Chapter Nineteen

Riki's presence was a big help for Akira. Although he was still not happy with his presence, he was grateful that he was taking care of David. He was back in his office, and his men were happy to see him again.

Everyone felt that a big change had happened to him. He still did not dye his hair, but his behavior became calmer, and even though he did not smile, his anger did not erupt either.

Riki had said that he would stay with them until December 28th and then return to Kyoto. He had only promised that he would come to see them again after sorting out his affairs. During this time he was present, he cared a lot about David and made the foreign boy gain some weight and look similar to the past.

Akira leaned back in his chair and looked at the cloudy sky; snow was in the way. Usually, when he got home, he saw Riki joking and talking with David. In the past three weeks, the foreign boy has been more responsive to his surroundings and has been smiling more, but his eyes are still expressionless, and he makes no effort to speak.

He sighed and said under his breath, “I feel that if instead of me, you had met that damn fox first, you would be much better now, David.” He didn't understand why he was jealous of Riki. But really, why? The Kyoto boy, unlike him, was happy and lively, did not get angry, and did not act harshly. He knew how to talk and how to spoil himself.

But most of all, he expressed his feelings without fear. He caressed David very easily or even took him to the bath without any problem. Maybe it was because of his close and unpretentious relationship with David that Akira felt jealous. He closed his eyes and said under his breath, “What's wrong, Akira? From the beginning, it was only a half-friendship between you and that foreign boy. What did you do for him except trouble and harm? What right do you have to...” He paused, then added, “feelings for him.”

Even though he said this to himself, he still wanted to tell David his true feelings one day. In the past eleven years, it had never been as enjoyable as the days spent with the foreign boy. The one week he lived in her house, traveling to Gifu and Nagoya, staying at the Sendai dorm, and exploring the city—all of them were unforgettable memories for him.

What if the boy never regained his health? It wasn't long until February 1st, and he didn't want to see David deported. He shook his head left and right to get rid of the negative thoughts, got up, and said, “It's useless to think; I'd better go home.” Just as he was about to put on his jacket, the office door opened, Tajima entered, and said, “Oh, are you leaving?”

- Yes, we don't have anything special to do. Remember, I won't be coming for a while from tomorrow on.

The man paused and said, “Uh, yeah, Azuma's coming back to Kyoto tomorrow, right? How long will you be gone?” Akira arranged his clothes and said, “I don't know; if that damn fox isn't home, I can't leave David alone. Don't count on me for at least 10–15 days; during this time, I'll leave the decisions of the office in your hands.”

Tajima smiled and said, “It's okay, don't worry. I hope Higuma recovers soon; the boss would love to see him again. Maybe after the New Year, we'll come to your house together with some guys; is that okay?” Akira said as he walked towards the door, “Yes, just let me know first. See you, Tajima-san,” the man said with a smile, “Bye Shinka, take care, and give my regards to Azuma and Higuma.”

He decided to walk home and do some shopping. As he walked, his mind went back to that bombing. The boss and Mikitani tried hard to find evidence, but all their searches were in vain. They could not even find the courier who had delivered the bag to the office.

Although Akira insisted that everything was under the control of the Nakayama Group, there was no evidence that they were involved in the explosion, and thus the boss was unwilling to discuss the matter with Keizo, the young head of the Nakayama Group.

He sighed and entered the store. It would be better to do the necessary shopping for the next few days so that he didn't have to leave David alone to buy the necessities. He left the store with two bags full of supplies and went to his house.

Sometimes he even thought that maybe this bombing was not the work of the Nakayama group and that someone else was behind the scenes. However, one question always bothered him, and that was, how did David find out about the bomb? He could not find anything about it.

With these mental conflicts, he did not understand at all how he reached the door of the house. Sighing, he put down one of the bags, took out his key, and opened the door. He then took the bag and entered the house.

