Koushun Takami - Battle Royale

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.

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. 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.

“Because that’s the Shogo that I really loved.” Then she looked over at Shogo. She seemed slightly embarrassed, but added, “That’s what Keiko 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, 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.

“…we have only one. No. 11, Hiroki Sugimura.”

Shuya’s eyes opened wide.

“Now then, with the girls, the body count was pretty high. No. 1, Mizuho Inada, No. 2 Yukie Utsumi, No. 8 Kayoko Kotohiki, No. 9 Yuko Sakaki, No. 11 Mitsuko Souma, No. 12 Haruka Tanizawa, No. 16 Yuka Nakagawa, No. 17 Satomi Noda, and No. 19 Chisato Matsui.”

Shuya’s eyes met Noriko’s. Her eyes were trembling. They had already been prepared to hear about Yukie’s group, but Hiroki and Kayoko too? And Mitsuko Souma and Mizuho Inada.

The only ones left were them and Kazuo?

“That can’t be—” Shuya uttered. Ever since the smoke signal went up, there hadn’t been any gunfire. Or was Hiroki stabbed? Or… did he not hear Sakamochi’s announcement correctly? Were his ears playing tricks on him?

No. Sakamochi continued, “All right then. Now there are four students remaining. Can you hear me, Kiriyama, Kawada, Nanahara, and Nakagawa? Wonderful work. I’m really proud of you all. Now then, I’ll announce the new forbidden zones.”

Before Shuya could mark his map, Shogo said, “Gather your stuff.”

“Huh?” Shuya asked, but Shogo only signaled for him to hurry up. Sakamochi continued, “From 7 p.m.…”

“Get up. It’s Kazuo. It’s likely he somehow found out about Hiroki’s method to contact us. We might have been sending our signal to Kazuo all this time.”

Shuya immediately got up. Noriko was carrying her day pack on her shoulders. Then right before or after Sakamochi finished his announcement saying, “All right then, do your best. Just a little more to go—” Shuya saw Shogo’s eyes glance at that alarm system consisting of notches cut into thin trees wrapped with thin wire.

And then he saw this wire fall off the rain-drenched tree trunk.

“Duck!” Shogo yelled. The rattling burst through. Right above Shuya and Noriko’s heads, the rock wall burst into sparks. Its shards rained down on them.

Crouched, Shogo held the Uzi and shot into the shrubs.

Maybe he was hit or maybe he wasn’t, Kazuo (who else could it be now?) didn’t return fire. Shogo said, “This way! Hurry!” They ran south along the rock wall away from Kazuo.

Once they reached the area beyond the rock wall where Shogo had been using the bird call, they heard a gun rattle off again. It missed them. They entered the bushes ahead.

There was a crevice in the rock waist deep, less than a meter wide. Covered with dirt and leaves, it continued southward. Shuya didn’t know about its existence, but Shogo probably chose their position with this place in mind. It was a naturally formed trench. Shogo urged them on. Shuya and Noriko jumped down. Shogo rattled off his Uzi and followed them. A different rattling followed from behind. A thin tree with roots along the edge of the crevice exploded with a pop right by Shuya’s head.