Ignorance Is Bliss

“I think I have matured since then. I hope I have. If I had a chance to erase it, I’d erase it all.”

Natsume had just finished speaking. His eyes were moist. He was scared that he hadn’t changed even now.

“You really loved her, didn’t you?” Ayane said.

“I don’t have the right to say that.” Natsume replied as he looked up to the starry night sky.

“You just weren’t ready to handle love.”

“Yea...”

Natsume remained silent for some time as he continued to look at the sky. He was still contemplating the past.

‘Will I ever be ready?’

Then Natsume looked at Ayane and Akihiro, put on a forced smile, and said “Let’s go home, it’s late!”

----

Akihiro had just dropped them off at the station and was walking back home. It was cold and silent. It was so quiet, he could even hear the sound of the faint drizzle.

Amidst the silence, he suddenly heard someone’s footsteps. He looked back and saw the figure of the same man in a black coat, who he had seen earlier. The man’s face wasn’t clear as it was a moonless night, but it was definitely the same man from before.

-Sync Complete-

The man had stopped walking. He stood at a distance from Akihiro, far enough to remain hidden, yet close enough to be heard.

“I didn't give you life, but I am the reason for your existence. Yet you radiate such hostility. Why? Do you not remember me?"

Akihiro was an adopted child. According to his parents, he was found on the beach. He had no blood relatives. Thus the man’s question perplexed him.

“What? Who are you?”, Akihiro asked.

The man chuckled to himself.

“I see, I see…I’m a little sad that you don’t remember me but there’s nothing we can do about it. It seems like you don’t remember yourself either.”

“Remember myself...?”

“This mundane yet peaceful life of yours would come to an end if you were to find out who you are.”

“What are you talking about?”

“They say ‘Ignorance is bliss’. And after all, you can actually feel the bliss right?” the man started walking away, “Enjoy it while you can. The flower that sticks out of the bush is the first to get plucked. Make one wrong move and everything will come crashing down.”

The man took a turn into the dark alleyway. Akihiro ran behind him, but the man had already disappeared into the shadows.

“feel the...bliss?” Akihiro mumbled to himself.

----

The next day, Akihiro met Natsume on the way to school. As usual, Natsume desperately made jokes while Akihiro paid no attention and silently walked along.

“Damn making you laugh is pretty impossible. I’m literally the funniest person on this planet; You just lack a sense of good humour.”, Natsume said.

“Yeah Yeah...”, Akihiro said sarcastically as he was not really paying attention to the whole conversation. This continued until they reached the entrance of the school.

“Oh look! It’s the Princess of the Crimson Red Flame!!”, Natsume said excitedly.

Ayane had been staring at her shoe locker and was lost in thought.

“Good morning, Ayane.”, Akihiro said.

“Oh good morning!”, Ayane snapped out of her thoughts and replied.

“Damn...there’s a lot of junk in your shoe locker.”, Natsume said.

“Ahha…uhhh…I didn’t want to carry it home so I dumped it here. I guess I need to clean it now, right? Haha.”, Ayane laughed awkwardly.

“If you need my help, ask for it. I can help you clean your shoe locker.”, Natsume said.

“Ah no no, it’s okay. It’s my shoe locker after all.”

“Ah ‘kay then.”, Natsume said and walked away with Akihiro to the classroom.

----

Lunch break had just started. As usual, Shinoda went with his friends to their usual spot to hang out. He was simple-minded but physically very strong. Since he was young, he had always indulged in violence.

The scars on his face confirmed that he was the leader of the area’s biggest gang, ‘Renji-kai’ which had connections with the local Yakuza. Although the ‘Renji-kai’ mostly consisted of students, due to Shinoda’s leadership, it was one of the most feared gangs in the city.

Infamous for his extremely violent behaviour and anger issues, Shinoda had been on the brink of expulsion. But that didn’t stop him. In fact, the activities of the ‘Renji-kai’ had been on the rise.

“Ever since you rejected Rumi-chan, Shinoda-san has been trying desperately to get her attention. It’s so hilarious watching him try.”, Natsume joked.

“I don’t really pay attention to him so I wouldn’t know.”, Akihiro responded, uninterested as ever.

“Umm Natsume, can I borrow a pen?”, Ayane interrupted.

“Oh my! Oh my! The princess has resorted to begging. Ha! You always take care of your things so how did you forget to get one today?”

“Ah haha, I actually lost my whole pouch. So I don’t really have any stationary.”, Ayane said and laughed awkwardly.

