Chapter 4: A Ghost of the Past
Shu and Inori leave the store and walk across the road to the other side of the shopping district after the former decided they have done everything they needed to do and head to a nearby eatery to have their lunch.
Unbeknownst to them, the two were being watched by a man standing at the other end of the district. While almost entirely dressed in black, with the exception of his white cap and brown belt with a golden round buckle around his waist, he secretly focused his attention on the two entering the eatery, even as a voice coming from his earpiece suddenly spoke up, "How is your mission going? I would like to have an update."
The man places his finger on his earpiece and replied, "The target has just entered a local eatery along with an unidentified male. For now, the target doesn't seem to show any signs of aggression, and whoever that boy is seems to be in good terms with her. I'm still waiting for the right opportunity to make my move on her."
"Very well. Continue keeping an eye on her. Take her in when the time is right."
"What about the civilian who is accompanying her?"
"The target is our utmost priority. Nothing else."
"Understood." The man said, ending the conversation by removing his finger from his earpiece. Knowing that the target and civilian will be staying inside the eatery for a while, the man removes his right hand from the front pocket of his black hoodie and decides to pass the time by taking out his smartphone and continue playing the crossword.
"A women's undergarment. Nine letters." The man murmured while gazing at his phone. He snaps the fingers of his other hand a few moments later. "Of course. Pantyhose."
After sitting down at a table for two beside the wide glass window, Shu and Inori spend a minute looking through the menus. The place they are currently sitting in is a small eatery that serves local Balinese cuisine, and Shu thought it would be a good place for Inori to try out some of the foods that are only made here on the island.
After Shu decided what he wanted to eat, he places his menu down on the table and called for a waitress. The waitress walks over to him and holds up her pencil and notepad.
"Hello sir, what can I get for you today?" The waitress asked.
"I would like to order a can of coke, and Sop Buntut with a bowl of rice, please." Shu said to her.
"Understood." The waitress said, writing his order down on her notepad before turning to Inori. "What about you, ma'am? What would you like to have?"
Inori looks up at the waitress and shows her the menu. "All of them."
"Huh?!" Shu said incredulously as he and the waitress look bewildered.
"I mean, it says that the Babi Guling is roasted skin and flesh from a pig. I would like to know how a pig tastes like. And then there is the Bakso, which is noodles with balls of-"
"Oh no! No, no, no, no, Inori!" Shu cried exasperatedly as he waves his arms in front of her. "You cannot possibly eat all of them!"
"I thought that as part of living my life free and normal, I should experience everything the outside world has to offer." Inori said to him.
"Yeah, but you can't eat more than one set of food at once. You'll get bloated." Shu explained.
"What is bloated?" Inori asked.
Shu sighs heavily and said to Inori, "How about you just eat the same thing that I've ordered?"
"Very well then." Inori said, placing her menu down and turning her head back to the waitress. "I'll have the same thing he has."
After the waitress wrote down her order and walked away, Shu decides to continue conversing with Inori while waiting for their food and drinks.
"Trust me. You'll love the Sop Buntut. It's basically soup with oxtail meat." Shu said to her.
"I see." Inori said. "I suppose I can try tasting that first before I can move onto the other food."
"You can always try out the other food some other time. Plus, I'm on a budget."
Inori turns her head to her right and looks through the window to once again, observe the various people walking down the pavements, such as the young couple cheerfully conversing over the items they have bought today, or the young man nodding his head as he listened to the music playing through his earphones.
"Everything that we've seen and done today…is this really how people live their lives every day?" Inori asked.
"Pretty much. Whether we want to work, play, eat, and learn something new, we all have the freedom and choice to do so." Shu said.
"Such as you have the choice in not wanting to work today even though it is your job?" Inori asked, looking back at him.
"Yeah, that's right." Shu chuckled. "Not that people aren't allowed to work on a Sunday. It's just that I choose not to."
"With nobody to tell you otherwise?"
"Exactly." Shu nodded. "That's the entire point of living your life free and normal. It's being able to do whatever you want."
"I never thought of that."
Shu's smile disappears when he decided to take the opportunity to acquire some information from her. He folds his arms on the table and inquired, "Speaking of life, how exactly do you live your life in that facility?"
"Every day and night, we were trained to fight and shoot. We did as we were told because we are going to become the perfect soldiers who will maintain order and stability throughout the world." Inori explained.
"Did my father told you that?" Shu asked grimly.
"No." Inori shook her head. "He didn't say those words. It was my superior, Sakura Matou, who said so."
"I see." Shu said. "What exactly did my father do in the facility?"
"He would collect some of my blood every now and then to help develop the serum." Inori explained.
