The chapter opens explaining that the lighthouse is includes a decent sized house in it, and that’s where the girls have been living.

That seems kind of weird to me. I thought lighthouses only were actual houses when they were in remote areas where the person was all alone. And the one Japanese lighthouse that I remember was in Uzumaki, where it was just a straight tower. But then again space is probably at a premium on the tiny island, so maybe it makes more sense to build a house into the lighthouse.

Anyway, today’s POV character is Yuko, who’s not feeling too great. She’s exhausted because she didn’t get any sleep while running around the island and then couldn’t sleep because she was too scared about Shuya.

Meanwhile, Haruka and Chisato are cooking. Haruka’s quite tall and has short hair while Chisato is tiny and has long hair, so the book says they look almost like a couple. Basically it’s trying to say Haruka looks like a guy without sounding like an insult.

They’ve hammered planks over all the windows in addition to barricading the doors. I wonder how safe a move that is? It does help them defend themselves a bit, but stuff over the windows is also signalling that someone’s there. Probably worth it, on balance.

In a nearby room is Satomi. Satomi was a model student, and although she always seemed a little frigid, now she looked pretty exhausted as she raised her wire-rimmed glasses and drowsily rubbed her eyes. Stress, I suppose? We were just told that everyone aside from Yuko has been able to sleep.

The last person is Yuka, who’s up on watch. Due to the lighthouse’s defensible location at the edge of the island, it’s apparently pretty easy to do.

Yuko is currently slowly panicking over the knowledge Shuya is in the same building as she is. Haruka can tell she’s looking bad and asks if she’s okay. (Chisato is lost in her own thoughts – she has a crush on Shinji and has been crying a lot since the announcement.)

Yuko forced a smile and answered, “Yeah, a little.” It was all right. As long as she was with these other five friends she was all right. She was safe here.

Haruka presses her about if she’s really okay and she insists she is. This is actually kind of true. She’s decided that Shuya’s injuries are bad enough he’ll just die without waking up and will never have a chance to hurt her.

We discover that Yukie was being diplomatic last chapter and that it was only Yuko that objected.

She had explained (she was shouting rather than explaining) what she’d seen, Tatsumichi Oki’s split-open skull, how Shuya Nanahara had removed the axe, how dangerous he was, and how he would try to kill them if they let him live.

Really, Shuya, you have only yourself to blame. If you’d said anything instead of being dead silent and pondering issues of how to handle closing a corpse’s eyes when there’s an ax through one of them, you might have been able to clear this up at the time. Like, “Why did you attack me, Tatsumichi?” Mitsuko understands the value of a good corpse-talk.

It was as if they were welcoming a strange, scary monster that haunted you in your childhood dreams into your house.

But yeah, Yuko is now well past the point where she can think about this clearly. The generally terrible situation can’t be helping – everything probably feels unreal.

Anyway, she’s not malicious or anything, and finds the idea of Shuya dying pretty unpleasant too, it’s just it’s better than the alternative.

Haruka still isn’t willing to drop the subject and suggests that maybe Shuya was acting in self-defense, something the others tried to convince her earlier as well. I’m going to assume here that the other girls have a crush on the guy, because there’s no real reason to be assuming the best here. But it might just be that she’s defending him because Yuko’s even more irrational insistence that he’s a monster come to kill them all leads to some pushback. (Come to think of it, if it’d have been different if it was Shinji or if the main issue for the rest of them is that he’s injured so he no longer feels threatening.)

But like I said, she just can’t deal with it even if she understands the logic.

It was like a natural disaster, like a flood or tornado. The moment Yuko began thinking about Shuya, that scene and her fear would just wash it all away. The only thing left was an axiom that was nearly visceral— that Shuya Nanahara was dangerous.

It turns out she’s really sensitive to any violence, because her dad was extremely violent when she was younger. He hurt her and she also watched him hurt her mother and brother. Luckily, he was stabbed to death when she was in first grade, but she’s still got the scars from it.

(The book is weirdly ambivalent about if this is actually the cause or just a coincidence, despite it seeming to be a pretty direct link.)

But anyway, now she agrees with Haruka’s statement, not that she knows what she’s agreeing to because all she can think about is all of them having their heads split open with an ax. She doesn’t need to argue because Shuya will die and everything will go back to normal. From how she’s getting graphic images of their deaths just by Shuya’s name being mentioned, it actually makes sense – she can’t even handle discussing Shuya in any way without giving herself a panic attack.

Haruka adds that Shuya’s really great, and Yuko thinks that she used to feel the same, but now, of course, she really can’t think of anything but seeing him pull an ax out of someone’s face.

Right as Yuko is repeating her mantra that it doesn’t matter because Shuya will die, Yukie appears to tell everyone that Shuya’s awake.

