Battle Royale

by Koushun Takami

  "It's quiet," Sakura murmured. Beneath her hair, which was cut short for a girl, her pretty profile, beginning with her wide forehead, seemed to be forming a smile. She was tall, so she looked slim, and as always, she sat up straight. Kazuhiko had only recently arrived. As they hugged each other, her body trembled slightly like a wounded little bird.

  "Yeah, it is," Kazuhiko said. Aside from the bridge of his nose, which was slightly wide, he was good looking. He turned away from her to look at the view. The dark sea spread out under the moonlight, the black outlines of the islands scattered, and beyond them there was land. The lights were shining brightly on the islands and what appeared to be the Honshu mainland in the distance. It was a little before 3:30

  a.m. In between those lights floating in the dark most people were sleeping peacefully. Or maybe there were kids like him studying late into the night for their high school entrance exams. It didn't look terribly far, but it was a world beyond their reach now.

  Kazuhiko confirmed the existence of the small black dot approximately two hundred meters out at sea. It appeared to be one of the ships "there to kill anyone attempting to escape by sea" that Sakamochi had mentioned. Although the Seto Inland Sea was always busy with boat traffic, even at night, not a single ship passed by to send out its lights. The government prohibited all traffic here. It was chilling. Kazuhiko peeled his eyes off the black dot. He'd seen the corpses of Mayumi Tendo and Yoshio Akamatsu when he left the school. He also heard the sound of gunshots in the distance before he arrived here. The game had begun, and it would continue until the end. He and Sakura had already observed this, and this too no longer seemed to matter anymore.

  "Thank you so much for this." Sakura was looking at the tiny bouquet of flowers in her left hand. On his way over here Kazuhiko had found several clover-like flowers which he then bundled together. At the top of the long, thin stems, the small petals were bunched together like a cheerleader's pom poms. They weren't the most impressive set of flowers, but this was all he could find. Kazuhiko did his best to smile. "Oh, you're very welcome."

  Sakura looked down at the small bouquet, then finally said, "So we'll never be able to go home together. We won't be able spend time together walking around town, eating ice cream, and doing anything else anymore."

  "Well…"

  Sakura interrupted Kazuhiko. "It's futile to resist. I should know. I heard my father was against the government, and then one day…"

  Kazuhiko could tell from her hand that she was trembling.

  "The police came and killed my father. No warrant, nothing. They just came in without a word and shot him dead. I can still remember it clearly. We were in the kitchen. I was still small. I was sitting at the table. My mother held me tight. Then I grew up and ate my meals at the same table." Sakura turned to Kazuhiko "It's no use resisting."

  It was the first time she had ever told him about the incident, even though they'd been going out for two years. The first time they slept together, just a month ago at her house, she hadn't mentioned it. Kazuhiko felt there must be something else to say, but all he could muster up struck him as incredibly trite. "Wow, that must have been hard."

  But Sakura broke into a smile. "You're so kind, Kazuhiko. You're so kind. That's what I like about you."

  "I like you too. I love you so much."

  If he weren't so inarticulate, Kazuhiko could have said so much more. How much her expressions, her words, her gentle manner, and untainted pure soul meant to him.

  How important, in short, her existence was to him. But he wasn't able to put it in words. He was only a third-year student in junior high, and worse yet, composition was one of his worst subjects.

  "Well." Sakura closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, as if a little relieved. Then she breathed out. "I really wanted to make sure I saw you."

  Then she went on. "Horrible things are going to happen. No—according to what you said, they've already begun. Just yesterday we were all friends—and now we're going to kill each other." Putting this thought into words, she trembled again. Again Kazuhiko could tell from her hand. Sakura gave him a weary smile that betrayed fear along with the terrible irony of the fate awaiting them. "I couldn't take that."

  Of course not. Sakura was kind. Kazuhiko didn't know anyone else kinder.

