PART FOUR
FINISH
4 students remaining

Tension has been kind of lacking due to the number of characters, but it’s really ramped up now. It’s almost over, it’s the main characters against the so far unstoppable antagonist, no real hint as to what either side’s plans are, and with three of them, there’s space for some death.

“Now then, with the girls, the body count was pretty high. No. 1, Mizuho Inada, No. 2 Yukie Utsumi, No. 8 Kayoko Kotohiki, No. 9 Yuko Sakaki, No. 11 Mitsuko Souma, No. 12 Haruka Tanizawa, No. 16 Yuka Nakagawa, No. 17 Satomi Noda, and No. 19 Chisato Matsui.”
Shuya’s eyes met Noriko’s. Her eyes were trembling. They had already been prepared to hear about Yukie’s group, but Hiroki and Kayoko too? And Mitsuko Souma…and Mizuho Inada. Basically…did it mean the only ones left were them and Kazuo?
“That can’t be—” Shuya uttered. Ever since the smoke signal went up, there hadn’t been any gunfire. Or was Hiroki stabbed? Or… did he not hear Sakamochi’s announcement correctly? Were his ears playing tricks on him?

Oh, Shuya.

While Shuya is still struggling to even believe Hiroki can be dead, Shogo has already figured out what’s going on.

“Get up. It’s Kazuo.

They are fucked. They grab their stuff to make a run for it-

Shuya saw Shogo’s eyes glance at that alarm system consisting of notches cut into thin trees wrapped
with thin wire.
And then he saw this wire fall off the rain-drenched tree trunk.

Royally fucked.

Shogo screams at them to duck right as the machinegun fire begins. He fires back into the bushes and orders the others to move. Shuya finds there’s a gully in the rock and Shuya realizes Shogo must have planned this, picking this place because it has an escape route.`

Suddenly Noriko stopped as if she were hit by something. She moaned and crouched over. Shuya, who was turned towards Shogo, quickly ran to Noriko. Did she trip over something?
No. She looked up at Shuya. A cut ran under her left eye and blood gushed down her cheek. Maybe her right hand was cut too then. It was also bloody. The Browning that had been in her hand was on the ground by her feet.
Shuya put his right hand on her shoulder, looked up, and found…a thin, twisted wire stretched out across the crevice, neck-high. It didn’t matter where Kazuo had found it (he’d probably unfastened the wire used to secure some object). Kazuo had already anticipated their escape by this route. At Shuya’s height the wire would have cut right into his neck.

Okay I call shinanigans on this.

First, how did Kazou have the time to do this? He needed to find them before six because then they’d realize he was after them and run for it. In the event he got there early and had time to scope them out and set traps, he could have just attacked them while they weren’t expecting it.

Second, how did he manage to sneak around avoiding them? He’d have to get close enough to figure out where they are, then find this, then know that they knew it was there and would flee this way, all without alterting any of the group or hitting their tripwire.

Third and most importantly, since when does Kazou set traps? The only time he’s done anything like this was with Sho, and that was a trap designed to deal with someone already chasing him whose behavior he knew quite well. Otherwise, his tactics have been “throw grenades as an opening move” and “spray bullets first, aim second when mopping up”.

This is cheating.

Anyway. Noriko’s shorter, so she was hit on the cheek and hand and is bleeding but not horribly injured.

hurting Noriko, that was just unforgivable. I’m going to kill that motherfucker!

Uh-huh. Shuya’s whole chivalry thing has been the main problem I have with him, and it’s sad to see he’s not going to actually change within this book. Another reason to be disappointed there’s so little interaction with other female characters. Dealing with someone less vulnerable than Noriko, especially one outright malicious like Mitsuko, would really have helped.

So anyway: Bad Shuya! Kazou has killed a fourth of your class already including two people explicitly saying they weren’t going to hurt anybody, slightly hurting Noriko in his attempt to kill one of you is not what you should be most upset about. Also, killing people in anger is still wrong! It’s necessary for everyone else’s survival that Kazou dies, but you should never feel rightous about murder.

But right now you need to focus on running, so get going.

He half-carries Noriko along, ducking under the wire, and then run along the crevice and eventually find themselves at a house with a truck. Shogo orders them to use it as cover and they do. Shuya shoots toward where Kazou is, hoping to keep him from approaching. Meanwhile, Shogo the resourceful hotwires the truck. They climb in and Kazou nearly shoots them, making a hole in the windshield.

“Are you all right, Noriko?” Shuya asked.
In between Shuya and Shogo, Noriko tilted her face, covered in red, and nodded. “Yes.” But her body was still tense. She still held onto the Browning. Shuya put the Uzi in his right hand between his thighs, pulled out a bandanna from his pocket, and wiped her face. Blood came pouring out of the wound, and her pink flesh showed underneath. A simple operation wasn’t enough to remove the scar from this wound. To do this to a girl…

Arg.

Shogo explains that he doesn’t think Kazou found them and then set up traps, explaining that it’d have been smarter to just come to them before the announcement when they’d be expecting Hiroki, and that he must have just been planting wire traps all over while he traveled toward them. You’re not very convincing, book.

