As Yarai approached the pyramid, he could hear sounds of chaos. People were yelling, and there was smoke everywhere. One voice was becoming clearer.
"And then I'll torture you slowly! Torture you, until you die! I'll make you regret the day you were born! First, the face!"
"Hii!" a girl cried. Yarai could see them better as he drew closer. A man with a cut on his face was holding a girl and threatening her with a sharp piece of wood.
"I'll give you the same scar as me!!" the man told the girl.
"Ah!" she gasped. Tears were running down her face. She was terrified.
"I'll ruin this face of yours!!"
"Augh!"
"Hey, stop it!" Yarai said, pulling the girl free from the man's grip.
"Eh?" the girl said, looking up at him in surprise.
"Damn! Who's the bastard who started this fire?" Yarai asked.
"Ah... isn't that Yarai!?" a boy in their school uniform said.
"That blonde hair! It's him!" another boy in their uniform said.
"Why's he here?" asked a girl who was also clearly from their school.
"... Who are you, you bastard?" the man asked, furrowing his brow.
"... I'm Yarai Kouichi," Yarai answered. "I heard there was a doctor here. I wanted him to take a look at one of my sick people."
"... Your sick people?" the man asked, looking up at him because of their height difference.
"..." Yarai stared back at him.
"..." The girl stared at Yarai, not believing her eyes. 'He's lying! Is he lying? I know this person!' She remembered an image of Yarai fighting, violent and bloody. 'I've seen what he's capable of!'
"What... what happened?" another man, who had a beard, asked. "That arrogant bastard!"
"Ah... That's Yarai! Yarai Kouichi!" one of the boys from his school said.
"The weirdo who single-handedly killed the military guy!" another said. He must have heard an exaggerated account about his fight with the soldiers on Guam. "Ah... Why would that bastard be here?"
"And where did he go? That doctor?" Yarai asked.
"..." the man with a cut on his face stared up at Yarai. "Hmm! So Yashiro's even told your group about it? Let me hear what happened..."
"!" Yarai said. "Unless you're...?"
"... Hmm," the cut man said, pulling out a handkerchief.
"Ah, you are..." Yarai said.
"I am Nishikiori Takashi, a surgeon at Tokyo University Hospital."
"Tokyo University?" Yarai said. "Huh. So you were an elite. Anyway, your wound looked pretty bad, and there's all this rubble here. What on earth happened?"
"It's none of your business!" Nishikiori said, wiping his face. "Anyway, you have someone who's ill? They're not here?"
"... They're not far away, I'll bring her over," Yarai said, turning to leave.
"..." the girl who was being threatened stared at him.
"Hey you, come here," Yarai told her.
"Eh? Ah! Yes..." she said, following him. 'Maybe, he saw the danger I was in just now, and decided to take me along because he was worried. Although he looks like a bad person, he might actually be very caring. But... this person... when I foresaw images from the future... Why? Why would this person be against Sengoku-kun?"
{ December 18th, Day 76 }
"..." Yarai returned, holding Kurusu-sensei.
"Kurusu-sensei!?" the girl from their school who was in Nishikiori's group said.
"The patient is Sensei?" one of the boys said.
"Why is Sensei with Yarai?" the other asked. Nishikiori looked at Kurusu-sensei.
"Hmm..." he said with a look that Torako didn't like. "Well, fine! Move her to the small hut."
Yarai's group was directed to a small hut. The girls insisted on staying with Kurusu-sensei and the doctor to make sure no funny business happened or to help if he needed it. They didn't actually say anything about the first reason out loud, though. Yarai waited outside to listen to the diagnosis.
"And your symptoms are...?" Nishikiori asked Kurusu-sensei.
"Pain... Pain in the abdomen. It began ten days ago, starting out as light pains," she replied. Nishikiori opened her shirt and pulled down her skirt a bit to examine her.
"..." Nishikiori checked for swelling in her lymph nodes. "There is a slight fever... How often does the pain strike?"
"At first, it was once or twice a day, now it's about five times a day," Kurusu-sensei answered.
"Any other symptoms?" Nishikiori asked.
"I feel slightly nauseous, and I don't want to eat anything," Kurusu-sensei said.
