It was late. Toshinori Oda (Male Student No. 4) had been highly careful in his movements so far. One of his horrible, vulgar classmates were bound to snap early on, and even though the boy had a wonderful bulletproof vest, he still made sure to avoid running into one of his hated classmates.
Toshinori's first priority was to find shelter. He already decided that there would be absolutely no chance of him sleeping out in the dirt like the vulgar masses should. Only the best house on the island would suffice for him. But first, he felt the urge to roam the island just a little. Toshinori lied to himself, saying that it was to get a better understanding of his location, but the truth was that he was highly curious to see which people in his class had already died, and who he would never have to deal with again.
To say that he was completely fearless would not have been completely true. In the very back of his mind, Toshinori already knew that there was a chance that he could die. He found comfort in the fact that he would probably have a better chance of living, though. Unlike the other wimps, he wasn't afraid to play. When he got a weapon, he would kill anyone that crossed his path. It was already decided.
As Toshinori walked down southwards, he could hear the sound of the water lapping softly against the rocks. There was a strong smell from the sea, but it was also accompanied by another smell. It was intense, and caused Toshinori to wrinkle his nose as soon as it hit his nose. After a few seconds, he realized it was the smell of fresh blood. Looking forward, he spotted four strange looking lump shapes. Upon closer inspection, Toshinori realized they were bodies. Without hesitation, he walked over to check who he would no longer have to deal with.
The first body he saw belonged to Mitsuru Numai (Male Student No. 17). Toshinori smirked. His hoodlum like behaviour, and the fact that he was so loyal to a robot made him despise Mitsuru. The next body belonged to Ryuhei Sasagawa (Male Student No. 10). Seeing his body brought great delight to the frog like boy. Ryuhei treated Toshinori the worst out of all the delinquents. Every day he tried more and more to drive him over the edge, and he was delighted to see that karma had hit Ryuhei badly. The next body he saw was Hiroshi Kuronaga's (Male Student No. 9). Toshinori never paid him much attention, but Hiroshi also got on his nerves since he was a delinquent. To see almost the entire Kiriyama group wiped out (Excluding Sho and Kazuo himself), was an excellent start in Toshinori's eyes. But, then he noticed one more body. It was a female one. Approaching it, he turned over the body which was faced downwards.
It belonged to Izumi Kanai (Female Student No. 5).
Toshinori's grip on her shoulder tightened as he stared in shock at Izumi. What was she doing with such vulgar scoundrels? He didn't like the girls she hung out with that much either, but Toshinori knew that she found Kiriyama's buffoons as vulgar as he did. Why did she come here? Although the two weren't the closest, Toshinori tolerated her the most, especially in recent times.
It all started less than two days before the planned school trip. Toshinori's parents were holding a large party, where everyone who was anyone was invited. The majority were, once again, adults. After about half an hour, Toshinori found himself growing bored of being around such drones. He was already planning on stepping outside, but what made his decision firm was when a drunk friend of his mothers spilled a glass of wine down his sleeve. As she apologized, Toshinori stormed out into the more peaceful garden.
Sitting down on a stone bench, he glared around the garden in disgust. Toshinori couldn't understand why his parents had such vulgar friends. They drove him insane, and incidents like this were more than common. As he sulked in silence, he suddenly heard footsteps, and someone sitting down beside him. Looking over at who it was, he raised his eyebrows in both surprise and slight annoyance.
"Kanai? What are you doing here?" Toshinori asked. Izumi Kanai was one of his richer classmates, and also maintained a high status due to her family. However, she stuck around with the "Neutrals", but Toshinori had no respect for them either. To see Izumi attend something like this was new to him.
"My parents asked me to come along… I promised I would. I don't like these events much, though. Everyone's so uptight and posh for my liking… You don't mind me joining you, do you, Toshi- Oda?" Izumi spoke up softly, looking at her knees. The dress she was wearing was a short, cute ruffled one, and Toshinori couldn't help but find her look rather attractive in it.
"It's fine. The most enjoyable part of the night is yet to come for me, where I get to perform a wonderful piece for the guests here. For now, I'm content out here, away from where more fools can spill alcohol on my clothing," Toshinori complained. His classmate looked over at him with surprise.
