Little Tokyo 小東京

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[Red Reyne]

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[Kobayashi]

 

 

生まれ変わったら、あなたをもっと早く見つけるだろう。
if i were to live again, i would find you sooner

 

 

 

 

 2023

The Japanese Archipelago 

 

"The Japanese are just like everybody else. Only more so."

 

The temple bell rang, its reverberation carried across the courtyard. A column of black suits shuffled behind the prest, an urn clutched in the hand's of his the dead man's widow, and a portrait was carried by his son. A portrait depicting a stern young man, chest bristling with medals, a sword firmly in his grasp. Such life, now reduced to cinder.

 

Lieutenant Sato had died, far after his time, and far from his cockpit. Where he had failed in death, he had succeeded in life. Hundreds mourned their mentor, who had rescued so many from poverty.

 

They all watched as the procession carried what remained of the old man into the ancient heart of the temple. A cacophony of cicadas and birds were a choir that brought comfort to the grieving.

 

. . .

 

The sun beat down hard upon the hot tarmac, the man walked at a steady pace, yanking at the black tie which suffocated him on the humid Summer day. 

 

Beside him him was a girl, weighed down with a burden of academia. Several bags bursting with books, each one more of a chore to read than the last. But she was greatful. Greatful she could now afford them, and even more greatful that her father was there to read them to. Her school uniform was pristine, and immaculate. Unlike the drab funeral attire of her father, escorting her to the bus-stop.

 

"You're quiet." She observed, looking up at him, her eyes strained by the bright sunshine. "You normally have so much to say.", she adds astutely. 

 

"Is that a polite way of telling me I say too much?" He jested back, stuffing his silk tie hastily into his jacket pocket. Before he could muster a laugh, his breath caught in his throat. He coughed. He had been doing that a lot recently, the daughter observed.

 

She watched her father in silence, searching deep in her heart for how she truly felt.

 

"I don't want to lose you again. Not like after mother died. Not to America, or anything else."

 

His heart sank. He loved her more than life itself, and to break her heart again would cost him all he had built. A good life, but a life floating upon a sea of blood spilt an ocean away.

 

"I'm fine. I'm not going anywhere." He lied. Stifiling another cough.

 

The bus lurched to the stop bside them, the hydrolics hissing. The door opened to the chorus of highschoolers gossiping and shouting inside. The driver leered over his list before calling out the girl's name, "Kobayashi?"

 

She bowed, and boarded. Moving to her seat by the window, offering a wave of her fingers in salute to her dutiful father. He waved back in fond farewell, and as always he would jog alongside the bus. To make her friends laugh, and  to make her embarassed. But deep down, she loved him all the more for it.

 

But this time he could only muster a few steps before the burning sensation welled up in his chest, breathing was a labour he could ill afford as each attempt felt like the twisting of a knife deep within his soul. He coughed again into his hand, hot red rivulets of dark red blood soaked his palm and ran down his arm.

 

Soon, the ground came to meet him.

 

Alone and in agony, his only thoughts were of his daughter. And the one across the sea.

 

 

 

[CowboyYoda22]

 

Thanks to everyone who has contributed over the years. Here's to many more!

Edited September 1, 2023 by CowboyYoda22