Gantz: The beginning

Consequences part 2.

Nishi looked at Yoko with a frown, wondering why they were all back in the room; it made him edgy because they didn't know what happened from here; he was positive their time ran out. "Did you kill the alien or not?"

Yoko tensed under Nishi's glare, and for the first time, she was afraid of him. "I – I didn't..."

Nishi turned away from her, still with a deep frown, and knelt in front of Gantz. "Then why are we back here..." Nishi suspected Gantz wouldn't let their mistake go without consequence and felt his palms perspiring within his gloves. Fear tightened in his chest; when people left the boundary or spoke about Gantz outside, their heads exploded, and Nishi tried to remain calm. Gantz would punish them, no doubt about it.

"If we're back here, does that mean we can go home?" The man behind them, the one new survivor thanks to a reluctant Nishi, asked as he stepped closer. "Where is everyone else?"

Nishi stood up, his focus solely on the ball, just waiting for the inevitable, doing his best not to show fear, but – no, he couldn't deny it, even if he only admitted it to himself; the consequences fucking terrified him. "Dead," he said bluntly and as smoothly as possible, too consumed with anxiousness to care about the man's strange calmness. Nishi clenched his fists and felt Yoko staring at him with what was probably guilt, and rightly so since it was her fault. "Gantz! Get this over with!"

Yoko shook with fear, wondering what Nishi was thinking. Get this over with? Yoko looked at the ball and suddenly felt her chest constrict when she realized... they were going to die. "Nishi..." Yoko thought apologizing at this point was useless; what could she really say? She chose to save him, but that was her mistake, not Nishi's.

Okay, here are your scores.

Nishi and Yoko stared in surprise; it took them a moment to process the fact they weren't going to die. "It's...still scoring us?" Yoko asked slowly as they both stepped closer.

Dog: 0 points.

Total points: 0.

Coward: 0 points.

Total points: 0.

Relies too much on others. Screams a lot.

Nishi rolled his eyes, no surprise there. Suddenly, a bad feeling clutched his heart, and it had to do with their scores.

Yoko gasped in horror when her own score appeared on the ball, and she fell to her knees. "No..."

Flat chest: -102 points.

Total points: 0.

Let's start over.

Nishi-kun: -85 points.

Total points: 0.

Let's start over.

Nishi's eyes widened at the numbers, his fists clenched, and his eyes narrowed into slits. "No way... fuck... this can't be happening..." Nishi turned to Yoko and started to shout, "Thanks to you my fucking points are gone, they're gone!" Nishi's breathing became erratic, and he shoved her backward. "Did you really think you were making the right decision!"

Yoko didn't reply, but she frowned; she couldn't blame Nishi for being angry, but she did it to save his life.

The man stepped forward and held his hands up. "You shouldn't treat-"

Nishi turned sharply and took the gun from his jacket, aiming for the man's head. "You shut the fuck up, you wouldn't even be here right now if it weren't for me, and by the way, I couldn't care less about your pathetic life, the only reason you're still alive is because I was out of time. Any other situation and I would have left you there to die!"