"Wanko, wanko!"
A light slap was felt upon his cheek. Koga blinked his eyes open furiously, ready to yell at the man who had woken him up, his mind immediately stopped him from doing so. Then again, he had to grasp the whole situation before yelling out carelessly because the ground he was lying down on felt nothing like the school floors.
He slowly sat up, hand scratching the side of his head and he looked around. He was surrounded by walls everywhere. Was he in a maze or something? What kind of game had he gotten himself into? He groaned a bit, then looked at the other man he was with, which was none other than Rei himself.
It took him awhile before he finally spoke, though, he certainly did have a lot to ask, he needed to know where he was, first. "Oi, vampire bastard, where are we?"
Upon receiving the question, Rei shrugged a bit, slowly standing up and patting the dusts off his pants. "Beats me, wanko. If I had know then, I would've told you," his voice echoed throughout the maze's walls, and Koga was told of how big the maze was.
"Could this be one of the things that Tokusatsu-otaku had boosted off and about?" Koga knew that his question was rather dumb but he couldn't brush off the possibility of Chiaki recommending the whole school to do stupid things.
Rei thought for a moment, hands crossed and eyes narrowing elsewhere, then he shook his head and sighed. "I'm afraid not, wanko. Morisawa-kun can't be the type to do things to this extent. He wouldn't let anyone get harmed or at least, knocked out."
Silence fell upon the two for awhile, before Koga spoke up again, "Where are the others?"
"If you're talking about Adonis-kun and Kaoru-kun then they went ahead of us, though, they did say they will leave tracks for us to follow, or for them to come back to us."
"So, then, we're on our own? Just Undead? No other units or whatever?"
"Hm... It would be suspicious if it were only us but, there was a couple of times a cannon like sound rang through, and two of our school mates' photos were displayed on a hologram. So, no, we're not the only ones here."
"Who's photos were displayed?"
"Unfortunately, wanko, it was Valkyrie."
His golden orbs widened in surprise and his mouth hung open a bit as he processed the words that came from Rei's lips, "What does it mean..?" though Koga could've guessed it on his own, he didn't want to swallow it down and believe it.
The vampire looked at Koga, a frown upon his face and from his expression, he knew what he had guessed was correct. "...dream.. right? This has to be a dream?"
"If it were a dream, wanko, then you would've woken up long before."
Slamming a fist onto the concrete floor, Koga clenched his jaws and tried to hold his anger. Rei had this sympathetic look upon his face, and he pulled Koga's arm, urging him to stand up. "Come on, wanko, the other two won't wait for us that long," it was another way for him to say 'Don't cry over someone you're not exactly fond off, there are people closer to you that might die soon.' though Rei knew better than to say that.
Koga weakly nodded and got up, soon brushing the other's hand off and began walking off ahead, already catching a glimpse of what seemed like a torn piece of Adonis' school blazer. Perhaps they had a knife or weapon with them, it looked more like it was cut than torn. The thought made him a bit relieved, and the fact that Adonis was strong, made him more relieved and relaxed.
Soon enough Rei followed suit, occasionally complaining on how the sun was draining his energy. Things stayed like that for a pretty long time, and when the sun almost set, they took a break, sitting down and leaning against the walls.
"How long have we been here? No— wait— How did we get here?"
"All I remember is that I was woken up by Adonis-kun, the previous events are blurry. How about you, wanko?"
"Stop calling me that," Koga muttered with his eyes closed, leaning the back of his head against the wall. "Same as you, difference is it's you who woke me up. How long was I unconscious for?"
"Around 7 hours after I woke up."
"And someone died already," he harshly wiped his face with his right hand, golden orbs shown when he opened his eyes, showing hatred to whoever had put them in here, even though he didn't know who.
"Please don't say that."
And Koga didn't even bother saying sorry. It wasn't like his pride was in the way or anything but he felt as though if he say anything more then a conversation he didn't want to be in would commence and he would dislike that.
For awhile the two stayed like that, in an uncomfortable silence that was wrapped around them when the conversation ended hanging like that, "You know the others might have already been here longer than us."
