Shogo quietly said, “He might be, he might not be.”
She turned her wrist and nervously checked her watch again. She moved her leg painfully and sidled up to Shogo. She squeezed Shogo’s left hand, which was on his knees, with both hands.
“Please. Can’t we go. Can’t we go look for him? Will you come with me? I can’t do this on my own. Please.”
Shogo said nothing. He only lifted his left hand slowly, returning Noriko’s hands to her thighs, and tapped them lightly. “We can’t. Even if you insist on going alone, I won’t let you. Shuya wanted me to look after you. He took a big risk making us leave before him. I don’t want to jeopardize all he did for us.”
She bit her lower lip and stared at him.
“Don’t give me that look. You’re making this hard on me.” Shogo scratched his head with his hand holding his cigarette and said, “You care about Shuya, right?”
She nodded. She didn’t hesitate.
He nodded back and said, “Then let’s respect his wishes.”
She bit her lip again, but then looked down and nodded. “All right. We can only wait, right?”
“That’s right.”
They were silent for a while but then he asked, “Do you believe in sixth sense?”
The topic was so unexpected Noriko widened her eyes. Was he trying to distract her?
“Well, a little. I don’t really know though,” she responded. “Do you?”
He crushed his cigarette into the ground. Then he said, “Absolutely not… well, I don’t think it matters either way. All that stuff about ghosts, the afterlife, cosmic power, sixth sense, fortune telling, psychic powers—that’s just the talk of fools who can only deal with reality by avoiding it. I’m sorry. You said you believed a little. That’s just my opinion. But—”
She looked at his eyes. “But?”
“But sometimes without any apparent reason I’m certain about things I can’t know for sure. And for some reason I’ve never been wrong when this happens.”
She remained silent and stared at him.
He said, “Shuya’s still alive. He’ll be back. I know it.”
Her face suddenly relaxed. He might have been making this up on the spot, but even so she was touched he made the effort.
“Thanks,” she said, “You’re kind, Shogo.”
He shrugged. “I’m just telling you how I feel.” Then he said, “Shuya’s a lucky guy.”
She looked over at him. “Hm?”
“Lucky that someone loves him this much.”
She smiled just a little. “You got it wrong.”
“What?”
“It’s unrequited. Shuya likes someone else. I’m nothing compared to her.”
“Really?”
She looked down and nodded. “She’s really awesome. I don’t know how to describe her. She’s so strong and beautiful. I’m jealous, but I can understand why he’s attracted to her.”
He tilted his head and said, “I don’t know.” He flicked his lighter several times and lit another cigarette and added, “I think Shuya cares about you now.”
She shook her head. “Oh no.”
“When he comes back,” he smiled, “you should let him have it, call him a jerk for making you worry like this.”
She smiled a little again.
He blew out smoke. “Now lie down. You haven’t fully recovered yet. Once you’re drowsy, get some sleep. I’ll stay up all night. If Shuya shows up, I’ll tell him to wake the princess with a kiss.”
“Uh huh.” She smiled and nodded. “Thanks.”
She still sat up another ten minutes. Then she wrapped herself in the blanket and lay down.
She still couldn’t sleep though.
53
Hiroki Sugimura was getting exhausted. He’d been walking without stopping ever since the game began, so it was only natural. But every time he heard Sakamochi’s announcement, his level of exhaustion rose as if he were climbing a staircase. Now only twenty were left—no, as far as Hiroki knew, the number was down to seventeen. It was hard to believe, but Shinji Mimura was dead, along with Yutaka Seto and Keita Iijima.
After he left Shuya’s group at the clinic, Hiroki headed towards the island’s northwest shore, which he’d never checked out. Then a little past 11 p.m. he heard heavy gunfire and moved back east of the island’s central area in pursuit of the sound. But the noise stopped before he got there, so he couldn’t find anything. Then the midnight announcement came, and the additional forbidden zones were announced. Hiroki decided to comb through each of those zones. As he was entering the north side of the school, sector F-7, which would be forbidden at 1 a.m., he heard a gunshot and then… that machine gun sound.
Because he was in the mountain, looking over the flat area, Hiroki saw a repeating flash—what seemed like a muzzle flashing in the farm immediately west of the housing area. As he descended the slope he heard an ear-shattering explosion. The night sky above the trees lit up. Then he heard the rattling sound again.
As he left the foot of the mountain, he saw a building on fire where the light had been flashing. Hiroki thought the assailant with the machine gun might still be there, but as he’d done with Megumi Eto, he had to find out what happened. He cautiously wove his way through the farm, approaching the area where he found the body of Shinji Mimura. The area was flickering with flames. The warehouse building—that must have been what exploded—was blown apart. Large and small debris were scattered all over what appeared to be a parking lot. Shinji was lying face down in front of a station wagon in the lot. His body was riddled with bullets. Later Hiroki found the bodies of Yutaka Seto and Keita Iijima in the debris.
There was no trace of the assailant with the machine gun, but Hiroki thought it was likely someone who was “playing the game” would show up soon, so he quickly left the area.
It was only after he’d crossed the island’s latitudinal road and entered the base of the southern mountain that he thought about Shinji, the death of the Shinji Mimura. There was something unbelievable about it, since Hiroki knew him pretty well. It sounded offensive now, but he’d always thought Shinji was immortal. Hiroki went to the town martial arts school and learned martial arts, but that in the end was just a matter of technique. It was nothing against Shinji’s inborn athletic prowess. Even if they’d fought according to martial arts rules, and even though Hiroki was ten centimeters taller, Shinji would have easily defeated him in a match. Besides, Shinji was much smarter than him. Even if Shinji couldn’t escape the game (although it was likely he’d considered it), Hiroki firmly believed no one else would be able to kill Shinji. And yet the machine gun shooter somehow managed to do just that.
He couldn’t afford to mourn over Shinji, though. What mattered now was finding Kayoko Kotohiki. He had to find her soon—if the machine gun shooter found her, someone like Kotohiki would get instantly killed.
Since sector G-3, forbidden at 3 a.m., was on the northern side of the southern mountain peak, Hiroki decided to head over there.
He’d already entered this mountain several times now. Takako Chigusa’s body was still lying in sector H-4 in the region right before sector G-3. He couldn’t even bury her body. He’d only managed to close her eyes and cross her arms over her chest. Her body was still outside the forbidden zone.
As he cautiously moved forward through the darkness, Hiroki thought, I’m so awful. He wasn’t even able to stay by his closest childhood friend. He’d probably be walking by her as he headed towards sector G-3.
I’m so sorry, Takako. I still need to take care of something. Right now I just have to see Kayoko Kotohiki. Please forgive me…