Battle Royale (29 page)

Oh shit, Takako thought in her dream, how awful. I've only lived fifteen years. Hey Ayako, look after Mom and Dad, okay? You're so spoiled, so learn from your older sister a little, huh?

Then she saw Kahoru Kitazawa. Her one really close friend, the petite girl she'd been buddies with for seven years now.

Time to say goodbye to you too, Kahoru. That's right. You were the one who said that nothing, not even hell, could scare you as long as you gave it your best shot. That's right, I'm not afraid. But…it's still kinda hard, dying alone like this....

Then Kahoru seemed to be shouting. But she couldn't hear her well. It sounded like, "What about him?"

Him?

Then the scene changed to her track team locker room. She knew it was the summer of her second year because this room had been torn down last fall, replaced by a new clubhouse.

Hey, this is no dream. This actually happened. This…

An older teammate. His buzz-cut hair stood up in front, and he wore a white T-shirt with the words

"FUCK OFF!" on it and green track shorts with black lines. Playful but gentle-looking eyes. He was the guy she had a crush on. He was good at running hurdles. Now he was concentrating on taping up his knee which he'd injured a while ago. There was no one else besides them. Takako said, "You have a beautiful girlfriend. You two make a great couple."

Ah well, when it comes to him, I turn into an average girl. How lame.

"Yeah?" he lifted his face and smiled. "You're prettier than her."

Takako smiled, but felt a little odd. She was happy to hear him praise her looks for the first time…but the fact he could tell another girl she was prettier also indicated how strong his relationship with his girlfriend was.

"Don't you have a boyfriend, Takako?" he asked, smiling.

The scene changed again.

She was at the park, but everything appeared very low.

Oh, this must be from my childhood. I must have been in the second or third grade.

Hiroki Sugimura was crying in front of her. He wasn't tall the way he was now. In fact back then Takako was taller. A bully had taken away his brand new comic book.

"Come on, boys don't cry. Don't be such a wuss. Be strong. Come on. Our dog just had puppies. You wanna see them?"

"Okay…" Hiroki wiped his tears and tagged along.

Come to think of it, Hiroki started martial arts school the year after that. He also went through a growth spurt around then and eventually ended up taller than her.

Up until the end of elementary school they often visited each other. Once, when she seemed preoccupied, Hiroki asked her, "What's wrong, Takako? Something wrong?"

Takako thought about it and then said what was on her mind. "Hey, Hiroki, what would you do if someone said they liked you?"

"Hmm. I don't know, since it's never happened to me."

"…don't you have a crush on someone?"

"Hmm. Nope. Not at this moment."

Takako then thought, so I'm not even in the running?

Whatever. She continued, "Oh, really. Well you should find someone you can confess to."

"I'm too chicken. I don't think so."

The scene changed. Junior high school again. They became classmates in their second year. They were talking on the first day of class. At some point, Hiroki asked, "So I heard there's this supposedly hot guy on the track team." Although he didn't directly say it, he was implying she had a crush on him.

"Who told you?"

"Just heard. So how's it going?"

"No hope. He has a girlfriend. What about you? You still don't have a girlfriend?"

"Leave me alone."

…we were always on the verge of being close. We both had a thing for each other but…or am I just imagining things? At least I liked you. I mean, it was different from how I felt about my track teammate.

You know what I mean?

Hiroki's face appeared. He was crying.

"Takako. Don't die."

Come on guy, be a man. Boys don't cry. You might be bigger now, but you haven't made much progress.

Was it by the grace of God? Takako came to her senses once more. She opened her
eyes
.

Hiroki Sugimura was looking down at her in the soft afternoon light. Beyond Hiroki she saw the treetops, and in between them fragments of the blue sky formed complex patterns like those in a Rorschach Test.

The first thing she realized was that Hiroki wasn't crying.

Then she started wondering, "How did you…"

As she tried to form words with her mouth, she felt as if she were forcing open a rusty door. She realized she didn't have too long to live.

"…get here?"

