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Dueling GroundAuthor: Okamoto Kanoko
| Original Title | 決闘場 |
|---|---|
| Author | 岡本 かの子 |
| Genre | Modern Short Fiction |
| Author Type | Female Author |
| Summary | In the ancient heart of Kenwood Forest, where silver birches cast spectral shadows over a sunken dueling ground steeped in centuries of strife, three figures collide in a storm of youthful tension. Iris, a woman taut with restless energy, arrives flanked by two university students: John, earnest yet brooding, and Walton, brash and performative. The trio’s uneasy camaraderie frays as they stumble upon the eerie lawn—a relic of violent history that seems to hum with unresolved echoes. \nIris, weary of their suffocating rivalry, provokes a mock duel to escape their cloying attention. What begins as farce—pantomimed pistols and theatrical deaths—ignites into raw, visceral combat. Beneath the guise of play, years of suppressed jealousy and unspoken desires erupt. John’s quiet resentment and Walton’s showmanship spiral into a brutal brawl, their fists echoing the brutality of the ground’s past. \nAs the men lose themselves to fury, Iris retreats into the forest’s embrace, confronting her own disillusionment. The duel’s chaos mirrors her inner turmoil—a longing for transcendence beyond petty rivalries. Amid rustling leaves and distant laughter, she resolves to abandon the hollow spectacle, leaving the men to their primal dance while she vanishes into the shadows, seeking a destiny unshackled from their fraying threads. |
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