Blades of Despair

-Chapter Seventy-Eight-

The Imprisoned Child

So many truths founded upon so many lies... our lives were nothing more than productions, our talents are the reasons that so many have been sacrificed. Though I didn't have any friends or family, the others must be feeling an unfathomable amount of pain, knowing that their parents are members of such a heinous organisation. And now, we have another fight to contend with.

"My... father?" Morino faltered, gazing at Junichi with a confused expression. "He is here? In this building?"

"No, you idiot, I am your father," Junichi shouted. Morino was horrified.

"What?" His voice went quiet, almost inaudible. He didn't know his father? Morino is the son of Kinji Ishotaru? Come to think of it, Morino has never really spoken about his family - but why has Junichi waited until now to reveal this? There has to be a reason behind it - each time they've unveiled something significant, they waited until a specific moment in the trial. Is this time the same?

"Morino? Is this man really your father?" Nishi asked, equally shocked.

"I... don't know," Morino admitted hesitantly. "I never met my father, nor knew anything about him. I do not wish for it to be true, but it is certainly possible..." His face was stone, but I saw in his eyes a lot of turmoil. I... know how he must be feeling. Growing up without my mother, before I knew she was a Blade, was hard. I never met the woman, and I yearned to know anything I could about her. But to think that Morino's first encounter with his father is today, when we've already learned such horrible things about ourselves...

"You knew nothing about him? What about your mother?" Mina suggested, but Morino shook his head.

"I have a mother, but I rarely spoke to her," Morino replied, "and we never discussed her husband, my father. She made it abundantly clear when I was very young that we were not to speak of him. I never asked any questions beyond my initial query."

"You didn't question it at all after that?" Ori was shocked to hear Morino's words.

"Naturally, the question remained at the back of my mind, but my mother and I always had other things to discuss whenever she visited."

"When she visited?" Those words had stuck out to me. "You did not live with your parents?"

"I think it would be best," Junichi interjected, "if you explained yourself from the beginning, Morino. To help you classmates understand."

"Very well, but do not think that I believe you are my father," Morino told him. "If you are him, then you have a lot to answer for." Junichi giggled.

"I promise all your questions will be answered." Junichi and his 'son' stared at each other with incomprehensible emotion. Eventually, Morino cut the silence with a sigh.

"Fine. Miyagawa is right, I did not live with my parents. In fact, for as long as I could remember, I had lived alone. I grew up in the Building, inside a room. There were no others in the room, it was just me."

"You lived alone?" Mina gasped. "How did you cope on your own as a child?"

"Is it really that hard to believe? Uehara and Mitsumi managed the exact same thing," Morino countered.

"No, they didn't," I corrected him. "Uehara and Mitsumi grew up without family, however there were other people, albeit awful individuals, in their lives. From what you're describing, you were completely alone."

"I suppose I was," Morino pondered. "But that was the life I knew. In truth, you fifteen were the first humans I had ever seen."

"What?" Mina yelped.