Another: The Class of 1999

Chapter 23 - Sacrifice

"Can you stand?"

Riku nodded and managed to clamber to his feet. I felt so ill, but Riku was in pain, probably even more than I was. I needed to take charge and look after him.

Akira and Hirohito were still wrestling, but both now looking extremely worn out and exhausted. I then noticed that Ran had disappeared.

Akira suddenly grabbed a bowl from a nearby table and smashed it over Hirohito's head. Hirohito fell down onto his back, groaning as his eyes rolled to the back of his head.

Akira scrambled to his feet and limped over to us.

"Akira, where's Clarissa-san?!" I asked him, holding out one of my knives.

Akira took it and lead the way out of the dining room and through the main entrance. "We got separated," he explained. "We bumped into Cho and Ran, and Clarissa thought it would be best if we split up. I came to the kitchen, they went outside, and that's the last I saw them..."

CRASH!!!

There was a loud explosion from the kitchen, the room right next to the dining room, and suddenly the back of the building was engulfed in flames. The air became uncomfortably hot, despite the fact that we were outdoors.

Riku leant against a tree bark and winced, clutching his wounded arm to his chest, his eyes squinting as he blinked away tears.

"Akira, Riku, Tsuki," Yemon addressed us all.

"What's going on?" Makoto asked, appearing from behind the tree.

"Thank the Gods that you're okay," Jiro sighed.

Before any of us could respond, the windows of the dining room smashed, and Hirohito suddenly leaped out, his knife clamped in between his teeth. He caught sight of us, and he snarled, removing the knife and holding it towards us.

"Send the dead back to death!!"

Hirohito began to run towards us, but he froze suddenly, his eyes widening as the sound of a thump pierced the air. He fell to the floor, not even twitching.

Cho stood behind him, a large rock in her hand.

"What the..." Akira whispered.

Cho looked up at us. For a girl who had just committed murder, she looked surprisingly calm. "Do you guys know who this is?"

"It's Sakamoto Hirohito!" Makoto yelled, fear in his voice. "You just killed Hirohito!"

"Oh..." Cho looked at her victim. "That's a shame that you remember him... I was hoping he was the dead one."

"What the hell, Cho?!" Akira shouted.

Cho shrugged. "I'm trying to do us all a favour and eliminate the extra student."

"Killing people randomly is not the way to do it!" I told her.

"It's the only way, since we don't have anyway to separate the dead from the living," Cho retorted back. "Anyway, Hirohito was a transphobic twat who only ever thought of himself. I'd say that I've done us all a favour."

"Cho... Where's Clarissa-chan?!" Akira asked her.

Cho examined her rock. "I'd like to know that myself," she said, "our beloved head of countermeasures took off before I got the chance to kill her. She's inside somewhere."

"They're inside?!" I yelled. "When the building's on fire?!"

Cho blinked. "Yes, she is... They?"

And without even thinking, I bolted back into the ablaze building, Akira and Riku yelling my name.

*****

The air was hot, and smoke was slowly filling my lungs. But Clarissa was the only thing on my mind. They were sat at the top of the stairs, their legs crossed, and arms resting in their lap, eyes closed. Embracing their doomed destiny.

"Clarissa-san!"

I sprinted up the cracked stairs two at a time. The ceiling was crumbling.

"Tsuki-san, what are you doing here? It's not safe," Clarissa warned me when they opened their eyes. Their face was bright red.

I knelt in front of them. I could feel the smoke already getting to me - my head was fogging up and my eyes were watering.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" I whispered my reply. "I've come to get you."

"Tsuki..." Clarissa whispered, "get out of here. Get away from me."

"Clarissa-san, I'm not leaving you here alone," I told themfirmly, holding my hands out. "We're leaving this place together."

"I'm a monster."

"No, you're not. I promise you that you're not."

The stairs behind Clarissa rumbled slightly. I knew they'd fall on top of us at any moment.

"Tsuki, save yourself. I'm dangerous... I'm a danger to our class. I'm a danger to Akira and you..."

I grabbed Clarissa's hands. "No. No, you're not. Clarissa-san, you're my best friend. You're crazy if you think I'm going to leave you like this. I'm NOT going to let you die."

Clarissa's eyes were brimming with tears, and I couldn't tell if it was due to the smoke or sadness. "Tsuki-san, you're too nice to me. Honestly, I don't deserve your kindness, after all I've done... It's my fault your dad is dead..."

"But I don't want to lose you too. Clarissa, I can't lose you too... Please... So many people have died tonight—"

"Because of me..."

"No it isn't," I persisted forcefully, using the opportunity to pull Clarissa to their feet. "You didn't ask for any of this to happen. You can't keep blaming yourself for something that was out of your control."

The tears were now streaming down Clarissa's face, and I could feel my own tears slowly being released.

"Aw, what's next? A passionate kiss as the world crumbles around you?"

The voice to my right was chilling, and my mind immediately sharpened. I was about to challenge my homophobic enemy.

Then I realised it was Ran, snobby, smirking, Queen of the Class, and I grew nervous.

"Ran? Where have you been?"

"I went to look for Yuki and Cho," Ran told me. "What's it to you?"

"Well, Yuki is dead and Cho is outside," I snapped harshly. It felt good.

"Yuki's dead?" Clarissa gasped. I realised that perhaps I shouldn't have said that in such a tone.

"Now's not really the time to talk about this," I said, trying to shrug off my news. "Let's go outside."

Ran agreed. "We need to hurry."

I kept hold of Clarissa and pulled them down the stairs, Ran besides us. The ceiling was crumbling more faster than before, coming down in large chunks, enough to trap someone underneath.

Suddenly there was a loud crash, and we discovered, once the dust had cleared away, that a large piece of ceiling had blocked our path to the hotel's doors.

"Hurry!" Ran yelled, beginning to climb over the huge mountain of bricks. "We'll get crushed!"

I made sure Clarissa's hand was firmly in mine before I began to maneuver myself around the wooden pillars which had fallen, as well as the huge mass of ceiling.

We barely made it to the door before there was another huge cracking noise above us. We looked up, to find the edge of the ceiling rapidly caving in, ready to fall.

"Watch out!!!" Ran screamed.

I felt a hand on my back push my forwards. I tumbled out of the front door and down the small set of stairs. I had made sure not to let go of Clarissa's hand, so they fell with me.

We both sat up and turned around just in time to watch the main entrance of the hotel fall backwards along with the rest of the building...

Ran was nowhere to be seen...