The next day:

Everyone was gathered in one place. The slaughter house. The smell of rotting wood, burnt valuables, ashes of unknown people, various liquids and even the powdery bits of the wood from the debris. The scent was nostalgic since the smell was actually kinda the same even if the building was still whole. Seiko grabbed Naomi's hand and both of them started walking towards the fallen edifice, while Yoshiki and Ayumi were setting up the tents in case they needed to sleep over, then, Sakutaro and Mayu were putting some gadgets and other supplies in each and everyone's bags. Naomi pulled Seiko close to her and checked the smaller girl's wounds. "Seiko, you could wait out here...I'll be the one who's gonna join them." Seiko went silent for a few seconds before ignoring Naomi. "Seiko I'm serious! I don't want you to get hurt-?!" "So do I! You're one of my precious treasures! I don't want our child to grow up without parents! So we just have to trust each other!" All of them stared at Seiko and Naomi. "Why are you guys fighting? It barely happens you know..."Ayumi muttered as she stood up to stretch her back. "It's none of your concern..." Both said in unison. Naomi had let go of Seiko's hand and started walking in a different direction. [ That's because you always try to be the hero...you selfish martyr...] Naomi thought to herself as she got her bag from Mayu. Seiko didn't face Naomi and took her bag from Sakutaro while going to the location of the cell which was still underground. "Yoshiki, Ayumi." The couple faced Naomi and took their bags with them.

"What is it?" Yoshiki said as he went closer to Naomi, and was surprised when she pulled his shirt and whispered something near his ear. The man's sweat dropped but nodded, then went with Seiko. "Did Naomi tell you to look over me? If she did then, you might as well go with her." She continued to walk but went faster each minute. "Listen Nakashima- I mean Shinohara...w-wait I mean-?!" Yoshiki was stopped by an earthquake which occurred suddenly. "Seiko duck!" Seiko's eyes widened as she loses her consciousness when a huge block of wood fell on her...only to be saved by Yoshiki. [ Where am I? What happened? Am I asleep? It's so painful...yet so warm...is it Naomi? No...this scent is different...it smells like...Yoshiki?! ] Seiko woke up and noticed that there was blood, dripping from her forehead and left eye. She closed her left eyelid and looked at Yoshiki's face which was just millimeters away from her face. "Yoshiki wake up! We gotta make sure that the others are safe!" She pushed Yoshiki and saw that the back of his head was bleeding continuously. [ Shoot! Is he still alive?! Don't tell me... ] She grabbed his hand and checked his pulse. [ Oh god...thank goodness...he's still alive...] She made a sigh of relief then immediately pushed all of the debris out of the way, and in the same time, keeping her friend safe. As she removed the scraps of metal, wood, and a little pieces of cement and other miscellaneous materials, she got closer and closer to the surface, but the sounds of weeping and screaming because of grudges and torment wasn't really dulcet.

Hell isn't experienced in the afterlife...we're already in hell

The sense of foreboding is always occurring in us...

He distorted our bodies...due to his insanity

Help us...we didn't do anything wrong! HELP US!

Why won't you help us? Is it because we're grotesque?! You don't know...anything

Just like him...all of you are just like him! Merciless, brain sick, spurious!

DIE! DIE WITH US! We may be test subjects but we have feelings too!

Immortality?! You're kidding right?! You selfish researcher! We will all die!

