Hikago/BR, Part 2
If I were using chapter titles, I guess this one would be called Chance Encounters...
Chapter II
Day 1, 10:00
The sea was beautiful. There was no sign of last night’s storm, and the waves rolled calmly and quietly to the shore, breaking into white foam on the rocks. They’d stopped on a sunny spot on the cliffs and were having a late breakfast.
Hikaru munched his bread and screwed up his eyes trying to see as far as he could on the sunny sea. “I wonder where this island is located,” he said. “We can’t have come that far away… maybe if we find some kind of a boat…”
Akari shook her head. “If they can keep track of where we are with these collars, they’d notice right away if we try to leave. We wouldn’t get far.”
“Yeah…” Hikaru sighed and lay down on his back. “I guess you’re right.” He stared at the blue sky above him, and a cold, desperate feeling settled down in his stomach together with the bread. Sai? Do you have any ideas?
The ghost was sitting next to him on the cliffs. “I’m sorry, Hikaru. I can’t think of anything.” He looked out on the sea and shook his head sadly. “How can they do such things to children…”
“Say that,” Hikaru muttered aloud. “He claimed that our parents have been informed… I bet. As if they’d ever agree to something like this.”
Akari nodded. “Yes. I don’t believe it either. Battle Royale Act? That just makes no sense. He’s made the whole thing up - maybe he’s crazy enough to believe it himself.”
Sai was still staring at the sea. “I wonder if Kitano plays go,” he pondered. “Then you could challenge him into a game, and I’d tear him apart on a go board.”
Hikaru sighed again. Sai…no offense, but right now I’m kind of hoping you were the ghost of a samurai or some war lord and not of a go player…
There came no answer to this, and after a while Hikaru sat up again. “They sure didn’t give us enough food for three days,” he muttered as he put his half empty water bottle back into his bag. “Do they think we can live just on bread?”
“You’d survive three days fine on bread, if you had to. But I don’t think starving is what we need to be afraid of here…” Akari finished packing her own bag. “We might find something edible in the abandoned houses,” she went on and took out her map. “I wonder if there’s any close by… hey, look! There’s a lighthouse behind those cliffs.”
“Lighthouse? What would we do…” Hikaru started to say, but Akari’s frightened gasp cut him off. He jumped to his feet as well and spun around, only to find himself face to face with the only stranger on the island, Kiriyama.
“Ha… hi,” he stammered and scrambled back a few steps. “Where did you come from? I mean…” His hand went into his coat pocket where he held the scalpel. “Uh, nice to meet you, I… I’m Hikaru Shindou and that’s Akari Fujisaki and…” He looked at Akari over his shoulder and saw that the girl was already holding her pocketknife in her hand. “Eh, we… we don’t really want to fight, so…” Even so his hand slipped out of his pocket grasping the scalpel. “So why don’t we all go our own ways, and, um…”
Kiriyama’s eyes went from the scalpel he held to the pocketknife in the girl’s hands, and slowly, very slowly a grin spread on his face. He raised up a scabbard he’d been holding, and deliberately and leisurely drew out a small katana.
It was Hikaru’s turn to look from the sword to the tiny knife he was holding, and he backed up one more step.
“Hikaru…” Akari’s voice quivered. “Run!”
Hikaru spun around ready to speed off, but his foot slipped and he fell down. This probably saved his life, as it made Kiriyama miss - the edge of the sword whooshed down right next to him, cutting a hole into his coat. Hikaru kicked as he lay on the ground and more out of luck than skill managed to hit Kiriyama’s legs so that he too fell down.
“Hikaru!” Akari screamed, farther on the cliffs. “Come! This way, quick!”
He scrambled up and rushed after the girl. Just a few steps behind him he heard his pursuer, and he ran faster than ever before.
A lighthouse came into the view, a small white building shining in the sunlight, and Akari was running right toward it. Too far, Hikaru thought desperately, but sprinted on even faster. He saw Akari reach the door and begged for it to be unlocked. The girl struggled with it, but then, finally, the door moved and opened slowly. Akari turned to look back.
“Hikaru! Hurry!”
What…what does she think I’m doing? Even his thoughts seemed to be out of breath. Most likely it was his imagination, but it was like he felt Kiriyama’s hot breath on his neck, and he forced his legs to keep on moving despite of the sharp pain in his side. He dashed to the door, dived inside, and heard Akari slam it close behind him.
“Ca…can…” he tried to say, but couldn’t in the end do anything but pant.
“What?” Akari crouched down beside him. “Can what?”
“Lock…” he got out and leaned against the wall.
“Yes, I locked it,” Akari said. Banging from the door confirmed this.
“Good…” Hikaru looked at the door. At least it seemed to be quite solid. “Are there… windows?”
“I don’t think so, at least I didn’t… Hikaru!” Akari’s eyes widened with horror. “You’re bleeding!”
“Oh…” He looked down and saw that his shirt was turning bloody. Only now he realized that the pain on his side didn’t come from being so out of breath. “Oh.”
