Koushun Takami - Battle Royale

Kazushi was very good at making excuses. Once he thought like this, the numbness in his head began to wane.

As he lowered the bow gun, he automatically grabbed Yoshio’s day pack, which was loaded with arrows. Right before he moved on though, he stopped and picked up Mayumi Tendo’s day pack too. Then he hurried off.

Had they been running for ten minutes now? With his arm still wrapped around Noriko, he signaled they should be still, and they both stopped. Under the hazy moonlight shining through the branches overhead, Noriko looked up at him. Their heavy breathing echoed like a giant wall of sound, but Shuya tried his best to listen beyond the wall for other sounds in the area enveloped in darkness.

No one seemed to be chasing them. They were too short of breath to sigh, but they could relax a little now.

As he dropped his bags, a sharp pain ran through his right shoulder. He was in poor shape. An electric guitar was heavier than a bat, but it wasn’t something you swung around. After putting the bags down, he placed his hands on his thighs and tried to rest.

Shuya urged Noriko to sit in the dark grove. After he checked again for any other suspicious sounds, he sat down next to her. The thick grass underneath them made a crunching sound.

He felt as if they’d covered a good distance, but given how they’d been zigzagging, and how they’d lost all sense of direction climbing the mountain, they might have only been a few hundred meters away from the school. At least the light leaking out of the building was no longer visible. This might have just been due to the thickness of the grove or the gentle slopes, though. Anyway it felt safer deep inside the dark grove. His decision was impulsive, but he was certain it was safer than the wide open seaside.

Shuya looked over at Noriko and whispered, “Are you all right?”

Noriko murmured, “Yes.” She nodded slightly.

Shuya felt the urge to stay here for a while, but that wasn’t an option. First he opened up the day pack. He dug into it, groping around, and found an object that felt like a bottle of water.

Shuya pulled it out. The sheath felt like leather and a leather grip poked out of it. It was an army knife. Sakamochi said that the day pack was equipped with a weapon. Was this it? He searched the bag a little more, but nothing else inside resembled a weapon. Only a bag that seemed to contain bread and a flashlight.

He unfastened the sheath and removed the knife. The blade was approximately fifteen centimeters long, and after checking it he returned it to the sheath and tucked it under his school uniform belt. He unfastened the lowest button on his uniform to make the grip immediately accessible.

Shuya grabbed Noriko’s day pack and opened the zipper. He knew he wasn’t supposed to go through a girl’s things, but Noriko didn’t pack this bag.

He found something strange. It was a curved stick approximately forty centimeters long. It had the texture of smooth, hard wood. Was this what they called a boomerang? A weapon used for fighting and hunting in primitive tribes. An aboriginal village hunting hero might be able to knock down an ailing, sluggish kangaroo with this thing, but what use could it possibly have for them? Shuya sighed and returned it to Noriko’s day pack.

They finally stopped heaving like drown victims gasping for air.

“You want some water?” Shuya asked.

Noriko nodded and said, “Just a little.”

Shuya took out the plastic bottle from his day pack, broke the seal of the twist-off top, and sniffed the contents. He spilled some on his hand and licked it cautiously. Then after taking a sip, making sure he had no abnormal reaction, he handed it over to Noriko. Noriko took the bottle and only swallowed a small mouthful. She probably knew that water was precious. Each bottle only contained approximately one liter, and they’d only have two. Sakamochi said they had no access to telephones, but what about the water system?

“Let me take a look at your leg.”

Noriko nodded to Shuya’s request and stretched out her right leg, which had been tucked in under her skirt. Shuya took out the flashlight from his day pack. He cupped it carefully with the palm of his hand to prevent its light from leaking out and pointed it at her leg wound.

The wound was on the outer calf. A section of flesh approximately four centimeters long and one centimeter deep had been scraped off. A thin stream of blood still flowed out of the ends of the pinkish flesh wound. It looked like she needed stitches.

Shuya quickly turned off his flashlight and grabbed his sports bag instead of his day pack. He grabbed the bourbon flask and two clean bandannas he’d packed for the trip. He uncapped the flask.

“This is going to hurt.”

“I’ll be okay,” Noriko said, but once Shuya tilted the flask and poured the bourbon to disinfect her wound, she let out a small hiss. Shuya pressed one folded bandanna onto her wound. He opened up the other one, folded it, then began wrapping it around her leg tightly like a bandage. This would stop the bleeding for now.

After wrapping her leg, he pulled at both ends of the bandage tightly, tied them together, and mumbled, “Damn…”

Noriko whispered, “You mean Nobu?”

“Yoshitoki, Yoshio. Everyone and everything. I’m not into this. I am so not into this.”

As he moved his hands Shuya glanced at Noriko. Then he looked down and finished tying his knot. Noriko thanked him and tucked her leg in.

“So Yoshio was the one who killed…” her voice was trembling, “…Mayumi?”

“Yes. He was above the exit door. I threw the arrow at him and he fell.”

Now that he thought about it, Shuya suddenly realized he hadn’t taken care of Yoshio. He’d instinctively assumed Yoshio would remain unconscious for a while, but for all he knew Yoshio might have woken up immediately afterwards. Which meant he might have taken his bow gun, climbed up on the roof, and continued his slaughter.

Was I being too naïve again? Should I have just killed him over there?

With this thought Shuya checked his watch under the moonlight. The old, domestically manufactured Hattori Hanzo limited-edition diver’s watch (along with most of his belongings, it had been donated to Shuya through the orphanage) read 2:40. Everyone might have left by now. At most there were only two or three students left, regardless of Yoshio Akamatsu’s state. Shinji Mimura had already… Shuya was nearly certain Shinji could easily escape Yoshio… By now he’d already left too.

Shuya shook his head. Now he felt foolish believing they could unite against their situation.

“I never thought someone like him would actually try to kill everyone else to survive. I understand the rules, but I didn’t think anyone would actually participate.”

“You might be wrong about that though,” Noriko said.

“Huh?” Shuya looked into Noriko’s face, too dark to discern under the moonlight. Noriko continued,

“You know how Yoshio was always timid. I think he was scared. That must’ve been it. I mean you have no idea who might turn against you. He might have been convinced everyone was coming after him. I think he was really scared. And that if he didn’t do anything he would end up being… killed…”

Shuya sat down against the nearest tree trunk and stretched his legs out.

The ones who were terrified might try to kill each other… The same idea had occurred to Shuya, but he had also thought the ones who were scared would basically hide out. But if they were terrified out of their wits, they might actually take their own initiative.

“I get it.”

“Yes,” Noriko nodded. “It’s still horrible that he started killing indiscriminately.”