The Top of the World

[Applesintime]

((Fumiyo Fujiyoshi continued from Are We Alive Or A Dead Generation?))

It had been a long hike to get up here. The path Fumiyo had chosen wasn’t well-maintained, and she had had to struggle through overgrown foliage, hacking at it with Keita’s boomerang to try and cut it down to a manageable size. But she had thought that there would be a good view from up top, and she had been right. The view was breathtaking. From up here, she could scope out the lay of the land. It was certainly too high to see where Noriko was going, but just the view alone had been worth it.

[Cicadan]

((Sakura and Kazuhiko continued from I Waited for the Sky to Change))

She'd lived longer than she thought she would. Textbook trivia.

They still held hands sometimes, which was nice.

She vaguely thought the path they were following looked artificial. The packed dirt underfoot was, of course, but the holes carved out of the shrubs and thistle big enough for one person almost her size to pass through looked too suspect. The branches ended in unnatural twists, cracks and bends in the branches as if they'd been chopped up or shoved aside.

She hadn't talked much still. Not unprompted. She took the lead only because her eyes by default pointed in the forwards direction. If she'd been bringing up the rear her apathy would have kept her from glancing over her shoulder every now and then, and that might have killed them faster than they were fated to die.

[Polybius]

Kazuhiko was nervous about Sakura taking the lead, at first. He still was, but he was more focused on watching their back and sides. The thick brush surrounding the path could have been hiding anything. Kazuhiko had unsettling thoughts of the Kiriyama gang coming out of the wood and surrounding them on all sides.

He picked up his pace to where he was right next to Sakura. He silently took her hand. That calmed him, if only slightly. Kazuhiko hooed it was the same for her.

They had lasted a while and avoided any violence so far. They were fortunate. It wouldn't kast forever. Kazuhiko's brain had gone through a million scenarios of what he would do to protect Sakura, once they were finally thrown into a real fight.

He didn't tell her about any of his plans. She didn't need any more reason to worry.

[Applesintime]

On second thoughts, Fumiyo wasn't just as high as she thought she was. She could see, for example, that Shuuya had taken down the flag on the town hall and replaced it with something different, though she couldn't make out what. She'd fainly heard his little rant as she'd made her way to the top, and while the offer sounded tempting, it seemed a little naive as well. She'd have to check it out, but Fumiyo was certain that someone who was willing to take advantage of that naivety would be certain to gun him down, if soldiers didn't get to him first.

Looking down, her peripheral vision made her all too aware of the state of her uniform. There was more blood than she thought, Noriko's blood and Keita's blood mixing together to create an awful reminder of what had happened. There had to be clothes in one of the houses that fit her. Closing her eyes, Fumiyo thought back to Noriko. She'd sworn to kill her for Keita, but she wasn't sure if she could do that, kill someone in cold blood. But how many more people would she kill? She would have gunned her down over the stove without a second thought if she hadn't heard Noriko coming. It was something she'd have to think about.

A bird tweeted above her, unconcerned with the situation, and she found herself smiling. This was the kind of day her brother loved. Temperate, skies clear and a wonderful view to go along with the pleasant weather. If she got out of here, she'd have to tell him about it if he ever managed to get leave.

[Cicadan]

It was the same for her, but there was only so much calmer she could get when she was idling at near baseline. She wrapped her fingers around him. They'd gotten pretty far through the stages of intimacy, something this chaste was old news, but. Take what you can get, and all.

Her steps grew no heavier. Dry snips of loose timber and foliage underneath, then:

"This might be the wrong time to bring it up." Was there ever a right time? "But I hope you don't get yourself hurt for my sake. Much as I know that is what you're thinking."

Her voice carried. The air up here was thinner or something, seemed like words and echoes just sliced on through.

It had been pointless to bring up, really. She was smiling like it was a joke, but still. They'd told her, long ago, before dad had died. Resisting just upped the agony. She hoped that wasn't how they'd go, but. Boys would be stubborn. That was why she liked him, after all.

[Polybius]

He paused and looked back at her. She was smiling, but he knew what she was thinking. She'd figured him out. Of course she had.

"I won't-" he started "I'm not planning to-"

He sighed. What was the point of denying it?

"I'm not going to intentionally get myself hurt." He spoke slowly, considering every word. "But I will go into danger to stop you from getting hurt. You can't stop me."

He said it matter-of-factly, without emotion. To Kazuhiko, there was no room for argument there. It was just a fact.

"I need you to be safe." He continued "If I'm safe and you're not, then..."

He didn't know how to finish that thought.

"That would be pointless."

[Applesintime]

Gazing out at the distant peak on the other side of the island, reminiscing about her brother and how they used to explore the countryside around Shiroiwa together when they were little, the faint sound of something cracking down the path she had come from attracted Fumiyo's attention. What was it? She hadn't seen any animals coming up, so maybe it was someone. Maybe it was Noriko, coming to try and finish the witness of Keita's murder off. Maybe it was just someone else who'd had the same idea as her. Maybe, for all she knew, it was Yukie or someone.

Even still, Fumiyo raised her gun towards the path, crouching down and creeping towards the sound, trying to conceal herself amongst the bushes and shrubbery at the top of the peak. Hopefully it was just nothing.

[Cicadan]

He was normally more eloquent than that. That's what really stood out, more than anything he'd said. She glanced back his way- and immediately started tripping over roots and kicking up a din with both of her left feet. Her gait turned from a straight line to something a bit more crooked and bent, but she didn't notice a thing.

"Hm." She held his gaze evenly, meditating almost on the clarity between them, clean as the mountain air.