“Hikaruuu…” He heard Sai’s voice wailing as if from somewhere far away, but all he could do was stare at the red mark on his shirt that was slowly but steadily growing larger.
“All right, let me see.” Akari lifted the edge of his shirt and took a look at the wound. “Oh, good, it’s just a scratch. Bleeding pretty much, though, I’d better bandage it… I’ll see if I can find anything.”
She spent a while rummaging the closets and cupboards of the lighthouse, and soon returned. In a moment the wound was cleaned and neatly bandaged. Hikaru looked at his side and then at the girl who was taking away the bandaging materials.
“You’re pretty good in this.”
Akari gave a nervous laugh. “Well, I did take that first aid class, you know…”
Hikaru blinked. “You did?”
“I told you about it!” Akari shot an angry glare at him. “Don’t you remember?”
“Eh, no…” Hikaru said at the same time as Sai said, “I remember. It was in the summer last year.”
Akari snorted. “You’re impossible,” she muttered. Her anger didn’t last for long, though, as fear was still stronger. She glanced at the door. “I wonder if that guy’s still there…”
They spent a moment listening, but it was completely quiet outside.
“Maybe he’s left,” Hikaru said.
“I wouldn’t recommend going out to check…”
“Yeah.” Hikaru stood up gingerly. “Let’s check this place, instead. There might be someone else here.”
“Possibly. I don’t think that door’s been opened for a while, though.”
They had just reached the top of the small lighthouse and had entered the balcony around it when music again started playing.
“Uh…” Akari drew a ragged breath. “That bastard… how dare he use this song…”
“Huh?” Hikaru gave her a confused look and she shook her head.
“Air. Johann Sebastian Bach. It’s so beautiful… it’s just wrong to hear it in a place like this…”
“Then for the list of deaths. There are only two for this period - you really are slacking off. Girls #1 Yoshie Fujimoto, boys #7 Toshio Morita. Next, the new danger zones…”
Hikaru grasped his pen and scribbled them down, even though his hand was shaking. Akari sank down on the floor, clutching the handrail.
“Morita…? I… I didn’t hit him that hard, did I? He couldn’t… have died of that…”
Hikaru gave her a troubled look. “I don’t think so,” he said quietly. Sai…?
“I don’t know… it’s unlikely, I think, but a hit on the head can be tricky. But it was the next danger zone, maybe he didn’t get out in time. Or then someone else got him.”
“Yeah, that’s it!” Hikaru’s face brightened. “He looked so confused and lost - he probably stayed there and got killed when the danger zone was activated. That’s how it must be!”
Akari sat on the floor holding her head. “Ye…yes, maybe… but still… god, this is awful… Yoshie too…”
“Yes. But at least we’re safe for now.” Hikaru looked down from the balcony. “This is a pretty good fortress, and it’s not on any of the danger zones he just announced. Maybe we can make it here.”
“But what will we do when the game ends? If there’s more than one alive, remember…”
Hikaru said nothing, just stared down at the cliffs the waves were washing.
~*~
This was the second time Touya entered Haze Junior High. He didn’t like thinking about his previous visit, and he hoped things would go better this time. At least the principal’s office was easier to find than the go club.
The door stood open and he heard voices from inside. He knocked at the door and peeked in. “Excuse me…”
There were two men in the room, another sitting behind a desk, the other pacing back and forth on the floor. They stopped talking and stared at him a moment as if they couldn’t quite fathom from where he had popped up.
“Ah, how can I help you?” the man behind the desk finally said.
Touya bowed slightly. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I would like to ask about the bus hijack…”
“I’m sorry, we’re not talking about it to outsiders.” The man who had been pacing around took two quick steps to the door. “Please leave.”
“But I…”
The man shook his head, and suddenly Touya found himself staring at a closed door. This was becoming an annoying habit - Haze definitely wasn’t doing it’s best to make him feel welcome.
He gave a frustrated sigh. Wrong approach, perhaps. He should ask someone, anyone, on which class Shindou was and not mention the kidnapping at all.
A female teacher was just walking down the corridor a bit further away, and he hurried after her. “Excuse me…”
She stopped to look behind, and suddenly smiled. “Oh, it’s you, the Kaio student. Are you looking for the go club again?”
“Eh, no…” He stopped, confused, before remembering that this was the same woman who’d given him directions on his previous visit. “I’m looking for Hikaru Shindou.”
The smile died away on the woman’s face, and there was an uncomfortable churn in Touya’s stomach.
“Are you a friend of his?”
“Well, sort of… which class is he on?”
“I see you’ve heard of the kidnapping.” The woman dropped her gaze to the ground and sighed. “I’m sorry to tell you, but Shindou-kun is among those who were on the class trip.”
Touya swallowed. “So… he too… Do you know anything? Has there been any progress with the case?”
