Keijiro frowned like a grumpy cat as he followed after the two girls. The second floor of the school was identical to the first and the three of them retreated into one of the classrooms.

"Alright, I'll check in here," Kuina told them and searched for any sign of a ticket behind the desks and inside the supply closet.

Keijiro peeked out the windows that exposed them and ducked down out of sight. He then looked over at Saeko who was just standing there cluelessly.

"How have you survived this long?" Keijiro hissed, "get down! You don't know what's coming."

Saeko quickly ducked under a desk right as Kuina made her way back over to them.

"There's nothing in here." Kuina put her hands on her hips. "This school is huge, how are we supposed to—"

BRATATATATATTATTAT!!!

Kuina instantly dived down like the other two were doing but the bullets were not aimed at them. The sound didn't even seem to come from the same floor.

"What was that?" Saeko whimpered, covering her ears.

"Great," Keijiro said, fiddling with his necklace, "they're tagging people with bullets." His eyes then lit up with an idea. "Which means the taggers have guns..."

Kuina observed Keijiro's face as she laid on her stomach. "I don't like that look..."

"I sort of have a plan," Keijiro said.

"Sort of?"

"Yeah." Keijiro stood to his feet and began to inspect the classroom. He then found a broom and looked to the two girls. "I'm hoping at least one of you can fight."

Kuina stood as well and raised her hand. "I can."

Keijiro gave her a once over. "Really?" He tossed the broom towards her. "Well, just keep the tagger busy for me. Only for a few seconds."

Keijiro turned to the little girl. "Go lure one of them into this classroom. There has to be more than one."

Saeko stayed on the ground and shook her head as tears prickled her eyes.

Keijiro huffed. "Look, it's your fault we're stuck in this game in the first place so at least be useful for something."

Kuina scoffed. "You can't speak to a child that way. Jeez, I hope you never have children."

"Me too."

Saeko sniffed then finally stood up and made her way to the sliding door.

"Kid, you don't have to do this," Kuina assured her but the little girl ran out into the hallway and shouted.

"COME OUT TAGGER! COME AND GET ME!"

Keijiro glanced out the window while Saeko stood in the middle of the hallway. For a minute there was no sign of another person but then a figure emerged from up the steps and onto their floor.

The figure wore a cow mask and aimed their rifle at the girl but Saeko quickly ducked back into the classroom.

Keijiro gestured to Kuina, who had the broom ready, across from him near the door. "Try not to get hit, yeah?"

Kuina chuckled at that as the tagger creeped closer towards the classroom. The tagger then looked inside only to see the little girl so they stepped in but before they could raise their gun, Kuina hit the assailant over the head with the broom.

The broom obviously broke in half from the impact but Kuina delivered a roundhouse kick towards the tagger's stomach and the tagger fired at the wall instead.

Saeko dived down for cover and Keijiro sneaked up behind the tagger while Kuina tried to fight back. The armor the tagger was wearing made it difficult to land a solid hit but luckily Keijiro wrapped his arms around the tagger's neck which was exposed.

At the same time, Kuina took hold of the gun as the person still tried firing, hitting the ceiling, desks, and windows.

"How is this a plan?!" Kuina breathed out heavily. "What now?!"

Keijiro tightened his grip around the tagger's neck and surprisingly, the tagger dropped their gun and started to frantically grab at Keijiro's arms instead.

"What the..." Kuina stared at the scene before her.

Keijiro then jerked himself to the side and the tagger's neck snapped with a horrific crack. The figure's body fell and Keijiro panted, out of breath.

"Is it over?" Saeko asked with her eyes still closed and head still covered.

"Yup!" Keijiro said as if he didn't just kill someone and picked up the rifle. "Perfect."

Kuina stared in disbelief for a moment but quickly composed herself. "Right..." her eyes then drifted down towards the tagger's body and bent down to dig through their pockets. She then pulled out what looked like a map of the school with several X's marked in different places.

8 X's in total.

"We hit the jackpot!" Keijiro said as he looked over her shoulder. He gestured to one X in a classroom on the first floor. "Take the child and look for the ticket. There are others on the first floor as well so you should be able to find two."

Keijiro held up the stolen gun. "I'll go check the third floor, okay?"

Kuina nodded. "Okay." She took the little girl's hand and ran to the door but then stopped and turned back to him. "Be careful."

"Of course." Keijiro grinned.

40 minutes remaining

The two girls left the classroom and Keijiro soon did the same as he heard a series of gunshots coming from somewhere in the school. He ignored them and continued up to the third floor where he saw two people in the hallway.

"I didn't find a ticket, did you?" One girl asked her friend.

The other girl shook her head. "No. Maybe we should—"

Keijiro ducked down as a tagger emerged from a classroom to their left and shot the girl's friend.

"AAAAHHHH!" The other girl cried as blood splattered her face and she scrambled back, trying to get away.

The tagger approached the girl with their gun raised, ready to finish her off but Keijiro stood up from his crouch and fired at the person. The girl shrieked again thinking it was another tagger but was shocked when she saw the one who killed her friend fall to the ground dead.

"What?" The girl looked up and saw Keijiro walking closer. "How did you..."

Keijiro ignored her and entered the classroom the tagger came out of. He searched the room thoroughly before grinning in triumph.

"Aha!" He grabbed a white ticket that had been taped under the desk and put it in his pocket. He exited the room and saw the girl crying over her friend's body.

She then looked up at him with red puffy eyes. "Did... did you find a ticket?"

"Maybe I did."