'It's definitely the same illegal serum that was mentioned in the news.' Shu thought as he looked away for a moment. But when he turned back to Inori, he sees that the pink-haired girl is now frowning in confusion with her head lowered.
"No…wait…" Inori stuttered as memories of her time in the facility which she thought had been forgotten came flooding back into her mind. "It was…again…Sakura Matou who called it a 'serum'. Not Kurosu Ouma."
"I…don't understand." Shu said, now just as confused as Inori.
"Me too." Inori said as she looks back up at him. "My superior called it a 'serum'…but your father, Kurosu Ouma, called it a 'vaccine'."
"A vaccine? For what?" Shu asked.
"To cure my cancer." Inori said, remembering what Kurosu said to her when they first met each other and during the live demonstration in the large room. "Stage 2 bone cancer to be precise."
"Did you even know you had cancer?"
Inori stayed silent for a moment before shaking her head in response. "I don't know."
Shu cups his chin and looks down at the table for a few moments as he mentally goes over what Inori had explain to him. The girl curiously watches her asset dwelling himself in deep thought as the two stayed at their seats.
The brown-haired boy eventually lifts his head back up and explained to Inori, "I was only 9 years old when Haruka and I bid our farewells to my father. Before he departs, he told me that he and my step-uncle are going to be working in Germany for a long while to help find a cure that can save many lives. When you mentioned vaccine and cancer, it now makes a lot of sense. But after Matou Industries had completely collapsed, I learnt from the news that it turns out this 'cure' he and my step-uncle claim to be finding ended up being a serum that turns humans into living weapons. However, according to what you said, my father referred this serum as a 'vaccine' to cure cancer instead. Could it be possible…that my father was lied to by my step-uncle, and other people working in that facility? Was my father deceived into helping to develop this serum instead of creating a vaccine to save lives?"
"I…am not sure. I'm sorry." Inori bows her head apologetically to him.
"No." Shu shakes his head. "It's not your fault. They have been hiding things from you too."
Inori gasped softly as she looked back at him with her eyes widened. "Why would they hide things from me? Am I not good enough for them to be trusted?"
"Inori…" Shu said concernedly, noticing that she looked and sounded hurt.
"After all my dedication to Matou Industries…" Inori lowered her head as her body trembled. "Why would they do this to me?"
As Shu notices how much Inori is struggling to comprehend the revelation, he is fully aware that she has gotten herself into an emotionally painful state right now. A state that he has been in many times before. How he felt so distressed after being shunned by society. How he felt lost after being expelled from school. And how he felt conflicted over the truth about his father after his association with Matou Industries was revealed. Usually, in a moment like this, Shu would stay silent, avoid all contact with anyone, and drown in his own pool of sorrow and misery for as long as he wants.
However, for some reason, Shu felt compelled that he needed to do something. Something to reassure her, and free her from her doubts and anxiety. Maybe he wanted to stop her from creating another commotion like the one she caused earlier at the village. Or maybe it was because for someone who has no knowledge on how to live normally like any other human, it may take an even heavier toll on her than he ever had. Regardless, the boy knows he wanted to do something that no one had ever done for him during his times of distress.
"Inori…" Shu ordered, causing the girl to look back up at him. "Give me your hand."
Inori obliged, extends her right arm, and places it on the table. Shu gently places his own hand on top of hers and looks straight into her eyes.
"I…um…" Shu blushed as he paused for a moment. "I-I'm…just as confused as you are right now. For I am still trying to confirm if my speculations of my father being deceived are true or false. But now that you are with me, and Haruka is still trying to figure out whatever my father wanted her to see, let us work together to solve this mystery. To learn the entire truth about what they were actually doing in that facility. Will you help us…Inori?"
Inori stared wordlessly at Shu for a few moments. It is true that she is confused by many things regarding Kurosu right now. Such as why he would refer the serum he injected into her body as a 'vaccine'. Why he treated her as a patient of cancer when her true purpose in the facility is to become a soldier. And why the last order he would give to a defender of order and stability is to live free and normal. Unfortunately, neither Kurosu nor anyone else associated with Matou Industries is here to provide the answers to her questions. So, it would seem the only ones she can count on now are the ones who are related to the former researcher.
Inori closed her eyes and replied, "Since you and Haruka Ouma are my superiors now…then yes." She nodded and looked back at him. "I will help you, Shu Ouma."
Shu bows his head to her. "Arigatou."
Just as they finished, the waitress returns to their table while carrying a tray containing the food and drinks that they ordered. She carefully places the plates of rice, the bowls of oxtail soup and the cans of coke in front of them, and both Shu and Inori thank her before she turns and walks away. Both diners pick up their cutlery and Shu tells Inori to try out her food. But while Shu started eating his food, Inori remembers the vow she made to Haruka to learn more about her son. As she continued staring at the boy, the girl asked, "Shu Ouma? May I ask a question?"
