Chapter 13

“Er, no…” Realizing that further lying was only going to make the situation worse, Yahiro decided on honesty. “It wasn’t a gang up… It was a one-on-one fight. I’m sorry,” he said, bowing. Saburo just smiled. “You don’t have to apologize to me. When I was your age, I was fighting all the time. As long as you’re not picking on anyone or stealing their lunch money, I’m not gonna chew you out. But I can tell my brother that you fell down the stairs.” “…Thank you.” “Boy, they really got you good, huh? Who were you fighting? Is there a real feisty brawler at Raira now? Or was it someone from Kushinada High?” Saburo asked casually, returning to the waxing of his car. “Um…I don’t know if you know him or not, but he wears a bartender’s outfit, and his name is Heiwajima,” Yahiro answered. The wax squeaked as Saburo’s hand froze. He looked back, his brows knitted with disbelief. “You…what? Seriously? Why?” “Oh, um… I accidentally got him mad… It was my fault.” “Wait a second—are you okay?! Do you need to visit the hospital?” “I’ll be all right… After he knocked me out, he was nice enough not to keep going.” Unaware of what was going through his relative’s mind, Saburo exhaled with relief. “Well, that’s good to hear. I guess it really is true that Heiwajima’s chilled out these days…” “So you know him?” “Yeah. A bit. In the old days, you wouldn’t get off that easy from Shizuo Heiwajima. He would have put you in the hospital.” “Oh, I see…” Togusa returned to waxing the car. Over his shoulder, he said, “Well, he doesn’t tend to hold on to grudges against ordinary folks. If you ever run into him again, just make sure you give him a proper apology for ticking him off, and he won’t pick on you after that.” “I see… Thank you for the advice.” Yahiro bowed to him and returned to his room. After he left, Togusa continued waxing and muttered to himself, “That’s weird… For a run-in with Shizuo, he sure seemed to be in a good mood. “Hopefully he didn’t get hit so hard that a few screws got knocked loose.” Yahiro’s room Back in his apartment room, Yahiro exhaled heavily and fell onto the floor. He lay there, his back on the ground, staring at the ceiling. “…I lost.” He lost. Speaking it out loud, making it official, brought a swirl of conflicting emotions to his chest. “For the first time in my life…I lost a fight…” All the bones in his body creaked. Pain seared his flesh. He did not know how to resolve the mixture of physical pain and emotion racking his being. He just lay there, staring in a daze. After ten minutes, Yahiro murmured, “It feels bad. But it feels good. What is this?” Shizuo Heiwajima was truly powerful. He couldn’t deny the shock that someone like him was actually real. He was reminded of the words of the traveler, who had told him, “You’re a normal person.” “I guess…I’m normal after all…” Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that he would feel bad about losing a fight. But at the same time, he was overjoyed that he felt that way. “I guess…I can be human after all.” Even the pain ringing through his body felt comfortable. It told him he really was human. “Or else…I guess it might mean that both me and Mr. Heiwajima are monsters.” In either case, Yahiro felt salvation. He wasn’t alone. Life was more than a cage of tedium and fatigue. Learning that fact alone made life worth living now. Also…I’m glad that Kuon didn’t die. Kuon had been all right in the end. After Shizuo Heiwajima left, he’d gotten up and helped Yahiro to his feet. They stumbled back in a daze, barely sharing a word, but all Yahiro could feel now was gratefulness that they were both alive. He thought about the first friend he’d ever made and about what Himeka might say about his injuries tomorrow, as sleep eventually overtook him. Lastly, he envisioned the faces of all the people he’d met over the last few days and mumbled to himself as he smiled with satisfaction and drifted off. “I feel like maybe…I can make it here…” The problem was, Yahiro was still missing part of the picture. He hadn’t yet realized what he’d done. Rooftop—night “Yo. There you are.” Tom opened the door to the roof and spotted Shizuo looking the other way. They were on top of their company building, where anyone in the office could go up onto the roof. They had finished their report on the day’s work, and Shizuo was now watching the city below. “You still bothered by what happened?” “…You could say that.” “About the black-haired kid, right?” “Yeah… Now I’m realizing that maybe he wasn’t such a bad guy…,” Shizuo murmured. Tom shrugged and said, “Seems like he chose to challenge you so he could save that kid with the green hair.” “You think so, too, Tom?” Shizuo said, still turned away to watch the night scenery. “I gotta apologize to him the next time I see him…” “Look, it’s not worth feeling that bad about, is it? Throwing a full can at your head while you weren’t looking is the sort of thing that could kill a normal person. Maybe he feels like he owes you an apology, too.” “…” “But more than that, I’m just amazed,” Tom said, lining up next to Shizuo to survey the view. “The world’s bigger than you think.” “…Sure is.” “You did win in the end, but…” Tom glanced over at Shizuo’s face—and the cracked sunglasses and bruises and scrapes beneath them. “That was the first time I’ve ever seen you get hit that many times and thrown to the ground in a good old-fashioned fistfight… Though I did see your arm get dislocated that one time before.” Shizuo’s arm was held in a sling wrapped around his neck. Tom glanced at the battered sight of him, then envisioned the face of the boy who’d fought Shizuo like an equal and felt a cold sweat break out. “Go figure there’s a high schooler that strong out there…”