The Lightning Flash

Chapter 18: A Father's Sins Pt. 1

6 Years Ago:

Ikeda Masaru was a 35-year-old Japanese business man, who seemed to have it all. He was a loving husband to a beautiful wife, that was three years younger than him. He had first met her at a restaurant that him and his fellow employees were having dinner at. She was a server that was working that night and just from that one interaction with her, Ikeda knew that he had to return to that restaurant. Eventually, he found himself going more and more often after work, even without his co-workers present. It didn't take long for him to begin hanging out with her outside of work. The more dates that he went on with her, his true feelings became clearer and clearer until he, finally, worked up the courage to marry her. When she said, yes, it was the second happiest moment of his life. What was the happiest moment of his life, then? Well, not only was Ikeda a loving husband but a fantastic father as well. The day that his son, Kudo, was born...that, was in fact, the happiest day of his life. Holding his son in his arms for the first time...the warmth that it brought him was unlike anything he had ever experienced. It was in that moment, that he determined that he would do everything he could to make sure that he was the perfect father to his son. As the years went on, he kept his word. Despite how busy he was, he always took the time to understand his son's hobbies and bond with him through said hobbies. As important as his work was to him, nothing was more important than being a father that his son could be proud of. That was the thing that mattered most to him in his life. He wanted to be a good role model for his son...someone...he could be look up to.

"Damn, how many shots have you had, you crazy bastard?" asked one of Ikeda's drunk co-workers, who was only slight less intoxicated than Ikeda was, himself.

It was Ikeda's 35th birthday and his co-workers had taken him to a bar, after work, to celebrate. Initially, he was against the idea because he imagined that his family wanted to celebrate his birthday with them at the home but didn't want to be mean to his co-workers, who were just trying to be nice to him. He told them that he would go with them but had to check out, early, because his family was waiting for him. Unfortunately, this was all before he was so many shots of sake in. At this point, Ikeda was easily the most intoxicated person in the entire bar and could barely even think about his family, who was still waiting for him at the house. Through his blurry vision, he could see that a woman, who looked to be in her mid-twenties, was staring at him from across the bar. She had long, golden blonde hair, a similar hair color to Ikeda's, that touched the middle of her back. Her beautiful blue eyes, full of emotion, met his and one of his co-workers, playfully, slapped his back, laughing to himself.

"Looks like the birthday boy is attracting the attention of quite the beauty! Lucky you!"

"I...I..."

Regardless of how drunk he was, there was still something, from deep within himself, that was trying to stop him from doing what he was planning to do, next.

"What, don't tell me that being married for all of these years has ruined your game with the ladies?" mocked the same drunk co-worker. "I remember back in the day, before you met your wife, you were better with the ladies than any of us. Shit, I guess all of that is in the past, though. I guess we all get older, huh?"

"I-I haven't...lost my game," defended Ikeda, barely conscious of what he was even saying because of his drunken stupor. "I-I'll show you!"

As Ikeda hobbled towards the attractive woman, who was staring at him from across the bar, the rest of his co-workers cheered him on, completely unaware of the severe, life-ruining consequences, that were going to result from this one poor decision.

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W-What...happened?