"In any case, that's my opinion. Now let me hear yours. If you're against it, then I won't do it." Yukiko looked down at the floor in contemplation.
After two full minutes she mumbled, "Remember how you once told me that I'm always too worried about other people's opinions?"
"Hm?…Did I say that?"
Yumiko examined Yukiko's face. Yukiko looked up and their eyes met.
Yukiko smiled gently. "I think you're absolutely right. That's my opinion." Yumiko smiled back at her and said, "Thanks." She felt grateful towards Yukiko for seriously considering the idea on her own before sharing her thoughts. And now it seemed that her response confirmed the validity of her idea.
That's right. We have to do this. I don't want to die without putting up a fight. If there's a chance then let's go for it. That's right. Just as I said to Yukiko, I want to trust people. Let's try it. Then Yukiko asked, "But how are we going to do this? How can we contact everyone?" Yumiko pointed at the megaphone lying in the corner of the room. "We have to figure out how to use that."
Yukiko gave several small nods and looked up at the ceiling. Then she uttered, "If all goes well, I'll be able to see Shuya."
Yumiko nodded. "Yes, I'm sure we will," she said hopefully this time. 29 students remaining
21
"All right."
Shogo tossed the needle and thread onto the day pack beside him and said to Shuya, "I need the whiskey again."
Noriko's bent right leg rested on its side. The wound on her calf was sewn up with coarse cotton thread. Shogo had managed to stitch it up. Of course they had no anesthetic, but Noriko managed not to cry during the ten-minute operation.
Shuya offered the flask to Shogo. Next to them was a small rock pit. The empty can rested on top of the charcoal, and the water inside was boiling. (Shogo had explained how he'd found the charcoal along with the needle and thread at the supply store.) He disinfected the needle and thread with the boiling water, but applying it directly to her wound was out of the question. Shogo had already soaked her wound with whiskey before he began stitching. He was going to disinfect again. Noriko, who'd managed to relax a little, now grimaced again.
Shuya looked at his watch. Because of the time it took to boil the water, it was already past 8 a.m.
"Okay," Shogo said as he pressed the disinfected bandanna on her wound. Then he quickly wrapped another bandanna around Noriko's leg. "We're done."
He added with a note of concern, "I hope the wound hasn't been infected." Noriko tucked in her leg and showed her gratitude to Shogo, "Thank you. That was impressive."
"Well, I'm good at playing doctor," Shogo said as he took out a Wild Seven cigarette from his pocket, put it between his lips, and lit it with a disposable lighter. Did he get those from the store, or did he bring them along for the trip? Like Buster and hi-night, they were a popular brand. Shuya gazed at the package, illustrated with silhouettes of motorcycle riders. He had no idea what they were referring to. The cigarettes piqued his curiosity, because Shuya's baseball nickname was the same as this cigarette brand. The name came naturally. Shuya was the star player of his Little League team. He was a great clutch hitter with men in scoring position, and once he was on base, and no one else could get any hits, he could create his own scoring opportunities by stealing a base (he held the impressive record of stealing home three times in one season). When the bases were loaded, and their pitcher was in a pinch, he'd make the play to get them out of the jam, and if the pitcher was too tired, he'd switch from shortstop to pitcher. "Wild Card Nana (Seven)" hara. That's right. In his second year of junior high he became classmates with the star shooting guard of the basketball team, Shinji Mimura. Shinji's nickname was "The Third Man," which he got during his first year when he sat on the bench as the second backup guard. But with five minutes left and their team trailing by twenty in the district finals, this third man came onto the court and single-handedly brought his team to victory. Ever since then Shinji was a fixture in the starting lineup, and Shiroiwa Junior High turned into one of the prefecture's top-ranked basketball teams. But because of that game, and because of the kanji character of "three" in his last name, the "Third Man" name stuck. For this year's class games, the girls as a joke made a pair of uniforms stitched with the numbers 7 and 3. Shuya and Shinji wore these uniforms during the games. It felt like a remote world. Shuya wondered again where Shinji was. Shinji would have been a big help.
As if the thought suddenly occurred to him, Shogo searched his pockets and pulled out a small leather pouch.
