Chapter Text
𝑯𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒂𝒏. —𝑨𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒍𝒆
Everything was dull as if the world had suddenly turned monotone.
Everything was muffled and I felt as if I was underwater.
Why was fate so cruel? Why can't I feel anything?
"Poor girl..." "Her mother had just passed away and now her father had abandoned her." "Who is going to take care of her?" "I have enough mouths to feed, I don't need another one." "Tch, I'm just here for the inheritance." "Shhh, not so loud!"
Their voices overlapped into a dull buzzing in my ears. These people were hungry vultures, waiting for the perfect opportunity to pick at the inheritance. They call themselves family but what have they done for me?
"Shut up..." My knuckles were white and I could taste blood where I had bitten my lips. "Shut up! You don't know anything about my family!"
"You brat!"
SLAP
"You are nothing without your father!"
SLAP
✾✾✾✾✾✾
It's cold...
So cold...
Their gazes avoided me and hurried footsteps passed by me without stopping. They would not take pity on a homeless child. These were hard times where no one had food or money to spare. I curled up into a ball, ignoring my hungry stomach.
No one will help anyway...
"Hello, are you lost?" A male voice asked kindly and I felt something warm being wrapped around me. "Where are your family?"
I looked up to see a middle-aged man holding hands with a young girl. The girl looked curiously at me and then back up at her father.
"G-Gone..." I tried to stop the sniffle that came out but it was useless.
"I see..." The man looked deep in thoughts until his daughter tugged on his hand.
"Father, why don't we take her home?" The girl smiled brightly and tugged her father nearer to me.
"But your mother might not like this..."
"Please~, I have always wanted a sister!" The girl insisted, tugging on her father's arm.
"Alright..." The man turned back to me and smiled.
"Would you like to live with us?"
✾✾✾8 years later✾✾✾
"Are you sure this is the way?"
"I think so?" Izumi laughed nervously, turning around in a circle trying to find our destination.
"Do you have a map?" I looked at the flyer in her hands. Mankai Company...she wants to go back there? I sighed exasperatedly. "Izumi, give me the flyer. I'll ask around."
She handed me the flyer and I walked around to ask a few people where Mankai Company was. Barely anyone knew where I was talking about. I guess the company had fallen to this point...ever since Father left. I turned back to see Izumi standing right next to a street act in the middle of a crowd.
"Thank you very much for watching!"
"Thank you very much!" The two actors thanked the dispersing crowd and turned to converse with Izumi.
"--please check out GOD’s troupe next performance." The taller actor of the two said as I stepped up next to Izumi.
"Yup!" She handed them a tip for their performance happily. We were about to leave until a hesitant voice spoke up.
"Um, is GOD-za currently accepting new members?" It was a brown-haired guy wearing a moss-green jacket, holding several acting troupe flyers in his hand.
"We are. You want to join?" The shorter, pink-haired actor smiled at the prospect of a new member joining his troupe.
"I’m still thinking about it. Do you guys provide housing?"
"We don’t have anything like that. Besides the ones who commute from home, everyone’s renting a room nearby. Only a handful of us can make a living, so it’s tough. A lot of guys barely make it through and need to rely on money sent from home."
"Is that so..." The brown-haired guy sounded disappointed by this piece of information. I see...he wants to live in a dorm.
"Of course, it’s a different story if you have experience and skill."
"I see. Thank you very much." The guy gave the two actors a tip and smiled. "Well then, I’ll be going--."
"Thanks! See you~." The pink-haired actor waved at the guy's departing figure.
✾✾✾✾✾✾
"Do you think our father's acting troupe will be just as good?" Izumi chattered brightly on our way to Mankai Company. I can't burst her bubble of hope...
"I suppose so, it was quite well-known." I omitted the fact that now no one knows said acting troupe, "Also why are we trying to find father's acting troupe?"
"Here!" Izumi took out a letter from her jacket and handed it to me, "The sender addressed the letter to father, which must mean he knows him. If we meet this person, we might learn something, you know?"
"Matsukawa Isuke?" I read out the sender's name and was about to say more when an angry voice interrupted us.
"Oi, do you have business with this theatre?" said voice belonged to a yakuza-like man with dark-blue glasses and two unique moles under his right eye. Isn't this...?
" If you’ve got no business with this place, hurry up and leave. Unless you want to put yourself in danger."
"An excavator?" Izumi clung to me in fright, "Why is there an excavator in the middle of town?"
"Eeeeep! Stop!" A panicked curly-haired man came running out of the theatre, waving his arms madly in front of the excavator.
"Aniki! Can I crush it!?" Judging from the unkempt appearance of the curly-haired man, he was probably the one owing a debt to these guys with the excavator.
"Do it, Sakoda. But make sure it’s just the sign. We’re going to revamp the building into a burlesque theatre."
"Aye aye, sir! Anything for aniki~, here we go! I’m glad I got a special license for large vehicles!" I pulled on Izumi's arm to make her move away from the construction vehicle but she gave me a look that said we needed to help the curly-haired man.
"Please, Furuichi-san, I’m begging you! Please stop!" The curly-haired guy pleaded to Sakyo. "More people might show up after this. Please at least wait until the performance is over to destroy this place."
"I told you that we’d use force if you didn’t pay back all your debt by the last performance."
"The last performance is about to begin! If we can make some money here, we can at least scrape together enough to pay off interest--."
"You have any guests?" This feels like an interrogation...
"W-we still don’t have any."
"What time does the performance begin?"
"In three minutes." Sakyo pinched his nose bridge and immediately order Sakoda to continue.
"Waah, wait, please wait! Our guests will come soon!"
"Where are these guests?" By this point, the man was staring intently at Izumi and I.
"Izumi--" I said in a low tone, making said girl flinch but she otherwise ignored me.
"--If you need guests, you have two right here." Izumi dragged me nearer to the group, again ignoring my uninterested face. "I haven’t seen their plays, but I somehow feel like I’ve seen this troupe’s sign before. I think I’ve been here before when I was little..." That's because we have been here before, you were just too young to remember but I'm not telling you that.
"Is that so." Yes Sakyo-san, you are finally reunited with your childhood crush.
"W-well, please do watch our performance! It’s our newest member’s first show!" I sighed in impatience and marched straight into the theatre. They are talking too much. A few minutes later, the small group of people came in. Izumi made a beeline for the seat next to me and plopped herself down. Sakyo chose to take the seat next to her. Sakyo-san tone down your crush, please.
"Hurry up and start the performance already," Sakyo grumbled at the manager, who squeaked nervously. Seconds later, the announcement came on just as the lights dimmed, signalling that the play was beginning.
"We thank you for attending our performance today." The theatre was silent until Sakyo spoke up.
"Don’t regret stopping me back there."
Sakyo-san don't you worry, I'm already regretting it.
【 あなたの笑顔が見たい。】
"𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝓈𝑒𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓈𝓂𝒾𝓁𝑒"