Still smiling, Shogo looked down at his watch and went outside to check again for a signal from Hiroki.
Noriko grinned and looked at Shuya. “Shogo likes to kid around.”
Shuya smiled. “Yeah, but…” He squinted at the open space.
I might have been jealous.
Shuya looked back at Noriko again. He was about to tell her in a joking way, “I may have been jealous.” Then Noriko would probably laugh and say, “Yeah right.”
Shogo returned to the front of the roof. His stubbly face was moist with raindrops. “I see smoke,” he said and immediately turned around.
Shuya quickly got up. He helped Noriko up with his uninjured right arm. They walked to where Shogo was standing.
The rain was light now, so he could make out the smoke drifting in the sky. As he followed Shogo’s eyes… he saw a white column of smoke on the opposite side of the northern mountain. Two columns, in fact.
“Right on!”
Without thinking, Shuya gave a little holler out as if singing a rock and roll song. His eyes met Noriko’s. Noriko, no less enthusiastic, broke into a grin and said, “So Hiroki’s safe.”
Shogo took out the bird call from his pocket and teaked it as he observed the smoke. The cheerful chirping of a little bird rose and spread out into the rain covering the island. As he continued, Shogo checked his watch. Fifteen seconds later he stopped.
Shogo then looked over at them.
“Let’s wait a little more here. My guess is he won’t hear this sound unless he’s close. It’ll take time.”
They returned underneath the roof.
“Hiroki probably found Kayoko,” Noriko said. Shuya was about to nod but stopped when he saw Shogo’s mouth stiffen. Noriko also stopped smiling.
“Shogo,” Shuya said.
Shogo looked up. Then he shook his head. “It’s nothing. I just think things might not be what they seem.”
“Huh? But…” Shuya raised his opened right palm. “Hiroki would never give up though.”
Shogo nodded. “That might be true.” He stopped and then looked away from them. “But he might have only found Kayoko Kotohiki dead.”
Shuya’s face became tense. He was right. Kotohiki seemed to be alive up until noon… but there was all that gunfire. They’d just heard those single shots. After searching around for two weeks, Hiroki might have ended up discovering Kayoko Kotohiki had died.
Shogo continued, “Or there might have been a totally different outcome.”
Noriko asked, “What do you mean?”
Shogo took out a pack of cigarettes and answered curtly, “It’s very possible Kayoko didn’t trust Hiroki.”
Shuya and Noriko both fell silent.
Shogo lit his cigarette and continued, “Well, in any case, let’s just hope Hiroki can make it back here. We’ll see then whether he’s with Kayoko or not.”
Shuya was hoping Hiroki would return with Kayoko Kotohiki. Then there would be five of them. Five of them could escape.
Only five.
Shuya then recalled that Mizuho Inada was still alive, at least she had been at noon.
“Shogo.”
Shogo glanced at Shuya.
“Inada is still alive. I wonder if we can’t contact her.”
Shogo shrugged. “I keep on saying this, but it’s best not to trust the others too much in this game. To be honest, nothing against Hiroki, but I don’t necessarily trust Kotohiki either.”
Shuya bit his lip. “I know but—”
“Well, if we can afford to, then I’ll come up with some way to contact Mizuho, but,” he blew out smoke, “don’t forget, we may not be around to do that.”
Shogo had said, “At the very end. Once everyone else is dead, there’s a way out.” That meant no matter what, they would have to confront Kazuo again and also take on Mitsuko Souma. He wasn’t sure about Mitsuko, but there would be no way around fighting Kazuo. There was no way Kazuo could die easily, which meant that everyone in Shuya’s trio might not survive fighting him.
Shogo puffed on his shortened cigarette and said, “I’m going to ask you again, Shuya.” He exhaled a puff of smoke and continued to stare at Shuya, “Even if we manage to hook up with Hiroki, we’re probably going to have to fight Kazuo again and Mitsuko. Are you prepared to be merciless?”
So that’s what it came down to. They could afford to contact Mizuho Inada only after they’d defeated Kazuo and Mitsuko. Although he wasn’t comfortable with how he’d gotten used to the idea of killing his classmates no matter how extreme the circumstances were…
Shuya nodded and responded, “I am.”
72
Shogo tweaked the bird call. It was the third time. The rain was now lightening up, and the drops falling off the edge of the roof became less frequent. The time was already past 5 p.m.
After he heard the same bird sound four times Shuya managed to join up with Noriko and Shogo. But that was because he had some idea of their location. It could take Hiroki longer to find them since he didn’t have that information.
Shogo returned under the roof and lit a Wild Seven.
He blew out smoke and asked out of the blue, “Where do you want to go?”
Shuya looked at Shogo, who was sitting on the other side of Noriko. Shogo turned towards him.
“I forgot to mention it, but I have a connection. Once we get out of here we can stay there for the time being.”
“Who’s that?” Shuya asked and Shogo nodded.
“A friend of my dad’s,” he continued. “He’ll see to it that you get out of this country… I’m assuming you’ll want to do that. You’ll get killed if you stay in this country. You’ll be hunted down like rats.”
“Escape the country,” Noriko said, surprised. “We can really do that?”
Shuya also asked, “Who’s this friend of your father’s?”
Shogo looked at them, as if considering something as he held the cigarette to his mouth with his left hand. He removed the cigarette from his mouth and said, “Right now isn’t a good time to tell you.” Then he continued, “In case we end up splitting up during our escape it’d be bad if either of you get caught and share our plans with the government. It’s not that I don’t trust you. But once they torture you, you’ll eventually end up confessing. So I’ll be in charge of getting us there.”
Shuya thought about it and then nodded. It seemed like he was making the right call.
“But, let’s see,” Shogo said. He bit his cigarette and pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket.
It looked like the sheet on which they’d all written that statement, “We shall kill each other.” Shogo tore it in two and then scribbled onto both pieces. He folded them up neatly and offered one to Shuya and the other to Noriko.
“What’s this?” Shuya asked and began opening it up.
Shogo stopped him, saying, “Hold on. Don’t look at it now. It’s our contact method, just in any case. The time and locations are written on it. Go to that place and time every day. I’ll do my best to get there too.”
“We can’t look at it now?” Noriko asked.
“Nope,” Shogo said. “Look at it only in case we end up splitting up. In other words… your note and Shuya’s have different information. It’s best you two don’t know what’s on each other’s note. Just in case one of you gets caught.”
Shuya and Noriko looked at each other. Then Shuya turned to Shogo. “I’m going to be with Noriko no matter what.”
“I know I know,” Shogo grinned wryly, “but we can’t rule out the possibility you might get separated again, like you were when Kazuo attacked us.”