Vengeance Upon Fate - Chapter 28

As Kurogane walked deeper into the city, he noticed that different groups of people began to give him odd looks, as if he was a deviant being amongst the citizens.

(What is with everyone… do I look weird in these new clothes? Or do my bandage wraps stand out too much?)

From a billboard of one of the nearby building walls slipped a freshly printed paper. It had gotten loose due to the breeze, floating its way to the ground before Kurogane.

“Hm?”

He picked it up and was quickly brought to attention of a headline from what appeared to be a copy of a news press article.

“YOUNG BOY BRUTALLY MURDERS TWO GROWN MEN” he read.

…?!

Eyes shivering in fear, his heart immediately froze.

It was no longer a surprise when he confirmed through the details that it was him that was being talked about regarding the incident with Mitsuo and the criminals.

“No way… Why am I?”

He was interrupted as soon as he started to hear whispers from a group of ladies towards his right.

“Hey, is that the violent boy she was talking about yesterday..? The one who brutally stabbed those men multiple times on their body and faces?”

“Oh my, I read about it in the news this morning. Better warn the kids to stay away.”

“Good grief, thanks for pointing him out. I’ll do the same.”

Two other groups of individuals to his left began to warn each other as well.

“Son, stay behind me. He’s dangerous.”

“Honey, let’s go somewhere else. That boy is making me very uncomfortable.”

Kurogane stopped walking and stared forward, his eyes now in full shock.

“Did his parents… expose me for the worst?”

The whispers and gossip continued, but Kurogane could no longer make out what they were saying. Standing as still as the dead, he could feel the world crumbling before him.

His heart began to race, his expression becoming more of a panicked type.

(I have to find Mitsuo. Yea… I’m sure he calmed down by now, right? The guards should have explained everything to him so he’ll definitely understand what happened to me. No one but him can speak out and clear this misunderstanding to the public!) Wuxiaworld for visiting.

With a small trace of hope pumping through his nerves, Kurogane desperately jogged through the crowd, ignoring everything around him. Startling others in the process was the least of his worries.

(My best guess is that he should be near the central fountain… Once I find him, he’ll help me through this. I know he will. That’s what friends are for.)

Once he reached the destination, he looked around in a hastily manner, scanning to see if Mitsuo would be anywhere in sight.

(Mitsuo… where are you? You have to be here somewhere!) He thought as he continued looking around with immense desperation in his eyes.

No luck. Mitsuo was nowhere to be seen.

“Mit..suo..?”

As Kurogane began to lose hope, a couple moved away from his field of vision, revealing Mitsuo standing from a distance, his back facing towards him. He appeared to be wearing his usual adventurer’s attire.

Kurogane’s face lit up in sheer hope and relief. Immediately making his way towards him, he didn’t pay any attention to the few people he shouldered along the way.

“Hey Mits-..!”

After placing his arm on Mitsuo’s shoulder and capturing his attention, he turned around to see who it was.

…!

A loud sound punctured the atmosphere, producing a sudden silence amongst the noisy crowd.

Someone had slapped Kurogane on his face. The force was enough to make him fall back and place his hand on the aching reddened area on his cheek.

“It’s you, isn’t it? The monstrous child my son spoke to the authorities about… the murderer from the news articles!”

It had to be Mitsuo’s mother. She looked as if she were in her early thirties with long, light brown hair and a full bright green blouse. Supposedly she had left to bring groceries, putting the bags down before initiating on Kurogane.

Kurogane looked at her face with a guilty, terrified expression as her hate-filled glare shun down on him. Her teeth were tightly grit, and her frown was nothing less than what intense could describe.

“I-…”

Kurogane did not know what to do, let alone on what to say. He was put on the spot before a large crowd and the mother of his friend who clearly wanted him to banish from existence.

“Kurogane…” Mitsuo called out in a low voice.

“Mitsuo, step away from him. NOW.”

Mitsuo was startled at first, but did not hesitate to listen to his mother.

“Yes mother..”

“You dare take my son to such a dangerous place, and worst of all, make him witness your gruesome, mentally disturbing actions? You disgust me. Do you not feel any shame? Kids like you are worse than garbage and grow up to be utter failures.”