"I'm going to examine you," Nishikiori said, rolling up his sleeves. "If you feel pain, don't just bear with it. Tell me." He touched her near her navel.
"Ow!" Kurusu-sensei said.
"Hmm..." Nishikiori said, pressing again.
"Ugh!" Kurusu-sensei groaned.
"... Did you fall and hit your abdomen?"
"When we were being chased by animals, she fell!" Yarai said.
"..." Nishikiori stared at Kurusu-sensei. "All right, put on your clothes."
"!" Torako said.
"Y-You already know what's wrong?" Segawa asked. "What's wrong with Sensei!?"
"..." Yarai waited to hear the diagnosis.
"It is a reaction caused by stress," Nishikiori told them.
"Ehh?" Segawa said.
"That's..." Matsumoto said.
"Don't worry about it," Nishikiori said. "Take care of her and she should be fine!" Segawa, Shigeno, and Matsumoto were relieved.
"That's... That's great, Sensei~~!!" the three girls said.
"Thank... Thank you, everyone," Kurusu-sensei said. "I'm sorry for making you all worry." She smiled with relief. "Hehe! That's great." She sat up and started putting her clothes back on. "Yarai-kun, thank you very much."
"Damn! That's why I said not to make a big fuss out of everything," Yarai said.
"Hehe! That's right..." Kurusu-sensei said.
"..." Yarai wasn't convinced, no matter what he said. Neither was Torako. She put on a smile for her teacher, but she was still worried.
Nishikiori was washing his face with water they had collected in a tub his group made. "Ow..." he said. 'Shit! It's still hurting! Those bastards! Anyway, that woman's illness... Huh. Well, she's none of my business!'
"Hey!" Yarai called as he came up to Nishikiori with Torako, followed by the other girls.
"Eh?" Nishikiori said. "What? Is there something else!?"
"Was that real? Your diagnosis?" Yarai asked.
"... Seems I'm busted," Nishikiori said.
"What!?" Segawa said. "Were... Were you lying!?"
"Hmm. I was careless to get out of my usual habits," Nishikiori said. "I wanted the patient to be at ease."
"Then..." Segawa said.
"Sensei, she...?" Shigeno asked.
"She's bleeding internally into her abdomen. That's the real diagnosis," Nishikiori admitted. They were all shocked.
"You're sure!?" Torako asked anxiously.
"She's... bleeding internally?" Matsumoto said.
"What? Why?" Segawa asked.
"Either because of external injuries, or because an organ ruptured, the internal organs have started leaking blood," Nishikiori explained. "Because the abdomen has many places for blood to flow into, much of the blood flowing out stays there."
"Then... What's going to happen to her!?" Yarai asked, grabbing him by his jacket. "You bastard, aren't you going to do anything!?"
"..." Nishikiori stared up at him. "In a few weeks, she will die!" Yarai's eyes widened. He thought of everything they went through to survive, and now she was...! Yarai glared.
"Sensei... is... going to die...!?" Torako asked, unable to believe it. She didn't want to.
"... And intraperitoneal hemorrhage is cause by the bleeding out of the internal organs into the abdomen," Nishikiori explained. "She probably fell and got injured while running away from those animals. Judging by the fact that she can still walk by herself, the bleeding is not very serious. But the blood can't be drained and will continue to fill up her abdomen. Eventually the organs will be compressed by the blood, and if it goes on... she will die." All of the girls were horrified.
"No..." Shigeno said while Matsumoto covered her mouth.
"Oh my God..." Segawa said.
"Uh...!?" Nishikiori said when he was lifted higher by Yarai.
"What the hell are you saying... Do something! Aren't you a doctor!?" Yarai demanded, glaring up at him. He was sweating. "That's why we've come all the way here!"
"No... I can't... It's impossible to cure her without any facilities," Nishikiori said. "And we don't even have any tools here... If I tried to treat her in such a condition, she could die any minute..."
"!" Yarai said. He dropped the doctor.
"Haa haa," Nishikiori took deep breaths. "Koff! Koff!" he massaged his throat. "... Well, I've found some analgesic herbs... At least I can use them to ease her pain..."
"Oh... So you mean there's nothing we can do for her!?" Shigeno said.
