Categories > Anime/Manga > Gravitation > This Stretch of Road
This Stretch of Road
Chapter 2
"Weak. Really weak." I hear someone say which causes me to start violently as I thought that I would be alone in my room. There's something familiar about his tone of voice but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I'm sure I've heard it before but when and where, I'm not sure.
But back to the main point of this narrative, an intruder's in my room, interrupting me while I'm getting ready to off myself the most poetic way I know how. And speaking of poetic, I happen to react in the same manner. "Shit," I mutter as I scramble to the wall across me.
"I know you are but what am I?" At this the intruder burst into a strange deep laughter. I don't get it.
"Who are you?" I ask, hoping that he hadn't heard the quiver in my voice. I'm glad the tanto's not that far from me. It's in the middle of the room and the stranger seems to have his back resting on the far wall of my room, his face obscured by shadows.
"I'd like to answer that question with a couple of clichés but I shouldn't be wasting any time here."
"You're doing it right now and you're also creeping me out." I retort. Who is this guy? Maybe I should scream but I'm afraid it's not very manly. I am actually torn between three things: fear of being violently murdered, fear of being regarded as a wuss and the desire to die.
"I'll answer that after you answer this question: are you still going to kill yourself even if I manage to show you a way out of this hole?"
What's a guy to do, eh? So I answer, "I don't think so. If you can pry my future from my father's clutches without breaking any hearts, I'm all yours."
"I am not the devil, Tatsuha-kun. Just someone who inadvertently played his agent in your lives. But I will help you without expecting any reward because I think I do owe you something..."
"Who are you? And I'm Buddhist, by the way so I don't give a flying f*ck about the devil." My fear is dissolving but I'm getting irritated by the minute. This guy is so long-winded.
"Kitazawa. Kitazawa Yuki."
My mind almost shut down when he said it. Mika told me he's dead. Dead and buried with the secret that tore this family apart. I shake my head in denial. "Bullshit...Kitazawa's dead." I say.
"I didn't mention I'm alive, did I?"
"Then that must mean you're..."
Something that resembles a cloud of smoke floats from where he should be sitting to my side and suddenly a whisper tickles my ear: "Yes, a ghost. A specter. An indebted visitant from a past you'd rather forget."
I want to scream but I think I lost my ability to actively make choices with my brain two seconds ago. If there's a mirror beside me, I'm sure I'd be sporting a Mohawk that begins on my forehead and ends on my butt. And since I've already broken out in a cold sweat, I must probably look like that popular footballer. This is one time in which I'd be very happy to have the old fart beside me. All my struggles to come up with the appropriate chant have ended in vain.
"Don't worry Tatsuha-kun. I'm not out to get you. In fact, I'm here to help." A cold something rests on my arm. And though I could never understand why, I feel my heart rate go down a little.
"But, but..." I feel so sure and articulate.
"Tatsuha-kun, listen." All of a sudden, he's in front of me, looking at me straight in the eye, his arrogance, the levity of his voice a while back, they're all gone. I also notice that he doesn't seem all there. He's not translucent or anything like the friendly ghost, but there's something else that's amiss about him that couldn't be perceived by any of the five senses. I just get the feeling that he doesn't belong in this time and space.
"What?" I ask, feeling the impotence of my words.
"I'm here to help you. Don't ask me how because it's all beyond me, impossible as my existence is, I only have an inkling as to why I was sent to you. But I know that I cannot harm you or your family and friends. All I need is your trust."
"But that's not such an easy thing to part with." It's true. He turned my brother into a selfish and arrogant jerk whose insides are festering with guilt and every imaginable negative emotion until Shuichi came along.
"I am here to ask for your forgiveness but first you have to trust me. Trust me and everything will fall into place. And then you decide if you can ever forgive me."
"But why ask for my forgiveness? Why not Eiri's? He's the one who has been harmed by your careless actions."
"Can't you see that because of what I did to Eiri, you have suffered indirectly? You are for lack of a better term, collateral damage. And had I not stopped you, the damage that I caused this family would've been complete. It would be your brother's undoing."