The woman shook her head sadly. “No. If the police have found out something, I haven’t heard of it. All we can do is hope…”
“Yes. Thank you.” He turned away, head hanging. If there was such a thing as destiny, it certainly had a sick sense of humor. Right when Shindou had finally made his way to the pros and there was a chance they could get to play again and he’d get to find out exactly how good that annoyingly contradictory creature truly was, something like this happened.
Of course, just because Shindou was among the kidnapped didn’t mean he’d have to get hurt…
All we can do is hope. He sighed.
“You were asking about Shindou?”
The sudden question made him stop and look behind. A red-haired boy was watching him from the doorway to a class room.
“You are?”
“Mitani. I’m in Haze’s go club, too.”
“Ah… I’m Akira Touya.”
“I know.”
They stood a moment in silence and started then slowly walk toward the exit.
“Do you know anything?” Touya asked. “Are there any rumors in the school?”
Mitani snorted. “There are always rumors. Everything from slave trade to aliens, but nothing even half-way believable.”
Touya sighed. “Maybe we could have a talk, anyway. Is there any good place for that?”
“There’s a pretty good café not far-away, if that’s ok.”
Touya nodded, and they walked on in silence. They had just about to reach the gate when two boys and a girl entered through it. Touya was going to walk by them, but right then another of the boys stopped and shot a glare at him.
“What are you doing here?”
“Huh?” Touya stopped, blinked, and after a moment of confusion recognized the irritated face. “Oh, it’s you…” He started walking away again, not having enough patience to be polite with randomly hostile half-strangers at the moment.
“Hey, don’t you just ignore me like that!” The boy took a step after Touya, but his friends stopped him.
“Waya, take it easy…” the other boy placed a hand on his shoulder, while the girl just rolled her eyes.
“I don’t know which is more ridiculous,” she muttered. “Shindou’s Touya-obsession, or your Touya-antipathy.”
“Shindou?” Touya stopped and looked behind. “You know him too?”
The girl nodded. “Yes. We were insei together. We came here to see if there’s any news about him.”
Touya shook his head. “No use. They don’t talk to outsiders. All I know is that he’s one of the taken.”
“Ah.” She looked disappointed. “I guess it was stupid to hope for anything better…”
Waya snorted and shook off the hand on his shoulder. “I knew it’d be in vain to come here…” he muttered. “Hey, wait…” he shot a suspicious look at Touya. “Why are you here? Why would you be interested in Shindou’s well-being?”
Touya just shrugged uncomfortably. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“Why, you…”
“Cut it off already.” The other boy, older than his friends, nodded apologetically to Touya. “He’s having a bad day. I’m Isumi.”
“Nase,” the girl said and nodded as well.
Touya gave half a bow back to them. “Nice to meet you.”
“I bet…” Waya muttered, but he was ignored.
They stood there in a circle, blocking most of the gate. The situation was turning a bit awkward, and Touya couldn’t help wondering why none of them was walking away. Including himself.
The next move was made by an unexpected player. “Why don’t we all go to have a chat in that café,” Mitani said, and Touya gave a start - he had already forgotten this boy was present too.
And so Touya found himself sitting at a corner table in a small cafeteria surrounded by a bunch of Shindou’s friends he didn’t really know at all. He was wondering exactly how this had happened, and why - why was he hanging around with these people? But then again, they were Shindou’s friends… He dropped his gaze to his tea cup.
“Have you known Shindou for long?” he asked quietly.
“Not really,” Isumi replied. “Just since he became an insei… that was a bit over a year ago.”
“I’ve known him a bit longer, since the previous summer,” Mitani said and sipped his coffee. “He dragged me to the go club then, pretty literally, to play in the tournaments. And then he went and became an insei so that he couldn’t play in the tournaments anymore… he’s sure got the cheek.”
“I don’t believe it!” A voice came from behind Mitani’s back and a hand slapped his head. “Are you still going on about that, brat?”
“Kaga!” Mitani rubbed his head and shot an angry glare at the boy who had stopped by their table. “What are you doing here?”
“Why, me Tsutsui decided to come for a drink, for the old times sake,” Kaga answered and raised his tea cup. “Hey, make room.” And he sat down next to Mitani.
“Hey, Kaga, maybe we…” Another boy arrived to the table and stood there, hesitating. “We should just let them sit in peace… you disrupted their conversation.”
“They were talking about Shindou! Didn’t you hear? Just sit down already and stop hovering over there.”
“Who are these people?” Touya asked Mitani.
“They graduated from Haze last year. Tsutsui was the president of our go club,” Mitani nodded toward the boy who was finally sitting by the table opposite to Kaga. “Actually, he was the one who founded it.”
“Oh? And do you play go too?” Touya asked Kaga, who gave him a blank stare.
“I can’t believe you just asked me that question… Oh forget it!” he exclaimed at Touya’s confused expression. “I play shogi nowadays.”
“It’s hard to believe something like this can happen,” Tsutsui said, changing carefully the subject. “And that it had to be just Shindou’s class… and Fujisaki-san is there too.”
