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 hand 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?”
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?”