Megumi means Blessing


-I-


He's simple, he has never needed too many things... There is only one in particular that from time to time makes him feel restless, many times it doesn't leave him in peace. It's a need that has advanced at an ant's pace, and now he has an anthill on top of him. He hates it, hates that which drags him out of his small apartment, forcing his feet to walk one after the other. He doesn't have much money and yet he cares more about buying a pack of cigarettes than eating something fresh, anything that doesn't come from a can.

What good are these monstrous muscles and superhuman strength if he can't control his nicotine addiction?

There's not much willpower to stop him from heading to the nearest convenience store with a couple of bucks in his pocket, in fact, his last few bucks. He's been waiting for a call for a while now, he needs another little job urgently or he'll have to start stealing again.

Even though he's wearing a baggy sweatshirt, a hood over his head covering him quite well, the first poor bastard he comes across moves out of his way as if he's afraid he'll stab him right there and then. Shortly afterward an old woman with a cane hurries up and finds strength from where she has none to leave the store. But he's so used to people reacting that way to his appearance that he ignores it completely.

He looks over his shoulder all the time, hoping to see one of the faces of the clan members, hidden in some corner, watching his every move. Until a while ago they were still after him, but for a few months now they seem to have grown bored.

Toji heads for the coolers on the other side of the store and grabs a six-pack of beer, then wanders over to the food aisles, but he's sure he can't afford it if he wants to take a package of cigarettes. He ignores the empty feeling in his belly and walks to the cash register.

"Good afternoon," he hears and sets the pack down on the cash register conveyor belt. He doesn't respond to the cashier's animated greeting and looks up, looks through the different boxes of cigarettes displayed on the sideboard and points his finger.

"And one of those," he says and she holds out her hands to it.

"It'll be ¥750."

Toji looks up at her, looks into her eyes for a moment and is surprised to see her smile. She wears a cap with the logo of the small market and a red and white uniform. Has short, messy, dark hair and brown eyes.

He takes out of his pocket a bunch of crumpled bills and puts them in front of her.

"Uhm..." the girl stammers, forces a soft smile and takes the bills, stretches them out in front of him and counts them. Then she bows politely, "Thank you very much, come back soon!"

He takes his purchases and leaves the store without a word. Even in the markets they don't usually tell him to come back soon, although it's customary. He thinks they refrain from doing so because they are afraid he will really come back and that idea makes him smile mischievously. The girl is brave if she really expects him to come back.


He has already spent a good week in this neighborhood, in Saitama City. It's too quiet for his taste, sadly accustomed to painful days and unimaginable tortures. Being dumped in a dark pit with chilling curses on a daily basis has made him consider calm a strange thing. That's why he feels uneasy and wanders at night all alone, walks without thinking of absolutely nothing, looking over his shoulder out of habit, hoping to find someone behind his back.

In the afternoon he stole a young man's wallet on public transport and smiles to himself as he counts the money. Maybe he'll make it to the market in time and be able to buy something before nightfall. He's aiming for nothing simpler than a tuna sandwich and maybe another pack of cheap, urine-flavored beers.

Around the corner, he sees her through the wide store windows; it's the same girl from the other day, the one who smiled fearlessly at him and asked him to come back soon. He assumes that seeing him arrive so late in the evening, she won't be too pleased to see him return. But when he meets her gaze, he senses something different.

She moves her face slowly, from left to right. Toji sees her deny, she's asking him not to enter the store, but it's not because of what he thinks. Another hooded man grabs her by the collar of her uniform and she closes her eyes.

The street is deserted and there only he stands there, wondering if he should intervene or not. He has only come here looking for a tuna sandwich and a shitty beer. He stands still and hears a shriek, looks up again and sees with surprise that the girl has pulled a bottle of wine from under the counter to smash it over his head.

The asshole falls, but at that moment Toji realizes that his accomplice is carrying a knife and rushes at her. Before he knows it he's there, inside the store, his arm across that fool's chest, fingers clenched over his throat.

Toji smirks, what nonsense is he getting himself into over a sandwich?

