CH 112

I wonder since when did I stop talking about my family.

My father is literally in jail. My mother only brings in money and doesn’t care about me. I never received any “love” from my own parents. I was the only one whose parents didn’t show up for class visits, and going out together on holidays was a dream come true. My grandparents had already passed away, and I had no one in my family to whom I could be pampered.

Maybe that’s why. I began to look for friendship in the world around me. If I was friendly with everyone, they would show me friendship. It was the only way I could drown my loneliness.

I wanted to be on the side of justice at a young age, not because I wished for peace or because I wanted to help someone. It was simply because I was lonely. Helping others was the only thing I could cling to.

Suddenly, I remembered a conversation I had with my grandmother.

[Listen, Kanata. If you see someone in trouble, walk up to them and help them. It will be for your own good in the end.]

[Why is it good for me?]

[In the end, the world is about people helping each other. If you help someone else, I’m sure that someone else will help you when you are in trouble.]

[Yeah, okay !]

My grandmother patted my head as I replied with a smile. She was like the sun to me, and unlike my father, who always did painful things to me, I honestly loved her. However, due to her age, my grandmother passed away without a moment’s notice. Soon after, my father went to prison.

My mother wo was exhausted after spending many days in a rage. The hardships she endured were immeasurable to me as a young child. Her once beautiful face had aged dramatically, and she said to me with a weak voice.

[Listen to me, Kanata. You are…….]

And after that, I was alone with my mother……

———-

“…..Nggh.”

I woke up biting back a yawn after having a nostalgic dream. It’s now 4:30 in the morning and I’m up as early as usual. But what is different is that I have a slight headache. It’s not because I haven’t slept enough, but because I had a dream about the past. I had a dream of a scene from the past that I can no longer reach now.

“I’ve got to get out of here soo.”

I put my pajamas in the used washing machine and quickly changed into a jersey. Today is a weekday and I have school, but before that I have a routine that I do every morning. I leave my shabby apartment and immediately head for a certain store. It is the only newsstand in the neighborhood.

“Good morning.”

I then stuff the newspaper into my eco-bag and start running around town. Yes, this is a part-time newspaper delivery job. Although middle school students are not legally allowed to work part-time, I managed to negotiate with the manager and was allowed to do so in secret. The job is normally worth more than 1,000 yen an hour, but as a hush money payment, my hourly wage is set at 500 yen, a very low rate that is sure to cause outrage at the Ministry of Labor.

I’m not allowed to use a bicycle. Because in the event of an accident and a police report, it would be exposed that I was unfairly employing a child under the age of 15. Besides, since the company’s logo is on the bike, it would be conspicuous if a child like me were to ride such a bike. It was early in the morning and not many people were passing by, but just in case.

“Well, it’s good exercise.”

And so, I rode through the town in the shortest possible distance, completing today’s quota one after another. I knew the police patrol routes in advance, so I never crossed paths with them on the way. I could probably say that I work part-time as a volunteer, and my salary is pocket money, but I’m always cautious because if I don’t eliminate even the slightest risk, I will never work again.

The reason why I’m doing this is quite simple. I don’t have enough money. The only money my mother puts into the house is for rent and utilities, and she never takes into account my food expenses. She only gives me one 100 yen coin for my daily food expenses. And these days, it’s only once every three days or so. So I have to earn the money myself.

“Okay, that’s it !”

Since just delivering is boring as hell, I’ve been exploring routes and doing cool things like climbing fences and still sleeping. I go to various places, such as climbing a fence or sneaking through the yard of a resident who is still sleeping. Occasionally I would visit a cat meeting, or pass by the police station to kill time.

“Phew, I’m done.”

By the time I finished my work and returned home, it was around six o’clock. After a sad meal of eating a piece of bread by myself, I spent a leisurely morning before heading off to school. This is my morning routine.

“……I wish I had a computer.”

As long as I have a computer, I could do my online activities, but my mother had sold the one we had at home some time ago and it had disappeared into our living expenses. My disappointment was very high because I had been able to use the money freely when I was in elementary school. Even if I wanted to buy something, I couldn’t find the money to do so. So I had no choice but to do manual labor.

With this fantasy in mind, I went to school. There, I was given lengthy and difficult-to-understand explanations of things I had already learned, wasting my time day after day. However, I had to live with the fact that I had no choice but to do so in order to earn my attendance.

“Hey, Shinya, are you going to be the club leader after all?”

“No, I had to turn it down after all. It was too much for me.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Ahaha, I’m different from Tachibana kun.”

That’s how I interact with my school friends as much as possible. I helped a lot of people just like my grandmother said, and I made full use of the skills I inherited from my father. I was embarrassed to be on the side of justice, so now I pretend to be a calm boy.

“Come to think of it, there’s a ball game tournament coming up, what will you be participating in, Tachibana kun?”

“Hmm, table tennis, I think.”

“Hm, I thought you were going to play basketball or soccer or something like that.”

“I have a feeling that I want to do it, but if I get involved, the game will lose its meaning.”

“Ah, you’re the same as ever.”

But it’s true, so I won’t be modest. I can handle most sports with ease, and in a short time, I can demonstrate a talent that surpasses that of more experienced athletes. It’s partly talent, but it’s also because I have learned how to fight and win from my father.

“Oh, quiz comes next. Come to think of it, I forgot to study.”

“Eh, are you sure you’ll be okay?”

“Well, I think I’ll be fine.”

And as I had declared, I completed the quiz with a perfect score, forcing myself to find meaning in my boring days. I spent a lot of time with Shinya kun in particular, but we had established a shallow and exquisite distance to the extent that we were close friends.

But then, I suddenly felt something strange in the classroom. It must have been a while after the summer vacation. Everyone in the class started looking at me strangely.

I don’t mean they looked at me seriously, but only glanced at me. However, I immediately understood that they were looking at me in a strange way. Moreover, they were whispering something quietly so that I could not hear them. So far, the only strange thing that has happened is in this class, and the school as a whole is going on as usual.

(Um, is it okay to eavesdrop on that one?)

I’m a trained lip-reader, so I could honestly tell what they were saying just by the way their lips moved, but I was hesitant to go into that because it was a private matter. And after a few days of being under their gaze, I began to notice that most of my friends were distancing themselves from me, which was clearly a strange phenomenon.

“Hey, Shinya kun.”

“What’s wrong?”

“……No, it’s nothing after all.”

I thought about asking Shinya kun about it, but I felt bad about involving him in this situation, so I decided not to ask him about this phenomenon. On the other hand, Shinya kun interacts with me with a nonchalant look on his face. Even when we were a little apart, he didn’t glance at me or talk behind my back. What in the world is going on in this classroom?

(But it doesn’t seem like anyone is treating me badly.)

If this had happened to Shinya kun, I would have acted immediately to solve the problem. However, I’m not interested in how I’m seen by others, and since I’m not being harmed in any way, I’m fine with leaving it alone.

As a result, this strange phenomenon spread throughout the school.

When I began to spend more time alone in the real sense of the word, a few boys I had never spoken to before came up to me, perhaps out of frustration. Their expressions were half interest, half fear. At the very least, they were not the kind of expressions one would want to have on a friend.

“H-hey, Tachibana kun.”

“Um, what’s going on?”

And then……

“Is it true that Tachibana kun’s family is a family of criminals?”