A/N: If you didn't know yet, you're actually given a right to kill this author for updating slowly (lol). Anywho, call me out on my mistakes. I'd be happy to answer to that. Enjoy~!
ALSO, I've done minor edits on the first three chapters! Tell me of what I did wrong in them!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything especially IE and its characters. I hath no property!
= Chapter Three: My Mother's Friends =
"Shuuya.. kun.."
"Shuuya-kun."
"Hai," a young flame-haired responded flatly. He looked as sincerely as he could to the direction of the serene voice. She was about in her late forties. Her head owned brown semi-curly hair that traced down her bare shoulders. Her heart-shaped face contained two squinty eyes with chestnut pupils that usually gave out welcoming vibes, of which in this occasion, simply showed grief trying to be masked with a smile. She was wearing a knee-length black summer dress that hugged her curvy form. Pearl earrings and black doll shoes complemented her dress dearly.
"I said, are you tired? You should eat or rest. Machi, doesn't want you skipping sleep and any of your meals like that," the boy who was seated on a traditional japanese style on a white-laced pillow tried to smile at the woman who kneeled to reach his level. He wasn't comfortable with the mention of his mother's nickname. Yet, at the same time, he felt at ease to hear it, too. It was somewhat a rule of hers when she was still alive, to only let a very few chosen people to call her that. She considered letting anyone call her nickname as a token of trust for she believed only very close friends could address her so casually. The black sleeves of his black suit tightened as he clenced his fists and crouched slightly at the memory. He calmed himself down as soon as he noticed his own reaction. He hid his pain by straightening himself again and putting his palms on the thigh part of his black pants. Still feeling stung, he now tried to fix the imaginary mess he had on the black tie that was neatly tightened around the collar of his white long-sleeves.
"I'm fine, Aunt Mito," he answered as he shook his head. "Thank you," he tried to form a genuine arc on his lips again.
She gave an empathetic smile in return, not missing his shaky gestures, "Tell me if you need anything." She stood up and walked to his right to peek on a picture of a smiling red-head. Her hair was loose, the ends weren't seen on the zoomed shoulder-length framed photo. A tear dared escaped from her left eye but she wiped it right after, not wanting to show the sitting six-year-old. Not like he was looking anyways. She moved back to her seat, opposite to the child's. She let her mind wander as she looked at the white-carpeted floor.
The spikey-haired young one looked at her. He didn't exactly feel anything at the moment but he knew he was thankful. From the eyes of an average man, she was a kind yet sexy bachelorette they wouldn't mind to line up for a whole year just to get an attention from. But for this particular platinum blond, she was the closest he had for an aunt. She was always in their house either to bring them food, to help, or to simply talk to her late mother. From his perspective, the two were inseparable best friends. She's a selfless woman who had always been on his mother's side the moment they moved here. A moment he was still too young to remember.
She was always calm and collected until.. that time. That time when he heard her blood curdling scream from their door. That time he saw the lifeless body of his mother. He still vaguely remembered how their other neighbors swarm in their little home, then the ambulance, then the police. It was truly chaos.
He remembered being investigated by a certain tan-skinned man. He called himself Onigawara Gengorou and deemed that he knew his deceased mother. He didn't seem to think he was the suspect yet he found that the word 'interrogate' suited the confidential conversation they had. He asked him questions, tons of it. Most of it were things he didn't want to recall. He wasn't forced to answer either because of the influence of the tragedy to him, especially for someone his age. Yet, he allowed it anyway. He gave him an idea that it might not just be what it seemed. The phone call. The letter bound with a black knot that was the only thing missing besides all the money her mother was saving. What he got out of the detective, as he called himself, in return for the emotional rollercoaster of an excuse of a question-and-answer was that it wasn't just a case of a simple robbery. It was more or less related to his parents' soccer career that rooted from their middle school years.
He tried to ask subtly about what else the fifty years old man knew about his father yet just got a sincere apology as a response. It wasn't because he didn't know but it was because he did know but couldn't tell. So, he didn't take it against him. He felt that at the short time they knew each other, talked to each other, the man was a reliable and good man. In fact, he even tried to help him as much as he could. From the documents to his mother's place of burial, everything was well prepared.
