Time Of Dying

With every new step the automaton takes, our chances of surviving fade further and further away.

Is this how it ends? Is this how we die? We’ve worked so hard to get here… We’ve been through all this just to fall here?!

I can’t help but feel frustrated at my powerlessness. Is this what losing hope feels like…? I can feel Ayase’s body tremble in my arms, as she realizes our doom is nearing close.

No.

I can’t let it end like this. Tanaka-san trusted me. Even Yoko-senpai looked to me for help. If anyone can save us, that’s me!

I have no clue where this confidence or conviction has come from, but I don’t care. All I care about is taking down that thing…

“Kazuya!” I turn and look at my classmate in the eye, whose face is twisted in despair. He has probably lost all hope. But…

I haven’t.

“Here.” I hand over Ayase to him, and she turns to look at me in confusion.

“Hideki-kun?!” “Hideki?!”

Everybody calls out to me, their voices betraying the same emotions. Despair… and a hint of surprise. Disbelief.

“What…?” Kazuya takes Ayase in his arms, clearly perplexed.

“Hold on to her for me.” I voice, and turn my back to the both of them. The automaton has now reached the tile that’s separating us, and is about to move again.

Just as I’m about to jump across, and face off with the monster, I feel a firm grip on my blazer.

“Hideki!” Ayase’s face is twisted in both anger, and doubt as she has seen through my paper-thin plan.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” Mayu herself shouts, her tone utterly furious. I turn to look at her, and see her face stricken with a waterfall of tears.

“Don’t look like that guys…”

Somehow I find the energy to chuckle.

“Be right back!” And with that, I break free from Ayase’s hold and…

“AAAHHH!”

…With a battle cry, I jump on the same panel as the automaton, and land firmly in front of it. The model wastes no time, in swinging its arm at me, and I barely manage to move my head to the side.

I can push it out to the spikes! I can do it! I did it earlier too!

Like two sumo wrestlers, quite literally fighting to the death, we face off against each other for a split second. Whoever leaves the bounds of this floor tile, will be the one who loses. The price? Our life.

I don’t think a creature such as this comprehends the meaning of life… but it stakes it on the line, nonetheless.

It swings back at me again, and I dodge to my left this time. But, having realized it won’t catch me like that, it raises a hand and grabs my neck from the other side, like a maniacal killer out for blood.

“Kghhh!” I grit my teeth, as its hands clamp around my neck, and they start squeezing. I can feel the air being sucked out of my lungs, as if my very soul was leaving my body.

How do I win against this? I… I can’t.

“Hideki!”

My friend’s voice bring me back to reality…

I have to try.

Planting my heels so hard in the ground, I almost feel them sinking in, I try and push with all my might. To my surprise, the plastic on its feet, slides across the tile, but only for mere inches.

I can do this!

“Push!” Even Hotaru is urging me on now.

“RGGGHHH!” Summoning all of my force while on the verge of suffocation, I push back my enemy with every ounce of my being.

But…

But it’s still not enough. My strength has completely depleted, and my very life force has been stolen from me.

I feel my eyelids droop, as I’m pushed back onto the panel myself.

Having withdrawn my hands from its shoulders, I let them slump down its torso… I can’t even lift them anymore.

But the automaton won’t kill me yet.

It seems it wants to torture me… Suffocate me. Unlike it did to Yoko…

“Hideki…” Ayase’s tone is low, almost like a whisper. I don’t know if it’s because my consciousness is fading, but all the sounds are coming out muffled, torn…

Don’t give up.

Huh? But…

Don’t give up.

But I can’t…

Don’t. Give. Up!

Another electric current runs through my whole body. I have to fight back. I summon my last bit of strength and start hitting its torso with all I have. My resistance may be futile, but I have decided to not go down without a fight.

“Noriko lead me there I have to help!” Mayu’s muffled voice echoes through the room.

Don’t.

I’ve got this. I can do this!

Where was this confidence coming from really?

As I’m desperately pounding around the chest area with my last ounces of strength, I notice my punch sinking in deeper. This must be where the heart is... With those thoughts in mind, I give it another smack, and like a door mechanism, a panel opens up, revealing the heart itself. Without a second thought, I grab ahold of it and with one tug of my arm, I pull it out.

A creaking sound ensues, and the grip around my neck is suddenly released. Instinctively, I push the model away, and as it flies lifelessly over the panels, a set of huge spikes shoot out of the ground and impale it.

“HAAAAAAA….!”

I draw in such a long, and sharp breath that I feel as if my lungs have just come back to life.

A horrible screeching sound comes from the automaton and sparks fly in the air. Unable to hold myself up, I kneel to the ground, as both fatigue and relief wash over me.

“Haah… haaah…” Drawing in cool, crisp and refreshing air with every movement of my lungs, I clasp my neck, as if to reassure myself that I’m still alive.

“Hideki!!!” Mayu is guided by Noriko, as she jumps from tile to tile, heading towards me. “…You did it…” She kneels next to me, and wraps her arms around my neck.

“You son of a… You did it!” Kazuya shouts in pure disbelief, Ayase still silent in his arm.

Having regained my composure, I turn to the others and see all their smiling faces. Except for one. Ayase is looking over at me, her face still stricken with tears. She doesn’t say anything.

We did it, so why isn’t she smiling?

We did it?

But where’s the key?

Instinctively, I squeeze the artificial heart I’m still holding in my palm.

