Battle Royale

That was when Noriko appeared, standing where the trail nose dived. Dragging her leg, she had made her way through the thicket, following Tatsumichi and Shuya after they tumbled down the slope. (Shuya then realized that less than a minute had elapsed since his confrontation with Tatsumichi Oki.) She'd turned pale from the gunfire, but now she was holding her breath at the sight of the sprawled out corpses of Tatsumichi and Kyoichi while Shogo and Shuya faced each other.

Shogo immediately noticed Noriko and pointed his shotgun at her. Noriko's body stiffened. "Stop it!" Shuya shouted. "Noriko is with me! We don't want to fight at all!"

Shogo turned slowly to Shuya. He had a strange, blank look.

Shuya shouted at Noriko, "Noriko! Shogo saved me. Shogo isn't an enemy!"

Shogo looked at Noriko and then returned his gaze to Shuya. Then he lowered the muzzle.

After remaining frozen for a while, Noriko raised her hand to indicate her hands were empty, then nearly slid down the steep trail. She staggered, dragging her right leg, and as she drew herself up next to Shuya they both looked at Shogo.

Shogo stared back at them as if they were a pair of Armadillo twins. Shuya noticed that the stubble on his cheek and chin had grown a little.

"First, let me explain," Shogo finally said, "I had no choice but to shoot Kyoichi. You understand?"

Looking over at Kyoichi's body, Shuya considered Shogo's words and realized that maybe, maybe the representative had totally lost control. He might have seen me beat Tatsumichi Oki and gotten the wrong impression. Noriko wasn't around so it would have been natural.

As Shogo said, Shuya had no right to fault Shogo for his actions. If Shogo didn't kill Kyoichi, then Kyoichi would have killed Shuya. After all—he had also killed someone. Tatsumichi Oki.

He looked back at Shogo.

"Yeah, I know. Thanks. You saved me."

Shogo shrugged. "I was just trying to stop Kyoichi, but I guess I ended up doing that as well."

Adrenaline was still rushing through his body, but Shuya managed to blurt out, "I'm so glad. I'm so relieved we've met someone else who's normal."

In fact Shuya was surprised. Back in the classroom he thought if anyone was going to play the game it'd be Shogo. But not only was he not playing along, he'd managed to save Shuya's life.

Shogo stared at them for a while, as if he were thinking through something. Then he said, "So you two are together?"

Shuya raised his brow. "That's what I said."

Then Shogo asked, "Why are you two together?"

Shuya and Noriko looked at each other. Then they looked at Shogo. Shuya was in the middle of saying, "What do you mean...," but then stopped as Noriko asked the same question, but she stopped in mid-sentence too, realizing Shuya was asking the same thing. Shuya and Noriko looked at each other again. Shuya thought Noriko was giving him the green light to speak first, but then as soon as he began speaking, his words overlapped with hers, "That's because..." Once again Shuya and Noriko exchanged glances. They ended up facing Shogo without saying a word.

A quick grin ran across Shogo's face. If he was smiling, it was the first time Shuya had ever seen him smile.

Shogo said, "All right, all right. In any case, we have to hide out. We don't want to be standing out here in the open."

29 students remaining

18

Yuko Sakaki (Female Student No. 9) was wading through the thicket. It was dangerous for her to run so recklessly, but she had to escape. That was her priority.

She played back the scene she had just witnessed in her head. The incident she saw from the bushes. Tatsumichi Oki's head split wide open. Shuya Nanahara yanking out the hatchet from his head.

She was horrified. Shuya Nanahara had killed Tatsumichi Oki. He did it flawlessly.

Until Shuya pulled out the hatchet from Tatsumichi's head, Yuko was so transfixed she couldn't take her eyes off the scene. But as soon as she saw the red on the hatchet, fear took over. She grabbed her day pack and held her mouth shut because it would have shrieked on its own. Tears welled up in her eyes.

The sound of gunfire followed behind her, but she could hardly hear it given the state she was in.

29 students remaining

19

After Shuya and Noriko returned to the thicket where they'd settled last night and picked up their bags, Shogo remarked their view was no good here. Shuya thought he'd been thorough choosing this location, but Shogo seemed abnormally adept in this environment, so they did as he said and moved towards the mountain. The dirty cat was gone.

"Hold on. I'm going to find Kyoichi's and Tatsumichi's bags."

Shogo left them in the nearby shrubs. Noriko sat down to rest, and Shuya sat next to her. He was holding the revolver (Smith & Wesson .38 Chief's Special) Shogo had given him after retrieving it from Kyoichi's body. It made him feel uncomfortable, and he didn't want to carry it— he'd seen that grotesque one-man baton hand off—but he managed to hold it.

"Shuya, here."