Editing A Simple Survey:Volume2 Reaper03 (section)

===Part 2===

Despite Hiyama’s expectations, the sounds of destruction continued for quite a while from beyond the darkness. Kazakami must have had quite a bit of strength remaining. Hiyama was coldly impressed that he could continue destroying without growing tired of it.

She had always had a desire to watch any violent actions from a short distance away. She had been surprised when she had learned the people around her were not the same. It seemed normal people’s fields of vision narrowed when they sensed danger and they lost the ability to think straight.

She had always felt that actually lowered their chances of survival.

And she felt as if that state had continued ever since she was forced to take part in these attractions. She felt unpleasantly focused. It reminded her of being tired but unable to sleep.

She was not normally such a cold person.

Or at least she wanted to believe she was not.

The four left behind by Kazakami sat on the floor, leaned against the wall, or otherwise took a comfortable pose to help restore their strength. No one had suggested it, but they had all naturally started to do it.

“Hey,” asked Higashikawa.

“What is it?”

“I have no idea what the organizers are after, but they have to be monitoring us at all times, right? How do you think they’re doing that?”

“They probably have cameras, transmitters, or other sensors.”

“But where are they? I haven’t seen any security cameras…”

“Well,” cut in Matsumi sluggishly. “Do you know what the lenses on cell phones and smartphones are like? They’re practically the size of a pinhole. They could hide them almost anywhere. Even if we found one or two of them, we could never destroy all of them. And they could even have hidden tiny GPS devices on our bodies.”

“…”

While still crouched on the ground, Rachel glanced over at Matsumi, but then averted her gaze without saying anything.

Higashikawa seemed to have noticed it, but he made sure to keep the flow of the conversation going.

“If we used something like paint to cover the walls and floor, do you think we could cover up all of the tiny camera lenses they’ve set up?”

“That’s a good idea. I’m in the perfect mood for spray painting some graffiti anyway.”

At that point, the sounds of destruction finally ceased.

Hiyama and the others exchanged a glance.

“…Is he done?”

“I hope so, but could the organizers have done something?” said Hiyama in a tone of voice that made even her shudder.

Rachel jumped in fright when she heard those words. With that reaction, she may have thought Hiyama actually wanted that to have been what happened.

But…

Hiyama could not deny she would not mind too much.

Finally, they heard the footsteps of someone walking down the dark hallway.

Was it Kazakami?

Or was it the organizer woman?

They all focused on the darkness and saw…

“…Hey.”

It was Kazakami.

He was quite sweaty and seemed to have learned his lesson.

“I guess…well…sorry about that. I said a lot of things…but I didn’t mean it. Let’s work together to escape here. I won’t argue against that.”

He was lying.

Hiyama was convinced of it.

But as she expected, Higashikawa accepted him back with a slightly stiff smile. Hiyama felt a headache coming on as she let out a slight sigh and spoke as nonthreateningly as she could manage.

“Do you have a moment?”

“What?”

“I remember seeing some wire back over there. It was in a locker for cleaning supplies in the medical office. I doubt we can use it to pick any locks, but it might come in handy. I will go get it.”

“In that case…”

Before Higashikawa could say something cooperative, Hiyama held her index finger to her lips.

“I’ll be fine on my own. The organizers did not appear despite that rampage of his. Nor did he set off any kind of trap.”

Kazakami must have only just now realized that possibility because his face quickly paled, but Hiyama did not care.

She gave a slight wave and headed down the passageway.

She did not actually care about the wire.

She wanted some time to think alone.

She had to think about whether she could truly overcome the upcoming attractions along with that group.