Battle Royale

by Koushun Takami

  "Yes. We need your present location."

  Shogo read off the display on the nautical instrument. Then he ended the transmission. He was only buying time to move the ship somewhere. Shogo steered the wheel now and made a sharp left turn. Shuya felt the ship rock from the wide turn.

  As he cautiously handled the wheel Shogo said, "That bastard Sakamochi realized what was going on. I'm glad I had you guys get on board."

  Shuya nodded. Water dripped down from his bangs.

  He was right. After Shogo had shot his gun twice into the air, he pressed his fingers against his mouth, signaling Shuya and Noriko, who were both blinking, to stay quiet. He took his map out of his pocket and scribbled on the backside. The note was obscured in the dim light, but they managed to read it. Then Shogo removed their collars. All he used was a wire attached to a transistor—which he had for some reason—a knife, and small screwdriver. And then Shogo took out a simple ladder made of bamboo and rope from his day pack. He scribbled more on the map, "Sneak into the ship they put me on. It'll be nighttime, so you'll be fine. Make your way to the harbor by beach. There'll be a chain tied to the anchor. Tie the rope ladder to it and hold on. Once the anchor comes up, and the ship starts moving, climb up to the deck and hide behind the life preservers on the ship's stern. Then attack when the time's right." Of course…it was no easy feat holding onto this flimsy rope ladder as the ship sped up, stirred up waves, and dragged them through the sea. It was also hard to reach the deck less than half a meter above the top of the ladder. Without his left arm, Shuya just couldn't do what should have been an easy task. But Noriko managed to lift herself up there despite her wounded hand, then offered a hand to Shuya. Noriko's strength took Shuya by surprise. In any case…they managed to do it.

  "But…" Shuya said, "…1 wish you'd told us about this earlier." Shogo returned the wheel to the right and coyly shrugged his shoulders.

  "It would have made our actions less natural. Sorry, though."

  He let go of the wheel. The black sea spread out in front of them. For the time being, there was no sign of any ship approaching. Shogo then began checking several of the ship's meters.

  "It's amazing," Noriko said. "You managed to hack into the government computer system."

  "Yeah, really," Shuya agreed. "You were lying about being computer illiterate." His gaze still fixed ahead, Shogo grinned. "Well, they found out anyway. Anyway, it all ended up working out."

  Shogo seemed satisfied with the meter readings and moved away. He walked up to one of the soldiers on the floor. Wondering what he was doing, Shuya and Noriko looked on as Shogo went through his pockets.

  "Damn," he said, "So even the Defense Forces aren't smoking now." He was looking for cigarettes.

  He did manage to extract a crumpled pack of Buster from the other soldier's breast pocket. The pack was covered in blood, but he casually pulled out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, and lit it up. He leaned against the side of the helm, and as he squinted his eyes, he exhaled contentedly. As she watched him Noriko said, "If our group was too large…we wouldn't have been able to escape like this."

  Shogo nodded. "That's true. And it had to be at night. But there's no point in going over that. We're alive. Isn't that enough?"

  Shuya nodded. "That's right."

  "Why don't you two go take a shower," Shogo said, "It's in front of the stairs. It's tiny, but it should have hot water. You can just steal the soldiers' clothes."

  Shuya nodded and put the Ingram down onto the low desk by the wall. He clutched Noriko's shoulder.

  "Come on, Noriko. You go first. Wouldn't want you to get sick again." Noriko nodded. They were about to head towards the stairs when Shogo stopped them. "Shuya," he said, "wait, hold on." He rubbed out his cigarette against the bottom of the helm. "First I'll show you how to steer this ship."

  Shuya raised his brow. He figured that Shogo would take care of guiding the ship. Come to think of it, Shogo probably wanted to take a shower too. Shuya and Noriko would have to steer the ship then. Shuya nodded again and returned to the helm with Noriko.

