Future Diary (Mirai Nikki)
The Unlucky Thirteenth
Second--Bombs Away
Summary: During her 'student's mental breakdown, Minene reveals how much she cares and then cons the girl into bombing a school.
I wish...I wish...I don't know what I wish.
Do I wish the Future Diary game never existed? Do I wish I wasn't a part of it? No. If I wasn't, who would have known what was going to happen? Who would I not have met? Would Minene die? Would she be okay? Would I be okay?
I wish...I wish.
The blonde knew what she wished that day. She didn't know exactly what wishing meant, what it entailed. Should she have changed her wish? She didn't know. She does now.
Bright stars swirled across the midnight blue sky. A vast expanse of painted swaths of sky covered the clouds, rendering them nonexistent; a forgotten memory. The blonde sat outside under the starry sky, her eyes trained upon the gas balls burning their beauty in the boundless heavens.
Her hair lay whisked over her shoulder, which had been tightened into a quick braid to keep the strands from slipping out while she sparred Minene one last time before calling it a night. Her muscles burned with exhaustion and pain. All for nothing.
She didn't win.
Minene had told the resilient girl to take a rest. She didn't want to, but at the same time, fatigue overcame her. Limbs ached and strained from all the training the girl did, especially when she went out for something.
She shot and sliced and sprinted herself silly. In an isolated place such as this, a hunter's cabin, the sounds could echo freely and not matter. The guns were clean, the knives were hanging up where the objects had been before, the area as clean as she could get it.
She wasn't a lazy person. She had trained diligently, until She had collapsed and fallen asleep in the dirt. When she woke, Minene stood over her, scolding the tired wretch. She had made a mistake, but she didn't know it. She didn't think she would ever be able to tell what it had been.
"Mom...Dad? Can you see me up there?" She asked. "Can you see who I've become?"
Her hands rested on her chin, propping herself up as she sat with her elbows on the railing. "Can you see your daughter, who threw away everything you gave her?"
The stars glittered, twinkling in breathtaking majesty. She took that as a yes. The girl knew she was crazy.
Talking to herself, seeing strange hallucinations...but what if she wasn't? Since Minene was part of the survival game, and it was run by her illusions, then...was there a chance she was sane? Possibly. Why not talk to stars? It wouldn't matter. No one would be able to see her anyway.
"Your darling, precious daughter. She's dead, Mom. Dad. Your little girl died with you." The blonde laughed softly. "I'm an imposter who took her place in a different world, a world inside my mind." Tears dripped down her cheeks. "I have no right to call you family. I killed you," she whispered.
She didn't. She hadn't, but she had convinced herself if she had moved a little faster, they wouldn't have died. So, no. It wasn't her fault. She didn't kill them.
But she had convinced herself it was her fault.
"Can you send your daughter's replacement a sign?" She sobbed. "A sign that you understand and that you hate her? You hate her for killing you and your daughter? That's what happened!" The girl screamed. She didn't care if Minene heard. So what if she did?
Clouds had already been drifting in the whole day. Light, fluffy clouds which looked dark and menacing in the twilight. The waning moon began to disappear, and a cold wind whistled like the moaning of a dying child. The nameless girl stood, and ran out to the gravel driveway.
"Can you hear me?" She whispered, hand reaching towards the sky. "Can you tell me who I am? I don't even know anymore."
Tears wet the ground, far more tears than she ever could have cried. She didn't cry them all. Someone understood. Someone knew how alone she felt, knew the answers to her questions and withheld the answers.
She set herself into the start position.
Life is a game.
She reached for the knife in her belt, before staying her hand. The girl would do the hard part--all the time. Never resting til she avenged her parents. Never. Until she broke the killer.
The killer who resided in the heart of their daughter.
It's a survival.
The blonde ran. Her tiny feet rushed into flying strides, gripping the ground and letting go. Lifting her knees higher, higher, hands in chopping motions, stiff, flat; she ran. Ran faster than she usually did, but it still wasn't enough. Her rain-soaked feet slipped through the mud the tears raining from the heavens had created, but it still wasn't enough. She pelted around the house, up the road.
It still wasn't enough.
Through the mud. Don't fall in the gravel now, you'll get hurt. One more step. That's it! Another. And another. And on and on it goes.
She doubled back and ran again, feet aching, lungs straining for air, panting. Her skin froze like ice and she felt like the air was going to freeze her from the inside out but it still wasn't enough. The tune of determination was singing in her veins, in her head, the song to which she ran and fought. A wordless tune with the words written with her thoughts.
One way or another, she would win.
She launched herself toward one of the dummies Minene set up for practice sometimes. The knife gripped in her hand; the textured handle comfortable her sweaty, shaking palm. The sobbing girl buried the knife in the stretched canvas. Right where dozens of other marks were made by the two terrorists inhibiting these woods. Mostly the blonde, but sometimes Minene, when she was ready for another challenge.
