Kaoru Ishibashi: Affirmative [C7]
((OOC: *exhales* I've had this post in the works for so long, mainly because of studies, a theatre performance, and this constant writer's block trying to skip through the time bubble. The wound was a huge motivation to finish up this post because I do want to deliver on Kaoru but life sucks. Of course, this post isn't going to cover the wound just yet, I have a lot of ground to cover as it is, as you can tell by the length. XD Enjoy!))
"Kaoru is fabulous. She's just as fierce in real life as she is on The Program."
"One hell of a player, that girl. Hot, too."
"She was the obvious choice right from the start. Her class was made out of pathetic know-nothings. She deserved to win."
Kaoru was flattered. All of these television reports and interviews were just too kind. She stepped up from her seat and strode to the exit, hearing the commotion outside. Excited, she practically threw herself out of the door.
"Thank you, thank you!" Kaoru blew kisses to the flocks of cameramen and reporters as she stepped down from the helicopter.
"Miss Ishibashi! From day one, you've caught all of Japan's attention with your cunning, your ruthlessness, and your beauty. How do you feel now that all of Japan is in awe at your very presence, and that you flawlessly persevered without a single scratch?"
She laughed, flashing a large pearly smile. "Well, it's like they say. There are winners and there are losers, and my classmates were all born losers. Most of them, anyway. It was hardly a challenge at all."
The reporters clamored for the next question. Kaoru gleefully waved to her fans, one of which was her mother, waving back with the proudest smile on her face.
She was a winner.
Night time had come, and the only light was the moon streaming through the windowpane. For a reasonably long amount of time, Kaoru had sat in a nearby coffeehouse to regain her energy (after all, pinning Taki to the ground against her will was exhausting). Unfortunately, there was no mint mocha latte or some other caffeinated beverage to boost it faster. The refrigerated display case of soda was empty, probably raided by the government.
So she just sat down in a booth, her feet propped up on the table next to her pistol. She held her new GPS system in her lap and studied it like a kid on a Gameboy, watching dots wander around, congregate, and sometimes turn red and stop altogether. Those were the most striking moments. She didn't know who they were, as they weren't labeled. But they would turn red, and all she could do was sit in suspense and wait for the report to tell her who those dots were.
When Taylor Takahashi's name was read out on the midnight report, Kaoru's lips curled as she gleefully scribbled BITCH over her name.
She almost wished she knew what had happened to the half-American slut. Who did it, how violently she died, if she begged for mercy. It was disappointing that Kaoru couldn't enjoy the sight of Taylor's slow, violent death, but imagining it happen would have to be just as pleasing. She'd settle, somehow.
Kaoru picked the map off of the table and stooped down to slip it into her Louis Vuitton.
She sat back up and watched the dots move. If one ventured close enough, Kaoru decided she'd make the effort to stand up, walk out of the coffee shop, and shoot them dead. In the meantime, she waited for her next victim. She was a predator in the bushes, watching their every move, waiting to strike.
God, how cunty would it be if she was sipping a mint mocha latte right now?
Plopping down on the springy mattress of the hotel room, Kaoru flipped through the file folders and placed last-minute handwritten notes in their relevant sections. From the bathroom, she could hear the continuous flow of water pouring from the faucet.
"Do you remember what to say if the affirmative brings up international relations?" she called out. Amidst the running water, she heard the response.
"That poll on international perception comparing Japan and the US."
"You're good." She bent down to pick up the floored latte that she'd gone across the street to buy, and sipped from the lid's small opening. Refreshing. Mint mocha always does the trick.
"We're gonna rock this," said the voice as the faucet squeaked shut. Kaoru stood up and sauntered over to the bathroom door, latte in hand. Inside, Ryuji Miyosaka wiped his face with a towel over a sink littered with shaved hair. The handsomely physiqued boy stood in a disappointingly long and concealing peach towel, but his upper body glistened with the steam of his shave. His eyes glanced over at her through the mirror as he wiped.
She nonchalantly sipped her coffee.
Placing the towel down, Ryuji squished hair gel from a bottle's dispenser into his hand and ran it through his hair. As he did so, Kaoru neared closer, squinting at his neck.
"You missed a spot."
"What? Where?"
Kaoru pointed. He craned his neck to see the small patch.
"Damn it." Ryuji squeaked the faucet back on and washed the gel from his hands.
"Didn't they teach you how to shave?" Kaoru teased, grinning slyly as she swished her latte around in the cup.
