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The four remaining players raced down the tunnel. The monotonous orange light was back, as well as their exhaustion now that the danger had passed. Yamane began to slow down behind the other three, eventually coming to a full stop.
"I'm all alone now," He hunched over, defeated. "I was only with them for a week. But it felt as if we had been friends for a long time."
Kazumi watched as tear threatened to spill from his eyes. If she was alone she might have left this man behind, continued running to the goal by herself. But maybe it was possible to be kind and survive.
"The best way to honor them is to live. Make sure they didn't die for nothing, make their sacrifice matter."
Arisu nodded in agreement with her words, moving closer to Yamane. "Live on and talk about them with your wife."
Kazumi saw a flame in the man's eyes light up and a solid look of resolve settle on his face. "You're right." He sighed, moving his legs. Slowly at first but quickly building up into a jog, the other three following shortly after.
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Crossing the 8,000 meter mark, they continued steadily passing several vehicles, none of which stood out to Kazumi. Arisu, on the other hand suddenly stopped beside a white truck with a motorcycle in the back.
Wide eyed, his stare remained glued to the motorcycle even as Usagi asked what was wrong.
"This motorcycle," He leaned over the truck bed to get a closer look. "It's a Royal Enfield"
"You know your stuff." Yamane came up behind him to take a look for himself. At Usagi and Kazumi's confused glances he added "It's a rare motorcycle that uses a diesel engine."
Arisu nodded to himself, muttering "I see. It's the electrical circuits. All the electrical circuits around this area have been destroyed." Not knowing what he was talking about Kazumi stayed silent, curious as to where he was going with this line of inquiry. "In contrast, analog equipment can be operated here. It means old motorcycles or cars may work here, whether it's this motorcycle or the bus at the starting point!"
The man they left behind, Takuma, maybe his fate wasn't as decided as they thought. At this flash of hope the two men climbed into the truck bed to heave the motorcycle down onto the road.
"Can you get the motorcycle working?" Kazumi wondered. There would be no point in exerting the energy to get the bike down if it wouldn't run.
Arisu inspected the quality of the bike before calling back, "There aren't any batteries, but there's still some fuel left in the tank." He looked to Yamane who stood beside him "You said this motorcycle is a rare model that uses a diesel engine, right?" At the man's affirmative he continued, "So it runs on diesel fuel instead of gasoline."