*unexplained sounds of terror*

Those sentences made Seiko's movements faster and faster until she finally removed the last piece of material over her face. She screamed in shock as she saw a little children, teens and even adults' skeletons and roasted, decaying flesh. The decomposing bodies were staring at her with a hint of anger, while the skeletons were positioned in such a manner that appears to be a fighting pose. Seiko hurriedly removed them and carried Kishinuma on her back. She saw Naomi, Ayumi, Mayu and Sakutaro with a little bruises and shallow wounds. That made her glad however, Yoshiki's situation was a bit critical. "Naomi hurry up and perform first aid!" Without questioning her fiancé, Naomi took the first aid kit and saw Yoshiki's head bleeding. "This isn't really serious...but he might need to rest for a bit. But...Seiko, your eye and forehead!" The brunette placed the bandage around Seiko's forehead and looked at her eye. [ Damn that Satoshi...I wanna kill him...yet! ] "Seiko...why is your left eye missing?!" Seiko looked away and tried to calm herself. "D-don't worry! I-it's fine! I-I mean, it's just an eye...n-nothing will change!" Tears started pouring down from Naomi cheeks while Seiko's eyes narrowed. "Idiot!" The smaller girl received a flabbergasting slap from the taller one. "Idiot! I'm just tired of seeing you suffer! I'm sorry if I hurt you! I really am...so please just let me take the risk-?!" Seiko's hand slapped Naomi's and her eyes were filled with assertion. "Naomi. I know that I'm being too selfish in many ways. I barely pay attention to the basic needs of my own family. That's resentful...I know it myself. But if this is the only way to stop our welter life...then...that's the imminence I shall take." Blood and water started to drip from Seiko's chin. "Darling...you aren't selfish [ Even if I called you a "selfish martyr" earlier...] you're just...u-umm...somewhat, illiberal." "Illiberal-?!" The ground shook from underneath because of an aftershock, and debris started to fall again from the wrecked building.

"Naomi get down!" Seiko hugged Naomi and protected her head then once again, a piece of metal stabbed Seiko's left eyehole. Seiko cursed under her breath as her eyesight started to blur. Sakutaro protected Mayu from the huge pieces of rocks, wood, and some other materials. While Ayumi left Yoshiki to help Seiko and Naomi. Ayumi covered her mouth and stared at the blood which was flowing all over Seiko's body. Naomi stood up and grabbed the metal pipe then dragged it out of the eyehole. Seiko fainted from the pain right after the incident, while the others remained silent. [ Damn it...it hasn't even been an hour but it seems that the whole world is our enemy... ] Yuka sighed as she appeared in front of the squad. "Don't let nature destroy you...Seiko-san may not be able to continue any further. It's nice being a hero and all...I know...but you only have one life..." Naomi glared at Yuka and started mumbling. "You don't know anything...she's too unstinting...and it kind of turns to look like it's egoistic..." The young ghost turned her head towards Naomi and shook her head. "I know! That's why we must let her rest...don't you think that it's enough that she helped us? She helped and supported us already. Now can we please let her help herself?" The whole squad looked in different directions, and kept on nodding. Except for Naomi of course. "Help herself?! How can she help herself if she already helped others several times without thinking about her own happiness?! I...I will help her!" She clenched her fists punched the tree trunk. "Naomi! Don't you think that you've also risked your life for us all!? Rest with Seiko...we can do it...have faith in us!" Mayu said humbly as she patted Naomi's head. "We will beat that crap out of Satoshi! I'll make sure he doesn't come back!" Sakutaro beamed as he folded his sleeve to show his biceps. ( does he have one? ^_^' )

