Koushun Takami - Battle Royale

A crow cawed. Was it flying up above in the darkening evening sky?

Shuya finally spoke. His feelings were out of sync with the situation, he could only croak out pathetically, “What? What are you talking about?”

“You are so thick,” Shogo responded with a shrug. “I’m going to kill you both. I’ll be the winner. My second in a row.”

Shuya’s lips were trembling. No. This cant be.

He stuttered, “Come on, stop it. Th-then you were just acting until now? Y-you looked after us. You helped us so many times.”

Shogo replied calmly, “You’re the ones who helped me. I probably couldn’t have killed Kazuo without your help.”

“Then… so that story about Keiko was a lie too!?” His words trembled. The more he tried to keep his voice down the louder it became.

“Yep,” Shogo answered curtly. “It was true I participated in the Hyogo Prefecture Program last year, and it’s true there was a girl named Keiko Onuki. But there was nothing between us. The girl in that photo’s my girlfriend, but her name’s Kyoka Shimazaki, a totally different person. She’s still in Kobe. She’s out of her mind. Well, anyway, she insisted I hold onto this photo. I got to say she was a good lay, though.”

Shuya took a deep breath. A light early summer breeze blew against his skin, but for some reason it felt chilly. Then he cautiously asked, “But what about that bird call?…”

Shogo had another curt response. “I just happened to find that at the general supply store. I figured it’d be useful. And it proved to be, in the end.”

It grew darker and darker.

“You lost the moment you trusted me,” but Shuya still couldn’t believe it. That can’t be. That just can’t be. Then something occurred to Shuya. This must be…

Noriko spoke out before Shuya, “Shogo? Is this some test to see whether you can really trust us? Is it because Keiko couldn’t trust you?”

Shogo shrugged his shoulders and said, “Unbelievable how you still believe in that fairy tale.”

Those were his last words. Shogo held the gun in his hand and slowly pulled the trigger.

Two gunshots rang out as evening descended upon the island.

Shogo Kawada (Male Student No. 5) reclined against the soft sofa on the ship. He was swaying slightly from the rough waves.

The room was fairly spacious for a small patrol ship. The ceiling itself was low, but the room must have been a couple square meters. There was a low table in the middle, and two sofas on each side, with Shogo sitting on the one away from the door.

Because the room was below deck it had no windows, so he couldn’t see anything outside, but it must have been past 8:30 p.m. by now. The yellow ceiling lights shined against the glass ashtray. Shogo didn’t have any more cigarettes to smoke, though.

Once the forbidden zones were all deactivated after the game was over, Shogo obeyed Sakamochi’s announcements and made his way to the school. In front of the school were the bodies of Yoshio Akamatsu and Mayumi Tendo, and inside the classroom, the bodies of Yoshitoki Kuninobu and Fumiyo Fujiyoshi, all left untouched.

His silver collar was finally detached, and after the shooting for the news segment, he was taken away by soldiers and escorted to the harbor. There were two ships docked there. One for the winner… and the other a transport ship to return the soldiers packed inside the school. Most of the soldiers boarded this ship. Only the trio who were in the classroom during Sakamochi’s game instructions joined Sakamochi to board Shogo’s ship. And tomorrow the subcontracted clean-up crew would take care of the remaining bodies of the students on the island. The speakers and school computers at the school building would also be dismantled in a matter of days. Of course the software and data for the game had already been removed from the computer. This was the identical procedure taken immediately after the Kobe Second District Junior High School Program came to an end ten months ago.

And now Shogo was waiting here. They were now south of Okishima. The patrol ship was returning directly to Takamatsu Harbor, but the soldiers’ transport ship would probably alter its course and head west towards the military base.

The doorknob rotated with a click. The soldier who stood guard—the uncharismatic one called “Nomura”—by the door looked in, then moved away. Kinpatsu Sakamochi appeared. He came in with a tray with two teacups and asked, “Did I keep you waiting, Shogo?” as he entered the room. Nomura closed the door.

Sakamochi walked up to him with his short legs. He put the tray on the table and said, “Here. It’s tea. Drink all you want.” He took out a flat, letter-sized envelope from under his left armpit and sat on the sofa facing Shogo. He tossed the envelope onto his side of the table, then combed back his shoulder-length hair behind his ear.

Shogo glanced down at the envelope indifferently and began speaking while staring at Sakamochi. “What do you want? I wish you’d leave me alone. I’m tired.”

“There you go.” Sakamochi brought the cup to his mouth with a grimace. “You should be more polite with adults. I had this student Kato once. He used to give me a hard time, but now that he’s grown up, he’s quite respectable.”

“I’m not one of your pigs.”

Sakamochi opened his eyes as if taken aback and then smiled again. “Come, come, Shogo. I wanted to have a nice chat with you.”

Shogo slouched against the sofa and folded his legs. He remained quiet as he rested his cheeks in his hands.

“Where should I begin?” Sakamochi put his cup down and rubbed his open hands together. His eyes glimmered. “Did you know we have a betting pool for the Program, Shogo?”

Shogo squinted his eyes as if looking at filth. Then he said, “I wouldn’t be surprised. You guys are tasteless.”

Sakamochi smiled. “I had my money on Kazuo. Twenty thousand yen. With my salary, that’s a lot. But thanks to you, I lost.”

“Too bad,” Shogo said in a tone devoid of sympathy.

Sakamochi smiled again. Then he said, “I explained how I could tell where everyone was with those collars, right?”

The answer was obvious. Shogo didn’t respond.

Sakamochi stared at Shogo. “You were with Shuya and Noriko throughout the game, right? Then you betrayed them in the end. That’s what it came down to, right?”

“What’s wrong with that?” Shogo replied. “There are no restrictions in this wonderful game. Don’t make me laugh. You can’t criticize me for that.”

A broad grin spread over Sakamochi’s face. He combed back his hair, took a sip of tea, and rubbed his hands. He spoke as if he were sharing a secret, “Hey, Shogo. I’m not really supposed to be sharing this with anyone, but I’ll tell you the truth. These collars have built-in mics, so we could hear everything the students said during the game. I bet you probably didn’t know that.”

Shogo, who seemed so indifferent in his responses, finally seemed interested. He knit his brows and pursed his lips. “How the fuck… would I know about that?” he said. “So then you heard everything, how I tricked them.”

“Uh huh, that’s right.” Sakamochi nodded. “But that wasn’t very nice, Shogo. Was it. ‘Even if we managed to capture Sakamochi, I’m sure as far as the government’s concerned he’s expendable’? You said that. Being a Program Instructor is a pretty respectable occupation. Not everyone can do it.”

Ignoring Sakamochi’s complaint, Shogo asked, “Why are you telling me this?”