Косюн Таками - Battle Royale

Noriko seemed to be nodding.

"For now we escape...but some day I'm going to tear this country down. I'm still keeping the promise I made to Shogo. I want to tear it down for Shogo, for you, for Yoshitoki, for everyone. Will you help me when the time comes?"

Noriko squeezed Shuya's hand and replied assertively, "Of course, I will."

They departed from the crowd. They stood in front of a ticket dispenser. Noriko looked up at the display above the ticket machine, took out some change, and counted it out. Then she stood in line in front of the ticket machine to buy their tickets.

Shuya stood still, waiting for Noriko's turn to come. It came immediately. She put the coins into the coin slot.

Shuya casually looked over to his left.

He squinted his eyes. There was the entrance to the station concourse, and he could make out the Osaka high-rise district, just beyond the road where taxis and cars were passing each other. A tall, uniformed man emerged from this background, heading straight towards them. He skillfully dodged the flow of pedestrians and made his way toward Shuya.

It was a policeman's uniform. There was a gold peach insignia shining at the center of his cap.

With his right hand Shuya slowly reached for the Beretta M92F tucked in the back of his jeans as he looked for an escape route. There was a road at the entrance opposite the policeman. If they could get there, they could grab a cab—

Shuya whispered to Noriko, who returned with their tickets, "Forget about the train, Noriko."

Noriko understood. She quickly turned and opened her eyes wide after seeing the policeman.

"That way," Shuya said. The policeman came running at them.

"We have to run, Noriko! Run as fast as you can!" he said. As they dashed out, Shuya thought, hey, doesn't that sound familiar.

He glanced behind him. The police officer held out his gun. Shuya pulled out his Beretta. The officer shot immediately. BANG BANG. Two sweeping shots, but luckily no one in the crowd, including Shuya and Noriko, was hit. There were cries though, as some fell to the ground for cover, while others having no idea where the gunfire came from scattered in random directions. The officer, his gun down, ran toward them again, but then crashed into a fat woman carrying groceries, and clumsily fell. The woman fell too, and her bag of vegetables for dinner tumbled and slid on the floor.

That was all Shuya saw. He was looking ahead now.

As he ran next to Noriko, a thought suddenly occurred to him. The screaming, their hasty footsteps, and the officer warning them to stop all receded as his mind was occupied with this thought.

It might have been inappropriate. And besides...he'd ripped it off. Oh, man.

But still he thought this:

Together Noriko we'll live with the sadness. I'll love you with all the madness in my soul. Someday girl I don't know when we're gonna get to that place. Where we really want to go and we'll walk in the sun. But till then tramps like us baby we were born to run.

The screaming and yelling swelled back, returning with the sound of Noriko's heavy breathing and his heart thumping.

We're still on the run. That's for sure.

Right on. This time we're on.

And we won't stop till we win.

Now, once again, "2 students remaining."

But of course they're part of you now.