaled heavily as the tentacles wrapped him and in a split second, the people-slaying monster woke up from his slumber.
Haruka and Sumire watched the scene in horror.
"Hey, w-what's going on? Didn't you want to kill me, Sumire?" Maehara asked the motionless girl "Why did you stop?"
"Turn around and you'll find out why..." Nobuharu instructed the boy.
Maehara turned around only to see a monster coming out of the tentacles, Nagisa was now someone else.
"Finally, I have full control of this body" he said, with a different voice.
"Oh no, don't you think I'm gonna let you unleash..." Yada turned into the hybrid form, but before she could do anything, the boy defeated her.
"Yada-san!" Haruka said as the girl fell unconcious to the ground.
The teens gasped as they watched Yada-san fall to the ground. They were all stunned by the sudden turn of events.
Some of the students stepped forward to help Yada-san, while others kept their eyes on the boy who had just defeated her. They knew that he was dangerous and that they needed to stop him before he could do any more harm.
"Sorry girl, I always learn from my previous fights" The possessed boy laughed, his eyes flashing with a dark, malevolent energy. He was clearly enjoying the chaos and destruction that he was causing.
Haruka was the first to move, stepping forward to confront the possessed boy. He was determined to protect his friends and stop the threat that was now in their midst.
"You're not going to get away with this," he said, his voice steady and unwavering. "We'll stop you, no matter what it takes."
"I am looking forward to gladly fuck you up, but there's another girl that I have to deal with first... You! bitch!" Nagisa pinned Hinano on the ground.
"Oh!" Hinano tried to free himself from the stranglehold of Nagisa, who struck harder and harder each time, but it was all in vain.
Sumire and the others pulled out their weapons.
"I told you it was dangerous!" Sumire cheered the teens.
"Shoot him!" Haruka ordered.
Despite having the firearm advantage, Nagisa proved to be too powerful for them. He moved with incredible speed and agility, striking them down one by one with his bare hands. Within moments, the entire group had been knocked out cold, unable to stand up to the possessed boy's relentless onslaught. It was a terrifying and humbling experience for them all, as they lay on the ground, helpless and defeated. They had never felt so vulnerable or powerless before.
"Ahahah, I'm still in shape!" the possessed boy stood over them, he looked down with a chilling grin, clearly relishing in his victory. He knew that he had won, and that there was nothing they could do to stop him.
Nobuharu was the only one to be spared, he was struck by this.
"Hey, you... why did you spare me?" he asked the possessed boy.
"Ahahah, who are you kidding?" Nagisa looked at him straight in the eyes "I only have to look you in the eye to see how scary you are... It would take you little to eliminate me"
Nobuharu grinned, knowing he was discovered.
"Oh, so... what are your plans?" he asked Nagisa.
"I don't care about the show, freedom, or any of the other nonsense" Nagisa explained his plan "Hinano, the redhead... she almost made me reject the tentacles, that's unforgivable! So I'm going to show her what despair really is,"
Nobuharu nodded, taking in the possessed boy's words.
"Be my guest, but don't you dare kill the others, ok?" Nobuharu asked him.
"As you wish" Nagisa picked up Haruka, who was still unconscious and placed him on his shoulders.
Early morning of the 13th of March 2016 - Island Main Beach
As the minutes passed, the teens began to slowly stir, groaning and moaning as they regained consciousness. Each one of them felt a dull ache in their head and body, a painful reminder of the possessed boy's brutal attack. As they tried to move, they realized that they were tied up, unable to break free from their restraints, everyone except for Hinano, who was slowly waking up.
"Aaah, my head..." Hinano slowly regain conciousness "Guys, where are you?"
"We're behind you, we didn't move an inch" Sumire called out.
"When we woke up, we found ourselves tied up, free us Hinano-chan!" Yada asked her friend.
"Yes, I'll...hey...where's Haruka?" Hinano looked around to find the sniper boy, without success.
In that moment, she heard the crackle of a walkie talkie.
"Hinano-chan, can you hear me?" A familiar voice echoed through the small speaker.
"That's Nagisa's voice... I feel trouble" Jiu thought.
