She heard a rustling sound behind her. “Kotohiki!” It was Hiroki’s voice. He’s coming after me!
Kayoko summoned all her strength from her tired body and ran as fast as she could. I can’t believe this, I should have been jogging instead of learning tea ceremony if I’d known this was going to happen.
“Kotohiki! Stop! Kotohiki!”
If she had been calmer—that is, if this were a scene in a movie and she were in the theater watching the actor performing as she munched on some popcorn—then it would have been obvious he was pleading with her. But right now it sounded like he was saying: “Kotohiki! You better stop! I’m gonna kill you!”
She wasn’t going to stop. The path forked. She took the left one.
The area opened up on her left. Rows of tangerine trees spread out in the dull light coming through the silky rain. Beyond them was a thicket of short trees. If she could enter that area—but no, it’s impossible, she thought. She had at least fifty more meters to get there. It was hopeless. While she struggled through the uneven rows of tangerine trees, Hiroki Sugimura would catch up to her and shoot her from behind with his gun.
Kayoko clenched her teeth. She didn’t want to, but she had to. After all, he was trying to kill her.
She stopped on her right foot and spun around to her left.
By the time she had turned around the gun was in her hands. That thing called the safety had been released ever since she’d read the manual. The manual said you didn’t have to raise the hammer, all you had to do was pull the trigger. The rest was up to her.
Less than ten meters away, Hiroki Sugimura stood still on the slope, his eyes wide open.
It’s too late. You think I won’t shoot?
Kayoko extended her arms and squeezed the trigger. With a pop, a small flame exploded from the muzzle, and her arms jerked back from the recoil.
Hiroki’s large frame spun around as if he were hit. He fell back.
Kayoko ran over to him. She had to finish him off, finish him off! So he wouldn’t get back up again!
Kayoko stopped approximately two meters away from him. There was a small hole in the left side of his chest (she’d actually aimed at his stomach), and the fabric around it had turned dark black. But his sprawled right hand still held his gun. He still might raise it. The head. I have to aim for his head.
Hiroki turned his head around and looked at Kayoko. Kayoko pointed the gun and pulled the trig—
She stopped.
Hiroki had tossed his gun aside. If he’d had that kind of strength he could have pulled the trigger. What was going on?
The gun spun around once and landed on its side.
Huh?
Kayoko stood still, holding the gun, her short hair drenched in the rain.
“Now listen.” He lay on the messy path ridden now with puddles as he said painfully, somehow fixing his eyes on Kayoko, “You have to burn some fresh wood. Build… two fires. I have a lighter in my pocket. Use that, then you’ll hear a bird call.”
Kayoko heard him, but she had no idea what he was talking about. She had no idea what was going on.
Hiroki continued. “Follow that bird call. Then you’ll find Shuya Nanahara… Noriko Nakagawa, and Shogo Kawada. They’ll help you. You got that?”
“W-what?”
Hiroki seemed to be smiling. He repeated patiently, “Build two fires. Then find the bird call.”
He awkwardly moved his right arm, pulled out a small lighter from his school coat pocket, and tossed it over to Kayoko. Then he painfully closed his eyes.
“Okay, now go.”
“What?”
Hiroki suddenly opened his eyes wide and yelled, “Go now! Someone might have heard the shot. Go!”
Then as if fitting the pieces of a complex jigsaw puzzle into place, Kayoko finally managed to get it. This time she got it right.
“Oh… oh…”
She dropped the gun and fell on her knees beside him. She scraped her knees but she didn’t care.
“Hiroki! Hiroki! I-I can’t believe… I can’t believe I did this to you!”
She burst into tears. Sure, there was something intimidating about Hiroki Sugimura. He seemed tough since he studied martial arts, plus he didn’t talk much, and when he did he was always gruff. When he spoke to other boys, like Shinji Mimura and Shuya Nanahara, he would smile but otherwise he looked grumpy. She also heard he was going out with Takako Chigusa, and they looked so close. Kayoko only thought, I don’t get Takako’s taste, I wonder maybe if you’re that pretty, you’re attracted to someone intimidating. That was her impression of him. So in this situation where her classmates were being killed off one by one she was absolutely terrified of Hiroki Sugimura. But then it turned out…
He closed his eyes again and said, “It’s all right.” He was smiling. He looked content. “I was going to die soon anyway.”
Kayoko then finally noticed he had another wound on his side, soaked in liquid that wasn’t rain.
“So go now. Please.”
Kayoko sobbed convulsively and touched his neck gently. “Let’s go together. Okay? Stand.”
Hiroki opened his eyes and looked at her. He seemed to be smiling. “Forget about me,” he said. “I’m just glad I got to see you.”
“What?” Kayoko opened her tear-stained eyes wide. What? What did you just say? “W-what do you mean…” Her voice was trembling.
Hiroki exhaled deeply, as if to bear the pain, or maybe it was a long sigh. “If I tell you, will you go?”
“What? I don’t get it. What do you mean?”
Hiroki said without hesitating, “I love you, Kotohiki. I’ve loved you for a real long time.”
Kayoko once again didn’t understand Hiroki. What’s he talking about?
Hiroki continued. He was looking up at the sky raining down on them. “That’s all I wanted to tell you. Now… go.”
“But I thought you and Takako—”
Hiroki looked into her eyes again. He said, “You’re the one.”
She finally got it. She was blown away as if struck by a huge wrecking ball swinging from a demolition crane.
Love, me? You wanted to tell me… don’t tell me you were trying to find me? Is that true? If so… then what did I just do?
Her breath was raspy. She kept on getting choked up, but finally she managed to cry out, “Hiroki! Hiroki!”
“Hurry,” Hiroki said and coughed out a mist of blood, spraying Kayoko’s face. Hiroki opened his eyes again.
“Hiroki… I… I… I…”
Her body was supposedly dehydrated from lack of water, but the tears kept on gushing out.
“It’s all right,” Hiroki said kindly. He closed his eyes slowly. “Kayoko—” he called her by her first name as if it were a precious treasure. It was probably the first time he had ever called her by her first name. “I don’t mind at all… dying because of you. So please, please go. Or else…”
Kayoko kept on crying, waiting for Hiroki to continue. Or else?
Hiroki didn’t say anything. Kayoko slowly reached out for him. She held his shoulders and shook them. “Hiroki!
In a TV drama when someone died their words would be cut off, like, “Or el—” but Hiroki managed to say in a painful but clear voice, “Or else.” So there had to be more. Or else…
“Hiroki! Hey, Hiroki!”
Kayoko shook his body one more time. Then she finally realized he was dead.
Once she realized this, the dam restraining her torrent of emotions suddenly collapsed. A shriek was welling up inside.
“AHHH!” On her knees, Kayoko fell over Hiroki’s body and cried.
He loved me… he loved me so much he sought me out at the risk of being attacked. Any encounter could have led to an attack on him. In fact, the wound in his side, the wound on his shoulder… came as a result of him trying to find me.