  Shogo took another deep breath and lightly tapped on the wheel. "I'm steering the ship manually right now. It's less confusing than having it on auto-pilot. Now this…" Shogo indicated the lever by the helm.

  "It's like an accelerator and brake. Tilting it forward increases the speed and backwards slows it down. Simple, huh? And over here…" Shogo pointed at the round meter installed right above the wheel. The thin needle was tilted leftward. It was surrounded with numbers and letters indicating directions. "This is a gyro compass. It gives our direction. You see that ocean map?"

  Shogo indicated the route they were taking to weave their way through the islands and reach the mainland Honshu from their current position east of Megijima Island. They would be best off, he said, landing on some hidden beach in Okayama Prefecture. Then he provided simple instructions for the radar and depth gauge.

  He touched his chin. "That's about it for your crash course. That's enough to steer this thing. Now, you always steer right of an oncoming ship. And the other thing is that you can't stop immediately. As you approach the shore you have to slow down well in advance. Got that?" Shuya raised his brow again. He wondered, why is he advising me about docking too? He continued to nod, though.

  Shogo added, "The notes I gave you guys. Do you still have them? It actually has your contact information."

  "Yeah…we have them. But…you're coming with us, right? Right?"

  Shogo didn't respond immediately to Shuya's question. He took out one of the cigarettes he'd stuffed inside his pocket, put it in his mouth, and lit his lighter. It lit up…but right then Shuya noticed something strange. Shogo's hand holding the lighter was trembling.

  Noriko seemed to have noticed too. Her eyes were wide open.

  "Shogo—"

  "You guys asked me…" Shogo said over Shuya's words, his cigarette dangling from his mouth. His trembling hand tossed the lighter by the helm. He continued, "…to come with you to the U.S." He removed the cigarette from his mouth with his shaking hand and exhaled. "I thought it over. But…" He stopped and put his cigarette in his mouth. He removed it, then he blew out smoke. "It looks like I won't need to answer that anymore."

  Suddenly, Shogo's body slid down. His head slumped forward as he fell on his knees. 79

  "Shogo!"

  Shuya ran over to Shogo and grabbed his right arm and held him up. Noriko also ran over to him and held his left arm from the other side.

  Emptied of strength, Shogo's body felt heavy. That was when Shuya finally realized how Shogo's back was soaked. There was a tiny hole right below his neck. It was Kazuo's shot. The one Kazuo fired at him. Shogo claimed it was nothing. Why…why didn't he treat it immediately!? Or did he know it was fatal? Or…did he delay it so Shuya and Noriko could get aboard?

  In their arms, Shogo's body slowly gave way, and he slumped down on his butt.

  "I'm sleepy. Let me sleep," he said.

  "No, no, no, no!" Shuya screamed. "We'll take you to the nearest hospital!"

  "Don't be ridiculous," Shogo laughed and like the two soldiers sprawled in the corner of the room, he lay down on his side.

  "Please." Shuya knelt down and touched Shogo's shoulder. "Please get up."

  "Shogo." Noriko was crying.

  "Noriko!" Shuya scolded her. Noriko looked over at Shuya. "Don't cry! Shogo can't die!"

  "Shuya. Don't get angry with her over nothing," Shogo kindly admonished him, "You have to be kind to your girl." Then he added. "Besides, sorry, but I'm going." Shogo's face became increasingly pale. In contrast, the scar above his left brow was dark red now like a centipede.

  "Shogo…"

  "I-I-I'm still not sure…" Shogo said. His head began to tremble. But he continued moving his lips,

  "…whether I'm going to join you. B-b-but IT w-want to th-thank you guys." Shuya shook his head over and over. He stared at Shogo. He couldn't say anything. Shogo raised his trembling right hand. "G-g-g
oodbye."

  Shuya held his hand.

  "N-N-Noriko, you too."

  Holding back her tears, Noriko held Shogo's hand.

  Shuya now realized Shogo was dying. No, he had already known, but now he was accepting it. What else could he do? He tried to come up with something to say. He knew what it was.

