I underestimated how much we would be slowed by moving our prisoner around and honestly, we probably should have killed him by now. I've already commited to the my plan to have Himiko get rid of him though so there's no reason not to keep moving him along. After moving around for about eight hours we end up needing to camp for the night. The route we were taking is blocked off by a chasm that we can’t cross so we need to circle around.

The first night we spent up in one of the shelters, apparently this also protected us from another danger on the island. There are Komodo dragons here, they started pouring out of the forest side in droves making Higuichi shriek. Thankfully, we had the wind to our backs as the wind was caught in the chasm blew away from us. Higuichi used a few blazing gas BIM’s to cull the ones nearby. I didn’t know a Komodo dragon could scream until the smoke went through the forest… None of us could really sleep well that night.

Even Yoshioka didn’t try to escape. He probably realized if he did, he would just be eaten by lizards. He didn’t have any BIM and his hands still tied tightly behind his back. Checking on his hands the wrists are being torn apart but the lack of blood flow means he won’t bleed as much. He asked to loosen them since we are resting but I still told him no and tied him to a tree.

The next day we continue our movement around the circular chasm that leads to the radio tower.

Togo recommended we use the chip radar in shifts having the others stop as one of us uses it in case we run into another group. This turns out to be the best course of action since Higuichi gets a ping while we are walking. It’s one person from what we can tell. He doesn’t send his own radar pulse, so he only knows about one of us.

Togo looks between me and Higuichi. “Alright, since he’s not shooting the radar back, he only knows about one of us. Whats the plan?” Sending out another radar pulse Togo confirms that hes moving in this direction.

“Hmm want me to try what I did with the last one again?” I mean if something works might as well try it again. Most people underestimate a kid in a school uniform.

Togo nods “Yeah, that’s probably fine.”

I nod but look between the two of them. “Rather than showing all of us we should have someone hiding just in case. Higuichi wanna hide in those bushes over there? Me and Togo both have shield BIM’s so we can defend ourselves if need be.” She nods and hides in the bushes off to the side. Yoshioka just continues to glare at me but still isnt doing much of anything with his hands tied behind his back and some broken teeth. I shove a sock into his mouth, so he doesn’t blab to the guy we are meeting. We hand our extra BIM bags to her to hide so it looks like it’s just us. Each of us has two of our shields mixed with our other BIM’s to help appear like we are normal.

“Well let’s get this show on the road.” I hold up a homing BIM and watch the guy approach. As soon as he’s about to get to us I warn Togo. “Incoming.”

He reaches just around the bend and smiles seeing us, so I call out in a friendly tone as well. “Hey there!” The man looks like hes around 46 and 6ft tall. Glasses and a short haircut.

“Oh, thank goodness! I’ve been wandering around the forest all day! I… I don’t want to kill anybody but… I couldn’t find any food or anything. Maybe if we all teamed up, we could maybe do something?” He looks between us then we he gets a look at Yoshioka he gets a little skittish seeing a man tied up and gagged.

He points at Yoshioka while his offhand reaches for his BIM. “Whats his deal? Why do you guys have him tied up?” Looking between me and Togo we nod to each other.

I start us off. “Oh, don’t worry about him hes a rapist. We caught him and tied him up but couldn’t bring ourselves to kill him…” Hearing this he immediately gives Yoshioka a bit more of a hard look and his stance becomes a bit more relaxed we don’t look like the type to kill since we have a prisoner even if we attacked this man.

“Well, I guess that makes sense you’re just a kid…Oh my name is Shigemasa Kusunoki by the way.” He starts walking towards us.

“Hey, I’m Shimada Hitomi nice to meet you sir! It’s been a bit scary going through the forest, but Togo here has protected me from this Yoshioka and another guy threw a BIM near us earlier” All true ish statements. Though I doubt hes a lie detector like Higuichi but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Togo nods in confirmation. “Nice to meet you, I’m Heitaro Togo Ex-police officer.” This makes the guy smile even more. Probably trusting an officer and student more than some random people.

“I guess I’m sort of an ex-teacher now haha. Well, what is your plan?” he’s now right next to us but still a few steps off. He has a BIM in his hand, and it appears to be a homing one, but he is holding it upside down which means he probably hasn’t used it before.

“Oh, we are planning to take on all of the other contestants we just need to find more members and we would have a full party! Only 4 people will leave this place so the most advantageous thing would be to group up and challenge it!” I put on my best cheery face. He nods considering it.

“Yeah, that sort of makes sense… I’m a teacher for a school so working with a police officer and a student doesn’t seem so bad!” He has this wide smile. I nod looking over at Togo who looks like hes swallowed a lemon.

“Well anyways we were heading that way” I point behind him. “Anything interesting?” He turns around to look back that direction.

“Not really, I noticed a large thing of white gas in the distance but that’s about it.” Peering off in the distance from where he came from.

Figuring this is a good enough position I run up behind him taking out a knife while I do. He has faster reflexes then I expected right as I’m about to stab him he turns. He manages to throw the BIM at me and flinches away as if to expect an explosion. He doesn’t know that the homing BIM only explodes if it locks on to someone. So the BIM harmlessly slides off my shirt as I close the final bit of distance I clear the last of the distance with a tackling stab crunching his throat with the knife as I land with my weight on his chest.

