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Sato was eating steaming hot ramen noodles in their tiny old sitting room. He used his left hand to hold the bowl of ramen noodles close to his mouth and then held the chopstick with his right hand. He used the tip of the chopstick to scoop and lift the ramen noodles to his mouth. He slurped the ramen noodles and broth noisily.
His father, Chiyo, came in drunkenly, like one who had drunk an ocean of alcohol. It seemed he was getting drunk to hide the storm of bitterness, pain, misery, and anguish in his heart, trying to bury it down there so it could not be seen.
But intoxication betrayed him. It showed all of it like a woman who was pregnant but tried to hide it, but alas, couldn't hide it anymore because of the size of her belly; making no room for doubt there was a baby in there.
Chiyo's body reeked of alcohol. The intensity of the stench could give a weak person breathing difficulties, making them gasp for air. It could suffocate one until one became breathless. Unfortunately, there was no air coming in from outside. They didn't seem to have a window in the sitting room.
The sitting room was tiny and dark except for a dimly lit lamp stand. The painting in the wall was peeled.There was old pieces of furnitures in it and then frames of Sota and his father standing together smiling gleefully.
Sato sighed. "Good evening, Dad," he mumbled.
"Is thattttt how to greshi your father? Youuuuu stupid bouy! I raish you with all the goooooodness of my heart and you see me and mummbld greshi to me!" He slurred angrily.
"I'm sorry, Daddy. I just don't like the behaviors you display. Please stop. You shouldn't drink to this extent. If you truly care about me, you wouldn't be doing this," Sato voice crept with bitterness.
"Youuuu are a very stupiddd bouy! He pointed at Sota, staggering. Bring my food now!"
Sato left and came back with a hot bowl of ramen. Chiyo took it from him and poured it on Sato's face. It came as a shock to Sato. He screamed. His face was scalded with the hot ramen on his skin, making it look unpleasant and irritated.
"Daddy, I didn't do anything," he cried.
"You insoleh bouyyy! Why did you give me hot ramen, why not cold one? You should face the conseqush of your action becush that is what you want from me. Coldddd….. hottttt... ramen! Both hot and cold ramen mixed togesha…..! He continued talking nonsensically.
"Dad, you didn't tell me you needed cold ramen. And I haven't seen you eat cold ramen. You liked your food hot," Sato was looking perplexed, he couldn't a make a head or tail of what was going on.
Chiyo hit him hard. "You don't tell me what I like…!" He continued hitting him very hard.
Sato just stood unshaken, like a mountain at a hilltop. Chiyo looked for a stick and used it to continue hitting Sato. Sato only cried silently. His eyes half veiled by slumberous tears, like bluest water seen through mists of rain.
Chiyo used his leg to kick Sato, and instead of Sota falling Chiyo landed flat on the floor. His face slammed on the floor. He made a low groan, and the next thing he was sleeping.
His snore was intolerable. His snore was like a roaring ocean, like a blast that tears the sky. His snore could pierce open the earth like a chainsaw would cut open wood.
Sato tried to wake him up softly.
"Leave me alone, you boy!" he retorted. "Aloneeeeeee," he said drowsily, then went back to sleep.
Sato felt a glacial pang of pain like the stab of a dagger of ice frozen from a poisoned well. He brushed off his tears with his hand. He breath out in frustration. He just couldn't control himself anymore. He cried not because his father had beaten him brutally, but because of who his father had become, the life his father was living. He knew his father didn't want that life, but he was living it. He saw that his father was broken. Life was dead to him. His father was just living life knowing he had lost it all.
Life seemed meaningless to him. The pain in his father's heart was as heavy as lead, and at the same time shattered like a broken verse sitting deep down silently in numerous tiny pieces that were infinite in number.
Sato went inside the room and came back with a blanket. He used it to cover the sleeping Chiyo.
Sato was in the open street. Now he was wearing a red hoodie because the cold outside was icy. He just wanted to walk the street; maybe that would relieve him of the scene his father had just created. The cold might help his scalded face. Both his hands were in the pockets of the hoodie.
