Battle Royale

by Koushun Takami

  "ARRRRGH," Kazushi cried as he got up and swung his arms around frantically. He tried to pry her right hand loose from his head with both of his hands and pulled at Takako's hair. Takako leaped off Kazushi, who ended up with what felt like several strands or even a bundle of hair. Well, she couldn't be worried about that now.

  She looked for her ice pick and found it. She snatched it up.

  Kazushi moaned and swung his arms at the (literally) unseen enemy. Then he fell back on his rear end. His eyes were open, but his eyes were completely immersed in a sea of red. He resembled an albino monkey now. Takako dragged her right leg and limped toward him. She lifted her wounded right leg and stomped down onto his unprotected crotch. The purple-striped white track sneaker was now red, soaked with Takako's own blood. Underneath its sole she felt a squashing sensation as if she were crushing a rodent. "URGH," Kazushi moaned. He held his crotch and turned on his side, balled up like a fetus. Now Takako began stepping on his throat with her left leg. She put her weight on it. Kazushi reached out, trying to move her foot, hitting it feebly, trying to free himself.

  "Hel…" Kazushi uttered. It sounded like a tiny draft of air because his throat had been crushed.

  "Help…"

  Yeah right, Takako thought. She could tell her mouth was breaking into a grin. She realized she wasn't angry anymore. She was actually enjoying this. She was sure about it. So what? She never claimed to be Pope John Paul II or the 14th Dalai Lama.

  On her knees now, she thrust the ice pick into his mouth (she saw several cavity fillings). His arms which were struggling to pull at her leg suddenly froze. Takako pushed further. It sunk into his throat without much resistance. Kazushi's entire body, from his chest down to his toes, then went into convulsions as if swimming the submariner. Then it stopped. The albino eyes still remained open, surrounded by a spider's web pattern of gooey blood like running paint.

  She felt a sudden surge of pain in her right leg and fell on her back by his head. She was panting now the way she did after doing the 200-meter dash twice for physical tests.

  She'd won. But she also felt empty. The actual fight might have lasted less than thirty seconds. She wouldn't have survived a longer fight. In any case…she won. That's what mattered. Takako held her blood-soaked right leg as she looked down at the corpse of Kazushi, who resembled a traveling magician attempting to spit out an ice pick from his throat. Now ladies and gentlemen, I shall spit out what I just swallowed—

  "Takako."

  The voice came from behind her. Still seated, Takako turned around. She reached out and pulled out the ice pick from Kazushi's mouth (which resulted in Kazushi's head rising a little and then falling to the ground).

  Mitsuko Souma (Female Student No. II) was looking down at Takako.

  Takako quickly looked over at Mitsuko's right hand. Her small hand was holding a large automatic pistol. She had no idea what her intentions were. But…if like Kazushi Nüda she intended to kill her (it was likely, this after all was Mitsuko Souma), Takako had no chance of winning. Mitsuko had a gun. She had to escape. She had to. Takako pulled at her right leg in pain and tried to get up.

  "Are you all right?" Mitsuko asked. Her voice sounded terribly kind. She didn't point the gun at her. But Takako had to be cautious. She moved back and finally managed to get up by holding onto a tree nearby. Her right leg felt incredibly heavy.

  She answered, "Well, I suppose."

  Mitsuko looked over Kazushi's corpse. Then she looked at the ice pick in Takako's hands.

  "You killed him with that? I have to say I'm impressed. Speaking as one girl to another." She really sounded like she was impressed. It almost sounded cheerful. Her angelic face was beaming.

  "I guess," Takako responded. She felt as if her body were off balance. Perhaps it was from the heavy loss of blood from her right leg.

  "Say," Mitsuko said. "You never went out of your way to impress me." Still unable to tell what Mitsuko's intentions were, Takako stared at her. (The two most beautiful girls in Shiroiwa Junior High were staring at each other. Nice jewelry and a boy's corpse. Oh, you're so pretty.) Mitsuko was absolutely right. Takako couldn't stand sucking up to anyone, so she was never intimidated like the other girls when Mitsuko talked to her. She was too proud and besides, she wasn't scared of Mitsuko.

