Several hours pass.

“WHERE THE HELL IS EVERYBODY!” I’ve been wandering around for a while now with absolutely no one in sight. Searching for Himiko has also been a bit of a bus I’ve been hiking up the side of a mountain for about two hours now. Hopefully if I get up higher, I might be able to find a better vantage point to maybe see something. So far theres just more mountains off in the distance. After a good amount of walking, I finally see something that stands out.

There is a house up near the top of a hill it should be a pretty good place to start at. As I approach, I hear voices of four people arguing. Quickly moving into a passive stealth through some bushes I try to get close enough to hear what they are saying.

One younger man’s voice starts first after the end of the muffled argument inside the shack of a house. “I’m going to go look around and see if its safe here. Who else is coming?” Great so they are separating I’ll just need to take out the ones that move away. The same man speaks up again, “Hey women?”. An older voice sounds out “Okay dearie let me just grab my things.” Likely belonging to an old lady. I’ll feel a little bad about taking down a grandma but this is survival.

Following along being careful to stay out of their line of sight I move by sound of their movement. It’s made easy by their constant bickering and complaints about the hike. Slowly they move further and further away likely moving slower because they are looking for danger along the way. Finally they are far enough that the others won’t be able to help in time. The one lagging behind is an old lady I can make it quick she won’t suffer. My last self I had to kill all sorts of people, never underestimate an opponent and everyone was sent her for a reason.

The young guy’s voice sounds out suddenly after a bit of a yelp. “AHHH, Damn the path ends… This is a dead end. Theres a cliff over here, we can’t cross over.” Hearing that it’s a dead end so they have nowhere to run I slowly make my way closer and finally get a good look at the two of them. The younger man is looking in my direction standing on the edge of a sheer cliff, and I get a good eye of his face. It’s the rapist, this is going to be even better than I thought. This early and I already get to start on the revenge for Miho.

I start getting ready to attack the old lady. One quick stab is all it would take. Just as I’m about to attack I notice one of her hands starts to fiddle with her BIM bag. Slightly worried that I might have been seen I move back into cover. She starts to speak. “This is a cliff? I see… then that means that theres nowhere to run right?” she lifts out one of her BIM and points it at the man on the cliff. Now it’s getting interesting I may not even need to kill all of them they might just kill each other first.

“You… What are you doing?! HEY OLD LADY!!” he flinches at the sight of her BIM being pointed at him. It looks like a sphere with little propellers on the top. He starts to take a step back but stops himself with a look at the sheer cliff behind him as a few rocks plunge below.

The old lady smiles a wide grin. “What? I never trusted anyone. Even being ridiculed by my own family. Humans are DOOMED they don’t believe in anything other than money. The cargo delivery guy on the plane ride here had loose lips for a sweet old lady. He told me that if you can win the game, you can win a huge sum of money that will last a lifetime! Isnt that amazing? Just a couple of lives and you’re set and don’t have to depend on anyone else!” She starts laughing to herself now fingers twitching on the BIM in her hands. If the propellers are anything to go by it looks like it will track someone itself.

“You… you’re planning on killing me old lady?” Rapist asshole says trying to defend himself.

Her smile curls into a snarl as she presses a button on the BIM “Let me give you one last piece of advice! DON’T CALL OLDER WOMEN OLD LADIES!”

“GO AND DIE!” She throws the BIM its an interesting one it moves a distance before catching in the air and moving straight for its target. The rapist tries to dodge but it moves with him unable to shake it he throws his BIM bag up at it at the same time of an explosion.

BOOM!!!

She moves up the cliff side and looks down. To make sure hes gone cackling to herself along the way.

“Hm so he’s dead. In order to get the chip, I’ll have to go down. -tch- gonna be hard on my bones…” I continue to hide in my bush since in the distance I can hear more footsteps approaching. They are an older gentleman with a muscular build and facial hair with a bit of a beer gut. With him is, I feel like I recognize her from somewhere? Maybe a movie star or something. Shes wearing some jewelry, a dress and looks beautiful with long black hair and no blemishes.

