Meteor Strike

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Meteor Strike is a short story done by Nobuhiro Watsuki for a Shonen Jump artist competition. It was reprinted in the 28th and final volume of the Rurouni Kenshin manga series.

[edit] Plot

The 31 page short story takes place in modern day Japan, featuring a high school student, simply named Shinya, and his childhood friend, Chiho. While walking to school one day, Shinya is struck on the head with a small meteor. When he awakens three days later, he learns that the meteorite is stuck in his head and cannot be removed. He is both the first person to be struck by a meteor, and the first to have one stuck in his head ("Two birds with one stone" his doctor says). A brief flashback shows that Shinya is constantly stopping people who are bullying others, but is shown as too weak to do anything, mostly serving as a punching bag while the intended victim runs. A bully approaches him on his return to school, and by simply placing his hands out to block a punch, he sends the bully flying through the wall. Another bully attempts to hit him on the head with a metal pipe, which is bent over the meteorite. He takes it and bends it back to normal. Over the following days, Shinya helps out people, doing heavy chores for people, acting as a street guard, performing for small children. One day, while talking with Chiho, who talks about how she always used to save his neck and is feeling left out of things, an announcement comes over the radio that a larger meteor is going to strike in their part of Japan (simply called the K city of the S county of the N prefecture). An evactuation is started, and a little girl simply asks Shinya to use his "magic" to stop the meteor. The kind-hearted Shinya accepts, despite the pleading of Chiho to not risk his life. He thinks, with the addition of oven mitts, he can stop it and save the city. The meteor comes down, and Shinya places his hands above his head in an attempt to stop it. He at first thinks himself unable to stop something with so little power, but asks his meteor for just one more miracle. The meteor fragment exposed on his head explodes, as well as the larger meteor. Shinya awakens in the hospital once again, finding that the newspapers covered up his story, using a theory that it was actually a large ice chunk rather than a meteor. The story ends with Chiho and Shinya looking at an X-ray, showing that the part of the meteor that was actually inside Shinya's head is still there.

[edit] Cameo

Before the emergency announcement of the meteor strike, a song is requested on the radio. The song is "Head On" by Kinniku Shojotai, and was requested by none other than Watsuki Nobuhiro.

[edit] Quotes

"Meteors. The shower down from space, carrying with them the power to bring about great events, such as the extinction of the dinosaurs, or the creation of a moon. At times, they are called 'shooting stars,' performing miracles, such as granting peoples wishes." -Introduction

"Justice has no meaning without power." -Chiho

"Destroyed cities can be rebuilt, but I still think we should prevent what can be prevented." -Shinya