73 - 4 students remaining

14 students remaining

62

"Hey," Yuko called over to Yukie. Yukie, who was speaking to Satomi and Chisato, looked over at her.

Yuko continued, "Maybe we should bring Shuya his meal first?"

Yukie beamed a smile at her. "That's a good idea. Let's do that."

Yuko then added very casually, "The stew looks ready, so how about I start serving it up?"

She held the dish. The dish.

"Sure—oh that's right," Yukie said as if she suddenly remembered. "You know, there's a medicine kit in the desk drawer over there. I think it has some painkillers. I should bring Shuya some painkillers with his meal."

"…sure." Yuko then let go of the dish. It clicked against the sink. "Okay. Hold on."

The writing desk, equipped with a computer and phone, was across from the sink, in the corner of the room. Yuko made her way around the table to get there.

Clanging footsteps descended the steel stairs. Haruka and Yuka Nakagawa entered the room. Yuka Nakagawa had a short-barreled gun resembling an expanded automatic gun with an extended stock slung over her shoulder. (It was an Uzi 9mm submachine gun. It was Satomi Noda's supplied weapon, but because it seemed like the most powerful weapon they had, whoever keeping watch held onto it.)

"I heard Shuya's up!" Yuka said in her usual cheerful voice, placing the Uzi on the table. A little chubby and, thanks to her tennis team practice in the outdoor courts, tan, Yuka somehow managed to stay cheerful even in these dire circumstances.

"Yes." Yukie nodded happily.

"Well, you must be relieved, Representative," Yuka teased her.

Yukie blushed a little. "What are you saying?"

"Oh, come on. You're beaming."

Yukie frowned and then shook her head. Suddenly realizing something, Yuka looked over at Chisato and fell silent. Chisato had lost Shinji Mimura, the boy she loved, and now she stared down at the floor.

Yuko hardly paid attention to this exchange as she took the wooden medical kit she found in the desk drawer. She placed it on the desk and opened it up. It was stuffed with various kinds of medical supplies, gauze, poultices. The only things missing were the bandages, since they were almost entirely used up to treat Shuya Nanahara.

Painkillers… which one were the painkillers? Of course, it didn't matter. It didn't matter because…

"Wow, it smells great," she heard Yuka say, trying to change the mood. But she hardly paid noticed to that either.

Painkillers… ah, here we go. Right here. For headaches, menstrual cramps, toothaches…oh…come to think of it, my stomach's been aching. I'll take some later. After things settle down a little. That's right, once things calm down.

"So what is it?" Satomi asked Yukie in her slightly husky voice.

"That's right. What is it?" Haruka asked.

"Oh, right. Let's see, where do I begin?" Yukie said.

It was only when Yuka said, "Let's have a taste then," that Yuko suddenly looked up.

She turned around…and saw Yuka lift the dish and put it against her mouth. She should have used the ladle if she wanted a taste. Instead she had to put her mouth against that dish, the one she'd sprinkled with the half-transparent powder.

Yuko turned pale. She was about to raise her voice…but it happened too fast.

Yuka dropped the dish and the stew splashed against the floor with a crashing sound. Everyone looked over at her.

Yuka held onto her throat and coughed out the stew she had just swallowed. Then she coughed more violently onto the white table. Now the substance was bright red. The red splattered out in a circle against the white table and resembled the national flag of the Republic of Greater East Asia. And then she crashed onto the floor covered with stew.

"Yuka!"

Everyone — besides Yuko, who was speechless — cried out and ran to Yuka.

Yuka balled up on her side and coughed up blood again. Her tan face became more and more pale. Red foam spilled out the side of her mouth.

"Yuka! Yuka! What happened!?"

Yukie shook her body, but the dark-red foam only continued to spill out the side of her mouth. Her eyes were open as wide as possible, as if on the verge of popping out, but now even the whites of her eyes were turning red. For some reason—inflammation or broken capillaries—dark-red and black spots began appearing all over her blue face, transforming it into the mask of some grotesque monster.

But besides this, there was something else that was indisputable. It was obvious.

Yuka had stopped breathing.

Everyone fell silent. Yukie's trembling hand touched Yuka's throat. She said, "She's dead…"

Behind Yukie, who crouched down beside Yuka and Haruka, Yuko stood still, her face completely pale.

She was shaking. (Of course it was very possible the other four were also in the same state.) Oh, how could… how could this… this is all a mistake… mistake… how could… you only had a mouthful…how could it be this strong…I didn't…this is a mistake… I killed her… by mistake… it was a mistake… I didn't mean to…1 wanted to get rid of—

"It couldn't have been from food poisoning…could it?" Yukie continued, her voice trembling.

Chisato responded, "I… just tasted it. Nothing happened… this… this… could this be…"

Haruka followed up, "…poison?"

That sparked it off. Everyone (to be more accurate, it was everyone besides Yuko, but the other four didn't realize this) looked at each other.

There was a thump. Satomi Noda had grabbed the Uzi and was now aiming it at the others. The other four, including Yuko, reflexively moved to the side or backed away from Yuka's corpse.

Satomi screamed. Her eyes behind her glasses were wide open with fear. "Who!? Who did it!? Who poisoned this stew! Who's the one trying to kill us!?"

"Stop it!" Yukie yelled.

Yuko saw her hand reach for the gun (Browning High Power 9mm. This was Yukie's supplied weapon and because she was the team leader she held onto it) tucked in the back of her skirt. Yukie was about to move forward but stopped and stepped back. "Put your gun down. That can't be."

"Oh yes it can," Satomi shook her head. Satomi who always seemed so calm had completely lost control.

"The last announcement said there were only fourteen of us left. It's getting down to the wire. So our enemy's finally rearing its ugly head." Then she looked over at Haruka and said, "You were the one cooking."

Haruka shook her head violently. "I wasn't the only one. Chisato also…"

"That's horrible," Chisato said. "I would never do such a horrible thing! Besides…" She seemed to hesitate, but then she said, "Satomi and Yuko also had plenty of chances to poison the food."

"…that's right," Haruka turned back to Satomi, then hissed at her, "Aren't you getting a little too upset?"

"Haruka!" Yukie stopped her, but it was too late. Satomi was now completely upset.

"What was that?"

"That's right," Haruka continued, "First of all, you've hardly slept. I know. When I got up in the middle of the night, you were up. Doesn't that mean you don't trust us? That's proof, right there!"

"Please, stop it, Haruka!" Yukie pleaded. She was nearly shrieking now. "Satomi! Put down the gun!"

"Oh, please." Satomi pointed the Uzi at Yukie now. "Stop pretending you're the leader. So this is the act you put on after your plan to poison everyone goes awry? Is that it?"

"Satomi…" Yukie said desperately.

Yuko raised her hand up to her mouth and stepped back in a daze. Her body was numb from the sudden turn of events. But…she had to say it, she had to explain the truth…or else this…something terrible was going to happen.

Suddenly, Chisato moved…to the side table against the wall on the right side of the sink. There was the remaining gun—a Czechoslovakian CZ75. (It was in fact Yuka's weapon.) The rattling sound echoed through the room. Chisato was shot in the back three times as she crashed against the side table, slid down, clutched onto its edge, and fell face forward onto the floor. There was no need to check___She was dead.

"Satomi! What are you doing!?" Yukie's eyes opened wide as she screamed. Her voice was breaking.

"Oh, please." Satomi held her smoking Uzi and glared at Yukie. "She went for the gun. Because she was guilty."

"So did you though!" Haruka screamed. "Yukie! Shoot Satomi!"

With a clicking sound, Satomi pointed the Uzi at Haruka. Her face darkened. She seemed ready to shoot Haruka at any moment.

Yukie looked anguished. At that moment she had her hand on the Browning in the back of her skirt.

After hesitating, she must have…intended to shoot Satomi's arm or some other part of her body.

Satomi then quickly shifted the Uzi and fired…at Yukie.

Yukie was blown back with the rattling sound. Blood burst out of the holes in her chest and she fell backwards.

Haruka stood still for only a moment and then made a dash for the Browning Yukie had dropped.

Satomi's Uzi followed her body and burst out, blowing off Haruka's side along with the fabric of her uniform. Her body slid against the floor.

The table was in between them now. Satomi pointed the Uzi at Yuko. She said, "What about you?…You're different, right?"

Yuko could only tremble. As she trembled, her eyes were fixed on Satomi's face.

There was a pop. There was a hole on the left side of Satomi's forehead. She opened her mouth…and looked down at her left hand. Blood burst out of the hole in her forehead, splashing against the inside of her glasses. Then it continued to drip downward.

Yuko's neck moved stiffly like some gadget as she followed Satomi's eyes and found Haruka, her torso raised in pain from her fallen position, somehow still holding the Browning.

Satomi's Uzi burst out. It wasn't clear whether she pulled the trigger intentionally or whether it was from her nerves twitching. Rows of bullets tore along the floor and pierced Haruka's body which got tossed over and back. A bloody mist burst upward, nearly tearing off Haruka's neck above her metal collar.

Satomi's body fell forward slowly and landed with a thud over Yuka Nakagawa's corpse. She remained absolutely still.

Completely alone in the room, Yuko just kept on trembling. Her body was stiff as a rock. With the look of a child wandering into a freakish museum exhibition, she gazed at the floor covered with the corpses of five of her classmates.

9 students remaining

63

When he heard the shattering sound, Shuya just thought, oh, one of those clumsy girls must have dropped a dish, but when the sound was followed by an argument, he got up from his bed.

He felt a sharp pain run through the left side of his stomach and his shoulder blade. Shuya groaned, but using his right arm he managed to get out of the bed and stepped onto the floor with his bare feet. He was only wearing his school uniform pants. The heated argument continued. He thought he heard Yukie shouting.

Shuya walked over to the door and put his hand on the doorknob. The knob turned and as he pushed…the door seemed blocked. Through the one-centimeter gap he could see a wooden plank diagonally set against the door. As Yukie had warned him, they had constructed a makeshift bolt lock.

Shuya grabbed the doorknob and shook it vigorously several times, but the door wouldn't budge. He poked his fingers through the gap, but the plank, set against the door, refused to move.

On the verge of giving up, he took a deep breath when he heard the all-too-familiar rattling sound through the gap. There were several screams.

Shuya turned pale. Were they being attacked…but if that was…in any case, something was wrong!

Shuya managed to keep his injured body from tottering over. He raised his right foot and kicked the door with the heel of his bare foot, using the front kick technique he'd learned from Hiroki. But the door easily spurned his kick, throwing him off balance. He fell back onto the floor and felt a searing pain go up his side. He also realized he needed to pee, but that would have to wait.

BRRATTA. More rattling. And then more BRRATTA.

Shuya turned back to the bed, stood up, and lifted the edge of the bed that was made of steel pipes with his right hand. The bed landed on its side with a thud and the blanket and sheets slid off.

Shuya dragged the bed, pressed one end against the door, and went around to the other end. He then shoved it against the door with all his might. The door made a cracking sound. One more shove.

Bang. Gunfire. This time, one shot.

The bed pummeled into the wooden door. The door bent in half with a crack and opened into the hall.

Shuya yanked the bed from the front of the door with his right hand and let it fall against the floor.

The typewriter-like rattling gunfire was now clearly audible through the open door.

Shuya came out into the hall. The shades were drawn on the windows that had been nailed shut with wooden planks so the unlit hall was dim. The entrance was on his left. There were three doors down the hall on his right. The far door was slightly ajar, and light leaked into the hall, forming what looked like a cold puddle of light.

Shuya picked up one of the longer pieces of broken planks in front of the door, approximately one meter long. He dragged his aching body down the hall. It was completely quiet now. What the hell happened?

Did someone attack, or…

Shuya cautiously approached the door. He peeked through the gap and saw the room with kitchen equipment where Yukie Utsumi and Haruka Tanizawa were sprawled out by the center table. Beyond them was Yuka Nakagawa (what's up with that face!). Chisato Matsui was against the wall on the right.

