As expected, Hirono's razor-sharp mind cut through the sexual tension like a knife through Sho's beautiful face. (He was still sore about that to a degree, even if the wound hadn't dealt him and his facial muscles any lasting damage. Stung like hell, too. Ah well. That it tarnishes makes beauty all the sweeter, he'd tell himself as he chewed the sourest of grapes.)
Sho wasn't a total animal, at least. He'd hear Shimizu's request out before he indulged himself for the night. It was simple enough to answer: "the farm storage house, section H-6," he said, as if reciting from a textbook in front of the class.
He had good confidence that the Kiriyama Family had stayed put. Those boys knew not to concede ground, particularly not when they'd found shelter from the elements. Ryuhei was determined, Hiroshi was resourceful, and Mitsuru was the glue to hold them together. They'd still be there — he was sure of it. Whether they were still alive, however...
...No. There'd be an announcement tomorrow. And he had a sneaking suspicion he wouldn't hear either of those three names called.
Harvest
Post-Second Announcement.
Moderator: BRAU2 Director
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carduinal-cyn
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almostinhuman
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Kyoichi was still giddy and anxious, but not so much that he wasn't listening. He knew where the storage was; it's where he'd fled to when they finally let him out of that awful classroom. It was also where Inada had found him and calmed him from his blind panic. The building was actually a pretty good place to hunker down, come to think of it, especially if you were looking to dismantle the collars; he was sure there were all kinds of useful tools in there. It seemed the gang of boys had made some surprisingly smart choices overall. He wouldn't have expected it, given that Kiriyama had abandoned them, but pretty much everyone he'd met out here had surprised him, in some way or another.
The discussion sobered him, though only a little. He was still brimming with excitement and relief, but he was reminded that they had work ahead of them. Dangerous work, too, which he himself would likely be right in the thick of. Still, that was a problem for the morning's Kyoichi. Tonight's Kyoichi had his own important matters to attend to.
"Right, well, we should head that way in the morning." He replied, more to lead into the next bit than anything. "Y'all wanna figure out sleeping arrangements?"
He hoped Shimizu could take the hint on this. He felt guilty for turning her into such a third wheel, but...
The discussion sobered him, though only a little. He was still brimming with excitement and relief, but he was reminded that they had work ahead of them. Dangerous work, too, which he himself would likely be right in the thick of. Still, that was a problem for the morning's Kyoichi. Tonight's Kyoichi had his own important matters to attend to.
"Right, well, we should head that way in the morning." He replied, more to lead into the next bit than anything. "Y'all wanna figure out sleeping arrangements?"
He hoped Shimizu could take the hint on this. He felt guilty for turning her into such a third wheel, but...
H-6? Hirono was gonna have to check that on her map. Hopefully it wouldn't be too much of a trip, and it would really suck if the route took them through one of the forbidden zones by accident. It would suck complete ass is they set up their plan just to get killed instantly just because they stepped into the wrong place.
"Sleeping arrengements?" She picked up on Motobuchi's suggestion. If they were gonna stay the night, then they needed some kinda plan. Hirono tried to remember something from a survival movie she saw once, then she remembered that the movie was boring as fuck and she gave up on it just a few minutes in. So she was gonna be flying blind once again, and it was time for her to drum up a new plan based on whatever she thinks sounds best at the time.
"Probably a good plan for us to sleep in shifts. You know, in case something goes down in the middle of the night and we gotta get out of here fast?" Hirono proposed. She and the rest of the Trio had played lookout for each other before, albeit not overnight, so she knew the system worked in theory. "So one of us would stay up while the other two get some sleep, then in a few hours wake up one of the sleepers to take their place. I can take the first shift if you want."
She raised an eyebrow and pointed to the two playfully. "But I'm gonna need you guys to get at least some sleep while I'm on guard, okay?"
"Sleeping arrengements?" She picked up on Motobuchi's suggestion. If they were gonna stay the night, then they needed some kinda plan. Hirono tried to remember something from a survival movie she saw once, then she remembered that the movie was boring as fuck and she gave up on it just a few minutes in. So she was gonna be flying blind once again, and it was time for her to drum up a new plan based on whatever she thinks sounds best at the time.
"Probably a good plan for us to sleep in shifts. You know, in case something goes down in the middle of the night and we gotta get out of here fast?" Hirono proposed. She and the rest of the Trio had played lookout for each other before, albeit not overnight, so she knew the system worked in theory. "So one of us would stay up while the other two get some sleep, then in a few hours wake up one of the sleepers to take their place. I can take the first shift if you want."
