Doctor Shiro went back to his distasteful look toward that fat older man, but he didn't stare long. Looking at the TV, his smile was once again apparent.
.....
'Sho, just stay alive. As you said, let's see the beach and wildlife with trees and grass. Don't forget the animals.' If Sho saw Hiroto, he would probably scream in excitement. Hiroto's face showed a brief hint of emotion.
His hands had blood dripping off them, while the blood on his body showed signs of drying up. Cracks had already begun to form around the joints, giving a darker tint and showing what was still fresh. When watching paint dry on a wall, if the light is just right, the wet parts will shine brighter than the parts that have already dried. The same could be said with Hiroto, making parts of him shine brighter at times.
Occasionally, he would step in a puddle of his fallen classmate, showing a brief hit of his location, and the shaking of the branches and bushes was apparent as ever. Hiroto already deducted that it has to be 10 feet away from him. He would stop every couple of seconds, waiting to hear Sen stop as well. Next, he would count within his head to give a rough estimate of where he was.
He could only guess this would work. He remembered Sho saying, 'When lightning strikes, count in seconds to see how far it is.' Of course, that would be miles apart, and this is just a couple of feet. Could it be used in the same manner? Most likely not, but Hiroto couldn't think of a better way for him to guess where he was at.
But through this, he had not once turned around to fight Sen. It was Sen we were talking about! Even if he were to turn around, Sen would just run away, and throwing a knife wouldn't do anything. If it did, then he wouldn't have lived this long.
Hiroto kept his pace steady while advancing; he was already past the point where his back was exposed to the enemy, and the front was going to be in a full-frontal attack.
Luckily for Hiroto, hints of Sho's fight started to show themselves. Arrows spread throughout the forest were on display, stuck within the trees. A little further away, what seemed to be dead bodies lay on the corrupted grass field. 'Is this the point?'
"Shit!" Hiroto's voice was monotone, yet still showed urgency.
"Brush"
"Brush"
The sounds of the branches and bushes weren't canceled this time; it was much louder and moving toward Hiroto's right. 'He's going to where Sho is!'
Hiroto tried to run even harder than he already was, but if it were that easy, then he wouldn't be in this situation. Going a couple of seconds faster is incredible in its own feat, but when someone already knows where to go and you don't, wouldn't it be useless?
Hiroto went straight, hoping to cut off Sen, but in doing so, he was in the middle of where Sho fought, seeing dozens of arrows spread everywhere. Luckily, he found a curved sword right by the three bodies stacked on top of each other.
Hiroto reached down, grabbing the curved metal sword, 'Arrows!'
An idea came to Hiroto; he ran up to one of the arrows stuck within a tree just a couple of feet away from where the pile of bodies was located. He used the arrow to leverage himself up to reach the branch, pulling himself up to a standing position within a second.
Sen finally started to cut in from where he was; all Hiroto had to do was run straight, and he should barely meet Sho. Hiroto twisted his left wrist, throwing the curved sword similar to a boomerang.
"Whoosh"
Its curved throw and odd shape make the trajectory hard to predict.
Sen stops standing on a tree branch, watching the curve sword go through the air, not daring enough to have his back on it. He held a combat knife in his right hand and positioned it over his chest while the blade was pointed downward toward his arm. He supports his right wrist with his left hand, ready to take on the sheer force the curve sword would bring.
Compared to a combat knife, a curved sword is vastly different. The mass of a curve sword to a combat knife could not be equal. He could not handle the curved blade's sheer force with one hand, particularly with Sen's tiny figure compared to that of the other 10-year-olds.
Sen's eyes opened in surprise, watching as the curved sword missed a foot entirely away from him. 'Did he miss on purpose, or was it because I stopped my movement?'
Sen then felt a chill run through his back with killing intent coming from his right. His eyes lead, looking up from five feet away from him. Hiroto jumped through the air with his knife pointed down over his head. His tiny hands wrapped around the handle of the combat knife, showing no error in letting go upon contact.
Sen, to his sudden surprise, took the knife from his chest over his head in an attempt to defend himself.