Someone was lying face down in the shadow of the table. That someone had to be Satomi Noda, because the relatively thin body standing still with her back towards him and silky, straight, shoulder-length hair belonged to—unless Shuya was mistaken—Yuko Sakaki.

There were several guns scattered around the collapsed bodies of Yukie's group. He was assaulted by the stench of blood splattered across the floor.

Shuya froze in shock. That overwhelming numbness was identical to the way he felt when he saw Mayumi Tendo's body right in front of the school.

What happened? How could this have happened? Yukie who had just said to him, "You might want to listen to the girl who's in love with you," was lying over there. Four others had fallen too. Were they dead? Did they die?

Yuko, her back facing Shuya, didn't have a gun. She was just standing still like a Venusian suddenly dropped onto Pluto.

Shuya was in a daze as he slowly clutched the doorknob, opened the door, and stepped into the room.

Yuko turn around. She gazed at Shuya with bloodshot eyes, but then went for the gun lying on the floor between Yukie and Haruka.

Shuya also came out of his daze. He tossed the plank he'd been holding with his uninjured arm the way he'd pitch a perfect fastball in Little League. (He wasn't sure anymore whether such a game existed on earth. It seemed to take place on a distant planet in the remote Andromeda Galaxy where the inhabitants played this game using three arms out of five, although the use of one's tail was permitted in the final inning.)

His body suddenly ached all over, and he grimaced. The plank hit the floor right in front of Yuko and bounced up. Yuko stopped as she shielded her face with her hand and fell back onto the bloody floor.

Shuya dashed for the gun. He knew that in this chaos Yuko holding a gun would only make matters worse.

Yuko shrieked and retreated. She got up, turned around, and ran to the other side of the room. She passed by the table and disappeared through an open door further down. There was a metallic clang.

Were they…stairs?

Shuya gazed over there for a moment after she disappeared. But then he dashed over to Yukie and knelt down beside her.

He could tell her chest was ridden with holes. The blood was oozing out under her body already, and her eyes were shut peacefully as if she were sleeping. Her mouth was barely open—

She wasn't breathing anymore.

"Ahh," Shuya cried. He reached out his uninjured right hand to her peaceful face. He felt tears welling up for the first time ever since the game began. Was it because they'd just talked minutes ago? Or was it because of what she'd said:

"I just wouldn't know what to do if you died....Do you understand what I'm saying? Do you?"

Her tearful but relieved face. Her melancholic face. And now her oddly peaceful face right beside him.

He looked around. There was no need to check. Yuka Nakagawa's face had changed color. A bloody foam dripped from her mouth. Satomi Noda lay face down, a puddle of blood under her head. Chisato Matsui's back was covered with bullet holes, and Haruka Tanizawa…her neck was nearly torn off.

How could…how could this be…

Shuya looked back at Yukie. His nearly paralyzed left arm supported his right arm so he could hold her up. It might have been a meaningless gesture. But Shuya had to do it.

As he held her body, he heard the blood dripping onto the floor from the holes in her chest. Her head hung back and her braided hair touched his arm.

"Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Shuya burst into tears as they fell onto her uniform.

"Ungh," Shuya bit his lip and gently let her down onto the floor. He picked up the Browning Yuko had attempted to grab. He walked to the door at the far end of the room where Yuko had gone. His body felt incredibly heavy. It wasn't just because he was injured. He wiped his eyes with his bare right arm, which was also holding the Browning.

He entered. It was a cylindrical space made of bare concrete. The tower. This was the lighthouse. There was a thick steel column in the center and a spiral steel staircase winding around it. There were no windows, only a sliver of light from above.

"Yuko!" Shuya yelled. He began climbing the stairs as he yelled, "What happened, Yuko!?"

Yuko wasn't there at the top of the stairs. But…he heard the sound of her scream "AIEEE" echo through the cylindrical space of the tower. Shuya knit his brows…and began quickly climbing the stairs. The wound in his side began to ache. He thought he might be bleeding because his bandages now felt damp.

9 students remaining

64

Yuko Sakaki ran out of breath as she climbed up the stairs to the top of the lighthouse. The Cyclops-like Fresnel lens was at the center of the landing, and there was enough space to move around it. She saw the cloudy sky beyond the windproof windows of the lantern room. On her left was a low door that led to a narrow balcony, and frantically she opened it. She was outside now.

Maybe it was the height, but the wind was stronger than she'd expected. She caught a strong whiff of the sea breeze.

The ocean was right there in front of her. Reflecting the cloudy sky, the sea was dull indigo, and the white waves were woven into it like some fabric. Yuko edged over to the right. The northern mountain was right in front of her. There was a small, open lot in front of the lighthouse building. On her left an unpaved road stretched out around the foot of the mountain, and there was a white light truck right by a barely functional gate in front of the road.

Yuko held onto the steel handrailing around the balcony. The room she was inside only moments ago was down below. She saw the roof of the single-story building annex. Following the railing, she continued circling the lantern room, but didn't find what she thought she would—a steel ladder. Yuko never had the chance to keep watch so she didn't know the exterior of the lighthouse. There was no way out. She was standing, facing the sky. She was trapped now. Realizing this, she was about to panic, but she clenched her teeth and held herself together. If there was no ladder… then she'd have to jump.

She was panting. She ended up returning to her previous position. She looked down again.

It was high. It wasn't as bad as leaping to the ground, but it was still high. In fact, it might have been impossible to jump at this height, but before she could make a rational choice the image flashed across her mind again. This time it was her head, alone, split open. Blood spraying up. Shuya's face covered with its blood. She had to escape. No matter what. She just had to escape. She had no time to lose.

Yuko crouched down and slid between the haphazardly installed steel fence. Its bars were widely spaced. She got through. Holding onto the railing from outside, she cautiously stood on the edge of the balcony barely ten centimeters wide, but…

…the view below her feet made her dizzy. It was way too high…jumping down was out of the question…it was just way too high…

Her view suddenly shook. Her feet slipped. The side of her shin hit the concrete edge of the balcony (she felt her skin scraping off), and Yuko's body flew out into the sky. "AIEEE," Yuko shrieked.

Simultaneously, her hands groped around and managed to grab a thin steel bar from the steel fence.

Yuko's body hung from the edge of the balcony.

Holding onto the railing, Yuko was panting. She nearly…nearly died.

However, she took a deep breath and put all her might into her hands. First, that's right, first she had to lift her body up and get back to the other side of the railing. Then she would have to figure out some way to fight Shuya Nanahara. That was the only—

The strong wind whistled by and shook her body. She shrieked, "AIEEE," but it didn't do much. Her hands clutching onto the steel bar slipped, and now the palms of her hands barely managed to hold onto the edge of the balcony. Now she couldn't even reach for the steel bars.

She was appalled to find her palms were oozing sweat. She was overcome with fear and panic. How, how, how, how could she be sweating now? Her hands…her hands were slipping___

Her right pinky slipped off the edge of the balcony.

"No!" Yuko screamed. Then her ring finger. Then her entire right hand fell off the railing (she felt the nail of her index finger catch, but it peeled off and that was that). Her body swung, her left hand now the fulcrum. And now her left hand too…

"Ahhhhhh—" As she screamed, Yuko was overwhelmed with a dreamlike sensation that she was falling.

But then she felt an impact run down her arm to her shoulder. Her fall came to a halt less than half a meter below.

Swinging like a pendulum on her left arm, Yuko gazed up…and then saw Shuya Nanahara beyond the railing extending his body, stretching his right arm out, holding her wrist.

For an instant Yuko gazed at Shuya's face, but then the next moment she screamed, "No—!"

Of course if she let go she would die, but it was Shuya Nanahara holding her hand!

"No! No!"

Her eyes wide open, her hair tossed around, Yuko continued screaming as she wondered, why? Why are you trying to save me? Is it because you want to use me to survive? Or, oh, I get it. You want to kill me with your very own hands!

"No! Let me go!" Yuko screamed. Any trace of rational thought had all but disappeared. "No! I'd rather die here than let you kill me! Let me go! Let me go!"

Whatever he thought in reaction, or maybe he wasn't thinking at all, in any case, his expression stayed the same, and he yelled, "Don't move!"

Yuko gazed up at Shuya again…and realized the bandage under the silver collar covering his neck wound oozed with blood now dripping down his bare shoulder.

The blood dripped down his arm and reached her left hand.

"Ugh," Shuya moaned. He gripped Yuko's hand tighter. His face was breaking into a sweat. That's right, it wasn't just his neck, his entire body was covered with severe wounds. Given how he was not only holding her entire weight with his right arm but attempting to pull her up, he had to be in incredible pain.

Yuko's jaw dropped. Why? Why would you try to save me when you're in so much pain? That's—

Strangely enough, it suddenly all came to her. The black mist clouding her thoughts suddenly cleared as if blown away by the sea breeze blowing against her body. The image of Shuya holding the blood-soaked axe, looking down at Tatsumichi Oki's corpse, suddenly vanished as if shredded by the wind, and all her previous (although it was only two days ago) memories of the Third Year Class B classroom along with the cheerful expressions of Shuya Nanahara came back to her. How he joked around with his friends Yoshitoki Kuninobu and Shinji Mimura, how he looked so serious repeating a difficult guitar line while practicing in the music room, how he posed triumphantly at second base after making a perfect hit down the third base line during gym class, which she managed to see from the gym where she was playing volleyball. And then when she was pale from menstrual cramps, how he'd gently said to her, "What's wrong, Yuko? You look pale," interrupted their English teacher Mr. Yamamoto, and called on the nurse's assistant, Fumiyo Fujiyoshi. How he looked so concerned then.

Oh no. Yuko finally understood the situation. This is Shuya. Shuya is trying to save me. I…why? Why did I have to think I had to kill Shuya? Why did I believe that? It's Shuya. And I always thought he was kind of cool…that he was really nice but no—

Then a different thought occurred to her. The action she took and its results. Yuko once again turned pale.

I…my mind was all screwed up…and…and that's how I ended up—

Yuko burst into tears. Shuya saw this and looked puzzled.

"Shuya!" she screamed. "I-it was me! I tried to kill you!"

Shuya looked surprised as Yuko looked up with despondent tears in her eyes.

Yuko continued. "I-I-I thought you'd killed Tatsumichi…! saw you two…and I was scared. I was so scared. So I tried poisoning your food…but Yuka ended up eating it…and then everyone…everyone…"

Shuya then understood everything. Hiding in a nearby bush, Yuko had seen him extract the axe from Tatsumichi Oki's head after fighting him. She didn't see how Kyoichi Motobuchi and Shogo appeared afterwards. She'd only witnessed that one moment. She could have interpreted it as an act of self defense on Shuya's part or as an accident, but Yuko was too frightened to trust Shuya. And so she poisoned the food to kill him, but Yuka ate this by mistake…and everyone panicked with suspicion. The culprit, Yuko, ended up being the only survivor…

"It's all right!" Shuya shouted. "It's all right, just don't move! I'll pull you up!"

Shuya was nearly lying flat on the balcony, his body jutting out between the bars, but because his left arm was useless, he couldn't grab onto the railing. Still, he twisted his body, and finally managed to tuck his right knee up to his body so he could rely on his back. He did his best to hold onto Yuko's wrist. The pain from the wounds all over his body, his side, his left shoulder, and the right side of his neck was mounting. But…

Her face soaked with tears, Yuko shook her head. "No. No. It was my fault everyone…everyone…"

she said, and suddenly her hand began to pry his fingers loose. The tight grip he'd finally managed to get on her came loose. Shuya gripped tighter in response, but…the blood dripping down from his neck suddenly made his hand slip.

Yuko's hand left Shuya's. The weight on Shuya's arm suddenly vanished.

