They are sure taking their time. It’s been several hours since they told me three hours.

I hear some explosions off in the distance but it’s not really my problem at this point. I wonder whose fighting. Maybe it’s Oda and not sure how many others are still around at this point, but they seemed important to the ‘show’. I wonder if they even know only one of them can go home now.

The explosions in the distance die off leaving a sudden silence. It’s kind of peaceful on the island sometimes… Espeshally with finally being able to relax, the slight worry of being betrayed or worry of getting the chips finally gone. Now that I think of it, that was probably the most real contact I’ve had with others besides Miho and my parents since I was born… I kind of miss them. I feel a tear coming down my face… I’m not sure why…

I’ll… I’ll be sure to go to their families when I’m back and pay my respects. There is some reward money from this right? I…I’m sure I can make it up to the families a bit with that. I take out the spare chips from my bracelet and sort them out… They feel a lot heavier than before for some reason... I’ll just put them in my pocket for now. I still have all those other BIM too… I wonder if they will let me keep them. I’m still not sure if they could even find them or if they would be active still off of the island.

After playing around with one of the BIM for a while on the beach the helicopter finally arrives. Touches down on the beach near me I’m greeted by the same fake green fatman suit as before.

“HELLOOOOOO 3rd winner of the BTOOOM! Games! It’s lovely to see another from the Hitomi group alive and kicking! Shame what happened to the others! Who would have thought that everything would fall apart the second they saw the helicopter! Well no skin off your back aye? If anything, they just made it easier for you!” What would they know? It’s not like they had to kill anyone…

“Just shut up and take me home.” I start walking towards the helicopter. That’s when I hear yelling from behind me.

“SEE! I TOLD YOU THERE WAS A HELICOPTER LANDING LET’S GET IT!” I turn and see three people all rushing towards the helicopter two men one of them is Sakamoto and the other must be Oda. The man has long wavy hair a white shirt with cut off sleeves that’s miraculously still white and sunglasses. Not sure who the woman is but I’m surprised there are this many people on the island. Assuming the kid is still alive.

I start to jog towards the helicopter, as two men pull out rifles and aim towards the runners. This isn’t my fight.

“PLEASE BACK AWAY FROM THE HELICOPTER UNLESS YOU HAVE THE REQUIRED CHIPS!” The fake fatman calls over a speakerphone.

“AMONG THE THREE OF YOU THERE ARE ENOUGH FOR ONE LAST PERSON TO LEAVE! HITOMI SHIMADA MAY COME TO THE HELICOPTER HE ALREADY HAS THE REQUIRED NUMBER OF CHIPS!” Looking back, they all look at me likely willing to attempt to kill me over the others that they know…

“SHIT!” I break into a run. I’m pretty quick thanks to my attribute points but I still see one of them throw a BIM my way. I jump into a tumble to get out of the blast as I see the impact BIM arc towards the ground behind me.

I brace myself… only for nothing to happen.

“AH RIGHT, BIM WILL BE TURNED OFF FOR THE MOMENT! THIS IS A PRECAUTION FOR THE SAFETY OF OUR WORKERS!” I can almost hear the shit eating grin on his face from informing that after several thrown BIM land.

I get a quest notification while on the ground. These three are no longer a real threat to me without BIM, so I give it a quick check while still making my way to the helicopter.

Story quest: Help one more person escape the island.

Another story quest? That means I’d be able to fuse another skill… I stop in my steps, slowly turning towards them… I’d have to kill again. This time it won’t be for the sake of leaving or anything… purely because of my own greed. Though… two of them would die anyways even if not for me.

As I turn towards them the other three are looking at each other wearily. Sakamoto has even drawn one of my throwing knives that I’d gifted him before.

Well there is an easy way of doing this. “WHICH OF YOU WANTS ME TO HELP YOU KILL THE OTHER TWO?” I call out. They immediately all look at me dumbfounded. The fat suit guy immediately starts chuckling loudly.

“NOW THIS! THIS IS ENTERTAINMENT! LET’S RAISE UP IN THE AIR AND CIRCLE THE ISLAND A BIT AND LET THESE FOUR SETTLE THEIR DIFFERENCES!” Shit that means they will turn the BIM back on gotta settle this fast.

I don’t feel any wind besides what’s swept up by the helicopter so no point using a gas BIM. That leaves me with a few shields some homing and a few impacts left over from the other group members BIM.

I start sprinting towards all of them quickly. If my last throwing knife wasn’t bent, I’d throw it at them but all I have left is that and two bags full of stuff. My last slot left open thanks to taking out the chips. I start running directly at Sakamoto, if I can get one of my throwing knives back off him, I should be able to handle one of the others too.

