Emperor of One
Origins, File 1
"The year is 39 PA (Post Apocalypse), current time 11:32 AM. My name is Kouta Kurou, I am a student here at very average and plain Kyu Kyoto North Highschool (KKN). There's not much to brag about this shabby place other then delinquents, rumors and its age. To be perfectly honest, I'm surprised it's even standing after the great war. The architect must have been some sort of paranoid maniac—"
| Kou | "Um— TEACHER!" |
| Teacher | "What is it Mr. Kurou?" the teacher responds firmly while still glancing at his newspaper |
| Kou | "I was just wondering. Does writing this crap actually count for our grade?" |
| Teacher | "Hhm hm—" the teacher chuckled "Judging by your legendary progress of dropping three years in a row at that previous place before honoring us with your presence, I in your position would try even adding the zeros and praises in hopes of maybe passing." replied the teacher with a smirk on his face, "Now sit down and get back to work! And next time you add crap to a sentence I'll feed you to the class piranha." |
As he glanced back down at the newspaper the rest of the class directed their attention back at the assignment. All but one Mao Manami, who continued to give Kou the cold stare as he took his seat.
| Mao | "You idiot." she whispered as she turned her head back onto her paper |
Kouta was left with a depressed look on his face, took his pen and continued writing: "And this is another glorious day in the life of me. Yet again I've been scolded by the teacher for asking a perfectly legitimate question; I just have no luck." Kou sighed "Before coming to this place I was a student at... another school which shall remain secret. Because of unforeseen circumstances beyond my control I've ended dropping three years in a row. It was sad leaving the few friends I still had there behind but I couldn't bear the looks and rumors anymore, so I transfered to KKN in the hopes of starting anew. It's been one month since I transfered here and I've somehow managed to fit in. It was good fortune my super crappy attempt at kansai-ben earned me some humor points with everyone, otherwise things would have been bleak." Kou sighed again, looking towards the rest of class 0-N.
Mao kicks Koutas chair, planting Kouta face first onto his desk. As Kouta pulls himself up he takes a short glance over his shoulders at Mao and continues writing. "My seat is in the left furthers most corner of the class, near the window. The classroom is towards the sun and there are no trees nearby so the rest of the row is empty. The hole building is like a tower I'm trapped in, literally. Most of of the class has positioned themselves on the left side in the shade. The teachers don't seem to mind. Basically, I'm isolated… well, almost" Kouta frowns as he looks at a reflection of Mao in the window "behind me is Mao, our class— nono, our schools! eccentric, egoistic, self centered PE maniac! For whatever reason she insists she must stay near the window. Her record of arguing with teachers is even worse then mine." Kouta writes quickly as he leans towards his desk and paper "Every day since I came here she's given me the same look. Like its my fault the teachers told me to sit in front of her. To make it worse she has this voice problem. She apparently is too lazy or cool to speak with anything more then a calm voice or whisper. She even has some kind of medical nonsense to make the teachers accept it. Because of that I have to repeat everything she says each time one of the geezers asks her something. Probably why those bastards put me near her to begin with—"
| Teacher | "Ohoho. And who might these bastards be Mr. Kurou" the teacher asks as he slams a ruler between Koutas fingers |
| Kou | (Damn you eagle eye bastard!) he whispered to himself while still glancing down |
| Teacher | "After school, come see me." the teacher said in a low but sharp voice, before slowly looking over the class "Ok, shows over, the lot of you get back to work!" |
The time is 1:49 PM. Kou arrives at Mr. Rei Katashis office. The scent of tobacco greets him at the door; the inside a big mess of papers, flour pots and cigarettes. Even though called a office there's just a chair and a table and mountains of various student papers everywhere.
| Rei | "DONT you know how to KNOCK?" he shouts at Kou while lifting his eyes from the newspaper. |
| Kou | "Um—" confused he takes a few steps back and tries to turn around |
| Rei | "Wait— Just come here and sit down." |
| Kou | "Yes— Katashi-sensei…" |
| Rei | "<Your Majesty> will do." |
Kou frowns and pretends he didn't hear.