"What about me?" The girl sobbed.

"You should be thankful that I saved you," Keijiro said and walked past her, "cause God knows I didn't have to." He prepared to start looking for the exit now since he figured Kuina and Saeko had found their ticket as well.

Keijiro cautiously made his way back to the first floor of the school which is where he figured the exit would be at. After some time, he finally found a gray door located on the side of the school that had the words EXIT above it in red letters. He only faltered a bit when he saw one person standing there.

"Saeko?" He spoke quietly and the little girl jumped a bit.

Keijiro jogged over to her and saw a white ticket in her small hands. "Where's Kuina?"

"She..." the little girl sniffed. "We both found tickets but a tagger cornered us when we came out of the classroom. She told me to go without her and that she could handle it but..."

Keijiro groaned and ran a hand through his hair. "She's right, you should get out of here."

"But—"

"That wasn't a suggestion," Keijiro told her, "get out of here. Now."

The girl frowned but turned to reveal a slot on the wall next to the door that was hidden behind her. She inserted her white ticket and a green light appeared before the door opened for her. Saeko walked through and as soon as she did, it closed shut behind her.

Keijiro ran down the hallway of the first floor, heading towards the classrooms. When he turned the corner he saw Kuina indeed holding her own against a tagger but she was beaten pretty badly.

Keijiro held up his gun to shoot but the tagger that was attacking her cornered her against a wall. Kuina slumped to the ground as the tagger bent down over her and leaned in.

Keijiro cursed since their heads were too close to each other now. One wrong miss would kill them both and although Keijiro was a good shot, he didn't want to take that risk.

Kuina glared up at the tagger. "Go on, shoot me." She closed her eyes and waited for her opponent to grant her request but it never came because something- someone- slid between the two.

Kuina opened her eyes to see Keijiro crouched down staring back at her with the barrel of his gun raised under the tagger's chin.

"Hi," Keijiro said to her then pulled the trigger.

The bullet went straight through the tagger's head, spraying both Keijiro and Kuina with blood. The body then fell to the ground with a thud.

"Saeko said you had this handled," Keijiro said, helping her stand, "didn't look like it to me though."

Kuina rolled her eyes but couldn't help but laugh.

Keijiro observed her beaten state. "I sure hope the beach has a medical center. Where's your ticket?"

Kuina's face paled and her eyes drifted to the ground near the classroom. Keijiro followed her gaze and saw a white ticket that had been torn in half on the floor.

"That sucks," Keijiro said and Kuina bit her lip.

"I'm guessing that won't be valid anymore." She sighed.

Keijiro rubbed his temple then reached into his pocket taking out his own ticket. Usually he wouldn't do something so noble but he was feeling a bit nice today.

"Here." Keijiro placed the ticket into her hands and Kuina's eyes widened.

"What? No way, man. This is yours."

Keijiro crossed his arms. "Well, I'm giving it to you and there's nothing you can do about it."

Kuina stared at him for a bit, not believing that the guy was the type to do something like this.

"You better find yourself another one," Kuina told him.

"I'll be fine," Keijiro said and tapped the side of his head, "I have the map all memorized up here. The exit's on the side of the school so get going."

Kuina still looked unsure about this outcome but figured the guy wasn't going to change his mind. She then took off, leaving Keijiro behind.

20 minutes remaining

Kuina followed the directions and came across a gray door labeled, EXIT. She inserted the ticket Keijiro gave her and the cool night air instantly chilled her skin. Voices could be heard coming from around the corner of the building so Kuina ran towards them to see their group along with Saeko and her mother.

When Saeko spotted Kuina she ran over and embraced her.

"You're okay!" Saeko beamed and the little girl's mother used her crutches to approach Kuina as well.

The woman grasped Kuina's hands and even though she couldn't speak, Kuina could tell that the mother was extremely grateful.

Michael came towards the three with Chishiya by his side.

"Where is Keijiro?" Michael asked, a hint of worry in his voice.

Saeko looked at the empty space beside Kuina. "Yeah, where's the other guy?"

"He..." When Kuina didn't finish her sentence Michael began to slightly panic.

"I'm sure the idiot is fine." Chishiya shrugged it off. "He always seems to slither his way out of a tough situation."

"I hope you're right," Kuina said, "he gave me his ticket when mine got damaged. He didn't have to but still..."

Chishiya looked surprised by that. "He gave you his only ticket? Doesn't sound like something he'd do."

"That's because you don't know him," Michael said right as the automated voice spoke to them.

10 minutes remaining

Michael shook his head. "I'm going in there." He tried making way to the entrance of the school but Kuina stopped him.

"You can't do that," she said, "Keijiro is a fighter. He... he'll make it." Kuina looked over at Chishiya who seemed to be thinking hard about something.

She walked over to her friend and nudged his shoulder. "You good?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" He answered but Kuina knew him enough to see that he was lying.

The woman made hand gestures to her daughter and Saeko turned back to the group.

"Mommy says she's sure the young man is fine," Saeko said, "she wants to thank him too."

Michael paced back and forth, practically counting down the seconds. "He's fine..." he was mostly speaking to himself. "He wouldn't give up and leave me behind. He wouldn't leave Fuji behind."

The group waited in anticipation as they watched a few more people exit the school but still no sign of Keijiro. The sound of the exit door opened again and Michael got a little bit of hope just for the automated voice to immediately destroy it.

Time is up and it is game over for the remaining players.

Just then, several red lasers rained down from the sky and into the school.

[Game Clear]
Congratulations
[3 day visa]