"Huh? Walkie-talkies?" Hinano was puzzled by the box full of portables radios, she picked up the one switched on.
"Let's start with a premise, girl. Haruka is here with me and if you don't do what I say, I'll kill him," Nagisa threatened the girl.
"What?!" Hinano gasped.
"If you want him alive, you have to reach into the forest a few miles from there" Nagisa gave her instructions. "If you untie one of your friends and bring it here with you...BAM! I'll put a bullet in Haruka's brain!"
"What a piece of shit!" Yada thought.
"If you manage to kill me with your bare hands, you'll hug your precious sniper boy back" Nagisa said "Otherwise, I'll kill you and him! Hahahaha"
Communication broke down and the radio went silent. Hinano remained stunned, she had a choice to make.
"Alright, I'll go!" Hinano took a bow and some arrows.
"Are you crazy?!" Jiu yelled in disbelief.
"Hinano-chan, it's a suicide! You can't win against him!" Yada tried to stop her.
"Maybe, but I will not leave Haruka-kun in his grasps" Hinano took out the bandana and put it around her head, like Rambo.
"Hinano just lost his mind!" Maehara said.
"Shut up, redhead! You should be dead by now!" Sumire shushed him.
"I'm coming for you, Nagisa!" Hinano said.
Meanwhile, in the forest, Nagisa laughed, as his bait fully worked.
"I'll wait for you, redhead!" Nagisa grinned.
Early morning of the 13th of March 2016 - Island Main Beach
The door of the studio's main control room swept open and Kotaro Yanagisawa came in.
"Yanagisawa-sama!" Tatsuno exclaimed.
"Yanagisawa-sama, what an unexpected visit!" Homura was surprised to see the creator of the show in the studio "Why did you visit the studios?"
"To see for myself the reality show that represent my greatness and power of course" Yanagisawa grinned as he sat in front of the screens "Send the boat to pick up the finalists"
"At your orders, this means that..." Homura couldn't finish the sentence that he was cut off by Yanagisawa's evil laugh.
"Yes! The island lost its purpose" Yanagisawa's smile grew even greater, revealing an evil aura to the core "Soon, there'll be a missing point on the nautical charts"
"Come on Kotaro! Time to leave" Homura ordered his right-hand man.
He simply nodded and walked to the boatshed to take the boat.
To be continued...
HERE WE ARE, FELLAS! THE E-CLASS JOURNEY ON THE ISLAND OF DEATH IS ALMOST OVER, BUT THERE'S SPACE FOR ONE FINAL BATTLE.
THE BATTLE OF THE CENTURY: HINANO KURAHASHI WILL FIGHT AGAINST NAGISA FOR THE LIFE OF HER BELOVED, THE SNIPER BOY, HARUKA. WHO WILL COME OUT ON TOP? HINANO? OR MAYBE NAGISA?
EIJI AND KAHO LEFT FOR THE FOREST, WILL THEY SURVIVE? OR WILL THEY SURRENDER TO THE HARSH RULES OF THE GAME.
MAEHARA IS YUUKI'S KILLER, WILL SUMIRE HAVE HER REVENGE? OR WILL REDHEAD GET AWAY WITH IT?
WHO IS NOBUHARU? AN INFILTRATOR OF YANAGISAWA? AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE OF THE E-CLASS? OR MAYBE THE SOLE SURVIVOR WHO GOT INJURED THE NIGHT OF KOROSENSEI'S MURDER?
WELL THE ONLY THING I COULD SAY IS...STAY TUNED, BECAUSE THE END OF THE DAY IS ALL HERE, WHERE THE WHITE ROSES ARE WHEN IT'S GETTING DARK!
A.n.1: Hey guys! Finally, after months and months of delay, chapter 9 is online. The journey is almost over, chapter 10 and 11 will be the last one for this story plus a special chapter that I will publish late this year. I hope you've enjoyed reading this story and please, if you have thoughts on it or suggestions, write a comment that are always well accepted.
A.n.2: As always, I want to apologize for my abscence, but March and April proved to be harsh months for me, phisically and emotionally. I will try to write more in the following months and keep you updated on future stories that I'm writing.