Writing on a vow of love

“Bye bye Shige-chan!”

“Bye bye Kei-chan!”

Shige walked into his classroom to go to his seat. School was about to start and some of the kids were trying to get some of their homework done. The room was quiet except for pencils writing against paper. The young boy had nothing to worry about since he got all of his homework done last night before bedtime.

He sat in the back of the classroom where most of the troublemaker’s sit at. Two boys specifically never liked Shige and had a bad habit of making fun of the younger boy. Shige tried to ignore them but sometimes it was just hard.

“Man…Kato came to school with that upperclassman again.”

“Yeah, I know! Doesn’t he have any other friends?”

“I don’t think he knows how to make friends.”

“Eh…how lame…”

Shige didn’t know how long he has been out walking. The sun still wasn’t up yet and it was too dark outside to see where he was going. The stars and moon were bright as the sun and judging that the moon was at the center of the sky Shige still had a few hours left before sunrise. No one was out since most likely everyone was either at Yamapi’s current party or sleeping. So he couldn’t ask for directions.

“Stop! Thief!” A voice called out.

“There’s two of us, you moron!!”

“Yeah, so try saying that word in plural!”

“Someone stop them!”

The younger boy didn’t know what hit him until someone ran into him. Falling to the ground with this other person, Shige saw fruits scatter across the ground. The other person ran past them, stopped in his tracks a few steps away, before turning around and taking the person off of Shige. “Come on, Massu!”

“B-But the fruit.” The one called “Massu” bend down to gather the food.

“It’s ok. I’ll share my share with you.” The other boy said quickly while grabbing Massu’s arm and pulling him away.

“W-wait!” Shige called out shakily. The other two stopped for a moment just to run away when they heard dogs barking in the distance. The young boy grabbed a melon off the ground and began chasing them.

He didn’t know why he was chasing two strangers into the darkness of the hills. The young boy has no idea where he is and it doesn’t help that dogs are chasing them from behind. Passing three hills to go up the fourth one, the two boys ahead didn’t realize that Shige was following them with a melon in his hand and stopped at the top of the hill.

Shige noticed the dogs weren’t barking anymore. Maybe whoever was chasing them decided to go home. Coming to a halt, Shige took a deep breath. “We lost them.”

The two other boys jumped at the sudden voice and turned around. One boy brought out a knife and the other backed away just in case he had to make a run for it. “Who are you?” The one with the knife demanded.

“I-I’m Kato Shigeaki.” Shige answered quickly. “One of you ran into me and I wanted to return this…melon.” He held out the fruit so the others could see. “I don’t mean any harm.”

“Put the melon on the ground and back away from it.” The orders came steady.

Shige did as he was told. Setting the melon down, he took some steps back until the one that ran into him called “Massu” went to pick up the melon he dropped earlier. Once the boy got the fruit from Shige, the one holding the weapon put his knife away.

“Now, don’t follow us or we kill you the next time we see you.” The boy said before grabbing his partner’s arm and running down the hill.

The young boy swallowed before running after the two anyways. “Wait! I need your help!”

“Don’t follow us!” The boy warned again.

“But I need your help! I need to find where the junk yard is!” Shige yelled as he struggled to keep up.

The two thieves stopped running and Shige only stopped when he was standing next to one of them. “Please…I need to know…” He breathed unevenly.

“What for?” The one with the weapon pulled it out again and pointed it in Shige’s direction.

“I threw something out by accident.” The young boy blinked at the knife. He didn’t feel too safe at the moment. “I need to get it back.”

A pause. “Then why did you throw it out?”

The one called “Massu” gently nudged his partner in the ribs. “Kusa, I think he’s serious.”

“I am.” Shige stood up properly. “I need to get it back if it’s the last thing I do.”

“I bet that Kato kid is going to sit next to that boy again.” One of troublemakers sneered as he gave Shige a dirty look.

It was lunch time and Shige’s class was in line to get the food. Shige used to look forward to eat with Koyama but now he’s not sure since the whole class seemed to be eyeing him to see if he really would each day. Shige looked around to see if he could find someone else to sit with but instead found Koyama waving at him with his bento in his hand. The young boy waved back and was immediately greeted by the snickers from his other classmates.

“What a loser.” One girl flipped her hair.

“Kato, I think you should hang out with more cooler kids.” The other troublemaker wrapped his arm around Shige’s shoulders. “Sit at my table today and see what I’m talking about.”

Shige made eye contact with Koyama and saw that the other looked a bit sad. He shook his head before facing his classmate. “Alright.”

“So let me get this straight.” The three boys were sitting at the top of the hill eating the fruit that two of them stole before. “You were best friends with this boy before you got sold to the whore business. He visited you after he saved up enough money for one hour and he gave you a necklace which by the way was dumb because he should’ve just saved the money he spent on the necklace to try to buy another hour to his visit but whatever.”