"I don't know, vampire bastard," Koga turned his face away, fist clenched hard and eyes shut close. He knew that Rei was probably right, there were no limited possibilities that the others were here before them, but that didn't stop him from overthinking the fact that both Shu and Mika had died.
He could've saved them, if they had been in the same place, if he had woken up earlier than he did.
"Though, I'm pretty sure we'll live," Rei mused, slowly standing up. "Come on, wanko. We can't stay here too long, Kaoru-kun doesn't like waiting and Adonis-kun can't keep protecting him all the time, we have to reunite with them," he lightly pulled on Koga's arm, who again, slapped his hand away and he stood up on his own.
"They can't be far right? That playboy complains a lot and Adonis probably obeys him every time he wanted to take a break."
"True, so by now they should be taking a break, come on!"
Right, it's night now, so Rei's strength increased, unlike when the sun was still up.
Without wasting more time, the two continued walking through the maze, following tracks of their fellow unit mates before they ran out of things to use as track traces.
-
Fortunately, by midnight they have found both Adonis and Kaoru, who was sitting and leaning against the wall. Apparently Adonis stayed awake to guard the other, whereas Kaoru slept his ass off, much to Koga's dismay.
The wolf (as Koga claimed himself to be one) couldn't get much information from Adonis as the man was too tired as well. Apparently he had to get rid of small monsters that came up because Kaoru chickened out because it had a terrifying figure. That explained the weird looking monster corpses that Rei and Koga kept seeing along the way.
So Koga slapped his shoulder and told him to sleep, because he would be then one keeping watch with Rei. The three knew that Adonis and Kaoru went through more than what the other two went through.
"Would it really be okay for me to rest?" it was a stupid question because Koga was ready to knock the living hell out of Adonis before he asked any more.
"Yeah, just go sleep, damn it."
"Thank you, I will rest now."
So Adonis made himself comfortable, then slowly closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
"Hey, wanko."
"Stop calling me that."
"How long do you think we'll survive?"
"Until we escape obviously, dumbass. You yourself said we'll survive, stupid."
Rei smiled to himself hearing the answer, then closed his eyes for awhile before opening them again. "Go get some rest, Wanko, I'll wake you up when the sun rises."
-
As the sun rose, the four began moving again, though this time Adonis had Rei carried on his back. It was needed as to the sun's light and how the vampire was dead tired, everyone knew how weak he was during the day.
"So what's our plan?" Adonis' voice broke the silence, though not for long, for Koga shrugged lightly, and Kaoru was not helping by ignoring him.
The purple haired man fell silent for awhile, "How about we search for the others, first?"
"Sure, I guess," Koga gave off a shrug and continued walking next to Adonis, whereas Kaoru decided to walk behind them. It was a good thing because Kaoru thought that he could watch their back because he didn't want to walk next to them, no one asked why.
Their walk was quiet, until steps sounding like mechanical feet echoes not far behind them. The three tensed up (minus Rei because he's asleep), and Kaoru ushered them to go faster, by pushing Rei's and Koga's backs, forcing Adonis and Koga to move faster. Though fortunately the sound stopped and the blond peered back only to see nothing, and he sighed in relief, removing his hands fron both backs.
They kept walking, not taking any breaks to prevent any unfortunate events from happening to them that might cause them to end up like Valkyrie.
Soon enough they arrived upon a two separate ways, and the two at the front discussed where to go, and somehow decided to let Kaoru choose for them. So the purple haired man turned his head back to look at Kaoru, "Hakaze-senpai where should we go—" he stopped mid sentence because Kaoru was no where to be seen.
"Where the fuck—" Koga's heart dropped instantly, adrenaline pumping through his blood veins and he quickly scanned around, suddenly getting all his guards up. How couldn't he, though, when the blond had disappeared without leaving any traces behind.
Adonis showed a look of concern and he slowly woke Rei, even though he didn't want to do it. "Sakuma senpai, wake up."
Eyes blinking open slowly, Rei yawned and slowly got off Adonis' back, "What is it, Otogari-kun?" he didn't exactly need to question it anymore when he saw the playboy was not in his vision. "Did Kaoru-kun run off somewhere?"