He was then told by him that he was going to live with his father's family from now on. The family of a man whose name was never even mentioned to him. He honestly didn't know what to feel about it. He couldn't tell if it was good news at all. Should he be happy to finally know that said important part of his being? Should he be mad that said person wouldn't even do as much as visit his mother one last time? His mind wandered further to how would his relative look like and what would they be like. Did some of them looked like him? Did they liked the same things he like? Were they nice people? Were they going to tell him about his father? He focused suddenly on the last thought. His father. If he's gonna be living with his father's family, would he be able to.. would he finally be able to.. meet his da-
"If I'd just known I wish I could've helped you more, Machi. I'm sorry."
His eyes shot open. He heard a man's voice. A man's calm and gentle voice who mentioned his mother's name so casually. As adrenaline rushed him to get up, he immediately fell on his face. He felt the thunderous collision of his chest and his features on the floor.
A woman he recognized as a vegetable vendor his mom used to buy a lot from, made her way to him to help him up. She was saying something he was too preoccupied to understand. He shifted his head in every direction possible, ignoring the sting that made its way on his upper body and some minor headache he didn't even know how originated. The room was still as white as it could ever be. The casket was still on his right with all the flowers. There were still two rows of pillows lined on the floor. He then realized he had dozed off as Aunt Mito wasn't sitting opposite to him anymore. It was just him and the lady. He looked at the worried woman earnestly. His voice formed a shout, "Where is he?!"
"What?" She answered, her face now changing to confusion.
"T-The man!" He stuttered as he considered how vague his words were. "The man who was here just seconds ago! Where is he?!" He continued with a panicked expression.
"O-oh! I saw a man walking away outside before I got inside here. But that was minutes ago," she supplied him with as much as her memory served. In her surprise, the boy was immediately on his feet. "Wait!" She half-squealed on the back of a kid trotting away.
As soon as he was outside, he saw a fair amount of people in black and some occassions, white, all were busy with their own things. He figured he wasn't the only one who had a family that passed away in that place. He looked around still, even after fully knowing it was in vain. Some deep breathes after, the pain of his fall and his exhaustion from everything else, weighed on him. He made his way back in the room disappointed and tired.
There were a lot of rooms inside the small and wide building. He went inside the huge double door that seemed triple his size. He continued walking on his left side, passing three equally large rooms with fairly smaller double doors.
He instinctively looked in the first room, the only one with an open door, as he slowly walk passed it. It had two crying women inside. A twenty-something-year-old and an older one, with two or three more adults by their side trying to comfort them. He deducted that the two were the significant other and the mother of the deceased respectively, as he stole a glance of the man on the framed picture sitting on the casket. He felt a pang of guilt and sympathy at the sight. Guilt for somehow eavesdropping and sympathy for he knew well of how it felt to lose someone. For that reason, he chose to not look at the others and strided on the fourth room.
The moment he entered, he was suffocated by an overly worried Mito. He was caught defenseless with the bone crushing yet sincere hug, "Too.. tight.." He managed to say.
"Oh. Sorry," she let go of him. Her soft features formed a frown in a split second making the little man gulped. "I went to the bathroom for 15 minutes and you suddenly went running outside! You scared the wits out of me, you know!" With a sigh, she changed her expression yet again, "Also, were you hurt? The lady said you fell."
He was terrified yet grateful at the same time. It's good to know someone cared enough to scold you. It made him wonder if she really never had kids before. She seemed to be a full-fledge mother from the way she reacted, that's how his' was, at least, "Nope. I'm fine." He shook his head. "I'm sorry. It won't happen again," He bowed his head gently with his first genuinely glad smile in a while.
She didn't miss it and ended up doing the same. She hugged him again, more gently than before, and he returned the gesture just as warmly, "Now.. Apologize to the sweet lady for scaring her, too." She released him and tilted her own body enough for the flame-haired to see the familiar lady smiling at the two's antics.
"Hello ma'am. I'm sorry for shouting earlier and.. for everything else," he bowed, a lot lower than before. Then, a sudden realization crept up on him. "Wait! You saw him right? What does he look like?!" His voice changed from relaxed to excitement.