Yuko's face looking up at Shuya receded—

With a thud, Yuko fell on her back onto the roof of the single-story building below. Instead of slipping from his hand, she seemed to have appeared there suddenly via time-lapse photography.

Her body wrapped in her sailor shirt and pleated skirt was sprawled out…and her neck was crooked, which made her head look oddly disjoined from the rest of her body. The top-right side of her head spurted out a red substance in the shape of a shriveled up maple leaf.

"Ah…"

Shuya stared down at her, his right arm still hanging over the balcony.

8 students remaining

65

Hiroki Sugimura (Male Student No. 11) took a deep breath.

He'd heard the rapid gunfire approximately ten minutes ago. He'd been wandering around the northern mountain, but he quickly headed east toward the shots. Then…by the time he arrived it was already quiet at the lighthouse. He knew it was there from the map, but he assumed Kayoko Kotohiki would never hide there alone in such a conspicuous location, so he'd ignored it until now. He wasn't sure whether this was where the gunfire occurred. He looked down from the cliff over the lighthouse and saw a girl lying on the roof of the brick annex by the lighthouse. Even from a distance he could make out the red color…and see that she was dead. The short hair and petite body resembled Kotohiki, as Megumi Eto's corpse did when he discovered it.

He slid down the edge of the cliff. As he descended, the corpse on the roof disappeared from view. He reached the front entrance of the lighthouse. There was a pile of chairs and desks beyond the open door.

Someone had formed a barricade, but for some reason this barricade was also torn down. He looked at the window that was sealed shut with planks and cautiously walked down the hall. (There was a room with a bed right by the entrance, and for some reason its door had been knocked down.) His detector responded. Six. Hiroki proceeded cautiously—

And stood frozen in the room splattered with blood.

The bodies of five girls were scattered all over what appeared to be a kitchen. There was the female student representative Yukie Utsumi on her back by the center table. To her right was Haruka Tanizawa, her head nearly torn off (!). And further down Yuka Nakagawa, whose face had turned nearly black.

Chisato Matsui was lying face down in front of the side table to his right, her pale blue face turned his way. And then one more girl was lying face down behind the table, covered in blood.

The four girls, including Yukie, were clearly dead. But this one whose face he couldn't see was…

Hiroki cautiously checked the room once again. He listened for any sounds beyond the opened door on the other side of the room. There didn't seem to be anyone else hiding.

He tucked the gun in his left hand in back, walked between the bodies of Yukie Utsumi and Haruka Tanizawa, passed by Yuka Nakagawa's body, and walked around the table. The soles of his shoes splashed against the blood all over the floor. He crouched down beside the girl lying face down, put aside the stick in his right hand, and lifted her body. He felt a sharp pain from the wound in his right shoulder where Mitsuko Souma had struck him. The gunshot wound Toshinori Oda had inflicted on his thigh though was only a scrape, so there wasn't much bleeding or pain there. Hiroki tried to ignore the pain, in any case. He turned over the body.

It was Satomi Noda. There was a red hole in the left side of her forehead, and her glasses, though crooked, managed to stay on her face. The left lens probably shattered when she fell. Of course she was dead.

Hiroki put her down and looked over at the opened door on the far side of the room. That was where the tower was. That led up to the lantern room.

The other person on the detector was that girl on the roof. She was no doubt dead as well, but he had to check and make sure…as long as she resembled Kayoko Kotohiki.

Hiroki took his gun and entered through the door. There was a steel staircase. He quickly climbed them with hushed footsteps. Someone might still be up there. He held the stick and radar in his right hand, checking it as he went up.

There were no new responses as he came out into the lantern room. Hiroki put the radar in his pocket, tucked his gun also in back, and came out onto the balcony around the lantern room.

He put his hand on the steel railing. He took a deep breath, leaned over the railing, and looked down.

There was the corpse in the sailor suit. Her neck was twisted in an odd way and blood spread out from under her head but the corpse…wasn't Kayoko Kotohiki's. It was Yuko Sakaki.

Still…

He gazed at the sea. There was a strong breeze. Six girls had all died here at once. There were no guns in the room, but given how they were wounded and how the walls and floors were ridden with bullet holes, he was certain the gunshots he'd heard had occurred here. The most logical scenario was that…the girls somehow got together and cooped themselves up here, but then someone attacked them.

The five girls were shot down there first, and then Yuko Sakaki managed to get this far and fell to her death without being attacked by the assailant. Then the assailant left before Hiroki got here....

But given how they'd formed a barricade at the entrance—the planks nailed over the windows, every entry point probably sealed—why would they tear the barricade down? Did the assailant shove it away as he left? But then how could he or she have entered in the first place? Could it be…there were seven of them? And one of them had suddenly betrayed the rest—no, revealed his or her true intentions? No, that can't be...The other thing was that Yuka Nakagawa didn't look like she died from gunshots. She looked like…she'd been choked. The blood splattered all over the table also didn't make any sense. How could that large amount of blood end up there? There was more. The door to that room right next to the entrance. Why was it torn down?

There was no use trying to figure it out. Hiroki shook his head, checked the roof of the building, and returned to the lantern room.

As he descended the steel spiral staircase in the dim tower and gazed at the inner walls of the lighthouse, Hiroki felt a light sensation of vertigo as if the spiral movement of the stairs were internalized. It might have been from fatigue, but still…

So now there were six students less. Sakamochi said there were fourteen students left, as of the noon announcement. Then there were at most eight students left now.

Was Kayoko Kotohiki still alive? Wasn't it possible she might have died between noon and now in some area he didn't know about?

No, Hiroki thought, she has to be alive.

Even though he could hardly justify it, for some reason he was nearly certain. Eight students remaining, possibly even less. But I'm alive, and so must be Kotohiki. This is taking too much time. It's been a day and a half since the game began, and I still haven't managed to find Kotohiki. But…I will eventually.

Once again he was nearly certain.

Then he thought of Shuya's trio. None of their three names had been announced. Shogo Kawada had said, "If you're up for it, you can come aboard our train."

…was there really a way out? And would he really be able to reach that station with Kotohiki? He wasn't sure. But at the very least he wanted Kotohiki to board that train.

Shall I offer you a hand then, mademoiselle?

It sounded like something Shinji Mimura would have said. Now he saw how Shinji could be good friends with Yutaka Seto. Shinji liked to kid around. The jokes were different from Yutaka's, of course. They were more sarcastic and at times biting. Shinji seemed to value "the importance of laughing it off." At the closing ceremony before New Year's, when they were in their second year, during the regional education representative's dull speech, Shinji said, "My uncle once said laughter is essential to maintain harmony, and that that might be our only release. Do you understand that, Hiroki? I still can't quite get it."

Although he could relate to it a little, he also felt he didn't fully get it. It might have been because he was young. But in any case Shinji Mimura and Yutaka Seto were both dead now. He could no longer give Shinji a reply.

As he pondered these thoughts, soon enough he was back in the kitchen filled with five bodies. Once again Hiroki looked over the room covered in blood.

He hadn't noticed because of the stench, but now he saw the gas stove pot and caught a whiff of the appetizing odor. There was no gas of course, so they were probably in the middle of cooking using solid fuel. He went to take a look. The flame under the pot was out, but there was still steam rising from what looked like stew.

Ever since the game began he'd only had the bread the government had supplied (when he ran out of water he retrieved some from a house well), so he was famished, but he shook his head and peeled his eyes off the pot. He just couldn't bring himself to eat it. Not in this terrible room. Besides, he had to hurry…and find Kotohiki. Hurry up…and leave.

He staggered out into the hall. Not having slept at all, he was feeling dizzy.

Someone was standing at the entrance at the far end of the long corridor. Because the hall was dim, this person looked like a silhouette outlined from behind by the light.

Hiroki leaped to his side before his eyes could even open wide and crashed his way into the kitchen. All at the same time, flames came bursting from the silhouette's hands. A row of bullets raced past the tips of Hiroki's feet flying out of the hall.

Hiroki grimaced from the sudden surprise. He got up, crouched, and then closed the door and locked it.

The gunfire sounded familiar. It was the sound he'd heard before and after that incredible explosion. After he escaped Toshinori Oda, he heard the sound of gunfire behind him…in other words it was whatever killed Toshinori Oda. It was also the gunfire he'd heard when Yumiko Kusaka and Yukiko Kitano were killed. He'd heard the gunfire several other times. It all came from "that classmate." Like Hiroki, the assailant had probably come here after hearing gunfire. Or maybe the student was here to kill the assailant who'd killed Yukie Utsumi's group. Or maybe—the assailant himself was returning.

Kneeling down on the floor, Hiroki reached around his back and gripped his gun with his left hand. He'd found the bullets in the day pack Mitsuko left behind, so it was now fully loaded, but he couldn't find an extra magazine. Maybe Mitsuko had put it in her pocket. Colt Government .45 Single-Action Automatic.

Seven rounds in the magazine, plus one in the chamber. He couldn't afford to reload the bullets individually. The moment he did he'd be wasted by the assailant's machine gun or any other gun on him or her.

His back against the wall, Hiroki looked at the kitchen where the girls' corpses were. Unfortunately, the windows were sealed with planks from the inside. It would take too much time to tear them off and escape. He looked over at the door leading to the tower. No, that was impossible. It was too high for him to jump off the top of the lighthouse. It would be insane. He'd end up sun bathing right next to Yuko Sakaki. No, wait…what was this "someone" trying to do? Was he tiptoeing behind the door, approaching, or was he taking his time waiting for Hiroki to come out? No, he had to be in a rush too.

He had to get rid of Hiroki before he might be shot from behind by someone else arriving as a result of the gunfire—

Hiroki was right. The wood around the doorknob was blown to bits. (In fact, several of the bullets exiting the door tore off the shoulder and side of Chisato Matsui, who was lying directly in front of the door.) The door crashed open.

The dark figure leaped into the room.

As it tumbled over once and got up, Hiroki realized it was Kazuo Kiriyama (Male Student No. 6).

Ignoring the corpses in the room, he pointed his machine gun to the side of the door which was his blind spot, and immediately began firing away.

After five or six bullets tore through the wall…the gunfire stopped…because he saw no one there.

Now was his chance. Hiroki swung his stick up and leaped onto Kazuo Kiriyama from above. At the last instant he'd decided to climb to the top of the high shelf installed beside the door. He'd decided against using the gun since he wasn't used to it and had tucked it away again. The important thing was to stop the assailant—who turned out to be Kazuo Kiriyama—from shooting anymore.

Kazuo responded by looking up. He lifted the muzzle of his machine gun, but the handle of the broom Hiroki held struck Kazuo's wrist. The Ingram M10 9mm crashed onto the floor, slid, and stopped beyond the table where Satomi Noda was.

Kazuo tried to pull out another gun (it was a large automatic pistol, different from the revolver Toshinori Oda had), but Hiroki, who'd landed and balanced himself, quickly swung the tip of his stick and struck this gun down too.

A rapid assault! I'll strike him down!

The stick came swinging down, but Kazuo quickly bent back and somersaulted backwards. He leaped over Yukie Utsumi's body with the grace of a kung fu master, and after tumbling once he was standing in front of the center table. By the time he was standing he had a revolver in his right hand, the one that belonged to Toshinori Oda.

But even Kazuo couldn't have foreseen Hiroki's agility. He'd immediately moved within eighty centimeters of Kazuo.

"Yahh!" Hiroki swung his stick, striking the gun in Kazuo's hand three times. It flew into the air. Before it landed on the floor, the other end of Hiroki's stick swung at Kazuo's face. There was a table behind Kazuo. He couldn't retreat anymore.

But—the stick stopped several centimeters before hitting Kazuo's face. A third of the stick flew by Kazuo's face. Strangely enough, he only heard it crack later. Kazuo had chopped off the stick with his left hand.

The next moment, Kazuo formed a spear fist with his right hand to strike Hiroki in the face. He was aiming for Hiroki's eyes.

