by Косюн Таками
Kaori collapsed by the front door of the shack.
Hirono glanced over at Shuya.
Then she turned and ran to his left, westward, where Shuya's group came from. She ran into the bushes and disappeared from sight.
"Damn!"
Shuya moaned. After some hesitation he ran to the shack where Kaori had collapsed.
Kaori was lying down, legs jutting out from inside the shack that only housed a decrepit tractor. Her body remained twisted as blood came flowing out the corner of her mouth, mixed with the blood from her head and shoulder wounds, turning into a puddle on the shack's concrete floor. Tiny dust particles from the floor were floating on the surface of the puddle. Her eyes stared out at the sky. A thin gold chain hung down from her sailor suit onto the floor, and the golden locket attached to it looked like an island in a lake of blood. A famous male idol singer was smiling cheerfully from it.
Shuya was shaking as he knelt down beside her.
Oh, man...what the...so this girl...can't gossip about pop idols anymore, she can't go to their concerts anymore. If he had been more careful...maybe she wouldn't have been killed?
He heard a sound and turned around. It was Shogo, holding Noriko with one of his arms as they looked out from the woods.
Shogo left Noriko there and trotted over to Shuya.
Shogo's expression seemed to be saying, "See, what'd I tell you?" but he didn't say a word. He just calmly picked up Kaori's gun and day pack, and then as if it occurred to him as an afterthought, he crouched down and shut her eyes with his right thumb. Then he told Shuya, "We're going. Hurry up."
He knew it was dangerous. Anyone—especially the killer with the machine gun—could have heard the gunfire and might be showing up now.
Still, Shuya's eyes were glued to Kaori's corpse until Shogo tugged his arm back.
22 students remaining
41
The medical clinic was an old, small, single-story building. The wood walls had turned black, and the black-tiled roof was so worn out with age that the corners had turned white. Like the shack where Kaori Minami had died, it was located in front of the northern mountain at the end of a narrow unpaved road. They'd made their way through the mountain, but they could tell the narrow entrance road led down to the paved road along the island's eastern shore. There was a white minivan parked in front of the facility. Maybe the doctor had used it. Beyond the minivan they could see the ocean.
The afternoon sun was shining on the sea. The color of the ocean was completely different from the murky water that lapped against the concrete sea walls in Shiroiwa harbor. It was a wonderfully brilliant blue tinged with green. There were hardly any waves, and the sparkling dots of light on its surface became increasingly dense in the distance. Other islands floating in the Seto Inland Sea looked remarkably close, but this was probably due, as he was once told, to the optical illusion of reduced distance when objects were absent. So they must have been at least four or five kilometers away.
In any case...they were here. It was a miracle they got here without getting hurt. They'd immediately left the area where Kaori died. No machine gun shots came after them. According to the map they'd traveled a distance of less than two kilometers, but Shuya, who'd been carrying Noriko, accompanied by the pressure of a possible attack, was incredibly tired. He wanted to check to make sure no one was in the area of the clinic as soon as possible, so that not only Noriko but he too could get some rest.
But something caught Shuya's attention.
A ship was floating on the peaceful sea. It was probably the guard ship Sakamochi had mentioned. But...for some reason there were three ships in a row. Sakamochi said there would be one ship on all sides—north, south, east, and west—and on the west side they had only seen one. So what was this?
Still carrying Noriko, Shuya poked his face out from the leaves and asked Shogo, "There're three ships."
"Yeah," Shogo replied. "The small one is a guard ship. The huge one is the ship that will transport the soldiers who were in the school building back to their base. The one in the middle is for the winner of the game. The winner rides that boat. It's the same model as the one from last year."
"So...the Program in Hyogo Prefecture was also held on an island like this one?"
"Yep," Shogo nodded. "Hyogo Prefecture also shares the Seto Inland Sea. It seems like Programs held in prefectures along the Seto Inland Sea coast are always held on islands. I mean, there are at least a thousand islands in this small ocean."
