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-- Attached file included as plaintext by Ecartis --
-- File: chapter1.txt
-- Desc: chapter1.txt
Story by Wanderer D
Author's note:
I would very much like to thank Jorge Pratt for letting me
borrow Battle Royale, and even before that, showing me the
movie... oh, yeah, and he pre-read this one. :)
Also, my thanks go to the manager and the various waitresses
at the local Cafe who had to give an infinite amount of coffee
to this writer for the miserable amount of 1 buck. You guys
will live in my memory for as long as I care to remember,
particulary Georgina, who's constant asking if I wanted
anything else besides coffee will remind me to ask for a glass
of water and refills next time. Just to spite her.
------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer: All characters belong to their original creators.
Also, no offense was intended to the following groups and
people: Dragon Ash, Koji Wada, X-Japan, Shard, Pichicatto
Five, Obi-Wan Kenobi, John Lennon, The Beatles, Peter S.
Beagle, Kitano Sensei, John Doe, Naoko Takeuchi and last
but not least; Jorge Pratt, Shaloom-dono, and
74|v|4-|<v|\|.
This is merely a creative form of fan appreciation, and I
gain no money from this.
=0=
Shiroiwa Junior High school, Class 3-B
=0=
Masao 'Dragonfly' Hayashida stood before his class, smiling
slightly and righted the large seeing-glasses that had
earned him the nickname for which he was now normally known.
It seemed the news had spread very fast which wasn't very
unusual, considering the situation.
The students were silent, of course. But there was a glint
in everyone's eyes that betrayed their curiosity. Well,
almost everyone was curious, he reminded himself, glancing
at Kazuo Kiriyama, who didn'tgive away the slightest emotion.
"Well, I can see everyone is excited about today," he said
out loud. And his smile broadened with the reaction of his
students. "Well, that's good, because we do have a very
interestin period in History we are going to review right
now..." he resisted smirking and turned around as if he
were about to write on the board.
Immediately the students started shouting and booing, someone
even threw a paper ball at him which bounced on his head. He
turned around, pretending he didn't understand what was wrong.
"What is it, Utsumi-chan?" he asked. "The class seems a little
tense." He asked her specifically, because he knew she was the
one that had spread the news.
Yuki Utsumi, (Female Student # 2) the class representative,
stood up and bowed slightly. "Hayashida Sensei, it seems to
us that you're forgetting something very important!" Again,
most of the other students agreed loudly on this point.
Dragonfly looked around the room at all the expectant faces.
"And what would that be, Sugimura-kun?" he asked looking
towards the back, where Hiroki Sugimura (Male Student # 12)
was seated, right between "The Third Man," Shinji Mimura
(Male Student # 20) and Shuya Nanahara, (Male Student #16),
also known as the star shortstop of Shiroiwa high, or the
future rock star of Shiroiwa High (This nickname was less
used since rock and roll was illegal.)
Sugimura stood up with a pleasant smile. "Well, sensei, there
are rumors about a new student that was supposed to join our
class, starting today."
Dragonfly pretended to be surprised, but by now no-one
believed him. Some students smiled at his antics. "Oh, my...
I completely forgot!"
He turned towards the two giggling girls next to the door.
"Tendo-chan, would you be so kind as to open the door and
allow our fellow student in?"
Mayumi Tendo (Female Student # 15) stopped talking with her
best friend, Hikari Kuno (Female Student # 13) and nodded.
She stood up and opened the door, everyone looked with
interest as Sosuke Sagara, (Male Student # 16) walked calmly
into the room.
Everyone stared at him. He looked rough, an X-like scar
was clearly visible at the jaw-line and he looked capable of
defending himself. He didn't look very strong, but there was
an air of readiness about him.
Dragonfly looked around the class room. It was evident that
no one knew what to think of the new arrival... most of the
girls had become less enthusiastic about him, and both
Shinji Mimura and Shogo Kawada (Male Student # 5) were
measuring him up, as it were.
