Repeated Words

Yuki took his time walking towards the five boys letting the presence speak for itself. It made all of their minds turn wild with fears and ideas of what might happen. They had just seen their leader utterly defeated in a single attack. Knowing that had happened was more than enough to paralyze them all in their step.

Yuki knew that he didn't have to do much of anything with this type of opponent. He might have been past his fighting days, but street gangs were a very simple bunch for him to deal with. The need for powers wasn’t required. Striking down the head and adding a little fear always had put what seemed imbalanced firmly in his corner. ‘This is almost boring…’

The grin on his face grew a little more painting panels of imagery in the boys’ minds as what Yuki might be thinking. In the last few steps Yuki broke into a full sprint taking down two boys with a loud punch to their stomachs. Hearing their companions knocked down was enough to break the others out of their paralysis. They tried to surround him from behind to rescue their unconscious friends.

Yuki tilted his head a little hearing their footsteps closing as expected. He took his left foot up spinning behind himself to smash his dirty sneakers through the cheeks of the three remaining boys. The boys dropped to the ground sharply out cold.

A small sigh came from Yuki with a job well done. “You’re safe now!” He looked back over to the person that he had just rescued and blinked. The distance covered between them was in an instant putting Yuki staring face to face with Haruo. “Hey! You’re that guy from the ninja girl’s place!”

Chapter 76 – Repeated Words

Yuki stared on longer trying to remember his name (actually went to rescue an unknown person). Unfortunately, even looking closer at him didn't seem to make the name come to him. When he pulled away Yuki’s features changed suddenly as it seemed that the name was finally coming to him. “You’re…really quiet!”

‘Still as carefree and clueless as the last time.’ He straightened back up easily ignoring the previous blows. There was a more pressing matter for him. “Why’d you do that?”

By the time that Haruo had actually begun speaking Yuki was already out of sight. The quiet words weren't enough for Yuki to hear. Haruo looked around trying to find where Yuki had gone. He found Yuki behind him walking towards a property wall of a house with a boy in tow over his shoulder. ‘What’s going on? He’s speaking to me one second and then doing something else…’ Haruo followed Yuki out of curiosity when he picked up the next boy.

He watched Yuki drop the kid gently down propped up against the wall. Once Yuki went back he could see that there were three others from the small band lined up together all unconscious. He treated them carefully. ‘Why’s he helping them? He just mercilessly wiped them out a minute ago looking like he was enjoying it and yet now he’s showing them kindness…kindness that they never would show… What’s with him?’

Haruo had to keep watching just to see what was going to happen next. “Why?”

Yuki turned his head a little, looking a bit surprised to see Haruo next to him. “Huh?”

“Why did you help them?”

“Oh!” Once the question was made clear to Yuki he stared up into the sky for a moment. He pulled his head back down to look at Haruo directly. Yuki had a smile on his face as he spoke. “Because they’re people too! They might be bad guys, but that shouldn’t mean that they should be treated poorly just because they’re sleeping.”

It appeared to be an honest answer and oddly naïve for Haruo to hear. “But they’ll want revenge on you when they wake up.”

“Then I guess we should be somewhere else when they wake up!” Yuki said cheerfully as he ran around behind Haruo swiftly. He started pushing on Haruo to encourage him to move despite his own uncertainty and confusion.

Haruo looked back at Yuki protesting, but all he saw when he looked back was the same pleasant expression as before. It was enough to make Haruo decide to walk without the push. ‘Because they’re people? It’s true I guess, but nothing is that simply defined… How can he treat it as such?’

“Haruo!” Yuki shouted so loudly it was difficult to actually determine the emotions attached.

Determined or not, it was enough to rudely break Haruo out of his internal trance. ‘What’s wrong now?’

Yuki looked back over at Haruo. “I just remembered that your name was Haruo! It’s been bugging me since I saw you. I was so relieved that I finally figured it out!”

A twitch developed momentarily in Haruo’s eye as he heard the empty excuse. ‘He yelled that loud just because he remembered my name?’ It became tiring around Yuki with his excitable personality. ‘Empty frivolities…this is why I prefer to be alone…’

After Haruo had been too quiet for too long (determined solely on a metric by Yuki) Yuki jumped in front of Haruo planning on getting his attention. “You’re a pretty strong looking guy, Haruo! How come you were letting them beat you up like that? I bet with those muscles you could lay them out flat easily!”

‘You wouldn’t understand…’ Persistence was Yuki’s only useful talent against Haruo. Haruo hoped that Yuki would just give up like everyone else. However, silence wasn’t working on Yuki. “Why did you stop them?”

“Do I need a reason? I did it because I wanted to help someone with a problem. That’s what people do. When you can’t do it alone there are others to support you!”

Haruo had nothing to say back to him and even his mind was blank for a moment. Such a selfless answer wasn’t what he expected to hear. The familiar sentiment gave him pause.

‘Do I need a reason? I did it because I wanted to help someone with a problem. That’s what people do. When you can’t do it alone there are others to support you.’ They might have been Yuki’s words, but someone else’s voice spoke it in his mind.