“Never thought about that.” Shige mumbled as he ate a grape.

The boy, Kusano as he later introduced himself, ate a piece of mango as he continued talking. “Not only that but you suffered through beatings to get to this friend of yours. No offense Massu but I would never do that for you.”

“No problem.” Masuda, only Kusano can call him “Massu” and no one else can, said with his mouth full.

“Then you got bought out by none other than the riches family in this whole town to be a sex slave.” Kusano went on as if he was used to Masuda talking with his mouth full. “You end up forgetting about this friend of yours and end up falling in love with your owner, but your owner seems to be having some internal conflict about this mysterious ‘Tego’ person. Then you see your old friend, ran away when really you could’ve played the whole dumb card.” Kusano pretended to act like a lovesick girl with a fake high pitch voice. “Oh…mister whatever your name was. It’s been soooo long. I totally didn’t recognize you. How ever have you been?”

Masuda began laughing and Shige puffed out his cheeks in annoyance. “You’re kind of mean.”

“Deal with it and don’t make that face. You’ll age faster with that sour look.” Kusano said easily.

“It’s ok. You’ll get used to his dark humor like I did.” Masuda nodded his head in confidence.

“So then you go up to your room crying. Your owner finds you and then he flips out and throws your precious necklace out the window and the maid gets rid of it, and now you’re looking for this necklace.” Kusano concluded with one simple plain look. “Are you stupid?”

“W-what?” Shige is confused.

“You said your friend saved up two million to get you out of the whore house. If you would’ve talked to him I bet he would’ve bought the two of you matching expensive necklaces. I mean…what the hell?” Kusano crossed his arms.

“But that necklace means more to us than matching necklaces would ever do.” Shige explained.

Masuda swallowed the strawberry he ate. “I can understand where you’re coming from Kato-kun. It’s like a bee and its flower. If the bee went to the flower every time without fail it becomes attached to it. So when the farmer takes the bee away to a new flower patch the bee becomes sad or maybe even depressed.” He frowned. “Well, now I feel sad.”

There was a pause since the other two didn’t know how to respond. “Massu, that had nothing to do with what we’re talking about. Kato neglected the necklace for the past few months he’s been at that mansion. And that’s even…oh wait a minute now I see why Kato is going after the necklace.”

Shige smiled. “So you’ll help me?”

Kusano frowned as he uncrossed his arms to lean backwards being supported by his hands. “I don’t know. There seemed to be no pay for us anywhere.”

“Yeah.” Masuda nodded as he still seemed to be upset over the bee theory. “We have to make a living somehow.”

The young boy’s smile disappeared. “But I have nothing to offer. I’m just a sex slave.”

“How about the two million?” Masuda asked.

Shige’s face paled as Kusano smirked in his direction. “Sounds like a deal to me.”

“Wait. I-uh…that doesn’t seem fair. I just need you to take me to the junk yard.”

“But we’re helping you.” Kusano stared at the other. “Half a million for our generosity, half a million to take you to the junk yard, another half for helping you find the necklace, and the final half to take you to your friend’s house to collect the two million. It makes perfect sense and after what you’ve done I think you better agree to this deal.”

“Yeah.” Masuda agreed.

Shige sighed. “Alright.”

“Yosh!” Kusano raised his fist in the air. “Then it’s sealed.”

Shige did not enjoy himself at lunch. He was too worried about Koyama since the other sat by himself by their usual spot. Koyama threw away most of his food and Shige knows something can’t be right because his friend always eats all of his food. He vowed to never sit with anyone else ever again.

Throughout the whole day Shige was thinking about his friend. During breaks he didn’t see Koyama anywhere in the school and when he visited Koyama’s classroom the other was nowhere to be seen. The young boy couldn’t focus on his studies.

School eventually ended and Shige couldn’t tell anyone what he learned. The only thoughts that went through his head were ‘I hope Kei-chan is not too mad with me’ or ‘I wonder if Kei-chan is ok’. He walked down the stairs from the front of the school to meet up with his said best friend. Only to not see Koyama anywhere in sight.

“Did he leave without me?” Shige mumbled to himself out loud.

Regardless of any reason, Shige stood next to the stairs to wait for his friend that never came out. After an hour, the young boy sat down on the steps so his feet wouldn’t hurt. He did his homework when he got bored of watching people walk by. He yawned when the sun was sinking into the distance. Maybe it was time to go home.

The town was different during the daylight hours. Stores were open, people taking a walk, school and church bells ringing in the distance while cars honked their horns in traffic jams. Compared to the quiet lifeless night, the town seemed to be a living breathing person.

The three boys were sneaking around one of the busy streets. Kusano was up front because he’s been a thief since he was a small boy as Masuda would explain. Masuda said he became one just a couple of years ago so he was still fresh. Shige nodded his head and said he’ll follow the other two around.

