Disclaimer - If I owned
Gluhen I would decrease the damn angst by 80%. As it is, I do not and therefore
cannot.
This story takes place
after Gluhen ends. I have not seen the episodes, but I have read synopses. Any
mistakes I trust you will be kind about. I also understand nothing of the penal
system, and it shows. Have I missed anything? No, I don't think so. Onward.
Afterglow
By Felflowne aka Espion
Chapter 1
Surrounded by people,
but always alone
'C'mon you lot! Exercise
time!'
All along the row there
came varying groans and mumbles, but gradually all the inmates shuffled out
into the high-walled courtyard, where some blinked at the brightness compared
with inside.
Although there had been
groans at first, now most everyone seemed to perk up a little. A group over the
far side was sorting out two teams for a basketball game.
'That's not fair,'
complained one of the captains, 'whoever gets Hidaka on their team always
wins!'
'Swap halfway though then,
okay?'
'Yeah…Yeah okay.'
The man they were all
talking about did not appear to be listening. He was looking at the sky. It was
impossible to see anything else of the outside world.
'Hey you! Hidaka! You hear
that?'
'Uh huh,' he said, his
attention back on the game, 'let's do this.'
The game began, and very
soon the youngest player had the ball, and dodged everyone else with cat-like
grace to sink it in the basket. Whoops went up from his team.
'Nice one Hidaka!'
'Thanks Mogata,' the
blue-eyed youth grinned and allowed the ball to be taken away from him,
promptly to steal it back some ten seconds later.
When their time was up and
they had to go back inside, neither side was ahead, the score was equal, but no
one seemed to mind.
'That boy,' said an older
inmate, who was in for armed robbery, 'what'd he do?'
His companion looked up in
surprise.
'You mean you don't know?
Murder. Multiple Homicide.'
The older man looked
stunned.
'But he's so young!'
'Yeah, well, we were all
young once,' said his mate non-committally, before turning away towards his own
cell, 'later, Shuichi.'
*
Ken Hidaka had his own
cell. All the murderers did, although he couldn't see why.
If a few of us kill each
other so much the better eh? The prisons are overcrowded as it is.
A guard passed his cell
and paused.
'Evening, Ken.'
Ken looked up and smiled
slightly, 'good evening, sir.'
'I just heard you may be
out of here soon,' said the guard, whose name was Daichi, in low tones, 'since
you're a special case, and you've been so well-behaved since you got here.'
Ken smiled.
'I dream out being out of
here, sir, but isn't this where I belong?'
The guard sighed.
'I don't think you killed
those people, Ken.'
Ken lowered his gaze and
said quietly, 'I did Daichi. I deserve everything I get.'
*
In the weeks that followed
Daichi told Ken all he could about how his case was going.
'Will I need to go to
court?' he asked.
'Not yet,' Daichi said,
crouching down to pretend he was doing up his shoelaces, 'but I did hear that
they're turning the whole case around. They want to get you out of here on
grounds of insanity.'
Ken laughed mirthlessly.
'I'd wear a chicken on my
head if need be.'
Daichi looked at him
worriedly.
'Then I hope need
doesn't.'
He walked on. Ken Hidaka
was an odd case. He'd made no attempt to defend himself against the
allegations, because, as he'd put it, 'isn't perjury another crime?'
He was so adamant that he
had committed the crime. So why did Daichi feel that he shouldn't be in jail?
It was, he decided, because of a strange, very sure feeling that Ken would
never kill again. He carried on down the corridor, musing.
*
On the whole, Ken
reflected, it wasn't too bad. The worst feeling he had was that of being
trapped, which sounded stupid put that way - of course he was trapped, that was
the point of prisons.
There were people here he
got on with, like Daichi, and the other inmates. At least he was still with
people, and not alone.
But I am alone.
He was the only surviving
Weiss from his group. The others had all turned their backs. It hurt, but he
couldn't hate them for it.
How can I hate them for
being happy? Are they happy? I suppose in some ways, whomever I'm with, I'll be
alone.
The sun lowered and set,
and Ken lay down to try and sleep, although he knew that he would not be
allowed to rest for some time yet.
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