Shogo then told him to wait and descended the slope toward the clinic with his shotgun cocked. He crouched down and first examined the minivan. Then he snuck up to the building and circled it. When he returned he examined the sliding door entrance. It seemed to be locked, so Shogo flipped his shotgun and shattered the frosted glass window with the sawed off gun stock. Then he stuck his hand into the V-shaped opening, unlocked the door, and entered the building.
After watching him do this, Shuya tilted his head back to Noriko, whose head was resting against his back.
"Noriko, we're here." Shuya said, but Noriko could only moan, "Huh..." Her heavy breathing continued.
After five full minutes, Shogo poked his head out of the entrance and signaled Shuya to join him. Shuya cautiously descended the two meter drop so he wouldn't lose his balance and approached the clinic.
A thick, grimy wooden sign with the traces of weatherworn letters that read, "Okishima Island Medical Clinic" hung right beside the entrance. Shuya slipped by Shogo, who kept watch, holding his shotgun. He entered, followed by Shogo, who shut the door tightly.
Right near the entrance, there was a small waiting room. On the left there was a long green couch with a white cover on the worn out cream-colored carpet. The wall clock made a ticking sound as it approached three o'clock. The right side appeared to be the examination room.
Shogo jammed the door shut with a broom and then signaled Shuya, "Over here."
Although they were supposed to take their shoes off, Shuya stepped up with his sneakers on and entered the room on the right. There was a wooden desk in front of the window, and what appeared to be a doctor's black leather chair. There was a green vinyl stool in front of it. Even though the clinic was small, it still had the sterile odor of disinfectant.
There were two beds beyond a thin green curtain hanging from metal pipes. Shuya carried Noriko to the bed in front and gently put her down there. He thought of having her take off his school coat, but then decided against it.
After Shogo quickly pulled the curtains shut, he said, "blankets," and gave him two thin brown blankets folded in small squares. Shuya took them and after some thought spread one of them on the other bed. Then he moved Noriko there and spread the other blanket over her. He made sure the blanket went up to her shoulders. Shogo was rummaging through a gray office cabinet that was probably the medicine cabinet.
Shuya crouched down by Noriko's head and combed the sweaty hair against her cheeks back to her ears. She seemed dazed. Her eyes were closed, and she continued to breathe heavily.
"Damn it," Shuya muttered. "Noriko, are you all right?"
Noriko squinted, her eyes glazed at him as she said, "Uh huh..." She might be faint from the high fever, but her mind was clear enough to respond.
"How about some water?"
Noriko barely nodded. Shuya took out a new bottle of water from the day pack Shogo had tossed onto the floor and tore off the seal. He held her up and helped her drink it. Shuya wiped off the water spilling from the side of her mouth with the back of his hand.
"Is that enough?" Shuya asked and Noriko nodded. Then he lay her down and waved to Shogo. "Any medicine?"
"Hold on," Shogo replied. He rummaged through another, lower cabinet and pulled out a cardboard box. He opened it and read the directions. It seemed to be what he was after. He extracted what looked like a small bottle and an ampoule. The bottle was filled with white powder.
"Do you swallow that?" Shuya asked.
Shogo a
nswered, "No, it's for injections."
Shuya was a little shocked. "You know how to use that?"
Shogo turned on the faucet in the back of the room. No water came out, as expected, and Shogo clicked his tongue. He pulled out his water bottle from his day pack and washed his hands. Then he set a needle on a syringe and extracted the contents of the ampoule. "Don't worry, I've done this before."
"...really?" Shuya felt like he was constantly repeating this phrase to Shogo.
Shogo broke the seal of the small bottle and injected it with the syringe, filling it up with the liquid from the ampoule. After removing the syringe, he held the bottle and shook it vigorously. Then he injected the syringe again to extract the liquid mixture.
After preparing another syringe like this, he finally approached them.
"Is she going to be all right?" Shuya asked again. "What about side effects or shock?"
"That's what I'm going to check for now. Just do as I say. Pull out Noriko's arm."
Unsure of the situation, Shuya lifted the side of the blanket and rolled up both the sleeves of his school coat and her sailor suit. Her arm was very thin and her healthy looking dark skin had now become excruciatingly white.