It was a miracle he managed to duck and dodge it. That was how fast Kazuo's fist was.

But Hiroki had managed to dodge it. When he dodged it, he grabbed Kazuo's wrist with his hand that had dropped the stick. The next moment, he twisted his wrist back. Simultaneously, he kneed Kazuo in the stomach with all his might. The absolutely calm Kazuo gasped slightly.

With his left hand restraining Kazuo's arm, Hiroki pulled out his gun and cocked the hammer back. He pressed the gun against Kazuo's stomach and pulled the trigger.

He kept on pulling the trigger until he used up all his bullets. With every shot Kazuo's body flinched.

When the gun's breechblock held up, the eighth shell fell onto the floor with a clink, rolled, and then clicked against another shell.

He could feel Kazuo's right arm and the rest of his body slowly going limp. His slicked-back hair and the rest of his head fell forward. Once Hiroki let go, Kazuo's body would slide against corner of the table and fall onto the floor.

But right now Hiroki stood still facing Kazuo as if dancing a strange dance, panting, his chest heaving.

I won.

He won against the Kazuo Kiriyama. The Kazuo Kiriyama whose athletic prowess was probably superior to Shinji Mimura or Shuya Nanahara's, who'd never lost a fight as far as he knew. He'd defeated him.

I defeated—

Suddenly a sharp pain pierced the right side of Hiroki's stomach. He groaned, gasped…then opened his eyes wide.

Kazuo was looking up at Hiroki. And in his left hand…was a knife digging into Hiroki's stomach.

Hiroki slowly shifted his eyes from this hand over to Kazuo's face. Kazuo stared back with eyes that were as always beautiful and cold.

How…could he still be alive?

Of course it was because Kazuo Kiriyama was wearing Toshinori Oda's bulletproof vest, but Hiroki couldn't have known, and right now there wasn't much point trying to figure this out.

Kazuo twisted the knife and Hiroki moaned. His left hand's grip on Kazuo's right wrist was loosening.

Oh no, this is not good…at all.

But Hiroki managed to squeeze some strength out into his arm. He swung down his right hand that was still holding the emptied gun.

His bent right elbow struck Kazuo's lower chin.

Kazuo flew back and slid across the white table covered with blood. The blood stain that resembled the Republic of Greater East Asia's national flag now looked more like the stripes of the American flag.

Simultaneously, the knife in Hiroki's stomach, after tearing off approximately thirty grams of Hiroki's flesh, was torn out. Blood came bursting out. Hiroki gasped, but immediately turned on his heel and ran to the door leading out to the hall.

Right as he was entering it he heard gunfire, and the door frame cracked open. Kazuo didn't have any time to pick up the guns scattered on the floor. So he must have had a fourth gun (probably attached under his pants, tied to his ankle or something).

Hiroki ran, ignoring the gunfire.

He leaped over the scattered pile of chairs and desks. Right before he emerged outside he heard that all-too-familiar machine gun fire, but the shots missed him because he was crouched over.

The sky was cloudy enough to expect rain, but for some reason it looked bright to him.

Hiroki ran as fast as he could into the grove beyond the gate where the light truck was parked. He left behind a trail of red spots on the white sand.

He heard the machine gun rattle again, but by then he'd leaped into the grove.

Of course he couldn't afford to rest now.

8 students remaining

66

It began to drizzle. Rain washed over the bushes covering the island, and in the dim light a dark sheen fell through the drops of water and thick clouds.

Shuya slowly wove his way through the bushes. The area to his right was open and offered him a view of the sea, which was dull gray behind the white curtain of rain.

He now wore his shirt, school coat, and sneakers, which he found in the room where Yukie's group was.

Raindrops falling off tree branches dripped onto his coat. He had the Uzi slung over his shoulder, his right hand on the grip, and kept the CZ75 tucked in front. The Browning and the bullets he'd collected were inside the day pack on his shoulder.

Shuya left the lighthouse immediately, and as he'd expected fifteen minutes later, right when he began collecting wood to build a fire on a cliff near the northern tip of the island, he heard gunfire coming from the lighthouse. Despite the fact that the massacre of Yukie's group had occurred inside the lighthouse, he surmised at least two students had arrived upon hearing the shots and ended up fighting.

After some hesitation, Shuya started heading back to the lighthouse. It sounded like the all-too-familiar gunfire of Kazuo Kiriyama's machine gun. He doubted Noriko and Shogo would go out of their way to follow the gunfire, but there weren't too many students left. Supposing one was Kazuo, there was a good chance the other was Hiroki Sugimura. Of course, it also could have been Mitsuko Souma.

But the gunfire ceased immediately. Shuya stopped. He decided not to return to the lighthouse after all.

Even if he went back, there wouldn't be anyone there. Or at best there might be another corpse in addition to the bodies of Yukie's group.

It began raining when Shuya had finished preparing two fires on the cliff rock. He found a lighter in the lighthouse, but it was difficult to get the fire going because of the rain.

The rain grew heavy, so Shuya gave up and left the area. Noriko and Shogo probably hadn't moved much. C=3 was forbidden, but the adjacent D=3 and C=4 were still safe. They were probably in that area, so he could make another fire once he was in the vicinity.

With this thought in mind he began walking. That was when we heard the distant chirping sound of a bird as he turned westward on the north shore of the island around 2:30 p.m. Shuya listened closely…and quickly glanced down at his watch. The seconds hand moved seven degrees, and the faint chirping stopped. Shogo had said fifteen seconds. Given the time it took for him to look at his watch, its duration corresponded to that length of time. Besides, he doubted there were many birds chirping in the rain. And he heard none of those little birds that he'd heard during the day ever since the game began.

Shuya continued along the northwest shore of the island—and once again heard the same chirping. This time it was clear. Exactly fifteen minutes had elapsed since the last one—and it stopped exactly fifteen seconds later. It was Shogo. There was no need for the smoke signal. Shogo was using the bird call.

The third fake chirping occurred only three minutes ago. It sounded close. According to the map, Shuya was moving from B=6 to B=5.

Shuya rested a little, tucked the Uzi's barrel under his left wrist, and lifted his left arm. It was easier that way because he didn't have to exert his muscles. The watch hands, out of focus from the raindrops against the glass, indicated it was 3:05 p.m.

The chirping sounded closer to the mountain than it was to the sea. Shuya glanced at the sea, then moved towards and then up the gentle slope. As he looked up, he noticed that the northern mountain in front of him looked different, which made him realize he'd been moving along the foot of the mountain and was now approaching the western shore.

Just a little more. He'd barely covered 1.5 kilometers, but he still felt woozy from all the blood he'd lost.

The pain in his body was so severe he felt like throwing up (he really had to stop and rest). But he was almost there. Almost.

He made his way through the grove and his fatigue became overwhelming. Of course…he could be attacked at any point from the bushes. But he couldn't afford to worry about that. If that happened…he would just have to pull the trigger of the Uzi.

The low bushes became sparse and then were cut off. Shuya stood still. It wasn't as if there was someone holding a gun… but there was something strange in this narrow opening.

At first it looked like two stiff gray clumps to Shuya. On top of that, they seemed to be moving. He stared at them. There were black pants and sneakers poking out of these two clumps.

He realized they were corpses. Two boys had died here.

A flash of red color flew up from the stiff gray clump and cried, "KAW!" It was a large heron-sized bird, its head drenched in red. The birds were feeding on the corpses!

Shuya reflexively raised his Uzi at them. He put his finger against the trigger—but decided against it. He walked over.

The birds flapped their wings and flew away from the two corpses.

Shuya stood still in the rain by them…and lifted his right hand up to his mouth. He felt a sudden urge to vomit.

It was a chilling sight. The birds had picked away at their exposed faces. Their red flesh broke out of their skin. They were covered in blood.

Shuya held back his nausea and somehow managed to look at them. He saw they were probably Tadakatsu Hatagami and Yuichiro Takiguchi. Then he noticed something about Tadakatsu's face, which was in worse condition than Yuichiro's. The birds weren't responsible for his deformed skull. His nose, unharmed by the birds, was also crushed.

He looked around and found a bat lying on the grass. Even though it was washed by the rain, the tip of the bat was still tinged with red. Given the state of Tadakatsu's face, he was most likely beaten to death.

With the gear of his sport— a baseball bat.

Compared to him, Yuichiro's face was in relatively good shape. Of course… Shuya had a feeling his lips and eyeballs were gone by now.

One of the birds landed on top of Tadakatsu's face. Then several more birds came by. Given how Shuya remained frozen, they probably assumed they were safe.

Safe? You got to be kidding!

Shuya once again put his finger on the trigger of the Uzi…but restrained himself. The important thing was for him to get back to Shogo and Noriko.

More birds reappeared.

Were they feeding on the other bodies sprawled all over the island? Or was it just because they were near the sea?

Peeling his eyes off the two corpses, Shuya staggered around them and entered the bushes ahead. He heard the birds cry, "KAW!"

As he moved, he felt the urge to vomit once again. By now he was getting used to people dying, but the thought of these birds, these sky rats, feeding on them…I'll never sit on the beach and gaze peacefully at seagulls again. Even if I write my own songs, I'll never ever sing about birds. I might not even be able to eat chicken for a while. Man, birds… suck.

But then he heard that chirping sound again. He looked up. Large raindrops hit his face.

Ah—birds suck but…I guess a little bird's all right, huh?

Another full fifteen seconds passed and the chirping ceased. This time it sounded really close.

Shuya looked around. The bushes continued along the gentle slope. It must be…around here. They had to be somewhere near here. But…where?

Before he could think, the nausea he'd held back surged up. The two corpses, their faces messed up.

And their soft flesh would be the birds' afternoon snack. Yummy.

I can't puke. I'm weak enough as it is…but…

Shuya knelt down on the ground and vomited. Because he hadn't had anything to eat, it was all gastric juices. There was a sharp, acidic stench.

Shuya threw up more. A pinkish substance was mixed into the yellow liquid like a drop of paint. For all he knew, his stomach might be screwed up by now.

"Shuya."

He looked up. Reflexively, he pointed the Uzi over there. But the muzzle fell again.

Between the shrubs he saw that thuggish face. It was Shogo. In his left hand, Shogo held a bow which seemed to be carved out of wood, and in his right hand he was about to put down the arrow fixed to the bow. That was when Shuya realized, oh, I get it, I must have gotten caught on Shogo's tripwire.

"Hangover, huh?" Shogo said. His humorous remark was tinged with kindness.

There was a rustling sound. Noriko appeared behind Shogo. She gazed at Shuya through her rain-drenched hair, her eyes and mouth trembling.

Pushing Shogo aside, Noriko dragged her leg as she ran to him.

Shuya wiped his mouth and staggered up. He released the Uzi and extended only his right hand, hugging Noriko. On impact Noriko's body sent a jolt of pain through his side, but he didn't care. They were having their reunion right above some fresh puke, but that didn't matter either. Her body against him felt warm in the cold rain.

Noriko looked up. "Shuya…Shuya…I'm so glad…I'm so glad…" She was crying. Tears came streaming out of the corners of her eyes along with the raindrops falling against her face.

Shuya gently smiled. Then he realized he was on the verge of crying too. Too many people have died…too many people have died in this game, but how wonderful, how incredibly wonderful these two were still alive.

Shogo came up to him and offered his right hand. For a moment Shuya was puzzled by the gesture…but then he understood. He reached out his hand over Noriko's shoulder and held it. It was, as always, a large, solid hand.

"Welcome back," Shogo said warmly.

8 students remaining

67

Exposed rocks appeared where the woods headed toward the sea. Now a low wall formation of those rocks faced the sea. Shogo seemed to have worked on it with his knife. Two large branches had been stuck into the rock wall, and on top of them were leafy branches serving as a roof to block the rain.

Raindrops came flowing off the branch tips.

