The Tangerine Grows on Discordant Vines

[Aura]

Hirono saw the cut on Tsuioka's face. Her first thought was that it probably hurt a lot, and she had probably just opened up her escape route while he was busy recoiling from it. However, that was immediately followed by the revelation that she had just slashed someone with her knife for the first time. Not brandished or threatened, but actually cut someone open. The sight of the blood on Tsuioka's face made her feel sick.

That brief hesitation was just enough to foil her escape plan. Before she could get up, Tsuioka had snatched the wrist of her hand that held the knife. Then he started twisting it. Her wrist bent back until it became painful, then Tsuioka kept pulling it further. Unable to bite her tongue, she let out a shriek of pain that only increased in volume the further Tsuioka pulled her wrist.

She kept a hold on the knife for deal life. She knew that if she let him get a hold of it, she would be dead for sure. Although from the way he was cranking on her arm, she wasn't sure if he was more interested in killing or torturing her. Feeling like she was in mortal peril for the first time, she tried to pull away from Tsuioka in a panic as the wrenching of her wrist forced another scream from her throat.

[carduinal-cyn]

Shimizu screamed blue murder at the top of her lungs. Sho felt an odd thrill, an adrenaline rush: he would live the longer he pushed that hand with the cruel knife. He was powerful yet cruel — master of his fate, but beating on an innocent girl to do it. A despicable retribution. He barely recognized himself now, the way he roared like an animal. The part of his brain still ruled by logic and reason told him he was scarcely better than Ryuhei and Hiroshi, the impulsive killers. But everybody had their angry monkey-brain, the part of them that, when pushed to the limits, could do scarcely better than screaming and tossing their own feces at the wall.

It was that primal brain that saw Sho grab hold of Shimizu's other arm and heave her to the side. Then, he pinned her beneath his hulking frame. The broken (surely it must be by now?) knife-wrist lay beneath Sho's well-muscled arm. His free hand formed a fist. It wound back, preparing to strike...

...no, he couldn't do it.

His breaths were heavy. He exhaled through gritted teeth. His posture, his face, screamed "imminent threat". But humanity returned to Sho's eyes, angry, cautious humanity, and he dared not throw another punch.

[almostinhuman]

"STOP!"

Kyoichi roughly shoved the other boy off of Shimizu - a shove that quickly turned into a tackle as Kyoichi lost his balance and fell on top of him. But he didn't care. Tsukioka clearly didn't intend to harm him, for whatever reason, but Shimizu wasn't going to be so fortunate. If he let this keep going one or both of them were surely going to die.

He attempted to pin the larger boy, though he knew Tsukioka could break his grip with little effort. All that mattered was giving Shimizu a moment, a chance to escape. Hopefully she didn't repay him with a knife in the back.

[Aura]

Hirono looked up in terror at Tsuioka as he loomed over her. Her attempt at escape had only given him the chance to pin her to the ground, ready to strike. With Tsuioka's fist raised, she was expecting the worst. She could see his fist coming down over and over, beating her until she was nigh-unrecognizable, all because she was too impulsive and sucker punched him in a rush.

She didn't want to die like this.

She closed her eyes, expecting the first blow to land, but instead she heard a shout and felt the other boy's weight lurch off of her. Opening her eyes, she saw Tsuioka at her side with Motobuchi on top of him. Did that nerdy-ass geek just save her life?

With her arms freed, she immediately clutched her injured knife-arm and winced in pain. Tsuioka had bent it back so badly that she was afraid it would break. She could still move it, so that was a good sign, but it was still hurting her a lot. He'd definitely fucked with her joints or muscles if nothing else. She held her arm close to her chest, gritting her teeth as she hoped for the pain to subside.

[carduinal-cyn]

A voice hollered "STOP", and an unknown assailant launched into Sho's side at full force. Sort of. They went to push him at first, and ended up leaning their entire body into him. A valiant effort on their part, he thought, and just as well. He didn't want to hurt Shimizu any more than he had already. She'd been punished enough. A little extra discipline would be cruel. He landed on the dirt, staring up at the morning sky — and the looming frame of his attacker.

