Chapter 13

Hinata returned from his gym workout in the morning and greeted his mom after putting his bag down. His mom was in the kitchen preparing food. She had already prepared some tuna sandwiches for him in advance, as she knew he'd be hungry after he got home. He didn't waste any time to dig in.

It was a Saturday today, but he wasn't meeting his friends in the afternoon as they were busy. He would be alone all day at home, and he would get bored.. so he had decided to go to Sakanoshita store early today, and help out a bit. He'd return home directly after today's practice.

"Shoyo, you're going to the store early today right?" Shizuka asked.

"Yes mom. It would be pretty boring at home, so I wanted to go to the store early and help out a bit"

She smiled softly. He was a really sweet boy. She still couldn't believe how much he had changed from before. It felt pretty surreal. He even got good grades at school now. She couldn't be happier.

"Okay.. but don't forget to get the groceries when you return, and try not to stay out too late"

"I won't forget. Natsu went to her friends house and she'll be there until you pick her up. It's 10 a.m. now, and you won't be back home before 8 p.m. Maybe even 9. Do you still need to work that hard mom? Even on a weekend?"

Shizuka just sighed. "It's an emergency, and I really didn't have much of a choice. You don't have to worry about me.. I'll take care of myself. You just focus on practicing okay? Mom will be just fine." she tried to reassure him.

"I don't like the fact that you still have to work so hard. You've already sacrificed so much for us. Natsu was still small, so I'm not sure how of it she remembers, but I remember how it was after that man left. You worked so hard. Even when you weren't well and had a fever, you still went to work. You never cried in front of us and always tried to be strong for me and Natsu.

I felt so useless back then.. seeing you struggle, and not being able to help. I'm still feeling the same now. I just wish I could do something." he said, and clenched his fist.

Shizuka tried and failed to hold back her tears. Hinata immediately looked up and saw his mom cry. It felt like a punch to his gut.. seeing tears in her eyes.

"Don't waste your tears on a coward who abandoned us and ran away. He's not worth it."

He wiped her tears and she just pulled him into a hug. They really grew so fast. She felt like it was just yesterday, when she was still feeding him and dressing him in cute outfits. She chuckled at the memory.

"That's not why I was crying. I was just happy to hear you say that. I only did what any mother would do for their children. And you don't have to worry about me. I promise to take care of myself okay? We won't make enough of I don't work, so we can only accept it. That's just how life is sometimes. Things don't always go according to the plan. You just have to keep moving forward and hope for things to change for the better."

She kissed him on top of his head affectionately and released him. She stood up to wash her face and get ready for work.

"You should get ready too. It'll take time to ride to the store so it's better to leave early."

"Yaa.. I guess I'll do that. Still.. I just wish I could do something.. you know? I really hate seeing you work that hard. You deserve better."

"I know.. but sometimes.. we just have to accept it for what it is. Besides.. we don't have much of a choice. It's not like we can win the lottery or something." she said, and went towards the kitchen to put the plates away. She didn't look back while was going there.. if she had, she would have noticed his expression. It was like a light bulb went off in his head.

As soon as he heard her mention the word 'Lottery', he suddenly recalled something. He searched his memories and there it was.. Staring him right in the face!

He saw two different lottery tickets and their numbers in his memories. A demonic smile naturally formed on his face, a split image of his mothers smile, when she heard about discounts.

The first one was a lottery on the 3rd week of november. The person who won this lottery had appeared on Tv. His face wasn't shown, but his last name was.. and he had bragged about winning the lottery in the interview.

Apparently.. he had done it just to spite his ex-girlfriend and make her regret leaving him, just because he didn't have a job and wasn't making any money.. or at least.. that was his version of it. He had talked about the store from which he had bought the ticket and what led him to choosing that particular one. He had tried to make it sound cool but everyone could tell his story was bogus. It had been pure luck. The ticket was shown as well.

It had been a hot topic of discussion in Miyagi for quite a few days. Not just because he had won a huge lottery.. but also due to the fact that they had managed to track down the ex-girlfriend, and she had appeared for an interview as well. She had gone on to completely destroy him, stating that she left him because he was lazy and refused to work as he felt that the jobs he was being offered were 'beneath him'. She didn't want to be with someone who was content with sitting on his ass all day, and wouldn't go back to him even if he won ten more lotteries.

This lottery was held by a company called Moto Dream and they had received the government's permission to host it, as they were going to donate a good chunk of the profits to different charities across the country. It had been held under government supervison to prevent foul play. The Lottery had a prize pool of 2 billion yen with the first prize being 1.2 billion. They would directly transfer the money to the bank account of the winners within a period of 1 week, after verifying the authenticity. [1.2 billion yen = $9.36 million usd / € 8.93 million euros]

The 2nd lottery was even bigger. The results were scheduled to be released on the 1st day of the new year, and the scale and prizes were huge. Some had even called it the Biggest Lottery Of The Decade, and they hadn't been exaggerating by any means.

This lottery had a prize pool of 7 billion yen and the first prize was a whopping 5.2 billion yen. Such big lotteries were rarely seen and it was also the reason for it being considered as the biggest lottery of the decade. They weren't sure when they would see one this big again. [5.2 billion yen = $40.5 million usd / € 38.7 million euros]

This lottery had officially been held by the Japanese Lottery Association. Another reason there was such an interest towards it, was due to the fact that it had been promised that the transaction process would be confidential and smooth, with the winnings transferred to the winners accounts within 12 working days, saving a lot of troubles for the winners.

While the winners information hadn't been announced, the winning ticket number had been revealed and it had been all over the news, along with the store it had been bought from.

Hinata didn't waste any time and immediately rushed to his room to get a pen and paper. He wouldn't take any chances. He quickly wrote down the location of the two stores, and the two winning ticket numbers. He couldn't risk forgetting this. If things went well.. his mom wouldn't have to work for anyone ever again.

He took some money out of his savings. He never quite spent money on himself before and had been able to save up a decent sum of ¥ 30,000 yen due to this. He'd been saving it to buy something nice for his mom and sister.

Next week was the 3rd week of November. He had to buy the ticket by today. The person who had won the lottery had bought it tomorrow, on Sunday. There was no way he was going to wait until tomorrow. The results were going to be announced at 6 p.m in the evening. Till then, he'd wait patiently with his fingers crossed.

He didn't care about what would happen to the other person. His family deserved this, and that was all that mattered.

He then calmed himself down and got ready to head to Sakanoshita store. He would buy the ticket first, and then go to the store. He went downstairs and saw his mother coming out of the kitchen, holding his packed lunch.

"Bye mom.. I'm heading to the store. I'll try not to be too late." he said, taking his lunch box and putting it in his bag.

Shizuka just waved him off with a smile. It had touched her when he had poured his heart out. She knew her kids loved her.. she just didn't know they loved her this much.

Her son was growing into a reliable person. He carried himself with a subtle air of confidence now. He was much more open and just more mature overall, while still having that cheerfulness about him that she loved so much.

She once again thought about all of his changes and couldn't help but wonder if she was just overthinking things, or if her suspicions about the source of the changes was correct.