While Shuya is lamenting how delicate and precious Noriko is, she’s being pretty cool about it.

Noriko then finally let go of her gun (its grip was also covered in blood) and gave Shuya her hand. It seemed small and frail, but there was a sharp tear running down between her middle and ring finger. The palm of her hand was covered with a web of blood in the pattern of the textured pistol grip. He surmised, the wire must have cut her face first and then as she fell, it must have torn through her hand she put forward as she fell. The wound might have been much more severe if the gun hadn’t been in her hand. Shuya wanted to wrap a bandanna, but realized he couldn’t use his left hand.
Noriko said, “I’m okay. I’ll do it.” She took the bandanna from Shuya, flapped it, and spread it out, and then wrapped it around her right hand. She folded the edges and tied it up.
Then she held the Browning again.

Shuya may see her as just someone to be protected, but Noriko is clearly willing to do her part.

Anyway. After all this time, finally some use of the trucks! They really couldn’t be used before now, but now that everyone else is dead, there’s no risk of attracting more attention and being mobbed. Of course, there’s the problem that a lot of the areas are now forbidden, but luckily. a good portion of the road is still open, so they’ll be able to drive safely there.

I wonder how far they should go? It seems like the best idea would be to ditch the car now that they’re out of sight and try to hide again, but then again, now that they’re down to the wire, they can’t afford to lose track of Kazou. If they hide for a day, their collars go off and they all die. And if they take the initiative and try to find him again, it’s far more likely he’ll get the drop on them than the other way around. They’ve got to end this while they can.

Also, Shogo punches the cracked windshield out of its frame, because I guess he was finding it really annoying to see through.

Then they see another car. Kazou sure moves fast. The kids shoot at each other, and somehow, Shuya can’t seem to hit Kazou even when the two cars are right next to each other. For some reason, Shogo spins the car around so he ends up behind Kazou.

the hunter and the hunted were reversed. Shogo had managed to dodge the front of Kazuo’s minivan, completing a full spin. Kazuo’s minivan was in front. Shogo immediately accelerated forward. The engine whirred away with a sudden surge of power, and the pickup lunged forward towards the back of the minivan. Kazuo was turning around.

I understand nothing.

Why is it easier to be the one facing the other car? That puts your soft vulnerable body in plain sight. Plus generally the engine is in front, and shooting that enough makes it stop working. These aren’t armored cars or anything, bullets should go through the hood.

“Fire away, Shuya! Everything you got!” Shogo yelled.
He didn’t have to be told. Shuya squeezed the trigger of his reloaded Uzi with all his might and fired away with the gun on full auto. He knew the scorching, empty shells were bursting out at Noriko, but he couldn’t be concerned about that. The minivan’s rear windshield burst apart. Along with a popping sound, the rear hatch opened up. Then the right tire was blown out with a popping sound. Shuya was out of bullets, but the minivan was now tottering over to the edge of the road.

See, if they’d done that when Kazou was chasing them, instead of hitting the useless trunk they’d have hit the engine and possibly him.

Then Shogo smashes their truck into Kazou’s minivan, sending it off the edge of the road into a cabbage field. He doesn’t wait for Kazou to try to get out but sprays bullets at the minivan immediately.

They went through this round once, then twice. Because the Uzi was a 9mm weapon, they ended up using the bullets from the same caliber CZ75 and Noriko’s Browning too.

Um…

The Uzi trigger device indicated the magazine was empty with a locking sound. It was out of bullets. Blue smoke drifted up from the short muzzled Uzi. The narrow cabin was filled with the odor of gunsmoke. How many bullets had Shogo fired? The Uzi Shuya had taken from Yukie’s group came with five extra magazines and plenty of spare bullets, but if they were to include the bullets from the CZ75 and the Browning wouldn’t the number go up to two hundred and fifty? Or three hundred?
With its left-side front passenger’s seat and roof facing them, the minivan was honeycombed. It looked more like a strange beehive in the shape of a car.

I mean, I guess it’s good to shoot him while he’s stunned and to use overkill so he won’t get away, but it also seems risky to use up all your bullets when you can’t actually see you’re hitting him.

The car starts moving.

Shuya was speechless. Not only was the van’s engine still functioning, Kazuo was still alive and operating the vehicle. Shogo had wagered everything by emptying their entire bullet supply and yet…Kazuo was still alive!
Beyond the bullet-ridden vehicle, Kazuo’s upper body sprung up like a jack-in-the-box. With a machine gun.

I’m torn here. It’s really the same problem as always with Kazou. On the one hand, he’s supposed to be the cool invincible villain, and he really does that very well. It’s terrifying when he appears. On the other, push it too far and it makes it obvious this is just a story and it’s all just happening because the author wants it to and so he’ll win exactly up until it’s time to lose.

I think it’d have helped to have stuck to Kazou’s core skills of spraying bullets and not getting shot, without adding in stuff like the wire trap or being able to take someone out without even turning toward them. I’d feel more willing to give him this kind of thing if he was just an unstoppable force but not all-around great.

They continue exchanging fire. Kazou’s machinegun eventually empties and he doesn’t have time to reload, but he’s got every other weapon on the island, so he just switches guns. Meanwhile, our group is almost out of bullets completely.