“FUCK! HE’S COMING AT US! HE’S DANGEROUS WITHOUT BIM!” Sakamoto starts yelling to the other two. They look at each other and slowly move away from Sakamoto before Oda turns to the girl.

“I’ve got someone waiting on me at home… Sorry Kinoshita but I have to get back to her.” Oda lunges for the girl that was with him, she starts to struggle and beat on his chest screaming. I feel… kind of bad seeing this. Should I help her?

She screams as he starts strangling her. “WE COULD HAVE TAKEN HIM DOWN TOGETHER WHAT THE HELL ODA!” After a few more moments of struggle, he manages to get his hands around her neck slowly making the screaming become more ragged and quiet.

Sakamoto doesn’t look pleased and starts shouting. “ODA! You don’t need to do this! We can all get off of here together! We just need a plan!” He looks back and forth between Oda and me as I finally get closer. He finally seems to commit gritting his teeth he runs at Oda as the girls screaming completely cease.

Looking on Sakamoto isn’t trained at all with knives he’s wildly swinging it around as Oda moves back from strangling the girl. She’s still breathing but obviously needs a few moments to speak. She looks so… pitiful, she was betrayed by her friend and now she’s gasping for air on the ground likely a bruised trachea.

By this point we are on the edge of the beach where rocks start to get more common. I swing my hand low as I pass by, snatching a handful of slightly larger than marble sized rocks. They should pack a bit of a punch if need be thanks to my skills.

Sakamoto clashes with Oda as they struggle over the knife. Since they decided to take each other out I move up near the girl, she rasps something through her damaged throat. “I’ll join you… save -wheeze- me.” I just barely hear it as I’m moving near her. She’s the first one to actually verbally agree… I guess I’ll help her out. I look over at the other two Sakamoto is still pleading with Oda to reconsider to fight with him against this game but he’s also the one brandishing a knife at Oda… Is he okay in the head? His actions and speech aren’t exactly adding up.

They struggle over the knife for a moment separating and staring at one another.

“HELP ME YOU ASSHOLE! WE CAN GET OUT OF HERE TOGETHER!” Oda yells at me over Sakamoto’s shoulder. Then he looks at me not killing the girl then turns to Sakamoto.

“Look we can still get out of this the both of us! He’s going to try to kill us anyways so why don’t we stop him?” Sakamoto looks back at me with a glazed look before slowly nodding. I take that as the time to throw the rocks I’d picked up at them. Normally a handful of rocks wouldn’t be that strong but when you double the speed that they are thrown and add a spiral spin to each of them they can pack a punch. I feel the final level up as I throw them. The small rocks shoot out like a shotgun and blast towards the two of them I figured I’d miss most of them thanks to the red lines being fairly erratic but they all land true on Sakamoto’s front knocking him back slightly.

Oda meanwhile is checking his BIM using Sakamoto as cover between him and me. Considering he’s getting ready to throw one they are probably turned back on. I stand over the girl and activate a shield BIM right as several impact BIM land around me.

A triangle shield forms around us dampening everything. Dust is kicked up and smoke and a haze of dirt and sand clouds everything going on outside. I can’t even really hear the explosions going on anymore except for a dull thump against the shield occasionally. Below me the girl slowly starts to get up still slightly dizzy she croaks out a thanks as she truly realizes that her friend betrayed her.

While the smoke from the BIM starts to clear I hear several more explosions outside. This goes on for a while, as I assume they are both fighting and blasting this area alongside them. I take out a second shield BIM and use it too as this one’s glow is slowly fading. It’s just a matter of waiting it out now. Finally, the sound of explosions end and the dust settles to the ground. Looking out over the ruined landscape I see Sakamoto standing over a bleeding Oda.

I let the shield BIM run out and listen in on their conversation as I pull out a homing BIM.

“Sorry Oda but this is goodbye… The match is set. I’ll be returning to lobby soon!” He starts laughing to himself as he raises one of my throwing knives over Oda’s prone form.

My homing BIM goes off right next to his head popping him like a wet balloon. I toss another aimed at the prone Oda who tries to roll away but is quickly followed by the BIM. After seeing both bodies I immediately throw up on the ground… What the hell? I never felt bad about the other people. I start feeling heavy like my legs are lead as I walk over to the bodies.

As I start to sort through them. I feel… sad that I did that, why? I’ve had no problems up until now. So why do I feel so guilty about these two? One of them was a loon and the other tried to kill their partner almost immediately. I shouldn’t feel bad for them, they were willing to kill so they should have been open to dying as well. The feeling in my stomach starts to settle but doesn’t go away.

I use the search function of my skill and start looking for their chips. I feel a little guilty since this wasn’t necessary for survival. Inside my mind I feel the book detailing their death updating from afar. I know what the pages contain even if I’m not looking at them. I should probably contact their family too…

I finally find their chips Oda has a few tucked in his sock and Sakamoto has his tucked in his BIM bag.

