Battle Royale (60 page)

Then he realized something.

"What about you?" He asked anxiously, "What are you going to do?"

Shogo shrugged his shoulders. "I told you. It's payback time against this country. No, that's not it. They owe me, and they're going to pay me back. No matter what. I can't join you guys."

"No…" Noriko said with anguish.

Shuya responded differently, though. He clenched his teeth and said, "Let me join you."

Shogo looked at Shuya for a moment…then he looked down and dismissively shook his head. "Don't be stupid."

"Why not?"

Shuya said insistently. "You're not the only one with a grudge against this fucking country."

"That's right," Noriko insisted. Her response surprised Shuya. Noriko looked at Shogo and continued,

"We'll do it together."

Shogo looked at them. He heaved a deep sigh. He looked up and said, "Look. I think I told you before that this country might be fucked up, but it's well run. It's almost impossible to take it down. No, I'd say it's absolutely impossible right now, but I…" He turned around and then looked beyond the roof at the sky turning white from the receding rain. Then he looked back at them. "To use a cliche, I just want to take a stab at it. I'm getting back at them. I'm only doing it for my own sake, which isn't such a bad thing." He stopped and then said, "No, it's not bad at all."

"So then—" Shuya said but Shogo interrupted him, raising his hand.

"I'm not done."

Shuya shut up and let him speak.

"I'm saying you'll die if you join me. You just said you're going to be with Noriko. Which means…" He looked at Noriko. Then he looked back at Shuya. "You still have Noriko. You protect her, Shuya. If she's in danger then fight for her. Whether your assailant's a burglar, the fucking Republic of Greater East Asia, or an extraterrestrial alien." Then he turned to Noriko and said kindly, "You too. You still have Shuya, right? Protect him, Noriko. It's foolish to die pointlessly." Then he looked at Shuya again. "You understand? There's nothing left for me. So I'm just doing it for my sake. It's different for you guys." The last statement sounded adamant. He checked his watch, tossed another cigarette into the puddle, got up and went out from under the roof. The chirping bird call rang out.

As he listened Shuya recalled a song by a mainland Chinese rocker that went: "Perhaps you are saying/You love me even though I have nothing at all."

But what did Shogo mean when he said he had nothing?—

After tweaking the bird call for exactly fifteen seconds, Shogo went back underneath the roof and sat down.

Noriko asked Shogo, gently, "Don't you have someone you care about?"

That's right. That's what he wanted to ask too.

Shogo opened his eyes and then forced a grin. "I wasn't planning on telling you, but…" he said and then took a deep breath. He continued, "No, maybe I did want to tell you." He reached behind for his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He removed a photo with frayed edges.

Noriko took it. She and Shuya looked at it.

The photo included Shogo. He was wearing a school coat, and his hair was as long as Shuya's. He was smiling, wearing a bashful smile that was hard to imagine on him now. And on his left was a girl in a sailor suit uniform. Her black hair was bundled over her right shoulder. She looked assertive, but her smile was incredibly charming too. In the background were a road, gingko-like trees, a whiskey billboard ad, and a yellow car.

"She's beautiful…" Noriko exclaimed.

Shogo rubbed the tip of his nose. "Really? She's not what you'd call typically beautiful, but I always thought she was pretty."

Noriko shook her head. "Well, I think she's very pretty and very…mature looking. Is she the same age as you?"

Shogo broke into a bashful grin that was reminiscent of the one he wore in the photo. "Yeah. Thanks."

Shuya gazed at the two smiling faces next to each other in the photo and thought, hey, what do you mean you have nothing? But Shuya had overlooked something crucial.

"So is she in Kobe?" Shuya asked and then Shogo grimaced. He shook his head and said, "Remember, Shuya? I played this fucking game once before. And I was the 'winner.'"

That was when Shuya realized. And Noriko probably did too. Her face stiffened.

Shogo continued, "She was in my class. I wasn't able to save Keiko."

They fell silent. Shuya finally felt he could truly understand Shogo's anger, the sheer depth of it.

