Transcendency: Chapter 8

[matsu1nino]

Title: Transcendency
Pairing: OT5, Matsumiya
Genre: AU, Angst, Dark Fantasy
Disclaimer: Plot is mine, Arashi is not. Unfortunately.
Summary: Down the rabbit hole they fell.
Author's Note: Part two at the zoo.


The thundering of footsteps sounded as the players sprinted desperately from the clutches of the pursuing gorilla. The objective of the game was forgotten the moment they saw the terrifying beast; fighting was the last thing on their minds, their only goal now to escape with their lives intact. Flanked by his friends, Nino ran as fast as his legs would carry him. He could hear the beast’s screams behind him, closely followed by the frightened shrieks of the other players as they too ran for their lives. Their attempt to flee the much faster creature was in vain, however. Or it would have been had one of the women at the back of the pack not tripped on the pavement. As she scrambled to find her glasses, the gorilla quickly caught up to her. It towered above her, vocalising loudly and pounding its chest while it stood at full height. The fallen player cowered and raised her arms to shield her head in what soon became evident was a futile action.

“Haruna-san!” the androgynous woman cried.

As both hers and the cowering woman’s screams resonated through the zoo, the gorilla’s nostrils flared and it screamed right back before throwing its powerful fists down upon the defenceless woman. It was relentless in its beating; long after her body ceased moving, it continued to smash and tear at her already brutally mangled corpse. The other players recoiled from the savage scene, though they could still hear her bones crunching beneath the beast’s muscular hands.

Realising they would share her fate should they stay there any longer, the remaining players ran for cover while the gorilla was still distracted with her body. Yamase turned back to grab the hand of the androgynous woman, who was in a state of total shock as she mourned the loss of her companion. She uttered words of encouragement and pulled her along to catch up with the others. The players had barely made it to the end of the trail before another beast crossed their path. The black bear lumbered along at a somewhat sluggish pace. The players skidded to a halt, standing perfectly frozen as it passed in front of them, seemingly unaware that they were even there.

Startled gasps escaped the two women when they caught up with the others. The bear turned its head. Its gaze locked on them and its body turned as it changed its course. It circled them, holding its head high at first while grunting before dropping its neck low. Its jaws parted and it lunged a short distance towards them; not far enough to make an actual attack, it was easily close enough to warn them all of the challenge it was invoking. Its ears fell flat against its head and its grunting became sharper as it clacked its teeth. The androgynous woman let out a distressed whimper and turned to run away. Aiba seized her arm before she could.

“Don’t run!” he hissed. “Our best chance is if we stand our ground together. Black bears are surprisingly timid and will be less likely to attack if we make ourselves out to be a bigger threat than it can handle.”

The woman looked at him with wide eyes, unable to bring herself to believe him. But she stayed put regardless.

“Stay close,” Aiba cautioned them all. “Make yourself look as big as possible and make plenty of noise. If it attacks, don’t play dead. Fight back.”

Unsettled as they were at the thought of facing such a beast head-on, the players gathered together as they attempted to form an impenetrable wall that would scare the bear away as hoped. They yelled and clapped at it, waving their arms wildly. The bear’s pace slowed slightly but it continued to advance on them. Aiba encouraged them all to keep up the spectacle, though it wasn’t long before cracks began to form in their strategy. As the bear came closer still, its upper lip curling to reveal a row of sharp teeth, many of the players’ valour began to waver.

“Shouldn’t we use the gun?” Ohno asked when the beast reared up on its hind legs. Despite not being taller than any of them, its added height struck fear in their hearts.

Going against Aiba’s advice of standing their ground, the players backed away immediately from the intimidating beast. Daigo grabbed the firearm and took aim at the bear’s chest. Aiba grabbed the barrel before he could fire. He desperately wrestled to take back the weapon.

“No, you can’t!” he said through gritted teeth. Several of the others came forward to separate them. Sho pried the gun back from the trigger-happy rocker and held it out of his reach.

“He’s right, we only have one bullet,” he reminded them. “What if we need it for something harder down the line?”

“We’re not shooting anything,” Aiba snapped and snatched the gun from his friend’s hands. He hugged it to his chest to prevent anyone from taking it again.

In his distraction, he failed to notice how close the bear had gotten. It raised a paw, the flashing lights catching on each of its long, milky yellow claws.

“Aiba-chan, look out!”

Aiba spun around and gasped. Ohno dove into him, pushing him out of the way just in time to avoid the powerful paw that sliced through the empty air where he once stood. The attack triggered mass panic among the players. Forgetting the plan to hold strong, a number of players took off running down the side path. The already aggravated bear dropped back to all fours and went galloping after them at high speed, leaving the five boys to stare after them.

“How fast can bears run?” Nino asked Aiba as he and Ohno picked themselves up off the ground.

“About 40km/h over short distances,” Aiba replied after a muttered thanks to their sleepy-faced friend.

A strangled shout sounded from nearby only a few seconds later. The boys didn’t stick around to learn what the outcome of said scream was, already knowing it was likely their team had lost another head. Spinning around, they raced down a different path towards the west garden. They had barely made it to the end of the bridge before something shot down from the sky in a blur of black and white. It crashed into Jun and sent him skidding over the pavement. His friends turned back in surprise. As the younger pulled himself up, blood trickling from the graze on his temple, the large bird landed between him and the others.

“A pelican?” Sho questioned, disbelief and confusion lacing his tone.

No sooner had he spoken than the pelican turned their way. Its eyes locked on the four of them, its neck twisting around with almost mechanical movement.

“Don’t worry,” Aiba assured them. “Pelicans look scary but they don’t tend to be aggressive towards humans.”

“I don’t think this guy got that memo,” Jun muttered, wincing as he touched his forefinger to his wound.

The bird stared at them for a moment, completely still. Then its wings raised and a guttural noise sounded from deep within its throat. It threw its beak out at Jun, who narrowly managed to avoid the snap of its mouth. It tried again a few times. When his friends attempted to sidestep it to get to him, it rushed them. With hearts racing, they hastily retreated from the charging bird.

Nino shot Aiba a pointed look. “You were saying?”