  "Besides…" Sakura spoke again, "we can't go back together. Even if by some miracle one of us could go back, we still wouldn't be together. Even if…even if I were to survive…I couldn't bear being without you. So…"

  Sakura stopped. Kazuhiko understood what she was getting at. So I'm going to kill myself here. Before anyone gets me. Right in front of you.

  Instead of finishing what she had to say, she said, "But you have to live." Kazuhiko smiled grimly, then squeezed her hand tightly and shook his head. "No way. I'm with you. Even if I were to survive, I couldn't stand being without you. Don't leave me alone." Tears came streaming out of Sakura's eyes which were fixed on Kazuhiko's eyes. Sakura turned away from Kazuhiko. Wiping her eyes with her left hand that was holding the bouquet of clovers, all of a sudden she blurted out, "Did you see the final episode of Tonight, at the Same Place, which airs every Thursday night at nine?"

  Kazuhiko nodded. It was a TV drama broadcast by the national DBS network. It was a superfluous love story produced by the Republic of Greater East Asia Television Network, but it was quite good, topping TV ratings for the last several years.

  "Yeah, I saw it. You wanted me to watch it."

  "Yes, I did. So what I was thinking…"

  As she spoke, Kazuhiko thought, this is exactly how we'd always talk. It was always about something really ordinary and meaningless, but there was something so blissful about these conversations they had. Sakura wants us to stay the way we've always been.

  The thought suddenly made Kazuhiko want to cry.

  "Well, I was all right about the two main characters ending up together. That's how it's supposed to be. But I don't know about Miki's friend Mizue, the one played by Anna Kitagawa. How could Mizue have given up on the guy she loved? I know I would have gone after him." Kazuhiko grinned. "I knew you'd say that."

  Sakura laughed bashfully. "I can't hide anything from you." Then she said happily, "I still remember when we became classmates in junior high. You were tall and good looking, sure, but the thing that really got me was how I thought, 'This guy would understand me, he would understand me down to the core of my heart.' "

  "I don't know how to say this very well but," Kazuhiko twisted his tongue a little and thought for a moment, then continued, "I think I felt the same way."

  He said it well.

  Then he leaned over a little, towards Sakura. With his left hand still clutching her right hand, he wrapped his other hand around her shoulder.

  They hugged in this position and exchanged kisses. Was it just a few seconds? Was it a minute? Or was it eternity?

  In any case, the kiss ended. They heard a rustling sound. They sensed someone in the bushes behind them. That was their signal: all aboard. The train is departing, so you better get on board. They had nothing left to say. They could have fought against the intruder. He could have taken his gun and aimed it at the person behind them. But she wouldn't want that. What she wanted was to leave this world quietly before they got sucked into this horrible massacre. Nothing was more important to him than her. There was no room for compromise. If this was what her trembling soul wanted, then he would follow her. Had he been more eloquent he might have described his feelings as something like, "I'm going to die for her honor."

  Their two bodies danced in the air beyond the cliff, the black sea in the background, their hands still clasped together.

  Yukie Utsumi (Female Student No. 2) poked her head out from the bushes a little. She held her breath and watched them. She had no intention whatsoever of harming anyone, so she had no idea that the noise she made signaled their departure. She was simply stunned by the sight of the No. 1 couple in class vanishing beyond the grassy cliff. The sound of waves q
uietly brushing up against the sheer rock face continued and the small clovers Sakura dropped remained lying on the grass. Even when Haruka Tanizawa (Female Student No. 12) approached her from behind and asked her,

  "What's wrong, Yukie?" Yukie just stood there trembling.