Ryuji picked up the razor and hovered it over the patch of hair. "My dad wasn't around to teach me."
Skrrch. He tapped the razor on the edge of the sink.
She watched Ryuji's moves intently. "That sucks."
"Yeah, whatever. Don't wanna talk about it."
Kaoru put her latte down and rolled up the sleeves of her professional yet stylishly sexy black and off-pink thin-striped blouse, but was distracted by Ryuji's messy attempt at slicking his hair back. She scoffed and got behind him, grabbing Ryuji's scalp and pulling his hair down. She reached for a toothed comb from the countertop and ran it through the gelatinous mess. As the ambush continued, Kaoru could see Ryuji through the mirror, trying to hide his amused smile. Their eyes met, causing them both to grin.
A minute later, Kaoru stepped over to the sink, setting the comb down. "All done." Ryuji leaned into the mirror beside her, checking the angles of his hair before leaning back, satisfied. She followed him out of the bathroom into the room's foyer as he picked an undershirt and a pair of boxers out of his bag in the closet. She wandered over to the purse on the bed and rummaged through its contents.
"You're on the winning team, Ryuji," Kaoru boasted, pulling out a hand mirror and still rummaging. "We've got everything we need to roast these bitches no matter what they come at us with."
Finally, she pulled out her MAC lipstick. Loved the stuff. She pressed it against her lips gracefully, then smeared, then smacked, and then popped the lid back on.
"I've always respected you," she continued, sauntering back into the foyer behind Ryuji. "Well, not always. Remember how much we used to hate each other?"
"I didn't hate you," Ryuji responded, pulling from the bag a pair of pants, "I had fun demeaning you."
"Likewise," she smiled. Ryuji stood up from his bag and faced Kaoru, who happened to be standing in the doorway to the bathroom. A crooked smirk ascended onto his face. He held up his pants.
"I need to change."
Kaoru cocked an eyebrow, staring him down. "Then do it."
Ryuji scoffed, humored. "What?"
She laughed, a schoolgirl suggesting something naughty. "Come on, do it," Kaoru goaded. "Show me the goods."
Kaoru playfully poked at Ryuji's bare torso; he cringed and swatted in self defense, chuckling. Then one of her pokes became a small shove. The next was her hand rubbed across his shoulder.
The next, her hand didn't move from his bare skin.
Ryuji looked up at her.
"I said I respect you. But I could respect you much more." Kaoru's hand caressed its way down to his chest as Ryuji stood. His hand awkwardly placed itself on Kaoru's hip, a hand she quickly grabbed and pushed down under her pencil skirt, grazing it up her thigh to her buttock. Her breath coated his neck and his fell heavily on her lips. His gaze was penetrating, still and strong. Her gaze was searching lasciviously for his next move.
Shkkt.
Oh shit.
They quickly let go of each other. The door suddenly squeaked open. Raiden Shindou stopped in his tracks, card key in hand, at the close proximity of the two debaters. It wasn't hard to figure out, considering the attentive member lifting Ryuji's towel, but Raiden looked on in sheer awkwardness. The pair attempted to compose their posture, Kaoru straightening her skirt as she stared Raiden down.
"What the fuck are you looking at?" she spat.
Raiden's eyes dropped, intimidated. He squeezed past the two into the room with Kaoru's dagger eyes following behind him. He was only on the trip to watch, since he lacked the finesse to debate cohesively without stuttering like a dolt. The debate coach had assigned the boy to Kaoru so he could learn a thing or two, but it wasn't working for some reason.
Whatever. Fucking gnat.
_____________
Kaoru unwillingly followed Ryuji to the cafeteria table.
"How did you do?" Taylor asked.
"Nailed it," Ryuji grinned proudly, taking a seat in front of Sakura Tsumatsu. Kaoru sat alongside him, her face searching the cafeteria for something interesting to look at. Failing, and wanting little to do with the other team from Haramichi, she pulled out her Blackberry and clicked away on a text message to the girls as the others chatted about their most recent round.
hey. im kicking ass. wish me luck!
Recipients: <3 Kinuka, <3 Mai, <3 Suzuka.
On quick review of her contact list, she added Kazu.
Send.
Looking up from her phone, Taylor and Ryuji were missing.
"Whoa. Where'd they go?"
Sakura looked up from the case folder she was skimming. "They went to buy some snacks." She motioned over to the snack stand, where the school's students sat at a table covered in fruits, drinks, and junk food. Ryuji and Taylor stood in line, talking to each other.
Very friendly.