“I don’t understand,” Aiba said, shaking his head. He looked at a total loss. “Why is every animal in this place so hellbent on killing us? It’s not natural.”

“In ancient Rome, they would starve the lions before a fight to make them extra aggressive towards the gladiators and thus ensure a more entertaining fight,” Sho proclaimed.

“It seems our game master likes to take inspiration from history,” Nino remarked, taking up a defensive stance. “And we’re the gladiators who just stepped into the colosseum.”

The pelican squalled loudly and let out a vicious hiss. It flapped its wings hard and rose into the air, flying straight at their heads. They ducked to the ground but it quickly circled back, attacking from behind this time. It bit at their legs repeatedly. The curved tip of its beak pecked hard enough to break the tender skin. Having gotten a taste for blood, it flew into a frenzy as it began to attack with more vigour.

“You’re the wannabe zookeeper,” Nino called to Aiba. “Any advice on how to defeat this thing?”

As his friends did all they could to dodge the increasingly aggressive attacks, Aiba’s mind raced with all the knowledge he’d learnt from his zoology course and practical experience.

“There isn’t much strength to their bite, but the sides of their beaks are like razors-it’s what helps them hold onto fish when they hunt. The end of their beak is also hooked and if they bite you at the right angle, they can do some serious damage.”

“Avoid the beak, got it. Anything else we should know?”

“They’re intelligent and highly adaptable animals,” he told them. “Their size makes them appear intimidating but they have hollow bones like most birds, so they’re actually much lighter than they look…”

His sentence trailed off when he realised the path to victory. Not wasting another second, he stepped forward, pushing himself between his friends and the pelican. Its dark eyes pinned on him and with an infuriated hiss, it flew straight at him with a frenetic flap of feathers. Aiba stood his ground. When he saw it aim at his neck, he threw out his arm in sacrifice. The wide mouth swallowed his hand with ease, the sharpened edge snapping against the arteries in his wrist as if hoping to break it clean off. He winced at the pain it caused but refused to move, instead using his other hand to grab hold of the bird. He pinned its wings against its body as he held it firm against his own torso. It released his hand when it twisted its neck to snap at his other arm and he seized the opportunity to secure its mouth. His hand clamped down over the middle of its beak.

“The bandages, quick!” he yelled at the others.

Awed by the sight of him wrangling the beast, his friends did as he asked and hastily unravelled the roll of bandages from the first aid supplies they’d taken from the locker. While Ohno helped him hold the beast down, Nino wrapped the beak in a sturdy layer of bandages. Once the mouth was secure, he pulled it towards its own throat and tied more bandages around its neck to incapacitate it. The boys stood up and stepped back from the bound beast. Nino’s gaze was pulled from the pelican to where Jun stood beside him. His throat tightened at the sight of the blood on his temple.

“Animals really do hate you, don’t they,” he remarked, his gaze shining with worry as he looked the younger once over. “Are you okay?”

Jun sighed. “I’ll live.”

He muttered a quiet thanks when Ohno passed him another bandage. While he patched himself up, the others looked back at to the beast they’d taken hostage. A muffled gurgle sounded from beneath the bandages and its eyes continued to dart around while it lay unmoving by their feet.

“The rules simply stated that we have to defeat the animals,” Aiba said with a grin. “If we can find a way to incapacitate or capture them, then we can win without anyone or anything needing to die!”

“Is that enough though?” Sho asked warily. “How can we be sure this counts as defeating it?”

The answer came when they checked their phones. Above the midnight countdown was a tally. They watched with a mix of confusion and delight as the tally changed from one to two out of nine. Before any of them had a chance to ponder their previous success, they were interrupted by a strange noise. The sound was faint yet indisputable.

Sho exchanged a concerned look with his friends. “Does anyone else hear that?”

It was like quiet hissing; haunting and hypnotic all at once, it was impossible to determine where the noise originated from. They looked around but found nothing. Nino shivered when he sensed they were being watched. The air around them seemed as though it was alive and he felt his blood run cold when he realised there was one place they didn’t check.

Swallowing hard, he tentatively turned his gaze skywards. He nearly had a heart attack when he spied the diamond-patterned coils draped on the tree branches above. Each coil was as thick around as his thigh and it was easily six metres long. Paralysed where he stood, it was all Nino could do to point up at the huge beast above their heads. The others hardly had a chance to gaze up before the snake squared its upper body and struck in warning. They ducked down with a chorus of startled yells and sprinted out from under the cover of the tree. Only when they stood by the café across the clearing did they look back.

“That’s a reticulated python.” Aiba’s voice trembled with fear. Although he loved animals dearly, snakes had always creeped him out tremendously. But thanks to his studies, he knew a few key facts that might aid them. “They’re among the largest and strongest of all snakes, capable of taking down prey as large as deer. Their bite is non-lethal but their crushing force is easily strong enough to kill a human.”

They watched it uncoiled from the branch and slide down the trunk, slithering towards them slowly. Its undulating motion as it moved silently across the ground was both frightening and mesmerising. While most of them were fixated on the snake, Sho’s terrified gaze swept their surroundings for something to help them. He spotted the stationary hand sanitiser near the door.

“Snakes are slithering creatures,” he said, looking to his friends. “If the surface it’s on has extremely low friction, they shouldn’t be able to move, at least not easily.”

Nino had heard enough. Unhooking the hammer from his beltloop, he struck the cover of the sanitiser repeatedly until it broke off and removed the container. He emptied it on the ground between them and the snake, smearing the clear gel over as wide as surface as possible. At the same time, Aiba raced to collect the nearby bin. The boys held their breath and their nerve as they used themselves as bait. The python picked up speed as the distance between them closed. Its forked tongue flicked incessantly upon tasting their presence up ahead and just when it was about to square itself again, its form ceased to move forward. Its length rippled faster and faster, moving in place as it found itself trapped on the frictionless surface.

