Battle Royale

by Koushun Takami

  Oh…Junya. I'm all right, right? You'll protect me, right?

  She thought Junya Kenzaki was telling her, "It's all right. Of course you're all right. Shall I sing your favorite song, 'Galaxy Magnum'?" Kaori's breathing calmed down a bit. Then she asked the photo:

  "Say, Junya. Should I have joined Yukie? I wonder if that would have saved me? No, that can't be." A tear came rolling down Kaori's cheeks.

  How could this be happening? She wanted to see her mom. She wanted to see her dad. She wanted to see her sister and her kind grandma and grandpa. She wanted to take a bath, rub cream on her pimples, sit on the comfortable couch in the living room, and sip on a cup of cocoa while she watched a video of Flip Side's TV show. (Although she'd seen this episode many, many times already.)

  "Junya, help me. Please…I feel like I'm going crazy."

  The moment she actually heard her voice say this out loud, Kaori felt as if she were really going insane. It freaked her out. Nausea welled up to her chest. She was crying frantically now. She suddenly heard a rustling sound behind her, and her body flinched. It was much louder than the previous sound.

  Her eyes bleary with tears, she turned around.

  A boy was looking at her through the shrubs. It was Hiroki Sugimura (Male Student No. 11). He'd snuck up behind her!

  Kaori was completely terrified and too numb to think as she lifted the gun and pulled the trigger. Her wrists jerked back with the popping sound. A gold shell flew out, and the sun's rays reflected off it as it shone through the branches.

  Hiroki had already disappeared deep inside the thicket.

  The rustling continued and also disappeared.

  Kaori was trembling. She was still holding the gun. Then she snatched her belongings and ran in the opposite direction. As she ran, her agitated mind raced with thoughts. She was sure Hiroki Sugimura was trying to kill her. Why else would he have snuck up behind her without saying anything? Hiroki Sugimura probably didn't have a gun. He saw that I did and ran away in a panic. If I hadn't noticed him—and shot at him—then Hiroki Sugimura would probably have stabbed my chest with a knife or something. A knife!

  I have to be careful. I have to shoot anyone I come across. No mercy. Otherwise, I'll end up getting killed…killed!

  Oh no…I can't stand this anymore. I want to go home. Take a bath. Pimple cream. Cocoa! Video. Flip Side. Junya. No mercy. Shoot. Shoot! Cocoa. Junya. Cream! For my pimples! No mercy, Junya. Tears came streaming down Kaori's cheeks. The lid on the locket on her chest remained open and Junya Kenzaki's cheerful face swung violently left and right, up and down.

  No mercy. Junya. I'm going to be killed! Shoot. Mom. Sister! Dad. Shoot! Shoot! The new record release!

  Kaori was losing her mind.

  25 students remaining

  36

  "All right then, here's the body count."

  Sakamochi's voice continued. It was the noon announcement.

  New members on the waiting list for funerals were Tatsumichi Oki, Kyoichi Motobuchi, and of course Yukiko Kitano and Yumiko Kusaka. The other ones were Yoji Kuramoto and Yoshimi Yahagi.

  "I will announce the forbidden zones for this afternoon. Now, I want you to take notes. Get your notebooks out."

  Once again, Shuya pulled out his map and pen from his pocket. Shogo also had his map out.

  "At 1 p.m., J=5. At 3 p.m., H=3. At 5 p.m., D=8. Got that?"

  J=5 was the southeast shore of the island. H=3 was near the top of the southern mountain. D=8 was the hilly area on the southeast side of the northern mountain peak. Their zone, C=3, wasn't announced. That meant they wouldn't have to move.

  "It may be rough losing your friends, but cheer up. You're all so young, you've got so much ahead of you!

  Over and out."

  With this series of happy-go-lucky platitudes, Sakamochi's announcement came to an end. Shuya sighed. He put away the map and examined the student list, which was now ridden with check marks. "We're down to twenty-five students. Damn."

  Shogo cupped his hand as he lit another cigarette. Then he said, "It's like I said. The numbers are steadily dwindling."

  Shuya looked up at Shogo. He got Shogo's point. The more classmates that died the closer they were to escaping. But…

  "That was uncalled for."

  Shogo only shrugged. He shifted his eyes and then said, "Hey, I'm sorry." Shuya wanted to say more, but he tore his eyes away from Shogo's face. He pulled in his knees and stared down between them. There were several tiny yellow flowers poking out from the grass, and an ant was crawling up one of the stems.

  This was the issue. Shuya had felt like they'd become buddies when they talked about rock, but in the end there was still something about Shogo that bothered him. Was it simply that there was a cold side to Shogo?

  He took in a small breath…and then thought of something else. Of the six deaths Sakamochi had announced, Yoji Kuramoto and Yoshimi Yahagi were the only ones Shuya didn't witness. He was pretty sure they were going out. Did that mean they were together? And the two gunshots they heard after 10

  p.m…was that them? If so, who could have…

  He remembered the sound of the machine gun slaughtering Yukiko Kitano and Yumiko Kusaka. Did the same person kill them too? Or…

  "Shuya," Shogo said. He looked up. "You haven't had breakfast, right? This government-supplied bread sucks, but I found some coffee and strawberry jam at the supply store. Let's eat." Shogo took out a jar and a slim can (200g) of canned coffee. The jar's label was illustrated with strawberries, and he could see the shiny, thick, red contents inside the glass. Shuya assumed Shogo was going to toss the coffee into a pot of boiling water on the fire. Shogo also pulled out a bag of plastic cups.

  "You loaded up."

  "Yep," Shogo nodded. Then he proceeded to pull out a long, thin box. "Look at this. An entire carton of Wild Sevens."

  Shuya decided to cheer up. He smiled, nodding. He took out the bread in his day pack and offered one to Noriko.

  "Noriko, we should eat."

  Noriko looked up, still hugging her knees. "I'm…all right. I'm not hungry."

  "What's wrong? Is your appetite…"

  Shuya realized as she looked down again how pale her face had become. He'd suddenly realized how quiet she'd been.

  "Noriko?"

  Shuya approached her. Shogo observed them as he opened the lid of the coffee can.

  "Noriko."

  Shuya touched her on the shoulder. Noriko clenched her hands together. Her lips were tightly shut, forming a straight line across her pale face. Only now did Shuya finally realize that air was painfully hissing through her lips. She was having difficulty breathing. She closed her eyes, released her hands, put them on his arm, and leaned against him.

  Her body temperature, which he sensed from her hands and through the shoulder area of the sailor suit, felt abnormally high, as if she were nursing a chick underneath her clothes. Shuya brushed off the hair on her forehead and felt her forehead.

  It was incredibly hot. The cold sweat on her forehead drenched the palm of his hand. Panicking, he turned to Shogo.

  "She's got a fever! Shogo!"

  "I'm…fine," Noriko said weakly.

  Shogo put down the can of coffee and got up. He exchanged positions with Shuya and touched her forehead. He rubbed his chin and then held her wrist. He seemed to be taking her pulse as he checked his wristwatch.

  "I'm sorry about this," he said as he put the fingers of his right hand to her lips and had her open her mouth. Then he pressed the skin under her eyes downward and looked under her lower eyelids.

  "You must feel cold."

  Narrowing her eyes, Noriko nodded, "Yeah…a little…"

  "How is she?" Shuya asked nervously. He'd been holding his breath.

  "Just give me your coat," Shogo said as he removed his own school coat. Shuya quickly removed his too and gave it to Shogo. Shogo carefully wrapped the two coats around Noriko's body.

  "Bread. I need the jam and water too," Shogo instructe
d, and Shuya swiftly snatched the bread and water he'd offered to Noriko as well as the jam left on top of Shogo's day pack. Shogo hastily dipped the bread into the jar, covering it with red jam. He offered it to Noriko.

  "You have to eat this, Noriko."

  "I know…but…"

  "Just eat it. Even a little will help," Shogo's insisted. Noriko hesitantly took the bread and nibbled on the bread a couple times. She made an effort to swallow it. Then she returned the rest of the bread to Shogo.

  "No more, huh?"

