Taro Hanazawa; E1-A3. Really
((Again, excuse the long walk. Since it's endgame and all. rofl. PC control approved by Rob and Zarrah. Thaaaat's all I need to say, I think.))
Taro found his way back onto a hiking path pretty quickly, and he decided to himself that he’d actually stay on it this time. It was probably better that way, anyway - he wanted to run into someone, and everyone else probably did too. This would be their best bet.
Walking had become increasingly difficult, though, and Taro just limped, almost dragging his other foot along for the ride. He couldn’t even put any weight on it without a sharp pain shooting up the back of his leg. He should’ve tried to get the bullet out earlier, because it was definitely infected now. It felt heavy.
The sun was still there, hotter than ever. It seemed like it, anyway. It hurt his eyes and just reminded him how goddamn sleepy he was. Taro kept his head down mostly - staring at that goddamn foot - but cropped up every few seconds just to make sure nobody was trying to sneak up on him. Everybody probably had a gun. They could shoot him before he even realised.
Or he could shoot them. That would be better.
Taro stopped by a lake-or a river, whatever-and dropped down on the banking, taking a quick look behind him before he indulged himself in dunking his head in the cold water, ruffling the dirt and crap and blood and whatever out of his hair. He wasn’t stupid; he wasn’t going to drink the water. He just wanted to feel a little cooler - and a little cleaner, if that was even possible.
Pulling out of the water, Taro took in air, gasping for more than he needed. He brushed the hair out of his eyes and looked down at the water. He didn’t realise that much gunk was actually in his hair, and he was kind of shocked-even now, as much as he shouldn’t be-because he always took care of his hair. Dyeing it, shampooing it, conditioning it. Everything.
Taro really wanted to shower. If he managed to get out of here, he decided that would be the first thing he did. It really seemed like the best idea, but maybe he was just being stupid. The idea of having a shower seemed… comforting. Taro just wanted to stand there, letting the water rush down and over him, to feel warm and safe.
His clothes were dirty, caked in blood, the smell really becoming grossly sickening. Taro carefully lifted his shirt over his head and moved to a place where the river looked relatively clean. He dropped the shirt in the water, gripping onto the collar. He swirled it around, feeling the heat on his back now.
Some of the blood stayed on the shirt, but it looked a little better. He squeezed it out with his hands, trying to dry it as much as possible. The shirt felt uncomfortable against his skin. He kind of wished he hadn’t tried to wash the blood out.
The sun would dry it soon. Hopefully. Before he died, maybe.
And then, wearily, Taro scooted further down the river - a lot further down this time - to where it split. It looked a lot cleaner. Not clean enough to drink, but still. Cleanish. He dragged his foot across and let it drop into the water. He didn’t bother taking off his shoe. He kind of didn’t dare. Taro just wanted to pretend it was okay under there… apart from it hurting a lot, obviously.
Taro waggled it around in the water with some effort, but it felt better. A lot cooler, and the throbbing seemed to stop - when it was in the water, anyway. Blood seeped out, slowly, drifting to the surface before parting in streams. He kept it in the water for a long time. He almost dropped off to sleep.
Taro shuffled back across the banking, letting the foot slowly slip out. The throbbing started again almost instantly. Nothing was going to help.
“Fuck it,” Taro said suddenly, pissed. He hadn’t spoken in a while. His mouth felt dry again. He took a small sip of the last water bottle-he shouldn’t have drank all them back there, really-and licked his lips. He just wanted this to be all over.
He was tired of everything. He hated walking around this fucking goddamn mountain, he hated that he only had a one in six shot of winning it, and he hated that if it came down to it, he’d have to go against Emi. Maybe she didn’t even care about him anymore. He thought he cared about her, he was sure he did, but then… he imagined himself pulling the trigger.
He imagined himself pulling it easily. It didn’t seem so hard.
But then he remembered that she was his freakin’ best friend and it became more difficult, almost impossible to imagine. He didn’t care for the others, he couldn’t make himself do that anymore - he couldn’t lie and tell himself that he cared about their lives as much as his own. It was bullshit. Utter fucking bullshit, and he couldn’t make himself feel guilty for wanting them to die.
He didn’t feel the same about Emi, but he wasn’t sure what he’d feel-what he’d do-if he met her again, though. Or what she would do.
Taro just didn’t want to ruin anything.