After he was given strong painkillers that Shogo had brought from the medical clinic, Shuya told him about the lighthouse. Shogo boiled water in a can with charcoal, and its gurgling sound overlapped with the sound of pouring rain.

When Shuya was done, Shogo said, "I see." He took a deep breath, and put another Wild Seven into his mouth. He held the Uzi in his lap. They decided it was best Shogo hold onto it. Shuya held the CZ75, and Noriko had the Browning.

Shuya shook his head feebly. "It was awful."

Shogo blew out some smoke and removed the cigarette from his mouth. "Yukie forming such a large group ended up backfiring."

Shuya nodded bitterly. "It's so hard to…trust someone."

"Yes, it is." Shogo looked down. "It's very hard." He continued smoking and appeared pensive. Then he said, "In any case, I'm glad you made it."

Shuya recalled Yukie's face. He was alive. He was alive thanks to Yukie's group, but they were gone now.

Shuya looked at Noriko, on his left. Hearing about the deaths of her friends Yukie Utsumi and Haruka Tanizawa must have been hard on her. Once she saw the water was boiling, she took out some dried bouillon Shogo must have found and tossed two cubes into the can. The smell of broth came drifting up.

"Can you eat, Shuya?" Noriko asked.

Shuya looked at Noriko and raised his brow. He knew he had to eat, but he had just thrown up—and besides the images of the stiff gray lumps around Tadakatsu Hatagami and Yuichiro Takiguchi still flashed through his mind. (He hadn't told them about that. The "lumps" were at work only a hundred meters or so away from them__He only said that he threw up from the pain of his wounds.) He couldn't work up an appetite.

"Eat, Shuya. Noriko and I already had lunch," Shogo said, cigarette in mouth. His stubble had thickened.

He grabbed the edge of the can with a handkerchief, poured the soup into a plastic cup, and offered it to Shuya.

Shuya took it and slowly put it against his mouth. The taste of broth spread through his mouth. Then the warm liquid slid down his throat and into his stomach. It wasn't as bad as he'd expected.

Noriko offered him bread. Shuya took a bite. Once he started chewing, he was surprised to find he could eat. He ended up eating it all instantly. Regardless of the mental state he was in…his body had been starving.

"Would you like more?" Noriko asked and Shuya nodded. "A little more soup." He raised the empty cup. Noriko refilled it this time.

Taking the cup, Shuya said, "Noriko."

She looked up at him. "What is it?"

"Are you feeling all right now?"

"Uh huh." She smiled. "I've been taking cold medicine. I'm fine."

Shuya looked at the side of Shogo's face. Shogo nodded, cigarette dangling between lips. He'd taken another antibiotic syringe kit from the medical clinic, but it turned out that was unnecessary.

Shuya turned around to Noriko again and smiled back at her. "That's great."

Then she asked the same question she'd been repeating over and over. "Shuya, are you really all right?"

Shuya nodded. "I'm fine."

In fact, he wasn't, but what else could he say? He could see over his cuffs how his left hand had grown pale compared to his right hand. He wasn't sure whether it was due to his shoulder wound or elbow wound. Or it might simply be because the bandage was too tight around his elbow. He felt his left arm get stiffer and stiffer.

He had another sip of the soup and put the cup down by his feet. Then he called Shogo.

Shogo, who was checking the Uzi, raised his brow and looked at Shuya. "What is it?"

"It's about Kazuo."

That's right. As he contemplated the events that had occurred since yesterday, the question that had been occupying him right before he split up with Shogo and Noriko suddenly came back to him. The gunfire he'd heard right after he left the lighthouse also reminded him. In other words—as he'd yelled out before,

"What's the hell's he doing!?"—meaning, what kind of person was Kazuo Kiriyama?

As far as he could tell, Kazuo wasn't the only one willing to participate. Tatsumichi Oki, whom Shuya had fought, possibly Yoshio Akamatsu, and if Hiroki was right, Mitsuko Souma might also be in the same category. But…Kazuo was absolutely merciless. His coldness and calmness. The strange vibe he always got from Kazuo suddenly exploded in this game and assaulted them. Shuya once again recalled the flames erupting from the machine gun, and the cold eyes behind them. He felt a chill run down his spine.

Shogo remained silent, so Shuya continued, "What…what's up with him? I just don't get it."

Shogo looked down and tinkered around with the Uzi's safety device, equipped with a full-auto/semi-auto switch.

Didn't Shogo say there was no need to understand? Shuya wondered whether Shogo would give him the same reply.

But Shogo had a different response this time.

He looked up. "I've seen people like him before."

"In the previous game?"

"No." Shogo shook his head. "Not there. Totally outside of this game. You see a lot of things when you're the son of a doctor working in the slums." Shogo took out another cigarette and lit it. He exhaled and said, "A hollow man."

"Hollow?" Noriko asked.

"That's right," Shogo nodded. "There's no place in his heart for logic or love, no. For any kind of values.

That kind of person. On top of that…there's no reason for the way he is."

No reason, Shuya thought, or did he mean he was just born that way? That's—

Shogo took a puff and exhaled. "Hiroki warned us about Mitsuko Souma, right?"

Shuya and Noriko nodded.

"We still haven't seen for ourselves whether Mitsuko's really up for this game. But from what little I've seen at school, I think Mitsuko and Kazuo are similar. The only difference is that Mitsuko's abandoned all reason and love. There was probably something behind that. I have no idea what it was. But Kazuo doesn't have any cause. The difference is crucial. There's no explanation behind Kazuo."

Shuya stared at Shogo and mumbled, "That's scary."

"Yeah, it's scary," Shogo agreed. "Just think about it. It's probably not even his fault. Of course you can say that about anyone. But in his case he probably could never grasp 'an unknown future.' Nothing could be more terrifying than to be born that way."

Shogo then continued, "What I mean is that, even a dumb ass like me can think everything's pointless.

Why do I get up and eat? It all ends up shit anyway. Why am I going to school and studying? Even if I happen to succeed I'm going to die anyway. You wear nice clothes, you seek respect, you make a lot of money, but what's the point? It's all pointless. Of course, this kind of meaninglessness might suit this crappy nation. But…but, you see, we still have emotions like joy and happiness, right? They may not amount to much. But they fill up our emptiness. That's the only explanation I have. So…these emotions are probably missing from Kazuo. He's got no foundation for values. So he merely chooses. He doesn't have a solid foundation. He just chooses as he goes___Like for this game he might just as well have chosen not to participate. But he decided to. That's my little theory."

He said all of this at once and then concluded, "Yeah, it is scary that someone could live a life like that…and that we have to take on someone like that right now."

They fell silent. Shogo took one more drag from his shortened cigarette and then rubbed it out against the ground. Shuya took another sip from his cup of soup. Then he looked up at the cloudy sky over the edge of Shogo's thatched roof.

"I wonder if Hiroki is all right."

He'd mentioned the gunfire he heard after he left the lighthouse. He was still worried about it.

"I'm sure he's all right," Noriko said.

Shuya looked at Shogo. "I wonder if we'll be able to see any smoke."

Shogo nodded. "Don't worry. We can see smoke coming from anywhere on this island. I'll check periodically."

Shuya then remembered the bird call. It led him to them. But why did Shogo have such an odd thing to begin with? He was about to ask him when Noriko said, "I wonder if Hiroki met up with Kayoko Kotohiki."

"If he did, we'd be seeing smoke," Shogo answered.

Noriko nodded and then mumbled, "I wonder why he had to see Kotohiki."

This came up when they were in the medical clinic. Shuya's response was the same. "Beats me."

"They didn't seem all that close."

But then Noriko said, "Oh…" as if she'd realized something.

Shuya looked up. "What?"

"I don't know for sure." Noriko shook her head. "But maybe…" She emphasized her last vowel. Shuya knit his brows.

"Maybe what?"

"That would be…"

Shogo interrupted them. Shuya looked over at him. Shogo was tearing the seal off a new pack of cigarettes and continued, his eyes glued to the pack, "…too corny…in this fucking game."

"But…" Noriko continued, "…it's Hiroki, so…"

Shuya looked back and forth at them, utterly perplexed.

8 students remaining

68

Kayoko Kotohiki (Female Student No. 8) was hugging her knees in the bushes. She was on the southern slope of the northern mountain, in sector E=7.

Evening was approaching, but the light coming through the bushes didn't change much. It just stayed dark. In the afternoon, the area was covered with thick clouds, and just two hours ago it finally began raining.

Kayoko wrapped a handkerchief around her head to shield herself from the rain. Thanks to the branches over her, the rain didn't hit her directly, but her shoulders were drenched. She was cold. And of course more importantly…she was terrified.

Kayoko had first hidden on the eastern side of the northern mountain peak, in sector C=8. So of course she witnessed Yumiko Kusaka and Yukiko Kitano getting killed in front of her very own eyes. She held her breath. She knew that their killer was near, but she instinctively thought she would be risking more by moving. She stayed absolutely quiet. As noon and then night passed, she managed to avoid any attacks.

She moved twice in accordance to the forbidden zone announcements. The second time she moved was immediately after noon today, because the southern side of the peak, sector D=7, was going to become forbidden at 1 p.m. So the northern mountain peak was now surrounded by three forbidden zones. Her allocated area was definitely shrinking.

She hadn't met anyone yet. She heard a lot of gunfire, sometimes in the distance, sometimes near. She even heard an explosion, but she just remained still and absolutely quiet. The announcement every six hours made it clear though, the number of her classmates was steadily diminishing.

At noon there were supposedly fourteen remaining. And then there was more gunfire. Was it now just twelve? Or ten?

Kayoko put the heavy gun (Smith & Wesson M59 Automatic, manual included, but Kayoko of course could care less about the gun's name) down by her feet and massaged her right-hand fingers with her left hand. She'd been holding the gun all this time, and now the muscles in her fingers had gone numb. The palm of her hand was flushed red and imprinted with the gun-grip pattern.

She was completely exhausted, both from sleep deprivation and the threat of attack. Because she was too scared to enter a house that might be occupied, the only food she ate was the bread and water that came supplied with her day pack. She was hungry and thirsty. Her water intake was grossly inadequate.

She did her best to save the supplied water and only drank over a liter since the game began. If there was one good thing about the rain, it was that she could collect water by putting the recently emptied water bottle under a dripping branch, but it wasn't even a third full. She would intermittently remove the handkerchief from her head and wet her dry lips with it, but of course this did nothing to relieve her dehydration.

Kayoko let out a long, weary breath, combed back her short, shoulder-length hair, and took up the M59

again. She was in a daze.

As she sat, dazed, she thought of that face again. She kept on thinking of that face ever since the game began. He wasn't as familiar as her parents and older sister, whom she thought of as well, but he was very important to her.

She just began learning tea ceremony when she first saw "him" at an event conducted by the school where she attended tea ceremony class. It was the fall of her first year in junior high.

Sponsored by a government park for an autumn holiday, the tea ceremony was held outdoors for tourists. The actual practitioners performing that day were all adults, so Kayoko and other students her age took care of menial tasks, like arranging outdoor seating and preparing biscuits. "He" was one of the masters of the tea ceremony.

He arrived around noon, much later that day. He was good looking, but he still looked boyish, as if he were still a college student. Kayoko thought, oh, this guy must be helping out too. But he addressed Kayoko's teacher (a 42-year-old woman) at her seat, "I'm sorry I'm late," took her place, and prepared the tea.

His preparation was very impressive. He handled the tea whisk and bowl incredibly gracefully, and his posture was impeccable. Despite his age, he didn't look odd in traditional clothes.

Kayoko put her tasks on hold and was gazing at him when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around and saw her senior in the Tea Ceremony Club at Shiroiwa Junior High, the one who'd invited her to attend the tea ceremony school.

"He's pretty hot, huh? He's the grandson of the headmaster. Well, to be more accurate, he's the master's mistress' grandson. I'm a fan too. I mean, basically I've been going to tea ceremony class just to meet him."