Taylor giggled at something Ryuji said and... brushed her hand against his chest.
Taylor... you fucking fake bitch.
"...nearly twenty of your friends are dead, and the best part of all? We've already lost most of the foreign muck!..."
Kaoru stirred from her nap on the coffeehouse's cashier countertop. A groggy moan escaped her mouth, followed by "...ennnhh.... fuck off bitch..." She adjusted her head on the Louis Vuitton bag and ignored her blabbing, going back to sleep just as soon as Ren's voice came off the speakers.
The first day of debates was easy. Those were the eliminations of all the less competent teams. When a team spoke to make a point, they were quickly shut down, earning them victory after victory.
"About 60 million Japanese are below the poverty line, clearly proving--"
"Wait," Kaoru interrupted, "our population is 120 million. Are you saying that 50% of the country can't buy their own food?"
"Uh... yes."
"That's preposterous. Your statistics are flawed. What source did you even use?"
"...That's not important to this case--"
"It IS important to this case! If you don't have reliable statistics and on top of that, can't even interpret them correctly, how are we supposed to have an intelligent debate?"
Win.
With the exception of one round, where both sides gave each other a hard time, they had accumulated the points to advance to the second day of debates. Sakura and Taylor's team had made it as well.
That night, Kaoru, who was unwillingly sharing a room with the girls, rummaged through her purse for a slab of wintergreen gum. But she noticed something was missing. Searching and unsuccessful, she poured the contents out onto the bed.
"Have either of you seen my MAC?"
Sakura and Taylor looked away from the television at her.
"I could've sworn it was in there," Kaoru pointed. "Where is it?"
"You probably just misplaced it." Taylor shrugged, turning back to the television.
"No, I didn't. You know I'm a very organized person." Kaoru stepped around the bed to hover over the floor-sitting Taylor. "Where... is it?"
Taylor raised her eyebrows dubiously and almost cracked a condescending smirk. "I don't KNOW. Jesus, it's only lipstick. Stop being so superficial."
"I'd rather be superficial than a half-breed." Taylor's face did not move a muscle. "And by the way, it's MAC lipstick. It's expensive. It's fabulous. And if you owned anything that wasn't cheap outlet store trash, you wouldn't call it superficial. So I'll ask you again. Where is it?"
"Are you insinuating that I stole your herpes-infected lipstick?" Taylor's face was dripping with such sarcasm that Kaoru knew it was her fault.
She beelined toward Taylor's luggage. "What are you doing?" Taylor exclaimed, as Kaoru kneeled down and ripped the zipper open. "Let go of my stuff you bitch!"
That's when Taylor's greasy little mitts pulled at Kaoru's hair. Kaoru shoved them off immediately to keep searching, but she tried again, and this time she pulled HARD. Kaoru yelped, trying to get her to let go without pulling a chunk of her head off, but she wouldn't, so she kicked at her legs. Taylor stumbled, falling onto the ground and pulling Kaoru down with her as they both screamed in rage, slapping and clawing each other.
The situation was only exacerbated by Sakura repeatedly smacking pillows at them, yelling over their insults and cat-howls.
Kaoru was slamming Taylor's head onto the carpet by her shoulders, until a sickening SLAP hit her right across the face and Taylor took control. The girls rolled until they were suddenly pulled off of each other by the debate coach who had barged in with Ryuji, Raiden, and Sakura, who had called for him.
All they got was a stern reprimand. What was he going to do? Drop both teams from the competition? Though Sakura was instructed to notify him immediately of any more disturbances, Kaoru moved in with Ryuji and Raiden for the night.
Knock knock.
Kaoru stood up from the floor and the silly Yakuza movie playing on the television, and answered the door.
Taylor immediately pushed past her. "Hey guys, I bought you some ramen downstairs!"
Damn it, why didn't she look through the peephole?
"Thanks Taylor," Ryuji nodded, as Taylor leaned over and handed him the cup. "Oh hey, it's already hot."
"Yeah, I microwaved it before I got here." She smiled sweetly, and Kaoru caught Taylor glancing up at her. Bitch. "Here, I brought chopsticks too and some--."
"Weeeell, that was very thoughtful of you," Kaoru sarcastically interrupted. "Now skiddadle, you're fucking up the movie."
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I forgot to bring something for Kaoru. I guess that's why she's being such a grumpy gills." Taylor giggled and winked at Ryuji. "I'll get out of your hair now. You boys have fun."
