Shame
Chapter 1 – Heartbeat, Heartbreak.
(Listen to Beautiful Dead – Masafumi Takada for more immersion.)
Roppongi County… A county which consisted of beautiful beaches, the sky always being a vast, endless blue and the sounds of people living their lives, moving with purpose and conviction filling the air creating lovely background music. The sun's light shone brightly, looming over the town filling it with radiance… With harmony such as this, people often forget that where there is light, there is also a shadow and the shadow that Roppongi County casts is especially dark…
That dark shadow manifested in a year-old manslaughter case that shocked the citizens of Roppongi. The victim, Layla Harper, she was the CEO of Marble Industries, her death was publicised everywhere. She was killed due to a car running her over. The perpetrators were also involved in a bank robbery at the same time. Only one perpetrator was caught however…
*Yawn*… Shit… What time is it" Leon Kuwata said, as he woke up rubbing his eyes to focus his sight.
Leon turned around, facing the table next to his bed, looking at the alarm clock.
"Seven o'clock… Guess I need to get ready… ugh, school starts at eight thirty." Leon rubbed his face and leapt out of bed. Leon headed towards the en-suite shower in his room, but just as he was to enter he read the note Leon's mum left on the door.
'REMEMBER TO DO MORNING WORK OUT!' The letter read.
"Oh yeah… For fucks sake. Why did I have to like baseball so much?" Leon complained, he rolled his shoulders backwards and forwards, stretching them out and relaxing them, then he proceeded to do his fifty push ups, sit ups and ab crunches.
"Twenty-five… Twenty-six… Twenty-seven…" As time passed by, he felt his face get increasingly sweaty, as much as he hated morning workouts he knew how much he needed to do them for his Baseball scholarship.
*THUD* *THUD* *THUD*
Leon could hear his mother working erratically to get his lunch for the day ready for him. She was working so erratically that he felt the vibrations caused by the noise she was creating through his floor.
"Wish she wasn't so fucking OCD… For crying out loud…" Leon complained, he felt suffocated by expectations and the overbearingness of his mother.
"Ugh… forty-five, forty-six, forty-seven… forty… eight… forty… nine… FIFTY!" Leon exclaimed as he finished his morning workout. His body was laced with sweat, and he was panting heavily. Leon looked at his mirror. Looking at his reflection in the mirror he saw his body was very defined. He had a good set of abs and his arms were big.
*whistles* "Damn… Not to sound narcissistic, but… not bad." Leon complimented himself, he then headed towards his bathroom and took a shower.
After his shower, Leon proceeded to dry himself, get changed and head downstairs. Leon's mother had just finished preparing Leon's lunch, she sat on the middle counter-top chair waiting for Leon as she does religiously. Leon rolled his eyes while looking at her and putting on his shoes, he was irritated at seeing another indication of her obsessive-compulsive nature.
Leon put his shoes on and sighed before having to grab his lunch and say hello to his mother and feel the full brunt of her personally, which was extremely suffocating. He mustered up his tolerance and proceeded to the kitchen.
"Good morning, sweetheart!" Leon's mother exclaimed, she walked towards Leon, hugging him. Leon hugged her back reluctantly, but he couldn't lie internally that his mothers' hugs were sweet.
Leon's mother stopped hugging him and proceeded to hand Leon over his lunch.
"Here you go sweetheart! Hope you enjoy your day at school! Don't wait up on me tonight as I'm working late! I'll pre-cook dinner and leave it in containers in the fridge. Warm them up, eat them, chill out and then sleep! Early, okay?!" Leon's mother shouted, causing Leon to close his eyes in irritation.
"Yes… Yes… I know, Mum. I know your hyper nearly every day, but especially today your hyper to the max. What's actually going on?" Leon asked, Leon's mother hesitated to answer as she was pacing up and down the kitchen collecting her bearings to leave for work.
"Nothing at all babe. Just in a rush to get to work. It's gone eight, you need to leave or your going to miss the ten-past bus. Now go! Go! Shoo!" Leon's mother exclaimed while swatting her hands at Leon.
Leon exhaled and then looked at the counter, seeing a letter.
Leon briefly made out some of the words on the letter before his Mum swiped it and put it in her bag.
'Dear Sarah Kuwata, Police visitation' The letter wrote.
"Don't read my mail, nosey! Get to the bus stop now, foolish!" Sarah said.