"Wait– You don't like these things either? I thought you lived for things like this!" Izumi cried out, stunned by this sudden revelation.
"No, I have a similar opinion on that subject. I don't know why you seem so stunned. I should be the stunned one, given how I never thought I'd find someone from our school at something like this," he replied, feeling his tone ease a little.
"I can understand why you're so surprised… You bunch all of us into the same category. I actually do have some class, believe it or not, Oda. I do my best to show my social status. To be honest, I think I understand you better than anyone else in the class does," Izumi replied, rambling a little. Toshinori stared at her, surprised. Since he first saw Izumi, he was under the impression that she didn't care about her wealthy status. He felt pleasantly surprised to know that he wasn't alone in caring about social statuses.
After that, Toshinori began to ask Izumi more questions about being the daughter of the mayor, what her life was like, and so on. At first he just asked the questions with very little curiosity, and merely used it as an idle way to make conversation, but after around twenty minutes passed of chatting to her, Toshinori found himself wanting to know everything about Izumi. She gave a much better impression here than she did in school, in his opinion.
"I think you're an amazing violin player, by the way," Izumi blurted out after a few minutes of silence. Toshinori was confused by the sudden compliment, but was glad to hear one.
"Ah, why thank you," he said, still feeling a little baffled. Izumi paused for a moment, but then continued speaking.
"I mean it. I always see how annoyed you get when you only receive a round of polite applause… Don't take anything too personally. Everyone just has their own preferences…" she mumbled, trying to find a way to comfort him.
"Are you trying to make some sort of point here?" Toshinori grumbled, feeling slightly agitated that there wasn't any upside to this.
Izumi flinched a little at the boy's annoyed tone, but kept herself composed. She suddenly laid a hand on his shoulder, and Toshinori looked down at her hand in confusion. He looked back up at her.
"My parents want me to pick up more refined hobbies… I figured you were the best person to turn to. Would you be willing to teach me how to play the violin?" Izumi finally requested.
"Did you spend all this time conversing with me just to ask me for violin lessons?" Toshinori replied immediately. His classmate grew wide eyed and she shook her head quickly.
"Of course not! I really enjoy talking to you, and I hope if you'll help me practice the violin, we'll be able to have more conversations like this. Please?" Izumi asked pleadingly, giving him the puppy eyes. Toshinori looked over at her, and decided she made a good point (also, saying no didn't seem like a good option at that moment).
"…Alright. Shall we begin the lessons after that vulgar class trip?" he suggested. Izumi's face brightened up and she nodded.
"That's perfect! Thank you so much, Toshinori!" she said, beaming. She looked as if she were about to hug him, but thought twice about it.
Minutes later, a man and woman who Toshinori recognized as the mayor and his wife, stepped out, calling for Izumi. She stood up, once again thanking Toshinori for agreeing to the violin lessons.
"See you another time!" Izumi cried out as she ran to the house, ready to go home. As the back door shut, Toshinori didn't get a chance to respond. He looked at the door she just closed, though. Even though he had a strong intolerance of his classmates, there was the slightest chance that he could potentially like Izumi Kanai. She was rich and classed, and very pretty on top of that. Toshinori decided that if he did end up liking her, it wouldn't be the end of the world.
Snapping back to the present, Toshinori realized that his grip on the corpse's shoulder had tightened. Looking at the watch on his free hand, he realized he had spent far too long reminiscing. This was a fight to the death. A good start did not include mourning over a potential friend's death.
Laying Izumi's body back down, Toshinori picked up his daypack, turned sharply around on his feet and continued on his search for shelter. As he walked, he couldn't help but think of what he would never see again. Never again would he see Izumi's smile when she saw her friends, the sleepy look in her eyes during Math, or see her applaud louder than anyone when he finished playing the violin. Hm. Perhaps I did like her after all, he thought, finding those memories highly appealing.
"See you another time, Izumi. Hopefully in the very distant future," Toshinori mumbled as he walked.
But small crushes no longer matter in this game, he thought, Especially when they're already dead.