Riki's laughter was coming from the main room. He walked slowly down the hallway and stood in the doorway to see what was going on. Riki, with a naked upper body and a towel on his shoulder, was standing in front of David and was drying his hair with a towel, while the foreign boy stretched out his healthy hand and touched his stomach, which caused a feeling of tickling, and Riki was laughing.

Akira looked at his body a little. Compared to his own body, Riki's was a bit slimmer and didn't have many muscles. He also did not have any tattoos or scars. Akira knew that he was strong in combat, because if he wasn't, he would never have been able to attain the position of Kyodai in Kyoto. But every time he saw him, he thought, how does this delicate boy have the ability to fight?

He sighed, cleared his throat loudly, and said, “I'm back.” Riki turned his head and said with a smile, “Oh, welcome back.” He then turned back to the foreign boy and added, “Look, David-chan, the grumpy landlord is back.” The boy, with half-dried hair and a towel on his head, slowly turned his head towards the door of the room and looked at Akira with expressionless eyes.

After a few seconds, he gave a faint smile and slowly extended his hand from Riki's stomach to Akira, as if he wanted to touch him as well. However, the Japanese boy ignored that small smile and stretched hand, and said, “I'm going to put the shopping in the kitchen,” and then turned and left the room.

Inside the kitchen, he put the shopping bags on the table, leaned his hand on the dining table chair, and closed his eyes. He cursed under his breath and said, “What the hell is wrong with you? That boy is just taking care of him; why are you acting like a jealous girl?!” Then he remembered David's small smile and his outstretched hand and said with shame under his breath, “I'm sorry, my friend, I'm still the same fool I always was.”

***

Riki said to Akira as he stood at the door with his suitcase, “I made some food for him; that is enough for two or three days; it's in the fridge. Please don't give him the nonsense from your cooking; you'll upset his digestion.” The Japanese boy rolled his eyes in the bowl and said, “Can you not be like the women who are going on a trip and advising their husbands? Go quickly!”

Riki sighed and said, “I'm not worried about you, idiot; I just don't want anything to happen to that boy. I don't understand how you brought him home with your ridiculous behavior.” He rubbed his forehead and continued, “If it wasn't for the new year and the remaining work in Kyoto, I wouldn't have gone. But I have to go; I'll try to come back sooner; maybe I'll tell the boss to choose someone else for the Kyoto office.”

Akira smirked and said, “Oh, really? Do you feel old? You want to retire?” Riki raised an eyebrow and said, “No, I just feel that it was wrong for me to went back to that city in the first place. Now I have a reason to leave it; that's why I want to come and live in Tokyo.”

- Come to Tokyo? Does that mean that your reason is so important?

Ricky sighed and said, “That's why I say you're stupid. My reason is that boy you're neglecting. I don't care what you think of me and call me a whore, but I like David, and as soon as I can, I'll get a house here and take him to me. Of course I wish him good health, but even if he stays like this for the rest of his life, I'll still like him and take care of him.”

Akira, who did not expect such words, was completely shocked and silent. Riki continued, “He's happier with me; you know it yourself; you didn't do anything to him except cause trouble and misbehave with him.” He opened the door of the house, and as he was leaving, he said to stunned Akira, “Take care of him; goodbye,” And closed the door behind him.

Akira stared at the door in confusion for a moment. Riki's words had sunk deep into his being like a dagger. With weak steps and a heavy heart, he returned to the main room and sat on the floor next to David's chair. The foreign boy seemed to have noticed his presence and sadness in his subconscious, turned his head towards him, and looked at his sad face. Then his healthy hand, trembling and slow, came up and was placed on the Japanese boy's head.

Akira, who did not expect such a reaction, stared into his expressionless eyes and unconsciously felt tears welling up in his eyes. As the boy's hand was on his head, he rested his head on his lap and softly said, “I'm sorry, David, I ruined your life. Riki is right; you are really happier with him, and maybe you will even be healthy again with him. I will only destroy you more with my curse.”

