Shattered Hopes

Hiroshi looked up to stare at Tatsuya. Neither of them had the answers the other wanted. It didn’t make any sense. They knew her, Sakura Maruyama. She attended the same junior high school and went way back for Hiroshi. Even though she was in a different class, they were still in the same high school as well. It was someone that Hiroshi could rely on despite their history.

“What the hell is going on here?” yelled Hiroshi louder than he should. He seemed to need to shout just to make it feel like he had some grasp on reality still, because it was clear that the world had finally lost touch with it. His hands shook trying to keep his body from venting on whatever was the nearest target.

Tatsuya didn’t have any words. He knew her well enough from the times he saw the two of them talking. She shouldn’t want to attack either of them. They weren’t close friends, but nothing happened to incite her.

Stepping out in front of Tatsuya, Hiroshi forced him to see only him. “You’re sure Sakura was the one attacking us?”

“She was on the roof. I don’t want to believe it anymore than you, man. There has to be a reason for this.”

“Of course there is! We’re taking her with us!”

“Got a plan?”

“Not so much a plan right now. She’s got answers and we’ve got questions. So we’re leaving for now. It’s not safe here.”

The thought of what happened to those UN soldiers resurfaced in his mind. Students attacked and killed them. None of what happened made sense. Tatsuya would just be glad to be away from it all. Hiding really was the best strategy. “Right. You want the legs or arms?” He bent down to start lifting Sakura up. Unconscious they could only carry her off.

Chapter 316 – Shattered Hopes

Carrying around an unconscious girl was awkward enough. Their homes weren’t an option. And since the school was already out as well, they ran out of places to take Sakura. So they wandered around the neighborhood trying to figure out a place that would be safe. If it had been any other day, they would have had cops on them almost immediately. Now no one cared about anything that happened. Even if someone did call, it was just as likely to be ignored by the police. They had bigger things going on with the UN deployment and monsters roaming. A sad truth that they were thankful for since trying to explain themselves would have been impossible.

All they could really do was find another roof. Sitting out in the open or even some alley just was too much of a risk. They didn’t want anyone accidentally stumbling across them. It really was more questions than they wanted to answer.

Staring at Sakura, they waited for her to wake up. She didn’t look too worse for wear from what Tatsuya did. More scuffed up than any real visible injuries. Hiroshi glanced over at Tatsuya. “She’s taking a long time to wake up.”

“What’s with that look, man? I was just following the plan.”

“Which involved performing a suplex on a girl?”

“Hey, I’ve only watched Saki do it. I don’t know if I did it right or not.”

“So you may have killed her with that move!”

“I didn’t and you know she’s still alive! We checked her pulse. She’s just knocked out, I can’t kill someone you know that.”

“Yeah, sorry man. This whole situation is just too messed up.”

Tatsuya looked back at Sakura hoping that she would wake up. They needed answers and yelling at each other did nothing. But he picked up on something that had been bothering him for a while. “What’s with the black uniform? Ours is blue, but this looks like ours.”

“I don’t know. Someone dying uniforms now?”

“Someone’s got a bored hobby.”

Long hours passed until it was night. There was nothing they could do but wait. It took too long, but Sakura finally started to move. She slowly opened her eyes. Both Hiroshi and Tatsuya leaned in to check on her. However, a streak of light shot between them that they narrowly dodged out of the way. Only the movement of her arm gave them time to react.

They jumped back to get a little more distance. “Woah, woah! Sakura, it’s me! Hiroshi Kuroda! We’re aren’t going to hurt you!”

Tatsuya however saw the next attack coming for Hiroshi specifically. He jumped in the way trying to pull Hiroshi down, but he wasn’t fast enough. The light sliced through his forearm shooting blood up and over Hiroshi’s face.

“Tatsuya!” Hiroshi grabbed him staggering back in shock. He could see something was wrong with Sakura. The look in her eyes didn’t seem right. She couldn’t tell it was him. “Sakura! What’s wrong?! Please tell me!”

“Hi…roshi…” muttered Tatsuya through the pain. He remembered too well the sort of pain. The day that changed everything taught him what pain was. This barely came close to the levels he experienced, but it didn’t change how much it hurt him. He pulled Hiroshi over to get him out of the way of the attack. As the light blew through the roof, he used his good arm to finish the job. Cracks jumped around the roof dropping them down into the fourth floor of the building that they tried to escape troubling people.

Unfortunately, they didn’t fall very far, as it was a storage room. They landed only half a meter or so down on top of the shelves. Their weight crushed the boxes they dropped upon. Of greater concern was their friend, Sakura. She stalked over to the hole in the roof. The emergency light in the room was all the real illumination she got other than the moon. It painted dark shadows over her face. A menacing presence stood before them.

It wasn’t Sakura.

Grabbing Hiroshi by his shirt, Tatsuya dragged them down to the floor to escape an easy shot. A smart decision since she followed up with no hesitation. The shelves they laid on a moment before were riddled with holes.

“Damn…Hiroshi, snap out of it!” He slapped Hiroshi as they huddled up against the wall.

Clutching his cheek in stinging pain, Hiroshi stared at him snapped out of his shock. “Tatsuya…”

“Get it together, Sakura’s trying to kill you!”

“Why?”

“Hell if I know! But it’s clear now, she wants only to kill.”

“That doesn’t make any sense!”

“This is just the reality of our situation, man! I can’t explain it to you!”