Even though everything was already ruined, he wanted to pretend it wasn't. Were they even friends anymore?
When the hiking path split, Taro went south. Obviously. He could see the electric fence to the north. A shiver ran down his spine. It never ended well when they were involved.
Taro walked for a while, trying to walk a little faster than before, but kind of failed at that. He eventually came to the top of a cliff. He controlled himself from looking over the edge, because he didn't really want to see someone's broken corpse at the bottom (it looked like a prime spot for suicides, Taro thought).
Taro stopped and pulled out his map. The hiking path crossed into A2 - a danger zone. Taro moved off the hiking path straight away (he didn’t know how close he was to A2 and didn’t want to take that chance), and move straight down. More walking.
This time Taro made it across with little difficulty, having only tripped once. He slammed his bad foot into a rock too, by accident, and cursed to himself while trying to forget about how much goddamn pain he was in. He thought he’d be used to pain now. He always assumed that people in the Program just forgot about the pain, really. How else could they still walk around after being shot a few hundred times? He always saw it happening when he watched the Program. He thought it was ridiculous, but...
Seira did it.
His pain was nothing compared to hers. He should be lucky Akio didn’t freakin’ blow his foot off.
His foot throbbed even more now, because of that, and Taro tried to walk a little faster, inhaling a sharp, short breath every time a twinge of pain made its way up his leg.
It took Taro a long time to get back onto the hiking path, though. When he stepped back onto it, Hiroto’s voice boomed overhead, almost on cue. Taro, gladly taking it as an opportunity to rest-but to fret about who was on the report, too-dropped to the ground. He didn’t bother checking if anyone was around anymore.
Maybe Hiroto would announce that he was the winner-did it even work like that?-and Taro wanted it a little too much that he let out a frustrated scream, keeping his head between his knees. There were five of them left.
Kazuhiro was the only name he read out.
Taro crossed out Kazuhiro’s name angrily. He didn't even think about the stuff that had happened between them. He expected more, he wanted more. Now there were five of them left and he had no idea where any of them were. Maybe someone was surrounded by danger zones. They were probably going to diediediediedie-
No, he couldn’t let that happen. He didn’t think anyone else would let it happen, either. They’d all come too far to just fucking throw it away like that. Taro crossed out the danger zones. There weren't many places left to go now. Hopefully everyone was in that area.
Taro unscrewed the cap off his last water bottle and pressed it to his mouth, throwing his head back and just letting the last of the water find its own way down his throat. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve. Now he didn’t have any water left.
But there was a waterfall. And if he didn’t have any water left, and he’d gotten extra, maybe someone else didn’t have any left. The waterfall would be their best bet. Their only bet now. The lake was probably dirty. But did people even need water with just six hours left?
It was worth a shot, Taro thought. It wasn’t like he had anything else to do other than wander around aimlessly hoping he’d find someone. At least he had a plan now. Taro shoved everything back in his bag and started walking again.
When the hiking path split again, Taro dropped off it again. He didn’t want to accidentally walk into A2. He followed it, but distanced himself just enough, until he came across the lake. It definitely didn’t look clean enough to drink. He surveyed the area. It didn't look like anyone was here - he couldn't see them, anyway. Taro looked towards the waterfall and headed that way.
Taro followed the stream; it looked like it’d take him to the waterfall. He stayed on the banking, because the ground was actually flat. It felt good not to stumble every other step. When he had walked far enough, he crossed over to the over side of the stream, not bothering to find a way that kept him dry. He felt a little better shifting through the cold water, even though his jeans were heavy as hell now, and it was even harder to walk. He clearly wasn't thinking straight anymore.
The waterfall was loud, and Taro heard it before he saw it. He hadn't ever been near a waterfall before. He'd seen pictures, though. They weren't really all that interesting, and he didn't think they were pretty or fascinating or whatever. It was just falling water. Falling, falling, crashing, crashing.
The back of the waterfall had a little cove, and Taro stepped inside, away from the heat of the sun. It was a lot cooler, and he kind of just wanted to stay back here forever and maybe sleep. It was damp, but it was better than being outside where it was scorching.
But he couldn't. Not yet. He took out his empty water bottle instead, holding it under the rushing water. It took a while for it to actually fill all the way up. His hand was freezing, but he welcomed it. And then he drank the water, gulping it down like he was dying of thirst.
And then he threw up; colourless puke splashed onto the rock.
