A World Without Joy

“You never get me!” A scream echoed through the dusty, cracked walls. Following suit, the sound of thumping feet sent rummaging along the hallways – the subject in question was purposely showing off their anger.

Naturally, what had to come in fact came. There was a sound of clacking from the door being unlocked, then a creek to signify it being open, and finally, a slam, shutting off what little light that shone into the house prior…

Or at least, that would normally be the case. However, just a second later, the sound of the door creaking open echoed again, and another round of stomping followed.

“I thought you were leaving?” A woman’s voice sounded, amused by the ordeal.

“I forgot my phone! Now I’m leaving for real!” The voice from before answered, this time bearing little anger to make the features of a young boy discernible to the regular ear.

The boy’s name was Sato Fukei, and he just threw a tantrum – an occurrence that bore one too many times in his few years on this Earth.

As the boy stormed off the road, memories of his old days returned to him. And along with it, his old habits.

“Stupid hag,” the boy mumbled, kicking up dust and pebbles with each step. Whenever he needed to vent, his feet naturally found whatever on the road to suffer from his wrath.

A can flew onto the air. “She never even took care of me properly!”

Another pile of leaves destroyed, its golden, dead inhabitants crushed under the might of a kick. “Always nagging! Whenever I do anything, she’s somehow upset! Every single day!”

He soon ran out of things to kick away, however. But it was fine. At times like these, there was always a conveniently-placed lamp post nearby.

And this time, it bore the full force of the boy’s footprint.

“This is why the old man left us!”

And at times like this, his mind often wandered back to his unpleasant memories, so much that he often didn’t notice the scenery around him. This time was no exception, as a large “thud” and a sharp pain as his behind met concrete snapped Fukei from his daydream.

“Hey! What’s the big…” he was about to shout, but was soon met by a friendly hand.

It was a rather dashing middle-aged man, possibly in his early thirties. His neatly-kept hair contrasted his rather casual look of a shabby grey overcoat and jeans. “Sorry, it was my bad,” the man flashed a friendly smile.

The gesture, however, was responded with a quick slap away. “... I’m good.”

Satou Fukei wasn’t a boy raised with love in mind. And so, he didn’t know how to treat people with the same feelings he lacked.

But it didn’t stop the man from continuing. “Something bothering you, young man?” He asked, his smile still present.

“What’s in it for you?” Fukei grunted. “I’m just a damn brat.”

“Whenever a child is angry, it’s an adult’s responsibility to atone for the cause. It’s what I believe in.” The man answered.

Faced with genuine kindness for the first time in his life, Fukei could only breathe a sigh.“I’m not angry at you. Now get out of my way.”

“I can’t let that go by,” the man shook his head while reaching for his pocket. He pulled out a foldable wallet… or rather, what only looks to be one.

Inside was no money. Instead, it was a portrait of himself in a familiar blue uniform.

“Kidou Shinsuke, superintendent at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Force.” The man answered, still smiling even as he put away his badge. “I can’t leave a child wandering about like this.”

“Hypocrite.” Fukei spat.

“Call me what you will, but I have to get you home safely. Where’s your address?”

“Don’t wanna tell.”

“Alright, I’ll just follow you then.”

Fukei thought that the man was only saying it. Little did he think that he was indeed being followed around – whenever he went straight, the man also went straight, and whenever he turned, the man turned as well.

It was a situation that he’d never want to experience. At the nearest sight of a corner, Fukei accelerated, instantly disappearing from the policeman’s eyesight.

But because of the sudden turn, Fukei had little care about his surroundings. And so, it wasn’t a surprise to see him crashing into another figure yet again.

“Hey! …” This time, Fukei could also only say so much. For the sheer oddity of the sight before him was enough to instantly shut his mouth.

Facing him was a group of four children all around his age – some adolescent pre-teens to teenagers, perhaps in their final year of primary school or in middle school. They weren’t wearing any uniform; just casual T-shirts and shorts one could find anywhere in a store – in all sense, they were just regular kids.

That is, if you didn’t take a look at their current expressions.