Sho had many thoughts running through his head when he came face-to-face with Kyoichi Motobuchi.

The first was an overwhelming sense of thank fucking God, he didn't run. Everything could still progress without a hitch. Motobuchi hadn't turned tail! Relief washed over Sho. He almost wanted to thank the poor guy. Bravery was one thing, but attacking a kidnapper who was miles stronger than you... It was a hero's confidence. He was so pleased he didn't have the time to consider how reckless the action was — why brand him "loose cannon" so soon? It hadn't gotten anyone killed yet, after all.

Amidst the adrenaline rush and the relief, however, was the realization. A boy from his class had tackled him and pinned him to the ground. It was slightly compromising. Sho's brain conjured up a sad and intrusive thought: imagine Nanahara there, or even Mitsuru, looming, waiting, wanting. He wanted to kick himself the minute he pictured it. What had happened was an accident: Motobuchi not knowing his own strength. Not some come-on. He blinked, shook his head, as if willing it all away.

And so he stared up, dumbfounded, at the one who'd ended the fight.

[almostinhuman]

Tsukioka didn't resist him, despite how easily he could have if he'd wanted to. He seemed almost as surprised that Kyoichi had done this as Kyoichi himself was. Just as well. Provided Shimizu behaved herself, it meant he'd actually managed to break this up. The island hardly needed more death.

He released his grip on Tsukioka's arms as he sat up, still straddling him - unaware of how the other boy was taking it. He glared at him, glared at Shimizu, though the fact he'd been crying and clawing for air just minutes beforehand probably undercut it. Even now he felt winded, still breathing heavily.

"We're..." He spoke curtly, addressing both of them. "We're done here, right?"

He sure fucking hoped the answer was yes.

[Aura]

Hirono slowly moved her hand, softly hissing as her arm had become much more sensitive. She hoped that sensitivity would subside within the next few hours. Tsuioka had gotten her dominant hand, and she wasn't ambidextrous. She pretty much needed that hand to be good, and she wasn't exactly gonna be too happy with Tsuioka if he had actually fucked it up.

However, right now the attention wasn't on Hirono, or Tsuioka, or the fight that had just left the both of them rolling on the ground. Instead Motobuchi had the floor, and skinny-ass nerd who came barreling in like a bulldozer out of nowhere. Hirono owed him big time now, but she wasn't sure if she should actually say anything about it. He didn't seem like the type to expect her to owe up to that kind of debt, but it was a fucking death game. She couldn't afford to take anything for granted.

However, she would answer Motobuchi's question, and she nodded as she did so. "I'm not here to start shit." She confirmed, her voice a bit weak as she was still catching her breath. "So yeah, I'm good."

[carduinal-cyn]

"Smooth moves," Sho teased, a stupid grin spreading across his face. His cheek and his nose still stung, and some of the blood leaked into his mouth and made him taste it in mid-joking flirt. So much for his imagination. Welcome back to reality, where Motobuchi and Shimizu were waiting. I'm not here to start shit, the girl lied. He had half a mind to call Shimizu out, but he told himself he wasn't a violent person enough times that he'd be a colossal hypocrite.

"No, really. Smooth moves. A lesser man would have run away, but you stayed and took me down... Congratulations, Motobuchi." He sat himself back up, using one hand to support his upper body and the other to wipe the blood off his face. It was finally time to explain his plans. Everyone had a cooler head now, surely. No hard feelings.

"We'll need that courage. And that brain. You see, Motobuchi, the Kiriyama Family has entrusted me with seeking out someone... The boss is gone, and we don't have a brain to pick. We're trying to find someone with know-how, someone who might be able to disable these awful collars around our necks. I'd like to formally apologize for... stealing you. I was planning to tell you after we had a moment to breathe, and then a third party showed her face."

That was his account of the matter. He'd said his piece. The only thing worth worrying about now was whether either of them believed it.

