Authors: Koushun Takami
Her shaking subsided a little when she thought of Shuya's face and voice. Oh, if only Shuya Nanahara were with me right now, it would be so wonderful…
So then…so then why didn't she ever tell Shuya how she felt about him? By love letter? Or by sending someone to bring him, so she could confess to him directly? Or by phone? Now she'd never get the chance.
That's when it occurred to her.
The phone.
That's right. Sakamochi said we wouldn't be able to use phones in the houses. But…
Megumi grabbed her nylon bag, which was lying next to her supplied day pack. She pulled open the zipper and shoved aside her clothes and personal effects.
She touched a hard square object and grabbed it.
It was a cell phone. Her mother bought it for her for this trip in case something (well, this wasn't just
something)
happened during her trip. It was true she'd been envious of the other one or two classmates who owned one, and there was something thrilling about the feeling of having your own private link, but Megumi also thought her parents were being overprotective, and that her mother was neurotic. She wondered, "Why would a junior high school kid need this?" when she put the shiny phone into her bag.
She'd completely forgotten about it until this very moment.
Megumi flipped open the phone with her trembling hands.
The phone automatically switched from receive mode to send mode and the small LCD panel and dial buttons lit up with a green glow. Her knees under her skirt and bags were now visible. But more importantly, there, without a doubt, was the antenna and air wave symbols lighting up on the display panel, indicating it was ready for a phone call!
"Oh…God…"
Megumi frantically pressed the dial buttons, the numbers for her home in Shiroiwa-cho. 0, 8, 7, 9, 2…
After a moment of silence, the phone on the other end began to ring in her ear, and her chest filled with hope.
One, two, three rings. Please answer it. Dad, Mom. I might be calling at an unreasonable hour, but you must be aware your daughter is in an emergency situation. Hurry…
The ringing was interrupted by a voice answering, "Hello."
"Oh Dad!" In her cramped position Megumi closed her eyes. She thought she would go crazy from relief.
I'm going to be saved. Saved! "Dad, it's me! Megumi! Oh Dad! Please help me! Please, save me from here!" She shouted into the phone in a frenzy, but she came to herself because there was no response.
Something…was wrong. What…why won't Dad…no, this was…
Finally, the voice at the other end spoke, "I'm not your dad, Megumi. This is Sakamochi. I told you the phones wouldn't work, Megumi."
Megumi shrieked and tossed the phone to the floor. Then she hurriedly slammed the "End" button.
Her heart thumped frantically. Once again Megumi was overcome with despair. Oh, no…so it failed…so I am going to die here… I'm going to die___
But then Megumi's heart leaped.
…it was a shattering sound.
The sound of broken glass.
Megumi turned towards the origin of the sound. It came from the sitting room which she had checked to make sure it was locked. Someone was coming. Someone. Why, though? Of all the houses here, why this one?
Megumi panicked and closed the cell phone panel, which had been still glowing green. She put it in her pocket, took the weapon from her day pack, and pulled the double-bladed diver's knife from its plastic sheath. She gripped it tightly. She had to escape as quickly as possible.
But her body was frozen and she couldn't move. Megumi slowed her breathing. Please, please, please God, make sure they can't hear my pounding heart.
She heard the sound of a window opening, then closing, then the sound of careful, quiet footsteps. They seemed to be moving around the house, but then they headed directly towards the kitchen and Megumi.
Megumi's heart pounded even louder.
A thin ray of light shot through the kitchen. The ray glided over the kettle and cupboard above the sink.
Someone sighed with relief and said to herself, "Good, there's no one here."
The footsteps entered the kitchen. As soon as Megumi heard the voice, though, Megumi was aghast.
Any minuscule hope that she could work something out in case the intruder turned out to be a friend had been completely shattered. Because…it was the voice of
her
, Mitsuko Souma (Female Student No. 11), the meanest girl in the entire school. Even though she had the cutest, most angelic face, a single glance from her was enough to intimidate any teacher.
Mitsuko Souma was more frightening to Megumi than any of the ill-reputed boys, Kazuo Kiriyama and Shogo Kawada. It might have been because, like Megumi, Mitsuko Souma was a girl, and also, yes of course, because Megumi herself had been harassed by Hirono Shimizu, who was in Mitsuko's gang, when they first became classmates in second-year. If they were in the same hall, Hirono would trip her or slash her skirt with a razor. Lately, maybe because she'd simply lost interest in Megumi, Hirono had stopped harassing her. (She was still disappointed though when she learned that her third-year class was to be the same as her second-year class.) Mitsuko herself didn't pick on Megumi, but Mitsuko was someone even Hirono couldn't defy.
