I know I have other things I need to work on, but I've had this idea floating around for quite a while now and I finally feel confident enough in it to start writing it down. And by confident I mean invested, because I am lazy as hell. Enjoy.
"I can't find Niigata on the map!"
"Are you kidding me?"
"Where did the box of orange pushpins go?"
"Stop shoving you graceless oaf!"
"What was that!?"
Matsushiro Ken stood off to the side of the increasingly violent mob before him, watching with amusement the trip to the ER waiting to happen. Oh, the joy of large crowds with sharp objects.
It was that time of year again, and the Newcomer's Tourney was set to begin soon. This was the first Tournament under the new management (Tsukino and Monica Adenauer, who was the new GM of sweets), and they had decided it would be fun to put up a big map of Japan (And a smaller one of Europe, for Monica and Shachihoko) on one of the walls on the competition floor and let the employees place pushpins where their hometowns were. "For, like, camaraderie and stuff!" "So the tournament participants will feel more at home, knowing there are people from all over the country here already!" they had said (I'll give you one guess as to who said what). Someone else, however, (Azuma or Kawachi, probably, God those kids were dumb) had decided it would be a good idea for every employee of the main branch to come down and put their pin at the same damn time. But it was a nice sentiment, and seeing the huge turnout and all the excitement, almost all of the employees had to have been pretty enthusiastic about it (I'll give you one hint as to who thought it was a stupid waste of time, his name starts with "K" and ends in "uroyanagi Ryou, the biggest killjoy brat I've ever met").
Well, there was no point waiting for everyone to start thinning out, especially since he could move them all out of his way with little to no effort.
So he did.
"Hey, you punks, get out of the way, move it, move it, coming through!" A couple good shoves and he was standing in front of a row of stools with boxes of different colored pushpins on them.
He grabbed a black one, reached toward the town where he had grown up on the map, and his hand collided with someone else's aiming for the same spot. His eyes traveled up the arm that hand belonged to to find Suwabara Kai glaring at him. Can this kid even make an face that isn't angry? He thought.
Well, knowing the kind of shit he grew up with, I guess it isn't surprising for him to be mad at the world...
While he was deep in thought, he didn't notice Suwabara's expression change to something more inquisitive. He was snapped out of his inner monologue when the younger man said to him "Do... Do I know you?"
He laughed. "Are you stupid? Of course you know me. I'm the manager of the South Tokyo branch. Also, I've saved your life twice."
Suwabara's features snapped taught. Threatening again, the guy Matsushiro knew now. "You know that's not what I... Wait, twice?"
But The Manager had already turned on his heels and was through the crowd before the younger man thought to follow him and ask him what the hell he meant.
- I had walked through a similar crowd before, a little more than ten years ago- so long ago, in fact, that my hair went down to my shoulderblades instead of up and out around my head. This crowd wasn't near as violent and scary, but still, a crowd was a crowd.
It was in the more modern half of my hometown, in the bustling shopping district, where a new Pantasia branch had just recently opened. A pal I made working at Main had been granted a store of his own, and he had owed me some money- horrible gambler, that little man, even worse than me- so I told him to put the new branch in my hometown and we'd be square. I had, of course, previously moved to Tokyo so I could work at Main, and my parents and sister soon followed, but I had come to see the store dedicated to me now that it was functioning.
Where did all these goddamn people come from?! Shove, elbow, push, shove.
This particular crowd, however, contained a little pick-pocket that I'd come to know better later in his life.
I hadn't even seen the little guy, he was so fast; barely felt him, too, but my wallet had been so heavy (I had planned on going to the horse track later, okay? Don't judge me) that it was obvious when it left my pocket. If it weren't for that...
"HEY! You get back here, you little shit!" I screamed, running the opposite direction of where I was supposed to be heading, after my wallet. I saw a head of dirty black hair run out of the way of the mob and into a nearby alley, and followed. The kid was fast, but he had short legs with little muscles and no stamina, unlike someone who had trained for so long for Solar Gauntlets, so I caught up quick.
I grabbed a tiny, thin shoulder, and the little boy shrieked. I spun him around, and he was indeed, holding the bulging, old leather wallet. But that wasn't important compared to what else I saw. I stared into small, intelligent, wary, and very tired eyes that were mostly hidden by lanky hair.
His cheeks were sunken in and his skin was ashy. I squeezed his shoulder and felt small muscles and bone, but not much else. He was stringy, more like a wild animal than a kid. And he was wearing a dirty old gi that was at least two sizes too big, and his shoes were broken.
