“This should do it,” Shogo said.
The slope and woods ended here, and the area offered a good view. They could see the entire island, now immersed in dim blue after sunset, where the fierce battle between the classmates of Third Year Class B Shiroiwa Junior High School took place. However, the school holding their final enemy, Sakamochi, was hidden by hills.
Shuya took a deep breath. Then he asked, “What’s up here anyway? How are we going to escape?”
Shogo smiled without looking at Shuya. Then he said, “Relax. Take a look over there.”
Shuya and Noriko looked over where Shogo was pointing.
It was over the southern mountain. Although it was growing dim, they could still make out the ocean, several islands, and beyond, the mainland. Shuya could make out a mist of lights scattered over the mainland. If they were closer, they could have discerned which ones were neon lights and which ones were lights along the shore highway.
Now Shuya also knew that this was Okishima Island in the Takamatsu-shi Bay. There were two others islands, Megijima and Ogijima, forming a vertical row of islands, where Okishima was the one at the far northern tip. Which meant that the small island beyond the southern mountain was Megijima, and beyond that was Ogijima, and beyond that was the mainland—Kagawa Prefecture of Shikoku.
Shogo said, “It’s not very familiar to me, but that’s your home over there. Shiroiwa-cho must be over there. You won’t see it again, so have a good look.”
Did he mean they’d never return because they were escaping the country?
Shuya looked back at Shogo. “Don’t tell me we came all the way up here for this.”
Shogo snickered. “Hey, what’s the rush?” Then he said, “Show me your gun. There’s something I need to check.”
Noriko handed over her Smith & Wesson to Shogo. He opened up its cylinder and checked it. Shuya thought Noriko had reloaded it after taking that single shot at Kazuo.
Shogo didn’t return the gun and instead held it in his right hand. He took a deep breath and said, “Do you remember how I kept on saying I might be doing this just to have a group, and that my intention might be to kill you off in the end?”
Shuya raised his brow. “Yes, you said that, but?”
“Yeah, but?…”
“So,” Shogo said, “you both lose.”
Shogo pointed the Smith & Wesson at them.
76
Shuya felt a strange expression forming on his face. As if he were grinning and bewildered at the same time. Noriko probably felt the same way.
“What is this?” Shuya said. “It’s not such a great time to be joking right now.”
“I’m serious,” Shogo said and cocked the hammer.
Shuya’s grin vanished. His right arm felt Noriko stiffen.
“You can enjoy the view a little more. I told you, it’d be the last time.” His stubbly face broke into a slight grin. It was a sinister grin he’d never shown before.
A crow cawed. Was it flying up above in the darkening evening sky?
Shuya finally spoke. His feelings were out of sync with the situation, he could only croak out pathetically, “What? What are you talking about?”
“You are so thick,” Shogo responded with a shrug. “I’m going to kill you both. I’ll be the winner. My second in a row.”
Shuya’s lips were trembling. No. This cant be.
He stuttered, “Come on, stop it. Th-then you were just acting until now? Y-you looked after us. You helped us so many times.”
Shogo replied calmly, “You’re the ones who helped me. I probably couldn’t have killed Kazuo without your help.”
“Then… so that story about Keiko was a lie too!?” His words trembled. The more he tried to keep his voice down the louder it became.
“Yep,” Shogo answered curtly. “It was true I participated in the Hyogo Prefecture Program last year, and it’s true there was a girl named Keiko Onuki. But there was nothing between us. The girl in that photo’s my girlfriend, but her name’s Kyoka Shimazaki, a totally different person. She’s still in Kobe. She’s out of her mind. Well, anyway, she insisted I hold onto this photo. I got to say she was a good lay, though.”
Shuya took a deep breath. A light early summer breeze blew against his skin, but for some reason it felt chilly. Then he cautiously asked, “But what about that bird call?…”
Shogo had another curt response. “I just happened to find that at the general supply store. I figured it’d be useful. And it proved to be, in the end.”
It grew darker and darker.
“You lost the moment you trusted me,” but Shuya still couldn’t believe it. That can’t be. That just can’t be. Then something occurred to Shuya. This must be…
Noriko spoke out before Shuya, “Shogo? Is this some test to see whether you can really trust us? Is it because Keiko couldn’t trust you?”
Shogo shrugged his shoulders and said, “Unbelievable how you still believe in that fairy tale.”
Those were his last words. Shogo held the gun in his hand and slowly pulled the trigger.
Two gunshots rang out as evening descended upon the island.
77
Shogo Kawada (Male Student No. 5) reclined against the soft sofa on the ship. He was swaying slightly from the rough waves.
The room was fairly spacious for a small patrol ship. The ceiling itself was low, but the room must have been a couple square meters. There was a low table in the middle, and two sofas on each side, with Shogo sitting on the one away from the door.
Because the room was below deck it had no windows, so he couldn’t see anything outside, but it must have been past 8:30 p.m. by now. The yellow ceiling lights shined against the glass ashtray. Shogo didn’t have any more cigarettes to smoke, though.
Once the forbidden zones were all deactivated after the game was over, Shogo obeyed Sakamochi’s announcements and made his way to the school. In front of the school were the bodies of Yoshio Akamatsu and Mayumi Tendo, and inside the classroom, the bodies of Yoshitoki Kuninobu and Fumiyo Fujiyoshi, all left untouched.
His silver collar was finally detached, and after the shooting for the news segment, he was taken away by soldiers and escorted to the harbor. There were two ships docked there. One for the winner… and the other a transport ship to return the soldiers packed inside the school. Most of the soldiers boarded this ship. Only the trio who were in the classroom during Sakamochi’s game instructions joined Sakamochi to board Shogo’s ship. And tomorrow the subcontracted clean-up crew would take care of the remaining bodies of the students on the island. The speakers and school computers at the school building would also be dismantled in a matter of days. Of course the software and data for the game had already been removed from the computer. This was the identical procedure taken immediately after the Kobe Second District Junior High School Program came to an end ten months ago.
And now Shogo was waiting here. They were now south of Okishima. The patrol ship was returning directly to Takamatsu Harbor, but the soldiers’ transport ship would probably alter its course and head west towards the military base.