“THE EXPLOSION CAME FROM OVER HERE! Are you two alright?” The man looks left and right. Trying to find the source of the explosion or the other young man. His glances slide right over me like I’m not even there in the brush. Hearing the mental chime of a level in stealth as he does so.

“Yosano! What happened?” They both seem concerned for the old lady! Ha here I thought maybe they would start fighting immediately. I do kind of regret not being able to kill him myself, I could just wait this out then take out his teammates though… Or I could use them until I get to Himiko. They seemed open to the idea of an alliance with the others previously.

The old lady starts to tear up and run towards them. “Please help me! That man…” The old lady has snot trailing down her face and crocodile tears streaming down her face as she pitifully moves towards the other two while giving fearful glances into the forest.

“Man? Are you talking about Yoshioka? What did he do!?” The older man starts yelling and moving himself defensively from where shes staring. Which happens to be in my direction. I clench a throwing knife I took from my bracelet in my hand hoping no one sees me.

“He…He suddenly…suddenly threw.. threw a bomb!” Tears continue to stream down her face convincingly. If I didn’t know better, she seems harmless.

“HIM? Impossible!” The guy starts looking around quisically like he heard a lie. “Its true! BELIEVE ME!”

The other ladies demeaner changes however no longer concerned and more rigid.

“Where is he?” The man starts looking for the rapist.

“That way! He went that way!” The old lady starts pointing almost directly at me. I shift slightly to not be in direct line of possible fire.

“Please be careful! He might be hiding somewhere nearby!” As the man and woman give each other looks the old ladies hand slowly snakes towards her BIM bag.

“Please wait Togo!” The other women interrupts causing the ladies hand to freeze where it is.

“Higuichi? What is it?” The man now named Togo turns to the woman.

“Yosano is lying!” Higuichi responds matter of factly staring at the old lady.

“What are you planning!” Now giving an accusatory finger jabbed in the old ladies direction.

Oooh so they caught it. In that case I can just wait this out. Or I can help and be seen as a potential ally.

“What you said just now was a lie! I can tell!” The young lady continues to press. A lie detector may be a problem to work with though.

“Are you trying to make trouble for an old lady like me? I didn’t lie dear why would I?” The tears all but forgotten her act having been caught shes trying to shift the situation. The old lady may not realize it but its only painting herself in an even worse light.

“Stop fighting! Theres a way to find out the truth…” Toga looks to the old lady holding up a hand in front of both of them.

“Yosano can you show me the rest of your BIM? If there are none missing, we will believe you!” Togo looks at the old lady smiling like it shouldn’t be hard. Like he just solved the situation peacefully.

“Come on, it shouldn’t be that hard to prove your innocence, right?” Higuichi chimes in a bit smug about knowing shes right.

The old lady looks down for a bit caught in her lie. “DAMN IT!” She runs away from the other two quickly grabbing out a BIM. “DIE!!” She places the BIM to her eye before pressing a button and throwing it at the two of them. Just as the small helicopter starts to fly towards them Togo activates one of his own BIM. It looks a lot like my own. That’s good he’s less likely to want to attack without offensive type BIM.

From my hidden position I have a clear view of the old lady. She starts to run in my direction trying to head away from the pair. Starting to slightly smirk I whip back the knife and throw it right at her. I watch as the knife almost slowly slides into her forehead, the hilt slamming into her skull with a thick crunch sending her sprawling backwards. The other two stand still for a second shocked as she collapses backwards still holding the BIM in her hand. I feel slightly nauseous but it passes quickly. That was MY first kill, but I feel like watching all the death from my last life desensitized me.

“WHO WHOS THERE? YOSHIOKA?” The two look around wildly trying to find me. The lady Higuichi pulls out a cylindrical BIM that looks like the one the fat guy had. I place a barrier BIM in my bracelet just in case and come out of cover.

“I come in peace!” I they both turn towards me. The girl raising her arm in ready but her finger isn’t on the trigger.

“Why are you here?” Togo settles a glare at me.

“Well honestly? My plan was to take out the two of them when they left your hideout then circle back for you two. But they seemed to have taken care of themselves for the most part. How about a deal? 34 people 8 chips each means four people can leave with a two-chip wiggle room. How about a team up? I already have someone else planned for our fourth though.” Togo nods slowly but still looks serious he looks over to Higuichi the human lie detector.