He was nervous. There was less than six hours - maybe five now? Four? Maybe even less than that? - and he hadn't seen anyone. He needed to move again.
Taro didn't even give himself chance to fill his water bottle back up. He didn't care, he just wanted to find someone and not feel like he was the last people here even though he obviously wasn't because Hiroto had said there were five people left. The waterfall splashed him as he rushed out, gun in hand and bag slung over his shoulder, the contents almost spilling out because he hadn't even zipped it back up.
And then Taro saw him-Eizo-far enough away from the waterfall, just stood there, seemingly oblivious to Taro’s presence, probably because of all the noise. Taro hadn't even noticed him before. Taro stayed back for a moment, taking some time making sure his gun was actually loaded. It was, so he did the thing they did in the movies (after some trouble), just to make sure it was ready to be fired.
He wasn’t going to fuck around this time. He didn’t care for Eizo Horiguchi.
Everything was ready, but if he shot from here he'd definitely miss. He didn't even hit Akio in the right place (not that it really mattered; it worked, somehow) and pointblank range. Taro walked, slowly at first, creeping forward. He was going to shout at to him, but it looked like he had a gun and maybe Eizo was better with a gun than him.
It didn't matter anyway, because Eizo turned around, as if he knew Taro was there (maybe he did know?). He did have a gun, and he was pointing it right at Taro and walking towards him. “Hanazawa,” he said. That was all.
Taro kept walking, and so did Eizo. Neither of them fired, their guns hanging limply at their side. Taro wanted to fire, but if he did it now, so would Eizo, and he'd probably shoot him in the stomach or maybe the face. And then he'd be fucked.
The two of them were maybe a meter away now. Eizo stopped, so Taro stopped. Both of them knew it was close enough, probably. Taro kind of wanted to burst into tears because this was it - at least for now, and he could definitely die. It wasn't like Haruki who killed himself, or Kiku who couldn't do anything, or Kouji who couldn't do anything either because he didn't even have a good weapon. It was a showdown. Good versus evil.
Or maybe it was good versus good. Or evil versus evil.
It didn't matter.
Taro was the first to say something, and he said it because it was all he ever said. “This is what I’ve gotta do if I wanna go home,” he said. He didn't say what he was referring to, but Eizo probably knew Taro wasn’t sure how many times he’d said this now. It was true, but probably just as much as an excuse, too.
Eizo snorted. “Yeah, yeah… you and everyone else on this fucking mountain. What makes you think you’re better than me?”
“I just wanna go home,” Taro said, ignoring the question. What did make him better than Eizo Horiguchi? Money? The fact that Eizo’s dad wasn’t in prison and his wasn’t? That his family was actually respected? Was that it?
Blurting that out wouldn't do any good, considering Eizo had already heard it all.
Neither of them seemed to be in any hurry to shoot the other one. Taro knew he should, and he was going to do it, but… they were talking, just like the guys in the movies. Except one of them was going to die and they weren't just going to get up and walk away after someone shouted CUT.
“So have you killed anyone, Hanazawa?” Eizo seemed almost interested.
Taro cleared his throat, like he was getting ready to give a speech. “Yeah,” he said, finally. “Kouji… Masakichi, Akio and Kiku.” He supposed it didn’t matter if Eizo knew now.
Eizo stayed silent for a moment. “Fuck,” he said, “I didn’t think you had it in you, Hanazawa. You killed Masakichi?”
That was the one Taro still really didn't care about. “He killed Atsuo. So, yeah. I killed him.”
“Really? Shiiit,” Eizo seemed to lack any sort of reaction. “I’m fucking glad your friends are dead, too.”
Taro tried not to falter, but he bit down on his lip. You don’t just say you’re glad about something like that. “Same goes for you,” Taro said.
Hypocrite.
“Don’t have long left,” Eizo said, checking a watch that wasn’t there. “You ready, Hanazawa?”
Taro just nodded. It was enough.
They both drew their guns.
Just like in the movies.
((So, yeah. FTD! Taro vs. Eizo, obviously. Wait for a mod to open the vote, blah blah. You know the drill. Oh, and PLEASE VOTE because that would be cool. Good luck, Rob! ♥))
- They were at their usual hangout, the water fountain, like usual. Taro propped himself up against the wall, half slouching, because he didn’t want to look out of place.
“Taro?”
