Author's Notes: This was actually quite enjoyable to write. I envisioned something like this for Souji's backstory when I first played the game- let me know what you think. So; do you want to see me bring this writing into a story, or continue presenting a day of each characters' lives prior to the events story? And if so, which one would you prefer next?

April 4, 2011

Flashback - Shurijuku High School, Tokyo

Steadily following his principal onto the auditorium's stage, he took position beside the man and turned to face the room of students. He looked over all their faces with a solemn expression, recognizing the numerous people he had spent the fifteenth year of his life with. "Well I'm sure that you all know already…" His principal began, reaching out to lay his hand on Souji's shoulder. "…but at the end of this month he will be transferring to another school."

A chorus of murmurs filled the auditorium; he caught only a few from those closest to the stage, but recognized the voices easily. "No way, seriously?" said his friend Saburo. "Oh my gosh I can't believe this!" Another female student, Atsuko, exclaimed. "He didn't tell me about that." Added another friend, Keiji.

As he suspected, the moment he left backstage he was caught in the hallway by the trio. "Dude! What gives?" Keiji exclaimed with his arms in the air.

Souji turned to face them, but before even attempting a response, the brunette with shoulder-length curly hair shoved her way in front of Keiji. "HEY! Seriously! This is how your girlfriend hears you're leaving?! What kind of dick move was that!"

"Sorry man, I kinda gotta agree with her on this one." Saburo shrugged, leaning to his left as they gathered around him. "I was pretty well thrown by it too."

"Yeah." Souji coolly responded, seemingly not shaken in the least. "You all knew I've been transferring every year. This day was coming."

"But you didn't even say so…!" Atsuko whined, stepping closer to smack his chest in her angst. "Don't you even care?"

"Sorry, I guess I just thought you knew." He added without faltering. To this she pouted, giving him sad eyes. Students began pouring into the halls, speaking to one another about the popular kid leaving them.

"No! I didn't! This sucks!" She leapt forward and threw her arms around him as a group passed close to them. "But being with you has been a real blast…thank you Souji." With a quick shake of her head, she tossed her hair to her left, tilting up to steal a kiss from him. He remained still, yet obliged to her attempt.

"Ugh; really?" Keiji rolled his eyes and turned away.

"Come on man cut that crap out. You're still here another two weeks anyway…" Subaro chided.

As he expected, the two weeks had passed by without much need for patience. Before long he found himself in the schoolyard, saying goodbye to his friends and giving a final obligatory kiss to his girlfriend before getting on the bus to head home.

Souji's bedroom, Parents' penthouse, Azaba Gardens

The evening sun beamed through clear glass windows, filling Souji's white room with a golden hue. Lying on a small bed with his head propped against its headboard, Souji idly browsed through his cellular's message history. Weeks had passed since his last day at school, allowing enough time for goodbye and "I'll miss you!" messages to find their way to him. After reviewing them, he began searching his phone.

[Main Menu] – [Contacts] – [Atsuko] – [Delete]

Are you sure? – [Yes]

"I didn't really like her anyway." He muttered, unable to even figure out why he had said 'yes' to her in the first place, though he had quickly discovered her interest had only been due to his popularity at school. He methodically continued to remove school contacts from his phone. If he had any need to contact anyone again, their numbers were in his address book. But judging from all his past experience, he figured at the most over the next few months he may or may not receive a couple messages simply asking how he was, before they stopped altogether.

He was sick of it. It was how all of his experiences had been all of his life; friends, family, teachers, colleagues, whatever it was always the same. When it came time to move on they all put on their sad faces and said any number of things regarding how sorry they were to see you go, but in the end they forget you anyway.

Finished clearing out his contacts list, he gazed upward with a slight sickness, revisiting all the number of people he'd befriended and let go of over the years of his life. He sat up, tossing his phone carelessly into the air as to let it fall onto his bag of clothes on his light oak desk. Dinner was soon, though his stomach was already full- with bitterness.