She raised an eyebrow and pointed to the two playfully. "But I'm gonna need you guys to get at least some sleep while I'm on guard, okay?"
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carduinal-cyn
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"No promises!~" Sho sang, a smarmy little grin spreading across his face. Even he couldn't tell how many of his asides were witty barbs and how much were passes at Kyoichi. Did the meaning matter? Of course not. The night was young, and it would last until the both of them had collapsed in a sleepy, satisfied heap on the lighthouse floor. At least, that was the image he saw in his mind's eye. He conjured up all sorts of wild and wonderful images, tangles of arms and legs and lips and skin. His imagination was too overactive to air aloud, and perhaps too overactive to write down in print.
He was not quite seeing the lighthouse anymore. His eyes only caught a brief flash of movement before
BANG
He was not quite seeing the lighthouse anymore. His eyes only caught a brief flash of movement before
BANG
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almostinhuman
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A bullet tore through the air, through the room, through the boy.
Kyoichi froze.
Kyoichi froze.
The bang drowned out all other noise for a split second. Hirono remembered the sound of a gunshot. She remembered it from when Eto got shot, and from when it interrupted her talk with Mitsuko
Her reaction was the same as it had been before, and within moments she found herself cowering behind the table in the lighthouse once more.
Her reaction was the same as it had been before, and within moments she found herself cowering behind the table in the lighthouse once more.
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carduinal-cyn
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- Team Affiliation: Emmy's Selkies
It all happened so fast.
Just five minutes ago Sho was in heaven, or a close and awkward vision of it. They were joking and singing and kissing and loving life for once in their miserable time on this Earth, all three of them.
Then came the sound, that awful firecracker sound.
A shockwave rattled Sho's chest — not quite painful, for the shock of it numbed him to any and all injury. He sat there dumbfounded for a moment. He barely understood he'd been shot at all until warmth blossomed out of his chest and soaked into his uniform. He touched his shirt. His hand came away bloody.
Panic set in, a feeling more immediate and far more terrifying than the slickness of blood on his fingers.
I'm dead.
I'm dead I'm dead I'm gonna die I'm gonna fucking die I'm dead I'm
...No.
Such a death would hardly befit the great Sho Tsukioka, the boy with a name like a movie star's! Sho lunged forward valiantly in pursuit of the threat. Never mind that he slipped and fell onto his bleeding stomach. Never mind that when he looked up, his assailant had vanished into the night. Everything was still under control. As long as he could hear the adrenaline blood-rush of his heartbeat pounding, he had no reason to...
What heartbeat?
Sho listened for the familiar sound of his pulse, only to find nothing at all. He touched his wrists. Nothing again. Then he reached for his chest a second time. Through all the blood and ooze, there was nothing.
No heartbeat.
Defeated, Sho crumpled to the ground. He felt the energy drain out of his body as soon as his hulking frame touched the floor of the lighthouse. His last sight on Earth — not the lonely light of the moon, not the stars in the night sky — was the black belly of a cold steel building. And Shimizu was there, frightened, by the table. Kyoichi stared ahead at him, petrified. Not a Kiriyama in sight. No Mitsuru, Ryuhei, Hiroshi, Kazuo there by his side, worried or perhaps furious. No, in the end, these two were the people who would carry on the dream of escape. With the very last of the fight left in him, Sho pointed forward...
"Shimizu... Kyoichi..." he rasped. "Hear me...
You have to live... for everyone's sake...
When the collars break...
When we... all... walk free...
Yes... Freedom...
It will be... so...
b...e...a...u...t...i...f...u...l..."
B14: SHO TSUKIOKA - DECEASED
Just five minutes ago Sho was in heaven, or a close and awkward vision of it. They were joking and singing and kissing and loving life for once in their miserable time on this Earth, all three of them.
Then came the sound, that awful firecracker sound.
A shockwave rattled Sho's chest — not quite painful, for the shock of it numbed him to any and all injury. He sat there dumbfounded for a moment. He barely understood he'd been shot at all until warmth blossomed out of his chest and soaked into his uniform. He touched his shirt. His hand came away bloody.
Panic set in, a feeling more immediate and far more terrifying than the slickness of blood on his fingers.
I'm dead.
I'm dead I'm dead I'm gonna die I'm gonna fucking die I'm dead I'm
...No.