The foreign boy, who was waving his healthy and trembling hand on his head like a caress, said quietly, “A...A...A...” but Akira, whose soul was offended by Riki's words, suddenly erupted in anger as always. He raised his head from his leg, violently pushed his hand away from his head, wiped his tears, and screamed, “I can't understand what this damn A...A... means! Why don't you talk to me like a human?" Why?! Why aren't you happy with me?!”

David was just staring at him with expressionless eyes, as always, but this time there was a major difference. Akira was surprised to see tears slowly falling from the corner of the foreign boy's eyes. Suddenly, all his anger disappeared, and he took the boy's healthy hand with shame and said, “I-I'm sorry! Forgive me; I yelled at you like a crazy again. I'm sorry, David,” but the boy just turned his face away from him, and with wet eyes, as always, he stared at the sky from behind the glass of the balcony door.

Akira felt defeated and disappointed. Again, he vented all his anger on this boy. This boy was sick and did not even have the ability to take care of himself. As he held his hand, he lowered his head and said, “I'm sorry, David. I'm such a jerk. I always hurt you.”

He wiped the boy's tears with a handkerchief and continued with shame, “I'm sorry, please forgive me. I was nervous about the words of that damn fox, but I emptied my anger on you.” He sighed, knelt in front of him, and said, “You always took care of me and helped me, but I hurt you all the time.”

He raised his head and saw that David was looking at him. He gave a faint smile and said, “As always, you are kind and quick to forgive.” He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and said, “You know what? Who said that damn fox could make decisions for me? I'll keep you with me.” He looked at David and said, “Do you agree?”

After a little delay, the foreign boy smiled faintly. Akira, feeling better, laughed and said, “You know? Sometimes I think you're fine and you understand everything; you're just pretending you don't understand to annoy me.” He gave David a big smile and said, “How about we go out a little? It's almost Christmas; the street is colorful and beautiful.”

Then he frowned and said, “But you usually didn't like crowded places.” He thought for a while, then added, “Ah, how about we just go to the park? Toyama Park is relatively close; we can take a taxi to go there. Of course, Okubo Park is closer, but it gets very crowded during Christmas.”

David just looked at him and didn't say anything until the Japanese boy said again, “Toyama Park is fine; we'll go in the evening; let me prepare warm clothes for you.” Then he got up with a smile and went to the bedroom. After a few minutes, he came back with a jacket and a scarf and said, “This should be good.” He pointed them to the foreign boy and said, “What do you think?” David stared at the clothes with blank eyes and only gave a small smile in response.

***

A few hours after having lunch, Akira dressed the foreign boy in warm clothes and got ready himself. As he was wondering if there was anything he needed to take with him, he noticed David reaching for the living room table and saying “A...A...A...” again. He walked over to the table, then smiled and said, “You don't want to forget it, do you?” He took the brown bear pendant from the table and placed it in his hands.

David gave a small smile, fisted his hand around the pendant, and put it contentedly on his thighs. Akira grabbed the handles of the wheelchair and wheeled it to the door. Just as he was putting on his shoes, his phone started ringing.

He took it out of his pocket and saw Tajima's name on the screen. He sighed and wanted to answer, but then thinking of delaying and conflicting with work matters, he ignored the call, sent a message to Tajima, and turned off his phone. With a smile, he said to David, “Today we are going to have fun, just the two of us.” He opened the door and left the house with the wheelchair-bound boy.

It takes about 5 minutes to reach Toyama Park by taxi, but due to the traffic in the last days of the year, they were on the way for about 20 minutes, and when they entered the park, the big clock in the middle of the park showed 17:40. Akira, enjoying the cool fresh air, said as he pushed the foreign boy forward in his wheelchair, “Can you see, David? This park is so beautiful,” he reaches his head next to his head and said, “Do you like it?” The foreign boy just smiled faintly and looked at the scenery.

As time passed, they went more and more into the cozy and secluded places of the park, and at the same time as the lights of the park turned on, Akira noticed white seeds falling slowly from the sky. He happily walked in front of David and said, “Look! It's snowing,” and with a childlike feeling, he tried to catch the snowflakes.