"You guys..." Naomi covered her face with her right hand while the others were heading to the basement in order to get the mutated piranhas. Yoshiki patted Naomi's head and smiled. "We won't die! So stop crying you little chicken!" Ayumi sighed and nodded her head. "He's right!" Mayu shouted as she removed the boulders with Sakutaro in order to enter the doorway to the basement. Once they were able to open the doorway, the couple was left outside with two guns for self defense. Then the other party went inside the basement, and unfortunately, heard the door lock on its own. All of them banged against the door but no matter what they do, Naomi nor Seiko could hear the sound. "Come on Naomi! Stop fooling around!" *gunshots* Everyone was startled, they didn't know what was happening outside. Even Yuka couldn't see if she was a ghost already. "I can't...there's some kind of thing that's blocking my spirit..." "Satoshi...w-what did you...what in the world did you do you-?!" Naomi trembled in pain as Satoshi pointed the gun towards her and stepped on her head. "I'm too damn bored and annoyed with you, b***!" He kicked the poor girl towards the hard floor until her ankle bled and so did her nose. By that time, Seiko would have awoken by the gunshot. However..."HOW DARE YOU SHOOT SEIKO!" Satoshi placed the gun inside Naomi's mouth and threatened to pull the trigger. The girl helplessly stared at the blood dripping from Seiko's shoulder as Satoshi continued to beat her brutally. "Naomi...just marry me and this would all be over..." "Over my dead body!" He was about to pull the trigger when Seiko covered the muzzle of the handgun with her hand. "Pull the trigger and I'll make sure that you're gonna see hell..." Naomi grabbed Seiko's leg and begged her to stop but Seiko wasn't moving an inch. "Ha! Even I, a genius can't predict what goes on inside that impractical mind of yours!" Satoshi pulled the trigger and Seiko's hand had been marked by a hole.

"....that hurt....don't you think it's your turn now?" Seiko's eye turned pale as she dazed at the boy's face. "W-what do you mean by that?!" Satoshi took a step backward and looked at the muzzle of the gun. "I-it's broken?! What the heck did you do you scum?!" Satoshi cursed with a worried look on his face. "Huh? Says the monster who could regenerate...do you think that you're the only monster here? Don't you think that anyone of us could go nuts?" Seiko sighed and looked at her shaking hand. "It will take years for me to fully recover. The modern medicine is a good benefactor for the healing process though...but the damage that has inflicted on me...could be permanent...and it's your fault..."  Naomi heedfully gazed at Seiko's face, and noticed that her lips were pokily turning into a smirk. "S-stop imitating me you psychopath!" The man pointed the gun at Seiko while Naomi covertly went to the basement door to open it. "Naomi what happened?!" Yoshiki asked. "Pretend you didn't hear anything! We gotta find the baby piranhas fast! Seiko is buying us some time!" [ I hope so...she's acting a lot like Satoshi...]  "Are you brainsick?! We can't just put on an act, that we didn't hear anything at all!" Sakutaro interrupted. "Guys can we please just hasten?! We have to move quickly or else Seiko's efforts would dissolve!" Naomi called Yuka's attention and asked for the directions to the room. "It's in a safe. I don't know the password but I know where it is. Maybe we could find some clues about the code." All of them were silent and went in different ways to rummage the entire area. "I'm going to check on Seiko...if you find any mysterious paper laying around with codes or numbers on it, the safe is right over the next room." The brunette went back to the surface and looked at Satoshi who was currently in pain. "D-damn...i-it..." His skin was ripping to shreds and his regeneration process has slowed down. Naomi turned her head to face Seiko while the smaller girl glared back with blood on her hands and clothes. Her bloodshot eye were staring at Naomi's narrowed eyes. "What are you looking at? Think I might kill you?" [ Ah...s***...this is what radiation does to you huh? Mutation...plus the punch drunk syndrome...I may look like a psychotic murder to Naomi now...why is she staring at me like that? Oh...it's because I am turning into one...] "S-Seiko...S-Shinohara...w-what have you become?"  Naomi grumbled while reaching her hand towards her fiancé. The smaller girl kept silent then chuckled evilly. "I'll tell you what..." Seiko pinned Naomi on the tree and whispered something in her ear. "An ogre perhaps...or to put it in a more descriptive way, I , think, I have lost my sanity...it's pathetic isn't it? Me and him...in this current state, are both rubbish." She hugged her close, thinking it was irrational at first since, she might get killed. [ If I die right now and it's by Seiko's hands...that would bring pain to her...but mostly Namari...but if it's the right time, I would die with a grin...]