Aw, man, he couldn't have been much older than Kaede, but she had to have five, ten kilos on him, and she had spent so long in the hospital...
I let him go, but blocked his way back.
"May I please have my wallet back?" I asked him.
For just a moment, the little guy showed surprise, but then gave me a glare that was pretty useless with his age, his health, and the fact that I couldn't even see his eyes making him one of the least threatening things I'd ever seen; But I couldn't help feeling kind of freaked out anyway. This kid was intense. He handed the hunk of leather over to me.
"Why did you take my wallet?" I asked, putting it back in my pocket.
The kid continued to glare.
"Seriously, kid, I'm trying to help you out here. I can tell you weren't gonna spend it on a Nintendo or something."
Glare.
Well, fuck you too.
"... Do you wanna get lunch with me?"
The glare continued, but the boy stiffened, nervous.
"I've got a sister about your age and I know if she was in trouble I'd want a nice guy like me to help her out, too, y'know?" I gave him my thousand-watt smile.
He still glared, but looked like he'd been thrown off a bit.
I sat down on my haunches, lowering myself to his level, serious, now. "You alright, kid?"
The kid looked away. "I'm fine."
"It speaks!" I couldn't help but smile at him.
He angled his glare at me again but the effect was lost. I had already won. "Are you done yet? Go away, I told you I'm fine."
"Yeah, nah. You ain't. You can see that just looking at you. Come with me, I'll get you something to eat. You got a name?"
The kid snarled. I tried hard not to laugh. "None of your damn business! Leave me alone, you freaky old man!" His voice broke.
A vein bulged in my forehead. I wasn't even thirty yet. But I smirked, "What was that? 'Please tell the cops I stole your wallet?' Oh, well, if you insist..."
His eyes widened, and he growled. "That's cowardly!"
"So is stealing, kid. Now follow me. What did you say your name was?" I began walking away.
I heard him follow behind me. "... Suwabara Kai."
I turned around and reached out my hand out to my new friend. "Matsushiro Ken. I'm going to call you Suwa."
"Please don't." But, after a second, he took the proffered hand and shook it heartily. Oh, hey, warm. I frowned, thinking. Can't be Solar Hands, not warm enough... What the hell is this kid?
We escaped back into the throng of people and headed the way I came, where there were lots of restaurants. It would be weird bringing some scraggly, dirty kid with me to visit my friend, even though I could probably convince him to give him something to eat for free...
"Hey." The kid caught up to walk beside me instead of behind me like he had been.
"Yeah?"
He stopped walking and bowed at me. Good manners. I thought, then some dark (And probably right, erk!) part of my brain retorted; well-trained. "I apologize for trying to steal your wallet. Thank you for being so compassionate." When he straightened back up he looked sheepish, but continued walking with me.
"Nifty. You gonna admit you needed the money because you're hungry yet?"
He got all defensive again. "I'm not! I'm only coming with you because I don't want to get in trouble!"
"Alright then, if you insist. I'm getting you lunch anyway. You got anything to get your hair out of your eyes, kid? It's bugging me."
He thought for a moment before answering. "Y-Yes... But I can't put it on, so don't ask about it again!"
"Why not? Is it even dirtier than the rest of your clothes?"
He looked offended. "No!" He looked sheepish again. "It's just... People will... Recognize me, okay? So I can't."
I hope I managed not to stare too stupidly back at him. ... 'Recognize him?' Well that's more than a little weird. "... Whatever. You okay with this place?" I gestured to the restaurant we were now passing. The kid shrugged and we headed inside.
He stared, what I suspected was wide-eyed, at the interior. At this point I don't think I'd be surprised if he'd never been out to eat anywhere ever. I thought poor kids like this didn't exist outside of movies... Guess I was wrong.
We were seated and given menus, the usual routine. The hostess gave kind of a grossed-out look at my companion and I kind of wanted to snap her stupid neck, but that's usually frowned upon in modern society.
"So, what do you want, little buddy?" I smiled at him.
"Please stop trying to call me strange names." He frowned at me. "And I told before you I'm not hu-"
Gggggrrrruuuumble
His face burst into flame and I burst out laughing. "Holy shit, was that your stomach? I thought that bit only happened in cartoons! And you're the worst liar ever!"
"Sh-Sh-Shut up, okay!" He hid behind his menu. At least he was finally looking at it.
