Chapter 3 - Ichika and The Escape Team
Day 2 – 599 students remaining.
Shuji wakes up to commotion outside. Shuji gets out of bed and heads outside. Mikuni and his crew are already hanging around the area. Shuji notices that all of the screens are on and the countdown timer is nearing zero. People are clearly nervous about whether or not they will be chosen. Before anyone could worry further, the timer runs out and the voice begins to speak.
“The time is 7am. Day 2 has begun. The system has decided that Kenji Hattori is the saddest person in the city. That is all.”
Suddenly, someone outside begins to scream.
“Just try it you bastard! I’ll kill you for what you’ve done!”
It becomes clearly apparent that the man shouting is Kenji as everybody begins to move away from him. Shuji recognises Kenji as the man who held Aoi’s corpse in his arms.
“Wait a minute. His girlfriend was chosen yesterday.”
One of the guns begins to lock onto Kenji but he quickly runs inside one of the buildings, thinking that he can escape. The door shuts behind Kenji.
“They can’t get me in here.”
Kenji is holding his body against the inside wall of the building. Kenji turns to face forward and notices a gun directly in front of him that is aiming at his head.
Bang…
Kenji’s blood from the gunshot splatters on the wall behind him as his lifeless body begins to fall to the ground and a trail of blood stretches from it.
The students outside of the building who could hear the noise start to get increasingly nervous.
Mikuni decides there is no time to worry and begins to order his crew.
“Men. Secure the area. We know what happens next.”
Mikuni and his rather large crew begin to secure the area and line people up calmly as they prepare for the food parcel to drop.
A small group of figures look on in the far distance.
“Hey, Kenro. What are we going to do, boss?”
Kenro’s pose is one of anger.
“That fuckin bastard. The food parcel could’ve been all ours again. Well, we got enough for 100 days at least. For now, we gather as little as we can each day.”
Back down by the food parcel, Shuji notices something that he didn’t notice before. Some of Mikuni’s crew are holding bats.
“Are the weapons really necessary?”
Mikuni turns his attention to Shuji.
“Don’t worry. Intentional killing is forbidden here. The weapons are merely to scare off any thieves or gangs who try to take the food parcel. We’ll distribute the food evenly as we tried to do yesterday.”
Shuji wonders where the weapons came from.
“Where did you even get those?”
Mikuni begins to elaborate further to Shuji.
“This isn’t just some random city with random buildings. Whoever built this, left us the infrastructure to create a society. There’s even a hospital down here. And we got these bats from a sports field last night.”
Shuji is impressed at how well Mikuni is rallying people to uphold justice and order. The food parcel falls in the same place as Mikuni’s crew begin to hand out the food.
Shuji gets his food and sits down nearby. As he begins to eat, he overhears two people nearby talking.
“Did you hear? A student named Ichika is looking for an exit. She’s setting up an escape team. Anyone who wants to be a part of it is supposed to meet at the hospital.”
The other student responds to his remark as they both walk off.
“What? With all of this high-tech crap, I doubt the person in charge would be careless enough to leave an exit.”
Shuji debates on whether or not he should join this team. He eventually decides that it would be a good idea and decides to let Mikuni know his next move. He fills Mikuni in on what he has heard.
“I have to try. At the very least, it will motivate everybody in here to keep going if they know that people are looking for an exit.”
Mikuni thinks for a brief moment and smiles as he agrees with Shuji’s statement.
“I agree. Though the chance is incredibly small, even a slither of hope is enough.”
Shuji puts his hand out and shakes Mikuni’s hand.
“We’re parting ways for now but I am sure we will cross paths soon.”
Shuji begins to leave and head towards the hospital. As Shuji continues to walk away, Mikuni speaks to himself as he looks at Shuji.
“Everyone in here has a reason why they aren’t the unhappiest, I wonder what his reason is.”
Shuji continues to walk around for a while as he struggles to find the hospital. As he continues to try and find his way there, he hears a familiar voice.
“Do you trust Mikuni?”
Shuji turns to see Tamotsu Tano leaning against a wall nearby.
“I don’t fully trust him, but at least he’s better than the thugs and thieves who would create anarchy in this place.”
Tamotsu finds Shuji’s response amusing and gives Shuji his impression.
“A wolf in sheep’s clothing. That’s what I think of him.”
Before Shuji could converse with Tamotsu further, Tamotsu begins to walk away.
“Where are you going?”
Tamotsu ignores Shuji and points his arm.
“The hospital is that way if you’re looking for Ichika.”
Shuji wonders for a moment about what motive Tamotsu has for revealing his mistrust for Mikuni.
“What a mysterious character.”
Shuji eventually finds his way to the hospital and enters it.
“Hello?”
Before Shuji could look around, someone comes out to greet him.
“Hello. I’m Ichika. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
Ichika bows as Shuji thinks to himself about how polite Ichika is.
“Is this the escape team?”
Ichika responds in a polite and friendly manner.
“Why yes, it is. So far there are around 14 of us, though I don’t think many more are coming.”
Shuji wonders if Ichika is really the right person to be leading a possible escape team and quizzes her on her plan.
“So, what is it that we should do?”
Ichika refuses to elaborate.
“Tomorrow I’ll explain the plan to everybody once everyone who wants to join is here.”
Shuji meets the rest of Ichika’s recruits, who all seem eager to leave this city and return home to their families. Shuji sleeps in the hospital with the others as they wait for the next morning.
