Monster

POV: Ikeda Akihiko

Saori ran away after I told her the truth about saving her. There's nothing I can do about it. There will always be a time that the world will give you two worst and unavoidable dilemmas. Could I think of another way to save her? There's not much time.

When I detect danger, I always trust my instincts and not my mind. I'm not an intelligent person. I just become popular in our school through physical tests.

When it comes to brains, I'm a plagiarizer, a magnet of answers. I'm completely brawn, but it's useful the time everyone started bullying me. Violence is created to hurt others, but I oath to myself that will never use it that way.

I'm bullied because of my father. No. Father doesn't have anything to do with this. Like me, he is also a victim. I am bullied because I'm weak, and I think it is the same as the one talking in front of me.

"Can you consider putting clothes first," Saori said while averting her eyes away. Her red face tells me that she's embarrassed by me.

I stand up from the bow I made earlier. "So… are we okay now? Will you forgive me?"

"That's… yeah," she nods shyly, "It's completely an accident… Thank you for saving me."

"Then, what punishment will you give me?" The moment she didn't react to the question, it seems like she already has one in mind.

"It's too difficult to think of one… Maybe later?"

"Do you really look up to punishing me?"

"N… No! You're the one who suggested it… I promise that it won't be painful."

What's with her word choice? "For now, let's find what we need to find. Did you eat already?"

"No… I just got out."

"We should roam around. The resources must be present in the houses. We might also find our allies on our way."

"No…"

"What?"

"I… I can't walk anymore."

Is she that weak? She ran earlier without injuries. "Then, let's take our rest here first."

I went to taste the water in the lake, and unlike the real one, "It's really fresh! And clean. I guess we can drink this."

She went to taste it and drink as much as she can until she was satisfied. "Thank you for this," she said.

When I look at her, she's surprisingly stunning, unlike the first time we met. Puberty won't develop in a year. It's like her body instantly became mature. It's already past a year since we last met.

Every time I look at her face, not that I'm only stunned, but I also start shaking unconsciously. I said to her that I'll forget about the matter but how? When our eyes met, it was like I'd been punching myself to look away. With her here, there's no way I could forget that naked body of hers!

"By the way, where are your sunglasses?" I asked.

"You… you really remember me?"

"I've been observing you, the one that's always behind Mayumi. I could've forgotten your name, but your face… I can list down everyone whom I've said Mayumi's secret to."

"But… my name?"

"You're in the news the other day."

"Newspaper!? What case!?"

"You seemed shocked. Didn't you become a subject to abduction?"

"Abduction? No… I think I collapsed while walking."

"Can you even walk for longer than an hour? You have such a slim body that I didn't notice your overfatigue." And you have a model's body too. Just the height will make a difference.

"Is it obvious?"

"Past half an hour, it is. Do you sometimes roar while breathing?"

She squints her eyes towards me. "That's rude. Are you hitting on me?"

"Oh, my bad. Sorry." But when I saw her naked, I thought she was the one I'm going to marry. "By the way, where's your glasses? You have one when I always saw you."

"It vanished when I woke up. It's the same with my other colleague from before. He squints his eyes to see farther."

"What about your colleague from the early game? What happened to them?"

"Everyone fought, and only two of us are left. I wonder if he is still on this game too," she said.

"It's so sad. From the previous game, I'm with Mayumi. Four of us survived, and it is with the help of our genius colleague, Kenshin Hirano, that we identified the tigers in the game."

"Can you tell me more about him?"

"I don't usually talk to him at the school, but I think he is in the top 5 of the most high-ranking students in the university. He's a bookish demanding but nice person to depend on. I wish he's also in this game to give us an easy win."

"Are you sure that we can trust him?"

"Why not? He might be a genius, but he's steadfast and is easy to read."

He definitely is. I didn't even see a darker side to him. I'm pretty sure that he could give us the route to escape this hell.

"I'm looking forward to meeting him."

After that long talk, we roamed around the ten o'clock sunlight not to sunbathe but to find the resources the game mentioned. We are still in this forest, lost. I should have reverted my shirt, but it is already inverted before I knew it.

If the survivors have their base, then I'm pretty sure that this forest is a small part of the map. From farther away, I can see the four towers mentioned in the rules. They're pretty tall and are convenient to navigate, still vulnerable though.

We found a plain on our way out of the forest, but the sun strikes the heat like we're being microwaved. We stopped by the huge tree covering us from the rays.

"I think we should rest a bit," I suggested after hearing a loud breathing sound on my back.

"Y… yeah," she stuttered like she was having difficulty speaking.

This might also be my first stop since we're going restless after. I'm lucky that we've found a fresh lake before roaming around. I lie down on the grass and slowly close my eyes. I think she also did the same because I heard some rustling beside me.

It feels like it's been forever since I breathe fresh air in the plains. I'm quite having a liking in this world even though it's temporary, including the peace around me. Tomorrow, it will be war. I should gather my energy so I can push my limits further.

My mind is blank, I don't know how long, but some feeling of being bumped hit my chest. It's not a normal bump, more likely a fresh stab without pain. That trigger woke me up and made me sit up straight, thinking that we were in danger but…

I saw Saori in her face I never expected to see. She's stepping back while sitting, together with a full-bulged stare at me. Her widened eyes that are unable to blink feel like she'd seen her end.

And when I looked down, There was a hole in my shirt, by my chest looked completely fine. I did feel something entering, but there are no wounds or blood anywhere. I looked at her with a tilted head of confusion.

And then with her shaky lips, she murmured,

"Monster…"