Sirens blared. A few able-bodied men steadily kept away the growing masses filled with wandering eyes. A picture of dismay and disaster revealed itself as the girl ever so crept slower towards the chaos. With every fearful step and dreaded teardrop, she started to hear a symphony of anarchy. The crackling of the fire, and the confused cries of the mob, which drowned out her own. As if to pull the curtains on this tragedy, the girl falls to her knees. Tears now streaming down her face, she blankly stares at the night sky, as if to ask the very gods which allowed this to happen, a grim "Why?". In the far distance, a figure madly dashes off with two pieces of metal, shared equally in both hands bloodstained. A bat, and a plate of some sort which only read "K".
{ The afternoon before the incident }
"Karama-san? Karama-san? "
*Still half asleep* "Go away Miho, give me like 10 more minutes. It'll be okay if I'm a little late. Just go on ahead of me."
*SLAM*
*Nozu snaps his head back up with lightning speed* "Wha-"
"Karama-san! I will not allow you to make a mockery of my class by sleeping it in! This tid bit is very important for the test you are going to have on Friday."
"Oh, but I was listening sensei. I was just in critical thought of what else might be on that formidable test that you intricately made for us."
"Well then, why don't I test your memory of what I just said?"
"It's okay you don't ha-"
"What is the significance of Peripeteia and Anagnorisis?"
"Uuhh…" *Silence fills the room for a whole grueling minute*
*Somebody yells from the back* "Hey, just tell sensei that you're a daft idiot and get on with your failure of a life." *The back half of the class laughs*
*Nozu stands up in rage* "Oh shut up Takashi, you brain dead moron."
"Both of you! I will not tolerate despicable actions like these in my classroom. Stay after class and see me."
*The class settles and continues.*
(It's not even my fault. I absolutely hate Takashi. One day, he'll die a slow painful death. I know its wrong to wish for this kind of thing, but there is no doubt in my mind he deserves it for all the things he's done to me and me alone. )
{Afterschool}
"Coach, it wasn't my fault that I'm late! My English teacher made me stay after!"
"She has her good reasons for doing so. It was your fault for having her resort to that."
"Well I'm here now, so can I just practice?"
"You've got guts to say that to me kid. Take a good look around you."
Nozu looks all around him "There's nothing to see."
"Exactly! Practice just ended!"
"What?!"
"Look just go home, and think of about what you've done. Next time this happens, you are off the team."
{On the walk home}
(This sucks. First I got chewed off by my teacher, now my coach. I hate this life. I hate it so much! I'm about to hit my limit of how much abuse I can take. I just want to end this grey eternity, but not with suicide. No… I just want to get rid of those who cause others pain, so the only people who are left are the ones that care about others. When its just those people, a perfect family forms, with the grief of life absorbed by the light.)
{The sun starts to set on the horizon}
*Nozu enters his house unannounced*
*Suddenly, Nozu is hit with a fresh wave of displeasure as a voice checks for his presence.*
"Nozu, did I say that you can stay out late? I swear that you always go out of your way to cause trouble for me.
"Dad, its not my fault that I had to stay late. There were unavoidable circumstances."
"You think I'd fall for that? I'm way older than you. I know all of the excuses and trouble you've caused, because I've already experienced all of it.
"I'm not lieing! What do you think I was doing out late?! I have no reason to!"
"Probably fooling around with that Kazumi girl I bet. She is always so close to you. I'm also sure that she is the one making you into a delinquent. You were never like this before you started going to that school with her. "
"Don't talk about Miho like you know her. She is a good person, and more of a family than you have in your entire life!"
"Oh now your saying that some stranger is better at being a family rather than your own father. You are so ungrateful to me for everything I've done for you. "
"What have you done for me?! Ignore me for most of my childhood? Leaving me with a stranger for a guardian? Refusing to celebrate my birthdays? I have a whole list to recite."
"How about making you a well-behaved child? You were always so quiet and obedient. Intelligent, self-less, courteous. Now you are pessimistic, sarcastic, cynical, and conceited. All the more I think, no command you to cut your ties with that Kazumi girl."
"Leave… Miho… OUT OF THIS. I'm all of those characteristics because of your lackluster parenting and guidance! Also, I'm not even conceited at all! I think less of myself, because everyone thinks they are better than me!"
"There you go again with your transparent lies. Not conceited? Don't even try to make me laugh you brat. Listen to yourself. It's always "I" or "me". If that isn't conceited, I don't know if I'm sane."
"BECAUSE EVERYONE IS ALWAYS AFTER ME. Whether at home, at school, afterschool at practice, anywhere, everyone is always beating me down. I never had one nano second of rest within this quagmire. I don't think I've EVER been treated as someone with value. It is absolutely inhuman to be kicked around like this."
"Pessimistic, sarcastic, cynical, conceited, and spineless. I can't even begin to imagine why your mother even found any wor-"
*Nozu smashes a lamp with his bat causing a small fire to start*
"Don't.. you even…. DARE… talk about my mother that way. All you ever do is care about yourself. You never even care about me. I don't even think you cared about my mom! I didn't see one tear from you at her funeral! Not once did you act like a family to me ever since I was born. Always commands, no gratitude at all. You are the lowest human being ever to exist. Why did mom have to die? *Nozu starts to succumb to his grief* IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOU THAT DIED, NOT MOM. I… can't just look out for myself, I need others, like you if you had stopped for a second to notice that you had a son. *Nozu starts to tear up*
"If that's what you feel… then I have failed in my mission. Go to your room and come back next time when you can apologize for your actions in a civil manner."
*Nozu suddenly stop crying, and blankly stares at his father*
*Nozu's tone becomes unimaginably cold* "Next time? There won't be a next time, father."
*Nozu swings and hits his father's back with the bat*
"Acck! What are you doing you fool!?" *Nozu's father now understands an emotion he has long forgotten... Fear*
*The small fire starts to grow at a constant rate, with it now consuming some of the living room furniture*
"Shut it you shell of a man. You never did have any worth as a husband, as a father, not even as person. I'm going to send you back down where you belong. *Nozu holds the bat overhead*
"No.. please… WAIT!"
{Darkness}