He stood up a little, “Yeah?” It was Kouji, and he was just staring, like a lost lamb, probably because he knew he didn’t really belong with them. Taro distanced himself from his friends a little, “What’s up?”
“Can I talk to you a minute?”
Taro nodded, then stared back at his friends, telepathically telling them that he doesn’t really hang around with Kouji, even though they know damn well that he does. He walked off with Kouji, hands stuffed in his pockets.
When they found an empty classroom, Kouji stepped forward. Taro sat back on the edge of a desk. “What’s up?” he asked again, kind of just wanting to get it over with. Classses were gonna start soon.
“Do you want to come over tonight?” Kouji didn’t need to say why, or what they were going to do. He knew. Taro knew. They just never actually said it.
Taro definitely didn’t say it. “I can’t.”
“Why?”
“I’m busy,” Taro lied. He felt kind of bad about it. Part of him just wanted to say yes, just because. He could be busy, though. Maybe he’d get a ton of homework.
Kouji bit down on his bottom lip, “Oh. It’s just that-”
“Sorry,” Taro slipped off the desk, gripping the edge with his hands. “Maybe tomorrow.” Maybe, if he felt like that, because Kouji never said no.
He left as quickly as he could.
Taro found his way back onto a hiking path pretty quickly, and he decided to himself that he’d actually stay on it this time. It was probably better that way, anyway - he wanted to run into someone, and everyone else probably did too. This would be their best bet.
Walking had become increasingly difficult, though, and Taro just limped, almost dragging his other foot along for the ride. He couldn’t even put any weight on it without a sharp pain shooting up the back of his leg. He should’ve tried to get the bullet out earlier, because it was definitely infected now. It felt heavy.
The sun was still there, hotter than ever. It seemed like it, anyway. It hurt his eyes and just reminded him how goddamn sleepy he was. Taro kept his head down mostly - staring at that goddamn foot - but cropped up every few seconds just to make sure nobody was trying to sneak up on him. Everybody probably had a gun. They could shoot him before he even realised.
Or he could shoot them. That would be better.
Taro stopped by a lake-or a river, whatever-and dropped down on the banking, taking a quick look behind him before he indulged himself in dunking his head in the cold water, ruffling the dirt and crap and blood and whatever out of his hair. He wasn’t stupid; he wasn’t going to drink the water. He just wanted to feel a little cooler - and a little cleaner, if that was even possible.
Pulling out of the water, Taro took in air, gasping for more than he needed. He brushed the hair out of his eyes and looked down at the water. He didn’t realise that much gunk was actually in his hair, and he was kind of shocked-even now, as much as he shouldn’t be-because he always took care of his hair. Dyeing it, shampooing it, conditioning it. Everything.
Taro really wanted to shower. If he managed to get out of here, he decided that would be the first thing he did. It really seemed like the best idea, but maybe he was just being stupid. The idea of having a shower seemed… comforting. Taro just wanted to stand there, letting the water rush down and over him, to feel warm and safe.
His clothes were dirty, caked in blood, the smell really becoming grossly sickening. Taro carefully lifted his shirt over his head and moved to a place where the river looked relatively clean. He dropped the shirt in the water, gripping onto the collar. He swirled it around, feeling the heat on his back now.
Some of the blood stayed on the shirt, but it looked a little better. He squeezed it out with his hands, trying to dry it as much as possible. The shirt felt uncomfortable against his skin. He kind of wished he hadn’t tried to wash the blood out.
The sun would dry it soon. Hopefully. Before he died, maybe.
And then, wearily, Taro scooted further down the river - a lot further down this time - to where it split. It looked a lot cleaner. Not clean enough to drink, but still. Cleanish. He dragged his foot across and let it drop into the water. He didn’t bother taking off his shoe. He kind of didn’t dare. Taro just wanted to pretend it was okay under there… apart from it hurting a lot, obviously.
Taro waggled it around in the water with some effort, but it felt better. A lot cooler, and the throbbing seemed to stop - when it was in the water, anyway. Blood seeped out, slowly, drifting to the surface before parting in streams. He kept it in the water for a long time. He almost dropped off to sleep.
Taro shuffled back across the banking, letting the foot slowly slip out. The throbbing started again almost instantly. Nothing was going to help.
“Fuck it,” Taro said suddenly, pissed. He hadn’t spoken in a while. His mouth felt dry again. He took a small sip of the last water bottle-he shouldn’t have drank all them back there, really-and licked his lips. He just wanted this to be all over.