Dragonfly introduced the new student. "Class, this is
Sosuke Sagara, I hope that everyone can get along with him,
specially since he'll need a little help to get in track this
far into the school year."
There were dubious nods at this, but at that moment, Sagara
smiled. The tense air around him seemed to evaporate, as he
looked around the room and spoke up, "Hello, I am Sosuke
Sagara, pleased to meet you all."
The class at large calmed down, and almost everyone was
smiling again. Yukiko Kitano, (Female Student # 6) raised her
hand.
"Where do you come from, Sagara-kun?" she asked, blushing a
little when his eyes met hers. To her side, (Female Student
# 7) Yumiko Kusaka, giggled at her friend's discomfort, but
paid attention to Sagara.
"I was transferred to this school from Juuban High." Sagara
answered with a slight smile.
Another student raised his hand, it was Yoshitoki Kuninobu
(Male Student # 7), Shuya Nanahara's best friend, who could
probably be called everyone's buddy because of his friendly
attitude.
Sagara turned his attention from the flustered Yukiko and
Yoshitoki stood up, and asked his question. "And why did
you transfer at this time of the year?"
"My father was transferred into this area and I had to tag
along." Sagara answered.
The next question came from Shinji Mimura. "Are you good at
sports? We need more people for the basketball team."
Sagara nodded. "I am a decent shot, and I do like basketball
a lot."
"Do you have a girlfriend?" Yumiko Kusaka asked out of the
blue.
"Ah... That is..." Sagara staggered a little.
Dragonfly put a soothing hand on Sagara's shoulder. "I think
that'll be enough for now." Yumiko sat down and whispered
something to Yukiko, who blushed and hit her friend on the
shoulder. "Sagara-kun, why don't you sit next to Kawada-kun?"
Dragonfly said, indicating the empty seat next to the very
serious looking Shogo Kawada. It was rumored that Kawada had
been a delinquent in his last school, and the scars that
decorated his face did help build up that image.
Sagara nodded and sat down next to him and Hayashida-sensei
started the class, and soon everyone was concentrated on
taking notes.
Few students noticed Sagara looking at someone seated almost
on the other side of the room.
-o-
>From the history book of Yoji Kuramoto (Male Student # 8), the
following text has been read and approved by the Government of
the Republic of Greater Asia.
"In 1980, a group of Patriots managed, after several sacrifices
for the good of the people, to organize a movement against the
capitalist traitors that were selling our country to the
American Imperialists.
With the help of our brothers from the countries once known as
China and North Korea, these patriots were able to liberate
and form what is now the Republic of Greater Asia, which,
under the rightful eye of the Dictator, oversees the happiness
and prosperity of the people.
Several Projects have been implemented in the last years and
the Republic is as strong as ever.
The Dictator appeared in public in August 18, 1983 with the
famous dedication for our countries youth..."
-o-
The basketball team had gathered around Shinji as he introduced
Sosuke to everyone.
"Well gang, this is Sagara Sosuke, a new student, who wants to
join the team," The Third Man announced, standing next to Shuya
and Sagara.
The rest of the team looked at each other. Not so long ago,
one of their members had participated in an ill-fated race
with his car and would be unable to play for the next year. A
new member was certainly a good sign.
Shinji tossed the ball to Sosuke, who caught it and looked up.
The Third Man smiled. "Well, Sosuke, as a rite of initiation,
you'll have to play against all of us."
Sagara smiled slightly. "Well, it's better than some rites of
initiation I know of."
Shuya smiled uneasily at that, glancing at Sagara's scarred
chin.
"If I'm playing alone, I hope you don't mind if I listen to
some music," Sagara said as he pulled out his ear phones and
plugged them into a mini-CD player.
This time Shuya was the one who jumped up to Sagara. "What are
you going to listen to?"
Sagara looked around. "Well, it depends. How would you define
the way your team plays?"
Shuya thought for a moment before answering. "I'd say we're
clean and simple."