"That bastard? No way! Not in a situation like this, at least.." Koga muttered the last sentence, clenching his fists tightly.
But before the vampire could say anything, the cannon like sound was heard once more and a hologram of someone's picture and their name written next to it appeared. All of their mouths hung open, eyes widening in shock, showing surprise and refusal to believe who was displayed there.
No one had expected them to be hunted so early like this, and the latest death was yesterday afternoon, how could another death happen so soon? And to the person that was with them a few minutes ago?
Koga had to bit back his curses, Rei couldn't hide his stressed expression and Adonis looked like he regretted his whole life for not being more cautious over his other friends.
Hakaze Kaoru had been killed.
Uncomfortable tension was bestowed upon them, everyone looked pale and none dared to utter a word. In this sort of situation, Rei should be the one to take over and speak so that the rest could calm down but he couldn't bring himself to.
"Come on now! We can't be standing 'round like idiots here!" Koga growled and stomped his foot on the ground angrily, pulling both Rei and Adonis up to their feet and dragging them to walk with him. "We need to let it go— I mean— argh!"
"Wanko," Rei patted the other's shoulder and pulled him into a hug, forcing them to stop walking. The vampire's hand was on Koga's head, that was put on his shoulder. His other hand pulled Adonis' hand and hugged him too. They couldn't be forcing themselves to suddenly forget in situation like this.
Though moving on might be important, but their emotional condition was also important, Rei thought that way, so he decided to stop and comforted them. "It's okay, it's okay, let's not move to quick," Rei muttered, patting both of his underclassmen's head.
Koga was uncharacteristically sobbing into Rei's shoulder, one arm hugging Rei tightly, droplets of tears dripping down his golden orbs. It was rare for the wolf to cry like this but if he didn't then that would be weirder. It was just normal to mourn for one's death, of course, though, it felt so empty.
The meat loving boy on the other hand just hugged his leader tightly too, eyebrows scrunching together and chin on Rei's shoulder. He was crying too, but he seemed to be able to control his emotions better than the other.
On the other hand Rei too, was hugging his two remaining members, hands trembling, lower lip bitten to contain his tears. He had to be strong one. He's their leader, he needed to be strong so that he could be the shoulder they need to cry on.
"Come on, once we're done we need to.. Get going again."
Both of them released the hug unwillingly, so did Rei. They then continued walking, head hung low, except for Rei. The self proclaimed vampire walked behind them against the other two's wills, they didn't want the same thing to happen to their leader.
Turning left twice as though making a U turn when they reached an end of their straight path, the three smelled something weird. It smelled like steel and rotten corpse. Nonetheless they kept walking, cautiously and there laid the lifeless bodies of Himemiya Tori and Yuzuru Fushimi.
"T-those—" Adonis started, but then covered his mouth using his hand and stepped back. The smell was really strong, making them gag and fight the urge to not vomit. It was supposedly normal if they vomited because of this. The condition of their corpses were so grotesque.
Tori had his stomach ripped open up to his chest, revealing how his colon was sticking out of his guts, lungs and heart smashed that blood was pooling on the chest part, he was missing 10 ribs in total. His legs were bended in an unhuman way, up to where his knees weren't suppose to bend. His head was facing 180 degrees back, breaking his throat. His pink hair was dyed in red, his own blood, that pools beneath his head too.
Whereas Yuzuru's condition was worse. His skull was ripped open and his brain was torn apart, some of it was out of his head, his back seemed to be stabbed by a large scalpel, revealing his insides. His back bone, along with the ribs were missing. His left leg was ripped off of his body, the fingers of his hands were chopped off. His eyes were gone too, and his mouth was ripped up to his ear, both sides.
Koga winced at the sight and Rei was covering his nose. The smell was far too strong, he couldn't stand it, so he pushed the two and ushered them to hurrily move forward, to leave them be and not try to do anything with their corpses and let them 'rest' peacefully.
"This is too much— our school mates—" Adonis muttered, expression paling and head spinning like crazy. Rei patted his back, "Come on, Adonis-kun, let's just keep moving."
