"Good morning everyone."
It was Sakamochi's voice. The speakers were impossible to locate, but his voice came through loud and clear, aside from some metallic distortion. The speakers were probably installed not only in the school but also all over the island.
"This is your instructor Sakamochi. It is now 6 a.m. How are you all doing?" Before he could grimace, Shuya's jaw dropped, astonished by Sakamochi's cheerful tone.
"Well then, I will now announce the names of your dead friends. First, Yoshio Akamatsu." Shuya's cheeks stiffened. Yes, it was another death, but the announcement of Yoshio's name also meant more to Shuya.
Yoshio Akamatsu wasn't dead at that moment. Then— was he killed in an attempt to kill someone else?
Or, no, did he remain unconscious, lying there…and then blown to bits by this nice collar we're wearing because the school was now a "forbidden zone"?
Regardless, the fact that Shuya had knocked him out didn't make him feel very good. This line of thought immediately evaporated though, with the announcement of other names of the dead.
"Next, No. 9 Hiroshi Kuronaga, No. 10 Ryuhei Sasagawa, No. 17 Mitsuru Numai, No. 21 Kazuhiko Yamamoto. And then, let's see, the girls. No. 3 Megumi Eto, No. 4 Sakura Ogawa, No. 5 Izumi Kanai, No. 14 Mayumi Tendo."
This list of names meant that their chances of survival were slightly increased, but this thought didn't even occur to Shuya. He felt dizzy. The faces of his dead classmates drifted through his head and disappeared. They were all killed, which meant that there were killers out there. That's right, unless some of them had committed suicide.
"It" was continuing. The game was undeniably in progress. A long funeral procession, a crowd of people wearing black. A man in a black suit with a somber know-it-all face addressed them, "Oh, Shuya Nanahara and Noriko Nakagawa? You two, that's right, you're a little early. But you did just pass by your own graves right here. We carved in the number you two share, No. 15. Don't worry, we're offering a special bonus."
"Good going everyone. I'm very impressed. Now then, the forbidden zones. I will announce their areas and times. Take out your maps and mark them."
Still shocked by the number of dead classmates and angered by Sakamochi's tone of voice, Shuya nonetheless reluctantly pulled out his map.
"First, an hour from now. At seven. 7 a.m. in sector J=2. Get out of J=2 by 7 a.m. Got that?" J=2 was slightly to the west of the southern tip of the island.
"Next, in three hours, F=l at 9 a.m."
F=l was on the west shore of the island, but it was a remote area in the south.
"Next, five hours later. H=8 at 11 a.m."
Most of the residential area on the eastern shore was in H=8.
"That's all for now. Now then, I want you all to do your best today—" Shuya and Noriko's location wasn't in Sakamochi's forbidden zones. Sakamochi claimed the zones were randomly selected. In any case, they'd made the right move avoiding the residential area. But their location could be included in the next announcement.
"Sakura and…" As Noriko spoke, Shuya turned to her. "Sakura and Kazuhiko's names were mentioned."
"Yeah…" Shuya moaned deep down in his throat. "I wonder if…they killed themselves." Noriko looked down at her feet. "I don't know. But they must have been together, knowing those two, until the very end. They somehow managed to meet each other."
Shuya had seen Sakura pass a note to Kazuhiko. He and Noriko were only making hopeful observations, though. For all they knew, the two might have been killed separately, in separate places by insane classmates.
Dismissing the image of her slipping the note to him as their hands touched, Shuya pulled out his student list from his pocket. It came with the map in the day pack. It was in bad taste, but he had to mark the information down. He took out his pen, and then as he was about to cross out the names—he decided not to. It was just too…it was just too awful.
Instead he entered a small check mark by the names. He also included Yoshitoki Kuninobu and Fumiyo Fujiyoshi. Shuya felt like he was turning into the man in the black suit from the vision he just had. "Let's see, you, and also you. And you. What's your coffin size? It's a tight fit, but we can offer our popular No. 8 model to you at a specially reduced price."
Enough. In any case, three out of four of Kazuo Kiriyama's gang are dead. Hiroshi Kuronaga, Ryuhei Sasagawa, and Mitsuru Numai. The only ones who weren't mentioned were Sho Tsukioka—nicknamed
"Zuki." He was a little weird. And Kazuo Kiriyama himself.
He recalled Mitsuru Numai's smug face when Kazuo Kiriyama left the classroom. Shuya had assumed Kazuo would organize his gang and attempt an escape. So what did these results mean? Maybe, even though they'd agreed to meet somewhere, they turned suspicious and turned against each other? Then Sho Tsukioka and Kazuo managed to escape—would that mean Sho Tsukioka and Kazuo were still together? No, something completely different might have happened. Shuya had no idea. Then he recalled the faint sound of guns going off. He'd only heard it once. If that had been gunfire—then which one of these ten did it kill?
His thoughts were interrupted all of a sudden by a rustling sound. Noriko's face stiffened. Shuya immediately stuck the pen and list into his pocket.
Shuya listened closely. The sound continued. In fact—it was approaching them. He whispered to Noriko, "Be quiet."
Shuya grabbed his day pack. They had to be able to move at any moment, so he'd put everything he needed in it. He left some of his clothes in his sports bag, but it wasn't a big deal to toss it. Noriko had also packed her bags the same way.
He hoisted the two day packs on his left shoulder. He offered Noriko his hands to help her up. They waited in a crouched position.
Shuya pulled out his knife. His right hand held it in a reverse grip. I might know how to use a guitar pick, he thought, but I don't know a thing about how to use this.
The rustling became increasingly louder. It was probably only a few meters away. He was overwhelmed by the same tension he felt outside the school. He held Noriko's shoulder with his left hand and pulled her back. He stood up and stepped back. The sooner the better. As soon as possible!
They made their way through the bushes and came out onto a foot trail. It winded up the hill. Trees loomed above them, branches bunched together, and the sky was blue.
Still holding Noriko, Shuya treaded backwards with her for several meters along the trail. The rustling sound continued in the bushes they'd just left. The sound grew and then—
Shuya's eyes widened.
A white cat jumped out of the bushes and landed on the trail. It was scraggly, and its hair was frayed, but in any case, that's what it was—a cat.
Shuya and Noriko looked at each other. "It's a cat," she said and broke into a smile. Shuya also grinned. Then the cat turned to them as if it had finally noticed them.
It stared at them for a while and then ran up to them.
Shuya returned his knife into the sheath while Noriko crouched, cautiously bent her injured leg, and offered her hands to the cat. The cat jumped into her hands and nuzzled her feet. Noriko slipped her hands under the cat's front feet and hugged it towards her.
"Poor kitty. Look how thin it is." Noriko said as she pursed her lips towards the cat as if to kiss it. The cat responded enthusiastically, purring, meow.
"It must be a domestic cat. It's so friendly."
"I don't know."
The government had relocated all the residents of this island for the sake of this game. (Because the Program was a secret operation until it was over, they must not have been informed.) As Noriko said, maybe this cat had been owned by someone here and abandoned after its owner left. There weren't any houses in the area, so did it get lost in the hills? Shuya wondered as he casually looked away from Noriko. He turned…
…in shock.
There was someone wearing a school coat ten meters away, standing on the trail as if his feet were glued to it. Although he was of medium height, like Shuya, he had a solid build from his training on the handball team. His skin was tanned, and he had a buzz cut. His hair stood up at the front. It was Tatsumichi Oki (Male Student No. 3).
31 students remaining