"Shuuya-kun!" Mito glared at the young man who just comically straightened himself from the abrupt call of his name.
"S-Sorry again. I didn't mean to-"
He was stopped by her sudden giggling, confusing the two. "It's okay. Don't worry about it," she reassured both of them. "Also, about that man," he raised his head to stare at her attentively. She also cought Mito's interest, "Like I said, I just saw him from afar. He came out of this room and he walked so fast to the other side, I didn't even saw his face."
The little boy's expression saddened for a split second before brightening almost immediately, "His hair! Have you seen his hair?! How tall is he?"
"My, my, what an energetic child. Wait, let me think.." she simply responded to the eager boy.
"What's this about a man? Do you know him, Shuuya-kun?" She saw the young man fidget as he looked for an answer.
"W-Well. It's.. It's because he called mom by her nickname. So, maybe-"
"It was blue! Like, dark blue and it was short. Really really short. And he was just as tall as your aunt," she started talking, not knowing she interrupted someone. "He was wearing a black suit as well. I'm sure he came to visit your mother."
"C-Could it be that he's your-" She stopped herself mid sentence and looked at Shuuya who seemed to be thinking the same thing. The lady, however, gave them a confused look.
"I don't know. I don't know what he looks like," he said flatly. "But I was just sitting three feet away from the casket. If it was him.. maybe.. I mean, h-he could have recognized me. I'm his.." he trailed off.
She knew exactly where his sentence was going. She was suddenly saddened by the emotion she could feel him repressing. "Thank you so much," she was put out of her thought as her friend's child suddenly spoke and bowed appreciatively at the other woman and then tilted his body to meet her brown orbs, after. "Aunt Mito, can I go outside a bit?"
She noticed the pained expression he was trying to hide. "Just.. promise me you'll be back for dinner," she figured it was for the best. He seemed to need it.
"Promise," he smiled and hugged Mito then left both women inside the room.
Shuuya arrived at the same open basketball court he goes to practice everyday. He didn't have a watch with him but he was sure it was already two in the afternoon because of where the sun was placed. Beads of water streamed down his head. It wasn't that tiring for him but it was sure hot. The temperature was normal for that time of the day, even for that month. He really wasn't the type to feel hot so easily or to sweat that much. But the cloth of his black suit and pants and the two hours straight he just walked wearing them were really what did a number on him.
He observed the familiar surrounding. It was, as he left it, empty. He sat at the part where the grass was most tamed, where he could stay without getting too irritated. He stared blankly at the lonely court, letting his mind slip again. 'What if.. I didn't go to practice that time? Will she still be alive?' He knew well it was a dangerous thought but he couldn't help it, 'What if I didn't know about them playing soccer before? Could I have made a difference?' He suddenly felt a swirl of emotions tempting to make its way on his chest. He erased the thoughts.. the memories as fast as he could. Just when he was thinking he had to distract himself, a familiar continuous bouncing sound rang on his ear. His mouth slightly opened at what he saw as he snapped from his trance, or more accurately, at what he didn't see while he was staring exactly at the middle of the court, where the surprise was.
A person was in the middle of skillfully maneuvering a soccerball all over his body. He observed the dark-violet jacketed form as he headbutt it with his hooded head and went to his nape with ease. He soon pushed it up with the force of his torso and let it land on his knee covered with dark colored pants where he suddenly stopped and balanced it. The child kept looking at him in awe. He assumed that he was a he from his obviously broaded body. Even though the man was not doing anything at the moment, Shuuya was still too dumbstruck to move. He was now wondering how or why he was presented with such feat.
All of a sudden, the mysterious man used his knee to forcefully throw the ball up high, even higher than the basket itself. The beginner at soccer had his focus on the ball so he didn't see how the man be able to jump as high as it did. The speed of his ascension wasn't to be taken lightly either. To the eyes of the child, it seemed like he just suddenly appeared at the same height as the ball before the very moment gravity started pulling it down again. His left brown shoed foot collided with the ball with force and he shot it right in the basket.