He took out a sheet of white pills wrapped in aluminum foil and plastic and gave it to Noriko.
"Pain relievers. You should take some."
Noriko blinked. But then she took the pills.
Shuya said to Shogo, "Hey…"
"What?" Shogo slowly blew smoke out his mouth and looked at Shuya. "Don't stare at me. It's not that uncommon to see a junior high kid smoking. Anyway I'm old enough to be in high school. And you're the one who brought your own supply of whiskey."
So high school students are allowed to smoke? Well, that wasn't his point anyway. Shuya shook his head, "That's not what I meant. Did you find those pills at the store too?" Shogo shrugged. "Well yeah. It wasn't exactly merchandise. I took it out of the first aid kit behind the cash register. It's not a big deal. Just some aspirin called Gomez. What an obnoxious name for aspirin, huh? Anyway it'll stop the pain."
Shuya pursed his lips. Well, he might be telling the truth, but… "I don't get how you can be so well prepared. And where'd you learn to stitch up a wound?"
Shogo's mouth broke into a wide grin. He shrugged and replied, "My dad was a doctor."
"What?"
"He ran a small dump, a clinic in the slums of Kobe. I've seen him sew people up ever since I was a kid. In fact I was a pretty good nurse. I even did some work myself. My dad couldn't even afford to hire a nurse."
Shuya was speechless. Was he telling the truth?
Shogo held up the cigarette between his fingers, as if to cut off Shuya's response. "It's true. Just think about it and you'll see how important medicine is in these circumstances." Shuya kept quiet for a moment, but then recalled something else that puzzled him.
" Oh yeah…"
"What?"
"You mind if I ask—"
"Skip the formalities, Shuya. We're in this together."
Shuya shrugged once and then rephrased what he had to say. "Back on the bus, you were trying to open the window. You must have realized there was sleeping gas."
Hearing this, Noriko gave Shogo a puzzled look.
This time Shogo shrugged.
"So you saw me? You should have lent me a hand."
"I couldn't. How did you know what was going on, though? I mean there was no smell or anything—"
"Oh yeah there was," Shogo replied and rubbed his half finished cigarette into the ground. "It was faint, but if you've smelled it once you'd recognize it."
"How did you recognize it?" This time Noriko asked.
"My uncle actually worked at a state chemical lab and—"
"Come on," Shuya interrupted him.
Shogo grimaced and said, "If I have to, I'll explain it later. As far as I'm concerned I blew it big time. I Should've noticed sooner. And I certainly didn't expect this to happen…but we should be focused on the present. Do you have any plans?"
If I have to, I'll explain later? That statement bothered Shuya, but Shogo was right. Their priority was to come up with a plan for their escape. He put his questions on hold and said, "We're planning on escaping."
Shogo lit another cigarette and nodded. Then as if suddenly remembering what he had to do, he tossed dirt onto the charcoal inside the rock pit. Shuya heard the sound of Noriko swallowing a pill with water. Shuya continued. "How hard do you think it'll be?"
Shogo shook his head. "The question is whether it's possible at all. My answer would be 'extremely remote.' So what then?"
"Well even if we escaped…" Shuya lifted his ha
nd up to his neck, to the object that was wrapped around Shogo's and Noriko's necks as well, "…we'd be immediately discovered because of these collars."
"Yep."
"And we can't get near that school."
Sakamochi had said that "twenty minutes after your departure this school will become a forbidden zone." Bastard, "True."
"But maybe there's a way to lure him out here? Then we take Sakamochi hostage. That's how we get them to disable the collars."
Shogo raised his brow. "And?"
Shuya licked his lips and continued, "Before doing that we locate a ship and escape by taking Sakamochi with us." Even as he was saying it, Shuya knew his plan was hopeless. He hadn't even figured out how they were going to lure Sakamochi out from the school. No, you couldn't even call it a plan, just an
"idea."
"That's it?" Shogo asked. Shuya could only nod.
Shogo once again puffed on his cigarette. Then he said, "First of all, there aren't any ships." Shuya bit his lip. "You never know."
