Dancing In The Dark

Chapter 1

Author's Note: I own nothing, as usual. Battle Royale and all its glory belong to Koushun Takami, so go thank him. The songs Dancing In The Dark and Blood Brothers both belong to Bruce Springsteen. Oh, and don't even try to pigeonhole it between book, manga and novel, I took details from all three.

We played king of the mountain out on the end,

The world came charging up the hill, and we were women and men.

Shinji Mimura was wiping sweat from his brow yet again when they heard the footsteps. He was so alarmed he nearly dropped his side of the heavy crate he was struggling to carry with Yutaka Seto and Keita Iijima.

"Hey!" yelled Keita. "What's the problem?" The crate began to tip dangerously, but Shinji had more important things to worry about.

Great, I'm stuck in this sodding Program with him, he thought, irritated. He really couldn't believe that they weren't bothered by the prospect of someone approaching, even after he'd found them and told them about the bodies of Yoshio and Tendo he'd seen.

Luckily for his sanity, Yutaka seemed concerned, though only slightly. "Who's coming?" he asked, sounding as though it were only a matter of curiosity, and not potential death at all.

Oh, of all the fucking stupid questions to ask. It was only the fact that he had been best friends with Yutaka ever since elementary school that curbed his tongue. "I don't know," he said, as patiently as he could manage. But just as he was about to get his weapon (a handgun) ready, whoever it was came running up and grabbed Shinji's corner of the crate they'd shoved everything into. Shinji thought he recognised the figure, though he couldn't see his face. "Hiroki?" he ventured.

The taller boy turned his head and flashed a grin at him. He didn't speak, but inclined his head towards the crate, suggesting that they should get this settled first and ask questions later. Shinji nodded. Thank God. Only Hiroki Sugimura. He wasn't playing; Shinji could tell. For that one moment, he'd been so scared... (not that he'd admit it, of course). And for that one moment he'd felt completely out of control of the situation, like he couldn't even control his own body. Powerlessness was the thing he hated most in the world, and this was why he'd come up with this plan in the first place. So he'd probably never be able to tear down the government, as he'd once naively dreamed, nor would he be able to engage in the terrorist activities that had proven the downfall of his uncle. He'd have to make the best of this deal. He'd make them remember his name, even if he wasn't the sole survivor at the end of it all! Who wanted to be stuck with those memories anyway?

And now that Hiroki was here, he felt for the first time that his goal was really visible. Because, no offence to Yutaka, but he was pretty useless at things like this, and he just plain didn't like Keita. In fact, it was purely because of his faith in Yutaka that he'd agreed to work with Keita in the first place. Not that Keita did much work. Oh sure, he was okay for physical labour, fetching and carrying and what have you, but Shinji himself was doing all the thinking, and he knew he'd have to carry the majority of the technical stuff out. But now Hiroki could relieve some of the burden.

They were up the stairs now, and Shinji directed them to where he wanted them to put it. "A little to the left... closer to the wall... no, back a bit. Stop, put it here." All four of them gingerly deposited the crate on the dusty floor. "Right," he said grimly. "Now the real work starts." He practically dived into the crate and began to rummage, pulling out wires, a car battery and a laptop. The next twenty or so minutes were taken up by Shinji throwing countless orders at them, and then more often than not, dashing over to shove them out of the way and do the job himself. He had completely given himself over to that lightning-sharp mind of his, and only Hiroki had a hope of keeping up with him.

"No, no, no!" yelled Shinji, beside himself as he raced to Yutaka. Yutaka only just managed to throw himself out of the path of the demon, with a look of absolute fear on his face. "Not that wire, dammit!" he muttered, more to himself than anyone else. "The red wire." For God's sake, it's always the red wire, Yutaka! "And move this closer, don't stretch the wire too far..."

Yutaka just sat and blinked at him. It was always best just to let Shinji have his own way when he was like this. Maybe Keita had realised this, or maybe he was just lazy, because he was sitting with his back to the wall, just watching them.

"Has he gone mad?" Hiroki asked Yutaka, looking amused.

Yutaka glanced at Shinji, who was still muttering furiously to himself and doing complicated things with wires. "No," he said. "He's happy, that's all."

Hiroki laughed, watching Shinji himself. Then the Third Man sat back and cried, "Eureka!" He'd obviously just finished whatever the hell he was trying to do. "She's all hooked up and ready to go!"

Hiroki and Yutaka exchanged glances and looked at Shinji, but he'd already moved on to the next thing on his mind. He switched on the Powerbook 150 he'd plundered from one of the houses.

There was an ominous pause, and the tension was almost palpable. Shinji was so tense Yutaka was sure he'd snap.

But the screen lit up, and the bright welcoming chimes sounded, and Shinji started to breathe again. Thank God; it worked.

"What are you doing?" asked Yutaka. He didn't sound worried, because he had complete faith in his friend. He was just curious.

"Nothing yet," replied Shinji, not taking his eyes off the screen. "Just making sure everything works." He didn't want to tell them yet and get their hopes up. The hard cold fact of it was: they were probably going to die doing this. Shinji wasn't stupid; he'd accepted that. But he wasn't sure about Yutaka (and he didn't care about Keita too much). Even after he'd heard of Izumi's death. Making promises on the spur of the moment while heartbroken, and actually pledging your life to something are two very different things. Even if he had really been in love with her...

No, he couldn't think about that, it was just a reminder of something he'd never had, and certainly never would now. Admittedly, he had time left, but he couldn't afford to waste any of it trying to find love. He couldn't even afford to think about what he hadn't got, only how best to use what he did have, to fuck up this sodding Program to the best of his ability.

"Shinji." Hiroki's soft voice gently coaxed him back to reality.

"Huh?"

"I have to go now."

"What?" Shinji was indignant.

Hiroki's lips quirked in the ghost of a smile. "I have to find Chigusa and Kotohiki. Have you seen them?" Shinji shook his head, and Hiroki bit his lip, looking troubled. "Dammit. If anything happened to either of them..."

Shinji nodded, slightly ashamed of his selfish intentions. "I understand." And he did. It was that 'love' thing again. That mysterious, seemingly untouchable thing that made people angry and sad, and made them want to risk everything on some random whim. Oh yes, he understood. "I'm sorry, it's just-" Just what? "I wanted you to help me work this out so if we're lucky we can all die fighting?" Well, yeah. But he didn't say that. "It doesn't matter," he said instead.

"Right." Hiroki sighed and got up. "I might see you guys around, then." Shinji's stomach went cold as he realised what this actually meant, but his face remained the same. He couldn't back out now; he'd chosen his path. "Take care," added Hiroki, and Shinji thought he was looking straight at him. But he didn't linger, and left without another word. He didn't look back, but Shinji got a strong urge to follow him. He got the impression that Hiroki had more to say. And besides that, he'd just beckoned to him, without the other two noticing.

In the next instalment: What the hell does Hiroki want? I'm sure you can work it out. But you want to read it anyway! Read and review, if it's not too much to ask. And even if it is. Arigatou!