"Good Morning!" Diya jumped awake. He'd always been a light sleeper; he would never get lost in his dreams because he never has any at all. "This is Morioh Radio! And your host, once again, is me: your neighbor, Kai Harada. It's such a cloudy day today, but I have just the right song to make the sun shine through."
As the music began to play, Diya looked outside. Kai Harada had been telling the truth. The sky was grey and gloomy, ready to rain at any minute.
"Crap," Diya muttered to himself. It's already 7:30. Dad is still asleep and Mom's already gone to work. I've got about a thousand yen in my wallet, I can stop by the convenience store at the corner to grab breakfast. Diya's mind was hastily forming plans as he got changed into his uniform and struggled to put on his coat in his rush.
About twenty minutes later, Diya was approaching the convenience store.
CRASH.
Diya jumped backwards, surprised by the noise. He heard a moan from down the alley, next to the store.
"H-Hello?" Diya called down the alley. He saw a brownish heap next to the dumpster. It began to sit up. "Sir, are you okay?"
"Ugh, my damn head… hey kid, come help me up." The man looked upwards at Diya. "C'mon, I'm a poor old man, I need help!" Diya could smell the booze on his breath from where he stood.
"I-I'm actually g-going to be late for school," Diya stammered. "I need to-"
"Bullshit!" The hungover man screamed as he stumbled to his feet and slowly trudged towards Diya. "I saw you approaching the store. Your feet were angled towards the entrance! You have money and were going to stop here!" The man pulled out a knife. "You know, they say that you can only ever walk in the direction that your feet are pointing. To walk a different direction than your feet point makes things difficult and sometimes even painful. Maybe you should do the least painful thing and walk down the path in front of you."
The man held out his hand and beckoned for Diya's wallet. Diya couldn't stop shaking as he began to frantically search for his wallet.
"Hey! Hurry the hell up!" The man screamed at Diya. Diya flinched and began crying as he dropped his wallet on the ground. "You dumbass!" The man scrambled for his wallet and pushed Diya into the corner between the wall and the dumpster. He left the alley and began running down the sidewalk.
At that moment, the backdoor of the corner store opened up. A young man in his early twenties wearing a red apron stepped out, a garbage bag in one hand and a cigarette in his mouth.
"Hey kid, shouldn't you be going to school? Why are you laying next to this dumpster? A-are you crying?"
Diya couldn't even communicate. He was hyperventilating, tears pouring down his face.
"Kid? Are you alright? What happened?" The young man demanded. "Did somebody hurt you?"
"Th-th-the old guy…" Diya struggled to breathe, "He stole my wallet, h-h-he, he had a knife."
"A knife? He held a kid at knifepoint and stole his money? What a bastard. Guys like that piss me off. I'll be right back!" The man stood up and started to run in the same direction as the mugger. Right then, a middle aged man in a manager's uniform stepped out of the door of the convenience store and called out to the running man.
"Okuyasu! Where are you going? I didn't say you could have a cigarette!"
"I'll be right back, Mr. Sato!" The man called back to his boss. All he felt was the intense need to help this kid. This is the most important thing to me right now.