And that shitty waitress was looking at us again. Screw you, lady. The kid caught her staring, too. I watched him shake his hair out of his eyes to glare at her, and then let it fall back. I looked back at her and she had blanched. I laughed hard. Serves her right.
Just then, my stomach growled and I laughed again.
"Are you crazy?" My companion gave me a skeptical look.
"No! It's just funny!"
"Hn." He looked back to his menu.
I groaned. "Can't you just order a burger or something? You may not want to admit you're hungry, but I'm starving. Come oooooon... Suwa-chaaan..." I pouted.
"Fine! Shut up! You're so annoying!" He snapped.
Bitch Waitress came over and took our orders, then soon brought our food out. It felt like one second the kid had a full plate of food, then I looked back up from taking a bite of mine and it was all gone. "Not hungry my ass..." I grumbled. Soon we had finished and it was time to go.
I paid for our meal and we left the restaurant.
We stood outside, watching the crowd go by for a few moments.
My companion let out a sigh. "I'm grateful for the meal, but I'm afraid I have to head home now."
"What?! But it's barely noon!"
He ignored me, and bowed. "Goodbye." He turned and took a couple steps before I called "Wait!"
He turned back to give me another wary look.
I'm not sure exactly why I called back out to him instead of letting him go, but I know now that if I hadn't he'd probably have died. Or worse. The way I justified it in my head back then was that I, at some point, had subconsciously decided that I had to save this kid.
"What do you want from me now?" He asked me, his voice still more tired than the annoyed that he meant it to be.
"Come with me somewhere else, will you"?
"What!? Why!?"
"Because of my wallet."
His eyes went wide and his jaw went slack, and he blinked at me. Then he glared. I was beginning to sense a pattern. "Tch. Fine! But if you keep me too long I'll... I'll..."
"You'll what?"
He made a new face then, a pout, and didn't say anything more. I began on my way to the newest Pantasia branch, and could hear his soft steps behind me.
After walking for a long while, we were in front of the sparkling, brand-new store. The kid stared up at it in wonder. I did, too. It was a completely modernized design with lots of glass and exposed brick. Perfect for this part of town, the much-richer-than-everyone-else part. I loved it.
But enough about the store, I had a mission to accomplish.
Lunchtime was over now and the crowd had thinned to a couple random people passing by every now and again, and I could talk to my companion in a more serious manner now. (I can totally talk in a serious way! You can shut up!)
"So... Kid." I began, and he looked up at me. "You said you had something to fix your hair, right? No one's around now, and my friend who works here is new in town, so whatever it is you did before, he won't know about it. And I'd like you to look at least a little presentable..." I smirked at him, and he glared at me. We had a system now. "And walking around not being able to see can't be too comfortable, right?"
"I... I suppose you're right. Are you positive no one in there will know who I am?" He began digging around in his pocket.
"Sure." I replied, not sure in the least. But whatever, I could probably fix it if things went wrong. Probably.
From the previously mentioned pocket he made a scrap of blue fabric appear. He tossed his hair back and tied it around his forehead, keeping the unruly strands in place.
"There, now you look nice." I smiled at him, and I could swear that his cheeks pinked a little.
"Hmph!" He scoffed, and we entered the store, the bell above the door tinkling.
I called out for my friend, and he came running to the front of the store. Smiling under his mustache when he realized who I was.
"Ken!" He called, rushing over to us. "It's so good to see you!"
"Hey, buddy. Long time no see." My other buddy walked away, examining the bread in all the cases, his eyes wide again. He appeared to be greatly enjoying himself, taking the time to look closely at every piece, reading the ingredient cards and everything.
"How are things at Main? The same as usual, I suppose. Things are pretty stressful here, seeing as I'm still the only employee this store has. Not for my lack of trying, mind you! Why just the other day I brought this young lady in for an interview and..."
He had always been one to babble.
While he was absorbed in the sound of his own voice, I gestured my pet project over and promptly interrupted him. "Well if it's employees you need, I've got a solution for you." I dragged the boy in front of me and put my hands on his shoulders. He stiffened so much it felt like I was gripping a concrete wall.
"Ah." The man proclaimed, adjusting his glasses and examining the kid. "And who is this?"
"A friend of mine in desperate need for a job." I smiled at my friend, and could feel the other one breaking out in goosebumps.
"Well, I'll see what I can do." He smiled at the kid, and he relaxed a little. But then he blinked at him and set everything into motion.
"Wait... Don't I know you from somewhere?"
