"Will I guess you're not called the iron wall for no reason Ken? Remember when that name was given to you?" Sho quickly grabbed another arrow yet held off on firing. Instead, he wanted to see if a response would be given.
Ken pulled out his spear and inched closer, with the rest of the group cutting off any escape routes. His eyes emitted pure killing intent, while his body showed no remorse. His colleagues all held the same atmosphere, dyed red in blood, with the only intent of death before their eyes.
"Well, I guess such tricks don't work on you, Ken? I wonder what would happen if Hiroto and I didn't exist? Would you still be here? Hahaha, would our class last this long?"
"Let me ask you one more thing. If Hiroto or I got serious, do you think your pity group could take us on!" A brief pause halted the group, maybe their bodies telling them to stop from sheer fright, yet they kept advancing...
"Will, shall we see?" Sho's stern voice held nothing from his original speech but rather the loss of humanity. The light in Sho's eyes slowly started to fade away. At one point, the people he called "family" were now his enemy. Yet, deep down, he still couldn't fully erase all feelings; perhaps it was the only way he could recognize himself.
Every arrow he released onto his class, every time, felt like glass. His heart had only left the choice to rot. He constantly felt the pain with every arrow, yet now was the time to wipe those emotions; if not, he and Hiroto would be in jeopardy. A tear slowly welled up in his eye, perhaps the last light burning out, trying to keep its purpose going. Only to fall to earth, touching the branch, Sho was standing on.
With that, Sho's eyes seemed like a spiral of despair. He stretched the arrow and was ready to send the onslaught. However, strangely enough, he didn't point his arrow toward someone but rather in the air.
"Whooosh" The arrow cut through the air and met the roof of the large four-square room. Everyone watching down was surprised by such an action. Sho quickly grabbed another arrow once again, making the wooden bow bend to its cries.
"Whooosh" The arrowhead pointed only in one direction towards the nearest kid. So, the boy met the green grass only to stain it with the color red, his new attachment located right on his forehead.
What did an archer need the most? Space between his enemy; without that, they can't come close to showing their full potential. Knowing this, the sixteen people left didn't show any sudden moves but kept their tempo quick, filling in the gaps and leaving no room to escape.
A few people stayed in the trees, perhaps four from what Sho could tell, which made it inescapable to go through the trees.
"Whooosh"
Another arrow flew to the closest tree, getting stuck in the trunk about Sho's height. Sho then pointed at another tree, shooting another arrow, then another, and kept repeating this process until seven arrows were spread out across the forest located close to Sho.
"Thirteen, that should be enough," Sho counted the arrows surrounding his body. He didn't have much movement, but he could still maneuver to some extent. His body was the perfect size for tucking the arrows into his clothing, almost like body armor. Plus, he had practiced enough to stop sudden movements of his body. He would adjust his body accordingly if he were about to get poked by the arrowhead.
Deep down, Sho couldn't help but know that each arrow in his possession wouldn't be enough for each person. This was accountable even if he had the chance to shoot each arrow. Ken was a perfect example of why that held true when he deflected the arrow.
Twelve out of the 16 kids stopped 20 feet away from Sho's current position, surrounding him while he shot the arrows into the trees. Six people from the 12 kept their distance from Sho, creating an outer circle, four of whom were Michio, Ken, Shijo, and Kiyoshi. Everyone in the outer circle had a variety of weapons, including swords, spears, shields, knives, axes, and katanas.
The four kids in the trees stayed in their position, the closest trees away from Sho's branch. However, they had no form of attacking Sho unless they threw something. The only person who was notably dangerous was Sen. Sho looked at what weapons they were carrying; however, to his surprise, they seemed only to have combat knives and ropes in their hands.
Six kids kept moving forward, inching closer to Sho, creating an inner circle. They started to pick up their pace in unison, still watching Sho shoot randomly in the forest in different directions.
Sho's tiny hands reached into his shirt, pulling out an arrow while turning in different directions while shooting. However, at separate times, his eyes would trail off from where he was shooting to see the situation.
"Now," by the time the sound was entirely out, one of the kids had thrown their sword into the tree trunk connected to Sho's tree. Ai Sasaki was the one who said "now" and followed along where the sword was thrown.
"Whooosh!"
An arrow came passing the sword, barely missing it, but instead hitting the kid that threw it. The arrow showed no mercy, giving a quick death. Sho briefly thought before shooting the arrow. He deduced that the sword was too heavy to change the angle where it mattered significantly. Instead, going for the kill seemed more logical.
Sadly, however, this didn't give Sho any attempts to escape. The hole where the kid died was already covered by someone else. Not to mention the second outer circle behind them, so Sho's best bet was to fight to the death rather than look to escape.
"Blam!"
Sho feels the vibration of the sword's encounter with the tree; he points his bow over his head and shoots another arrow.
Ai Sasaki watches all this transpire yet doesn't want to give Sho another chance to shoot. So instead, she firmly lands on the sword as if she is dancing; when her foot lands on the sword, under a breath, she leaps over to Sho's standing branch.