Looking into his eyes as he dies he manages some words. “-cough- why” he croaks.

Surprised and figuring I may as well humor him. “Well it’s a homing BIM it doesn’t explode unless it locks onto a target.” I smile down at him as hes suffocating on his own blood.

That appears to not be what he was asking though because he follows up. “Why… kill me?”

Shaking my head at the idiot below me. “OH that? To survive sorry our groups already full. We still have one girl out there somewhere in the forest though to find!” I yank my blade out of his neck as he draws his last breath.

Togo looks a little bit sad seeing this unfold. “Must you really learn their names first? It’s kind of creepy.”

“I mean it’s the least I can do right? The guys dying so at least I can listen to him talk a little bit. Besides if I learn his name, I can tell his family when we get back or something.” I look down at my sweater and frown it’s become soaked in blood.

Togo looks a bit conflicted about that but doesn’t say anything more on it.

Looking over at the bushes to the side. “Higuichi you can come out now! He’s dead!” I send out a radar pulse just in case and see her and I don’t feel anyone else.

“You’re one creepy teenager… are you sure you’re not some seriel killer sent to this island because of someone you killed?” She stares at me intently likely to try to catch if I’m lying or not.

I can’t help but laugh at that. “HA no, that old lady was the first person I’ve removed from this world.” Technically the truth!

“Hmm I suppose you’re telling the truth just an odd way of putting it. It’s just so creepy that you did it without any remorse…” looking at me with sad eyes as if she’s pitying me for not feeling anything. Honestly? I don’t mind it so much it’s helping me survive here and once I’m back everything will be great for me in this life. Just like Haru had his family I’ll have my own!

Looking at Higuichi I try to explain myself a bit. “You’ve gotta do what you gotta do to survive. Besides, we already have an agreement. I’ve just decided that I’ll do whatever it takes to accomplish that agreement.” I look over at her with a smile before I start going through the dead man’s pockets.

“Yeah, I guess so…” Higuichi still seems weary and coughs awkwardly seeing me looting a body in front of her.

Togo looks a little nervously at me. “So that’s chip number 4 between all of us that’s seven…”

I nod at this statement. If I wanted, I could kill them and almost have enough to leave but that would be a waste. “Yep! Don’t worry I’ll stick to my agreement Until the end. I’ll hold on to this chip for now! When we find Himiko I’ll give it to her, that way it’s evenly distributed.” Flipping the knife around I dig out the chip.

Togo looks at me for a moment longer wieghng his words before speaking up. “Alright, sounds fair… who gets the BIM?”

Looking between them, I settle my eyes on Higuichi. “How about you Higuichi? You have a mist explosion type, right? These should help you have a bit of an attack instead of something that could potentially hurt us too.” She looks a bit shocked by this. Probably still expecting me to hoard things, or to potentially betray them. I don’t have any intentions to do that yet. They havnt given me a reason to and if the others are as easy to deal with as this? I don’t really need to worry about not getting off the island.

She looks over at Togo who also nods. “Oh! Sure! That would be nice…” She moves over and looks at the blood covered BIM bag and delicately takes it from the body.

She puts on a fake smile and tries to sound thankful. “Thanks… I’ll put them to good use! You know assuming we actually run into anyone that doesn’t fall for your uh trick. Though it’s going to be a bit harder now that you’re covered in blood.” She looks at my shirt with distaste I look down on it and frown as well. If they weren’t here, I could just store it to clean it.

Keeping up the image that I’ve presented so far. “Well, I guess I’ll need to wash it in the next river or something since I’d like to keep my sweater to cover up my spring mechanism.” Togo nods as well.

He pats me on the shoulder. Obviously trying to seem close but I see him cringe slightly at the touch. “Luckily its black so the red will eventually turn brown and blend in a little even after being washed out. Hopefully, people just trust you too much.”

“Yeah, let’s keep going guys! By the way he had nothing of real value on him except his wallet.” I toss it over to Togo he opens it up and frowns. I noticed the picture of him with his family when I looked inside too.

“Crap…” He takes the picture and puts it in his pocket.

I shake my head wryly as we start moving along again. “Hey, I have a family too. My parents will be worried if this takes too long. I wish the people that kidnapped me would collaborate with me on a better time or given me a heads up! I would have gone to a friend’s house for the week or something.”

I probably shouldn’t have said that. Higuichis face turns into a scowl. “Is… Is this all a joke to you! What the hell is wrong with you kid?!” Her eyes start to tear up and go red.

They just don’t understand. No one would understand my perspective except my other selves. “It’s not a joke its life and death… I’ve merely chosen life. So, what will you decide? Are you going to survive? There can be no screwing around if you want to live.”

She seems a bit shaken up by this. “I… yes it’s just… I never thought I’d take a life okay! It’s just how can you be so okay with this? Why are you going so far for your friend? All this just so she won’t feel guilty about sending her friend here? Are you sure you’re not just lying to yourself to justify ALL WELL THIS!” She looks like a bit of a mess. Gesturing wildly to the island around her.

“Simple really… Shes just the only one besides my family that I really care about in this world. I’ll go to the ends of the planet to make sure shes okay. If that means killing a few people and gaining some other stuff alongside it? I might as well.” I’m not even lying either. I sort of needed to come here and save someone anyways. Unless the quest would have changed depending on if I did that side quest or not.