Suspicion Produces Fear
"Ten minutes left…"
Risa, who would normally be stingy with my opinion, simply nodded her head.
"Shōta…it’s my fault, isn’t it?"
Minami, still clinging to that Risa, was just repeating the same thing.
Keisuke, who normally plays the role of making the atmosphere more relaxed at times like this, had lost his partner and still had not uttered a single word.
"Rustling."
Suddenly, we heard someone trampling on dead leaves and tree branches.
"Rustling."
Now the sound of tree branches and cloth rubbing against each other.
We all stayed where we were, breathless, and listened carefully.
"Phew, finally I found you guys."
I heard a familiar voice.
"Is it Kazuhiro?"
There was Kazuhiro, covered in sand and dirt all over. For just a moment, we were filled with joy.
”I managed to throw out your clones. I was surprised. I thought they were headed for Keisuke, but before I knew it, they were after me. Maybe it was because I’m tall like you."
Kazuhiro made an eye contact with me.
"Oh, yes. Thank you very much."
"Huh? What happened?"
Kazuhiro noticed the heaviness of the atmosphere.
"Shōta died."
Risa blurted out. It must have taken courage to say those words.
"What? Did he get caught by his own clone? But he should be able to shake it off, right?"
"It’s my fault."
"What do you mean?"
Risa fell silent. I answered on Risa's behalf.
"After Kazuhiro and Keisuke attracted the clones of me and Risa, we quickly slipped out of the cafeteria window. But Risa's clone noticed that its target isn't there and came after us."
"Wasn't it not chasing me that early? I’m sorry, It was around the gymnasium in the opposite direction from here that I noticed your clone was missing."
"And we were so relieved that when we realized that it was coming, it was too late."
"So Shōta stopped it temporarily."
Kazuhiro, as usual, is quick to understand. I nodded without saying any words.
"We decided to hide using the time Shōta gained for us, leaving him behind."
"You and Minami were already physically exhausted at that time, so you prioritized to let them rest, right?"
"Yes. If we had all run away together, I would have died for sure."
Risa asserted without any hesitation.
"I see, he stopped it to protected you. It's Shōta, so maybe he was thinking erotic things again and didn't realize his clone was getting close."
Kazuhiro's voice was lower than usual. I realized that he was probably caring for Risa.
"It is my fault. If I had more stamina…"
Minami started crying again uncontrollably.
"No, it's not your fault. I should had realized it earlier."
"No, if I hadn't said let's stay here for a while, we might have been able to save Shōta."
Everyone regretted our past inadequacies, thinking that if we had done what we did then, Shōta would not have died.
Kazuhiro's hand rested on Risa's shoulder.
"Regretting such things that have already happened will change nothing. The important thing now is to protect your own life, which Shōta risked his life to protect. Am I right?"
I felt my heart was saved by Kazuhiro's words. Not only me, but Minami and Risa felt the same way for sure.
"Ding-dong."
Suddenly, the school bell rang.
"This is it. But I guess the experiments continue."
Kazuhiro glanced sharply at the school building.
"Beep."
Then, this time, a mechanical sound came from the speaker that chimed just now.
"Hi. Thanks everyone for your hard work. Today's experiment is only one more to go. The time limit is approximately four hours from now, which is until 7:00 p.m. I have already sent the detail of the experimentation to you."
It was a pronouncement…
"Ring-ring."
"Buzz."
As soon as the loudspeaker went off, the cell phones of all four people except me rang mercilessly.
"I will now begin the treasure hunt. The head of the violator, Gōzō Shigayama, is hidden in a certain place. The task for you is to find the head before the clones do and place it under the rising sun flag on the roof of our school. Note that if humans side win, five people who were brain-dead in the second experiment will be randomly resurrected. However, if the clones win, I will cut off the heads of five random humans."
Yes, it was a representation of a world of the weak and the strong, where humans sacrifice for themselves and is sacrificed by someone else. It was a signal of the end of the world that drove mankind to despair.
"It's about time when human nature came out…"
"Yeah. This is a situation that could create suspicion and doubt, I guess."
When Risa and Kazuhiro checked each other's faces, it seemed to me that they smiled slightly.
