Chapter One-

The small red ball flew up in the air and began its decent to earth until it was caught by the hand of Elleanor Wargave. She was lying on her back in the fresh green grass, using her packed bag as a pillow and throwing her little red ball up in the air and catching it. The huge statue comemorating the Battle Royale which had taken place at her school towered over the students, providing them with shade. This school was the same school which had held the notorious Shuuya Nanahara, who joined the Wild Seven after surviving a Battle Royale. The bus ready to take the class on their ninth year class trip rumbled nearby. The buses left as soon as everyone in the class had gathered, and now Elleanor's class was the only one left. Fortunately, they were only waiting for one more student. Kohaku, one of Elleanor's best friends, had told his teacher that he would be late, so no one was surprised. Elleanor had called him on his cell phone and he said he was on his way, although she thought that she had heard crying in the backround. This came as no surprise to the rest of her friends, Kohaku's parents were legendarily protective since his older brother drowned six years ago.

The rest of Elleanor's friends were seated a few feet away talking over the day's newspaper. Tenchi was holding the paper as the quadrupletes, Lin, Rin, Kin, and Jin were gathered around him, peering over his shoulder. Kubo was seated cross-legged nearby, playing with a blade of grass. Unari, the boy whom Elleanor had the world's biggest crush on, was about four feet from Tenchi. He had his arms wrapped around his girlfriend Sacula who was kissing him in return. This was the main reason that Elleanor had seated herself far from her friends. She glanced over at the newspaper and saw the headline shining through, big enough for her to decipher. It seemed like there had been another attack from the Tame Four.

After the Wild Seven had disbanded three years ago, a new terrorist group had sprung up which called themselves the Tame Four. Due to their name, a connection with the Wild Seven was assumed, but never proven. No members of the Tame Four had been identified since they all wore black bodysuits and black mesh hoods. Another difference in the way they opperated was that the Tame Four attacks hadn't taken any lives yet. Their targets seemed to be military computer systems, which were subject to numerous hackings, and military ammunition, which was constantly being stolen, detonated, or would refuse to go off.

The noise of a car engine had broken into Elleanor's thoughts as she saw her friend Kohaku climb out of the back seat and wave to her. She returned the wave, although Kohaku was still fifty feet away Elleanor was easy to recognize. She was the only one in her class who didn't descend from Japanese ancestry, her mother was Swiss and her father Polish. This gave her brown hair, hazel eyes, and the ability to really stand out in a crowd. Usually it was something she minded but being recognized by Kohaku was okay. Besides, she voluntarily wore black leggings under her uniform skirt since she jumped around a lot so blending in wasn't her highest priority. Kohaku rushed a few appoligetic words to Izumi Natsuno, their teacher, and then ran over to his friend as Class 3-C boarded the buses and sat down.

Elleanor was in a window seat near the back with Kohaku beside her. Unari and Sacula were in front of them which wrenched Elleanor's stomach, last thing she needed was to see them make out the entire trip. Unari was usually a great person and real easy to talk to and laugh with, but he seemed to be another person around Sacula. As the bus pulled out of the parking lot, Elleanor looked around to see Kohaku's parents standing near their car, huddled together and crying like they were witnessing their son's funeral. Kohaku leaned over Elleanor to look outside and sighed, giving his parents a halfhearted wave.

"I wish they wouldn't make such a big deal about this..." Kohaku was obviously not elated by his parents behavior.

"Is there something wrong?" Elleanor and Kohaku were both rather unpopular, and they had been close friends confiding in eachother since Elleanor moved to the town four years ago.

"No, it's just... you know how my parents get sometimes.."

"Yeah, but for this? It's only a small class trip, what's the worst that could happen?" As soon as she said the sentence, Elleanor regretted it. The look on Kohaku's face changed to something she couldn't read, but he was looking more like his parents. The two friends sat in silence as the bus rounded the corner and the two grieving adults passed out of sight.

42 students remain