C-7 looked down at C-21 for a long moment. The pathetic scavenger stared back up at her, breathing hard, clutching his injury. "You know," she said, releasing his hair, "I changed my mind," C-21 froze. C-7 stood and glanced around the chamber, only four remained C-18, C-6, herself, and C-21. The result was obvious, or at least it should have been and a grin slowly spread across C-7's face as she looked at C-18 and back to C-21. "C-21," she said, his eyes narrowing cautiously.
"If you beat C-18, you get to live."
Silence, then laughter burst from her mouth. "Go on," she said, pointing toward the freckled girl standing across the chamber, C-18 had a confused expresionless look on her face.
"Kill her."
The entire room was silent; everyone was stunned, even C-18 raised an eyebrow, then she laughed, not because she found it funny, but because she genuinely couldn't believe what she had heard. "You want him to fight me?" C-18 asked.
C-7 folded her arms. "Why not, it will be fun, what if he wins?"
C-18 looked at C-21, then looked away, as if he wasn't worth her attention, which in his own opinion, he wasn't,
but
that irritated C-7—not because she cared about C-21, she didn't, but because C-18 always acted like that, like nobody else in the room mattered and like she had already won no matter what.
C-21 slowly stood as blood stained his clothes and his breathing was uneven as he wobbled ,his makeshift bone weapon was gone, yet he still started walking because it was death or death either way. One step, then another, toward C-18, while the freckled girl remained completely relaxed, looking at him curiously with no stance, no preparation, nothing, as though she were waiting for a child to throw a tantrum or a breeze to pass by and the closer he got, the more amused C-7 became.
C-21 suddenly lunged.
Fast, faster than she expected.
C-18 finally moved in a blur of her fist.
CRACK.
The sound echoed through the chamber—not the sound of a punch, but something breaking; looking at where the strike landed—ribs, definitely ribs—C-21 stumbled backward.
C-18 lowered her arm. "…Huh?" Confusion crossed her face as she looked at her hand and then at C-21, still standing, barely, but standing, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth, his body trembling, his arm hanging awkwardly.
Still, he hadn't fallen. The room stayed quiet, C-18 stared at him, C-21 stared back. C-18 suddenly had a look of understanding, as if something dawned on her.
Neither moved.
Several seconds passed, then more, and C-7's amusement began turning into irritation.
What the fuck were they doing?
She walked forward, stopping beside C-18, looked at C-21, then laughed. "Seriously?"
No response, C-21 merely swayed, blood continuing to drip from his mouth. C-18 remained oddly motionless, then looked at C-7 while watching, waiting—for what?
And was that a smirk?
C-7 clicked her tongue as the excitement from earlier disappeared. This wasn't a fight, it was a waste of time. She folded her arms and spoke, "Why, I guess you will die fairly quick then."
A sharp sting suddenly erupted in her neck, and C-7 froze as her eyes widened and something warm trickled across her skin—drip, drip, drip. She slowly reached upward, her fingers coming back red.
Blood.
Her body turned in confusion and disbelief, and behind her stood C-21 with a jagged piece of sharpened bone buried deep in her neck, his pink eyes completely calm, with no fear and no panic.
C-7's mouth opened but no words came out as blood poured between her lips, she staggered backward as the chamber tilted, the lights blurred, and the floor rushed closer while her legs stopped listening until she collapsed.
The last thing she saw was C-21 looking down at her, just watching, as if confirming a result, then darkness swallowed everything.
-
C-21 bit his tongue hard, pain helped him think as his ribs screamed with every breath, several of them broken, maybe more than he realised, but he was alive. The moment C-7 ordered him to fight C-18, he already knew what he would do, because beating C-18 was impossible and killing C-7 was, mainly because of her arrogant attitude.
While everyone else had been fighting, C-21 had spent his time gathering things, bones, fragments, sharp pieces, anything useful, the same habit everyone mocked, collecting trash.
The sharpened bone knife hidden in his sleeve had taken almost half the trial to make, grinding and grinding away in a corner of rock.
Then came the difficult part, predicting C-18.
C-21's eyes shifted toward the freckled girl, she looked back. Expressionless, he had watched her all trial, as well as some others, but mostly her, he would be lying if he didn't find her pretty.
Observing every movement, every kill, C-18 never wasted effort. If a strike could end a fight, she used exactly that amount of force, no more, no less. When he charged her, he already knew what would happen, she would counter.
His left arm rose, the arm that now hung uselessly, and at the last moment he shifted his body, using his forearm to absorb the blow. The arm fractured instantly, the impact still cracked several ribs, but he survived. It wasn't instant death, and more importantly, he remained standing. That was enough to create confusion, enough to block C-7's view.
From where C-7 stood, it looked like he had simply endured the hit, she never saw the block, never saw him slip the bone blade into his hand since she thought he didn't have more. He had hidden it in a small self-made pocket meant for his most valuable things, and of course those things had to be small so he could only hide the knife.
And once C-18 stopped moving for some reason, she didn't say anything that was the biggest gamble. C-7 became impatient exactly as he expected, people like C-7 hated waiting, needed action, needed excitement, needed to be the center of attention even in the most dangerous situations and she gave him her back, the easiest target in the room.
C-21 looked down at her corpse as blood spread slowly beneath her body, he felt no triumph, only relief. "It worked… damn," he laughed weakly. "I actually survived." C-21 felt his vision go dark as all the pain hit him at once, causing him to go unconscious.
As he fainted, C-18 caught him, looking at him with curiosity, while a certain ginger-haired researcher stared at the scene in disbelief at what had just transpired. Clarisse stared at C-7's corpse, then at C-21, her fingers tightening around her clipboard. "How… he supposed to die!?" She had watched him survive for years—survive, not win. He's not supposed to win; he's complete garbage as a talent, yet somehow the weakest subject in C-Class had just eliminated one of the strongest.
-
C-21 slowly woke up, he felt a great ache in his chest and arm, and as he opened his eyes he noticed lots of bandages covering his wounds so much so that he could barely move. They really give different treatment now that I'm in B-class ,they used to give us used bandages to cover ourselves whenever any injuries occurred.
C-21 sighed contently as he began to doze off.
Huh?
Why do I feel something warm?
C-21 lazily turned his head looking for the source only to be met with a pair of sharp orange eyes.
"AaaK!"
C-21 screamed in surprise, causing his body to jerk and fall off the bed.
C-18 looked at him curiously. "Good morning C-21—… no B-3, are you always this loud in the morning~"
C-21, now B-3, grunted as he got off the floor, his breathing rasped after that sudden morning scare. He looked at her for a few seconds trying to comprehend the situation, before realizing he couldn't. "Why are you… here, and what are you… doing on my bed?"
C-18, now B-1, looked at him as if he was stupid, thinking for a bit before answering. "We're… roommates I guess?"
Roommates with her?! Isn't there enough room now since there are only three of us, and why would they put me and B-1 and not with B-2 since he is the only other guy?
"Why did they… um put us together?"
B-1 slowly stood up and walked over to him, causing B-3 to take a step back. "I read in a book that boys enjoy sharing rooms with attractive girls." She said with a expresionless face.
"Was the book wrong?"
B-3's face went completely red as he lunged back. "Do- you… you like me?!"
B-1 suddenly started giggling or what seemed like giggling. "Of course not, you idiot. I only wanted to be with you because you're interesting. You're one of the weakest, but somehow survived till the end, if it was through skill or luck, I'm not sure."
B-3's disappointment washed over his flushed face. "Oh."