"Clash" Sparks fly from metal hitting metal.
'Too much!' The amount of force accumulated on the knife makes his body shake, making his hands subconsciously want to give away his weapon. Without Sen realizing it, the combat knife twitches, and Hiroto takes the opportunity to put his full force onto one singular point.
With his body still in the air, gravity adding Hiroto's amount of force made Sen unable to keep a steady hold on the combat knife. As a result, the combat knife tilted, making Hiroto's knife free to move. He followed down Sen's combat knife leading to the hilt of the combat knife.
"So, this is how it en..." Before Sen could finish his sentence, Hiroto led his knife down Sen's right hand to the arm, ending at the neck. Sen fell from the branch, hitting headfirst while his body went limp.
Hiroto had already lost five minutes in the search for Sen; he got lucky that the trees in the forest were not real but instead made of bamboo, making the branches elastic. Like a jumping board, Hiroto goes to the edge of the branch, making him fly through the air. But, of course, Sen didn't think about this because of the weight difference between the two. As a result, Sen's figure and density couldn't fully utilize the flexibility of the bamboo, making him unaware of the idea of using it to propel oneself.
"Huff"
Taking a breath, Hiroto lands firmly on the tree branch, his knife covered in blood, matching himself. The branch and grass alike overshadow red, not showing the previous lush it had before. Almost instantly, Hiroto turns away and starts sprinting through the forest again. While leaving, he doesn't even glance at Sen; just like Kaoru Takahiro in the hallway, both will be forgotten with time.
While searching for Sho, Hiroto stays within the trees, moving swiftly. He hopes Sen didn't do anything that would have alerted the group or that his fight with Sen wasn't loud enough to warn them during the fight. At this point, if Hiroto is lucky, he can scout the premise before engaging the remaining people; however, if not, he will have to go headfirst.
"AHHHH"
Screams of pain filled the air; it was faint; however, Hiroto instantly recognized who the voice belonged to and where it was coming from. Hiroto bit his lower lip in desperation; however, his face still lacked facial expressions.
"AHHHH"
Hiroto couldn't explain what the feeling was in his lower stomach; the closest thing he could relate it to was after the death of 'Higashi Saki.' Hiroto came to this thought. His mind felt heavy; however, it only felt like it was going to get worse over the idea of Sho dying.
Hiroto finally got to a distance where he could look to see where the screams were coming from; staying on top of a branch 30 feet away, he watched as they tortured Sho. First by ripping off his figure nails, then taking a sword shaving off layer by layer of skin.
The urge to rush in and help Sho was strong, but Hiroto's body didn't move. Instead, he stayed in place and observed the situation. Hiroto saw Michio take his blade, which would be considered small for an adult, and use it to shave off layers of skin from Sho. Michio's physique was the same as Ken, if not bulkier. The sword alone would be a considerable weight for his age and height, yet Michio held it with such precision that he didn't dig too deep into Sho's arms, causing significant pain. Sho seemed to try his best to hold his breath, yet how old was he? He can only withstand only so much pain. It was only natural that he would be yelling.
Ken seemed to be standing guard with Shijo, scanning the area for anyone to appear. With a sword to his neck, Kiyoshi was behind Sho, ready to execute Sho at any moment. This also meant that Sho had to stay relatively still while being tormented by Michio.
"After all this," Sho yelled out loud, his voice filled with pain, "I hope that at least one person, other than a monster, will learn about our history and maybe some of the misery we went through. We understand the mystery of why we had to. Because this whole time, we were sheep for the chomping hungry wolves. What were we searching for? A fantasy? A place where a mountain can be covered in white..." However, Michio didn't slow down even with Sho talking. He continued to shave off layers of Sho's skin with his blade while Sho bit his lower lip, drawing blood, and continued to speak, "or where I stand now in a land of green that can stretch as far as the eye can see with living things. But all we could find was gory nether! My friends, classmates, and even family are shooting stars. They shine brightly within my heart but will never return when gone. The light goes away with the star, both disappearing."