The sun began to set, night time was coming, and they decided to settle a bit far from the corpses, and it's Adonis' turn to guard them. Koga seemed like he was still in a shock state, so Rei pulled him close and hugged him until he fell asleep, but didn't let go and sleep too, just like that. Koga would've fought back and claimed that he was fine, but he knew that the vampire bastard knew better than that and in the end, the result would be the same.
-
The sun rose, indicating the beginning of another day. When the two woke up, there was no sign of the purple haired boy, Koga instantly panicked and yelled out his name, cursing and punching the maze's wall repeatedly until his knuckles bleed. His whole body trembled and Rei had to hold his shoulders and bring him back to his senses even though the two of them knew what had happened to Adonis.
Koga grabbed the back of Rei's blazer, crying out loud onto the other's shoulder once more, sobbing and sniffling uncontrollably, voice breaking and lips trembling. The black haired third year hugged his companion tightly by the waist, burying his own face in the other's shoulder.
Guilt overwhelmed Rei. He felt bad that he felt a bit numb event after two deaths of his unit mates, while his hard headed, the last remaining unit mate left beside him was crying and breaking apart. It's fine, he told himself internally. He had to be strong to comfort the other, so he closed his eyes and mumbled something inaudible to Koga, whom just nod, to broken to even form a single word.
"Let's get going, yeah?" Rei patted his back roughly before releasing off his hug and looked at Koga, whose eyes were swollen, lips quivering, tears staining his cheeks, hands now grabbing tight on the other's hand. In return, the self-proclaimed vampire squeezed his hand and leaned in, pressing a soft kiss on Koga's forehead, "It's okay, wanko, it's not your fault."
Weakly, he nodded his head and didn't let go of Rei's hand as they began walking, hand in hand, in this horrible, despair-filled reality.
Just as they began walking, the cannon like sound rang again, but this time, Twice. Displayed on the hologram screen first was—as expected—Adonis, but the second one was unexpected. It was the face of a smiling third year. One with light blue hair that is shaped like a bowl, bangs swiped to the side neatly, and he had an ahoge. His eyes were lime green. It was none other than Shinkai Kanata, one of the Three Oddballs and Ryusei Blue of Ryuseitai.
Sure, the two of them knew Kanata was kind of slow and he put his friends before himself but with Chiaki and the first year of Ryuseitai with him, this kind of circumstance wasn't suppose to happen. It would be less surprising (not less painful, though, of course) if it were Chiaki that died, or Midori, that boy would be more than suicidal in this kind of enviroment, with unknown creatures that hunted them down and would kill them brutally like they did to Yuzuru and Tori.
The two kept walking, though, trying to not pay too much unnecessary attention on their friends' deaths. If those kind of thoughts occupied their mind then they wouldn't be ready to meet the creature.
Soon.
-
They have been going on for two days straight without food and the two of them were starving like hell. They couldn't keep walking with empty stomachs and dry throats. They need to eat and drink, but there weren't any foods around.
So they stopped once more mid day, with Koga shielding the self-proclaimed vampire from the heat of the sun, though he wasn't doing much help, Rei appreciated how the lone wolf was trying his best.
Thank God miracle was not something unreal in this world. Because if it was then both Rei and Koga wouldn't have anything to hold on to but each other, and that wouldn't be enough.
Something dropped from the sky, four boxes in total. Two were filled with food and drink, while the other two were filled with first aid kit and a small umbrella. Koga ushered first and gathered all four before bringing it back to where Rei was and quickly handed the umbrella first, then he opened the boxes with food and drink.
Rei opened the umbrella and used it to shield himself from the sun and took the lunchbox that was inside the box and the water bottle from Koga.
"Man, any later and I would've starved to death," Koga groaned out and excitedly began eating. The other male sighed and smiled to himself at the sight of his underclassman who was munching on their meal happily. At least a small distraction like this is very helpful.
The two spent a while eating their meal, there was no need to hurry, they hoped, for danger wouldn't be coming for them that soon after two deaths, they had predicted. Once they were done, they set the lunch boxes to the side, then stood up and continued their journey, side by side.