That's right…Mitsuko Souma would relish killing someone like her.
Megumi's body began trembling again. Oh…please no, don't shake…if she hears me…Megumi wrapped her body tightly with her arms to keep her arms from shaking.
From beneath the table Megumi could see Mitsuko's hand holding a flashlight and the belt of her skirt glowing behind it. She heard the sound of Mitsuko rifling through the drawers of the sink.
Please hurry…hurry up and get out of here. If you could at least just get out of this room…that's right, then I could go to the bathroom. I could lock it from inside and escape through the window. Please hurry…
BRRRRIING. The electronic signal rang, and Megumi felt her heart leap out of her mouth.
Mitsuko Souma also seemed to quiver, slightly. The beam from her flashlight suddenly disappeared along with the belt. She seemed to be approaching the corner of the room.
Megumi realized the sound was coming from her pocket.
She frantically pulled out the cellular. Her mind went blank and she automatically flipped it open and randomly pressed the buttons.
A voice leaked out, "Hey, it's Sakamochi again. I just wanted to remind you, Megumi, to turn off your cell phone. Otherwise, if I call you like this, everyone will know where you are, right? So…"
Megumi's fingers found the "End" button, cutting off Sakamochi's voice.
The suffocating silence continued for a while. Then she heard Mitsuko's voice, "Megumi?" She asked,
"Megumi? Is that you?"
Mitsuko seemed to be in the corner of the dark kitchen. Megumi carefully placed her cell phone on the floor. The only thing in her hands now was her knife. Her hands were shaking even more, and the knife felt like a fish wiggling loose, but she gripped it as tight as she could.
Mitsuko was taller than Megumi, but she couldn't have been much stronger. Mitsuko's weapon—could it possibly be a gun?—no, then Mitsuko would have aimed it over here and fired. If Mitsuko didn't have a gun—then Megumi might have a chance. That's right, she had to kill. If she didn't kill, Mitsuko would surely kill her.
She had to kill.
There was a clicking sound, and once again the flashlight beam appeared. It lit up the bottom of the table, and Megumi squinted for an instant. Now was the time—all she had to do was get up, run toward the source of the light with her knife out.
But Megumi's intentions were about to be abruptly undermined by an unexpected turn of events.
The flashlight beam fell on a lower spot, and Mitsuko Souma sank down on the floor into the light, staring at Megumi. Tears were streaming down Mitsuko's cheeks.
"I'm so glad…" her trembling lips finally parted, and she managed to say in a feeble voice,
"I'm…I'm…I'm so scared...."
Mitsuko's voice was half shrieking. She thrust both of her hands forward as if seeking Megumi's protection. Her hands were empty.
Then she continued, "I can trust you, right? I can trust you. You wouldn't think of killing me, would you?
You'll stay with me, won't you?"
Megumi was stunned. This was Mitsuko Souma crying. She's asking for my help…
Oh…as the shaking in her body subsided, Megumi felt an indescribable emotion well up inside her.
That's right. So that's how it was. It didn't matter how bad her reputation was, Mitsuko Souma was just another third-year junior high school student like her. Even Mitsuko Souma couldn't take part in something as horrible as killing other classmates. She was just lonely and scared out of her wits.
And…oh, how terrible, I'd actually considered it. I thought of killing her.
I'm so…I'm so horrible.
Megumi burst into tears, overwhelmed by self-loathing along with the security that she now felt she was no longer alone, she was with someone.
The knife slipped through Megumi's hands. She crawled on the floor, emerged from under the table, and held Mitsuko's offered hands. As if a dam inside her were bursting, she blurted out, "Mitsuko! Mitsuko!"
She knew she was shaking this time from a different kind of emotion. It didn't matter. She was…she was…
"It's all right. I'll stay with you. We'll stay together."
"Uh-huh." Mitsuko scrunched up her tear-stained face and squeezed Megumi's hands in return, nodding and repeating, "Uh-huh, uh-huh."
