The doorknob rotated with a click. The soldier who stood guard—the uncharismatic one called “Nomura”—by the door looked in, then moved away. Kinpatsu Sakamochi appeared. He came in with a tray with two teacups and asked, “Did I keep you waiting, Shogo?” as he entered the room. Nomura closed the door.
Sakamochi walked up to him with his short legs. He put the tray on the table and said, “Here. It’s tea. Drink all you want.” He took out a flat, letter-sized envelope from under his left armpit and sat on the sofa facing Shogo. He tossed the envelope onto his side of the table, then combed back his shoulder-length hair behind his ear.
Shogo glanced down at the envelope indifferently and began speaking while staring at Sakamochi. “What do you want? I wish you’d leave me alone. I’m tired.”
“There you go.” Sakamochi brought the cup to his mouth with a grimace. “You should be more polite with adults. I had this student Kato once. He used to give me a hard time, but now that he’s grown up, he’s quite respectable.”
“I’m not one of your pigs.”
Sakamochi opened his eyes as if taken aback and then smiled again. “Come, come, Shogo. I wanted to have a nice chat with you.”
Shogo slouched against the sofa and folded his legs. He remained quiet as he rested his cheeks in his hands.
“Where should I begin?” Sakamochi put his cup down and rubbed his open hands together. His eyes glimmered. “Did you know we have a betting pool for the Program, Shogo?”
Shogo squinted his eyes as if looking at filth. Then he said, “I wouldn’t be surprised. You guys are tasteless.”
Sakamochi smiled. “I had my money on Kazuo. Twenty thousand yen. With my salary, that’s a lot. But thanks to you, I lost.”
“Too bad,” Shogo said in a tone devoid of sympathy.
Sakamochi smiled again. Then he said, “I explained how I could tell where everyone was with those collars, right?”
The answer was obvious. Shogo didn’t respond.
Sakamochi stared at Shogo. “You were with Shuya and Noriko throughout the game, right? Then you betrayed them in the end. That’s what it came down to, right?”
“What’s wrong with that?” Shogo replied. “There are no restrictions in this wonderful game. Don’t make me laugh. You can’t criticize me for that.”
A broad grin spread over Sakamochi’s face. He combed back his hair, took a sip of tea, and rubbed his hands. He spoke as if he were sharing a secret, “Hey, Shogo. I’m not really supposed to be sharing this with anyone, but I’ll tell you the truth. These collars have built-in mics, so we could hear everything the students said during the game. I bet you probably didn’t know that.”
Shogo, who seemed so indifferent in his responses, finally seemed interested. He knit his brows and pursed his lips. “How the fuck… would I know about that?” he said. “So then you heard everything, how I tricked them.”
“Uh huh, that’s right.” Sakamochi nodded. “But that wasn’t very nice, Shogo. Was it. ‘Even if we managed to capture Sakamochi, I’m sure as far as the government’s concerned he’s expendable’? You said that. Being a Program Instructor is a pretty respectable occupation. Not everyone can do it.”
Ignoring Sakamochi’s complaint, Shogo asked, “Why are you telling me this?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Sakamochi replied. “With your wonderful performance I couldn’t resist telling you.”
“This is bullshit.”
Shogo looked away, but Sakamochi pressed more insistently, “A wonderful performance, but…” Shogo looked back at him. Sakamochi continued, “There’s something I don’t get.”
“What’s that?”
“Why didn’t you shoot those two right after Kazuo was killed? You could have, right? That’s the one thing I just don’t get.”
“Just as I told them,” Shogo, replied without hesitating, “I just thought I’d let them have one last look at their home. A little gift for them before their descent into hell. You may not believe this, but I can be pretty loyal. I mean, thanks to them, I won.”
Sakamochi continued smiling and uttered, “Hmmm.” Then he raised his cup to his mouth. He sat back on the back of the sofa with the cup in his hand and spoke again, “Hey, Shogo, I got hold of the data on the Kobe Second District Junior High School Program.” Then he stared at Shogo. Shogo stared back at him and remained silent. “And as far as I can tell from the data, nothing indicates you had any special relationship with Keiko Onuki.”
“Onuki? Like I said I made that up,” Shogo interrupted him, but Sakamochi spoke over him and continued, “As—” Shogo shut up.
“As you said, to Shuya Nanahara and Noriko Nakagawa, you saw Onuki twice—the first time only for a moment and then the second time right before you won, when she was already dead. Even according to the taped conversations, you never even once uttered her name. Not once. Do you remember that?”
“How could I? It’s like I said—there was nothing between me and her. You heard me, right?”
“But the thing is, Shogo, the second time around you stopped there for two hours.”
“That was just a coincidence. It was a good spot to hide and rest. That’s how I was able to remember that name so vividly. I tell you, she died a horrible death.”
His grin still glued across his face, Sakamochi nodded, hm hm. “The other thing is… the entire eighteen hours which transpired in this game—which is actually quite fast, maybe the designated area was too small—in any case, you didn’t exchange a single word with anyone. I mean, aside from saying things like, ‘Stop’ or ‘I’m not an enemy.’”
“That was just an act too,” Shogo interrupted him. “It’s so obvious.”
Sakamochi smiled, ignoring Shogo’s statement. “So I have no idea how you approached this game. You moved around a lot but—”
“It was my first time. I didn’t know how to play it smart.”
Sakamochi then nodded, hm hm. He held back a grin as if concealing his amusement. He sipped his tea and returned the cup to the table. Then he looked up and said, “By the way, about that photo? I’d like to look at it, if you don’t mind.”
“Photo?”
“Come on, you showed it to Nanahara and Nakagawa, right? You said it was a photo of Onuki. Let me see it. It was actually a photo of someone named Shimazaki, right?”
Shogo twisted his mouth. “Why should I show it to you?”
“Come on, just show it to me. I’m your instructor. Please. Come on, please,” Sakamochi said and bowed over the table.
Shogo reluctantly reached around and searched his back pocket. He raised his brow and swung his hand back. It was empty.
“It’s gone,” he said. “I must’ve dropped it somewhere when we fought Kazuo.”
“Dropped it?”
“Uh huh. It’s true. I dropped my wallet. Well, I don’t need it anyway.”
Suddenly, Sakamochi burst out laughing. As he laughed he said, “I get it.” He held his stomach, slapped his thighs, and kept on laughing.
Shogo looked perplexed but then he squinted his eyes. He looked up at the ceiling in the windowless room.
Despite the insulation of the patrol ship’s walls, he could hear the faint but definite whirring sound. It was definitely not the sound of the ship’s engine.
The sound became louder and louder and then after a certain point, it receded. Then it was almost entirely gone.
Shogo grimaced.
“Does that trouble you, Shogo?” He stopped laughing. He still had that creepy smile on his face, though. “That was a helicopter.” He reached out for his tea again and emptied his cup. He put the empty cup on the table. “It’s heading toward the island where you all fought.”
Shogo knit his brows, but this time his reaction seemed to have a different connotation. But Sakamochi didn’t care. He arrogantly leaned back on the sofa and changed the subject, “Hey, Shogo. Let’s talk about those collars again. Well, you know, they’re actually called ‘Guadalcanal No. 22.’ That doesn’t matter. Anyway, weren’t you telling Shuya about how they couldn’t be dismantled?”