Nightfall arrives, the city surrounded in the dark night sky illuminated by the moon, the sound of chirping crickets and the beautiful sight of stars within the clear sky. Two individuals, Kaito and Sakura, both of whom are wearing nice, warm tracksuits and a pair of sneakers built for retaining body heat and increased mobility. Sakura had tied her hair in a ponytail while Kaito had worn a beanie just to keep his ears warm.
"I must say, these feel comfortable." Kaito remarked.
Sakura doesn't respond and continues walking. Kaito noticed her silence. He gave a voluntary shrug and proceeded to follow her. The streets were barren, and nearly every building had their lights off. Kaito and Sakura continued pursuing dead bodies in an attempt to find any flowers. They shined their flashlights, looking for at least a sign of decaying corpses.
Minutes went by, and so far, they haven't even found a single flower. They had passed other duos who'd already collected a few flowers. Just as when all hope felt lost…
"Do you smell that?" Kaito asked while making a sour facial expression.
"Smell what?" Sakura asked with her usual annoyance.
Kaito continued sniffing the air as his nose picked up on a terrible stench. Kaito began following the origin of the odor.
"Where do you think—"
Kaito continued following the scent. His focus was clearly driven on finding the source rather than listening to Sakura ranting. Eventually, Kaito entered an alleyway, and Sakura reluctantly followed him. As they walked, the stench got stronger to the point neither Sakura nor Kaito could handle. Sakura pinched her nose to block the odor, while Kaito continued following the scent. The duo suddenly stopped in their tracks, and on the ground were two corpses.
The decaying bodies were pale, with skin as white as snow, they're eyes were dead and lifeless, a few drops of blood were leaking from them and lastly they're limbs or rather their bones were fractured and a few seemed broken. Kaito eyed one of the dead bodies it was a young woman with a look of fear on her face, Kaito sensed a hint of familiarity from the corpses.
"Where do I know this chick?" Kaito muttered to himself while clenching his nose.
Sakura approached the two unalived bodies. She slowly inspected the bodies, and within one of their pockets was a white flower with delicate, clear white petals. She crouched down to the bodies and carefully took the flower to avoid damaging it.
"It seems we've got our first flower" Sakura stated.
"Hey, don't these people seem familiar?" Kaito asked.
Sakura took a glance at the two bodies, and in one of their pockets was a black envelope.
"It seems these were the participants from the last game" Sakura deduced.
Kaito took a look at the female dead body and recognized her as the lady who pleaded for help while gripping his calf.
"Oh well, let's go" Kaito said.
Just as when Sakura and Kaito were about to leave the alleyway, the silhouette of two individuals blocked their paths.
"I'm sorry, but we'll be taking your flower now" A female voice emerged.
"And who are—"
"No, no, no, just ignore them, and hopefully we can avoid any new characters" Kaito cut off Sakura's question.
Sakura rolled her eyes at Kaito's intermission.
The two individuals stepped forward, amongst the individuals was none other than Akira but upon inspection his hair was disheveled, and he seemed to be in a daze, he seemed to be muttering something and his gaze was directed towards the ground. The other individuals was a girl with pigtails and pink highlights. She appeared younger than slightly younger than the others.
"Kaito?" The mysterious girl asked.
"Great, another one…" Sakura muttered.
"Who are you?" Kaito asked.
"My name is Yuki Amano and—"
"Nah, I seriously don't know you" Kaito said as he interrupted the rest of her introduction.
"We went to the same school in junior school" said Yuki.
"Yeah, I still don't remember you" Kaito said.
"We were best friends"
"Are you just best friends with everyone?" Sakura asked, her voice laced with the same irritation.
"I'm telling you these people are just crazy" Kaito responded.
Yuki quickly revealed her gun and fired a round in the air. The sound of the gunshot attracted the attention of Kaito and Sakura.
"As. I. Was. Saying." Yuki said with restrained rage in her voice.
Sakura and Kaito remained unnerved by the intimidating weapon in her hand. Akira continued looking at the ground with a blank expression.
"My name is Yuki Suzume, and I've got a score to settle with Mr. Arima"
"I swear, do all women just want me to die?" Kaito asked
"I wouldn't be opposed by the idea" Sakura stated.
Another round was fired in the air.
"OK, trigger finger, mind if I ask why you want to kill me?" Kaito asked
"Because you broke a promise" Yuki responded.
The alleyway went quiet.
"Wait, I broke a promise, and now you want to kill me?… Am I hearing this right?"
"Yes, and on top of that you also hurt, my dear Aki" Yuki said.
"Sakura, let's just go" Kaito said.
As Kaito attempted to leave, a bullet was fired and was just a hair's breadth from hitting Kaito, but it missed and barely grazed his cheek in the process. Kaito's eyes widened at the fired bullet, and his movement momentarily stopped. Akira winced at the sound of the gun fired and was momentarily brought out of his thoughts.
"To reiterate, we'll be taking the flower" Yuki said, her voice slightly more demanding.
"Can't you just find your own flower?" Kaito asked.
"You and I both know how rare these are to come by" Yuki stated.
"Too bad, there's no way we're just giving you ours" Sakura said.
"I know, so I'll just be forcefully taking it" Yuki said.
As Yuki repositioned her aim and prepared to shoot, an Akira grabbed her wrist and stopped her.
"Please…" Akira said, his voice hoarsed and barely audible.
Yuki's gaze softened at Akira's barely audible plead. She slowly lowered her gun and turned her gaze at Akira. She brought her other hand towards gently placing it on Akira's cheek. She stared into Akira's traumatized eyes.
"It's okay, I understand" Yuki said her voice calm and understanding.
Sakura and Kaito shared a knowing look, and took advantage of the opening. They slowly crept past them, trying to avoid as much attention as possible.
"But Kaito is inexcusable" Yuki said, her voice low and dangerous.
She quickly shoved Akira away and raised her arm, aiming for Kaito. Before Kaito could even react, the gun was fired, and the bullet lodged itself into Kaito's neck, nearly hitting his vocal chord.
Kaito felt a sharp pain in his neck intensify, his vision growing blurry, his entire life flashing before his eyes. He brought his hands to attempting to ease the pain, but it was all but futile. Blood started spewing from the injury, and soon, his body hit the ground.
As Kaito's grip on his life started loosening, he could hear the shrieking psychotic laugh of Yuki. In his final moments, only a single thought flickered in his mind.
I swear, this girl is crazy
In the alleyway, Akira was on his knees staring at Kaito's dead body, a single tear drop trailed down his face. Sakura stared at Kaito's dead body, unfazed by the current event that just transpired, while Yuki continued laughing.
After a while, Yuki's laughing died down, and she focused the gun's aim at Sakura.
"So princess, which is it? Are you going to comply, or will you join your partner?"
Sakura sighed, and she reluctantly handed over the flower within her hand. Yuki continued holding the gun at Sakura's head as she took the flower from her hand.
"But I must ask, how did you know?" Sakura asked.
"It's simple, in the recent later, the blank piece of paper had knowledge on the different players, such as their location and how many they had collected" Yuki explained.
"You do know he will come back" Sakura stated.
"Oh, I'm counting on it" Yuki said.
As Yuki began lifting the stunned Akira, she gave one cold look at Kaito's lifeless body, which was drenched in his blood, and proceeded to walk off with Akira.
Sakura bent down to shut Kaito's eye lids, and she reached into one of her pockets to take out her phone. She began dialing a number an unknown number. The phone rang until someone on the other end answered.
"Prepare for the backup plan" Sakura stated as she proceeded to hang up and walked away from the alleyway leaving Kaito's lifeless body unattended.