-
To tell the truth, Rei had a hunch of who might had been the one that caused this disguised slaughter. Though he himself wasn't sure, because he was positive that man would not have done things to this extent, to the point he had killed his own unit mates.
Everything was absurd and too much to handle, not once did they pass one day without an announcement telling that one of their school friend was dead. It's a monotone routine of one death (or more) in one day. They were dolls pulled by strings, giving the mastermind a show to watch, like the Grand Guignol.
As the sun was at the west, ready to set, the cannon sound rang again, but that was right after what sounded like slashing and metal feet stomping on the ground not far from where Rei and Koga were. There was a yell that sounded familiar, but they didn't like playing guesses, not in a situation like this. So they looked up at the hologram, and their heart dropped once more.
It was another third year. He had his red hair slicked back. His hair had black streaks. He had a piercing look and he was the Karate Club leader. Kiryu Kuro, one of Akatsuki's member, Itsuki Shu's childhood friend.
"It's the red ogre—!" Koga's mouth hung open. If someone like Kuro—who was capable of fighting and even throwing someone across the room—could die, defeated by such creature, then whatever the creature was, none of them were safe.
Rei bit his lower lip, and pulled on Koga's hand as he began running, pulling the other along against his own will. The metal feet steps sounded not far behind them, step by step growing faster and faster. So Akatsuki might not be far behind them.
There were hurried steps too behind them, so Rei assumed it was Keito and Souma. But who almost caught up with them was only one person, Hasumi Keito, who looked as pale as a polar bear's fur. Koga took a glance back and his eyes widened once more. He could literally see the creature.
It has a large body covered by grey fur, stained by blood. It's face reminded him of a wolf, though it had a pair of canine on his upper jaw, with the length of 15 centimeters each. It did not own any normal wolf legs. It had two pairs of 4 meters long metal legs, that were nothing like legs. It was more like blades. So in total it was 5 meters tall.
"Run, you two!—" Koga almost stopped on his tracks when he saw Keito, who was yelling something incoherent, got stabbed by the creature's front leg or blade. Whatever. The second year quickly pushed Rei ahead of him, ushering him to go faster. It was wrong to take advantage of the situation but if he could save himself along with his leader then it was fine.
Right?
Golden eyes were producing tears that dropped down his cheeks. He didn't know what to do anymore. It's fine it's fine. He said to himself. And the cannon sounded again. They knew who it was. The creature soon stopped chasing and turned around, busying itself with destroying Keito's corpse. Stabbing everywhere and tearing his body parts off, ripping his stomach and chest.
Things were getting even more absurd. It was just two deaths in a day yesterday, but today, it's four. Something was going on and it seemed like the mastermind was growing bored everyday.
They stopped once they turned right and dropped to their knees. Rei leaned against the wall, and Koga just stayed where he was, grabbing on his pants tightly and eyes glaring down on the concrete floor.
There was no escaping, Rei realized. Because of what had happened so far, he realized that no one was going to get out of this place alive. This was no dream, this was a cruel reality. One filled by despaor and chaos. Concrete jungle filled with 'bugs' with no foods like candies and sweets. If they weren't careful then there was no telling what might happen to them soon.
Noticing how it was dark now, Koga came close to Rei and shakily wrapped his arm around him, hugging him tightly. "Let's just... sleep like this," he mumbled into the other's shoulder and Rei nodded. He knew that Koga wanted to make sure that nothing would happen to him and he was fine with that.
"Yeah," Rei mumbled, hugging his 'pet' tightly in his arms, securing him and keeping him safe and sound. As Koga drifted off to sleep, the self-proclaimed vampire stayed awake, making sure no one came close to them.
He could trust no one at this point. The oddballs and the dead ones were probably trustable but they're gone already, and the rest were just untrustable. Perhaps he could trust Koga, since the wolf seemed genuinely showing his expressions these days, so it was fine to trust him. Besides, Rei has known him for long, so it's fine.
By now, it was midnight and it seemes like Rei couldn't keep his eyes open, they kept closing and opening once in a while so he finally gave in, soon sleeping with his underclassman in his arms.
