{ Jhiro Fukiyama }
[TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter contains depictions of torture, so be forewarned.]
As expected, Yoko and Tai came out in the lead. Nanami and Hayashi disappeared soon after; I can only presume they joined the others, wherever that may be.
Neither member of the Kyushu duo looks very bruised. They have range and a one-shot KO tucked in their back pocket, so it stands to reason they'd blitz straight to semifinals. I hope their stamina has been dwindling, because the carnage of our fight with Jizusuke and Kanzaki took the wind out of me.
"Alright, Anamire, you ready?" I ask, as we take our places. My voice isn't too upbeat anymore; I stopped trying a few minutes ago.
"I am," she says, still with the same passive tone and ethereal aura around her. "Let's get through this."
The first thing to realize is that independently, both Yoko and Tai are formidable opponents. They excel in one-on-one duels, and comparing that with the fight against Nanami and Hayashi, that's no exaggeration. Both the shrine maiden and the emo kid had clear experience in combat, one having practiced in kendo and the other in jiujitsu. I have no idea what kind of training Yoko and Tai picked up from their hometown, but putting the two of them together could spell disaster for us. Our best bet is to defeat them one at a time, working in tandem.
"There goes the horn," I mumble, as the siren pierces the tense air. The shrill sound of its power ricochets off the skyscrapers around us, amplified tenfold through my bones. Perhaps it marks the sound of our imminent demise.
"See you in five." Anamire runs to the side, taking a straight path from the main area. I do the same, running in the opposite direction of her. We're going to reuse our strategy against Jizusuke and Kanzaki: divide and conquer, and pincer one opponent. After that, we play cleanup.
A look back reveals that Yoko's tailing me. Figures. With the handicap of a shield, I'd struggle to defend against her chain more than the Taser gun. Also, she had a difficult time beating Nanami last round, so she probably wants to avoid another melee confrontation.
I hope that Anamire can make it out alright. Tai's our main priority, but I don't know how quickly he can hunt her down—and she might be fast, but I doubt she can outrun a projectile.
"End of the line, man."
Time fast-forwards before I get a chance to catch up to it, and I hit a dead-end. Yoko's comment punctuates that home. Up ahead, the sliding blocks of grey metal that create the terrain have formed a corner, with the jump to the top at least five meters.
"Sorry," Yoko calls out, as a force yanks at my ankles, pulling me to the ground. The chain that suspended her above the abyss—the chain that I personally held in place like a pulley belt—has ensnared my legs, locking them in place.
"Weren't you the one saying we wouldn't turn on each other earlier?" I fire back.
"I said we wouldn't kill each other."
"Isn't that what we're doing, though? When you defeated everyone else, did you think about what would happen to them afterwards?"
"Aren't you being a bit hypocritical right now?" She tightens the chains, and the metal bites into my calf, even through my jeans. "I don't appreciate that."
"You can drop the facade now. There's no sense in acting the part of the leader if you can't even stand by your own words."
"I still stand by what I said. I won't kill anyone."
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Spring Upon the Solstice
Science FictionSeventeen year-old Jhiro Fukiyama hates the world; that's a fact. Of course, he has reason to. After all, he's a Yomiborn in totalitarian Japan, and for that very reason, he's been treated like dirt for his entire life. But when he meets a mysteriou...
