Snippet #2642811

Ieyoshi's grimace flattened into a straight line. His eyes widened very slightly. His shoulders settled, countenance becoming stiff. It was almost doll-like in its rigidness. The only thing that betray his underlying thoughts was the intensity of his glare as it bore into Ishiki's skull.

Now, at his age, Ieyoshi was still too young, too inexperienced, to be called a pessimist. Still, he wasn't one to glaze over what he considered the facts. For one, fighting and beating Ishiki alone, without his goons to back him up, would have already been a massive challenge. It was just a fact that he wasn't going to be able to beat Ishiki, the four upperclassmen in front of Ishiki... Ieyoshi's eyes wandered over to his right. ... and the two upperclassmen who held the blonde kid. He returned his eyes forward, dismissing those two. In the event of a fight, they'd be too busy restraining the other guy, so it was highly unlikely that they'd join in any sort of skirmish initially.

Convenient.

Ieyoshi noticed it first. There was movement from behind Ishiki. He didn't have to shift his eyes to notice who it was. Ieharu, gathering himself, moving his feet under his body so that he rested in a squatting pose, back against the wall. The two twins met eyes then. Ieyoshi tilted his head slightly to the left, and some sort of meaning, a silent message, seemed to pass between them. After a second or two, Ieharu wiped his face with the back of his sleeve, accidentally smearing red across his cheeks, and shook his head slightly, offering his brother his toothiest grin.

Ieyoshi closed his eyes for a instant, sighing softly. "Tch," he uttered under his breath, looking away from his twin. "Liar."

He resumed glaring at Ishiki, who simply shrugged at the lull in action. "Well?"

Between moments, Ieyoshi had developed something resembling a plan. Better, because it seemed that Ishiki wanted him to make the first move. "Let me guess," Ieyoshi began, taking a step to his right. "This is the part where I ask you nicely to let my brother go." He took another step to his right. The four upperclassmen in front of Ishiki followed Ieyoshi with their eyes. Predictably, Ishiki too a step to his left, subconsciously mirroring the elder twin. Good. The closer he could get to Ieharu and the further Ishiki was from them both, the easier this would be. Better to keep talking, then. "And then you say no." He took another step to his right, forcing the four upperclassmen to turn their heads to keep him in their sights. Like good dogs, they wouldn't attack until Ishiki told them too. Once again, Ishiki took another step to his left. They were virtually circling each other now. "And then I beat you all up."

Ieyoshi hoped his voice didn't shake with that last line. Bluffing wasn't his strong suit. Still, with one more step, it'd be a straight shot to reach Ieharu's position. Just one more step.

However, Ishiki didn't move this time. Instead, he laughed. It was obviously forced, because none of the warmth or girth reached his eyes. They were will cold and beady, despite his face. One second, two, five, he kept laughing. The other upperclassmen looked at each other, somewhat confused. As if to prompt them, Ishiki snapped his fingers twice in quick succession. Suddenly, they began laughing too. First the two in the middle, then all four, then the other two that were holding the other kid, who looked at them like they had all turned nuts. All of them force-laughing in tandem with their boss. And then, as spontaneously as it had started, Ishiki stopped, becoming silent. Most of the others followed suit except the one closest to Ieyoshi, who kept laughing. He was promptly elbowed in the side by his compatriots.

Ishiki cleared his throat in an attempt to cover up the lack of coordination amongst his lackeys. His girlfriend was cheering him on from the side, after all. He had to look badass in front of her, despite this poor showing from his subordinates. "Stupid child!" He proclaimed, pointing at Ieyoshi. "And foolish! To dare to bare your fangs at us! My club is composed of this school's most elite fighters." He slowly raised his other hand as he spoke. His tone had become overbearingly arrogant, his stance undeniably dramatic. Akako gave him another cheer of approval, grinning while she recorded the whole thing on her BluScreen. "We're the elite! You'll never get past a single one of us." Ishiki snapped his fingers. Once. Pause. Then again. Ieyoshi recognized it as the signal to attack and raised his fists, taking a fighting stance. He wasn't close enough to his brother, and things had started too soon. This wasn't going to work out after all.

...

Several seconds after Ishiki's grandiose hand gestures, when nothing happened, Ieyoshi raised an eyebrow. The four upperclassmen seemed confused again.

Ishiki brought his palm to his forehead, resulting in a loud smack. "Attack, you idiots," he said, nearly whining. "The two snaps means to attack. We went over this."