  "Shogo."

  Shogo's eyes drowsily shifted over from Noriko to Shuya.

  "I'll tear this fucking country down for you! I'll tear it down, goddamn it!" Shogo grinned. His hand fell from Noriko's hand onto his chest. Noriko followed his hand, and squeezed it.

  Shogo closed his eyes. He seemed to be grinning again. Then he said, "I-I-I-I-I told you, Sh-Sh-Sh-Shuya. Y-y-you d-don't h-have to d-d-do th-th-that. F-f-forget about i-i-it. You't-t-t-two sh-sh-should just try't-to 1-1-live, p-p-please. J-j-just like w-w-we d-did here,'t-t-trust each other. A-a-all right?"

  Shogo said this much and took a long, deep breath. His eyes remained shut.

  "That's what I want," he declared.

  That was it. Shogo stopped breathing. The dim yellow light falling from the ceiling of the pilothouse shined against his pale face. He seemed at ease.

  "Shogo!" Shuya yelled. He still had more to say. "You'll see Keiko! You'll be happy with her! You're—" It was too late. Shogo couldn't hear anything anymore. But his face just looked so damned peaceful.

  "Damn it." Shuya's lips trembled along with his words. "Damn it." Holding Shogo's hands, Noriko was crying.

  Shuya also put his hand on Shogo's thick hand. A thought occurred to him. He searched through Shogo's pockets and found it…the red bird call. He pressed it into Shogo's right hand and closed his hands over it so he could hold it. Shuya then finally burst into tears.

  Epilogue

  UMEDA, OSAKA

  In the bustling crowd at the Umeda-Osaka train terminal, each pedestrian busy for whatever reason, Shuya Nanahara (Male Student No. 15, Third Year Class B, Shiroiwa Junior High School) heard the announcement, "We have this report on the recent murder of a Program Instructor in Kagawa Prefecture," as he was stepping off one of the pair of escalators that ran along the station's wide stairways. He gently squeezed Noriko Nakagawa's (Female Student No. 15, same school) shoulder with his right hand and stopped.

  On the giant TV screen as high as the escalator, there was a large, closeup image of a reporter in his fifties, his hair parted in a 7:3 ratio.

  Shuya and Noriko walked up to the screen together. It was Monday, past 6 p.m., so there were students and salarymen in business suits waiting around the area. Shuya and Noriko were no longer wearing their school uniforms. Shuya wore a pair of jeans, a print shirt, and a denim jacket. Noriko also wore jeans along with a dark-green polo shirt and a light-gray windbreaker on top. (They did however keep their sneakers, washing them after the game before they wore them again.) Shuya's neck was bandaged, but it was hidden by the jacket collar, and Noriko's left cheek was covered with a large bandage, but it was obscured by her black leather baseball cap that she kept pulled low over her eyes. She still dragged her right leg, but it wasn't so conspicuous anymore. Since his left arm was still paralyzed, Shuya shifted the bag strap against his left shoulder with his right hand.

  Shogo's notes indicated the name of a doctor and his address in the city of Kobe. A small clinic in the back streets of the city, probably similar to the one Shogo's father ran. The doctor who still seemed to be in his twenties warmly welcomed them and treated their wounds.

  "Shogo's father was a senior of my dad's in medical school. I owe a lot to that man too, though," the doctor said. He seemed to be well-connected, and the following day, that is, yesterday, he arranged their escape from the country. "Shogo had me hold onto some money just in case of an emergency. We'll use that." They would first take a fishing boat from a small fishing village in Wakayama Prefecture into the Pacific Ocean, and then transfer to another boat in the Democratic Nation of the Korean Peninsula. "You won't have any problems getting from Korea to America. It'll be the transfer from that first boat that's going to be hard." The doctor voiced his concern, but Shuya and Noriko really had no other choice. Noriko called home before they left the doctor's house today. She first called a close friend from another class, having her relay a message to her family to call the doctor's house from a payphone. It was a precaution against wiretapping. Shuya left Noriko alone for a while, but he could hear Noriko's sobbing from the hall where the phone was. Shuya himself didn't contact the Charity House. He thanked Ms. Anno and bade her goodbye in his heart. He did the same with Kazumi Shintani. The reporter continued, "Due to the Defense Forces helicopter's dispersal of poison gas over Kagawa Prefecture's Okishima Island, where this Program was held, the inspection of the site was delayed. However two days after the incident, the inspection was finally held this afternoon. We now know two students are missing."

