Title: Stolen Recollection
Genre: Friendship
Summary:"I've been watching you, silly…". For Neku, that was just one of annoying quotes from Joshua, but to the composer, it's more than what ears could hear. Maybe he needs to keep it all to himself…
Promise to myself that this one SHOULD be OUT before the exam and I DID! Wooohoo! And thanks to PhaedraDarkStar for helping me to finish this one! You're AWESOME! XD
Disclaimer: TWEWY belongs to Square Enix and Jupiter only…*beep*
…
Ch 6: Of Names We Called to Each Other
A little set of fingers stroked across a piece of blue colored paper slowly as Neku stared at his own name tag with puzzling eyes. 'Neku Sakuraba' was written on it, clearly, by permanent marker. Looking around, he noticed, all of the children wore the very same thing clipped onto their clothes. The only differences were the colors. A girl with pigtails wore a pink-colored tag; it read, 'Rikka Ariko'. A boy with short brown hair wore one with dots all over it; it read "Shuzo Kazaki". There were still so many kids and Neku didn't get excited by the thought of having to read them one by one.
"Students!" A woman with long hair tied around to her back shouted, "…this is your first day in school, are you excited?" she waved her hand.
"Of course, Miss!" cheered the whole class, except for Neku who seemed uninterested with this whole introduction thing. No one greeted him and that was good. He didn't like to be recognized, by the way.
"Since it's the first day, let's play some fun games!" The young woman clapped, catching their attention, "…the first game is called, 'Acquaintance', sound unfamiliar?" crowds of children buzzed, asking each other what that strange word meant. "Here's how it's going to go…" she coughed, "…take a turn to give your name to as many people as possible, and the goal is to know three names of the kids in class," her eyes glinted in delight, "…understand?"
"Yeah!" Another cheerful reply from the whole class. Neku busied himself in drawing weird doodles on his notebook, completely oblivious to it. 'Yeah, a game which you tell names, right?' He thought to himself, hands still moving as he please around the paper.
"Ready?"
Then it's all chaos, children running around, screaming at each other like there's no tomorrow. Neku sat still, unwilling to walk and play the game just yet. Someone will actually approach him and say,
"Hey!"Blue eyes met with another pair of blue eyes. Only that one pair have bored look while the other seemed to have this happy aura around them. A blonde boy stretched his hand in front of Neku, "My name is Dai-" he stopped, rubbing his neck and finally pulled his name tag and read carefully, "…Su-ke-no-jo Bito!" making satisfied look, he grined.
"Neku…Neku Sakuraba," replied Neku, shaking the other boy's hand.
Bito bit his thumb, "Ne…Ne-ko Sakuraba?" he asked. Neku cringed.
"No…it's Ne-ku, not Ne-ko!" chirped the orange-head boy. Bito nodded, it seemed that he got it.
"Ne-KO is it?" 'Is he stupid…?' Neku spent the next ten minutes trying to fix how that Bito kid said his name, which resulted in nothing more than Bito teasing him for the rest of the day with 'Neko'.
…
"Mr Kiryuu, he's a smart boy!"A hand patted his head softly, making him feel comforted. He turned, when a man in suit, otherwise known as his father, crouched to see him.
"Father!" he squealed, happily leaping into his father's hug. The man's stiff face became softer as he held his son up and raised him above the ground.
"Now, now Joshua, will you be a good boy and call your mother here?" he pinched his son's nose, "…she will be very proud with your report card!"
"I will!" Ash blonde locks whirled as he leapt from his father's clutch and ran outside.
A few hours after the report day, the little boy walked home between his parents, full of happiness, his report card hanging proudly in the boy's grasp. Humming a nice tune through his mouth, for a while he forgot everything that he should have talked about today. When he opened his eyes, it happened again.
He saw people turn to static, and then they vanished into thin air. He heard them screaming in pain, asking for help. Monsters roaming around, trying to catch them and probably kill them in the end. Always the same, when he thought it had ended, then it was there…people, monster, static, everything.
"Dear, do you know why we called you Joshua?" His mother said, not noticing that he had started to shake in fear, "…because we want you to be 'Joshua', yourself, not other people…" she answered her own question, tightening her grip on her son's hand.
"This is Shibuya…a name like yours maybe weird, or odd, but…" added his father,"…we don't want you to follow other people…just like your name said, you're so….special…eh?" The man realized that his son's hand was trembling. "What…what is it, Joshua?"
"People…running….and that song, monsters…they were killed…"Between the shaky stutters of their son, they could feel his fear starting to raise. He pulled his own hands and hugged himself, still trembling, his color getting paler and paler. "There… there…" he pointed to the front.
Nothing was there, to his parents eyes.
