Battle Royale

by Косюн Таками

  Hirono's back had been facing the house. Now she saw the back door behind the figure was ajar.

  With the figure frozen in its footsteps, Hirono suddenly recalled a childhood memory—the game where you have to freeze when the person who was "it" turns around—but that was irrelevant. The issue at stake was that this thin, short, ugly boy—come to think of it, he also resembled a frog—Toshinori Oda (Male Student No. 4) was holding a thin, ribbonlike object with both hands. Hirono realized it was a belt.

  Now look at this. Toshinori Oda, the privileged son of a company president whose house was located in the town's wealthy district. He was supposed to be good at violin (apparently he'd won some competition). A pretentious, well bred, quiet boy. And this kid was now...

  ...trying to kill me!

  As if the pause on a frozen video image had been suddenly released, Toshinori moved, swung his belt up, and attacked her. The large buckle sparkled in the moonlight. It could easily gouge out some flesh on impact. The distance between them was only four meters...

  Enough.

  Hirono's right hand went for her gun. She felt the grip, by now a familiar sensation.

  Toshinori was right in front of her. She fired. She fired three times in a row.

  All the shots landed in his stomach. She saw his school coat instantaneously rip apart.

  Toshinori spun around and fell face forward. Dust flew up into the air and he remained motionless.

  Hirono tucked the revolver into her skirt again. The hot barrel burned against her stomach, but she couldn't be concerned about that. Right now the important thing was... water.

  She picked up her day pack and entered the house. She'd been foolish exposing her back to the house, but now she no longer had to make sure it was unoccupied. And she could drink Toshinori's water.

  She deliberated over whether to use her flashlight, but Toshinori's day pack turned out to be located right behind the back door. Hirono crouched down and opened the zipper with her right hand.

  There were water bottles. One of them hadn't been opened and the other was still half full. She felt a wave of relief.

  Still on her knees, Hirono opened the lid of the half filled bottle and pressed her lips against it, sucking on it as she tilted the bottle back. Hmm. Was this an indirect kiss with the boy who had tried to kill her—who was, on top of that, dead? Didn't matter. Concerns like that were now as remote as the tropics or the north pole. Or the moon. This is Armstrong. One small step for a man...

  She guzzled the water down. It was delicious. No doubt about that. Water never tasted this good. Even though the water was lukewarm, as it gushed down her throat and into her stomach it felt like ice water. It was so good.

  She emptied the bottle almost immediately. She took a deep breath.

  Something wrapped around her throat. Right above the metal collar. She went into a coughing fit and a mist of water sprayed out between her lips.

  As she struggled with her functioning right hand to free herself from the object digging in under her throat, she twisted her head around. Immediately to the right of her face she saw the boy's tense face...which belonged to Toshinori Oda, the boy who just died!

  Her throat was getting choked. It took her several seconds to realize what was wrapped around her neck. It was Toshinori's belt.

  How how how—how could this guy be alive?

  The dark interior of the house was fading into red. She tried to pry the belt loose with her right hand as her fingernails tore off. Blood dripped out of her fingers.

  That's right, my gun.

  Hirono reached for her gun tucked in the front of her skirt.

  But her arm was kicked by the foot of an expensive leather shoe, making a cracking sound. Along with her left arm, her right one went numb too. The belt slackened for a moment—but then it tightened again. She couldn't hold the belt anymore and instead she swung her twisted arm around in a bizarre looking manner.

  It was only a matter of seconds. Her arm hung limply. Although she wasn't in the same rank as Takako Chigusa or Mitsuko Souma, she was still quite attractive and she had the appealing, mature look of a high school or college student. But now her face was puffed up from blood congestion, and her tongue was now twice its normal size and hung out from the middle of her mouth.

  Nonetheless, Toshinori Oda continued choking Hirono's throat. (Of course he didn't forget to check around occasionally.)