All Hiroki said was, "I managed." He knelt down beside her and gently lifted up her head. She'd fallen face forward, but now for some reason she was facing up. The palm of her left hand (her left hand…no, the entire left side of her body was numb now, so she couldn't feel anything…it might have been from Kazushi Nüda's blow to the side of her head) felt the sensation of weeds underneath—had he carried her here?

Hiroki then asked quietly, "Who got you?"

That's right. It was important information.

"Mitsuko," Takako answered. She didn't give a damn about Kazushi Nüda anymore. "Be careful."

Hiroki nodded. Then he said, "I'm sorry."

Takako didn't understand. She stared at Hiroki.

"I was hiding outside the school…waiting for you." Hiroki said and then tightened his lips as if holding something back.

"But…then Yoshio came back. I…I got distracted for a split second. Then…you know how you ran at full speed…1 lost you. I ran in your direction, calling after you, but…you were too far off by then."

Oh no, Takako thought. So it was true. After she ran away from the school into the woods she thought she'd heard a distant voice. But she was so frantic she thought it was just her imagination—and if it wasn't, then it meant there was someone—so she continued running at full speed.

Oh—

Hiroki had waited for her. Just as she'd suspected, he'd been waiting for her, risking his life. And when he said, "I managed," he probably meant that he'd been looking for her all this time.

The thought made her want to cry.

Instead she did her best to form a smile on her face.

"Really? Thanks."

Takako knew that she couldn't talk much anymore. She tried to come up with the best thing to say, but then an odd question occurred to her and she blurted it out, "Do you have a crush on someone?"

Hiroki's brows moved and then he gently said, "I do."

"Don't say it's me."

Still looking sad, Hiroki faintly smiled.

"No, its not."

"Well then…"

Takako took a deep breath. She felt as if poison were spreading through her body which strangely felt both chilly and at the same time incredibly hot. "Could you just…hold me tight? It'll be…over soon."

Hiroki tightened his lips and raised her up, hugging her tightly to his body with both his arms. Her head was on the verge of falling back but Hiroki held it up.

She felt like she could say one more thing.

"You have to survive, Hiroki."

Dear God, can I have one more word?

Takako looked into Hiroki's eyes and grinned.

"You've become quite a stud."

Hiroki said, "And…you're the most stylin' girl in the world."

Takako smiled faintly. She wanted to thank him, but she was out of breath. She just stared at Hiroki's eyes. She was grateful. At least she wasn't going to die alone. The last person to stay with her ended up being Hiroki. And she was grateful. She really was.

Kahoru…thanks, I heard you.

Takako Chigusa remained in this position as she died approximately two minutes later. Her eyes remained open. Hiroki Sugimura held her limp, lifeless body and wept.

23 students remaining

40

"Get down," Shogo said. He carefully surveyed the area while holding on to his shotgun.

Carrying Noriko on his back, Shuya obeyed Shogo. The area was shaded by a large elm tree. They must have covered two-thirds the distance to the medical facility by now. They should be in the vicinity of sector F=6 or F=7. If they were headed in the right direction (Shogo was leading them, so they couldn't be far off), the school building should soon appear below them to their right.

Moving along the shore, they first passed through C=4. Then they moved east along the foot of the northern mountain. Moving in broad daylight did turn out to be difficult. They would move a little, quiet down their breathing, and when they had to get through thick vegetation Shogo would throw several pebbles ahead to make sure no one was there. It'd already taken them half an hour just to get this far.

Noriko continued to breathe heavily.

Shuya tilted his head back the way mothers do with their infants and told her, "We're almost there, Noriko."

"Uh huh…" she answered.

"All right, let's go," Shogo said. "We're going for that tree over there."

"Got it."

Shuya got up and proceeded through the soft, grassy soil that must have been a farm field. Shogo was right next to them, holding their belongings with his left hand and his shotgun in his right, indicating directions with the motion of his head. The muzzle of the shotgun would point in the same direction as his head.

They reached a thin tree and stopped. Shuya took a deep breath.

"Are you all right, Shuya?"

Shuya gave him a smile. "Noriko's light."

"We can take a break."

"No," Shuya shook his head. "I want to get there as soon as possible."