Unexpectedly, Seiko hugged her back while her eye was going back to normal without realizing that Satoshi was still there. "Don't act so cheesy! I'm still here!" He grabbed a knife and dashed towards them. "DIE!" The man screamed as he charged. "Hmph! Die? Too bad pal...not yet." Naomi grabbed his right arm and twisted it while smashing him on the ground from left to right. Meanwhile, in the basement, Mayu found the code and saw the devices and a jar of piranhas inside the safe. She followed the manual and when the gadget was finally ready, Yoshiki went up to see a half beaten Satoshi but was smiling, a super badass Naomi who's beating him up using unique techniques, a grinning Seiko in the background while her right eye was still glowing with a reddish color. "I'll hold his feet! Morishige, hold his arms! Naomi hold his head!" They all did what he ordered and Mayu was just in time to inject the formula into Satoshi. As they did their little experiment, their old friend whinged. "This pain...look at me...the blood is escaping through my body. The little jerks are eating me from the inside. I-I'll explode soon...a-and never come back...b-but remember this my 'comrades', there will always be someone to stop you. 'They' will return. My own body went under the same experiment as theirs. My creation...they will devour each and everyone of you. I'm just the 'appetizer'. To be immortal, to have foolish ambitions and goals. If I can't do it, then, they will do it for me. It seems complicated, but you've only solved the first mystery...it was just a teaser before...so keep...your children safe...or else...'they' will-?!" Satoshi, as he expected, detonated in front of the squad. "They will what?! What in the world?!" Ayumi groaned. Seiko picked up the remains of Satoshi's disassembled cadaver and buried it near an acacia tree. "I admit. When we were in high school, I thought I had no chance against him when we fought about Naomi. He was nice, intelligent, charming, cute...any girl could fall for him...or even a boy. But, he didn't notice his own weakness. That is, he didn't give up knowing it was impossible for him to get Naomi back, and he became too greedy and selfish...and that led to a dead end." Seiko admitted while placing a blue bell flower on top of his grave. "He may be the cutest, intelligent, charming and nicest guy I know...but, I already have a wife who excels even more. Because, she knows how to love me and Namari. She's beautiful, a bit absurd, she's the greatest chef, the most selfless person I know...and, I'd be quite honored to be your wife." Naomi said as tears dripped from her chin.

Ayumi grabbed Seiko's hand and began treating her wounds. Seiko wailed in pain while showing everyone her tongue. The whole group didn't expect that it would be easy for them to kill Satoshi for good ( except for Naomi and Seiko of course ), so they fixed their belongings and went inside the van. But before they could all leave, Yuka tugged Yoshiki's shirt and pointed at the disk. "My brother's soul could still live. He might even be brought back to life by 'them'. That video...I don't exactly know what it's purpose is. But one time, I saw him filming a documentary. It might help you guys." Yoshiki's eyebrow twitched. "Who are 'they'?" Yuka kept silent and simply shook her head. "I'm afraid that I can't tell you. All of you...your lives are in danger. They are listening, so it's better to talk when we're alone." Her spirit vanished quickly like a mist, and soon, everyone went inside and made sure they didn't forget anything. "Let's get back to the house immediately. We gotta watch something. I have a camcorder so transferring the data wouldn't take too much time." Yoshiki pressed the start button and zoomed throughout the road. "What do you mean? Satoshi's dead. Do we have to watch it still?" Mayu said in a bit joyful way. "We don't really know who's behind all those bad things. To make the situation worse is that, they're after our families or even the entire nation. They will deliberate and once we open our weak spot, they'll make that gap wider and wider until...it's the perfect time to strike." Naomi said as she took out a small notebook and wrote small notes. "She has a point. We must capture them before their wedding." Ayumi then teased the couple. "Y-yeah! I get i-it! We have to do this in order to proceed to the wedding!" Seiko said while blushing and antically pushed Ayumi. "But the wedding is near...maybe we should rest for a bit then we can haunt them down." Naomi suggested. Sakutaro anatomized the current case and while thinking, everyone was waiting for his suggestion. "Shige-nii, have you thought of something yet?" Mayu asked. "What if, since 'they' are onto us. We should celebrate their wedding in an underground church. We have to cook the meals ourselves so that an intruder won't interrupt. The celebration will take at the church as well, so we have to convince Inumaru to let us stay there. I'll contact the security personnels to be extra defensive and I'll order some weapons with advance technology and hasn't even been out yet in any country." Seiko raised her hand after that. "I can create weapons with the modern technology right now. But it will take time." Naomi just stared at Seiko for quite a while. [ You've contributed too much already. I don't wanna end this as a fight. Please...someone...anyone...object! ] "Shinohara, don't you think it's enough? You don't have to do everything your self anymore. You don't have to pitch in too. We'll just do exactly what's on your mind right now." Yoshiki grinned. "I wanna kiss Naomi right now...so if I want to kiss her right now, everyone will have to kiss her?" Seiko smirked. "IDIOT!" Naomi slapped Seiko's face as she blushed madly. Everyone laughed while Seiko scratched the back of her head. The smaller girl then leaned forward as her cheek touched Naomi's. Then gently planted a sweet kiss on her lips which lasted for a minute. "Ehem...public display of affection..." Ayumi coughed while chuckling.