He was tired of everything. He hated walking around this fucking goddamn mountain, he hated that he only had a one in six shot of winning it, and he hated that if it came down to it, he’d have to go against Emi. Maybe she didn’t even care about him anymore. He thought he cared about her, he was sure he did, but then… he imagined himself pulling the trigger.
He imagined himself pulling it easily. It didn’t seem so hard.
But then he remembered that she was his freakin’ best friend and it became more difficult, almost impossible to imagine. He didn’t care for the others, he couldn’t make himself do that anymore - he couldn’t lie and tell himself that he cared about their lives as much as his own. It was bullshit. Utter fucking bullshit, and he couldn’t make himself feel guilty for wanting them to die.
He didn’t feel the same about Emi, but he wasn’t sure what he’d feel-what he’d do-if he met her again, though. Or what she would do.
Taro just didn’t want to ruin anything.
Even though everything was already ruined, he wanted to pretend it wasn't. Were they even friends anymore?
- “Hey, Taro,” Emi brought herself over to his desk. She squatted down, resting her elbows on the edge. Mr. Kawaguchi was out, so they were free to do whatever the hell they wanted to do-until he came back, at least. Not that there was much to do.“You wanna hang out tonight?”
“Sure. You, me, Kenji and Keisuke?”
“Oh, no. Just me and you.” She looked over at the guys for a second, “Keisuke's practicing or something, I don't know, and Kenji wasn't really clear with what he was doing.” Emi smiled, “So I thought us two could hang out? Go into town or something.”
Taro nodded, “That sounds good.” Taro didn't know why Emi usually asked Taro to go shopping with her if the guys were doing something else - it wasn't like she didn't have any friends who were girls. Not that he was complaining. Maybe it was because he had four sisters so he knew what girls liked. Or maybe she just liked him more than her friends who were girls. He liked to think it was the latter.
“Great! Wait for me after school, okay?”
It was definitely the latter.
When the hiking path split, Taro went south. Obviously. He could see the electric fence to the north. A shiver ran down his spine. It never ended well when they were involved.
Taro walked for a while, trying to walk a little faster than before, but kind of failed at that. He eventually came to the top of a cliff. He controlled himself from looking over the edge, because he didn't really want to see someone's broken corpse at the bottom (it looked like a prime spot for suicides, Taro thought).
Taro stopped and pulled out his map. The hiking path crossed into A2 - a danger zone. Taro moved off the hiking path straight away (he didn’t know how close he was to A2 and didn’t want to take that chance), and move straight down. More walking.
This time Taro made it across with little difficulty, having only tripped once. He slammed his bad foot into a rock too, by accident, and cursed to himself while trying to forget about how much goddamn pain he was in. He thought he’d be used to pain now. He always assumed that people in the Program just forgot about the pain, really. How else could they still walk around after being shot a few hundred times? He always saw it happening when he watched the Program. He thought it was ridiculous, but...
Seira did it.
His pain was nothing compared to hers. He should be lucky Akio didn’t freakin’ blow his foot off.
His foot throbbed even more now, because of that, and Taro tried to walk a little faster, inhaling a sharp, short breath every time a twinge of pain made its way up his leg.
It took Taro a long time to get back onto the hiking path, though. When he stepped back onto it, Hiroto’s voice boomed overhead, almost on cue. Taro, gladly taking it as an opportunity to rest-but to fret about who was on the report, too-dropped to the ground. He didn’t bother checking if anyone was around anymore.
Maybe Hiroto would announce that he was the winner-did it even work like that?-and Taro wanted it a little too much that he let out a frustrated scream, keeping his head between his knees. There were five of them left.
Kazuhiro was the only name he read out.
Taro crossed out Kazuhiro’s name angrily. He didn't even think about the stuff that had happened between them. He expected more, he wanted more. Now there were five of them left and he had no idea where any of them were. Maybe someone was surrounded by danger zones. They were probably going to diediediediedie-
No, he couldn’t let that happen. He didn’t think anyone else would let it happen, either. They’d all come too far to just fucking throw it away like that. Taro crossed out the danger zones. There weren't many places left to go now. Hopefully everyone was in that area.
Taro unscrewed the cap off his last water bottle and pressed it to his mouth, throwing his head back and just letting the last of the water find its own way down his throat. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve. Now he didn’t have any water left.
