Battle Royale

by Косюн Таками

  But Shinji was more concerned about Yutaka. Could he still be alive?

  Kazuo—Shinji coughed up blood as he clenched his teeth—so you've decided to play the game, you bastard. Then come after me. Yutaka can't move, but I can. You can take care of Yutaka later. First come after me. Come on, come after me.

  As if responding to his wish, Shinji could see from underneath the tractor a figure in the blue pale belt of light coming in through the sliding door.

  Then along with the rattling sound, lights flashed like camera flashes, and bullets scattered across the building. A part of some farm equipment was blown to bits, and the window across from him was smashed into fragments.

  It stopped. He was out of bullets. But Kazuo would reload another magazine.

  Shinji grabbed a screwdriver near him and tossed it to his left. It made a clanging sound and tapped onto the floor.

  He thought Kazuo would shoot over there, but instead he scattered bullets across in an arc around the screwdriver. Shinji ducked, praying he wouldn't be hit. The shooting stopped again. Shinji looked up.

  Now...he could tell Kazuo was inside the building. That's right, Shinji's blood-drenched lips formed a smile. I'm over here. Come over here—

  Shinji lifted the gas can with his right hand and placed it on his stomach. He moved back again with his left arm and left leg, trying his best not to make any sound. His back hit a hard, boxlike object, and he slid around it as he continued to retreat. His movements weren't completely silent. Kazuo already knew he was hiding somewhere in the dark here. The blood dripping out of him was a dead giveaway.

  Kazuo crouched down and checked under various farm tools and the pickup truck as he approached Shinji.

  Shinji surveyed the area. He could barely make out the outline of the upper floor on the opposite side of the building as well as the steel stairs that led up there from the door. If his body was in adequate condition he could have jumped on him from up there. But that wasn't possible anymore.

  There was a cart on the east wall. It was a pushcart with four small wheels used to carry equipment. The office in the corner with partitions was beyond the pushcart and next to it was an exit. The sliding door, if fully opened, was large enough for a car, but this one was only for people. The door was shut.

  That door...I locked it along with the other windows and every other door. How long would it take me to unlock it?

  He had no time to think it over. Shinji dragged his body over to the pushcart. Once he was there he placed the gas can on it. He opened its lid. He pushed in the rubber object dangling from a plastic cord.

  He took out the detonation device in his pocket. His fingers were clumsy—probably due to his wounds—but they finally managed to peel off the tape on the side of the battery, revealing an exposed wire dangling from the detonator tube. Shinji connected it to the wire tip of the condenser circuit. He pulled off the insulation of the battery case. As he heard a faint, high hum from the rapid charge of the condenser, he quickly peeled off the tape on the charge device switch and shoved the detonator tube deep inside the gas can's rubber cap. He left the rest of the unit, including the charge device, the battery case, and circuit, on top of the gas can. He had no time to secure it. He could see Kazuo's feet to the right of the threshing machine.

  His chances were slim. But now that Yutaka and me are injured there's no way we'll ever make it up the mountain. So...

  ...here's a special something for you, Kazuo. Shinji kicked the pushcart with his left leg as hard as he could. As the cart skimmed by the other equipment, Shinji leaped for the exit door without even checking to see if the cart was heading towards Kazuo.

  He unlocked it in 0.2 seconds. He even utilized his right leg with its missing foot tip to crash through the door and leap out of the building.

  The slate walls of the farm coop behind him suddenly burst with an explosion that shook the entire dark island. The sound of Kazuo's hand grenade that had temporarily disabled Shuya's hearing was nothing compared to this explosion. Shinji realized, whoa, there go my eardrums.

  His body slid on the ground from the blast of the explosion, scraping off the skin on his forehead. Fragments and scraps blew by. Still, Shinji managed to look back quickly and see, right where the building's wall should be, the light truck floating in the air upside down. Probably due to its raised position from the jack, the blast had slammed it with incredible pressure, blowing it upwards. It spun around slowly in air filled with fragments of glass, slate, and concrete (he felt as if they were also stuck into his body too, but the ones he saw now didn't come flying out directly, but were blown up into the sky), traced an exaggerated arc, and crashed on its side in the middle of the parking lot. It rolled over another ninety degrees and stopped, completely upside down. The back carriage was nearly torn off, twisted up like a wrung out rag, and the wheel with a missing tire somehow managed to still spin around and around.

