He's never truly found peace within himself to call himself a man. He's never found the solace of life that everyone around seems to have found. He's always found himself forced upon the ground. His wings have been broken and he can never again take to the sky.
It is a sad existence that he has lived his entire life. He's never been one to strike out against others nor has he been known to cause a panic in areas of peace. He's always been quiet, sitting patiently in the corner, waiting for his chance to shine and to prove himself a person of quality.
He is an outcast, the black sheep, the one who doesn't fit in. He… is me.
My name is Kiritsu Kaizer. I'm a high school student that has never really found a calling. I've been stuck in a perpetual spiral of grief and misfortune that can never be wiped clean. I've moved three times from school to school, hoping that my slate would begin anew but no matter where I go it always follows me like a leach on my back.
I've never known compassion nor have I ever felt like I truly belonged. My friends from long ago have left me and I've been labeled as the pariah of my school.
I am the plague, I am the disease. I am seen as an enemy that has to be stomped out. I don't belong nor will I ever be a part of the system. I don't mind this status. I don't mind this existence. Then again, it's not like I have a choice to being with. This life has been forced upon me and it shall live with me for the rest of my days.
This is who I am, but it is not what I wanted to be.
[High school Roof]
There is one man sitting on his back on top of the roof, next to him there is a small lunch consisting of a strawberry milk a PB&J sandwich and a bag of chips that isn't opened. He is staring at the sky, with his arms outstretched as if reaching for something or someone.
I give a deep sigh as I look towards the sky.
I find peace here when my depression hits an all-time low. I don't know what it is but I like to see the birds flying through the sky. I love to see the clouds and I love to see the shining sun pierce through the clouds as it reaches through to the mid-day.
"I wish I could fly." I say aloud as I continue to watch a flock of birds passing by.
Before I continued to admire the freedom the birds had, I instinctively rolled over to the right and just as I moved a white bird turd fell down right where I was laying down.
"Knew it." I commented before getting up.
"They're lucky I can't fly as free as them or I would so kick their asses for trying to take a crap on me." I groaned irritably as I started to make my way towards the door again.
As I looked up I noticed someone familiar standing at the door waiting for me. It was the class president.
Aoi Miyamoto, the class president was a pretty cute girl despite her only being 16. She had long black hair that matched her jet black eyes. She had just the right curves where they needed to be and she had a nice rack to boot. She was 5' 7" and she didn't exactly look too pleased with me.
"Class prez." I said as I almost walked past her.
She got in the way of me as I tried to walk past and down the stairs.
"I knew I'd find you here Kaizer-san. Why do you always insist on being up here during lunch? Every time you come back down you're always 5 minutes late to the next period." She started to reprimand me.
"You've got to take care of your future Kaizer-san, you need to be more alert to your classes and stop staring out at the sky so much. What is it that you hope to find by looking out at the window all day?" She asked me continuing to lecture me for my carelessness.
"It's a nice day today… isn't it?" I threw out the left field comment to throw off her train of thought.
"Eh? Uh… Y-Yes it is a nice day but that's not what I'm here to talk about Kaizer-san." She said trying to get me to focus again.
"Hai, Hai. I understand Miyamoto-san. I know that I need to pay more attention in class but I already know everything that they're saying and it's just boring…" I said trying to find a way to get past her.
"Yes but your grades would be so much higher if you applied yourself. Please, if not for yourself the do it for your family to make your grades better." She pleaded trying to make me see things her way.
I stopped paying attention to her after I heard the word "Family". She kept rambling on about me getting better grades and getting into a better school but I just didn't want to hear it. My family never really was something I wanted to talk about and in terms of conversation it was the one sure-fire way to make me stop paying attention.
This mono-tone conversation continued for another three minutes until finally the 5-minute warning bell rang for the next period.
I made eye contact once again with Miyamoto before she finally stopped her rambling and realized that it was time for us to go.
"W-well, we should get to the next class." She said before making her way down the stairs.
I stood there for a good few seconds and took one last look out at the birds making their way to their nests. I gave one last sigh before starting to make my way down the stairs after Miyamoto.
"I wish I could fly." I muttered audibly.
"What was that Kaizer-san?" She looked back at me wondering what I was mulling over.
"N-Nothing. Let's get to class." I ended our conversation passing her up.
[Classroom 3-C]
Staring out at the window I waited there for the next two periods to pass. I had only math and history left to discuss in class and in terms of knowledge I had a pretty good grasp on what they were talking about so I made a really good grade on their pop quizzes.