  32 students remaining

  13

  Megumi Eto (Female Student No. 3) sat in the dark, hugging her knees while her small body shook violently. She was inside a house slightly removed from the island's most populated area on the eastern shore. The lights might have worked, but Megumi didn't dare try them. The moonlight coming through the window didn't reach under the worn out kitchen table she was hiding under. It was almost pitch black, so she couldn't check her watch, but two hours had probably passed since she sat down here. It was probably almost 4 a.m. Was it one hour since she heard that distant, faint sound that sounded like firecrackers? No, Megumi didn't even want to think about what that really was. She raised her face and saw, silhouetted against the moonlight, the cupboard and kettle right above the sink. She was aware the government probably relocated the island's residents to some temporary housing units, but the remaining traces of someone's life in this house was unnatural and creepy. It reminded her of the ghost story she'd heard as a child, about the ship Marie Celeste whose entire crew suddenly vanished into thin air, leaving behind their meals and possessions in mid-use. She became even more terrified.

  Immediately after her departure she had no idea where she was headed. Next thing she knew she was in the middle of this residential area. The first thought that occurred to her was that there weren't too many students out yet. She was the sixth to leave the school. Five were already out…but only five. There were fifty or sixty houses in this area, so the chances of encountering one of them were close to nil. And as long as she locked the door and kept the place to herself… then she would be safe at least until she had to move. The collar that would explode if she remained in one of the forbidden zones was oppressive, but there was nothing she could do about it. Sakamochi had warned that, "If you try to pry it loose, it will explode." In any case, the important thing was to make sure she could hear Sakamochi's announcement of the time and location of each forbidden zone.

  So Megumi had tried to enter a house, but the first one was locked. So was the second one. She went to the backyard of the third one and broke the sash window with a rock she found on the ground. It made such a huge sound, she ducked under the veranda. No one seemed to be in the area, though. She entered. There was no use locking the sash now. She had to laboriously close the storm door. Once it was shut, the inside turned pitch black, and she felt as if she'd wandered into a haunted house. She managed to pull out her flashlight though and searched the house. She took two fishing poles and used them to jam the storm door shut.

  And now she was under the kitchen table. Killing each other was out of the question. But what if… just what if this area (checking the map, she found the whole area was almost completely inside sector H=8) never turned into a forbidden zone, then she might end up surviving.

  But…Megumi continued shaking as she continued to think. That was terrible. Of course…according to the rules of the game, everyone was your enemy so you couldn't trust anyone. That's why she was shaking right now…but, but even if the game ended and she turned out to be the sole survivor, then that would also mean everyone else had died: her friends (like Mizuho Inada and Kaori Minami), as well as Shuya Nanahara, who made her heart flutter every time she thought of him. Megumi pulled her knees in and thought of Shuya in the dark. What she really loved about him was his voice. That slight rasp that was neither too high nor too low. He apparently loved censored music called

  "rock," so he always looked really unhappy in music class when they had to sing songs praising the government and the Dictator, but he sang incredibly. The sound from his guitar when he played improvised passages was superb. Its unfamiliar rhythm made you want to dance. And yet there was also something graceful about the sound, not unlike the sound of bells chiming in a beautiful church. And then there was his longish permed hair (Shuya once said, "I'm imitating Bruce Springsteen," but Megumi had no idea what he was talking about), not to mention his slightly drowsy looking, kind eyes with double eyelids. Also he moved so gracefully since he'd been a star Little League player ever since elementary school.

  Her shaking subsided a little when she thought of Shuya's face and voice. Oh, if only Shuya Nanahara were with me right now, it would be so wonderful…

  So then…so then why didn't she ever tell Shuya how she felt about him? By love letter? Or by sending someone to bring him, so she could confess to him directly? Or by phone? Now she'd never get the chance.

  That's when it occurred to her.

  The phone.

  That's right. Sakamochi said we wouldn't be able to use phones in the houses. But…

  Megumi grabbed her nylon bag, which was lying next to her supplied day pack. She pulled open the zipper and shoved aside her clothes and personal effects.

  She touched a hard square object and grabbed it.