Sagara arched an eyebrow. "Hm. We'll see about that. In the
mean time... it's Dragon Ash. Viva la Revolucion."
Shuya was startled by this revelation, and turned around to go
with the others just as he heard the female voice chanting
"Viva, viva! La revolucion!" as Sagara put on the ear phones.
Shuya Nanahara (Male Student 16) wasn't who you would call a
"law-abiding citizen of the Republic of Greater Asia;" he was
one of the "rebels," listening and playing the forbidden music
rock and roll, he was hardly an example for other students in
that respect. He did keep generally good grades, though, and
tried to avoid trouble. He was a loyal friend, and would stick
until the end with his friends.
Some students would define Nanahara as "wild": he played a lot
of jokes, jumped around a lot, was friends with almost anyone,
or at least avoided conflict, and usually hung out with
Yoshitoki, Shinji, Hiroki and a few girls which shared some of
his "wilder" aspects.
But there was something he didn't do. And that was to announce
that he listened to music from "exiled" groups. Like Dragon
Ash. Oh, he did hear them, the black market was full of music
the government wouldn't like you to hear. The problem with
"exiled" groups was that, unlike John Lennon who might sing
"imagine no possessions" and create an uproar from the OUTSIDE,
Dragon Ash, Koji Wada, X-Japan, Shard, and Pichicatto Five, to
name a few "exiles" were from the INSIDE, and as such, utterly
prohibited.
Saying that aloud was an invitation to disaster. Even the Black
Market was cautious on selling those. So, how come Sagara had
got a copy? At least it seemed that no one else had listened
to their conversation.
When everyone was ready, the rite of initiation started.
-o-
Later that same day, Shinji was talking with Sagara as the rest
of the team rested a little.
Sagara had given a good show: 10 against 60. Against the whole
team it wasn't bad at all, and everyone's mood had improved.
The Third Man walked up to the latest team member, who saluted
him as he arrived.
Shinji was a little startled, but smiled and saluted back,
noticing that Sosuke didn't salute as the government soldiers
did... it was a little bit familiar...
Shinji remembered a time when his uncle had been approached by
a man he didn't remember too well, just white hair and a
goatee.
When he had left, his uncle had saluted just like that.
"Well, this is the training schedule," Shinji said as he gave
Sagara a paper with the times and dates included.
Sagara nodded and looked at it. Almost every day a training
game. It was very thorough.
He was snapped back to reality as the doors to the court
opened and a voice echoed all around them.
"Didn't know ya were one of those military freaks, Sagara-kun."
The voice said with a touch of contempt.
It was Mitsuru Numai (Male Student # 18) who had spoken. He
was the "tough guy" of their group, heavilly musculed and with
a face that spoke of countless brawls. With him stood the other
members of the "Kiriyama Family" Sho Tsukioka (Male Student #
15) another well built character with a disturbing attitude and
a tendency to keep himself well groomed. Next was Ryuhei
Sasagawa (Male Student # 10), and Hiroshi Kuronaga (Male Student
#9) with their Great Leader Kazuo Kiriyama (Male Student# 6)
silent among them.
"What do you want, Mitsuru?" Shinji asked warily.
"Nothing to do with you, love," Sho Tsukioka answered, leering
at Shinji, who shuddered. "We thought we could talk for a
moment with Sagara-chan... alone." He ran his hand -his
carefully trimmed nails managing to catch a little light-
through his well-kept hair.
"Really? About what?" Sagara asked, turning around.
"About your proper place in the School," Ryuhei said. He was
the only one with long hair in the group and had dyed it
blonde, which didn't look good on him.
Shinji glared at the Kiriyama Family, but Sagara put a
restraining hand on his shoulder. "Don't let the others get
involved in this," Sagara whispered as he stepped forward.
Shinji looked around and noticed the team was getting up. He
shook his head and indicated Sagara and himself, then gave
them the thumbs up. The others didn't look too happy, but Shuya
nodded, and Shinji knew his wish would be followed.