The senior informed her how he was nineteen years old, and how after graduating from high school he was already ranked as an "instructor" with many disciples. Kayoko's only reaction at the time was, Oh, he's from another world, so there're people like him. That was all but then…

She began spending more hours in front of the mirror whenever there was a tea ceremony school event, or whenever she knew he would be appearing as a guest in her class. Given her age she didn't use makeup, but she did wear her traditional kimono immaculately, kept a comb in her hair, and carefully inserted her favorite dark-blue hair clip. Her flowing brows, and although not very large, curved eyes, and although short, well-shaped nose, wide lips, nicely shaped at the center, she thought, sure, I might not be stunning, but I do look pretty mature....

The reason she fell head over heels for this man adored by adolescent girls to middle-aged women alike may have been pretty simple. After all, he was handsome and intelligent, cheerful and considerate, basically the kind of ideal man you hardly believed existed. On top of that, he apparently didn't even have a girlfriend.

Kayoko had two important encounters with this man (although from someone else's perspective they might not have seemed all that special).

The first one occurred at the tea school's demonstration ceremony the spring she became a second-year junior high school student. The ceremony was held at the headmaster's home in Shido-cho near Shiroiwa-cho. Almost immediately after the event began, there was a problem. A special guest, the central government's regional cultural representative, suddenly began complaining about the tea ceremony. It wasn't the first time. They were government officials who announced their "absolute loyalty to preserve the nation's absolute sanctity," but many of them in fact abused their power. Some would even request kickbacks in return for arranging increased national traditional arts funding which the headmaster would politely refuse, so this could have been a way to get back at them by stirring up trouble.

The problem was that the headmaster was absent because he was hospitalized. The heir who substituted for the headmaster and his heir were both so completely intimidated their incompetence could have led to the school being shut down. But the nineteen-year-old master saved the day. He took the belligerent official to another room, then returned alone and said, "The official has left. He seems satisfied now, so there's no need to worry, everyone."

He said no more, and the attending established members of the school also refrained from inquiring any further. As a result the rest of the ceremony proceeded smoothly. But Kayoko was concerned. Knowing him, he could very well have assumed full responsibility, saying something like, "I am in charge of today's ceremony," and if that were true then the official could get back at him by concocting a report and arranging his arrest for being a malign influence against the government (and as a result sending him to one of those "reeducation camps").

After the ceremony came to an end with no further interruptions, they began to clean up the area, and she waited for him to be alone. When he went to move the seat cushions, she decided to call on him. Sir…

He stopped, still holding the cushions, and elegantly turned around towards Kayoko. His sad eyes made Kayoko's heart race, but she managed to continue, "Is everything all right, sir?"

He seemed to understand what she was getting at and broke into a smile. Then he said, "I appreciate your concern. It's all right though." Her concern was suddenly eclipsed by the thrill she felt in having her first real conversation with him.

Then she asked, "But…but that government official looked so mean, what if?…"

But he stopped Kayoko and said something sophisticated, as if admonishing her. "That official doesn't necessarily get a kick out of doing what he does. I'm sure this kind of thing happens all over the world…but the way this country is…it twists people…We're supposed to strive for harmony and that's what the art of tea is supposed to accomplish… but it is very, very difficult to achieve in this country."

Near the end, he almost seemed to be addressing himself. Then he looked back at Kayoko and continued, "Tea ceremony is powerless. But it's also not such a bad thing either. You should enjoy it while you can." He smiled kindly, turned, and proceeded to walk away.

Kayoko was in a daze and stood still for a while. The unpretentious way he talked made her feel at ease…and even though she didn't completely understand what he was saying, it impressed her, and she thought, wow, he's so mature.

In any case, she might have made an impression on him because ever since that encounter he would always give her a warm smile whenever they met.

The crucial encounter occurred during the winter of her second year. Kayoko came out into the old temple garden of another tea ceremony and gazed at the camellia flowers there. (In fact, she was thinking about him again.) Suddenly she heard suddenly someone from behind say, "They're beautiful," in a transparent voice now familiar to her. At first she thought she'd imagined it, but when she turned around she couldn't believe he was there…smiling at her. It was the first time he addressed her without any reference to teaching tea ceremony or official duties.

And so they had a conversation.

"So you find tea ceremony interesting?"

"Yes, I love it. But I'm not very good."

"Really? I've been impressed with your excellent posture during your preparation. It's not just that your back is upright. There's a kind of intensity."

"Oh, no, I'm really no good at all...."

With his hands tucked inside his sleeves, he still wore his kind smile and glanced up at the camellia. "No, I really do mean it. Yes…just like those flowers. There's something strained…but there's beauty in that.

Something like that."

Of course, she was still just a child, and he might have only been complimenting a hobbyist dabbling in the school's tea ceremony. But that didn't stop her from getting excited. Right on! (She snapped her fingers only later in the bathroom.)

From that point on Kayoko began to practice tea ceremony more seriously. She thought, I can do it. Of course, I'm still just a kid, but once I'm eighteen he'll be twenty-four. That would totally work....

And so that was her memory of him.

Kayoko buried her face into her skirt. A warm liquid which wasn't rain oozed into the area covering her kneecaps. Kayoko realized she was crying. Her hand holding the gun trembled. How could all this be happening?

She wanted so badly to see him now. Sure, she was still a kid. But in her own adolescent way, she really did love him. This was the first time she ever had serious feelings for someone. She wanted a single moment with him so she could tell him this much. She wanted to tell this person— kind enough to describe her as "beautiful" even if it was only referring to her tea ceremony skills—"I'm still a kid, so I may not understand what it really means to be in love. But I think I am in love with you. I really love you."

Something like that.

Something rustled in the bushes. Kayoko looked up. She wiped her eyes with her left hand and got up.

Her feet moved automatically and took a step back from the source of the sound.

A boy in a school coat—Hiroki Sugimura (Male Student No. 11). His face and torso emerged from the bushes. The sleeves of his coat and shirt were torn off, revealing his right arm. The white cloth wrapped around his shoulder was stained with blood and—perhaps it was because of the rain—it oozed pink.

And his hand was holding…a gun.

Hiroki's jaw dropped, but what really caught her attention when she saw his grimy face were his eyes.

They were gleaming.

Kayoko felt a sudden surge of fear. How could she have not noticed sooner before he got this close, how—

"Kotohiki—"

Kayoko let out a shriek and turned on her heels. She entered the bushes. She didn't care about the branches scraping against her face and hair, or getting drenched in the rain. She just wanted to escape. If I don't… I'll get killed!

She made her way through the bushes. There was a twisting path approximately two meters wide.

Kayoko instinctively decided to run down there. If she ran uphill, he would catch up, but if she ran down then maybe…

She heard a rustling sound behind her. "Kotohiki!" It was Hiroki's voice. He's coming after me!

Kayoko summoned all her strength from her tired body and ran as fast as she could. I can't believe this, I should have been jogging instead of learning tea ceremony if I'd known this was going to happen.

"Kotohiki! Stop! Kotohiki!"

If she had been calmer—that is, if this were a scene in a movie and she were in the theater watching the actor performing as she munched on some popcorn—then it would have been obvious he was pleading with her. But right now it sounded like he was saying: "Kotohiki! You better stop! I'm gonna kill you!"

She wasn't going to stop. The path forked. She took the left one.

The area opened up on her left. Rows of tangerine trees spread out in the dull light coming through the silky rain. Beyond them was a thicket of short trees. If she could enter that area—

It's impossible, she thought. She had at least fifty more meters to get there. It was hopeless. While she struggled through the uneven rows of tangerine trees, Hiroki Sugimura would catch up to her and shoot her from behind with his gun.

Kayoko clenched her teeth. She didn't want to, but she had to. After all, he was trying to kill her.

She stopped on her right foot and spun around to her left.

By the time she had turned around the gun was in her hands. That thing called the safety had been released ever since she'd read the manual. The manual said you didn't have to raise the hammer, all you had to do was pull the trigger. The rest was…up to her.

Less than ten meters away, Hiroki Sugimura stood still on the slope, his eyes wide open.

It's too late. You think I won't shoot?

Kayoko extended her arms and squeezed the trigger. With a pop, a small flame exploded from the muzzle, and her arms jerked back from the recoil.

Hiroki's large frame spun around as if he were hit. He fell back.

Kayoko ran over to him. She had to finish him off, finish him off! So he wouldn't get back up again!

Kayoko stopped approximately two meters away from him. There was a small hole in the left side of his chest (she'd actually aimed at his stomach), and the fabric around it had turned dark black. But his sprawled right hand still held his gun. He still might raise it. The head. I have to aim for his head.

Hiroki turned his head around and looked at Kayoko. Kayoko pointed the gun and pulled the trig—

She stopped…because Hiroki had tossed his gun aside. If he'd had that kind of strength he could have pulled the trigger. What was going on?

The gun spun around once and landed on its side.

Huh?

Kayoko stood still, holding the gun, her short hair drenched in the rain.

"Now listen." He lay on the messy path ridden now with puddles as he said painfully, somehow fixing his eyes on Kayoko, "You have to burn some fresh wood. Build…two fires. I have a lighter in my pocket.

Use that…then you'll hear a bird call."

Kayoko heard him, but she had no idea what he was talking about. She had no idea what was going on.

Hiroki continued. "Follow that bird call. Then you'll find Shuya Nanahara…Noriko Nakagawa, and Shogo Kawada. They'll help you. You got that?"

"Wh-what?"

Hiroki seemed to be smiling. He repeated patiently,

"Build two fires. Then find the bird call."

He awkwardly moved his right arm, pulled out a small lighter from his school coat pocket, and tossed it over to Kayoko. Then he painfully closed his eyes.

"Okay, now go."

"Whaaaat?"

Hiroki suddenly opened his eyes wide and yelled, "Go now! Someone might have heard the shot. Go!"

Then as if fitting the pieces of a complex jigsaw puzzle into place, Kayoko finally managed to get it. This time she got it right.

"Oh…oh…"

She dropped the gun and fell on her knees beside him. She scraped her knees but she didn't care.

"Hiroki! Hiroki! I…I can't believe…I can't believe I did this to you!…"

She burst into tears. Sure, there was something intimidating about Hiroki Sugimura. He seemed tough since he studied martial arts, plus he didn't talk much, and when he did he was always gruff. When he spoke to other boys, like Shinji Mimura and Shuya Nanahara, he would smile but otherwise he looked grumpy. She also heard he was going out with Takako Chigusa, and they looked so close. Kayoko only thought, I don't get Takako's taste, I wonder maybe if you're that pretty, you're attracted to someone intimidating. In any case…that was her impression of him. So in this situation where her classmates were being killed off one by one she was absolutely terrified of Hiroki Sugimura. But then…it turned out…

He closed his eyes again and said, "It's all right." He was smiling. He looked content. "I was going to die soon anyway."

Kayoko then finally noticed he had another wound on his side, soaked in liquid that wasn't rain.

"So…go now. Please."

Kayoko sobbed convulsively and touched his neck gently. "Let's go together. Okay? Stand."

Hiroki opened his eyes and looked at her. He seemed to be smiling. "Forget about me," he said. "I'm just glad I got to see you."

"What?" Kayoko opened her tear-stained eyes wide. What? What did you just say? "What…what do you mean…" Her voice was trembling.

Hiroki exhaled deeply, as if to bear the pain, or maybe it was a long sigh. "If I tell you, will you go?"

"What? I don't get it. What do you mean?"

Hiroki said without hesitating, "I love you, Kotohiki. I've loved you for a real long time."

Kayoko once again didn't understand Hiroki. What's he talking about?

Hiroki continued. He was looking up at the sky raining down on them. "That's all I wanted to tell you.

Now…go."

Kayoko then uttered, "But I thought…you and Takako…"

Hiroki looked into her eyes again. He said, "You're the one."