“Mmm,” Mitani was sipping his coffee again. “She made such delicious cookies, too.”
Tsutsui frowned at him. “Stop sounding as if she were dead, Mitani!”
Waya was leaning over the table and stirring his coffee in slow, lazy circles. “Who knows, they might be,” he muttered, staring at the ring his spoon drew into the liquid.
“Don’t say such things, Waya!” Nase exclaimed. “Why would anyone bother kidnapping a whole school class just to kill them? They are surely just waiting for the right moment, and then they’ll make their demands.”
“Maybe…”
“I wonder why it was just this class,” Isumi wondered. “This time of the year almost everyone goes on school trips, there certainly is no shortage of other classes to choose from.”
“Most likely it was just chance,” Touya said. “Bad luck.”
“It’s very well orchestrated, though,” Tsutsui said thoughtfully. “The police don’t seem to have any leads, it’s as if they’d vanished into thin air.”
Waya had stopped stirring his coffee and was now staring at Touya instead. “Say… there’s one thing I want to know.” He paused for a moment and went on when he had Touya’s attention, “Do you really see him as a rival?”
“Eh…” Touya looked away, feeling quite uncomfortable. “He’s hardly good enough for that,” he said finally, and admitted then, reluctantly, “Yet.”
“Yet?” Waya leaned back. “Are you saying that nonsense he told us about you seeing his potential actually was true?”
“Potential?” Touya blinked. “That’s a funny way of putting it…”
“You certainly were eager to play him in the school tournament,” Tsutsui put in. “Why?”
“What? Do you mean that rumor’s true, that you followed him to a school tournament?” Nase exclaimed, and both Waya and Isumi were staring at Touya as if he had grown two heads.
Touya sighed. This café excursion was definitely turning into a mistake. Of course, he could just walk away any time. But…
Being Shindou’s friends they just might know something…
“The truth is,” he said slowly, weighing his words, “that he beat me once. No, twice.”
Everyone at the table cried out at the same time. “What?” “When?” “Impossible!”
“When we were twelve. He came to my father’s go salon one day, and we played a game. Later I thought I’d lost because I didn’t take him seriously, because I had thought he was a beginner, and I challenged him again. And lost.”
“That’s insane,” Isumi finally breathed. “He was a beginner then, wasn’t he?”
“Yes,” Tsutsui said. “Even I could beat him then easily. But he could, at times, play really amazing games…”
Silence fell over the table and lasted for a long while. Then Nase finally said, very quietly, “He’d better be alive. He’s got a lot of explaining to do.”
This got a few agreeing remarks, but then, suddenly, Waya jumped up.
“Look! The TV! There’s something about the hijack!”
Everyone’s attention snapped in an instant to the television that hung on the wall of the café. There was a picture of the school bus, but the surroundings were unfamiliar to them.
“Have they found the bus?” Mitani said, eyes wide.
“Miss!” Tsutsui shouted. “Could you turn the volume up, please?”
“Of course.” The waitress took out a remote controller, and soon they could hear the newscaster’s voice.
“…near the harbor area early this morning. A body of a man was found in the bus, and it has been recognized as the teacher who was taking part on the class trip. Police is asking for the public’s help in defining the route the bus took. Anyone with information is urged to contact…”
“Body?” Tsutsui whispered.
“Oh god, god, god…” That was Nase. She was leaning her head against her hands, breathing hard. Isumi put a comforting hand on her shoulder, out of reflex, but his eyes too were still glued to the television.
“That’s not… very reassuring,” Kaga said and leaned heavily against the back of the bench.
“To say the least…” Tsutsui muttered.
“Maybe… that’s just a warning… for everyone to take them seriously,” Waya suggested weakly. “They’ve no reason to hurt anyone else.” He didn’t quite sound like he believed what he was saying, though, and no one said anything.
After a while Tsutsui gave short, nervous laugh and pushed his glasses up on his nose. “It’s sure dangerous business to be the teacher of 8C,” he said. “You might end up kidnapped and killed, or then into a lunatic asylum…”
“What are you talking about?” Touya asked him, but it was Kaga who answered.
“There was this guy, Kitano, who was our teacher on the seventh and eighth years… He was a weird one to begin with, going on about how the youth of today are deteriorating, that we need to stand up and fight, show the world we’re worth the life we’ve got, and so on… Then… I don’t know what happened, but one day he didn’t come to school anymore. We heard a rumor he’d snapped totally and was taken away by some nice men in white coats, but…” He shrugged. “Who knows what really happened.”
“One rumor said he’d got into a fight with you, and that you’d stabbed him,” Tsutsui said, and Kaga laughed.
“Not true, unfortunately. But he sure was an interesting guy… not a bad teacher, but kind of crazy.”
Touya stared at his tea cup and heard the Haze teacher’s voice in his ears. All we can do is hope… He closed his eyes in despair. Things really didn’t look good.