As Sagara stepped forward, followed by Shinji, Kazuo just
stared. "We'll take care of this, boss." Mitsuru said, but
still, Kazuo didn't say anything.
Mitsuru himself was the first to jump forth, swinging his right
fist.
Sagara had stepped inside his swing, with an impressive display
of ability, he back-handed Mitsuru at the same time he kicked
his leg from under him.
Mitsuru went down with a cry of surprise and pain just as Sho
and Ryuhei jumped forth, only to be intercepted by Shinji, who
elbowed the air out of Sho's lungs and tackled Ryuhei.
Kuronaga tried to punch Sagara while Mitsuru tried to stand up,
but Sagara dodged the blow, hitting Kuronaga on the chest about
six times, then throwing him to the ground.
Ryuhei snapped a high-kick at Shinji, half his body following
the momentum of the kick, which missed The Third Man's face by
inches.
Shinji dropped to the floor and swept Ryuhei's feet and rolled
out of the way of Sho's attempted tackle.
Everyone eyed their opponents warily, until Kazuo stepped forth.
Shinji felt his stomach grow cold. *The* Kazuo Kiriyama was
going to fight. If it was a one-on-one fight, Shinji knew he
had a chance, but with the whole Kiriyama family...
"Leave Sagara to me, Mitsuru." Kazuo said.
Outside the battle, Shuya was struggling with himself. He stood
up but Sagara looked his way and shook his head, indicating
Shinji.
Shuya understood and threw himself at Mitsuru, who had
followed orders and had jumped on Shinji. They rolled on the
floor grasping at each other and hitting the other in the face
while Shinji delivered a ram-double-punch on Ryuhei, adding
all the momentum of the half-step open-handed technique on his
exposed chest.
Shuya didn't know martial arts in any case, so he fought as
dirty as he knew how.
By his second turn, Shinji was already delivering an uppercut
to Sho.
Shuya finally managed to stay on top and pulled his fist back,
but at that moment a gasp from the team made them both look
around.
Shinji stood, ignoring the writhing forms of Sho and Ryuhei as
he watched Sagara and Kazuo go at each other. The Third Man had
Kuronaga in a choke hold.
It was scary in a way how Sagara and Kazuo looked so similar as
they fought: completely calm in appearance.
Sagara had parried a straight punch with his right hand, at the
same time he had attempted a turning punch towards Kazuo's
stomach, which the later had caught in his hand... This had
caused the gasps, since it was well known that Kazuo was a
superb fighter.
In a second, Sagara had grabbed both of Kazuo's forearms, and
half jumped in a face kick holding Kazuo's arms, just as the
later had tried to knee him.
Sagara's left foot stopped Kazuo's knee as it was coming up,
as his own left leg snapped up with a kick to the face. Kazuo
leaned back at the same time he snapped free of Sagara's hold
with an opening circular move.
Sagara used the momentum of his kick to roll back as he hit the
floor, and without pausing to breathe he swept at Kazuo who had
not lost an instant at launching himself at Sagara.
Kazuo though, jumped over the sweep, turning around in mid air
as he attempted to kick Sagara on the head, but the new boy
rolled forth under him.
Everyone was silent, by now both Mitsuru and Shuya were up and
gapping.
There was complete silence, broken only by the sound of kicks
and rolls and blocks and parries.
Sagara had rolled under Kazuo's kick, then stood up at the same
time he was turning to the right, snapping his own reverse kick
powered back by his momentum, but Kazuo had already rolled away
from him as soon as he had landed.
Both looked at each other, and Shinji saw both their bodies
tense in preparation for another round, when someone cleared
his throat. Everyone without exception looked at the Physical
Ed. Teacher, Motoki-sensei, who glared back at them.
Shinji sighed.
Out of the corner of his eye, Shuya caught a glimpse of a
large figure stepping away from the door.
-o-
On the other side of the gym, where the basketball court was,
Hiroki stepped away from the window, along with Takako Chigusa
(Female Student #13).