-
Something suddenly came to him the next day during their journey of walking in this endless maze. Rei recalled that Yuzuru and Tori's corpses weren't exactly rotten, they smelled like they had just died a few hours before he discovered their body but, there weren't any announcements. It was strange speaking each death was announced, so why wasn't their deaths announced?
He didn't ask this out loud to Koga, though. That boy might yell around, telling him to stop making hunches and widen the posibility of who the mastermind behimd all of this was. Both Tori and Yuzuru were part of Fine. The leader of the unit was hated by not only one, but many people in the school, there was no telling who would have the power to do it.
As they walked through the maze, a soft, gentle music, consisting of piano and violin played throughout the maze. The familiar melody, which reminds the two of the Glory days of Valkyrie, back when Nito was still part of it. It was a magnificent song, Rei had to admit, even though it wasn't really his cup of tea.
"It's.. Sajou no Roukaku, isn't it?" Koga turned to face Rei, who had a forlorn expression. "It's— well, it's nice... I guess."
"Doesn't it make you wonder who the mastermind is? One who is obsessed with... The past, perhaps, wishing for the old days to return, but killed off the chess pieces," Rei murmured softly, remembering how Keito, Kuro, Kaoru, and Kanata had died, when they're pretty much part of that past.
The wolf fell silent and shrugged his shoulders as they walked again. "Can it be, Sakasaki-kun?" Rei asked to himself.
"Geh— that one that speaks oddly?"
"Well he holds a deep hatred towards Tenshouin-kun, no telling, really."
"Let's just go, dam—" Koga was cut off when the creature suddenly showed up in front of them. He and Rei suddenly stepped back, cautiously so their movements weren't sudden, also making sure how the creature would attack.
Not far ahead of them, behind the creature was a left turn and a straight path. One of them could escape, Koga thought to himself, and if it was anyone, then he was willing to sacrifice himself for Rei. "Vampire bastard, there's a left turn over there," said he coolly, gesturing to it by nodding his head.
Rei turned to the direction that Koga gestured to and turned back to face him, "How are we suppose to get there?"
"Not we, bastard," Koga eyed the creature, then continued, "You are going to get there," he said, then threw a rock towards the creature. That caught the creature's attention. It screeched and marched its way towarda Koga, then swung its front leg at him.
Koga jumped, avoiding the deadly slash, "Go, now!" he yelled at his leader, who seemed hesitant at first, but finally ran off, turning left and making sure that he's covered by the tree branches that came down from the top of the maze's walls.
He was not planning on leaving Koga. He was sure that his 'pet' could get through this, he had to. There was a slim chance that said boy would survive but if there was, then Rei wouldn't want to risk leaving him alone.
But during his wait, the cannon rang again, and he peaked in between the long branches. His blood red orbs widened in surprised at the sight of the hologram, because right there, displayed, was none other than a boy with red eyes and black hair, Rei's little brother, Sakuma Ritsu.
There was a sudden sharp pain on his chest that made him clench his fist and bit his lower lip. He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes tightly. No wonder Ritsu hated him so much. He was never there when the boy needed him, he should have known better than to leave him be, but he had done what he needed to do so no one unwanted couls lay a single finger upon his little brother. Even if the boy had to hate him, as long as he was safe then it was fine.
Until this happened, of course.
Everything was falling apart. All of the things that was built, from the bottom of the ground, until it was so high up, they were tumbling down. All by this idiotic, useless game of eliminating students of Yumenosaki Private School. If Koga died them everything that he had left would be gone and he would have nothing to hold on to. Rei didn't want that, so he anxiously waited.
After around 30 minutes, the sound of metal steps echoed. Slowly, it grew louder, approaching him. He stayed still, as quiet as possible and making sure that he was mot seen. The creature soon walked pass him, step by step, slowly, as if looking around and seeing if Rei was anywhere to be seen. It looked towards where Rei was and sniffed around. For awhile it stayed, before finally walking away. Not long it was finally out of sight.
Carefully, Rei walked out and checked if it was safe. He let out the breath he had been holding unconsciously, then rushed out to where Koga was. Apparently he was barely alive, hanging on to dear life, coughing up blood.