Megumi held Mitsuko like this on the kitchen floor. She felt the warmth of Mitsuko's body and she felt all the more guilty as her arms felt Mitsuko's body trembling helplessly.
I-I was really thinking of doing something horrible…so horrible…I was actually trying to kill this girl…
"Hey…" Megumi began to blurt out, "I-I…"
"Hm?" Mitsuko lifted her teary eyes up to Megumi.
Megumi pursed her lips tightly to stifle a shriek and shook her head. "I-I'm so ashamed of myself. For a moment, I was trying to kill you. I thought of killing you. Because I was…1 was so scared."
Mitsuko's eyes widened when she heard this—but she didn't get upset. All she did was slightly nod her face which had been scrunched up from crying hysterically. Then she offered a warm smile. "That's okay.
Really. Don't get too upset. It's only to be expected. In this awful situation. Really, don't get upset.
Okay? Just stay with me, please?"
After Mitsuko said this, she gently held Megumi's face with her left hand and pressed her left cheek against Megumi's cheek. Megumi could feel Mitsuko's tears.
Oh. Megumi thought, I was so wrong about her. It turned out Mitsuko Souma was an incredibly kind girl. She managed to forgive someone who tried to kill her with such a kind response, "It's okay." Didn't our teacher, Mr. Hayashida, who's already been killed, warn us how wrong it is to judge people just by their reputations?
With these thoughts, Megumi felt something well up inside her again. She held Mitsuko's body even more tightly. That was all she could do for now. I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I am such a horrible person, I am really—
The slashing sound Megumi heard sounded like a lemon being cut.
It was a nice sound. The knife must have been really sharp and the lemon fresh, the way they are on television cooking shows, as in, "Today, we'll be cooking lemon salmon."
It took her a few seconds to realize what had occurred.
Megumi saw Mitsuko's right hand. On the left side under her chin. Her hand held a gently curved, banana-shaped blade that reflected dully against the flashlight beam. It was a sickle—the kind used to harvest rice. And now its tip was stuck in Megumi's throat.....
Her left hand clutching the back of Megumi's head, Mitsuko dug the sickle in further. It made another crunching noise.
Megumi's throat began to burn, but it didn't last very long. She couldn't say a word and lost consciousness as her chest warmed over with blood. She expired, unable to form any idea of what it meant exactly to have a blade stuck in her throat. Betrayed in the arms of Mitsuko, she died without any thoughts concerning Shuya Nanahara or her family.
Mitsuko let go of Megumi, who collapsed onto the floor right beside her.
Mitsuko quickly turned off her flashlight and stood up. She wiped away the annoying tears (which she could produce any time. It was in fact one of her special talents). Holding the sickle in her right hand up to the moonlight, she whipped the blood off onto the floor. The blood drops made a splattering sound against the floor.
Not bad for starters, Mitsuko thought. She was hoping for a knife that was easier to use, but it turned out a sickle wasn't so bad. She hadn't been careful enough though in entering a house that might already be occupied. From now on I'll have to be more careful....
Looking down at Megumi's corpse, she spoke slowly and quietly, "I'm sorry. I was also trying to kill you."
31 students remaining
31 students remaining
14
Their first night broke into a bright dawn.
Shuya Nanahara looked up and watched the blue sky gradually turning white through the thicket. The branches and leaves of oak, camellia, some kind of cherry, and other kinds of trees wove an intricate net around them and hid them.
Shuya realized several things as he reexamined the map. The island was roughly diamond shaped. The hills rose upward on the south and north end of the island. They were now located at the south side of the northern mountain, near the slope on its west side. According to the map coordinates, the location seemed to be in sector C=4. Along with contour lines, the map was detailed, including the residential area and other houses (indicated by light blue dots), various buildings (there wasn't much besides symbols indicating a medical clinic, a fire station, and a lighthouse—and then a town hall, a fishermen's coop, that was about it), and roads small and large, allowing him to check where each area was according to the positions of land formations, roads, and scattered houses.
At night he'd already confirmed as soon as they were higher up the hill that the map faithfully represented this island. Silhouettes of islands, large and small, were scattered across the black sea—and as Sakamochi had said, there was (almost exactly west of the island) the silhouette of what appeared to be a guard ship with its lights turned off.
