Arc 2 Chapter 5- Same Boy Different Story

“Get over here you piece of shit”

A man’s voice called out to an unknown child.

Just around the corner, a child peaked around the age of nine, he had bruises covering his face and body.

“Kyosuke you better clean that face up before school, if I get a single call about you looking hurt, you’re dead.”

Kyosuke Matsuda (better known as Suke) was an average child living in the slums of his city, he had white hair and gray eyes that had bags under them showing the effect of sleep deprivation. His father was that of a middle-aged man in his fifties, he was balding and fat. The house was littered with trash and rodents eating away at trash bags that hadn’t been taken out in weeks.

“Yes, father. By the way, mother, when is she coming home?”

Kyosuke was polite, he was almost brainwashed to be on his behavior so as to not bring any suspicion to his abusive dad.

The question he asked his dad wasn’t one he needed an answer to, he knew what had happened to her that night he heard the screaming. Everything changed after that, his dad told Kyosuke that she went away to her parents for a few weeks to go job hunting, but he knew the truth. The loud slam on the ground and the little bits of dried blood on the carpet told all the truth.

“She’s coming back next week so you better look good for her, if she asks why you’re hurt, tell her you stepped in a hole.”

The lies his dad told him were nothing to him anymore, he’s been saying that for the past month now, and still no sign of his mother anywhere. Kyosuke has made sure to keep his knowledge to himself because he knew what his dad would do to him if he knew.

“I’m going to head to school now father, is there any way I can have money for lunch?”

Kyosuke again knew the answer to this, it was always a no, he always relied on his friends for lunch since his mom died, they always thought that Kyosuke was just stubborn and forgetful, that he always meant to bring his money but forgot.

“Don’t ask retarded questions boy, get the hell out of here before I throw this bottle at your head!”

Kyosuke’s dad shook the bottle in his hand to prove that it was indeed a full bottle of beer, something that Kyosuke’s dad never took out of his hand. It was disgusting how Kyosuke lived, he’s wanted to get out of here for years but every time he leaves, he’s always found by his dad, always.

“I’ll be back at three father, goodbye.”

Kyosuke tried his best to conceal his anger towards his dad, the hate he felt for him was unbearable and he wanted nothing more than to kill his dad.

“Piss off you disgusting piece of trash.”

It was always harsh towards Kyosuke, Kyosuke’s dad hated the look of him. Kyosuke was found on the side of the road by his “mother”, she picked him up and brought him home into a nice loving house. At this point the house was clean, Kyosuke’s “dad” was a loving parent, even towards Kyosuke. It wasn’t until Kyosuke’s hair started to change into a pure white that his dad started to gain hatred for him.

The hatred that Kyosuke’s dad held for him kept him up at night, eventually leading to the loss of his job. This caused outrage in the family, Kyosuke’s mom started to gain hatred towards her husband for caring so much about the look of their newfound son. They fought constantly, always about the same subject.

“HOW THE HELL DO YOU EXPECT TO PAY BILLS AROUND HERE IF ALL YOU DO IS SIT AND SULK ABOUT THE FACT THAT KYOSUKE HAS WHITE HAIR!?”

Kyosuke’s mom was filled with anger that night, he could hear them yelling through the many walls of the house.

“LISTEN BITCH, YOU WOULDN’T UNDERSTAND THAT CHILD IF IT KILLED YOU!”

It was that wording that scared Kyosuke the most, he loved his mom and knew that she wasn’t one to back down from a fight.

“OH, YEA? WHO’S GONNA KILL ME, YOU?!”

The words that Kyosuke remembers the most were those he knew from that moment on, it was a matter of time before things got too far out of his hands.

Suddenly there was a shattering of a glass bottle, the same beer that he’s been drinking for the past few years was finally used as a weapon. Screaming ensued and a loud thud had crashed through the house. After the loud thud was silence, nothing but the chirping of crickets in the house. Kyosuke tried his best to bury his head into his pillow to act as if nothing happened, but his heart hurt with the knowledge of what had happened.

-DAMMIT MOM, WHY, WHY DID YOU HAVE TO TAKE IT SO FAR!

Kyosuke cried into his pillow that night, knowing that was the last time he’d ever hear from his mom again, knowing that he had to live with a murderer in that house until he eventually snapped and killed him.

Going back to the current reality of Kyosuke, he began walking to school, he made his way to school on the same path every day. He waved to the same people, helped the same kids cross the road, he loved getting out of the house, nothing made him happier to see people smile.

The world around him was lighter when he was away from his father, nothing was his problem, he only wanted to help everyone.

“Hey, Kyosuke!”

Coming out of his house was a boy around Kyosuke’s age, his name was Kyle Jennings, he had everything Kyosuke didn’t, a loving family, a nice house, and most importantly the skills to make any woman fall in love with him. He was a good-looking boy around five feet on the dot, he had a slim, yet fit psyche, and finally, he had blonde hair and blue eyes, something that girls around their town loved in boys.