The next chapter follows right from the first. Yukie attempts to reassure Yuko that she’s locked the door, but Yuko is far past the point that her fears can be dealt with rationally. She is still able to think about what’s going on, though.

What timing. They were about to eat. Besides…it wouldn’t be that odd for a guy in critical condition to die suddenly, would it?

After all, that’s how she escaped violence the first time. She lies and says she’s fine with Shuya. Yukie says that Shuya said it was an accident.

Hearing Tatsumichi’s name, Yuko had a flashback of that scene which sent another chill down her spine

This is actually a pretty good depiction of how irrational stuff is hard to deal with. Everyone’s trying to reassure her that the thing she’s afraid of isn’t a problem, and it’s just sending her further off the deep end because she can’t even think about it without getting triggered into a flashback of what happened or imagined scenes of it happening to the group now.

Yuko dug her hand into her skirt pocket and touched the object inside. The weapon she found in her day pack was a telescoping spring baton, but what she now held was this item labeled “special bonus,” the item she had thought was useless.

In the manga, she’s just given poison as her weapon. That’s more consistent, but I think this actually works because it fits with the generally haphazard implementation of everything. You can sort of picture how this might have started out with reasonable scientific protocol, and everyone just had a knife, and then someone suggested half knives and half guns, and then someone suggested throwing in another weapon just to see what happened, until you end up with this.

In the past…her father’s violence, his terrorization of the rest of her family, ended unexpectedly. That was how her family finally attained peace.
Now there was another threat. She had to put a stop to it. Once she did…she would be safe again. She wouldn’t have to be terrified anymore.
She felt no hesitation. Oddly enough, she was calm.

Which is probably why she’s compelled to act so suddenly. Despite her calmness and the fact she’s premediating, it’s really very close to her previous coping method of believing Shuya would die on his own. Making a decision has made her feel in control again and that she’s already prevented anything bad from happening.

We continue on to still another chapter that’s still coming right after the last.

“Maybe we should bring Shuya his meal first?”
Yukie beamed a smile at her. “That’s a good idea. Let’s do that.”
Yuko then added very casually, “The stew looks ready, so how about I start serving it up?”

But the food isn’t brought to Shuya immediately because Yukie remembers Shuya asked for painkillers, and Yuko, wanting this over, begins to look for it.

Yuka comes down to chat with the rest and everyone’s being friendly. She says the food smells great and reaches for the bowl on the counter to try it, the one Yuko just finished poisoning.

She turned around…and saw Yuka lift the dish and put it against her mouth. She should have used the ladle if she wanted a taste. Instead she had to put her mouth against that dish, the one she’d sprinkled with the half-transparent powder.
Yuko turned pale. She was about to raise her voice…but it happened too fast.
…
Yukie shook her body, but the dark-red foam only continued to spill out the side of her mouth. Her eyes were open as wide as possible, as if on the verge of popping out, but now even the whites of her eyes were turning red. For some reason—inflammation or broken capillaries—dark-red and black spots began appearing all over her blue face, transforming it into the mask of some grotesque monster.
But besides this, there was something else that was indisputable. It was obvious.
Yuka had stopped breathing.

Yuko freezes up in horror while the other girls realize what just happened.

There was a thump. Satomi Noda had grabbed the Uzi and was now aiming it at the others. The other four, including Yuko, reflexively moved to the side or backed away from Yuka’s corpse.
Satomi screamed. Her eyes behind her glasses were wide open with fear. “Who!? Who did it!? Who poisoned this stew! Who’s the one trying to kill us!?”

We don’t get a look into her head, but perhaps the bit about her being tired suggests that she wasn’t entirely able to trust the others, or was just so overwhelmed by the general fear of her looming death that she was on a hair trigger.

Satomi accuses Haruka of doing it, because she was the cook, and she says that Chisato was helping cook, and then Chisato starts defending herself and ends up saying Satomi and Yuko had a chase to do it, which makes Haruka accuse Satomi of accusing them because she knows she’s the one who’s guilty, and besides, she’s barely slept so she must not trust the rest of them. Yukie tries to get Satomi to put her weapon down, which just makes Satomi accuse her of being the one who did it.

Yuko is just frozen. She realizes she has to explain before things get worse.

Suddenly, Chisato moved…to the side table against the wall on the right side of the sink. There was the remaining gun—a Czechoslovakian CZ75.

And that’s it. Satomi shoots.

