Battle Royale

No...that wasn't necessarily true. There might be a lot more "enemies." It was impossible to determine who your enemy was in the first place. Who was still normal and who wasn't anymore? But—maybe we're the ones who aren't being normal anymore? Maybe we're insane?

He felt like he was going crazy.

In the end we have no choice but to sit here and see what'll happen. But will we come up with a solution? If that doesn't work, we can wait until night to look for Shinji Mimura—but will we even be able to do that? Even though the island was small, with a diameter of six kilometers, finding someone under these conditions wouldn't be easy. Besides, will we even have enough time between nightfall and the "expiration time"?

Furthermore—let's assume by some stroke of luck (what an expression) we end up hooking up with Shinji, or it's just the two of us, and we somehow manage to escape, we would be considered fugitives. Unless we emigrate somewhere, we'll spend the rest of our lives as fugitives. And then one day we'll end up being assassinated by a government agent in some abandoned alley, leaving our bodies for the fat mice that come out and nibble at our fingers—

In the end...you might be better off going crazy.

Shuya thought of Yoshitoki Kuninobu. He was shaken by Yoshitoki's death, but maybe Yoshitoki was better off insofar as he didn't have to experience this insanity. This situation that seemed absolutely hopeless.

We might be better off committing suicide. Would Noriko agree to killing ourselves?

Shuya glanced over at her and for the first time closely observed Noriko's profile in the peaceful, dawning light.

She had well defined eyebrows, eyelashes soft against her closed eyes, a cute nose with its flat tip, and full lips. She was a very cute girl. He could see why Yoshitoki had a crush on her.

Now there was sand stuck to her face, and her hair hanging slightly past her shoulders was frayed. And—of course the collar. The gaudy silver collar wrapped around her neck as if she were a slave from ancient times.

This damn game was taking away all her attractive qualities.

Shuya then suddenly felt a surge of incredible anger. And with it, he came to his senses.

We won't lose. We'll survive. Not only that, we'll fight back. It won't be some lame-ass counter-punch. They come with a straight right punch, and I'll wail back at them with a baseball bat.

Noriko opened her eyes. Their eyes met and they stared at each other. Then Noriko quietly said, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing...well, I was thinking."

Shuya was embarrassed, because He'd been staring at Noriko, and she'd caught him doing this, so he just blurted out, "I know this sounds weird, but I just hope you're not thinking of committing suicide."

Noriko looked down, her face ambiguous, forming what might have been a smile. Then she said, "No way... although..."

"Although what?"

Noriko thought for a moment. Then she continued, "I might want to commit suicide if we were the only ones left. Then at least you would be..."

Astonished, Shuya shook his head. He shook it frantically. He had mentioned the idea randomly. He didn't expect her to respond like this.

"Don't be absurd. Don't you even think of it. Look, you and me, we're together to the very end. No matter what. All right?"

Noriko smiled a little, offered her right hand, and touched Shuya's left hand. "Thanks," she said.

"Look, we're going to make it. Don't even think of dying."

Noriko smiled a little again. Then she said, "You haven't given up then, Shuya?"

Shuya nodded with some force. "Of course not."

Noriko nodded and said, "I've always thought this, but you've always had this positive force."

"Positive force?"

Noriko smiled. "I don't know how to say this but you have this positive attitude about living. Like right now you're totally determined to live. And..." She still had a faint smile on her face as she looked directly at him. "That's what I really like about you."

Shuya felt a tinge of embarrassment and replied, "That's because I'm an idiot."

Then he said, "Even if we could escape, you know, I mean it wouldn't matter to me, because I don't have any parents. But, you...you won't be able to see your mother or your father—or your brother. Would you be all right with that?"

Noriko smiled a little again. "I can deal with that—I made up my mind ever since...this game began." She paused, then added, "What about you?"

"What do you mean?"

Noriko continued, "You won't be able to see her anymore..."

Shuya hesitated. It was true, Noriko knew a lot about Shuya. As Noriko herself said, "I've been watching you for so long now."

He'd be lying if he said it didn't matter. He'd been so into Kazumi Shintani—all this time. The thought of never seeing her again was—

But Shuya shook his head, "It's not a big deal."

He thought of adding, "It was just a one-way crush anyway," but he was interrupted by the sudden blare of Sakamochi's voice ringing through the air.

31 students remaining

15

"Good morning everyone."