"At least I don't moan a lot..." Naomi pouted. "She has a point honey..." Yoshiki said half-jokingly. "Shut up!" The dark blue haired girl shouted effetely. "Say Sakutaro, do you think that you can perform a transplant for my missing left eye? Are there any eye donors?" Seiko asked while putting her hand over her left eye hole. "Well, we do have a lot of eye donors these days. Maybe I can find an eye that's robust and is in a right size for a replacement." Mayu intruded as she pointed at Sakutaro who is fast asleep. [ Punch drunk syndrome is no joke...what Seiko said earlier...that it will take years for her to fully recover...but sometimes...unfortunately, it's rare for people to fully recover with such syndrome. Normally, the victim wouldn't be able to speak, it would be hard for them to walk, they would suffer from dementia, and lastly, they would have paranoia...but why? Are the symptoms going to show later on?! Why later on?! Why not now?! Once both of us are married to each other, I don't want her to undergo from several medical tests...] Naomi thought to herself as she looked outside of the window. [ The symptoms are starting to show...when I'm being attacked, I know I could evade from it...but somehow my body won't react to what my brain is ordering! Sometimes I trip over something but it isn't actually there, I'm starting to lose balance...I did suffer the same thing before, but, I couldn't talk properly and I used to vomit a lot...but now, the pain...it's the same thing but it's retrograding. I'm gonna start becoming delirious! ] Seiko's thoughts have gone mad, and her whole body, as if it's like a deja vu event, started to quiver while sweat started to drip from her body. "Seiko are you alright?! Darn it! The doctor said to not put too much stress on your body....f***!" Naomi said with concern. "Yoshiki! Take us back to the house as soon as possible! She has to take her medicine!" The blonde haired man stepped on the accelerator and as if like how the light travels, they were back at their home. Ayumi went inside and brought out a syrup substitute for the medicine, and made Seiko drink it. Her hands had stopped shaking and sweat stopped forming. "We are gonna need to take extra precautions. Seiko. This is for the best. One of us is gonna be left here with you. Naomi?" "Yeah..." The whole squad stayed inside their house as rain started to pour down. "While we're taking a short break, let's watch the disk." Yoshiki suggested as he pulled out a camcorder. He inserted the disk inside it and attached the wires to the television and everyone gathered around it. They didn't know that it was the biggest mistake they made this whole time...

A/N:

To all of you who are reading this book, I am really sorry for not updating again for a long time. I needed to go abroad and I couldn't update because I didn't have time. If I did have some free time, I was either in a car or the plane. I couldn't write/type inside there since I have motion sickness. I did type a bit but it was only half a paragraph. Again, I apologize for the trouble.