That's when one of the upperclassmen, the one closest to Ieyoshi, mobilized. He puffed out his chest, assuming his full height, and took a step forward, fist balled, meaning to attack the elder twin... and promptly proceeded to trip over his own feet and fall on his face.

So much for the elite.

Everyone looked down at him, on the floor, mouths slightly agape. Ishiki face-palmed once more. His girlfriend tsked in annoyance. "Moron," she muttered, and the blonde kid let out a laugh that was hastily smothered by his captors. Despite his lack of belief in superstition, Ieyoshi wasn't about to look this gift horse in the mouth. Taking advantage of this distraction, he darted forward and to the right, easily leaping over the downed upperclassman. He came sliding to a halt in front of Ieharu, who'd come to his feet immediately, already prepared to move. So far, this had gone better than he had hoped. Phase one of his plan was complete. He already reached his brother without too much trouble. Now for phase two. Unfortunately, this particular spot was very well chosen by the Martial Arts Appreciation club. This part of the lot was not only mostly abandoned, but was walled off from the rest of the school proper by the auxiliary building, which was probably why the they liked to hang out here. No teachers or staff or nosy students to get in the way of their fun.

This meant that, in order to escape, Ieyoshi's only option was to leave the same way he came. Hop back over the downed upperclassman, outmaneuver Ishiki and his thugs, run along the side of the auxiliary building, and exit back into the main parking lot where Damien and the others were waiting. Ieyoshi grabbed his brother by the hand, sparing a precious moment to glance in the direction of the other kid whom had been restrained. The elder twin dismissed him in the same instant. While the guy's predicament was unfortunate, Ieyoshi was simply too pragmatic to play the hero. Further, there was no time to lose and their window of escape was closing fast.

When he tried to move forward, however, Ieharu resisted him.

"But Ryuu!" The younger twin whispered. The boy in question glared as though he couldn't believe them for halting and jerked his head sharply, wincing slightly at the movement. His expression practically screamed get out of here already, dumb asses! But it was too late. Ieyoshi could only watch, eyes wide, as his precious window of opportunity closed right in front of his face. Ishiki wasn't stupid, and moved immediately to block their path. His thugs followed suit, closing off the only means of escape left open by the downed upperclassman.

"For fucks sake, Ieharu," Ieyoshi sighed, letting go of his brother's hand. They were screwed, backs only a meter or two from the wall. Another wall to their right. The wall of the auxiliary building to their left. Ishiki and his thugs to the front, and they were slowly closing in. Help could not be expected from the only person present who would be on their side, since no matter how much Ryuu struggled and curse there wasn't much a small boy like him could do against two burly upperclassmen who were at least twenty centimeters taller than him, had him by the arms and were nearly lifting him off his feet.

At this point, any normal person would have panicked. Or at least been unsettled. It was the end, after all. However, looking at Ieyoshi, none of that was evident. One moment, he seemed driven, motivated to action as he went for his brother, but now he seemed almost bored. He took a step backwards so that he stood dead center in front of Ieharu, his back to the younger twin. Taking advantage of this interim period before what he knew for certain would be an ensuing violence, he took stock of his surroundings one more time, if only to confirm just how screwed they really were. To be honest, if he was being completely forthright with himself, none of this came as a surprise. This was the obvious result of running into a situation half-cocked and trying to improvise with off-the-cuff tactics in lieu of a well-formed strategy. It simply wasn't his style.

"Remember boys," the girl was holding her BluScreen right in front of her, with the twins in full focus, "Rosa says she needs a trophy to collect from these boys! It has been decided the only true proof that they've been disposed of is that underwear that they flaunted so flagrantly this morning. You know, the whities and the 'Batman Bitch' one! Get me that Batman underwear!" She paused a bit before adding a more innocent sounding "Pleee~ase?"

After several moments of inaction, perhaps due to the upperclassmen's bewilderment at what'd just been asked of them, Ishiki clapped his hands. "Well, you heard her!" He said, making a shooing motion. "Get 'em!" Ishiki slurred the final syllables, so that it came out as ssskit 'em!

Almost cavalierly, Ieyoshi raised his hands, fists open, his left crossed over his right. He spread his legs about shoulder width apart, lowering himself into a quasi-boxing stance. Whatever happened, he wouldn't make this easy for them. He'd make sure it took all four to... did she say take their underwear? Ieharu squealed in the background.

As the upperclassmen began closing the distance, a single thought permeated the serene silence that had settled over his conscious mind: I'll die before you lay hands on my brother again.