He didn't say much. They had snuck up to the window when they
had seen Kazuo's gang marching up to the gym, and when the
fight began, he had almost rushed in to help, but Chigusa had
stopped him.
"So, what do you think, Hiroki?" Chigusa teased him. "You think
you could outfight either of them?"
Hiroki Sugimura shrugged as they made their way out of the
trees. "I just hope I don't have to try."
-o-
Mayumi Tendo and her best friend Hikari Kuno walked down the
aisle following Yuki Utsumi, class rep. Each had a surprisingly
large amount of papers and folders on their hands.
"Utsumi..." Tendo wheezed. "Don't you think we're wasting our
break bringing all these to the teacher's office?"
"Mayumi-chan is right," Hikari said, her eyes barely visible
over the stack of notes. "We should be eating the lunch I
brought, not letting it rot with..." She stopped as Motoki
sensei marched past them escorting Sagara, Kazuo and Shinji
into the teacher's room.
Utsumi sighed. "Figures those three would get in trouble
sooner or later."
"I'm surprised Shogo-san is not with them," Hikari piped in.
"I'm surprised we haven't gone in, left these papers already
and gone to the roof to eat," Mayumi complained.
They all hurried into the room, avoided everyone's eyes and
left the papers on "Dragonfly's" desk. They ran laughing all
the way to their homeroom, picked up their lunch and ran up
the stairs.
Once there, they sat down, and started chatting about last
night's interview with "The Red Sparrows", the new, government
-approved, pop idols.
-o-
Noriko Nakagawa was in the bathroom when she heard them coming.
She barely managed to jump onto the toilet so her feet wouldn't
be seen when the door swung open and Mitsuko Souma (Female
Student # 12) walked into the bathroom followed by her groupies:
Hirono Shimizu (Female Student # 11) and Yoshimi Yahagi (Female
Student # 22).
"So, what is this thing you wanted to show us, Mitsuko?" Yahagi
asked as she closed the door behind them. From between the door
hinges Noriko was able to see Mitsuko opening a folder and
showing it to the other girls.
"Wow," Hirono said. "Who's he?" she passed a picture to Yahagi.
"A guy interested in some business propositions I made," Mitsuko
said after a moment.
Yahagi and Hirono shared a look. Mitsuko smiled. "He's rich and
he wants to have just a little fun with a couple of high-school
girls." Her eyes glinted. "Of course, I told him I could get him
three girls instead of two..."
Noriko almost choked but managed to keep silent. Of course these
girls had a certain fame... but to hear it first-hand...
"I... I don't know, Mitsuko..." Yagami said after a moment.
"Come on, Yoshimi..." Mitsuko said with a cold glare. "Yoji-chan
won't find out..."
"I... it's not about Yoji at all!" Yagami half shouted.
"Of course not," Hirono said, contempt in her voice. She turned
to Mitsuko. "Still, for all this money... I'm in, it's not as
if it would be the first time we share, eh, Mitsuko?"
Mitsuko nodded, but kept her gaze on Yagami. Finally, after the
latter didn't say anything, she sighed.
"Okay, we'll meet after classes, Hirono," she said. "Now, get
out of here, you two, and don't let anyone in, I have something
to do."
The others walked out and Mitsuko waited for a moment before
hitting the wall. "Damn it, Yagami. I would have gotten much
more for the three of us..."
She let her bag fall to the ground and took something out,
which Noriko couldn't really make out.
After moving and mixing something, Mitsuko stood up and Noriko
saw what it was. When Mitsuko went ahead and used it on herself,
she couldn't hold back a gasp.
Immediately Mitsuko's head went up and her eyes searched around
the room.
She didn't rush.
Mitsuko slowly pulled out the syringe after finishing the shot
and waited for the effects to start, then walked to the
cubicle where Noriko was and, with a mighty pull, almost
ripped off the door. Noriko fell down and stared at Mitsuko as
the later glared at her.
