Why could they smile earnestly?
Is there anything funny in their lives?
Taiga was looking through the window when he caught a couple passing. Everything became dark as he was separated from his beloved dad. His mom was married to someone named Morimoto, and they live in a quiet luxury house.
"This is Shintaro, I hope you can get along together,"
Taiga was just entering junior high school when he met Shintaro. Shintaro was 3 years younger than Taiga, and he could see how Shintaro was a rascal full of confidence with mud all over his face.
Taiga was always by himself. He used to have everything for himself, and there’s a little bit of a hazy feeling as he recognizes he has to share anything with anyone from now on. However, Taiga has never been this happy, as he finally has someone who waits for him every time he goes back from school.
But it was just a while until one night . . .
"Why don’t you ask Taiga to stay with his dad?"
That one night, Taiga was passing through the hallway when he heard his parents talking.
"We talked about this already, right?"
"Well, I’m just thinking he’s a guy. Sooner or later, he’d leave this house. So why don’t you let him go with his dad?" His stepfather's words hurt him so badly. After being separated, he thought that he wouldn’t get hurt anymore. Being far from his beloved dad is already heartbreaking. He couldn’t even choose whom he should come with. He remembered crystal clear what his dad said to him, that he should take care of his mom no matter what happens. But being unaccepted like this is breaking him into worse-than-broken pieces. "It’s not like I dumped him. He got his father after all,"
The emotional turmoil that Taiga had made him pop himself out of his hiding place. He could see how his parents’ faces were white when he heard their conversation. The tranquility they tried to hold no longer exists, as Taiga made a shocking statement.
"I’ll leave the house tomorrow morning,"
The turmoil he caused made Shintaro awaken in the middle of the night. He heard Taiga screaming and calling that he wanted his dad back, but his mom insisted he stay. His stepfather tries to calm him down, but Taiga doesn’t want to listen to him anymore.
Taiga has always been a rock head, ever since he was a kid. If he claims to have one, he has to get one. He insisted on not living with his parents anymore. Even so, it was impossible for them to let a child live alone. They can’t send Taiga to his dad right away. After the separation, his dad moved abroad, and they can’t tell where he lives now.
Taiga finally shut himself up for the next few days. He refused to eat, talk, or meet anyone. Only Shintaro is allowed to talk to him. Even so, they only spoke behind closed doors, and sometimes he waited for Taiga to take his tray at mealtime.
One day, little Taiga came up with a crazy decision that popped into his mind. On the first morning, he threw his belongings out of the windows, sneaked out of the house, and left the house for good. No one suspects a kid carrying a big bag on the first morning. He looked exactly like he was about to attend morning training at his school, even though, in reality, he doesn’t even show up at school anymore. With the little money he had, Taiga kept walking down the road. He took breaks on park rides to escape the rain, chewed candy to recharge his energy, used public restrooms, and drank tap water.
"Juri, don’t just stand there! Go get some rice!"
"....Hey, can we take this one home?"
It was the first time Taiga met Juri. They met at the supermarket when Juri went there to get some groceries while Taiga was dwelling upon what he should have for tonight’s dinner with the money he had left.
"Hey! Juri brought another lost puppy again!"
"Juri!!! I told you we couldn’t allow you to bring another lost puppy, –ah….,"
The other day, a boy called Juri took him, and Taiga landed on a quite massive building with many children in it. Juri is one of them, and he is known to tend to bring anything lost back to this building instead of handing it over to Lost and Found or the police.
"Can we keep him?" Little Juri asked.
"Juri, where did you find him?"
"The supermarket," Juri answered lightly. "He looks starving. So I brought him here to eat with us,"
"....What’s your name?"
"...Taiga……Kyomoto," Taiga whispered. He said his former new name instead of his new surname.
"Kyomoto-kun, where’s your home?"
"........Hawaii," he answered randomly. Of course, he didn’t live there. He even has no clue where his dad lives. It was just the last beautiful memory he had with his dad before his life crumbled. He doesn’t want to get back to the Morimoto family, but little Taiga is smart enough that if he said his name is Morimoto and lived in Yokohama, they might contact the police and start to look for him.
"How did you end up here? Where are your parents?"