A loud voice bellowed, "HEY!" The boys became startled, and everyone but Ieyoshi paused to look around. The eerily familiar voice had apparently come from behind them, but nobody was there, or at least that's what was apparent. However, the sound of leaves rustling and branches creaking made it immediately obvious as to where the voice had come from: the big, dense maple tree. Suddenly, a big black figure dropped from it like like a ninja from television and landed perfectly. A person remained crouched on the ground, sitting on one knee with the other in front of him. His head was down beside his knee, obscuring his face, but unmistakably he was wearing a bright blue beanie. There was a silence, as the man—it was by no doubt, an adult man—did not give speak, neither did anybody else, waiting for him to speak. Ishiki attempted to break the silence. "Who–"

"Tell me," the man interrupted, his voice deep and intimidating. He paused and then spoke again. "Why don't you boys tell me..." he paused again. Ishiki gulped. There was no doubt in his mind that this man was going to ask exactly what was happening in this situation, and with a bunch of seniors surrounding two freshmen, one of which seemingly bruised, while another was being restrained, Ishiki couldn't possibly have thought up a reasonable excuse, not that one would have worked anyway. The man finished his sentence; "... tell me where I can find the Nurse's office." Everybody looked at the man incredulously. He grunted. "Y'see," he explained, looking up at the group of students with narrow eyes and an ironic grin, "I realize now that falling onto my ankle from ten feet up the tree isn't such a great idea."

Silence filled the area as everyone stared at him with expressions ranging from disbelief to flabbergasted, the air thick with tension and nervousness of the man who'd suddenly appeared. Then what he said sunk in and a sense of relief permeated the air around the upperclassmen as they registered that it was just some crazy dude instead of a teacher, and Ishiki straightened up with a winning smile, dark aura receding so fast that it was like he had never been spouting theatrics for the past hour or so in the first place. "Uh, yeah, the Nurse's office is over there," he said calmly, pointing with relief to the left. "Turn second right, go down the steps and walk straight until you see the nurses office. Right, dear?" He nudged his girlfriend, who was still standing there looking gobsmacked, BluScreen still held loosely in her hand as if she had forgotten that she had been using it to film.

"Y-Yeah," Akako recollected herself and smiled charmingly at the man. She looked the picture of beauty, belying her true nature. "You're right, Ishiki."

"Godot!" Ieharu exclaimed in pure jubilation, buds of hope blossoming in his eyes like miniature orange supernova. If he remembered being shot in the face just a few short hours earlier, it didn't show. Ieyoshi eyed the man but otherwise remained silent.

The hooded home-tutor pushed himself up, grunting as he did so. "Thank you kindly," he said, before casually limping away, his hands in his pockets.

Ieharu stared in unabated disbelief. "G-godot! Wait! No! Where are you going?!"

Godot paused mid-stride, however. "Come to think of it," he said, turning, "there seems to be a bit of an issue here. I couldn't help but notice while I was hanging in that tree there." He nodded toward it. "In fact, as far as I can tell, this looks like some kind of harassment, huh? Intimidation, bullying, all that ugly stuff. Yeah, I suppose you could say I'm good at reading a situation, although to be honest, it's pretty obvious that's exactly what's going on." Ishiki was about to deny it, but Godot interrupted him with a chuckle. "Relax kid, I understand, no need to convince me. Well, then allow me to rectify the situation. Yoh! Haku!" Godot pointed his finger in their direction. "You two quit picking on these young gentlemen right now!"

Ieyoshi dropped his hands and Ieharu nearly fell down on his backside at Godot's words. Both boys were rendered nonplussed, but it was Ieharu that regained his composure first. "Uh," he started, stepping out from behind his brother. "I... um. Well, Godot... we aren't— it's not..." He scrunched his face in an attempt to articulate his thoughts. Finally, he found the words. "It's not like that at all!"

"Is that so?" Godot stared off into the clouds. "Alright, so from what I'm understanding, you guys," he faced Ishiki, "are from the Martial Arts Appreciation Club, meaning you specialize in self-defense. That's why I was confused, because it appears you're not really defending yourselves at all. Quite the opposite, in fact. That dame however," Godot looked over in Akako's direction, "doesn't exactly fit into this crowd, huh? Not that girls can't 'appreciate' self-defense, I guess. Tell me, girl, are you recording all this?" Akako stuttered as her arms sunk slightly. Godot suddenly hollered, "TURN IT OFF!" Akako squeaked as she folded her BluScreen and turned it off.

