“What about you? Get into a fight with your folks or something?”
“Wouldn’t call it a fight, necessarily…”
“Mind telling me a little bit about it? Might help you to talk through it with someone. You can call it repayment for the food, if that makes it easier.”
It was hard to say no when he put it like that. And I wasn’t trying to get on his bad side while stuck at the dinner table with him either. The thought of showing any sign of weakness to this random dude I’d just met really didn’t sit well with me, but I figured for now I should just do as he said and open up a little bit. So I briefly gave him the rundown of everything that had happened that night up until I sat down outside the station. He listened pretty attentively to everything I had to say, nodding along and whatnot.
“I see, I see,” he said when I was finally done. “Yeah, that sounds pretty rough, all right. Nothing worse than a parent who uses violence against their own children.”
Now this rubbed me the wrong way. This guy didn’t know the first thing about my mom. Not that I didn’t feel like that was a pretty horrible thing for her to do, obviously—but our relationship was more complicated than that. I didn’t want some rando’s sympathy.
“I used to fight with my parents all the time too, when I was your age,” said the man. “Think it turned me into a bit of a delinquent for a while there. I’d be out spending the night at friends’ houses for days… Bought myself a motorbike and started riding it around town all the time just to grind their gears. Looking back on it now, it was probably just a plain old teenage rebellious phase, but man, those were some of the best years of my life. We’d all go down to the beach in the summer and light off a ton of bottle rockets, or—”
I let pretty much all of this go in one ear and out the other as I dug my spoon into the dessert sitting on the table in front of me. At this rate, it’d probably be after midnight by the time we left the restaurant. Worst-case scenario, I needed to be mentally prepared to sleep outside somewhere tonight. Thankfully, it wasn’t so cold that I couldn’t handle it, though. And then tomorrow, I’d just have to…
…What was I going to do tomorrow, actually?
Obviously, I needed money if I wanted to do literally anything. Could I try to find a quick job someplace where they hired by the day, maybe? But I didn’t really have any skills or work experience that would make anyone want to hire me, I didn’t think…
In the end, I wasn’t able to come up with anything that remotely resembled a more concrete plan of action while we ate. And just as I predicted, it was already after midnight by the time I walked out of the izakaya. Once the man finished paying our bill, he came out of the restaurant and stood right before me with a brown-nosing smile on his face.
“How ’bout I get you someplace to stay for the night, hm?” he asked.
There was a sickening, underhanded sweetness in his voice.
Immediately, my stranger danger senses shot through the roof. He was definitely not just suggesting he’d book me a room at a hotel and then leave. He knew exactly what he was suggesting, and so did I as I stood there watching him stare down at my legs. So he really was just a total creep after all. Pfft. Figures. I wanted nothing more than to start shouting at the top of my lungs and completely verbally eviscerate him, then run away as fast as I could. And on literally any other day, I totally would have. But what was me running away going to accomplish right now? It’d just leave me right where I was earlier this evening—back on the streets with nowhere to go and no money to my name. In which case, I figured I might as well go all in. Not like this night could possibly get any worse.
“Works for me,” I said. “Lead the way.”
The man’s lips curled up even further the moment these words left mine. If he was trying to conceal his excitement, then he was doing a piss-poor job of it. But as I followed him down a dingy alleyway, I started hatching a plan inside my head.
Sure enough, he led me right to the sort of hotel people typically used for one thing and one thing only. He bought us a room, and we headed up to it together. It was all I could do to try to hide how badly I was shaking; I’d never been in any sort of sex establishment before. Ever. I immediately parked myself on the room’s loveseat, and he sat down right beside me. My heart felt like it was about to burst right out of my chest. But just when he reached out a hand and tried to set it on my knee—
“Shouldn’t you go take a shower first?” I said, using every remaining ounce of my rationality to try to play it cool.
“Oh, right,” said the man. “Good point, sorry.”
He got up and obediently shuffled off into the changing room.
And as soon as I heard the door click shut, I put my plan into action.
I started looking around for the guy’s wallet. The second I had that—or at least whatever money was in it—I’d sneak out of the room and make a break for it. I knew I’d be committing a crime, obviously. But so was he by trying to get in my pants, so I really didn’t feel bad about it one bit. I needed the money more than he did anyway.
I turned his entire briefcase inside out, and I checked both pockets of the jacket he’d hung on the door. But I couldn’t find his wallet anywhere. I felt a cold sweat run down my temples as I started to panic. But I wasn’t about to just go home empty-handed either. I’d come this far already—and I needed money, no matter what.
Come on, Akira. Think, you idiot. Where else could it be?
And then it hit me—his pants pocket.
Creeping as quietly as I could, I snuck into the little changing room attached to the bathroom and dug around inside his pants. Aha! Found you! Just as I hoped, he’d left his wallet in the back pocket of his slacks. Sweet, now I just need to get out of here before—
The water suddenly shut off.
And then a tiny click, before the bathroom door opened wide.
“Hey,” said the man. “What are you doing in here?”
I almost had a heart attack. My whole body instantly seized up.
Oh god. I’ve gotta get out of here. Right now.
“Is that my wallet you’ve got there?” he asked. “You weren’t just going to steal it and sneak off on me, were you?”
What are you waiting for, stupid?! Run! Just go, already!
I dashed out of the room, slamming against the opposite wall as I made my way toward the door. I reached out and gripped the handle, then yanked as hard as I could.
Damn it! That rat bastard deadbolted the door!
“Come on, now,” said the man. “Where do you think you’re going, huh? We’ve come this far, haven’t we? Don’t be like that.”
He grabbed me forcefully by the arm and dragged me back to the far end of the room. Oh god. No, no, no! I thrashed around, struggling as hard as I could, but I couldn’t wrest myself free from his grasp. He was just that much stronger than me. This was bad—at this rate, I’d…I’d… No! How did this happen?! Why me, goddamn it?! Let go, already!
Dread, fear, and helplessness just kept swirling through my head as I fell deeper into despair—until at last I reached my breaking point. And then I exploded with rage.
“Rrrgh… Don’t touch me, you scumbag!” I shouted. “How ’bout you keep your grubby little fingers off girls less than half your age, huh?!”
Mustering every last bit of strength in my body, I shoved the guy back as hard as I could and finally managed to break free from his grasp. He let out a startled yell as he lost his balance and fell backward. His head crashed right down into the corner of the giant coffee table. And then the man went stiff like a corpse.
“Huff…huff…”
Thick, red fluid started dribbling down the leg of the coffee table as blood drained from the back of the man’s head. And then the terrifying realization set in that maybe he hadn’t just gone stiff like a corpse—maybe he already was one.
The man looked dead. I might have literally just killed him.
Oh god.
A sort of primal fear came over me, and I ran off as fast as I could—not even caring to grab the wallet on my way out. Desperate, I fumbled to unbolt the door and burst out into the hallway and onto the elevator, where I mashed the CLOSE DOORS and 1F buttons repeatedly like I was an actress in some old horror movie. Even after I’d escaped from the hotel, I just kept running as fast as I could. All I wanted was to just leave this town behind and go somewhere far away. Somewhere where nobody would know my name.
Where did I even go wrong?
I didn’t know.
I wished I could start this whole messed-up day all over from the beginning. Either that, or I wanted the whole world to just come to an end, right here and now. As long as tomorrow never came and I never had to deal with any of this again.
I ran for what felt like hours and hours.
Until I hit a red light at an intersection.
But stopping was not an option.
I could never stop. I cut through.
Headlights flashed before my eyes.
A car horn blared from only inches away.
And then a searing pain shot through my entire body.