  Noriko barely shook her head. Even shaking her head seemed to exhaust her. Shogo wanted her to eat more, but then he set the bread aside and once again pulled out the small pouch of medicine from his pocket.

  "It's cold medicine," he said and gave her a capsule that was different from the pain reliever he'd given her before. Noriko nodded. With Shogo's help she managed to swallow it down with water from the bottle. Water came streaming from her mouth, but Shogo gently wiped it away.

  "Okay, now lie down."

  Noriko nodded obediently and lay down on the grass, still wrapped up in the two coats.

  "What's going on, Shogo? Is she gonna be right?" Shuya asked.

  Shogo shook his head. "I don't know for sure yet. It may just be a fever. But she might be infected from the wound."

  "What…"

  With Noriko lying down, Shuya looked down at the bandanna bandage wrapped around her right calf.

  "But…I thought we cleaned out her wound."

  Shogo shook his head again. "She moved around the woods a lot after she was shot, right? She might have been infected before we treated her."

  Shuya stared at Shogo for a while and then knelt down beside Noriko. He reached his hand out to Noriko's forehead.

  "Noriko…"

  Noriko opened her eyes. She smiled feebly.

  "I'm all right…I'm just a little tired. Don't worry."

  But her breathing hardly indicated she was all right.

  Shuya looked over at Shogo again. He restrained himself from sounding overly agitated and said,

  "Shogo. We can't stay here. We have to move. We should at least find a house where she can get warm—"

  Shogo cut him off, "Just hold on. Let's just wait and see for now." He tightly wrapped the makeshift blanket-coats around Noriko's body.

  "But…"

  "It's too dangerous for us to move. I told you."

  Noriko faintly opened her eyes. She looked over at Shuya and said, "I'm so sorry…Shuya…" Then she said to Shogo, "I'm sorry," and closed her eyes.

  Shuya's lips tightened as he looked down at Noriko's pale face.

  25 students remaining

  37

  Takako Chigusa (Female Student No. 13) stuck her head out from under the shadow of a tree trunk. She was halfway up the eastern side of the island's southern mountain. According to the map she was somewhere near the border between H=4 and H=5. There was a grove full of trees that grew shorter as she headed up the mountain.

  Takako gripped her weapon, an ice pick, and looked back.

  The house she'd been hiding inside was obscured by trees and no longer visible. It was decrepit and overrun by tall grass and seemed like it'd been abandoned even before the island had been evacuated. She remembered something like a chicken shack was connected to the main building. Now she couldn't even see the rusty tin roof. How far had she come? Two hundred meters? One hundred meters? Takako was the girls' track team's best short-distance sprinter (she held the prefect's all-time second-place junior-high record for the 200-meter), so she had a good sense of running distances, but she wasn't sure now—mainly because of the hills and bushes, not to mention the tension she was feeling. After eating awful bread and water for breakfast, Takako decided to wait until 1 p.m. to leave the house. She'd been hearing what sounded like gunshots ever since the game started and hid in a corner of the abandoned house, but now she thought staying cooped up like that wouldn't do any good. She had to join up with someone—at least a friend she could trust—and proceed.

  Of course it was possible friends she trusted wouldn't trust her. But…

  Takako was a beautiful girl. Her upward-curving eyes were a little fierce-looking, but they matched with her sharp chin, well formed mouth, and nicely defined nose, all of which gave her an "aristocratic" look. Her long hair was dyed with orange streaks, which might look odd at first, but with her jewelry—which included earrings, two in her left ear, one in her right, designer rings on the middle and ring fingers of her left hand, a total of five bracelets on her wrists, and a pendant made from a foreign coin—she managed to assert her own look that made her all the more attractive. Her teachers didn't really approve of her hair and gaudy jewelry, but she got good grades and because she was the track team's star sprinter, she never got directly criticized. Basically Takako was very proud. She wasn't going to be bound by the silly school rules that the other girls followed.

  Whether it was—unfortunately enough—because of her beauty, or her pride, or whether it was because she was simply shy, Takako didn't have many close friends in her class. Her best friend was Kahoru Kitazawa, whom she'd known ever since elementary school, but she was in another class. But…

  But there was someone in her class whom Takako could trust. The student wasn't a girl, though. She'd known him since they were kids.