"We can only stay by her side and watch...?" Matsumoto asked
"If it's a trauma or fracture, it's able to heal without any particular treatment. And there are also several ways to treat medical diseases. But her situation is different..." Nishikiori said. "What she needs is a surgery! But where can I find narcotics and scalpels on this island? And I'll need special needles and threads. What's more, a sterile room is a necessity. It's impossible to do a laparotomy surgery here...! That's just... bad luck." Yarai couldn't believe it. He didn't want to accept it. He glared at the ground, feeling useless and helpless. He was really losing it.
'Yarai...' Torako thought, clenching her fists as she watched him.
"It's really a relief, Sensei... that your illness is no big deal," Shigeno said.
"Yes. Sorry to make you worry," Kurusu-sensei said, sitting up.
"..." Torako and Segawa stared at her, remembering what Yarai had said when he made them promise not to tell Kurusu-sensei the truth.
Don't say anything about her real illness to her. She is a person with a high sense of responsibility. Who knows what she will do if she knows she's going to die.
'Yarai...' they thought, concerned for him, too.
"... But I'm so ashamed of myself," Kurusu-sensei said. "What a useless teacher I am to fall sick because of stress when my students are in big trouble here..."
"Don't blame yourself," Shigeno said. "We've been through a lot."
"Yeah! Let's see, we crossed the sea, and climbed up to the top of the 'lighthouse' and found the mummy, the computer, and the map. You've never had a second of rest..." Matsumoto said.
"... You're right. Maybe I'm just tired..." Kursusu-sensei said.
"Surely you are!" Matsumoto and Shingeno said.
"... Ow... It hurts again..." Kurusu-sensei said.
"See? Sensei! You have to lie down and rest..." Shigeno said.
"... I'm really a lucky dog. You took me here to meet with that doctor," Kurusu-sensei said. "... And I'm amazed to see this big facility underground..."
"..." The girl who had been threatened by Nishikiori was watching them. She had introduced herself to them and let them know that she knew Akira.
"You're Mami-san, right?" Kurusu-sensei said. "How is Sengoku-kun?"
"Yeah, he's fine!" Mami said. "He must be on his way back to the base by now."
"So Yarai-kun, your prediction was correct," Kurusu-sensei said.
"Ah?" Yarai said.
"You said that Sengoku's group might be at the 'antenna'."
"Yeah..."
"... Hehe, it's so reassuring."
"What?" Yarai asked.
"Yarai-kun and Sengoku-kun are unraveling the mysteries of this island," Kurusu-sensei said. "And when you get close enough to the answers... I believe you two will work it out together someday, just like you did that time... Hehe." She smiled. "And when you make it there... we'll be able to go back home safe and sound!" She held her hands up and looked at them. "All right! I can't be your burden all the time. I have to get better soon and do something!"
"..." The girls all stared at her. They didn't know what to say. Shigeno and Matsumoto looked like they might cry. Torako clenched her skirt in her fists.
Segawa was walking her new pet turtle, 'Mr. Lucky'. She had a piece of string tied around him like a leash.
'... Yarai really flipped out at that moment...' she thought, remembering his reaction when they doctor told them their teacher would die. "... What's going to happen to us...? What do you think, Mr. Lucky?"
"..." The turtle just continued walking. She squatted down next to it.
"What's this reaction...? Do you want to be eaten?" she asked it. The turtle started trembling and shook its head. Segawa noticed something out the corner of her eye. She looked at it and saw that it was Yarai, lying down on the ground, staring up at the sky. "Ah, Yarai..." She went over to him and sat down next to him. "This situation... it's out of our hands..."
"..." Yarai continued to stare at the sky.
"Sensei is like a mother figure to you... right? She's just like your mother who passed away a few years ago... but don't worry too much. What that doctor said is not fully trustable! He might just be bluffing!"
"..." Yarai didn't answer.
"... Hey, Yarai, look at me," Segawa said. "I'm worried about you. You're not yourself today..." 'I'm so scared. If Sensei died, I'm afraid something would happen to you, too...' She leaned over him. "Hey... Yarai, are you listening..." 'Because, because I...'
"Don't you know you're annoying!" Yarai said, shocking her. "It's none of your business... leave me alone!"
"..." Segawa was hurt. She trembled slightly, then threw herself on top of him, pressing her lips to his in a kiss. Yarai's eyes widened in shock. She sat back up, blushing. Her bangs hid her eyes.
