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When they heard the two distant shots, Yutaka cringed. Shinji stopped typing on the keyboard.

"Hey—"

Shinji nodded. "Another gunshot."

He quickly returned to his computer, though. It seemed harsh, but he couldn't afford to be concerned with others.

Yutaka looked down at Shinji's fingers. He was holding the Beretta. Shinji had handed it to his towel-bandaged hand and requested he keep watch.

"Hey, Shinji. What are you trying to find on that laptop? Won't you tell me now?" After Shinji had booted up the communications software and dialed up with the cellular phone, he kept typing away at that keyboard, only occasionally exclaiming "Bingo! Bingo! Bingo!" or "Oh damn, oh yeah, right," without giving Yutaka a single explanation.

"Hold on a sec. I'm almost there."

Shinji was typing again. At the center of the gray screen, English sentences interspersed with "%" and "#" characters streamed by. Shinji seemed to be responding to them.

"All right."

Shinji stopped typing after the requested data began to download. The basic operation was Unix, but he'd set up a separate graphics window to indicate the download status in Mac format. Shinji stretched his arms over his head. Now he'd just have to wait for the download to be completed (of course once it was he'd have to rewrite the log entry to erase all traces of his operation). Then he had to come up with a strategy based on the data he received. He'd either have to rewrite the data or come up with his own program to deceive his opponents. The latter would be a hassle, but he probably wouldn't need more than half a day to do the job.

"Shinji, tell me what's going on," Yutaka insisted.

Shinji smiled, moved back from the laptop, and leaned against the tree again. He had to admit, this was exciting. He took a deep breath to calm himself down. It was only natural, though. Although he wasn't sure when he told Yutaka, "It's a PowerBook 150," now he was now certain— they were going to win. He spoke slowly, "I've been trying to figure out how to escape." Yutaka nodded.

"And so…" Shinji pointed to his neck. He himself couldn't see it, but he assumed Yutaka could see the silver collar wrapped around his neck, the same one Yutaka had on his neck. "The first thing I wanted was to get rid of this. This is giving our positions away to that bastard Sakamochi. For example, the fact that we're together. Thanks to this device, even if we try to escape, they'll locate us, or worse yet, they can just send a signal to blow up the collars and kill us. So I needed to figure out how to get rid of this collar."

Shinji opened up his hand. Then he shrugged. "But I gave up. You can't pry it loose without knowing how it's built. Sakamochi said it would explode if you took it apart, and I doubt he was bluffing. The outer casing must be loaded with a fuse wire for the device. It's probably set to ignite once you cut it. It's too dangerous to cross that bridge. I thought of inserting a metal plate inside the band, but it would be too thin to protect my neck from being blown to bits."

Yutaka nodded again.

"That's how I came up with the idea of controlling the school computer that's tracking us and controlling the ignition signal. Get it?"

It was of course his uncle who'd taught him the basics of computer programming, but ever since his death Shinji was as passionate about improving his skills on his uncle's computer as he was about basketball. As a result he became extremely adept. He learned how to tap into an international line that was strictly prohibited by the government and obtain even higher levels of computer skills and new information on the entire world through the real internet. (What the nation called "the internet" was really a joke, a closed net referred to as "Greater East Asia Net.") While he might not be executed for these actions, they were illegal enough to send him away for a two-year stint at a juvenile prison for ideological offenses. That was how he acquired the skill to escape detection. Of course he never told anyone about it, but he'd shown some websites to Yutaka (mostly pornographic ones, come on, gimme a break). In short, Shinji was good at computer hacking.

"I looked for a personal computer. I already had a cell. I guess you're allowed to keep your stuff in this stupid game. I should have brought my notes, but I can't complain, since I found this laptop. Now all I needed was electricity. I yanked that battery out of a car. I had to adjust the voltage, but that was pretty easy."

As Shinji explained, Yutaka finally began to grasp how the PowerBook and cell phone functioned together. But then a thought suddenly occurred to him and he said, "Hey, but didn't Sakamochi say we couldn't use phones? So cell phones are an exception?"

Shinji shook his head. "No, they won't work. I tried the number for the weather report and Sakamochi's voice chimed in, 'A beautiful day at the Shiroiwa Junior High Program Headquarters.' I was so pissed I immediately hung up. So they're controlling the nearest cellular transmitter. My guess is none of the phone companies will work here."

"Then…"

Shinji lifted his finger, interrupting Yutaka. "Think about it. Their communication system has to reach beyond this island. I mean, their computers must be linked to the central government's for security purposes. Then how would they do that? It's simple. They've selectively employed numbers for military purposes from the cellular phone lines."

"So that means…"

Shinji interrupted Yutaka again and grinned. "But even if that were the case, I thought…they must have at least made some minimal effort to protect themselves from anyone at the telephone company tampering with their lines."

Shinji reached out for the cell phone on the ground. Then he said, "I didn't tell you, but my cell is a custom model. It has two types of ROM memory for phone numbers and passwords. You can't tell looking at it, but you can switch the other one on by turning this screw ninety degrees. And this other number is something I came up with just for fun to make free calls..." He let go of his phone and continued,

"It's the cellular number used by phone company technicians to test phone lines."

"Then… that means…"

Shinji winked. "That's right. Bingo! The rest is simple. It was a bit of a pain to hook up the phone modem to the cellular. It's not like they came with tools. But I managed to do it. So that's how I got my line. Then I accessed my computer at home. I can't hack with your average communications software, so I downloaded my special tools—like codebreaking software. Then I went for the prefectural government's site. The central government's operations must have high quality security systems, but I figured the prefectural government's systems would be easy to break into. My hunch turned out to be right. Even though this game is directly managed by the central government, it must have some contact with the government branch of the prefecture where the game's taking place. I was right about that too. There were a lot of unfamiliar addresses in their communications log files. Going through e-mails I found one to the superintendent, notifying him of the game's commencement. I broke into the sender's website, in other words, the temporary server for the school building on this island. It took some work, but as I poked around as much as I could without getting caught, I found an operation backup file they'd completely spaced out on. So I took that. In other words, I found a strange code that seemed important. I've been having the Mac break the code before I hooked up with you. So that's what I was up to." Shinji reached out for the PowerBook as it continued to download data, opened up another memo file, and showed the immense 24-point display. Yutaka took a look. "Kinpati Sakamocho."

"Sakamocho?…"

"Yeah. I think it's Spanish. So the password was a bit complex due to this silly change in vowels. That's what the password for this system is. That's how I got free access. I was checking out as much as I could. I completely downloaded the entire data contents of the school's computer. I'm going to alter the data, go back into that system, and disable these collars. By making the school premises a forbidden zone, they think they're totally safe against us, but now we'll be able to attack them by surprise. We'll have a chance. And once we control the school, we should be able to help out the others. Even if that's not possible, we can falsify the data to claim we're dead and then escape this island for good." With this brief but intense summary, Shinji took a deep breath and grinned. "What do you think?" Yutaka looked astonished. "It's amazing."

Tickled by his friends response, Shinji smiled. Thanks, Yutaka. It's always nice to be admired for your talents.

"Shinji…" Yutaka asked, still looking astonished.

Shinji raised his brow. "What is it? You have a question?"

"No." Yutaka shook his head. "IT was just wondering."

"What is it?"

Yutaka looked down and stared down at the Beretta in his hand. Then he looked up. "I was wondering why you're friends with someone like me."

Shinji had no idea what Yutaka was talking about. His mouth hung open. Then he asked, "What are you talking about?"

Yutaka looked down again. Then he said, "It's just that…1 mean you're so awesome. I can see how you'd be friends with someone like Shuya. Shuya's as athletic as you are, and he's a great guitar player. But…but I'm nothing. So…I was just wondering why you're friends with me." Shinji stared at Yutaka, who kept looking down. Then he began to speak, "That's ridiculous, Yutaka." Hearing Shinji's gentle voice, Yutaka looked up.

Shinji continued, "I am who I am. And you're you. Even if I'm pretty good at basketball or computers, or popular with the girls, that's doesn't make me a better person. You can make people laugh and you're kind. When you're serious, you're a lot more sincere than I am. Like with girls. I'm not resorting to that cheap cliche about everyone having something to offer, but I am saying there are a lot of things I admire about you." He shrugged and then smiled. "I like you. We've always been buddies. You're an important friend. My best friend."

He saw Yutaka's eyes brimming with tears again. Then, just as before, he said, "Damn, thanks, Shinji. Thanks so much." Then he wiped away his tears and laughed, "But if you stick around with a crybaby like me you'll end up drowning before we escape."

Shinji started to laugh but then—he heard a ring.

He knit his brows and sat up. It was the Macintosh's standard warning sound. Shinji knelt in front of the PowerBook and stared at the screen.

His eyes opened wide. A message informed him the line had been disconnected and the download aborted.

"Why?"

Shinji moaned. He began typing rapidly on the keyboard, but he couldn't save the connection. He quit the Unix communications software and began working on dialing up the modem with another communication application.

A message appeared, reading, "The number you have dialed is no longer in service." He received the same message no matter how many times he tried. The connection between the modem and phone appeared to be fine. Just to make sure though, he disconnected the phone from the modem and pressed the digits on the phone directly. He tried the weather report once again. The cell phone had no signal at all now. Which meant…no, the battery was still fully charged.... That can't be....Holding the cell phone, Shinji gaped at the PowerBook screen, which was no longer operating. His hacking was undetectable. That's why it was called hacking. And Shinji had the technique.

"Shinji? What's wrong, Shinji?"

Yutaka called out to him, but Shinji remained speechless.

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