  And with him in mind, she couldn't help being preoccupied by something.

  When she left the school building Takako thought someone who'd left before her might come back. In that case, she'd have to leave with extreme caution. And it was best to leave the school by foiling the assailant's expectations.

  When she came into the hall, she peeked outside through the exit door. There were woods in front of her, and a hill on the left. The area to her right was relatively open. The assailant, if there was one, would have to be hiding in the woods or in the hill.

  Takako stayed down as she left the building and dashed to her right, staying close to the school building wall. The track star let her mighty legs cut loose. She didn't even have to think about it. She ran down the street through a cluster of houses and into a narrow alley. Then she ran toward the base of the southern mountain. All her energy was focused on getting away from the school and finding somewhere to hide. But…

  What if there had been someone in the woods or in the hill in front of the school who had no intention of attacking her? In other words…what if…"he," who'd left before her, had hid in the woods or the mountain, had been waiting for her? Maybe she'd lost her chance by running out of there at full speed?

  No.

  She didn't think so. What else could she have done? Anyone hanging around the school was jeopardizing his or her life. They had known each other since they were kids— it was nothing more than that. They had remained decent friends through all these years. She thought it was presumptuous of her to think that he—Hiroki Sugimura (Male Student No. 11)—would risk his life waiting for her. The important thing was finding someone now. Finding Hiroki Sugimura would be ideal, but she knew that was too optimistic. She'd settle for the school representative Yukie Utsumi or some average girl. As long as she was careful not to get shot, she could calm them down___If they were calm already, that would be even better (although the thought of someone calm under these circumstances was a bit scary too). To find that someone…that was all she could do for now.

  The one thing she knew not to do was to raise her voice. She had proof of that, now. From the abandoned house Takako had also seen Yumiko Kusaka and Yukiko Kitano die on top of the northern mountain.

  So Takako decided to leave the abandoned shack where she was hiding and climb up to the peak of the southern mountain. Once she was there, she'd descend the slope by circling the mountain, checking for anyone hiding in the bushes. She could throw pebbles at the bushes just as she'd been doing ever since she left the shack. Once she figured out who it was she could decide whether or not to approach that person. At noon Sakamochi had announced that the area around the p
eak of the southern mountain would become a forbidden zone at 3 p.m., but as long as she didn't run into any problems she'd be able to completely survey the area before then. Also, if there was anyone in the area then he or she would have to be out of there by 3 p.m. She'd have a better chance locating someone on the move. Takako checked her supplied wristwatch. It was 1:20 p.m. She usually wore bracelets so she never wore a watch, but she couldn't afford that luxury now. Then she touched her collar.

  "If you try to pry it loose it will explode."

  It was suffocating—not only the way it dug into her neck, but its mere presence. The chain of her pendant lightly tapped against the band.

  Takako decided to ignore it and gripped her ice pick (what good was this weapon though?) with her left hand. With her right she grabbed some pebbles and tossed them out in front of her to her left and right. They made a rustling sound in the grove.

  She waited for a while. No response. She moved forward. She took a deep breath, ready to run up the open ground between the bushes.

  Suddenly she heard a rustling sound. Someone's head popped out of the bushes, approximately ten meters to her left. She could see the back of his coat and the back of his head. Its hair was slightly disheveled but still smooth. His head turned left and right checking the area. Takako froze. She was in trouble. It was a guy. Guys were trouble. She had no particular reason to think so, but she had a hunch anyone besides Hiroki Sugimura was trouble. And she could immediately tell this guy was not him.

  Takako held her breath and slowly stepped back into the thicket behind her. She knew this would happen, but that didn't stop her from trembling.

  Suddenly the boy turned around. Their eyes met. The face, which had an expression of utter astonishment, belonged to Kazushi Nüda (Male Student No. 16).

  Oh man, why did I have to bump into this jerk? What mattered now was that she was totally exposed and how dangerous that was. She turned around and started running back the way she came.

  "Wait!"

  She heard Kazushi's voice. The sound of him waded through the thicket, coming after her.

  "Wait!" Now he was shouting. "Wait!"