Kawaki's POV
"Just go," I tell him.
"Kawaki, I can't leave you like that," he insists.
"You can and you always did and that's the reason why mom died!" I yell at him.
I received a slap from my father.
I can tell that my face turned awfully red by his slap but that doesn't make me waver. I keep my chest hard. He is the reason why mom died. It is because of his ignorance of his family that killed my mother and I can't forgive him for that.
Instead of arguing with him, I run away from home. I can still hear him called out to me but I didn't turn my back and keep running away from the darkness of my life. I think my life has ended too when mom died. She is the only one I have yet she had to die.
She had heart disease and it became malignant as the days passed by without telling me nor my father. She bears all of the burdens alone not to make us worry. My father is busy at work and barely comes home to check on us.
Yes, he could bring us delicious foods to the table, buy us decent clothes and provide all our needs but what we needed most are his time and attention and he failed to give us that.
I needed to live alone most of the time. I learned to cook, wash the dishes, wash my clothes, and clean the house at a very young age. Well, I have to, I don't have anyone to rely on with such things. It's fine if my father is at home but much better if he is not. He only reminds me of my mother's death.
I was in sixth grade when my mother died. I went to school because I need to not because want to. I failed all my subjects because I did not study my lessons much and got depressed about my mother's sudden death. My teachers were worried but I did not care about them at all. I almost dropped the sixth grade, but they passed me because of their sympathy over my mother's demise.
It's pointless to go to school if nobody is going to welcome you when you get home and nobody will praise you when you get high scores on an exam. My life is meaningless without mom. How I wish I died too. Life is so cruel to me and it's very unfair. Some kids have their parents with them and I don't have mine anymore.
"Oh, this poor little orphan. HAHAHAHA!" a bully is laughing at me making fun of my life being all alone.
It was in seventh grade.
My mother taught me not to engage in any useless fights with my classmates or schoolmates. A good boy or student doesn't make fights with others and knows how to forgive those who have done him wrong, that is what she usually says to me.
My mom was so kind but why would she die before those evil people? I kept asking myself that but I couldn't get an answer.
"Did you engage in a fight again? How many times do I have to tell you to stay away from trouble? You are wasting my time, Kawaki. My time is paid and you wasted that money on this pointless fight you had with your schoolmates," he is scolding me.
"Then go why did you even come?" I say in a sarcastic tone.
"Why are you talking to me that way? I never teach you to be rude," he almost yells at me.
"Teach me? What? I never learned anything from you," I retaliate.
"You!" he is about to slap me again but he stops.
"Once you have done this again, I won't send you to school anymore."
Does he even know that I like that idea? School is full of shit!
Those memories were still fresh in my mind. They keep on coming back until now.
I throw punches everywhere. I punch his face. I punch the other stupid kid's face. We are exchanging blows. I got my face swelling after those punches they threw at me. I got bruises and even small wounds on the side of my eyes. They have the same situations as mine. I don't care they are all idiots and they deserve those punches.
"Damn it Kawaki!" my father is all mad. I can see his face flush with anger. He runs his fingers through his hair. He is so disappointed in me. I got my face covered with bandaids and other ointments.
I did not pay attention to what he is saying. They don't make sense to me.
"Look, this is the second time you have done this. The previous one you have got a pardon from the principal this time is an expulsion."
I can see his veins engraved on his forehead and his neck. He is upset, very upset. He is actually gritting his teeth.
I did not say anything, I just keep silent.
"I will talk to the principal again, maybe she could forgive us the second time," he says in a calm voice.
"Kawaki."
He called out to me and I look at him.
"I'm sorry for not being with you most of the time. I'm doing this for your sake as well," he tells me.
For my sake? Is that so?
"You said that to me and mom before, but still she died," I respond.
"Kawaki..." he utters.
"I wish I died too," I utter out of nowhere.
"Enough with that idiotic idea, son. You have a better future that lies ahead of you," he opposes.
"A better life is with mom. Now that she's gone, it's the worse," I answer.
"Kawaki, I know it's painful to have your mom gone from our side, but that's the reality of this world. Death is inevitable," he says.
How could he say those things at ease like it's too simple and easy?
I did not speak after that.
He goes to see the principal and asks her to pardon me for the second time. I don't know if I should be glad that the principal approves.
And that was in the eighth grade.
"Kawaki, you keep failing your subjects. What's the problem?" my adviser asks me.
I don't know, I just don't want to waste my time studying. I know there's no future for me. It was long gone.
I did not respond to her.
"If you will keep doing this then, I can't endorse you to the Junior High and you'll keep repeating the ninth grade," she explains.
"I don't care," I boldly reply.
"Kawaki, your father works hard to send you to school so you better study your lessons well," she advises me.
I don't care about that stupid man. I am doing this to get revenge over my mom's death. It's all his fault.
It was in the ninth grade.
