Transparent Souls
~Alone, alone I stand, taking in the surrounding, shrugging off the cold stares of my relatives. Those who don't really care, but are just here for the show. They look at me with pity, with no good intentions, only trying to make themselves look like caring people. I grow tired of this bullshit every time I lose another close relative. The only good thing is that this is the last. My heart is cold, and I wont suffer from loss any more. Tomorrow is just another day to waste in this world I call hell.~
"Would you hurry up already, Ta~kun?", shouted Serin from the gate of the imposing family home. Serin heard a muffled reply, and she looked at the phone, hoping Taku would be out any moment, so they'd not be late. A few moment later, Taku dragged his way out of the house, yawning and slouching in his stance. Serin shook her head, but didn't bother make anything of it. She knew it was pointless trying to get him to do something. She just wished he had a little more pride in his appearance. Regardless, she grabbed his arm, and started to briskly drag him down the road leading to the station.
"Hey, why do we need to rush anyway?... it's just school, nothing important.", whined Taku, resisting slightly.
"Because I was left in charge of making sure you kept up with school, and that you didn't fall behind. You've barely gone enough days so far as it is. You want to be held back or something?", replied Serin not stalling for a moment.
"Ah, geese, you really are a nuisance, you know?"
"Call me whatever you like, I'm still getting you to school on time, and that's that."
Taku groaned, and looked to the train tracks over the other side of the stream. He lived in a small town called Hakudan. One train. One track. One road. It was a dry place, the stream always low, the flowers never full in colour, and there was no such thing as a winter uniform. He hated this place, and progressed through life as if nothing mattered. Serin, on the other hand, quite liked the town. It had an old style feel, she felt, and she loved the people, and how everyone felt so close.
After a few minutes more walk, they approached the familiar station and made their way onto the train. It was an outdated train. There was no air conditioning, and the windows shook violently even when the train was barely moving. Taku grunted as Serin sighed in relief that thy weren't late, moving to an empty seat, again simply staring off into the distance, looking at nothing in particular. Serin glanced to Taku with the usual worry, before being attacked by her best friend, and the only other female classmate of their year, Airi.
"Hey, hey! How did your homework go last night, Serin-san?", asked Airi with her usual spark.
Airi was a slightly taller then normal girl with long blue hair, blue eyes, and lots of energy. She loved sports, but was pretty poor with academics She always wore a bright red bracelet that hung loosely on her wrist.
"Ah, Airi-san. I had it finished before dinner. It was rather easy, didn't you think?"
In comparison to Airi, Seren had short brown hair, with light hazel eyes, and she was always a more calm, caring person. She was average at sports, but was brilliant with academics.
"What? It was the hardest homework yet! Don't you agree, Hirota-san?"
Taku completely ignored Airi's question, shrugging his shoulders.
Taku Hirota was a dark child. He lived life as if it was without meaning, and never tried to further himself. Average hight, average build, average in sports and academics, too. He wasn't a stand out person in any sense. He had black hair, and brown eyes.
Airi stared blankly to his back for a moment, and gave up, returning to her conversation with Serin instead.
An hour long trip, and they stopped at the communal station, where all the small towns from the area met for trade, work, and education. Even still, the entire school was made up of less then twenty individuals, both teachers and students alike. The school building wasn't so old as the train, being a rather recent acquisition by the local community to replace the old one lost to fire some nine years prior.
They were shuffled into their classroom without delay, and another day of boring classes begun once more. Taku again simply watched they sky out the window, the teacher ignoring him altogether.
The classroom and teacher matched perfectly. Both were young, but had an outdated feel to them. Both were cold, and both were void of colour, and emotion. Time passed as slow as ever, the breaks as boring as the class for Taku, who neither ate or conversed with others. He slept through the afternoon classes.
When classes were over, Serin and Airi left the classroom, headed to the shops to purchase some supplies. Airi purchased a magazine from the store, and head home ahead of Serin, who had to grab food for dinner. After grabbing what was needed for a quick curry, Serin headed for the station. Upon arriving at the station entrance, Serin was approached by some thuggish boys.
"What's for dinner, cutie?", asked one of them as he grabbed her shoulder, the other's circling around her.
"Curry", replied Serin timidly, hoping not to provoke them.
"Oh, curry is it? Well where's our share?"
"I only have enough stuff to make it for two people, sorry"
"That's no good. Maybe we'll just have to have something sweet instead, like you."
The thug gripped her shoulder with more force, and Serin winced in pain.
"Let go of me, I need to go home", cried Serin, struggling to pull away.
The thugs only laughed, enjoying the trouble they were causing. In an instant, Taku had jumped the thugs, having heard Serin's cries. Attacking them without mercy, Taku punched them in the stomach, and kicked any who fell to the ground. He was quickly outnumbered and overpowered though, being given a harsh beating before the thugs left in satisfaction, spitting at the ground in front of the writhing Taku beforehand. Serin cried out through the entire ordeal, but nobody came to Taku's aid, and she ran to his side as soon as the thugs left him alone.
"Taku! Are you alright? What were you thinking?", Serin shouted as she tried to help Taku up.
"You aren't meant to catch the late train, Serin", was the only thing Taku said, spitting a bit of blood on the ground, painfully making his way onto the train.
Once they arrived home, Taku dropped onto the floor to relax, while Serin moved into the kitchen and started on dinner.
"What are you doing? Go have dinner at your house.", exclaimed Taku, rolling onto his side.
"Can't do that. If I do, I know you want eat. Besides, my parents aren't home tonight.", replied Serin, washing the vegetables. The night went quietly after that. They ate dinner without much talk, and Serin went home after a little studying.
Author notes:
This story is not meant to be comedic. It's pretty hard to write like this, actually, and this is my first attempt at doing so. The characters and locations are all more or less made up names to my knowledge. Any likeness to other characters for stories, games, or series is purely coincidental. Feel free to rate and/or review.