"Thanks-- a lot... Tay," Raiden stammered, in a pathetic attempt to calm the atmosphere, as Taylor stepped her way around Kaoru and out into the hall. One satisfying door slam later, Kaoru rolled her eyes and scoffed disgustedly. Raiden and Ryuji watched her, Ryuji amusedly slurping down his ramen.
_____________
"Consider that a country such as Japan must not only run efficiently, but set a higher standard," the debater argued, a nerdy glasses-toting pre-pubescent sitting across from Kaoru and Ryuji. "By passing this, we automatically set up a better system of international relations with other--"
"Our relations with other countries is fine as it is," Ryuji piped up, snatching a print-out from in front of him. "According to a Reuters poll dated January 11th of this year, Japan is internationally perceived as 32% more reliable than the United States. And this law is, as we have clearly proven in our opening statements, obviously inspired by American standards."
Win.
Everyone was talking about the Haramichi kids. Both Kaoru's team and Sakura's team had managed to get to the semi-finals. They only had one round left.
"The post!" Kaoru overheard. Turning her head up, she saw one of the judges walking with a paper in her hand, tacking it to the wall. A crowd formed instantly. All four of the Haramichi debaters pushed through to get a glimpse of the list.
And there it was.
FINAL ROUND:
Ishibashi & Miyosaka vs. Moriyama & Tomoyuki
Sakura and Taylor were knocked out. Kaoru couldn't help but beam, excitedly hugging Ryuji and not giving a single conciliatory remark to the girls.
The round began in ten minutes. The pair strode briskly down the hall to the auditorium, where the final debate was to be held.
"You know, that coin toss is going to make us or break us," Ryuji sighed.
"We'll be fine," Kaoru assured him. "We're totally prepared for both sides. Granted, the affirmative is always going to look kinda flimsy, but we've got this."
A few minutes later, after the judges and the other team had arrived, they all met behind the curtain. The two final teams faced each other, the judges in between. One of them pulled out a quarter from his pocket.
"Who wants to call it?"
The two teams watched each other for movement. Kaoru seized the opportunity.
"I will."
"Alright. Do it on the flip. Ready?"
She nodded. Everyone watched as the judge prepared the coin on his thumb.
With a flip, it went up into the air.
Showdown.
"Heads."
Caught in his palm. Flipped over onto his hand.
Face-off.
He lifted his hand slowly.
The final act.
He revealed the coin. "Tails."
Kaoru's head dropped for a second in loss.
The judge turned to the other team. "Would you like to be affirmative or negative?"
Please pick aff--
"Negative."
And that was that.
"I've been doing some number crunching, and on average you need to kill four students every six hours to head home."
Kaoru stirred from her slumber, lifting her head up from her Louis and sitting up on the counter, stretching. The report went on, but Kaoru barely cared. She'd figure out who was dead later.
Even as she dropped herself onto the floor, Kaoru kept thinking about her dream. She'd almost never had a flashback dream before, but she knew why she did.
It was a justification of everything she was ready to do.
The debate began, but Ryuji knew, and even Kaoru a bit too, that it was settled.
They had presented a near flawless case. They had said everything a rational, unbiased person would need to agree with them.
But their side was anti-Republic. The judges would not risk giving an award to their side, lest they be thought of as agreeing with anti-Republic sentiment.
No matter what, they were screwed from the start. They went through the motions after the coin toss, but they were screwed from the start.
No matter what, the government was the winning team. That's what Kaoru learned that day. It didn't really matter how much better she was, or how right she was. Not even her personal beliefs mattered, because they would all be eclipsed by the Republic.
Kaoru wanted to be a winner. She had lost the first place trophy that day, but she would not lose The Program. This was life or death, and she wanted to be a winner.
And the only way to win... is to agree.
To side with the real winners.
Act like they'd want her to act, play like they'd want her to play. Feel and think like they'd want her to feel and think. And if she kept feeling and thinking like a heartless sadist, hunting down and stealthily picking them off one by one... she would be the winner.
She would survive.
She would go on to greater things.
She would be a dancer. Maybe even do a little law school like her dad as a back up.
But all of that could be ripped away. Ripped away by any of these petty fucks. Maybe even by her own friends.
Not if she rips it from them first. And in Kaoru's world, Kaoru comes first. Anyone else that comes second is lucky to have even been considered.
She'd hunted Taki like an animal. Pounced her like a lioness. A savage beast who had to feast. It was the way it worked. The law of the land. Kill and thou wilst survive. And Kaoru would stop at nothing to uphold that law.
No matter how she really, truly felt. Because none of that mattered now.