This is it. This is who I am now. Are you proud, do you give a fucking shit? Your perfect little daughter who was such a doll now curses like a fucking sailor. She blows shit up! She likes it! What do you have to say to that, Mom? What about you, Dad? Do you see her anywhere?
She let out a wordless howl. The girl collapsed to the ground, exhausted. Crying. It hadn't always been this bad.
Why did you leave me?
The light flickered brighter inside the cabin. The knife remained gripped in her hand still. Loosely. Unfocused blue eyes stared at the handle.
Too...tired. I can't...
What can't I do?
I can't do it. Not anymore.
The door swing open with a loud creak. The blue eyed girl lay there, motionless. Why not let Minene find her? Why not? She would just turn on her heel and go back inside anyway. The nameless child would be fine. She didn't need the woman to help her anyway. She didn't need her. Not at all.
She lied, and she knew it.
Minene's boots began to sink into the mud and pop back out with a squelch every time she took a step. The short girl knew she was a mess. Mud all over her, all over her clothes, and she lay soaked to the bone and shivering. The wind didn't help either.
Damn this rain.
"Stand up."
The shivering form on the ground shakily got to her feet. She kept her head down low. Her knees began to knock together. Light, sharp sounds filled the space; her teeth were chattering. She let the knife drop to the ground.
"Get inside." The words were flat, not angry, not disapproving. More like understanding. The girl hated that.
"No," she spat. "I need to stay outside and train." To prove her point, the girl bent over to pick up the knife. She managed, but Minene ripped it out of her shaking hands. "Hey! Give that back!"
"Or what?" Minene asked. "Will you punch me? Fight me?" She shoved the girl, hard. The blonde stumbled and fell onto the ground. She got back up, but Minene shoved her down again.
"Stop!" She exclaimed angrily, attempting to push the woman back as she regained her balance. The purple eyes woman knocked her down for a third time. "Cut it out!"
"No, you cut it out. Stop this shit. It's stupid and needs. To. Stop. What would happen if a Diary Owner showed up?" The nameless girl glared at her from the ground.
"I'd fight them." She got back to her shaking feet. Her knees almost gave out, but she couldn't let Minene get to her. Not like that.
"You'd fucking lose!" She shouted. "You can't even beat me!" With that, she grabbed the girl's collar and yanked her up straight.
"You listen to me, and you listen to me good. Your attitude is a pile of fucking shit right now. You're no good to anyone like this. So it's time you started acting like a normal person. Resting. Not training. No training until you show me you're better." She pushed away.
"Are you grounding me?" The blonde asked incredulously.
"Get some rest," Minene snarled, stalking towards the cabin. "We'll discuss it in the morning."
Unable to say anything, the girl simply stated after her. All of the confrontation had resulted in only two words she had left.
"Thank you," the blue eyed teen whispered. If Minene heard it, she didn't react. But somehow, the other girl knew she did.
She stumbled to the cabin porch like a drunk and collapsed into a chair. Just a minute. Just a minute to rest and then I'll go inside. Just...a minute...
She didn't last thirty seconds before she fell asleep. Her mind sank into crazy dreams, dreams of which she didn't comprehend in the slightest, despite her endeavors. Who expected her to? She didn't know. The girl didn't think they meant anything important. Who would have thought?
She woke the next morning inside, wrapped in blankets, before a dying fire. She yawned, and stretched, joints popping. Her shoulders were sore, her legs were sore-
The events of last night came crashing down on her in a wave so head-splitting that She curled up in her blanket and closed her eyes. She was tired. And so, so stupid. Why did she overreact to what she--
She stood robotically, tiptoeing across the floor and cracking the door to the room Minene and the girl shared. She snuck in, quietly grabbing clothes and toiletries and creeping out. The girl had practice at things like this. Sneaking, getting a job done.
Inside the small bathroom, she changed into a sort of T-shirt, and a pair of shorts. She combed through her mess of hair with her fingers. She would have to take a shower later. Her reflection in the mirror was absolutely wrecked, partly because of the chips in the surface, and partly because of her messy appearance.
She brushed her blonde hair into a messy bun, quite proud of herself for making her hair look halfway decent when really it was a total rats' nest. She quickly brushed her teeth and crept out to the kitchen. The girl stoked the fire, before turning her attention to breakfast.
Something simple. Minene had said she wanted to do something today, something important. Something regarding a Diary Owner, possibly two. The girl had nodded and headed back outside. That was when her meltdown had occurred.
There were two kinds of people when life went haywire-the people who changed for the better and the people who changed for the worse. She was one of the second kind. She tended to get nasty and snarky--oh, wait. She didn't change at all.