~*~
I'll continue spamming your f-list tomorrow with this fic, now I need to go to sleep. (Don't worry, there are just six chapters, this won't go on for long. ^^ )
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Chapter II
Day 1, 10:00
The sea was beautiful. There was no sign of last night’s storm, and the waves rolled calmly and quietly to the shore, breaking into white foam on the rocks. They’d stopped on a sunny spot on the cliffs and were having a late breakfast.
Hikaru munched his bread and screwed up his eyes trying to see as far as he could on the sunny sea. “I wonder where this island is located,” he said. “We can’t have come that far away… maybe if we find some kind of a boat…”
Akari shook her head. “If they can keep track of where we are with these collars, they’d notice right away if we try to leave. We wouldn’t get far.”
“Yeah…” Hikaru sighed and lay down on his back. “I guess you’re right.” He stared at the blue sky above him, and a cold, desperate feeling settled down in his stomach together with the bread. Sai? Do you have any ideas?
The ghost was sitting next to him on the cliffs. “I’m sorry, Hikaru. I can’t think of anything.” He looked out on the sea and shook his head sadly. “How can they do such things to children…”
“Say that,” Hikaru muttered aloud. “He claimed that our parents have been informed… I bet. As if they’d ever agree to something like this.”
Akari nodded. “Yes. I don’t believe it either. Battle Royale Act? That just makes no sense. He’s made the whole thing up - maybe he’s crazy enough to believe it himself.”
Sai was still staring at the sea. “I wonder if Kitano plays go,” he pondered. “Then you could challenge him into a game, and I’d tear him apart on a go board.”
Hikaru sighed again. Sai…no offense, but right now I’m kind of hoping you were the ghost of a samurai or some war lord and not of a go player…
There came no answer to this, and after a while Hikaru sat up again. “They sure didn’t give us enough food for three days,” he muttered as he put his half empty water bottle back into his bag. “Do they think we can live just on bread?”
“You’d survive three days fine on bread, if you had to. But I don’t think starving is what we need to be afraid of here…” Akari finished packing her own bag. “We might find something edible in the abandoned houses,” she went on and took out her map. “I wonder if there’s any close by… hey, look! There’s a lighthouse behind those cliffs.”
“Lighthouse? What would we do…” Hikaru started to say, but Akari’s frightened gasp cut him off. He jumped to his feet as well and spun around, only to find himself face to face with the only stranger on the island, Kiriyama.
“Ha… hi,” he stammered and scrambled back a few steps. “Where did you come from? I mean…” His hand went into his coat pocket where he held the scalpel. “Uh, nice to meet you, I… I’m Hikaru Shindou and that’s Akari Fujisaki and…” He looked at Akari over his shoulder and saw that the girl was already holding her pocketknife in her hand. “Eh, we… we don’t really want to fight, so…” Even so his hand slipped out of his pocket grasping the scalpel. “So why don’t we all go our own ways, and, um…”
Kiriyama’s eyes went from the scalpel he held to the pocketknife in the girl’s hands, and slowly, very slowly a grin spread on his face. He raised up a scabbard he’d been holding, and deliberately and leisurely drew out a small katana.
It was Hikaru’s turn to look from the sword to the tiny knife he was holding, and he backed up one more step.
“Hikaru…” Akari’s voice quivered. “Run!”
Hikaru spun around ready to speed off, but his foot slipped and he fell down. This probably saved his life, as it made Kiriyama miss - the edge of the sword whooshed down right next to him, cutting a hole into his coat. Hikaru kicked as he lay on the ground and more out of luck than skill managed to hit Kiriyama’s legs so that he too fell down.
“Hikaru!” Akari screamed, farther on the cliffs. “Come! This way, quick!”
He scrambled up and rushed after the girl. Just a few steps behind him he heard his pursuer, and he ran faster than ever before.
A lighthouse came into the view, a small white building shining in the sunlight, and Akari was running right toward it. Too far, Hikaru thought desperately, but sprinted on even faster. He saw Akari reach the door and begged for it to be unlocked. The girl struggled with it, but then, finally, the door moved and opened slowly. Akari turned to look back.
“Hikaru! Hurry!”
What…what does she think I’m doing? Even his thoughts seemed to be out of breath. Most likely it was his imagination, but it was like he felt Kiriyama’s hot breath on his neck, and he forced his legs to keep on moving despite of the sharp pain in his side. He dashed to the door, dived inside, and heard Akari slam it close behind him.
“Ca…can…” he tried to say, but couldn’t in the end do anything but pant.
“What?” Akari crouched down beside him. “Can what?”
“Lock…” he got out and leaned against the wall.
“Yes, I locked it,” Akari said. Banging from the door confirmed this.
“Good…” Hikaru looked at the door. At least it seemed to be quite solid. “Are there… windows?”
“I don’t think so, at least I didn’t… Hikaru!” Akari’s eyes widened with horror. “You’re bleeding!”
“Oh…” He looked down and saw that his shirt was turning bloody. Only now he realized that the pain on his side didn’t come from being so out of breath. “Oh.”