It was shocking enough because the creature liked destroying corpses and killing of instantly. Perhaps Koga was irritating so it decided to leave him alone, half dead. Rei rushed towards him and carefully lifted his body into his arms, like cradling him.
The second year coughed a bit before fixing his gaze upon his leader, then pulled off a small, weak smile. Rei's heart dropped instantly. There was no way that Koga could make it. This boy was suffering so much. His stomach, chest, and head were bleeding. The sight of him, bloodied, in his arm, all of this was just too much to handle.
"Hold on, okay? You have to survive, wanko," Rei cooed, caressing the younger boy's cheek softly with his pale hand.
"I- I don't know, bastard— ah— hurts—" Koga flinched a bit, eyes shutting close for a while before opening again. "Sakuma-senpai..." the boy called out weakly, grabbing on Rei's brown sweater tightly, breath heavy and ragged, vision blurry and consciousness threatening to slip away.
When Koga called out for him like that, Rei felt even more guilty. This boy in his arms had just risked his life for him, how could he not feel guilty? This was so wrong in every way. "I'm here, Koga, I'm here," Rei breathed out, hugging the boy closer in his arms, pressing another kiss on his forehead.
"W-why—" Koga shakily muttered, turning his head to face Rei properly. The self-proclaimed vampire sighed and smiled, before pressing a gentle and soft kiss upon Koga's lips. It wasn't returned, but the boy closed his eyes, he enjoyed the kiss. First and last, apparently.
By the time Rei pulled away, his underclassman did not open his eyes. He stayed still like that, unmoving. He looked as if he had passed peacefully, at least happy that his Leader was saved, by him. His facial expression showed that he was proud to have saved him.
Gently, the self-proclaimed vampire embraced his beloved Koga one last time before setting him down as the cannon's sound rang once again, along with the appearance of a hologram showing Koga's face.
"I guess I'm on my own now."
He stood up and turned around, walking away from the lifeless body of his beloved underclassman, one that had always been there for him. He didn't turn back, no, he kept walking like that, not even looking like he had lost someone. He didn't even bother saying goodbye.
-
Sakuma Rei was the leader of Undead. He was the previous Student Council President before Tenshouin Eichi took over his throne. He was also the previous leader of Deadmanz, a unit consisting him, Keito, and Koga.
No thanks to some weird mastermind, he and the whole school were trapped inside this maze, filled with deadly stuff that had the capability of killing them. This was no simple nightmare. Not at all. There might be a way to get out, but getting out alone without his friends seemed like he had sacrificed them for his own safety.
He knew better that he had to get out in order to report such tragedy that happened inside the maze, to him and his school friends. There was no way that this wouldn't get reported. Though he himself began to wonder, what had happened outside the maze that he and the rest of the school got such terrible fortune that they were in this place. There was no signs of Jin or Kunugi's presence, either.
Continuing his journey was the only choice Rei had. He couldn't possibly be staying at the same spot, no miracles would come his way, it's futile to stay. Quietly he walked, in the maze's path, leading to nowhere but the end of his life. He might not make it out alive anyway. Honestly, the self-proclaimed vampire could just give up now and wait for the creature's next appearance, but he did not want to waste his friends' death.
As he walked through the maze, step by step, he wrapped his arms around himself and realized how lonely it was without Koga around. It was much more lively with the hard headed boy around. As he began to think like that more and more, tha pain in his chest rose, making him move a hand to clench at his sweater, furrowing his eyebrows.
Guilt was the feeling that began to eat him from the inside, consuming his mind. Not only Koga's death, but Ritsu's death was eating him too. The thoughts in his mind were all regret.
He regretted not being there for his little brother, leaving him alone and going far away last year, without explaining anything. He knew he should have explained everything to Ritsu, why he had to leave and what mess he was in. There was no more questioning why Ritsu hated him so much.
He regretted that he had obliged to Koga's yells that he told him to run off. He should have stayed and fought the creature with him, the possibility of them winning was much higher compared to Koga fighting alone.
Regrets were regrets after all, so there was nothing that he could do to turn back time. Making wishes was not his cup of tea. Rei did not like doing things like that.