"So you see now," Shogo said, "I really have nothing. And it's payback time against this country for killing Keiko." Shogo put another cigarette in his mouth and lit it. Smoke drifted by.

"So her name was Keiko," Shuya finally asked.

"Yeah," Shogo gave several small nods."'Kei' means 'joy.' "

Shuya realized it was same kanji character as the first character to Yoshitoki's name.

"Were you…" Noriko gently asked, "…with her until the very end?"

Shogo smoked silently. After a while he replied, "That's a hard one to answer." He continued, "Her last name was Onuki. The roll call started with No. 17 in that game. Whatever. Anyway, Keiko's number came before mine, so she left three numbers before me."

Shuya and Noriko listened quietly.

"I thought…she might be waiting for me somewhere near the departure point. She just might be. But she wasn't there. I mean it couldn't be helped. Just like with this current game. It was dangerous to hang around the departure point." He took a drag from his cigarette and exhaled. "But I finally found her. The game took place on an island like this one, but I found her." He took another drag and exhaled. Then he continued, "But she ran away."

Shuya was shocked. He looked at Shogo. His stubbly face remained calm. It seemed like he was doing his best to restrain his emotions.

"I tried chasing her…but I was attacked by someone else. I managed to kill that person…but I ended up losing sight of her."

He took another drag and then exhaled.

"Keiko couldn't trust me."

He still wore his poker face, but there was a tense look in his eyes.

He continued, "But I still looked for her. The next time I found her…she was dead."

Shuya understood. Once he was back here Shuya had told them about Yukie Utsumi's group and observed, "It's so hard to…trust someone," to which Shogo responded by saying, "Yes, it is…It's very…hard." Shuya now saw why Shogo looked so uneasy then. He also understood why Shogo said Hiroki might have found Kotohiki dead, or that she might not necessarily trust him.

"You asked me, Shuya," Shogo said. Shuya looked up. "Why I trusted you guys, when we first met, right?"

"Yeah." Shuya nodded. "I did."

"And I believe I said you two made a nice couple," Shogo said and glanced up at the roof. By the time he lowered his eyes, the tension in his cheeks was gone. "It's true. That's how you two looked. So I decided I wanted to help you guys out, unconditionally."

"Uh huh." Shuya nodded.

After a while Noriko said, "I bet…" Shuya looked over at Noriko, who continued, "…she was just terrified… and confused."

"No." Shogo shook his head. "I…1 really loved Keiko. But there must have something about the way I treated her when we were going out. That's what I think it came down to."

"That's so wrong," Shuya adamantly insisted.

Shogo looked over at him, his arms folded over his pulled-up knees. The smoke from the cigarette in his hands drifted up gently like silk.

"There was a misunderstanding. A small misunderstanding, I'm sure. Given how fucked up this game is.

The odds were against you. That's what it really came down to, right?"

Shogo grimaced wryly again and only replied, "I don't know. I'll never know." Then he tossed his cigarette into the puddle and took out the bird call from his pocket. "This…" he said, "…unlike most city kids, Keiko loved to go on mountain walks. The Sunday after the week that fucking game happened she was supposed to take me bird watching." He raised the bird call between his right thumb and index finger up to his eyes and examined it as if it were a jewel. "She gave this to me." He smiled and looked at Shuya and Noriko. "This is the only thing I have left of hers. It's my lucky charm...Didn't bring much luck, I guess."

As he put it away, Noriko returned the photo. Shogo put it back in his wallet, which he tucked into his back pocket.

Noriko said, "Hey, Shogo." Shogo looked up at her. "I don't know how Keiko felt at the time. But…"

She flicked her tongue against her lips to moisten them. "But I think Keiko loved you in her own way.

She had to…I mean, she looks so happy in that photo. Don't you think?"

"Yeah?"

"Of course, she did." Noriko nodded. "And if I were Keiko…I would want you to live. I wouldn't want you to die for me."

Shogo grinned and shook his head. "Well, that's just a difference in opinion."

"But," Noriko insisted, "please take it into consideration. Okay, please?"

