Battle Royale

"A friend of my dad's," he continued. "He'll see to it that you get out of this country....I'm assuming you'll want to do that. You'll get killed if you stay in this country. You'll be hunted down like rats."

"Escape the country...," Noriko said, surprised. "We can really do that?"

Shuya also asked, "Who's this friend of your father's?"

Shogo looked at them, as if considering something as he held the cigarette to his mouth with his left hand. He removed the cigarette from his mouth and said, "Right now isn't a good time to tell you." Then he continued, "In case we end up splitting up during our escape it'd be bad if either of you get caught and share our plans with the government. It's not that I don't trust you. But once they torture you, you'll eventually end up confessing. So I'll be in charge of getting us there."

Shuya thought about it and then nodded. It seemed like he was making the right call.

"But...let's see," Shogo said. He bit his cigarette and pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket.

It looked like the sheet on which they'd all written that statement, "We shall kill each other." Shogo tore it in two and then scribbled onto both pieces. He folded them up neatly and offered one to Shuya and the other to Noriko.

"What's this?" Shuya asked and began opening it up.

Shogo stopped him, saying, "Hold on. Don't look at it now. It's our contact method, just in any case. The time and locations are written on it. Go to that place and time every day. I'll do my best to get there too."

"We can't look at it now?" Noriko asked.

"Nope," Shogo said. "Look at it only in case we end up splitting up. In other words...your note and Shuya's have different information. It's best you two don't know what's on each other's note. Just in case one of you gets caught."

Shuya and Noriko looked at each other. Then Shuya turned to Shogo. "I'm going to be with Noriko no matter what."

"I know I know," Shogo grinned wryly, "but we can't rule out the possibility you might get separated again, like you were when Kazuo attacked us."

Shuya pursed his lips and looked over at Shogo...but ended up nodding. He exchanged glances with Noriko and put away the memo. So did Noriko.

It was true. Anything could happen. Escaping this island in the first place was going to be incredibly difficult. But if that were the case then shouldn't he and Noriko also come up with their own place and time to meet? Without telling Shogo? Then again, if Shogo ended up getting caught by the government then their situation would be hopeless anyway.

Shogo asked, "So...where do you want to go?"

Shuya recalled how Shogo wanted to know their ideal destinations once they fled the country. He folded his arms and thought about it. Then he said, "It'd have to be America. It's where rock came from. I always wanted to go there, at least once." He thought, I didn't think I'd be escaping there, though.

"I see." Shogo nodded. "What about you, Noriko?"

"I don't really have anywhere in mind but...," Noriko said and glanced over at Shuya.

Shuya nodded back. "Let's go together. All right?"

"Oh..." Noriko's eyes opened wide. Then she formed a smile and nodded. "Sure, if you're all right with that."

Shogo smiled. He took another drag from his cigarette and asked, "What will you do once you get there?"

Shuya thought about it. Then he answered with a grin, "I'll be busking with my guitar. At least I'll make some change."

Shogo chuckled, "Huh." Then he said, "You best be a rocker. You're talented. From what I hear, in that country the odds aren't stacked so high against you even if you're an immigrant or exile."

Shuya took a deep breath and gave him a skeptical grin. "I'm not that talented. I don't have what it takes to be a pro."

"I don't know about that."

Shogo smiled and shook his head. Then he looked over at Noriko. "What about you, Noriko? Anything you want to do?"

Noriko pursed her lips. Then she said, "I've always wanted to be a teacher."

Her reply caught Shuya by surprise since he'd never heard about it. He exclaimed, "Really?"

Noriko turned to look at Shuya and nodded.

Shuya continued, "You wanted to be a teacher in this lousy country?"

Noriko grimaced, "There are good teachers too. I...that's right," she looked down and continued, "I thought Mr. Hayashida was a good teacher."

It had been a while since Shuya recalled the corpse of Mr. Hayashida, whose head was half crushed. "Dragonfly" died for their sake.

"...you're right," Shuya agreed.

Shogo said, "It might be difficult to become a teacher as an exile. But you might be able do research at some university. Ironically enough, the rest of the world seems very interested in this country. Then you might be able to teach." He continued staring ahead, then tossed his cigarette butt into the puddle by his feet. He put another cigarette in his mouth and lit it. He continued, "So you should go for it, both of you. Be what you want to be. Follow your heart and give it your best shot."