  It was a cell phone. Her mother bought it for her for this trip in case something (well, this wasn't just something) happened during her trip. It was true she'd been envious of the other one or two classmates who owned one, and there was something thrilling about the feeling of having your own private link, but Megumi also thought her parents were being overprotective, and that her mother was neurotic. She wondered, "Why would a junior high school kid need this?" when she put the shiny phone into her bag. She'd completely forgotten about it until this very moment.

  Megumi flipped open the phone with her trembling hands.

  The phone automatically switched from receive mode to send mode and the small LCD panel and dial buttons lit up with a green glow. Her knees under her skirt and bags were now visible. But more importantly, there, without a doubt, was the antenna and air wave symbols lighting up on the display panel, indicating it was ready for a phone call!

  "Oh…God…"

  Megumi frantically pressed the dial buttons, the numbers for her home in Shiroiwa-cho. 0, 8, 7, 9, 2…

  After a moment of silence, the phone on the other end began to ring in her ear, and her chest filled with hope.

  One, two, three rings. Please answer it. Dad, Mom. I might be calling at an unreasonable hour, but you must be aware your daughter is in an emergency situation. Hurry…

  The ringing was interrupted by a voice answering, "Hello."

  "Oh Dad!" In her cramped position Megumi closed her eyes. She thought she would go crazy from relief. I'm going to be saved. Saved! "Dad, it's me! Megumi! Oh Dad! Please help me! Please, save me from here!" She shouted into the phone in a frenzy, but she came to herself because there was no response. Something…was wrong. What…why won't Dad…no, this was…

  Finally, the voice at the other end spoke, "I'm not your dad, Megumi. This is Sakamochi. I told you the phones wouldn't work, Megumi."

  Megumi shrieked and tossed the phone to the floor. Then she hurriedly slammed the "End" button. Her heart thumped frantically. Once again Megumi was overcome with despair. Oh, no…so it failed…so I am going to die here… I'm going to die___

  But then Megumi's heart leaped.

  …it was a shattering sound.

  The sound of broken glass.

  Megumi turned towards the origin of the sound. It came from the sitting room which she had checked to make sure it was locked. Someone was coming. Someone. Why, though? Of all the houses here, why this one?

  Megumi panicked and closed the cell phone panel, which had been still glowing green. She put it in her pocket, took the weapon from her day pack, and pulled the double-bladed diver's knife from its plastic sheath. She gripped it tightly. She had to escape as quickly as possible. But her body was frozen and she couldn't move. Megumi slowed her breathing. Please, please, please God, make sure they can't hear my pounding heart.

  She heard the sound of a window opening, then closing, then the sound of careful,
quiet footsteps. They seemed to be moving around the house, but then they headed directly towards the kitchen and Megumi. Megumi's heart pounded even louder.

  A thin ray of light shot through the kitchen. The ray glided over the kettle and cupboard above the sink. Someone sighed with relief and said to herself, "Good, there's no one here." The footsteps entered the kitchen. As soon as Megumi heard the voice, though, Megumi was aghast. Any minuscule hope that she could work something out in case the intruder turned out to be a friend had been completely shattered. Because…it was the voice of her, Mitsuko Souma (Female Student No. 11), the meanest girl in the entire school. Even though she had the cutest, most angelic face, a single glance from her was enough to intimidate any teacher.

  Mitsuko Souma was more frightening to Megumi than any of the ill-reputed boys, Kazuo Kiriyama and Shogo Kawada. It might have been because, like Megumi, Mitsuko Souma was a girl, and also, yes of course, because Megumi herself had been harassed by Hirono Shimizu, who was in Mitsuko's gang, when they first became classmates in second-year. If they were in the same hall, Hirono would trip her or slash her skirt with a razor. Lately, maybe because she'd simply lost interest in Megumi, Hirono had stopped harassing her. (She was still disappointed though when she learned that her third-year class was to be the same as her second-year class.) Mitsuko herself didn't pick on Megumi, but Mitsuko was someone even Hirono couldn't defy.