| Rei | "Haha— I'm just joking kid." the teacher laughed "Anyway, to business. How much do you know about the girl Mao?" |
| Kou | (What's this all of a sudden?) Kou pondered avoiding eye contact, "Um— aside from the fact she has excellent grades in PE, attends the archery club, kendo club… and every other martial arts club… somehow. I— don't really know anything…" Kouta mumbles as he looks down |
While looking at the arrangement of the teachers desk Kouta spots a particularity.
| Kou | "Could it be you're suspecting her of the murders from last year?" Kou asks with a firm voice |
| Rei | "Oh— And whatever gave you that stupid idea." |
| Kou | "On your desk there's a pile of files." |
| Rei | "I'm a teacher idiot." Rei responds swiftly |
| Kou | "The top file reads Riku, Ren— she's one of the students that got killed!" |
| Rei | "Hm?" Rei looks over "Ah, your right, must have picked it up by mistake." |
| Kou | "What of the other four files, did you pick them by mistake too?" Kou asks giving Rei the stare, a short moment of silence and he adds "The two at the bottom are black so it's probably a teachers file. I heard two teachers were murdered last year; even if one of them is your file, they can't be both yours… Mr. Katashi." before Rei can respond, Kou adds "I thought I heard you quit the force last summer due to a unrecoverable leg injury?" and stares at Rei |
A deep silence covers the room.
| Rei | "Heh— thought huh." Rei catches his breath for a moment, "I didn't quit the force, this is just a extended vacation. My leg will heal but the process takes several years, so I just took this as a part time job; beats sitting at a desk doing everyone elses paper work." Rei gigles, raising his finger "And after the incidents this school was in due need of personnel so you can think of my presence here as— charity work.", as he sights he then adds "—but, yes that's right the files are of the victims, however you got some facts wrong KID." Rei smirks as he grabs a cigar "…the murders didn't happen last year! not all of them. Only the girl Ren was murdered last year, the others happened the year before." Rei pauses as he lights his cigar, "I'm not even from this district you know, though my friends here told me the two cases were considered to be distinct and currently they are both closed, for some reason or another. So you can stop worrying your little head." |
Kou seems to want to reply, but keeps silent.
| Rei | "Anyway kid… don't get the wrong idea, I didn't call you to solve the murder or chase Kanibal" he scorns at Kou, showing him the newspaper |
As Kou glances down at the newspaper the title reads: "Kanibal on a Rampage!", The article seems to be a interview with Col. Bearwolf, leading Arm forces. On the right a big picture of the monster, Kou can't help but stare. Blindfolded skull for a head, teeth of a demon, horns of a goat, purple cloak with ominous eyes drawn on it, sleeves ripped off, arms made of what looks like muscle and steel with no skin attached, chains for braces, claws for nails, and skull boots up to his knees. And to top that a tail. Kou is a little intrigued but adverts his eye from it after a moment.
| Kou | "So whats this business then?" |
| Rei | "Follow Mao" |
Kou gives him a strange look but doesn't respond back.
| Rei | "Look it's not lik—" |
| Kou | "Just follow? —so what's in it for me?" |
| Rei | as Rei puts out his cigar he adds "And write a report. If you do that I'll make sure you get a passing grade— Deal?" |
| Kou | after a short pause, "Fine— Deal" |
| Rei | "You're not going to interrogate me on why—" |
| Kou | "It's none of my business." |
Kou leaves the office.
| Kou | (And with that defensive talk of yours probably not safe to ask.) |
1,498 words, according to this site.
I couldn't fit more then the prolog in the limit. Fail.
I'll continue next contest…
Status
Final Draft.
Changelog:
1.0.0 — initial draft
1.1.0 — title update (given the word limit might as well use it to hint as much as possible)
1.2.1 — edit 1 + title tweak + lots of rephrasing
1.2.2 — edit 2 + zebra's corrections + setting for Rei's office
1.2.3 — typos