............
Order 6
[November 3 (Wednesday) 11:51 am]
As we approached the school gate, Kawashima in protective clothing stood in front of Yumeto and the others.
"Please don't get any closer to the school gate."
"I know"
Yumeto lowered Wakaba's body to the ground.
"This is Ms. Wakaba Suzuki. She was stabbed to death by Mr. Satoshi Kumagai with a knife."
"...I understand. I will pick up the body here."
I can hear Kawashima's calm voice from inside the protective clothing.
"No one else died?"
"I don't think it's an order like that this time. Because everyone was able to clear it."
"Is that so…....."
"Kawashima-san, can you meet our family?"
"Yes. Your families are all gathered at a hotel in town."
"Then tell Wakaba-san's parents. Wakaba-san saved a lot of her classmates and we want to thank you to her"
Yumeto put Wakaba's cold hands on her chest.
"Thanks to Wakaba-san, We are alive now."
"...Understood. I will definitely tell them."
"Thank you"
Yumeto pressed his lips tightly and lowered his head.
................
When I opened the door of the 2nd grade Class A classroom, Iwamoto was sitting on the podium.
"Iwamoto....sensei"
"Yumeto and the other....huh"
Iwamoto slowly stood up while touching his stubble-grown chin.
"Did you guys touch the stone pillars too?"
"Yes. It was just barely."
"I see. I climbed to the summit of Mt. Akaikeyama at night, but I didn't know what to do after that. Well, I knew it had the word 'stone' in it, so I touched the stone pillars, but it wasn't until morning that I realized it was the correct answer."
"Did you hear it from Seiichiro-kun and the others?"
"Yes. I must have crossed paths with you somewhere along the mountain path."
Iwamoto doesn't seem to know that Seiichiro and the others hid the stone pillars. When Yumeto decides to tell him about it, Hideyuki and his group enter the classroom.
Hideyuki approaches Yumeto with his smartphone in his hand.
"Yumeto-kun, it's almost time."
"Oh...it's already 12 o'clock..."
Yumeto took out a smartphone from his pocket. The surrounding students all took out their phone and mobile phone at the same time.
Yumeto's breathing became rougher as the seconds displayed on the LCD screen ticked. Iwamoto, who was standing in front of him, was also staring at the screen of his mobile phone with a pale face.
Before long, the ringtone of the email resounded in the classroom.
[11/3 (Wed) 12:00 pm.
Sender: King
Subject: King's Game
Text: This is a king's game played by Akaikeyama High School 2nd grade class A students and homeroom teacher Kazuyuki Iwamoto.
*The King's orders are absolute, so please obey them within 24 hours.
*Withdrawal is not permitted.
*Order 6: Kazuyuki Iwamoto, collect the heads of 5 currently surviving students of Class 2A. If he disobey an order, he will be punish.
END]
"Head..."
A hoarse voice escaped from Yumeto's mouth.
....What's this order? Collect 5 heads, kill them and decapitate them?
Yumeto looked away from his smartphone screen and looked at Iwamoto in front of him. With his mouth half-open, Iwamoto slowly lifted his head. His face is white and his hollow cheeks twitch and move.
"Ah..."
Miki let out a small scream and stepped back. Yumeto and the others also distanced themselves from Iwamoto.
"Everyone, run away!"
"Wait! Hideyuki-kun."
Sakura Iwashita from Hideyuki's group cut in between Hideyuki and Iwamoto. Sakura spreads her hands to the left and right like she protects Iwamoto from Hideyuki's eyes.
"It's terrible, Hideyuki-kun. Do you think Iwamoto-sensei will obey such an order?"
"Sakura, get away from Iwamoto-sensei!"
"I won't leave him. Iwamoto-sensei is our homeroom teacher, you know? We should trust him more."
Tears welled up in Sakura's eyes.
"We were able to cooperate with Yumeto-kun and his group because we believed in each other. That's why we have to trust Iwamoto-sensei too."
"But I can't cooperate with this order because we're going to die, five of us."
"I know! But even Iwamoto-sensei didn't want to kill us, right?"
Sakura turned around and looked up at Iwamoto's face. Iwamoto's expression softened as he looked into the eyes of a student who trusted him.
"Sakura, thank you. You believed in me."
"Iwamoto-sensei..."
"You were always honest. You listened well to what I said."
"Yes. Because I like Iwamoto-sensei."