"You little bitch." Mitsuko growled and grabbed Noriko by the
collar, pulling her up.
"I... I..." Noriko stammered. Mitsuko was famous for taking
revenge on people.
At that moment the door opened and Hirono stared at the two of
them before speaking up. "Mitsuko! It's Utsumi and her group,
They're coming this way!"
"You will say nothing about all you saw and heard!" Mitsuko
half-growled half-shouted at Noriko. "If you do, you will
understand the meaning of the word 'pain,' understood?!"
Noriko just managed to nod before Mitsuko, who wasn't even
looking at her any more threw her into the cubicle again,
grabbed her bag and walked out.
She was just standing up when Mayumi Tendo entered and saw her.
"Oh my God!" she said running towards her, followed by the rest
as they came in. "What happened?" Tendo asked as she helped her
up.
"N-nothing." Noriko said, looking away. "I slipped and hit
myself on the door, that's all."
-o-
As a couple of months passed the class was faced with their
school trip to Takamatsu, so things became more frantic.
The basketball team's scoring average had skyrocketed with the
newest addition: Sagara Sosuke. Shuya, Shinji and Sosuke were
unbeatable in the court; each moved as if knowing what the
others were thinking at that moment. Soon they were a legend
and local myths -started by Mizuho Inada (Female Student # 1)-
said that should one of the trio fall the sky would cloud over,
the water taste like salt, the moon break in three parts and
crash into the earth and so on.
Of course no-one believed this myth, but many students (Sho
Tsukioka, Yukiko Kitano (Female Student #6), and Yukie Utsumi
among them) would hold their breath if a foul were announced
and surreptously look up towards the ceiling.
Yuki Utsumi, being the class Representative acted like a
possessed chihuahua, -in the words of Mizuho Inida (Female
Student # 1), who coincidentally had never, ever seen a
chihuahua in her life, much less a possessed one- and was
organizing what everyone would do when the trip was ready.
Inevitably there were fights to stop (The Trio's round with
the Kiriyama Family was a favorite source of comments in the
lunchtime hours, and everyone had newfound respect for Sagara
and were more afraid of Kazuo himself,) seating arrangements
and food to prepare.
Yuki found that she was hard pressed to convince certain
elements of the student population to participate, or even
agree to help in some way.
She had tried to talk Mitzuko Souma, into preparing
sandwiches, much against Mayumi Tendo's and Hikari Kuno's
advice and had come to realize the wisdom of their words.
Surprisingly, Kazuo had been easier to convince. He had looked
up and down at her with that cold stare of his, revealing
nothing, but after a moment had shrugged and agreed to bring
a few refreshments for the class.
"Which, he'll probably share only with his gang..." Yuki said
out loud, sighing as she put a check mark next to Kazuo's name.
She stood up and addressed the class.
"Okay everyone, here's how we are going to organize things for
the trip..."
She took her list and cleared her throat.
"Toshinori Oda, Sakura Ogawa, Shogo Kawada & Izumi Kanai will
be in charge of... tuna salad!"
Everyone stared at the group. Toshinori was glaring at Shogo,
who was glaring just back at him, between them, Izumi and
Sakura were helplessly looking at each other.
"Now, now," Utsumi said. "We must all cooperate if we want this
to work. Okay?"
More glares between team members. But there was a collective
nod. Which, if not the excitement and optimism Utsumi was
hoping for, was more than enough for her.
She continued.
"Kazuo Kiriyama, Yukiko Kitano, Sho Tsukioka & Mayumi Tendo
will be in charge of the Drinks. And not alcoholic ones, mind
you. Remember the word "Cola", ok?"
There was complete silence, followed by muttering when Kazuo
nodded.
"Yoji Kuramoto, Hikari Kuno, Sosuke Sagara & Hirono Shimizu
will be in charge of rice-balls for the whole class. Do try
to bring at least two per head."
Everyone nodded. Even Sagara, and that helped bring smiles and
a little more calmness for everyone.
