Little Aki had a very small luck in his previous life. His mother died when he was just four, but he remembered every second of that day. His step father and step brother. How they laughed at him when he cried so much, how he never saw even the slightest emotion of sadness or grief on their faces when she died. How they continued their life as if nothing had happened, and how they left him crying with no one to ease his sadness even a little. How his step father punished and hit him every day, taking his anger from life on the boy because he was a junkie and could not provide a proper life to them. The same thing he did to his mother.
She died in her youth because she killed herself working to earn money to the man she thought would be her new hope after the death of Akihito's father in an accident. But she followed him after a while in also an accident when she was going home at three in the morning, tired after a long shift at work. However destiny was so cruel on Aki and she was crushed under a speeding car driven by a stupid drunk man who was caught in the same day.
No one knew how much Aki's older step brother was so mean to him, crushing the toys his mother gave him in his birthday. His last birthday. How much he cried in hunger days after days, and when they finally gave him food, it was their left overs but Aki took it like a delight meal. The delicious food that he will never taste again, the food his mother used to make him even though it wasn't always a big meal, but they enjoyed every taste together. Her laughter and sweet voice that he will never hear again, but always will remember in his heart.
How they made him work day and night to gain money, even in his very small age. And in the end, his step father would take it away and shout at him when he comes home where they lived in a small two story house, and he would tell him that it was for the food they were giving him. They threw him in the small room under the house stairs. Tiny and cold and forbidden to go upstairs, but he did once; he wanted to see his mother's picture in her room. But he only saw his distrustful step father with another woman in his mother's bed and he started to punch Aki over and over again leaving the small figure with bruises all over his body and a broken arm.
How he watched the other children with their parents laughing, carrying their toys in their hands in the streets. How he watched them as his heart squeezed in pain inside his chest even though it was as small as his tiny fist. How he watched them play with each other and share their food with tears in his eyes with the sound of his stomach growling in hunger. Despite all that, he never stole or did anything wrong.
How much he returned home to be welcomed with anger, shouts and punches all over his body with a baseball bat from his step brother who was eight years older than him. How much Aki tried to fight him back but failed his fragile body and weak bones failing to protect him and how they were broken over and over again.
How much he wished to die or even his step father or brother would kill him someday, but his heart kept beating and beating and he kept on living. He once wanted to kill himself and rest, but remembered his mother's talking. 'Do not ever give up on hope my sweet boy. And you have to keep on fighting no matter what. You're a fighter. Everything happens of a reason. It's god's will, and we have to accept It.' that's what she said, so he kept on living.
And when he was sixteen, he finally managed to save up so little money just to get a bus ticket to another city not far away from where he lived. And from there, he would try to start another life. He still lived there under the stairs where he found his smallest comfort, even though it lasted for so little. But that day when they were out, he got the courage and went upstairs once more, went up to get his mother's pictures. He opened the bedroom's door and turned on the light. The first thing he did was to turn his gaze towards the cupboard, where he and his mother used to put their pictures in a small box hidden inside.
He wondered years and years if that box was still in there, and today he finally was going to make sure. He opened the cupboard and reached his hand up inside it to get to the hidden box, and his heart danced in happiness for the first time after his mother's death. He quickly took it and hid it in his tiny back bag, where he also hid a couple of dirty and a little worn off shirts he wore from time to time. But when he turned around after closing the door, his step father was right in front of him.
The man shouted at him, asking what was he doing in there, but Akihito shouted back and said "It's none of your fucking business!" And right away, his step father started to punch him and not to his surprise Akihito fought back like always from his early youth.
At some point, Aki managed to kick him in the face and broke his nose, but in return his step father's blood boiled from anger in his veins. As Akihito tried to get away, his step father got out a knife from his pocket that he always carried and used to rob anyone in the streets. He caught the young man's hair and pulled it in anger, making Akihito to hiss in pain. Then he angrily stabbed Akihito from the back over and over again. Aki gasped in pain with each stab, the man's anger covered his mind and allowed his inner devil to take control. The boy kept on his hope, so the young man with all his might turned around and pushed his step father away, but during the process Aki tripped over and fell backwards on the stairs until his body rested of the flat surface of the floor.
His step father watched the scene with his eyes widened in shock from the fall and the blood that started to soak the boy's dirty shirt from behind, but when he saw that fragile and weak body slowly move again, crawling, making its way to the house's door, his devil took over again and went down to launch on the young man. He threw the knife away and took his son's baseball bat that rested on the wall next to the door and started to hit Aki's head with it again and again.
After a while he got tired and his mind got clearer from his anger. And when he looked at the body beneath him, blood covered the floor where it poured out from the young man's head, and his hands were also covered with it along with the baseball bat. His eyes widened in shock and horror as he got away from the bleeding body. The doorbell rang, and to the older man's shock he hurried to the door, thinking that it might be his son. Thinking that he might help him get rid of the body, but it turned out to be the girl that his son was dating. They were supposed to meet, but he was late so she came home to see him. But when she did, she was welcomed with a man covered in blood and a young man's body on the floor with blood all around him. Right then, she screamed out her lungs.
People walking down the streets gathered at her scream and caught the step father who tried to shut her mouth up and escape. But soon, the police came and took the fighting man away. But as for Akihito, the young man was gone. The ambulance arrived late to the scene. Aki heard the screams that came out from the girl from far away as he tried to keep his eyes open, but sleepiness was taking him away, and with his last strength he called for his mother. Then finally he closed his eyes and was released from his prison.