Then he took a deep breath happily and said to the foreign boy, “I'm glad we came; now my mind is free. No matter what happens, I won't let you get away from me; I won't even let them deport you. I'll do my best to prevent it.” Then, as he was shivering, he added, “We better go home; the weather is getting colder; you might catch a cold.”

At the same time, an unfriendly voice suddenly said from behind him, “It seems that you and that paralyzed boy are having a lot of fun.” Akira frowned, and as he turned his head angrily, he was punched in the face and fell to the ground. As pain writhed in his face and he tried to stay awake, he felt two people on his left and right grip his hands tightly and then put him on his knees.

As he blinked to clear his vision, a man came forward and grabbed his hair with a hand missing his little finger, pulled his head back, and said with a wicked smile, “We meet again, little puppy!” Akira, who had just remembered the man, wanted to give a rude answer, but he felt the sharpness of a knife under his throat.

Yabuki said with a mocking look, “No, no, no, I don't want to hear you barking, little puppy,” He took a step back and continued, showing his four-fingered hand, “This damn hand is like this because of you. I thought, maybe you want to make up for it.”

As he played with the knife in his hands, one of his men said, “Hey Aniki, look here; look what I found.” Yabuki turned his head, and the man mockingly pulled something from the hand of the boy in the wheelchair, held it up, and said, “This foreign bastard is playing puppets.” Then they started laughing along with the men, who were holding Akira.

Yabuki walked over to him, took the brown bear pendant from his hand, and looked at it. At the same time, David extended his healthy hand towards him and began to say “A...A...” with a confused expression. The man grinned, waved the pendant, and mockingly said, “You want this, little cockroach? Why don't you come and get it yourself?”

Every time David's trembling hand was about to grab the pendant, Yabuki pulled it back and laughed along with his men. Akira yelled as he struggled to free himself, “Don't bother him, damn it!” Yabuki gave him a scornful look and said, “Nech, nech, this little cockroach is also to blame for losing my finger. If it weren't for his antics, you'd be dead by now, and I wouldn't have a problem!”

Then he took a step away from the wheelchair, dropped the pendant on the floor, and said with a wicked smile, “Hey, palsy cockroach, come take it if you want it.” David, who was still struggling nervously, suddenly fell from the wheelchair and tried to crawl to the pendent.

Yabuki sneered and said, “Look guys, he's crawling on the ground like a worm because of a doll,” and his companions burst into laughter. Akira yelled miserably, “Please let him go! He's sick!” Meanwhile, David had almost reached the pendant, but just as he was about to pick it up, Yabuki trod on it and mockingly said, “Oh, sorry, I stepped on your doll,” and his companions laughed again.

However, David put his hand on his shoe and tried to push it away. Suddenly, Yabuki's leg stepped back, and then he quickly kicked into the foreign boy's face, tossing him aside and angrily said, “Don't touch my shoes, foreign cockroach!”

Akira shouted with a struggle, “Damn you, bastard! You mean you have no honor as a yakuza?! You're hitting a sick person! I'll kill you, you bastard!” The man who was standing next to the wheelchair came forward and punched him in the stomach.

Yabuki scratched his ear with his finger, turned his back to David's body lying on the floor, turned to Akira, and said, “Your voice is getting on my nerves, little puppy; how about I cut your tongue first instead of your fingers?” Then he turned to his men and asked, “What do you guys think?” All three men nodded in agreement.

Yabuki looked at the blade of his knife for a bit and said, “But no, first I want to hear you beg while your finger is being cut off by me, then I will cut your long tongue.” Then he added to his men, “Hold him tight and bring his hand forward.” The two men on the left and right sides made Akira lay firmly on the ground, and the third man brought his hands forward and held them firmly.

In that state, Akira was powerless to fight back. He glanced at the foreign boy's body behind Yabuki's feet on the snow-whitened ground as he cursed himself for his weakness and stupidity. Tears welled up in his eyes, and he said under his breath, “I'm sorry, David, you got into trouble again because of my curse.”