Because of my father's influence, I passed the ninth grade and proceeds to the tenth grade.
The same things keep happening with me in the tenth grade. I kept failing my grades and kept getting involved in trouble. When my new adviser reminded me of not graduating and my father already knew about it, I started to focus a bit.
I knew he would get so mad at me and I was afraid he would stop sending me to school and makes me keep staring at his photos hang on the walls in the house and that's suffocating.
When my teachers saw me struggling and working hard with my failing subjects, they passed me out of pity.
"You're in the eleventh grade now, so you must act like a gentleman instead of picking up fights with annoying boys at Shoujo," my father chatters.
Shojou is one of the most popular High schools in the country, but I don't care at all. Whatever school he sends me, they are all lame.
I never had any friends. Kids my age are bullies and would just laugh at me being an orphan. Same old, same old. A friend is just a word without relevant meaning to me. I don't need them, I am fine being alone.
"Oh wait, he is the transferee from an old lame school, right?"
"Yeah, how gross. Why is he even here? Why did the school accept such lame a boy?"
"I've heard he's living alone in his house."
"He is an orphan?"
I punched one of the kids making fun of me.
"You bastard! How dare you do that to me?" he yells at me. I punched his face again.
His friends ran away from me and the kid I made a punching bag had his nose bleeding. He cried and followed his cowardly friends.
One day, the school principal called out for me in her office. I was with my father. When we entered the room, the kid from earlier was there together with his mom.
I knew that this would happen. I would be called out for punching that stupid brat's face.
After how many times my father pleads to not expel me, the school never pardoned my father's wish.
He scolded me when we got home. He said unpleasant things to me but they did not bother me at all. I was so used to him doing the same things to me when I did the same things over again to him. I think it's just a cycle of our life.
"This is the last time, Kawaki. If you'll get expelled again, I will never send you to any of the schools in the country. I'm so done with you," he tells me then leaves the room.
"Okay, I will just roam around like a stray dog," I say in my mind.
"Yeah, I'm a stray dog,"
My father sends me to a school for the last time. My father easily gets me into a school because he is one influential person but none of his friends knew I am his son. School principals were usually surprised when my father introduced me as his child.
I don't like special treatments using my father's name at all. As much as possible, I don't want to mention his name to anyone.
I was told by my so-called adviser to proceed to Room 12-A. Once I have entered, all their eyes were fixated on me. They were whispering and their eyes were full of criticisms, as usual. There's nothing new here.
I sat on a vacant seat near the window. They kept whispering and glancing at me and I kept silent.
"Hey excuse me, that's my seat. Can you occupy another vacant seat? That desk belongs to me."
I turn my gaze to someone who just speaks to me. A black-haired dork is in front of me. I coldly stare at her and she stares back at me.
I really hate people who stare at me like that. She is giving me a look that she is going to fight me back when I punch her on her face.
I stomp my feet on her so-called desk out of disgust. I can see how she is astounded for seconds.
"Isn't it being rude sitting on someone else's desk?"
She keeps her calm voice, but I know she is already annoyed by my presence.
"Oh, your desk you say?" I utter while getting up from her desk.
"Oh, my apologies I made your desk dirty with my shoe. I stepped on the mud earlier on my way here," I tell her after I slammed my filthy shoe on her desk.
I can see how she enrages. I can see through her eyeglasses. Everyone is staring at us I know, but I don't care if they do.
She's about to say a word when our adviser enters the room and introduces me to them.
The dork keeps scowling at me every time she sees me. She looks so ugly when she does that.
What annoys me most is the cringe girls whispering and gossiping about me every time I walk in the hallway. Their wimping voice echoing in the hallway is damn annoying.
"Kawaki, come over here," our P.E. teacher calls out for me. I move to approach his direction.
"Why don't you play with your classmates? You would make a great team if you'll work with them," he adds. I did not respond.
"Hey Kawaki, try kicking this one," the boy tells me and he kicks the ball in my direction.
When the ball arrives inches away, I instantly kick on it and send it flying to the other side and later I realized that I have hit the dork on her forehead. She falls to the ground unconsciously.
Everyone runs in her direction and I am astonished for a moment. It was an accident. Our teacher immediately carries her to the clinic.
"You jerk!"
I turn to face the owner of the voice and it reveals me to be the dork.
I cluelessly stare at her.
"Look what you've done to me! Do you have a problem with me? Why did you kick the ball in my direction?"
She is so upset. She almost yells at me.
"It was an accident. We were playing, then when I kicked the ball you were there," I explain and it is the truth.
"How would I know if you did not do it intentionally?" she insists. She is frowning in front of me.
A few seconds later, our P.E. teacher calls out to us and takes us to his office to settle the problem.
During our Laboratory class, I am paired up with a weird blonde girl. She is so cringed, to be honest. She's sticking to me like filthy glue and I don't like that.
I hate to hear her cooing voice, it's annoying. When I turn to my side, I saw the dork and her tube is emitting too much smoke.
"Hey, dork!" I call out to her. She immediately looks at me upon hearing my voice.
"What?" she snaps.
"What are you doing?" I ask her actually pointing at the tube with crazy smoke coming out from it.
She crams upon noticing the overflowing smoke and both she and the blonde idiot cough.
How stupid.
A sheet of paper shows up on my desk.
Just what the hell are these clubs for? And what the hell is this festival? I don't want to be a part of any of this nonsense.
I send back the paper without writing anything in it. Later, upon my teacher noticed it was blank, she calls out to me in her office.
"Kawaki? You haven't written anything. Aren't you interested in joining any of the clubs listed?" she asks.
"I am not interested," I say and leave her office.
"Kawaki," I hear her call my name but I did not turn back.
As I walk in the hallway, I see the blonde idiot together with his friends walking in uniform. A basketball uniform and of the boys are carrying a ball.
"Hey, Kawaki, right?" he asks when he gets near to me.
I did not respond and continue walking.
"Ahh, that's so rude of you. Why don't you play with us?" he utters annoyingly.
I stop when I hear him speak again.
"I don't play kids' games," I say boldly giving them cold and sharp stares.
"Oh? So have you joined clubs? Which club was that?" he asks.
"None of your business," I snap.
"Why don't you join our Sports Club? It's fun playing with others," he offers.
"As I said, I don't play kids' games," I repeat.
"Maybe you're just scared to show your weakness to others and keep acting cool all the time. We can work it out somehow," he insists.
"Your club is nothing," I say.
"Then prove it to me," he says while smiling.
Is this idiot insulting me? Basketball is nothing and it's pointless to waste my time on such a lame sport.
"This kids' game you say will surely haunt you to death for degrading it without justifying your statement," he adds.
I grit my teeth out of anger because that idiot is acting like he knows it all. He acts like he is good at everything.
He leaves together with his group of idiots.
I stop by the faculty room and I have heard our P.E. teacher and the President of the Sports Club talking.
"The Blue Team has not had a team captain yet, the Festival is on the next day," the President of the club says.
"Is that so? Well, that's a big problem but who would we choose to lead the Blue Team?" our P.E. teacher asks.
I don't plan on listening to their conversation until it is finished so I started walking again.
"Kawaki!" he calls out for me, our P.E. teacher that is.
I turn to face them.
He talks to me and tries to convince me to join the club and be a part of the Basketball Team. I found it really annoying.
I know a thing or two about basketball. I used to play the sport back in the fifth and sixth grades before my mom died.
I am refusing in my mind because the sport looks annoying to me now and I haven't played it for a very long time.
Then a thought came into my mind.
That blonde idiot.
I want him to take back all he had said to me earlier.
He's acting all cool, huh?
In the end, I agreed to join the club and they test my skills in playing basketball. They conduct a practice game. It's a one-on-one match at first then it becomes a team game.
"Come over here for a minute, Kawaki," the coach calls out to me.
I move in his direction.
"Your basketball skills are exceptional. Shoujo is indeed an impressive school," he remarks.
I haven't played basketball back when I was in Shoujo High School.
I ignore his remarks about my skills and asks him about his intention of calling out to me.
"I have decided to make you the Captain of the Blue Team for the upcoming Basketball Tournament at the Festival," he informs me.
"What?" I utter.
"I said what I said. I hope you will accept the offer," he says.
I turn my back at him.
"Is silence means yes?" he speaks.
I did not answer maybe I take that as a yes.
The Festival day comes and everyone's busy. We had a practice game once earlier and my teammates prepare their needed things for the tournament later.
"Ladies and gentlemen, let's welcome the Red Team!" the host starts. Yells and cheers can be heard from the stadium. We are still in the locker. For now, the Red Team has come out.
"And give a terrific roar for the Blue Team!"
It's our time. We start walking outside the locker and I can slowly see and hear the people cheering in the stadium. I don't know but the stupid girls have gone crazy and wild.
"Listen, this year's tournament has a twist. The President of the Sports Club has planned to give the girls a gift for their commitment to the Sports Club's yearly Basketball Tournament. Every girl inside has registered their names before entering this stadium. Now for the twist, I will be drawing a name from this box. The lucky girl will have a meal with the Captain of this year's winning team," the host announces.
I am not interested in the twist of this tournament rather I am excited to teach that blonde idiot a lesson for insulting me the last time we met.
"I'll be drawing now," I hear the host says.
"And the lucky girl is..."
"Sarada..." he reveals.
Sarada? Who's that?
"Where is Sarada? Can you stand up for you to be recognized?" the host asks.
And that dork slowly stands up, she looks anxious. So, it's her?
That dork's name is Sarada.
Hey, what's up you guys? What can you say about Kawaki's backstory? Leave your comments. I would love to read them. Keep safe and healthy darlings! xoxo