Hiroshi stood up looking towards the ceiling where Sakura stood. “This must be a mistake. A bad dream…” Light shot through the ceiling at them. Without any clue to their location, the attacks were blind. Not that they were poorly estimated. It only missed Hiroshi’s foot by a few centimeters. He staggered back. “…Sakura…why?”

“Run! Hiroshi!” Tatsuya pushed Hiroshi down just as the next attack came in. As she seemed to lock on to them, it was significantly more accurate. If Hiroshi hadn’t been pushed down by Tatsuya it would have run him through the head. Instead, it went through Tatsuya’s shoulder, throwing him back as Hiroshi dropped to the floor.

He turned over to see Tatsuya pressed against the wall with blood dripping down his shirt and the wall. “Tatsuya!”

Covering up the wound as much as possible, Tatsuya ground his teeth through the pain. “You need to stop her, man. She’s going to kill us!”

“Tatsuya!”

“Stop shouting my name and do something!”

Hiroshi tilted back towards the roof. She was up there somewhere. He stared at the blank ceiling. It started to develop more cracks from Sakura’s recklessness. He charged forward changing a lethal blow into a grazing wound on his upper arm. “…Sakura…”

He kept running forward towards the larger hole, the one Tatsuya created. He jumped up to the shelf and threw himself out of the hole. The damage and his weight finally ended the life of the metal shelf. It collapsed in a pile of boxes half torn apart.

Tatsuya stared up at the hole wondering how he was doing. He could hear them, but it was all sounds that he wasn’t familiar with. So he couldn’t judge it. However, he did see lights shoot through the roof again. Which meant that Sakura was still moving around. Dirt and dust rained down harder with each of the sounds. Larger pieces started to break free until it became clear that the whole thing was going to collapse soon.

He forced himself to stand getting to the nearby door. Trying to move his arm was too much of a pain. “Damn it,” he cursed, staring at his body. All he had left was his legs that still worked fine. One kick put his foot completely through the metal door rather than actually knocking it down. “This isn’t like the movies…” He leaned on the door with his back to break through the rest of the way.

Just as he did, the roof finally lost what little integrity it had. The walls broke apart from the weight of the roof breaking apart. Most of the fourth floor became exposed to the night sky. But more important was the fate of Hiroshi. Tatsuya couldn’t see very well through the now darkened room and smoke filled air. “Hiroshi! Are you still alive, man?”

Coughing, Hiroshi’s shadow surfaced from the debris. “Yeah, somehow. Argh, damn…”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing! Just get out of here!”

“I’m not leaving you!”

“That’s all well and good, but I’d rather hear those lines from a girl.”

The smoke finally cleared along with his eyes adjusting to the dark once more. Tatsuya saw through the haze to find Hiroshi staring down Sakura. However, he could see blood all over his body. It had only been a minute on the roof, but he looked even worse than himself. Tatsuya tried to get free of the door to help Hiroshi. “Hang in there, man!”

“Stop talking and get out of here!” Hiroshi charged at Sakura only for another streak of light to shoot through. His right arm went flying completely severed. But he rammed into Sakura pushing her through the shelves and wall into the next room with Tatsuya.

Buried amongst the debris and boxes, Hiroshi sat on Sakura pinning her to the floor. “Stop it, Sakura! Whatever is going on I’ll forgive you! Just end this!”

Another light shined through. Tatsuya had finally freed himself and tried to jump for Hiroshi, but it was too late. It was a point blank attack. “Hiroshi!”

“Stay back!” he shouted at Tatsuya. The light shook as it became clear that it had missed its intended target. Blood dripped down the blade of light as it took on shape. A bare blade with no guard or hilt, just all blade rested in Sakura’s hand. A blade of light, which Hiroshi gripped in his bare hand. It cut deep and already cleaved one finger and worked on the next as he struggled. “Sakura stop it!”

Struggling with the light, Hiroshi’s hand tightened more over the blade. Blood flowed faster until cracks started to appear along the length. A moment later it shattered, particles raining down around them. “Sakura!”

A new blade formed, this time smaller as she moved with her other hand. It came in from his right side with no protection. He used what little remained of his upper arm to take the blade, but she pushed through. The blade was going for his heart.

She wanted him dead.

Hiroshi’s eyes shook in shock. He knew it before, but it was before him now with nothing between them. She wanted to kill him. It was all over her face. “Sakura! Stop it now! Don’t!”

“Hiroshi!” Tatsuya threw him a broken pipe from the wall.

It fell down at his side staring at him to be used. He looked back at Sakura. The completely cold and emotionless eyes that just wanted death. He didn’t know her. “Why, Sakura?!”

“Protect yourself!”

“I can’t!”

“Hiroshi! You’re going to die! She wants to kill you!”

“Sakura!”

“Hiroshi!”

“Damn it!” Hiroshi picked up the pipe with what remained of his hand. Her blade came closer and closer to him. It started to draw up blood. He couldn’t hold her back for long with his arm. “Sakura!” Tears fell down his face staring at her. “Don’t make me!” He lifted up the pipe threatening her to stop.

“Do it!”

“Sakura!” The blade broke through his ribs. It plunged deeper. He was going to die. Hiroshi threw down his arm swiftly. The pipe rammed through her chest and broke through the floor. Blood coughed up from her mouth over his face. Her light disappeared, freeing his heart in the last moment.

Hiroshi leaned over staring at Sakura as her empty eyes only seemed to become darker. Tears flowed freely without restraint. He dropped his forehead against hers, unable to say any words to his departing friend.

She was dead.

His friend was dead.

The dream was reality.