Shu looks back at her and swallows his food before he replied, "Go ahead."
"You mentioned your father, Kurosu Ouma, being lied to by your step-uncle. Who is your step-uncle?" Inori inquired.
Shu's eyes grew cold as he places his cutlery down. "His name is Shuichiro Keido…brother of Haruka Ouma. Have you heard of him?"
Inori widens her eyes as she soon remembers the man with a grey mustache whom she had seen Kurosu interacted with. "I do. I've seen and heard your father referring him as Keido-sama…" Her brows furrowed again. "And…on one occasion, he watched your father injecting his vaccine into my body…and on another occasion, he watched me and the others perform a live-fire exercise."
"It seems my step-uncle played a larger role within Matou Industries." Shu said grimly.
"Should we tell your mother about this?" Inori asked.
"I'm sure Haruka would already know all this by watching whatever is inside my father's phone." Shu said.
"You seem to keep referring Kurosu as your father, but never refer Haruka as your mother. Why is that?" Inori asked.
Shu sighs heavily and explained, "Haruka Ouma is not my biological mother. She is my father's second wife. My real biological mother died shortly after giving birth to me. So, Kurosu raised me by his own and we grew close to each other. But eventually, my father didn't want to feel alone any longer. So, he and Haruka Ouma eventually met each other during work…they fell in love…got married…and that's how she became my stepmother. And…how her brother became my step-uncle."
"Your father worked for Shuichiro Keido after he became your step-uncle?" Inori asked.
"Yes." Shu said icily as he nods his head. "Which is why if Haruka Ouma had not entered into my life…" Inori notices his hands curling up into tight fists. "None of this would have happened."
"I think I understand a lot more about you now." Inori said.
Shu sighs again before managing to crack a wan smile at the girl. "And I'm glad I got to learn more about you and my father." The two of them stare at each other for a moment before the boy said to her with a chuckle, "Now come on. Eat your food before it gets cold. I'm sure you'll love it."
"Yes, Shu Ouma." Inori bows her head to him before she picks up her cutlery and began eating her rice and drinking her soup. Shu briefly watches her before he continued dining on his meal as well.
After Shu and Inori finished their lunch, the former paid for their meals, and they leave the eatery and shopping district together.
Realizing they still have plenty of time left, Shu decides to take Inori to the center of the city where the famous Bajra Sandhi Monument is located. When they arrived, Inori looks around the island's most famous landmark in awe. The place is basically an enormous rectangular-shaped museum that looks similar to an ancient temple. Its most iconic feature is a tall tower built on top of the building that resembles the Hindu praying bell known as the Bajra, and the museum itself is surrounded by a small lake and a tall stone wall with many statues of goddesses and mythological creatures built around it, and its gateways resemble the front of a temple, forming the inner courtyard of the monument. The inner courtyard itself is surrounded by another stone wall and several open grassy fields with tall and lush green trees that forms the outer courtyard, which is where Shu and Inori could see the children and their parents doing all sorts of activities together such as playing games, having a picnic, or simply resting a large mat to enjoy the view of the sky and their surroundings.
While watching a couple sitting together on a mat and feeding their baby with a bottle of milk, Shu noticed Inori frowning in confusion. When he asked her what she is thinking inside her mind, the pink-haired girl turns her head to him and inquired how are couples able to have babies. Shu awkwardly stares at her with his eyes wide and his mouth agape for a few moments before he suddenly grabs her hand and tells her to follow him deeper into the monument grounds instead.
After walking through two open gateways of the outer and inner courtyard walls, Shu and Inori arrived at the entrance of the museum. The boy paid the entrance fees for the both of them, and they step into the main building. Inside, Shu and Inori view all kinds of paintings, photographs and dioramas that reflect various incidents throughout the history of Bali, such as its beginnings as the Kingdom of Bali, the introduction of Hinduism into the island, its fall to Dutch colonialism, and most of all, its struggle for independence from their colonizers.
Some of the photographs and dioramas of its struggle for independence they view are brutal in nature, displaying people fighting and killing each other with guns, swords, and hoes, which causes Inori to frown and clench her fists tightly, vowing to herself that she will prevent such killings and conflicts like these from ever happening again.
Realizing that Inori has gone eerily silent while viewing these photographs and dioramas, Shu felt they should stop looking at them, and takes the girl to the third floor of the main building, which is basically an observation area located inside and at the bottom of the Bajra-shaped tower. The two walk up to one of the glass windows and enjoy the clear panoramic view of the entire city of Denpasar.