With his left hand he slaps the aggressor's wrist and he drops the knife. He moves nimbly as a breeze when his sharp ear hears the trigger of a gun, throws the poor fool he had trapped and picks up the knife from the ground to throw it directly to the wrist of the other one, the one holding a gun on the other side.

He gets up and walks calmly listening to the heart-rending screams of these lowlifes and kicks the gun across the ground when the one who just attacked tries to reach it unsuccessfully. Then he turns around, and opens his eyes, perplexed.

The girl is on top of the other criminal, holding him down with duct tape. She has her cell phone pressed to her ear, nudging it with her shoulder.

"A couple of men just broke into my store," she says, apparently having called the police.

Toji assumes this is his moment to leave the scene. But he can't leave without what he came for. He grabs a couple of sandwiches from the refrigerator and walks to the checkout while the young woman wraps the other criminal in duct tape.

"Can I have a couple of cartons of cigarettes?" He says and turns to look at her again, "Don't bother...I'll do it myself." He walks to the other side of the register, takes the cigarettes and pulls out enough money from his stolen wallet to cover these two things.

"Hey, hey! Wait! Don't go!"

He hears her shouting behind him and stops. She smiles at him again in the same way and rests a hand on his forearm.

"Actually, I'd like to leave before the cops arrives," he replies and twists his lips into a half-smile, warning her that he's not one of the good guys.

"Thank you, thank you very much for helping me," she says and bows to him. "Are you going to eat that?" She asks, looking at the plastic containers under Toji's arm, "A big guy like you needs more than a tuna and egg sandwich... How about I fix you dinner? It's the least I can do for you, so please... wait for me."

He nods, slightly confused. He walks out of the store and hears the sirens of police cars approaching, so he crosses the street and stops without knowing exactly why. He turns as he sees the police cars parking in front of the market and decides to take a seat on one of the benches in the small park in front of the store.

He sighs, opens the container of the said sandwiches and pops one into his mouth. As he finishes the second one, the police are still there. Toji sees, through the glass, the officers talking to that girl who invited him to dinner.

Maybe he's there waiting because his stomach is beginning to resent what little he eats during the day. How long has it been since his last hot meal? Has anyone ever prepared a plate for him? All he knows is that he's hungry.

The first patrol car leaves with the two offenders handcuffed in the back seat. Another pair of officers take the girl's statement and take a copy of the security camera videos back to the station. Then they leave, get into the patrol car and as they drive away she lowers the blinds and turns off the lights. It takes her a while to get out of the store, and when she finally does, she stands in front of the door looking from side to side of the desolate street.

Toji watches her and wonders if she is really looking for him. He has become so good at this art of being invisible that he watches her from the shadows without uttering the slightest sound. She can't even perceive that she's being watched from some uncertain point.

"I guess he left..." she says to herself and Toji clearly sees the way the corners of her lips drop. She's disappointed. "Oh, there you are, still hiding from the cops? Don't worry, I didn't tell them anything about you."

He has no idea why he has stepped out of the shadows to let himself be seen, only to end up illuminated by the orange light of the electric poles. But, he has, so he has no choice but to cross the street and meet her again.

"I took some things out of the store to prepare something delicious as a thank you. I hope you like salmon," she approaches, covers her mouth and whispers to him, standing on her tiptoes, "I took it from the store without permission."

Toji sees her, looks at her smiling face for a couple of seconds.

"You stole it," he replies and she becomes embarrassed, frowns and turns away.

"I'll pay for it tomorrow!" she says, starting to walk in the direction of her house. It doesn't take her long to notice that he doesn't follow her and she turns around. "You're not coming? C' mon! Salmon is much better when it's fresh."

How can he refuse to eat a meal when it's offered by such a pretty girl? Toji thinks, starting to walk in her direction.

"What's your name, by the way?"

"Toji."

"Just Toji?"

"Just Toji."

"Nice to meet you Toji. My name is Hayami, Hayami Fushiguro."


...


Hello reader! Welcome. I hope you enjoy this story even though it will be quite short. I've had it in mind for a while, but I think the best way to force myself to write it is to publish it. I hope you like my impersonation of Toji and what I imagine would be Megumi's mother.

See you in the next chapter!