Chapter 5: Beautiful and dangerous.
It had been two months since Hiro moved in with Kishibe, if asked who seemed to be in charge of everything that happened in the house, then Hiro would answer that he took care of everything himself.
Kishibe always worked a lot, he came home late sometimes so late that he didn't even eat dinner, Hiro thought that he spent much of the night getting drunk since he had often found him lying on the sofa with a bottle or two of alcohol.
Hiro decided it was best not to bother waiting for Kishibe all night, but he still felt a bit lonely, Kishibe didn't bother doing any kind of activity with him, well it wasn't like Hiro had ever asked him to play with him, but it always seemed like the man wanted to do anything, but not to play with a little boy.
This made Hiro develop a feeling of boredom, there was literally nothing fun to do in this house. He had television but now Japanese programming did not attract him at all, not even cartoons, perhaps living with Kishibe had turned him into a bitter man who did not enjoy the beauty of things.
He refused to become cold like Kishibe, but what else could he do? He remembered that he hadn't talked to Kishibe about becoming a demon slayer since that time; but he seemed like he wanted to avoid the business, Hiro for some reason was also avoiding it, maybe it was because the demons still terrified him so much.
One day he would have to shake off his fear of demons.
He wouldn't be able to help the people who are attacked by those monsters, he wouldn't be able to save anyone if he didn't suppress his fears somehow. He wanted to become strong, he knew he should... but not now, one day he would start training him.
0O0O
"Another school?" Hiro's question seemed to echo throughout the kitchen like it was a big reveal. It wasn't, at least to Kishibe.
The man in front of him nodded, in his hands were the paperwork for the school that Hiro would attend, hopefully he expected him to learn many things, but he always seemed to have the ability to learn anything, so he didn't have to worry.
"You have been missing school for two months, your previous school understood the death of your parents but they only gave you two weeks to recover, but you started to miss more than necessary so they expelled you for your absence to class. Also due to since they haven't received any messages from you or any other relatives, they considered that you just dropped out of school" Kishibe explained and the boy in front of him had an embarrassed look.
"I err...sorry I forgot to mention that a while ago, I just wanted to...um" Hiro trailed off unable to finish his words.
Kishibe rolled his eyes "You just wanted more free time right?"
Hiro nodded looking at the ground unable to see the person in charge of him. He had actually considered going back to school, but somehow a strange feeling arose in him, as if the mere thought of going back to his school would make him feel lonely, as if he had become disconnected from that place.
It was weird to say the least.
"Sometimes it's a good idea to start over" Kishibe spoke again and Hiro raised his head a little to see him, curious what he was going to say "You leave all your past behind and enter a new world where no one knows you, what which helps a lot because you can start different with other people and you can even become a different person. It works if you just want a new change and escape from somewhere. Leaving behind such a painful and unpleasant past, helps us to see new frontiers that we can reach and take with our hands, your life becomes easier to carry, you can even stop regretting everything when you have made great progress"
Hiro was amazed by Kishibe's speech, this man could be scary in certain aspects, boring and drunk but he was also someone who could speak like a sage. One of those people who knows how to describe feelings with words so simple but perfect that his little brain could understand.
It was either that or maybe he could read minds.
"How does that sound to you?" he asked him
Hiro was silent absorbing all of Kishibe's words, Let go of the past huh? There were so many things that he suffered from, pain, anguish, impotence and above all fear. He couldn't understand how some people managed to shake all this off but then he looked at the hunter in front of him and if those words came from someone like Kishibe who maybe also had a very turbulent life, then he could try to give this new school a chance. and leave everything in the past.
He could try to start over despite only being 7 years old.
"...It sounds good to me"
0O0O
Kishibe was leaning against the car with his arms crossed and his eyes closed, completely calm and patient. Today was Hiro's first day at his new school and he had offered to take him back home, he wondered how he had fared in a new environment with people he didn't know. He was outside with the car parked and in front of the exit of the school, several people and children entered and left the place.
Without knowing it, he received curious looks from some parents who were picking up their own children along with fearful looks from some children. It was unusual to see someone who appeared to be so dark, lonely, scary, and with a sewn scar on his left cheek patiently waiting in a boys' school.
This man could be an abnormal father or a pederast in action.
"There It Comes"
Kishibe opened one of his eyes to see the surroundings and not only did he see the other children leaving, but he could also see that Hiro was leaving the school accompanied by another boy his age, they shared a few words before the other boy said goodbye with a greeting. Then Hiro caught Kishibe with his eyes, a little nervous he walked towards him and realized that some children were looking at him with fear, he just sighed thinking that it would take a lot of work for him to get used to this new life.