  Then she remembered something an older student she had a crush on a while ago (actually, it ended only a couple months ago) used to say. Whereas her feelings for Hiroki Sugimura were vague, she definitely had a crush on this guy. After getting involved in one of his friend's fights, he showed up all beat up at the team room before one of their meets and said in his unique voice, "There's nothing to be afraid of. Nothing to fear."

  Be strong and beautiful....Takako had her eye on this guy ever since she entered junior high and it seemed he'd had a profound effect on her personality. But he also had a girlfriend. Someone very elegant, yes, someone like Sakura Ogawa…someone calm as a serene lake hidden deep inside a forest....Well that was all in the past.

  But—she thought—the fact that she suddenly recalled his words which hadn't occurred to her even when she was fighting Kazushi Nüda just moments ago....Did that mean that…she was…in fact…afraid of Mitsuko?

  "I was always a little envious," Mitsuko continued. "You were so pretty, and you were a better girl than me."

  Takako listened quietly. She immediately realized there was something wrong. Why was Mitsuko referring to her in the past tense?

  "But…" Mitsuko's eyes twinkled playfully. Now she was back to the present tense. "I really like girls like you. Maybe I'm a bit of a dyke. So it's..."

  Takako's eyes opened wide. She turned around and began running. Her right leg dragged a little, but it was still a respectable sprint for the track star. So its…

  Mitsuko lifted the .45. She pulled the trigger three times in a row. Takako had managed to run down the hill and through the woods, covering a quick twenty meters when three holes appeared in the back of her uniform. She fell forward as if diving in a head-first slide. Face down, she slid across the ground, and her legs contrasted against each other, the left one white and the right one red as they flew into the air, her skirt fluttering against them. She was lying on the ground.

  Mitsuko put down the gun and said, "It's too bad."

  24 players remaining

  38

  Noriko's breathing grew heavier. Shogo's medicine didn't seem to be having much effect. It was close to 2 p.m. All of a sudden Noriko's cheeks appeared sunk in. Shuya used up a water bottle to moisten Noriko's handkerchief, and wiped her sweaty face, and then placed it on her forehead. Noriko kept her eyes closed, but nodded as if to thank him.

  Shuya looked back at Shogo. Shogo remained in the same position, leaning against a tree all this time, smoking with his legs crossed. His right hand gently touched the grip of the Remington shotgun resting in his lap.

  "Shogo."

  "What?"

  "Let's go."

  Shogo raised his brows. "Where?"

  Shuya's lips tightened. "I can't stand it anymore." He pointed to Noriko. "She's getting worse every second."

  Shogo glanced at Noriko, who was lying down with her eyes closed. "If it's from septicemia, warming her up and letting her rest won't cure her."

  Shuya did his best to restrain his impatience. "According to the map, there's a medical clinic on the island. We might be able to find some better medicine for her there, right? It's way north of the residential area, and it's not in any of the forbidden zones."

  "Oh yeah." Shogo exhaled smoke from the corner of his mouth. "That's true."

  "Let's go there."

  Shogo tilted his head. He took another drag and then rubbed out the cigarette. "That facility is at least one and a half kilometers away. It's too dangerous to go there now. We have to wait until dark." Shuya clenched his teeth. "We can't wait until dark. What if that area becomes a forbidden zone?" Shogo didn't reply.

  "Hey," Shuya said. He wasn't sure whether it was from im
patience or the mere thought of having to risk falling out with Shogo, but he was beginning to stutter a little. He had to say it though. "I-I won't say you're trying to get us killed. But why are you so afraid of taking any risks? Your life that precious?" Shuya looked him in the eye. Shogo didn't change his calm expression.

  "Shuya…"

  Shuya heard Noriko's voice behind him and turned around. Noriko had her head turned toward him. The handkerchief on her forehead was lying on the ground.

  "Stop it. We won't make it without Shogo," she managed to say in between heavy breaths.

  "Noriko." Shuya shook his head. "Don't you see how weak you're getting? You can't die before we can make it out of here." Shuya turned to Shogo again. "If you say you're not coming, I'll take Noriko with me on my own. You can forget about our deal. You're on your own." That was his parting remark as he got ready to get their bags.

