Chapter 3

Bucket of Squeaks

5 days later, after the breakfeast, they decided to hang out in Momo’s room (and 3 of her roomates). Momo wasn’t around and our girls were wondering where she was and what she’s doing. Other than that, girls talked about general school subjects, and Nori was trying to get closer to Ayame, with some success. After all, despite being individual without empathy, she doesn’t see why she should let Ayame become disappointed when their friendship with benefits starts.

“Come on, let’s inspect Momo’s room!” Proposed Nori to Ayumi.
“What? Why? Should we find something interesting there?”
“Yeah. Perhaps. I have a theory.”

So they entered Momo’s and Saki’s room and closed the door. Momo’s bed was moved from the wall.

“Oh my God, I knew it!” Cheerfully said Nori.
“What? What are you talking about?” Ayumi shyly smiled “It’s not something perverted, is it?”

They crouched next to one of the knobs at the top side of the bed. It had rectangle base and a ball at the top. Those were large, and after several seconds of observing, Ayumi noticed:
“Is this blood?”
“Yup. I can say she tried to wash it off.”
“Umm… Perhaps she cut herself or something?”
“Err… No… Think a little more.”
“Oh, it’s not…” Then Ayumi smelled the knob and noticed it smelled of pussy “Wh... What?!” Nori just laughed as Ayumi was wondering why she suddenly smelled it. “Why did I do this? Why did I do this?”
“She actually penetrated herself to bleeding. That’s how much she liked the show the other day.”
“She sure has creative ideas.”
“But Ayumi, they made beds like this on purpose.”
Ayumi then realized that all of the bed knobs were a bit long and covered her mouth with her hands in amazement.
“Another one of the relaxation techniques!” Ayumi said in amazement.
“Yes. Girls are separated from the boys so they need a relief.”

“But most of the girls I know… They’re virgins… Aren’t they?” Thought Ayumi.
“Well… Less than you think. Aoi actually fucks around the neighborhood.”
“Who?! Aoi?!”
“Yea. She’s like a hardcore bisexual of some sort. Does it with both men and women twice/thrice a week. That’s why she’s so confident all the time.”
“How do you know that?!”
“I talked to her and she told me. Did you know that Izumi and Rika really do each other ‘favors’, if u know what I’m saying?”
“Huh? Are you sure?” Ayumi was confused.
“Yea. I listened through the door once. They were both breathing like they’re getting fingered. No sound was coming from the beds so they weren’t knobs.”
“Oh no… My kawaii little innocent subliminal shoujo-ai friend-ship is now ruined! How dare you tell me that?!”
“Oh… Should I apologize now?” Nori worried.
“No, I’m just kidding you dumbass! My image of them is a little bit ruined… But I still love them!”
“Yeah… I was messing with you. They don’t do it. At least from what I know.”

One hour of chitchat later they had to leave their rooms to assemble at the field. It had still took half an hour of waiting for Yamata to come and announce the plan for the day. During the past days they had practiced Closed Scissors and Dodgeball. The only performances made were 4 Dodgeballs, twice with embers,s once with boiling water and once with needles. Boiling water was apparently the worst, but the pool decreased in size right after it was uncovered so that people would be likely to escape in time. Luckily for them, nobody died.

Junko had one round of coals, from which she recovered in 2 days, her skin as good as new, and then boiling water which shocked her a lot, because you never knew what was below until the first target got lifted on a dodgeball pillar, yet first targets would get more points per catch. Junko was temporarily frustrated when she came back from the hospital again. Everybody thought she’d be destined to die eventually, but she was actually pretty good at catching balls. No participant so far managed to catch all the balls though, not even her.

Momo had not been with her group often lately. Out girls wondered what she was up to. Sometimes she would stare in amazement at impaled Yume, but more than that she would just be gone. She also took the ember Dodgeball challenge and earned some points. Rest of the girls preferred throwing balls at targets for less points, although that was very difficult.

