Clocktheatre || Melancholic Days
tw: bullying, self-deprecation, pda, exsanguination, blood
The TV lit up again, and in sharp contrast to the pixelated scene that had been shown the first time, you instead saw a melancholic looking school, almost all the colors being washed out by a dominant grey shade. You hear a bell ring throughout the halls, and all the doors to the various classrooms swing open, pouring out rushing students.
You see the convicted party emerge out of one of them, dressed in a more typical high school blazer and tie paired along with the fact his characteristic shades being missing as he holds some books to his chest. Judging from his perplexed expression, he has less of an idea about his current situation than you do. His feet only move because the crowd pushes him that way, and he bites his lip, his eyes darting anxiously around the infested hallway.
As the students press forward and he keeps turning his head to try and make out his surroundings in a vain attempt to try and recognize anything in this new location, he collides into a significantly larger student resulting in him falling back a bit. The other student turns around, shooting the actor a glare and a scowl.
Peacock simply stares up, clutching tighter to the books in his arms, with his mouth agape and his eyes wide. He didn’t know what to do, so he just allowed his natural instincts come out. He trembled, cowered, and embraced the character he had seemed to be given, though the powerful fear of the unknown seemed to be a large influence on his current behavior.
“Remember! You’re a coward, so you gotta act like one!”
You hear Peacock’s own voice ring out, though his own lips don’t move whatsoever. If anything, the actor also seems confused at hearing this very chipper version of him spewing advice, that he turns his head around to try and find where it was coming from.
“Kuukai! You can’t let everyone down now! Aghh..! What about your notes!? Use more rising inflections! Sound unsure!”
His voice resounded again, and he still couldn’t discern where the source was, but in his confusion, he had forgotten the other student was there. It was the sudden kick in his gut that brought him back to the reality he had been forced into, and you saw the soon to be executed party wince in pain.
“Avoiding eye-contact is a good idea, I bet. If you’re scared of someone, you don’t want to look at them, right? Staring them off is kinda exciting like you’re gonna be in a showdown with them, heheh!”
The actor didn’t get much time to gather his thoughts as when he looked up again, he felt the bigger student grasp onto his collar and raise him up off the ground. The books he had used as a prop fell to the ground with a thud, and all Peacock could do there was stare dumbly at the other, his eyes spiraling in fear and extreme confusion as to what was occurring.
“You know, Akira-kun is kinda relatable! He doesn’t have much confidence in himself, and he’s friends with a super popular guy who he thinks is way better than him, right? You can’t tell me that’s not me! We really are two birds of the same feather!”
It was at this point you realized that Peacock’s voice that was being projected out was probably him talking to himself. Perhaps these were recorded words he had said before that were being played back to him? But for what purpose?
“Ha… Maybe I am a little pathetic… But at least how unpopular I am can be used to really understand Akira-kun and bring him to life…”
Peacock’s voice was starting to sound somber now. You were unsure if this was all part of the same large private monologue, but he had stopped using the second-person point of view and had completely switched to first-person.
“I know what I can do. Maybe I should hang out around Katsuo and watch him? That’ll make me more depressed and feel worse about myself, I bet. He probably already has a new girlfriend…”
The other student threw Peacock against the nearby wall with a large amount of force, and Peacock subsequently knocked back into it and fell down onto the ground, his face twisted in pain.
“I need to become Akira-kun. I want to do my best, I really do… I’m the only new actor here in the cast, so it’d be terrible if I didn’t live up to everyone’s expectations… I can’t hold the whole plot behind just because I can’t become the cowardly bookish loser Akira-kun…”
The student approached the actor, and when Peacock tried to get back up again, he was dealt a punch in the gut. Peacock clutched at his stomach, leaning forward a bit as he gritted his teeth.
“I want people to really relate to Akira-kun like I do… I want them to understand him and even feel like maybe they should root for him too! Even if he’s destined to lose… Losers deserve a chance, don’t they?”
Peacock looked back up again and saw the other prepare another punch. Peacock shut his eyes tight and braced for the impact of the next blow.
“Oh! I almost forgot… Geez, how could I forget that I also have to figure out how I should be delivering those lines when he falls in love with Yukiko-san, huh? It is a romantic drama after all.”
The hit never came much to Peacock’s surprise, and instead he heard a girl’s voice shout, quickly followed by the intimidating student’s surprised cries.
“I guess I should really amp up those blissful feelings of first love so that people think he really is in love and really wants to have a chance to be with her… I gotta think back to those feelings but…”
Peacock opened his eyes slowly, and he gasped when he realized that the once towering student was now crumpled on the ground, struggling to get up. When he could, the student bolted out and down the now empty hallway.
He looked forward again when he felt something lightly jabbed at his chest, and he turned to see a female student wearing the same uniform as him mouthing the word ‘Here’ whilst holding out the books he had dropped before. A smile was on her face, and its warmth gave a pacifying effect on the male.
He opened his mouth to express some gratitude, but no matter what he did, he simply stumbled over his own words, barely managing to utter a simple ‘thank you’ to her. When he took the books back with shaky hands, he tucked them under his arm, and he struggled to look her in the eyes.
“Do I really have those kind of feelings…?”
The girl giggled a bit and she seemed to be saying something more, but her dialogue was completely inaudible to you. You saw Peacock turn his head to face her again, albeit with some hesitance, and when she continued to speak, you could see the actor’s cheeks begin to flush a pink color and there was something in his eyes… a sparkle… something that made you believe this was a happy moment. His lips formed a small if not sheepish smile, and he opened to speak, though no words ever came out.
Sticking out of his chest where his heart would be was a large skewer revealed to be an improbable arrow that had somehow hit him without ever hitting into the girl across him. The end of the arrow had a little childish looking heart decorating it.
“Whenever I think about it, I just get upset, gaaah…”
Peacock’s eyes went wide, and the girl opposite him stared for a moment before taking a step forward. The two locked eyes, both with a frown of concern painting their faces. The girl reached out her hand, and all Peacock did was take another step back up against the wall that he had previously been huddled up by in the face of danger.
Time felt as if it slowed to an almost screeching halt, and the actor’s complexion severely paled. There were many paths to go: he could run far, far away in either direction of the expanding hall. It was vast, and it had long been cleared. The only obstacle here was her and perhaps maybe if the door at the end if it were locked. That was all there was, yet all he did was stay still, watching his peer with a ghastly fear, a bit lip, and soon after a hitched breath.
“I do really have to wonder something…”
Her hand reached out for his cheek, and Peacock stiffened in reaction. His previously trembling body turned rigid and still in just a moment.
“Akira-kun and I deserve a chance at happiness, don’t we?”
In a much swifter movement, her free hand took a hold of the arrow sticking out of his chest, grasping it and pulling it out. Soon, his clothes were stained a noticeable pink and some of it spilled onto her hand and onto the floor. You heard a very short, very quiet reaction from the actor before he dropped his books and started to fall forward. The girl caught him, holding him loosely in her arms as the ticking of the school’s clocks became much more audible and the convicted party’s body grew cold, never to move again.
Mr. Peacock Kuukai Nikaidou, the Super High-School Level J-Drama Actor, has been executed.
[ execution art by finn! thank you! ]