She finally got it. She was blown away as if struck by a huge wrecking ball swinging from a demolition crane.

Love, me? You wanted to tell me…don't tell me you were trying to find me? Is that true? If so…then what did I just do?

Her breath was raspy. She kept on getting choked up, but finally she managed to cry out,

"Hiroki…Hiroki!"

"Hurry," Hiroki said and coughed out a mist of blood, spraying Kayoko's face. Hiroki opened his eyes again.

"Hiroki…I…I…I…"

Her body was supposedly dehydrated from lack of water, but the tears kept on gushing out.

"It's all right," Hiroki said kindly. He closed his eyes slowly. "Kayoko…" he called her by her first name as if it were a precious treasure. It was probably the first time he had ever called her by her first name. "I don't mind at all.. -dying because of you. So please, please go. Or else…"

Kayoko kept on crying, waiting for Hiroki to continue. "Or else"?

Hiroki didn't say anything. Kayoko slowly reached out for him. She held his shoulders and shook them.

"Hiroki! Hiroki!"

In a TV drama when someone died their words would be cut off, like, "Or el—" but Hiroki managed to say in a painful but clear voice, "Or else." So there had to be more. Or else?…

"Hiroki! Hey, Hiroki!"

Kayoko shook his body one more time. Then she finally realized he was dead.

Once she realized this, the dam restraining her torrent of emotions suddenly collapsed. A shriek was welling up inside.

"AHHH!" On her knees, Kayoko fell over Hiroki's body and cried.

He loved me…he loved me so much he sought me out at the risk of being attacked. Any encounter could have led to an attack on him. In fact, the wound in his side…the wound on his shoulder… came as a result of him trying to find me.

No…there's more. Kayoko stopped sobbing for a moment.

I was the one who attacked Hiroki. At the very end, when Hiroki managed to achieve his goal.

Kayoko shut her eyes and cried again.

He loved me…just like I wanted to tell "that guy" how I felt about him, Hiroki was thinking the same thing about me, looking for me. Someone in my class cared for me that much. And yet…and yet___

Suddenly, Kayoko recalled a scene. It was when they were doing their cleaning tasks. Kayoko was wiping the blackboard with a wet rag and when she couldn't reach the top, Hiroki, who had been slacking off, rested his chin against his hands that were holding the upright broom as if it were a cane, and said, "You're too short, Kotohiki." He took the rag from her and wiped the area she couldn't reach.

The scene came back to her.

Why…why didn't I see how kind he was? How could I not notice how someone loved me so much? If I'd thought about it, I would have realized if Hiroki wanted to kill me he could have immediately shot me with his gun. But I couldn't tell. I wasn't able to understand. I am so stupid. I—

Another memory came flashing by.

When she was telling some of her classmate friends about "that guy," Hiroki, who was nearby looking out the window, muttered, "You're being foolish, getting so worked up like that." It made her mad at the time, but in fact he was right, she was being foolish. And yet…and yet Hiroki told her he'd cherished this fool.

She simply couldn't stop crying. She pressed her cheek against his warm cheek and continued to sob.

Hiroki told her to go, but she couldn't bring herself to do that. I'm going to keep on crying, I'm going to cry over the dedication (it was irreplaceable) of this boy who loved me and my foolishness (I was such a kid thinking I was actually in the running for "that guy"), I'm going to keep on crying. Even if it was suicidal in this game.

You plan on dying with him? A voice whispered to her in her thoughts.

That's right, yes, I'm going to die with him. I'm going to die for the sake of Hiroki's love for me and my foolishness.

"Then why…don't you go ahead?" the voice said.

Kayoko suddenly trembled and turned around. She saw the long, beautiful, rain-drenched hair of Mitsuko Souma (Female Student No. 11), gazing down at her, gun in hand.

BAM BAM, two dry pops formed two holes in Kayoko's right temple. Kayoko's body then landed on Hiroki Sugimura's body.

Blood slowly began flowing out of the holes in her head. The blood continued flowing down her face against the rain washing it away.

Mitsuko lowered the Smith & Wesson M19 .357 Magnum and said, "You really were a fool. You should have understood him."

Then she looked over at Hiroki's face.

"Long time no see, Hiroki. Are you glad you got to die with your beloved?"

She shook her head, disgusted, and proceeded to walk forward to pick up the Smith & Wesson M59

Kayoko dropped and the Colt Government .45 (which had been Mitsuko's) Hiroki had tossed aside.

She looked down at the intertwined bodies and put her finger against her lips.

"Now what was that about…building a fire?"

Then she shook her head. With her foot she brushed away Kayoko's skirt covering part of the M59 and reached for the blue gun, when she suddenly heard the rattling sound of an old typewriter.

6 students remaining

69

Her back was pummeled, repeatedly. Her chest burst open with blood. She staggered…and she felt something hot expand inside her, like burning embers.

She didn't feel so much the painful shock as she felt dismayed. How could she not have heard someone sneaking up behind her in this mud?

The bullets had done enough damage, but Mitsuko managed to turn around.

There was a boy in a school coat. The unique slicked-back hair, the well-defined face, the gleaming, frigid eyes. It was Kazuo Kiriyama (Male Student No. 6).

Mitsuko squeezed her right hand holding the Ml9. Her muscles were nearly disabled, but she summoned all her remaining strength and attempted to raise the gun.

Suddenly Mitsuko's thoughts—despite the fact that she was in a life-or-death confrontation—slipped into another dimension. It only lasted for a split second.

When I spoke to Hiroki Sugimura I said:

"I just decided to take instead of being taken."

That's what I said.

When did I…become like that? Was it after the time I told Hiroki about, when I was raped by three men? That day I was raped by those men with the video camera in a rundown apartment room in the shabby outskirts of town? Or maybe the moment my drunken mother (I never had a father) left the room when she received the thick envelope (it couldn't have been that thick) after taking me to that room before "it" happened? From then on? Or…was it after my elementary school teacher, the one person I thought I could trust, kindly addressed me, nearly numb from trauma, and I finally told him exactly what happened, when the look on his face changed, and it happened again? From that point on? In that small, dark reading room after school? Or after my best friend saw it (at least part of it) and instead of offering consolation, spread a rumor (which led to the teacher leaving the school)? Or was it three months later when I resisted my mother, who was trying to take me to do "it" again and accidentally ended up killing her? After getting rid of all the evidence and doing everything to make it look like a break-in, I sat on a swing in the park. From that point on? Or after being taken in by distant relatives, I was repeatedly harassed by their kid, and when the kid accidentally fell from the roof, the mother accused me of killing her since I was with her? From that point on? The father intervened and defended me, but then after a while, this father started fooling around with me. From that point on? Or…

Little by little, no, more like in big chunks, everyone took from Mitsuko. No one gave Mitsuko anything.

And so Mitsuko ended up an empty shell. But…

… that didn't matter.

I am right. I will not lose.

Her arms were suddenly strengthened, and she lifted the gun. The tendons in her wrist rose up, resembling violin strings. Then she pulled the—

The rattling Ingram M10 in Kazuo Kiriyama's hands fired away a row of four holes that ran from her chest up to the middle of her head. Blood sprayed out of Mitsuko's mouth. Her upper lip tore. She bent backwards.

Still Mitsuko managed to smile. She regained her footing and pulled the trigger. Over and over.

The four bullets from the chamber struck Kazuo Kiriyama's chest.

But…Kazuo remained calm as he staggered only slightly. Mitsuko didn't understand why. Kazuo's Ingram then fired away again.

Mitsuko's face, once so beautiful, was torn up as if a strawberry pie had been flung into her face. This time her body was blown back—and the next moment she fell back onto the wet ground. By then she was dead. In fact, she may have been dead a while ago. Physically, several seconds ago, mentally, ages ago.

Kazuo Kiriyama walked up to her slowly, and then calmly removed the gun from her hand. He also picked up the Colt Government .45 lying by Hiroki Sugimura's hand and the M59 Kayoko Kotohiki had tossed aside. He didn't even bother glancing at the three rain-drenched bodies.

5 students remaining

70

Mizuho Inada (Female Student No. 1) cautiously looked out from the shade of the bushes. Due to the relentless rain her neatly cropped hair stuck to her forehead.

Beyond the bushes there was a narrow farm field, and through the light sheet of rain she saw the back side of a school coat in the middle of the field. His slicked-back hair was also wet from the rain. It was Kazuo Kiriyama (Male Student No. 6).

Kazuo Kiriyama had formed what appeared to be two piles of branches. Now he sat arranging one of the piles.

Mizuho calmed her breathing. It was cold, and she was tired, but she didn't really mind. After all, she was about to execute her most important mission…

…as a space warrior.

Are you ready, warrior Prexia Dikianne Mizuho?

In her mind, the God of Light Ahura Mazda asked her this. Apparently, this voice came from the spindle-shaped magic crystal (in fact the mail order item was made of glass but Mizuho believed it was crystal) she wore.

Of course. Mizuho responded. I saw that demon walk away after killing Yumiko Kusaka and Yukiko Kitano. I lost track of him, but just found him. And I saw him kill that other demon who killed Kayoko Kotohiki. I must defeat this enemy. And I have followed him this far.

Very well then. So you understand your mission?

Of course, sir. I received your message from the local fortune teller, that I would become a warrior destined to fight evil. I didn't understand what it meant at the time. But now, now I understand completely.

Very well then. Are you not scared?

No, sir. With your guidance I have nothing to fear.

Very well then. You are a surviving member of the Holy Dikianne Tribe. You are a chosen warrior.

The light of victory will shine upon you soon. Hm? What is it?

No, no. It's just that, great Ahura Mazda, my fellow warrior, Lorela Lausasse Kaori was killed (in their former Class B classroom, Kaori Minami, who spent some time hanging out with Mizuho Inada, would restrain herself from yawning every time Mizuho told her, "You're the warrior Lorela," but whatever).

She…

She fought to the very end, Mizuho.

Ah. Oh, I thought so. But, but, she was defeated by the evil forces.

Uh, well, yes. Well, that was because she was a mere commoner in origins. You are different. In any case, let's not fuss over the details. The important thing is that you must fight for her sake.

And you must win. All right?

Yes, sir.

Okay then. The light. You must have faith in the cosmic light. The light that engulfs you.

The light grew inside her. The great warm cosmic power that encompassed everything.

Mizuho nodded again in her brief repose. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Then she pulled the double-bladed knife (when she found the weapon in her day pack she thought it most becoming for a warrior) out of its sheath. She held it up in front of her face. A white light covered the blue blade, and Mizuho looked at Kazuo beyond the light.

She saw Kazuo's back. It was wide open.

Now then. You must cut down the enemy!

Yes!

In order to keep quiet, Mizuho dodged the bushes and dashed towards Kazuo. A light burst out from the short blade that had been barely fifteen centimeters in length, and it suddenly transformed into a legendary sword at least one meter long. This sword of light would pierce the evil monster with a single thrust.

As Kazuo Kiriyama adjusted the branches with his left hand, his right hand calmly pulled out the Beretta M92F. Without even turning around, he reached around and pulled the trigger twice.

The first shot hit Mizuho in the chest, stopping her, and the second shot went right through her head.

Mizuho fell back as her wounds burst into gently curved red lines drawn through the air. The rain immediately began washing away the blood. Then the warrior Prexia Dikianne Mizuho's soul transmigrated to the Land of Light.

His back still facing her, Kazuo Kiriyama put away his gun and continued arranging the branches.

4 students remaining

71

It continued to rain. Shuya was slouched against the wet rock wall as he watched the rain dripping off the edge of the thatched roof. He heard rapid gunfire. Then about five minutes ago he heard gunfire again, this time two single shots. Both times it didn't sound too close, but it didn't seem too far away either. It was probably somewhere in the northern mountain, where they were camping.

A large raindrop slid along one of the "roof" leaves and fell by Shuya's stretched out foot wearing Keds sneakers, splashing against the muddy water.

