Keepsake

“I-is it safe now?”

Chika slowly poked her head out from our hiding place.

Roughly one hour had passed since Futoshi's tragic demise.

We hadn't been shot at since then.

“If they’re lying in wait for us, we can say buh-bye to our brains.”

Despite Charlotte's morbid words, no more gunshots sounded.

Yayoi and the rest of the class appeared to have moved on.

“We should lay Futoshi to rest.”

Shizuka said. As she clasped her hands in prayer, Chika immediately began rummaging through Futoshi’s backpack.

“Seriously, Chika? Try to show some respect.”

“Oh, don’t be such a goody-goody! The dead can’t eat, you know.”

“That may be true, but first things first. At least pay your respects like Shizuka...”

“Hey!”

Chika shouted in surprise and stopped rummaging.

Did she find something unexpected in Futoshi’s bag?

“Look.”

Chika held up a convenience store plastic bag tied up at the mouth. The bag was stuffed with bottled drinks, instant noodles, and snacks. Altogether, there were five of those bags in Futoshi's backpack.

Not only that, they even had our names on them.

“Shizuka,” “Saburo,” “Chika,” “Ryo,” and “Charlotte.”

The bags were for all of us in Section Eight plus Charlotte.

“He’d been planning on sharing his food with us all along.”

Chika sniffled, passing out the bags with tears in her eyes.

When did he prepare these?

Probably as soon as we took our first rest. Futoshi had complained of a stomach ache then and gone off on his own.

“To think, he even prepared one for me. He was more of a gentleman than I thought.”

For real. Most people would resent Charlotte for dragging us out here, and few would be willing to share their precious provisions with her.

“I guess he felt like his days were numbered. He only packed food for us and left none for himself.”

Saburo said, looking at the phone he had removed from Futoshi’s pocket.

He flipped it around to show us what was written on the screen.

Student number 19 (male), Futoshi Moriyama.

Skill: Item box.

Ability to stuff as many items as possible into your bag.

Although hardly useful in combat, there couldn't have been a more perfect skill for Futoshi.

“He could’ve carried so much food.”

Chika sobbed as she prayed.

All of us gathered around Futoshi and prayed in silence.

To our surprise, Charlotte joined in as well.

“Do you guys mind if I have Futoshi’s bag?”

“Now that he’s dead, his skill is no longer active. That’s just an ordinary bag now.”

Charlotte told me, but I shook my head.

“I want it as a keepsake.”

“Uh-huh. Suit yourself.”

Charlotte seemed uninterested, for she didn’t say anything more after that.

When the time came for us to finally return to Earth, I wanted to at least bring a reminder of Futoshi home with me.

Little did I know at the time that I’d be the only one who’d make it out alive.