While staring at the city below them, Shu asked Inori to tell him more about the serum injected into her body. Feeling obliged to obey her superior's request, Inori explains that it helped boost her physical strength, her agility, her accuracy, and the speed of her healing. The boy believed every word she said after witnessing her fight with the group of large men, and her wounds patching themselves up within seconds. With such enhancements to the human body, it is no wonder why Matou Industries wanted to profit their serum and living weapons across the world. And he could only imagine how much more mistreatment Inori would have received if she had been under the hands of a terrorist organization or an authoritarian regime.
After looking down at his watch and realizing that evening is approaching, Shu decided that it is about time for him and Inori to return home and have dinner with Haruka. The two leave the monument together and walk through the streets of Denpasar as they make their way home.
After walking for more than an hour, the two eventually find themselves arriving outside the boundaries of their home. As the boy takes out his key to unlock the gate, the pink-haired girl turns and looks around to make sure they have not been followed or spied on throughout their journey. As Shu opens the gate, he tells Inori to step into the premises of his household. That is when the girl stands down and follows her asset from behind. Shu locks the gate behind them and the two head towards the grey house.
Unbeknownst to them however, even to the eyes of Inori, there is a fly-sized drone hovering in the air and above the rooftop of one of the nearby houses at the other side of the road, watching them the entire time.
Back in the city, while staring at the live footage from the drone on his phone, the man in the black hoodie sat in front of a round-shaped pub located in the center of an outdoor restaurant that serves alcohol and grilled food, and mostly filled with tourists as its diners. He enlarges the footage to get a closer look on Shu and Inori, who are now knocking on the door and stepping into their home.
The man holds up his glass of cocktail and murmured while gazing at his phone, "Who are you, kid?"
Upon stepping inside their home, both Shu and Inori find Haruka chopping some vegetables at the counter beside the kitchen sink, just as the former predicted.
"Hello, Haruka." Shu greeted her. The brown-haired woman puts her knife down and turns around to see him and Inori.
"Oh, welcome home, you two." Haruka responded before smiling at the pink-haired girl. "Oh my, Inori! You look like a completely different person! Did Shu help you with your hair and that dress?"
"Yes, he did." Inori nodded. "I was also able to talk to him, and learn more about him just as you-"
"T-that's good to know! I'm glad you enjoyed your day today!" Haruka cried anxiously, ending with a chuckle. "Look, I'm still working on dinner, so why don't you two just hang around at the living area for a while?"
"Yes, ma'am." Inori solemnly bows her head to Haruka. While the girl walks over to the couch, Shu on the other hand goes over to his stepmother who turns around to grab her knife and continue working.
"So Haruka…did you learn anything from my father?" Shu asked.
Haruka pauses her work again and turns her head to Shu. "I'm still working on it."
"Well, can you at least tell me what you uncover so far?" Shu asked as he folds his arms.
"Not yet." Haruka shakes her head.
"Not yet? Why?" Shu asked angrily.
"Because…how do I say this…what your father saw at the facility was…you wouldn't comprehend." Haruka said.
"Seriously?" Shu asked incredulously.
"Yes." Haruka replied flatly as she turns back to the kitchen counter.
"So, you want to honor my father by hiding the truth from his son?!" Shu shouted.
"Just sit at the living area and make sure Inori doesn't do anything wrong, okay?!" Haruka snapped at him. Shu snorts and rolls his eyes as he turns and storms over to the living area to join Inori. After sighing inwardly, Haruka frowns sadly in guilt as she looks back at the counter, grabs an onion and continues her preparations for dinner.
As he sat on the couch beside her, Inori stares at her superior and asked, "Shu Ouma?"
Shu lets out a frustrated sigh before turning to the pink-haired girl with a warm smile. "Do you want to play a video game to pass the time away?" He asked.
"What's a video game?" Inori asked.
"Well…" Shu gets up from the couch and walks over to the television. He grabs one of the cases underneath the television and opens it up to reveal a disc. He inserts the disc into a black gaming console, which causes it to automatically turn itself on. After putting the case aside, he grabs two gaming controllers, and turns around to show them to Inori. "A video game is a form of entertainment that helps you to leave reality and put all your doubts and worries behind. I certainly could do that right now."
After walking back to the couch and sitting down beside her, Shu passes the second controller to Inori and he grabs the remote to turn the television on and switch to AV mode. When the game's main menu appears on screen, Shu places the remote down on the coffee table.
"The game we are going to play is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II…not to be confused with the other Modern Warfare 2 that came out in 2009 which is actually more popular, but this one is pretty fun to play too. Trust me, I'm sure you'll enjoy playing it." Shu explained to her.
While the boy uses his controller to go to multiplayer mode, the girl examines the device she is currently holding in her hands and curiously taps the trigger buttons, realizing that they work somewhat similar to the trigger anyone would normally find in any type of gun.