Kurogane began to cry. At this point, all he wanted was to disappear – to vanish from existence. Never did he feel so awful about himself.

“Stay the living hell away from my son. You’re nothing but a walking nightmare. Every person in this city knows that damn well.”

Mitsuo stood next to his mother, looking down but away from Kurogane.

“Let’s go, Mitsuo.”

After picking up the grocery bags, she grabbed her son’s arm and walked away – the crowd clearing a path as they stormed through.

Gossip began to flow through his surroundings. All of them conversed on what happened and belittled Kurogane in as many ways as they could.

“So that’s who the dangerous kid from the news was!”

“Oh my, she did a good job putting him down where he needs to be.”

“Truly disgusting, his parents must be disappointed.”

Kurogane stood on his knees, lightly sobbing and muttering an apology in a low, lifeless manner.

“I-I’m.. sorry…”

…

“I’m so.. sorry”

But no one heard it. Mitsuo and his mother were already gone, and the gossip only grew louder by the second. No one cared anymore. They heard everything they needed to hear, and it was over for Kurogane. His lightening hopes to start and live a new, peaceful life were beyond his dreams now.

Not only was he alone, but finding someone to get along with was no longer doable. Worst of all, it was going to be nearly impossible to come back from what had happened. As the dimmed clouds rumbled, it began raining seconds later.

People continued to humiliate him until they began to walk away, slowly emptying the area until it was vacant.

…..

〔Satsujin – the title that defines as a murderer. That was the nickname they gave me. A few days passed and as I expected, things remained the way they were. Shopkeepers, adults and kids alike treated me like scum. There was nothing I could do about it. I would have asked for help from the guards I knew, but constantly getting them involved for something I did to myself would be selfish, and would put their status at risk against the public. I acknowledged that I to reap what I sowed and deal with it as an issue of my own.〕

〔A week later, Mitsuo and his parents moved away. I arrived just in time, panting to myself as I sprinted to their place upon hearing the news. I tried to apologize once more and to wish them a proper farewell, but before they entered their carriage, they shoved me with their blank, iced expressions and looked away, ignoring me as I tried to signal them from a distance.〕

〔I raised my hand, doing what I could to get them to wait for a brief moment in the very least, but the horses neighed and the carriage began to slowly disappear from the distance. I could see Mitsuo taking one last glimpse at me, but looked down in grief right after. I understood that he had no say against his parents, though whether he changed his view of me or not remained a mystery to me. We both couldn’t maintain anything in the end. Our time together was but a memory now – soon to be forgotten.〕

〔It wasn’t until a few days later that I turned thirteen years old and got accepted into the adventurer’s guild, since being a teenager was the minimum requirement. Despite my image in the public eye, they still had quests to be done and offered some money in return. With Varsilis being far away from other cities, going anywhere was not possible. Transporting myself had costs beyond my capabilities, and I was certain that I wouldn’t survive on foot due to the multiple reported dangers of the wilderness.〕

〔I took simple quests to earn money for survival, as desiring anything else was simply pointless to me. My situation never changed – I was deprived of any positivity from my surroundings, and living by the people of the city proved to be nothing less than miserable. I would wave at the two guards I knew and talked to them every once in a while, but they proved to be busy most of the time – or so they claimed.〕

〔Eventually, one retired and the other was deployed to guard the upper walls in a different corner of the city. I no longer had a single person to look forward to, and the loneliness only consumed my wounded heart overtime until it felt like nothing else remained within me.〕

Kurogane’s sixteen year old self walked slowly through the city’s main path, his face looking forward with his hollow expression – glancing into a non-existent, purposeless future.

〔I continued to carry my past as time went by. No one ever partied with me for a quest, let alone befriend me as an acquaintance in the very least. Instead. With the exceptional talent I showed, they would use me and throw me aside, as if I were a tool to them. But that’s fine, because I understand the reality I must face now. If there’s anything I learned from all that happened…〕

〔It’s that fate…〕

〔…〕

〔is cruel.〕