The final girl was another horror trope, common especially in slasher movies. It referred to a female character who was the only one to survive the final confrontation with the killer. The final girl character had to meet certain requirements. Usually, it would be a chaste, sensible, inconspicuous young girl, although there were exceptions, such as a single mother being the final girl.
“Are you sure about this? Mizuki is anything but inconspicuous dressed like this,” Takina said, looking pointedly at Mizuki.
“True, that,” Mizuki agreed.
“But she meets the chastity requirement, although not by choice, and she has it together… Also, she’s unpopular with the opposite sex.”
“Lies!” Mizuki shouted, but Chisato ignored her.
“There’s another characteristic. The final girl often has a genderless name.”
Between Takina, Chisato, and Mizuki, only Mizuki’s name could be used for boys, too.
“But then won’t we survive if we stick close to Mizuki?”
“Nope. The final girl is the only one of the killer’s targets who survives. Everyone else dies.”
For a very brief moment, a thought appeared in the back of Takina’s mind that they could resolve this problem by killing Mizuki outright… But, of course, she wasn’t going to do that. She mentally squashed that idea because if they tried to survive by playing the final girl card, she’d eventually have to fight Chisato. It made more sense to focus on taking out the killer instead.
Chisato started thinking about ways to survive. She put one hand on her chin and used the other hand to rest her elbow in, posing like a thoughtful detective.
“There’s another survivor trope besides the final girl, but…I don’t know…,” she said, stealing a glance at Takina for some reason.
Takina looked back at Chisato, who averted her gaze uncomfortably.
“What is it, Chisato?”
Suddenly, they heard the sound of an engine revving up somewhere deep in the woods. They fell silent. The sound changed to the whir of something spinning rapidly. What could that be? Given the circumstances, it wasn’t hard to guess—a chainsaw. The killer was coming back with a new piece of gear.
“I’m sorry, Boss!” Takina apologized, tugging on the machete that was stuck in his body, but it was either stuck too deep or it was being held tight in place by Mika’s powerful muscles, because it wouldn’t budge. She braced her foot on Mika’s shoulder and finally managed to yank it out.
The blade of the machete was about the same length as a short sword, but the metal was thin, making it light, which was a plus. The hilt, though, was so short it could only be held in one hand, and you couldn’t cut through bone without holding such a blade with both hands.
The sound of the chainsaw was getting nearer…and then they saw him, the large man from before. Illuminated by the moonlight, he was running at them, holding the chainsaw above his head. He looked to be almost two meters tall.
“Wooo! Here comes the chainsaaaw!”
Ignoring Chisato’s happy screaming and hopping, Takina stepped forward. She put her left foot half a step back and held the machete low by her left hip, gripping it with her right hand.
The man was close now. They saw his tattered clothes. He was wearing a mask that looked like the Gokigen drink mascot character, a child with a big forehead smiling with crinkly eyes.
Takina thought there was no point in trying to cut his head off. She might be able to cut through the joints, but with their height difference, she wouldn’t be able to cut horizontally. The man was holding a chainsaw over his head, so trying to strike him from above was also out of the question.
There was only one other spot worth targeting.
Takina crouched and shifted her weight onto her left foot. As soon as the man came within her reach, she pushed with her left foot to lunge forward, after which she put her full strength into spinning, turning her waist, arms, and the machete she was holding. The killer made to bring down his chainsaw on her, but the machine was heavy, which slowed down his movements.
The machete hit the killer’s right knee, but it was so tough, the blade didn’t go in. Takina applied more force as she almost brushed against the man…but the blade shattered, making her lose her balance and fall. Without losing momentum, she dodge-rolled away from the enemy.
The man revved up the chainsaw menacingly and turned to face Takina again, but his left knee suddenly buckled under him. Blood spurted out from the wound. Takina had damaged his joint at least.
“Takina, run!” shouted Chisato.
Mizuki was already running into the woods at full speed.
“I can land another hit! You run! I’ll catch up later!” Takina shouted back.
Though the machete broke, almost thirty centimeters of the blade was still attached to the hilt. As long as the enemy was using a chainsaw as his weapon, she could fight him. The blade was long enough to cut the chain of the chainsaw if she aimed it right. Then they’d both be unarmed. The man would still have an advantage over Takina, but his knee was injured, so she reckoned she had a chance.
“Takina! Killers of this type can’t be defeated normally!”
“What, really?!”
“That’s why we gotta run!”
Chisato ran off in the same direction as Mizuki earlier. Giving up, Takina followed after them. The man gave chase, but he was wobbling, so Takina got away without a problem.
She and Chisato were running through the dark forest for a while, but they started to slow down, realizing something was wrong. They stopped and looked around. Mizuki was nowhere to be seen. She was wearing sandals, so they should have caught up to her by then…
“We’ve lost her.”
The forest was dark, and it was all too easy to lose sense of direction. Mizuki might have been running in one direction to begin with, but with trees in her way, she might have been swerving to the left or right, and after many such subtle changes to her course, she ended up running in a completely different direction.
“Shall we try calling her, just once? Mizuki! Where are you?!” Chisato shouted into the woods.
They listened… No reply. Maybe she did hear them but didn’t answer so as not to give away her position to the killer. In any case, they couldn’t stand there waiting for an answer for too long.
Chisato let out a sigh, evidently giving up on Mizuki. Then they heard a car. The girls looked at each other and broke into a run, heading toward the sound. There was a clearing in the forest, and they saw asphalt—a road. They saw the taillights of a car driving away. It was no use. They weren’t going to make it. By the time Takina ran out onto the road, the car was already far away, the red taillights mere dots in the distance.
“Damn it! If you get in a car, you’ve practically won.”
It was a country road that had no lights. But if it was still in use, there must be a town at the end of it.
The girls started walking along the road, heading in the direction the car had driven away.
“Shall we talk about how to act in case we get attacked again? The enemy’s armed with a chainsaw, but I have this.”
Takina showed Chisato the broken machete she had held onto.
The chainsaw was heavy and cumbersome. It wasn’t easy to swing it left and right. No matter how big or muscular the enemy was, his motions were crude and obvious, and if the chainsaw hit the ground, a tree, or a rock, the blades would grind against it, and the man would have to fight to maintain control of his weapon.
Takina thought that even if the man managed to strike her with the chainsaw, the injury wouldn’t be immediately fatal, unless he struck her head. She’d have enough time to cut the chain, and then she and Chisato would have fair chances.
“Hmm, I guess that could work. Chainsaws aren’t weapons to begin with. They’re tools for cutting wood. But if this is a dream, it might follow horror logic.”
The reason Chisato told Takina earlier that she wouldn’t be able to kill the chainsaw guy there and then was also because it’s not that easy to slay the menacing murderer in horror movies. It wasn’t because the antagonist was particularly strong, but because it would be impossible to make a sequel if the character turned out to be popular with audiences, unless revival was an option in the movie’s universe.