"You mean he's going to die?" Kayano shouts incredulously.
"They aren't dead." I reel in the line so I can stretch out my legs without touching the ground, all the while keeping a close eye on the tracker. "They're monsters."
"Excuse me!" Nakamura screams, glaring up at the speaker system. "You turned our friends into monsters??"
The intercom laughs. "We didn't do anything! You all participated in the contest of your own accord."
"No! You said our friends were dead, not turned into monsters!" Kanzaki yells, tears streaking her face.
"They are, for the most part, gone. We never said dead." The intercom corrects.
"They aren't gone if they're monsters." Nakamura whispers angrily. "What you've done is so much more unforgivable!" she screams.
"Do as you wish. If you truly want no part in the contest, walk back out that door and jump into the tar. Otherwise, proceed to the next part of the challenge." There is a loud click as the speakers turn off.
Nakamura continues telling off the speakers and a few of the ones left behind attempt to calm her down. Isogai approaches, staring down at the cursed tribal tattoo.
"Be careful." I look back down at it myself. "I'll be fine. I'll just wait it out."
Isogai stomps on it, lifting his shoe carefully afterwards. It doesn't seem to respond to him at all. He stands on it.
"What are you, crazy?" I shout.
"You're cursed, not us, and I'm not leaving you behind, not when there's only eleven of us left." He holds out his hands. "I'll just carry you to the next challenge. With Karma gone, we'll be needing you."
"We don't even know what kind of a contest this is." Hayami walks over. I glance up and see Nakamura's calmed down a little. "We might need your assassin skills. Not like my sniper abilities will be much use without a gun." She glares to the side, cursing under her breath. "Damn it, Chiba..."
"So, come on." Isogai moves his hands again. "I'll just carry you."
"Ooo, that damn admin." Nakamura growls.
"Don't worry. We're all going to make it to that asshole and assassinate his ass!" Yada yells.
"Yeah!" a few of them shout.
"That's right!" Okajima adds belatedly.
"Whoa... So it doesn't affect you?" Kayano timidly steps closer to the tattoo.
"At least that's something. Come on, Nagisa. Just get over it and let him carry you." Nakamura whips around, marching off towards the next door, knife drawn.
"Here, let him hop on your back. I'll make sure he doesn't touch the ground."
Sugino gets behind me and between the three of us, I manage to get on Isogai's back without issue. We all walk through the door and the tracker follows me, all the while leaving Isogai alone.
Thank goodness.
-----
This one is another obstacle course with a much more obvious goal. Randomly shaped platforms move from side to side over a sea of black ooze. There is nothing on the ceiling for the ziplines to grab a hold of and there's no way Isogai or either of the other two guys can jump across with me on their backs.
"What do we do?" Kanzaki looks over at me sympathetically.
"Hm." Nakamura puts a hand to her chin, watching the shapes move around. "Nagisa." she turns to me, "you think you can use Isogai as a foothold to jump to the next platform?"
YOU ARE READING
Assassin Skills Required - Round One
Fanfiction**Complete** Class 3-E is enlisted in a brand new contest that no one knows anything about, except that it has a large cash prize. Since Principle Asano signed off on it, they can't say no. It's an exciting reprieve from Kunugigaoka's usual discrimi...
