The first day of Christmas
Dec. 26th, 2006 01:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tallulahgsOpened non-family presents. I received a gorgeous turquoise scarf from Godmother 1, the Benrik diary 2007 from Godmother 2 (it looks even crazier than the one ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
robert_frogg had, so I doubt I'll actually do any of the challenges!) and Saiyuki 8 from lycoris *glomp* It's very good and I read it squealing and yelling "Hakkai!" (Nik: Can't you read quietly?) Thank you! :D (Also your present will be posted tomorrow.)
Anyway, it is also the first day of Christmas, and so without further ado I present a fic that's rather angsty:
[Title] Looking
[Fandom] Battle Royale, probably novel canon
[Rating] PG-13 for character death
[Notes/Summary] Kazuo Kiriyama didn't need the Program, really.
The crowd, gathered outside the school, is looking at him. They are not smiling and trying to be friendly; they are not frowning and being puzzled; they are not taunting, or contemptuous, or uninterested.
They are horrified.
Kazuo considers this as he is marched down the steps towards the police car parked by the kerb. He knows that most people do not like others looking at them as though they are monsters. But he doesn't mind. It feels appropriate. It feels right, and reassuring. This was an experiment, and it's good to see that the results are what he expected.
The handcuffs are tight on his wrists and his arms, wrenched behind his back, ache. That is interesting too. He has never been this powerless before. Maybe that was why he did it.
***
The policeman sitting on the other side of the table is looking at him. He does not look horrified. He looks irritated, as if Kazuo's actions have stopped him getting home early. Perhaps they have. Taking a statement does not look like a particularly interesting task, either.
"So you got hold of the gun through a friend, and you took it to school with you today. Okay, so what happened then?"
Kazuo explains how he waited until maths, the third class of the morning, because he wished to choose the most average part of the day. How he slid the gun out of his bookbag and stood up and then, when Mr Hayashida turned to him and said, "Have you got a question, Kiriyama?", pointed the gun and fired. He does not say how the burst of noise and the fierce kick in his hand were a shock, how for a moment it felt like he'd done something really serious. Nor does he say how odd it was seeing the teacher fall back as if he was a toy someone had knocked over.
He explains how there was complete silence for a moment and then - it wasn't that one particular person screamed, it was as if suddenly a switch had been thrown and everyone was screaming at once and everyone was moving and for a moment it was as if he was in a dream, and couldn't control anything; but then he remembered the gun and raised it again and -
Mitsuru hadn't moved. Ryuhei and Hiroshi had both leapt to their feet and were running for the door, but Mitsuru was still sitting there, gaping, half-rising as Kazuo turned to face him and -
Kazuo doesn't explain that he had to shoot Mitsuru once that had happened.
He knows that by the time he'd turned away from Mitsuru, Takako Chigusa, who was closest to the door, had leapt up and run out and that she was the one who called the police. He confirms that after he shot Mitsuru Numai, he shot Kaori Minami (another one who hadn't moved - she had just sat at her desk in front of his, mouth open, sobbing and clutching her locket) Yoshimi Yahagi and Yoji Kuramoto, who had been clutching each other as they stumbled away, and Kyoichi Motobuchi, who had appeared to be going into hysterics. He shot Mayumi Tendo as she reached the door and he shot Hirono Shimizu as she ducked down behind her desk and he shot Yoshio Akamatsu as he made a run for it and he shot Mizuho Inada as she came running towards him (he still doesn't understand that) and he shot Shinji Mimura because Mimura was the last person to climb out of the window on the other side of the classroom.
And then Hiroki Sugimura threw a book at him and used the second of distraction to run forward and wrench the gun from his hand and send him flying to the floor.
Kazuo does not explain how strange it was lying there, with Mayumi Tendo looking back at him from under the desks, and the smell of blood and gun smoke, and somebody crying, and running footsteps, and blood smeared all over the itchy, smoke-smelling carpet.
***
His father, standing outside the cell, is looking at him. Kazuo simply looks back. His father does not look horrified either, just very tired. Perhaps this isn't a surprise to him.
"You've ruined your life."
Kazuo simply looks. His father dislikes this tactic. Kazuo feels it's rather a childish technique, but then his father should not let himself be affected by something so basic.
"You could have been anything you wanted."
Which is not, of course, true, but something that parents evidently like to believe.
"You could have been anything you wanted, and you just... ten people are dead, and the Sakaki girl has had some sort of breakdown... someone threw paint over the car last night. You just... I doubt you were being bullied. I doubt you felt marginalised. I sincerely doubt you were under academic pressure. So all I can assume is that you wanted to destroy everything."