When she presses one of the four multicolored buttons on the controller however, Shu yelps and turns to Inori. "Whoa, don't press anything yet. You nearly exited us out of multiplayer."
"Sorry." Inori replied. The girl watched Shu enters them into a gameplay mode called 'Team Deathmatch' and they waited for a minute before they managed to find and enter a match.
As the screen is now split in half, Inori widens her eyes in awe as the map she and Shu have entered greatly resembles a war-torn nation that she and her fellow patients would learn about from their superiors back in the facility. The match soon begins, and Shu advised Inori to move her character and vision around by using the left and right thumb sticks on her controller. The girl was initially confused at first, but it only took a few seconds for her to realize how the thumb sticks work in-game.
As they explore the map together, it only took fifteen seconds for them to encounter their first enemy. Shu tries to shoot him down, but the enemy was the first to react and his character was killed. Inori on the other hand presses the right thumb stick to zoom in on their opponent and shoots him down to avenge Shu.
As soon as the enemy drops dead, another opponent shows up from the left side of the screen and fires at Inori's character. The girl gasps and shifts her body to her right as if she is dodging from the bullets in real life, and she presses the trigger button again to fire back at her opponent right through his head.
"Nice! Headshot!" Shu commented as he watches Inori play. "Whoa! Triple kill! Holy crap, you actually knew where that guy was shooting from?! Ow!" He suddenly yelps as Inori accidentally bumps her right elbow against his left arm while moving side to side on the couch.
"Sorry." Inori replied with her eyes still fixated on the television screen.
"No, it's okay! Ahahahahahahaha!" Shu laughed in amusement as he and Inori furiously move the thumb sticks and tap the buttons on their controllers while playing the game and working together.
As she hears Shu's laughter and cries of excitement, Haruka pauses her work yet again and turns around to see her stepson having fun with his new roommate. The woman could not help but curve her lips up into a weak smile as she idly watched Shu giving the happiest face he has ever made in a long while. After letting out a blissful sigh, Haruka looks back at the chopped onions and garlic on the kitchen counter and continues working.
After Shu, Inori and Haruka finish eating their dinner, the three of them clean their plates and cutlery at the kitchen sink, with the boy teaching and showing the pink-haired girl how to do so. Afterwards, the three head upstairs to take turns in using the bathroom to take a shower and brush their teeth. When Haruka is done, she heads into her room to continue looking at the contents in her late husband's phone. Shu and Inori on the other hand go into their own room and spend the time away conversing with each other while sitting on the mattress and bed respectively.
Eventually, when Shu realizes the time is eleven o'clock on his phone, he orders Inori to go to sleep. The two get under their blankets, and the boy turns off the lights in his room. As Shu and Inori close their eyes and fall asleep, the pink-haired girl began to dream of days gone by. Days of hardship, valor, and loss.
Inori, Gai, Yuu and their fellow patients look to their front after they were ordered by Guin and the mercenaries to stand alongside each other in two horizontal rows. While some of the other patients are trying to comprehend what is going on and why are they brought here after being told to put on their safety gear and arm themselves with a pistol, Inori, Gai, and Yuu already know the truth.
This is going to be yet another intense training session. And judging by the design of the obstacle course in front of them, it will require everything they have learnt for the last seven months. Every sparring session they had in the training room, and every shooting session they had in the range, they have all led to this moment.
"Listen up, everyone!" Guin suddenly yelled at them. "This is a live fire exercise, and our superiors will be watching your performance today!"
While some of the patients widen their eyes and gape their mouths open in shock, Inori and Gai slightly turn to their right and look up at the large and wide glass window above the doorway. Through the window, they could see Keido, Kotomine and several men and women sitting alongside each other inside a viewing gallery and waiting for their exercise to begin.
Inori and Gai briefly frown at them before they look back at Guin as he continued, "Your objective is to run through this obstacle course and be the first to reach the top of the ramp and grab the flag! But if you get shot once, you are eliminated! If anyone of you is feeling afraid right now, suck it up as no matter how many wounds you may receive in this exercise, the enhanced version of the serum inside you will keep you alive! Now let us see if you all been taking everything we taught you for the last seven months into your heart and mind! Remove the safety locks of your guns now!"
Inori, Gai, Yuu and the other patients did as they were told and held up their pistols. Guin takes out his own pistol and holds it up in the air.
"BEGIN!" Guin suddenly shouted and fires a bullet at the ceiling, signaling the start of the exercise.
All the patients immediately rush into the obstacle course without saying a word. Upon entering the first pit, the patients quickly get down on the sand and crawl underneath the barbed wire. As they do, one mercenary, who is operating a turret at the side of the pit, began firing multiple bullets that fly just inches above the patients. One of them squeal in fear as she immediately stops at her tracks.
