Read Online Battle Royale by Koushun Takami - Free Book Online

after him (could she walk though?). Shinji Mimura also came after him. Hiroki Sugimura would leave before him though....
    Shuya considered passing a note to Hiroki but his seat was too far. Besides, if he tried anything he could end up like Fumiyo Fujiyoshi.
    Hiroki Sugimura was up next. His eyes met Shuya's briefly right before he exited the room's sliding door…but that was all. In his mind, Shuya sighed deeply. He could only hope Hiroki had the same idea and would be waiting outside. If he could talk the others into waiting too…
    In front and behind him, the quiet ones, Shogo Kawada, Kazuo Kiriyama, and Mitsuko Souma, left one by one.
    Chewing his gum, Shogo exited with an indifferent look on his face, completely ignoring Sakamochi and the camouflaged trio. Kiriyama and Souma left the same way.
    That's right. When Sakamochi said, "There are others willing to do it," the rest of the class must have immediately suspected these three students. Because they were "delinquents." They might not think twice about killing the others in order to survive....
    But Shuya doubted Kazuo Kiriyama would. Kazuo had his own gang. On top of that, his gang was a lot tighter than your typical group of buddies. Hiroshi Kuronaga, Ryuhei Sasagawa, Sho Tsukioka, and Mitsuru Numai. The rules of this game turned everyone else into your enemy, but the five of them killing each other was unimaginable. Besides— Shuya made a careful note of this—when he left, his boys looked disturbingly calm. That's right, Kazuo probably passed around a note to the others. He's probably planning an escape for the five of them. Kazuo was more than capable of out-maneuvering the government. Of course, this also meant that Kazuo wouldn't trust anyone besides his gang.
    Mitsuko Souma had a similar kind of group. Her seat was too far from the others, Hirono Shimizu and Yoshimi Yahagi, for her to be able to pass them notes. But…Mitsuko Souma was a girl. There was no way she would play this game.
    Shogo Kawada was the only one who troubled Shuya. Shogo Kawada had no group. In fact he didn't even have a single friend. Ever since he transferred to their school, he hardly spoke to anyone in the class. On top of that, there was something elusive about Shogo. Even if he ignored the rumors, there were those wounds covering his entire body…
    Could it be that…Shogo might be the only one willing to participate in this game? It was certainly possible.
    But Shuya knew the moment he turned suspicious he was giving into the government, so he immediately dismissed the thought…though he had trouble dismissing the thought entirely.
    Time passed.
    Many of the girls were crying as they left.
    Although it felt incredibly short, an hour must have passed according to his calculations (of course with Yoshitoki Kuninobu the elapsed time was reduced by two minutes). Female Student No. 14 Mayumi Tendo vanished into the hall, and Sakamochi called out, "Male Student No. 15, Shuya Nanahara."
    Shuya grabbed his bag and stood up. He thought, I did all I could before leaving the classroom.

    Instead of heading directly to the exit, he took the aisle on his left. Noriko turned around and watched Shuya approaching her.
    Sakamochi raised his voice, "Shuya," and his knife.
    "Wrong direction."
    Shuya stopped. The three soldiers had their rifles cocked. His throat stiffened. Then he said nervously,
    "Yoshitoki Kuninobu was my friend. The least I could do is close his eyes. According to the Great Dictator's education policy, we're supposed to respect the dead."
    Sakamochi hesitated for a moment, but then he grinned and put his knife down.
    "You're so caring, Shuya. All right then."
    Shuya took a small breath, then stepped forward. He stopped in front of Noriko's desk, where Yoshitoki's corpse was lying.
    Although he'd demanded the right to close his friend's eyes, he couldn't help but freeze up.
    Now that he was up close he saw, courtesy of the frivolous one, thin, red flesh and something white in