Kyosuke wasn’t by any means bad-looking, but having white hair wasn’t exactly normal in any part of the world.

They continued on their way to the school, passing the mail lady on her morning route. On their way into the school they stopped by their lockers to grab their supplies, they spoke for a few minutes before getting ready to enter their classroom.

They took their seats and read the board.

-Dangit, Thanksgiving break starts tomorrow, how the heck am I gonna get out of my house now, maybe I’ll tell him I’m volunteering at an animal shelter or something.

Three little boys at the back of the classroom were snickering to themselves, they always had fun messing around with Kyosuke, throwing spitballs at him and hitting him with paper airplanes. He always tried to laugh it off to hope they give up, but it never seemed to work.

The boys today were acting especially devilish with their intent to strip Kyosuke of his shirt in front of the whole class, to do that they were going to run up to him on his way to present in front of the class, they had their project over what they’ll do this over Thanksgiving break and Kyosuke was up first.

“Kyosuke you look tired, were you finishing up your project late last night, if you want we can make you go tomorrow ?”

The teacher was always concerned for Kyosuke since he always saw how tired and bent out of shape Kyosuke looked.

“No, it’s fine, I was just up late dealing with something important.”

Kyosuke didn’t want anyone to know he was up late last night getting beaten by his father for coming home late, he was helping out a few younger kids get a kitten out of a tree so he was an hour late.

“Alright then, come on up and hand me your syllabus.”

Kyosuke began to get up from his seat when he was rushed by the three boys, the teacher yelled at them to get away from Kyosuke but it was too late, they ripped his shirt off revealing his badly beaten body, bruises, cuts, and scratches. Kyosuke stood there, too tired and beaten up to even care, he just stood, no emotion being shown. People gasped in horror and others looked away.

“K-Kyosuke we’re sorry we-we didn’t mean to!”

The boys were taken aback by the sight, they were just kids and only wanted to poke fun at him, if they had known Kyosuke’s life at home maybe they would have thought twice before picking on him.

“YOU THREE GET YOUR ASSES TO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE NOW!”

The teacher screamed at the boys and they ran off to the office not wanting to get expelled. Kyosuke’s teacher ran over and threw Kyosuke an extra shirt that he kept in his cabinet just in case he needed it if a student spilled something on their shirt.

“Kyosuke would you like me to talk to your father abo-”

“NO!”

Kyosuke cut the teacher off knowing that if he told his father, that he’d be the next on his dad’s list of people he wanted to kill.

Kyosuke did nothing, he simply got up and began to present his project, the rest of the day was nothing but weird stares and people giving sympathy for him. He never wanted sympathy from anyone, he just wanted to live the rest of his days out in peace.

The day went by too fast for Kyosuke’s comfort, period after period, he got closer to the end of the school day, as the day went on it became apparent that Kyosuke’s body has been trending on the school’s Twitter page, parents were complaining that they needed to find his dad and have him removed from Kyosuke’s life. As much as Kyosuke wanted that, he knew that it would never happen.

“Kyosuke are you okay?” Asked Kyle, a real friend, someone who cared about Kyosuke’s feelings. Nothing made Kyosuke happier than talking with Kyle, having someone he could tell his hardships to without having anyone find out was nice.

“I didn’t expect anyone to ever find out, I just hope he doesn’t find out.”

Kyosuke looked down at the ground, the bags under his eyes showed sadness, his pupils were dilated, he was scared to go home but didn’t show it, his heart hurt just like that night with his mother, it wasn’t of sadness, but of pure terror.

“If he tries anything, come running to my house, I’ll have my parents get the gun and we’ll take that son of a gun down, better yet, we’ll have you do it yourself.”

That was the best thing Kyosuke’s heard all day, something about having a friend and his family wish the same fate for his father was great.

The reasoning behind why Kyle and his parents haven’t told child services is simple. Kyosuke’s dad had always slipped out of the way when they came, always somehow knowing before they came. He’d clean the house up, cook food, spray perfume, and make the house look like something out of a movie, weirdly clean. Every time they came they’d see a nice loving father, eventually, they started to tell Kyle’s parents that they’re delusional and that if they keep calling, they’ll press charges on his family. Kyosuke’s worst enemy wasn’t his father, it was his government.

Kyosuke finally smiled at Kyle and agreed, the bell rang and they both got ready for the walk home.

“Kyosuke make sure if you see your father start to get angry that you don’t try to calm him down, just run, promise me that.”

Kyosuke looked at Kyle and told him that he promised, he wanted nothing more than the run from his dad anyways, except, of course, his father’s death.

They began the walk home, going past the same buildings as before but with the sun shining bright, making the world light up more clearly. Kyle’s house was before Kyosuke’s so he made his way into his home when it came time.

That left Kyosuke alone to walk back to his house, he waved to the same old people who were out gardening, they had nothing better to do anyway, he walked past the convenience store that sat on the corner right before his house, this time he decided that he was going to grab a snack to eat before going home, he had extra money from winning a game at school so he decided that he was going to buy some chips for dinner.