Taking the opportunity given to them, the boys spread out to surround it, taking care not to slip on the gel themselves. Aiba called to them to ready the bin while he plucked its tail from the ground, cringing when he did. It took a couple of attempts to wrangle the slippery body; every time he tried to pull it towards the deep container, its gel-covered scales would slip right through his hands. His friends aided him in lifting the heavy python. The more they supported its body, the more friction it regained. But while they ensured its head never left the slippery surface lest it strike again, its tail started to cause problems when it curled around the nearest thing-Ohno’s leg. There was a terror painted on his face that the others were not used to seeing on their typically fearless friend. Nino was awed by the strength it possessed when he hastened to help unfurl the beast; he was less impressed by the way the elder took off in a panic once he was free. With one less person helping them, the immense weight of the python proved tricky to handle, especially when it continued to coil around each of them, its crushing strength becoming more and more evident by the minute. It was with great reluctance that Ohno returned to help untangle them. He pried the coils away from his friends’ arms and legs before they lost circulation, holding it steady while they lifted it into the bin. Only once they had secured the lid and flipped it upside down for good measure did they allow themselves to properly react. They shuddered and jumped back from the container.

There was little time to celebrate their victory though. They heard a roar that was eerily familiar; it sounded much too close for comfort.

“We’re too exposed out here,” Nino stated. “We need to find cover and come up with a plan.”

When they realised the café was locked, they ran to the safety of a nearby cement building and ducked through the automatic doors. They hid in the shadows of the wall, not even daring to breathe as they listened to the growls and grunts of the monster just outside. Only when the noises faded into the distance did their hearts start beating again.

“What is this place?” Ohno asked, gazing around at their dim surroundings.

“It looks like the vivarium,” Aiba mused.

Insides the building was dark but their senses came alive almost immediately. The air around them felt alive with movement; they could hear the rustling of leaves and the churning of streams. The smell of both mud and saltwater reached their noses.

“You don’t think there could be something else in here that we’re supposed to defeat, do you?” Jun asked nervously.

“I think as long as we’re in this godforsaken zoo, the next beast could be anywhere,” Sho replied, his tone grim.

As they neared the first of many terrariums, they could make out their own reflections in the glass. They peered through the transparent darkness to glimpse what lay beyond. A flicker of movement caused them all to jump back in alarm. Their previous encounters had them all on edge so even as they witnessed the large greyish mass innocently snuffling around the bottom of the pebbles, they couldn’t help feeling threatened.

“It’s a giant salamander,” Aiba informed them with a sigh of relief. Despite its huge size, it was as harmless as it appeared. It waved its webbed feet to move itself through the water, completely oblivious to the humans staring at it from outside the enclosure.

“How are we supposed to know which one these we’re meant to fight next?”

Nino shook his head. “None of them. These animals are still in their enclosures, but keep your guard up just in case.”

The undergrowth rustled behind them. All five boys were tense as they stood holding their breath, waiting to see what beast might emerge next. There was a chorus of startled screams when four strangers came skidding around the corner. It took them all a few moments to realise there was no creature to fight, though that didn’t stop suspicions from running high.

“Who are you?” the boys demanded when they realised the people before them were not the same as those they’d started the game with. It was a question echoed by the strangers themselves.

Sho narrowed his eyes on them. “You’re players too, aren’t you?” When his friends looked to him in confusion, he clarified. “At the start of the game, it said there was sixteen players registered. These guys must have arrived through the west entrance.”

While there was some lingering suspicions on the strangers’ faces, they nodded hesitantly in confirmation of Sho’s theory. A young man with gentle features stepped forward.

“I’m Kazama,” he introduced himself before pointing to the players beside him. “This is Aoki, Degawa and Yokoyama.”

“Where are the rest of you?” Yokoyama questioned the boys.

“We got separated,” Aiba told them honestly. “They’re probably still on the east side.”

“Assuming they’re still alive,” Nino added grimly.

The boys returned the favour and introduced themselves to their new teammates.

“Does that mean you guys were the ones who defeated the other beast?” Jun asked suddenly.

“We lost a couple of people, but yeah,” Kazama confirmed.

“What animal?” Aiba asked.

“A bison.”

“That doesn’t sound so hard,” Ohno remarked. He shrugged and added, “Compared to a giant man-eating snake, I mean.”

“Tell that to our teammates who were trampled to death,” Aoki retorted. She pulled out a flare gun. “Thank god we had this, even if it only had one shot.”

Nino stared curiously at the gun. “None of the east-side lockers contained that.” He pulled out the spare keys. “If there are more by the west entrance, maybe that’s what these open.”

Kazama removed a handful of keys from his own pocket to compare them. The numbers matched the sequence they’d seen at the east entrance.

“Do we risk going back?” he asked.

“We don’t even know what the lockers might contain,” Jun pointed out. “It could be a trap.”

“Or we might find real weapons,” Yokoyama retorted.

While the players remained at odds over whether it was wise to return to the lockers, they agreed to use the vivarium as a shortcut to get back to them safely. They followed the path into what appeared to be an artificial outdoor area. Though it was just as dark, the high ceilings gave the impression of there being sky above while the thick ferns that flanked the footpath led them to each enclosure with ease. They scanned each one. There were turtles and fish, even a dwarf crocodile; none of them looked remotely threatening within the confines of their natural habitats. It lulled the players into a false sense of security that they were safe inside with vivarium.

Ohno stared into the darkness of one of the habitats. Even when the rest of the players continued on without him, he remained fixated by the murkiness behind the glass.

“Oh-chan, let’s go.”

His attention shifted fleetingly from the enclosure when his friends called for him but while he took a teetering step towards them, he refused to move on entirely. Noticing this, his four companions returned to his side.

“What is it?” they asked him.

His brows were furrowed deeply as he stared past the glass at something unseen to them. The enclosure was mostly filled with water, creating a deep pool right against the glass. Some metres back was a marshy riverbank. There was nothing remotely of interest that they could see, and yet there was no denying something had captivated Ohno’s interest.

“The sign,” he said eventually, his voice quiet. “It’s wrong.”

Unsure what he meant, the four of them looked to the signs plastered on the side of the glass. There were multiple cautions for visitors not to tap the glass or use flash photography, as well as a danger warning. Next to the warnings was a placard with information on the saltwater crocodile. Their heartrates began to pick up speed, something which wasn’t helped when Ohno tapped the glass experimentally.