Shogo's lips moved as if he were on the verge of saying something…but then he shrugged and smiled.

Sadly.

He checked his watch and went out from under the roof to tweak the bird call.

4 students remaining

73

It had stopped raining completely by the sixth time Shogo tweaked the bird call. It was now 5:55 p.m., but the light which now seemed brilliant, compared to the preceding hours, enveloped the island. They removed the thatched roof from the rock wall.

After sitting against the rock wall, the open sky up above, Noriko said, "The sky's clear." Shuya and Shogo both nodded.

A soft breeze rustled by.

Shogo put another cigarette in his mouth and lit it.

Staring at Shogo's profile, Shuya hesitated over whether he should bring it up or not. He decided to speak out. "Shogo."

The cigarette dangling from one end of his mouth, Shogo looked up.

"What about you? What did you want to be?"

Shogo snickered as he exhaled. "I wanted to be a doctor. Like my old man. That's right, I thought at least a doctor could help people, even in this fucked up country."

Shuya felt relieved. "Then why don't you become one? You're certainly talented enough."

Tapping the ashes off his cigarette, Shogo shook his head, as if to say this discussion was over.

Noriko said, "Shogo." He looked at Noriko. "I know I'm repeating myself, but I have to say it. If I were Keiko, this is what I'd say." She looked up at the sky, now tinged with orange, and continued, "Please live. Talk, think, act. And sometimes listen to music..." She stopped, then she continued, "Look at paintings at times to be moved. Laugh a lot, and at times, cry. And if you find a wonderful girl, then you go for her and love her."

It was poetic. Pure poetry.

And then Shuya thought, oh. These are Noriko's words.

And words along with music had an incredible, holy power.

Shogo listened without saying a word.

Noriko continued. "Because that's the Shogo that I really loved." Then she looked over at Shogo. She seemed slightly embarrassed, but added, "That's what I would have said."

The ash on Shogo's cigarette grew longer.

Shuya said, "Come on, Shogo. Aren't there ways to tear up this country without dying? It might be a roundabout way but still…" He continued, "I mean we got to be such good friends. We'd really miss you.

Let's go to America, the three of us."

Shogo fell silent. Then realizing his cigarette was burnt down to the filter, he tossed it away. He looked up at them. He was on the verge of saying something.

Shuya thought, that's right, come with us, Shogo. We'll be together. We're a team.

"Hey—"

It was the all-too-familiar voice of Sakamochi.

Shuya quickly lifted his left arm with his right hand and checked his watch. The muddy display read 6

p.m., exactly, five seconds past the hour.

"Can you hear me? Well, I guess there aren't too many of you left who can hear. Now then, I will announce the dead. Now in the boy's group…"

Shuya was already thinking. There were only four boys left, Shuya, Shogo, Hiroki, and Kazuo Kiriyama.

(Of course the same was true with the girls, Noriko, Kayoko Kotohiki, Mitsuko Souma, and Mizuho Inada.) Kazuo couldn't die so easily. And Hiroki had sent the signal. So none of the boys were dead.

But…

"…we have only one. No. 11, Hiroki Sugimura."

Shuya's eyes opened wide.

4 students remaining

4 students remaining

74

"Now then, with the girls, the body count was pretty high. No. 1, Mizuho Inada, No. 2 Yukie Utsumi, No. 8 Kayoko Kotohiki, No. 9 Yuko Sakaki, No. 11 Mitsuko Souma, No. 12 Haruka Tanizawa, No.

16 Yuka Nakagawa, No. 17 Satomi Noda, and No. 19 Chisato Matsui."

Shuya's eyes met Noriko's. Her eyes were trembling. They had already been prepared to hear about Yukie's group, but Hiroki and Kayoko too? And Mitsuko Souma…and Mizuho Inada. Basically…did it mean the only ones left were them and Kazuo?

"That can't be—" Shuya uttered. Ever since the smoke signal went up, there hadn't been any gunfire. Or was Hiroki stabbed? Or… did he not hear Sakamochi's announcement correctly? Were his ears playing tricks on him?