Kazuo simply looks. He knows his father will not understand it if he tells the truth. It was an experiment. A test to see how easy it is to change the world. Like joining Mitsuru's gang had been, once, before that became part of normal life. But he doesn't say all this, he simply looks, and in the end his father walks away and he is left alone.
robert_frogg had, so I doubt I'll actually do any of the challenges!) and Saiyuki 8 from lycoris *glomp* It's very good and I read it squealing and yelling "Hakkai!" (Nik: Can't you read quietly?) Thank you! :D (Also your present will be posted tomorrow.)Anyway, it is also the first day of Christmas, and so without further ado I present a fic that's rather angsty:
[Title] Looking
[Fandom] Battle Royale, probably novel canon
[Rating] PG-13 for character death
[Notes/Summary] Kazuo Kiriyama didn't need the Program, really.
The crowd, gathered outside the school, is looking at him. They are not smiling and trying to be friendly; they are not frowning and being puzzled; they are not taunting, or contemptuous, or uninterested.
They are horrified.
Kazuo considers this as he is marched down the steps towards the police car parked by the kerb. He knows that most people do not like others looking at them as though they are monsters. But he doesn't mind. It feels appropriate. It feels right, and reassuring. This was an experiment, and it's good to see that the results are what he expected.
The handcuffs are tight on his wrists and his arms, wrenched behind his back, ache. That is interesting too. He has never been this powerless before. Maybe that was why he did it.
***
The policeman sitting on the other side of the table is looking at him. He does not look horrified. He looks irritated, as if Kazuo's actions have stopped him getting home early. Perhaps they have. Taking a statement does not look like a particularly interesting task, either.
"So you got hold of the gun through a friend, and you took it to school with you today. Okay, so what happened then?"
Kazuo explains how he waited until maths, the third class of the morning, because he wished to choose the most average part of the day. How he slid the gun out of his bookbag and stood up and then, when Mr Hayashida turned to him and said, "Have you got a question, Kiriyama?", pointed the gun and fired. He does not say how the burst of noise and the fierce kick in his hand were a shock, how for a moment it felt like he'd done something really serious. Nor does he say how odd it was seeing the teacher fall back as if he was a toy someone had knocked over.
He explains how there was complete silence for a moment and then - it wasn't that one particular person screamed, it was as if suddenly a switch had been thrown and everyone was screaming at once and everyone was moving and for a moment it was as if he was in a dream, and couldn't control anything; but then he remembered the gun and raised it again and -
Mitsuru hadn't moved. Ryuhei and Hiroshi had both leapt to their feet and were running for the door, but Mitsuru was still sitting there, gaping, half-rising as Kazuo turned to face him and -
Kazuo doesn't explain that he had to shoot Mitsuru once that had happened.
He knows that by the time he'd turned away from Mitsuru, Takako Chigusa, who was closest to the door, had leapt up and run out and that she was the one who called the police. He confirms that after he shot Mitsuru Numai, he shot Kaori Minami (another one who hadn't moved - she had just sat at her desk in front of his, mouth open, sobbing and clutching her locket) Yoshimi Yahagi and Yoji Kuramoto, who had been clutching each other as they stumbled away, and Kyoichi Motobuchi, who had appeared to be going into hysterics. He shot Mayumi Tendo as she reached the door and he shot Hirono Shimizu as she ducked down behind her desk and he shot Yoshio Akamatsu as he made a run for it and he shot Mizuho Inada as she came running towards him (he still doesn't understand that) and he shot Shinji Mimura because Mimura was the last person to climb out of the window on the other side of the classroom.
And then Hiroki Sugimura threw a book at him and used the second of distraction to run forward and wrench the gun from his hand and send him flying to the floor.
Kazuo does not explain how strange it was lying there, with Mayumi Tendo looking back at him from under the desks, and the smell of blood and gun smoke, and somebody crying, and running footsteps, and blood smeared all over the itchy, smoke-smelling carpet.
***
His father, standing outside the cell, is looking at him. Kazuo simply looks back. His father does not look horrified either, just very tired. Perhaps this isn't a surprise to him.
"You've ruined your life."
Kazuo simply looks. His father dislikes this tactic. Kazuo feels it's rather a childish technique, but then his father should not let himself be affected by something so basic.
"You could have been anything you wanted."
Which is not, of course, true, but something that parents evidently like to believe.
"You could have been anything you wanted, and you just... ten people are dead, and the Sakaki girl has had some sort of breakdown... someone threw paint over the car last night. You just... I doubt you were being bullied. I doubt you felt marginalised. I sincerely doubt you were under academic pressure. So all I can assume is that you wanted to destroy everything."
Kazuo simply looks. He knows his father will not understand it if he tells the truth. It was an experiment. A test to see how easy it is to change the world. Like joining Mitsuru's gang had been, once, before that became part of normal life. But he doesn't say all this, he simply looks, and in the end his father walks away and he is left alone.