"Keep moving, Mina!" Guin shouted at her as he stood beside the turret operator.
"I…I CAN'T!" Mina cried with tears of fright. Without warning, Guin aims his pistol at her and fires a bullet at her shoulder, causing her to scream in agony as she rolls to the side.
"Pathetic." Guin muttered and lowered his gun before yelling at the other patients, "The rest of you keep moving!"
Inori did not care about the commotion behind her as she remained focus on what is in front of her. When she, Gai, Yuu and another patient are the first to reach the other end of the barbed wires, they quickly get up and run towards the end of the sand pit.
Suddenly, one of the wall panels at the side of the large room and about twenty-five feet above the obstacle course slides open to reveal a mercenary armed with a sniper rifle. He aims his rifle at the leading four participants and fires a bullet at one of them on her shoulder, signaling his presence to Inori, Gai, and Yuu.
Gai yelps and stops at his tracks when he sees the patient fall onto the sand and wincing in pain over her shoulder wound. While Yuu and Inori kept running, Gai swiftly turns to his left and looks up to spot where the sniper is located while he is reloading his rifle. He quickly holds up his pistol and fires a bullet at the sniper, hitting him on the helmet and sending him falling to the floor.
However, another sniper quickly steps forward to take his place, and another wall panel slides open to reveal a second sniper. One of the snipers fires back at Gai, who quickly dodges the bullet by lowering his head and upper body, while the other sniper fires at Inori. The bullet barely misses the back of her foot, but it managed to cause her to fall onto the sand on her face, letting Yuu take the lead. Gai gasps when he sees this and runs over to Inori.
While one of the snipers was in the middle of reloading her rifle, Yuu quickly fires back at her. The bullet landed on the face shield of her helmet, and she falls back.
"Later, suckers!" Yuu shouted mockingly at everyone else behind him, including Gai and Inori, and he continues advancing through the obstacle course.
As Gai wraps Inori's arm around his shoulders and pull her back up on her feet, the other sniper fires a bullet at them, barely missing them by a few inches. One patient runs past them and fires a bullet back at the sniper, successfully hitting him on his right shoulder and he falls to the floor.
"Do you two have a death wish?! Keep moving!" Guin shouted at Gai and Inori.
After about eleven patients have run past them, Inori suddenly pushes Gai away, much to the boy's shock. As two more snipers took their place at the wall, one of them aims his rifle at Inori. But the pink-haired girl holds up her pistol as she kept running and shoots him at the face shield of his helmet.
The other sniper fires a bullet at one of the patients in front of Inori at the back of his vest. As he yells and falls onto the sand, Inori jumps over him and continues running, not caring about the boy who is now lying in pain. Gai snarled at his pink-haired friend before running after her.
Upon arriving at the edge of the pool, Inori sees that Yuu has already crossed over half of the right wooden beam above the water. There are five other patients who are following behind him and another five crossing on the left beam. Desperately wanting to catch up to Yuu, Inori goes over to the left beam and steps on top of it. She suddenly drops herself off and catches the beam with her hands while still holding onto her pistol. She wraps her arms and legs around the beam while she is underneath it and crawls her way over to the other side of the pool. As the five patients in front of her look down to make sure they do not fall off, they stop when they see Inori underneath them. They carefully lift their foot up to allow the girl to crawl past them without bumping into her arms and legs while maintaining their balance at the same time.
Meanwhile, as Yuu gets off the wooden beam after arriving at the other end of the pool, a grin appears on his face as he began running through the second sand pit, knowing that he is one step closer to the flag.
There are several horizontal walls scattered across the second sand pit, along with a wide trench at the other end of it. A platform is soon raised from the trench, revealing a group of thirty mercenaries armed with assault rifles and explosives. Yuu gasps and stops at his tracks as the mercenaries began firing their rifles at him, and he quickly runs over to the nearest wall beside him and hides behind it.
As they maneuver through the sand pit, the mercenaries also fire their rifles at those who are still crossing the beams above the pool, including Inori who just reach the end of the left beam, and Gai who is still balancing on the right beam. As Inori clings and stays below the left beam, all the other patients are shot on their bodies and limbs, and they fall to the water below.
While the other five patients on the right beam are getting shot, Gai quickly removes his bulletproof vest and holds it up just before the patient in front of him fell off. Using his vest as a shield from the bullets, Gai continues crossing the beam and holds up his pistol in his other hand. When three mercenaries try to shoot at his legs, Gai quickly lowers his vest to protect them and fires back at them. The bullets land on their chest or limbs and they fall onto the sand. Many more patients arrived at the wooden beams afterwards and they too began firing back at the mercenaries as they cross.