  Fragments continued showering down. Immersed in clouds of smoke the farm coop was now reduced to only its frame. The only wall remaining was part of the one on the north side, along with the upper floor. But the upper floor was completely exposed behind the smoke. The south side of the roof was completely blown away, and the machines, uncluding the farm equipment, were scattered around on their sides. Even in the dark Shinji could tell they were burnt black. He saw several bright flames. Maybe something was on fire. The side exit Shinji used to escape through was barely connected to the remains of the wall by the bottom hinges, bent over his way, as if bowing. The office with partitions had completely vanished without a trace. Well, actually there was the office desk still hanging on, glued to the part of the wall that escaped destruction, pushed from behind by the combine harvester that was also probably blown away by the explosion.

  Something must have been blown up high in the sky because, completely out of sync with the other debris, it was finally landing somewhere in the smoke with a high metallic ring. Although Shinji could hardly hear it.

  Next thing he knew, Shinji was struggling to get up from the debris of wall and other materials, staring at the ruins of the building. He gasped.

  Yes, the handmade gasoline can bomb was well made. With that kind of destructive force it would have certainly annihilated the school.

  But that was all over now. The important thing now was that he'd defeated the enemy coming after him. And even more urgent was—

  "Yutaka..."

  He mumbled as he finally got up, kneeling on his right knee on the debris. The moment he opened his mouth, blood came gushing out between his teeth, and he felt an incredible surge of pain running from his chest down to his stomach. It was a miracle he was still alive. But he stretched out his arms and put his right leg down on its heel and then stretched out his left leg and somehow managed to stand up. Shinji looked over to the edge of the parking lot where Yutaka was lying...

  ...when he saw the overturned light trucks door—it must have been busted—open with a dull creaking sound. (He could hear it faintly. Some of his hearing seemed to be coming back.)

  Kazuo Kiriyama stepped down onto the ground. He held the tin-box-like machine gun in his right hand as if nothing had happened.

  Hey—

  Shinji felt like he should burst out laughing. For all he knew his blood-soaked lips might have even formed a smile. You gotta be kidding.

  By then Kazuo fired. Shinji this time met a full frontal parabolic shower of 9mm bullets and staggered back into the ground covered with debris. Something was pressing into his back. As of now there really was no need to check it, but he thought it was the front of the parked station wagon. The station wagon had also been blown up by the blast, its back stuck into a wooden telephone pole now lopsided from the impact. Another object seemed to have smashed into its windshield, which resembled a spider's web.

  Surrounded by the bright flames burning in the building, Kazuo calmly stood still. Then beyond him Shinji saw Yutaka lying on his face, half buried in the debris. Right near him was Keita
Iijima lying on his back, his face staring at Shinji.

  He thought, Kazuo, damn, so I ended up losing to you.

  He thought, I'm sorry Yutaka, I let my guard down for a moment.

  He thought, Uncle, how lame, huh?

  He thought, Ikumi, fall in love and be happy. Looks like I won't be able to...looks like...

  Kazuo Kiriyama's Ingram burst out once again and Shinji's thoughts came to an end. The bullets had torn apart his cerebral cortex. Near his head, the cracked front windshield was now shattered, most of its fragments sliding into the car, but some of the finer mistlike particles fell on Shinji's body already covered with dust and debris.

  Shinji slowly fell forward on his face. Debris bounced up on impact. It took less than thirty seconds for the rest of his body besides his brain to die. The memento of his beloved uncle—the earring worn by the woman he loved—was now stained in blood running down Shinji's left ear, reflecting the glow from the building now consumed in red flames.

  And so the boy known as The Third Man, Shinji Mimura, was now dead.

