Battle Royale

"Yuka Nakagawa," Yukie mentioned the cheery girl who had the same last name as Noriko. Then she continued, "Satomi Noda and Chisato Matsui. Haruka Tanizawa. And Yuko Sakaki."

Shuya licked his lips. Yukie saw the expression on his face and asked, "What? You can't trust them? Which one? Everyone?"

"No..." Shuya shook his head. "If they're your friends I trust them."

But how did six girls, all good friends with each other, manage to get together?

Yukie smiled and squeezed his hand. "Good. I'm glad to hear that from you, Shuya."

Shuya smiled too. But his smile receded almost instantly. There were other things he had to know. He'd already missed three—the midnight, 6 a.m., and noon announcements.

"Who...died?" he asked. "I-I mean, at midnight, 6 a.m., and noon, there were three announcements, right? Did anyone else...die?"

Yukie's mouth stiffened. She took some paper from the small side table right beside them. It was a map and student list. The folds and mud stains looked familiar. He realized it was the one he'd kept in his school coat pocket.

Yukie looked over the list and said, "Hirono Shimizu. And then Keita Iijima, Toshinori Oda, Yutaka Seto, Yuichiro Takiguchi, Tadakatsu Hatagami, and Shinji Mimura."

Shuya's mouth hung open. Of course the game had proceeded, but he was shocked it now left only little more than a dozen students. Plus he'd been teammates with Tadakatsu Hatagami in Little League, but what really took him by surprise was...

"Shinji's..."

The Third Man, Shinji Mimura, had died. It was hard to believe. He thought if anyone could survive it would have been Shinji.

Yukie nodded silently.

At the same time Shuya was struck by how he wasn't all that shaken up. He'd gotten used to it. That must have been it. Still, he remembered Shinji's special grin. Then he recalled that serious expression Shinji wore as he sent him a signal, warning him to calm down when they were back in the school building.

So we're never going to see the awesome play of The Third Man, Shiroiwa Junior High's star shooting guard, again, he thought, and felt a pang of sorrow.

"When was Shinji's name announced?"

"In the morning," Yukie answered. "Keita Iijima and Yutaka Seto were also in the morning. They might have been together. They were such good friends." I see...

Shinji had still been alive at midnight. And as Yukie said, he might have been with Yutaka Seto and Keita Iijima.

Yukie added, "There was an incredible explosion last night. And a lot of gunfire. That's where it might have come from."

"Explosion?"

Shuya recalled the hand grenade Kazuo threw at them. "That was...Kazuo actually used a hand grenade. Maybe that's what you heard."

Yukie raised her brow. "So...that's what that was. That was a little past eleven, right? No, the one I'm talking about actually happened after we brought you here. It was past midnight. It was much worse than the one we heard around eleven. The one who kept watch said the entire center of the island just lit up."

Shuya pursed his lips, but then he realized he still hadn't managed to find out exactly where they were.

Before he could ask though, Yukie handed him the map and student list. "This is yours. I marked off the map too."

As he took it, Shuya realized, yes, there were more forbidden zones. He spread the map out. "The place where we talked about rock." That place, sector C=3, near the western shore, was crossed out with a pencil along with several other sectors. The small writing, "23rd, 11 a.m." meant that it was forbidden as of this morning at eleven, while Shuya had been asleep.

Shuya pursed his lips. Noriko and Shogo weren't there anymore—his thoughts were finally getting clearer—if they haven't died between noon and now. Of course they were alive...but then he recalled how he'd seen Shogo and Noriko dead along with Yoshitoki and Shinji in his dream. He felt a chill run down his spine.

But in any case they should be alive. All he could do was believe they were all right. But how in the world would he find them?

Shuya put the map down on his chest. He couldn't afford to waste any time deliberating, under these circumstances. The first thing was information.

And since he wasn't alone there might be a way.

He looked up at Yukie. "Where are we anyway? How did I end up in this bed?"

Yukie looked up at the window and said, "This is a lighthouse."

"Lighthouse?"

"That's right. On the northeast end of the island. It's marked on the map. We've been staying here ever since the game started."

Shuya looked at his map again. Just as Yukie said, the lighthouse was located in sector C=10, jutting out from the northeast side of the island. The area was practically devoid of forbidden zones.

"So Shuya, about last night. The front of this lighthouse is a cliff, and that's where you fell. The person keeping watch found you...and took you in. You were injured pretty badly. Covered with blood. I thought you were going to die."