the pros and cons of digging your own grave

[almostinhuman]

His right hand took the gun, holding it delicately to his chest for a moment like a sacred artifact.

"Thank you."

Murder weapon though it was, he felt a little more at ease with it at hand. It was like having a little bit of Inada with him still, even if, technically speaking, the gun was never truly hers. And maybe it could help him keep Shimizu safe. Maybe just one person he'd grown to love would get to go home after all.

Even if she couldn't quite accept what that entailed... well, he'd have to get it done before she could stop him.

But that line of thinking was very much jumping the gun. They still had a long ways to go.

"Ready when you are. Try to slow up for me a little... I mean, more than you already were."

((Kyoichi Motobuchi continued in See You At The Crossroads))

[Aura]

Hirono nodded. "All right. We're gonna have to stay in the area, but we probably know this orchard better than anyone else by now." Granted, they didn't exactly have the most positive memories associated with the place, but they had spent more than their fair share of time among those trees. If anyone could find a safe place among them, it would be the two of them.

She waited for him to get up so that they could find a place to hide out. At least with a knife and a gun, that upped their chances in a fight. There were only two other people left, and unless the other two were working together, she and Motobuchi had the numbers advantage. They had a real chance at being the final two.

... But what happens after that? Hirono didn't want to die, but Motobuchi... he seemed like he had a really bright future. He was at the top of the class, and was probably already on the road to college before they got abducted. He was a pretty nice guy, too. Could she really kill him if it was just the two of them at the end?

Hirono didn't want to think about it, but she couldn't forget no matter how much she tried to push that thought to the back of her mind.

(Hirono Shimizu continued elsewhere...)