New Game
"What shall we do, Ryūichi?"
"Hmm, let's enjoy the torture."
"But we don't have time. We have to prepare for the upcoming game."
Hiroshi and Ryūichi started a conversation as if they were making small talk.
"You say preparation, but next game will also be killing, right?"
"Yes probably. But next might have some disadvantages to us. So should we kill any potential enemies while we still can?"
Mikado raised an iron pipe he was holding.
"That sounds reasonable. We will eventually kill everyone anyway though."
"Hey, wait. Did you forget that I’m still here?"
In front of the three of them was Mr. Nabeshima, down on one knee, blood pouring from his forehead.
"Hey, I’m not a fan of abusing weak people."
"Then, let me do it for you, senpai."
"Do whatever you like. In the meantime, we'll go somewhere and look for food."
With that, Ryūichi took Mikado and left the cafeteria.
"Well then, teacher. You should rest now!"
Suddenly, Hiroshi pulled out a knife from his pocket and tried to stab Mr. Nabeshima in the crown of the head.
But the teacher avoided him just in time.
"Please hold still. Let's go easy. Am I not a kind person?"
"Tsk, that's what you say to a teacher? Don't mess with me."
"Alright, alright. Are you a sore loser?"
"No, I’m not."
Mr. Nabeshima delivered a powerful right leg kick to Hiroshi's stomach.
"Such a weak kick won’t reach me!"
Hiroshi blocked the teacher's kick with his left hand, and gave a strong right-handed uppercut in return.
"Stand up, teacher. I haven't beaten you up enough yet."
"Huh, your punch doesn’t work!"
Mr. Nabeshima stepped back and gave a quick left hook to Hiroshi's cheek.
Hiroshi was undaunted and counter-kicked Mr. Nabeshima in the stomach.
"Ouch!"
At the same time Mr. Nabeshima staggered, Hiroshi tried to plunge the knife in his left hand into Mr. Nabeshima's stomach, but the teacher quickly thrust his left hand forward to cover his own stomach.
"You deserve it."
Suddenly, the teacher grabbed Hiroshi's left arm with a knife, with his right hand.
On the other hand, he grabbed Hiroshi's other hand with his left hand, which was covered in blood from the knife.
"What are you going to do?"
Mr. Nabeshima remained silent and backed away, grabbing both of Hiroshi's arms. Then, suddenly, he did a half-turn, and slammed Hiroshi's open side into the corner of the table behind him with a tremendous force.
"Whaaaa!"
Hiroshi involuntarily cowered in place and held his left side with both hands.
"Well, what teacher would want to be beaten by his own students…"
Mr. Nabeshima spit it out.
"Now you won't be able to walk for a while. It must be even hard to breathe."
Having said that, Mr. Nabeshima forced his body, now fully wounded, to move and left the cafeteria.
"Wait, you…Ou!"
Hiroshi tried to pick up a nearby fallen knife, but the pain in his side was too much for him to bear.
"I’ll remember this…"
"Hah hah, the bleeding doesn’t stop."
Mr. Nabeshima was walking down the first floor hallway with heavy steps, dripping blood on the floor.
"I hope everyone is okay. It's almost time for the next ordeal. They must be alive. But still, when will this end? If this keeps going, it really seems like it won't be over until we're all wiped out."
Mr. Nabeshima suddenly started talking to himself and tried to distract himself from the pain.
"Where the hell is Suguru Anzai."
Mr. Nabeshima tried to use his mind to recall the events leading up to this point, but his dimming consciousness prevented him from doing so.
"Damn. I’m a PE teacher. I’m not clever."
"…"
Suddenly, he felt a presence behind and turned around.
"What. Why are you…"
He saw something shiny on both of the opponent’s hands.
That person plunged a knife into his belly before Mr. Nabeshima could finish his words.
"What shall we do next, senpai."
"Should we go back to the school building?"
We were now in the school gymnasium.
"No, let’s wait a little bit more. This experiment will end soon. Then Mr. Nabeshima will come too."
"When in the world will this end? I thought we were at peace until we saw that email at the library."
Tsutomu looked lonely.
"Huh, Were you in the library during the first ordeal?"
"Yes. We have to go to the library first, starting with the ones that finish their lunch early. When the email came in, almost everyone had finished eating, so most of the middle schoolers must have been in the library on the first floor."
"Did any of them ever get out of there?"
"No. I was just sitting near the entrance to the library, so I would have noticed if anyone was leaving."
So then, I guess a middle school student can't commit the crime. No, but it is possible that someone didn't go to the library in the first place, but was in the broadcast room instead.
"Was there everyone in the library?"
"Umm, let me think."
"As I recall, the teachers in each classroom took a roll call a little later, so I think they were all there."
Hiroyuki joined our conversation from my right side.
"I see..."
And what on earth is Suguru Anzai's purpose in doing this? Does he hate this school?
"Buzz…"
Suddenly, sound came out of the speakers installed on all four corners of the gymnasium.
"Hi again, everyone. You did more than I expected. Then let’s go to the next experiment. Next up is a game of nomination. The team system remains in place, so please get along and cooperate with your teammates. Humans should nominate a person from the opposing team and kill him or her. The clone will target that person's clone. If that nominated clone and human are killed, the team loses and everyone explodes. In addition, it is forbidden to kill anyone other than the person and the clone nominated. Also, once you've made your nomination, you cannot change it later. If any of these rules are broken, it will be considered a violation and the entire team's head will explode immediately. Oh, and also even though you chose a person that is still alive, but the clone is already dead, that is also against the rule. In other words, please make sure both the human and their clone are alive before making your nomination. The way to nominate someone is you just declare it out loud. Alright, good luck."
I involuntarily made fists in my hands and put all my strength into them.