"... Let's go, Mr. Lucky!" she said and walked away so fast that the poor turtle was skipping across the ground. She paused with her back to him. "... Yarai... You said that you cared about sensei because she's like your mother. But I don't think that's the case... You're obviously falling in love with her." Yarai's eyes widened more.
"I can't accept this!" Torako said, clenching her fists.
"Huh?" Shigeno and Matsumoto said. Torako stood up and left their hut. Torako walked past Yarai. He sat up and looked at her. Her face was set with determination.
"Where are you going?" he asked her. She stopped.
"I'm sick of waiting for Sensei to die," she said, trembling a little bit. "If we don't have the tools, then let's make them! Maybe we can't put her to sleep, but the doctor said he had a pain killer, right? I have different threads and needles in our first-aid kit! As for a sterile room... It's just a risk we'll have to take. She'll die if we don't do anything, right?" She spun around to face him. "I'll find the tools and convince the doctor! Then let's ask Sensei if she's willing to try it!". Yarai stared at her, stunned. He smiled ruefully with his brow furrowed.
"You never give up, do you?" he asked.
"Not when it's this important," she said, burning with determination. "I think I have an idea about what kind of tools he'll need. I'll go look around camp and see what's available."
"I'll go with you," Yarai said.
"You keep an eye on Sensei and the others. I don't trust this place," Torako said. "It gives me a bad feeling. That doctor, too. Something's fishy about him... but he's our only hope for Sensei."
"Now I'm really not letting you go on your own," Yarai said.
"Yes, you will," she said firmly. "You intimidate people, whereas they'll let their guard down around me, because I'm small and harmless." Yarai nearly laughed. Small? Yes. Harmless? No way.
"Be careful," he told her.
"Of course," she said.
"Well?" Yarai said when she returned around nightfall. He was waiting outside their hut for her.
"The people I talked to didn't have anything we could use, so I'll keep looking tomorrow," Torako said, tired but still determined. Yarai moved closer to her.
"Fukui..." he said, leaning down.
"There you are!" Segawa said, sticking her head out the hut. "Where have you been?" she asked Torako.
"Around," she answered.
Meanwhile, in the biggest house, Nishikiori was examining his own wound.
"Shit! What the fuck is this!? I've already carefully washed it several times!" One of his hands trembled as it held a mirror while the other pulled down the skin on his cheek to check inside the cut. "How can there still be pieces of wood in the wound. He picked up a sharpened stick and started trying to dig the remaining fragments out. 'It's been twenty-four hours since the wound was made. And there were no signs of infection,' he thought. 'Looks like the remedies I made from the local herbs worked. But, it doesn't mean it's over, I still need to pay attention to it.' He dipped his fingers into the salve he had made. 'I would be in trouble if the antibiotics got contaminated.' He applied the salve to his wound. "Ku..." he said, frustrated. 'Will the scar remain? Why does it have to be on my face? How can this be!?' He remembered the explosion had started from the fire that was supposed to execute Kokonoe-sensei and Oomori. He glared at the mirror. 'Did Kokonoe cause that explosion? Also, those damned kids!' He thought of how Akira had refused to work for him.
I have no interest in becoming a team leader or whatever! I know you are just trying to use me, right?
Nishikiori threw the mirror across the room.
'How dare you look down on me!!' he thought angrily. 'Is there... no other way!?' He wore a dangerous and deranged expression on his face. 'I will make those bastards suffer! I will make them feel pain worse than death!'
Yarai wrung out the cloth he had just wet with cool water for their teacher. He placed it on her forehead.
"..." He stared down at her sleeping face. He remembered how earlier Segawa had accused him of liking Kurusu-sensei. 'I... like this person...?' he wondered.
"Nnnh..." Kurusu-sensei moaned. She stirred but didn't wake. The cloth fell off her head. "Yarai-kun... no... it's dangerous..."
"..." Yarai put the cloth back on her head. Did he like this person? It was a question he had never asked himself before, about anyone. He realized he'd be lying if he said he didn't feel something for his teacher, but...
"How is she?" Torako whispered. He looked over at her and saw that she was watching Kurusu-sensei with concern from her bed. Her dark eyes looked up at him.
