012. Silence

Rain. Always raining. It seemed that the sky was also in mourning. The clouds were a sharp gray as they covered every inch of the once blue sky and the precipitation pattered harshly on the lush greens that scattered the park.

Sho stood on the abundant grass, his charcoal ankle boots shifting slightly in the soggy area he had been standing on for a while now. Time seemed to have passed him, though he had lost count of how many minutes he had been standing in the rain. His black lightweight jacket was already soaked through and his matching leather pants were slick from the constant beating of the water. The styled hair he normally possessed was heavy from the wetness, sticking to his forehead as he continued to stare at the ground.

One would assume he was just staring at the mud, observing the streams of water as they snaked through the lawn, watching as more puddles appeared before him. But all Sho could see, was a memory. A memory that replayed over and over again in his mind. Even when sleeping, it would creep into his dreams. The endless nights of waking up in a cold sweat and occasional tears coursing down his fair cheeks were a constant ritual. He couldn't remember the last time he had a decent night's sleep.

Kei had been watching Sho for a while now underneath the nearby trees with his arms crossed in front of him. He knew what was bothering Sho, it was obvious. He wasn't one to be supportive as much as he should be, because he had to rely mostly on his own… but that was a different story.

The rain began to let up, but Sho barely noticed. After another moment, Kei ultimately let his arms hang to his side as he revealed himself from the brushes to approach Sho. His white shirt was halfway soaked from the initial rain and clung to his body. He was almost hesitant to approach him, but he knew Sho shouldn't stay in the rain much longer, for fear that he'd become very ill.

"Sho, come on you'll catch a cold if you don't get out of this rain," Kei tried to coax him, placing his hand softly on his shoulder. Sho shunned away slightly then turned on his heel to distance himself a few feet from him. He directed his attention from the ground to the small bunch of flowers that he held in his shaky hands.

"I know why you come here, you can't keep torturing yourself like this," Kei continued, shoving his hands in his pockets as he stared at his soaked backside. Sho didn't respond, keeping still and silent. Kei tried another approach.

"It's not your fault, you know… It was mine," he mentioned, trying to remind him of what had happened. "I couldn't save him."

"Kei," Sho finally said softly, having heard this from him before. His voice was then caught in his throat, from being silent for so long. The memory creeping its way into his head again… like a bad movie that would never end.

Sho, Son, and Yi-Che were waiting in the rain, after Yi-Che's mural ceremony, for Toshi to arrive with some pizzas from his work to celebrate. Two men, who had been had by him and his friends, were after them in the park, trying to gun them down. The men had previously handcuffed Toshi and were holding him hostage. Toshi ran up to the guys, yelling and pushing them, to try to stop them from firing at his friends. As much as he tried, he failed because he was defenseless, and was shot in the stomach. Sho watched in horror from behind a tree they used as a shield from the gunfire, and screamed out his name as he tried to go towards his wounded friend. Son knew immediately what Sho was going to do and grabbed his upper body to prevent him from doing just that, as they both fell to the ground.

"Let me go!" Sho demanded repeatedly to Son, trying to break free from his grasp, but was unable to; the slickness of the ground preventing him as well from getting back up.

"They'll kill you!" Son yelled at him, holding him back for his own good. Sho didn't care, he tried to struggle out of his tight grasp.

"You kids pushed your luck too far," one of the men told the group, referring to when they stole from them and killed their men. Toshi, on his knees, held his wound the best he could with his wrists in cuffs, trying his best to take the pain. "Now you're gonna learn a lesson. No punk kids mess with us."

"You're the ones pushing your luck!" Toshi screamed at them, knowingly pushing their buttons. The man with the red hair turned around and pointed his gun back at Toshi.

"Fuck you," he spat at him.

A red hooded figure came out of the shadows and ineptly bounced his feet along one of the men's shoulders before falling on his side. It was Kei, trying to help out, but being so frail and weak from starvation, he could barely get up.

Sho and the siblings watched from behind the tree at the scene that was being displayed. It was as if their limbs wouldn't work anymore from the dread that coursed through their bodies. Toshi could see that the gun was now turned to Kei as he struggled to get up. Trying his best to distract and save his friend, Toshi forced himself up and positioned himself in front of Kei. Seemingly in an insane way, Toshi gestured a gun out of his hands and feigned to shoot the offending man repeatedly. The man, clearly not amused, pointed the gun at Toshi and shot one more time, right into his chest.

"Toshi!!" Sho cried out as he watched his friend fall down to the ground in a heap.

The gunman pointed the gun at Kei, ready to open fire on the hooded figure that interfered. Kei haphazardly stood up, trying to use the last remaining ounce of strength left in him to jump unnaturally behind the other gunman. The man, following Kei as he fired, accidentally shot his friend. Kei finally made a break for it towards the trees and the gunman, insignificantly annoyed at what Kei made him do, decided to follow him.

When it was safe to come out, Sho quickly crawled up from the ground and sprinted towards where Toshi lay on the ground while Yi-Che and Son followed. Sho, in utter horror and despair, picked up Toshi's upper body to hold him, calling out his name repeatedly in a crazed state and made pleas for him not to die.

Toshi, in his last breaths, told Sho the orphanage called and said that his mother was finally coming to see him after all these years. Toshi's mother was finally coming to see him… and he was going to meet her tomorrow. Then the sound of his last breath could be heard. Sho pleaded and shook Toshi with all his might, trying to wake him up, not believing that he was dead… No, he couldn't be… He had to wake up, he just had to!

This scene was all too familiar with Sho as his eyes filled up with tears once again. Countless times, he tried to remember the good times he shared with Toshi, especially when the jokes were at his expense. Sho was too cool to be played a fool, but Toshi somehow figured out ways to poke fun. The spirit that Toshi possessed was uncanny, no matter how annoying he was or how foolish he seemed to be, he was always a good and loyal friend.

Kei bowed his head slightly.

"You should think of Toshi as a hero, how brave he was to try to save me, even though he didn't know I couldn't be killed," Kei told him.

Sho felt a chuckle come through as he thought of how foolish Toshi looked trying to stop the man from shooting his friend. But he did it out of courage and the strong bond of friendship. That, Sho could never forget. No matter how many times Sho had treated him badly, Toshi was always forgiving and kept a clownish smile planted on his face. It was contagious at times. Now, that was all gone. The small laughter inside of him turned to sorrow once again.

"Toshi was a bumbling idiot… but he was my friend," Sho told Kei softly, a few tears started to stream down his cheeks, but was unnoticeable due to the few pattering droplets that remained in the sky.

Kei's face softened slightly as he replaced his hand on Sho's shoulder - this time, he allowed him. The flowers that Sho had in his grasp the entire time fell down towards the moistened ground where Toshi had lost his life.

"Come on, let's go home," Kei suggested. Sho nodded hesitantly and followed him towards the other direction.

All that was left was quiet. No more laughter. No more jokes. No more goofing around.

All of that was silenced… when Toshi died.