Leon refused to argue, so he left and headed towards the bus stop.
(Listen to Let Go by Imogen Heap for more immersion)
Leon looked out the window, observing the townspeople as they went about their day. He knew he was a lucky guy, living in a prestigious area such as Hope's Crescent. Roppongi County is big, the county consisted of four main sections. There's Hope, Bullworth, Yasogami and Vesperia. Within Roppongi Crescent there were four main schools: Hope's Peak, Bullworth Academy, Yasogami High and Brave Vesperia High, known in abbreviated terms as BVH.
Leon thought about Roppongi and thought about how it's funny that there's the good, bad and ugly about the county. The area of Hope, funnily enough, was the richest area making it good; Bullworth was the more run down and ghetto area of Roppongi making it bad; Yasogami, like Hope was also prestigious but filled with snarky people, making it ugly. Finally, Vesperia. Leon thought about how it was the oddest part for him, as he never really seen it for himself.
Leon's train of thought came to an end as he realised it was time to get off the bus, the bus arrived at its stop. Leon exited the bus and walked up to the gates of Hope's Peak Academy. The academy was big… very big. It consisted of a main building for the academic subjects and various buildings for sports. Hope's Peak was a tough school to get into, with so many students having to fork out thousands just to attend, luckily most students are rich or admitted for a scholarship.
Leon walked towards the gates swiftly, making his way in when he was abruptly interrupted.
Leon was permitted to study for free due to scouting for a Baseball scholarship.
"Hey! Leon!" Screamed a voice.
Not only did the source of the voice startle Leon, but he was caressed out of the blue. Leon looked up and saw that it was his best friend Mondo Oowada.
"Jesus Mondo! You scared the crap out of me!" Leon shouted. He broke free from Mondo's grasp which wasn't easy to do as he's 6'2" and built. Just his arms alone were enough to really restrict Leon, but by exerting enough force he broke free.
"And a good morning too you too! Jheeze! It was only a joke…" Mondo complained, he quickly got over it and had a big grin on his face that puzzled Leon.
"What's with that grin on your face Mondo?" Leon asked, he knew Mondo was the type of guy to wait for Leon to ask before he divulged what got him in high spirits.
"Well, wouldn't you like to know? But, seeing as your my best friend, gotta tell ya. Me and Ishi finally went ALL. DA. WAY." Mondo explained, with an even bigger grin on his face. Leon shocked pressed for more details.
"What?! Really?! Damn… What was it like? Plus, where did you guys do it?" Leon asked, with a very curious expression.
"Well, turns out Ishi's parents are cool with him being gay and dating a guy. It was mostly the fact that he was dating me, you know, leader of dah Crazy Diamonds. They kinda got over it now, since me and Ishimaru have been dating for like a year now and I haven't corrupted Mr. Honor Boy yet, huh? Honestly, it just pressurises me to be on my best behaviour." Mondo explained again, rubbing his head in the process.
"Well, I'm so happy for you. You had your first time with someone you love, might have waited a while but it was worth it, right? Can't wait until I get a boyfriend myself. Hopefully it's Makoto…" Leon replied, he looked away from Mondo for a second catching Makoto walking into the school building, Leon had a big crush on Makoto, he didn't recall a day where he wouldn't be thinking about him.
He noticed that Makoto looked emaciated. When Leon looked at Makoto more he noticed Makoto's eyes were kinda baggy and his arms were bandaged. Leon couldn't help but be concerned, his focus on Makoto came to an end when Mondo clicked his fingers in front of him.
"Hey, earth to Leon! Ah, I see you were looking at Makoto as you always do. I get that you like him, but really and truly I heard he's bad news. Didn't you hear about what's going around about him lately?" Mondo informed Leon.
"What? No, I didn't hear anything about him lately. What's going on?!" Leon asked, Mondo cleared his throat and began to tell Leon about the rumours.
"Well, apparently, Makoto get involved with Sonia Nevermind and Kazuichi Souda's relationship. Apparently, Makoto slept with Kazuichi and Sonia walked in on them. Because of that Sonia broke up with Kazuichi temporarily and went AWOL. Most people think she was admitted into Happy Volts due to her mental illnesses. I also think she may have been sectioned due to her not showing up at the tail end of last year." Mondo explained, Leon shocked by the rumour looked at Mondo in disbelief.