"Noriko," Shogo asked her, "have you ever had any allergic reactions to any medicine?"
Noriko opened her eyes again in a daze.
Shogo repeated, "Are you allergic to any medicine?"
Noriko shook her head slightly.
"Good. I'm going to test you first though."
Shogo held her arm out with her palm up, then took a cotton swab soaked with disinfectant and wiped the area between her wrist and elbow. He slowly inserted the needle, injecting only a small amount of the liquid. A slight bump formed on this area of her skin. Shogo took out another syringe and performed another injection.
"What are you doing?" Shuya asked.
"One of them is real medicine. If she's in the same condition fifteen minutes later, we won't have to worry about side effects. It means we can probably use the medicine. But..."
"But?"
Shogo quickly took out another larger bottle from the cardboard box. He placed it on the small desk nearby, prepared another syringe, and looked over at Shuya. "It's not easy to diagnose septicemia. To be honest I can't tell whether this is from septicemia or just a cold. Antibiotics are pretty potent, and that's why we're testing this on her, but the fact is my experience and knowledge is pretty limited, so injecting her with this syringe could be pretty dicey. On the other hand..."
Holding Noriko's hand, Shuya waited for him to continue.
Shogo took a breath and continued, "If she is suffering from septicemia, then we have to treat her as soon as possible. Otherwise, it'll be too late."
Fifteen minutes passed by quickly. In the meantime, Shogo checked her pulse again and took her temperature. The thermometer read 39 degrees Celsius. No wonder she could barely stand.
Shuya couldn't tell the difference between the two adjacent marks from the syringes. Shogo also appeared to reach the same conclusion and took the larger syringe.
Crouching down slightly, Shogo asked, "Noriko. Are you awake?"
Noriko answered with her eyes shut, "Uh huh..."
"I'll be honest. I don't know if you're suffering from septicemia or not. I think you probably are."
Noriko nodded slightly. She must have been able to follow Shuya and Shogo's conversation moments ago.
"It's all right...go ahead."
Shogo nodded and inserted the syringe, this time deeply. He injected the liquid and removed the needle. Then he wiped her arm with the cotton and told Shuya, "Hold this."
Shogo took the empty syringe and walked over to the sink to toss it away. Then he came back.
"Now she's got to sleep. You look after her for a while. If she looks thirsty, you can use the whole bottle."
Shuya said, "But that's—"
Shuya shook his head.
"Don't worry. I found a well behind the building. As long as we boil the water we can drink it." Shogo left the room. Shuya turned towards the bed. With his right hand pressing the cotton swab and his left hand gently holding Noriko's hand, he watched over her.
22 students remaining
42
Noriko fell asleep almost immediately. Shuya checked to make sure she wasn't bleeding from the shot, then he tossed the cotton swab, tucked her arm under the blanket, and left the room.
The doctor's living quarters was beyond the waiting room next door. There was a kitchen at the end of the hall on the right. Shogo was in there. The gas stove next to the sink wasn't operating, but on it was a large pot filled with water, and under it a pile of charcoal was glowing red.
Shogo was standing on a table, looking through a built-in ceiling cabinet across from the sink. That's when Shuya noticed for the first time that Shogo was wearing New Balance sneakers. He'd assumed they were some domestic brand like Mizumo or Kageboshi. New Balance! He'd never seen them before!
Whatever. "What are you doing?" he asked.
"I'm looking for food. I found some rice and miso, but nothing else. The vegetables in the fridge are rotten."
Shuya shook his head. "You're stealing."
"Of course I am," Shogo said dryly and then added while he continued rummaging, "Forget about it. Just be ready. Anyone could show up at any moment. If the machine gun shooter shows up, we'll be dead. So be ready."
Shuya replied, "Yeah, all right."
Shogo jumped off the table. The New Balance shoes squeaked against the floor. "Is she asleep?" he asked. Shuya nodded.
Shogo pulled out another pot from under the sink, walked up to the plastic rice container in the corner, and poured rice into the pot.
"So you're boiling rice."