Shogo briefly smiled and blew out more smoke. "I told you how I went to that supply store by the harbor. There weren't any boats. Not one. Not even damaged ones left on the shore. Every single boat's been taken away. I mean, they were absurdly thorough."
"Then…the guard ship will do. As long as we can hold Sakamochi hostage."
"That's impossible, Shuya," Shogo interrupted him. "You saw how many Special Defense Forces soldiers they had. Besides…" Shogo pointed to the silver collar around his neck. "They should be able to send the command to ignite these at any time regardless of what zone we're in. Anytime, anywhere. The odds are stacked against us. Even if we managed to capture Sakamochi, I'm sure as far as the government's concerned, he's expendable."
Shuya fell silent again.
"Do you have any other ideas?" Shogo asked him.
Shuya shook his head. "No. What about you, Noriko?"
Noriko also shook her head. But she had something else to say.
"That's why I suggested we gather as many people as we can, even if they're only the ones we trust, to come up with a plan together. I thought if we met together as a group we might come up with a good idea...."
That's right, Shuya thought. That's what I forgot to say.
Shogo only raised his scarred left brow. "And who are the ones you trust?" Shuya replied enthusiastically, "There's Shinji Mimura. Then there's Hiroki Sugimura. Let's see, as far as the girls go, there's our class representative, Yukie Utsumi. Shinji is really amazing. He knows a lot. He knows so many different things. He's good with machines too. He'd come up with something." Shogo rubbed his stubbly chin with his left hand as he stared at Shuya. Then he said, "Shinji, huh…" Shuya looked surprised. "What's wrong?"
"Well…" Shogo seemed hesitant but continued, "I saw Shinji...."
"What!? Where!?" Shuya raised his voice. He exchanged looks with Noriko. "Where? Where did you see him?"
Shogo pointed his chin to the east. "It was at night. West of the school. He seemed to be searching for something inside a house___He had a gun, and I think he noticed me."
"Why didn't you call out to him?" Shuya raised his voice scornfully. Shogo gave Shuya a puzzled look.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, come on, he helped Noriko get back to her seat in the classroom. You saw that? Besides—" Shogo predicted the rest, "He tried to have the game postponed for Noriko's injury, right? So that there'd be a chance for everyone to escape?"
Exactly. Shuya nodded.
Shogo shook his head. "You expect me to trust him on account of those acts? No way. Besides, he might have been trying to con everyone into believing he was a trustworthy guy. It'd suit him fine if he planned on getting rid of everyone later."
"That's ridiculous!" Shuya raised his voice. "How cynical can you get? He's not that kind of guy. He's—" Shogo silently extended both of his palms forward and Shuya fell silent. He was right. Raising your voice was not a good idea. In fact it was a very bad idea.
Then Shogo said, "Cut me some slack. I don't know Shinji. Like I said before, the rule is to suspect, not trust, everyone in this game. And you have to be all the more suspicious of someone who's smart. Besides, even if I invited him to join me, he probably would've refused." Shuya was about to say something, but then exhaled and decided against it. Shogo had a point. In fact, it was odd how Shogo could trust him and Noriko at all. Shogo did say though that it was because they made "a nice couple."
"Well then…" Shuya continued, "we should at least go where you saw Shinji. We can definitely trust him. I guarantee it. He'd come up with a good idea. He's—" But once again he was interrupted. Shogo shook his head and said, "If Shinji is so smart then do you think he'd stay where I saw him?" He was right.
Shuya sighed. It was a very long, deep sigh.
"Hey…" Noriko spoke up, "Shogo, I was wondering if there was any way we can contact others like Shinji."
Shogo shook loose another cigarette and shook his head. "I doubt it. If we were trying to reach a general, unspecified number of people, well maybe, but contacting a particular party or person would be difficult."
They fell silent for a while. Shuya stared at Shogo, who had his cigarette stuck between his lips. The tip of the Wild Seven crackled and grew shorter.
"Then…" Shuya said, nearly speechless, "there's nothing we can do." Shogo responded flatly, "Oh but there is."
"What?"
"I have a plan."
