Ouryou Rikako: "I like tragedies. Especially Macbeth and Titus Andronicus."
Macbeth was a play created by the British playwright William Shakespeare in 1606.
Since the 19th century, it had been recognized alongside Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear as one of William Shakespeare's "Four Great Tragedies." Giuseppe Verdi completed its score in Florence in 1847, then revised it many times afterward.
The story of Macbeth was broadly adapted from an ancient tale in the Chronicles of Scotland by the old English historian Raphael Holinshed.
Macbeth told of a king and queen consumed by greed, their hunger for power, and their eventual overthrow.
Titus Andronicus told of Lavinia, a beautiful young lady from a noble family, suffering horrifying abuse. Her father Titus retaliated in kind, leading to an equally horrifying feast of human flesh.
The play conveyed one truth: Heaven did not turn a blind eye to the sins of mankind.
It was one of Shakespeare's early works. It deeply depicted the psychological and physical trauma suffered by political prisoners, while also rendering scenes of brutal slaughter in exquisite detail.
Okubo Ashika: "Those two are very interesting."
Ouryou Rikako: "They're not merely interesting. They're especially cruel."
Cruel?
Okubo Ashika moved his lips and murmured to himself, his voice very soft.
He thought about it very seriously. After all, the one who had said that was Ouryou Rikako, whom Okubo Ashika had always admired. She meant something extraordinary to him, someone absolutely unlike anyone else.
"Perfect."
That was the only way Okubo Ashika could describe Ouryou Rikako in his heart.
"...Hey, shall we meet after school?"
Thump, thump, thump—
Okubo Ashika's heart pounded violently. His face flushed as excitement surged through him. For him, this was the source of motivation for the entire day.
His listless self had been revived at full strength.