Chapter 1 - Loss

"Well, this is the end I guess, there's no going back now."

These were the last words uttered by 15-year-old Yuki Kaito's mouth.

In the dead of night, he leaped off the 29th floor of the apartment he lived at with his mother. While plummeting to his doom, a single thought came to his mind.

"I've always wondered if your life flashes before your eyes when you pass on."

Right as he thought those exact words, his mind went blank. His first memory was when he was 6 years old. The school year had just begun and he was about to be in the 1st grade. He was at the entrance of the school and was holding as tight as he possibly could to his mother's hand. His mother recognized that he was nervous and quickly reassured him that everything would be alright.

"It's okay Yuki, you'll be fine here, it's an amazing school and you'll have lots of fun."

Her hazel eyes looked at him with such kindness that all of his anxiety disappeared. Rin Kaito was a single mother that lived in a town composed mainly of Japanese people in the United States with her only son Yuki Kaito. Her boyfriend had left her when she got pregnant because "he was not prepared to be a father".

While that experience scarred her, she began getting her life back together as she had a baby to take care of. She eventually found a well-paying office job that could support herself as well as her son. In exchange for having the ability to provide for her family, she lost the right to spend time with her child. This meant that Yuki was usually stuck with babysitters.

Yuki reluctantly entered his classroom and was greeted with lots of excitement along with some curious faces. The sudden large amount of attention given to him made Yuki extremely nervous however, his teacher quickly came to the rescue.

She was a short, skinny middle-aged asian woman with blue eyes and blonde hair. She crouched down and looked at Yuki Kaito with the biggest smile.

"Hello my name is Ms.kana, why don't you introduce yourself to us."

Yuki regained his confidence once again.

"My name is Yuki Kaito."

The classroom clapped simultaneously.

"Now what do we say, class?"

"Hello Yuki Kaito." the classroom replied.

"Okay Yuki, you can sit right over there." Ms.kana said as she led him to a seat near the back of the class.

A boy was sitting next to him with short brown silky hair.

"Hi Yuki, I'm Riku Tadashi, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," Yuki responded.

The day progressed like any other day at an average school. After a long day in the classroom, it was finally recess. Riku and Yuki had made some new friends and made a group of 5. They decided to play "Tag" as it was the only outdoor game they knew.

They agreed that they would race from one end of the school field to the other and the last one there would be 'it'. Yuki, Riku as well as Haru, and Ren made it to the finish line. This meant that Yuuma was going to be 'it'. Each day, they did this until they eventually grew very close to each other.

They would spend hours in each other's houses any chance they got. They played games, watched TV, and played outside together. They had become inseparable. This also caused their mothers to become acquaintances. While the mothers talked together, the kids would go elsewhere to play.

Even though the goodbyes were miserable, they knew they would see each other the next day. This gave them something to look forward to each day. Yuki's life was perfect. He had everything he ever wanted or needed. His perfect life continued for some time until one day a disturbance entered his life causing it to crumble to dust.

Yuki had just arrived home from a normal day at school like he always had. Unlike other days, his mother was sitting on the couch. She would usually be at her office as she worked many hours during the week to pay for their living expenses. Yuki noticed that something was off. He tried to approach her to confirm if everything was alright.

"Hey mom, are you okay?"

The light that once shined bright in her eyes was gone, she looked like a train wreck.

"Huh, oh yes sweetie, everything will be alright." his mother replied.

"Corporate said that they needed to lay someone off because they didn't need a large workforce any longer."

"Out of everyone they chose me even though I do more work than anyone else just because I'm a female."

"Sorry, I can't help myself from ranting. Anyway, dinner will be ready soon so go do your homework."

Even though Yuki's mother was emotionally exhausted, she tried to put up a brave face for her child. On the other hand, she despised men. She still had a subconscious hatred towards men because of the way her boyfriend abandoned her when he found out that she was pregnant. That hatred had dulled down overtime as she saw her beautiful son grow up to be a gentle and kindhearted person. Now that she had supposedly been fired from her job because she was a woman, that hatred was reawakened.