  "Hold on," Shogo said. He slowly got up, approached Noriko, and checked the pulse of her right wrist. It was what he did every twenty minutes. He rubbed his increasingly stubbly chin again and looked at them. "You won't know what medicine to use." He tilted his head slightly, looked at Shuya, and said, "All right. I'm coming with you."

  24 students remaining

  39

  Although over half an hour had passed since she'd been shot in the back three times and though she'd lost a large quantity of blood from the arrow wound in her leg, Takako Chigusa was still alive. Mitsuko Souma had disappeared, but Takako couldn't care less about that.

  She was half dozing, half dreaming. Her family…her father, mother, and younger sister were all waving at Takako from the front gate of their house.

  She could tell her sister Ayako, who was two years younger, was crying. She was saying, "Goodbye, Takako, goodbye." Her handsome father, from whom Takako had inherited most of her features and her mother who shared her looks more with Ayako, were both silent, looking very sad. Their pet dog, Hanako, drooped her head and wagged her tail. Takako had taken care of Hanako, smart female dog, ever since she was a puppy.

  Oh shit, Takako thought in her dream, how awful. I've only lived fifteen years. Hey Ayako, look after Mom and Dad, okay? You're so spoiled, so learn from your older sister a little, huh?

  Then she saw Kahoru Kitazawa. Her one really close friend, the petite girl she'd been buddies with for seven years now.

  Time to say goodbye to you too, Kahoru. That's right. You were the one who said that nothing, not even hell, could scare you as long as you gave it your best shot. That's right, I'm not afraid. But…it's still kinda hard, dying alone like this....

  Then Kahoru seemed to be shouting. But she couldn't hear her well. It sounded like, "What about him?" Him?

  Then the scene changed to her track team locker room. She knew it was the summer of her second year because this room had been torn down last fall, replaced by a new clubhouse. Hey, this is no dream. This actually happened. This…

  An older teammate. His buzz-cut hair stood up in front, and he wore a white T-shirt with the words

  "FUCK OFF!" on it and green track shorts with black lines. Playful but gentle-looking eyes. He was the guy she had a crush on. He was good at running hurdles. Now he was concentrating on taping up his knee which he'd injured a while ago. There was no one else besides them. Takako said, "You have a beautiful girlfriend. You two make a great couple."

  Ah well, when it comes to him, I turn into an average girl. How lame.

  "Yeah?" he lifted his face and smiled. "You're prettier than her." Takako smiled, but felt a little odd. She was happy to hear him praise her looks for the first time…but the fact he could tell another girl she was prettier also indicated how strong his relationship with his girlfriend was.

  "Don't you have a boyfriend, Takako?" he asked, smiling.

  The scene changed again.

  She was at the park, but everything appeared very low.

  Oh, this must be from my childhood. I must have been in the second or third grade. Hiroki Sugimura was crying in front of her. He wasn't tall the way he was now. In fact back then Takako was taller. A bully had taken away his brand new comic book.

  "Come on, boys don't cry. Don't be such a wuss. Be strong. Come on. Our dog just had puppies. You wanna see them?"

  "Okay…" Hiroki wiped his tears and tagged along.

  Come to think of it, Hiroki started martial arts school the year after that. He also went through a growth spurt around then and eventually ended up taller than her.

  Up until the end of elementary school they often visited each other. Once, when she seemed preoccupied, Hiroki asked her, "What's wrong, Takako? Something wrong?" Takako thought about it and then said what was on her mind. "Hey, Hiroki, what would you do if someone said they liked you?"

  "Hmm. I don't know, since it's never happened to me."

  "…don't you have a crush on someone?"

  "Hmm. Nope. Not at this moment."

  Takako then thought, so I'm not even in the running?

  Whatever. She continued, "Oh, really. Well you should find someone you can confess to."

  "I'm too chicken. I don't think so."

  The scene changed. Junior high school again. They became classmates in their second year. They were talking on the first day of class. At some point, Hiroki asked, "So I heard there's this supposedly hot guy on the track team." Although he didn't directly say it, he was implying she had a crush on him.

  "Who told you?"

  "Just heard. So how's it going?"

  "No hope. He has a girlfriend. What about you? You still don't have a girlfriend?"

  "Leave me alone."

  …we were always on the verge of being close. We both had a thing for each other but…or am I just imagining things? At least I liked you. I mean, it was different from how I felt about my track teammate. You know what I mean?

