Trial 2.4: The Extra No One Asked For

After Sora broke down and lost consciousness, he was blinded by the burning lights.

Slowly opening his eyes, Sora appears in a corner of a building, and he sees a small and scrawny boy who looks like he is around the age of 3, sitting on the stairs, waiting to get picked up.

Sora: Wait... Is that me?

The small boy looks very similar to Sora, from what Sora remembers about the past.

Just then, a car drove by and halted at a stop, and the driver, a man, and a woman who was probably his wife, stepped out of the car and walked towards the small boy. 

???: Come, let's go.

The wife said to the little boy, and the boy followed. 

Sora just watched from one corner.

Just then, the man whispered to his wife:

“Why him? He’s just extra baggage.”

The wife whispers back:

"Not like I want to... It's my late brother's kid after all... Plus, my brother is smart; if he is even half as smart, it can bring glory to the family's name!"

They brought the kid into the car and drove off. 

Just then, Sora's shadow starts to glow red eyes and mouth. The mouth shaped into a smirk.

Shadow: You see... Your foster parents only wanted you due to your father's status... They thought you were a genius as well... You were never family. You were an investment… a failed one.

The shadow spoke with the same tone as the puppeteer who looks exactly like him. Sora decides to ignore it, for now at least. 

The whole world shifted, and the scenery changed. 

Sora now finds himself in a house's living room, with a family of 4 sitting at the dining table, eating. 

The two who seemed to be the father and the mother were happily talking to each other, while the other two children, a boy and a younger sister, both around the age of a grade schooler, were eating their food quietly. 

The father: Aoki got an award today. isn't my baby girl great? 

The mother: Our daughter is great, isn't she?

The mother said as she beamed. 

The boy sitting at the table was eating quietly, and he swallowed some saliva nervously before speaking up.

The boy: Hey Mum, Dad, I got a Most Improved award today in my subjects. 

The parents, instead of praising the boy as they praise their daughter, changed their faces from happy to cold. 

The father kept quiet while the mum slammed her chopsticks onto the table. 

The mother: Yeah, I saw. An F to a B? That neither mattered nor is impressive. It's not an A. 

She said bitterly while the father looked at the boy with disappointment.

The mother: You are a burden, unlike our beautiful daughter and your graceful sister. 

The boy is starting to lose his cool, and he stood up with tears about to flow out of his eyes. 

The boy: W... Why aren't you two proud of me for once... I put in lots of effort into my studies after I failed--

The mother slapped the boy hard on the cheek. 

The mother: Stop complaining. We gave you a home-- Isn't it enough? 

The boy, speechless, sat down and continued eating quietly. 

Sora watched in a corner sadly as his shadow's smirk grew even wider. 

Shadow: See? They never loved you. You are just an extra... A side character no one asked for. That's your truth, Sora. 

The Shadow then moved to the side of his ear and whispered:

Shadow: After Aoki got sick and bedridden, what did they do? They treated you like a free babysitter, dragging you out of the room where you shut yourself from the world, and occupied themselves with more work. They never cared. Not even once. 

Sora's tears began to flow down his face, and he immediately wiped them away, trembling. 

Sora: A... All I ever wanted from them is to be looked at least once... What is even the purpose of life if your only family members don't care for you...?

The shadow chuckled and let out a loud laugh. 

Shadow: Stop wishing for the impossible. Now let me show you reality. 

"Wake up."

The words slipped into his mind, and he opened his eyes. 

He is back on stage, body tied by the puppet strings, with the puppeteer who looks like him, with the same smirk as the shadow that he saw just now. 

Sora (Puppeteer): Now look at this. 

The Strings dragged him onto his knees and tilted his head forcefully to look at where the audience was sitting. 

His foster parents were sitting at the back, looking at him with an uninterested and cold look. 

Sora (puppeteer): You told me about what you wished just now, right? Here's your answer! 

Sora looked at them with eyes filled with despair.

Sora (puppeteer): You asked me just now, what is even the purpose of life if your only family members don't care for you, right? Well thing is you don't have one. You are just an extra no one asked for. 

Sora looked down with disbelief. 

Sora: You are wrong... YOU ARE WRONG!!!

The audience starts laughing hysterically as they watch Sora in denial.

"Look at him, he is so pathetic."

Shut up.

"Isn't the truth too obvious?"

Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.

"No one ever asked for his existence."

SHUTUP.SHUTUP.SHUTUP.SHUTUP.SHUTUP.SHUTUP.SHUTUP.SHUTUP.SHUTUP.SHUTUP

Sora: SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!

Sora starts breathing heavily, while the audience just continues laughing, and the puppeteer chuckles loudly. 

Sora (Puppeteer): Sora. Sora. Sora... Is the truth still not obvious to you? 

Sora shuts his eyes tightly while many things with nothing but negativity start running through his mind. 

He's right...

I'm nothing but an extra... A burden... That no one asked for...

I'm really stupid to think that I have a future in front of me. 

Sora is shattered; he looks up at the bright burning headlights with nothingness in his eyes.

 The puppeteer just chuckled even louder after seeing his face. He uses his big palm and slaps Sora's face lightly, causing Sora to lie on the ground motionless. 

Sora (puppeteer): I see. You are finally accepting your reality, just like...a broken doll. Let's have lots of fun together, Sora!

The puppeteer lifts Sora easily and starts making Sora dance again, while Sora does nothing to resist. 

Same loud laughter. Same loud chuckle. Same embarrassing dance to keep the audience entertained. But just then, a single whisper cut through--

???: Brother...wake up!!

Everything falls silent. The puppeteer freezes. The audience fades into shadows.

Sora (puppeteer): ...No… not her.

Sora then turned his head slowly, and his eyes, with nothingness in them, started to widen.

Sora: A... Aoki...?