Immediately west of where Shuya and Noriko were, the grove ended abruptly and was replaced by a steep slope. There was a small field below, and beyond it the slope continued on toward the ocean.
There was a small shack with a raised floor in the middle of the field that they had passed through last night. Seeing the worn out wooden Shinto archway ten meters away from the shack, Shuya assumed it was a shrine (which was also marked on the map).
The front door was open, and there was no one inside.
Just as he had with the other houses, Shuya decided against hiding in this shrine. There might be others doing the same thing…and given how there was only one entrance, they'd be trapped the moment they were found.
Shuya settled on a place surrounded by shrubbery relatively near the sea, where they could lie down and rest. Higher up the hill the shrubbery seemed thicker, but he thought that would also attract others, and in case they met someone who turned out to be an enemy, he thought they were better off somewhere not too steep, where it was hard to run. After all Noriko's leg was injured.
Shuya sat down against a tree, which was approximately ten centimeters wide. Noriko sat immediately to his left. She leaned against the tree, her injured right leg limply stretched out. They were completely exhausted by now. Noriko slowly closed her eyes.
Shuya discussed their course of action with Noriko, but they couldn't come up with much.
He first thought of finding a boat to escape from the island. But he immediately realized how futile that'd be. There was a guard ship out at sea and furthermore—
Shuya slowly reached for his neck and touched the cold surface of "that thing." He'd gotten used to the sensation, but it felt heavy, as if it were their inescapable fate itself, choking out their existence.
Yes—that collar.
Once a special signal is transmitted from the school, the bomb inside the collar explodes. According to rules this would happen to anyone caught in a forbidden zone, but of course the same would apply to anyone attempting to escape by sea. In fact these collars rendered those guard ships unnecessary. Even if they managed to find a boat, it was impossible for them to escape as long as these collars were on their necks.
Then—the only way out was for them to attack Sakamochi at the school and disable the collar locks. But even with that, the G=7 sector where the school was located had become a forbidden zone since the game started, so it was impossible to approach it. Besides, their locations were constantly being monitored.
He continued to think this through while the area was lit up by morning. It would be dangerous for them to move in the sunlight. He thought they should wait again for nightfall.
But here again there was another problem, the time limit. "If no one dies within twenty-four hours." The last time Shuya saw someone die was when he left the school, which was over three hours ago. If everyone remained alive, in a little more than twenty hours everyone would be dead. Even if they made an attempt to escape, by nightfall it might be too late to get their act together. Ironically, more classmates dying would buy them more time to survive. Shuya tried to shake this thought off.
They were trapped.
Shuya kept on wishing, if only they could meet up with Shinji Mimura. With his wide range of knowledge and accompanying broad expertise to apply it, a guy like Shinji could come up with a solution to their situation.
He also kept on regretting not taking the risk of waiting for Shinji after Yoshio Akamatsu's attack. Did I really do the right thing? Would I have been attacked as an enemy there? Maybe Yoshio Akamatsu had been the only exception.
No…that wasn't necessarily true. There might be a lot more "enemies." It was impossible to determine who your enemy was in the first place. Who was still normal and who wasn't anymore? But—maybe we're the ones who aren't being normal anymore? Maybe we're insane?
He felt like he was going crazy.
In the end we have no choice but to sit here and see what'll happen. But will we come up with a solution?
If that doesn't work, we can wait until night to look for Shinji Mimura—but will we even be able to do that? Even though the island was small, with a diameter of six kilometers, finding someone under these conditions wouldn't be easy. Besides, will we even have enough time between nightfall and the "expiration time"?
Furthermore—let's assume by some stroke of luck (what an expression) we end up hooking up with Shinji, or it's just the two of us, and we somehow manage to escape , we would be considered fugitives.
Unless we emigrate somewhere, we'll spend the rest of our lives as fugitives. And then one day we'll end up being assassinated by a government agent in some abandoned alley, leaving our bodies for the fat mice that come out and nibble at our fingers—
In the end…you might be better off going crazy.
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.
31 students remaining
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. That's right, 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=ll at 9 a.m."
F=ll 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.
Dismissing the image of her slipping the note to him as their hands touched, Shuya pulled out his student list from his pocket. It came with the map in the day pack. It was in bad taste, but he had to mark the information down. He took out his pen, and then as he was about to cross out the names—he decided not to. It was just too…it was just too awful.