Bab 77: 73
It had stopped raining completely by the sixth time Shogo tweaked the bird call. It was now 5:55 p.m., but the light which now seemed brilliant, compared to the preceding hours, enveloped the island. They removed the thatched roof from the rock wall.
After sitting against the rock wall, the open sky up above, Noriko said, "The sky's clear." Shuya and Shogo both nodded.
A soft breeze rustled by.
Shogo put another cigarette in his mouth and lit it.
Staring at Shogo's profile, Shuya hesitated over whether he should bring it up or not. He decided to speak out. "Shogo."
The cigarette dangling from one end of his mouth, Shogo looked up.
"What about you? What did you want to be?"
Shogo snickered as he exhaled. "I wanted to be a doctor. Like my old man. That's right, I thought at least a doctor could help people, even in this fucked up country."
Shuya felt relieved. "Then why don't you become one? You're certainly talented enough." Tapping the ashes off his cigarette, Shogo shook his head, as if to say this discussion was over. Noriko said, "Shogo." He looked at Noriko. "I know I'm repeating myself, but I have to say it. If I were Keiko, this is what I'd say." She looked up at the sky, now tinged with orange, and continued, "Please live. Talk, think, act. And sometimes listen to music..." She stopped, then she continued, "Look at paintings at times to be moved. Laugh a lot, and at times, cry. And if you find a wonderful girl, then you go for her and love her."
It was poetic. Pure poetry.
And then Shuya thought, oh. These are Noriko's words.
And words along with music had an incredible, holy power.
Shogo listened without saying a word.
Noriko continued. "Because that's the Shogo that I really loved." Then she looked over at Shogo. She seemed slightly embarrassed, but added, "That's what I would have said." The ash on Shogo's cigarette grew longer.
Shuya said, "Come on, Shogo. Aren't there ways to tear up this country without dying? It might be a roundabout way but still…" He continued, "I mean we got to be such good friends. We'd really miss you. Let's go to America, the three of us."
Shogo fell silent. Then realizing his cigarette was burnt down to the filter, he tossed it away. He looked up at them. He was on the verge of saying something.
Shuya thought, that's right, come with us, Shogo. We'll be together. We're a team.
"Hey—"
It was the all-too-familiar voice of Sakamochi.
Shuya quickly lifted his left arm with his right hand and checked his watch. The muddy display read 6
p.m., exactly, five seconds past the hour.
"Can you hear me? Well, I guess there aren't too many of you left who can hear. Now then, I will announce the dead. Now in the boy's group…"
Shuya was already thinking. There were only four boys left, Shuya, Shogo, Hiroki, and Kazuo Kiriyama. (Of course the same was true with the girls, Noriko, Kayoko Kotohiki, Mitsuko Souma, and Mizuho Inada.) Kazuo couldn't die so easily. And Hiroki had sent the signal. So none of the boys were dead. But…
"…we have only one. No. 11, Hiroki Sugimura."
Shuya's eyes opened wide.
4 students remaining
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone