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For a moment Shuya thought he was in a familiar classroom. It wasn't the usual Third Year Class B

classroom of course, but there was a lectern, a worn out blackboard, and on the left, a tall stand with a large television. There were rows of desks and chairs made of plywood glued onto steel tubes. On Shuya's desk someone had carved anti-government graffiti into the corner with a pen: "the Dictator loves women in uniform." Then he noticed everyone at their desks, the boys clad in buttoned up school uniforms and the girls in their sailor suit school uniforms, all forty-one classmates who'd only moments ago (at least that's what it felt like) been riding the bus together. The only thing was—either sprawled over their desks or slouched back in their seats—they were all completely asleep. From beside the frosted window on the side of the hall (assuming this building had the same layout as his school), Shuya surveyed the rest of the room. He seemed to be the only one awake. In front of him to his left and towards the middle of the room was Yoshitoki Kuninobu. Behind him was Noriko Nakagawa, and beyond Yoshitoki was Shinji Mimura. They were all sprawled on their desks, sleeping deeply. Hiroki Sugimura surrendered his large body to his desk (that was when it finally dawned on Shuya that the seating assignment was identical to the one they had at Shiroiwa Junior High School) by the windows on the left side. That was also when he began to realize why the place felt odd. The windows beyond Hiroki's body appeared to be covered with some kind of black board. Steel sheets? They provided an icy reflection of the dull light from the rows of fluorescent lights hanging from the ceiling. The frosted glass windows on the side of the hall seemed to be draped in black. Maybe they were boarded up too. It was impossible to determine the time of day.

Shuya looked at his wristwatch. It read one o'clock. In the morning? In the afternoon? The date read

"Thurs/22," which meant that, unless someone had tampered with his watch, either three or fifteen hours had passed since he had that strange attack of drowsiness. All right, let's just assume that's the case. Still…

Shuya looked at his classmates.

Something felt off. Of course the whole situation was strange. But there was something in particular that disturbed him.

Shuya immediately realized what it was. Face down on her desk, Noriko had above her collar a silver metal band wrapped snugly around her neck. Because of his buttoned up collar Yoshitoki Kuninobu's band was barely visible, but Shuya managed to see it. Shinji Mimura, Hiroki Sugimura, everyone had one on their necks.

Then the thought occurred to Shuya. He reached for his own neck with his right hand. He felt something hard and cold. The same thing must have been wrapped around his neck. Shuya tugged at it a little but the fit was so tight it refused to budge. The moment he became conscious of it, he felt like he was suffocating. Steel collars! Steel collars as if we're dogs, damn!

He fidgeted with it for a while with his fingers, but then gave up. He wondered instead…

What happened to the study trip? Shuya noticed his sports bag sitting by his feet on the floor. Last night he'd casually tossed his clothes, towel, school field trip notebook, and a bourbon flask into it. Everyone else also had their bags by their feet.

Suddenly a loud noise erupted from the front entrance, and the door slid open. Shuya looked up. A man came in.

He was stocky but well built. His legs were extremely short, as if they served as a mere appendage to his torso. He wore light-beige slacks, a gray jacket, a red necktie, and black loafers. They all looked worn out. A peach-colored badge was pinned to the collar of his jacket, indicating his affiliation with the government. His cheeks were rosy. What stuck out most though was the man's hairstyle. He wore it down to his shoulders like a woman in her prime. It reminded Shuya of the grainy Xeroxed tape cover of a Joan Baez tape he'd bought on the black market.

The man stood at the lectern and surveyed the classroom. His eyes stopped at Shuya, who was the only one awake (assuming this wasn't a dream).

The two stared at each other for at least a full minute. But perhaps because the other students were waking up, with their nervous breathing gradually spreading through the entire classroom, the man looked away from Shuya. Their voices woke up other classmates from their deep slumber. Shuya looked at the rest of the classroom. As they woke up their eyes remained out of focus. Everyone was clueless. His eyes met Yoshitoki Kuninobu's as his friend turned back. Shuya pointed at his collar, tilting his neck slightly. Yoshitoki immediately touched his neck. He looked shocked. He shook his head left and right and turned to the lectern. Noriko Nakagawa also looked at Shuya with a dazed look. Shuya could only shrug in response.

As soon as everyone seemed awake the man spoke up in a cheerful voice, "All right, everyone awake? I hope you all slept well!"

No one replied. Even the class clowns, Yutaka Seto and Yuka Nakagawa (Female Student No. 16), were speechless.

42 students remaining