He felt time paused at that moment. Goosebumps slowly crawled up, from his back to his limbs. He was shaking, not with fear this time but with excitement, a wide grin dared form on his mouth. "Whoa.." He let the words escaped as his body unconsciously stood on his feet and his eyes twinkle with amazement.
The man scooped the ball with his right hand and walked towards his direction, his eyes following suit. He just realized that this man was fairly tall. Taller than his mother, his Aunt Mito, and most people he knew at least. He tried looking at his face on a failed attempt to see what he looked like. Unfortunately, his lips were the only thing possible to be seen even from his low angle. He continued walking, and the more he got close the more the little flame-haired find himself unable to move his body. Something about this man seemed.. intimidating.
To his surprise, the man actually walked passed him, stopping at his left. He couldn't see yet he sensed the older person's left hand raised. It landed on his gravity-defying do, rubbing it gently. Normally, he wouldn't let strangers touch his hair or anywhere at all but there was something about the gesture that suggested comfort and.. care? He found it soothing and he felt something on his chest, the same feeling he had moments ago. A weird swirl of emotions tempting to escape and this time, he couldn't control them.
Without his consent, his emotions ran down his cheeks. There was an unending supply of tears as his body shook for releasing all the heavy repressed feelings he had on his chest. To his embarrassment, he bowed his head slightly, failing to hide them. He tried stopping it with his arms, the sleeves of his suit claiming all the waterworks, to no avail. He even heard himself wail. It really didn't matter how mature he thought he was because on this angle, he did still seemed to be a lost six-year-old child, missing his mother so much.
The man, however, didn't seem 'weirded out,' as the boy would call it, from his sudden outburst. He tightened his grip on his hair a bit, as if he was feeling the exact same way. For a while, he believed the adult was empathizing with him.
Some minutes after, the tears started to flow slower until they resided completely. He couldn't look at the man still, he felt embarrassed for crying with the stranger's touch. He felt the left hand raised again, returning to its owner.
"Don't give up."
They were only few simple words but they were enough to light a fire inside of Shuuya. He felt his chest thump with passion, with feelings for something that he knew he would never be able to live without. His lips formed a smile of determination. A new resolve trace his face. An unspoken promise made with himself. Without looking, he started to speak, "Thank you, si-"
A sound of a bounce interrupted him, again. A soccerball suddenly came falling in front of him. He caught it with his hands by reflex. He observed the round shape without thinking much of where it came from. His eyes trailed on the black and white colors of it where he saw scratches that were.. awfully familiar to him. A sudden realization struck him as his eyes widen at the object.
"This is.. This is my soccerball!" He swiftly swung his head on his back, looking for the culprit, "What?!" Now, his body was the one to turn. He looked in every direction but found not a single human being. How the man suddenly disappeared like that was yet another mystery about the hooded figure.
Somewhere On Another Place..
"Sousui. I have succeeded in retrieving it," a letter tied with a black knot was inside of what seemed like a small zipped plastic bag. It was being handed by a skinny man with an average height to another who was wearing a dark blue long sleeved polo that was buttoned all the way and partnered with the same colored pants. The place was dark, with just a light behind the one called Sousui who was sitting behind a table, to bring a small aid of brightness.
"Very well," the man crouched his form and smiled menacingly as his hands clasped together, elbows on top of a rectangular table. His triangular sunglasses shone even with the deprived light in the room.
= End of Chapter Three =
Next Chapter: My Father's Family
A/N: THE TWO MYSTERIOUS MEN HE MET THAT DAY ARE NOT THE SAME PERSON. I REPEAT, NOT THE SAME PERSON. But yeah, one of those two is his father.
More A/Ns (lol): WHY OH WHYYYY is it easier to bataread than to make my own sh*tty story! Another thing, if you were wondering how that man who mentioned his mother's nickname was already gone minutes ago before Gouenji woke up and absorbed those words, it's because he was half-asleep. It happens to me all the time when the tv is open and I'm beginning to wake up. I remember hearing things from the show that was actually said minutes ago. It even sometimes gets entangled in my dreams making it weirder than it should.
Hope you enjoyed reading!