Chapter 8 Arc 1 — "A Boy Named Sakoiya"

A bell chimed...

Suddenly, it was morning. Just a few moments ago, Sasaki had sworn that it was nighttime. The weather was now clear compared to earlier.

Maybe he was going through the circles of hell.

Sasaki continued walking by the sidewalk, looking at the busy traffic, the nostalgic buildings, and the makeshift shelters on the sidewalk.

It was clear he may be in hell right now. Because why would there be homeless people in heaven? Is god struggling with inflation and traffic? If so, then he'd certainly died at a bad time to die.

By the corner was a boy with long hair covering his entire face, walking on the sidewalk, wearing an identical jacket to his.

He didn't look familiar to Sasaki, but his body begged to differ. For some reason, everything felt too nostalgic.

Was it because of dying? Maybe he was starting to miss the days he was alive.

—Never mind.

He continued to walk by, carefree and without a clue of where he was truly heading.

“Hey kiddo, you're Hanae's kid, right? ”

Sasaki paused for a moment, turning in the direction of the voice. Three men were sitting on a box, typical day-to-day thugs. Petty enough to pick on a little kid passing by.

But something bugged Sasaki in the back of his mind.

—Hanae? Why does that name…

“So what if I am? ”

“Mind giving your mommy a call? We need to get breastfed too.”

“She already quit that line of work, scram.”

The boy continued to walk, irritated by their antics. He'd already experienced it every day, but it wasn't something you'd just get used to. It was disrespectful.

The large man grabbed the boy's slim arm.

“Hey, we ain't done talking to you, kid.”

“I think you are done talking to him.”

Sasaki confronted the man with a serene look in his eyes. Devoid of life. Considering that he had already died, his banal appearance was the norm.

“Who are you? You're this kid's father? ”

“If you're that kid's father, it must mean…”

Sasaki sighed, exasperated with all the assumptions he'd come through his entire journey in the afterlife.

Every single time he was about to help someone, he was always some kind of boyfriend of this Hanae person. He was starting to get annoyed.

“You must be Hanae's new boyfriend.”

"Don't make assumptions. I'm just a passerby helping this kid out. I don't know anyone named Hanae."

“Yeah, I call bullshit! ”

One of the men behind the large man charged with a haymaker. The charge time was so predictable to Sasaki that he'd simply caught the man firmly gripping it with both of his hands.

He flipped him over the ground, unintentionally piercing his leg with the small spiked fence placed on the side of one of the apartment buildings.

“Ah–Ah! M-my leg! ”

“It's your fault for charging at me in the first place.”

The large man was incensed, throwing the kids at Sasaki.

—What the hell?

He caught the kid with both arms before looking in front and seeing the man about to deal a direct hit on Sasaki's face.

He couldn't counterattack in time as he was still holding the kid with both hands; moreover, he couldn't dodge either because he was going to hit the kid if he did.

Sasaki sighed, leaving him no choice. Blocking the man's strong blow with the kid's face. The man was shocked as Sasaki peeked behind him with a lifeless glare.

“Wha— Hold up— Argh! ”

He blocked his punch with a random kid's face. He was supposed to be helping him so he wouldn't get hurt, but instead, he helped himself.

Throwing the kid by the side, Sasaki stomped his kneecap, breaking his leg; he retracted his footing, striking his temple with a lead hook, knocking him down.

He turned to the other man behind him, his hands shaking, and his face was pale like he'd seen a ghost. Well… he's technically looking at one standing in front of him.

“You with them? ”

“N—no man, I live by this apartment, and I wanted to get some fresh air.”

Sasaki stared at him blankly. The man with a pierced leg, still wailing in pain. He knew he was just trying to get out of a beating. If he spared him, he might call more people, and if he didn't-

“I see. Well, you see, I'm doing a survey.”

“Y-yeah… what survey? ”

“A durability survey.”

He kicked the man's face, breaking his nose, and followed up with a slam on one of the steps in the small stairway. He turned to the man with the pierced leg.

“Should I help you out there? ”

“Y—you bastard! ”

Sasaki walked over to him, staring at his defenseless body lying on the floor. His leg was stuck elevated on the railing, slowly descending to the bottom.

“Well, good luck there, bud.”

Sasaki stomped his face, shutting him up for good. He turned to the kid, dizzy from the hit he took earlier.

“You good there?”

“Try getting punched by a gorilla and ask yourself that.”

“You're exaggerating… Well, anyway, what's your name? ”

The kid paused for a moment, as if thinking of an answer.

“Zhakya.”

He answered with an accent that unintentionally blurted out of his mouth. Although with an eastern-like accent, Sasaki clearly understood what he was implying.

“Sakoiya? What kind of name is that? ”

Sasaki lent his hand, helping the kid stand up.

“I don't know; I only remember my mother naming me Sakoiya.”

“Where's your mother? ”

Sakoiya walked forward, while Sasaki followed him. Curious about his origins. Trying to find a reason why his body felt so familiar to him.

“I don't remember. I don't remember anything about my childhood. I just remember my name, my sister, and me getting nicked by a hag.”

“A hag?”

“You haven't heard them mention her name earlier? Hanae.”

The name felt familiar to Sasaki, although the sense of familiarity might've been because they mentioned her name earlier before he fought them.

“I see.”

The two continued walking silently next to the moderate traffic. After a while, Sasaki seemed to recognize the place they're currently in.

He paused, turning to his left at a dark alleyway. He knew there was a direction heading to an abandoned school if you passed by the skirts of that alleyway. The same place where he played cat and mouse with Kouji.

“What's wrong? ”

Sakoiya looked worried as he looked at Sasaki's lifeless face. He shrugged it off, looking back at him with an anxious smile.

“Nothing. That alley just felt familiar, that's all.”

"I see. It's nothing special, though; it's just an alley that leads to an empty school. Though sometimes we hear voices in there, as if there were people — Huh? What's wrong? ”

Sasaki looked pale. Sakoiya tried to touch his arm, yet his hand jolted away like he'd touched someone made out of chiselled ice.

“That coffee shop…”

Sasaki pointed at it, his hands trembling as he looked into the window, seeing what looked like Momo and Miyuki sitting by one of the stools.

They looked younger than they do now. children. Talking to a young woman at the counter who seems to be in her mid-twenties. They seem close with each other, but Sasaki never recalled Miyuki talking to a woman who looked like her. Nostalgia drowned Sasaki's thoughts.

A look of dread engraved his face as Sakoiya shook the cloth from his gray jacket in concern for the man's sanity.

“Sasaki, what's wrong? ”

—Sasaki?

He turned slowly at the boy with a horrific look in his eyes. He'd never mentioned his name to him. Not even once.

“How do you know my name? ”

“What do you mean? Hanae-san gave you that name, didn't she? Sakoiya.”

To Be Continued...