The actual reason she was fired wasn't that she was a woman, the manager didn't know who to lay off so he picked someone at random and that person ended up being her. However, Rin Kaito had misunderstood the situation and wanted to find someone to take out her anger on, which unfortunately was men.

She tried looking for a new job but not many places were hiring. Over time she grew to resent men for their existence and the power they hold over society. Every day she grew to hate men even more than she had the previous day. It had been around 3 months since his mother had lost her job, Yuki had just got back from school with an A+ on his latest test.

"Hey mom, look, I got an A+ on my math test."

"That's nice honey but we need to talk."

"Well ever since I lost my job we have been barely able to pay our expenses and I think we might need to move to an apartment until I can at least get a well-paying job again."

The second he heard those words Yuki threw a tantrum.

"What about my friends, moving means that I can't see them again."

"I would have to make new friends."

"It's not fair, IT'S NOT FAIR!"

Right as he finished his sentence his mother slapped him across the face as hard as she could. Yuki began to cry hysterically. Every word that Yuki said wounded her far more than any blade possibly could. She had sacrificed so much for him just because she wanted him to have a perfect life. Those words broke her heart but gave her an outlet for her accumulated pain.

"You ungrateful child."

"I've done everything for you, you never had to worry about food or shelter."

"The only thing you ever have on your mind are your stupid little friends."

"You only think about them every single day while I work from morning until night to make a living."

"I don't care about your friends or what you have to say, you are going to listen and obey me!"

"And will you stop your goddamn crying, you are so annoying!"

As she said those words, she slapped Yuki once more. Yuki looked into his mother's eyes but could only see anger and hate in them. She was no longer the same gentle and loving person he knew. She was a monster now. It seemed as if her sharp gaze could look through his soul. As Yuki continued to stare at her she appeared larger than before, demonically staring at him like he was an insect and she was the devil himself.

His mother had never hit him in his life. Even when he did something wrong, she would try to help him understand his mistake so it wouldn't happen again. This was new to him. He felt powerless against her, one single move and he could die. He had unlocked a new emotion: fear.

Before his mother got another chance to hit him again, Yuki quickly ran upstairs to his room as fast as he could. Yuki felt conflicted. He had never seen his mom act this way. He tried to hate her because of the way she treated him but he couldn't, after all, she was still his mom. A few hours later she came to his room.

"Hey… dinner is ready, come downstairs and eat before it gets cold."

He obeyed and they ate dinner in silence.

The next day at school Riku noticed that something was wrong with Yuki. He tried to ignore it but Yuki looked worn out. Nevertheless, Riku decided to confront him.

"Hey, you don't look so good."

"Is everything alright?"

"Not really, my mom lost her job and now we have to move somewhere else until she finds a new one."

Riku didn't want Yuki to leave him but he needed to be understanding of the situation.

"Well it's only until she gets a new job so it's ok, you'll be back before you know it."

"There's no reason to get upset."

Hearing those words brought comfort to Yuki.

"Thanks, I feel much better now."

Just like that, life returned to how it was before. Yuki and his mom returned to how they were previously and awaited the day they moved to their new apartment.

On the last day at his school, Yuki's class held a goodbye ceremony for him. Almost everyone was crying.

"Hey, promise me you'll come back to us," Riku said.

"I promise!" Yuki replied.

Unbeknownst to Yuki, he would never get the chance to uphold the promise he made that day.

A few days later Yuki and his mother moved to their new apartment. It was located in a small metropolitan city, the building wasn't in the best condition but it didn't pose any threat to their lives. It was clear that they weren't going to be living in a neighborhood however, at that point Yuki didn't care. He was too tired to think about anything other than resting. Yuki had finally made it into his new home. Right as he entered, he collapsed from the exhaustion he accumulated over the past few days.

[Next Memory]