"Shit… That's dramatic. Still, Makoto is too damn cute." Leon replied with a smile. Mondo sighed and chuckled. He then proceeded to enter the school with Leon.
Mondo and Leon continued their conversation while walking towards their maths lesson, luckily Mondo and Leon were smart, so they were in the same math set, the highest one.
As they walked in, Mondo scanned the room looking for Ishimaru. He saw him at the top right desk at the back waiting for Mondo as he always does.
"Hey, Leon. Boyfriend sighted, duty calls." Mondo informed Leon. Mondo walked towards Ishimaru, as he got closer to him Ishimaru noticed him and smiled. Mondo pulled back the chair next him, sat down, and greeted Ishimaru.
"Hey, Ishi babe." Mondo said coyly, Ishimaru grinned, pulling Mondo in for an embrace and kissing him on the cheek.
"Hiya, babe." Ishimaru replied. Leon looked at them and rolled his eyes, he was happy Mondo found a boyfriend and was happy but the PDA remined him how alone he was. Leon shuffled on his seat, trying to get comfortable, his table was near the window a seat above Mondo and Ishimaru.
Ishimaru looked outside the window, watching the clouds waft by. He was again interrupted by his daydreams when Celestia Ludenberg walked into the room.
Celestia was known for being quite… a bitch. She didn't like people much especially gay people, or maybe she just wasn't fond of Mondo and Ishimaru, who knows? Roppongi is a mostly Liberal county, however there were some conservative pockets here and there.
"Ugh… Listen, if you guys are gonna go against nature you can do it somewhere with a little more privacy at least, gosh." Celestia said to Mondo and Ishimaru. Mondo had a short temper so as he heard what she said, he switched.
"The fuck did you say, you ugly prick? Listen, it's not Halloween yet, so if you wanna look like fucking Nosferatu why don't you do that in private? You gothic cunt." Mondo replied, slamming the table in front of him with his hand.
"Hmph…" Celestia replied, she sat down on the chair and waited for the professor to arrive. She kept giving Mondo and Ishimaru subtle hate looks here and there.
A few minutes later and Leon and Mondo's other friends Kyoko and Aoi walked into the classroom. Mondo was really close with Aoi and Kyoko, they were friends since kindergarten. Leon met and got closer with the two through Mondo.
"Wazzup! Mondooo! Mondo and Ishimaru in dah houseee-ah!" Aoi greeted Mondo
"Hey, Mondo! How are you?!" Kyoko also greeted Mondo.
They proceeded to unanimously do their signature high-five and hug each other. Aoi and Kyoko proceeded to greet and hug both Leon and Ishimaru. After their greeting Kyoko noticed Celestia giving Mondo bad looks.
"Is that gothic harpy still giving you the stink eye, Mondo? Because, I swear to God I will re-arrange this girls face." Kyoko threated Celestia who turned around due to Kyoko's intimidation.
"Ugh, why are you so annoying! You hate LGBT's, but you look like a transitioned version of the fucking Penguin. Do us a favour and go to an in-breeding hillbilly barnyard, Peppa Pig." Aoi insulted Celestia who looked at her angrily.
Celestia felt the anger rise inside her, causing her to lash out at Aoi and Kyoko.
"Shut up! You both are probably the kind of girls to plastic surgery everything about yourselves." Celestia retaliated, as soon as she was done retaliating, she focused her gaze at the front of the room. She often did so, so she could see the professor first, greeting him promptly before anyone else for brownie points.
"Kyoko, Aoi, Celestia. Detention." The professors voice called out as he walked in. Celestia was about to quickly stand up and greet the professor, until her shock of getting a detention caused her to sit back down in disbelief.
"What… No… Please, professor! My perfect record! I never got a single detention during my life at Hope's Peak! I won't be able to enter the Ivy League universities that I wish to attend!" Celestia complained, the professor wasn't an easy man to sympathise with unfortunately.
Kyoko and Aoi were used to detentions however, it didn't phase them.
"Eh, whatever… Just don't look at me during the whole session." Kyoko ordered Celestia, Celestia looked at Kyoko and Aoi with such anger.
"Fucking bitches. I'll get my revenge." Celestia said under her breath. She picked up her pencil and started carving stick figures of AoI and Kyoko in a hanged-man position.
"Okay. Now that, that farce is over, I shall go ahead and take the register." The professor informed the class, Leon scanned the classroom, noticing everyone but Makoto was in.