  17 students remaining

  Part 3

  Final Stage

  17 students remaining

  52

  In the bushes with her blanket over her shoulders, Noriko hugged her knees and stared at the ground. It was still very dark and insects were humming the way a fluorescent light sputters out before it dies.

  Sakamochi's midnight announcement came on right after they reached this area. He announced the death of Hirono Shimizu (Female Student No. 10), who had—although Noriko herself didn't see it—killed Kaori Minami and fled from Shuya, followed by the addition of three forbidden zones. At 1 a.m. F=7, at 3 a.m. G=3, and at 5 a.m. E=4. Noriko and Shogo's sector, C=3, was still safe. Shuya's name wasn't mentioned, but...

  Ten to twenty minutes later, there was distant gunfire again and then the sound of that machine gun. Noriko's heart froze. The sound continued.

  She couldn't forget it. It was unmistakable—the sound of Kazuo Kiriyama's machine gun. Unless someone else had the same gun. Regardless, the sound was enough to make her wonder whether Kazuo had finally caught up to Shuya.

  Before Noriko could mention this to Shogo though, there was an incredible explosion. The hand grenade they encountered when they were fighting Kiriyama was nothing compared to this. And then there was the faint sound of the machine gun, once or twice. After that the island returned to silence.

  Even Shogo seemed surprised by the sound. He was carving an arrow-like object with his knife when he suddenly stopped and said, "I'm going to go have a look. Don't move," and walked out of the bushes. He came back immediately and told her, "A building's on fire on the east side."

  Noriko started to ask, "Could it be?.. " but Shogo shook his head and said, "It's quite a ways south from where Kiriyama was. Shuya escaped into the mountainside, so it can't be him. Let's wait for him here."

  Noriko felt relieved for the time being. But nearly an entire hour had passed since then. Shuya still hadn't returned.

  Noriko held her wrist under the coin-sized moonlight coming through the branches and checked her watch. It was 1:12 a.m. She'd been repeating this gesture as if it were a magical ritual.

  Then she buried her head between her knees.

  A horrible image flashed by in her thoughts. Shuya's face. His mouth half-open and eyes looking off into the distance, the way he looked singing a song called "Imagine" (Shuya said it was a rock standard) during one of their breaks in the music room, out of the teacher's sight. But this face had a large, black dot similar to one worn by a Hindu worshipper. Without warning, red liquid came oozing out of the dot. The large dot was in fact a very dark and deep hole. The blood poured out from his brain, covering his face...like cracks running through a piece of glass....

  Noriko shivered and shook her head, dismissing the thought. She looked up at Shogo, who was leaning against a tree trunk, smoking a cigarette. There was a handmade bow next to him and several arrows stuck in the ground.

  "Shogo."

  He looked like a silhouette in the dark. He removed the cigarette from his mouth and rested his right wrist on his upright knee.

  "What is it?"

  "Shuya should be here by now."

  He put his cigarette in his mouth again. Its tip reddened, faintly lighting up his calm face. Noriko felt impatient. His face darkened again and smoke drifted out of his mouth.

  "Yeah."

  His calm tone also irritated her. But then she reminded herself how he'd saved her and Shuya several times over, so she restrained herself.

  "Something must have...happened."

  "Probably."

  "What do you mean, 'probably'?"

  His silhouette raised its arms. The lit cigarette moved. "Calm down. That was definitely Kazuo's machine gun. Unless they supplied an identical machine gun to someone else. And given how the explosion occurred over there, it means that Kazuo was fighting someone besides Shuya. Shuya escaped from Kazuo. I know that much."

  "But then why isn't he—"

  He interrupted, "He's probably hiding somewhere. Or he might have gotten lost."

  She shook her head. "He might be hurt. Or even worse..."

  She felt a chill run down her spine. She couldn't continue. The image of Shuya with the red spider-web face and half-open mouth flashed by again. Shuya might have escaped from Kazuo, but he might have been severely wounded, he might be dying right now. Even if that wasn't the case, what if he was attacked by someone while he was running through the mountains...or what if he fell unconscious somewhere, and what if that was in a forbidden zone, then Shuya would end up dead. That's right...Shuya might have run into the base of the northern mountain which was in sector F=7, directly north of the school, sector F=7 which was a forbidden zone as of 1 a.m. And now it was past 1 a.m. Which meant...