  The image changed. A zoom-lens camera from sea captured police officials and soldiers inspecting the island where Shuya and the others had fought for their lives. There were piles of corpses. For a split second, Shuya managed to make out two bodies. There were Yukie Utsumi and Yoshitoki Kuninobu, on the edge of a black pile of school coats and sailor suits, facing the camera. Despite the dispersal of poison gas, their faces managed to stay unharmed because they had died indoors. Shuya clenched his right fist.

  "The missing students are Shuya Nanahara and Noriko Nakagawa, third-year students of Shiroiwa Junior High School in Kagawa Prefecture." The screen now displayed large closeup photos side by side. They were the same photos used for their student I.D. cards. Shuya shifted his eyes, but no one in the crowd staring at the screen seemed to notice them.

  An image of an empty coast right beside a mountain appeared. As the camera zoomed in, a small military-colored patrol ship which had run ashore appeared, and was now being examined by police officials and soldiers on the beach. This segment was shot immediately after the incident became known, so it was less recent.

  "On the early morning of the twenty-fourth, the Kagawa Prefecture Program Instructor Sakamochi's patrol ship was found on the shores of Ushimado-cho in Okayama Prefecture. Instructor Sakamochi and nine Special Defense Forces soldiers, including Private Tokihiko Tahara were discovered along with the Program's winner, Shogo Kawada." Sakamochi's closeup photo appeared. He had long hair.

  "Suspecting there was a conflict, the police and Defense Forces officials proceeded to investigate. Authorities now believe the two missing students from today's report may provide the crucial link to the incident. They are currently searching…"

  The reporter continued, but Shuya was too preoccupied with the following to listen. It was a short clip subtitled, "Winner Shogo Kawada— Found Dead." Under normal circumstances, they would have only shown a generic subtitle, "Male Student Winner," and the short segment would have only been broadcast on the Kagawa Prefecture local news. Shuya and Noriko watched the news at the Kobe doctor's house several times, but they only showed Shogo's photo. This was the first time they saw this clip.

  Held between the soldiers, Shogo stared into the camera. Then—

  At the end of the clip, which lasted approximately ten seconds, he grinned and raised his right fist with his thumb pointing up.

  The crowd staring at the screen sounded dismayed. They probably thought Shogo was proud about his victory.

  But of course that wasn't it at all, Shuya thought as he watched the screen return to the image of the reporter.

  Was it a message to him and Noriko? Did he already know he was going to die when he stood in front of the government camera? Or was it just a display of his unique sense of irony?

  I'll never know. Just as Shogo once said.

  Then Shuya and Noriko's closeup photos were displayed again.

  "Any sightings should be reported to…"

  "Let's go Noriko. We have to hurry," Shuya whispered. He took her left hand with his right hand. They turned away from the screen and began walking.

  "Shogo told me…" Noriko said as they walke
d, holding hands, "before you came back…when you were with Yukie's group, he told me something."

  Shuya tilted his head and looked at Noriko.

  Noriko looked up at Shuya. Her eyes covered by the brim of her hat were moist. "He said he was glad to have such good friends."

  Shuya looked up and nodded. He just nodded.

  They let a group of six or seven students pass by, and then they started walking again. Shuya said,

  "Noriko. We'll always be together. I promised Shogo."

  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.