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Still a bit dazed, Asagami Fujino raises herself up. There is no one here, Fujino is in a room. The room’s light is off… no, there is no such thing to begin with. Only darkness surrounds her.

“Hmm….”

Letting out a breath, Fujino feels her own hair. The tuft on her left side is cut off. It’s probably from the guy with a knife who was on her a second ago. Remembering that, she finally looks around the room. This place is a bar made in a basement. It was abandoned half a year ago due to bankruptcy and became a place where bad kids hang out. …In the corner of the room is a pipe chair. …In the middle of the room is a pool table. …Food from convienience stores are scattered around, and there is a pile of trash stacked up. It seems these things are creating the disturbing odor. Fujino feels unpleasant from the sickening smell in the room. This place is a ruin… or is it some back alley of a faraway country? One cannot even imagine that a normal city exists on the other side of the stairway. The only normal thing you could say is the smell of the alcohol lamp they brought in.

“Umm….”

She looks around in a rather well-mannered fashion. Fujino’s mind is not fully functional yet. …She still has not taken in what has been happening until now. She picks up a wrist that happens to be by her feet. There is a watch on the wrist which was torn off. The digital screen shows July 20, 1998. Time is 8PM, not even an hour after that incident.

“Guh…!”

Fujino groans from the sudden pain. A great pain is in her stomach area. She twists her body, not able to withstand the squeezing pain. The hands that touch the floor make a splashing sound. Looking, the whole room is filled with liquid.

“Yes, come to think of it, it is raining today.”

Talking to herself, Fujino stands up. She looks at her stomach. There is a trace of blood there… the place where she was stabbed by these people scattered around here.

***

The one who stabbed Fujino was a famous person in town. He stood out more than most of the others that dropped out of high school and was known as a leader-like person for the people who played around. He gathered people that liked the same thing as he did and did what they wanted. As part of the fun, they raped Fujino. Not much reason were there. Probably because Fujino was a student of the Reien Lady Academy and was also beautiful. As they were violent and selfish, they were not done by just once. It seems they knew they could be accused for their actions, but they changed their mind when they found out that Fujino did not tell anyone. They found out they were the ones in power and they brought Fujino into this place many times. Tonight was another one of those times and they were completely relaxed, and also getting bored of the action. The guy probably brought out the knife to bring some excitement into this repeated habit. The leader of the kids had his pride hurt since Fujino lived normally even after they have raped her. He wanted a definite proof that he was the one who ruled over her. As an extreme violence, he readied a knife, but the girl only made a cool face. He got angry at the girl whose expression didn’t change even after showing the knife, so he pushed her down and…

***

“I can’t walk outside like this.”

Fujino downcasts her eyes as she feels her blood-soaked self. The only blood that is from herself is the one on her stomach, but from the top of her hair to the bottom of her shoes is dirtied by someone else’s blood. It seems the blood on her cannot be easily washed off. Fujino murmurs to herself.

“How stupid of me… getting this dirty.”

And she kicks at one of the limbs scattered around the floor. Am I more angry at getting dirtied by their blood than the fact that they have violated me up to now? Fujino thinks as she is surprized by her own violentness. It’s raining outside… there should be less people walking about in about an hour. Even though it’s raining, it’s summertime so it shouldn’t be too cold. I’ll soak myself in the rain and then wash off the blood at some park. …As she reaches that solution, she suddenly calms down. She walks away from the pool of blood and finally counts the corpses scattered around. One, two, three, four… four…… four…… four, no matter how many times it’s counted!! She is astonished. …One is missing…

“One has gotten away, huh…?”

She murmurs faintly. Then I will be caught by the police. If he goes to them, I will be arrested. But… will he go to the police? How will he be able to explain the situation? Will he start from telling them about raping me, Asagami Fujino, and threatening her not to tell anyone? Not possible. Such a thing is impossible, and these people should not have the brains to come up with a convincing story. Fujino relaxes a bit and lights the lamp on the pool table. The light from the lamp lights the whole room. The 16 scattered arms and legs show up clearly. If you look for it, you should also find four bodies and heads. Lightened up by the orange light, the room is painted anew with red paint like it has gone mad. Fujino did not care much about this disastrous scene. … One has escaped. Her revenge is not completed yet… Fortunately, it has not ended.

“Would I have to take revenge…?”

Fujino fears at the idea of having to kill another person. Her body trembles, telling her such a thing is impossible to do. But she herself would be in danger if she doesn’t. But still, she does not want to do any more bad things… That is her true feeling.

… The pool of blood reflecting her face shows her mouth making a smile…