  She shook her head again. That couldn't be. Shuya couldn't die. Because...Shuya was like a holy man with a guitar. He was always kind to everyone, he was always so sympathetic to the sorrows of others, but he would never lose that powerful smile, he was so upright and transparent and innocent but also tough. He's like my guardian angel. How could someone like that die? There's no way he could...but still...

  Shogo quietly said, "He might be, he might not be."

  She turned her wrist and nervously checked her watch again. She moved her leg painfully and sidled up to Shogo. She squeezed Shogo's left hand, which was on his knees, with both hands.

  "Please. Can't we go...can't we go look for him? Will you come with me? I can't do this on my own. Please."

  Shogo said nothing. He only lifted his left hand slowly, returning Noriko's hands to her thighs, and tapped them lightly. "We can't. Even if you insist on going alone, I won't let you. Shuya wanted me to look after you. He took a big risk making us leave before him. I don't want to jeopardize all he did for us."

  She bit her lower lip and stared at him.

  "Don't give me that look. You're making this hard on me." Shogo scratched his head with his hand holding his cigarette and said, "You care about Shuya, right?"

  She nodded. She didn't hesitate.

  He nodded back and said, "Then let's respect his wishes." She bit her lip again, but then looked down and nodded. "All right. We can only wait, right?"

  "That's right." He nodded.

  They were silent for a while but then he asked, "Do you believe in sixth sense?"

  The topic was so unexpected Noriko widened her eyes. Was he trying to distract her?

  "Well...a little. I don't really know though," she responded. "Do you?"

  He crushed his cigarette into the ground. Then he said, "Absolutely not...well, I don't think it matters either way. All that stuff about ghosts, the afterlife, cosmic power, sixth sense, fortune telling, psychic powers, that's just the talk of fools who can only deal with reality by avoiding it. I'm sorry. You said you believed a little. That's just my opinion. But..." She looked at his eyes. "But?"

  "But sometimes without any a
pparent reason I'm certain about things I can't know for sure. And for some reason I've never been wrong when this happens."

  She remained silent and stared at him.

  He said, "Shuya's still alive. He'll be back. I know it."

  Her face suddenly relaxed. He might have been making this up on the spot, but even so she was touched he made the effort.

  "Thanks," she said, "You're kind, Shogo." He shrugged. "I'm just telling you how I feel." Then he said, "Shuya's a lucky guy."

  She looked over at him. "Hm?"

  "Lucky that someone loves him this much."

  She smiled just a little. "You got it wrong."

  "What?"

  "It's unrequited. Shuya likes someone else. I'm nothing compared to her."

  "...really?"

  She looked down and nodded. "She's really awesome. I don't know how to describe her. She's so strong and beautiful. I'm jealous, but I can understand why he's attracted to her."

  He tilted his head and said, "I don't know." He flicked his lighter several times and lit another cigarette and added, "I think Shuya cares about you now."

  She shook her head. "Oh no."

  "When he comes back," he smiled, "you should let him have it, call him a jerk for making you worry like this." She smiled a little again.

  He blew out smoke. "Now lie down. You haven't fully recovered yet. Once you're drowsy, get some sleep. I'll stay up all night. If Shuya shows up, I'll tell him to wake the princess with a kiss."

  "Uh huh." She smiled and nodded. "Thanks."

  She still sat up another ten minutes. Then she wrapped herself in the blanket and lay down.

  She still couldn't sleep though.

  17 students remaining

  53

  Hiroki Sugimura was getting exhausted. He'd been walking without stopping ever since the game began, so it was only natural. But every time he heard Sakamochi's announcement, his level of exhaustion rose as if he were climbing a staircase. Now only twenty were left...no, as far as Hiroki knew, the number was down to seventeen. It was hard to believe, but Shinji Mimura was dead, along with Yutaka Seto and Keita Iijima.