  After five minutes or so, Toshinori finally released the belt from Hirono's neck. The breathless Hirono fell forward onto the raised floor. There was a muffled cracking sound. Maybe part of Hirono's face had cracked. Her punkish hair that stood straight up was now going in all directions and fading into the darkness. The nape of her neck above the collar of her sailor suit and her left arm with the torn sleeve were the only parts glimmering white.

  Toshinori Oda breathed heavily for a while as he stood still in a daze. His stomach was still in pain, but it wasn't too bad now. When he first opened his day pack he had no idea what this cumbersome strange gray vest was, but it did exactly what the manual said it would. Amazing...

  ...what a bulletproof vest can do.

  20 students remaining

  47

  The area was pitch black by now, but thanks to the nearly full moon, the cliff extending from the foot of the northern mountain offered a wide open view of the ocean. The Seto Inland Sea Islands floated in the black sea, but there were absolutely no ship lights nearby due to the government's prohibition on traffic in the area. The guard ships were also out of sight, probably because they were moored with their lights off.

  He'd seen this view before, but from a lower position. That's right, when he left the school building. Of course, this was neither the time nor place to call it a nice view.

  "All right then, over here," Shinji said. He tucked his gun into his belt, and was the first to climb up on the rock. Then he offered his hand to Yutaka. Yutaka was out of breath due to the climb up the mountain as well as from the looming threat of being attacked in the dark, but he managed to grip onto Shinji's hand and struggled up the rock.

  They stayed flat on their stomachs and looked down the cliff. The blackened rows of woods spread out beneath them, and further beyond there was a glimmer of light. It came from the school building where Sakamochi was. It hardly emitted any light because the windows had been sealed off with those steel sheets. It was approximately one hundred meters away. The school's sector, G=7, was already forbidden, so they'd immediately get killed if they entered it, but they were a safe distance away now. By using cross-bearing navigation with his compass and map before the sun went down, Shinji managed to figure out precisely the zone layout. The school, in sector G=7, was nearer the border of F=7, where Shinji and Yutaka were now, and according to the map the shortest distance to the border was approximately eighty meters. Furthermore, with the 6 p.m. announcement of forbidden zones, neither F=7 nor H=7, which surrounded the school, were included.

  Which reminded him of Sakamochi's announcement that Sho Tsukioka had gotten caught in a forbidden zone. He was an annoying, queer kid ("Shinji, let's go out on a date"), and right now Shinji really couldn't be bothered by others, but he felt a little sorry for Sho whose head had probably been blown off by a bomb. He wondered where it happened.

  He also felt a pang of remorse over the death of Takako Chigusa. She was the prettiest girl in the class (according to Shinji's taste, anyway), and what's more, she was childhood friends with Hiroki Sugimura. Contrary to what most of the class thought—that they were a couple—Hiroki and Takako weren't going out (Hiroki himself told Shinji). Still, it must have come as a shock to Hiroki. Hiroki—where the hell are you?

  Shinji decided to concentrate on the present. He observed the school below and its surrounding geography closely. They would have to stretch a rope from here, over the school, and then over to the other side of the zone. Now that he actually had a view of the area, he realized how much distance they'd have to cover.

  Gazing a
t the gentle light leaking out the steel-plated windows, Shinji thought, damn. That was where Sakamochi and his men were. It was dinner time. For all he knew they could be eating fried udon. (He thought of fried udon because it was his favorite ever since his uncle made it several times for him when he had him over at his small single-bedroom house and that was what Shinji wanted so badly to eat right now.) Bastards.

  Shinji and Yutaka already had what they needed. Although it wasn't indicated on the map (which marked it as just another blue dot), Shinji managed to find a farm coop near the longitudinal road slightly south of the school. The building with slated roof and walls bore a sign that read "Northern Takamatsu Agricultural Cooperative Association, Okishima Island Branch." (Although Shinji already knew they were on Okishima Island in the Takamatsu-shi Sound, Yutaka was impressed.) It wasn't your typical farm coop. It had no real office, nor were there any ATMs. There was only a tractor, combine harvester, and threshing machine scattered inside the warehouse-like space. The only other equipment they found was an office desk taking up one of the corners. Anyway, that was where they found the ammonium nitrate. Fortunately it was fresh, not at all damp. On top of that, they didn't have to collect gas from cars. They found plenty in the gas containers.