"Since this is a two-day trip, we'll need more food, so,
Hiroshi Kuronaga, Kayoko Kotohiki, Shinji Mimura & Chisato
Matsuyi will be in charge of buying hotdogs for everyone.
We'll prepare them when we're there."
They agreed, Kayoko thanking Utsumi with her eyes for not
making her have to work alone with one of the Kiriyama family.
"Ryuhei Sasagawa & Yuko Sakaki will be in charge of..." Again
Utsumi was faced with a look of utter horror. "Eh...
bringing..." Yuko closed her eyes and started praying. Utsumi's
eyebrow twitched. "You two will bring the plastic spoons,
knives and forks..."
Again a sigh and look of thanks.
Utsumi cleared her throat and continued.
"Hiroki Sugimura & Mitsuko Souma will be in charge of..."
Chigusa was staring daggers at her. "...Napkins..." Utsumi
said slowly. "... and plastic bags for the trash."
This didn't look good. She sighed and continued reading the
list.
-o-
Finally, the day of the field trip arrived.
The bus ride would be quite long, and as they left school with
their teacher Dragonfly Hayashida in charge they were all
mostly excited.
Shuya Nanahara stared out of the window as the bus made its
way into a city.
Seated next to his best friend, Yoshitoki, he had been thinking
about music and exiled groups most of the way, and talking from
time to time with his friend.
It was then that someone touched his shoulder. It was Noriko
Nakagawa, who was smiling at him pleasantly.
"Here," she said. "I made these, but we should eat them right
now, or they'll get too hard by the time we arrive."
Shuya looked down at what she was holding in her hand. A small
bag with cookies."They're for you," He looked up at Noriko who
blushed a little. "...and Mr. Nobu."
Yoshitoki looked at them and immediately grabbed one. "Wow,
for us?" he asked, and put one in his mouth, chewing
thoughtfully. "These are great, Shuya! You should try one!"
Yoshitoki said, grabbing another.
Shuya and Yoshitoki had been friends since Shuya had arrived
at the Orphanage, where both lived. They had grown up together
more like brothers than friends. "Mr. Nobu" was Yoshitoki's
nickname. He was known as that because, even if he was
friendly, he was at times very mature and wise.
Shuya nodded and grabbed a cookie, eating it, and finding it
was quite good.
"Maybe we should share with the others," Shuya said aloud as
he took the bag in his hand. He looked around seeing who could
be interested in a cookie, taking a first glance at the seats
around him.
"How about giving one to him?" he asked, motioning towards
Shogo, who was sitting with his eyes closed next to Noriko.
She looked at him. "I don't know, I think he's asleep," she
said. "Do you think we should wake him for a cookie?" she
giggled a little, and as Shuya smiled and was about to say
something, they heard a voice.
"No thanks."
Shuya looked up. There was no doubt the deep voice came from
Shogo himself. Shuya then thought about how he had never
really heard anything at all from Shogo, even after he had
transferred to the school a few months back, he'd never talk
much to anyone.
Shogo was the oldest guy in the classroom. He even had facial
hair!Even when most people said he was a notorious thug in his
previous school and his looks didn't dissipate the image,
Shuya didn't like to make opinions about people on the spot.
He had heard that Shogo had remained more than six months in
a hospital due to wounds he had suffered last year, and
rumors said it had been in a fight with the gangs from his
previous schools...
Shuya shrugged.
He snapped back to reality and answered Yoshitoki's question
about the last game he had played.
It was later into the trip, around ten, that Shuya noticed
something was wrong. Yoshitoki has suddenly fallen asleep in
mid sentence, and was now breathing calmly.
He felt drowsy and noticed the silence in the truck almost
immediately.
This was a school bus, for crying out loud! There should be
someone laughing, at least! Didn't this thing have one of those
god-forsaken machines whatchamacallits... karaoke?
His body slumping, his mind trying to clear the fog that was
clouding it, he managed to take a look at the driver's upper
body. He could make out a kind of green mask on his head.