I walk back over to the girl, I feel a little bit better seeing her… Like maybe it was worth it to save a different life to take two others, I toss her the extra chips. “Let’s get out of here alright?” She looks at me with a bit of fear… Which feels kind of bad… I dump the points I got from that fight evenly into speed and resilience as I help her over to the landing area. The Helicopter finally lands again.

“WELL, THAT APPEARS TO BE IT FOLKS! What an ending aye? What in the heck was going through his mind to turn BACK and fight the other two? Maybe he’s just blood thirsty? What do you say kid, wanna interview with the folks at home? Why did you kill those two?” He looks at me and mocks holding a camera out to me. I’m already feeling a bit guilty over this no need to rub it in my face.

“I felt it was just best to end it. If they kept fighting, then they may have messed something up. Those two were also obviously going crazy from how they acted. Now can you leave me alone. I already feel guilty enough over it as it is.” Thankfully lie detector girl is gone… Was that a lie? I’m honestly not sure myself. Lie detection may be a good skill to pick up for my last slot… I have several options though. I’ve also got a bit of a backlog of notifications.

Skill: Throwing level MAX

Description: Increased throwing accuracy by lvl %

Level 25: Increased throwing power by lvl %

Level 50: Slight control of spin of thrown objects

Level 75: Aim assist visual lines to estimated landing zone based on intended throw strength and angle.

Level 100: Moderate homing, thrown items trajectory adjust towards target.

Nice that’s a useful capstone. That explains why all of the rocks hit rather than only a few I’ll need to test out the limits of this later.

Congratulations! Story quest: Help one more person leave the island Complete!

Reward: One skill upgrade

Skill upgrade? Not a fusion? I guess I have to use it on either mindscape or the new fused skill. I try to see if there is a description.

Skill upgrade description: Select one skill and that skills ability will be improved beyond current bounds!

Okay, that’s not much information…

Congratulations! You have collected 16 chips and left the island along with Himiko. Choose two skills to keep when you die. All others will be lost upon rebirth! Live a long life and complete as many Quests as possible to reduce the souls’ strain from the reincarnation process.

Wait… two skills to keep? Maybe it’s because my soul has been fixed a bit, I get to keep more skills now? Regardless it’s a pretty easy choice. Treatment takes forever to level but has many uses and Unseen Eye is a useful fused skill. I’ll hold off on picking treatment in case I find a better one later. I still haven’t chosen my skill for my sixth slot after all.

I’m shaken out of my thoughts when the girl next to me grabs my attention.

“Th-thanks for saving me… Why did you save me anyways?” I let out a long sigh.

“I don’t honestly know… I just chose you because you looked hurt and were just betrayed by your friend… I just… I felt bad.” Is that all it really took? Feeling a bit of pity to kill two people for someone…

“Well thanks regardless…” She looks away and scoots away from me a bit.

“Would you like to hang out after this is all over?” I try again. Maybe she’d be interested she’s a bit older than me though.

“Uh sur… no I should be honest. That’s what got me here in the first place. I probably won’t want to. I don’t ever want to think of this place again. Now sorry, but I’d like some rest.” She puts her head in her hands and just closes her eyes.

Okay second time that hasn’t worked, oh well.

The helicopter ride lasts easily over six hours we get a fuel resupply from a boat along the way to I assume back to Japan. I feel like I’m forgetting something though.

Kosuke Kira POV

I finally got free from that assholes tie, but I can’t seem to find anyone else. I’ve wandered around the island for a few days. The supply drops stopped… Am… am I going to die here?

“ASSHOLES! SAKAMOTO COME OUT AND FIGHT ME! IF I’M GOING TO DIE IT WILL BE GOING OUT LIKE A BTOOOM! PLAYER!” I start running around rapidly shooting off my radar. But nothing comes back. But there’s nothing…

Several more days pass.

I’ve started to run out of BIM… I… the nights are getting pretty cold… I had to use the fire BIM to start a fire but those are starting to run out. Food is in short supply I’ve killed a few of the lizards but they are starting to get more aggressive since I’ve been avoiding using my last few BIM.

Several more days pass.

I’ve found Sakamoto or at least his remains… his body is out here on the beach next to another guys… am I all alone?

The next morning.

I got bit last night by one of those Komodo dragons… The pain isn’t that bad but it’s starting to get worse.

??? days later

I’ve been waking up in and out of consciousness I keep seeing a form over my body moving… I reach for one of my BIM, but I can’t feel my arm… I try to raise it to see but only pain flairs up as I see a bloody stump. My eyes focus back in on the lizards moving around my body… Oh… I guess this isn’t like a game after all.