Besides, Taki wasn't the first time she'd killed.
Blip.
Kaoru picked up her gun and her GPS tracker, eyeing a brand new dot headed toward the car dealership just a few blocks away.
"Kaoru is fabulous. She's just as fierce in real life as she is on The Program."
"One hell of a player, that girl. Hot, too."
"She was the obvious choice right from the start. Her class was made out of pathetic know-nothings. She deserved to win."
Kaoru was flattered. All of these television reports and interviews were just too kind. She stepped up from her seat and strode to the exit, hearing the commotion outside. Excited, she practically threw herself out of the door.
"Thank you, thank you!" Kaoru blew kisses to the flocks of cameramen and reporters as she stepped down from the helicopter.
"Miss Ishibashi! From day one, you've caught all of Japan's attention with your cunning, your ruthlessness, and your beauty. How do you feel now that all of Japan is in awe at your very presence, and that you flawlessly persevered without a single scratch?"
She laughed, flashing a large pearly smile. "Well, it's like they say. There are winners and there are losers, and my classmates were all born losers. Most of them, anyway. It was hardly a challenge at all."
The reporters clamored for the next question. Kaoru gleefully waved to her fans, one of which was her mother, waving back with the proudest smile on her face.
She was a winner.
Night time had come, and the only light was the moon streaming through the windowpane. For a reasonably long amount of time, Kaoru had sat in a nearby coffeehouse to regain her energy (after all, pinning Taki to the ground against her will was exhausting). Unfortunately, there was no mint mocha latte or some other caffeinated beverage to boost it faster. The refrigerated display case of soda was empty, probably raided by the government.
So she just sat down in a booth, her feet propped up on the table next to her pistol. She held her new GPS system in her lap and studied it like a kid on a Gameboy, watching dots wander around, congregate, and sometimes turn red and stop altogether. Those were the most striking moments. She didn't know who they were, as they weren't labeled. But they would turn red, and all she could do was sit in suspense and wait for the report to tell her who those dots were.
When Taylor Takahashi's name was read out on the midnight report, Kaoru's lips curled as she gleefully scribbled BITCH over her name.
She almost wished she knew what had happened to the half-American slut. Who did it, how violently she died, if she begged for mercy. It was disappointing that Kaoru couldn't enjoy the sight of Taylor's slow, violent death, but imagining it happen would have to be just as pleasing. She'd settle, somehow.
Kaoru picked the map off of the table and stooped down to slip it into her Louis Vuitton.
She sat back up and watched the dots move. If one ventured close enough, Kaoru decided she'd make the effort to stand up, walk out of the coffee shop, and shoot them dead. In the meantime, she waited for her next victim. She was a predator in the bushes, watching their every move, waiting to strike.
God, how cunty would it be if she was sipping a mint mocha latte right now?
Plopping down on the springy mattress of the hotel room, Kaoru flipped through the file folders and placed last-minute handwritten notes in their relevant sections. From the bathroom, she could hear the continuous flow of water pouring from the faucet.
"Do you remember what to say if the affirmative brings up international relations?" she called out. Amidst the running water, she heard the response.
"That poll on international perception comparing Japan and the US."
"You're good." She bent down to pick up the floored latte that she'd gone across the street to buy, and sipped from the lid's small opening. Refreshing. Mint mocha always does the trick.
"We're gonna rock this," said the voice as the faucet squeaked shut. Kaoru stood up and sauntered over to the bathroom door, latte in hand. Inside, Ryuji Miyosaka wiped his face with a towel over a sink littered with shaved hair. The handsomely physiqued boy stood in a disappointingly long and concealing peach towel, but his upper body glistened with the steam of his shave. His eyes glanced over at her through the mirror as he wiped.
She nonchalantly sipped her coffee.
Placing the towel down, Ryuji squished hair gel from a bottle's dispenser into his hand and ran it through his hair. As he did so, Kaoru neared closer, squinting at his neck.
"You missed a spot."
"What? Where?"
Kaoru pointed. He craned his neck to see the small patch.
"Damn it." Ryuji squeaked the faucet back on and washed the gel from his hands.
"Didn't they teach you how to shave?" Kaoru teased, grinning slyly as she swished her latte around in the cup.
Ryuji picked up the razor and hovered it over the patch of hair. "My dad wasn't around to teach me."
Skrrch. He tapped the razor on the edge of the sink.
She watched Ryuji's moves intently. "That sucks."
"Yeah, whatever. Don't wanna talk about it."