  Hiroki's face appeared. He was crying.

  "Takako. Don't die."

  Come on guy, be a man. Boys don't cry. You might be bigger now, but you haven't made much progress.

  Was it by the grace of God? Takako came to her senses once more. She opened her eyes. Hiroki Sugimura was looking down at her in the soft afternoon light. Beyond Hiroki she saw the treetops, and in between them fragments of the blue sky formed complex patterns like those in a Rorschach Test. The first thing she realized was that Hiroki wasn't crying.

  Then she started wondering, "How did you…"

  As she tried to form words with her mouth, she felt as if she were forcing open a rusty door. She realized she didn't have too long to live.

  "…get here?"

  All Hiroki said was, "I managed." He knelt down beside her and gently lifted up her head. She'd fallen face forward, but now for some reason she was facing up. The palm of her left hand (her left hand…no, the entire left side of her body was numb now, so she couldn't feel anything…it might have been from Kazushi Nüda's blow to the side of her head) felt the sensation of weeds underneath—had he carried her here?

  Hiroki then asked quietly, "Who got you?"

  That's right. It was important information.

  "Mitsuko," Takako answered. She didn't give a damn about Kazushi Nüda anymore. "Be careful." Hiroki nodded. Then he said, "I'm sorry."

  Takako didn't understand. She stared at Hiroki.

  "I was hiding outside the school…waiting for you." Hiroki said and then tightened his lips as if holding something back.

  "But…then Yoshio came back. I…I got distracted for a split second. Then…you know how you ran at full speed…1 lost you. I ran in your direction, calling after you, but…you were too far off by then." Oh no, Takako thought. So it was true. After she ran away from the school into the woods she thought she'd heard a distant voice. But she was so frantic she thought it was just her imagination—and if it wasn't, then it meant there was someone—so she continued running at full speed. Oh—

  Hiroki had waited for her. Just as she'd suspected, he'd been waiting for her, risking his life. And when he said, "I managed,"
he probably meant that he'd been looking for her all this time. The thought made her want to cry.

  Instead she did her best to form a smile on her face.

  "Really? Thanks."

  Takako knew that she couldn't talk much anymore. She tried to come up with the best thing to say, but then an odd question occurred to her and she blurted it out, "Do you have a crush on someone?" Hiroki's brows moved and then he gently said, "I do."

  "Don't say it's me."

  Still looking sad, Hiroki faintly smiled.

  "No, its not."

  "Well then…"

  Takako took a deep breath. She felt as if poison were spreading through her body which strangely felt both chilly and at the same time incredibly hot. "Could you just…hold me tight? It'll be…over soon." Hiroki tightened his lips and raised her up, hugging her tightly to his body with both his arms. Her head was on the verge of falling back but Hiroki held it up.

  She felt like she could say one more thing.

  "You have to survive, Hiroki."

  Dear God, can I have one more word?

  Takako looked into Hiroki's eyes and grinned.

  "You've become quite a stud."

  Hiroki said, "And…you're the most stylin' girl in the world."

  Takako smiled faintly. She wanted to thank him, but she was out of breath. She just stared at Hiroki's eyes. She was grateful. At least she wasn't going to die alone. The last person to stay with her ended up being Hiroki. And she was grateful. She really was.

  Kahoru…thanks, I heard you.

  Takako Chigusa remained in this position as she died approximately two minutes later. Her eyes remained open. Hiroki Sugimura held her limp, lifeless body and wept.

  23 students remaining

  40

  "Get down," Shogo said. He carefully surveyed the area while holding on to his shotgun. Carrying Noriko on his back, Shuya obeyed Shogo. The area was shaded by a large elm tree. They must have covered two-thirds the distance to the medical facility by now. They should be in the vicinity of sector F=6 or F=7. If they were headed in the right direction (Shogo was leading them, so they couldn't be far off), the school building should soon appear below them to their right. Moving along the shore, they first passed through C=4. Then they moved east along the foot of the northern mountain. Moving in broad daylight did turn out to be difficult. They would move a little, quiet down their breathing, and when they had to get through thick vegetation Shogo would throw several pebbles ahead to make sure no one was there. It'd already taken them half an hour just to get this far. Noriko continued to breathe heavily.