Provoking Monotonously

POV: Saori Kitagaya

"Shhh! Don't be too loud. You're still safe here," he said while covering my mouth where it can't produce a single sound.

He has a determined feel about himself. He has brown eyes, and closely shaved, thick, black hair. He's a short man but compared to Yukawa, he's an inch beyond.

"Mmm… Mmph!" I grunted while shaking my body so he let me go, but he gripped me stronger.

"Quiet!" He hissed with his shut eyes and frozen body. "We'll be killed both if you made a sound."

By what? I suddenly calmed down until he released his hand from my mouth.

"W… Why are we hiding?" I whispered as I fumble.

"A man with guns… He's coming towards us," he said. "This area is dangerous. You shouldn't have come here."

It's not that I should or I should not. I need to be here. A forest is a perfect place to conceal threads, plant traps, and relax while nature accomplishes my goals. His being here is a miscalculation.

"I'm sorry… but I don't know the way back…" I replied.

"What!?" He reacted with rushed speech, furrowed eyebrows, and an open-hanging mouth. He clenches his jaw and speaks through his teeth. "Arghh, fine. I'll lead you back, but we need to finish that threat first."

"But… why is there a man with a gun here? Isn't… it the first day?" I asked though I knew the answer, just to maintain my character. The rules did say that they're giving the survivors equipment. They might also have countermeasures for the poison barrier.

"The rules did say that they're giving the survivors equipment. They might also have countermeasures for the poison barrier," he replied, exactly like what I am thinking. "Still, I wonder how much of that equipment is like that.

"It's possibly just a few because if there's too many, it would be unbalanced. The first day will be a bloody win for the survivors. I should estimate that there are between three to five of those since there are four towers available.

"That means they're also here to scout the map. If we got to take one down, it's a big advantage for us since we can ambush them for the subsequent days," he explained.

"You're… you're smart. You already planned the things that will happen tomorrow."

"No… This is the only thing I'm good at. I suck at everything else. In reality, I'm just copying a person I've been looking up to," he said.

Also, he's honest. He purposely let his weakness be known to others. Most likely, we've been the same. We're good at things that we excel, in but are wrong on the others.

We're both strategists, but unlike him, I've never copied someone else's method. I base them on existing ones. It looks like I've found a vulnerable target to attach my strings.

"May I ask… who is this person you're looking up to?" I asked.

"Queda."

"Queda?"

"That person is known by that name because it's shorter for the Queen of Destruction. She's… a serial killer."

"A serial killer!?" I squealed but not too loud to hear beyond us. His eyes widened as he quickly puts his finger between his lips.

"SHHHH!! Don't scream!"

"R… right."

"Actually… Like the other people in this tower… I have already killed a person."

I stuttered as I left my mouth open while stepping back, and sitting. I'm already making loud sounds from the rustling of leaves I encounter. "I… no… please don't kill me… Spare my life…"

"No… You're misunderstanding! It was all self-defense."

"You're looking up to a criminal… and you've already killed a person. What else would I think of you!?"

"I told you, you're safe within me. I never killed an innocent person in my life."

I calmed down, with deep breaths running down my lungs. I have stopped stepping back away from him.

"Then… What are you going to do with me? Are you using me as bait?" I asked.

"No way. You're an outsider in my dark world. You shouldn't have been involved in the first place.

"About looking up to Queda, that's a different case. Queda is a hero, a plunderer of plunderers. She kills a criminal with her mysterious ways, like an angel of death, a reaper.

"Number of investigators have been deciphering her methods but every time they do, she's doing a different method. The investigators can only debunk her ways, and that's how I'm doing my traps, like hers," he explained.

"Hers? Is she female?"

"The term 'Queen' is already feminine."

Suddenly, the strong stomp grew louder, and it makes the earthquake's magnitude stronger.

"Here he comes," he said as he stares forward, to where the sound is coming from.

A heavy-armored person with a heavy machine gun appeared in our vicinity. That armor can't be penetrated with any weapon we possess. We've been set up to the ancient civilization while we battle the normal ones.

If that scout is heading towards us, then it must be on its way towards the only tower it is facing. That means we've been in the opposite direction of where we need to go.

Suddenly, the man grabbed me out of the bush, out of cover, and then he mocked the armored enemy from far away. He didn't think of the case where the bullets of the enemy's gun might hit him.

He's walking towards an unexpected risky path and praying that it might be successful without calculating the odds… or maybe he already calculated the bullet's trajectory, that is why he went out with his appearance. This man declares victory too early. I like him.

"Hey, man! Do you want to see some zombie base!? Follow me, man!! Are you stopping!? Are you scared!?" He screamed monotonously.

Man, he tried his best to provoke the enemy but honestly, he's bad. I should have done better if I knew he was doing something stupid. I feel sorry for the one he looks up into.

But his senses, it's too sensitive. The moment the armored man pulled up his arm that carries the gun, he pulled me away, drawing a way for the enemy.

His grab was nothing like earlier. It's too weak. I'm just following his act by running at the same speed as him. The moment the armored guy started spraying his gun at us, we hid through a huge boulder covering a lower ground.

It's been walking and shooting non-stop, a reason to doubt his not-ideal plan. I've been asking myself if we're going to be a shooting range, but that deafening noise multiplied when a loud bang entered our ears.

The moment the enemy stepped onto the hidden wires that are as thin as threads, the ground suddenly exploded, twice, and it was in the exact same place where the enemy was.

Luckily I disarmed it before I left the zone. The trees fell down, directly at the armored guy making him release the gun in his arms. He's been bound, unable to move.

Then as we stand up from the hidden cover, three persons ran to us from behind and called our names.

"Saori? Where did you… Kenshin!?"