"All right," Shogo said, but Shuya felt uncertain. Maybe he was being an idiot. He was always jumping to wrong conclusions, failing to check the important details.

"Shogo."

"What?"

"Does that mark on the map really indicate a clinic?"

Shogo snickered. "I believe you were the one who claimed it was."

"No, that was—"

Shuya was embarrassed, but Shogo immediately said,

"Don't worry, it is. I checked it."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I walked around the island last night until I met you guys. I should have had the foresight to take some more medicine. I didn't think I'd need it."

Shuya let out a sigh of relief. Then he reproached himself. He had to get his act together. Otherwise, he'd end up not only getting himself killed but Noriko as well.

Even as they talked, Shogo was searching for their next spot.

"All right—"

Then they heard the gunfire. Shogo froze. He nervously crouched down and surveyed the area. So…had Shuya been too optimistic, hoping they could reach the medical facility without any obstacles?

But there was no one in sight.

Shuya looked over at Shogo, who stretched out his left arm as if to shield them and looked ahead toward their left, where they were headed. There was a gentle slope leading up to rows of tall pine trees approximately ten meters away, cutting off their view. Did he mean they were going through there?

Shuya finally let out the breath he'd been holding.

"It's all right," Shogo said in a hushed voice. "We're not the targets."

Shuya decided against pulling out his gun and, still carrying Noriko, said, "It's close."

Shogo nodded silently. Then the gunfire continued. Two, then three shots. The third one somehow seemed louder than the first two shots. Then another shot. It was a smaller sound.

"A gun fight," Shogo mumbled. "They're pretty pumped up."

Now that he knew they were safe, Shuya felt relieved, but he kept on biting his lip.

Whoever they were, his classmates were trying to kill each other again. In fact, it was happening right near them. And he was just trying to stay quiet, waiting for it to end. That was just…

The image of the men in black crossed his mind. Now then, you're next, and you. Fortunately, Mr.

Nanahara, your time still hasn't come.

His back facing him, Shogo said, as if he could read Shuya's thoughts (didn't he say something silly about reading his mind on a clear day?), "I hope you're not thinking of stopping them, Shuya."

Shuya held his breath and then mumbled, "No…" That's right. His priority was to take Noriko to the medical facility. If they got mixed up with someone else's fight they'd end up risking their own lives.

Then Noriko suddenly said from behind, "Shuya." Her fever was so high, he could even feel it through his back. She was practically whispering.

Shuya turned his head around. He saw Noriko's eyes squinting right behind his shoulder.

"Let me…stand…" she finally uttered and continued, "We have to see…make sure…whoever it is…"

Her words were cut off by her heavy breathing, but he knew what she was getting at. What if someone who didn't want to participate, in other words, someone innocent, was about to get killed right now? In fact that could be the case with both parties exchanging bullets right now.

The area they were in was a direct southward descent from the northern peak where Yukiko Kitano and Yumiko Kusaka were killed. But they weren't hearing a machine gun now. Therefore, neither of the fighting parties right now had killed Yukiko and Yumiko. But what if…Yukiko and Yumiko's killer heard this gunfire? He could show up at any moment.

More gunfire was exchanged. And then silence again.

Shuya clenched his teeth. He quickly let Noriko down. He had her rest against the tree trunk where they were hiding.

Shogo turned around. "Hey, you're not…"

Shuya ignored him and said to Noriko, "I'll go check it out." He pulled out his Smith & Wesson and said to Shogo, "Look after Noriko."

"H-hey…"

He heard Shogo, but he was already on his way.

He climbed the slope carefully, keeping an eye on all sides, and made his way through the coniferous trees.

There was thick vegetation beyond the trees. Shuya made his way into it. He got down on the ground and proceeded to make his way through the long, sharp needles pricking at him from both sides.

More gunshots. Shuya finally reached the edge of the grove and slowly poked his head out.

There was a house. It was an old wooden, single-story building with a triangular roof. A typical farmhouse. On his left was an unpaved entrance road. The mountain escarpment surrounded the property further down. The area above was covered in deep forest. And even further up, you could see the viewing platform on the northern mountain where Yumiko and Yukiko had been killed.