“Hes… hes telling the truth… you were going to… to kill us?” She seems shocked by that.

I nod perfectly neutral at the question. Is she an idiot? “Of course! Just like your group would have if you came across me before losing two of your members. I’m here on a mission. Unlike most people here I chose to come here myself. Someone I care a lot for sent their friend here and regretted it with all her heart. So, I’m doing my best to make sure she doesn’t become a murderer.” Ending this statement with a smile trying to calm them both down. They look surprised before looking between me and the body on the ground as if confirming that yes I just killed someone.

Higuichi’s face scrunches a bit recognizing something in my statement. “What do you mean by ‘unlike most people here’? Why were we chosen?”

I guess shes not one of the ones in the know. “Hmm? Oh, everyone on this island was chosen to disappear by someone else. Nominated on a piece of paper to die. I don’t know about the old lady but the guy that took a swan dive off the cliff is a seriel rapist. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to go save his life so I can make him suffer more.” They aren’t much of a threat. If they were going to attack, they already would have.

“SHIT wait… Yoshioka was a rapist?” Higuichi looks confused about this point… probably realizing that she almost walked out with him alone in the forest. I just give her a nod as I give a quick tug and yank the knife out of the old ladies’ head. Higuichis’ face goes a little pale a the sight but I shrug it off and move my way forward.

We make our way down the cliff and fish him out of the water.

“Well let’s see if we can get him going again!” I start performing CPR chest compressions. Not really caring about his sternum I give the compressions hard. Higuichi speaks up seeing me do this “Aren’t you supposed to give mouth to mouth or something?” I keep giving compresions to the beat of ‘another one bites the dust’ as I respond. “Yes and no, it doesn’t really improve the survivability by that much and I’m not putting my lips on his.” I turn to look at Toga. “Hey Toga, how about you give him mouth to mouth while I give the chest compressions.” I keep giving compressions before checking for breath.

“How do you know my name? UH SHIT FINE!” He seems hesitant but swallows down his fear and helps me proform CPR.

After a moment the rapist spits some water back up. A bit of blood mixed in with the water and covering Togas face. He jerks up in surprised smashing his face into Togas causing both to reel back.

I look at Higuichi. “And that’s why I didn’t want to do it.”

“FUUUUUCK I felt the reaper closing in.” Yoshioka yells out after regaining his bearings. He winces and feels his forehead and his chest where I was giving the compressions.

“Welcome back to the living asshole.” I punch him in the face hard enough to whip his head back knocking him back out but likely giving him a concussion.

The sudden violence surprises the other two and they both scramble for a second. “WOAH WOAH was that necessary? He should give his point of view on the story too!” Togo falls back then gets upset. Rubbing at his forehead where he was just hit by the now unconcious man.

“Hes the one that raped my friend to begin with and recorded the whole thing. So, no I have every right to do this. I’m going to make him suffer the way she did.” Higuichi looks surprised then embarrassed.

“Hes telling the truth… are you really going to umm do… THAT to him? Even if hes scum… I don’t think I can just stand by and watch as you…” Her face is red, and she is giving glances between my crotch and the rapists pants.

“What? NO! That’s gross! I’m going to carve my name into his chest and make him feel as helpless as he made Miho.” Staring down at the guy I pop the throwing knife back out from my bracelet and pop out the guy’s chip from his hand before storing it again. Looking at the knife its clean. Neat! I guess it only stored the blade and not the blood. I never tried that before, so I didn’t know it did that part.

“Woah where did you get that knife from kid? How did you get those?” Toga stares at it in my hand transfixed.

“Hmm? This I had it when I was taken in. They didn’t take anything from my person. I’m sure everyone else is the same.” Realizing this they both search their pockets a bit more and realize they both have their phones. Their excitement quickly dies down when they realize that they don’t work here.

“Well regardless we need to drag this asshole up to your base and get the old ladies chip and BIM’s before we have a more serious talk.” I grab him by the leg and start dragging him towards the cliff side.