Kaoru put her latte down and rolled up the sleeves of her professional yet stylishly sexy black and off-pink thin-striped blouse, but was distracted by Ryuji's messy attempt at slicking his hair back. She scoffed and got behind him, grabbing Ryuji's scalp and pulling his hair down. She reached for a toothed comb from the countertop and ran it through the gelatinous mess. As the ambush continued, Kaoru could see Ryuji through the mirror, trying to hide his amused smile. Their eyes met, causing them both to grin.
A minute later, Kaoru stepped over to the sink, setting the comb down. "All done." Ryuji leaned into the mirror beside her, checking the angles of his hair before leaning back, satisfied. She followed him out of the bathroom into the room's foyer as he picked an undershirt and a pair of boxers out of his bag in the closet. She wandered over to the purse on the bed and rummaged through its contents.
"You're on the winning team, Ryuji," Kaoru boasted, pulling out a hand mirror and still rummaging. "We've got everything we need to roast these bitches no matter what they come at us with."
Finally, she pulled out her MAC lipstick. Loved the stuff. She pressed it against her lips gracefully, then smeared, then smacked, and then popped the lid back on.
"I've always respected you," she continued, sauntering back into the foyer behind Ryuji. "Well, not always. Remember how much we used to hate each other?"
"I didn't hate you," Ryuji responded, pulling from the bag a pair of pants, "I had fun demeaning you."
"Likewise," she smiled. Ryuji stood up from his bag and faced Kaoru, who happened to be standing in the doorway to the bathroom. A crooked smirk ascended onto his face. He held up his pants.
"I need to change."
Kaoru cocked an eyebrow, staring him down. "Then do it."
Ryuji scoffed, humored. "What?"
She laughed, a schoolgirl suggesting something naughty. "Come on, do it," Kaoru goaded. "Show me the goods."
Kaoru playfully poked at Ryuji's bare torso; he cringed and swatted in self defense, chuckling. Then one of her pokes became a small shove. The next was her hand rubbed across his shoulder.
The next, her hand didn't move from his bare skin.
Ryuji looked up at her.
"I said I respect you. But I could respect you much more." Kaoru's hand caressed its way down to his chest as Ryuji stood. His hand awkwardly placed itself on Kaoru's hip, a hand she quickly grabbed and pushed down under her pencil skirt, grazing it up her thigh to her buttock. Her breath coated his neck and his fell heavily on her lips. His gaze was penetrating, still and strong. Her gaze was searching lasciviously for his next move.
Shkkt.
Oh shit.
They quickly let go of each other. The door suddenly squeaked open. Raiden Shindou stopped in his tracks, card key in hand, at the close proximity of the two debaters. It wasn't hard to figure out, considering the attentive member lifting Ryuji's towel, but Raiden looked on in sheer awkwardness. The pair attempted to compose their posture, Kaoru straightening her skirt as she stared Raiden down.
"What the fuck are you looking at?" she spat.
Raiden's eyes dropped, intimidated. He squeezed past the two into the room with Kaoru's dagger eyes following behind him. He was only on the trip to watch, since he lacked the finesse to debate cohesively without stuttering like a dolt. The debate coach had assigned the boy to Kaoru so he could learn a thing or two, but it wasn't working for some reason.
Whatever. Fucking gnat.
_____________
Kaoru unwillingly followed Ryuji to the cafeteria table.
"How did you do?" Taylor asked.
"Nailed it," Ryuji grinned proudly, taking a seat in front of Sakura Tsumatsu. Kaoru sat alongside him, her face searching the cafeteria for something interesting to look at. Failing, and wanting little to do with the other team from Haramichi, she pulled out her Blackberry and clicked away on a text message to the girls as the others chatted about their most recent round.
hey. im kicking ass. wish me luck!
Recipients: <3 Kinuka, <3 Mai, <3 Suzuka.
On quick review of her contact list, she added Kazu.
Send.
Looking up from her phone, Taylor and Ryuji were missing.
"Whoa. Where'd they go?"
Sakura looked up from the case folder she was skimming. "They went to buy some snacks." She motioned over to the snack stand, where the school's students sat at a table covered in fruits, drinks, and junk food. Ryuji and Taylor stood in line, talking to each other.
Very friendly.
Taylor giggled at something Ryuji said and... brushed her hand against his chest.
Taylor... you fucking fake bitch.
"...nearly twenty of your friends are dead, and the best part of all? We've already lost most of the foreign muck!..."