"How did you like school?" Kishibe asked when they were both in the car, the car engine started and Hiro put on his seat belt. Hiro was surprised by the question, he didn't expect Kishibe to care about his first day, he usually only cared about work, drinking and women.
"I guess it went well" Hiro replied a little unsure "It was difficult to introduce myself to the class but everyone welcomed me, I think" he whispered that last but Kishibe could still hear him "I even think I made a friend"
"So that kid you were talking to is your new friend?" Kishibe asked without taking his eyes off the road.
"That's right" Hiro allowed himself to smile a little "he's called Kenji and he's very nice" then he was silent for a few minutes as he watched the streets go by through the car window "He's actually my first friend"
Kishibe never took his eyes off the road "I see" they both fell into a silence that wasn't awkward but it wasn't comfortable either.
"It's a start"
0O0O
Hiro was washing the dishes full of food, below him was a stool that helped him reach the sink, the water occasionally splashed on him and wet his shirt making him angry. It was around eight o'clock at night and Kishibe was working.
After taking him back home Kishibe had told him that he had to go back to work and was likely to be late again, so Hiro cooked just for him, he wasn't an excellent cook but he wasn't the worst either, a few weeks ago he had found a book with food recipes in it, he had been practicing ever since and now he could prepare one or two dishes of Japanese food. He was good enough to go to sleep in peace.
He was about to finish washing the last dish when he heard the doorbell ring, he felt curious and uneasy, Kishibe probably wouldn't be back until later plus no one was ringing the doorbell of his own apartment, that just meant that It must be a stranger who knew where Kishibe lives.
He turned off the water and got off his little bench to go to the door. He flinched a little when the doorbell rang again and with fearful steps he made his way to the door.
With a sigh and summoning all the courage he had, he turned the lock on the door to open it fully and reveal the stranger.
He thought that he was going to meet someone similar to Kishibe who was perhaps another hunter just as depressed and darkly cold. But he was surprised when what he saw was a woman with white hair gathered in a ponytail, she had a patch on her right eye and her only visible eye seemed to be gray, she was formally dressed in the black suit that all hunters wear of public security carried.
"..."
"..."
Hiro was puzzled at this point, if he remembered correctly she was Kishibe's partner, Quanxi, Kishibe had told him that she was on vacation but that was months ago so she must have come back a few days ago. Hiro stared at her with his mouth slightly open and Quanxi's only visible eye was a little wider than normal showing that she was also surprised, she expected to find a drunk or sleepy Kishibe, but not a child and much less with the boy he had rescued months ago and which Kishibe was supposed to take in person to an orphanage.
Hiro snapped out of her stupor to force himself to say a word "Oh eeeh h-hello Miss Quanxi" he said with a nervous smile.
Quanxi continued to stare at the boy but she also forced herself to speak "You are the boy from that time, why are you in Kishibe's apartment?" asked Quanxi very curiously.
Hiro for some reason felt that he was being interrogated like in those American cinema police movies "Well... I-I live with Kishibe"
Quanxi narrowed her eyes for a moment before returning to her usual stoic manner "I see..."
They both fell back into an awkward silence, no one knew what to say or do but Hiro then realized that she had been in the hallway for a long time.
"Oh uh excuse me can you come in" Hiro stepped away from the door to allow Quanxi to enter. She didn't say anything as she entered the nice apartment.
Quanxi immediately went to the kitchen and took an unopened bottle of alcohol from the cupboard, she uncapped it and poured the liquid into a glass before downing it in one gulp.
Hiro saw all of this still near the door and groaned in frustration, was it a rule that all hunters were alcoholics? He watched again as Quanxi took another drink and took the bottle and glass back to the table. She didn't care if Quanxi finished all the alcohol, Kishibe probably did and that would make him a lot sadder than usual.
Hiro closed the door and wiped his hands that were still wet on his shirt, then looked back at Quanxi and she was staring at him with her one eye studying him. Hiro shuddered, this she didn't seem to be the loving woman who had comforted him when his parents died. It seemed Kishibe was right, women could drastically change their appearance, from being kind, to being colder than the Soviet Union.
Quanxi nodded for her to sit on the opposite chair, Hiro hesitantly walked over to the table and sat on the chair to face the huntress. Quanxi didn't stop looking at him even when she took another drink of alcohol to her mouth she kept looking at him as if she expected something from him.
Finally she got ready to speak "How long have you been living with Kishibe?"
"Uum, I think for two months" Hiro said.
