Battle Royale

"Well, we decided not to have boys...sorry...we discussed it and decided boys could mean trouble. So we let them go, and then there was Fumiyo—" Yukie stopped. Fumiyo Fujiyoshi (Female Student No. 18) had died before their departure. "After her came Chisato. So there were five of us. We also called on Kaori Minami but..."

Shuya filled in the rest, "She ran away."

"Yes, she did."

Shuya realized he hadn't told her that he'd seen her die. He thought of telling her—but decided not to. Now that Kaori's killer Hirono Shimizu was also dead, it didn't seem relevant and besides, it wasn't a pleasant memory. Also, as awful as it sounded, he couldn't afford to waste any more time talking about the dead.

"So Yoshimi reacted the same way as Kaori?" Shuya uttered the name of the last female student seat number, Yoshimi Yahagi, along with Kaori's and suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. Names of the dead. Both of them. Both...of...them. Jesus. The smiling face of the man in the black suit made a sudden appearance in Shuya's mind. It'd been a while. Hey there, Shuya. So you're still alive? You're a tough one.

"Well..." Yukie looked away from Shuya and pursed her lips. She squinted. "That was different."

"How so?"

Yukie took a deep breath. "I said we should call on her. But some of the girls protested. You know Yoshimi was friends with Mitsuko. They couldn't trust her."

Shuya fell silent.

Yukie said looking away. "So she's dead. We let her die."

Shuya said, "No, you're wrong."

Yukie looked back at Shuya. "It was beyond your control. It's no one's fault."

He knew it didn't sound very convincing, but that's all he could say.

Yukie grinned wryly and sighed. "You're kind. You've always been so nice."

They nearly fell silent, but then Shuya had to say something, "You should have called on Shinji." Yukie's group could have at least called on Shinji Mimura, who was at the tail end of the student list. "He could have been trusted."

Yukie sighed again. "I thought so too...but Shinji didn't have a very good reputation...among the girls. You know, he was kind of a playboy. And his intelligence was kind of intimidating. You know how he intervened when Noriko was injured? One of the girls said that might have been calculated."

It was the same explanation Shogo gave when he mentioned he'd seen Shinji.

"Before we could decide, Shinji was gone." Yukie shrugged. "In any case, we'd decided against boys. So we didn't call on Kazuhiko either."

That's right. Kazuhiko Yamamoto, who went out with Sakura Ogawa, who despite his good looks was kind and unpretentious, and therefore must have been popular with the girls. Yukie's group decided against contacting him too, though. And given this policy, it was only to be expected there'd be some friction over taking in Shuya here.

Shuya realized Yukie only accounted for five of them. She hadn't mentioned Yuko Sakaki (Female Student No. 9).

"What about Yuko? You haven't mentioned her."

Yukie nodded and looked back at Shuya. "That was luck too. We came here yesterday morning....Nice fortress huh? Last night, I think it was around 8 p.m., Yuko just stumbled by here. She was totally terrified."

Yukie stopped as if she had something else to say. Shuya was about to ask her what was wrong, but Yukie continued, "...in any case, everyone knows Yuko. So it wasn't a problem."

That summed up her account. Shuya thought of asking more about Yuko Sakaki but decided not to. If she'd been alone until last night then she might have encountered something horrible. Did she survive someone's attack, or did she see students killings each other, or did she come across a corpse torn up from fighting?...

Shuya nodded slightly several times. "I get it now."

"There's one thing I don't get," Yukie said. "It's not a big deal but...Hiroki was saying he needed to see Kayoko Kotohiki, right? And that was why he didn't join your group."

Shuya was worried about him ever since he summarized his situation to Yukie. Hiroki was still alive and so was Kayoko Kotohiki. Did he manage to find her?

"He had to see her. I wonder why."

Shuya shook his head. "We didn't ask. He was in a hurry. We were wondering too—"

As he spoke Shuya couldn't help but wonder, did Hiroki manage to find Kayoko Kotohiki? If he did then—

Shogo's voice suddenly returned: "This sound is your ticket out of here. If you're up for it, you can come aboard our train."

Shuya opened his eyes wide and exclaimed, "The bird call." "What?"

Shuya looked over at Yukie. "I know a way we can join Noriko and Shogo."

"Really?"

Shuya nodded. Then he struggled to move his body. He could explain later. "I have to contact him now. I have to get going."

"Hold on," Yukie stopped him. "You need to rest."

"I can't. The more I lie around—"

"I said hold on. You might want to listen to the girl who's in love with you." She managed to say this as she blushed a little with a playful smile. "We took you in here because even if you woke up you wouldn't be able to move. Your sudden burst of energy might terrify some of the girls."