The professor took the register, as he was done, Makoto walked in. Leon noticed his wrist dripping with blood. It was pouring out bit by bit, creating a trail towards the door and his table. He walked over to his seat, he sat next to Nagito Komaeda who looked at him with a bewildered face.
It did little to phase Makoto as he was in a trace like state.
"Err… Mr. Naegi. Your late, you know that means your also in detention." The professor in formed Makoto.
"Yeah… That's cool." Makoto replied, callously. Shocked at Makoto's callous nature, Nagito looked at him for a brief second then shrugged his shoulders. Due to the rumours going around about Makoto, everybody was ogling, laughing under their breaths and going out of their way to make noticeable jabs at him.
Leon wasn't the type to take the piss out of peoples struggles. Looking over at Makoto again, he noticed him staring at Kazuichi, Kazuichi's eyes met Makoto's as he stared at him, but instantly looked away when Sonia hit him with her elbow.
"Don't even bloody look at him…" Sonia threatened Kazuichi, under her breath. Afraid, Kazuichi pulled an apologetic face and focused his gaze towards the front the class.
"Okay, class! It's time to start Math. So today we are going to be learning Trigonometry…" The professor announced, as he began teaching class.
Leon proceeds to do what he does in nearly all his lessons, daydream. He watched the clouds move by as the lesson went on…
(Listen to Why We Lose – Cartoon (feat. Coleman Trapp for more immersion)
*DING* *DONG*
The day came to an end, signified by the finishing bell. Leon, got up from his seat, stretched then head towards Mondo, Kyoko and Aoi and Ishimaru.
"Yes! Fucking Science is done… Don't know why I chose this bloody subject for A-Levels. Biology is easy, but it's tiring to listen too. Anyways did you guys hear about the party that Junko and Sayaka are throwing?" Mondo asked the others.
"No! Party? When? Where?" Aoi asked, ecstatically.
Kyoko shook her hands in excitement.
"Well, since it's Junko's eighteenth this Friday, she is having a party to celebrate. But, because of all that drama concerning her sister, she wants to throw it at Sayaka's house." Mondo explained.
"Nice! I'm deffo going! Is it open invite?" Aoi asked, grabbing Mondo's arm and bouncing with excitement.
"Yeah, it's open invite. There's people from BVH, Yasogami and Bullworth going as well." Mondo answered, Aoi jumped up and down in excitement again.
"Ooooh! I can just feel a scandal coming when Bullworth and BVH students go to the same party." Kyoko said, ecstatically.
"Come to think of it, didn't you have some beef with an Estellise Sidos Heurassein? Daughter of Marcus Heurassein, multi-billionaire of Argus Industries. You really know how to pick your enemies, don't you, huh?" Kyoko said, laughing at Aoi.
"Ugh! I don't care about no rich, bitch! If she wants to try and fight me over her mans kissing me, then put em' up!" Aoi replied, jumping and then going into a faux-boxing stance.
"You do know hitting that girl could get you in serious shit, right? Her dad probably has enough money to buy some corrupt lawyer who would probably pay the judge to send you down." Kyoko said, which caused Aoi to shrug her shoulders and look at the ground.
"Well, I wonder how the media would love to know how much of a crackhead she is? She wants to send me down unjustly, I'll expose her and ruin her life." Aoi said, with a wide grin on her face.
"Plus, I'm sure Flynn likes me more than Estellise anyways. I'm hotter." Aoi said, winking at Kyoko.
"Okay, just remember although I'm training to be a detective, I might not be able to help went it comes to corruption." Kyoko replied.
"Anyways, girls and boys! My place this Friday, okay? I'll see you all there at eight o'clock sharp. Bring the drinks, drugs, sex-toys, whatever have you on the way." Mondo announced, he put his arm around Ishimaru, pulling him close to him.
"Haha, you know I'd be there already, babe. But, before I come I've got to finish up some student council work and then go home and pack an over night bag if I'm gonna stay at yours for the night." Ishimaru stated.
"No problem, and yes you are staying the night." Mondo answered, pulling Ishimaru in for another make out session.
Kyoko, Aoi and Leon smiled looking at their public displays of love. Although cringy, they could help but be happy for them. As Mondo and Ishimaru got done kissing, Celestia walked by.