  The pulley they took from the well next to the house where Shinji had found the Macintosh PowerBook 150, slightly east of the coop.

  The other significant item was rope. If they were going to stretch rope across sector G=7 they would need at least three hundred meters of it. Furthermore, they would have to roll it out with plenty of slack to escape detection by Sakamochi and his men so they needed even more. It wasn't going to be easy finding rope that long. The farm coop had rope but all together it was at most two hundred meters long and— maybe it was used for a greenhouse or something—too thin at a diameter of less than three millimeters to be reliable.

  Fortunately though, they managed to find what appeared to be a private fishing-equipment warehouse along the shore south from the harbor, which was now forbidden along with the residential area. In spite of the fishing rope being weathered out from exposure, in spite of its heavy weight and size, given how it was over three hundred meters long, Shinji and Yutaka managed to divide it up, transport it, and hide it in the farm coop.

  Leaving these resources behind, they came up here. Shinji stared into the dark. The foot of the northern mountain, where they were now, spread out around this side of the school, in other words, the north side, and his right, the west side. To the left of the school, the woods on the east extended up to the northern side of the residential area and the seashore. Beyond the school there were paddy fields. There were clusters of trees here and there, and between them he could see some houses. Beyond the houses, Shinji could barely make out the farm coop warehouse where they had left all their equipment. Immediately to the left the area became gradually crowded with rows of roofs that extended over the border of the forbidden zone into the residential area.

  Yutaka tapped him on the shoulder. Shinji looked to Yutaka, who was on his right. Yutaka pulled out his student notepad and began writing something.

  That's right, before they started moving, Shinji had warned Yutaka with another message that they mustn't give anything away by talking. After all, if Sakamochi and his men found out they were up to no good again, this time Shinji was sure they wouldn't hesitate to blow their heads off by remote control.

  He'd already gone over why Sakamochi chose not to ignite Shinji and Yutaka's collars. It was probably because it was best for the game if the students fought each other as much as possible. Shinji had some theories about this. It had to do with a rumor he'd heard that high-ranking government officials placed bets on this game. If that was true, then he was sure the star shooting guard of Shiroiwa Junior High, The Third Man, must have been the top seed. All the more reason why Sakamochi couldn't just finish him off. That was Shinji's hypothesis. Meanwhile Yoshitoki Kuninobu and Fumiyo Fujiyoshi were irrelevant players. Or, to be blunt, no one had placed any bets on them.

  Still, even if that were true (what a bastard that "Kinpati Sakamocho" was), as long as Sakamochi was in charge of this game, he could blow their heads off at any time. Shinji could only pray that wouldn't happen until they managed to bomb the school. Of course Shinji found the idea despicable. The thought of someone else having so much control over him was entirely revolting to Shinji, who learned from his uncle how to be totally self-reliant for everything in his life. As he looked down at the light from the school though, he shook his head. That was neither here nor there.

  He recalled his uncle once telling him, "Don't worry about stuff you can't do anything about. You do what you can even if your chances of success are less than one percent."

  Yutaka seemed done writing his message and tapped his shoulder. Shinji turned away from the view and examined the note under the moonlight.

  There's no way we can toss that enormous rope over there. Besides we left the rope behind. What are we going to do?

  That's right. He hadn't explained that yet. They'd been too frantic in their search for the equipment. Shinji nodded, took out his pencil, and wrote on the student notepad Wire. I brought some. We'll reel out the wire down to the other side and tie it to the rope. Then we'll draw in the rope by pulling the wire right before we execute our plan.

  He handed the pad over to Yutaka. After reading the note, he looked at Shinji and nodded, as if satisfied. Then he wrote You're going to tie a rock to the wire and throw it over there?