“Hikaruuu…” He heard Sai’s voice wailing as if from somewhere far away, but all he could do was stare at the red mark on his shirt that was slowly but steadily growing larger.
“All right, let me see.” Akari lifted the edge of his shirt and took a look at the wound. “Oh, good, it’s just a scratch. Bleeding pretty much, though, I’d better bandage it… I’ll see if I can find anything.”
She spent a while rummaging the closets and cupboards of the lighthouse, and soon returned. In a moment the wound was cleaned and neatly bandaged. Hikaru looked at his side and then at the girl who was taking away the bandaging materials.
“You’re pretty good in this.”
Akari gave a nervous laugh. “Well, I did take that first aid class, you know…”
Hikaru blinked. “You did?”
“I told you about it!” Akari shot an angry glare at him. “Don’t you remember?”
“Eh, no…” Hikaru said at the same time as Sai said, “I remember. It was in the summer last year.”
Akari snorted. “You’re impossible,” she muttered. Her anger didn’t last for long, though, as fear was still stronger. She glanced at the door. “I wonder if that guy’s still there…”
They spent a moment listening, but it was completely quiet outside.
“Maybe he’s left,” Hikaru said.
“I wouldn’t recommend going out to check…”
“Yeah.” Hikaru stood up gingerly. “Let’s check this place, instead. There might be someone else here.”
“Possibly. I don’t think that door’s been opened for a while, though.”
They had just reached the top of the small lighthouse and had entered the balcony around it when music again started playing.
“Uh…” Akari drew a ragged breath. “That bastard… how dare he use this song…”
“Huh?” Hikaru gave her a confused look and she shook her head.
“Air. Johann Sebastian Bach. It’s so beautiful… it’s just wrong to hear it in a place like this…”
“Then for the list of deaths. There are only two for this period - you really are slacking off. Girls #1 Yoshie Fujimoto, boys #7 Toshio Morita. Next, the new danger zones…”
Hikaru grasped his pen and scribbled them down, even though his hand was shaking. Akari sank down on the floor, clutching the handrail.
“Morita…? I… I didn’t hit him that hard, did I? He couldn’t… have died of that…”
Hikaru gave her a troubled look. “I don’t think so,” he said quietly. Sai…?
“I don’t know… it’s unlikely, I think, but a hit on the head can be tricky. But it was the next danger zone, maybe he didn’t get out in time. Or then someone else got him.”
“Yeah, that’s it!” Hikaru’s face brightened. “He looked so confused and lost - he probably stayed there and got killed when the danger zone was activated. That’s how it must be!”
Akari sat on the floor holding her head. “Ye…yes, maybe… but still… god, this is awful… Yoshie too…”
“Yes. But at least we’re safe for now.” Hikaru looked down from the balcony. “This is a pretty good fortress, and it’s not on any of the danger zones he just announced. Maybe we can make it here.”
“But what will we do when the game ends? If there’s more than one alive, remember…”
Hikaru said nothing, just stared down at the cliffs the waves were washing.
~*~
This was the second time Touya entered Haze Junior High. He didn’t like thinking about his previous visit, and he hoped things would go better this time. At least the principal’s office was easier to find than the go club.
The door stood open and he heard voices from inside. He knocked at the door and peeked in. “Excuse me…”
There were two men in the room, another sitting behind a desk, the other pacing back and forth on the floor. They stopped talking and stared at him a moment as if they couldn’t quite fathom from where he had popped up.
“Ah, how can I help you?” the man behind the desk finally said.
Touya bowed slightly. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I would like to ask about the bus hijack…”
“I’m sorry, we’re not talking about it to outsiders.” The man who had been pacing around took two quick steps to the door. “Please leave.”
“But I…”
The man shook his head, and suddenly Touya found himself staring at a closed door. This was becoming an annoying habit - Haze definitely wasn’t doing it’s best to make him feel welcome.
He gave a frustrated sigh. Wrong approach, perhaps. He should ask someone, anyone, on which class Shindou was and not mention the kidnapping at all.
A female teacher was just walking down the corridor a bit further away, and he hurried after her. “Excuse me…”
She stopped to look behind, and suddenly smiled. “Oh, it’s you, the Kaio student. Are you looking for the go club again?”
“Eh, no…” He stopped, confused, before remembering that this was the same woman who’d given him directions on his previous visit. “I’m looking for Hikaru Shindou.”
The smile died away on the woman’s face, and there was an uncomfortable churn in Touya’s stomach.
“Are you a friend of his?”
“Well, sort of… which class is he on?”
“I see you’ve heard of the kidnapping.” The woman dropped her gaze to the ground and sighed. “I’m sorry to tell you, but Shindou-kun is among those who were on the class trip.”
Touya swallowed. “So… he too… Do you know anything? Has there been any progress with the case?”