I am speechless. Can guilt transcend even the boundaries of life and death?
TBC
Chapter 2
"Weak. Really weak." I hear someone say which causes me to start violently as I thought that I would be alone in my room. There's something familiar about his tone of voice but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I'm sure I've heard it before but when and where, I'm not sure.
But back to the main point of this narrative, an intruder's in my room, interrupting me while I'm getting ready to off myself the most poetic way I know how. And speaking of poetic, I happen to react in the same manner. "Shit," I mutter as I scramble to the wall across me.
"I know you are but what am I?" At this the intruder burst into a strange deep laughter. I don't get it.
"Who are you?" I ask, hoping that he hadn't heard the quiver in my voice. I'm glad the tanto's not that far from me. It's in the middle of the room and the stranger seems to have his back resting on the far wall of my room, his face obscured by shadows.
"I'd like to answer that question with a couple of clichés but I shouldn't be wasting any time here."
"You're doing it right now and you're also creeping me out." I retort. Who is this guy? Maybe I should scream but I'm afraid it's not very manly. I am actually torn between three things: fear of being violently murdered, fear of being regarded as a wuss and the desire to die.
"I'll answer that after you answer this question: are you still going to kill yourself even if I manage to show you a way out of this hole?"
What's a guy to do, eh? So I answer, "I don't think so. If you can pry my future from my father's clutches without breaking any hearts, I'm all yours."
"I am not the devil, Tatsuha-kun. Just someone who inadvertently played his agent in your lives. But I will help you without expecting any reward because I think I do owe you something..."
"Who are you? And I'm Buddhist, by the way so I don't give a flying f*ck about the devil." My fear is dissolving but I'm getting irritated by the minute. This guy is so long-winded.
"Kitazawa. Kitazawa Yuki."
My mind almost shut down when he said it. Mika told me he's dead. Dead and buried with the secret that tore this family apart. I shake my head in denial. "Bullshit...Kitazawa's dead." I say.
"I didn't mention I'm alive, did I?"
"Then that must mean you're..."
Something that resembles a cloud of smoke floats from where he should be sitting to my side and suddenly a whisper tickles my ear: "Yes, a ghost. A specter. An indebted visitant from a past you'd rather forget."
I want to scream but I think I lost my ability to actively make choices with my brain two seconds ago. If there's a mirror beside me, I'm sure I'd be sporting a Mohawk that begins on my forehead and ends on my butt. And since I've already broken out in a cold sweat, I must probably look like that popular footballer. This is one time in which I'd be very happy to have the old fart beside me. All my struggles to come up with the appropriate chant have ended in vain.
"Don't worry Tatsuha-kun. I'm not out to get you. In fact, I'm here to help." A cold something rests on my arm. And though I could never understand why, I feel my heart rate go down a little.
"But, but..." I feel so sure and articulate.
"Tatsuha-kun, listen." All of a sudden, he's in front of me, looking at me straight in the eye, his arrogance, the levity of his voice a while back, they're all gone. I also notice that he doesn't seem all there. He's not translucent or anything like the friendly ghost, but there's something else that's amiss about him that couldn't be perceived by any of the five senses. I just get the feeling that he doesn't belong in this time and space.
"What?" I ask, feeling the impotence of my words.
"I'm here to help you. Don't ask me how because it's all beyond me, impossible as my existence is, I only have an inkling as to why I was sent to you. But I know that I cannot harm you or your family and friends. All I need is your trust."
"But that's not such an easy thing to part with." It's true. He turned my brother into a selfish and arrogant jerk whose insides are festering with guilt and every imaginable negative emotion until Shuichi came along.
"I am here to ask for your forgiveness but first you have to trust me. Trust me and everything will fall into place. And then you decide if you can ever forgive me."
"But why ask for my forgiveness? Why not Eiri's? He's the one who has been harmed by your careless actions."
"Can't you see that because of what I did to Eiri, you have suffered indirectly? You are for lack of a better term, collateral damage. And had I not stopped you, the damage that I caused this family would've been complete. It would be your brother's undoing."
I am speechless. Can guilt transcend even the boundaries of life and death?
TBC
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