Battle Royale

She felt a chill run down her spine. She couldn't continue. The image of Shuya with the red spider-web face and half-open mouth flashed by again. Shuya might have escaped from Kazuo, but he might have been severely wounded, he might be dying right now. Even if that wasn't the case, what if he was attacked by someone while he was running through the mountains...or what if he fell unconscious somewhere, and what if that was in a forbidden zone, then Shuya would end up dead. That's right...Shuya might have run into the base of the northern mountain which was in sector F=7, directly north of the school, sector F=7 which was a forbidden zone as of 1 a.m. And now it was past 1 a.m. Which meant...

She shook her head again. That couldn't be. Shuya couldn't die. Because...Shuya was like a holy man with a guitar. He was always kind to everyone, he was always so sympathetic to the sorrows of others, but he would never lose that powerful smile, he was so upright and transparent and innocent but also tough. He's like my guardian angel. How could someone like that die? There's no way he could...but still...

Shogo quietly said, "He might be, he might not be."

She turned her wrist and nervously checked her watch again. She moved her leg painfully and sidled up to Shogo. She squeezed Shogo's left hand, which was on his knees, with both hands.

"Please. Can't we go...can't we go look for him? Will you come with me? I can't do this on my own. Please."

Shogo said nothing. He only lifted his left hand slowly, returning Noriko's hands to her thighs, and tapped them lightly. "We can't. Even if you insist on going alone, I won't let you. Shuya wanted me to look after you. He took a big risk making us leave before him. I don't want to jeopardize all he did for us."

She bit her lower lip and stared at him.

"Don't give me that look. You're making this hard on me." Shogo scratched his head with his hand holding his cigarette and said, "You care about Shuya, right?"

She nodded. She didn't hesitate.

He nodded back and said, "Then let's respect his wishes." She bit her lip again, but then looked down and nodded. "All right. We can only wait, right?"

"That's right." He nodded.

They were silent for a while but then he asked, "Do you believe in sixth sense?"

The topic was so unexpected Noriko widened her eyes. Was he trying to distract her?

"Well...a little. I don't really know though," she responded. "Do you?"

He crushed his cigarette into the ground. Then he said, "Absolutely not...well, I don't think it matters either way. All that stuff about ghosts, the afterlife, cosmic power, sixth sense, fortune telling, psychic powers, that's just the talk of fools who can only deal with reality by avoiding it. I'm sorry. You said you believed a little. That's just my opinion. But..." She looked at his eyes. "But?"

"But sometimes without any apparent reason I'm certain about things I can't know for sure. And for some reason I've never been wrong when this happens."

She remained silent and stared at him.

He said, "Shuya's still alive. He'll be back. I know it."

Her face suddenly relaxed. He might have been making this up on the spot, but even so she was touched he made the effort.

"Thanks," she said, "You're kind, Shogo." He shrugged. "I'm just telling you how I feel." Then he said, "Shuya's a lucky guy."

She looked over at him. "Hm?"

"Lucky that someone loves him this much."

She smiled just a little. "You got it wrong."

"What?"

"It's unrequited. Shuya likes someone else. I'm nothing compared to her."

"...really?"

She looked down and nodded. "She's really awesome. I don't know how to describe her. She's so strong and beautiful. I'm jealous, but I can understand why he's attracted to her."

He tilted his head and said, "I don't know." He flicked his lighter several times and lit another cigarette and added, "I think Shuya cares about you now."

She shook her head. "Oh no."

"When he comes back," he smiled, "you should let him have it, call him a jerk for making you worry like this." She smiled a little again.

He blew out smoke. "Now lie down. You haven't fully recovered yet. Once you're drowsy, get some sleep. I'll stay up all night. If Shuya shows up, I'll tell him to wake the princess with a kiss."

"Uh huh." She smiled and nodded. "Thanks."

She still sat up another ten minutes. Then she wrapped herself in the blanket and lay down.

She still couldn't sleep though.

17 students remaining

53

Hiroki Sugimura was getting exhausted. He'd been walking without stopping ever since the game began, so it was only natural. But every time he heard Sakamochi's announcement, his level of exhaustion rose as if he were climbing a staircase. Now only twenty were left...no, as far as Hiroki knew, the number was down to seventeen. It was hard to believe, but Shinji Mimura was dead, along with Yutaka Seto and Keita Iijima.