Such a death would hardly befit the great Sho Tsukioka, the boy with a name like a movie star's! Sho lunged forward valiantly in pursuit of the threat. Never mind that he slipped and fell onto his bleeding stomach. Never mind that when he looked up, his assailant had vanished into the night. Everything was still under control. As long as he could hear the adrenaline blood-rush of his heartbeat pounding, he had no reason to...
What heartbeat?
Sho listened for the familiar sound of his pulse, only to find nothing at all. He touched his wrists. Nothing again. Then he reached for his chest a second time. Through all the blood and ooze, there was nothing.
No heartbeat.
Defeated, Sho crumpled to the ground. He felt the energy drain out of his body as soon as his hulking frame touched the floor of the lighthouse. His last sight on Earth — not the lonely light of the moon, not the stars in the night sky — was the black belly of a cold steel building. And Shimizu was there, frightened, by the table. Kyoichi stared ahead at him, petrified. Not a Kiriyama in sight. No Mitsuru, Ryuhei, Hiroshi, Kazuo there by his side, worried or perhaps furious. No, in the end, these two were the people who would carry on the dream of escape. With the very last of the fight left in him, Sho pointed forward...
"Shimizu... Kyoichi..." he rasped. "Hear me...
You have to live... for everyone's sake...
When the collars break...
When we... all... walk free...
Yes... Freedom...
It will be... so...
b...e...a...u...t...i...f...u...l..."
B14: SHO TSUKIOKA - DECEASED
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almostinhuman
- Posts: 642
- Joined: Sun Jul 12, 2020 7:06 pm
Kyoichi stared, wordlessly, stupidly.
He kept hoping he'd wake up. This had all been a dream, now a nightmare, right? After all, Kyoichi had never been brave enough to kiss another boy like that, so maybe this wasn't really happening. Maybe he'd just fallen asleep in the lighthouse, fantasizing like he always did, and his brain had just taken a weird dark turn with it due to the stress of their circumstances. He'd wake up and Shimizu would still be singing and having fun and Tsukioka wouldn't be dead on the floor in front of him and his heart wouldn't be savagely broken so soon after it had finally been healed. The whole thing had started out impossible already and now it was even more so. It couldn't be real.
He had to be dreaming.
He had to be dreaming.
He had to be...
...
Kyoichi wanted to cry, as he had for Utsumi, and for Mr. Hayashida. But he couldn't. Nothing came out of him. He couldn't wail or scream or even move.
He just sat there, staring at the boy as he bled out on the floor.
He kept hoping he'd wake up. This had all been a dream, now a nightmare, right? After all, Kyoichi had never been brave enough to kiss another boy like that, so maybe this wasn't really happening. Maybe he'd just fallen asleep in the lighthouse, fantasizing like he always did, and his brain had just taken a weird dark turn with it due to the stress of their circumstances. He'd wake up and Shimizu would still be singing and having fun and Tsukioka wouldn't be dead on the floor in front of him and his heart wouldn't be savagely broken so soon after it had finally been healed. The whole thing had started out impossible already and now it was even more so. It couldn't be real.
He had to be dreaming.
He had to be dreaming.
He had to be...
...
Kyoichi wanted to cry, as he had for Utsumi, and for Mr. Hayashida. But he couldn't. Nothing came out of him. He couldn't wail or scream or even move.
He just sat there, staring at the boy as he bled out on the floor.
Hirono had seen blood before. She'd kicked people's asses, and she'd gotten her ass kicked in return. In that time, she' d seen blood on her face, blood on her shirt, and stuff like that. However, she had never seen a dead body before. With blood, she just knew that she was hurt, or that she had hurt someone else. But this was different. Sho was drenched in blood where the bullet had hit him, way more than Hirono had ever seen.
He was dying. She watched him die. The gay gangster who had turned out to be surprisingly cool... she wasn't able to do anything but watch him bleed out in front of her.
Hirono was just able to hear what Tsuioka said in his dying words, his voice growing fainter by the moment. The two of them needed to carry on their escape mission. Tsuioka was gone, but he had still brought them together. Their hopes of getting out weren't dead yet.
Hirono waited a little while longer to get out from behind the table, incredibly wary of the assassin potentially returning. She crept over to Motobuchi and... damn, poor guy looked totally devastated. Not that she could blame him. The guy he had just been kissing got killed right in front of him.
But even though they lost Tsuioka... he still left them something, a lifeline. His collar was right there, ready to potentially give them the information they needed.
Hirono rubbed Motobuchi's back for a few moments, and she tried to be sympathetic while revealing her plans. "Hey..." She said. "I know it's sucks. Trust me, I do. But..." She nodded towards Tsuioka's body, feeling a little guilty as she did so. "Tsuioka's got a collar we can study. Kind of like his last gift to us, I guess."