When ten more mercenaries fall onto the sand after getting shot by the patients, the seventeen remaining ones quickly run over to the nearest walls to hide behind them and reload their rifles.
Now that the firing has stop, Inori quickly adjusts herself around and gets up when she is back above the beam. She gets off just as Gai arrived at the other end of the pool as well. As the boy puts his bulletproof vest back on, the two quickly run through the second sand pit with several more patients following them from behind.
As Yuu gets out from his hiding spot and continues making his way to the flag, one mercenary stands up from behind the wall and throws a grenade over to him. The grenade lands a few meters in front of him and explodes. Yuu yells as the explosion sends him flying through the air and landing onto the sand on his back.
When they finish reloading their rifles, all the other mercenaries stand up as well and fire back at the advancing patients. Some of them got shot while others including Inori and Gai quickly hide behind the nearest walls. As Gai slightly looks out from the side of the wall, he watches a mercenary spotting a patient with chin-length lilac hair and lavender eyes running over to the back of one wall. He momentarily stops firing his rifle to take a mine off the back of his vest. Using a laser sensor on the left side of his helmet, he lights a tiny green beam of light at the wall the girl is hiding behind. He activates the mine and throws it onto the sand. Two pairs of spider-like legs emerge from the sides of the explosive, and it crawls over to where the lilac-haired girl is hiding behind. When it makes contact with the wall, the mine explodes, and the lilac-haired girl screams as she flies through the air and collides against another wall. After the smoke is cleared, the girl tries to get up, but a few mercenaries quickly shoot her on the chest and left shoulder.
Gai takes another moment to glance at every remaining mercenary before one of them turns and fires his rifle at him. After dodging the bullets and hiding back behind the wall, Gai turns to Inori and explained, "Alright, I counted seventeen of them. When we get back up, I'll shoot any mine that is thrown into the air as a distraction, and you help clear a path for us. Understand?"
Inori solemnly nods her head and holds up her pistol.
After another wall about six meters away from their current location was destroyed by another mine, Gai holds up his own pistol and said firmly to her, "Let's go."
As soon as the two stand up, Gai quickly spots one mercenary taking a mine from the back of his vest and throws it. While in the air, Gai fires a bullet at the mine and it explodes, causing the other mercenaries to stop firing and turn their attention to it.
While they are distracted by the explosion, Inori quickly climbs over the wall, gets down on a knee and fires her pistol back at the mercenaries. Gai fires back as well and they manage to shoot down seven of them. The ten remaining mercenaries fire their rifles back at them, but as soon as the smoke is cleared, five more of them are shot down by the other patients as they began emerging from their hiding spots and continue running through the sand pit.
"Come on, let's go!" Gai yelled at Inori before the pair run alongside their fellow patients.
Yuu groans as he now recovers from the earlier explosion, and he widens his eyes upon seeing the other patients running past him. He narrows his eyes and snarls.
"No!" Yuu slams his fist on the sand. "I will not lose to anyone!"
He quickly gets back up and makes a mad dash, desperately running past as many patients as he can.
As the five remaining mercenaries continue firing at the patients, Yuu sees one of them about to fire at him. He quickly grabs the nearest patient beside him and holds him up in the air and in front of him. As the bullets landed on the patient's torso, Yuu holds out his pistol and fires back at the mercenary, successfully hitting him on the chest area of his vest. Yuu tosses his human shield away before continuing to run through the sand pit.
With the remaining patients now nearing their main goal, the four remaining mercenaries began to move back and throw their grenades at them. Most of them manage to land in front of the patients and explode, sending them briefly flying through the air and halting their advance. But when one grenade lands in front of Inori, the pink-haired girl quickly grabs it and tosses it back to the mercenaries.
"Look out!" One of the mercenaries shouted. Two of them manage to leap out of the way, but the other two are sent flying through the air when it explodes. Inori and Gai soon see a clear path to the flag at the end of the pit when the smoke is cleared.
"This is it! Let's go!" Gai shouted at Inori.
The two friends began dashing over to the flag at the top of the ramp. However, both Gai and Inori fail to notice Yuu catching up to the latter from behind and tackles her to the ground. Gai stops and turns to see Yuu slamming his fists down onto the back of Inori's head to knock her out.
Everything went black for about forty seconds until Inori groggily opens her eyes as she regains her consciousness. Realizing that she is now lying on the sand, the girl moans as she manages to regain control of her limbs and slowly gets herself back up on her feet. She heard a gunshot as she places her left foot down on the sand. Followed by the sound of pattering as she lifts the rest of her body up and places the other foot down as well. And as her sense of hearing became much clearer again, she could hear Gai coming up to her as he asked in concern, "Are you alright, Inori?"
