Past: A Silent Home

"So? What do you want to talk about?" Yui asked after she took a sip of her tea.

It was Wednesday afternoon. Kazuma invited Yui over to his house after school.

"About myself." Kazuma answered as he placed some snacks on the table.

Thanks to Emma, he finally mustered up his courage to tell her. Just like Emma told him on Sunday, he had to take into consideration if Yui was someone who would be scared off by him after hearing everything. The answer he came up with was a no.

However, it took him two days to realize it.

"Are you sure?" she asked as she looked at him worriedly.

"Yes." he replied with a determined look.

He took a deep breath.

It was finally time to reveal his past to her.

"It will be a long story, you know?"

"It's fine. Just take your time and don't force yourself, okay?"

He smiled.

"Now then, let me start..."

Thus started the revelation of Ichinose Kazuma's past and his traumatic scars.

Four years ago.

A 13 year old boy with black hair and hazelnut brown eyes was on his way home. He wore his middle school uniform in a sloppy way with his shirt being untucked. In addition, his face was covered with a few band-aids.

The people he passed by looked at him in an appalling way but he did not care as he continued to gnaw on his toothpick.

"I'm home!" he said after he entered his house.

But there was no response.

"Thought so..." he commented annoyed.

He went to the living room which was also connected to the kitchen. He would always do that after he was home.

There, he found dishes wrapped up in cling film on the eating table.

"..."

Beside the dishes, there was a note.

'Sorry Kazuma, but we're at work. Heat up the food when you're hungry. Love you! Mom.'

"How surprising." Kazuma commented sarcastically.

It was still early for dinner. Therefore, Kazuma decided to take a short nap in his room.

Creak.

Exhausted, he fell on his bed.

Not being able to fall asleep, he gazed at the ceiling expressionlessly.

"Hey mom, how about letting me do the cooking for tonight's dinner? You must be tired from always taking care of Rika, right? So get some rest and leave her in dad's hands!"

"Oh my, how kind of you, Yui. I appreciate your idea but I think I would have more worries if I let Rika alone with your dad..."

"That's true, hehehe!"

With the window in his room being open, a conversation between a mother and her daughter was heard from outside.

"..."

Kazuma recognized these voices. They were the voices from his neighbors. It was the Nagisa family. His parents would occasionally chat with them. He also knew that their eldest daughter was about his age. But they never talked to each other because he could not stand her.

No. It was not because she could not stand her. It was because he was jealous of her. 

The relationships within her family was more than just superb. Kazuma would always hear them laugh together when they were outside. When his parents were home, he would always hear stories about how his parents met their family when they were for example shopping or on the way home.

The Nagisa household was the perfect family.

They were everything Kazuma wished for.

While he was in thoughts, he slowly fell asleep.

Three hours passed until Kazuma woke up.

"Oh, crap. Did I sleep that long?" he said with a yawning voice as he watched the orange colored sky.

"Guess, I'll eat now."

Kazuma proceeded to heat the food up the prepared food and ate dinner by himself.

After he was done, he washed the plates.

During the whole time, no sound was heard. Only the sound of eating and washing plates. For Kazuma, it was everyday life.

To kill some time, he watched TV. But after one hour passed, he got bored and turned the TV off.

"Only 9 pm, huh?" he said with no signs of emotions in his voice.

He brushed his teeth and changed his clothes to his pajamas.

Creak.

And again, he fell on his bed.

But he had no desire to sleep yet.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

It was so silent that only the ticking of the clock was heard in the house.

Ring.

Suddenly, his phone rang.

"Mom?"

"Oh, hello honey! Sorry again but it seems like mom and dad have to stay even longer at work. So go to bed early, yes? Love, you!"

Beep. Beep.

Not having a chance to reply, she hung up.

Kazuma heard how the busy she was as he heard all the noise and panic in the background. Despite all the noise, he still tried to focus on his mother's warm and lovely voice.

"A seven second call this time, huh? Two seconds more than last time." he commented after he saw the duration of the call.

He laid his right forearm on his eyes.

"Tch." he clicked his tongue.

"I... I hate you."

No, he did not. He loved his parents more than anything else on the world. However, this very love was the cause for all his pain and suffering.

Just like every other child, he wanted to spend time with his family. But he knew it was hard in his situation.

His parents were high-ranking police officers and were most of the time busy with work. Kazuma understood that they had to work. And yet he wanted them to be there for him. In the end, it was just wishful thinking.

Kazuma tried everything to get their attention, even if he had to resort to sly and malicious actions. He faked an illness or injury, he skipped school and he also began to fight other people. He did it all only to have his parents come to him.

They may scolded him for his actions but he did not really care. He knew that he was in the wrong. But if it meant that he could see his mother and father then it did not matter to him.

In the beginning, they would often appear but after a while, the times they would come gradually sank.

"9:41 pm..."

Kazuma hopped off his bed and changed his clothes again.

"Maybe I will take a walk around the block."

After making himself ready, he left the house and walked around aimlessly.

It was already dark outside. There were no people on the streets. It was as silent as at his house.

Only the cries of the owls were heard in this night as Kazuma walked alone.

Creak. Creak.

Kazuma heard the sounds of rusty metal rubbing. Curious about the source of the noise, he went into its direction until he arrived at the playground of the neighborhood.

There, Kazuma witnessed how a boy was using the swings which created the creaking sounds.

"Hm? Who's there?" the mysterious boy asked.

He took one last swing and then jumped off.

The boy landed smoothly and walked into Kazuma's direction.

Kazuma still looked unbothered and waited for him.

After the boy was illuminated by the street lamp Kazuma was currently standing under, he was able to take a good look at the boy.

The boy was approximately his age. He had emerald green eyes and his long black hair, which was parted in the middle, reached to his earlobes.

"A kid? What are you doing here at this hour?" the boy asked Kazuma.

"I could ask you the same."

"Nobody is at home. So I came here to play on my own." he shrugged his shoulders with his hands in his pockets.

"I see. Well, sorry for disturbing your fun." Kazuma said indifferently and turned around to walk away.

"H-hey, wait!" the boy panicked.

"What's wrong?"

"Why don't you hang out with me for a bit?" he suggested with a huge and excited smile.

Kazuma checked the time on his phone.

It was 10:23 pm.

He sighed.

"Just for a bit, okay?" he gave in since he could not say no to the pure smile.

"Nice!"

Then, the boy grabbed Kazuma's arm and dragged him to all the things on the playground.

And as they spent time together, Kazuma also started to have fun and laughed together with the boy without Kazuma noticing.

"Oh, crap! What time is it now?!"

After a while, Kazuma had to check his phone again.

11:03 pm.

"Oh no! My parents will be home in under 30 minutes! Sorry, I have to go now!" Kazuma said in shock.

"Oh, okay! Let's hang out together again!" the boy waved him goodbye.

"Sure!" Kazuma waved back with a smile.

With Kazuma gone, the boy was alone again. His smile slowly faded away.

"Hm?"

The boy looked into the direction where Kazuma was a few moments ago because he heard someone running.

"... haaaa.... haaa... I forgot to ask for your name! I'm Ichinose Kazuma."

Kazuma, who was out of breath, held his hand out for a handshake.

A smile returned on the boy's face as he shook Kazuma's hand.

"I'm Kanzaki Shinya!"