The girl pulled the toaster out of a cabinet, plugging it into an outlet and grabbing the bread. She toasted the pieces, spreading them with butter and a bit of cinnamon found in the cabinets. She bit into one triangle, practically inhaling the cinammony goodness. She tuned her attention to the other square.
She should save it for Minene, make sure she had something to eat. But the goodness called...and the house had no more bread. She would have to make chicken or something tonight. If there was a tonight. The two were up against Diary Owners, so anything could happen.
She would be lying if she had said she wasn't apprehensive. Not scared, exactly. But not confident. She shrugged away the toast and stalked over to the fire, poking it once again to keep it going. The heat was nice. After falling asleep in wet clothes, it was comforting.
The girl hesitantly flipped open her phone, which she had found on the counter in the kitchen. There were entries already written.
5/02 6:42 Minene wakes up, I told her there's breakfast already made.
5/02 6:53 Minene talks about bombing Sakurami Middle. I agree to her plans. Tell her about acting as though I am a hostage.
5/02 6:57 Minene agrees. Now I can keep an eye on Minene and make sure she doesn't get hurt too badly. I've gotten what I wanted.
5/02 7:21 Two hikers come to see the cabin. I tell them it's being used, and they argue. One pulls a knife. I tell them to come back tomorrow and they leave without a fight.
She flipped the phone closed after the first four entries. What did she have? A Diary that told about everything around her? No, that wasn't it.
It told her what to say or do as well as that. It told her how to manipulate the situation to her advantage. Huh. That was cool. She could use that. She could definitely use that.
The girl didn't know what exactly to do about it. Her Diary made her a target. Did she really want that? What was she going to do about the whole situation? She didn't know.
She sank into a chair, one hand gripping her phone, the other covering her face. She could not cry. She could not be weak. The abandoned girl would not, could not cry over this. She was trying to be better than that. Stronger than that.
"Hey, Minene," She spat at the person behind her. The time on her phone read 6:42. "Breakfast is on the table."
***
"Ready?" Minene questioned. The apprentice nodded, and slipped into the hallway amid the commotion of next period. She needed to blend in here, and that was the best way to do so. A guy with messy hair and a scowl on his face stalked towards her.
"Hey, I haven't seen you here before." She glanced at the phone in her hand. The entry said a bunch of unhelpful stuff. She pretended to fiddle with it, while scanning for helpful information.
5/02 12:04 A boy approaches me. His name is Kosaka Ouji. He asks who I am. I respond sardonically and he doesn't see anything out of the ordinary, just an overlooked student. He thinks I'm cute. Gross.
"No, really?" She sassed sarcastically. "I've only been in your class since the beginning of the year, Ouji-kun. Honestly. This is the third time this has happened. Oblivious much?"
Honestly, it was fun to play with the guy. So stupid. She hoped he didn't die soon. The two were here for First, Fourth, and Second. Of course, a lot more people would die, but that didn't bother her too much. It wasn't her, she was good.
Her part before Minene made herself known was critical. She needed to have at least one student think she belonged here, that she just stayed in the background. That way, she could play off the role of a hostage more efficiently.
Of course, it added just a touch of excitement. The police would be searching for a girl who had been taken. Her persona didn't exist, so they would waste valuable time, effort, and resources. They were smart, but not smart enough.
Using his name disarmed him, made him relax. He didn't suspect her any longer, he just thought she was a girl who he kept forgetting. How else would she know his name? Oh, such naïve people. Idiots.
"Um, what's your name again?" He asked. "Be grateful I'm asking. I'm totally out of your league, so don't go wanting me. I can see you already want the brilliant guy I am," he boasted. The girl rolled her eyes.
"I guess I should leave your oh-so-brilliant self to figure that out, shouldn't I?" She questioned, sashaying away. She could feel his gaze glued to her retreating figure, and mentally shuddered.
She passed a girl with pink hair and the same shade of eyes as she walked into her supposed classroom. She felt her blood turn cold. That girl. She was the Second. Gasai Yuno. The two were going to kill her by the end of today.
The blonde girl strode past Amano's gaze and bent over a desk close to the window. She slipped her phone out, and pretended to be texting someone. Cue Minene. The teen checked the Diary Entry just as she walked in.
5/02. 12:13 Minene enters. I keep silent until she starts talking about Diaries.
5/02 12:15 I act scared, backing up against a window.
5/02 12:16 The First (Amano Yukiteru) is scared yet confused. To make him even more fearful, I babble hysterically about how we're all going to die.
She watched the woman with silent eyes as she began to talk, not really listening to her words. What mattered was pulling this off. Succeeding.
The words hit her ear, that was her cue. "A-Amano-kun," she said shakily, "What is she talking about? What's going on?" She made sure to be confused, yet shaking. "Who is she?"