I could feel the kid's muscles wind up in the beginnings of getting the hell out of there, but I held him in place.
"Ah! That's right, I remember now! I saw you in the paper! Well, I'll be. A local celebrity, walking right into my store at such a slow time of day... And looking for a job, no less! Why, you think you wouldn't need help with money ever again after winning all those tournaments..."
I kept my hands on his shoulders, and he shook like a leaf. I wanted to get him out of there, but I just had to ask, "What are you talking about?"
"Oh, you don't know? This little guy is a student of the little dojo on the outskirts of town. You know, that giant property with all the trees? It's not too far from here. Anyway, he just came out of nowhere and they took him in and started entering him in all these swordsmanship tourneys, and he got first place in all of 'em! I don't remember the exact number, but you got a lot of money, didn't you kid? I'm sure a lot went to the dojo but still..."
Oh God. I thought, either I was completely wrong about this kid or something really horrible has happened to him. And I honestly couldn't decide which option I preferred- but I was almost positive it was the latter that was the case.
He had stopped shaking and apparently resigned himself to his fate. I interrupted my friend one last time, "I just remembered we've got somewhere to be... We'll talk with you again later, okay pal?"
The good-natured man smiled at us, oblivious to the damage he had apparently done. "Alright. I have to get ready for the after-work rush anyway, I'll see you later!" And he waved goodbye as we left out the tinkling door.
As soon as we left my pet project attempted escape, but I grabbed his wrist to keep him from getting away without gnawing his own arm off. I dragged him in the direction of the old dojo.
"Let me go!"
"Not a chance." I could feel his hand shaking.
"Please... Please let me go?"
"Nope." I had decided I was going to fix this kid, and dammit if I wasn't going to go all the way through with it.
He was still dragging his feet. I was at least three times his size, he was just stalling at this point.
"Listen, kid... If you're not going to come with me willingly I'm totally cool with just picking you up and carrying you there. I could tell when I first laid eyes on you that you had been completely fucked over by something or somebody, and you can't keep avoiding it forever, whatever it is."
He looked up at me, wide-eyed in a different way now. The most childlike I'd seen him all day, and not in a good way. The tough exterior had been peeled back and exposed the squishy, vulnerable little guy underneath.
Shit.
I let go of his wrist, but offered my hand to him instead. "So? What do you say?"
He turned his eyes away from me for a moment, but looked back at me with new determination. A very real fire in his eyes that I hadn't seen yet before.
He took my hand, and we were off.
We walked tentatively together up the steps to the old Japanese style building. The little guy hung behind me a little bit as I rang the doorbell. Whatever it is that happened, I was about to get to the bottom of it.
A young man on the taller side answered the door. Another one of the dojo's students, I guessed.
He looked at me. "Hey, whaddaya wan-" Then down to my companion. "Oh shit guys come here NOW! It's Kai!"
All of a sudden there were five or six young men standing on the porch, fussing over the kid, fixing his hair and remarking on the state of his clothes and about how worried they were about him.
So that ruled out one possibility, no one at the dojo had wronged him in any way, so what the hell happened? Now I was really curious.
"Shut up! You brats, you're all too noisy." Just then a grumpy little old man came out onto the porch. All the students, including Suwa, exclaimed "Master!" then bowed deeply to him, so I guessed he was their Master.
I didn't know what else to do, so I bowed too.
The old man's face softened when he saw the kid, apparently as worried about him as the rest. "Kai, where the hell have you been?"
He looked up from his bow and began, "W-Well, Master, I- OW!" and was cut off almost immediately by a wooden sword to the noggin. He gripped his head and began to shake and groan.
"You dumbass! You had us all worried half to death over you! What in God's name were you off doing by yourself for three weeks!?"
I just stood back and watched everything unfold, I felt my time to speak up was later.
The kid continued to moan, and I hadn't thought the old guy hit him that hard, but then I looked at him and saw that what I thought was him still reeling from the probable concussion was actually him trying desperately not to cry.
The old man sighed. "Come on boy, let it all out. You're among friends here." He gave me a questioning glance and I nodded.
He began sobbing. Hard. The kind of loud, awful sobbing of someone who hasn't cried in a long time. One of the other students rubbed his quaking back, another ran inside and came back with a glass of water.
We waited him out until his cries became whimpers, and while he chugged his glass the old man asked him, "So what happened to you, boy? Where did you go?"
He stared at him, still radiating sadness. I was too far away to hear, but he mumbled something that sounded a hell of a lot like "My dad."