As she felt her arm being wrapped around Gai's shoulders for the second time of the day, Inori lifts her head back up, and the first thing she saw when her vision fully returned is Yuu running up the ramp and nearing the flag.
Knowing that her main objective is about to be taken away from her, as soon as Gai helped her stand back up, she pushes him away, not caring why his bulletproof vest is now unzipped, and runs after Yuu.
"No! Inori!" Gai shouted as he runs after her.
As he climbs higher up the ramp, Yuu's eyes and smile grew wider as he is about to reach the end of the obstacle course. Extending his right arm out, he prepares to grab the flag and become the ultimate victor. However, the remaining mercenary at the second sand pit fires his rifle at Yuu from behind and hits him at the back of his left shoulder. Yuu yells in pain as he got shot. He stops at his tracks and places his right hand on the back of his left shoulder for a moment before looking down to see his palm now covered with blood. Knowing that he is officially eliminated, Yuu began to tremble and breathe heavily with rage. With his blood now boiling inside him, the boy throws his head back and releases a loud roar over his failure.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Yuu whirls about and furiously fires several bullets back at the mercenary with his pistol. The mercenary yells in pain as the bullets land all over his chest, arms, and shoulders. And as the last bullet hit him on the area where his left lung is located, with his finger still wrapped around the trigger, his rifle fired several bullets as his right arm extends out to the side and towards the direction of Inori.
As the pink-haired girl turns her head to her left, her eyes slightly widen as she sees the bullets flying towards her. But just as they are only a meter away from her, Gai leaps into the line of fire, placing himself in front of Inori's face, and they shot through his unprotected chest.
While letting out a soft gasp, Inori slowly opens her eyes and finds herself in the middle of a room. But strangely, as she looked around, there are no doors or walls to be seen. And even though she can feel that she is standing still, she looks down to see that there is no floor as well.
The entire place is empty. Everything is white. There was nothing but herself.
That is what she thought until she lifts her head back up to see a figure with long white hair and dressed in plain white clothes standing in front of her in the distance.
Is he hostile? Inori quickly holds up her fists and gets into her fighting stance. As the mysterious figure remains where he is, she begins moving cautiously towards him.
With every step she makes, Inori was ready to attack as soon as the figure makes his move. However, as she drew closer to him, her eyes slowly widen and her mouth slightly gape open as she begins to recognize the exact shape and length of his hair, and the familiar build and height of his body.
When the girl now finds herself standing less than a meter away from the figure, Inori lowers her arms, stands up straight and looks up at him as she uttered his name, "Gai."
As the figure remain silent, Inori slowly reaches her hand out to him. But before she could touch the back of his right shoulder, the boy in white finally turns around to reveal himself to her.
The visible bullet wound through the area where the human heart would be, and the ugly scowl on his face behind the long strands of hair which clearly displays anger and betrayal. These two things are strong enough for Inori to gasp and widen her eyes in horror upon seeing her late friend.
"After everything I've done for you…" Gai said coldly as he begins stepping forward. Inori backs away from him as he continued, "Saved you…protected you…and in return…you pushed me away…"
Inori yelps as she suddenly could not move her legs. She looks down in horror to see that her entire legs are now being restrained and covered with bluish grey crystal-like spikes grown from beneath her feet. As she helplessly struggles to break free, Inori looks back up at Gai in fear as the long-haired boy now extends his right arm to the side and transforms it into a long and sharp crystallized blade.
"You're not a soldier…not a protector…not even human…" Gai uttered. After pulling his blade back for a moment, Inori could only stand and watch helplessly as the boy thrusts it towards her chest and bellowed in rage, "YOU ARE A MONSTER!"
"Inori!"
The girl gasps and jolts up from her bed in cold sweat upon hearing her name and waking up from her nightmare. After taking a moment to catch her breath, she looks around to see Haruka and Shu standing at the sides of her bed and looking back at her in concern.
"Inori, are you okay?" Shu asked concernedly. Inori stares blankly at her superior for a few seconds before nodding her head.
"Y-Yes…Yes, Shu Ouma." Inori replied. When she felt Haruka placing her hand on her left shoulder, the girl turns her attention to the older woman.
"Inori…" Haruka said grimly. "We have to leave now."
Sovereign: I would like to thank Darth Necron, MrDramcryx, LayLay lives, GuiltyKingOumaShu and Malakai Kilpatrick for reviewing, favoriting, and following this story.
Sorry that this chapter took a while for me to complete, mainly because I haven't been feeling well over the past two weeks, as well as dealing with some personal issues. But to everyone who is still sticking with this story, thank you so much for your support and patience. :)