Natsume opened his pouch and searched through his stationary. “Okay here’s a pen and a pencil too so that you don’t have to go to Mizouchi-kun for it again.”

“Oh, you knew? He saw that I didn’t have a pencil with me, so he gave me one. He’s so sweet.”

“You have been spending quite some time with him recently right?”, Natsume asked.

“I guess recently yea. He talks to me quite frequently, and he is super nice.”, Ayane replied.

“Every action is committed for profit. Even the most charitable acts benefit the donor in a way. There’s nothing a man does that gives him no returns.”, Natsume said.

“Mizouchi-kun is genuinely a very nice person. I don’t think he has any motives behind his actions. In fact, I’ve been relying on him a little too much these days. And so…can I also borrow your English notebook?”

“You can have mine, I completed them.”, Akihiro said.

“Ahh…no, it’s okay. I’ll write them on my own. Anyway, lunch break is about to end...I’ll go now.”, Ayane said.

“People are desperate for entertainment. To remove the whole tree completely, you need to poison the roots. If you need my help, ask for it.”

“Thanks Natsume, but I don’t have any problems now. I appreciate it though.”, Ayane smiled and said as the bell rang. “Oh time to go, bye!”.

----

“Why did she not want my notes?”, Akihiro asked Natsume.

“Isn’t that obvious? You saved her, and she is struggling to pay it back, and now you want her to receive more help from you? Her conscience wouldn’t allow her to accept it.”

Akihiro wasn’t able to say anything. His head hurt again, but he showed no signs of distress.

“She wouldn’t ask me for help emotionally either because she knows that I might get irritated and lose my cool, and belittle her.”, Natsume said. “Mizouchi-kun is literally an angel in her life. He appeared at the perfect time.”

----

School had ended, and students were walking back home. Natsume and Akihiro were walking down the hall as they had planned to meet Ayane at the school gate. That’s when they bumped into Shinoda Watanabe and a few other members of the infamous ‘Renji-kai’ who were circling him.

Shinoda stopped walking and the hallway was blocked.

“Can you move to the side?”, Natsume requested politely.

None of them moved at all.

Their disrespectful behaviour pissed Natsume off.

"DID YOU NOT HEAR IT THE FIRST TIME??", Natsume ordered.

The sudden change in Natsume’s tone startled everyone. The people around Shinoda instinctively started moving to one side to allow the both of them to pass through.

“Don’t let him order you around!”, Shinoda yelled.

“Oho, so this is how we’re going to play it, huh?”, Natsume said in a condescending tone.

“Let’s just turn back and use the other staircase.”, Akihiro suggested.

“No point, he won’t allow us. It’s not a coincidence that we bumped into him here. He has some business to finish, RIGHT SHINODA-SAN?”, Natsume said.

“Yea that’s right. I’m here to teach you both what happens when you make Rumi- chan cry.”

“Oh, I’m so scared…” Natsume said sarcastically.

“OH, YOU BETTER BE!” Shinoda tried to charge towards Natsume and Akihiro to fight them, but his friend stopped him.

“We can’t fight here on school grounds, you will get suspended.”, the friend said.

“YEA! You are physically no match for me. I’d be forced to apologize to your mother after I beat the living crap out of you.”

“COME HERE YOU BI-“ Shinoda was held back again by another friend. Few others also began to hold him back. Now he was being held back by more than 3 guys. Shinoda took a deep breath and calmed down a little bit.

“Why don’t you beat me in the upcoming sports festival, if you think you’re better than me?”

“Deal! I’ll show you how delusional you are about your physical strength.”

“It will be me vs. both of you. If you win, I’ll accept your physical superiority and apologise. But if I win, you both must bow down and apologise to Rumi-chan for making her cry that day.”

“Fine, let’s do this. I can’t wait to see you bow down to me and accept the truth!”, Natsume said.

“And I can’t wait to see you both apologize to Rumi-chan!”

“HAHA! DO YOU THINK SHE WILL NOTICE YOU BECAUSE OF THIS? There’s no way she will ever look at your face. You aren’t worthy of her attention.”, Natsume provoked him. “Even though she’s dating you, she barely cares about you. You both are still just strangers. Sucks to be you, I guess.”

Shinoda couldn’t hold his rage anymore. He tried moving forward to attack them but the guys around him held him back.

“LEAVE ME, I’M GONNA KILL HIM!”, he screamed while all his friends struggled to hold him back.

Natsume and Akihiro turned around and slowly started walking away.

“Try it next time...” Natsume said as he walked out of Shinoda’s sight.