There were three barrels next to the basket selling booth. Kusano went behind the middle one while Masuda took his right and Shige took his left. After making sure the coast was clear, Kusano whispered to his fellow crew. “Alright, here’s the plan. We’re going to steal some bananas. Masuda you distract the sale’s person while I grab the bananas. Kato-kun, you need to meet us over by that statue by that fountain.”

“What?” Kato frowned. “I thought we were going to the junk yard.”

“Way ahead of you boss.” Masuda cut in ignoring the other boy before standing up and heading to the booth that sold bananas.

Kusano waited for a few seconds to fly by before heading over to the booth himself. Not wanting to stay behind, Shige ran to the statue to wait for the other two. A minute went by and the familiar ‘Stop! Thief!’ was heard, Shige saw his two comrades running past him so the young boy immediately followed behind them.

The two ran for what seemed like forever and Shige was thankful when they stopped. After making sure none of them were being followed, Kusano handed two bananas to Masuda while he and Shige ate the remaining two. The sex slave was happy to eat the fruit since running was an exercise.

“The junk yard is a three hour walk at this pace.” Kusano tossed the banana peel behind him carelessly. “But if you want to get there sooner we would have to hop on a passing cart or something.”

Shige looked around. “I don’t see any carts.”

“Well, when we see one we’ll get on one but for now we have to walk.” Kusano explained.

Swallowing the last piece of fruit in his mouth, Masuda yawned while stretching his arms in the air. “Whaa…I’m so tired.”

Kusano sighed. “Massu, you speak like a fat pig.”

“But the necklace might be lost in three hours.” Shige thought out loud to the ground.

“The necklace could be lost right now.” Kusano snapped. “But you’re just dumb and desperate to find it so quit complaining.”

Shige glared at the other. “I’m not dumb.”

“Yes you are.”

“Kei-chan called me smart when we were younger.” Shige defended himself.

“Your key phrase in that sentence would be ‘when we were younger’. News flash you’re not young anymore.” Kusano said easily.

“The point is that we need to get to the junk yard sooner. Isn’t there a shorter way?” Shige tried to change the subject.

“Nope.” Masuda joined the conversation. “The only way to get there earlier is to cut through my small neighborhood and I’m not going through there. I ran away for a reason.”

Shige sighed. “You two are thieves and your telling me that you guys can’t find a way not to get caught in your own neighborhood.”

“Basically.” Masuda nodded.

“We like to travel.” Kusano agreed.

“But I thought you understood my time of need.” Shige pressed on.

“We’re doing this for the money remember?” Kusano yawned.

“Yes.” Shige pointed an accusing finger at the other. “And half of that million goes to me finding that necklace. So unless you want that money go to waste you better hope that necklace is not lost.”

Kusano raised an eyebrow. “How do you suggest we go there faster then?”

“Masuda-san said a shorter route would be to cut through his neighborhood. I think we should go through there.”

“But…I ran away years ago. I just can’t go back.” Masuda frowned.

Shige lifted his chin higher while looking down at Masuda. “We’ll just avoid your house quickly so no one can see us.” He pushed the other boy forward. “Lead the way, Masuda-san!”

“You know, for a sex slave you’re pretty bossy.” Kusano casually said.

“I got a lot of time to make up for and a lot of time being wasted right now.” Shige sighed to calm his nerves. “Can you at least pretend to know what I’m going through?”

“No, not really.” Kusano shrugged.

Masuda frowned. “I really don’t want to go through my neighborhood. It probably changed a lot since I last went through there.”

“Just think of all the money that would be wasted if you don’t get me to that junk yard.” Shige tried to convince the other through clenched teeth.

“We can always wait for a passing cart.” Masuda smiled brightly. “And hopefully it would be full of food so we can eat on the way there.”

Kusano laughed. “The cart would be so full we would have to steal the whole thing.”

“Oh yeah!”

Sigh could swear that a vein popped in his head because there was no other reason why he would push the two thieves onto the ground. “You know what? Forget it! I’ll get to the junk yard by myself. You said it was a three hour walk from here and I thank you for your generosity. When I find Kei-chan I’ll let him know to give you the money, but other than that you two can go chase down a cart. I don’t care!” Shige then glared at Kusano. “I hope you get fat!”

The two stared in disbelief as the sex slave turned his heel and marched down the road they were on. Shige didn’t have time to be waiting on two thieves to take him to his destination. The necklace could be rotting at the junk yard and Shige was nowhere near to finding it. He knew he could’ve told Koyama the truth. That he forgot all about him while he was with Yamapi and that he wasn’t really trying to find a way out.

“Yamapi…” Shige muttered as he kicked a rock. “I’m sorry.”