[almostinhuman]

Kyoichi's eyes scanned the other boy, his own face masked in incredulity. Was Tsukioka serious? He'd regained that irritatingly breezy attitude even despite his injuries, so it almost sounded like some bizarre joke. But then Kyoichi wasn't sure what the joke actually would be, and frankly it was about as good an explanation for why he'd done all this as any. He couldn't really fathom any other good reason why Kiriyama's little gang would want someone like him.

The idea of somehow disabling the collars, beating the Program itself... it sounded fantastical, honestly. But it also was about as likely to work out for Kyoichi as trying to win the normal way. He wasn't sure he was actually the best person for the job - Mimura would be the top pick, in his estimation, and even Kiriyama himself probably knew more - but he could see how he'd at least be more equipped than a bunch of delinquents. Especially if what he'd said about Kiriyama being gone was true.

He shuffled off the other boy, though he remained sitting. No need to give away precisely why he hadn't bolted when Tsukioka seemed so impressed with him for it, at least not yet.

"... You're serious about this, right?" He felt he knew the answer already, but it wouldn't hurt to have confirmation. "Have you... tried anything yet?"

[Aura]

Hirono listened to Tsuioka's words, and she quickly began to wonder just how badly she had screwed up. On the one hand, she should have been skeptical, one hundred percent. It sounded too good to be true. If they could get the collars off, then Sakamochi and his asshole squad couldn't use the danger zones to herd them in. They had a real shot at escape.

Of course, the questionable part was the Kiriyama Family of all people having a legit-sounding escape strategy. Of course, that also gave her a second thing to think about. The Kiriyama Family, of all the fucking people in class, were actually working on a way out, and the only thing she had managed to do was jeopardize it. She wasn't sure which version she should believe. Either Tsuioka was buttering them up with false hopes, or even the Kiriyamas were better than her now. Both options sucked in different ways.

She put a hand up to her collar. She hadn't felt that cold, uncaring steel on her fingers for the last few hours, and she could do without feeling it again. "You're not fuckin' around, right?" She inquired. "You can really get us out?"

Skepticism came naturally to Hirono. She spent a lot of time expecting the worst out of situations, and the island had done nothing but continue hammering that in. But in this moment, there was a tiny bit of hope that she wanted to cling to, faint as it was.

[carduinal-cyn]

Sho had their ears. His siren song was starting to sway them, but he didn't have their hearts and minds just yet. He knew where he stood: kidnapper, attacker, menace to society. A little more convincing was needed. He decided to play every card, and warn them of the internal politics within Kazuo Kiriyama's gang.

"I'm deadly serious," he reassured the two of them. "Akamatsu's body still has its collar, so we considered running tests on it... I hate to dishonor the dead in case something goes wrong, but I'm worried that's the safest way we have." He touched the hard metal band around his neck: the collar of the enslaved, with Sakamochi and his thugs pulling his pets along on a leash called violence.

"But a word to the wise. Like I said before, Kiriyama himself hasn't been with us since the announcements. He has an agenda of his own, that much is clear... and as for Hiroshi and Ryuhei, well, the two of them are a pair of ticking time bombs. I'm no fool. I'll pass along a little warning: besides me, the only one you can trust is Mitsuru Numai. Remember, Shimizu, Motobuchi, you didn't hear that from me."

Sho's knife wound ached and bled anew. He hissed, then brushed the crimson liquid away with one dainty movement. "...thanks for that, by the way," he snarked. "But what's a few hours of foundation, when all of us could die?"

[almostinhuman]

Kyoichi frowned. The deal sounded notably less sweet with all the details in place. It didn't sound like they'd done much work at all yet. Were they expecting him to handle all of it alone? Then there was the note about his two buddies, saying how he couldn't trust them, calling them time bombs. Why would Kyoichi be eager to throw himself into the lion's den just for the barest possibility of escape? And they had Akamatsu's corpse, too? He doubted they'd merely happened upon it. The picture all this painted was grim indeed.

Of course, he wasn't sure he could really say no. Tsukioka had already kidnapped him, after all. And while the other boy probably didn't realize it yet, Kyoichi would now have serious trouble on his own even if Tsukioka did let him go.

