--- I would like to thank Kristine Batey for this contribution. I thought
that this was enough. And any way I don't know how I would have continued
it. So thank you to all of my reviewers.---
"Look out!" Kagome cried. But it was too late. Houjou-kun had been run over by a steamroller.
For a moment, nobody reacted. The boy emitted only the briefest of cries as he fell, so that the sound was nearly lost in the roar of the machine. His disappearance under the roller was so quick, and so unbelievable, that it took a moment for any of the girls to scream, and then all of them were screaming.
Finally somebody--a passerby--jumped forward to catch the operator's attention. The driver hadn't even seen the boy go down, hadn't realized that anybody was in the roadway. The silence that followed the shutting down of the engine was both eerie and unnerving, adding to the sense of unreality. When the driver was made to understand what had just happened, he began weeping and cursing and then threw the machine into reverse, as though moving the great wheel off the boy's broken body could somehow undo what had been done, as though the blood and muscle and brain and intestines would somehow re-form into a laughing, living person.
By now the police were on the scene, summoned by a horrified shopkeeper. The first officer to arrive turned away, unable to bear the sight of the boy, alive only moments before, but now unrecognizable as a human being. One of his colleagues began to pull passersby away. One of the girls fainted, and a few people went to help her. Several people were sick.
Kagome stood rooted, staring. She had seen so much death, so many mutilated corpses, so much grief. For a moment, her brain refused to identify this corpse as the gentle boy who had courted her, trying so desperately to please her
"Look out!" Kagome cried. But it was too late. Houjou-kun had been run over by a steamroller.
For a moment, nobody reacted. The boy emitted only the briefest of cries as he fell, so that the sound was nearly lost in the roar of the machine. His disappearance under the roller was so quick, and so unbelievable, that it took a moment for any of the girls to scream, and then all of them were screaming.
Finally somebody--a passerby--jumped forward to catch the operator's attention. The driver hadn't even seen the boy go down, hadn't realized that anybody was in the roadway. The silence that followed the shutting down of the engine was both eerie and unnerving, adding to the sense of unreality. When the driver was made to understand what had just happened, he began weeping and cursing and then threw the machine into reverse, as though moving the great wheel off the boy's broken body could somehow undo what had been done, as though the blood and muscle and brain and intestines would somehow re-form into a laughing, living person.
By now the police were on the scene, summoned by a horrified shopkeeper. The first officer to arrive turned away, unable to bear the sight of the boy, alive only moments before, but now unrecognizable as a human being. One of his colleagues began to pull passersby away. One of the girls fainted, and a few people went to help her. Several people were sick.
Kagome stood rooted, staring. She had seen so much death, so many mutilated corpses, so much grief. For a moment, her brain refused to identify this corpse as the gentle boy who had courted her, trying so desperately to please her