But there was a waterfall. And if he didn’t have any water left, and he’d gotten extra, maybe someone else didn’t have any left. The waterfall would be their best bet. Their only bet now. The lake was probably dirty. But did people even need water with just six hours left?
It was worth a shot, Taro thought. It wasn’t like he had anything else to do other than wander around aimlessly hoping he’d find someone. At least he had a plan now. Taro shoved everything back in his bag and started walking again.
When the hiking path split again, Taro dropped off it again. He didn’t want to accidentally walk into A2. He followed it, but distanced himself just enough, until he came across the lake. It definitely didn’t look clean enough to drink. He surveyed the area. It didn't look like anyone was here - he couldn't see them, anyway. Taro looked towards the waterfall and headed that way.
Taro followed the stream; it looked like it’d take him to the waterfall. He stayed on the banking, because the ground was actually flat. It felt good not to stumble every other step. When he had walked far enough, he crossed over to the over side of the stream, not bothering to find a way that kept him dry. He felt a little better shifting through the cold water, even though his jeans were heavy as hell now, and it was even harder to walk. He clearly wasn't thinking straight anymore.
The waterfall was loud, and Taro heard it before he saw it. He hadn't ever been near a waterfall before. He'd seen pictures, though. They weren't really all that interesting, and he didn't think they were pretty or fascinating or whatever. It was just falling water. Falling, falling, crashing, crashing.
The back of the waterfall had a little cove, and Taro stepped inside, away from the heat of the sun. It was a lot cooler, and he kind of just wanted to stay back here forever and maybe sleep. It was damp, but it was better than being outside where it was scorching.
But he couldn't. Not yet. He took out his empty water bottle instead, holding it under the rushing water. It took a while for it to actually fill all the way up. His hand was freezing, but he welcomed it. And then he drank the water, gulping it down like he was dying of thirst.
And then he threw up; colourless puke splashed onto the rock.
He was nervous. There was less than six hours - maybe five now? Four? Maybe even less than that? - and he hadn't seen anyone. He needed to move again.
Taro didn't even give himself chance to fill his water bottle back up. He didn't care, he just wanted to find someone and not feel like he was the last people here even though he obviously wasn't because Hiroto had said there were five people left. The waterfall splashed him as he rushed out, gun in hand and bag slung over his shoulder, the contents almost spilling out because he hadn't even zipped it back up.
And then Taro saw him-Eizo-far enough away from the waterfall, just stood there, seemingly oblivious to Taro’s presence, probably because of all the noise. Taro hadn't even noticed him before. Taro stayed back for a moment, taking some time making sure his gun was actually loaded. It was, so he did the thing they did in the movies (after some trouble), just to make sure it was ready to be fired.
He wasn’t going to fuck around this time. He didn’t care for Eizo Horiguchi.
- Taro stood by his locker, trying to not look too awkward just standing there. He emptied most of his bag into his locker (he didn't need anything this weekend, anyway), just so it didn't look like he wasn't doing anything. Nobody was around that he could talk to. Kenji, Keisuke and Emi had gone, and Taro wanted to go with them, because Eizo had hit Kenji in the face, but he had other plans. He apologised to them a lot.
He had promised his parents that he'd go to the supermarket, and Risa was the only one that was willing to actually go with him. So he was waiting for her, but she was taking forever doing whatever the hell she was doing. Probably arguing with her boyfriend or something. Something pointless and stupid, at least.
Taro tried to act nonchalant-like an idiot-when Eizo walked by, followed closely by Akemi. He didn't really want to talk to Eizo after what happened earlier. It would be uncomfortable. And really, really awkward. He didn't really want to argue with him.
But Akemi spoke to Taro anyway. “Hey, Taro,” she smiled, and he smiled back, trying not to look at the stout faced Eizo. “What's up?” she asked.
Taro cleared his throat for a little too long, “Not much. Just waiting for Risa.”
There was a long and drawn out silence. And it was really, really awkward.
“What about you guys?” Taro finally punctured the silence. Thank God.
Eizo ignored the question, “How's Kenji?”
“You didn't have to punch him,” Taro said, not really wanting to get into it. He showed his height - not exactly to be threatening; just because it was there - but it didn't seem to faze Eizo at all.
“Oh, yeah?” Eizo huffed, “Kenji shouldn't fucking mess with me next time. Or my family.”