He was dying. She watched him die. The gay gangster who had turned out to be surprisingly cool... she wasn't able to do anything but watch him bleed out in front of her.
Hirono was just able to hear what Tsuioka said in his dying words, his voice growing fainter by the moment. The two of them needed to carry on their escape mission. Tsuioka was gone, but he had still brought them together. Their hopes of getting out weren't dead yet.
Hirono waited a little while longer to get out from behind the table, incredibly wary of the assassin potentially returning. She crept over to Motobuchi and... damn, poor guy looked totally devastated. Not that she could blame him. The guy he had just been kissing got killed right in front of him.
But even though they lost Tsuioka... he still left them something, a lifeline. His collar was right there, ready to potentially give them the information they needed.
Hirono rubbed Motobuchi's back for a few moments, and she tried to be sympathetic while revealing her plans. "Hey..." She said. "I know it's sucks. Trust me, I do. But..." She nodded towards Tsuioka's body, feeling a little guilty as she did so. "Tsuioka's got a collar we can study. Kind of like his last gift to us, I guess."
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almostinhuman
- Posts: 642
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"Can it... wait? Please..."
His voice was small. Pathetic. Pleading.
"I... I know you're right... but I can't. Not... not now..."
He turned his eyes up to her, brimming with tears.
"Please..."
His voice was small. Pathetic. Pleading.
"I... I know you're right... but I can't. Not... not now..."
He turned his eyes up to her, brimming with tears.
"Please..."
Read the fuckin' room, Hirono.
Why did she think this would go any other way? Of course Motobuchi wouldn't be in the mood to start tinkering with Tsuioka's collar. Poor guy was traumatized. Hirono should have known better than to pick at the wound while it was fresh.
"All right, all right." She relented, giving Motobuchi some space. "Lets get some rest. We fuckin' need it."
Why did she think this would go any other way? Of course Motobuchi wouldn't be in the mood to start tinkering with Tsuioka's collar. Poor guy was traumatized. Hirono should have known better than to pick at the wound while it was fresh.
"All right, all right." She relented, giving Motobuchi some space. "Lets get some rest. We fuckin' need it."
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almostinhuman
- Posts: 642
- Joined: Sun Jul 12, 2020 7:06 pm
He childishly nodded.
"Could you... give me a moment alone? I..."
His eyes begged her again, saying what his voice couldn't.
"Could you... give me a moment alone? I..."
His eyes begged her again, saying what his voice couldn't.
Hirono nodded back to him. "No problem, man. Just take your time.
She moved herself to another part of the lighthouse, where she didn't have a line of sight to Tsuioka's body. She was pretty sure that it would be haunting her dreams that night, and she knew for damn sure Motobuchi probably felt the same way.
She gave Motobuchi his space. Hopefully this would be the worst things got for them, but Hirono k ew how many obstacles were still ahead. Hopefully they had what it took to beat them.
(Hirono Shimizu continued elsewhere...)
She moved herself to another part of the lighthouse, where she didn't have a line of sight to Tsuioka's body. She was pretty sure that it would be haunting her dreams that night, and she knew for damn sure Motobuchi probably felt the same way.
She gave Motobuchi his space. Hopefully this would be the worst things got for them, but Hirono k ew how many obstacles were still ahead. Hopefully they had what it took to beat them.
(Hirono Shimizu continued elsewhere...)
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almostinhuman
- Posts: 642
- Joined: Sun Jul 12, 2020 7:06 pm
"... Thank you."
He waited for her to leave. He grabbed his jacket from out of his pack, wrapping it around himself like a blanket rather than wearing it properly. Then he limped to Tsukioka's body, stopping just outside the pool of blood surrounding him, and laid down.
He wasn't sure how long he laid there, staring at the body. It felt like a lifetime. Eventually, though, sleep overtook him, dragging him towards whatever the next day had in store for them.
Whatever it was, it couldn't be worse than this.
((Kyoichi Motobuchi continued in IDK))
He waited for her to leave. He grabbed his jacket from out of his pack, wrapping it around himself like a blanket rather than wearing it properly. Then he limped to Tsukioka's body, stopping just outside the pool of blood surrounding him, and laid down.
He wasn't sure how long he laid there, staring at the body. It felt like a lifetime. Eventually, though, sleep overtook him, dragging him towards whatever the next day had in store for them.
Whatever it was, it couldn't be worse than this.
((Kyoichi Motobuchi continued in IDK))