For some reason, Shogo swings aroung and starts driving to the northern mountain, telling Shuya to keep shooting to suppress Kazou’s fire and not worry about running out of bullets.

They find themselves back where they first fought Kazou. Shogo doesn’t explain, just jumps out.

There was a blast.
The left front tire of Kazuo’s minivan was blown off. It was only ten meters in front of them. The minivan tottered…and slid along the ridge of the elevated field on the left, and its front went up in the air like a surfboard taking on a large wave. The next moment it rolled over on its roof into the field. Right before or after the minivan came to a complete halt, a black shadow leaped out. By the time it somersaulted and came to a kneeling position, Shuya could see it was Kazuo. Sparks flew out from his hands with a continuous popping noise. Then there was another blast.
Shuya was still inside the truck as he saw it through the window of the passenger’s seat: the sight of Kazuo Kiriyama’s body being blown back like an arrow.
Kazuo landed on the field with a thud. He was completely still.

They lost the shotgun in their initial fight with Kazou, and apparently it’s still there. That makes sense – there’s been steadily fewer people who could find it, and it’s in an open field so it’s not safe to travel except at night in the first place, and there hasn’t been another night since they lost it. Shogo still has the cartridges, either just in case or because he was planning to come back here and retrieve it later.

“Right at the beginning…” Shogo said slowly, “…he missed us with his surprise attack. So he lost. Because then he had to take on all three of us.”
He took a deep breath, put down the shotgun which thumped against the refrigerator on the truck rack, and took out a pack of Wild Sevens from his pocket. He took one out and lit it.
“You’re bleeding, Shogo,” Noriko said, pointing at his left shoulder.
“Yeah.” Shogo glanced at his wound and then grinned. “It’s nothing.” He exhaled.
Bang. Shogo’s body bent over. The Wild Seven cigarette fell from his mouth, leaving a trace of smoke in the air. The stubbly face contorted. His eyes gazed down at Shuya’s feet.

This is definitely great. It works either way – if you remember the fact he’s wearing the vest, it’s terrifying because they’re chatting about how they made it safely while he’s getting ready to murder them. Shogo is even talking about how Kazou missed his chance at a surprise attack right before it happened. And if you’re reading fast and too stuck in Shuya’s POV to remember, it comes as a horrifying surprise to you too.

Shuya has no gun and even if he tried to grab the shotgun it’s empty.

The small muzzle of Kazuo’s gun a good ten meters away looked like a giant tunnel. A black hole engulfing everything.
Bang. Shuya instantly closed his eyes. He felt a piercing sensation run through his chest and thought, oh, man, I’m dying.
He opened his eyes.
He wasn’t dead.
There was Kazuo in the diagonal orange light of the setting sun, a red dot punctured by his nose. The gun fell from his hand. He immediately fell back and crashed onto the ground.
Shuya slowly turned his head to his left. Noriko was standing, holding the Smith & Wesson .38 caliber revolver with both of her hands.

Noriko! <33333333

Noriko has been a pretty bland character for most of the book. She’s just sort of secondary-Shuya in most of the conversations and spends a good chunk of time out of commission. But she managed to keep her head this whole book and helped out doing things like reloading the guns.

And her ability to focus not just watch what’s happening saved them.

While Shogo loaded the shotgun, Noriko had also loaded the revolver Shuya had tossed aside yesterday with her remaining .38 Special bullets.

Shogo, similarly, displays some good focus, lurching to his feet, reloading the shotgun, and going over to blow Kazou’s head off. Then he tells Noriko, who seems a little stunned, that he’s the one who killed Kazou in what’s presumably meant to calm her down and not steal her credit. I’m not sure if it’ll actually help, but good try either way.

He also claims to be okay, although no word on what his injury actually is, so maybe he’s being stoic before his impending death.

And now, including Kazuo Kiriyama over there, thirty-nine of their dead classmates were lying sprawled all over the island.
Shuya had that dizzy spell again. Maybe his thoughts were numbed by this hollow feeling. What the hell was this all about?
Faces flashed by one by one. Yoshitoki Kuninobu’s face as he shouted, “I’ll kill you!” Shinji Mimura’s face grinning slightly as Shuya left. Tatsumichi Oki’s face as he swung the axe with bloodshot eyes. Hiroki Sugimura who vanished into the dark outside the medical clinic, saying, “I have to see Kayoko Kotohiki,” Hirono Shimizu as she ran away from Shuya after shooting down Kaori Minami. The tearful Yukie Utsumi saying, “I just wouldn’t know what to do if you died.” Yuko Sakaki, who pried Shuya’s fingers loose. Then the cold eyes of Kazuo Kiriyama, who’d cornered them until now.
They were all gone. Not just everyone’s lives, but so many other things were destroyed.

I really like this book’s outlook on things so much better than most media.

Shuya tells Shogo they should treat his wounds, but he says he’s fine and to just take care of Noriko.

Then he said, “I’m going to collect Kazuo’s weapons.” He walked over to the overturned minivan.

…huh.

3 students remaining