Chapter 17: Flashback Chapter (3) - The Pain that Persists

Four days have passed.

I didn't go out of my home, unless it was governmental business, such as making Aoki my guardian and being asked whether I was okay with that.

I wrote down a simple yes, and that was all.

Aside from that, I didn't do anything besides eating and sleeping these days. I didn't have the energy to do anything else. I also don't feel like going to a therapist.

I simply...

Don't think I'm able to go there…

After that day…

I lost hope in people…

These guys…

They were clearly covering up the incident…

But…

I can't do anything…

I'm weak and pathetic…

I can't even question them in the slightest…

How should I even do that???

Mother…

Father…

Kyō…

K-Kaori…

I'm sorry…

I'll never be able to avenge you…

I'm pathetic…

I wish…

I would have the strength…

But I don't have it…

1 Day Later

I heard the door knocking. "Young Master, today is your family's funeral," Aoki exclaimed, his voice holding extreme sadness.

"Hmm," I replied, my voice being in an stoic and empty tone.

"Young Master, here is your breakfast," Aoki said, as he rolled the kitchen trolley from the side in my room.

"It's your favorite sandwich, alongside fried eggs," Aoki expressed, trying to cheer me up day after day with my favorite dishes.

As usual, I looked at him empty and expressed my gratitude. "Thank you, Aoki."

Aoki bit his lips again, and did a graceful bow. "No worries, Young Master," he said, walking away, leaving the kitchen trolley with my favorite sweets, desserts and drinks here.

I ate up and saw Aoki coming punctual again. Since four days ago, I take up to two hours to eat relatively small dishes, eat able within three to five minutes.

Aoki looked at me again with an sad and pitiful look, as he took as usual the half covered food plate away and the kitchen trolley which was left untouched.

"Young Master…" Aoki muttered, as he moved away, figuring out that I'm only going to reply with one or two words at most.

After I remained two hours in my room, I saw the door knocking again, seeing Aoki entering because the funeral is approaching.

Aoki walked to me, taking a suit out. I took it from his hands and clothed myself into it.

"Young Master?" Aoki exclaimed, surprised, but also relieved.

"Aoki, let's go," I said, my tone remaining stoic, as we both walked to the car.

Aoki and I arrived at the funeral, as I saw a handful of people being here.

I could see Reporters from the sidelines within the allowed distance taking occasionally pictures of me and hearing them asking to take an interview with me. Do they not know privacy?

On the other hand I saw Partners and workers from my family's conglomerate here, who seemed to have invited themselves in the funeral, out of obligated reasons for the publicity.

From the looks of it, they're the people in high positions, wanting to preserve their imagine, as it would be disrespectful not appearing here.

And the last types of people were politicians, who also invited themselves here without any prior notice to Aoki. Even if some of them were working with my father, as he himself is since three years a politician, I didn't get from them any prior notice for their appearance nor did I sent them an invitation.

…

It's truly chaotic…

Considering that I just wanted to be left alone here…

But nobody really cares what a kid thinks…

They're all just here to preserve their image in front of the publicity…

Damn bastards…

How shameless can they be?

Nevermind…

I shouldn't let them ruin this day even further…

I began to walk towards their coffins, as each one of them stepped back, for appearance sake. If they didn't, they would be under enormous criticism from the public.

In the moment I appeared in front of their coffins, I went to each coffin annually, saying goodbye, while I clenched my fists and became teary in the eyes.

It was a natural reaction, that I couldn't prevent. Even if crying in the last few days wasn't possible anymore, right now I felt my heart clenching, wanting to release every ounce of sadness it's holding.

I cried, more than I could imagine. Aoki, nor anyone moved, or spoke, until I was ready giving them my allowance.

I placed my hand on each of the four coffins, unable to comprehend my feelings in that moment.

I knew that I was sad.

Incomprehensibly sad.

But there was another emotion I felt in that moment, the first time since these four days.

It was something that I never really felt before.

But I knew instantly what it was.

One word; hatred.

Instead of every positive emotion I felt these seven last years, this was something entirely else.

It engulfed my heart with rage.

However, it was relatively small at that time.

Only with the time, it would grow larger and larger.

Who could've thought that this one emotion would later resolve around my entire life.

I looked back the very last time, until the coffins were put under the earth.

I clenched my fists even harder than I could imagine, but Aoki suddenly went to my side and held my hand, making me realize to stop.

In an instant as formalities were over and Reporters left one after another, an insanely large group appeared in front of my eyes.

It were Partners, Workers, Investors, and even politicians. Out of formality sake each of them apologized to me, as they couldn't state right away their intentions. But later on, I got the gist of their messages.

Either they were troubled losing money, as the shares were falling down of the conglomerate, stating I should handle the affairs so they can keep up receiving the benefits of the shares, as the dividend is approaching and they'll have a margin of Loss.

Meanwhile some thought it would be the perfect opportunity to fool a seven-year old kid, expecting me to sell the shares of my family, out of nativity or foolishness, as they remarked the expenses of the villa where I'm currently residing, hoping to manipulate me according to their expectations.

Others simply straightforward asked me what would happen to the supposedly support of the conglomerate my Father promised politicians, as they thought I was unaware of their lying nature.

However, I was completely aware of everything the whole time. My Father isn't the one managing the conglomerate, but my Mother.

She has the complete control, as such she would be the one on the decision making about who the conglomerate supports, if they ever discussed that even beforehand. But the only one she would support is Father, and no one else.

All these people who appeared here, just thought about the loss of their benefits and making benefits of the given situation.

Not one person here was honest at all. Is that how upper society is supposed to be?

