Battle Royale '03
Epilogue ~Never shall we return, from conflict we must learn~
Shizuka Arai, Kiyoharu Moritaka and Junko Mizuboshi were, as of the end of spring term, official students of First Kobe Public High School. Sure, the name wasn't anything to write home about, but First Kobe gave potential students a deceptively hard entrance exam. It took Shizuka three tries to pass, Junko two and Kiyoharu four. (You were allowed to retake entrance exams for any school you wanted, but after the first time, you had to pay. The board at your prospective high school just took the highest score from all your retakes and counted that, not any of the others.) All three of them got jobs over the summer after school let out. Shizuka worked at a place that didn't exist in May 2003, a little place called Starbucks. Junko worked at a clothing store in the mall which the former black market occupied and Kiyoharu worked at, what else?, a music store.
The bell above the door at Starbucks chimed and all the high school-aged baristas shouted welcomes at the customer who entered. Shizuka manned the register.
"Welcome to Starbucks, would you like to try our daily special?" she asked as she was trained to. The customer, who wore a hood on his head and sunglasses over his eyes, read the nametag on Shizuka's chest that proclaimed her full name.
"Ah, Miss Arai. You managed to escape, no?" The man unhooded himself and removed his glasses. Shizuka gasped as she saw Mr. Toyama standing before her, wanting some coffee. "Tell me, how did you escape?"
"You want the truth? Masao gave us instructions on how to. It was so simple! He just took apart a radio and all the parts were there! Look at us now. Now, what can I make for you today?"
"You can make me a venti mocha with whipped cream on top and..." Mr. Toyama drew a small gun. "Your blood mixed in." The other girl at the registers screamed, "A GUN!" and everyone in the store ducked, even Shizuka.
"Mitsuko," she commanded the other girl. "Go call the police."
"You'll be okay alone?"
"Alone? We've got twenty customers in here, they can fight him off!"
"Right." Mitsuko crawled on the ground to a phone and dialed the emergency number, then cupped her hand over the receiver and whispered to someone on the other end. Shizuka made sure Mitsuko was on the phone before standing back up.
"Mr. Toyama, sir, may I ask why exactly do you want to kill me?"
"Nobody survived the 2003 Kitagawa Program. But three wriggled out. I'm going to find all three of you and kill you all!"
"Hey, who the hell do you think you are, threatening an innocent girl like that?" a 20-something man asked. "I oughta kick your ass right here, right now, old man!"
"No! Nobody do anything!" Shizuka screamed. "Just stay calm and pretend there ISN'T a megalomaniac with a gun ready to blow my fucking brains out." Everyone immediately went back to their food and drink. The police came a few minutes later to arrest Mr. Toyama and take him away in a police car, but Shizuka was frozen to the spot. The deranged look in his eyes...it haunted her.
Was this how it was going to be?
Was the Program going to haunt her life forever?
'No,' she quickly decided. 'I'm going to be strong and come out of this the winner. I won the Program. I won the Battle Royale. I am Shizuka Arai, 15 years old, freshman at First Kobe Public High School, and I am strong!!'
Far in the distance is cast a shadow
Symbol of our freedom will bring us salvation
On the horizon hope for Tomorrow
Sweeping across the land to give us unity
Look to the heavens with tears of triumph
To cherish a new life and suffer not again
Lift up your spirits from all destruction
Never shall we return from conflict we must learn
The End
Epilogue ~Never shall we return, from conflict we must learn~
Shizuka Arai, Kiyoharu Moritaka and Junko Mizuboshi were, as of the end of spring term, official students of First Kobe Public High School. Sure, the name wasn't anything to write home about, but First Kobe gave potential students a deceptively hard entrance exam. It took Shizuka three tries to pass, Junko two and Kiyoharu four. (You were allowed to retake entrance exams for any school you wanted, but after the first time, you had to pay. The board at your prospective high school just took the highest score from all your retakes and counted that, not any of the others.) All three of them got jobs over the summer after school let out. Shizuka worked at a place that didn't exist in May 2003, a little place called Starbucks. Junko worked at a clothing store in the mall which the former black market occupied and Kiyoharu worked at, what else?, a music store.
The bell above the door at Starbucks chimed and all the high school-aged baristas shouted welcomes at the customer who entered. Shizuka manned the register.
"Welcome to Starbucks, would you like to try our daily special?" she asked as she was trained to. The customer, who wore a hood on his head and sunglasses over his eyes, read the nametag on Shizuka's chest that proclaimed her full name.
"Ah, Miss Arai. You managed to escape, no?" The man unhooded himself and removed his glasses. Shizuka gasped as she saw Mr. Toyama standing before her, wanting some coffee. "Tell me, how did you escape?"
"You want the truth? Masao gave us instructions on how to. It was so simple! He just took apart a radio and all the parts were there! Look at us now. Now, what can I make for you today?"
"You can make me a venti mocha with whipped cream on top and..." Mr. Toyama drew a small gun. "Your blood mixed in." The other girl at the registers screamed, "A GUN!" and everyone in the store ducked, even Shizuka.
"Mitsuko," she commanded the other girl. "Go call the police."
"You'll be okay alone?"
"Alone? We've got twenty customers in here, they can fight him off!"
"Right." Mitsuko crawled on the ground to a phone and dialed the emergency number, then cupped her hand over the receiver and whispered to someone on the other end. Shizuka made sure Mitsuko was on the phone before standing back up.
"Mr. Toyama, sir, may I ask why exactly do you want to kill me?"
"Nobody survived the 2003 Kitagawa Program. But three wriggled out. I'm going to find all three of you and kill you all!"
"Hey, who the hell do you think you are, threatening an innocent girl like that?" a 20-something man asked. "I oughta kick your ass right here, right now, old man!"
"No! Nobody do anything!" Shizuka screamed. "Just stay calm and pretend there ISN'T a megalomaniac with a gun ready to blow my fucking brains out." Everyone immediately went back to their food and drink. The police came a few minutes later to arrest Mr. Toyama and take him away in a police car, but Shizuka was frozen to the spot. The deranged look in his eyes...it haunted her.
Was this how it was going to be?
Was the Program going to haunt her life forever?
'No,' she quickly decided. 'I'm going to be strong and come out of this the winner. I won the Program. I won the Battle Royale. I am Shizuka Arai, 15 years old, freshman at First Kobe Public High School, and I am strong!!'
Far in the distance is cast a shadow
Symbol of our freedom will bring us salvation
On the horizon hope for Tomorrow
Sweeping across the land to give us unity
Look to the heavens with tears of triumph
To cherish a new life and suffer not again
Lift up your spirits from all destruction
Never shall we return from conflict we must learn
The End