Iwamoto's eyes widened at the sight of the cherry blossoms dyeing her cheeks red.
"Do you like me?"
"I'm sorry. It's annoying for a student to say something like this, isn't it?"
"No, not really."
"Actually, I had no intention of confessing. But if I thought that I might not be able to see Iwamoto-sensei again....."
"..... I understand. Thank you, Sakura."
"Iwamoto-sensei..."
"No... I'm no longer a teacher."
"Eh...?"
Iwamoto wrapped his tanned left arm around Sakura's neck, which had a surprised look on her face. Then he grabbed Sakura's head with his right hand and put all his strength into it.
An eerie sound was heard, and Sakura's head bent at a right angle.
"Gatsu..."
Sakura doesn't seem to understand what happened, her vertically aligned eyes are moving. Her saliva dripped from her wide-open mouth and wetted the chest of her uniform.
Iwamoto let out a deep breath as he hugged Sakura, who was repeatedly twitching and convulsing.
"Sakura...you were a really good student. You were honest and kind...and even now you are still helpful to me."
"Iwamoto-sensei...w-why did you kill Sakura-san?"
Yumeto asked Iwamoto with a trembling voice.
"Sakura-san liked the teacher."
"That's why I killed her."
A dark voice comes from Iwamoto's mouth.
"You don't want to see someone you love killing people, do you? Even five people..."
"Five people..."
"Oh... And four..."
Iwamoto laid Sakura's corpse on the floor and slowly stood up. Hollow eyes stare at Yumeto and the others.
"Run away!"
When Yumeto yelled, the students who were frozen started to move. Contorting their faces in fear, they all rushed to the rear door of the classroom.
Yumeto slowly backed away, wary of Iwamoto's movements. Iwamoto's gaze, filled with madness, follows Yumeto's movements.
"Yumeto...you and I are equal."
"Equal?"
"It's about being a participant in the king's game."
A strained laugh comes from his chapped lips.
"Anyway, even if you kill someone in the King's game, it's not a crime. Isn't that right?"
"Is the teacher can makes that kind of choice?"
"I told you I'm no longer a teacher."
Yumeto quickly flipped his body as Iwamoto stepped onto his feet. He jumps out into the hallway and starts running without adjusting his posture. Behind him, Iwamoto's footsteps could be heard. Yumeto's hair stands on end as he senses the presence of Iwamoto who is silently following him.
Turning the hallway at a right angle and running down the stairs, Yoji of Seiichiro's group appeared in his field of vision. Yoji suddenly sees Yumeto and Iwamoto running down the stairs and stands stunned.
"Oh...Yoji... huh..."
Iwamoto's gaze shifted from Yumeto to Yoji.
"You were a troublesome guy. No matter how many times I warned you, you still smoked in the bathroom, and you often skipped class. Besides, you were also bullying Tomoki. Because of that, I ended up getting caught up in the king's game."
"Ah... ah!"
As if knowing the contents of the new order, Yoji lets out a high-pitched scream and prepares his hammer.
"Don't come over here!"
"Oh, it's a hammer. It's quite a good weapon."
With a smile on his face, Iwamoto approaches Yoji.
"Uaaaah!"
As Yoji raised his hammer, Iwamoto's hand grabbed Yoji's wrist. Yoji's face contorted in pain, and his hammerhead quivered.
"Oi oi, Do you only have this level of strength? It because you skip physical education, isn't it?"
Iwamoto grabs the hammer and hits Yoji on the side of the head without hesitation. Yoji collapses on the spot as I hears the sound of something hard being thrown at him. Iwamoto hits Yoji, who has fallen to the floor, repeatedly with his hammer. The reddish-black blood stains the white floor red.
Yumeto gritted his teeth as he watched the devastation in front of him. Yoji's head is distorted and dented, and every time Iwamoto hits him with a hammer, the sound of flesh and bone being crushed can be heard. It was hard to believe that Yoji was alive.
"This is the second person..."
Iwamoto laughed with blood on his face.
"And three more people... Surprisingly easy."
Yumeto clenched his trembling fists and ran away.
...Iwamoto-sensei intends to kill three more students to fulfill his orders. Iwamoto-sensei can no longer be stopped.
Looking back at the exit of the school building, Iwamoto was nowhere to be seen. Apparently, he's aiming for other students who are hiding instead of chasing after Yumeto.
The image of Yuna and the others pops up in Yumeto's mind.