Kaoru stirred from her nap on the coffeehouse's cashier countertop. A groggy moan escaped her mouth, followed by "...ennnhh.... fuck off bitch..." She adjusted her head on the Louis Vuitton bag and ignored her blabbing, going back to sleep just as soon as Ren's voice came off the speakers.
The first day of debates was easy. Those were the eliminations of all the less competent teams. When a team spoke to make a point, they were quickly shut down, earning them victory after victory.
"About 60 million Japanese are below the poverty line, clearly proving--"
"Wait," Kaoru interrupted, "our population is 120 million. Are you saying that 50% of the country can't buy their own food?"
"Uh... yes."
"That's preposterous. Your statistics are flawed. What source did you even use?"
"...That's not important to this case--"
"It IS important to this case! If you don't have reliable statistics and on top of that, can't even interpret them correctly, how are we supposed to have an intelligent debate?"
Win.
With the exception of one round, where both sides gave each other a hard time, they had accumulated the points to advance to the second day of debates. Sakura and Taylor's team had made it as well.
That night, Kaoru, who was unwillingly sharing a room with the girls, rummaged through her purse for a slab of wintergreen gum. But she noticed something was missing. Searching and unsuccessful, she poured the contents out onto the bed.
"Have either of you seen my MAC?"
Sakura and Taylor looked away from the television at her.
"I could've sworn it was in there," Kaoru pointed. "Where is it?"
"You probably just misplaced it." Taylor shrugged, turning back to the television.
"No, I didn't. You know I'm a very organized person." Kaoru stepped around the bed to hover over the floor-sitting Taylor. "Where... is it?"
Taylor raised her eyebrows dubiously and almost cracked a condescending smirk. "I don't KNOW. Jesus, it's only lipstick. Stop being so superficial."
"I'd rather be superficial than a half-breed." Taylor's face did not move a muscle. "And by the way, it's MAC lipstick. It's expensive. It's fabulous. And if you owned anything that wasn't cheap outlet store trash, you wouldn't call it superficial. So I'll ask you again. Where is it?"
"Are you insinuating that I stole your herpes-infected lipstick?" Taylor's face was dripping with such sarcasm that Kaoru knew it was her fault.
She beelined toward Taylor's luggage. "What are you doing?" Taylor exclaimed, as Kaoru kneeled down and ripped the zipper open. "Let go of my stuff you bitch!"
That's when Taylor's greasy little mitts pulled at Kaoru's hair. Kaoru shoved them off immediately to keep searching, but she tried again, and this time she pulled HARD. Kaoru yelped, trying to get her to let go without pulling a chunk of her head off, but she wouldn't, so she kicked at her legs. Taylor stumbled, falling onto the ground and pulling Kaoru down with her as they both screamed in rage, slapping and clawing each other.
The situation was only exacerbated by Sakura repeatedly smacking pillows at them, yelling over their insults and cat-howls.
Kaoru was slamming Taylor's head onto the carpet by her shoulders, until a sickening SLAP hit her right across the face and Taylor took control. The girls rolled until they were suddenly pulled off of each other by the debate coach who had barged in with Ryuji, Raiden, and Sakura, who had called for him.
All they got was a stern reprimand. What was he going to do? Drop both teams from the competition? Though Sakura was instructed to notify him immediately of any more disturbances, Kaoru moved in with Ryuji and Raiden for the night.
Knock knock.
Kaoru stood up from the floor and the silly Yakuza movie playing on the television, and answered the door.
Taylor immediately pushed past her. "Hey guys, I bought you some ramen downstairs!"
Damn it, why didn't she look through the peephole?
"Thanks Taylor," Ryuji nodded, as Taylor leaned over and handed him the cup. "Oh hey, it's already hot."
"Yeah, I microwaved it before I got here." She smiled sweetly, and Kaoru caught Taylor glancing up at her. Bitch. "Here, I brought chopsticks too and some--."
"Weeeell, that was very thoughtful of you," Kaoru sarcastically interrupted. "Now skiddadle, you're fucking up the movie."
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I forgot to bring something for Kaoru. I guess that's why she's being such a grumpy gills." Taylor giggled and winked at Ryuji. "I'll get out of your hair now. You boys have fun."
"Thanks-- a lot... Tay," Raiden stammered, in a pathetic attempt to calm the atmosphere, as Taylor stepped her way around Kaoru and out into the hall. One satisfying door slam later, Kaoru rolled her eyes and scoffed disgustedly. Raiden and Ryuji watched her, Ryuji amusedly slurping down his ramen.