So…

…disgusting

I couldn't even comprehend their level of boldness anymore. It was something I never thought about experiencing. Even if I did, I would've never expected that at my family's funeral.

But it happened.

This wasn't a singular exception. It would happen plentiful as I grew older and older, and I realized more and more the true side of the upper society.

However, from all the people present, only one person stroke my eyes. It was someone who had the same empty eyes like me and didn't bother asking me questions regarding anything.

Even if he didn't share his sentiment about the death of my family, the presence of that person is thousand times better than those who approached me.

The person was a brown-haired man, presumably at the age of the middle forties, with golden eyes, that showed indifference and coldness, one could nearly feel.

But he left after thirty minutes, and I wasn't able to know his name now, or even in the future, when I tried.

But I instantly focused myself on the funeral again.

One after another person left, until Aoki, I and three other people were still there.

Suddenly, I heard a female voice speaking. "Rokusuke, why don't you speak with him?" the female voice said.

"Humph, if that's what you want, Mother," a young voice reached my ears, presumably also at the age of seven, just like I.

That small blonde-haired boy made his way to me, with an posture screaming the word of arrogance.

"Humph, be blessed, because the perfect human is allowing yourself to have an conversation with me," the young boy said, having a small mirror in his hand, looking at himself admirably.

Eh? What's that for an freak? Perfect human? Huh, how childlike.

That guy seems to be at the age just like I. There will surely be no harm talking to him.

"Ahm…who might you be?" I asked, unsure whether I can trust him or not.

"Koenji Rokusuke, remember that name well, peasant," he exclaimed, spinning his mirror now, beginning to look at himself from the different angles.

But suddenly, his mirror disappeared.

Wait, where is his mirror?

Don't tell me…

It's in my right hand…

I looked slightly with my eyes to my right hand, only to discover that I'm holding his mirror actually.

How did he do that?

I heard once again the female voice speaking, who was the mother of that strange guy in front of me.

"That boy…he's doing it again. First our butlers, the children in elementary school, the teachers, even both of us and now Kurushima-kun."

"However, in situations like this, this talent might not be so bad," the man next to her, presumably his father exclaimed, in the sidelines.

"Here," I exclaimed, infuriated by the fact that I'm holding his mirror.

"You peasant are blessed with holding my mirror. Why should somebody throw a privilege like that away?" the boy exclaimed, slightly narrowing his head to the side about me giving him his mirror back.

"Privilege? There's no privilege in holding the mirror of a clown like you," I exclaimed, once again infuriated by the person in front of me.

"Clown? Ah…I didn't know it was that bad with you already," he expressed, his tone implying that I consider myself as an clown.

Did he really just twist my sentence?

"Here, I think that should brighten you up," he said, as he suddenly took from picture frames from his pocket out and gave it to me.

"What is tha—" before I could finish my sentence, I looked at the pictures he gave me.

Is that guy serious?

…

I can't believe that someone so narcissistic exists.

"Did you seriously just give m—"

"Yeah, be glad, since I the perfect existence gave you pictures of me. Normally, they would be for the ladies, but since today is a special day for you, I thought I should brighten you up," he exclaimed.

"Hahaha, be honored, that I'm going to great lengths to cheer you up," he added, as he really tried to cheer me up with pictures of him?

Does someone like that really exist? Such an narcissist? Pfft.

"Pfft," I suddenly couldn't help but to laugh for a small moment.

"Humph, I as the perfect human have all qualities. Humor of course is also included," he announced, spinning his mirror again, looking at himself admirably.

I expressed my gratitude and gave him the pictures back. "Thank you," I thanked, doing a small bow.

Aoki in the meanwhile also looked thankful and approached Koenji's mother and father. "Thank you, Sir, Madam," Aoki exclaimed.

"No worries, Aoki. After all, both I and his father were the best friends in our school time, even holding up today," the father of Koenji exclaimed.

"Yes, I heard Master speaking about that on several occasions," Aoki said, reminiscing about the conversations he had with my father.

"It's truly a shame what happened. I can't imagine the pain he's going through," he responded, beginning to reminisce himself about the good old days.

"Me neither," Aoki exclaimed, sharing his sentiment to me. "Thank you for staying this long," he expressed his gratitude.

"No worries, Aoki. If there's anything, please don't hesitate to call us," Koenji's father said.

"Rokusuke," Koenji's father expressed, implying that they are going to leave now.

"Coming," he responded, walking away.

But he suddenly turned around.

"If fate wants us to meet again, we'll meet. Farewell, peasant," he added.

"Sure, Clown," I responded, somehow feeling a thrill of anticipation for our next meeting.

Once they left, I remained with Aoki alone until it was evening.

"Young Master?" Aoki said, interrupting me out of my thoughts.

"It's so late already?" I exclaimed, realizing it was now evening. "Ah, then let's go," I said.

"I'm coming tomorrow again, father, mother, Kyō, Kaori," I expressed, in front of their tombstones.

.

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A/N: And that´s how Kurushima has met Koenji.

Ahem, reference to How I meet your Mother, but simply replaced with "How I met the arrogant narcisst that I didn´t want to meet" according to Kurushima´s perspective.

Jokes aside, how did you find this Flashback Chapter?

I found it sad. Though that´s my personal opinion as the author I don´t think that anyone will disagree with me here.

But please do leave a comment and share your thoughts regarding anything about the fic with me. I would appreciate it much seeing how my reader´s feel when reading the fic.

Well that would be all. Though there will follow another Chapter immediately afterwards. Not a Flashback Chapter, since they are still not finished (:

Hopefully you guys like the Flashback Chapters as much as I do. Have a great day and until ten or twenty minutes later in the next Author Notes.