No. Sakamochi continued, "All right then. Now there are four students remaining. Can you hear me, Kiriyama, Kawada, Nanahara, and Nakagawa? Wonderful work. I'm really proud of you all. Now then, I'll announce the new forbidden zones."

Before Shuya could mark his map, Shogo said, "Gather your stuff."

"Huh?" Shuya asked, but Shogo only signaled for him to hurry up. Sakamochi continued, "From 7

p.m…"

"Get up. It's Kazuo. It's likely he somehow found out about Hiroki's method to contact us. We might have been sending our signal to Kazuo all this time."

Shuya immediately got up. Noriko was carrying her day pack on her shoulders. Then right before or after Sakamochi finished his announcement saying, "All right then, do your best. Just a little more to go—"

Shuya saw Shogo's eyes glance at that alarm system consisting of notches cut into thin trees wrapped with thin wire.

And then he saw this wire fall off the rain-drenched tree trunk.

"Duck!" Shogo yelled. The rattling burst through. Right above Shuya and Noriko's heads, the rock wall burst into sparks. Its shards rained down on them.

Crouched, Shogo held the Uzi and shot into the shrubs.

Maybe he was hit or maybe he wasn't, Kazuo (who else could it be now?) didn't return fire. Shogo said,

"This way! Hurry!" They ran south along the rock wall away from Kazuo.

Once they reached the area beyond the rock wall where Shogo had been using the bird call, they heard a gun rattle off again. It missed them. They entered the bushes ahead.

There was a crevice in the rock waist deep, less than a meter wide. Covered with dirt and leaves, it continued southward. Shuya didn't know about its existence, but Shogo probably chose their position with this place in mind. It was a naturally formed trench. Shogo urged them on. Shuya and Noriko jumped down. Shogo rattled off his Uzi and followed them. A different rattling followed from behind. A thin tree with roots along the edge of the crevice exploded with a pop right by Shuya's head.

"Run!" Shogo shouted, and they ran down the crevice. Shuya almost tripped over a dry branch lying on the ground, but he managed to regain his footing and followed after Noriko. Behind them, the two guns exchanged shots.

Suddenly Noriko stopped as if she were hit by something. She moaned and crouched over. Shuya, who was turned towards Shogo, quickly ran to Noriko. Did she trip over something?

No. She looked up at Shuya. A cut ran under her left eye and blood gushed down her cheek. Maybe her right hand was cut too then. It was also bloody. The Browning that had been in her hand was on the ground by her feet.

Shuya put his right hand on her shoulder, looked up, and found…a thin, twisted wire stretched out across the crevice, neck-high. It didn't matter where Kazuo had found it (he'd probably unfastened the wire used to secure some object). Kazuo had already anticipated their escape by this route. At Shuya's height the wire would have cut right into his neck. At least this didn't happen to Noriko—but she could have lost her sight.

Shuya was furious. I don't know what Kazuo's about. Shogo had said, "He just chooses as he goes." I don't know if he's abnormal or normal, or a kind of genius or madman, but hurting Noriko, that was just unforgivable. I'm going to kill that motherfucker!

He tucked his CZ75 in front to help Noriko up, picked up the Browning, and then held Noriko's shoulder with the gun in his hand. Noriko staggered but managed to get up.

Shogo caught up as he fired away. He glanced back at the two of them and then—maybe he caught a glance of the wire—clenched his teeth. As he turned around again, Shuya saw beyond him Kazuo Kiriyama in his school coat jump into the crevice.

Shogo yelled, "Duck!" as he fired away. Holding his machine gun, Kazuo quickly ducked behind a curve in the crevice. Shogo's shots tore at the rock along the curve. Dust flew up.

"Run!" Shogo repeated. Shuya held Noriko up and proceeded to run under the wire. He slowed down though, in case of any more wire traps.

Shuya was frustrated. If he could only use both of his arms he could pummel Kazuo with bullets while he held Noriko.

Shogo continued firing away as he stuck close to them from behind. Kazuo also returned gunfire as he approached them.