The longer that the words hung in his mind the further back he was sent through his mind. He returned to a time when he was just entering junior high school and alone. It was a common life for him that he had known for as long as he could remember. Being alone was something that he had chosen for himself, it was preferred over what he had dealt with before.

‘Junior high was supposed to be the start of my new life. That was what I had decided on doing when I left. I wasn’t going to turn back and return to that, but I was too young to know what to do. That didn’t stop me though. I was determined to do it alone and prove them all wrong…’

Haruo, age twelve, sat in his homeroom class. It had only been a week since the school year had begun. The young students talked with each other before class began. Haruo kept to himself and would have gone unnoticed if he didn’t look like he came from a trash dumpster.

He was on his own for the first time so he was not able to do many of the things that were considered standard maintenance. The school had only given him a single uniform due to how he had entered, leaving him to make do with some hand-me-downs that he had got. Their size was too large for him, leaving it to hang poorly on him.

“Did you hear where he came from?” one boy said within earshot of him to the group. He ended up whispering it, passing on the info to the rest.

A girl pulled back a little in surprise. “No wonder. They must all live in a landfill!”

“We should get a little further away. I think I’m starting to smell him from here again.”

“Shouldn’t be surprised being a welfare case!”

“Yeah!”

The door to the class slid open immediately silencing everyone. Mr. Asanuma, the homeroom teacher, set his notebooks on the desk before looking out into the children. He scanned the room making a mental note on the state of the room before speaking. In the back corner, he saw Haruo alone looking attentive, but totally isolated. Haruo’s desk was even further away today than it was before. Mr. Asanuma narrowed grimly as he held speaking to the class further.

When the end of the day came and the students started to leave Mr. Asanuma appeared outside of Haruo’s class waiting, leaning against the wall. As he waited he could hear Haruo’s classmates picking on him again while never hearing Haruo say a word. “Afternoon, students!” he announced clearly in a loud voice that made all of the students jump a little in surprise. “All packed up now?” He looked down over a couple of the boys.

Some of the easily swayed boys had already hurried away and the girls followed. The last couple of stubborn boys turned to look at their homeroom teacher glaring back at him surprisingly defiant. “Yoneda needs to leave. He doesn’t belong here, teacher!”

“That’s not for you to decide,” Mr. Asanuma said calmly, “Everyone has a right to an education no matter their appearance.”

“But he smells bad!”

“And I bet you do as well after playing hard,” Mr. Asanuma teased. “You should be going on along.”

Both hurried out the class leaving the two alone. Haruo stood up carrying his bag with books over his shoulder planning to leave. Mr. Asanuma put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. “Yoneda, you have a little time to spare? I’d like to show you something, if it’s alright with you.”

Haruo looked up at the teacher in silence with a pensive look that seemed impossible to penetrate.

‘I wasn’t sure why he had done all that for me. No one ever bothered and I didn’t think they should. I had planned to just turn him down and leave without a word, but there was something that made me a little curious. Perhaps I just wanted an answer, but I followed him.’

His teacher led him out of the school and a few blocks away to his house. He offered Haruo his bath to use to clean up while he had his clothes cleaned. After a bath, there was food on the table where they remained in silence. Once finished Haruo considered leaving, but he still had questions.

Haruo pushed the plate away from him. He stared across the table at his teacher. “Why?” There was a serious deep expression on Haruo that had never known simple kindness.

“Do I need a reason?” his teacher quickly replied to Haruo. “I did it because I wanted to help someone with a problem. That’s what people do. When you can’t do it alone there are others to support you.” He picked up the plates and put them over on the counter by the sink.

Haruo stood up from the chair refusing to believe it was so simple. “What do you want? No one does anything for nothing! That’s not the way it works!”

Mr. Asanuma smiled for a moment, pleased by something that Haruo could not fathom. “I’m pleased to hear your voice. I think that’s the most I’ve heard from you even in class.”

“You’re weird.”

“Perhaps, but I don’t think silence is your answer. You have a strong mind and patience. There’s a lot you can do.”

“They aren’t worth the time. Everyone’s got selfish interests, it’s best just to ignore them.”

“I see…” His teacher became quiet once more, thinking deeply. It was several minutes before he said anything again. “It’s decided then!”

“What is?”

“I’m aware of your situation. So I want you to stay here!”

That was enough for him. Haruo narrowed his eyes and started to walk away. “It’s pity for you isn’t it? I won’t accept it. Everyone’s the same. I’ll do this alone.” He walked off back to the door starting to put his shoes back on.

Mr. Asanuma gave a sigh and entered the hallway looking down to the door where Haruo’s back was turned to him. “I guess I shouldn’t make decisions for you. How about this then? My door is always open for you to come and use my house whenever you need. If you need a bath it’s here. If you need food to eat it’s here. Come on your own terms, but you don’t have to be alone.”

‘I was determined. I thought he was doing it so that I owed him or for his own self satisfaction, yet he never asked or said anything. I found new uniforms at my desk in the morning that fit me. Eventually, I ended up returning insisting it was only for a bath since I had no money to afford it myself and he still said nothing to me. It was exactly as he said… He was…my support…’

Haruo shook off the memories looking back at Yuki. The words he still rang lightly in his ears. He let out a small sigh still not convinced of anything, but there was something that he was certain about. “You’re weird…”