[ leo just gets a dorm starter because it's winter dorm! so. ichiro's here this fine afternoon, sitting at the common room with a notebook in front of him. it looks like he's doing homework? what a nerd...
hearing leo come in, though, he gives him a sup nod. ] Hey, dude.
...little bit of both? Sometimes the professors say like one or two things that are useful, so I figured I might as well learn what I can while I'm here.
[ don't be a shit. he laughs, though, letting him flop down without much trouble! what a nice light hearted moment for a memory share.
at fourteen years old, you live in an orphanage. you've lived in one since the war, since your mother died, and your dad -- well. you're the only person who knows what happened with that, and it eats at you, makes you angry. you've never been any good at holding onto your temper, and it threads into your interactions with everyone. good, bad, positive, negative. you're just an angry, angry kid.
...even still, you try and do what you can, for your two little brothers, for the people around you. this orphanage is temporary. you've thought it since you came here, stubbornly tried to argue that you should be allowed to just care for jiro and saburo, but you're only fourteen years old, but director tamotsu, the head of the orphanage, is the one to remind you that laws exist for a reason, and you're brought into the care of the orphanage like a child, too. you hate that, and the resentment buries under the surface of your every action, but you keep it down. it's just temporary. it's just temporary.
one day, you catch bill collectors outside of the orphanage on your way home from school, and it eats at you in ways that nothing else has. your brothers like the orphanage. they like the director - he's an old, tottering kind of guy, but he's kind to them, and he's kind to you, and you feel your blood boil when the bill collectors - the loan sharks - threaten director tamotsu, try to hassle him into paying his interest faster or else, they're gonna make him pay for it - and when you bring it up to him while you're helping with the dishes that night, he apologizes to you.
...and ultimately, you make your decision. you have your strength, like you've always said. if you have nothing else, you have that. so you lie about your age, you fake a document to say that you're sixteen - because you're tall for your age, tall and strong, always looking older than you were - and you start working at a construction site. it's hard work, but being busy makes you happy. it keeps you energetic, and your manager praises you for it, promising a raise, so you work your hardest and try to come up with ways to sneak the money to director tamotsu. you've got your strength. you give your brothers money to pay for their textbooks at school, and it's money you earned, and they smile at you, and your entire world feels okay.
one day, you're on break at the construction site with one of your buddies, an older guy who's taken you under his wing, when two men drive up in a big black suv with tinted windows. they're both shady looking as hell, and your coworker swears under his breath and pushes up to his feet.
everything starts happening really fast.
the shady guys step up and start yelling. hey! you had until today to pay up! where's our money, punk?! and your coworker starts apologizing, "i'm sorry, i'm sorry, i just need a little more time!" but his pleas fall on deaf ears, because the two shady men almost immediately start delivering a beatdown. one punches your coworker across the face, and the other comes up and starts stomping on him, while you coworker screams and apologizes and your blood boils. at fourteen years old, you grab one of the shady men's shoulders and pull, hard. i have strength, you have courage, and you are not just gonna watch this happen. ] Hey! Two against one, what the hell's wrong with you?!
[ step off! this's got nothing to do with you, kid! the man shouts at you, and you, by now, know what it feels like when your temper snaps, because you see red. you shout back and curl your hands into fists. ] If you want him, you're gonna have to get through me first!
[ the two men stop beating up your coworker. they look at each other. they look at you, and one of the smirks, and you don't fucking care, because you hate people like this. you fucking hate them, you can't stand people who pick on the weak. one of the men jerks his head up. show off, you think you're tough, huh? you're gonna get it! and then rushes you.
your temper acts before your words do, because you duck the man's punch and send an uppercut into his jaw, and hard. the shady guy goes flying backwards, making a shocked noise, and the second one turns on a dime and starts rushing you, too. two on one on you, even - unfair, fucking bullshit, you are not going to let them get away with this, people like this don't even deserve to fucking live, and you whirl back and roundhouse kick him in the stomach. he makes a choked off noise and hits the ground. the fight continues - a knockdown, dragout fight, but you put them both in their place, and you're whaling on the first guy, punching him in the nose until you think you feel it break under your knuckles, when you're interrupted by a voice.
the man, mozuku, makes you an offer. he wants you to work for him -- he's a loan shark, just like those two guys were. the sense of justice in you coils up at the offer, and mozuku doesn't seem to mind being rebuffed. he just takes out a thin little envelope, and holds it out to you.
here. a down payment. 500,000 yen.
you have never seen this much money, in your entire life. you suddenly think back to the director, struggling with the bill collectors, and your eyes go wide.
mozuku smiles. i am no miser towards those talented souls who catch my eye. you can keep the money. and he hands you his business card. contact me, when you've made your decision.
you take the money home, and you pocket the card, and you tell yourself, yeah right, asshole, no chance. you give it to the director, who looks stunned, and then thanks you profusely, and you think it's going to end there.
but then, you find out jiro got in a fight at school. he explains why to the director while you're standing there - he says that the kids at school were making fun of director tamotsu and the orphanage, calling him broke. the director always works hard for them, jiro says, and your heart aches, because you see so much of yourself in him, that same angry, angry kid.
you make your way upstairs, thinking about the state of the orphanage. about the state of your lives.
you look at the business card.
you think about jiro's small, bandaged face, his determination, his shame.
you pick up your cellphone, and call mozuku, and you agree to take his job - beating the shit out of people who can't pay their loans, because you're not going to let your little brothers have to feel the same rage that you always do. because you can fix this. and if you have to do a dirty job or two to fix it, then you will. ]
[ this isn't the first time ichiro's seen this memory this week, at least, so it doesn't throw him too badly. it's so strange, watching this part of his life in slow motion, knowing what happens next.
leo's comment pulls him back in, though and he ducks his head, deflecting it a little bit. ]
I just did what I had to do. It's not - [ ... ] That kind of work isn't something to be proud of.
I haven't spoken to my mom's side of the family since she died and they called me a diablo. And I don't want to, unless it means I can kick Aunt Rosa's face in.
[ wow, okay. anyway. ]
The godly side isn't so bad. I mean, Hephaestus isn't exactly a father figure, but at least all my half-siblings are okay.
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w3 monday
hearing leo come in, though, he gives him a sup nod. ] Hey, dude.
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...little bit of both? Sometimes the professors say like one or two things that are useful, so I figured I might as well learn what I can while I'm here.
[ nerd. ]
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[ as if he's one to talk. buuuut he's flopping next to ichiro, pulling out some paperclips to play with. ]
Dare I ask what you're getting out of "Stylistic Running and Its Benefits?"
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[ don't be a shit. he laughs, though, letting him flop down without much trouble! what a nice light hearted moment for a memory share.
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a moment later, he breathes out a slow exhale. ]
You’d really do anything for your brothers, huh? They’re lucky to have family like you.
[ what's it like, having a family who cares? ]
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leo's comment pulls him back in, though and he ducks his head, deflecting it a little bit. ]
I just did what I had to do. It's not - [ ... ] That kind of work isn't something to be proud of.
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...believe it or not, I get that too. [ also i can't believe you're ichiro's little brother now? wow. crazy. ] Does yours suck, Leo?
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[ wow, okay. anyway. ]
The godly side isn't so bad. I mean, Hephaestus isn't exactly a father figure, but at least all my half-siblings are okay.