The crevice that continued for fifty or sixty meters came to an end. Shuya leaped up to the ground before Noriko. He took Noriko's uninjured left hand and pulled her up. Noriko bravely stiffened her face to conceal her pain, but the left half of her face was now covered with blood.

"Don't stop!" Shogo yelled over the gunfire. Shuya pulled Noriko's hand and dashed into the bushes ahead.

Once they came out of the bushes, they found themselves in the front yard of a residential house built against the side of the mountain. It was an old single-story building. There was a white light truck right next to an entrance road in front of the house. For some reason there was a washer and refrigerator, both on their sides, loaded in the light truck. Were they being dumped?

"Get behind the truck!" Shogo's shouted again. Shuya and Noriko stepped onto the rain-drenched soil.

Holding each others hands, they made their way behind the truck.

By the time Shogo followed and slid in, Shuya had Noriko sit down, the Browning in his hand. He caught a glimpse of a figure moving in the shrubs. He shot several times at it. He felt a searing pain through his left shoulder, from the bullet lodged inside it. The pain sizzled, but he had to ignore it.

Shogo reloaded a magazine into his Uzi and handed it over to Shuya. He said, "Shoot away. Hold him back."

Shuya put his Browning down by his feet, took the Uzi, and fired away at the area where Kazuo appeared again.

Kazuo didn't shoot back. As Shuya peeked above the pickup truck rack, Noriko planted herself right next to him. In her hands was the Browning he had put down.

"Are you all right, Noriko?" he asked as he checked for Kazuo's movements in the shrubs.

"I'm okay," Noriko replied.

Shuya glanced beyond Noriko over at Shogo. Shogo opened the door, dove into the driver's seat, and started working on something.

With the sudden revving sound, the truck Shuya and Noriko were leaning against began to vibrate. The revving became a low hum as the water drops on the truck body began trickling with the soft vibration.

Shogo poked his head out. "Come on! We're getting out of here! Noriko, hurry!"

Shogo offered her his hand and helped her into the truck. "Shuya! The front passenger's seat!"

Shogo shouted as he started backing up the truck. He steered the wheel, backed the truck towards Kazuo, and then turned it around. The passenger's seat door was there for Shuya. Noriko opened the door.

The rattling exploded as Shuya reached out his right hand to get in. This time though, it was accompanied by a hammering sound. A hole formed in front in the trucks narrow cabin ceiling and the exiting bullet tore through the windshield from inside right in front of Shogo. Shuya leaned against the truck—he knew where Kazuo was now—pointed the Uzi upward and fired away. The shadow slipped away into the bushes surrounding the houses up in the side of the mountain. Kazuo had made his way up there.

Without a second to lose, Shuya leaped into the passenger's seat. Shogo pulled the car out. The truck slid out onto the unpaved entrance road. The machine gun rattled, shredding the hose of the washer on the rack. It thrashed in the air like a snake, fell off the car, and vanished behind them.

The gunfire ceased.

"Are you all right, Noriko?" Shuya asked.

In between Shuya and Shogo, Noriko tilted her face, covered in red, and nodded. "Yes." But her body was still tense. She still held onto the Browning. Shuya put the Uzi in his right hand between his thighs, pulled out a bandanna from his pocket, and wiped her face. Blood came pouring out of the wound, and her pink flesh showed underneath. A simple operation wasn't enough to remove the scar from this wound. To do this to a girl…

"Damn it," Shuya looked over at Shogo, who steered the wheel. "He already knew where we were a while ago. That's how he knew about our escape route."

But Shogo shook his head, saying, "No." As he quickly shifted gears to weave his way through the winding road, he said, "He couldn't have known for sure. He only figured it out at the very end.

Otherwise, he would have shown up before Sakamochi's announcement. We would have come out welcoming him, thinking it was Hiroki, and then he would have easily finished us off. He didn't know where we were, so during the breaks between the bird calls he planted that wire to bide his time. He probably planted that wire in other spots too."

Shuya then thought, I see. That might have been true. To bide his time. But that was what ended up severely injuring Noriko. He said, "Noriko, show me your right hand."

