Koushun Takami - Battle Royale

Bang. Shuya instantly closed his eyes. He felt a piercing sensation run through his chest and thought, oh, man, I’m dying.

He opened his eyes.

He wasn’t dead.

There was Kazuo in the diagonal orange light of the setting sun, a red dot punctured by his nose. The gun fell from his hand. He immediately fell back and crashed onto the ground.

Shuya slowly turned his head to his left. Noriko was standing, holding the Smith & Wesson .38 caliber revolver with both of her hands.

Wow. So that’s what it was. While Shogo loaded the shotgun, Noriko had also loaded the revolver Shuya had tossed aside yesterday with her remaining .38 Special bullets.

Noriko’s hands were trembling with the gun.

“Huh.” Shogo stood up before Shuya could even help him up. Shuya nervously asked, “Are you all right?”

Shogo didn’t respond. He picked up the shotgun, and as he loaded it with the cartridges in his pocket, he walked toward Kazuo. Exactly two meters in front of him, he pointed the gun at Kazuo’s head and pulled the trigger. Kazuo’s head flinched only once.

Shogo turned on his heels and came back.

“Are you all right?” Shuya asked him again.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

Shogo walked over to Noriko, gently held her hands, still holding the Smith & Wesson, and lowered them. He quietly said, “He’s dead. I’m the one who killed him, not you.” Then he looked over at Kazuo. “So he was wearing a vest,” he said.

Shuya then finally understood. Kazuo Kiriyama had been wearing a bulletproof vest.

“Shogo,” Noriko asked, her voice slightly trembling. “Are you really all right?”

Shogo smiled kindly and nodded. “I’m all right. Thanks, Noriko.” Then he took out his pack of cigarettes again. It seemed empty so he looked around and picked up the lit cigarette which had fallen from his mouth, and slowly raised it to his lips.

Shuya turned around and stared out at the sun setting over the island. It was over. At least this wonderful game was. And now, including Kazuo Kiriyama over there, thirty-nine of their dead classmates were lying sprawled all over the island.

Shuya had that dizzy spell again. Maybe his thoughts were numbed by this hollow feeling. What the hell was this all about?

Faces flashed by one by one. Yoshitoki Kuninobu’s face as he shouted, “I’ll kill you!” Shinji Mimura’s face grinning slightly as Shuya left. Tatsumichi Oki’s face as he swung the axe with bloodshot eyes. Hiroki Sugimura who vanished into the dark outside the medical clinic, saying, “I have to see Kayoko Kotohiki,” Hirono Shimizu as she ran away from Shuya after shooting down Kaori Minami. The tearful Yukie Utsumi saying, “I just wouldn’t know what to do if you died.” Yuko Sakaki, who pried Shuya’s fingers loose. Then the cold eyes of Kazuo Kiriyama, who’d cornered them until now.

They were all gone. Not just everyone’s lives, but so many other things were destroyed.

But it wasn’t over yet.

“Shogo,” Shuya said. Shogo looked up, shortened cigarette in hand. “We should treat you.”

Shogo smiled. “I’m all right. It’s nothing. Take care of Noriko’s wounds.” Then he said, “I’m going to collect Kazuo’s weapons.” He walked over to the overturned minivan.

Shogo led the way up the mountain. The weapons he picked out of Kazuo’s assortment were tossed into the day pack on his shoulders. He didn’t offer them to Noriko or Shuya. It wasn’t necessary for the time being.

Shuya followed Shogo as he held Noriko up on his left side. They had cleaned Noriko’s cheek wound with water for now and covered it with a row of four band-aids. Shogo said they were better off not stitching it. Shuya cleaned her hand wound and wrapped it again with the bandanna. Shogo had also quickly taken care of his wounds.

It was already getting dim in the mountains, but there was no need to make their way through bushes, so it was relatively easy to climb. The ground strewn with piles of leaf mold was damp from an entire afternoon of rain.

They had covered quite a distance ever since Shogo announced, “We’re climbing the mountain,” and proceeded forward.

“Shogo,” Shuya called. Shogo turned around. “Where are we going?”

Shogo grinned. “We have just a little more to go. Just follow me.”

Shuya readjusted his arm on Noriko and followed him.

The peak with the viewing platform where Yukiko Kitano and Yumiko Kusaka were killed and its southern side had become a forbidden zone a long time ago. Shogo stopped right before they entered that area, in the upper mid-region of the mountain. Come to think of it , Shuya thought, a little ways below I saw Hirono Shimizu shoot Kaori Minami.

“This should do it,” Shogo said.

The slope and woods ended here, and the area offered a good view. They could see the entire island, now immersed in dim blue after sunset, where the fierce battle between the classmates of Third Year Class B Shiroiwa Junior High School took place. However, the school holding their final enemy, Sakamochi, was hidden by hills.

Shuya took a deep breath. Then he asked, “What’s up here anyway? How are we going to escape?”

Shogo smiled without looking at Shuya. Then he said, “Relax. Take a look over there.”

Shuya and Noriko looked over where Shogo was pointing.

It was over the southern mountain. Although it was growing dim, they could still make out the ocean, several islands, and beyond, the mainland. Shuya could make out a mist of lights scattered over the mainland. If they were closer, they could have discerned which ones were neon lights and which ones were lights along the shore highway.

Now Shuya also knew that this was Okishima Island in the Takamatsu-shi Bay. There were two others islands, Megijima and Ogijima, forming a vertical row of islands, where Okishima was the one at the far northern tip. Which meant that the small island beyond the southern mountain was Megijima, and beyond that was Ogijima, and beyond that was the mainland—Kagawa Prefecture of Shikoku.

Shogo said, “It’s not very familiar to me, but that’s your home over there. Shiroiwa-cho must be over there. You won’t see it again, so have a good look.”

Did he mean they’d never return because they were escaping the country?

Shuya looked back at Shogo. “Don’t tell me we came all the way up here for this.”

Shogo snickered. “Hey, what’s the rush?” Then he said, “Show me your gun. There’s something I need to check.”

Noriko handed over her Smith & Wesson to Shogo. He opened up its cylinder and checked it. Shuya thought Noriko had reloaded it after taking that single shot at Kazuo.

Shogo didn’t return the gun and instead held it in his right hand. He took a deep breath and said, “Do you remember how I kept on saying I might be doing this just to have a group, and that my intention might be to kill you off in the end?”

Shuya raised his brow. “Yes, you said that, but?”

“Yeah, but?…”

“So,” Shogo said, “you both lose.”

Shogo pointed the Smith & Wesson at them.

Shuya felt a strange expression forming on his face. As if he were grinning and bewildered at the same time. Noriko probably felt the same way.

“What is this?” Shuya said. “It’s not such a great time to be joking right now.”

“I’m serious,” Shogo said and cocked the hammer.

Shuya’s grin vanished. His right arm felt Noriko stiffen.

“You can enjoy the view a little more. I told you, it’d be the last time.” His stubbly face broke into a slight grin. It was a sinister grin he’d never shown before.