“Is that…?” I mutter, as I feel something moving inside the plastic heart-shaped object in my hand. With a click I open the lid, and reveal an ornate key.

Is this the third key?

“A key!” Mayu exclaims, as she picks it up.

We found… the third key!

I smile for a second, and my eyes lock onto Mayu. Sure enough, she’s smiling too… but her brows are creased, as if she’s holding back a wave of emotions.

“The third key!” Kazuya celebrates while Hotaru and Noriko smile.

“Great work!” The latter announces.

…

Soon, we all make our way out of the classroom, with Noriko leading us slowly but safely. As soon as we’re on safe ground once again, I turn to look at the group. Despite our success, there’s a hint of uneasiness in the air. Mayu must be thinking about Yoko, and the rest probably do too. Ayase, hasn’t uttered a word after that thing stopped moving. Frankly, I’m quite concerned…

I heave a sigh, and gaze at Kazuya and the still silent Ayase.

“I’ll take care of her.” I reach out my hand, Kazuya’s brows furrowing in worry and surprise.

“Hey man you just fought that—“

“Don’t worry, I’m in tip top shape.” I smile briefly, as he catches on to the fact I’m after a private talk with her, and nods in understanding.

“The hero’s wish… is my command.” He sighs, and hands her over to me.

I feel her weight in my arms yet again, and I notice her stiffen up. Honestly, I am utterly exhausted, yet somehow I feel like I ought to do this.

“I… can walk…”

She manages to utter, without looking at me.

“Yeah, right. And make that leg of yours worse than it is?”

Knowing I’m probably right, she heaves a defiant sigh, and a brief window of silence washes over us.

I wait for the others to move a bit, with Noriko as the navigator, as we unconsciously make for our home base to regroup. Soon, I speak up, and break the silence.

“You… okay?”

“No.” Her reply comes quick like a cut from a knife through the air, without even a hint of hesitation. She takes a shaky, almost pained breath…

And buries her face in my shoulder yet again, this time albeit more forcefully. Soon after that, I feel her body shaking lightly, as her shoulders move up and down with every sob.

“I’m sorry for worrying you.”

“I… hate... you…” She repeats over and over. Her tone soon changing to one of relief. “…So much…”

We trail behind the others, a safe distance between us and the group.

“I’m…”

“Mad at you?” I finish her sentence for her, as she punches me lightly.

“…Glad you’re safe.”

My breath catches in my throat, as her fingers graze my neck. I wince for a second. I didn’t even notice the bruise that was forming around my neck, until she had touched me. Yet I didn’t want her to remove her hands. Quite the opposite actually. Her touch was cool, almost like a painkiller. Her ability to sooth me was equal to that of a healing spell. Maybe Noriko wasn’t the only one with weird powers?

Of course, that wasn’t true, yet that was the only explanation I could come up with, for the strange emotions Ayase-san’s presence made me feel.

Everyone was either coping with loss, or trying to reaffirm if we were really alive or not. Our victory wasn’t half as sweet as I had thought it to be. Silence was hanging in the hallways as we walked.

We may have won the battle… But what about the war?

Back in the safety of our home base, Mayu helped Ayase-senpai wrap her twisted ankle. Like the doctor she thought she was, she said it wouldn’t be wise to use it for a while.

As for Ayase…

She seems to have calmed down, although her eyes are still red and puffy…

The same can’t be said about Mayu though… Although she’s keeping up her usual front, it has become pretty apparent to everyone how she’s really feeling.

In the silence of our base, images of what happened flash through my mind, like a movie. A reminder, that we’re not invincible. We’re one member short after all...

I can’t believe we lost Yoko-senpai…

Noriko is probably blaming herself, as she’s sitting silently in that corner of hers, not uttering a word.

Kazuya and Hotaru didn’t know her for long, but it seems the notion of losing a comrade was hard for them to comprehend. It was the first death they’ve seen after all.

Ayase was still silent, probably trying to come to terms with what happened. I just hope she released some of her pent-up emotions, along with those tears from earlier.

I brought my knees closer to my torso, and slumped forward, scanning the silent room.

Despite the new members, it somehow felt emptier than before. Without Yoko-senpai around, the place was bigger, but for some reason it felt significantly smaller instead. Like we were drowning.

Kurosawa’s death was sudden. We barely knew each other. Tanaka-san’s hit us harder, yet we still moved on. But turns out three time’s a strike. Yoko’s absence was so evident. The set of blankets she’ll never use again. The cup she drunk from before we left. Her schoolbag… Emptiness. Emptiness all round. And the one who felt that emptiness more than anyone was Mayu.

She and Yoko had been part of the same club for a year now. Although she didn’t show it, Yoko was fairly acquainted with her. That’s why Mayu is hurting now.

She was mentally weak, drained. Despite her leader-like façade, we all knew that.

We were all exhausted, I’m pretty sure my own knees would have gave out if I didn’t sit down when I did.

…

After a brief window of silence, Mayu decided to pull up the two other keys, and place them all together. But, there was something up…

“Hey…” She muttered, catching my attention. She was looking down at her hands, her face perplexed.

“What’s the matter?” I reluctantly got up and walked over to my childhood friend, who looked up at me, her eyes wide.

“Mayu-san…?” Noriko caught wind of the situation too, and approached.

“Guys…” Mayu gulped, her brows furrowing. “…The key we just got… is different from the others…”