Noriko then finally let go of her gun (its grip was also covered in blood) and gave Shuya her hand. It seemed small and frail, but there was a sharp tear running down between her middle and ring finger. The palm of her hand was covered with a web of blood in the pattern of the textured pistol grip. He surmised, the wire must have cut her face first and then as she fell, it must have torn through her hand she put forward as she fell. The wound might have been much more severe if the gun hadn't been in her hand.

Shuya wanted to wrap a bandanna, but realized he couldn't use his left hand.

Noriko said, "I'm okay. I'll do it." She took the bandanna from Shuya, flapped it, and spread it out, and then wrapped it around her right hand. She folded the edges and tied it up.

Then she held the Browning again.

Beyond the bullet-ridden front windshield the view suddenly opened up. The truck was descending the mountain. Under the sunset, the flat field widened between the mountainous woods.

Shuya realized something urgent and said, "Shogo. We're heading into a forbidden zone—"

"Don't worry. I know what I'm doing." Shogo answered as he looked ahead. "Did you hear? The forbidden zones are B=9 after 7 p.m., E=10 after 9 p.m., and F=4 after 11 p.m. Add those to the map."

Shuya remembered too. He pulled out the worn out map from his pocket, spread it out on his thighs, and marked off the areas while the truck shook.

The truck descended and passed by houses. It entered a road equally wide, but paved this time. The southern mountain was visible beyond the row of fields. On the right was a low hill. On the left approximately two hundred meters away was a residential house (it seemed to be in a forbidden zone).

There were two more ahead slightly to its left. And then beyond were scattered houses leading up to the residential area on the island's eastern shore. In front of that region there was the field, now hidden in the shade of the low hill, where they first encountered Kazuo . One more hill over was the school, which was also hidden from view.

Shogo slowed the truck down and continued forward. And now the wide longitudinal road crossing the island was right there in front of them.

They passed through the fields and came onto the road. Shogo turned the wheel and turned it again. He stopped the truck in the middle of the road, its engine idling. Shogo then lunged at the cracked front windshield with his fist and knocked the entire window out onto the front of the truck. The glass made a shattering sound.

"Check the map," Shogo said, his hand back on the steering wheel. Shuya picked up the map again.

"According to my memory we should still be able to take this road all the way east. Am I right?"

Shuya checked the map with Noriko. "Yeah, that's right. But F=4 ahead is going to be shut off at 11

p.m."

"That won't matter," Shogo said, his eyes glaring ahead. The black, rain-drenched asphalt stretched out in a straight line. "So this road should be okay right up to the eastern residential area?"

"That's right. We're fine up to the front of the curve."

Shogo nodded in response.

Shuya poked his head out of the window again and looked back. "What about Kazuo?"

Shogo looked at Shuya. "He'll be coming. How could he not? Take a close—" he said when an old, worn out, light-olive minivan suddenly appeared after turning the curve of the mountain road they'd just descended. Shuya immediately realized it was the vehicle parked by the house they had just passed by.

Shogo adjusted the rearview mirror, looked at it, and said, "See?"

It quickly closed in on them, and the moment Shuya confirmed Kazuo was sitting in the driver's seat, a burst of shots came exploding out. Shuya tucked his head back in. The bullets hit the truck with a clanging sound. Shogo shifted gears, and the truck moved out onto the wide road, heading east.

As Shuya leaned out of the window looking back, Kazuo's minivan also got on the same road. Shuya fired his Uzi. Following Kazuo's reflexes, the minivan smoothly moved to the right and dodged the shots.

"Aim good, Shuya."

By then Kazuo's minivan had sped up and caught up to them.

"Shogo! Can't you drive faster!?"

"Calm down," Shogo said and steered the wheel slowly from left to right—probably so Kazuo couldn't aim at the tires. Kazuo began shooting again, and Shuya tucked his head in. It seemed Kazuo had also smashed his windshield so he could have better control of his gun. Shuya leaned out again and fired away at Kazuo's torso. Kazuo steered away and dodged the gunfire. He hardly ducked.