He was coming straight at him. Staring at him with those cold eyes.
Why? Toshinori wondered. I’m supposed to be dead. Look how good I am at playing dead.
Kazuo didn’t stop. He kept on approaching. One step, two…
But I’m supposed to be dead! Why!?
The faint sound of his steps on the soil became louder and his field of vision was now filled with the figure of Kazuo.
Suddenly overcome with panic and fear, Toshinori frantically opened his eyes.
Kazuo’s Ingram once again let out a burst of fire into Toshinori’s shielded head. Some of the point-blank shots turned into colorful sparks from scraping against the reinforced plastic shell of the helmet while others, after exiting Toshinori’s skull, ricocheted inside his helmet, rattling Toshinori’s head along with the helmet. His body was dancing a strange boogie. Toshinori himself would have been irritated by this kind of vulgar dancing. And of course by the time it was all over… Toshinori’s head was crushed inside his helmet.
Toshinori no longer played dead. He remained frozen. Blood dripped out from under the helmet, which resembled a bowl of sauce.
And so this boy who despised the ignorant, vulgar masses, foolish Toshinori Oda, had overestimated the value of his bulletproof vest and underestimated Kazuo Kiriyama’s calm actions. As a result he died easily. If he’d thought about how Yumiko Kusaka and Yukiko Kitano had died yesterday morning, he would have realized that his assailant would have followed up on his enemy to deliver a coup de grace, but he wasn’t so perceptive. Furthermore—it was quite irrelevant now—he had no idea his killer, Kazuo Kiriyama, had, in his mansion that was much larger than Toshinori’s home in Shiroiwa-cho, mastered the violin at a level far superior to Toshinori’s a long time ago (and then tossed his violin into the trash).
55
Some chatting. The sound of someone moving. She’d even settle for the faint sound of someone desperately trying to hold his or her breath. Instead, Mitsuko Souma (Female Student No. 11) ended up hearing the sound of liquid running through grass. She could tell it was someone pissing in the grove nearby (unless there was a dog on the island). Dawn was approaching. She glanced up and saw a faint blue beginning emerge in the dark sky.
After encountering Hiroki and somehow managing to escape him, Mitsuko first decided she needed a gun. She’d accidentally come across Megumi Eto and, upon hearing Yoshimi Yahagi and Yoji Kuramoto in the middle of their fight, she’d killed them and managed to get her hands on a gun (if she’d had a gun in the first place she would have gone back to the school and killed off everyone that came out one by one). Once she had a gun she could confidently move around the island, so it was easy to kill Takako Chigusa, who’d just finished fighting Kazushi Niida. (She should have finished her off though. She’d have to be more careful next time.)
But now she was unarmed. She had used Megumi Eto’s knife, and the only thing in her hand now was her original sickle from the beginning of the game. She had to get a gun because she wasn’t the only one who chose to play this game. There was the machine gun shooter who killed Yumiko Kusaka and Yukiko Kitano. She had just heard it go off again only thirty minutes ago.
Of course, thanks to the shooter, she didn’t have to kill off as many of her classmates. She could just let the assailant take care of that. She’d only kill when it came easy. In fact, after midnight, when she heard the machine gun’s rapid gunfire along with the explosion afterwards, she decided it was best to avoid that area. A handgun against a machine gun, she’d be outmatched. So she decided to move somewhere she could view the area from a distance, and that was how she ended up finding and following Hiroki Sugimura. And that was supposed to be an easy kill but…
It was highly likely she’d end up having to take on this machine gun shooter. Not having a gun would be a major disadvantage. Forget about gun against machine gun, it’d be hopeless with a sickle against a machine gun.
Of course, she could have pursued Hiroki, but she thought it’d be too much trouble to get the gun back from him. His background in martial arts or whatever it was was no joke. Her right hand still stung from his blow. And this time, if he saw her, he’d be merciless and shoot her.
So Mitsuko moved west along the longitudinal road and then entered the northern mountain, trying to find someone else. Approximately three hours had passed.
And now she finally heard someone making noise.
Mitsuko made her way through the thicket and moved forward, cautiously though.—She mustn’t be heard.
The thicket ended. There was a small, open, mat-sized space in the middle of the bushes. The grove continued on and beyond her right. And to the left as well—in the corner of the space, a boy in his school coat had his back toward her. He nervously looked to his right and left as the dripping sound against the leaves continued.
He was probably scared he might be attacked by someone. She could tell it was Tadakatsu Hatagami (Male Student No. 18). He was on the baseball team. Nothing exceptional, just an average guy. He was tall and well-built, and his face was average. His hobbies were… actually she had no idea, and besides there was no point asking now.
The crucial thing was that, as Tadakatsu was attending to his business, Mitsuko realized he held something tightly in his right hand.
It was a gun. It was a fairly large model, a revolver. She once again broke into that fallen angel’s grin.
Tadakatsu still wasn’t done. He might have been holding it in for quite a while. He continued to look left and right while he emptied his bladder.
Mitsuko quietly but quickly took out her sickle with her right hand. Tadakatsu would have to use both of his hands to zip up his pants. Even if he tried using one hand, he’d be vulnerable.
It looks like this’ll be the end of you. Didn’t someone in a detective show get killed this way?
The drips became sporadic. It stopped—and then another drip, and then it stopped completely. Tadakatsu once again looked around and then quickly moved his hands to the front.
By then Mitsuko had already snuck up behind him. The back of his head, with short spiked hair, was right in front of her. She raised the sickle.
She heard someone from behind say, “Whoa,” and Tadakatsu suddenly turned around, along with Mitsuko. She (of course) put the sickle down and looked back at the speaker behind her.
It was Yuichiro Takiguchi (Male Student No. 13). He was shorter than Tadakatsu and had a cute, boyish face. He held what appeared to be his weapon, an aluminum bat, in his right hand and stared at Mitsuko, his mouth agape.
Tadakatsu saw Mitsuko and also said, “Whoa,” and then muttered, “Damn,” and pointed the gun at her. Seeing how Yuichiro’s appearance didn’t surprise him, Mitsuko realized they were together. Mitsuko cursed herself. Tadakatsu had left Yuichiro just to take a piss. How stupid could I have been not to check! Come on, you’re both boys, can’t you just pee next to each other?
This wasn’t the time or place to lecture them. Tadakatsu’s revolver (which, although it hardly mattered, was a Smith & Wesson M19 .357 Magnum) was pointed directly at Mitsuko’s chest.
“Tadakatsu! Stop it!” Yuichiro said, his voice trembling, probably from her sudden appearance and his fear of seeing someone get killed in front of his very own eyes. Tadakatsu looked like he was ready to pull the trigger at any moment, but his finger on the trigger stopped a fraction of a millimeter before the hammer fell.
His gun still pointed at Mitsuko, Tadakatsu looked over at Yuichiro.