"Punk!" Ishiki was hollering now, "Don't yell at my girlfriend like that, you bastard! Who the hell do you think you are?" Ishiki turned his head toward Haku and back at Godot, "You just break into school grounds and sit in a tree like some creepy stalker, and now you're lecturing us? The Elite?"

"Hey," Godot said in a low, intimidating voice, "Stuff it." Ishiki scowled at him and balled his fists. Godot took a step forward, grunting a bit as he did so. "I just thought it was a stupid idea," he explained, "to create incriminating evidence against yourself when doing 'business'. I guess that lady of yours is your middle-man between you and your employer, then?" Godot chuckled. "How cute. We've got ourselves a little intricate criminal syndicate in this school. Still, this drama that you're trying to pull is way too unnecessary. If I were you guys, I would have taken these two kids out in different locations. Don't even declare your intentions or none of that. And look," he gestured to Ryuu, "you got somebody unrelated mixed up in this."

"Godot," Ieyoshi said, frost underlining his tone. He gave the man his full attention for the first time since he'd dropped into the scene. Their new nanny was currently standing off to the side, to the right of Ishiki but a ways away from Ryuu and the two upperclassmen that surrounded him. "You're in my way." His words had a sort of uppity finality to them, as if they were entirely self-evident and he were being forced to state the obvious. His brother's declaration came much to Ieharu's horror, of course. He gave Godot a wide-eyed apologetic look, hoping to excuse his brother and welcome the older man's assistance. The difference between the expressions on their otherwise identical faces was like night and day.

"What was that?" Godot turned his head as he spoke sardonically, "I didn't catch it. I guess you didn't hear me when I said stuff it. That applies to everybody you know. When I say something, I expect people to listen to me talk. I might just teach you something." As Godot brushed himself off, Ieyoshi hunched his shoulders, a retort hot on his lips, but Ieharu pulled on his arm. Godot continued to rant. "Do you all have any idea how long I was in that tree, with the dead leaves that keep getting into your clothes? That wasn't as bad as my last three hiding spots, though. The garbage cans are particularly bad during lunch. Anyhow, I've been waiting all day to give a lecture that I was supposed to give earlier, out in this yucky weather, with nothing but the birds to talk to. So I'd like to get my point across, if you don't mind."

Ieyoshi shook off his brother's grasp almost violently, taking a step forward. "Listen, Ishiki," he said, addressing the upperclassman. "Fuck this guy. He's not a teacher here. You wanna throw down?" He resumed his fighting stance. "Come at me then." Ishiki looked at Ieyoshi like he'd sprouted another head. Ieyoshi took the moment of silence as a question with an answer he was all too eager to provide. "Or all of you can come at me," he said, seemingly exasperated. Judging from his expression alone, one wouldn't venture to guess that the elder twin were agitated, or impatient, or even angry. He looked calm. It was his words, not his tone or visage, that betray him. "I don't give a fuck. Let's just get this over with."

BANG!

The sound of a gunshot rang out through the empty lot, startling just about everybody. Both Akako and Ieharu screamed, though who screamed louder is anyone's guess. Ieyoshi stumbled rearwards past Ieharu, his back colliding with the wall. Godot was standing there with a smoking gun in his hand.

"My bad," Godot said, "but I told him to stuff it." All of the boys—or at least the sane ones—were all about to bolt, but Godot called out to them. "Hey-hey-hey! Relax! You think I'm going to shoot anybody else?" Godot brought his gun to the side of his face and pointed it upward. "You see, this is self-defense. This is the martial arts that I appreciate, the good-ol' Beretta. Godot put the weapon back in his jacket pocket, which is where it was hidden."

Ieharu stared at his brother, his hands pressed flat against the sides of his head, eyes wide with terror, mouth agape. "N-no! Not again!" he cried, tears coming to his eyes. "He didn't mean all those things he said!" He turned towards Godot, hands still on his head. "You didn't have to do that!"

"Ah, yes, young Ieharu," Godot smirked affably at the remaining sibling, "I trust you made it to school on time. Tell me, did you stop Ieyoshi from, what was it again? Saying something stupid? Alright, I imagine you're a little confused as to why I shot you earlier—and why I shot your brother just now—but I think it would be best if you just watched for a moment."

Watch? Watch what? His brother die?! Hands still cradling his head, Ieharu, in shock much like the others, turned to look at his brother's remains. Ieyoshi's body was leaning against the side of the wall, his head bowed, eyes closed. There was a thin string of blood originating from the spot on his head where he'd been shot, but there was no wound. Weird. Ieharu dropped his hands, his expression becoming quizzical—curious, even. He'd seen it. Everyone heard it. Godot just shot him. Where was the wound?