As the evening bell rang and all the students started to make their way out of the classroom I continued to look out the window and watched to see if there were any birds flying through the sky. I waited there until I was interrupted in my bird search by my one and only good friend.
"Hey! Dumbass!" He yelled at me throwing an eraser at my head making me turn to face him. "Time to go! Let's go get some ramen!" He yelled again trying to snap me out of my melancholy.
My best friend, Hiyu Horaiji, was standing at the door waiting for me to get up and go with him to the nearby ramen shop. I debated getting up for a couple of seconds. I wasn't sure if I wanted to have ramen but I knew if I would put up a fight about where we were going I would soon find myself in a headlock.
Weighing my options I slowly got up and made my way over.
"Alright that's my #1 man!" He said over-energetically slapping me in the back.
We made our way out of the school and started to make our way down the street to the nearby ramen shop. On the way we heard a commotion come from behind us.
"Go go go! We gotta get going before they catch up to us!" I heard a couple of kids yelling as they sped past us on their Air Treks.
Behind them I could see another group of kids on their Air Treks speeding after them and it looked like they were having a good time playing down the street.
I've never really been much of a sports guy but I have always been on a pair of rollerblades since I received my first pair back when I was 10.
Air Treks are roughly the same concept as roller blades but instead of gaining speed from man-made power, it's all electric. The motors in the Air Treks are a lot more powerful than your average motor and the speed and jumping power of these bad boys made it almost seem unreal with how fast and high you could go.
The only set back of these items were the price of them. I didn't have nearly enough cash to pay for them and I knew my parents would never put forth the money to do so. We just didn't have the cash and the fact was that these things were very high maintenance.
I always thought that if I could ever get my hands on a pair of Air Treks, or more commonly known as "AT's" then I would be able to grow a pair of wings like I used to have when I did parkour. I wished so badly that I could get enough money to afford a pair but I knew it would be at least another 6 months before I would gain anywhere near enough.
Sighing at the sight I looked up again towards the sky and noticed the sun started to wane slightly behind the clouds.
"I wish I could fly…" I muttered to myself as we both walked down to the ramen shop.
"What was that Kiritsu?" Hiyu asked me as he was looking in his wallet to see how much money he had.
"Nothing. Just wondering what those stupid kids are doing." I said trying to dodge any further questions.
"Eh, probably doing something stupid like kids always do. Like we used to right?" He responded with a chuckle.
My friend and I have always lived by the motto: "We'd rather die while we're living than live while we're dead." What this means is that we don't really care if we're standing on the small thread between life and death. As long as we're having fun and living every second as if it were our last, then we can die a happy life.
I've always loved living like that. It's the main reason why I loved parkour so much. That is, until the accident two years ago when I nearly died by falling off of a house.
I broke my legs in six different places on both of my legs and some of the bone fragments in my ribs broke off and pierced my lungs. The doctors saved my life miraculously but I would no longer have the same lung power or the proper leg alignment to be able to run anymore.
I can still do the basic physical activities like anyone else but I can't do parkour anymore. I've never been the same since. I haven't smiled since that event nor have I been able to fully appreciate life without parkour. It was my way to freedom. It was my way of expressing who I was and it was the only way I knew how to get away from my troubles on the ground.
Now I was grounded against my will.
"Kiritsu!" My friend yells at me, making me snap back to reality.
"Jeez man, I really wonder if you even care about what I say anymore." He says giving me a puppy-eyed face.
"Of course I don't pay attention to what you say anymore man, I don't care." I replied to him sarcastically.
"AH! Hidoi!" He started to tear up slightly as if he actually got hurt.
"You know, you're a little TOO good at that. Y'know?" I ask him as we near the ramen vendor.
"Of course, it's the only way I'm going to get through to you nowadays." He responded wrapping his arm across the back of my shoulders as we went into the ramen stall.
"Old man!~" My friend yelled into the kitchen. "Whip us up two bowls please!"
"Who the hell are you calling old man you damn kid?!" I heard the man say from the back of the small vending stall.
In a brilliant display of speed and acrobatics, the large, slightly obese man came out from his kitchen slapped two bowls onto the table in front of us, took my friend by his hair and put him into an arm lock in less than a grand total of 3 seconds.
"O-ow! Let me go!" My friend cried in pain as he started to lose the blood flow to his head.
"Not until you take it back you little trouble maker!" The large man replied as he continued to tighten his grip.