What was going on, he briefly wondered. He heard a scratching
sound, and with a supreme effort looked up to the right, where
he noticed Shogo Kawada standing up, trying to pry the window
open. When he couldn't, he hit the window a couple of times,
but it didn't break. Shuya couldn't think straight. Why was
breaking the window important? Shogo's right arm suddenly
dropped to his side as he fell onto the seat.
The last thing Shuya heard before losing consciousness was the
voice he had recently familiarized with mutter a single word:
"Damn."
-o-
Shuya woke up with a sudden intake of breath.
He looked groggily around, not recognizing his surroundings.
Had he fallen asleep in class?
But... everyone else seemed to be sleeping... what was going
on?
He looked at his desk and discovered it wasn't really the desk
he used at school. It was painted green, for one, and someone
had scribbled "Government Sucks" on it with a black pen.
He turned around, his eyes searching and noticed Yoshitoki,
Noriko, Shinji and the others were still unconscious. But
something on Noriko's neck got his attention.
He looked at the others and found that everyone had a silver
collar around their necks.
His hand immediately went up and found one of the collars
wrapped tightly around his neck.
What was going on?
Shuya looked at his watch. It read: 1 o'clock, Thursday 22nd.
In the morning? Afternoon? The fact that the classroom lacked
windows did not help at all in this particular situation.
Suddenly there was a loud noise at the entrance and an unknown
man walked into the room.
He was short. And fat. His legs seemed more of an extension of
his torso than anything else, and his prematurely-wrinkled
face didn't help him much in the appearance department.
They stared at each other for almost a full minute, then the
man shifted his attention when they heard the moans from the
other students waking up. Shuya saw the same bewilderment and
confusion in the faces of most of the other students as he had
had himself.
He caught Yoshitoki's eyes and moved his head, letting his
friend see the silver collar.
Yoshitoki's hand went immediately to his neck and his eyes
opened further when he felt the silver collar.
When everyone was more or less aware of their situation, the
man spoke in a cheerful voice, "All right, everyone awake? I
hope you all slept well!"
When no-one answered, he introduced himself. "My name is
Kinpochu Sakamochi, your new instructor. Nice to meet you."
Suddenly Utsumi stood up. "I don't understand... What's going
on here?"
The room erupted in questions.
"Where is this place?"
"Who the hell is that guy?"
"What time is it? I don't have a watch!"
"Do you remember getting here?"
"Were we all asleep?"
Shuya then started noticing the students that were NOT in a
panic.
Among his gang members, Kazuo Kiriyama remained silent, his
eyes focused on Sakamochi without any emotion at all. He
ignored the comments of his groupies.
Shogo Kawada, who had gotten a seat at the leftmost corner of
the room was also silent, he didn't even seem surprised. He
just opened up a small bag and pulled out a chewing gum, and
started chewing. He never took his eyes from Sakamochi, either.
The Third Man, Shinji Mimura, looked slightly preoccupied for a
mere second before covering his surprise with a poker face that
could have been there since the beginning.
On the other side of the room, Mitsuko Souma remained calm too,
coldly looking at Sakamochi.
On the back rightmost corner, Sosuke Sagara was the avatar of
the God of Calm. He was serious. Staring at Sakamochi as a tiger
would watch its victim before he pouncing.
When the chaos reached a very high volume, Sakamochi shouted
in the same, annoying cheery voice, "Okay, okay, that's enough!"
He clapped to get everyone's attention. "Calm down everyone!"
The clamor stopped. Everyone sat down and stared at Sakamochi,
who smiled. "The reason you are here..." he said, "Is to kill
each other."
Everyone stared at Sakamochi as he took a chalk and wrote on
the blackboard: Act 21
The students stared in silence.
"You have been selected to be this year's 'Program' class.
Congratulations, and welcome to Battle Royale!" Sakamochi
announced, bowing at the end.
Shuya's blood was suddenly cold. Almost in the distance he
heard someone scream.
End Chapter 1
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