Slowly, he set himself down, leaning against the wall of the maze as he watched the sun disappeared behind the high walls, out of his sight, out of the face of earth, once again greeting the night hello. He closed his eyes and clench his fists tightly. Quietly he pulled his knees closer to his chest and hugged them with his arms. It felt so cold, even though he was wearing three layers of clothing.
The chilly breeze brushed over his black hair, causing him to brushed his hair back, and he sighed deeply before opening his eyes. If only he could turn back time, then perhaps none of this would have happened. He missed his unit mates. Time passed by too quickly, it waited for none. He knew that better than anybody. The self-proclaimed vampire was not the type to bask in despair and misery, not even sadness. He had lived in the darkest side, letting no emotion like that consume him.
He couldn't fall asleep, not in a situation like this. Rei was nowhere near in the mood to sleep. With the feeling welling deep inside his heart, he couldn't bring himself to sleep or even relax a bit. As he glanced around for a bit, the sound of metal steps echoing throughout the maze was heard once again. The thought of him finally meeting the end of his life scared him a bit. He didn't move from where he was, though.
But this time though, the creature had someone on its back. When it was in front of him, it stopped and did not attack at all. The person sitting on its back jumped down and approached him. Knowing exactly who it was, a smirk slowly made it up to his handsome features and he laughed a bit. It was ironic and questionable, but nonetheless the mastermind was exactly who he had thought it was.
"Well, as expected, it was you," Rei spoke softly, slowly standing up, crimson orbs glaring to the person's eyes, but his smile remained.
The mastermind chuckled deeply and shoved his hand into his white pants pocket, his white suit was stained by blood. "Well if it isn't the last of the three Oddballs, Sakuma Rei."
"You even got Wataru? And here I thought you liked the guy."
"I did. Believe me I did."
"I'm the last?"
"No, there's still one more I haven't got to."
"Ah," the self-proclaimed vampire did not need to ask who the last one was, knowing who had died so far, and knowing one that had died before he awoken, Rei knew obviously who it was. "Don't be harsh on him, yeah?"
"Would that be your only request before your last breath?"
"Play Melody In The Dark for me, after you finish me off, of course. That'll mark the end of Undead."
"Good night, Sakuma Rei."
Blood splattered to the walls of the maze, and Rei fell to the ground, blood seeping through his school uniform, while the mastermind had his white suit splattered with Rei's blood. Perhaps all the blood upon his suit were the blood of the Oddballs, but there really was no telling. As the cannon sounded again, Melody In The Dark echoed through the maze's walls, marking the end of Undead, and the last remaining of the Five Oddballs, Sakuma Rei.
The mastermind took a good look upon his last victim and hummed lightly. He made his way back to his pet and got on it. His sky blue orbs eyed Rei's lifeless body once mord time before he finally left, carried by the creature.
"A shame, Sakuma Rei, you could have served yourself as a more entertaining chess piece."
-
The world outside of the maze was a vast, land covered by sand, and far from the maze, but was still visible by eye sight, stood a giant castle made out of glass, proud upon the land of a combination of beige and gold.
Everything fell apart 4 years ago, during the (unfortunately) *last* Starry Night Festival. Time seemed to stop and as the program was launched, everyone in the school was taken away, placed inside the maze. The purpose was only one, to see whether they were qualified to live in the new world. Most of them died almost immediately, a few managed to survive for a few days before dying. So far, Rei was the only one to survive the longest, before giving his life away for granted.
The mastermind was back in his office, eyes glued upon the blue hologram screen that displayed the remaining students that were still alive. The number wasn't much, but he had high hopes for these remaining bunch of rats.
Fingers typed furiously upon the computer's hologram keyboard, showing results of the ones that had the highest survival chance, and he chuckled upon seeing the amount that might survive. There was no doubt that only a few that will survive but the list of names in the 'List Of Those That Has The Highest Chance Of Suvival' list were a bit unbelievable.
With this kind of people that might survive then, he was sure that he would be entertained until the end, that's for sure. The remaining set people were yet to be awaken. His blue orbs wandered off to the red button at the edge of the bunch of buttons displayed before him and a small smirk appeared upon his face.
"Let us start the last program, shall we?"