"... She's sleeping," he whispered back. Torako's expression didn't change. She was still worried. She wanted to save their teacher, yes, but she also wanted to save her for Yarai. Part of her knew that he would never be the same if she died.
"You should get some rest, too," she said. "I'll watch her."
"I'll be fine. Go back to sleep," he told her.
"You won't be fine. We're in an unsafe place," she reminded him. "We all need to be ready for anything."
"..." Yarai watched her serious expression. He knew she wouldn't go back to sleep no matter what he said. "Fine," he agreed. He suddenly remembered a poem he had heard from somewhere. "Tiger, Tiger, burning bright." The poet had compared the tiger to fire, meaning that it was strong, dangerous and beautifully bright at night like fire. It fit their 'tiger', Torako, perfectly.
"What?" Torako said, thinking she must have misheard, since it seemed completely random to her.
"Nothing," Yarai said with a small smile. He moved over to his own bed and lay back, staring at the ceiling. He looked over at Torako, who had taken up vigilance by their teacher. He stared at her back. 'Do I like this person?' he found himself asking again.
{ December 19th, Day 77}
"You, move it there!"
"We don't have enough wood!!"
"Hurry, move it under!"
Everyone from the pyramid's group was working to shore up the walls inside the pyramid so they could explore more for themselves on Nishikiori's orders.
"Have we reinforced five meters yet?" one of the people in charge, a man with a nose piercing and a scar on his brow, asked.
"Yeah, but it's still difficult to go any further," a middle-aged man replied.
"We don't have a choice, the ceiling and walls are fragile! If we don't do it right, we'll be buried inside as well!" the man with the nose piercing said.
"Those kids' bravery is truly admirable!" the middle-aged man said. "But if we don't hurry, who knows what Nishikiori-san will say!"
"Yeah, he seems to have a foul temper these days! What can you do about it?" the man with the nose piercing said.
Meanwhile, the girls in Yarai's group were bathing in a shallow river. Their clothing sat folded up neatly on the bank.
"So strict, there's even a time limit on the bathing time!" Segawa said.
"Did that doctor Nishikiori decide this? Ugh, I hate him!" Shigeno said. "And those guys around him are just his bitches!"
"Be careful not to let anyone from his group hear you talk like that," Torako advised her. "Sensei, do you need help bathing?" Kurusu-sensei was still sitting on the bank, fully clothed. "The river is really shallow here, so you can just sit in it."
"Ah, thank you, Fukui-chan," Kurusu-sensei said and let her help her take her clothes off.
"Mami-san is with Sengoku's group, right?" Matsumoto asked.
"I heard they have over thirty people and over half are guys? Are there any good looking guys?" Shigeno asked.
" 'Good looking guys'..." Mami mused, giving it some thought. That had some guys who thought they were lady killers, but... "Not really..." She knew those guys would be shocked if they heard her answer.
"I see... Well, we have Yarai here, who's pretty good looking!" Matsumoto said.
"But he's such a barbarian!" Shigeno said.
"But it's that 'barbarian' behavior that's protected us," Torako reminded her.
"Oh, I guess that's true," Shigeno said. They wouldn't have been so safe if Yarai wasn't so tough and violent.
"... Ah, what kind of person is Yarai-kun?" Mami asked.
"Eh? Yarai...? Why?" Matsumoto asked.
"Um... that's..." Mami said, remembering her vision of him making a scary expression with blood on his face and hands as he attacked with his keys.
"That guy is super difficult to get along with, but he's not a bad guy," Matsumoto said.
"Yeah! He's a really reliable person!" Shigeno said.
"He might seem scary, but he's actually a kind person," Torako said. "He saved you, right?"
"..." Mami stared at them. They seemed so sure that he was a good guy.
"Yarai-kun and Sengoku-kun get along well," Kurusu-sensei said.
"Huh?" Mami said.
"Before we met Segawa-san, we briefly joined up with Sengoku's group," Kurusu-sensei said. "And then those two became good friends, and developed a pretty amazing relationship of trust."
"..." Segawa stared at her. She didn't know that. "Huh? I never heard that before!"
"What, we never told you?" Kurusu-sensei asked.
"It never really came up," Torako said with a shrug.