"That is what I was saying. At some point we'd realize there's no point to... You know." It wasn't that it was hard to directly say it, it was just that she was tired by now of repeating herself. Petty, but it was an emotion to latch onto.

She swiveled her neck back around the right way, and started once more to watch her step. Literally, finding her mantra in the repetitive crunch of dirt and wet leaves underfoot.

"I won't tell you what to do." She never had- not the kind of girlfriend she'd been. "But there's no such thing as a blaze of glory, Kazu. Not here."

[Polybius]

Kazuhiko stepped forward, ready to catch Sakura as she tripped. But, he wasn't needed. She steadied herself, and he stood up straight with his arms behind his back, as if nothing had happened. She kept going down the path, and he kept up right behind her, making sure she didn't step into any more hidden roots. A sprained ankle could mean death out here.

"Blaze of glory?" He repeated the words sullenly. That wasn't what he'd meant. He knew there wasn't any glory in death. Whenever adults got into a patriotic fervor and talked about the virtue of sacrificing your life in service of the Empire, he'd just nod along impassively. He didn't want to protect Sakura for his own glory. He was doing it for her benefit. And because it was the right thing to do.

"I'm not trying to be a cool guy or anything."

The peak loomed over them. The brush surrounding them was still as thick as ever. They only had a little ways to go.

"I don't want to fight and kill for my own survival, like an animal. I want to help. It's just..."

My purpose

Kazuhiko couldn't bring himself to say the last part. It sounded silly. Pathetic. Like he was making her survival about himself.

Hell, maybe he did just want her to think he was cool.

[Applesintime]

As the voices got closer, Fumiyo was able to make them out a little clearer. It was Kazuhiko and Sakura. She'd never really talked to either of them, but they'd been dating for a while now, she thinks. She couldn't really say anything about them, so she didn't know what they might do. Were they playing? There was another way down, the path opposite the one that she'd climbed, but no doubt it would be full of tangled hedges and thick bramble as well. If she made too much noise and they found her...

Fumiyo didn't want to think about it. She just clutched the gun a little tighter, her eyes boring into the path that the two lovers were travelling up.

[Cicadan]

She nodded. She hadn't known whether they would have agreed or not. Probably just her being a bad girlfriend in this particular case? Too willing to talk around what was actually quote-unquote 'bothering' her, and assuming he'd get it. Well, he usually did get it, that was the kind of guy he was.

Still, if they'd lived any longer? It was a bad habit of hers she'd have to work on.

"I'm glad to hear that," she replied, simply, an empathic smile flashing on her face before she turned around. The angle of her foot was beginning to level, the air tasted and smelled different as the angle of the wind changed- looked like they had reached the peak.

"I don't think your reason matters, really. As long as we both understand it's not likely to end the way we want it... to."

Staring down the barrel of a gun. Once again, someone whose name had drifted out of her references long ago, around the time she'd found herself focusing on her relationship. Nurses aid, if she remembered. A familiar face from the one time she'd tripped down the stairwell.

"Are you going to shoot?"

Storybook ending? Kind of sudden. The breeze slapped Sakura's face, stinging instead of whipping her hair into something suitably dramatic for the occasion. Even the little details didn't live up to expectations.

[Polybius]

Kazuhiko was looking at Sakura's face when the danger appeared. He saw the look of surprise, then fear flash across his girlfriend's face, and he followed her eyeline to the figure sitting among the brush.

Fujiyoshi. Blood on her uniform. A gun pointed at Sakura.

The image of Fujiyoshi as a killer didn't make sense with what he knew of her from school. She'd been a kind, quiet girl. But sticking to prior assumptions led to death in this game. His own death, or worse, Sakura's. Hesitation wasn't an option. Fujiyoshi was a threat to Sakura. His only option was to stop her.

Kazuhiko let out a shout and rushed towards Fujiyoshi. He hoped that he'd at least draw her attention towards him, and him alone. He ran up the slope. He barreled through the thick brush, not caring as it scraped him. He felt a number of tiny injuries, branches tearing his uniform and cutting his skin. Still he pressed forward, until he was in striking distance of the girl. Lifting the hatchet with both hands, Kazuhiko swung down.

[Applesintime]

Fumiyo froze up this time, even as Kazuhiko rushed towards her, having made his intentions clear by the hatchet in his hand.

The force of the hatchet blow left a nasty gash in her arm, knocking the gun out of her hand to skid across the dirt and knocking her to the ground, tears welling up in her eyes from the pain.

[Polybius]

Kazuhiko panted as he looked over his handiwork. He'd swung along the side of the girl's arm, opening a gash that was oozing with blood. For a second, Kazuhiko stopped in his tracks. Fujiyoshi was on the ground, at his mercy. She was scared and wounded.

Then he remembered Sakura, and he remembered the gun. His neck twisted around, his gaze fixing on the fallen weapon. Releasing his right hand from the hatchet, he ran for the gun.

[Applesintime]

Clutching her arm, hand pressing over the wound to try and stem the bleeding even though she knew that it would do nothing when Kazuhiko swung the axe again and split her head open, Fumiyo stared up at him. She should have shot him. It was a mistake that she'd regret for the rest of her life, however short that would be. At least she'd die to a nice view.

Kazuhiko didn't kill her, though. Instead, he turned to the gun, and ran towards it. It hurt a lot to push herself up in turn, her arm red-hot with pain. What was worse was trying not to glance at the wound, glancing at the wound and then seeing what she thought was white bone, but if she didn't do something he would kill her. It would take too long to grab the boomerang out of her backpack, so she did the only thing she could think of.

Run at him.