Koushun Takami > Quotes

“Loving someone always requires you to not love others.”
― Koushun Takami, Battle Royale

“It's not a bad thing to be loved.”
― Koushun Takami, Battle Royale

“Hey there. Here's something familiar, a bat. Hope you like it.”
― Koushun Takami, Battle Royale

“Nice jewelry and a boys corpse. Oh you're so pretty.”
― Koushun Takami, Battle Royale

“To memorize something,it's best to write it down.”
― Koushun Takami, Battle Royale

“We're still on the run. That's for sure.
Right on. This time we're on.
And we won't stop till we win.”
― Koushun Takami, Battle Royale

“There's no end to suspicion once you get going.”
― Koushun Takami

“Shinji slowly fell forward onto his face. Debris bounced up on impact. It took less than thirty seconds for the rest of his body to die. The memento of his beloved uncle--the earring worn by the woman he loved--was now stained with the blood running down Shinji's left ear, reflecting the glow from the red flames of the farm building.
And so the boy known as the Third Man, Shinji Mimura, was dead.”
― Koushun Takami, Battle Royale

“You're so kind, Kazuhiko. That's what I like about you."
I like you, too. I love you so much."
If he weren't so inarticulate, Kazuhiko could have said so much more. How much her expression, her gentle manner, her pure untainted soul meant to him. How important, in short, her existence was to him. But he wasn't able to put into words. He was only a third-year student in junior high, and worst yet, composition was one of his worst subjects.”
― Koushun Takami, Battle Royale

“All of a sudden Yutaka realized he had created a cloud of dust all around him. Oh no! No! This sucks. This blows more than your mama! Hey, now's not the time to come up with stupid jokes!”
― Koushun Takami, Battle Royale

“By then she was dead. In fact, she may have been dead a while ago. Physically, several seconds ago, mentally, ages ago.”
― Koushun Takami, Battle Royale

“Furthermore--though it was quite irrelevant now--he had no idea his killer, Kazuo Kiriyama, had, in his mansion that was much larger than Toshinori's home in Shiroiwa-cho, mastered the violin at a level far superior to Toshinori's a long time ago--and then tossed his violin into the trash.”
― Koushun Takami, Battle Royale

“That was it. Shogo stopped breathing. The dim yellow light falling from the ceiling of the pilothouse shone on his pale face. He seemed at ease.
"Shogo!" Shuya yelled. He still had more to say. "You'll see Keiko! You'll be happy with her! You're--"
It was too late. Shogo couldn't hear anything anymore. But his face just looked so damned peaceful.
"Damn it." Shuya's lips trembled along with his words. "Damn it."
Holding Shogo's hands, Noriko was crying.
Shuya also put his hand on Shogo's thick hand. A thought occured to him. He searched through Shogo's pockets and found the red bird call. He pressed it into Shogo's right hand and closed his hands over it so he could hold it. Shuya then finally burst into tears.”
― Koushun Takami, Battle Royale

“And so Yoshimi heard the dry pop one more time. Her forehead felt as if it were being crushed by a car. That was all.”
― Koushun Takami, Battle Royale

“Shogo looked at Shuya and Noriko. "The winner's forced to transfer to another school where he or she is ordered not to mention the game and is instructed instead to lead a normal life. That's all."

Shuya felt his chest well up inside and his face froze. He stared at Shogo and realized that Noriko was holding her breath.

Shogo said, "I was a student in Third Year Class C, Second District, Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture." He added, "I survived the Program held in Hyogo Prefecture last year.”
― Koushun Takami, Battle Royale

“‎"Someday I'm going to marry someone like my mom and I'll be smiling all the time the way my Mom and Dad are.”
― Koushun Takami, Battle Royale

“As he ran next to Noriko, a thought suddenly occurred to him. The screaming, their hasty footsteps, and the officer warning them to stop all receded as his mind was occupied with this thought.
It might have been inappropriate. And besides… he'd ripped it off. Oh, man.
But still he thought this:
Together Noriko we'll live with the sadness. I'll love you with all the madness in my soul. Someday girl I don't know when we're gonna get to that place. Where we really want to go and we'll walk in the sun. But till then tramps like us baby we were born to run.”
― Koushun Takami, Battle Royale

“We're supposed to strive for harmony, and that's what the art of tea is supposed to accomplish... but harmony is very, very difficult to achieve in this country. Tea ceremony is powerless. But it's also not such a bad thing either. You should enjoy it while you can.”
― Koushun Takami, Battle Royale

“Yes, just like those flowers. There's something strained, but there's beauty in that. Something like that”
― Koushun Takami, Battle Royale

“Takako looked into Hiroki's eyes and grinned.
"You've become quie a stud."
"And...you're the most stylin' girl in the world."
Takako smiled faintly. She wanted to thank him, but she was out of breath. She just stared at Hiroki's eyes. She was grateful. At least she wasn't going to die alone. The last person to stay with her ended up being Hiroki. And she was grateful. She really was.”
― Koushun Takami, Battle Royale

“Kazuhiko could have taken his gun and aimed it at the person behind them. But Sakura wouldn't want that. What she wanted was to leave this world quietly before they got sucked into this horrible massacre. Nothing was more important to him than her. There was no room for compromise. If this were what her trembling soul wanted, then he would follow her. Had he been more eloquent he might have described his feelings as something like, "I'm going to die for her honor."

Their two bodies danced in the air beyond the cliff, their hands still clasped together, the black sea under them.”
― Koushun Takami, Battle Royale

“Hell is having no option but the wrong one and take it"
-Shuuya Nanahara”
― Koushun Takami

“They tried to believe in their classmates. They must have believed that if we could all get together, then we might end up being saved. We should commend them for that. We couldn't do that.”
― Koushun Takami, Battle Royale