Battle Royale: Yet to End

Ju-Roku

   An hour and a half passed after noon. Hideaki Kamakura (Male Student No. 2) and Katsushi Tosaku (Male Student No. 3) were sitting by the river. After Jiro Shimeji's (Male Student No. 9) attempted murder on Hideaki, they rushed for the river to wash his wound on his neck, just above the metal necklace. They were lucky they escaped from Jiro, with the big help of Katsushi's blowtorch, of which its gas was consumed of about one-eighth of its total amount. If it weren't for his help, he will surely die from being slit in the throat, a death he didn't find pleasing. They did hear the multiple explosions on the beach down below the cliffs, which made them wince on the rocks they sit on. The two of them argued on whether they should move to a new place or not because of the explosions, but eventually decided to stay. They were too tired to run. They needed to sleep, but chances that someone may kill you while sleeping is high. Sleeping is too risky, unless you've got a nice hiding spot where nobody can notice at all.

  They also heard the distant gunfires that came from the northern forest, which died down as quickly as it went off. Their current sector, D=5, wasn't on the list of future danger zones so they were safe until they move out.

   Katsushi shook the blowtorch to get Hideaki's attention. "Hey, Aki, if we're going to move out again, better hold on to your drill. You never know, those guys may come back again. You can't always rely on my weapon, y'know."

    He nodded and said, "Hey, what if we got separated? What should we do?"

    Katsushi thought about it for a moment and replied, "It is a possibly. If so, we have to decide on a place to meet up on." He looks around and notices the worn-out lighthouse at the far end of the grassland. He points his finger over there and Aki's eyes follow. "There. We'll meet up at the lighthouse. Whatever happens, we'll wait for each other there."

    Hideaki's face turned dark and glum all of a sudden. "What if... one of us doesn't come back? I mean, you know-"

    "Dead. Yeah. Its a possibility also. Well, if that happens, we just have to continue on. We can't help it if one of us dies. Some of us are willing to do it and they can be anywhere so..." He shook his head. "You know, we'd better not think of that. Let's think positive. We'll survive this."

     He forced a smile. "I guess so..." Then, he thoughts flew to the time he heard gunshots about 9 AM. Then his thoughts flew to the time Hisako Kazehaya and Aoi Torio's death announcement by Okamatsu. The sound of the guns sounded the same, and Hisako and Aoi were killed by Atsushi Mori. Could it be...?

   He pushed off the thought. Thinking it only makes him feel worse. Being nearly killed by someone was bad enough. He got his bag and unzipped it. The batter-operated drill was on top above all supplies, just in case they may run into some killing machine again. He pulled it out and placed it on his lap. Then, he got the battery box and inserted four into the drill. He closed the battery's lid and gave it a try. The long masonry drill bit spinned with a whir. He quickly released the button, and the drill bit stopped, and so did the whirring sound.

   "Looks like you're ready.", said Katsushi. He got a bottle of water from his bag and sipped three times and put it back again. 

   Hideaki shrugged his shoulders and said in a doubting tone, "I'm not sure yet. I'll only use it when REALLY needed. I don't know if I can handle killing, but after what I did to Jiro..." He scratched his head. "I dunno."

   Katsushi stared up to the sky. "To be honest, I think I am ready and willing to fight. Don't take it the wrong way, but I think I'm going to handle killing someone." His voice sounded somehow desperate. He knew nothing about murdering itself. Staining yourself with someone else's blood was something an inexperienced killer couldn't manage to do. He then laughed. "I shouldn't be telling all this bullshit on you, huh? Well, I'm telling it too to myself."

   Hideaki slid his fingers across the drill bit as he listened. His uniform was 30% dirty already, even though he didn't get into an actual fight (unless you count his experience with Jiro) where you have to go all crawling to the ground and all that.

   "C'mon. We'd better rest. We'll take turns. Thirty minutes each, got it?" Katsushi said. "You go to sleep first. You've got to regain your strength after that incident."

   Hideaki wearily nodded and thanked him silently. Finally, some sleep! He laid down himself on the low-growing grass. He didn't mind if it was itchy. As long as he can sleep for a while, its fine.

   "I'll wake you up after the time I said earlier."

   "Okay. Got it."

   He closed his eyes, and drifted off to a deep slumber.

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