Chou Futami's Story

After watching Hideyoshi for a moment, Nakano muttered something to himself, looking down at a notepad he'd apparently brought and scribbling something down on the page. Sachiko shifted in her spot, starting at Nagisa's bleeding and apparently broken nose. That looks like it hurts. Wonder why Hideyoshi doesn't like being touched so much...

"Perhaps this will teach everyone a lesson in how important personal space is," Shimizu said, almost quietly enough that Sachiko couldn't hear. Unlike everyone else, the acrobat seemed oddly non-taken-aback by the mountain climber suddenly punching someone in the face.

"I'd like to say we could teach that lesson without violence, but..." Yamada trailed off, seemingly thinking to himself. His eyes took on an odd look for a moment--but as soon as it was there, it was gone, and he turned to fully face Sachiko. He smiled slightly. "Hayashi. Shall we get everyone food now?"

Ah! That's right! Sachiko jumped to her feet, smiling. "Yep! We'll make sure to get everyone things that look like they taste really good. Nagisa, feel better, okay?"

Hopefully your nose doesn't contort so badly that you're stuck forever looking like someone who got their face smushed into the side of a mountain, Sachiko added in her head, remembering someone that'd happened to before. Poor guy.

Yua stood, frowning slightly. "I, uhm...my little brother used to get himself into trouble all of the time, so I'm pretty good at treating stuff like that. If you need my help, just say so, and I'll be happy to do all I can! In fact, if it's already both bruised and bleeding, then there's a very good chance his nose is broken."

"Geez, Hideyoshi. One day in and already breaking bones," Nakano muttered, looking up from his notepad. "What is it that hip kids say these days? 'Savage'? Also, we are totally bandage buddies now, Nagisa. Do you want to be disease buddies too? If I breathe near you for too long we can probably make it happen."

Everyone simultaneously seemed to scoot further away from Nakano. He shrugged, then wrote more things down in his notebook.

"Maybe we should cut Yoshi some slack," Yamada suggested carefully. "It's like he said, we don't know what he's been through. That's true for everyone, really, so sometimes giving people benefit of the doubt really helps to take a step toward understanding."

"Unless that person ends up being psycho and you're totally wrong about giving them benefit of the doubt, then you'll probably end up getting murdered or something," Nakano pointed out casually. Yamada frowned.

It is always best to be careful," Sachiko said knowledgeably, "but I think we can all trust Hideyoshi! He seems like a really nice person."

Nakano shrugged. "If you want, I guess, but aren't we all the ones in a killing game? We shouldn't be trusting anyone."

There it was again. Was there anyone in this hellhole who wasn't insistent on reminding everyone every two seconds that they were supposed to kill each other?

Tsubasa crossed his ankles, then uncrossed them and stood. "This killing game thing is bullsh*t," he declared confidently. "No psycho teddy bear can make us do anything we don't want to. We're human beings with agency and we can make our own choices. H*ll, I say we take the little f*cker apart and see what makes him tick. Maybe I can use his parts to build us a plane out of here--he's gotta have some kind of engine in there, right?"

We're human beings. We're not your puppets.

"If you guys want to keep rambling about how we're 'in a killing game' I'll find some rope and tie you to something until the plane's done. We're not 'in' anything we don't choose to be in. And I don't know about you guys, but I did not choose to be in a killing game! I'm getting out of here and I'm taking you with me!"

Nagisa cheered. "Yeah, what he said! We're definitely going to make it out of this because this is just a weird experiment and we're totally fine!"

"We can totally make it outta this, eh?" Futami agreed. "Yeah...yeah. We're gonna be fine, 'eh? Yeah. Yeah!"

Something in her tone didn't sound convinced--Futami slapped her cheeks and pumped her fist in the air, jogging in place.

"Okay! I'm ready for a run! Yo Yua, make sure Nagisa here don't end up with a broken nose for all eternity or anythin'! Hayashi, Yamada, ready when you are!"

Katsuro huffed. "You all are so loud. How am I supposed to enjoy my island vacation with you shrieking in my ears?!"

"Vacation," Tsubasa repeated. "That's all this is. Life's what we make of it, so let's make it a vacation."

Kagakagari stared at the ground for a moment, then suddenly stalked out of the gate and began heading back towards the dorms. Startled, Tsubasa quickly hustled behind him, Nagisa trotting obediently at the back.

"Kagakagari," Tsubasa called. "Hey, come on. I'm sorry for yelling at you. Look--won't you just say something?"

"Sure. How 'bout this?"

