Chapter 100: Deadman Wonderland Side Part 10

The ball quickly shifted from one place to another. Whether because they couldn't hold it anymore, lost the ball from falling into the pit, or are just passing to their friends, as time passed, more people died.

Half the playing field had already emptied. Literally, half the ground had disappeared.

Eventually, the ball entered my hands by a complete coincidence, and now, everyone was aiming for me.

If it was anybody else, they would have been more worried about where the panels (ground) would disappear and cause them to fall to their death. But I wasn't anybody else.

"Fuutarou! Pass!" Shiro cheered from the side, devoid of anybody "marking" her.

"Catch!" Tossing the ball to Shiro, Shiro immediately started running while laughing.

"You f*cking brat! You can't run anymore!" Kouzuji ran towards me, completely ignoring the goal and objective of the game.

"Ha! I'm always the type to save the best for the last. You might be a very major antagonist, but you'll do for now." I smiled. I was trapped without anywhere else to go but forward, but I wasn't worried.

Immediately dashing towards the big boy, I kneed him in the stomach as my fist entered his skull, and he died.

.

.

.

.

I was just kidding. My fist did indeed reach Kouzuji's face, though, as he instantly got his daylights slapped out of him.

"F*cking..." Kouzuji snarled as he fell into the pit, "Brat!"

A knife slid out of his sleeves, and he threw it towards me.

"Shit!" I certainly didn't expect that. The manager had already taken all of our weapons, so seeing the knife here was very surprising. I hurriedly protected my face, causing it to stab into my hand instead.

At least it didn't touch my face, though my hand now had a deep gash. I didn't pull the knife out because it would help reduce the blood loss.

"Shiro!" Shiro immediately arrived in front of me and frowned.

"Fuutarou injured?"

"It's not a big deal for now." I comforted her as I looked at the ball in her hands, "Good job."

While I was busy dealing with the now-dead Kouzuji, Shiro had been running around and causing everyone else to fall into the pits that randomly disappeared.

"Hehe...Shiro strong."

But just then, the floor underneath Shiro suddenly disappeared, and Shiro started falling backward.

"Fuutarou! Pass!" Shiro threw the ball upwards as she fell.

"Oh my! Is this the end for number 46?"

Ignoring the commentator, I didn't hesitate to reach out to the girl. Was there a point in hesitating? Was there anything more important than a friend?

Despite coming to this world, most of my morals haven't changed. Friends were important to me, no matter how unreal they were in this trial realm.

One of my hands grabbed onto the platform, and the other held firmly onto Shiro's hand as we dangled in the air.

"Fuu...tarou? Ball..." Shiro muttered in disbelief.

"Don't worry about the ball just yet. It's your turn to catch the ball." Swinging my arm, Shiro started swinging as well. Just as the ball was about to take a nosedive into the spikes, I managed to use the momentum to swing Shiro into it. Allowing her to catch the ball with her spare arm, I pulled her up just as the timer ran out.

"And the winner is number 46! What a twist of events! What a show of compassion amongst prisoners!" The commenter cheered as the audience had mixed reactions. Some were happy for the good ending; others were sad that no more blood was spilled.

"Why? Fuutarou? Shiro pass!"

Flicking a finger to her forehead and earning myself a yelp from her, I lightly scolded her, "If you died, who would I eat Anpan with? Don't you ever do that again, you hear me?"

Rubbing her forehead with her mittens, Shiro let out a smile after processing my words.

"Oh! Shiro sees and understands!"

"You don't get it, do you?" Sitting on the floor while trying to catch my breath, I laughed and said something that all tsunderes were famous for.

"Baka~."

∞

The next day, I didn't have any "job" to do, so I wandered around the place. Despite being "prisoners", it wasn't really all that bad.

As long as you had money or strength, you could easily live a life as comfortable, or even more comfortable, than the life you had outside. Such was the nature of a wonderland prison, where entertainment and punishment came hand-in-hand.

Outside my cell/dormitory, there was a park. Basic facilities could be found everywhere, and it would have looked like an actual park if not for the lack of children.

Breathing in the fresh air, I smiled. Peace was good; peace was life.

I started walking, occasionally wondering what Shiro was currently doing. Although she said she would come today and play, she still hasn't arrived yet.

Did something come up?

Well, there wasn't a need to be too worried about her. While she might be an airhead, a bit ditzy, and clumsy when it comes to playing, she was strong enough to probably beat anyone here. Except for me, of course.

Anyway, an ice-cream stand was already set up.

See? It's totally like a park, isn't it? Even the stand owner was a prisoner who was probably working part-time to earn more credits.

Seeing the ice cream stand made some memories resurface.

Yamakatsu and Mimi were two of my three closest friends in this world, with the last one being Shiro. My "fun" times with them had ended unexpectedly, and even if it's for the trial to progress...

Sure, to the beings watching me complete my trial to be "worthy" of my power or something like that, I just needed to survive. As for the side characters, they were deemed as necessary beings for plot and progression...

