Disclaimer: I don't own Battle Royale, nor any of its characters. This story will be told from Satomi's point of view.

1 - Negation

It started on the first year of junior high school. I was eager to learn and study for the course of the semester as usual...

...and nothing but that. That was originally the plan of action.

The plan I had in mind.

I was never very social. Schoolwork restricted the amount of free time I had. Sure, I talked with Chisato, Yukie, Yuko, Yuka, and Haruka but it never went much from there. A bit surprising they would've ever considered talking to me. Since I isolated myself with books to arm and protect me in the world.

Ah, knowledge is power. I so agreed with that statement.

I guess one could say I was a perfectionist. All of the girls who I occasionally hung out with did. They believed I studied too hard, that I seldom used my locker and lugged around a dozen books at a time. Once, my bag almost split open in its exhaustion. Still though, I considered a locker to be time wasted. Why bother transporting books back and forth when I could just as easily carry them all? Seems logical to me.

Besides, my parents were expectant of me to do well. I had been top of my previous classes over the years, much to the envy of the other students. They would constantly ask me to help them with their homework and I did. Selfishness was not in my personality and I liked the attention I got from everyone. Basically I was top of everything in school.

Until he, Kiriyama Kazuo, ended up transferring to my class.

Everything rapidly changed after he appeared, more rapidly than I would've liked. His intelligence...where do I begin? I felt swept away the moment we had math class together. The way he answered all those complex algebraic questions as if he were telling his telephone number rendered me speechless. The following classes, all through the afternoon, were the same. I soon began to feel he should've taught the class instead.

It grew apparent to me that when it came to his knowledge, I was witnessing nothing but the surface. Even more incredible was the fact that he was blind and deaf to the shocked stares, the pauses that seemed to last for ages. It was as though he didn't care.

Another thought then came to me. I had to find out more about him and meet him if possible. That's how deeply this boy intrigued me.

But usually, I avoided boys. I wasn't like Noriko or Yukie who were busy daydreaming about Nanahara. Nanahara was nice but too naive for my liking. His obsession with forbidden music a.k.a. "rock and roll" also lowered my interest. I couldn't have that on my personal record.

And I certainly wasn't like Chisato with her crush on Mimura. I imagined the basis of that attraction to be purely physical. Sure Mimura was highly sophisticated and perceptive of the outside world, two things I would've considered in a guy. However, considering his promiscuity with the girls caused the previous traits to wither away instantly. I loathe dishonest people and he was no exception in my book.

To sum it up, I was never interested in boys because I was too preoccupied to bother with them. Even if I did have the time, I still wouldn't have been interested. It was all pointlessly silly.

But Kiriyama was different. He was quiet and withdrawn like me and obviously mature. He was the type of boy you hardly knew existed, different from the rowdy ones I was so used to.

After the bell signaled that school was over, I hastily gathered my belongings and rushed over to the front of the classroom. Since I was at the latter rows, I couldn't see Kiriyama's face. I only saw the back of his black school jacket and shoulder-length hair that lay straight out on his neck.

I managed to squeeze past the stampede of students eager to go to their lockers so I could get out before him. Then, holding my breath in anticipation, I turned around and faced the doorway.

Never had I seen a boy quite like Kiriyama before. There was a uniqueness to his looks that was remarkably elegant, something that wasn't common to those his age. It was in his tall, slim form that I observed earlier in class. He reminded me of a greyhound in the way he was shaped. Neat bangs hid his forehead and threatened to cover his eyes as well. Ironically, the first part of this handsome boy that I now noticed were those dark eyes; eyes that proved captivating yet cold all the same.

I proceeded to stare in fascination as he walked past, ignoring me and everyone else. It was when Yuka touched my shoulder from behind me that I snapped out of my trance.

"Hot, isn't he?" Yuka cheekily grinned. "You've got competition. Ever since his high-class family moved here, he's been the new celebrity. A lot of girls, me included, think he's cute."

"N-No, not like that," I murmured while reddening at what she implied. "I just want to...get to know him better."

"Su-ure," Yuka said, approaching me in a jokingly suggestive way. "You've fallen for him. I have a knack for knowing these things."

Backing away, I retorted, "I mean it, Yuka, cut it out! I don't have any feelings for Kiriyama whatsoever and I don't know why you thought I did! I'm not a boy-crazy groupie like you! You should know better than that!"

Silence set in between us apart from the penetrating cacophony of shuffling feet, lockers banging, and muffled conversations circling our spot. Yuka appeared a bit shocked at what I said but then shrugged it off.

"Whatever you say, Satomi," she replied, her tone rich in sarcasm. Issuing this as her final remark, Yuka turned and headed over to her locker. She most likely went to chat with the other girls who were nearby and must've overheard the whole embarrassing event.

I breathed out an angry sigh. It was so offensive to me, at the time, of how ignorant Yuka was at judging my thoughts. Didn't she bother to realize how much I studied, how I couldn't stand the fanciful, often salacious talk about boys that she and sometimes Chisato would gossip about? I concurred with Yukie on it being "totally gross!" Tell me about it.

Glaring at Yuka's distant form, I headed on outside for home, trying to forget all that happened and concentrate on my homework.

But I couldn't forget the enigmatic specter that was Kiriyama Kazuo and I had no idea how right Yuka actually was.