He got his food and started to leave, the clerk told him that his dad was in here earlier buying more beer and that he should be careful going home.

The clerk was someone he trusted like Kyle, he told him the stories about his dad and to always look out for when he was buying more beer, which meant he was going to get drunk that night and probably hurt Kyosuke in his rage.

“Don’t worry, I have a plan set if he tries to hurt me so I’ll be fine, if anything bad happens I’ll tell you tomorrow.”

Kyosuke smiled as he left the store, leaving the clerk to wonder what he meant by bad. He made his way to his home, the walk from the store to his house was only thirty seconds so he reached it in no time.

He walked in the door to his dad beating a rat to death that had stolen a piece of pizza from him. This caused Kyosuke to almost vomit, worse yet, his dad picked the bloody pizza up and began eating it.

“What the hell’s in that bag you little shit.”

Kyosuke’s dad asked this while still eating, blood trickling down his chin.

“I won a few dollars at school and decided to buy some chips for myself.”

He took the chips out to show that they weren’t anything special, just some cool ranch chips that were his favorite. His mom would always buy them for him when she went to the store, he always liked the flavor and still hasn’t gotten bored of it.

“Why don’t you hand those over to me for safekeeping, you don’t want to eat all of them in one sitting do you?”

Kyosuke didn’t want to give up his food, he didn’t eat much for lunch so he wanted to at least have a little bit to each for dinner, his father shook the bottle again causing him to walk towards him. Out of nowhere, he grabbed Kyosuke.

“AUGH, WHAT THE HELL!”

Kyosuke screamed at his dad, he tried pulling away from his arm from the grasps of his dad.

“I heard what happened at school today you little punk, you know what I told you this morning right?!”

He picked the full bottle of beer up and smashed it against Kyosuke’s arm, his arm was being badly beaten until he could hear cracks in his arm and it eventually fell limp, his arm turned into mush by the looks of it.

Kyosuke pulled his arm hard enough and fell onto his back, trying to push himself away from his dad. Kyosuke’s dad slowly got up and began to unsteadily walk towards him with the bottle of beer in his hand, he raised the bottle and smashed it against Kyosuke’s head, knocking him back. Kyosuke got up and started to look around for something to grab onto, but again, his dad smashed Kyosuke’s head with the full bottle, blood flew against the floor. The last swing caused the bottle to shatter, glass flying into Kyosuke’s face. Kyosuke screamed in pain but continued to search for something to grab.

“Father, why are you doing this?!”

He was only able to mutter these words before his dad stabbed him in the stomach with the bottle, blood began slowly pouring out of his body before he was able to spot the pizza cutter on the ground, it was too sharp but maybe it would give him a chance to escape. Being much smaller and younger than his dad, he leaned over, dodging another attack, he grabbed the pizza cutter right as his dad grabbed his hair.

“THIS HAIR, THIS CHILD, IS A CURSE!”

Kyosuke’s dad began to cut away at Kyosuke’s scalp, blood poured out of the young child’s head and he frantically shoved the pizza cutter to his dad’s neck and began rolling it. It wasn’t sharp enough to cut with all the strength he had lost, with his vision getting blurry he ripped his hair out giving him enough time to roll onto his back and kick the pizza cutter into his dad’s neck, it went straight through causing an ear-piercing scream to shoot out from his dad’s mouth.

-Tired, I’m so tired

With the top of his head almost fully cut off, it finally got to him, the adrenalin died down and his head hit the floor dead.

* * *

The empty black void caused a shift in Kyosuke’s view, he slowly noticed that he was standing on solid ground, he moved around before grabbing onto something squishy, his vision slowly faded back in when he realized he was squishing a bartender's breast. Embarrassed, he instantly fell back terrified at his new surroundings, he felt something scaly on his back and when he looked up he noticed a giant lizard man looking down at him.

“EXCUSE ME I’M SO SORRY, PLEASE FORGIVE ME!”

He gave a slight bow to show his sorrows and before long the lizard began to laugh.

“Don’t worry kid, it’s not me you should be apologizing to.”

He pointed at the bartender still holding her upper region, redder than a tomato.

“EXCUSE ME MISS, I’M TRULY SORRY!”

The girl slowly went back to a normal shade of color and began to laugh as well, with all of this going through Kyosuke’s head at once it caused him to faint.

“WHAT THE HELLLLLLLL!”

Suke shot up and began looking around, He looked down at himself and realized that he was truly himself, he was back in his own body, or at least, his correctly aged body, he was back to being sixteen.

“What’s wrong Suke?”

Looking next to him he saw the girl who looked almost exactly like Ai, this caused Suke to finally reveal her name.

“Nothing’s wrong Kokoro, everything is fine, I think.”

Suke looked up to the ceiling and contemplated what his life had come to, he wasn’t who he used to be, he hated who he once was, weak, easily beatable, now he’s powerful, that’s all he wanted now, was power.