Battle Royale

As Kazuo disappeared beyond the shrubs, Sho heard a thud. It resembled the sound of a silencer, or a gunshot into a pillow. It was impossible to say whether the sound came from the bomb itself in the government's custom Program collar or from the vibration it made through his body.

Over one hundred meters below, Kazuo Kiriyama didn't even look back as he glanced down at his watch.

Seven seconds past five.

21 students remaining

45

With a brief stir Noriko opened her eyes. It was past 7 p.m. She gazed at the ceiling of the room, now turned dark. Then she looked at Shuya beside her.

Shuya got up from his seat and removed the damp towel on her forehead. He touched it. Just as it was when he checked last time, her fever was almost gone. Shuya felt a wave of relief. Great. Really.

"Shuya." Noriko's voice was still dazed, "...what time is it?"

"It's past seven. You slept well."

"I..."

Shuya nodded. "Your fever's gone down. Shogo said it probably wasn't from septicemia. It was just a really bad cold. Probably from fatigue."

"I see " Noriko nodded slowly as if she were also relieved. Then she turned to Shuya. "I'm sorry for all this trouble."

"What are you talking about?" Shuya shook his head. "It's not your fault at all." Then he asked, "Can you eat? We have rice."

Noriko's eyes opened wide. "Rice?"

"Yeah, just hold on. Shogo cooked some." Shuya left the room.

Shogo was sitting on the chair by the window by the kitchen door. The last traces of light, more like particles of blue, closer to indigo, entered the window, but where Shogo was sitting it was almost completely pitch black.

"Noriko's up?"

Shuya nodded.

"How about her fever?"

"She's fine. It seems to be gone."

Shogo gave him a slight nod, then stood up, holding the shotgun as usual. He opened the lid of the pot on the gas stove. Shuya and Shogo had already had their share of cooked rice and miso soup. The miso soup base came from some strange leaves growing in the back of the building.

"Is the food cold?" Shuya asked.

Shogo gave him a brief reply, "Wait five or ten minutes. I'll bring it over."

"Thanks." Shuya returned to the examination room. He sat down by the bed and gave Noriko a small nod. "Wait a little. Shogo's going to bring some real rice."

Noriko nodded. Then she asked, "Is there a bathroom here?"

"Uh...yeah. Over here."

Shuya helped Noriko out of the bed. Supporting her with his arm, he showed her to the bathroom beyond the waiting room. She was still staggering, but she'd definitely recovered from the terrible condition she was in before.

Shuya helped Noriko return to her bed. As Noriko sat down on the edge of the bed, Shuya wrapped her shoulders with the blanket the way Ms. Anno had done for him at the Charity House when he was a kid.

"Once you've eaten," Shuya said as he pulled at the edges of the blanket, "I think you should get some more sleep. We're going to have to leave this place by 11 p.m."

Noriko stared at Shuya. Her eyes still looked slightly unfocused. "You mean—"

Shuya nodded. "Yeah, this zone's going to be forbidden at eleven."

It was part of the announcement Sakamochi gave at 6 p.m. Other zones included G=l at 7 p.m. and I=3 at 9 p.m. That meant the southwest border and the southern slope of the southern mountain. Since it was hard to tell exactly where the border of the forbidden zone was, the southwest shore area was all off limits now.

Noriko looked down at her kneecaps and touched her forehead under her bangs. "I was sleeping like an idiot."

Shuya reached out and touched Noriko on the shoulder. "Don't be ridiculous. You were better off sleeping. You need to rest more. Take it easy."

But Noriko glanced up and asked, "Did anyone else— besides Kaori—die?"

Shuya tightened his lips. Then he nodded. "Takako...and Sho and Kazushi."

According to Sakamochi's announcement, these four had died during the six hours after twelve o'clock. Now there were only twenty-one students left. Only eighteen hours had passed since the game began, yet Third Year Class B of Shiroiwa Junior High had been reduced to half its size.

"And one more thing," Sakamochi had said enthusiastically. "Sho Tsukioka was caught in a forbidden zone. So I want you all to be careful."

Sakamochi didn't say where Sho had died, and Shuya couldn't remember hearing a big explosion in the afternoon. At the same time he couldn't see any reason Sakamochi would lie. That big, boorish-looking guy who oddly enough acted really feminine, "Zuki" of the Kiriyama family, had gotten himself caught in a zone. As a result, his head was blown off. Besides their boss then, the entire Kiriyama family was decimated.

Shuya thought of telling Noriko about this, but after seeing how troubled she looked, he decided not to. He doubted that sharing any news about a guy's head getting blown off would have a good effect on Noriko's recovery.

"I see " Noriko said quietly and then added, "Thanks for this," and began taking off the coat she'd been wearing.

"Keep it."

"No, I'm all right now."