JSWGAS Chapter 16

Chapter 16

As they got closer to their destination, the road gradually became drier and harder. The driver rolled down the car window for ventilation, and finally couldn’t resist lighting a cigarette and putting it in his mouth.

Without streetlights, the van’s headlights seemed to be the only source of light in the world. The dark shadows of trees and fields looked like a painting board split open by a knife, quickly swallowed by the darkness behind.

As night deepened, Kokonoe Taka could only barely make out a few familiar road scenes to judge his current location. The van continued to travel for another twenty minutes on the winding path before finally driving into the quiet night of Miyagi Prefecture.

Ten minutes later, Haisaki Daisuke breathed a sigh of relief, the cigarette butt burned to the end still in his mouth. “We’re here,” he said, parking the car neatly. But before he could completely turn off the engine, the child sitting in the passenger seat next to him suddenly opened the door and rushed out.

“Thank you!” he shouted, disappearing around the corner in almost an instant. Haisaki Daisuke stared dumbfounded at the empty street. “…Huh? Are kids these days able to run this fast?”

No one could answer him. Haisaki Daisuke stood there and thought for a moment. He had originally planned to turn around and go back, but now he hesitated.

The child’s anxiety was inappropriate and didn’t seem like he was just afraid of being scolded by his parents for coming home late. Haisaki Daisuke didn’t consider himself a good person. Logically speaking, he should immediately return to avoid future trouble. But the child’s face appeared in his mind–his brows furrowed, his lips tightly pursed.

This face overlapped with his son’s smile. Haisaki Daisuke slammed the steering wheel fiercely, and the van immediately beeped cheerfully, startling the stray cats wandering nearby into a shrill scream, and the residents next door turned on their lights.

The window was pulled open by the owner in a fit of anger. “Can’t you let people rest at night?!” She saw the van parked by the side of the road, raised her eyebrows, and glared at the man in the driver’s seat.

Haisaki Daisuke stuck his head out and shouted loudly, “Sorry!” He didn’t even hesitate, “Do you know a child named Kokonoe Taka?”

The short-haired woman’s tense expression softened, replaced by suspicion. Her eyes lingered on Haisaki Daisuke’s gray hair for a moment. “Why? What do you want?”

Haisaki Daisuke was used to the wariness people showed when they saw him. He rubbed his hair and said helplessly, “That kid came here in my car. As soon as we got here, he ran off in a hurry… I’m a little worried about him.”

The short-haired woman stared at him for a while. “Wait,” she said, then neatly closed the window.

Haisaki Daisuke took this time to park the car safely on the side of the road. He got out of the car and walked a few steps to the door of the house, seeing the surname ‘Iwaizumi’ written on the nameplate.

Two minutes later, the short-haired woman opened the door and walked out. “Hajime, I’m going out for a bit.” The boy behind her had short, spiky hair and a slightly uneasy and tangled expression on his face similar to his mother’s.

“I heard Taka’s name,” he said, craning his neck to look outside, but Iwaizumi-fujin pushed him back without any room for argument.

“Have you finished your homework before you want to go out?” she scolded, “Stay at home.”

After the boy’s face was completely blocked by the door, she turned to look at Haisaki Daisuke, who had been waiting for a while. “I’ll go with you.” Her tone was firm, without hiding her distrust.

Haisaki Daisuke nodded, and the two walked into the street side by side.

…

…

Kokonoe Taka opened the car door and ran out as soon as the car stopped.

He ran very fast, his nerves highly excited, his muscles tense, and his face flushed red from the exertion.

Thump, thump. His heart was almost jumping out of his chest. Kokonoe Taka silently counted his steps, the rising and falling of his feet matching his heartbeat perfectly. His figure was like an agile and smooth leopard, his body extremely beautiful when exerting force.

He passed a sign that read ‘Construction Zone’. The dim moonlight failed to help him catch the uneven stones under his feet– “Squeak!” A skid was followed by a loud crash. Kokonoe Taka lost his balance and fell awkwardly. A sharp pain shot through his knee, and he instantly broke out in a cold sweat.

He gritted his teeth and subconsciously reached out to support himself, wanting to get up as quickly as possible. He didn’t notice a sharp piece of broken glass under his hand.

His excellent physique and the relatively good quality of his long trousers fabric meant that his knee only suffered a scratch. But the exposed skin of his right hand was cut by the shard of glass, creating a wound that crossed the palm lines from his index finger, almost severing his entire palm. The skin felt like it was tearing with the slightest movement.

Blood flowed all over his hand. Kokonoe Taka hissed and gasped. Before he could check the wound, he heard a faint, high-pitched scream in the distance.

He jumped up, haphazardly wiped his right hand on his trousers, and quickly ran forward again, reinvigorated.

In his heart, fear overwhelmed him like a vast sea. He thought it was his mother’s voice. At this moment, he felt that the wound on his palm was a good thing. At least it reminded him to stay rational with its cold and real pain.

Please.