"Maybe Hiroki likes Kotohiki."

That's what Noriko had said. "If I were him…I would have done the same thing." She glanced at Shuya.

"I would find the person I cared about."

Was it true? Did Hiroki like Kayoko Kotohiki? Why, when he was so close to the prettiest girl in their class, would he be into a Plain Jane like Kayoko?

Well, maybe that's how it was. After all, Billy Joel sang, "Don't imagine you're too familiar…I'll take you just the way you are."

Then…who was involved (the second series of shots sounded like it was just one assailant shooting away) in those rounds of gunshots he just heard? If he were to include the gunfire he heard immediately after leaving the lighthouse, it meant he'd heard guns go off three times since noon. (This wasn't including what happened to Yukie Utsumi's group.) It would be reasonable to assume at least three people had died. Then there were only five left? Which three got killed? Or maybe no one died at all, maybe there were just confrontations, and everyone managed to escape each other. Then eight students, including Shuya's group, were left.

"Are you tired, Shuya?"

They were sitting next to each other in a row, but Shogo, who was on the other side of Noriko, asked,

"Maybe you should sleep a little."

Shuya looked back at them. "No." He gave a smile. "I slept a lot until noon. I bet you haven't had much sleep."

Shogo shrugged. "I'm fine. But Noriko. She didn't sleep at all waiting for you."

Shuya looked over at Noriko, but she waved her palms at Shuya and smiled. "That's not entirely true. I dozed off a little here and there. Shogo's the one who hasn't slept for my sake."

Shogo chuckled and shrugged. Then he held his right hand up to his chest in a salute and said, "I shall always guard you, Your Highness."

Noriko grinned, touched his hand, and said, "The honor is mine, Shogo."

Shuya raised his brow and observed their interaction. It was odd how close Noriko and Shogo seemed now. Ever since the game began, Noriko seemed to speak to Shogo mostly through Shuya, but now things seemed different. They seemed like a good pair on their own. It was only natural though, given how they'd spent over half a day without Shuya.

Shogo suddenly pointed at Shuya and said, "Uh oh. Shuya's getting jealous."

Noriko opened her eyes wide and looked at Shuya. She smiled and said, "No..."

Shuya blushed a little. "I am not. What are you talking about?"

Shogo shrugged. He raised his brow and said to Noriko in mock exasperation, "He says he trusts you, out of love."

Shuya wanted to say something, but he was speechless. Shogo began laughing. Clacking up, really.

Despite the urge to protest, Shuya ended up going along with it and chuckled too. Noriko was smiling too.

It was a brief but wonderful moment. It was the kind of conversation and laughter you'd share with your longtime friends, hanging out with them after school at your favorite cafe Of course, looming over them was the feeling that they were all here only after attending a friend's funeral....

Still smiling, Shogo looked down at his watch and went outside to check again for a signal from Hiroki.

Noriko grinned and looked at Shuya. "Shogo likes to kid around."

Shuya smiled. "Yeah, but…" He squinted at the open space.

I might have been jealous.

Shuya looked back at Noriko again. He was about to tell her in a joking way, "I may have been jealous."

Then Noriko would probably laugh and say, "Yeah right."

Shogo returned to the front of the roof. His stubbly face was moist with raindrops. "I see smoke," he said and immediately turned around.

Shuya quickly got up. He helped Noriko up with his uninjured right arm. They walked to where Shogo was standing.

The rain was light now, so he could make out the smoke drifting in the sky. As he followed Shogo's eyes…he saw a white column of smoke on the opposite side of the northern mountain. Two columns, in fact.

"Right on!"

Without thinking, Shuya gave a little holler out as if singing a rock and roll song. His eyes met Noriko's.

Noriko, no less enthusiastic, broke into a grin and said, "So Hiroki's safe."

Shogo took out the bird call from his pocket and teaked it as he observed the smoke. The cheerful chirping of a little bird rose and spread out into the rain covering the island. As he continued, Shogo checked his watch. Fifteen seconds later he stopped.

Shogo then looked over at them.

"Let's wait a little more here. My guess is he won't hear this sound unless he's close. It'll take time."

They returned underneath the roof.

"Hiroki probably found Kayoko," Noriko said. Shuya was about to nod but stopped when he saw Shogo's mouth stiffen. Noriko also stopped smiling.

"Shogo…" Shuya said.

Shogo looked up. Then he shook his head. "It's nothing. I just think things might not be what they seem."

"Huh? But…" Shuya raised his opened right palm. "Hiroki would never give up though."

Shogo nodded. "That might be true." He stopped and then looked away from them. "But he might have only found Kayoko Kotohiki dead."

Shuya's face became tense. He was right. Kotohiki seemed to be alive up until noon…but there was all that gunfire. They'd just heard those single shots. After searching around for two weeks, Hiroki might have ended up discovering Kayoko Kotohiki had died.

Shogo continued, "Or there might have been a totally different outcome."

Noriko asked, "What do you mean?"

Shogo took out a pack of cigarettes and answered curtly, "It's very possible Kayoko didn't trust Hiroki."

Shuya and Noriko both fell silent.

Shogo lit his cigarette and continued, "Well, in any case, let's just hope Hiroki can make it back here.

We'll see then whether he's with Kayoko or not."

Shuya was hoping Hiroki would return with Kayoko Kotohiki. Then… there would be five of them. Five of them could escape.

Only five.

Shuya then recalled that Mizuho Inada was still alive, at least she had been at noon.

"Shogo."

Shogo glanced at Shuya.

"Inada is still alive. I wonder if we can't contact her."

Shogo shrugged. "I keep on saying this, but it's best not to trust the others too much in this game. To be honest, nothing against Hiroki, but I don't necessarily trust Kotohiki either."

Shuya bit his lip. "I know but—"

"Well, if we can afford to, then I'll come up with some way to contact Mizuho, but," he blew out smoke,

"don't forget, we may not be around to do that."

That's right, Shogo had said, "At the very end. Once everyone else is dead, there's a way out." That meant no matter what, they would have to confront Kazuo again and also take on Mitsuko Souma. He wasn't sure about Mitsuko, but there would be no way around fighting Kazuo. There was no way Kazuo could die easily. Which mean that…everyone in Shuya's trio might not survive fighting him.

Shogo puffed on his shortened cigarette and said, "I'm going to ask you again, Shuya." He exhaled a puff of smoke and continued to stare at Shuya, "Even if we manage to hook up with Hiroki, we're probably going to have to fight Kazuo again and Mitsuko___Are you prepared to be merciless?"

So that's what it came down to. They could afford to contact Mizuho Inada only after they'd defeated Kazuo and Mitsuko. Although he wasn't comfortable with how he'd gotten used to the idea of killing his classmates no matter how extreme the circumstances were…

…Shuya nodded and responded, "I am."

4 students remaining

72

Shogo tweaked the bird call. It was the third time. The rain was now lightening up, and the drops falling off the edge of the roof became less frequent. The time was already past 5 p.m.

After he heard the same bird sound four times Shuya managed to join up with Noriko and Shogo.

But that was because he had some idea of their location. It could take Hiroki longer to find them since he didn't have that information.

Shogo returned under the roof and lit a Wild Seven.

He blew out smoke and asked out of the blue, "Where do you want to go?"

Shuya looked at Shogo, who was sitting on the other side of Noriko. Shogo turned towards him.

"I forgot to mention it, but I have a connection. Once we get out of here we can stay there for the time being."

"Who's that?" Shuya asked and Shogo nodded.

"A friend of my dad's," he continued. "He'll see to it that you get out of this country… I'm assuming you'll want to do that. You'll get killed if you stay in this country. You'll be hunted down like rats."

"Escape the country…" Noriko said, surprised. "We can really do that?"

Shuya also asked, "Who's this friend of your father's?"

Shogo looked at them, as if considering something as he held the cigarette to his mouth with his left hand.

He removed the cigarette from his mouth and said, "Right now isn't a good time to tell you." Then he continued, "In case we end up splitting up during our escape it'd be bad if either of you get caught and share our plans with the government. It's not that I don't trust you. But once they torture you, you'll eventually end up confessing. So I'll be in charge of getting us there."

Shuya thought about it and then nodded. It seemed like he was making the right call.

"But…let's see," Shogo said. He bit his cigarette and pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket.

It looked like the sheet on which they'd all written that statement, "We shall kill each other." Shogo tore it in two and then scribbled onto both pieces. He folded them up neatly and offered one to Shuya and the other to Noriko.

"What's this?" Shuya asked and began opening it up.

Shogo stopped him, saying, "Hold on. Don't look at it now. It's our contact method, just in any case. The time and locations are written on it. Go to that place and time every day. I'll do my best to get there too."

"We can't look at it now?" Noriko asked.

"Nope," Shogo said. "Look at it only in case we end up splitting up. In other words…your note and Shuya's have different information. It's best you two don't know what's on each other's note. Just in case one of you gets caught."

Shuya and Noriko looked at each other. Then Shuya turned to Shogo. "I'm going to be with Noriko no matter what."

"I know I know," Shogo grinned wryly, "but we can't rule out the possibility you might get separated again, like you were when Kazuo attacked us."

Shuya pursed his lips and looked over at Shogo…but ended up nodding. He exchanged glances with Noriko and put away the memo. So did Noriko.

It was true. Anything could happen. Escaping this island in the first place was going to be incredibly difficult. But if that were the case then shouldn't he and Noriko also come up with their own place and time to meet? Without telling Shogo? Then again, if Shogo ended up getting caught by the government then their situation would be hopeless anyway.

Shogo asked, "So…where do you want to go?"

Shuya recalled how Shogo wanted to know their ideal destinations once they fled the country. He folded his arms and thought about it. Then he said, "It'd have to be America. It's where rock came from. I always wanted to go there, at least once." He thought, I didn't think I'd be escaping there, though.

"I see." Shogo nodded. "What about you, Noriko?"

"I don't really have anywhere in mind but…" Noriko said and glanced over at Shuya.

Shuya nodded back. "Let's go together. All right?"

"Oh…" Noriko's eyes opened wide. Then she formed a smile and nodded. "Sure, if you're all right with that."

Shogo smiled. He took another drag from his cigarette and asked, "What will you do once you get there?"

Shuya thought about it. Then he answered with a grin, "I'll be busking with my guitar. At least I'll make some change."

Shogo chuckled, "Huh." Then he said, "You best be a rocker. You're talented. From what I hear, in that country the odds aren't stacked so high against you even if you're an immigrant or exile."

Shuya took a deep breath and gave him a skeptical grin. "I'm not that talented. I don't have what it takes to be a pro."

"I don't know about that."

Shogo smiled and shook his head. Then he looked over at Noriko. "What about you, Noriko? Anything you want to do?"

Noriko pursed her lips. Then she said, "I've always wanted to be a teacher."

Her reply caught Shuya by surprise since he'd never heard about it. He exclaimed, "Really?"

Noriko turned to look at Shuya and nodded.

Shuya continued, "You wanted to be a teacher in this lousy country?"

Noriko grimaced, "There are good teachers too. I…that's right," she looked down and continued, "I thought Mr. Hayashida was a good teacher."

It had been a while since Shuya recalled the corpse of Mr. Hayashida, whose head was half crushed.

"Dragonfly" died for their sake.

"…you're right," Shuya agreed.

Shogo said, "It might be difficult to become a teacher as an exile. But you might be able do research at some university. Ironically enough, the rest of the world seems very interested in this country. Then you might be able to teach." He continued staring ahead, then tossed his cigarette butt into the puddle by his feet. He put another cigarette in his mouth and lit it. He continued, "So you should go for it, both of you.

Be what you want to be. Follow your heart and give it your best shot."

Shuya thought what he said was kind of cool. Follow your heart. Do your best. The way the late Shinji Mimura would also say something sometimes that hit the mark.

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