Shuya stared again at Shogo's face wrapped in a cloud of smoke. Then he suddenly became excited and asked, "What do you mean? Is there a way out?"
Shogo looked over at Shuya and Noriko. Then he looked up at the sky in contemplation, his cigarette still dangling from his lips. His right hand touched the smooth surface of the collar around his neck, as if it annoyed him. The smoke slowly drifted by.
Shogo said, "There might be a way." Then he continued, "On one condition, though."
"What's that?"
Shogo shook his head slightly and then brought his cigarette closer to his lips. "We have to be the only survivors."
Shuya knit his brows. He didn't understand. "What do you… mean?"
"It should be obvious." Shogo looked back at them. "Meaning the three of us have to be the only ones alive. The others would have to be dead."
"But…" Noriko immediately raised her voice. "That's too much! So we're just looking after ourselves?" Shogo held his cigarette held between his fingers over his crossed legs and raised his brow, "Shuya's escape plan would amount to the same thing, though."
"No," Shuya intervened. "That's not what Noriko's saying. She's asking you whether our survival comes at the cost of everyone else. Right, Noriko? That would just be…horrible."
"Hold on guy." Shogo waved his hand. He crushed his cigarette against the ground. "I'm not against our group expanding, as long as we can trust them. But whether we find others or not, everyone besides the ones in our group will have to die."
"If that's the case," Shuya said enthusiastically, "We could inform everyone. If you have the most reliable plan then no one will oppose it. Then everyone would be saved? Right?" Shogo pursed his lips in response to Shuya. Then he asked in a slightly irritated tone, "What if we're attacked before we even manage to get a word in?"
Shuya took a deep breath.
"Unless you're actively out to kill people, then, relatively speaking that is, the smartest way to survive would be to stay put and hide. That's the reason why," Shogo pointed to his collar, "the government is using this to force us to move. That's one of the basic tenets of this game. Don't forget that. You move around aimlessly, and you're a walking target for someone lurking in the shadows. With Noriko injured like this, we're prime targets."
He was right.
"Besides, when you insist everyone has to be saved, that only means we might not get killed here. But what if we end up as fugitives? We'll be chased by the government, and the probability that we'll get killed in the end is extremely high. I doubt any
one would submit to a plan like that. Don't forget. You don't know who your enemies are in this game. Blindly accepting everyone could ruin everything for you."
"But no one's…"
"That bad? Can you really say that, Shuya?" Shogo's eyes grew stern. "It'd be wonderful if everyone in this class were good. But if we're going to be realistic, we have to be careful. Think about it, you yourself were attacked by Yoshio Akamatsu and Tatsumichi Oki."
Shuya had told Shogo about Yoshio's assault when Shogo was stitching Noriko's leg. Shogo was absolutely right. He had no idea what Yoshio Akamatsu was thinking. He might have been trying to kill Shuya.
Shuya sighed. His shoulders drooped down as he feebly mumbled, "Then…then we're going to let most of our classmates, the good ones, just die. That's what this means, right?" Shogo moved his chin up and down slightly, nodding. "It's not easy, but yes. I don't know if it's going to be most of the class, though."
They fell silent for a while. Shogo lit another cigarette. He smoked too much. And he was a minor. Then Noriko said, "Hey wait." Shuya looked back at Noriko. "You said we might escape if everyone else dies, but we could also run out of time, if no one dies for twenty-four hours…"
"Yeah," Shogo nodded. "That's correct."
"In that case, I guess your plan wouldn't work."
"That's right. But I highly doubt that'll happen. Besides, if everyone can really get along and agree to my plan then they're totally welcome. But I doubt that'll happen. So there's really no need to worry about it. Apparently only 0.5% of the national Programs have ended due to time expiration." Shuya blurted out,"'Apparently'? How would you know?"
"Hold on." Shogo again made a pushing gesture with his hands to stop Shuya. "We have more urgent matters at hand. You haven't asked me what my plan is."
Shuya fell silent. Then he asked, "What is it?"
Shogo shrugged. Through the corner of his mouth, which was still holding the cigarette, he curtly replied,
"I can't tell you."
Shuya knit his brows. "What?"
"Not yet."
"Why?"