“There’s nothing in there.”

Fear ignited in all their hearts. They spun around, keeping close to one another as they scanned the darkness of the path for the animal in question. Aiba called out a warning to the other players up ahead. As several of them turned back curiously, a blood-curdling scream sounded from the front of the group. Against their better judgement, all eight of them ran to the source, stopping just short when they saw the carnage in the middle of the path. Human remains stained the trail. Blood and torn clothing littered the gravel where their teammate lay splayed on the ground, a torrent of scarlet gushing from the stump of his knee. Degawa’s severed leg resided in the teeth of the monster responsible, who was but centimetres from the injured player. The reptilian beast threw its head back, sickening crunches sounding with every loud snap of its jaws as it swallowed down the piece of its prey. Degawa desperately tried to crawl away from it while he still could.

“H-Help…” he spluttered through the mess of tears and mucus that streamed down his face.

Aiba lurched forward to aid him, only to be restrained by his friends. He struggled against their insistent hold, his pleas that the man needed help falling on deaf ears as they harshly reminded him that it was too dangerous. As it turned out, they were right. The crocodile made short work of the man’s leg and with a spine-chilling hiss, it crawled forward to claim the rest of its meal. Degawa cried harder, interlaced with screams of terror when he felt the monster brush against his back.

His begging turned to agonised shrieking when the crocodile’s jaws clamped down hard on his remaining leg. The beast began to whip its head back and forth, its already bloodstained teeth glistening with fresh crimson as it threatened to bite clean through the second limp. Seizing him in an impenetrable grasp, it dragged him backwards into the dense vegetation. The sounds of screaming and crunching bones assured them all that they hadn’t gone far.

Even after he had vanished, Aiba refused to stop fighting against his friends. “We can’t just leave him!”

“It’s too late,” Ohno told him. “He’s gone.”

“There’s nothing you can do and we’re not about to lose you too,” Sho growled in Aiba’s ear.

In spite of their argument, Aiba eventually managed to wrench himself free of his friends’ hold but no sooner had he done so, the sounds of feasting silenced altogether. He skidded to a halt in the middle of the path, his gaze glistening with unshed tears as he mourned the wasted loss of the stranger’s life.

“Why didn’t you help him?” Anger and grief caused his voice to break. He whipped around, his accusatory stare moving over every player behind him. “We’re supposed to be a team!”

“Do you expect us to risk our lives for someone we barely knew?” Yokoyama spoke up. “It’s not like he would have been any help with one leg anyway.”

Aiba’s eyes widened in horror at his claim. He echoed a few words in disbelief before screeching, “Aren’t you human?”

But while several players behind him looked away guiltily, including his own friends, Yokoyama held Aiba’s gaze, unchanged by his impassioned shout.

“If you really care so much, maybe next time you should put that to good use.” He gestured to the gun Aiba had tucked into his belt for safekeeping.

Aiba glanced at the weapon, his teeth clenching while his whole face flushed red with rage in a way his friends had never seen. He looked seconds away from taking a swing at the other guy and may have done just that had the crocodile’s hissing not distracted them all with the very real reminder that they were still in the middle of the game. His friends came to his side, doing what they could to calm him while also trying to move him out of harm’s way lest the beast ambush them again.

“What do you know about saltwater crocodiles?”

Aiba refused to answer, his focus in tatters after the devastation he’d just witnessed.

“Aiba-chan, listen to me,” Nino said sternly, shaking his friend’s shoulders. “Even if we had tried to help that guy, he would have bled out anyway. But no one else here needs to die, including the crocodile. I know that’s what you want, so you need to focus.”

As he started to regain a handle on both his emotions and his concentration, Aiba blinked a few times and the haze began to lift.

“What do you know about saltwater crocodiles?” Sho asked again.

Aiba took a couple of calming breaths before searching his expertise for the knowledge they needed.

“They’re perfect predators, unchanged in millions of years. Their skin is incredibly tough and while they are incapable of chewing their food, they will latch onto prey using their powerful jaws and death roll to dismember and tear it into smaller chunks that can be swallowed whole.”

“Yeah, we saw,” Nino replied with a grimace.

“Is there a way to overpower it?” Ohno asked.

Aiba cocked his head in thought. “That might be easier than you’d think. Crocodiles have the strongest bite force of any animal but they have little strength when it comes to opening their jaws. If we can secure its mouth, we should be able to defeat it with ease.”

Jun stared at him in disbelief. “You want us to go for its mouth? Are you crazy? We couldn’t even bind the pelican’s beak without being bitten.”

It was a sentiment all his friends shared. The other players didn’t hesitate to voice their own objections to the plan either, with some questioning both his expertise and his sanity. Aiba did his best to ignore their accusations.

“It’s scary, I know, but it will work,” he said. “I’m sure of it!”

He flashed them all his most optimistic smile in the hopes of reassuring them. Sceptical mutters swept through the group but ultimately they ended up agreeing to the idea with some lingering reluctance.

“Fine, but you’re the one holding the mouth,” Yokoyama muttered.

Aiba’s smile wavered at the condition thrusted upon him. He wanted to protest but before he had the chance, the vegetation rustled and the prehistoric beast emerged once more. It crawled onto the path, its slitted eyes seeming to scan their ranks for a new victim.

“Everyone spread out, surround it!” Aiba instructed. “Get in its blind spot and whatever you do, don’t let it retreat.”

The players did as they were told and encircled the beast while maintaining as much of a distance as possible.

“Even if we can somehow pin it down, what are we supposed to use to bind its jaws?” Sho questioned. “I highly doubt bandages will be strong enough this time.”

Kazama suddenly gasped and pulled out his item of choice from the lockers. “Will this work?”

Looking at the roll of gaffer tape, Aiba nodded eagerly. “On my count, ready? One, two, three!”

Whether they were ready or not was less of a choice as he forced them into action with no real warning. Throwing caution to the wind, they pounced upon the predator. It whipped about on the pavement, an aggravated hiss sounding as it attempted to throw them off its back.

