Behind his silver-framed glasses, the class representative's eyes met Shuya's. His hair that was always so neatly parted at a 7:3 ratio was now a complete mess. The lenses of his glasses looked smudged, and the eyes behind them were bloodshot and wide open the way Tatsumichi's eyes were. His face was incredibly pale, as it was inside the classroom, once again resembling a Warhol print. It didn't look human anymore.
As the gun flinched, Shuya twisted his body and ducked backwards. With an explosive pop, the gun set off a small flame. Something hot grazed the top of his head. Of course he might have just imagined it. Anyway, the bullet missed him.
Still on his back, Shuya didn't have time to think. He just tried to retreat. The tall grass made a rustling sound under his back.
He was too close. He couldn't escape. Kyoichi Motobuchi was only several meters away from Shuya, aiming directly at his chest.
Shuya's face grew as stiff as a plaster sculpture. More than protecting Noriko, more than anything, it was real fear that caught him now, welling up inside. The next tiny lead bullet that gun spits out will kill me…kill…me!
"Stop it!" Another voice yelled.
Kyoichi suddenly turned in a diagonal direction. Shuya also followed Kyoichi's glance—
A large figure stood in the shade of the shrine. Buzzed hair, no, the head was practically bald, the prominent scars above his brows, the tough face of a thug. It was Shogo Kawada (Male Student No. 5). He held a pump-action shotgun (a sawed-off Remington M31).
Without any warning Kyoichi shot at Shogo. Shuya saw Shogo quickly duck. As he heard the explosion from the shotgun that Shogo held in his kneeling position, sparks flew from the muzzle like a flame thrower, and the next moment Kyoichi's right arm was gone. Bloody mist shot into the air. Kyoichi gazed blankly at the half-sleeve of his school uniform. The rest of his sleeve, from his elbow to the hand that was holding the gun, was now lying on the grass. Shogo quickly pumped the shotgun and loaded the next shot. A red plastic shell flew out to the side after spitting out its pellets.
"AIEEEE!"
Kyoichi screamed like an animal as he suddenly realized what had happened. Shuya thought he would fall to his knees.
But he didn't. The representative instead ran for his arm. He pried the gun loose from his right hand with his left hand. Like a one-man baton relay. Great. Shuya once again felt like he was watching a bad horror flick. Or better yet, reading a bad horror novel.
Damn, this was bad.
"Stop it!" Shogo shouted, but Kyoichi refused and pointed his gun at Shogo. Shogo shot again. Kyoichi's body bent over into a triangle shape, with his waist pointing out like a long jumper, but blown backwards. He landed feet first, and as if in time-lapse photography the next moment he was falling on the ground face up. He sank into the overgrown grass and remained still. Shuya scrambled to his feet.
He could see Kyoichi's body between the blades of grass. There was a gaping hole in the stomach of the school coat, and the contents inside looked like a trash bin in a sausage factory. Shogo hardly paid any attention to the corpse and quickly approached Shuya with his shotgun. He pumped the shotgun again and ejected the empty shell.
Shuya was overwhelmed by the quick succession of events and the horrific deaths of Tatsumichi and Kyoichi, but he managed to say between heavy breaths, "Hold on, I'm—" Shogo stopped behind Kyoichi's body and said, "Don't move. Drop your weapon." Shuya finally realized he was still holding the hatchet.
He did as he was told. The blood-drenched hatchet fell to the ground with a thud. That was when Noriko appeared, standing where the trail nose dived. Dragging her leg, she had made her way through the thicket, following Tatsumichi and Shuya after they tumbled down the slope. (Shuya then realized that less than a minute had elapsed since his confrontation with Tatsumichi Oki.) She'd turned pale from the gunfire, but now she was holding her breath at the sight of the sprawled out corpses of Tatsumichi and Kyoichi while Shogo and Shuya faced each other.
Shogo immediately noticed Noriko and pointed his shotgun at her. Noriko's body stiffened. "Stop it!" Shuya shouted. "Noriko is with me! We don't want to fight at all!" Shogo turned slowly to Shuya. He had a strange, blank look.
Shuya shouted at Noriko, "Noriko! Shogo saved me. Shogo isn't an enemy!" Shogo looked at Noriko and then returned his gaze to Shuya. Then he lowered the muzzle. After remaining frozen for a while, Noriko raised her hand to indicate her hands were empty, then nearly slid down the steep trail. She staggered, dragging her right leg, and as she drew herself up next to Shuya they both looked at Shogo.
Shogo stared back at them as if they were a pair of Armadillo twins. Shuya noticed that the stubble on his cheek and chin had grown a little.
"First, let me explain," Shogo finally said, "I had no choice but to shoot Kyoichi. You understand?" Looking over at Kyoichi's body, Shuya considered Shogo's words and realized that maybe, maybe the representative had totally lost control. He might have seen me beat Tatsumichi Oki and gotten the wrong impression. Noriko wasn't around so it would have been natural.
As Shogo said, Shuya had no right to fault Shogo for his actions. If Shogo didn't kill Kyoichi, then Kyoichi would have killed Shuya. After all—he had also killed someone. Tatsumichi Oki. He looked back at Shogo.
"Yeah, I know. Thanks. You saved me."
Shogo shrugged. "I was just trying to stop Kyoichi, but I guess I ended up doing that as well." Adrenaline was still rushing through his body, but Shuya managed to blurt out, "I'm so glad. I'm so relieved we've met someone else who's normal."
In fact Shuya was surprised. Back in the classroom he thought if anyone was going to play the game it'd be Shogo. But not only was he not playing along, he'd managed to save Shuya's life. Shogo stared at them for a while, as if he were thinking through something. Then he said, "So you two are together?"
Shuya raised his brow. "That's what I said."
Then Shogo asked, "Why are you two together?"
Shuya and Noriko looked at each other. Then they looked at Shogo. Shuya was in the middle of saying,
"What do you mean…" but then stopped as Noriko asked the same question, but she stopped in mid-sentence too, realizing Shuya was asking the same thing. Shuya and Noriko looked at each other again. Shuya thought Noriko was giving him the green light to speak first, but then as soon as he began speaking, his words overlapped with hers, "That's because…" Once again Shuya and Noriko exchanged glances. They ended up facing Shogo without saying a word.
A quick grin ran across Shogo's face. If he was smiling, it was the first time Shuya had ever seen him smile.
Shogo said, "All right, all right. In any case, we have to hide out. We don't want to be standing out here in the open."
29 students remaining