And that's when Ieharu felt it. A sort of pressure that pushed against the front of his body, the part that was facing his twin brother. It was like a giant hand was trying to crush him, compress him into nothing, like the winds of a tornado, or a hurricane. Yet he wasn't moved physically. His hair wasn't tossed back and forth, his clothes weren't pressed against him, dirt and rocks didn't fly up everywhere, so it wasn't a blast of air. It was something else. The sensation lasted but for a moment, transitioning from push to pull, like he were being sucked towards his brother, and then from pull to nothing. The sensations ceased entirely, leaving Ieharu with a feeling of vertigo.

"What the hell—" one of the upperclassmen started, but stopped short of completing his thought. At the same time, Ieharu took a hesitant step backwards, away from his brother's body.

Slowly, surely, Ieyoshi opened his eyes, stopping at about the half-way point. Suddenly, he leaned forth, lurching forward like the undead. He glided across the ground as he moved, walking silently past Ieharu, who simply started at him. He moved past Ryuu and the two upperclassmen that held him. He completely ignored Godot, wobbling on his feet a few times before coming to a decidedly unstable stop before the rightmost of Ishiki's four henchmen. They all looked at him like he was a demon fresh from the summoning circle.

"It makes sense now," he whispered. If one weren't paying attention, his voice could have been mistaken for a wisp of wind. His face was certainly that of a zombie. There was no life there. No warmth or spark. You might as well have been staring at a pile of bricks. No wonder, then, that the upperclassman before him fumbled for words. Ieyoshi didn't seem to mind, his gaze hazy and unfocused. "You guys, I mean. All of this. It makes sense, now. Perfect sense. I don't know why I didn't see it before. You all and Rosa and this morning and the underwear and the water. Perfect sense." Ieyoshi peered up at the muscle bound third year that stood before him, his eyes focusing somewhat. The elder twin looked like he was high on drugs. "Are we gonna fight now?"

"Dude," the upperclassman started, "you just got shot. Are you crazy?"

"I remember you. Your face, I mean. Not your name, that was never important. You're just a mook in a red shirt. It's your face. I've seen you around. Not just at school, I mean. Outside. I remember now." With every syllable, his tempo increased. It got to the point where he was speaking so fast that whole sentences were running together. "The Mitsuwa Marketplace. The food court. You serve the evening shift, right? It makes sense then, why someone like Ishiki was able to prey on you. To bring you into the fold. You're more than just an idiot. You're weak. Mentally, I mean." The upperclassman furrowed his brows in anger, but Ieyoshi didn't seem to mind. "You have no academic talents. You're not good at sports. You can't sing or dance. You can't do anything useful and you'll never be a main character, not even in your own life story. You're afraid that you'll be working that dead end nine-to-five job serving fries for the rest of your life, right? That's why you enjoy beating up defenseless first years, right?" The guy opened his mouth to respond, but Ieyoshi kept going. "So that you'll feel better? Let me assure you though, garbage like you will always remain garbage." The third year clenched his fists. He was clearly angry now, which was exactly what Ieyoshi wanted. "There is no hope for your kind. So instead of playing the fool so convincingly, why don't you take the initiative for once in your pathetic life and come at me?" He paused his monotonous diatribe for an instant, letting that last barb sink in. It certainly did. "Right now."

The upperclassman needed no further convincing. You could see the veins popping under his shirt. Without warning, he raised his fist and punched Ieyoshi dead in the mouth. The resulting pop! reverberated through the de facto audience as viscerally as the gunshot had earlier. Ieyoshi didn't bother bringing up his hands to defend himself or even deflect the blow. He just took it, his head snapping to the side with the force of it, blood and spittle flying into the air. The upperclassman followed it with another punch, this time to Ieyoshi's chest. Ieyoshi was forced to take a step backward with this one, but didn't otherwise move to defend himself. Again and again, the upperclassman would attack him, and Ieyoshi would just take it with a stoic expression and those dead dull eyes.

"Yoh!" Ieharu shouted. "What are you doing?!"

"Fulfilling his dying will, of course," Godot answered. Ieharu hadn't noticed until then that Godot had somehow ended up beside him. He was leaning against the wall, watching Ieyoshi in combat. "I shot him with the dying will bullet after all, the same kind as the one I shot you with this morning. Anybody with a dying will, when shot with this bullet, will revive with both the drive and the strength to accomplish that will. Can't you remember what happened this morning when I shot you with the bullet?"