Yamata summoned the girls to the place with 2 metal chairs facing the opposite directions. Before he could be there, girls were discussing what could that be. One thing was for sure – they had a very bad feeling about it. At that moment, Junko checked if every ticket was in place. But to her surprise, there was only first Dodgeball ticket there. Tickets for points collected at other 2 Dodgeball performances were missing, she couldn’t find them anywhere.

“Hey… Everyone…” She called out to 7 of her friends in panic. “My points are missing!”
“What? How?” They wondered.
“I don’t know! They can’t just be gone!”
“Everybody check if administration may have eliminated them.” Suggested Momo. “If rest of you lack tickets too, then it’s all right.”
That, however, made no sense. Envelope would automatically scan the tickets as they contained a metal inside describing their serial number. Also, nobody from the staff didn’t do as little as look at their envelopes. And as it turned out after they checked, Junko was the only one lacking tickets.
“Junko…” Nori asked uncomfortably. “Where did you keep the envelope after getting out of boiling water?”
“In my clothes. But the envelopes are waterproof!”
“Did they end up in the laundry?”
“Yes, and then in my locker.”
“Well… These locks are very easy to beak, Junko.”

Everybody went silent and shocked. Can it be…? Junko’s points were stolen?
“That happenes…” Continued Nori. “Stealing… it’s encouraged in DAC as long as it’s not obvious…”
“No…” Junko was in slight panic “Special performance could happen anytime soon… Now I’m for sure in the bottom half…”

When Yamata arrived, he explained today’s plan:
“Before we move to practicing Closed Scissors, we will have an escape artistry performance! It will contain of 2 people. One can only save themselves, dooming the other person and receiving points. Or if players manage to put in some more effort and save each other, they both get double the points each! But beware. Loss means final death! You will not be assisted by medics, even if you could be saved. So… Who will sit on these chairs today?”

This was a scary-sounding one, so people had to discuss it for a minute first. Junko didn’t say anything, but after 15 seconds raised her hand and got called to the left chair.
“Junko… She became so brave here. I was convinced there was no hope for her.” Said Aoi, who was the one who supported Junko’s membership in this group of 8. Others weren’t that close to her.
However, Junko seemed to have played on all or nothing. Some of the girls literally didn’t do anything, just staying at 0 points hoping not to get picked. Weak and cowardly Junko surely surprised everyone recently.

“Who else?” Requested MC. People were silent, and nobody volunteered, so it was obvious there was no reason to give them any more time. “OK then… Akiyama Aoi!”

As so one volunteered, our Aoi was randomly picked.
“Oh, just not escape art…” She complained. But she sat on the right chair as she was supposed to. This so-to-say perfect individual didn’t hesitate even a little, unlike most of the people. Just like everybody already envied her for her grades, they now envied her for the ability to stay cool.

Then the 2 girls were commanded to wear only bra ta the top, so they did that.

First, the 2 present technicians tied their hands behind their backs, and then tied the ends of the ropes in rings and put them under the back legs of the chair. Legs looked spiky at the bottom, made in a way that the rope couldn’t be dragged up any more with pulling. Their hips were tied by the chair. It was obvious they couldn’t move anything but their legs. The chairs had knobs by the girls’ hips, but not to rest their arms. Down there went a metal frame, closing the two girls in 4 borders. If one of them would drag the chair forward, the other one would eventually be pulled by the bottom of her belly thanks to the frame. So they can almost do nothing useful at all. Just what was waiting for them, they worried.

Then a long handle was fixed to each chair, having a big needle on it. Needle didn’t seem fixed to it, but it couldn’t fall through because the handle didn’t have an open bottom. The technicians used lighters to light the needles, and the needles started sparkling like gunpowder. Their sparks scared and burned Junko and Aoi a little, but worst of all, it was hard to look at their direction.

But then came the real trick. From a box, that was strangely quiet for what was supposed to be inside, each of the technicians took out one rat. Nobody noticed that rats were there, just how were they so silent all this time?! Each of the large ugly rats was thrown in one of the metal buckets, in other words – 2 buckets, each contained 1 rat. The buckets had openings where the technicians fit the planks so that rats can’t easily get out.

