Happy birthday (1) - 14

Two minutes before midnight. Mishiba was brushing his teeth while remembering that that day was February the 13th and thinking about an event that happened exactly 5 years ago.

Even though Shigi was almost as old as I was, we were treated differently. Perhaps it's because he was more often ill, or because I was the more stubborn one. Or perhaps there was no good reason at all.

I was taught to be strong and never to run away from troubles. Shigi was taught something else, namely to be obedient and to listen to others. It hadn't been easy for any of us, but at least easier than if it were to go the other way around.

We had always celebrated our birthdays together. That time we sat around a table which was full of special dishes mother had cooked and we may for the first time drink sake which father had provided. Not that Shigi and I hadn't done it long before that, secretly.

Shigi was laughing as father put down the sake bottle on the table. His laughter had a certain ringing in it, and it had always set the others laughing as well. But he suddenly stopped, when a stranger appeared. The stranger.

The telephone rang unexpectedly. Mishiba started, looked at his own reflection in the mirror for a while until the phone rang for the second time. He picked it up.

"... Hello."

His eyes widened in shock as he recognized the sound on the other end of the line.

- - -

Saitou, wearing a birthday hat, stared at the receiver in his hand and complained to himself, "Why is it busy? Nakajou-san wouldn't be thinking about Toki-san's birthday, would he? And if he does, why does it take so long?" His face blushed a bit as he thought of another possibility. "Um... Does Toki-san have a girlfriend?"

- - -

As Mishiba hurriedly left his apartment, he didn't care to turn the phone off first.

The stranger, Akito, was very nice to all of us. He was a very rich man and always brought something for us, and especially for Shigi. He was very fond of Shigi, although to me he was just polite. It didn't bother me, until later I found out that he tried to break us apart. This attempt had been a horror for Shigi, who didn't have any suspicion whatsoever towards the man with the sweet words and incentives. Logically, since that Shigi did not want to have anything to do with him. Akito stopped coming around and we thought it was over.

One day he came to see my parents. He offered them a lot of money as an exchange for Shigi, whom he wanted to adopt as his son. He promised to send him to an expensive school and give him anything money can buy. He also said Shigi was free to visit us anytime he liked. My parents were attracted to this proposal, but Shigi said he'd kill himself before he had to live with Akito. This made my parents angry and perplexed. They found the reason of Shigi's refusal childish and asked me to talk him into agreeing. I went to talk to Akito instead. I wanted to know what he wanted from Shigi.

He said it was a shame that such a charming child should live under circumstances below his level. He also said that we underestimated the power of money and worshipped old-fashioned values like family ties and affinity. "But your coming here made it clear that he's standing too deep in your influence to know what's good for him. So I will take him by force and just see what your 'love' can do against that."

I did not tell anyone of that, but I kept my guard. I feared for Shigi.

Since that time, the man never appeared at our dojo. But I could feel his hands pulling the strings of other puppets connected to his show of power. Another dojo was grounded near to ours. The students started bullying our students and their families. One by one they cut all connections to us.

My father started drinking and my mother had to borrow more and more money. I got used to teaching at the dojo as my father's replacement and keeping an eye on my few scholars, who became more precious to us than ever before.

It turned out that one of the scholars was paid to earn our trust. He tried to kill me during training in the dojo, failed to do so though. The temptation to get rid of him for good was overwhelming, simply because it was so easy to do so, but I only sent him away. I did not know I'd condemned him to his death, and Shigi as well.

At the next day he was found dead, and there were witnesses overall that swore it was me who killed him. My parents - whether they believed the lie or not was not clear – were terrified by the seemingly certain doom and killed themselves. Shigi and I were left alone.

- - -

Mishiba ran into the empty dojo, jumping two or three steps at once. He ran through the dusty hall where once his father taught thirty, forty scholars; where his father taught Shigi and him. His footsteps were echoed by the half falling-apart, yellow walls. The darkness was only fought by the pale moon light, and once or twice he nearly fell.

"Do you hear that, Toki? It's the burial of your brother... Shigi's burial."

Once he reached the courtyard, Mishiba came to an abrupt halt. There their parents had been buried. No gravestone stood for them. But next to it there lied a freshly made mound. A scream escaped Mishiba's mouth.

"Shigi!"

- - -

It was half past three in the morning. The telephone rang shrilly across Nakajou's quiet room.

"Damn..." the student mumbled, as he groped wildly for the phone in the darkness. "What time is it... It'd better be a girl. Hello?"

"Nakajou-san, have you succeeded calling Toki-san? I want to say happy birthday to him, but his phone's busy from midnight until now!" Saitou's voice was so loud Nakajou had to put the receiver a few inches away from his ears.

"Saitou, do you know what time it is?"

"3:30! Just imagine it! I've been trying to call him for three and a half hours!"

Nakajou sighed and silently declared himself the loser. "Have you tried his mobile?"

"That's why I think there's something wrong. He doesn't pick the phone up!"

"Maybe he's asleep?"

Saitou was only a neutron away from exploding. "He can't possibly be asleep with the phone being busy and his mobile ringing three and a half hours long! Why don't you try calling him for the whole three and a half hours then!"

"I don't want to wish him a happy birthday," Nakajou replied unaffectedly.

The next second the boy's voice was almost breaking with tears. "Do you think something's happened to him? I'm dead worried!"

"Oi, Saitou, before anything could happen to Mishiba, you would've been dead first. And if you're dead, well, the worrying's up to us. So don't worry. Now let me sleep, okay?"

- - -

Mishiba did not remember sitting down, yet he was on the ground, staring at the pile of earth in front of him. The night wind rattled the frail trees with a sound that made Mishiba's blood freeze. He remembered how he was always so cold, not meaning to, but just being that way; how Shigi always took the initiative to come closer to him, to touch him, to give him warmth. Now this voiceless pile of earth was the only token left of him.

Mishiba extended both of his hands and laid them slowly on the newly dug soil. "Shigi..." he pressed his face to the only remainder of his younger twin brother.