He prayed silently in his heart, raising his head and looking for shortcuts. Finally, he decided to climb straight over the wall of the residential house in front of him, rather than taking another big detour, until he reached his destination.

The walls between the houses were a little high, but not a problem for Kokonoe Taka. Run-up, a desperate jump, grabbing the top of the wall with both hands, trying to get his body over the wall; then crossing his legs over the wall, taking a deep breath, and jumping down, landing with a roll to dissipate the force.

A few particularly terrifying bloody handprints were imprinted on the wall behind him, but he had no time to pay attention to them. The wound on his right hand was covered with a layer of wall dust, and his pain nerves were almost numb.

One, two, three… until he was simply repeating this set of movements mechanically, jumping into a familiar backyard, he realized that he could get home by climbing over the wall one more time.

But the Kokonoe house, just a wall away, was incredibly quiet at this moment. Apart from the bright lights, it was as if the scream he had just heard was just a figment of his stressed nerves.

Kokonoe Taka couldn’t help but speculate with the most negative thoughts.

He quickened his pace. As he climbed over the wall and was about to jump back into the yard of the Kokonoe house, he heard a slightly distant, surprised shout: “Taka?”

He didn’t look back, leaving the voice behind him.

The constant jumping had almost exhausted all his strength. He staggered when he jumped off the wall. Then he raised his eyes and saw the shadow of a familiar luxury car at the gate of the yard, partially blocked by the fence and acacia trees.

That car had taken him away from home not long ago, and the owner of the car was the culprit of his current situation. Kokonoe Taka unconsciously pressed the tip of his tongue tightly against his upper palate, took a deep breath, exhaled, and then inhaled again, but the dizziness and suffocation did not diminish in the slightest.

He averted his gaze and kept walking. He stumbled into the half-closed door. “Bang!” The door was almost kicked down by him.

He strode into the entrance hall, the corridor. Thump, thump, thump. His footsteps were hurried. He had never run so fast before. Then his eyes caught sight of a man and a woman intertwined on the sofa.

Time seemed to freeze at this moment. The spark that had been extinguished by the rain was like being fueled by the gasoline of hatred, igniting an unprecedented fire of hatred and anger. Burn, burn, burn, continue to burn, until it burns away both flesh and soul, and then use hatred to continue to breed raging flames.

Reason was drowned by the monstrous fire. Kokonoe Taka almost flew over the mess on the ground. He leaped over the colorful photos and various small objects and decorations scattered on the ground, followed by a heavy kick–

The man who was lying on top of Kokonoe Sumiko, holding her tightly, couldn’t help but loosen his grip because of the sudden intrusion of the third person. He turned his head in panic. The angry Kokonoe Taka was like a cannonball, kicking him out!

— “Thump!”

This heavy kick with all his strength caused Kokonoe Hikohito to hit the armrest of the sofa, then the coffee table. Finally, he couldn’t control his body and waved his hands randomly in the air, trying to grab something to steady himself. This idea failed. He finally fell into the broken shards of the vase smashed by his wife, and immediately let out a miserable and painful cry!

The boy, who had retracted his foot and landed on the ground, didn’t care about him. He knelt on the ground, his hands uncontrollably trembling, continuing to tremble, his nerves numb, his mind blank, and his soul was drawn out of his body, his heart was infinitely dazed.

He followed his instinctive movements and helped his mother, who was unconscious, up from the sofa. Her limbs were heavy, her face was full of ugly tear stains, and her beautiful clothes were pulled into a mess before going out. He could hardly feel her breathing–

Kokonoe Taka grasped her limp hand. Intense emotions collided in his body, spreading their roars with the flow of blood, but in the end, it made him feel cold all over.

He wanted to cry, but his eyes were dry, as if the corresponding organs had lost their activity. His lips trembled slightly, murmuring broken and chaotic words that were inaudible.

Suddenly, Kokonoe Sumiko coughed violently. The blue-white color on her cheeks faded a little. Her eyes opened slightly. Death did not reap her life. Tears burst out like a dam had broken.

Kokonoe Taka suddenly broke through the slow and sluggish wall of thoughts and re-established contact with the world. He was full of gratitude, almost crying out loud, using the most devout prayers to thank the compassion of the gods and Buddhas in the sky. He stared at his mother’s face, looking at her embarrassment and the proof of her best efforts to return from the other side of death.

“I’m sorry…Mom…Mom tried hard…”

Her voice was so hoarse, weaker than a helpless baby. He hugged her tightly, fear and joy simultaneously seizing control of his body. In the end, he could only shiver with her.

Kokonoe Taka shuddered and said softly, “It’s okay, Mom…I know, you tried very hard.”

His mother closed her eyes wearily. Kokonoe Taka immediately felt for her pulse when he saw this, and breathed a sigh of relief when he felt the weak but still beating life message under her skin.

He carefully put her back on the sofa. Then, he clenched his fists tightly and walked towards Kokonoe Hikohito with a gloomy and fierce look.