Kagakagari turned back to face Tsubasa, something dark and dangerous reflected in his dark blue eyes. Tsubasa reeled back, struck with shock at the clouded look in Kagakagari's gaze.

Kagakagari...what happened to you...?

"You're saying all we need to do to get out of this killing game is to choose we don't want to participate in it." Kagakagari's hand curled into a fist; he rested it on his hip. "So what happens when one of us chooses to want one?"

Tsubasa opened his mouth to protest, but Kagakagari cut him off.

"Go ahead and keep preaching autonomy, man," he insisted. "But you can't act like you can promise anyone anything when you can't make our choices for us. For all we know Mizushima's choosing to kill us all right now. For all we know Ultimate Ghost's plotting some elaborate revenge scheme. None of us can understand a thing she's trying to say anyways."

"Keep talking like that," Tsubasa shot out. "See where it takes us. If we just remove the killing game as an option then--"

"But then we lose free will," Kagakagari countered. "Which is it? Are we in charge of choosing our own reality, or are we boxed into one choice? And if we're able to be boxed into the choice of not killing, who's to say that bear can't box us into the choice of killing?"

"You're not boxed in, I'm just trying to say that we should take advantage of the free will we have to make the right choice!"

"Who says it's the 'right' choice? You? Who gave you the right to make that choice?"

"What are you trying to say?" Tsubasa finally demanded.

Kagakagari was quiet for a moment; he gazed off at the horizon, face slowly filtering back to his usual nonplussed expression.

"I'm saying," he began, "that everyone has something they'll kill for. ...All that bear needs to do to box us into a choice is figure out what that thing is. Free will can be dangerous too. People hurt other people for selfish reasons--that's human nature. People lie, cheat, steal, beat, rape, drug, kill...just to instill their own free will on someone else. People can use autonomy to steal free will from other people. We're not doing ourselves any favors by not preparing to fight them off when they try."

Tsubasa bit his lip, glancing down at the ground. "Everyone has something they'll kill for." ...That's true, though, isn't it? Even I...

He shook his head, taking a deep breath. No. Never again. It isn't worth it. We're getting out of here and that's final. "Pessimism does us no favors either. Let's just focus on finishing up this plane so we can get out of here, okay? I'm almost finished with a really good set of blueprints and then we can raid the place for parts."

Kagakagari shrugged. "What you call pessimism, I call realism. But whatever, man, not my place to say. As for me I'll be bringing a knife with me next time I sleep outside. Don't wanna be too easy of a target."

As the mountain climber again began heading towards the dorms, Tsubasa couldn't help but feel his words resonate.

A target...

No...I won't be anyone's target.

I choose freedom.

Haha...oh Susugihara, you're acting so naive.

Sachiko maintained a faded smile, staring at Hideyoshi as he left through the gate. There was a silence left in his absence--glancing down at her reflection again, Sachiko surprised even herself as she was the first to break it. Even if I have no hope left, at least I can try and convince them they do. "It...it'll all be okay! We can get out of here, guys, I know we can! We just...just have to go really really fast with this plane, and keep an eye on each other, and keep our spirits high. We don't have to let that bear beat us."

"H...H-Hayashi's right," Yua said after a moment, smiling warily. "In order to get out of here, we just have to outsmart the bear, right? So long as we don't let it box us in, we'll be okay. If anything, it's almost like a mind game..."

"Oh!" Nakano perked up, grinning. "Did you say 'mind game'? I love mind games! In fact, I'm great at them! You know, if we look at it that way, then this murder game has the potential to be pretty fun. ...Without the murder, I mean. It sounds like you guys aren't that keen on the murder part."

"Yeah," Yamada muttered. "In fact, it'd probably benefit conversations more if you didn't bring it up so casually."

Nakano nodded, writing this down.

"I'm going to go check on Nagisa's nose," Yua declared, rising from her seat. She crossed over to where he was, pausing before him and flashing a warm smile. "I hope you don't mind, but it'll probably hurt when I touch it...but maybe we can get the others to get you some deserts from the cafeteria to make up for it."

"Then I guess we should go and get the food, then?" Sachiko said, pulling her legs out of the pool and coming to a slow stand. "I'll make sure to get you the yummiest food I can find, Nagisa! And for you too, Yua! I'll just get really great food for everyone, because that's what everyone deserves!"

Yamada chuckled, standing as well. "That's a good attitude to have. Say, can a few people check on Mizushima and Saito as well? It'd be nice to have everyone accounted for so we can start the day as efficiently as possible."

"Not it," Nakano immediately called.

Shimizu frowned slightly. "...I'll go. Would anyone like to join me?"