_____________
"Consider that a country such as Japan must not only run efficiently, but set a higher standard," the debater argued, a nerdy glasses-toting pre-pubescent sitting across from Kaoru and Ryuji. "By passing this, we automatically set up a better system of international relations with other--"
"Our relations with other countries is fine as it is," Ryuji piped up, snatching a print-out from in front of him. "According to a Reuters poll dated January 11th of this year, Japan is internationally perceived as 32% more reliable than the United States. And this law is, as we have clearly proven in our opening statements, obviously inspired by American standards."
Win.
Everyone was talking about the Haramichi kids. Both Kaoru's team and Sakura's team had managed to get to the semi-finals. They only had one round left.
"The post!" Kaoru overheard. Turning her head up, she saw one of the judges walking with a paper in her hand, tacking it to the wall. A crowd formed instantly. All four of the Haramichi debaters pushed through to get a glimpse of the list.
And there it was.
FINAL ROUND:
Ishibashi & Miyosaka vs. Moriyama & Tomoyuki
Sakura and Taylor were knocked out. Kaoru couldn't help but beam, excitedly hugging Ryuji and not giving a single conciliatory remark to the girls.
The round began in ten minutes. The pair strode briskly down the hall to the auditorium, where the final debate was to be held.
"You know, that coin toss is going to make us or break us," Ryuji sighed.
"We'll be fine," Kaoru assured him. "We're totally prepared for both sides. Granted, the affirmative is always going to look kinda flimsy, but we've got this."
A few minutes later, after the judges and the other team had arrived, they all met behind the curtain. The two final teams faced each other, the judges in between. One of them pulled out a quarter from his pocket.
"Who wants to call it?"
The two teams watched each other for movement. Kaoru seized the opportunity.
"I will."
"Alright. Do it on the flip. Ready?"
She nodded. Everyone watched as the judge prepared the coin on his thumb.
With a flip, it went up into the air.
Showdown.
"Heads."
Caught in his palm. Flipped over onto his hand.
Face-off.
He lifted his hand slowly.
The final act.
He revealed the coin. "Tails."
Kaoru's head dropped for a second in loss.
The judge turned to the other team. "Would you like to be affirmative or negative?"
Please pick aff--
"Negative."
And that was that.
"I've been doing some number crunching, and on average you need to kill four students every six hours to head home."
Kaoru stirred from her slumber, lifting her head up from her Louis and sitting up on the counter, stretching. The report went on, but Kaoru barely cared. She'd figure out who was dead later.
Even as she dropped herself onto the floor, Kaoru kept thinking about her dream. She'd almost never had a flashback dream before, but she knew why she did.
It was a justification of everything she was ready to do.
The debate began, but Ryuji knew, and even Kaoru a bit too, that it was settled.
They had presented a near flawless case. They had said everything a rational, unbiased person would need to agree with them.
But their side was anti-Republic. The judges would not risk giving an award to their side, lest they be thought of as agreeing with anti-Republic sentiment.
No matter what, they were screwed from the start. They went through the motions after the coin toss, but they were screwed from the start.
No matter what, the government was the winning team. That's what Kaoru learned that day. It didn't really matter how much better she was, or how right she was. Not even her personal beliefs mattered, because they would all be eclipsed by the Republic.
Kaoru wanted to be a winner. She had lost the first place trophy that day, but she would not lose The Program. This was life or death, and she wanted to be a winner.
And the only way to win... is to agree.
To side with the real winners.
Act like they'd want her to act, play like they'd want her to play. Feel and think like they'd want her to feel and think. And if she kept feeling and thinking like a heartless sadist, hunting down and stealthily picking them off one by one... she would be the winner.
She would survive.
She would go on to greater things.
She would be a dancer. Maybe even do a little law school like her dad as a back up.
But all of that could be ripped away. Ripped away by any of these petty fucks. Maybe even by her own friends.
Not if she rips it from them first. And in Kaoru's world, Kaoru comes first. Anyone else that comes second is lucky to have even been considered.
She'd hunted Taki like an animal. Pounced her like a lioness. A savage beast who had to feast. It was the way it worked. The law of the land. Kill and thou wilst survive. And Kaoru would stop at nothing to uphold that law.
No matter how she really, truly felt. Because none of that mattered now.
Besides, Taki wasn't the first time she'd killed.
Blip.
Kaoru picked up her gun and her GPS tracker, eyeing a brand new dot headed toward the car dealership just a few blocks away.