"..." Mami stared at them. 'Relationship of trust? What does she mean? So why did I see something like that?' She looked down. 'I don't understand, if they are friends, how can it be...?' She held her clutched hands to her chest.
BEEP! BEEP!
"!" Mami said when the timer on the watch went off. "Ah! The time's up! If we don't get back..."
Back at the pyramid, the others were still working.
"Move some more!" someone shouted about the wood.
"Seems like that Yarai person did come here!" Katsuragi, one of the two boys from their school who was in Nishikiori's group said.
"To tell you the truth, that guy is scary!" the other boy, Shiraishi, said. "Who knows what he's thinking.
"I hate him!" the girl, Arisa, said. "Always using violence for everything! Such a barbarian!"
"That's right! We should get rid of him as fast as we can!" Katsuragi said.
"Hey, you lot!!" a voice said.
"!" the boys gasped as they looked over and saw the man with the nose piercing.
"Ah... Sai-Saitou-san!" Shiraishi said. Saitou was chewing on a small bone.
"Get into the pyramid!" he told them.
"What!?" they boys said.
"Everything is fragile down there, we need someone to check how safe it is down there," Saito said. "You lot are sentenced to death by Nishikiori-san anyway, right?" He put his arm around Arisa.
"Eek!" she said, uncomfortable.
"B-But we..." Katsuragi said.
"Hmm?" Saito said. "Do you have any problems?"
"Ah... N-No!" the boys said.
"But you don't have to go down there," Saitou said, reaching his hand down to grab one of Arisa's boobs.
"Eek!" she gasped, wishing he would stop.
"Hee, hee, hee!" Saitou laughed, giving it a good squeeze.
"No! No!" she cried with tears in her eyes, trembling. She looked at the boys. "Help me!" They avoided eye contact with her, feeling like the worst. But they couldn't go against Saitou. They were too afraid of what would happen to them if they did.
"Hey!" Yarai said, standing before them.
"Huh?" Saitou said, looking at him. "It's you?"
"Get lost!" Yarai told Saitou.
"..." Saitou pushed Arisa away. He grabbed Yarai by the front of his shirt. Yarai was taller than him, so he had to reach up. "Hahaha! This'll be fun!! The one who should get lost is you! I'm a professional boxer! You better behave if you don't want to get beaten up!" he threatened with a vein popping up on his face. Yarai put his hand on the wrist holding his shirt. "Huh? What are you trying? Are you trying to resist!? Don't think that you are so high and mighty! Against trash like you I only need a tiny bit of strength! A tiny bit..." he froze and his eyes widened, "of strength...? AAARGH!" he screamed when Yarai continued to apply pressure to his wrist, and he heard something snap. Against trash like him, Yarai only needed one hand. "AAARGH! WAAAAAH! Stop! Don't do it! L-Let me goooo!!" Yarai let him go, and he fell to the ground. "WAAAAH! Shit!" he cursed, sweating bullets, as he looked up at Yarai.
"..." Yarai stared down at him. He turned and started to walk away.
"Sh-Shit!" Saitou said, making himself stand up again, even though he was shaking. He grabbed a sharp rock. "You bastard, I won't forgive you!" he said, glaring at Yarai's back. "I'll kill you for crushing my arm!" He charged at Yarai. "Die, you bastard!!" Yarai spun around and took him out with one kick to the face.
"..." Arisa stared with wide eyes as Saitou hit the ground with a thud.
"Eh?" Katsuragi said. "Wh-What?"
"What just happened!?" Shiraishi asked.
"Did... Did he just... save us?" Arisa said, stunned.
"Th-That Yarai!?" Katsuragi said, astonished.
"Wh-What is he doing!?" Shigeno asked.
"Is he dead?" Matsumoto asked.
"He's out cold, but it looks like he's still breathing," Torako said. She thought Saitou deserved it. They had gotten there in time to see enough to know that Saitou was seriously trying to kill him with that rock.
"..." Mami stared at him. 'That Yarai-kun seems like a good guy! But, if that's so, then... Why did I see that kind of vision?' She had seen him fighting Akira. 'Those two guys like that? As if they were trying to kill each other!'
"..." Nishikiori was watching from the crowd that had gathered as well. He had seen the whole thing. 'I'm certain that... Yarai Kouichi... will be very useful!' he thought with a sinister smile.