A low, square table sat in the middle of a room, sunlit by an entire glass wall with an elaborate view of running water and gardens below. Three individuals knelt at separate sides of the small, decorated table, finishing off the last of their courses.

"Plans have changed… we have to leave in an hour to catch our flight." His mother, Akira, began. His expression remained unchanged, staring blankly to the table. "Your train ticket is in place, it's on the 11th though. The principal of your new school informed us that you'd only have missed introductories by the time you join class on the 12th. On your first day, you're to report to the faculty office for placement."

Souji's eyebrows had pressed downward as she so helpfully continued telling him how his life was decided for him, though he still kept his attention on the table before him. She continued. "If you run into any problems, who do you contact?"

"Uncle Dojima." He responded deadpan, like a trained parrot.

"Souji…" Her words softly chided him. "You know if you're in trouble that won't help you at all."

"What's his full name?" His father, Tenchi, added from across the table.

Every time, the same damn routine… Souji kept his composure best he could, though his deep, pensive voice still came out completely emotionless. "Ryotaro Dojima. His daughter is Nanako Dojima. They live on the western edge of the backwater town of Inaba and the school I will be attending is Yasogami High. I even know a few of the teachers' names already."

Both his parents stared in wonder at him, though in truth he held information back. Had he wanted, he could even have listed train stops, local stores, a nearby town and a scant few places of mild interest. "Ah…that's reassuring." His mother responded warmly. "We're only worried for you since we'll be out of the country at the time."

"Why?" He questioned deliberately, finally looking up to meet his mother's hazel eyes. "It's no different than every other time you've left me." Though his words were sharp, they were calm. He rose quickly to his feet, looking down on his bewildered mother. "The only difference is this time you're dumping me off in the middle of nowhere while you guys fly off halfway across the world to America!" This time, his expression had grown stern.

"Souji!" His father snapped, leaping to his feet. Akira could only gasp and cover her mouth in shock.

"No it's alright." Souji returned coldly. "I know your jobs' are important." At that, he promptly turned and left the room, heading back to his bedroom.

"S-Souji…" His mother softly said, watching as he entered his room and gave the door a solid push closed. Her hands fell to her lap, standing to turn to her husband. "…we have to say something to him. We can't just leave like this. Please."

Tenchi exhaled heavily, turning to meet her worried eyes. "I'll speak with him." His wife clasped her hands before her waist, offering him a soft bow and dip of her head in acceptance.

"Son, we need to talk." The wooden door to Souji's room latched shut behind his father.

Lying on top of his bed idly, Souji said nothing. Rather, in response, he repeated tossing a cloth bean bag ball into the air, aimlessly catching it as it came back down.

Tenchi approached his bedside, reaching out to slide over a wooden chair from his son's desk. "Listen; I know it doesn't seem fair, but believe me, we aren't going to America on any sort of vacation."

"Right. Ambassador business. I get it." Souji's flat words fell out matter-of-factly.

"About what you said…" He paused, watching as his son continued to toss the bean ball into the air yet again. "Come on put that away, I'm trying to talk with you."

The ball fell into Souji's open palm, where it remained as Souji exhaled singularly at his father's request. Obeying him, but not looking upon him, he reached to his bedside and laid the ball on a perfectly white windowsill.

"Well that's a start." Tenchi added with a smile, attempting to lighten the mood, yet rubbing the back of his neck worryingly as he knew it didn't. "Souji, I'm sorry. If we could we would take you with us. Even though we have to leave you, we try our hardest to always be here for you every chance that we get. It's just…"

"Spare me." His son cut in unemotionally. His deep, seemingly calm voice held no emotional tone.

"D-wh…huh?" Surprised to hear those callous words, it took him a moment to register them. But when he did, it kindled a small fire inside of him. "Now you listen here. You may be unhappy with the current situation, but you'd best not disrespect us, especially your mother. You have no idea how much she worries over you when we're away."