"Okay okay! I give up! I surrender!" Horaiji said as he started to tap out.
"Not the answer… I'm looking for!" He tightened his grip until I could see my friend start to pass out slightly.
"O-Okay… you're not old…" He softly said before nearly passing out.
"Alright then." The man said before dropping my friend on the ground. "How are you doing Kiritsu? Still looking out them windows?" He looked towards me.
"You know if I didn't know any better I'd say you were stalking me Mr. Riju." I replied to him as I took in the aroma of the ramen. "Still smells as good as usual by the way."
"Well thak you Kiritsu, but please stop calling me Mr. Riju… makes me feel old." He said as he went behind the counter again. "Just call me Nasu. It would make me feel 15 years younger." He started to laugh.
"Yea right, if you were 15 years younger you'd still be old man Riju to me." My friend replied as he jumped back from almost getting snatched up again.
"Sorry Mr. Riju, it's been beaten into me since I was 4 years old. Can't help it." I said before starting to chow down on my bowl of ramen.
As I continued to enjoy my little meal I noticed that both Hiyu and Mr. Riju kept eyeing each other and then back at me. I could've sworn I saw a smile appear on both of their faces but I was too hungry to pay attention.
The bickering continued as it usually did. Hiyu would crack a joke at Mr. Riju being either fat or old and Mr. Riju would respond by bashing his head into the counter leaving an imprint and a small trail of blood trickling down his face from where it impacted. I honestly wondered at some point if my friend was brain damaged from all the times his head was slammed into the counter but it didn't seem to affect him that much.
Either way, it was the same old relationship between the two of them. I was glad to have met such great people.
As I finished my meal and clapped my hands together I thanked Mr. Riju for the meal. It was just as I was about to leave though that I felt my collar snag on something.
"Hey, where do you think you're going Kiritsu?" My friend asked me as he grabbed a hold of my collar.
"Going home? I know we live on opposite ends of the neighborhood and I need to take care of some things at home. I'll talk to you later after I finish those things up." I said as I got myself free from his grasp.
"Oh really? Don't you remember what day it is today?" He asked me as if he was in shock.
"It's Thursday. August 7th." I replied.
"Aaaand?"
"Aaaand… It's the school festival today that we decided to not participate in?" I continued.
"AAAaaand?" He started to get louder.
"Aaaand…" I stopped there when it hit me.
It was the 2 year anniversary of when the accident happened.
"Yea… that. Look we both got something for you out back. You might wanna check it out before you leave." He said as he went to the back of the stall.
"He's right you know. Ever since the accident he's felt responsible so we both whipped up something for you. Get your little ass back here and check out what we got you." Mr. Riju added as he too went out the back door.
Contemplating what to do, I waited there and thought about what they might be talking about. They knew I didn't want to remember that day two years ago but now they want me to remember on this day? They want to give me something on this day so I have to recall that incident?
Mulling over my options I decided I wouldn't be rude and I stepped through the kitchen to the back door. Standing in front of the door I had my hand hovering over the handle and waited there. I didn't know why I was acting like this. Was it anxiety? Over something as simple as a gift?
Realizing that what I was doing was stupid, I decided to open the door and see what they had planned.
Outside in the back, I noticed there was a box on the ground. Mr. Riju and Hiyu were both on either sides of the box and they stood there with smiles on their faces. I didn't know what they were planning but whatever it was, it was in that box.
The box wasn't even that big. It couldn't have been any larger than a shoe box and they thought with all their hearts that this was going to make my day.
Walking up to the white box I picked it up and noticed that it was a lot heavier than the average shoe box. Whatever was in this, it wasn't a pair of shoes.
"Open it already you dumbass. You're making me nervous the longer it takes you to open it so just open it." My friend said punching me slightly in the arm.
Opening the box I noticed two wheels as I slowly pulled up the lid. They were attached to a shoe-like mechanism and on the side I could see the mechanism was made of metal and plastic. The metal was coated in a black and red paint in the design of a flame streaking across the side and the plastic was coated in white to keep some of the finer parts of the mechanism intact.
To sum up what I was seeing: it was pair of black and red AT's.
Something snapped in me that day. I'm not sure what it was nor where it came from but something in me changed. It felt good. I didn't feel like a bad change or if it could even be described as a change. It felt more like a removal of chains, a removal of my restraints and a removal of anything that felt like an obstacle to me.
It was my freedom. My freedom had now been restored.