Apparently that was exactly what he had said, because the rest of the occupants of the porch tensed up and gritted their teeth. One student spoke up, "What happened? The bastard better not have come back, or so help me..."
The boy only looked around meekly and nodded.
An audible hiss was heard. Probably from the smoke coming out of all their ears, their faces were all red as could possible be and contorted with anger.
"Kai... Tell us exactly what happened." The old man spoke up again, somehow the most calm looking and most horrifyingly rage-filled of them all.
He swallowed, and began to finally tell his story.
"Well, you know, the last time I was here... When I went home that night, he was just, there, when I got home... And I was really happy to see him, 'cause, even though he left... He's still my dad, y'know?" He sniffed, pitifully, and I could feel myself growing angrier with every word, too. Left his kid all alone? Fucking bastard. He and Kirisaki have a lot in common.
"Yeah, and what else?" Someone prompted. "Just seeing him again wouldn't do... This to ya."
He continued, ignoring his hecklers. "And, you know how, you let me take home my prize money that night, because I won it fair and square, and because..." He took a deep, gasping breath. "... You said you could trust me to take care of it?"
Ooooh no, I could see where this story was headed. I felt like hitting something. Somebody. Everyone else could sense the same thing that I did, apparently, because I swear the temperature on that porch rose ten degrees.
"And, well, um... We both went to bed... And when I woke up, it was gone, and so was dad... Again" He pulled his bandanna over his face, a futile attempt to hide his shame and sorrow.
I heard someone mumble "Holy shit..." and I'm not entirely sure it wasn't me.
The other students began furiously cooing over him again, and his teacher walked up to me.
"I know I don't know what the exact circumstances are, but I thank you for bringing this child back to us... I'm sure he wouldn't have made it back here without your help." The old man bowed to me, and I felt pleasantly humbled.
"It wasn't that big a deal, I have a sister who's about his age, so..." I trailed off because the old man looked like he understood what I meant.
I took a deep breath and looked at the kid who's life I was pretty sure I just saved, and smiled to myself. My work here was done. I shot him one last glance and turned to leave.
I was about halfway down the path from the dojo to the street, when I heard him call "Hey freaky old guy!"
I turned back, and was about to let out a retort, but I saw that the fire was back in his eyes, and all the other students and the master were all apparently scandalized by the way he was treating his savior.
"What, you stupid little punk!?" I called back.
His cheeks pinked a little. "I'm going to take that job you set up for me, okay?! And as soon as I'm done paying back my master I'm going to... I'm going to... I'm gonna be the strongest baker in the whole world! So don't you dare forget about me!"
I let out a roaring laugh over more scandalized cooing by both student and teacher.
I walked away then, listening to shouts of "But what about the dojo?!" And "What was that, you little brat?!" and the like. One of the last things I heard before I was out of earshot was a quite decisive, "I can be a samurai and a baker, too! Just you watch me!"
I honestly thought I would never hear from him after that, but imagine my surprise when I saw him in the paper again, ten years later? Going around winning all the awards again, are you, punk? This time in my field. Stupid cocky kid...
Matsushiro had fled the hustle and bustle of the sharp things crowd to cool down in a hallway adjacent to the tournament hall, reveling in his memories and the brilliant machinations of his own mind. Seems like I still felt responsible for him all these years later, huh? All that trouble and the idiot couldn't even be bothered to remember me, heh...
Nowadays, he looked into the eyes of the now almost grown man he still very much considered his pet project and saw laughter. It was amazing, how he could have become so light hearted, it seemed, only recently, after all the shit he'd been put through. He'd heard about the old man's death through his friend who still managed the branch in that town, after the psychopath had attempted suicide. It might have been nice to know that before he had been forced to shove all the responsibility of saving his dumb ass off on that poor girlfriend of his. She had handled it damn well, though. She's good for him, nice, strong woman, built for putting up with bullshit. The old guy would be proud. He wondered if his old friend knew about her...
"Hey!" His brilliant machinations were interrupted by said pet project- who was nearly as tall as he was now, Jesus! Where did the time go- peeking around the corner he was leaning against and calling out to him.
"What do you want, brat?" He grumbled in return.
The kid smiled- he might be almost grown, but almost don't cut it, he was still a kid- and said, "I may have hit a few bumps along the way, but I did fulfill my promise." Nodded, and then walked away again.
The afro-headed man just stood there for a second, dumbstruck. He did remember, did he?
Imagine that.