The rest of the day dragged on as Takumi and Isamu paced the length of the gymnasium. The vast space, once filled with echoes of laughter and competition, now felt desolate, the air heavy with silence except for their footsteps and Isamu's occasional grimace. Takumi glanced at his companion, noting how Isamu winced with every step, his leg still unsteady.
Evening came swiftly, the sunlight filtering through the high gym windows, casting long shadows that crept across the floor. The two decided to rest early, exhaustion settling in after the day's slow, cautious movements. They huddled near their bags, unwrapping what little food they had left—rice balls now hard from time and packaged jerky.
The dim glow of twilight painted their faces as they sat. Takumi broke the silence. "So, what were you thinking for tomorrow?"
Isamu sighed, leaning back against the wall. "I'm not sure. We're out of beakers, and we can't just head to the fourth floor without a plan to draw them away first."
Takumi nodded thoughtfully. "Do you still have the gun?"
Isamu hesitated before shaking his head. "No, I hid it on the fifth floor. But it wouldn't have helped us much—too loud. The sound would pull every dead one in the area straight to us."
Isamu's expression remained unreadable, but internally he calculated his words carefully. 'He might be fishing for the gun's location. I gave him just enough to satisfy his curiosity, but not enough for him to know exactly where it is.'
Takumi rested his chin on his hand, thinking. "Okay, here's an idea. What if we use the balls here? I remember the first dead guy we saw in the gym—I spiked a ball at him, and he followed the sound of it bouncing. It distracted him. That could work again."
Isamu nodded, the corners of his lips twitching down. "That's… great. That will probably work just as well as the flasks did. We'll take a few with us just in case. To be honest, I wouldn't mind keeping one and tossing it around up there too, it gets pretty boring."
Takumi chuckled, the sound oddly comforting. "Yeah, but it might be a bit noisy for the dead on the stairways."
Isamu smirked, eyeing him with a bit more respect. 'He was able to pick up on that pretty quick. Takumi's pretty smart, smarter than I thought at least. He's letting his ideas be known more now, though I'm not certain why.'
Suddenly, a third voice chimed in, breaking the moment. Sato's figure appeared beside Takumi, his grin as smug as ever. "Can you believe this guy? He knew you got me killed and didn't tell a soul. Played the quiet game for days instead of dealing with you outright. What a pal."
Isamu's head fell back with a sigh. 'That's my cue to sleep.'
Both men lay down on the gym floor, their bags serving as makeshift pillows. The cool, hard surface was hardly comfortable, but it was the best they had.
Sato lingered, his voice dripping with mockery. "Oh, you're just going to ignore me and sleep? Real mature, Isamu. We don't get much time together, you know."
Isamu shut his eyes tightly, repeating a silent mantra in his mind. 'Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep.'
Day 9
At dawn, Isamu opened his eyes, the dimly lit gym ceiling greeting him like an old friend. He stayed still, savoring the moment. 'This is peaceful,' he thought, his lips curving into a faint smile. 'No blaring alarms, no groaning corpses, no white hospital ceilings. Just this silence. It feels real.'
His momentary serenity was interrupted as Sato's head appeared in his peripheral vision.
"Did you think I wasn't here?" Sato grinned, his voice grating against Isamu's calm.
Isamu sighed, his smile vanishing. 'Of course. Sato, Sato, Sato. Always here. I mean I wouldn't mind seeing fatso once in a while… Why don't I see him anymore?'
As if reading his thoughts, Sato's face shifted grotesquely, morphing into Hiroto's familiar features. "Because I am Hiroto, too," Sato said, his voice unchanged the morphing back. "You've tied your memory of him to his 'dead' face, but me? I'm easier on the eyes." He pulled out a hand-held mirror, admiring his reflection with a smile.
Isamu groaned inwardly, turning his head away, but Sato wasn't done. "Why aren't you getting up? Don't you have to go to the fourth floor?"
'It can wait,' Isamu thought, sinking deeper into the floor.
'I'm sure it will still be there after a few hours. I just want to be like this for now, even the floor feels comfortable somehow, and the silence. I can't even hear those bags of meat walking around or growling mindlessly. It all feels, real…
This is what feels real, the simplicity of this moment, it's what feels like reality to me. Nothing else.'
Nearly an hour passed before Takumi stirred, stretching groggily. Isamu's calm was disrupted, but he didn't complain. They prepared for the day, the looming task ahead weighing heavily on them.
As they readied their packs, Isamu pulled a joint from his bag, lighting it with a practiced flick. He took a long drag, exhaling lazily.
Takumi turned to him, laughing. "Okay, you have to tell me how many joints you have in that f**king bag and why 'cause it's been bugging me not knowing. You just keep pulling one out like a rabbit out of a hat."
Isamu chuckled, passing it to him. "Used to sell them at school. Made decent money. Was saving up for a new PC. The guy at the convenience store sold them to me, and I flipped them here."
Takumi blinked in disbelief. "And I never heard about this? How the hell wasn't this the talk of the school?"
"Well, I made everyone who bought for me record themselves saying, 'I am the one who sells the drugs at school, I made Isamu hold it for me in his bag because I threatened to beat him up if I didn't.' At least that's the shorter version, I had a different variation for the girls. It motivated them to not talk about it."
Takumi took a drag but coughed immediately, making Isamu laugh.
"You're always careful, huh?" Takumi said, his voice hoarse but amused. "I guess I should be thankful. That caution has kept us alive so far."
Isamu shrugged. "Maybe. I just come up with ideas. You guys do the hard part—staying alive."
Takumi nudged him lightly. "Don't sell yourself short, man. Now, let's go do this."