Minene turned in the preplanned direction, a sly smile creeping over her face. "Oh, this is too easy," she mused. "I really cat have any witnesses right now, can I?" She pulled a large, hooked knife out of a fold in her dress.
She filled her lungs with air and screamed.
"S-Stop it! Leave us alone!" Minene advanced, and Amano looked terrified. The girl screamed, a girlish, high pitched squeal of fear. "N-No! I don't want to die! A-Amano-k-kun! H-help m-me! N-No!" She forced herself to cry from the first word, sobbing and spluttering. She reached out a hand while backing up against the window.
The pinkette from earlier, the Second, Gasai Yuno, rushed in, carrying a fire extinguisher. She attempted to brain Minene from behind with it, but the terrorist dodged it. She backed up, the knife at the Thirteenth's throat and a hand on her arm.
She snarled something, and propelled herself through the window, taking the girl with her. Just like we had planned. The girl tucked and rolled as the two hit the ground, and immediately there was an explosion. She found Minene instantly, and she had the knife in one hand, next to the girl's throat, digging in, drawing blood.
She was worried, but not too much.
She had a detonator in one hand, a keyboard and screen on a metal device coming from under her skirt in the other. She set the detonator down, before raising a megaphone.
"Listen up, all you pathetic teachers and students in this school!" She shouted. "The terrorist Uryuu Minene has now taken over the school!"
She laughed. "Multiple bombs and sensors are linked throughout the school. If you don't want to die, stay in your classrooms. Everyone in this school is now Minene-sama's hostage!"
She screamed, laughing. Like she wasn't sane at all. Her companion would have been wetting herself if she hadn't helped her plan this. Who knew Minene was such a good actor? That this came to her naturally? That this was an important side of her?
"No, correction! You all are my hostages, but so is this girl down here! I have successfully taken one of your students from your school! If you don't want her to die, stay where you are!"
The plan was to pass the blue eyed teen off as a student, but not reveal the identity. They could then assume she was one of the people who died in the initial bomb blast, and whose body was never found, therefore concealing her identity. That was how they were going to do this. Afterwards, the girl was going to do something about her hair.
After a few minutes, Minene began pressing buttons, blowing up things inside the school. The blonde sat down and tried to look defeated--a crying, sobbing, pleading mess.
Minene turned to the girl on the ground. "I'm impressed, Squirrel." Her words weren't harsh, but her face was. The girl responded to this by burying her face in her hands and sobbing harder. There. Let the people watching figure out what she said.
"This all comes naturally to you too, doesn't it?" She asked through her fingers. Minene nodded.
The two waited some more. Minene said nothing, and the blue eyed girl acted beaten. Broken. Like a weak girl who had given up before she ever even tried.
So, like the First.
"My target is Yukiteru Amano. Go out and find him. All the bomb sensors will be disabled for a short time. Don't even think about running," she warned.
"Turn him over within the allotted time and I will not cause any more casualties. Hold him down, take his cellphone. Restrain the girl with him. Bring him to me."
Within minutes, two boys dragged the blue eyed boy outside. The blonde girl felt bad for him. Betrayed by his friends, no one to help him. However, he was the enemy, and the girl shouldn't pity him.
"I wouldn't move if I were you. There are mines buried everywhere around me, so you can't try anything. That includes you," Minene said, turning to her accomplice. She shrank back. The girl knew where all the mines were.
"The sensors are now on. Anyone inside--step out, and you'll go boom."
Minene had scarcely finished speaking when a gunshot echoed through the air, next to her head. The blonde screamed. She was fine. The Fourth wouldn't risk hitting her with the dead-man's switch. The best thing to do was act until she could make her escape.
"Don't get too excited. You've made a big mess on my territory," the newcomer warned. The Fourth stood next to Amano. His hand came down on his shoulder comfortingly.
The fourth, Kurusu Keigo. An officer. He was trouble, which was exactly why the duo of Ninth and Thirteenth were taking him out this early.
"A little late to the picture, Fourth," Minene taunted.
"Tormenting kids, huh. I question your hobbies, Ninth." He turned and said things to Amano.
"I don't know what you're talking about, but could you listen to my demands?" She waited. "Kill the First and yourself, Fourth."
She laughed. "Minene will win the game and become God!"
She had told the girl after she made her unreasonable demands to make her escape. To run several blocks away and wait. To make the hostage disappear. The terrorist in training didn't like it, but this was what needed to happen for this to work. So the two could be safe.
Minene seemed like she was paying no attention, but her accomplice knew she was. She sent a wrecked glance around her, before getting up, spinning on her heel, and running slowly to get out of there.
The girl hated leaving, but it was what had to be done.
So what did you think? Did you like it! I'm sorry Akise wasn't in this one. Please give me feedback on how the story is going! Give me thoughts and suggestions to improve it.