"... you didn't quite answer me," he pressed, though his mind was already made up. "Have you tried anything yet? Or even considered what you would try?"

[Aura]

And this was the point where Hirono's skepticism became warranted. So Tsuioka did have a plan, but there were a few obstacles that they had to deal with. Kiriyama, his gang's actual leader, had just fucked off without a trace. Kuronaga and Sasagawa were basically jackasses, although Hirono didn't really need Tsuioka's help figuring that out. So if they did go along with it, the only people out of the whole group that they could trust were Tsuioka and Numai.

Although of course, that was in Tsuioka's words. Taking him at face value wasn't necessary, but if he was trying to draw them in, then straight-up saying that most of his gang was either absent or useless was a pretty damn weird way to go about it. But at least if the Kiriyama's were disorganized, then there was less of a chance of them ganging up on someone like her or Motobuchi.

Still, she couldn't suppress the urge to mutter a "Fuckin' hell" under her breath.

At this point, she found herself backing up Motobuchi. "Seriously, do we know anything about these fuckin' collars?" She asked. "'Cause figuring that shit out's probably our first priority."

[carduinal-cyn]

It was with a heavy heart and heavier shoulders that Sho let out a pronounced sigh and shook his head. Alas. This was his Ryuhei moment. He'd heard the plan and taken action, and left the rest to chance. For all he knew, those two bumblers had set Akamatsu's collar off already. He laid his head in his hands, dismayed.

"I may have... run off without many ideas," he admitted. "I figured I would gather the brightest minds outside the Kiriyama Family, and we could brainstorm together once we regrouped. It's no easy task to plan a way out of this drab little island. I'm not going to give either of you false hope. But I'd like to believe."

Sho's voice broke. He stared up at the dark clouds as he stood, solemn and tall.

"This government is despicable. This Program is despicable. I know what everybody thinks about me, but my role was to frighten... never to kill! We've already lost too many. And even a brute like me needs to show the world he has a heart!"

He took a few steps forward, then turned on his heel like an actor in mid-soliloquy.

"So! Motobuchi! Shimizu! I'll only offer it this once... fight by my side! Not for Kiriyama... not for Mitsuru. I want everyone to have the chance to live free."

Then the big man turned again, his frame pivoting awkwardly to one side as he came to a poised stop.

"...I'm going to walk away now," Sho exhaled. The zeal and fire was gone now, replaced with the vaguely effete intonations of his normal speaking voice.

"You're welcome to ignore me. Find your friends again. Save yourselves, and forget about this far-fetched plan of mine. But my offer still stands. If you're in, I want you to follow me as soon as your body wills it. Hopefully, we can set up camp in a place where no one can blame us for the bloodshed."

Then he waved a mechanical goodbye, and disappeared into the brush.

((Sho Tsukioka continued in Harvest.))

[almostinhuman]

Kyoichi didn't interrupt Tsukioka's big speech. He'd already been planning to say yes, regardless of the other boy's answer; he just needed to know what he'd be walking into. He hadn't expected such dramatic flair, but then maybe he should have. Tsukioka seemed like the passionate sort, that much was clear.

Still, Kyoichi didn't really need convincing. It was as much of a long shot as any other path to surviving, and it likely involved the least amount of bloodshed. Hopefully he could convince Tsukioka to scoop up Inada at some point in the meantime. He was sure she'd accept such a teamup once she realized what Tsukioka was actually up to. Hell, she'd probably be down for Tsukioka's dramatic stylings.

Of course, he wasn't counting on Tsukioka simply walking off without them afterwards.

He looked to Shimizu. She'd listened to the whole thing too, but he wasn't sure if she'd be sticking with them. He wasn't sure whether or not he wanted her to, either. Though in the short term, he did kind of need something from her.

"Don't suppose you're coming? I was gonna say yes even before his grand display there. Seems about as good a route to take as any."

He sighed, a little embarrassed at what he had to ask next.

"If you are... would you mind helping me up? Tsukioka kind of wrenched my knee when he was dragging me through the woods. I mean... even if you're not coming I kind of need the help anyway."

((Kyoichi Motobuchi continued in Harvest))