“She went for the gun. Because she was guilty.”
“So did you though!” Haruka screamed. “Yukie! Shoot Satomi!”
With a clicking sound, Satomi pointed the Uzi at Haruka. Her face darkened. She seemed ready to shoot Haruka at any moment.
Yukie looked anguished. At that moment she had her hand on the Browning in the back of her skirt.
After hesitating, she must have…intended to shoot Satomi’s arm or some other part of her body.
Satomi then quickly shifted the Uzi and fired…at Yukie.
Yukie was blown back with the rattling sound. Blood burst out of the holes in her chest and she fell backwards.
Haruka stood still for only a moment and then made a dash for the Browning Yukie had dropped.
Satomi’s Uzi followed her body and burst out, blowing off Haruka’s side along with the fabric of her uniform. Her body slid against the floor.
The table was in between them now. Satomi pointed the Uzi at Yuko. She said, “What about you?…You’re different, right?”
Yuko could only tremble. As she trembled, her eyes were fixed on Satomi’s face.
There was a pop. There was a hole on the left side of Satomi’s forehead. She opened her mouth…and looked down at her left hand. Blood burst out of the hole in her forehead, splashing against the inside of her glasses. Then it continued to drip downward.
Yuko’s neck moved stiffly like some gadget as she followed Satomi’s eyes and found Haruka, her torso raised in pain from her fallen position, somehow still holding the Browning.
Satomi’s Uzi burst out. It wasn’t clear whether she pulled the trigger intentionally or whether it was from her nerves twitching. Rows of bullets tore along the floor and pierced Haruka’s body which got tossed over and back. A bloody mist burst upward, nearly tearing off Haruka’s neck above her metal collar.
Satomi’s body fell forward slowly and landed with a thud over Yuka Nakagawa’s corpse. She remained absolutely still.

I really love how quickly everything happens here, which is weird because I found it kind of forced back when I read the manga. Maybe it’s that it’s easier to see how everything flows here – Satomi loses it first, and then her aggression causes everyone else to view her as the enemy, so it’s not really the whole group turning on each other. The rapidfire conversation also makes it easier to understand why Yuko doesn’t say anything, it’s so sudden and terrible it’s hard to believe it’s even happening, and then the shooting itself is over almost immediately.

9 students remaining

And with that, half of the surviving girls have been eliminated.