“Umm… Junko… I know what this is.” Said Aoi sounding scared.
“What Aoi…?”
“I think they will attach these buckets to us and heat them from the other side. Rats will dig through wood to escape the heat. And if we don’t escape the device until they’re done, they’ll dig through us.”
“What?” Junko was in panic. “These rats are supposed to dig holes in us?”
“Yes, just don’t panic. This frame… It may be the trick of only one of us getting out, the other one killed.”

And she was right. Buckets had 2 handles which technicians connected to the back of the chairs and locked in. The buckets they had the mechanism that stuck them to the frames in a way that the bucket could not be moved back without moving the frame. The buckets were completely stuck to their bare bellies. The rats squeaked and scratched the wood as they themselves were frightened. Buckets were placed in a way that frames wouldn’t let the planks fall down, as long as the end of the frame remained more than 1 inch from each of the girls’ stomachs. In other words, one of them moves her torso little too much – both lose the plank and the rats start digging through the meat.

They were so anxious before the real thing started. Even the audience, as they realized what this should be and how cruel things suddenly became. But as technicians dragged gas bottles with extensions for gas burning right behind the buckets and lit the gas on fire, in a few seconds rats were in panic and squealed and dug through the wood in horrifyingly sounding panic.

“If you try to move the handle for the needle, the chair will sprinkle gasoline and you’ll burn.“ Yamata announced. “Start!”

Junko whimpered in fear, feeling the bucket throbbing and hearing the rat. Aoi was in panic too, but not as much.

“Calm down, Junko. We’re getting out of here.”
“Maybe we can untie out hands by lifting the chair… Oh my God… No…! Scary!”
“Wait, Junko, I will examine.”

Aoi was luckily a flexible girl so she barely made it with her right foot to the bottom of the back le fog the chair. She examined the rope ring with her toes.

“It won’t work. There is a depression around the rope ring. And ring is too small for us to do anything with it.”
“What do we do, Aoi?!”
“Calm down. Calm down. You’re not the only one in panic. Let’s think. Examine.”

The ropes were made of wood, and sprinkling needle was right in front of their faces. Aoi thought, if she reached it, she could use it to burn the rope. She stretched her leg for about 5 fill seconds before getting near enough to feel the strong burning sensation. ‘God! This burns so much! I can’t handle this stably.’ But she knew the chemical structure of the needle. It was no gunpowder but something much more sensitive! Thank God she studied Chemistry in middle school like she was supposed to. She should close off the oxygen and the needle would stop burning. If she backed away in time, cinder would remain. Since only the tip of the needle seems to be burning, she could take a grip below the ember with her foot.

“Junko, I’m onto something. Put this needle in your mouth for about a second. The sprinkle will cease and the tip will glow red.”
“Uhhh... That will hurt!”
“If you can’t do it, please wait until I’m out, I’ll do everything I can to free you too!”
“Mmmm” Junko whimpered, although she was preparing to actually put the needle in her mouth.

It didn’t take long for Aoi to do what she planned. She closed the needle off with her mouth, screamed through her nose from burining sensation and backed away. Light sprinkling remained for 5 more seconds and then it faded away into red ember. As soon as Aoi managed to take a grip on it with her foot. She heard Junko screaming through her nose too. Apparently, Junko had put the sprinkler in her mouth. While Aoi was stretching her leg so that she could pass the needle to her hands behind her back, she advised:
“Junko, if you can’t get up there with your foot, carefully take the needle with your mouth and throw it on the chair. Drop it between your back and arms, and make sure it gets in your hands. Move the chair so that the needle ends up in your hand and then burn the rope.

“Aoi… Aoi Aoi Aoi… AOI!!!”
“Junko?! Are you OK?!”
“There is no ember! Needle is getting cold! What do I do?!”
“Damn! How did that happen?! Just stay calm, I’ll free myself in no time.”

