Sentimental Warmth | Anime Short Stories

Seat #16 I | Ousama's Game

Type: Adaptation of Canon Events- Original Story, Borrowing of World Concept

Characters: All OCs except for King

General background : An entire high school class  receive a message on their cellphones from a person known only as the "King." The messages contain orders that the students must obey, or they risk the punishment of death. With their lives on the line, the students soon find out that the orders are getting more and more extreme as time goes on….

The order came right on time, its feared arrival slicing the silence of the still night with shrill rings and muffled cries. Ayumi sucked in a sharp breathe, her mind barely registering the text on her screen.

Seat #16: Kill the person you love most from this class. Failure to obey within 15 minutes will result in punishment.

No…

Ayumi felt panic closing in, first snaking silently around, and then tightening and squeezing the breathe out of her. She wheezed and doubled over in alarm, clutching her chest as she started choking on air. Her phone slipped out of her grasp and tumbled across the floor, its screen still alit with the King’s order.

No…Takuze… Never…Never!

Her heart accelerated, but what blood it tried to pump only surged to her feet, as if sucked forth by an immeasurable force of gravity. Her vision turned white from the rapid downward rush and she staggered sideways, struck by the sudden brightness that made her head spin with dizziness. 

I can’t do it…I can’t….

A familiar pair of arms caught her, strong, warm and comforting.

‘Takuze!’ she looked up hastily, her eyes swarming with tears. ‘Takuz-’

‘It’s okay, Ayumi. It’s okay…’ he assured, his voice soft and smooth. He reached over and cupped her cheeks firmly .‘I love you, and I’ll do anything to make sure you survive.’ 

‘No! I can’t do it! I can’t! I’ll never do it!’ Ayumi screamed, gripping his hands tightly. She looked at him in bewilderment, trying to find some sense in his words. Did he even know what he was saying? Did he not know what it meant? How could he be so calm with Death just round the corner? She searched his brown eyes for a hint of denial, waiting for them to darken and take a nasty turn towards anger and even hate, yet his eyes remained kind and gentle, spelling only love, warmth and sacrifice.

Takuze held her gaze, staring into the weeping pair of golden orbs. If not for the tears, they would have been beautiful. He remembered the way they used to glimmer when she smiled, shining through his days and putting the stars to shame. Yet now…

He grit his teeth, fighting to hold back the tears that threatened to spill. Her frantic words… her pained state…. they tore at his heart like a beast ravaging on its meal, ripping it to pieces with ruthless vigour. 

Ayumi… Ever since the moment he laid eyes on her, he knew she was someone he wanted to love and protect forever. With the cheeriness of a hundred summer suns and the radiance of a thousand spring blooms, she had filled his days with vibrancy and laughter, scurrying around with a wanton naivety that baffled and entertained him to no end. He couldn’t remember the number of times he had to tell her to start thinking for herself, to stop believing that the world was built upon sweetness, goodness and honesty. And although she was often clumsy, dumb, and caused trouble whenever she went, Takumi only loved this earnesty and innocence of hers, precious virtues he swore to protect from the darkness that reality so often deliver. 

And yet… Takuze balled up his fist, hating himself for being the failure he had never wanted to admit. For all his silent promises to himself, he couldn’t even…This game…Ousama’s Game… He couldn’t even protect her from it!

He tried to detach himself from her grip slowly, sliding his hands out of her slim fingers. Yet she only held onto him tighter, her nails digging into his flesh, holding him close. 

‘Takuze… why… I don’t want to! I can’t bring myself to-’

‘You’ve got to! There’s no other way!’ His heart raced with the panic building within him. The seconds ticked by, nonchalant to the grim implications that their steady advancements brought. There was no time to lose. If Ayumi didn’t kill him soon, she would die!

Heaving, he did the unimaginable, an action that he never dreamt of doing to the love of his life. With a strong fling, he freed himself from her grasp and shoved her aside. In a flash, the penknife was produced, its smooth blade glinting in the moonlight. It was a weapon he had started to keep by his side, given the uncertainties of the wretched game and its insidious effect on the mental states of his classmates. People were growing crazy with each round, committing acts that their sanity would never have allowed, making twisted decisions that their morale would never have forgiven, and putting forth delusional justifications that their broken relationships would never accept. Witnessing all of those only made clear to him the importance of defensive and precautionary measures, especially when one never knew what the game could propel people towards. He never expected himself to put the blade to someone’s skin, but neither had he thought of how useful it would be in a moment like this.

Ayumi widened her eyes as she stumbled backwards, both from the shock of her lover’s unusual roughness and the manifestation of the knife.

‘Ayumi…Do it.’ Takuze held it out for her.

‘Yada! Yada Yada Yada YADA!’ she shook her head violently, sending her brown waves all over.

‘You’ve got to! Please Ayumi!Or you’ll die!’ Takuze almost screamed back in desperation of lost time…in anger of the cursed game… in frustration of her sweet stubborness…

‘YADA!’ she shrieked and threw herself into his chest, almost knocking him off balance with the resolution of her unwillingness. ‘Takuze… I can’t…. I CAN’T!’ she sobbed noisily, thumping her fist on his hard chest. ‘How can I ever…How can I ever…?!’

‘DO IT!’ a bespectacled boy lurched, seizing the blade with one hand and grabbing Ayumi’s wrist with another, causing the frail girl to yelp in pain and surprise.