The woman shook her head sadly. “No. If the police have found out something, I haven’t heard of it. All we can do is hope…”
“Yes. Thank you.” He turned away, head hanging. If there was such a thing as destiny, it certainly had a sick sense of humor. Right when Shindou had finally made his way to the pros and there was a chance they could get to play again and he’d get to find out exactly how good that annoyingly contradictory creature truly was, something like this happened.
Of course, just because Shindou was among the kidnapped didn’t mean he’d have to get hurt…
All we can do is hope. He sighed.
“You were asking about Shindou?”
The sudden question made him stop and look behind. A red-haired boy was watching him from the doorway to a class room.
“You are?”
“Mitani. I’m in Haze’s go club, too.”
“Ah… I’m Akira Touya.”
“I know.”
They stood a moment in silence and started then slowly walk toward the exit.
“Do you know anything?” Touya asked. “Are there any rumors in the school?”
Mitani snorted. “There are always rumors. Everything from slave trade to aliens, but nothing even half-way believable.”
Touya sighed. “Maybe we could have a talk, anyway. Is there any good place for that?”
“There’s a pretty good café not far-away, if that’s ok.”
Touya nodded, and they walked on in silence. They had just about to reach the gate when two boys and a girl entered through it. Touya was going to walk by them, but right then another of the boys stopped and shot a glare at him.
“What are you doing here?”
“Huh?” Touya stopped, blinked, and after a moment of confusion recognized the irritated face. “Oh, it’s you…” He started walking away again, not having enough patience to be polite with randomly hostile half-strangers at the moment.
“Hey, don’t you just ignore me like that!” The boy took a step after Touya, but his friends stopped him.
“Waya, take it easy…” the other boy placed a hand on his shoulder, while the girl just rolled her eyes.
“I don’t know which is more ridiculous,” she muttered. “Shindou’s Touya-obsession, or your Touya-antipathy.”
“Shindou?” Touya stopped and looked behind. “You know him too?”
The girl nodded. “Yes. We were insei together. We came here to see if there’s any news about him.”
Touya shook his head. “No use. They don’t talk to outsiders. All I know is that he’s one of the taken.”
“Ah.” She looked disappointed. “I guess it was stupid to hope for anything better…”
Waya snorted and shook off the hand on his shoulder. “I knew it’d be in vain to come here…” he muttered. “Hey, wait…” he shot a suspicious look at Touya. “Why are you here? Why would you be interested in Shindou’s well-being?”
Touya just shrugged uncomfortably. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“Why, you…”
“Cut it off already.” The other boy, older than his friends, nodded apologetically to Touya. “He’s having a bad day. I’m Isumi.”
“Nase,” the girl said and nodded as well.
Touya gave half a bow back to them. “Nice to meet you.”
“I bet…” Waya muttered, but he was ignored.
They stood there in a circle, blocking most of the gate. The situation was turning a bit awkward, and Touya couldn’t help wondering why none of them was walking away. Including himself.
The next move was made by an unexpected player. “Why don’t we all go to have a chat in that café,” Mitani said, and Touya gave a start - he had already forgotten this boy was present too.
And so Touya found himself sitting at a corner table in a small cafeteria surrounded by a bunch of Shindou’s friends he didn’t really know at all. He was wondering exactly how this had happened, and why - why was he hanging around with these people? But then again, they were Shindou’s friends… He dropped his gaze to his tea cup.
“Have you known Shindou for long?” he asked quietly.
“Not really,” Isumi replied. “Just since he became an insei… that was a bit over a year ago.”
“I’ve known him a bit longer, since the previous summer,” Mitani said and sipped his coffee. “He dragged me to the go club then, pretty literally, to play in the tournaments. And then he went and became an insei so that he couldn’t play in the tournaments anymore… he’s sure got the cheek.”
“I don’t believe it!” A voice came from behind Mitani’s back and a hand slapped his head. “Are you still going on about that, brat?”
“Kaga!” Mitani rubbed his head and shot an angry glare at the boy who had stopped by their table. “What are you doing here?”
“Why, me Tsutsui decided to come for a drink, for the old times sake,” Kaga answered and raised his tea cup. “Hey, make room.” And he sat down next to Mitani.
“Hey, Kaga, maybe we…” Another boy arrived to the table and stood there, hesitating. “We should just let them sit in peace… you disrupted their conversation.”
“They were talking about Shindou! Didn’t you hear? Just sit down already and stop hovering over there.”
“Who are these people?” Touya asked Mitani.
“They graduated from Haze last year. Tsutsui was the president of our go club,” Mitani nodded toward the boy who was finally sitting by the table opposite to Kaga. “Actually, he was the one who founded it.”
“Oh? And do you play go too?” Touya asked Kaga, who gave him a blank stare.
“I can’t believe you just asked me that question… Oh forget it!” he exclaimed at Touya’s confused expression. “I play shogi nowadays.”
“It’s hard to believe something like this can happen,” Tsutsui said, changing carefully the subject. “And that it had to be just Shindou’s class… and Fujisaki-san is there too.”
“Mmm,” Mitani was sipping his coffee again. “She made such delicious cookies, too.”