"There's nothing there, dear…" his mother tapped his shoulder. Shaking his head he stared, lilac colored eyes bleakly looking into both of their eyes. Not a trace of lie was there, not even a little piece of it.
Then, he just knew…that his happiness wouldn't last long…
…
"How's school, Neku?"
Neku's pout was the reply. His mother sighed at her dear son, "Is it that bad?" she gave him a worried smile.
"…Bad…" Neku hissed, snatching a cookie to snack on. The woman continued her work, wiping a washed plate, but she was curious. What had happened?
"Is there a problem in school?".
Neku jerked up, "…erh…" he halted, thinking of what he should say to explain his now-doesn't-look-like-anything name tag?
See, when the oldest kid in the class played the game of 'nicknames', 'Bito' told him about 'Neku' and 'Neko'. Then it was all decided that he would be nicknamed 'Neko' (or well, 'cat'…). They ROBBED his name tag and wrote a big 'NEKO' on it. With permanent marker. Then, Neku did the only thing came to his mind. Rip that name tag.
"Why do we have names, mom?"Actually, he didn't mean to say that…it just accidentally skidded out from his mouth. His mom was startled, stunned for a moment, trying to find the right sentence.
"Well, Neku…" she pursed her lips, "…name, generally speaks of something that people called us by…" she put down her plate, lining it up neatly on the rack while her attention was still on Neku. "In specific matters we, parents, give names to their children along with a hope…" she walked toward him and patted his head, "…that someday, their child would be happy…just like their name said… "
Neku nodded in understanding, letting out a sound of "Uh-huh?"
"There's also one more little thing about names…" she smiled mysteriously. Neku tilted his head, 'whoa, there's more?'. Just to make it more dramatically serious, his mother took a deep breath and finally said,"A name is a symbol that represents a parent's love for their child…"
…
It has been six months since he told his parents about it. His ability to see the unseen things…
And he was sure he was never going to be happy again…no more…
After therapy by therapy, doctor through doctor, even specialist after specialist. They found nothing. None could explain the ability he has. His parents were getting irritated by it. They kept fighting day by day, blaming each other of who's responsible for this problem. Until it reached the climax in which he was involved…they blamed him. They have had their patience up until now…but it reached its limit.
"You…monster…" his father snarled at him, right when he had just entered his house from school. The man couldn't hold his emotions anymore; a loud slap was the next sound that came from his father. His cheeks turned bright red, coming with it a sharp ache that made him scream in pain. "Now I finally know…you… you're the cause of all this madness!" his father yelled, "…those eyes…those dreadful eyes…" he gave him another slap, nearer to his eyes, causing them to emit tears.
"You're not my son anymore…get OUT…" the man loosened his grip, "…NOW!"
The boy didn't get it…why…why? 'Why?' He saw his mother quivering, staring at him hopelessly. Regret was evident on her face, but she did nothing…nothing to help him. He bit his lips to resist a cry that nearly left his throat. Then he turned away, dashing out of his house to the outside which welcomed him with cold rain. He didn't care about some rain…stroking his red cheeks, he kept running and crying.
The rain was endless; his legs asking for a brief rest. He huffed, looking around and found himself in Cat Street. It looked like he had gone far…he wiped his tears and walked around to find a place warm enough for him to cuddle up.
But he couldn't go too far, his tired body forced him to just sit in the corner and wait. He wobbled from the coldness as he rubbed his hand for a flicker of warmth. Just when he thought he would just die, the rain stopped. No, it hadn't stopped, he murmured when he heard the rain dripping on the cold concrete. But why had it…he looked up. A man was standing there, his hand holding an umbrella, protecting both of them from the rain. The man smiled at him warmly as he helped the boy and carried him toward a safer place.
"What are you doing out there, kid! It's raining cats and dogs!" the man put him down on the couch, handing him a blanket. The boy curled up, enjoying the warmth seeping inside his cold skin.
"Nothing…" he muttered, his eyes were soaked with tears, so lying may not be a good choice…
"Don't want to talk, eh?" The older man put down a mug on the table, "…well, everyone has their bad days…drink it, kiddo! I've made it warm for you," he thrust it toward the boy. The smaller boy stared in doubt, but gulped the whole contents of the mug down his throat.
"What's your name, kid? I should find your parents and take you…"
"NO!" The boy cut in.
The man flinched, observing the boy more carefully, and then sighed when he knew that the child wouldn't go back home, no matter what he said. "At least…give me your name…"he said. The child bowed down, hesitating. His tears burst out for the second time, but he answered the question,
"I…It's Joshua…"
…
Whew! This one took a long time to finish and, Yeah, my mother screamed, "What the f**k are you doing? I need that computer, now!" that's what will happen when your house only have ONE computer…
Anyone who read this, thank you! You know what? Review will be gladly accepted! ^o^