Holding two curved swords, an X-formation is ready to cut Sho's head; however, when she's about to reach Sho, it's almost like he's falling backward while smiling.
A chill runs through her body 'Something is wrong?'
Ai Sasaki quickly looks up and sees an arrow approaching over her head; she brings her left sword up to deflect the arrow while keeping her right sword to meet Sho.
"Pinggg" Metal meeting metal fills the void of sound.
Ai Sasaki falls, lying over dead where Sho had initially been standing, dropping both swords to the ground in addition to the arrow that met her left sword.
When Sho shot his first arrow at the roof, he counted the number of seconds it took to reach it while also applying the amount of force for it to dig into the roof barely. This time when he shoots the arrow, he slightly puts less pressure on his release, following the same trail the first arrow went. It's a slight touch as the arrow meets with the first one; however, that's all that's needed to be released from the grasp of the roof to follow the ark of the arrow down to Sho's standing position.
Using the gravity force formula as gravitational is constant with the added seconds Ai Sasaki took to reach him allows for the exact time to jump backward. The only way that Sho could arrive at this conclusion was because Ai Sasaki always goes headfirst with her attacks, which is why she loved the dual swords. When the first arrow made contact with her left sword, she lowered her gourd and shifted the sword forward to the next attack. In that gap, the second arrow that was attached to the roof met flesh.
Sho hangs onto the branch's end with his left hand and his right still holding his wooden bow. The branch bites into a slope, barely able to sustain the two bodies. Luckily, Sho and Ai Sasaki's body weights are both under 100 pounds.
Sho shifts his eyes to Toyo Hirano, expecting to see some type of response. Ai Sasaki and Toyo Hirano practically grew up with each other in this hell of a place called home. The only reason why Toyo Hirano also uses the double sword is to be like Ai Sasaki. Toyo Hirano would follow Ai Sasaki around and be treated like her little sister, even though everyone believed Toyo Hirano was older.
Yet, before Toyo Hirano's eyes lay Ai Sasaki's lifeless corpse on a branch above her head, even still, Toyo Hirano's facial expression remained unchanged as if she were a doll unless told otherwise.
"Isn't it natural for human emotion to escape in the face of constant resentment?" Sho couldn't help but hold onto the resentment over this response. How could he not?
Even now, Sho was no different from Toyo Hirano. He had contemplated taking his own life. Of course, he had resolved to stay alive with Hiroto, but he couldn't help but wonder about their decision.
Sho didn't have time to ponder further. Toyo Hirano was already following Ai Sasaki's exact moment. This would be the last time she would ever do so. Yet, Sho hadn't found the time to recover from the branch. Three people rushed in from beneath him, one holding a spear and the other two holding heavy swords.
If an ordinary person were to see this bizarre scene, they would be shocked to see kids holding weapons meant for adults. The swords were larger than their frames, but the more shocking thing was that they held the heavy swords in a steady stance while running toward Sho.
"If I can't go up, I guess the only option is to go down," Sho thought to himself. He released his hand from the branch, landing firmly on his feet. Then, digging into his shirt, he grabbed an arrow with his left hand, pointing the steel tip at the three who were rushing toward him.
If he were to shoot this arrow to grab another, he wouldn't have sufficient time to do so. So instead, he kept the arrow close to his hand and was ready to use the wooden bow as a melee weapon.
The scrawny kid with the short spear was the first to reach Sho. He was in the middle of the two other kids, missing a shoe, and his shirt was ripped to nothing, yet his stance seemed firm. The scrawny kid pointed his steel tip spear at Sho while twisting the end of the wooden shaft to trace Sho's movements. Sho quickly grabbed the wooden bow with both of his hands located at the ends, the arrow now laid horizontally, still being held by his left hand and bow.
"Whoosh."
The spear went between the bowstring and the body in a swift moment. Sho pushed his bow upwards towards the sky, making the string touch the wooden shaft of the spear and then twisting his body in response. The string acted like a snake tethering itself, firmly grasping the wooden shaft and stopping it in its tracks. The spear's eight feet long shaft was now anchored down, holding it by Sho, crossing their arms a few inches away from his head.
"Whoosh."
"Whoosh."
Two lengthy swords cut through the wind, both targeting the opposite sides of Sho's waist, giving him no chance to make another move against the spear person. In the midst of this, Toyo Hirano appeared above Sho only moments before she reached him with her two angled double swords.
"When there is no room to move, then go forward!" Sho couldn't help but think of something Hiroto had told him long ago.
Taking two steps forward, the spear was above Sho's head while the steel tip was barely behind him. He uncrossed his arms with enough force for the wooden bow to release its restraint from the wooden shaft. The scrawny kid couldn't help but follow the direction of the wooden shaft into the sky. He bent his back and planted the bottom of the shaft into the floor to relieve the force, trying to gain control again.