  Shinji shook his head. Yutaka opened his eyes, surprised. Then after some thought he wrote again Are you going to make a bow and arrow and shoot the wire across?

  Shinji shook his head again. He took the pad and began scribbling That might work. But even I can't throw a rock 300m away. And I can't afford to miss. If the rock hits the school we're done. And if the wire gets caught somewhere and we end up breaking it... I have a better plan.

  Yutaka didn't take up his pencil this time and only gazed back at Shinji as if saying, "?" Shinji took the pad and continued First, tie the wire to a tree here. Then go down the mountain with the other end of wire. Stretch it taut when we're on the other side.

  Yutaka read this but then almost immediately knit his brows skeptically. He wrote quickly, You can't do that his note read It'll get caught in the trees. Somewhere in the middle.

  Shinji grinned.

  He couldn't blame Yutaka for doubting him. The path they'd taken here was covered with trees, both large and small. Even if they managed to drag the wire out while avoiding G=7 and tugged on it later, the wire might get caught. It would make for an odd-looking piece of outdoor contemporary art. "This installation piece is gigantic, but five meters away it turns obscure. The piece addresses the delicate balance between nature and humans... " On top of that, sector G=7 was filled with dense forestry bordering up to the school. Unless you were a 100-meter-tall giant (wasn't there a video his uncle had shown him, an old special-effects movie where the superhero saves the world by fighting against monsters as they completely tear up the city? They don't make movies like that anymore) you'd have to cut down all the trees if you wanted to put the wire near the school. It was so obvious. And that was why Yutaka insisted it was impossible.

  But Shinji elegantly spread his arms out (given how they were on their stomachs though, the effect wasn't so impressive) and wrote How about launching an ad balloon, huh, Yutaka?

  Yutaka read the note and knit his brows. Shinji signaled Yutaka to get off the cliff rock and follow him. Once they sat under the rock, he rummaged through his day pack. He pulled out the contents and lined them up on the ground.

  A half dozen gas canisters, several hundred-meter reels of thin fishing wire (that was all he found at the farm coop), plastic tape, and a box of black plastic garbage bags.

  Shinji took one of the canisters and showed it to Yutaka. It was painted blue with bright red letters which read "VOICE CHANGER" (underneath the ad copy read, "Now you'll be the life of the party
!" huh!), and under that there was an illustration of a duck—Shinji recognized where it came from—based on a "Walt Disney" character. A whistlelike object poked out of the canister.

  Shinji wrote I remembered seeing these at the house where I found the PowerBook. You know what this is?

  Before taking the pulley, Shinji had gone into the nearby house to retrieve these canisters. What in the world would the occupant of that house do with all these things, though? The files left on the PowerBook's hard drive offered a clue. Given how they had names like "5th Grade Science" or "Third Term Report Card Drafts," the owner of the machine must have been an elementary school teacher. Yes, he was probably one of the real teachers at that school.

  Yutaka touched his throat and opened his mouth. Shinji nodded.

  Right. It makes you sound like a duck! It's helium. And this one's a defect. So it's still loaded with gas.

  Yutaka still seemed unconvinced. Shinji thought an actual demonstration would get his point across quicker so he tore open the pack of garbage bags and pulled out a bag. He opened it up, inserted the canister valve (which was supposed to be sucked) into it, and taped it to the bag with the plastic tape. He sealed the edge of the bag with more tape. Then he pressed the valve button and the bag began to inflate.

  With his finger on the button, Shinji thought, this would be a lot more entertaining with condoms. But even if they had condoms they would have been a little too small. Huh?

  Do I have some on me? Well, I mean, come on, this was supposed to be a study trip. Anything can happen, right? You tossed your clothes, but you're still holding onto these? Yeah, I dunno, I do still have them. Well, you never know when they might come in handy. Let's not go into details.

  After filling up the bag, Shinji twisted the edge right above the canister and sealed it with tape. He took a reel of fishing wire and tied its end to the end of the bag. Then he removed the tape below to release it from the canister. Just to be sure, he folded the edge over again, sealing it again with more tape.