Life or Death
"He is late."
We were now hiding in the woods behind the schoolyard.
"It’s just after 2:50. The school ends in 3:20. So thirty minutes to go."
"Are Kazuhiro and Keisuke fine too?"
Minami looked at me while holding on to Risa.
"I’m worried so, I will look for them."
"Wait!"
As Minami was about to jump out of the woods, Risa grabbed Minami's shoulder.
"We still have thirty minutes. I’m sure they will be fine. Even if we go, we are burden to them."
"But Shōta, Kazuhiro, and Keisuke are all protecting us. They should be tired too. Then they might be caught by the clones. We’re friends, aren't we? We have to help each other. There is no meaning if only us survive this experiment. All six of us have to get over the experiment together!"
Minami's courageous words loosened Risa's hand. Minami jumped out of the way at that moment.
"She got us."
"She is so selfish and caring as always. Here we go, Shūhei."
We too ran straight through the woods to the school.
"Where did she go?"
A few minutes later, we arrived at the main entrance of the school, but Minami was not there.
"I guess she went to find Kazuhiro or Keisuke."
"I know that. Are you stupid?"
It had been a while since I had seen Risa's stunned face.
"Hey. What are you doing there?"
Suddenly, I heard a familiar voice from afar.
"Keisuke!"
There was Keisuke, sweating a lot and with his pants covered in sand.
"Where is Kazuhiro?"
"Oof. Wait a minute. Let me take a little breath. Haah. So, we broke up on the way. He told me Risa's clone wasn't there in the middle of escaping."
"I see. That is worthy of me. It is supposed to be chasing me, but it realized that I’m not running in front of it anymore, so it must have gotten off track."
Risa smiled proudly.
"That is why she appeared in front of us."
"Okay, let's assume Kazuhiro is looking for Risa’s clone. Have you seen Shōta or Minami then?"
"No. Aren’t they with you guys?"
"Shōta stopped my clone and letting us escape. Minami is…"
"Ring-ring."
"Buzz."
Suddenly, as if interrupting Risa's conversation, Keisuke and Risa's cell phones rang simultaneously.
"An E-mail."
"Didn’t you get the message?"
Keisuke looked at me.
"Don't you remember, mine is broken from earlier. More than that…"
"The violator appeared who tried to run out of the school gate just before the end of the experiment. His name was Gōzo Shigayama. For the crime of violation, I applied an electric current to his brain and destroyed his's brain to pieces."
Risa read the text of the email like a Buddhist prayer.
"What? An violator?"
"Shigayama? Oh, that security guard who always stand in front of the school gate?"
"The information is very quick. I wonder where the perpetuator getting his information from."
"Why didn't he broadcast it like he have been doing?"
"I'm sure since we're all over place so he was scared of been found before he get to the broadcast room."
I was impressed by his good deduction for Keisuke.
"Anyway it seems certain that the culprit is here at this school."
Risa calmly came up with her deduction that she could read from this e-mail.
"Yes. Otherwise, he can't give us a status report or anything."
"Aaaah!"
Suddenly, we heard a woman screaming from the back of the school.
"That was…"
"Minami!"
We hurried around to the back of the school. Then there was a…
"Hurry up and run!"
In front of Minami, there was a clone with his back turned to her. However, Minami didn’t try to move.
"Minami, where were you all this time?"
Risa ran up to Minami. Then, as she was about to run off with Minami, Minami stopped her.
"Wait, Risa!"
Minami looked at Risa and pointed to the ground.
"What…"
A few minutes of silence followed. Our brains couldn't keep up with what we are looking at.
"Shō…ta"
There was Shōta, who had fallen on his face.
"You are kidding me."
I quickly looked into the face of the clone standing still in front of Risa and Minami. It was the same face.
"No way…"
"Is it my fault?"
Risa and Minami clung to each other and did not move.
"Shōta…is he dead?"
Keisuke was also in a state of abandon.
I was about to fall into chaos as anger, sadness, fear, and astonishment mingled in my brain.
"Everyone, let’s hide somewhere for now."
I grabbed Risa, who was shaking with Minami, with my right hand, and Keisuke, who was still in a blank stare, with my left hand, and ran.
I looked back, holding back tears, and saw Shōta's corpse and clone.
The clone is quietly staring at a man crumpled on the floor. It looked like a scene from a movie to my eyes.
