Shuya thought of Yoshitoki Kuninobu. He was shaken by Yoshitoki’s death, but maybe Yoshitoki was better off insofar as he didn’t have to experience this insanity. This situation that seemed absolutely hopeless.
We might be better off committing suicide. Would Noriko agree to killing ourselves?
Shuya glanced over at her and for the first time closely observed Noriko’s profile in the peaceful, dawning light.
She had well defined eyebrows, eyelashes soft against her closed eyes, a cute nose with its flat tip, and full lips. She was a very cute girl. He could see why Yoshitoki had a crush on her.
Now there was sand stuck to her face, and her hair hanging slightly past her shoulders was frayed. And—of course the collar. The gaudy silver collar wrapped around her neck as if she were a slave from ancient times.
This damn game was taking away all her attractive qualities.
Shuya then suddenly felt a surge of incredible anger. And with it, he came to his senses.
We won’t lose. We’ll survive. Not only that, we’ll fight back. It won’t be some lame-ass counter-punch. They come with a straight right punch, and I’ll wail back at them with a baseball bat.
Noriko opened her eyes. Their eyes met and they stared at each other. Then Noriko quietly said, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing… well, I was thinking.”
Shuya was embarrassed, because he’d been staring at Noriko, and she’d caught him doing this, so he just blurted out, “I know this sounds weird, but I just hope you’re not thinking of committing suicide.”
Noriko looked down, her face ambiguous, forming what might have been a smile. Then she said, “No way! Although…”
“Although what?”
Noriko thought for a moment. Then she continued, “I might want to commit suicide if we were the only ones left. Then at least you would be…”
Astonished, Shuya shook his head. He shook it frantically. He had mentioned the idea randomly. He didn’t expect her to respond like this.
“Don’t be absurd. Don’t you even think of it. Look, you and me, we’re together to the very end. No matter what. All right?”
Noriko smiled a little, offered her right hand, and touched Shuya’s left hand. “Thanks,” she said.
“Look, we’re going to make it. Don’t even think of dying.”
Noriko smiled a little again. Then she said, “You haven’t given up then, Shuya?”
Shuya nodded with some force. “Of course not.”
Noriko nodded and said, “I’ve always thought this, but you’ve always had this positive force.”
“Positive force?”
Noriko smiled. “I don’t know how to say this but you have this positive attitude about living. Like right now you’re totally determined to live. And…” She still had a faint smile on her face as she looked directly at him. “That’s what I really like about you.”
Shuya felt a tinge of embarrassment and replied, “That’s because I’m an idiot.” Then he said, “Even if we could escape, you know, I mean it wouldn’t matter to me, because I don’t have any parents. But, you… you won’t be able to see your mother or your father—or your brother. Would you be all right with that?”
Noriko smiled a little again. “I can deal with that—I made up my mind ever since… this game began.” She paused, then added, “What about you?”
“What do you mean?”
Noriko continued, “You won’t be able to see her anymore…”
Shuya hesitated. It was true, Noriko knew a lot about Shuya. As Noriko herself said, “I’ve been watching you for so long now.”
He’d be lying if he said it didn’t matter. He’d been so into Kazumi Shintani all this time. The thought of never seeing her again was—
But Shuya shook his head, “It’s not a big deal.” He thought of adding, “It was just a one-way crush anyway,” but he was interrupted by the sudden blare of Sakamochi’s voice ringing through the air.
15
“Good morning everyone.”
It was Sakamochi’s voice. The speakers were impossible to locate, but his voice came through loud and clear, aside from some metallic distortion. The speakers were probably installed not only in the school but also all over the island.
“This is your instructor Sakamochi. It is now 6 a.m. How are you all doing?”
Before he could grimace, Shuya’s jaw dropped, astonished by Sakamochi’s cheerful tone.
“Well then, I will now announce the names of your dead friends. First, Yoshio Akamatsu.”
Shuya’s cheeks stiffened. Yes, it was another death, but the announcement of Yoshio’s name also meant more to Shuya.
Yoshio Akamatsu wasn’t dead at that moment. Then— was he killed in an attempt to kill someone else? Or, no, did he remain unconscious, lying there… and then blown to bits by this nice collar we’re wearing because the school was now a “forbidden zone”?
Regardless, the fact that Shuya had knocked him out didn’t make him feel very good. This line of thought immediately evaporated though, with the announcement of other names of the dead.
“Next, No. 9 Hiroshi Kuronaga, No. 10 Ryuhei Sasagawa, No. 17 Mitsuru Numai, No. 21 Kazuhiko Yamamoto. And then, let’s see, the girls. No. 3 Megumi Eto, No. 4 Sakura Ogawa, No. 5 Izumi Kanai, No. 14 Mayumi Tendo.”
This list of names meant that their chances of survival were slightly increased, but this thought didn’t even occur to Shuya. He felt dizzy. The faces of his dead classmates drifted through his head and disappeared. They were all killed, which meant that there were killers out there. Unless some of them had committed suicide.
It was continuing. The game was undeniably in progress. A long funeral procession, a crowd of people wearing black. A man in a black suit with a somber know-it-all face addressed them, “Oh, Shuya Nanahara and Noriko Nakagawa? You two, that’s right, you’re a little early. But you did just pass by your own graves right here. We carved in the number you two share, No. 15. Don’t worry, we’re offering a special bonus.”
“Good going everyone. I’m very impressed. Now then, the forbidden zones. I will announce their areas and times. Take out your maps and mark them.”
Still shocked by the number of dead classmates and angered by Sakamochi’s tone of voice, Shuya nonetheless reluctantly pulled out his map.
“First, an hour from now. At seven. 7 a.m. in sector J-2. Get out of J-2 by 7 a.m. Got that?”
J-2 was slightly to the west of the southern tip of the island.
“Next, in three hours, F-1 at 9 a.m.”
F-1 was on the west shore of the island, but it was a remote area in the south.
“Next, five hours later. H-8 at 11 a.m.”
Most of the residential area on the eastern shore was in H-8.
“That’s all for now. Now then, I want you all to do your best today—”
Shuya and Noriko’s location wasn’t in Sakamochi’s forbidden zones. Sakamochi claimed the zones were randomly selected. In any case, they’d made the right move avoiding the residential area. But their location could be included in the next announcement.
“Sakura and…” As Noriko spoke, Shuya turned to her. “Sakura and Kazuhiko’s names were mentioned.”
“Yeah…” Shuya moaned deep down in his throat. “I wonder if… they killed themselves.”
Noriko looked down at her feet. “I don’t know. But they must have been together, knowing those two, until the very end. They somehow managed to meet each other.”
Shuya had seen Sakura pass a note to Kazuhiko. He and Noriko were only making hopeful observations, though. For all they knew, the two might have been killed separately, in separate places by insane classmates.