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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.