It’s nearly midnight and the main group is looking around for their next hideout.

“Can we stop at a house, like we did just now?”
“A house, huh.” Shogo looked away from Shuya and squinted. “It’s really not a good idea. As the number of zones decrease so do the number of houses. The moment someone needs something, they’ll want to enter a house. Whether it’s to eat or whatever.”

Another good consideration. I wonder how much of this is personal experience and how much came from studying afterward. Anyway, Noriko says she’s better and doesn’t need a house.

Apparently Hiroki has filled them in on the deaths they’ve missed, although he doesn’t know who killed who.

Shuya asks Shogo if he thinks Mitsuko killed Yukiko and Yumiko.

Even now, as he asked this, it all felt so unreal. He didn’t believe a girl could do such horrible things. Of course he had no doubt, since it was Hiroki who’d informed them, but he still couldn’t restrain the urge to dismiss it all as a delusion.

Stop being annoying, Shuya.

Shogo says that the two deaths seem different. The machinegun shooter went to the bodies after shooting them to be sure they were finished off, while Takako was left alive, and the locations don’t fit.

Shuya recalled something else that had been bugging him. “When Hiroki showed us his radar, I was thinking how Sakamochi must know we’re together and our positions as well.”
Shogo answered as he surveyed the flat land, “That’s right.”
Shuya moved his shoulder to give Noriko better support. “Won’t that hinder our escape?”
Shogo chuckled with his back to Shuya. “Nope. Not at all. Don’t worry.”

Then he starts talking about how serial killers work in this game.

“A common strategy players in this game take is to show up anywhere they hear some action. That’s because of the 24-hour deadline. Because of that limitation, they kill when they can. And the fact that they’re on a killing spree means they’re on their own, so they can’t afford to sleep much. So the match has to be kept short. If something happens near them, they go there, and if there’s a fight already going on, they sit back and then they finish off any survivors. That’s why we should stay somewhere we can avoid confrontations. If we get mixed up with someone who’s panicking then one of the top players is bound to show up.

For this reason, he thinks their best bet is to head back to where they were earlier, since Tatsumichi and Kyoichi are dead and it’s unlikely anyone else would have shown up.

Shuya points out Hirono went that way, but Shogo doesn’t think she went very far and that she’s more likely in the mountain. They’ll be going in the flat field. Shogo says that at night, it’ll be safer to be in the open rather than risk stumbling on someone in the forest.

The trees turned into a field of short grass. The first farm they came across had a field full of squashes. Beyond this field there was a wheat field. This island was so small these probably weren’t for domestic consumption. Of course the Republic of Greater East Asia was incessantly issuing orders to promote national self-reliance, so even a small farm like this might contribute a little to the effort.

Ah, so that explains why there’s so much farming on a tiny island.

As they moved along the edge of the farm, the soil under their sneakers felt dry. Maybe it was because several days had passed since the area had been evacuated.

Huh.

See, from the state of the animals, I was assuming a much longer period. Both cats and chickens have to go much longer without food before they’d be noticeably emaciated. Maybe the author just doesn’t know much about them.

Shuya finds it nice to smell ripening wheat instead of dead bodies. He looks back and sees that something’s been thrown toward them.

The next chapter begins right where the last ended.

The book explains that Shuya was good at softball because he’s good at seeing moving objects. This one looks like a can for some reason. He jumps for it, grabs it and throws it away from them.

Before Shuya landed a bright light shined through the night.
He felt the air burst as a sonic boom tore through his eardrums. The bomb blast blew him away before he could land, and he fell sprawling onto the ground.

Shuya barely has time to process this before he sees another one coming. He doesn’t have time to get up, but Shogo is once again on it, shooting it before it can reach them.

Shogo is firing at someone, so Shuya pulls Noriko away and then aims his gun and shoots in the same direction.

Then he saw him. Less than thirty meters away, the unique slicked-back hair behind the break in the house’s concrete wall.
It was Kazuo Kiriyama (Male Student No. 6). And although Shuya’s hearing was impaired, he could recall the sound of the rattling gunfire.

So that mystery has been solved.

Shogo hands him the other gun while he continues shooting with the rifle. Of course, Shuya doesn’t know what he’s doing, so he just fires a bunch of times until they’re both out of bullets. Kazou immediately pops up to shoot at them again, but luckily Shogo’s ready to fire at him.

“Noriko! Are you all right!?” Shuya yelled. Right next to him, Noriko answered, “I’m okay.” He could make out her response, which made Shuya realize his hearing was back. He saw her in the corner of his eye reloading 9mm Short bullets into the SIG-Sauer’s empty magazine. Of all the things he’d seen since the game began this one really sent his head reeling. How could a girl like Noriko be participating in a battle like this…

Really getting tiresome, Shuya.

Kazuo is doing pretty well, shooting again to make them hide, then darting to the tractor for cover to get closer.

Then Shuya comes up with a plan. He asks how fast of a runner Shogo is.

“I’m pretty slow. Maybe thirteen seconds. My back’s strong though. What?”
Suddenly Kazuo’s arm stuck out from behind the tractor. Sparks flew as Kazuo revealed his head, but as Shuya and Shogo fired back, he ducked again.
“We can only retreat into the mountain, right?” Shuya spoke quickly. “I can run a hundred meters in almost less than eleven seconds. You and Noriko go ahead. I’ll keep Kazuo there.”

Well, there’s worse plans. At this rate, if they let Kazou reach them, they’re dead.

So, Shogo gives Shuya the shotgun and picks up Noriko to run. Shuya keeps firing to keep Kazou in place while they escape.

Shuya’s not really that great at this, though, so he quickly runs out of bullets. He’s only got some for one gun, and they have to be loaded individually.

He decides to sprint east because Shogo ran west and he doesn’t want to risk Kazou finding them.

So he does.

Right when he thought he was five meters away from a tree he heard a rattling sound. He felt a severe blow against the left side of his stomach.

Outrunning bullets really isn’t a very good plan.

He manages to stay up and keeps running. He gets further away, but he can’t tell if he still hears the rattling gunshots because his ears are all messed up from the explosion, so he keeps running until he finds a cliff to fall off.

He landed with a thud. He was no longer holding the SIG-Sauer. And as he tried to stand up…
He realized he couldn’t. He wondered, in a daze, am I delirious from blood loss? Or…did I hit my head?
Impossible. I’m not injured so badly I can’t stand up…I have to get back to Noriko and Shogo…I have to protect Noriko, I promised Noriko…
As he tried to get up though, he fell forward…
…and lost consciousness.

20 students remaining

So he’s not dead, at least. Considering Kazou’s killed everyone else he’s encountered, that’s not bad.

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
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.
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: 7.
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.
13 Yuichiro Takiguchi
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.
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.”
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.
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, joined up with Haruka, sees Kazuhiko and Sakura’s suicide.
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.
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, a pistol and a bowgun. Seems to have resented Takako. Kill count: 4. Hiroko knows she murdered Takako and passed the message on to Shuya’s group.
12 Haruka Tanizawa: Yukie’s volleyball teammate, exceptionally tall. Not playing, joined up with Yuki.
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.
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. Currently severely ill.
16 Yuka Nakagawa: Yoshitoki says she’s fat. Class clown.
17 Satomi Noda: “model student who wore wire-rimmed glasses which suited her calm, intelligent face”
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
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.