"I guess you fags, and fag-enablers are also going to Junko's party? I hope you guys get alcohol-poisoning." Celestia said, chuckling at the thought of it.
"Seriously, Celestia. Why do you hate gays so much? Like, what did Mondo and Ishimaru do to you?" Kyoko asked.
"Oh, don't get me wrong. I don't hate gays. I binge watch whole seasons of Ru Pauls Drag race like any other girl. I just don't like him. Being homophobic gets under your skin, it's why I do it." Celestia explained, pointing at Ishimaru.
Bewildered, the girls, Mondo and Leon looked at Celestia confused.
"What did Ishi do to you, you Harley Quinn wannabee?" Mondo asked, he could feel himself get angry.
"Oh, he knows what he did. He knows… By the way, this Friday is Friday the 13th. I hope nothing bad happens, oh wait. Yes, I do." Celestia replied, walking away with a swing in her step.
Aoi turned around and looked at Ishimaru who looked away because of embarrassment.
"Ishi… You don't have to tell us if you don't want too. She's probably just angry because she has a crush on you. Haha!" Aoi said, acting her usual zany self to lighten up the mood.
"Yeah, I'd rather not talk about it right now." Ishimaru answered.
"Well, anyways. Me and Ishi are gonna head home. You girls must head to detention. Try not to kill that monochrome Lolita whore, okay?" Mondo said, defusing the situation.
"See you later, bro!" Aoi replied.
"Bye, Mondo!" Kyoko replied.
Mondo and Ishimaru proceeded to leave the classroom, heading to Mondo's.
"Yo, Leon! Is your mum gonna let ya out this time?" Aoi asked.
Leon rolled his eyes and sighed.
"Pfft. She'd get on my case, so I'll probably just sneak out. She'll get on my case again about how I can't drink and take drugs because it's not got for baseball, yada, yada, yada…" Leon replied, rubbing his forehead due to the stress.
"Okay, cool! Let's me, you and Kyoko meet up first before we head over to Mondo's." Aoi suggested to which Kyoko and Leon agreed.
"Cool! I'm down with that. Where you wanna meet?" Leon asked.
"We'll meet you at yours and make our way to Mondo's." Kyoko answered.
"Yes, okay. I'm gonna head off home. You guys try and survive detention now." Leon replied, he picked up his bag hugged them both and left.
On his way home, he thought about how exciting the party would be. He's been to parties before, but he would always have to sneak out to go. Maybe since he's nearing eighteen his mother might be a bit laxer, but who knows?
Leon got home and immediately ran to his room, crashing onto his bed.
"Ugh… Tired. But gotta shit, shower and shave, then eat." Leon said to himself.
Leon switched on the TV in his bedroom, immediately, the news came on.
"Breaking News! The other perpetrators involved in the manslaughter of Layla Harper have still not…" The newsman said until Leon switched off the TV.
"I see… So that's why she got a visitation letter. She's gonna go visit Dad." Leon sat on his bed again, thinking about his Dad and what he did. He usually can forget about it but sometimes it gets to him.
He started to remember how stressful the whole situation was for him last year… Nearly all his peers at school ostracising him due to his Dad being convicted for Layla Harper's manslaughter. He still can't believe his Dad would be robbing banks anyways… He felt like there was more to the situation than just the facts presented by the media and police.
Killing the CEO of a major company made it worse. People were speculating whether his Dad was a spy, or it was an inside job or something. He remembered how his Mother had to deal with the press and people's opinions. Luckily, she didn't get fired from her job or lose clients, but she did garner a lot of unwanted sympathy.
He's Dad has since done a year of his ten-year sentence. Due to his absence his Mother started to become erratic, she makes a lot of money being an interior designer, but being a single mother is still hard. Leon also thought about the fact that if he didn't have his friends when he needed them, he probably wouldn't have been able to cope.
Leon proceeded to shower and then eat, after eating he wondered how the party was gonna go on Friday. Although the fact that Celestia brought up that it would be Friday the 13th made a chill go down his spine. He laid on his bed, waiting for the premonition feeling to go. He convinced himself it was just his anxiety getting the better of him.
He fell asleep, thinking that he'll have a good time regardless but in the back of his head, he still felt a bad vibe…
Discussion:
Hi again guys! Thanks for reading the first chapter of Shame (re-done). I hope you like the changes and directions I will take with the story, making it more enjoyable and readable. I would love for you readers to share your thoughts in the comments!