Souji immediately sat up in his bed, finally turning to directly face his father. "Oh please. Over the past seven years how much time have either of you even spent with me? First it was my aunt when I was ten, then your parents, mom's parents, and-"

Under his son's continued behavior, Tenchi cut off Souji's list. "Souji!" He shouted before catching himself, his voice now dangerously furious, enough so to give his son pause. He lowered his tone a notch. "Don't you dare pull this on us now, you know full well we are about to leave for a year! You should be grateful for such loving family that cherishes the chance to take you in and open their homes to you. We did not raise you to be this disrespectful!"

Souji's gray eyes reflected inner turmoil, willing himself to not simply cave in, to see this through. "Ugh. Family that cherishes me? Does anyone even truly know me…as little time as I've ever spent anywhere? Do you even know who I am? Whenever you two are back it's always meetings, conferences, paperwork…"

His father's mouth fell agape, eyes wide and downcast in a moment of building rage at his sons insolence, though a small part of him remained in shock that Souji was at the very least partially right. Still; he bit his tongue, attempting to resolve their dispute.

"When we are here, we make all the time in the world for you!"

Souji finally broke eye contact, looking away as he muttered dejectedly. "Oh yeah? Events. Meets with teachers. Grade reports. Come on…what do you really know about me other than my statistics?"

"I know you are a child and I let you live as a child." He retorted hastily, still battling the anger he held inside. "I did not stop you from dating that fool of a girlfriend you selected. She would serve you nothing but to distract and bring you down."

Souji's eyes widened, dumbstruck. For a moment he felt his heart grow still, a cold chill rushed through him as it oddly left a warm tingling sensation, breaking in a cold sweat. "…by the time you were here, that was five months ago." His voice remained calm and still, though an obvious tinge of fear laced his words.

Tenchi considered that he may have gone too far, sitting back in his chair to reconsider the point of their argument and a worthwhile outcome. In the foreboding silence, Souji regathered his courage. "I've had to choose everything for myself for as long as I can remember. You've never been there for me. Say what you want about knowing me, but I've come to realize I don't know who either of you really are, other than 'my parents.'"

"I…u-um, we…" He hesitated, obviously shaken. Never had Souji's words cut him as sharply as this had. Visibly wincing from the blow, he had to recollect himself in order to say anything. "So…that's what this is about? You want us to be a family, yes?" He waited a moment, observing Souji's stillness. "Alright. I promise to work on that, but you have to promise in return to open up to us and honestly try. When we return next year, things will be different."

Souji glanced away again, remaining silent for a moment. Then, he sighed and turned to face his father, resting his back against the white wall beside his bed. "With what, one year left in yet another new school, before college?" His voice grew weak, though he continued to speak clearly. "I'm sorry, I'm just so angry with you. I don't have anywhere I can call home, I don't know where I belong, yet I know who I am. I don't even know how to feel about that."

"Son…" Dark green eyes reflected the pain before them. It turned out Souji had been correct. Tenchi realized he hadn't even known his son had been this deeply wounded for all this time.

"When I'm eighteen, I'm enrolling for college." He continued without pause, though unable to hold back a pair of lone tears. "I'm done with this way of life. I'm choosing my own place to live, not some stop-over place like Inaba, and I'm staying there and starting a life of my own."

Silence filled the room as father and son stared in what may have been their first quiet understanding.

Tenchi cleared his throat, a shaky hand reaching up to wipe at his face. "Well there's still time before all that. I promise we will discuss this in depth with you when we return…with a clear mind."

Again the pervasive presence of silence crept between the two. Breaking the thick stillness of the air, Tenchi reached out and patted Souji's leg, a gesture of farewell as he rose and headed for the door without a word. It suddenly felt far too difficult to find the words for goodbye.

Rolling back to lie on his bed as his father closed the door, Souji's gray eyes scanned the ceiling in hesitant sorrow. Inaba. He sighed expectantly. Of all the places he had to move, this marked the lowest on his list. All he could do was suck it up and give it his best yet again. With any luck it wouldn't be long before he could break free from this pattern his parents had created for him, and make a home for himself somewhere lasting.