....Meet up with Yuna-san and hide somewhere. If the number of people is gathered, Iwamoto-sensei may hesitate to attack.
I took out my smartphone and tried to send an email to my friends, but my hand stopped.
.....No. If Iwamoto-sensei is near the place where everyone is hiding, he will be noticed by the ring tone of the mail.
Yumeto bit his lower lip and headed for the computer room on the fourth floor.
Yuna and the others were nowhere to be seen in the computer room. Yumeto silently closed the door and headed for the stairs.
....There may be no one in the school building anymore. If you're going to escape, it's safer in the mountains, but Iwamoto-sensei knows that much, so it's possible that he's checking the back gate.
When I looked out the window in the corridor, I could see the uninhabited back gate and Mt. Akaikeyama.
"Should I check inside the school building for now..."
Yumeto went down the stairs while being wary of his surroundings.
As he walked down the hallway on the first floor, he heard a faint noise coming from inside the staff room. Yumeto silently opened the staff room door. There is no one in the staff room, and the teacher's desk is lined up. Small items such as notebooks and textbooks were scattered on the floor, as if someone had been looking for playing cards in the previous order.
Yumeto hides his footsteps and moves to the window. Some of the windows were open. The leaves of a large quercus tree sway in the wind and rustle.
"Was it this sound?"
Yumeto let out a sigh and moved to the window.
"Ah..."
Suddenly, a woman's voice came from under the desk. When he lowered his gaze, Hinako Muraoka of the chairman's group was sitting on the floor with her hand over her mouth.
"Hinako-san, why are you hiding in a place like this? what about the other?
"Um.., everyone ran away, so I don't know where they are..."
A faint voice escapes from Hinako's thin lips.
"Is Yumeto alone too?"
"Yeah. I was being chased by Iwamoto-sensei."
Hearing Iwamoto's name, the color of fear appeared in the eyes behind Hinako's glasses.
"Iwamoto-sensei isn't around here, is he?"
"I don't know, but he wasn't in the hallway on the first floor. Maybe he's going to the back gate."
"I see...."
Hinako came out from under the desk, still in her bent posture.
"Yumeto, what are you going to do now?"
"I plan to join Yuna-san and the others. If you don't mind, with Hideyuki and others. If there are a lot of people, Iwamoto-sensei might not attack either."
"Yeah. Hideyuki-kun also said that he could cooperate with you guys."
"With this order, we can cooperate with Seiichiro-kun and Narumi-san too."
"... I think it's best not to get involved with the people in Narumi's group."
"Hmm? Why?"
"Because there are suspicious people"
"Suspicious?"
Yumeto's eyebrows twitched.
"Does that mean they might be the king?"
"...That's right. It's not absolute, but some people are interested for me"
"Who is that?"
"It's Iori Shirakawa."
"Iori-san..."
Yumeto remembered the face of the long-haired girl who always stood next to Narumi. Iori had a beautiful face because she belonged to Narumi's group. Unlike the modern Narumi, she had an old-fashioned image and had the dignity of a Japanese doll.
"Why did you think Iori-san was the king?"
"King..... Do you remember the day we started the king's game?"
"If I remember correctly, when Yuna-san and I came to school in the morning, Hinako-san was in the classroom, right?"
"Yes. I was the first to find a vase containing the Keldo virus in the classroom that day. But there was another student who came to school before me."
Hinako holds the bridge of her glasses with her index finger.
"I saw Iori-san from in front of the school gate. From there, I could see Iori-san by the window on the fourth floor."
"4th floor?"
"Yes. I think that was the computer room."
"Was it really Iori-san?"
"I have bad eyesight, but if I wear glasses, I can tell at least the length of their hair. Iori-san is the only one with hair that reaches down to her waist."
"But isn't it strange to think she's a king just because of that? Maybe she just came to school early in the morning, right?"
"Yeah, but the problem is that she hid it. I told Iori about it after the King's game started. Then she denied it. she said she came to school after me."
The lenses of the glasses reflect the light coming through the windows.
"The question is why did she lie like that?"
"To cover up for putting a vase in the classroom?"
"Yes. Other than that, there's no point in hiding it."
"Iori-san is the king..."
Yumeto pressed his left fist to his lips.
.....I haven't talked to Iori, so I don't know what kind of personality she has. But if she's a king, her purpose is...
"Did Iori-san and Tomoki-kun get along well?"
