61 A Lost Boy in Frankenstein City

"Jun wait, I can explain!"

The expression on Jun's face paralyzed Haruki, who failed to be professional and continue his show. His feelings spoke louder.

The singer abandoned the performance, leaving the stage when he saw Jun leave the bucket he was carrying on a table. The baker turned on his heels, returning to the kitchen.

"I'm sorry, Saito," the singer blurted as he passed by the climber's table. And he ran to the kitchen after Jun. The baker was already out the back door. Haruki went out into the back alley, begging,

"Wait for me, Jun!"

In response to Jun's request, he started running out onto the boulevard and entering side alleys, to outwit Haruki who was running to catch up with him. Haruki was not going to give up, he needed to talk to Jun, explain himself. They continued running around the city until the baker got tired, giving up running. He turned around, breathing hard to face the singer, in the middle of a bridge resembling the London one, but with about 50 meters or so.

Haruki saw Jun's eyes red and swollen, his face wet with tears. The singer's excuses disappeared, he would never lie to Jun again, nor omit if Jun gave him one more chance, Haruki decided, as if making a promise to achieve grace.

"I really am a fucking idiot," Jun vented. "I fell for your good boy's face and that's what I fucking got!" Jun dashed to Haruki with a closed fist. The singer flinched, paralyzed in fear. But the baker halted his punch just inches from Haruki's nose but the singer just trembled and squinted at Jun's fist, panicked and shrunk.

Jun lowered his arm backward, snarling, "It's not worth it. It would just make you the fucking victim. Me, the bad guy."

He turned his back to Haruki and walked away, but Haruki mustered some courage to call him back.

"Jun, please let me explain," Haruki pleaded again.

"Do not talk to me anymore. You are the worst kind of person there is, " Jun replied without turning around.

"It was just a show." Haruki ran to stand beside Jun.

The baker glanced at him,

"You made me believe you were innocent. That you had pure feelings. But it was all a lie. You are a golden boy fraud, a piece of shit. I should have trusted my instincts that you were just a little bitch. A guy. But still a little whore." There was hatred in Jun's eyes.

Haruki felt his words pierce his heart, and surely they were losing a lot of hearts in their smartwatches. He felt his heart crush, and also felt the quiet vibration on his wrist.

"Jun, I'm sorry, I was going to tell you everything. I did it to buy the car and go with you to the rally." Haruki couldn't think straight, he was feeling like shit right now. And running had consumed his last energies. He felt exhausted and a bit dizzy.

"And you took the easy route. It was always like that with you, wasn't it, Haruki? When you realized you wouldn't be tall enough, you switched basketball to the stage."

"Jun, it was not like that!" Haruki's eyes widened and he couldn't keep himself at the injustice.

"I don't care how it went, not anymore. You can do what you want, I don't care anymore," Jun responded nonchalantly and strode away.

Haruki stood there, too exhausted to continue running after Jun. He crouched down, sobbing until his muscles trembled, and he sat on the floor, covering his face, hiding his crying.

'It's over. My life is over. Jun hates me...'

Haruki remained in this state until his sobs subsided, wiping the tears, and got up to go.

The singer saw Saito standing at the end of the bridge, staring at him.

Haruki got up and turned around, leaving on the other side. He didn't want to talk to anyone now, nor to jump from one relationship discussion to another.

He barely had the strength to walk away and felt like his voice would fail him, anyway.

******

Haruki has never cried so much in his life, nor has he felt so miserable. The more he thought about how the situation had come to this disaster, the more he thought Jun was right.

Saito wasn't wrong, though.

Only he wasn't right. But he was fed up with the nickname 'golden boy' already. That was undeserved and unfair. He didn't know Daisuke's backstory, nor Jun's. Yet he could have sworn that the two sympathize with each other because their parents not loved them.

He didn't deserve to be dissed for being raised with love and protection. It wasn't his fault people didn't take care of their children as his parents did. The singer was sure he screwed with his life by letting his feelings take over, and involving himself with a man. Or two. And now he no longer had a good future for him.

He wept for everything he had lost. But he was crying mainly because of Jun's harsh accusations. It hurt beyond his reasonings.

Haruki had wandered across the deck, at the very end of the fancy boulevard with the stores. He found a tall building, which he couldn't identify which city in the world it was from. He discovered the crystal elevator linking the other decks in one of its sides.

He went to the top of it, thinking the place would hide him during those dark hours. From its rooftop, the singer could see the whole Deck 4, that Haruki nicknamed Frankenstein City.

The singer lay down on the penthouse floor and watched the starless, moonless sky until he fell asleep. His sleep was agitated, full of nightmares with Jun beating him and his face being destroyed. Saito was coming to get him to tie him up again.

Haruki woke up in anguish, feeling short of breath. He stayed there, curled up by the cold of dawn. He was wearing a satin trouser and an unbuttoned shirt, and useless black strips adorning his bare chest _ his last number's clothes, nonetheless. They're not enough for the cold he was feeling.

The singer remembered what Jun had said, 'You little whore.' That's how Jun saw him. It was the raw truth: Jun didn't respect him for being a boyband singer, and for having the protection of his parents. Harsh and unjust accusations. Now Haruki could think of the right answers. Answers he had not been able to articulate at the time of the discussion. Being a singer and dancer, living off his looks didn't make him a little bitch.

'Grr!'

And he ended up with nothing. 'Daisuke, you will pay me dearly, dearly.' Haruki wanted revenge for being extorted.

The singer decided to look at the stats of his opponents on the smartwatch to get to know his opponents better. He would come back totally different. From there, they would wait to see who the 'Golden Boy' was. Haruki would show his competitive side.

Haruki felt the warmth of a pair of arms wrap around him, a soft hand wiping his face. But the smell was neither Jun's nor Saito's. Haruki opened his eyes to see who had embraced him.