And Then...
"Finally, I made it."
"What? Why are you following me?"
"What?"
When I looked up after catching my breath, I saw Kazuhiro standing in front of me, out of breath and looking surprised.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Didn’t you get it? The way they are…"
"Aaah, finally. You guys are fast…"
Interrupting Kazuhiro's words, a sweaty Risa came slowly up the stairs.
"Why are you following me too!"
"What do you mean why?"
Kazuhiro's eyes were red and bloodshot.
"I was just trying to protect you."
"Protect me?"
Kazuhiro, who was unable to hide his unusual agitation, glared at me.
"That’s right. If any of the other clones try to hold you back, I'll be your behalf. Since Kazuhiro is the one who has the head, I thought it was my first priority to send you to this rooftop to help Keisuke as soon as possible."
"I appreciate the sentiment, but isn't it normal for someone to help Keisuke? Are you trying to make the same mistake as Shōta’s time?"
"But, this time the clones would not kill us… and Keisuke didn't have a weapon."
We did not understand why Kazuhiro was panicking.
"Anyway, let’s go back immediately. I have a bad feeling. Where is Minami?"
"I guess she should come soon. You know, she doesn’t have much stamina, so she is slow."
"Then let’s meet up and head back to where Keisuke is."
Just as Kazuhiro was about to run down the stairs,
"Huff…"
Minami ran up the stairs at full speed.
"You are late, Minami."
Kazuhiro walked straight past Minami and down the stairs.
"What? What is happening?"
"I don’t really get either. Kazuhiro is worrying about Keisuke."
I answered on Kazuhiro's behalf.
"But he told me that he will be fine."
" Kazuhiro thinks Keisuke follow the same fate as Shōta."
"Oh my god! You mean that maybe Keisuke will be killed because of me, right? We need to hurry then."
Thus, without time to rest, we began running once more along the path, which is about 400 meters long.
"Too late…"
"Don’t be mean. This should only have taken a minute or two."
We quickly ran back to the front of Keisuke and Risa's "3-2" classroom.
"I’m not saying to you guys."
"What?"
Kazuhiro's voice sounded more somber than ever.
"No way…"
We looked at Kazuhiro's feet.
"Keisuke…"
There lay Keisuke, with a single crimson flower on his back and thin cuts here and there on the other parts of his body.
"When I came here, he was already…"
"Seriously? Even Keisuke..."
"Why them? Even though I'm the the burden to them? Aaaah!"
Minami collapsed on the spot, covered her face with her hands, and cried out.
Her cry echoed far into the school, as if it reached the sky.
"Keisuke…"
I suddenly thought of Keisuke's last words. Then tears naturally streamed down my cheeks.
I took a breath and then slowly opened my dry mouth.
"By the way, what happened to this experiment?"
"Bzzz...umm, this one turned out better than I expected. My guess was that there would be about five survivors, but it seems like humans did a great job. It's called human willpower, isn't it?"
From a nearby speaker came the voice of a machine that sounded joyful.
"Well, this is it for today. The clones have now been brought to a complete stop and will not attack you. Your relatives will be sent home safely erasing what happened at here. Of course, it is out of question if they are dead. I have prepared bedding and food for everyone in the storage room on the second floor of the gymnasium. Please rest your body. Tomorrow’s experimentation starts on 8:30 a.m. which is when the school starts usually. Well then, see you soon."
"This game still continues, huh…"
Kazuhiro spoke in his usual relaxed tone, but his body seemed to be somewhat shaking slightly.