The street was very busy. The hooting of buses, cars, and motorcycles, and the chattering voices of people were loud.
Everybody was going about their business. There were roadside vendors that sold street food like yakitori, dango, chocobanana, ningyo-yaki, and lots of others.
The aroma of it made Sato salivate.
He would love to have a taste of chocobanana, his favorite, but he didn't have money and so didn't bother. And then he heard his name.
"Sato!" The person called loudly in an excited voice.
He turned and saw someone waving at him, smiling. He looked closely and saw that it was his classmate, Atsushi. Sato was happy too to see him. He went to him.
Atsushi was one of the food street vendors selling chocobanana. He was still wearing his uniform but had an apron covering it. He quickly sold chocobanana to a customer, then turned to Sato.
"What's up, Sato? What are you doing here? Did you come to get something?" He chortled gleefully.
"Not really," Sato replied softly. "Are you good?"
"Yeah, yeah, I am." Then he saw Sato's scalded face and gave a grimace expression, like he was feeling the pain. "What happened to you, man?"
"What?"
"Your face." Atsushi touched his own face.
"Ohh. Carelessness from me. Hot water poured on my face. My foolishness." He laughed awkwardly. "I'll be fine, you know. It's nothing."
"It's definitely something. Just wait here." He untied his apron and threw it at Sato.
"What am I supposed to do with this?"
"Come over here. A customer might come. I will be back in the next second."
Before Sato could say anything, Atsushi ran out at full speed. He came back in the next minute with an antibiotic cream and an ointment in a small nylon bag. He gave it to Sato and then took back the apron, which Sato was already wearing.
"What's this?" Sato checked the contents of the nylon bag.
"For your burn," he answered gently. "You will be fine after applying it."
"Thank you, Atsushi."
"We are classmates, so it's nothing. I saw you fainted today in class. I couldn't do anything. At least I'm able to do something now. I hope it will make up for the one I turned a blind eye to. Your friend Taku is the target for the bullies. I'm really sorry for you guys. I'm as powerless as any member of our classmates."
"It's fine, Atsushi. I really appreciate it. I'll start heading back home now."
He gave Sato a chocobanana. Although Sato had desired it because it was his favorite, he couldn't accept it from Atsushi.
"You have done enough, Atsushi. I can't accept the chocobanana."
"No, this doesn't cost much."
"It doesn't matter. Is it your personal business? I love it."
"Nah. I'm just a part-timer."
"Okay. Take care of yourself, Atsushi." Sato walked briskly before Atsushi could say anything more.
Sato was going back home. The road leading to his street was unusually dark and quiet.. The street light was flickering on and off. When he was going out, it was stable, but it wasn't like that now. He wondered but didn't put much emphasis on it.
He continued walking, and then he heard a sharp, high-pitched cry, a cry as a sea bird in the wind. The cry stopped as suddenly as it sounded. He walked slowly to the direction of where he heard the cry to see if there was anyone there or if perhaps the person had been bitten by a stray dog.
Sato gasped at the foul and awful sight. A sudden sense of fear ran through his nerves like the chill of an icy wind.
He hid behind a wall. He was shivering and shaking profusely. His lips trembled. His teeth were hitting each other so loudly that he could hear the sound, as well as his heartbeat. His head pounded in his chest.
He used his trembling palms to cover his mouth. Sweat covered his face in such icy weather. Fear crawled over him, wrapped him like an entrapment. He was whimpering and shrieking.
There was a demon there, eating about fifteen people. He ate them hungrily, spilling blood everywhere. The demon's body was flooded with the victims' blood.
While he ate the last victim, he perceived a fresh human scent and then heard Sato whimpering and shrieking. He paused and turned in the direction Sato was hiding. He ate the victim and was going for Sato. A sense of intense fear ran through his nerves like the chill of an icy wind. He peed on his shorts, giving him a light warm sensation on his legs.
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