Aoi had the needle in her hands and used it to burn the rope.
“Try what I told you, Junko, and instead of burning the rope, try untying it with the needle!”

For Aoi, it had been going steadily.
“Aoi… The wood sounds scary, I think the rat is getting through.”
“Mine sounds even worse. Hold on, you seem to have more time than me.”

Junko struggled with getting the needle in her hands, when Aoi managed to free her hands. Now she could actually move the bucket forward to let the rat out, and doom Junko, because bucket would move the frame. But she would never do something so low while there’s still time.
“Ok… Junko, my hands are free… But I can’t move without dropping your plank.”
“Don’t move! Aoi, please don’t move!”
“How’s it going?”
“The knot is so tight, I don’t think it’s possible to do this soon! What should I do… Don’t die, Aoi! Save me!”
“I’m trying.”

‘Damn it! This was supposed to be so easy!’ Aoi thought. As Junko got no ember, it was seemingly impossible for her to hold the plank while the frame should be moved around and rats let out. Aoi had no time to wait as her rat was stronger, so she had to find another way. She examined outside of the frame with her hands and noticed a lock and a… connection?

“Seems like I can disconnect the 2 parts of the frame. Hold on, Junko!”
“Will it lose balance and kill me?!”
“I don’t know. I must try.”

However, she never unlocked anything with a needle before. The lock mechanism was soft, so it shouldn’t have been hard to unlock, but Aoi just seemed just not to be able to do it so soon. One minute after Junko’s whimpering she asked:
“Is it going? Are you going to make it?”
But Aoi’s voice was completely in panic.
“I don’t know. I’m trying. Oh my God… I think the rat is breaking through!”
“No! Don’t leave, Aoi!”
“AHHH!” Aoi screamed as she felt the first scratch of the rat on her belly “I’m sorry, Junko!”

Then Aoi pulled the bucket forward and bucket pulled the frame unavoidably. Aoi managed to let the rat push through around the bucket, but Junko’s plank fell. Junko started screaming and calling for help as her belly started throbbing.

“AHHH! AOI! HELP ME! AHHH IT’S TEARING ME!”
The rat was digging through her flesh, heading toward the intestines. During next half minute Aoi was covering her ears while Junko screamed with all her lungs, but quieter and quieter as she lost more and more blood. Her belly shook and the blood spilled down her waist.

The rat exited through Junko’s hip facing the audience, hit the floor and ran away. It was one gory sight of torn intestines and plenty of blood.

“I’m sorry, Junko!!! I was really scared!!!!”
“It’s… OK…” even like this, Junko, seemingly a weakling, could say something like that. “It hurts…”

She was occasionally repeating that it hurts, barely being able to speak from pain, for the next 30 seconds as she was slowly falling unconscious. Afterwards she stopped breathing.

People were shocked from the sight. Suddenly this challenge?! Will it keep up?!

Later that day, during Closed Scissors practice, Aoi approached her company in shame, wearing a bandage under her uniform.
“You must hate me now, don’t you?”
They were all silent, but lightly shook their heads in denial.
“We agreed to it.” Said Rika. “If we’re one against another, no grudge, save yourself.”
“But… it’s still horrible what I did.”
“It’s not. It is sad though. There was no other choice for any of you.”
“Relax. Junko liked you a lot.” Momo tried to comfort her. “If she’s somewhere in afterlife, I’m sure she’s glad knowing that you lived and that you’re growing up be to a strong individual.”
“She must feel betrayed…” Said Aoi.
“Come on, Aoi, you knew her better than us. She may have been sensitive, but deep inside she’s strong and caring. She said it was OK, didn’t she?”
“She did… Umm… Thank you, everyone, for not ditching me. But I can’t forgive myself…”

Anyway, they are used to living like this and losing their friends sometimes thanks to the new system. Aoi will get over it soon, but it’s a mystery how many more of her friends would die. Perhaps Aoi herself would die? Anyway, Nori assumed that the next performance, unless special, will not be deadly, but they have yet to see if she’s right.