1 Yoshio Akamatsu: “the biggest kid in the class, the timid type, the kind of kid who’d always end up the target of pranks and insults.” Bowgun weapon, kills Mayumi, killed by Kazushi.
2 Keita Iijima: Shinji’s former friend who he’s been avoiding since he proved to be cowardly. Wasn’t playing. Shinji shoots and accidentally kills him.
3 Tatsumichi Oki: jock, handball. Hatchet. Runs into Shuya and Noriko, attacks when Shuya reaches for a weapon and accidentally killed in the resulting fight.
4 Toshinori Oda: Bulletproof vest. Strangles Hirono, gets her gun. Attacks but fails to killed Hiroki. Killed by Kazou.
5 Shogo Kawada: Looks older than the rest, has facial hair already, transferred in, scarred. Shotgun. Saves Shuya and kills Kyoichi. Doctor skills.
6 Kazuo Kiriyama: Awesome. A sociopath who decides to play the game by flipping a coin. Possesses several guns. Attacked but failed to kill Shuya, Noriko and Shogo. Kill count: 11.
7 Yoshitoki Kuninobu: Shuya’s friend since childhood, they grew up in the orphanage together. Killed for threatening Sakamochi.
8 Yoji Kuramoto: Seen briefly by Mitsuru. Yoshimi’s boyfriend, attacks her. Killed by Mitsuko.
9 Hiroshi Kuronaga: Part of Kazou’s gang. Killed by Kazuo.
10 Ryuhei Sasagawa: Delinquent. Part of Kazou’s gang. Bullied Yoshio. Had a younger brother. Killed by Kazuo.
11 Hiroki Sugimura: Tall and knows martial arts. Seems tough but is actually shy, likes Chinese poetry. Shuya’s friend. Close to Takako. Has a device that shows him when someone with a collar nearby, also armed with a staff. Searching for two girls, one of which was Takako and the other is Kayoko.
12 Yutaka Seto: Class clown. Best friends with Shinji, joined up with him. Fork weapon. Had a crush on Izumi. Decides to take on the government. Killed by Kazou.
13 Yuichiro Takiguchi: Teamed up with Tadakatsu and ran into Mitsuko, who he felt sympathy for. Shot attempting to defend Mitsuko.
14 Sho Tsukioka: Part of Kazou’s gang. Escaped Kazuo’s massacre. Gay. Had a gun. Stalked Kazuo, tricked into a forbidden zone and killed.
15 Shuya Nanahara: Main character? Minor but utterly harmless teenage rebelliousness. Popular with the girls. Killed Tatsumichi. Attempted to stop Hirono and Kaori’s shootout, failed. Escaped Kazou but fell off a cliff, then was patched up by the girls who found him.
16 Kazushi Niida: jock, soccer. Killed Yoshio by accident. Had a crush on Takako, tries to get her to stay with him and assaults her. Asserts he’s chosen to play. Killed by Takako.
17 Mitsuru Numai: Delinquent. Part of Kazou’s gang, pistol weapon, tried to keep Ryuhei from bullying Yoshio, believed himself Kazuo’s adviser. Killed by Kazuo.
18 Tadakatsu Hatagami: jock, Shuya’s friend when they were younger. ‘Shuya had started playing electric guitar, which was considered an “unpatriotic” activity. Tadakatsu’s mother was uptight about that sort of thing.” Teamed up with Yuichiro, accidentally shoots him when trying to shoot Mitsuko. Killed by Mitsuko.
19 Shinji Mimura: Shuya’s current friend. ‘short hair and wore an intricately designed ring on his left ear’, highly athletic, knows a lot of information, particularly about the outside world. Extremely cool under pressure. Best friends with Yutaka, joined up with him. Pistol weapon. Uncle probably part of the rebellion. Decides to take on the government. Shot and accidentally killed Keita. Killed by Kazou.
20 Kyoichi Motobuchi: Class representative, dad’s a government official. Sees Shuya’s fight with Tatsumichi. Pistol. Killed by Shogo.
21 Kazuhiko Yamamoto: Sakura’s boyfriend. Gun. Commits suicide.
Females
1 Mizuho Inada: A friend of Megumi’s.
2 Yukie Utsumi: class representative, braided hair, Haruka’s volleyball teammate. The first one to speak after their abduction. Noriko’s friend. Not playing. Sees Kazuhiko and Sakura’s suicide. Managed to collect a group of girls – Haruka, Yuko, Yuka, Satomi, and Chisato – who hide out at a lighthouse. Saves Shuya when they find him injured, has a crush on Shuya. Shot by a panicking Satomi.
3 Megumi Eto: Friends with Mizuho and Kaori. Had a crush on Shuya. Diving knife. Killed by Mitsuko.
4 Sakura Ogawa: Kazuhiko’s girlfriend. When she was young, she saw her father killed by the government. Commits suicide.
5 Izumi Kanai: ‘the preppy whose father was a town representative’. Killed by Kazuo.
6 Yukiko Kitano: Yumiko’s friend. Dart and dartboard. Crush on Shuya. Killed by Kazuo.
7 Yumiko Kusaka: Yukiko’s friend. Hand grenades. Crush on Shuya she’s hiding. Uses a megaphone to try to talk to the rest of their class and convince them to stop killing and join up with each other. Killed by Kazuo.
8 Kayoko Kotohiki: The other girl Hiroki is looking for. “The one who, in spite of being into tea ceremony, seemed more playful than elegant”.
9 Yuko Sakaki: Sees Shuya kill Tatsumichi and runs away unnoticed. Found by Yukie’s group. Terrified of Shuya, attempts to poison him but accidentally kills Yuka and causes Satomi to kill the rest in a panic.
10 Hirono Shimizu: Part of Mitsuko’s group. Tormented Megumi. Killed Kaori in a shootout, left Shuya alone. Shot Toshinori but failed to injure him and was killed.
11 Mitsuko Souma: Delinquent group leader. “Even though Mitsuko had the gorgeous looks of a pop idol, she always wore a strange, listless expression on her face.” Has two knives and a gun. Seems to have resented Takako. Hiroko knows she murdered Takako and passed the message on to Shuya’s group. Liked Yuichiro for being kind. Kill count: 5.
12 Haruka Tanizawa: Yukie’s volleyball teammate, exceptionally tall. Not playing, joined up with Yukie. Killed by Satomi, who she also kills.
13 Takako Chigusa: Close to Hiroki. Track star. Ice pick weapon. Rebuffs Kazushi and is attacked by him. Kills Kazushi. Shot by Mitsuko. Found by Hiroko shortly before she dies, tells him Mitsuko killed her.
14 Mayumi Tendo: The first death in the game, killed outside the school by Yoshio.
15 Noriko Nakagawa: She has a crush on Shuya he’s unaware of and Yoshitoki has a crush on her she may be unaware of. She’s nice and likes literature. Suffering a leg injury. Was sick but appears to have recovered.
16 Yuka Nakagawa: Yoshitoki says she’s fat. Class clown. Accidentally poisoned by Yuko.
17 Satomi Noda: “model student who wore wire-rimmed glasses which suited her calm, intelligent face” Joined up with Yukie. Panics after Yuka’s death and shoots the others.
18 Fumiyo Fujiyoshi: Killed for whispering to Yukie. “She was the nurse’s aide. She was quiet but very caring.”
19 Chisato Matsui: always quiet and withdrawn. Had a crush on Shinji. Shot by Satomi.
20 Kaori Minami: A friend of Megumi’s. Yukie asks her to join her group, but she was too afraid to do so. Pistol. Sees Hiroki briefly. Cracking under the stress of the games. Killed by Hirono.
21 Yoshimi Yahagi: Part of Mitsuko’s group. Colt weapon. In love with Yoji. Killed by Mitsuko.