"You shot me!" Ieharu said aloud, though it sounded as if he were trying to convince himself. He explored his face with his hands, looking for a wound of some kind. "You shot me in the face!" The rest of Godot's words seemed to click at that moment. "Dying will?" He remembered those two words coming up several times before when his father spoke to uncle Ryohei and the others from time to time, but they never really meant anything to him. They still didn't. "You mean he's dying?!"

"The pieces just don't add up in your head right," Godot teased, "do they, young Ieharu? If that was so, you wouldn't be in this situation, would you? You'd be quite dead, in fact. No, he's not dying, but his body thinks he is. That's the genius of it. There is no stronger will to do anything than that of a goal you wish to accomplish before you die. So, Yoh's mind is currently dead set on beating these guys, just like yours was on stopping Yoh this morning. There's a nice bargain that comes with being single minded, of course. The bullet allows your body to remove all its physical limiters, allowing to achieve an inner strength not usually available to us normally, as human beings. You managed to somehow run to school on time, after all. And your brother, well, you can see for yourself."

Eventually, Ieyoshi was pushed back against the wall, and the upperclassman prepared to deliver a final blow. He brought his fist skyward and, with a shout, smashed it into the boy's stomach. Ieyoshi didn't react at all. He might as well have been a punching bag. However, before the third year could withdraw his fist, the Sawada twin gripped the guy's arm, his hold fairly loose. For several long seconds, neither moved, and then, suddenly, the third-year fell to his knees. It wasn't immediately clear why. Ieyoshi was still gripping his arm, but he had not retaliated once. Didn't even throw a single punch. What was going on here?

When Ieyoshi released the guy's arm from his grip, the third year toppled backwards onto the ground, tongue drooping slightly from his mouth, his eyes as dim and empty as Ieyoshi's.

Stepping over him like one would over a puddle in the street, Ieyoshi advanced, slowly but surely, until he stood before the next of Ishiki's three henchmen. "Are we gonna fight now?" He asked with that same monotonous drawl.

The three remaining third years glared at each other, fighting silently over who's turn it was to take on this weirdo. From their split-second deliberation, they came to the apt conclusion that it would be best if they all attacked simultaneously.

(Un)fortunately for them, Ieyoshi seemed to lose his balance like a drunkard, if he ever had any balance at all. He fell forward onto his face, like a log, and remained there, unmoving. It didn't look like he was breathing. He just looked dead.

"Of course," Godot finished, "it only lasts for five minutes."

Ishiki coughed twice, perhaps to cover up his own nervousness and confusion. "Okay," he said. "Uh, good job, guys." There was no steel behind his voice this time. "Now, uh, take down the other one." He made a shooing motion in Ieharu's general direction. "And someone pick up Ken off the floor, too. He's making us look bad."

"I should probably mention," Godot added, "if the person who is shot doesn't have any regrets, the bullet will work." Godot looked upward. "Well, come to think of it, I guess the bullet would work, just a bit more permanently." he looked toward Ieyoshi lying on the ground. "Hey, Haku, your brother," Godot mentioned with a frown, "I think you should check on him. Also, you know, don't let these guys kill you, and while you're at it, that kid over there looks like he could use a little help."

Ieharu, who was offhandedly pondering if it was part of his so-called "dying will" to remove all of his clothes this morning, was snapped back into reality by Godot's mentioning of his brother. He was not a very good multitasker. His first reaction to seeing his brother's limp body face down in the dirt was to run toward him, but the three remaining third years had already started advancing on his position, cutting that plan short. Panicking, Ieharu turned back to Godot, who was still leaning against the wall. "Help! I think he's dead! Oh my god! He looks dead!" He said, pleading, his hands shaking. "I don't know what to do!"

"Well, I suppose you gotta look at things objectively," Godot had a look of confidence as he explained, "You want to save your brother, but you also want to protect your friends, I imagine. Also, you know, you don't want, well, your underwear taken. Now what is it that you gotta do to do all that stuff? I'll give you a hint, you need to stop these guys... I guess that was the answer. Well, knowing that, what is it that you really want to do?"

"Uh..." Ieharu eyed the upperclassmen warily, taking an uncertain step back towards Godot where, for some reason, he felt safe. "I..." He knew what he was going to say next was going to sound lame. The sheer thought of it reddened his cheeks. "I want to protect everyone!" He shouted through his own consternation.

Godot once again pulled his gun out of his pocket and took aim at Ieharu's forehead.

"Then do it with your dying will!" Godot squeezed the trigger.

BANG!