Rumours

"Death is certain for the born, and re-birth is certain for the dead; therefore you should not feel grief for what is inevitable..!!" - Bhagwat Geeta, chapter 2 verse 27

Chapter - 2

Rumours

"So can you tell us exactly what happened at the scene?" "Did you know the deceased boy?" "You told your teacher that the boy committed suicide, do you know the reason why he did it?" The police officers were throwing questions at Ryota back and forth...

"..."

"ayye boy speak up!"

huh, are they asking me something? I can't seem to hear it though.

A lady police officer interrupted the other officers, she was their senior by the looks of it, "hey! leave the boy alone. He has just gone through a horrible experience, don't y'all feel any condolence towards him?"

One of the officers replied to her, "Uh, yes mam. Excuse us for this behavior, we will postpone our inquiry till this boy comes back to his senses again."

"Don't mind them"

the lady is saying something to me. Looking at her, she's probably telling me to ease up.

My mind is in a state of complete blankness right now, I can't seem to comprehend this situation. No, I'm just terrified to carry the guilt of letting a person slip from my hand and die even though I could have saved them. So many thoughts are swirling inside of my brain that it's giving me a headache.

It hadn't been much time since the incident, the crowd was still there and Ryota was silently sitting on a side-by rock lost in his thoughts

"Ryo-chan! Are you alright!?" huh! When did they call mom here, does she know what happened? - Ryota was surprised seeing her mother, Ryota's mother ran to him and tightly hugged him in worry - "mom.." "are you alright Ryo-chan!? Have you been hurt anywhere!? Oh god why did this happen to my son!" "mom, I'm alright. You don't have to worry about me" "of course I do, you stupid! The police told me what happened and also about you being a suspect for murder currently" "...I didn't -" "I know you didn't kill anyone, you don't have to tell me that. I trust you." "uh, hmm…", Ryota was finally coming back to his senses by little.

The police had contacted the boy's guardian and told them about the incident. Apparently the boy's name was Huro, his mother died when he was only 6yr old and his father is currently abroad because of work therefore his only family who's current apprehended of this incident was his grandfather.

A couple of days later

Huro's post-mortem has been done and the police have also investigated on his life, they also inquired Ryota about the incident and his relationship with the late boy. The postmortem report and other evidences were not in favor of it being a murder case and after some investigation around the area the police found two other students who had witnessed the incident, according to the testimony of the other two witnesses, "the boy was trying to suicide and the other boy was trying to stop and rescue him, we also rushed to the scene but we were far behind and it was already too late till we reached there" is what they said. So, Ryota was certainly out of suspicion for murder.

The reason of Huro's suicide attempt police came up after their research and investigation was that he had been taking drug injections for over the period of half a year which his family had no idea of, therefore it was also hard for him to get money for buying drugs - as he was from a middle class family - thus he borrowed money from other people or suppliers which he failed to pay back. The people who he borrowed money from were giving him constant death threats and he was also short on drugs which forced him even more to the edge as he was an addict. And so, he saw no hope and decided to end his life.

The case was closed and a vague detail of a student committing suicide was disclosed in the school following up with a mourning. unsurprisingly, the case became less talked about between the other students of the school except of rumours - Rumours always tend to spread in situations like this - in this case, the rumours were surrounding Ryota. As he was seen running on the street with blood on his shirt by some of the students and was the only one at the suicide scene. it was thought by some of the students that Ryota could be the murderer and he made it cover up as a suicide, different students were wondering about this with their own interpretation.

- Ryota's "first" day at school -

Not much people recognised him so he easily went by the corridor upto his class but after he went and took a seat in the class, the other students got suspicious "this new student is probably that person, Y'know?" and they became sure of it some times after the attendance and by the testimony of a student who saw Ryota when he was running on the street with blood on his shirt.

Students were gossiping about Ryota and he could pretty much hear it but he acted as if he couldn't though he was crying inside in grief "aah why, why did have to turn out like this, it's just one thing after the other...I'm pretty sure I would be a loner this year because of all these, let alone getting a girlfriend and I still can't get myself to get over that incident. I hoped for an extraordinary life but in a fascinating way, not this"

- recess time -

Ryota was sitting alone at his chair eating lunch, he was feeling very awkward right now, he never thought his first day at school as a transfer student would be like this. Right when he was feeling down, a boy walked upto to him and sat just in front of him on a chair "hey! you're Kimura-kun right?" - the boy had a mild smile on his face - "uh, yes" Kimura replied, he was quite confused on why would the boy approach him though the boy immediately cleared the confusion by himself

"I felt like your mood is very down currently, well that's obvious after what happened with you and all these people making such a ruckus about it. So I thought I should come and cheer you up"

"oh! I really appreciate it, um..."

"my self Mikami Suguru, you can call me by my first name"

"Sure thing! thanks for your concern Suguru-Kun, I didn't think that I would be able to make any friends after all this but now I'm a bit relieved- uh! sorry to jump to a conclusion, even though we just met I assumed us to already be friends-"

"nuh uh! no worries, we ARE friend from now on Ryota-Kun. I can call you by your first name right?"

"yeah ofcourse!", Ryota had eased up

"let me introduce you to my other friends, better than eating all alone isn't it?"

"sure, why not"

Ryota took on the proposal of Suguru of introducing him to his other friends.

Suguru-kun introduced me to his friend group, surprisingly I became a part of it and they don't mind the rumours much, I'm so happy right now. I didn't expect any of this since I transferred to this city but I guess things are going pretty smoothly for me now.

Suguru-kun looks to be a nice and open person, I mean, he approached me when I was isolated and all. I also became familiar with the other classmates Suguru-kun introduced me to and I guess I would become a good friend with them too.

I didn't tell about what happened with me to my friends back at my previous town or rather, I just don't feel like telling it to them. not to mention that I haven't received a single text message or call from any of my friends, the last time I talked to them was when I was leaving for Osaka.

meh, guess only being at a long distance is enough to severe bonds such as friendship or rather they weren't my friends in the first place and we only used to hang out because we went to the same school thus meeting with each other regularly or we were living close to each other's home, and I misjudge them to be what society calls "friends", whatever it is, the one thing that is clear is that my existence is very insignificant in others' life except my family...or that's what it seems to be.

My dad was very worried when he heard about the incident and for some reason he told me to not roam around after school and come directly back at home but I want to buy the new book by -------- as I really want to read it so I'll first go to a bookstore, I just wish for it to be available there. Dad won't get to know about this anyways so there's no harm in ditching it.

From my research, the bookstore should be near the crossroad and it also falls on the way back to my home so it will be quick.

Ryota was at the bookstore and he had purchased the book he wanted to buy,

and when he was coming out of the bookstore, he saw another girl coming in. Ryota noticed the girl, his heart skipped a beat by looking at her to be more specific - though the girl didn't take much notice of him - after walking further away from the bookstore Ryota thought "that girl was seriously beautiful, I'm surprised that someone like her reads books. I mean, isn't that considered a 'nerdy thing'?...I'm really judging a book by it's cover right now haha"

To be continued...