“Watch the tail!” Sho yelled when he saw it swishing back and forth in retaliation to the attack.

The armoured limb smashed into both Jun and Aoki as they fought to hold it down. Seeing them struggling on their own, Sho shuffled down the body to help them. His added weight enabled them to pin the dangerous tail to the ground while Aiba readied himself to secure the mouth. As Kazama was attempting to peel back the end of the tape, the crocodile tossed its head wildly. Its sudden and frantic motion temporarily dislodged Nino and Ohno. When it turned to snap at the unaware player, Aiba ripped him back from out of the jaw’s reach. There was a resounding snap when its teeth met with the very space where Kazama previously stood.

Fighting off the shock of how close he’d come to losing his life, he looked to Aiba with wide eyes. “Thanks!”

Aiba smiled and took the tape offered to him. Turning his full attention back to the beast, he saw the others were struggling to maintain their grip the more it thrashed about. Aiba approached it slowly, coming up in its blind spot so as not to give it the chance to snap at him. He gathered his nerve and straddled the beast’s neck. He used his elbows to cover its eyes, leaning forward to use his entire weight to force its head into the ground. He tried not to recoil at the feel of cold scales or the reek of blood as he worked to fasten the tape over the animal’s snout. Looping it again and again, he didn’t let up until he reached the end of the roll. Only then did he realise the crocodile was no longer struggling. He sat back on his heels and observed the quiet reptile. Layers of tape sturdily bound its nose as well as its eyes. Calmed by the darkness thrust upon it, it was now completely subdued.

As if to confirm this fact, the tally on their phones increased by one.

The players slowly lifted themselves off the beast, not entirely convinced it wouldn’t still try to attack them. It remained where it was, silent and without a trace of the fight it possessed previously. With their fourth beast defeated, they continued on their way, passed the dry enclosures and through the nocturnal rooms. Each habitat appeared to contain the animals they were supposed to, much to the players’ relief. As they were walking, Kazama hurried to catch up to Aiba.

“Thank you for what you did back there.” The quiet tone of his murmur seemed to cut through the silence.

Aiba looked up and upon seeing the way the other player’s head was bowed low in appreciation, he felt a familiar warmth. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sho watching but chose to ignore him. He was tired of playing these games only for himself, tired of keeping his heart closed to new friends, and tired of watching good people die before his eyes, knowing all the while there was more he could have done to save them. It had always been in his nature to help people-his friends knew this and although he accepted they were simply trying to protect him from himself, he was done ignoring his natural instincts.

Returning outside, the players nearly had a heart attack when they ran into the life-sized bronze statues of a monitor lizard and tortoise in the middle of the pathway. It took them almost a full minute to realise the animals were not real. As they scanned the rest of their surroundings to find their bearings, they heard a voice calling out to them. They looked around and spotted Daigo, Shimura and Yamase all running towards them.

“You made it,” Aiba exclaimed. They were all a bit battered and bruised, and were clearly out of breath, but they were alive nonetheless. All but one. His smile fell somewhat when he noticed there was someone missing from their original team. “Where’s Haruka-san?”

The reunited players exchanged disheartened glances.

Yamase’s gaze became downcast. “When the bear caught up with us, she sacrificed herself so that we could get away.”

The others fell to respectful silence. While the news shocked Nino, a part of him wasn’t entirely surprised to hear she’d given her life. He’d witnessed her distraught with his own eyes after she lost her companion; her eyes lost their light, her drive to live vanishing the moment her friend died. He sympathised with her well. He knew if he’d lost his friends, he probably wouldn’t have wanted to go on living either, though whether he would be brave enough to give his life to save others was a whole different question.

Their moment of commemoration was ruined when a rumble sounded that made all their blood run cold. Frightened looks adorned the faces of every player as they recognised the noise. Not one of them wasted a single second before they took off as fast as their legs would carry them. They mightn’t have seen the gorilla but the way the ground trembled was enough to assure them that it wasn’t far behind.

“Split up!” Daigo yelled. “It can’t catch us all!”

Not stopping to think about the consequences of being the one it did catch, they broke apart and ran in several opposite directions. With a fleeting look back over his shoulder, Nino felt a pang of dread when he saw Sho, Jun and Aiba running in different directions to himself and Ohno.

---

Narrowly escaping the clutches of the gorilla, Jun and Sho took cover in a nearby restaurant alongside Yamase. They barricaded the door with the tables and chairs inside. But when the noise of the ape quieted down after a few minutes as it gave up and went elsewhere, a new sound took its place. The air became thick with what sounded suspiciously like frog calls. Gazing around the empty restaurant, the players followed the noise into the kitchen, surprised to find they were not alone. There was a small golden creature sitting on the benchtop. Jun leaned in curiously to examine the tiny thing.

“Wait!” Sho gasped suddenly, grabbing the younger’s shoulder and hauling him back. “Don’t touch it.”

Sho stared at the frog, becoming more unsettled by the moment. The bright gold amphibian was only about two inches long and appeared perfectly harmless, even cute. But he knew better. His biology knowledge might have been fairly limited but he recalled certain details from a trip to South America he’d taken with his family some years back.

“That’s a poison dart frog,” he warned. “They secret powerful toxins through their skin that’s strong enough to kill a dozen humans in as little as ten minutes. It permanently prevents nerves from transmitting impulses, which can lead to heart failure. There is no cure or antidote.”

Jun’s eyes widened and he tensed. He and Yamase stepped back from the little creature while Sho looked around the kitchen. Grabbing a nearby glass, he cautiously placed it on top of the frog to trap it. Just as they were contemplating the ease in which they’d defeated the beast, the frog call sounded again. Different from before, it had a distinct echo that made it sound both close and distant at the same time. The players were confused as to where the noise was coming from now that the frog was stuck behind the glass.

“Move!”

Heeding Sho’s panicked shout, the players had little time to duck for cover when a rush of golden frogs came pouring down through the exhaust vent. There must have been close to forty by the time gravity took its toll on the last of them. Energised by the fall, they hopped about the kitchen, seemingly pursuing the players who were desperately trying to dodge the poisonous beings.