Yabuki frowned at his men and said, “Knock his damn head on the ground; seeing his face makes me sick.” As they forcefully held his head down, he stopped struggling and started crying silently. He didn't care what was going to happen to him; he was just ashamed that he had hurt the foreign boy again with his own curse.

Yabuki smirked and said, “Oh look, our little puppy has gone quiet,” then added with disgust, “It's about time you learned real pain, Shinka Akira!” Just as he was about to go to the Japanese boy, suddenly something as strong as the body of a python wrapped around his neck. Yabuki, who was shocked, dried in his place. He felt that a savage animal was behind him, and he could feel its hot exhalation on his neck.

His men, who were keeping an eye on Akira, looked at him in surprise when their boss delayed coming forward, but the scene before them was unbelievable! A large shadow was standing behind Yabuki, holding his neck tightly from behind, and the steam of his hot breath was visible in the cold air.

Suddenly one of the men said confusedly, “Hi-Hi-Higuma! He's Higuma!” Meanwhile, the pressure of David's arm around Yabuki's neck made him drop the knife and struggle to get free. Hearing this name, the other two men let go of Akira and started running away with the third man, like those who have faced the devil.

The Japanese boy raised his head and looked at this scene in amazement. It was snowing. David was standing on his feet and locked his arm around the neck of Yabuki, who was struggling from a lack of oxygen and was exhaling like a beast with unimaginable steam!

Akira suddenly came to his senses, quickly got up, ran forward, and said, “David! You're killing him! Let him go!” But it seems that the foreign boy did not hear his voice at all. As Yabuki's face grew bluer by the minute, Akira put his hand on David's arm and tried to untie it from around the man's neck, but to no avail.

Suddenly, Akira screamed, “Don't do it, damn it! You're not a murderer! Please, David, look at me!” Placing both hands on the foreign boy's hot, bloody face, he turned it toward himself and said, “Please! Please don't get your hands dirty for him,” and as tears flowed down, he continued, “For my sake, let it go.”

The foreign boy's eyes sparkled, as if his concentration was focused, and the pressure on the man's neck vanished. Yabuki collapsed to the ground and began coughing. Akira put his hands on David's shoulders and said, “Damn, you're finally back! You're finally on your feet!”

David gave him a kind smile as blood slowly seeped from the wound above his eyebrow, then slowly closed his eyes and fell to his knees. Akira knelt down next to him in fear and said, “No, no, David, not again! Please! I can't take it anymore!”

A hoarse voice said, “Then I'll send the pair of you together to that world, you damned bastards!” Akira turned his head and saw Yabuki with his knife, ready to attack. He didn't have enough time to react, so he just hugged David's head tightly to shield himself for the foreign boy.

As the seconds passed like years and he was waiting for the pain of the stabbing, he heard the man's scream. He opened his eyes, turned his head, and saw Mikitani twist Yabuki's hand behind his back and take the knife from him. As he was startled, Tajima came forward, knelt down next to him, and asked, “Are you alright, Shinka?”

The Japanese boy said in confusion, “W-what are you doing here?” Tajima replied as checking David's pulse, “It's a long story; the rest of our men are in the park too. Let's take you home, and I'll explain later.”

Meanwhile, Ichiro and Arata also reached them. Mikitani punched Yabuki hard in the stomach, threw his unconscious body towards the two of them, and said, “Take this bastard to the headquarters; I'll deal with him later” then came to Akira's side and added, “Are you okay, Shinka? Can you stand up?” The boy just nodded and looked at David worriedly. Tajima sighed and said, “Don't worry, his pulse is strong; let's get out of here for now.”

Mikitani helped Akira get up from the ground, and then, with Tajima's help, they placed the foreign boy in the wheelchair and headed for the park's exit. All the time, Akira just walked anxiously next to the wheelchair and looked at David's closed eyes.