Battle Royale

Yutaka shook off the thought. Shinji didn't have a machine gun—and nothing else could have made that sound. He was certain he didn't have one, and besides, most of all, this was Shinji. He was his best friend. He would never kill those girls off like that, as if they were flies.

"What's wrong, Yutaka?" Shinji turned around and whispered. "Hurry up."

Once again Yutaka followed Shinji in a daze.

Shinji continued to walk carefully. Once they covered a distance of approximately fifty meters he stopped. With his gun in his right hand, he pointed down toward his feet. "You have to step over this here," he warned Yutaka. Yutaka narrowed his eyes and noticed a thin, dull piece of thread stretched tightly between the trees. "Is this..."

"It's not a trap," Shinji said after stepping over the thread. "There's an empty can tied to it over there. Once it's tugged, we can hear it fall."

Yutaka nodded, eyes opened wide. Shinji had been hiding out. And this was a kind of tripwire alarm. Impressive. The Third Man was more than just a star athlete.

Yutaka stepped over the thread.

They reached a thicket twenty meters away. Shinji stopped walking. He said to Yutaka, "Let's sit down."

Yutaka sat down, facing Shinji. He realized he was still holding his fork. He put it on the ground when all of a sudden he felt a stinging pain from his left palm and right fist. The skin had peeled off, revealing red flesh on his knuckles.

Seeing this, Shinji put down his gun and pulled out what appeared to be a day pack from a nearby bush. He took out his water bottle and towel, doused one end with water, and said, "Give me your hands, Yutaka." Yutaka held them out, and Shinji wiped them thoroughly, but gently. Then he tore the dry part of the towel into thin shreds and wrapped them around Yutaka's hands.

Yutaka said, "Thank you." Then he asked, "So you've been hiding here?"

"Yeah," Shinji smiled and nodded. "I caught a glimpse of you from here moving around in the bushes. You were pretty far away, but I could tell it was you. So even though it was a little risky, I went in your direction."

Yutaka choked up. Shinji risked his life for my sake.

"It's dangerous if you don't move carefully."

"Uh huh." Yutaka was about to cry. "Thanks so much, Shinji."

"I'm glad... " Shinji exhaled. "Even if I die, I wanted to make sure I got to see you."

Now Yutaka's eyes were watering. He held his tears back though and changed the subject, "I was...right near Yumiko and Yukiko. I-I wasn't able to help them."

"Yeah," Shinji nodded. "I saw that too—that's how I found you. Don't let it get you down. I wasn't able to do anything for them either."

Yutaka nodded. Recalling how Yumiko Kusaka and Yukiko Kitano were killed only moments ago, he trembled.

27 students remaining

26

They ended up moving approximately one hundred meters southwest of their previous position. By the time Shogo was done tying the wire around the bushes again, it was already 9 a.m. The sun was high in the sky, and the air smelled like a forest in May. The sea, which was visible as they moved through the trees, glistened a brilliant blue. Islands were scattered across the Seto Inland Sea. If they were hiking...this would have been a prime spot.

But they weren't. Every single boat that passed by circled around the island at a great distance, tiny as dots, and the nearest one was the gray guard ship in charge of the western region. Even that ship was pretty far, but you could see the machine gun installed at its head.

After Shogo was done setting the wire, he took a deep breath and sat down in front of Shuya and Noriko. Once again he placed his shotgun between his feet.

"What's wrong? You're both so quiet now," Shogo asked.

Shuya looked up at Shogo. He hesitated—and then asked, "What made them do that?"

Shogo lifted his brows. "You mean Yumiko and Yukiko?"

Shuya nodded. After hesitating, he said, "I mean it should have been obvious. They could have anticipated that. I mean, according to the rules of this game...," he sighed, "we're supposed to kill each other."

Shogo put another cigarette between his lips and lit it with his disposable lighter. "They seemed close. Weren't they in some religious group?"

Shuya nodded. They were very normal girls, but there was always something that separated them from the other girls, like Noriko and the neutral faction that included Yukie Utsumi and her friends. He thought it was because of their religion. "They were part of some Shinto religious group called the Halo Church. They have a church located on the Yodo River bank, off the state highway when you're heading south."

Shogo exhaled and suggested, "Maybe that was part of it. You know, 'Love thy neighbor.' "

"No, I don't think so," Noriko said. "They weren't— especially Yumiko—very committed. They said they didn't really get it, that it was just a social thing."