Sho grabbed Jun’s arm and pulled him down just in time to avoid the frog that jumped from the edge of the bench. It narrowly missed the younger, landing instead on Yamase’s neck. She screamed and waved her hands frantically, trying to flick it off. She turned to run, only to trip on her own feet and stumble, landing on more of the tiny beasts. Within a few minutes of contact, the poison was starting to show its affects. Her skin broke out in a terrible rash where the frogs touched. After six minutes, her muscles began to seize and she collapsed as her legs gave out beneath her. She convulsed violently on the floor. Every breath was a struggle as her airways started to close. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and her mouth began to foam. The boys could only watch, helpless to aid her.

Having watched her fate unfold, they tiptoed around the amphibians, collecting as many containers as they could to trap each one individually, all the while trying not to touch a single one. Even after they caught the last of them and the tally increased yet again, their gazes darted around nervously in fear they had missed one.

Sho sent Jun a pointed look. “I told you touching it was a bad idea.”

“It looked harmless,” Jun said sheepishly. Gazing at Yamase’s corpse, he winced. He’d never felt so wrong in his life.

“You’d think you of all people would know not to try and touch a random animal.” Sho shook his head with a scoff. He muttered under his breath while he stormed out of the kitchen. “You’re lucky one of us has some sense around here.”

The younger drew back at his harsh remark. He didn’t understand where the sudden hostility came from; he accepted he made a mistake and was grateful that Sho saved him, even if it cost someone else their life. Not knowing what he was supposed to do or say to mend the situation, he silently trailed Sho from the restaurant. He could only pray the others were having an easier time with whatever animals they were encountering.

---

“That’s our next beast?” Aoki scoffed. “It’s so cute.”

Kazama and Shimura exchanged amused smiles as they shared her sentiment. Aiba, however, was not smiling at all. Staring at the animal ahead of them, he shuddered, recalling a rather scarring encounter from a few months ago. He’d volunteered at a local zoo in order to get his practical hours up and ended up becoming a plaything for an excessively assertive red kangaroo. He still had the scars on his back from where it grabbed him. He was just glad the zookeeper stepped in before it had the chance to use its powerful feet.

“Kangaroos are really scary,” he whimpered. “They have very sharp claws and a kick with the potential to shatter bones. Males can also be extremely territorial.”

Reading the terror on his colourless face, Kazama glanced fleetingly at the gun. “Time to use that maybe?”

Aiba looked undeniably tempted as his gaze flickered to the weapon at his waist but after a moment of hesitation, he shook his head.

“No, it’s not the animal’s fault they’re being forced to play these games.”

“What do we do then?”

The plan was supposed to be simple. Drawing the short straw as the fastest among them, Aiba reluctantly agreed to act as the decoy. He would lure the kangaroo back into its broken enclosure and keep it occupied by any means necessary, while the others used the wire pieces and pliers to fix the hole in the fence. With a bunch of wild grass in hand as additional bait, Aiba crept closer to the grazing beast, praying he wouldn’t need to get too close to catch its attention. It looked up when he approached, its ears flicking in interest. He froze and it hopped towards him. It pawed at his legs in apparent curiosity; Aiba winced when he felt the familiar sting of claws dig into the flesh on his shin.

The moment he saw the kangaroo stand higher, scratching its chest in a threatening display, he broke into a run. He sprinted to the enclosure and ducked through the hole; the vibrations of the earth assured him the beast was not far behind. He ran aimlessly around the wide plains of the habitat. He didn’t even want to look back, knowing full well he was being pursued. He threw the grass down in the hopes of distracting the kangaroo and giving himself a much-needed moment of respite from the chase, but it refused to let up. In the distance, he could see his teammates working to fix the fence.

“Is it done yet?” he screamed.

“We’re working on it!”

“Hurry up! It’s going to catch me!”

If he didn’t know any better, he’d think the others were deliberately taking their time to watch him suffer at the hands of what he was becoming convinced was his mortal enemy. His cries were loud, alternating between desperate yells for help and incessantly asking if they were finished with the repairs.

Finally, he heard the life-saving call from his teammates after what felt like an eternity of running. It inspired enough adrenaline to get him to the edge of the enclosure. He launched himself at the fence, hightailing it over the newly fixed barricade. Ignored the amused laughter of the other players, he collapsed on the other side, panting heavily.

---

Checking the coast was clear, Nino and Ohno started off in the direction of the west entrance. There was little time left until midnight and while they knew they ought to be tracking down the rest of the beasts, Nino couldn’t ignore his gut instinct about the lockers. He knew the game masters wouldn’t have provided them with a key to something on the other side of the arena without a good reason; with high risk usually came high reward and he was prepared to take that chance if it meant he and his friends surviving another day.

Thankfully, Ohno needed little convincing. They had exhausted their limited arsenal defeating six of the beasts already and hoped the other lockers would contain what they needed to survive the last few rounds.

Nino wasn’t sure whether to feel relieved or paranoid when they reached the lockers without incident. They hadn’t even heard another beast along the way, let alone seen one. It made him worry about where exactly they were lurking.

“Let’s do this quick,” he muttered, taking out the spare keys while Ohno stood watch. “I don’t trust being out in the open like this.”

He hurriedly sorted through the keys. All three spares matched the numbers on the unopened lockers. Inside the first was a length of rope.

“I suppose that could be useful,” Nino said. He pouted when he pulled out a box of matches from the second locker. “Do they expect us to burn the zoo down or something?”

“Those mightn’t come in handy, but this sure will,” Ohno replied, removing what looked to be a tranquilliser gun from the final locker.

Nino examined the weapon with great interest. It was loaded with two darts, though exactly what dosage they contained was unknown to him.

“Aiba-chan should be pleased with this at least,” he remarked. There was no denying it was a fine weapon to have against dangerous beasts, especially when he knew their friend would never forgive them if they used lethal force against his beloved animals.

With their new tools in hand, they retraced their steps through the zoo. They only just made it back over the bridge when a target finally made itself known. They crouched down in the undergrowth and watched quietly as the black bear ambled past them. Nino’s brain raced as he looked from it to the nearby terrain. The clearing was wide with little obstruction-a perfect location to take a shot. He turned to Ohno with a smirk.