"I missed the flight. And my dad has my documents,"
"....and your mom?"
"......,"
Taiga’s silence can mean everything, but as they got the information that Taiga missed his flight to Hawaii, they couldn’t just return him to the airport and send him to his dad. It’s already been days, and Taiga can’t even tell what flight he's up to. He can’t tell what airport he's going to or what time he's about to go. They had zero information about him except his dad and where he lives.
"Can he stay here? He said he has no home," Juri persuaded.
"I guess we had no choice then," the caretaker sighed. "Okay, Juri. Show Taiga-kun around,"
Since that day, Taiga has been taken care of as an orphan. After the tiring investigation he had, the caretaker took Taiga to the city hall to renew all his documents and to reenter school. As he said he lived in Hawaii, it would’ve been better if he went to an international school. But Taiga said it wouldn’t be a problem to place him everywhere as long as it wasn’t in Yokohama. Hence, it caused Taiga to redo his first year in junior high school and be at the same level as Juri.
As the first man who found him, Taiga was so attached to Juri, and vice versa. Both of them had such a good combination that nobody could step in between them. Juri was a soft boy, he couldn’t neglect people in trouble, and all he wanted was for everybody to be happy. Yet, Taiga was unpersuadable that he could use his audacity without warning. Taiga looked so sturdy yet so fragile, and Juri looked so fragile but reliable.
Taiga thought he had finally found his own happiness. Even though sometimes he can’t stand his loneliness, Juri is always by his side. Not to mention that sometimes he thinks a lot about Shintaro and the bond that they built. Taiga tends to think it would be nice if he could rewind time and be more open to Shintaro, the brother he always longs for. He tends to question his decision to get out of the house, but the thoughts that he never felt like he belonged, especially when his stepfather didn’t sound like he was welcoming him all this time, validated the risk he took.
There were a lot of times that he seemed like he was dying in his depression, thinking about every decision he made, how Shintaro was doing, why nobody would accept him, and how he could settle down in his life. He can’t keep running away from his family, but he opens no gate for the second chance of people who break his heart. Only with Juri’s presence, Taiga could hold back again, because Juri was the only one handing him a warm hug when he was so desperate about his life.
Juri is his savior.
"Have you chosen where you will go after this?"
Time flies so fast. Two years had passed, and Taiga and Juri were about to get into high school. Little Juri, whom Taiga knew, is no longer so little. He now looks sturdier. With a good-looking face, Taiga can’t count how many times he's seen Juri receive texts from his admirers.
"I don’t know, man… I guess I should start to think about my life seriously and get some job," Juri, scrolling through his phone, sounds indifferent about the life path he got to choose.
"You don’t have any intention to go to high school?"
"Do you think it’s worth it?"
"Why do you think it isn’t?" Taiga’s words stunned Juri. He looked at the man and caressed the back of Juri's head.
Taiga’s presence changed Juri’s perspective on life. He used to put people before himself. He never has the urge to get something and monopolizes his favoritism. As he thinks that he is always a burden, he thinks that he can no longer be a burden. Juri was about to leave the facility and start to look for a job, but Taiga’s ambition makes him take into consideration that he deserves to own his own life instead of thinking about how others would see him. An orphan. A burden.
The opposite attraction they had made them fond of each other. Juri liked how Taiga is so aspiring to get what he wants behind his pretty face. And Taiga can’t stop thinking about how Juri is actually a soft guy behind his badass profile. Juri tends to bring something he likes to Taiga, while Taiga tends to forget to bring Juri something he likes. Juri likes everything clean, and he could be a clean freak when it comes to his space. But Taiga tends to spread things evenly, not knowing where to put stuff, so he tends to lose things and ends up messing them up more.
Taiga could keep his lifestyle in order, while Juri is a mess and comfortable enough living in uncertainty. All the mess he caused, the runaway, and the longtime hiding are all beyond his plan. Every day, Taiga squeezed his brain to make a plan for his future and deepen what he could get. If one day he bumps into his family, he is already standing on his own as his own living master.
Sometimes, it worries Taiga that Juri is reluctant about his own life. Taiga didn’t know if it was an aversion or if Juri just didn’t know how he could step forward. However, it could keep Taiga watching over him, and so does Juri as a guardian of Taiga’s audaciousness.