I don't like it, treating people as a mere story.

Sighing, I took a bite of my ice cream. Yes, a bite. I'm a strong man.

But just then, my chest hurt.

"Arg...guh..." Groaning in silent pain, I clutched my chest as the ice cream fell to the floor. I would have screamed my heart out for the ice cream if not for something more painful that I'm currently feeling in my chest.

It wasn't like my heart had some problem or something; it was from the exact same place where the mysterious red crystal was inserted into me.

"Ding~ Dong~ Ding~ Dong~" The unique sound of the bell when the clock hits 12 noon sounded just then, and suddenly, a waft of the pungent and thick scent of blood appeared.

There was only one person in this world who had that type of scent.

Turning my head up towards the clock tower, my eyes narrowed as the "familiar" person entered my eyes.

"Red man..."

"Ksh..."

The red man jumped down, and just before he reached the ground, the purplish-black chains manifested around him and smashed straight into the ground.

BOOOOOM!

But it didn't just stop there. For some reason, a tornado suddenly appeared, and the most unlucky guy present - the person right in the way of the strong winds - was squeezed and turned.

Literally.

His neck broke as he was squeezed like a towel, his limbs twisted and turned around his body, and blood spurted out and followed the path of the wind, slowly turning the grey-white tornado into a blood-red one.

Others were lucky, but it was only when compared to the poor guy. Some had their limbs removed due to not having escaped the tornado in time, while most sustained a little less severe injuries like cuts and gashes. Even I had gotten some cuts from the sharp flying concrete, metal, and glass.

I don't really care about the other prisoners, but the red man is still killing wantonly without a care in the world. Even if they should/will die, it still shouldn't be his turn to kill them.

"RED MAN!"

Thump.

Thump.

My chest suddenly let out two loud and low thumping sounds. The blood flowing out of me suddenly started to ignore gravity as they floated around me like chains. Apart from the difference in color and number, the chains were exactly the same as the red man's.

"Good for you, red man. I'm going to kill you now."

The chains moved at my commands; it wasn't all that unfamiliar to me now that I had already mastered multi-tasking.

"Go!"

The red chains around me wrapped around the purplish-black one, and I immediately dashed towards the red man.

I might be excited to be getting a new power, even if it's from an enemy, but it didn't mean that I would just ignore everything that I had previously learned for this.

Blood manipulation is a very versatile skill, especially in a place filled with spilled blood.

More and more chains started to appear and aimed towards the red man.

But I soon realized a fatal mistake - controlling blood was nothing like controlling my tail. Apart from the direction, speed, and vectors that I had already mastered, I also had to continuously ensure that the blood remained solid.

So, despite me wanting to wrap him up in my chains, all I did was just splash him with some blood with the impact of a water toy gun.

While my tails did their jobs as well, it was all back to the classroom fight again. But unlike back then, the redman didn't attack much, opting to dodge all my attacks instead.

"Stop...dodging..." A stupid thing to say, but that was all that came into my mind just then, "Why are you running away now? Didn't you beat me half to death the last time? Are you not feeling confident today?"

My taunt didn't work. The redman continued silently dodging until we stopped a few meters apart when the most unexpected thing happened.

"Hello, woodpecker."

The red man spoke for the first time, and my eyes widened. It sounded so distorted, so disjointed, so disturbing. Yet, there was no mistake.

"S-Shiro?"

The red man never replied to me, only letting out a slight sound before flying off, as if he had already accomplished everything he wanted in this fight.

"D-Don't run away!" Immediately giving chase, I leaped from the ground floor to the second floor, to the third floor, all the way to the top floor. I don't care about revealing my physical capabilities now; that could be explained by saying that it was a side effect of the blood crystal.

Our actions were fast and quick; by the time anyone reacted to our fight, we were already at the top of the ten-story buildings.

Fortunately, foxes were made to be able to climb and jump high, allowing me to remain at the same speed as the flying red man.

No. It's Shiro's alter personality, the one who "protected" Shiro from the pain back in the days. But thinking about it again, perhaps, she didn't really protect Shiro from the pain; rather, she wanted all of Shiro's pain for herself. This was probably was why she attacked me when she saw me since I've been removing Shiro's pain by playing and staying with her.

I found my determination to kill the red man lessened, but...

I don't know what to do...

When I finally reached the top of the building, I found out that alter Shiro had already disappeared. Or, to be more exact, she flew to a place in the sky where I couldn't follow her.

Sigh...what should I do with Shiro?

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A/N: My bad habit of writing canon arrived once more. This is what happens when you refer to the manga as you write because you have already forgotten everything.

Sigh, I haven't written anything in 8 weeks now. School really sucks~ I'm so fkin stressed...someone get me out of this hellhole

If you want to support me or/and want chapters in advance, link:

https://www.patréon.com/spirits_everywhere. We are currently 8 chapters ahead~