"That's right. Noriko won't recover eating that terrible bread." Shogo scooped up a bowl of water from the bucket on the floor and poured it into the pot. He combed through the rice and only changed the water once. Next to the boiling water, he placed several pieces of charcoal from his day pack onto the other burner, then took out a pack of cigarettes and emptied them into his pocket. Then he crumpled the pack, lit it with his lighter, and stuck it into the charcoal. Once the charcoal was lit, he put the lidded pot of rice on the burner. It was an impressive sight.
"Damn," Shuya said.
Shogo took a break as he lit up a cigarette and looked at Shuya.
"You'te so good at everything."
"Yeah?" Shogo answered lightly. But something else flashed through Shuya's mind. The moment Kaori Minami was murdered...you know what's going to happen but there's nothing you can do to stop it. Slow motion. Kaori spins around and the left side of her head's blown off. It was blown away, did you see that?...If it had been Shogo instead of Shuya, the outcome wouldn't have been so horrible.
"Are you still bummed about Kaori?" Shogo said. Once again, Shogo's psychic powers were on. The sunlight doesn't reach this far inside, but that didn't seem to affect him.
Shogo shook his head. "Don't let it get to you. It was a bad situation. You did your best."
Shogo's voice was kind, but Shuya looked down. The corpse of Kaori Minami, collapsed on her side inside a grimy farm equipment shack. The pool of blood gradually spreading, oozing outward. By now, beginning to congeal. But the body would just stay there, with no ceremony, just left there like a disposed mannequin sprawled inside that shack. Of course in that sense she was no exception to Tatsumichi Oki, Kyoichi Motobuchi, Yukiko Kitano, and Yumiko Kusaka. That's right, everyone else was in the same boat.
He felt like puking. They were all lying there, on the ground. Already close to twenty of them.
"Shogo." The words spilled out.
In response Shogo tilted his head and slightly moved his hand that was holding the cigarette.
"What happens to the dead...their bodies?" Shuya asked. "Are they left there until this stupid game is over? So they just start rotting while the game is going on?"
Shogo answered as if it were an official matt
er. "That's right. Once it's over, the following day a clean-up crew is hired to take care of them."
"...clean-up crew?" Shuya bared his teeth.
"Yep. I heard about it from someone who works for the subcontractor, so I'm sure it's true. Self Defense Forces soldiers are too proud to perform such menial tasks. Of course, government officials accompany the crew to collect the collars and examine the bodies. You know, so the news media can report the number of deaths by strangulation, all that stuff."
Shuya was pissed. He recalled that final part of the news report. The meaningless causes of deaths and itemization of each student.
But he also realized something and knit his brows.
Shogo saw this and asked, "What's up?"
"Well...that doesn't make sense. I mean these..." Shuya raised his hand up to his neck. His fingers touched the collar's cold surface, its sensation no longer so strange. "I thought these were a secret. Shouldn't they collect them before the hired hands come in?"
Shogo shrugged. "The cleaning crew have no idea what they're for. They probably just assume they're used as markers. The guy I talked to didn't even remember them until I asked him about them. So there's no rush. They can deal with the collars after the clean-up crew's collected the bodies, right?"
It was true. But even so, something else bugged him.
"Hold on. What if one of these is defective? Let's say it breaks down and someone who's alive is assumed to be dead. Couldn't that student escape? Shouldn't they confirm all the dead right after the game?"
Shogo raised his brows. "You talk like you work for the government."
"No...," he stammered. "It's just that—"
"I doubt they could ever be defective. Think about it. If they actually could break down, this game couldn't proceed smoothly. Besides, if a student equipped with weapons turned out to be alive, they couldn't even afford to check the bodies. It'd turn into another battle." Shogo took a drag as he considered it more thoroughly. "This is just my guess, but I think each collar is loaded with multiple systems, so that if one breaks down, another gets switched on. Even if one system became defective—the chances of that being at least less than one in a hundred—if the systems were combined the probability would practically be reduced to zero. In other words," he said, looking at Shuya, "it would be impossible for us to escape that way."