“Reckon you can outrun a bear?” While the facts seemed to contradict his question, Nino remained hopeful that his friend would deliver. If anyone stood a chance of beating a bear, it would be Ohno.

Ohno looked at him in disbelief but rather than object as Nino assumed he might, he exhaled tiredly and stared at the beast.

“Long enough for you to take the shot probably,” he whispered uncertainly. He handed him the tranquilliser gun, his gaze becoming serious. “Don’t miss.”

His last remark struck a bigger chord than Nino was expecting it to. His smirk disappeared and the gun suddenly felt much heavier. It was with deep dread that he watched his friend stand and step out into the open. Nino swallowed hard as he watched him yell out, waving his hands to get the bear’s attention. The animal lifted its head; its nose twitched and it grunted loudly before pacing towards him. Ohno waited until it had closed the distance a little before exploding into a run. Meanwhile, Nino crept stealthily from the bushes and climbed up a nearby tree.

Ohno may not have been faster than the bear, but he was able to outmanoeuvre it. Whenever it began to catch up, he would make a surprise move that set the beast back in the chase. While he made sharp turns look effortless, the pursuing bear skidded and stumbled on the uneven pavement; while he leapt over the benches with light-footed grace, the bear crashed into them head-on and was forced to go around. From the increasingly loud growls, it was clear the beast was getting frustrated by its prey’s swift evasion.

Perching on the high branch, Nino aimed the barrel of the gun across the clearing. He lined it up with the sprinting bear, tracking its movement with perfect precision. It reminded him much of his shooting games, only this time it was real. He closed his right eye to hone his focus and once certain his aim was true, he squeezed the trigger. The dart exploded from the gun, vanishing into the distance at lightning speed. The bear snarled and its pace came to an immediate halt as it spun around, snapping at the non-existent assailant behind it. Nino used its distraction to fire again, this time landing a dart directly in its hindquarters. It roared again and rose up onto its hind legs, but already the tranquillisers were taking effect. It swayed and dropped back onto all fours, unsteady in its landing. It managed another couple of steps before its legs gave way and it crashed to the ground with a loud thud.

Satisfied that it was out for the count, Nino descended from the tree. He paced across the clearing, meeting Ohno by the bear’s slumbering form.

“Nice shot,” his friend complimented.

“It’s only sleeping though,” Nino said and checked his phone. “Will it count as an official defeat if we just leave it like this?”

Ohno slipped the rope off his shoulder, binding the bear’s paws as an added precaution. As soon as he’d finished, the tally increased. With their task complete, they left the sleeping bear behind and hurried through the zoo as they entered the final stages of the game. It wasn’t long before they found the rest of their team.

“Look!” Kazama pointed across the pathway at the rustling bushes.

The seven players stood tense as they waited to see what might emerge from the undergrowth. Their hearts soared when they saw not another beast but the last two members of their team.

“You made it!” Aiba exclaimed, rushing forward to embrace them both.

Nino glanced fleetingly at their phones before turning to their teammates they’d just reunited with. “You guys cleared a round too?”

The others nodded, though there was no missing the mixed reactions. While several of them looked proud, there was an unmistakable tension that lingered between Sho and Jun. Likewise, Shimura appeared heartbroken as he now stood alone. Neither Nino nor Ohno asked. They didn’t need to, already knowing Yamase hadn’t made it out alive.

“Seven rounds down, two to go,” Daigo stated.

“We have to defeat that gorilla somehow,” Jun muttered. “We can’t keep avoiding it forever.”

Ohno looked to Aiba. “Any weaknesses you know of?”

“I know most gorilla species are hypersensitive to water,” Aiba told them. “Not only do they find it hard to swim, but they’ll refuse to cross large bodies of water and have even been known to remain stagnant during sudden downpours.”

“Fantastic,” Yokoyama replied sarcastically. “But we can’t exactly control the weather now, can we?”

“Maybe we can,” Nino mused. While he knew his cryptic response was sure to baffle his fellow players, he was too deep in thought to explain himself in that moment. He scanned their surroundings for the perfect place to set his trap and looked to Aiba again. “You sure they freeze in the rain?”

Aiba nodded. “They won’t move until it settles down. Of course, there are rare cases of captive-bred gorillas actually playing in shallow bodies of water but those are mostly juveniles and-”

Nino cut his rambling off mid-sentence by slapping a hand over his mouth. He ignored his friend’s squirming and gazed at the other players. “We need to lure it to the wildlife hospital.” He pointed to the large building in the near distance. “It’s a high security building so it should be strong enough to contain a gorilla.”

“How do you plan on luring it there?” Daigo asked.

“By doing exactly what we’ve already been doing,” said Nino. “Only this time we act as bait. If we can get close enough to the infirmary, then we should be able to get inside safely and set off the trap before it attacks.”

“Should?” The other players were sceptical of his plan. “That doesn’t sound very reassuring.”

“Do you have a better idea?” Sho challenged. Though no one argued with him in that regard, it didn’t stop them from continuing to question Nino’s strategy.

“And what exactly is our ‘trap’?”

With a cunning smirk, Nino held up the box of matches. “We’re going to make it rain.”

---

Everything was going to plan so far. By making as much noise as possible, they were able to lure the gorilla out of hiding and bring it exactly where they wanted-to the doors of the wildlife hospital. Deciding it would be safest to have multiple decoys, Aiba, Yokoyama and Ohno all worked together to attract the ape’s attention. As it chased them into the building, they split up and immediately dove for cover. The rest of the players, equally spread out around the beast, made various threat displays to keep it disorientated while Nino and Sho set the trap in motion from where they waited upstairs.

But before they had a chance to light the match, the gorilla screamed loudly and went barrelling through the room. Tables were smashed like kindling beneath its powerful body; while others ducked to avoid the carnage, Aoki could only stare, paralysed with fear, as the beast came screeching towards her at full speed. Her body crumbled like paper under the beast’s strength and in that moment, Nino knew the plan had failed. Their circle was broken; their strategy of keeping the gorilla distracted became a mad rush to avoid its fury. With a single swipe of its hand, Shimura was sent flying across the room. The sickening sound of his spine breaking ricocheted off the walls.