"I don't know about that. But Tomoki-kun was an innocent child. He was bullied because of that, but I think there were a lot of girls who felt sorry for Tomoki-kun."
"Iori-san... huh?"
Yumeto lowered his gaze and let out a sound.
.....If what Hinako says is true, Iori's behavior seems suspicious. She had vase of Keldo virus in the classroom, and waited in the computer room for everyone to come. But she can do it without Iori-san to stay there. Once you go to school, put the vase in the classroom, and then go home... No, you don't have to go back home. It's fine just on the way to school.
"Ah..."
Suddenly, something like electricity ran through Yumeto's brain. Looking at Yumeto who was dumbfounded with his mouth open, Hinako brought her face closer.
"What's wrong, Yumeto-kun?"
"No, no. I have something to worry about..."
"What are you worried about?"
As Yumeto moved his mouth, a loud rattling sound came from the hallway.
"Hinako-san, hide!"
Yumeto pushes Hinako under desk and he hides himself next to her. Hinako curls up her slender body and opens her pale lips.
"Yumeto-kun, what's that sound?"
"Quiet!"
Yumeto brought his index finger to his mouth and turned his gaze toward the staff room door. The sound came from the corridor beyond the door, and it seemed that something was approaching little by little.
I could hear it coming from the hallway, and it felt like something was slowly approaching.
Eventually, the door opened and Iwamoto appeared. Iwamoto throws the corpses of Sakura and Yoji, which had been piled up on the cart, onto the floor of the staff room. Sakura's eyes, with her neck bent at an unusual angle, are staring at Yumeto and the others hiding under the desk.
Yumeto used his right mouth to hold back the screams that had reached his throat. Hinako, who was next to him, also covered her mouth with her right hand.
"Um, where was it? I should have put it here."
Iwamoto mutters to himself and searches the drawers of his desk. He doesn't seem to notice that Yumeto and the others are in the staff room.
"Ah, there it was."
What Iwamoto took out from the drawer was a thread saw. Iwamoto hums an idol song to him, turns his back on Yumeto and others, and sits down in front of Sakura's corpse.
The moment a thread saw was applied to Sakura's thin neck, Yumeto understood what Iwamoto was trying to do.
Gushuri, gushuri, I could hear the sound of the saw blade cutting through the meat. The blood drained from Yumeto's face, and goosebumps appeared on his arms. His mouth thirsts and his throat undulates.
.....Just because it's an order from the King's game, why would a teacher do such a cruel thing? Besides, Sakura-san liked Iwamoto-sensei.
"... OK! It's cut."
Iwamoto grabbed her cherry hair and lifted her head. Blood drips on him and the floor. Looking at Sakura's hollow eyes, where only her head had changed, nausea welled up to Yumeto's throat. His whole body trembles with a throb, and cold sweat wets his shirt. Next to him, Hinako's teeth clicked. Yumeto hurriedly put his hand to Hinako's ear.
"Hold your teeth together. Don't make noise."
While holding her mouth with both hands, Hinako nod her head several times.
Perhaps unaware of the sound Hinako made, Iwamoto places Sakura's head on the desk and then begins to decapitate Yoji.
Yumeto averted his gaze at the gruesome sight. Still, you can hear him cutting meat.
Gushuri, gushuri, gushuri...
Yumeto desperately endured with his body curled up.
...Hurry up...Hurry up! I don't want to hear this sound!
It seemed like a long time. Before I knew it, the sound of cutting meat had disappeared, and Iwamoto was stuffing Sakura and Yoji's heads into his big bag. The bottom of the dark blue sports bag is discolored by the blood of the two people.
"Alright! Shall we go?"
Saying so, Iwamoto picked up his sports bag and left the staff room.
Yumeto exhaled all the air that had accumulated in his lungs and crawled out from under the desk.
"Hinako-san, are you okay?"
"Ah.... yeah…."
Hinako also comes out from under the desk with her pale face.
"Iwamoto-sensei be able to do something like that....."
"The King's game broke Iwamoto-sensei's heart."
"Heart..."
"We're in game like this. We...."
Yumeto's words trembled.
He was terrified of Iwamoto beheading his student, but he didn't feel angry.
...If you give order like this, the only way to survive is to kill five people. Iwamoto-sensei is only acting for his own survival. No matter how cruel it may be, if you prioritize your own life, it may be right. But even so, we have to take action to survive too!
"Hinako-san, let's go! Join everyone."
Yumeto left the staff room with Hinako.
..................