Every single one of them, without fail, was grinning ear to ear. From the one that crashed into Fukei, to the ones surrounding him. They were so overjoyed, their teeth – some pure white, some slightly darkened from cavities – were showing all the while.

Fukei was having none of that. Grabbing one of the kid’s collar, he yelled.

“Do you think this is funny?”

“What? No!” The one being grabbed answered, yet his mouth did not change. In fact, he was still smiling, so much that one would even wonder where the sound even came from.

But naturally, that would only anger Fukei even more. Balling his hand into a fist, the boy threw a swift punch at the recipient’s cheek. “Stop grinning, you bastard!”

Even after being hit, the kid still remained unchanged. Almost as if his face was already frozen to be in this specific state.

“Sorry if I offended you, but really, I wasn’t laughing at you!” The kid stood up almost immediately, dusting off his clothes while still keeping his smile. “See, it’s because of Smile World!”

“Smile World?” Fukei asked. He had never come across the name before. Perhaps it was a fad among kids his age, as he was admittedly not much of a sociable figure among his peers.

“Smile World!” The opposing boy answered. “It’s a world with only smiles! All your worries will go away once you go to Smile World! We’re going to Smile World right now! Wanna come with?”

“Uh… no thanks,” Fukei only took a second to answer. “Carry on, then.”

As the group left the premises, he breathed out a large sigh.

“What creeps,” Fukei exclaimed. There was something about their smile that was… off. They were grinning so much, and everyone was wearing the exact same smile. From the way their mouths curled up at each end, to how their teeth were showing, to how their eyes were squinting so hard they might as well be completely closed – no wonder they crashed into him when it happened; no one was even looking at the road.

And so, he decided that it was best to avoid them. However, unlike those kids, he couldn’t avoid the grown man still following him for the whole day.

“Were those your friends?” The policeman named Kidou asked.

“Tch,” Fukei clicked his tongue. The short encounter just now had made him forget about the annoyance behind him.

But he knew there was no use avoiding the matter. “No.”

“Oh… were they your classmates at least.”

“No. Now leave me alone.”

“I can’t do that. Not until you’ve returned home safely.”

“My house is over there.” Fukei smacked his forehead in frustration, his other hand pointing far down the horizons.

“Okay, let’s go then!” Unfortunately for him, the policeman didn’t seem like he’d stop that easily.

As the two got closer to the building in Fukei’s direction, the boy couldn’t help but breathe another sigh as its silhouette grew larger under the crimson shadow of the setting sun. He had only pointed in a random direction without much thought, yet now that he had gotten close enough, the familiar run-down, shabby walls of his dreaded home were indeed in front of him.

Fukei took out his keys and opened the lock. “See? It’s my house. Now can you let me go?”

“Well… okay,” the policeman scratched his head. “Stay safe out there!”

“Speak for yourself.” Fukei spat. Without waiting for a response, he went inside and slammed the door shut.

However, the act had awoken the voice of contempt he so wished to not hear.

“Where have you been?”

“What does that have to do with you?” Fukei answered without a lick of emotion.

As he turned the door to the kitchen open, there was nothing on the table; only a kettle and two half-broken glasses.

“What’s this? Where’s the food?” He asked.

“There’s none today,” his mother answered, not even turning around from her spot in the kitchen. She was standing, but she wasn’t even doing anything – just a sequence of meaningless action of stirring an empty pan.

“What do you mean? Is that what a mother is supposed to say?”

“If there’s not any, then I say there’s not any! What else do you want me to say, you ingrate?”

“I don’t know, how about you act like a parent for once and provide your children with a good meal!?”

“You… insolent!”

Before Fukei had realized the situation, his face had already been scalded, followed by an impact that shook his entire body. Everything happened in a flash, so much that he didn’t even have time to register what had actually happened.

All he knew was immense pain and equally as excruciating heat, both happening almost all at once. Then, everything around him slowly faded into black.

However, he still had just enough of a consciousness left to hear the last few words from his mother before his system completely shut down.

“I wish I never gave birth to you!”