A strong arm suddenly grabbed Jun and the next thing he knew, he was being hoisted off the ground like he weighed nothing. He was pulled flush against a solid torso while a muscular arm held him in place. It was like being pinned by an iron bar; too tight to breathe, it was crushing down on his lungs. He tried not to move at all. As it was, the gorilla was simply holding him but he knew even the slightest movement could aggravate it into bringing its entire weight down upon him and if that was to happen, he wouldn’t stand a chance. Already he could practically feel his ribs shattering, threatening to puncture his internal organs and drown him in his own blood. He heard the gasps from both his friends and their teammates when he was snatched up.

“Hurry!” Nino barked at Sho, who was struggling to light the match under pressure. Even after he got it lit, the smoke proved too little to act immediately. It took a few long and painfully drawn-out seconds before it finally did as they hoped.

The sprinklers switched on and a torrent of rain poured from the ceiling, saturating everything. As predicted, the gorilla froze. Its hold on Jun slackened slightly, enough for him to slip free. The crushing weight on his chest disappeared; he dropped to his stomach and with barely any time for his lungs to figure out how to work again, he crawled away from the terrifying beast behind him. His friends came to his aid and helped him up, supporting him as they made a hasty exit from the building. As the others worked to barricade the building with the materials they’d gathered, Jun struggled to catch his breath. The pressure may have lifted but his ribcage was still sore; if he was lucky, it would be but simple bruising, though he couldn’t help fearing the beast had cracked a rib or two.

“I really hate this place,” he panted, his expression contorting as air was painfully forced through his lungs.

“Thank god that worked,” Kazama commented. He looked on with concern as Aiba and his friends gathered around to check Jun. Although he was a bit shaken, he was able to keep himself upright with minimal support.

“Maybe you should wait out the last round,” Aiba suggested.

“Where?” The pain marring Jun’s features made it impossible to tell if he was offended or genuinely asking. “This whole place is an arena.”

Even if they wanted to convince him otherwise, there was no time. They were reminded that the game was not yet over when a new roar sounded, one they had not yet heard that night. Aiba recognised it, however, and it sent a chill up his spine.

He swallowed hard. “Beast number nine, tiger. The largest and most powerful of the big cats, it’s an apex predator. On average, they weigh over 200kg but despite their size, they can run at speeds up to 65km/h. They’re also masters of stealth, can jump six metres in a single bound and bite clean through bone.”

The players were in a panic as the unseen tiger stalked them from the shadows.

“Where is it?”

“I can’t see it!”

With a flash of black and orange, the last beast finally emerged. It launched itself from the dark, pouncing on Daigo from behind. His scream was cut short when its canines dug into his neck and an explosion of blood oozed down his slashed open throat. Seeing his demise was enough to send the remaining players hightailing it through the zoo.

“Get in the water,” Yokoyama shouted, running towards the broken window of a nearby enclosure. A deep river carved through the middle of the terrain. “Cats hate water, so it won’t follow us.”

Aiba shook his head frantically. “You’re wrong, tigers enjoy water. They even use it to hunt!”

As if to prove this point, the tiger went chasing after Yokoyama. It crossed the clearing in but a few long paces, leaping over the broken glass and sprinting down the hill. Without a second of hesitation, it jumped into the water, paddling strongly towards their teammate. It threw itself upon him and he disappeared under the churning water with a distressed gurgle. A cloud of scarlet tainted the river.

“It can swim, it can climb, it’s faster and stronger than us-how do we win against this thing?” Kazama exclaimed.

They had little time to consider a plan when it returned. Having made short work of its last prey, it trekked back up the hill of its former enclosure. They could clearly see its muscles rippling beneath its shimmering, saturated pelt.

“Don’t turn your back to it,” Aiba warned them. “Tigers are ambush predators. If you run or look away, it will attack!”

Fighting against every instinct within them that was telling them to turn tail and run, they stood together, petrified of the imminent death that seemed to be staring them down. Its lip curled upwards in a fierce snarl and its ears fell flat against its head. Its long tail whipped back and forth as it stalked towards them, its powerful claws tearing at the ground. When it lunged in warning, they flinched and staggered back. Jun lost his footing.

“Matsujun, look out!”

Before he could hope to move in time, the tiger pounced. Jun screamed and shielded himself, though he knew it was futile. A heavy weight knocked into him but rather than the fierce pain he was expecting, he felt only a throb when he was forced into the pavement. He opened his eyes and gasped when he saw the tiger atop him; both its paws were wrapped around his friend’s shoulder, who had thrown himself between the beast and Jun. Its claws shredded through his flesh like a warm knife through butter. Ohno’s agonised shout was like thunder in his ears. It was an awful sound that bore into his brain in a way he knew he would never be able to forget, almost as much as the shriek that came from Aiba a second later when he saw the tiger’s jaws lunge towards Ohno’s neck.

“No!”

It was followed by gunshot. The noise was deafening and all at once, everything seemed to stop. As his arm was released, Ohno collapsed to his knees clutching his shoulder. Jun cradled him, recoiling in shock at the bleeding cat in front of them. He lifted his stunned gaze but could not comprehend what he saw. Aiba was standing opposite them with both hands wrapped around the gun he was still pointing at the beast. His whole form trembled with the shock of what he’d done. Then, as if the weight of everything came crashing down on him at once, the gun dropped from his hands. A terrible tremor wracked his body and he began to hyperventilate. His feet carried him over to the tiger that was barely clinging to life. He dropped to his knees beside it, reaching out a shaky hand. His fingers brushed against its fur that was quickly losing warmth and when he felt the sticky texture of blood, tears welled up in his eyes immediately.

“I’m sorry,” he wept. His forehead dropped to the tiger’s flank. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, I’m sorry.”

His apologies became a wheezy jumble of gibberish as he lost total control of his emotions. Not a single player reacted to the declaration of their game being cleared, too devastated by the sight before them.