Sakamochi quietly laughed. He looked away from Shuya.
Shuya clenched both of his fists tightly under the desk in order to calm down his body which was shaking uncontrollably. He clenched them tighter and tighter. It was no easy feat to control his emotions though, with Yoshitoki’s corpse lying right in front of him.
This was incomprehensible. How could it be? How could you lose someone… someone so close?
Yoshitoki has always been with me. It doesn’t matter how trivial our experiences were. What about the time we played in the river, and I saved him from drowning? Or when we got our kicks collecting tons of grasshoppers, stuffing them into a small box, and how they died as a result? We both felt really bad about that. Or when we fought for that dog Eddie’s attention? Or when we pulled a prank in school and ended up hiding in the faculty room attic? We almost got caught, but after we managed to escape, we had a good laugh—Yoshitoki and I were always together. It was a fact. He was with me.
So how could he be… gone now?
Shinji raised his hand again, “I have another question, Mr. Sakamochi.”
“You again? What is it?”
“Noriko is injured. I understand we will be participating in the Program, but doesn’t this make the game unfair?”
Sakamochi looked amused.
“Well, perhaps, yes. So what is it?”
“Which means she should be treated, which means the Program should be postponed until her recovery, no?”
Shuya had barely managed to hold back his anger, so he was amazed by the contrast in Shinji Mimura’s calm conduct. It was a bit strange that Shuya could actually afford to be impressed. Yes, Shinji Mimura was a lot calmer than Shuya. Shinji was right. If Shinji’s request was granted, that might buy them some extra time. Then they might be able to escape.
Sakamochi’s face contorted into laughter. “That’s a very interesting suggestion, Shinji.” Sakamochi instead offered an alternative solution, “Then shall we kill Noriko Nakagawa now, and make the game equal?”
Noriko herself along with the rest of class suddenly froze up again. Shuya could see Shinji’s back underneath his school uniform stiffen as he immediately responded, “I take it back, I take it back. Come on, I was just kidding.”
Sakamochi burst out laughing again at Shinji’s humorous tone. Tahara, whose right hand had been on his holster, quickly returned it to the strap of his rifle hanging off his shoulder.
Sakamochi clapped his hands again.
“All right then, listen up. First of all, each and every one of you differ according to your intelligence, physical dexterity, etc., etc. We’re born unequal. So we will not treat Noriko Nakagawa—over there!! No whispering!” Sakamochi suddenly yelled. He threw a white object where Fumiyo Fujiyoshi (Female Student No. 18) was in the process of whispering something to the female class representative Yukie Utsumi, who was sitting next to her. Shuya wondered whether it was chalk for a moment, but of course that was absurd, given the circumstances.
The object made the thumping sound of a nail being pounded into a coffin. A thin knife was planted in the middle of Fumiyo Fujiyoshi’s wide, fair-skinned forehead.
Yukie stared at the sight, her eyes open wide. A stranger sight though was Fumiyo herself raising her eyes, struggling to locate the knife planted in her forehead. Her head arched back in this attempt.
Then she collapsed to the side. As she fell, her left temple hit the corner of Yukie’s desk and nudged it.
Now there was no room for doubt. Who could survive a knife planted in one’s forehead?
No one moved. No one spoke a word. Yukie took a deep breath and stared down at Fumiyo. Noriko was also gazing at her. Shinji Mimura kept his lips pursed as he looked at Fumiyo collapsed between the desks just like Yoshitoki.
His throat dry, Shuya held his breath and thought, “He did that on a whim! A whim! Damn it! Our lives are totally at the mercy of this asshole Sakamochi!”
“Oops, I did it. I’m so sorry. The instructor killing someone, that’s against the rules, huh?” Sakamochi closed his eyes and scratched his head. But his face became serious again and he said, “I need your undivided attention. Impulsive actions are strictly prohibited. That means whispering will not be permitted. It’s hard on me but if you whisper, I’ll toss another knife at you!”
Shuya clenched his teeth. He told himself to be patient and repeated this over and over to himself while two classmates were sprawled dead on the floor. Still, he was drawn to Yoshitoki’s face and couldn’t help but look at him. He felt he was about to cry.
5
“Allow me to explain the rules.”
Sakamochi returned to his cheerful voice. The classroom began to reek of Yoshitoki Kuninobu’s fresh blood, an odor entirely different than that of the dried blood of their instructor, “Dragonfly” Hayashida. Shuya couldn’t see Fumiyo Fujiyoshi’s face from his seat, but it seemed like there was very little blood coming out of her.
“I think you all know how this works. The rules are simple. All you have to do is kill each other. There are no violations. And,” Sakamochi wore a wide grin, “the last remaining survivor can go home. You even get a nice card autographed by the Dictator. Isn’t that wonderful?”
In his mind, Shuya spat to his side.
“Now you may think this is a horrible game. But in life the unexpected is bound to happen. You must at all times maintain self-control in order to respond properly to accidents. Consider this an exercise then. Also, men and women will be treated equally. There will be no handicaps for either side. I do have good news for the girls, though. According to Program statistics, 49% of past winning survivors have been girls. The motto here is, ‘I’m just like the others and the others are like me.’ There is nothing to be afraid of.”
Sakamochi made a signal. The camouflaged trio went into the hall and began to haul in the large, black, nylon day packs. The packs formed a pile right beside the body bag of Mr. Hayashida. Some of them were lopsided, as if they might contain a pole-shaped object inside trying to poke out.
“We will have you leave one by one. Each one of you will take one of these bags prior to departure. Each pack contains food, water, and a weapon. Let’s see, as I said, every one of you differs according to ability. So these weapons will add another random element. Well, that sounds complicated. In other words, it will make the game all the more unpredictable. You will each end up with a randomly selected weapon. As you leave in order, you will take the pack on top of the pile. Each pack also contains a map of the island, a compass, and a watch. Are there any of you who don’t have watches? You all do? Oh, I forgot to mention this, but we are on an island with an approximate circumference of six kilometers. Its never been used for the Program. We had the residents evacuate the island. So there is absolutely no one else here. So…”
Sakamochi faced the blackboard and grabbed a piece of chalk. He drew a rough diamond shape next to where he had written his name, “Kinpatsu Sakamochi.” On the top-right he drew an arrow pointing upward and the letter “N.” He wrote an “X” inside the diamond, right of its center. With the chalk still pressed against the blackboard, he turned towards the students.
“All right then. We’re in the school on this island. This is a diagram of the island, so this indicates the school. Got that?” Sakamochi tapped the symbol with his chalk. “I’m going to be staying here. I’ll be overlooking your efforts.”
Sakamochi then drew four spindle shapes scattered to the north, south, east, and west sides of the diamond.