[The clapping drives a dagger into Wataru. Yes, even now, he's questioning his own methods. This is unnecessarily cruel, this is a cheap revenge, if that's what it is. And Eichi bites back.]
No, Eichi. I've never heard anything so stirring as your voice in that song. Such angelic words, the revolution on your golden wings. It was beautiful. You were beautiful. But I felt, afterwards, when you continued to harm me, that such soft things were a lie, and that you only knew pain, difficulty, hardship. That you, your heart, were callused. I was so afraid of you! Every time I came to school, I lived in fear of your next move. I had nowhere to belong, as you drove all others from my side. I was reviled, and I was alone.
[His voice cracks, and he pauses to center himself a bit, fixing a smile on his lips, ever the mask to wear when things are too difficult to bear.]
I was never perfect. I was always human, but no one else wanted to see that about me, not even you! I lived alone on my pedestal, misunderstood, or perhaps not understood even in the slightest. What you saw as perfection was simply me trying to find something to make me relevant, once all other expectations were surpassed. I was at the end of my arc, so to speak. You destroyed a hollow young man, with nothing left in his heart but want and desire.
[He takes a step toward Eichi, a hand held out, with the other clasped into the fabric over his heart.]
What's so wrong with being nothing? That's all I am now. Here I stand, nothing, begging someone who built an empire on their own pain to lend me relevancy once more. And only for a short while! How miserable am I, to do this to you? To use such petty tactics to hurt you! You, who lives inexorably marching toward death, you who are so fragile that this very meeting between us may shorten your time here on this earth, you, Eichi, whose back I have watched since the first time our eyes met... you want so little. You simply want to live, don't you? It's not so much to ask, for a boy of our age. All you have is this fleeting time, and after that you'll burn out like a meteor in the atmosphere, once proud, now so, so small.
[His tone rises as he reaches the climax of his speech, and he drops his hands slowly back down to his sides once he finishes. He fights back the tears that rise up, but a few manage to fall, and he hopes against hope that Eichi doesn't remark upon them.]
If I pass this audition, I'll ask you to form a unit with me. Just the two of us, from now until graduation. I'll ask you to give me that time to prove to you that I was never a God among men. That I was always just a boy, who knew nothing of the world, but wanted everything around him to be steeped in the love he felt from his most important people. And I want you to let me show you what that love can look like. I have but one act left in this comedic tragedy play! Shall I carry on, Eichi, or will you dismiss me before the end?
no subject
No, Eichi. I've never heard anything so stirring as your voice in that song. Such angelic words, the revolution on your golden wings. It was beautiful. You were beautiful. But I felt, afterwards, when you continued to harm me, that such soft things were a lie, and that you only knew pain, difficulty, hardship. That you, your heart, were callused. I was so afraid of you! Every time I came to school, I lived in fear of your next move. I had nowhere to belong, as you drove all others from my side. I was reviled, and I was alone.
[His voice cracks, and he pauses to center himself a bit, fixing a smile on his lips, ever the mask to wear when things are too difficult to bear.]
I was never perfect. I was always human, but no one else wanted to see that about me, not even you! I lived alone on my pedestal, misunderstood, or perhaps not understood even in the slightest. What you saw as perfection was simply me trying to find something to make me relevant, once all other expectations were surpassed. I was at the end of my arc, so to speak. You destroyed a hollow young man, with nothing left in his heart but want and desire.
[He takes a step toward Eichi, a hand held out, with the other clasped into the fabric over his heart.]
What's so wrong with being nothing? That's all I am now. Here I stand, nothing, begging someone who built an empire on their own pain to lend me relevancy once more. And only for a short while! How miserable am I, to do this to you? To use such petty tactics to hurt you! You, who lives inexorably marching toward death, you who are so fragile that this very meeting between us may shorten your time here on this earth, you, Eichi, whose back I have watched since the first time our eyes met... you want so little. You simply want to live, don't you? It's not so much to ask, for a boy of our age. All you have is this fleeting time, and after that you'll burn out like a meteor in the atmosphere, once proud, now so, so small.
[His tone rises as he reaches the climax of his speech, and he drops his hands slowly back down to his sides once he finishes. He fights back the tears that rise up, but a few manage to fall, and he hopes against hope that Eichi doesn't remark upon them.]
If I pass this audition, I'll ask you to form a unit with me. Just the two of us, from now until graduation. I'll ask you to give me that time to prove to you that I was never a God among men. That I was always just a boy, who knew nothing of the world, but wanted everything around him to be steeped in the love he felt from his most important people. And I want you to let me show you what that love can look like. I have but one act left in this comedic tragedy play! Shall I carry on, Eichi, or will you dismiss me before the end?