Denying the Sin

Shinichi didn’t make any stops on the way, just right to the house and pulled out a key to unlock the door.

Opening the door, he lets out the standard “pardon the intrusion”, takes off his shoes and joined my parents in the living room.

“Shin! I’m so glad you came! Give me a hug.” My dad yells out.

“Hiya Taro. Yeah, just got done at the gravesite.”

“Oh, Shin you’re here. Come here.” My mom also gives him a hug.

“Hi, Atsuko.”

“Dinner will be done in a few minutes. Want something to drink?” My mom asks Shinichi.

“I’ll have some tea thanks.”

“Shin, sit down, have a seat, relax.”

There goes my dad, always so pushy.

“So, how’s the pharmacy job goin’ for you?”

“It’s fine, I think I’m doing something good. It also keeps my mind off everything.”

“Have you thought about finding anyone to go on dates with yet?”

“TARO!”

DAD!

Uh-oh mom’s mad now and so am I.

“I’m just curious is all and I don’t want you to think you will offend us by looking for someone else.”

“That’s none of your business really.”

Yeah, you tell him mom.

“Dinner’s ready now, so let’s eat.”

Mom leans over to Shinichi and whispers to him, “I’m really sorry about that, as you know, he gets a little mouthy when he’s had a couple of drinks.”

“It’s ok, I understand, really.” Shinichi retorts.

They all sit down and let out a: “Thank you for the food.”

The three of them start digging into the food and things were uneventful until…

“We met the kid Michiru saved not long ago.”

Oh, great, my dad stepped in it again.

I could see Shinichi put a death grip on his chopsticks.

Then he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath before replying.

“I see. What did that asshole want?”

“He asked us to forgive him. I almost beat him to a pulp after he introduced himself.”

“I got in-between them and calmed Taro down.” My mom cut in.

“I wish you had beat him up.”

“After I calmed down,” my dad continued, “I heard what he had to say and had to step away to think about it for a while.”

“I kept talking to him after Taro left. I held him accountable for his actions wanted to know what he intended to do with this chance Michiru gave him. He told me all he did after she died and what he’s doing now.”

“Good for him, I don’t care what he does.”

“I think you should talk to him sometime. I didn’t give him your contact but, I have his.” My dad adds and holds out a slip of paper toward Shinichi.

“I’m sorry, I can’t do that. You might be able to forgive him but I can’t. Excuse me I need to go now.” Shinichi gets up and leaves the house.

“Shin, please!” My dad pleads.

“Taro, let him go.” Mom begs dad.

Oh boy.

What do I do now?

I guess I have to chase after him to make sure he’s ok.

I hope he’s not too far ahead of me.

I follow Shinichi’s fast walking pace all the way to his apartment.

He busts through the door, drops his shoes off and heads to the living area to flop on his bed face down and let out a loud muffled scream while punching his bedding.

I feel pretty useless and wish I could hold him so much.

He was holding in so much while still being polite to my parents.

Well plus side is I know where Shinichi lives now.

As he crashes on the bed, I scope the place out.

It’s not a bad place.

Pretty standard for a single person style apartment.

Not a lot of furniture except for bed, computer desk, table and bookshelf.

Hmm, what’s on the shelf?

…

There’s his manga tankouban, lots of volumes of “Upside Down”, “Shotgun Cats”, “The Wonderful World of Il Rischio” and … WHAT’S THIS?!

My Witches Academy Series!

The last two books are there too!

Oh man I want to read them but I got more important stuff to do right now.

When I get a bit of time, I’ll be reading that.

“Argh, why’d they have to corner me like that? I need to kill some stuff to feel better.” Shinichi gets out of the bed and heads to the desk to start playing some online RPG called Vaneorza.

I mean yeah, I guess they cornered him a bit but, I’m pretty sure they were thinking of you the most.

Although… I wonder what Takahiro told my parents.

I guess now that I know where Shinichi lives, I can go back to my parents’ house and try to get his information from that paper.

I make the trek back to my parents’ house again and look through the house. It’s obviously not on the table anymore.

I try to look at all the usual places downstairs and eventually upstairs, my mom and dad would put something like that.

Nothing.

Well, that sucks.

I think as I wander into my room.

I didn’t want to do this so soon but, guess I have no choice.

Reaching into my pocket I grab a 10 Yen coin and clasp both of my hands around it and think hard on what I want.

Please take me to Takahiro’s house.

Opening my eyes and find myself in the entrance to an unfamiliar house.

In my hands, I notice the coin is still there.

Oh! So, I can fast travel like in one of Shinichi’s RPGs.

This…is… AWESOME!

I let out the instinctive “pardon my intrusion,” and look around the house.

The layout of rooms in the house is not too dissimilar to that of my parents’.

I don’t see anyone in the living room or kitchen.

It is kinda late so if anyone is home, they’re probably upstairs.

Slowly I make my way upstairs listening for anything that may be happening when I find a door with a sign saying “Taka’s Room” on it.

The room is pretty quiet but I see a light coming out from under the door.

I hope I’m not catching him in any “personal time.”

Peaking my head through the door it seems I’m in the clear.

He seems to have fallen asleep at his desk.

Looking around the room he has very little in his room. Just a bed, desk and table.

I mean not even a TV, game console or PC at all.

Maybe he’s stored them away. I’ll take a peek in the closet. I mean it’s not like he’ll see me.

I feel like a big snoop or a burglar.

I poke my head into the closet and see two boxes sitting on the floor.

Focusing I reach out and pull the lid off of one of the boxes and see a baseball mitt that is well used, a couple of baseballs with some signatures, some cards of famous players, some from NPB and a few of some Japanese players in MLB.

It is really obvious he really loved baseball and now he keeps it all locked away.

I put the lid back on and check out the other box.

Inside is a handheld console, some pictures. It seems these are pictures of classmates.

On the bottom is a letter. The envelope says “To, Ai Yokoyama (横山愛).”

OH! Is this what I think it is?

A confession letter?

It is still sealed.

I should leave it alone.

As I put everything back in the box and put the lid back on, I come to the realization that I could probably use the ability I used on Shinichi.

Maybe I can just enter his dreams to get a historical account of what happened to him.

Well, I can give it a try.

I place my hands on his head, close my eyes and focus on four years ago and images start to come into my head…