Taro spoke before he could think about it, “Yeah, well maybe your dad should get a real job.”
He was almost ready to be punched.
But Eizo just scoffed and laughed, “You think you're better than me, Hanazawa? Just because your family owns a hoity toity fucking business?”
“Not really,” Taro said. “But at least people respect my family.”
Before either of them could say anything else, Risa bounced around the corner, running a hand through her hair and sighing to herself.
“Sorry I took a while,” she said, ignoring-or just not noticing-the atmosphere. “Hey, Horiguchi, Kasai. How are you guys?” She didn't seem to know about the whole incident, unless she just didn't care.
“Fine,” Akemi said.
Eizo said nothing.
“Good,” Risa slanted her mouth. She looked at Taro, “We better go,” she said. She waved halfheartedly to Eizo and Akemi before heading off down the hall.
Taro followed her without taking another look at Eizo's face.
Everything was ready, but if he shot from here he'd definitely miss. He didn't even hit Akio in the right place (not that it really mattered; it worked, somehow) and pointblank range. Taro walked, slowly at first, creeping forward. He was going to shout at to him, but it looked like he had a gun and maybe Eizo was better with a gun than him.
It didn't matter anyway, because Eizo turned around, as if he knew Taro was there (maybe he did know?). He did have a gun, and he was pointing it right at Taro and walking towards him. “Hanazawa,” he said. That was all.
Taro kept walking, and so did Eizo. Neither of them fired, their guns hanging limply at their side. Taro wanted to fire, but if he did it now, so would Eizo, and he'd probably shoot him in the stomach or maybe the face. And then he'd be fucked.
The two of them were maybe a meter away now. Eizo stopped, so Taro stopped. Both of them knew it was close enough, probably. Taro kind of wanted to burst into tears because this was it - at least for now, and he could definitely die. It wasn't like Haruki who killed himself, or Kiku who couldn't do anything, or Kouji who couldn't do anything either because he didn't even have a good weapon. It was a showdown. Good versus evil.
Or maybe it was good versus good. Or evil versus evil.
It didn't matter.
Taro was the first to say something, and he said it because it was all he ever said. “This is what I’ve gotta do if I wanna go home,” he said. He didn't say what he was referring to, but Eizo probably knew Taro wasn’t sure how many times he’d said this now. It was true, but probably just as much as an excuse, too.
Eizo snorted. “Yeah, yeah… you and everyone else on this fucking mountain. What makes you think you’re better than me?”
“I just wanna go home,” Taro said, ignoring the question. What did make him better than Eizo Horiguchi? Money? The fact that Eizo’s dad wasn’t in prison and his wasn’t? That his family was actually respected? Was that it?
Blurting that out wouldn't do any good, considering Eizo had already heard it all.
Neither of them seemed to be in any hurry to shoot the other one. Taro knew he should, and he was going to do it, but… they were talking, just like the guys in the movies. Except one of them was going to die and they weren't just going to get up and walk away after someone shouted CUT.
“So have you killed anyone, Hanazawa?” Eizo seemed almost interested.
Taro cleared his throat, like he was getting ready to give a speech. “Yeah,” he said, finally. “Kouji… Masakichi, Akio and Kiku.” He supposed it didn’t matter if Eizo knew now.
Eizo stayed silent for a moment. “Fuck,” he said, “I didn’t think you had it in you, Hanazawa. You killed Masakichi?”
- “He’s going to die,” Masakichi spoke up, his voice still showed no empathy-no emotion. “He’s been shot…”
Taro placed a hand over his mouth, biting down on his lip, drawing blood. “Shut up. Shut up, shut up, shut up, just shut the fuck up!”
That was the one Taro still really didn't care about. “He killed Atsuo. So, yeah. I killed him.”
“Really? Shiiit,” Eizo seemed to lack any sort of reaction. “I’m fucking glad your friends are dead, too.”
Taro tried not to falter, but he bit down on his lip. You don’t just say you’re glad about something like that. “Same goes for you,” Taro said.
Hypocrite.
“Don’t have long left,” Eizo said, checking a watch that wasn’t there. “You ready, Hanazawa?”
Taro just nodded. It was enough.
They both drew their guns.
Just like in the movies.
((So, yeah. FTD! Taro vs. Eizo, obviously. Wait for a mod to open the vote, blah blah. You know the drill. Oh, and PLEASE VOTE because that would be cool. Good luck, Rob! ♥))