Quanxi frowned and looked angry, which made Hiro flinch, but she kept questioning him.
"Why are you still with him"
The question confused Hiro, he really couldn't see the reason for the question because the answer should be obvious, right?
"Eeeh well i don't have another place to go, so i stay in this place"
"Didn't Kishibe take you to an orphanage?" Quanxi's face still seemed to be somewhere between frustrated and angry but Hiro could hear the disbelief in her voice.
"Well...yes, he did." Hiro lowered his head.
"Then why are you still here?" Quanxi really couldn't believe that Kishibe of all people had decided to keep a little boy.
"I…" Hiro was quiet for a few moments but then took a deep breath to calm down. "I asked him to let me stay with him to become a public security demon hunter." His gaze was determined.
Quanxi's eye widened in surprise but then he gradually relaxed until he returned to that impassive and cold way that he seemed to have at first.
"oh"
"..."
For just a moment Hiro could see Quanxi's expression turn more somber as she looked at the large windows that were next to the table and that showed the entire city of Tokyo.
Only one thing crossed her mind:
"This child will be damned"
She looked at the boy again, he seemed to shrink from her gaze and that determined look he had before her had been replaced by a boy who was afraid of her.
"Why do you want to-" Quanxi was interrupted when she heard the sound of the door opening, she and Hiro turned to see Kishibe walking through the door in his work suit with tired eyes.
However her eyes seemed to come to life, but not in a good way, when he realized that Quanxi was also in her house. For a few moments he panicked and in his mind he was trying to come up with a script good enough to explain this whole situation.
Quanxi only looked at him with a cold expression and her face showed no emotion, but the way she was staring at him so intently it only meant that they had a lot to talk about. Especially with the boy who was in front of her to top it off Kishibe.
Hiro just watched the exchange of glances with a worried face wondering where all the tension he could feel in the air was coming from.
"Quanxi" Kishibe started "I didn't know you were back" he said that last part with a growl that Hiro didn't notice.
Quanxi didn't change her piercing gaze as she spoke "I came back yesterday morning" was the only thing she said and still she sounded curt.
"I see"
Again silence reigned in the place and Hiro was beginning to feel very uncomfortable with everything he was feeling.
"Hiro" Kishine said looking at the boy "It's getting late and you better go to sleep, you don't want to miss your second day of school" Kishibe could see from the corner of his eye that Quanxi was shivering but Hiro didn't noted, those kinds of changes you would only notice with a trained eye.
"Eeeh I guess you're right" Hiro got up from his chair but before he looked back at Quanxi "G-good night Miss Quanxi" he said and she just dismissed him with a disinterested gesture.
Hiro went to her room and lay down on the bed and sighed, those moments he had with Quanxi made the night feel longer than usual. All he wanted now was to sleep and get ready for his second day at school.
He took a look at the photo of his parents before covering himself with the blankets, he closed his eyes but not before turning off the light on the table.
"Good night mom and dad" was the last thing he said before going to sleep that night.
0O0O
He realized that starting to explain this situation wasn't all that easy, especially when you have someone staring at you so frustrated and wanting all of their questions answered.
Hiro's existence in his apartment was in fact a secret, there was no one else in the agency apart from him (and apparently now Quanxi) who knew that he had kept the child.
It wasn't something he necessarily had to hide, but he'd rather keep it a secret from the rest of the people in his work circle because he'd rather everyone still see him as the cold, extremely strong, alcoholic hunter than the hunter he had become a kind of father to fix past mistakes. Although not many could actually connect the latter with anything.
There was also another hidden reason...
But he would prefer not to think about it and the main thing right now was the woman in front of him.
He knew that eventually they would find out, well actually he knew that Quanxi would find out first because she is the one who gets into his business more than the rest of the people.
But he didn't expect that he would find Quanxi and Hiro sitting at the table in some kind of interrogation, he could deduce that Quanxi was bombarding him with questions because he had the bottle of alcohol at hand.
"So..." Quanxi was the one who decided to break the silence between them "Now you are a father"
Kishibe sighed, it was going to be a long night.
0O0O
Notes: Another chapter in English, i thank Incognito74 very much for leaving their comments, I really appreciate them and they help me improve. I'm sorry for the grammatical errors, I do what I can with this but it is somewhat complicated to edit a chapter that can reach six thousand words, besides that English is not my native language but I do what I can to correct errors.
I also noticed that in the previous chapter the translator took Hiro as a she, when in fact it should be a he. This is a somewhat common error of the translator, but better clarify that Hiro is a boy and not a girl, it was a translator error only.
See ya.