“I’ll grab him by the arms.” Togo grabs Yoshioka by the arms and we make our way up the cliff side a bit slowly thanks to the dead weight.

Up at the top I grab the old ladies BIM bag and pop out her chip. “I feel like it’s only fair I keep the BIM since I was the one that finished her off.” I start placing the BIM bag over my head.

“But since I already have one chip from the ass, one of you can hold on to the chip, alls fair right?” I toss it over to Higuichi who’s surprised I’m handing it over. I think they expected me to just keep it for myself. A little bit of trust can help with relations. They might also not realize it, but I could just kill them later to get it back even if I’m not the one holding it right now.

We walk the rest of the way to the base in silence. Once we are there, we start to talk about ourselves. “I’m Shimada Hitomi, I’m student I nominated myself to help my friend. It was a happy accident to run into this fella.” I hit the side of Yoshioka’s head with a loud smack “But I’m glad I did.” We have him tied up using his sweater to bind his legs and his belt to bind his hands behind his back. I have some zip ties and tourniquets in my medical bag but I’ll hold off on pulling those out in front of these people for now.

“Well, I’m Heitaro Togo, I… I was responsible for my squads death… I don’t blame their family for nominating me to be here… it was all my fault.” Togo looks down at his hands and the ground. “I won’t let it happen again… I WILL survive.” Togo has a determined look in his eyes.

“NICE, good resolve TOGO!” I call out with two thumbs up. The two others shift uncomfortably. Am I doing this wrong? I havn’t really been part of a team of equals before.

Higuichi looks at me concerned but also a little bit afraid. “You don’t act like a young student… the way you killed Yosano without any hesitance… are you okay? Normally a kid your age would be shaken a bit by that.” Ah right I’m 17 I forgot. Should I act more or less mature?

“Well, there isnt much to it. I have the resolve to kill in order to survive and I will do what it takes to make sure my friends hands do not become bloodied. Himiko is also kind of helpless so she will probably die if I don’t find her.” They nod slowly at this statement. A bit lost in how bluntly I’m laying everything out.

I look to Higuichi “Well, you next. Are you an actress or something? You look really familiar, but I don’t know what from.” Shes wearing what looks like an expensive dress and has some small jewelry. She blushes a bit from hearing that I recognize her. “Ahem… I’m an actress in a sense… I’m an adult actress…” Ah shes a pornstar… and I just revealed that I’ve likely seen her from THAT. Mental me does a quick search and finds that is where I know her from.

I stare at her blankly for a moment trying to think of how to approach this. “Ah well um I guess you just have one of those faces. Must have been mistaken right? Ahem man I hope they aren’t recording this…”

This response seems to surprise them both. “Wait so your more flustered by the idea that you recognized an adult actress on recording than killing an old lady with a knife? Or threatening to torture someone to death!?” Higuichi seems to almost yell the last part.

“I mean one has an easy explanation of self-preservation. The other is a bit more awkward because I have someone, I sort of like that I don’t want to know I’m hanging out with a girl that I’ve um… watched… before. Sorry Higuichi! This must also be awkward for you. I’ll stop bringing it up now.” I bow towards her then look away. She still just stares at me blankly like I’m the odd one here.

“It’s… It’s uh fine.. I guess? You mentioned something about us all working together?” She seems a bit confused about the whole situation.

I nod to her. “YES! So, since there are 34 people four people will survive so if you two team up with me and Himiko once we find her, we can all leave together. Going at it with a team will make each fight much easier.”

“Hmm we had that sort of plan with the other two but since it’s turned out this way… Lets wait for Yoshioka’s point of view before we commit to anything yet.” Togo is still skeptical about me. It makes sense how would I happen to know one of the other people that was in their group from before this.

“Alright well let’s get some rest in since it’s getting close to morning, and we likely want to move around during the day. I will assume neither of you will trust me yet so you two can take the watch shifts.” I take off my sweater and bunch it up like a pillow in the corner of the room while Higuichi and Togo both look at each other for a bit. Eventually Higuichi goes to rest up and Togo is left alone to keep watch without any say in the matter. I hear a long sigh come from him as he realizes he just got stuck with the whole watch.

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