Chapter 3: Beyond his Perspective(From the Perspective of Akin)
The boy began to walk toward the exit of the large room. I trailed closely behind him as he made his way into a narrow hallway with doors on either side. He was silent as he walked. I looked around quickly to get a brief evaluation of the setting. All the doors in the hall were closed, and each had a number. Eight, Eight, Nine, Ten, Ten, Ten. I watched the different numbers roll past me as I walked. It was strange how a place where children lived could be so utterly organized. However, my surroundings wasn't my main point of focus. I stared at the boy, well the back of his head. He was very attractive in a forbidden way. His shaggy black hair looked soft to touch. It was straight, styled in a boyishly cute way. Although it looked very unkept. Actually, as a whole he looked unkept, as if he hadn't changed in days. I started thinking about reasons why he allowed himself to get so unkept. It's possible this could be the first time he had left his room since his roomate died. Wammy's House didn't care if the members didn't attend class, they left the responsibility of showing up to the members, so nothing would've stopped him from just lying in his bed for days. I nodded to myself, agreeing that that was probably the most likely story.
Then suddenly he stopped walking and turned to me."This is it." He said, standing in front of a solitary door with the number sixteen carved into it in silver letters.
He opened the door and I walked hesitantly inside. The room was small, with two beds one placed against the right wall and one the left. There was a dresser placed against the wall opposite of the door, and behind that was a window. That was it. It was so plain, but strange at the same time. A singular jar of jam sat on the dresser, and a large knife lied near the right wall. I didn't find it concerning, but the boy saw me looking at it and quickly explained.
"I use it to... open jam jars." He said in an unsure manner. I nodded, feeling a need to respond, but the construction of a sentence became a difficult task. I looked down thinking about what to say. When I looked back up, our eyes met. His eyes were... red. A dark cherry, as if the colours black and red where dancing in his iris. They we're hypnotic, and forced words out of me.
"Which one is my bed?" I asked, far to quickly. He turned and pointed to the bed on the right. I mentally scolded myself for speaking so quickly and saying words like swift demands. I tried speaking again, this time slower.
"So...what's...your...name?" I paced my words instead of spewing them out, and that seemed to surprise him a bit. "Backup, but just call me B." He responded smoothly. Damn. Why did he have to be so smooth? It was my turn to speak again, conversations were always like a tennis match for me. Back and forth, the matter of points lied in the successfulness of the conversation. I thought of something to ask, something that would keep him talking a bit longer and give me time to think.
"Backup? Did you give yourself that name?" I asked, thinking this could keep him talking for a minute or so.
"No, Wammy's House gave me that name. I hate it." He spoke in a matter-of-fact manner. Like it was just something he had to deal with. A curse, not his name. I cringed at that.
"Well then change your name." I said. I sounded stupid, it was such a simple solution he obviously would have done it if something wasn't stopping him. He smirked a bit.
"Even if I changed my name, everybody in Wammy's House would still call me Backup." He said, a bit amused. His amusement with me was almost irritating. Like I was a cute dog and not someone offering advice. At that moment I realized that I had to check into my classes. I walked quickly out of the room, then stopped. I had left the conversation open-ended. The tennis match wasn't over yet, he still had the advantage. I sprinted back to the room, stuck my head in the doorway and said;
"There is a world beyond Wammy's House you know." With that I left B alone in the room with a puzzled look on his face.
(B's Perspective)
It happened so fast. She came and just like that had me sitting on my bed confused as hell. Her words echoed in my ears long after she left. She had talked to me for a minute or so total, but in that minute she exposed a truth. "There is a world beyond Wammy's House you know." A world beyond Wammy's House. I liked the idea of that. The way she put it, as if Wammy's House was it's own world. If I didn't like this world, there was another completely different world beyond it. A world beyond Wammy's House... beyond L...beyond the walls of A's suicide...beyond...Beyond... B, Beyond. There it was, just like that she had given me a new name. Beyond.