Tsutsui frowned at him. “Stop sounding as if she were dead, Mitani!”
Waya was leaning over the table and stirring his coffee in slow, lazy circles. “Who knows, they might be,” he muttered, staring at the ring his spoon drew into the liquid.
“Don’t say such things, Waya!” Nase exclaimed. “Why would anyone bother kidnapping a whole school class just to kill them? They are surely just waiting for the right moment, and then they’ll make their demands.”
“Maybe…”
“I wonder why it was just this class,” Isumi wondered. “This time of the year almost everyone goes on school trips, there certainly is no shortage of other classes to choose from.”
“Most likely it was just chance,” Touya said. “Bad luck.”
“It’s very well orchestrated, though,” Tsutsui said thoughtfully. “The police don’t seem to have any leads, it’s as if they’d vanished into thin air.”
Waya had stopped stirring his coffee and was now staring at Touya instead. “Say… there’s one thing I want to know.” He paused for a moment and went on when he had Touya’s attention, “Do you really see him as a rival?”
“Eh…” Touya looked away, feeling quite uncomfortable. “He’s hardly good enough for that,” he said finally, and admitted then, reluctantly, “Yet.”
“Yet?” Waya leaned back. “Are you saying that nonsense he told us about you seeing his potential actually was true?”
“Potential?” Touya blinked. “That’s a funny way of putting it…”
“You certainly were eager to play him in the school tournament,” Tsutsui put in. “Why?”
“What? Do you mean that rumor’s true, that you followed him to a school tournament?” Nase exclaimed, and both Waya and Isumi were staring at Touya as if he had grown two heads.
Touya sighed. This café excursion was definitely turning into a mistake. Of course, he could just walk away any time. But…
Being Shindou’s friends they just might know something…
“The truth is,” he said slowly, weighing his words, “that he beat me once. No, twice.”
Everyone at the table cried out at the same time. “What?” “When?” “Impossible!”
“When we were twelve. He came to my father’s go salon one day, and we played a game. Later I thought I’d lost because I didn’t take him seriously, because I had thought he was a beginner, and I challenged him again. And lost.”
“That’s insane,” Isumi finally breathed. “He was a beginner then, wasn’t he?”
“Yes,” Tsutsui said. “Even I could beat him then easily. But he could, at times, play really amazing games…”
Silence fell over the table and lasted for a long while. Then Nase finally said, very quietly, “He’d better be alive. He’s got a lot of explaining to do.”
This got a few agreeing remarks, but then, suddenly, Waya jumped up.
“Look! The TV! There’s something about the hijack!”
Everyone’s attention snapped in an instant to the television that hung on the wall of the café. There was a picture of the school bus, but the surroundings were unfamiliar to them.
“Have they found the bus?” Mitani said, eyes wide.
“Miss!” Tsutsui shouted. “Could you turn the volume up, please?”
“Of course.” The waitress took out a remote controller, and soon they could hear the newscaster’s voice.
“…near the harbor area early this morning. A body of a man was found in the bus, and it has been recognized as the teacher who was taking part on the class trip. Police is asking for the public’s help in defining the route the bus took. Anyone with information is urged to contact…”
“Body?” Tsutsui whispered.
“Oh god, god, god…” That was Nase. She was leaning her head against her hands, breathing hard. Isumi put a comforting hand on her shoulder, out of reflex, but his eyes too were still glued to the television.
“That’s not… very reassuring,” Kaga said and leaned heavily against the back of the bench.
“To say the least…” Tsutsui muttered.
“Maybe… that’s just a warning… for everyone to take them seriously,” Waya suggested weakly. “They’ve no reason to hurt anyone else.” He didn’t quite sound like he believed what he was saying, though, and no one said anything.
After a while Tsutsui gave short, nervous laugh and pushed his glasses up on his nose. “It’s sure dangerous business to be the teacher of 8C,” he said. “You might end up kidnapped and killed, or then into a lunatic asylum…”
“What are you talking about?” Touya asked him, but it was Kaga who answered.
“There was this guy, Kitano, who was our teacher on the seventh and eighth years… He was a weird one to begin with, going on about how the youth of today are deteriorating, that we need to stand up and fight, show the world we’re worth the life we’ve got, and so on… Then… I don’t know what happened, but one day he didn’t come to school anymore. We heard a rumor he’d snapped totally and was taken away by some nice men in white coats, but…” He shrugged. “Who knows what really happened.”
“One rumor said he’d got into a fight with you, and that you’d stabbed him,” Tsutsui said, and Kaga laughed.
“Not true, unfortunately. But he sure was an interesting guy… not a bad teacher, but kind of crazy.”
Touya stared at his tea cup and heard the Haze teacher’s voice in his ears. All we can do is hope… He closed his eyes in despair. Things really didn’t look good.
~*~
I'll continue spamming your f-list tomorrow with this fic, now I need to go to sleep. (Don't worry, there are just six chapters, this won't go on for long. ^^ )
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