"Are you sure you’re going to the same school?"
Looking at Taiga’s high scores, it was jaw-dropping that he chose the same school as Juri. It was an academy where junior high and high schools are placed in the same area with different buildings and different uniforms.
It was the promise they made to go to the same school. Taiga was so sure about his option and the major he’d take, but Juri hasn’t decided anything. He rather thinks about what he's going to do with his life, and what if he just wastes his time searching for what he didn’t get so passionate about? However, Taiga didn’t want to leave Juri behind. He persuades them that their lives start from now on, and there’s nothing late about it.
Juri is finally set in stone to get into high school, but on one condition, Taiga has to lower his standards and come along with him.
"What major do you want to go into?" Taiga flipped through the brochure he got from their future high school.
"I guess I wanna give it a shot on the sports field," Juri answered. He doesn’t have many options since he didn’t do well with subjects other than sports. "What about you?"
"....I’ll choose art," Taiga replied.
"But you suck at drawing,"
"Maybe it’s because I keep drawing your face," Taiga teased.
"You bastard," Juri laughed and hit Taiga with a cushion.
*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
The big bell rang, as a sign of changing class time comes. Aside from basic lessons, Taiga and Juri have never been in the same class. Taiga might watch Juri from his class, seeing the man showered in his dazzling sweats, smiling, and surrounded by people, and Juri always catches sight of him.
"Taiga! How are you coping so far?" Under the sunrays that tanned his skin, Juri screamed from the field.
"My drawing is not ugly anymore because it’s not your face!" Taiga replied playfully.
Seeing people call Juri’s name, there’s a slight thought in Taiga’s mind, saying that he was living in a different world from Juri. Although they have always been together and come back to the same house every day, he felt the same loneliness that came when his dad left, and when his stepfather seemed to not want his presence.
Juri is the life of the party, whether in school or at home. People are always by his side. Laughing and having a good time with him, even though there's nothing big to talk about. But Taiga built his own world, where people don’t bother to get close to him.
"....Hey, I still have basketball after this. You don’t have to wait for me,"
Even though they were mainly in different classes, Taiga and Juri managed to go to school together and go back to the facility as well. As time passed and Juri adapted to his surroundings, the distance between Taiga and Juri became more and more obvious. It all felt like a blink. They are already in their second year, and both of them have deepened their respective fields. Juri finally found his own world, while Taiga, who thought he was always so certain about what he always wanted, felt like he had lost his purpose.
Vocational classes made them separate. They are not Batman and Robin, Chip and Dale, or any superheroes that always came on two anymore. The road to the home that is so far increasingly feels lonely. Along with how Juri is getting closer to many people, Taiga tends to stop by various places so he can go home at the same time as Juri. He’d swing by bookstores around the school area, Akihabara, or just stroll around Shibuya, where he lived with his dad back then.
"Shintaro! Look at this!"
Taiga jolted as he heard someone call a guy with the same name as his stepbrother. He neglected the crane game and turned around to find out, and he found a big and tough guy passing with his friend.
The guy seemed so familiar, his countenance brought back so many memories of the short time they had. But the growth makes Taiga realize that he left for so long.
"Taiga?"
The guy confirmed his curiosity as he called Taiga, who kept staring at him.
"Shintaro?"
"Hey, I think I’ll pass this time. I just remembered I have an urgent business," As he found Taiga and confirmed it was his long-lost stepbrother, Shintaro left his guys and prioritized his unexpected reunion.
Taiga wasn’t changed at all. He still looks the same. Pale, bright-skinned, skinny, long-haired, serene, but dauntless. Shintaro could tell him in one glance. Both of them grew in height, but Taiga was stuck in his youthfulness.
Shintaro doesn’t know where to start. There are so many questions in his head, flowing like a flood. He wanted to ask Taiga to have some tea with him, but Taiga seemed to be on guard. ".....wanna go somewhere? You choose,"
Shintaro could see Taiga’s doubt as he responded to nothing. As he gave the guy a place to choose, quick-witted Taiga chose where they could have a conversation.
*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ
*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ Spark - To Be Continued