The beginnings of a life (an Erasermic family/Shinkami story)

Chapter Three

Early mornings with kids who are either unable to dress themselves or are yet to understand which colours match is one of the most challenging things Hitoshi has ever faced.

Telling a seven-year-old girl with immense trauma that she can't wear purple pants with a bright pink and green shirt will only ever end one way. In tears.

But, when one cries they all do. Ren's face scrunches up when his sister begins to cry, tears welling in his own round eyes. Mai starts crying when Ren starts crying, and Kenji starts crying when she starts crying.

Mrs. Nakamura screaming at them from downstairs to shut up doesn't help in the slightest. Keiko cries harder when Mrs. Nakamura yells at her, and others cry harder because she cried harder.

Hitoshi tries to comfort her with one arm as he bounces Mai in his other. He glances over to Yumiko and sees her cradling Kenji. "Shh, shh, it's okay," she whispers.

Hitoshi wishes he could talk right now, to assure Keiko that she's not in trouble. He wants nothing more than to make her feel better. But, he can't.

He flinches hard when the door slams open. Kenji sobs and Yumiko scrambles to tighten her grip around him as Mr. Nakamura bursts into the room.

He puts Mai down immediately and turns to the bigger man. "Shut up! Shut your fucking mouths!" Mr. Nakamura screams, grabbing Hiro by his jaw.

Hitoshi wants to scream at him, scream in general, but he pulls Hiro out of his grasp instead. Hiro cries, burying his face into Hitoshi's shirt. "Well, look at the hero."

The words sound like venom coming out of Mr. Nakamura's mouth. He spits the words out so harshly and forcefully that it makes it seem like the words themselves taste like acid. But, they burn like acid too.

"Is this what they teach you at the fancy little school? What that teacher is training you for every day after school?" he taunts, getting in Hitoshi's face.

He shoves him away as hard as he can, wishing that his hands would go right through his body as he does it. He wishes that he'd fall and crack his head open.

Mr. Nakamura grabs hold of him. "A hero? No, a hero wouldn't hit someone for no reason. All I did was ask a few questions and you attacked me. Maybe, we need something better than a muzzle."

He can't even argue with him. He's right, a hero wouldn't attack because of a few taunts or wish serious injury upon someone. Hitoshi realizes that if Mr. Nakamura were to die, he'd probably be relieved.

The shame washes over him in waves strong enough to knock him over if he weren't already being held up by Mr. Nakamura.

He pulls away from him anyway, despite the striking realization that he probably does deserve this because they don't. He'd rather be a monster than a witness.

He turns away from him and guides Hiro to the others. Every sane part of his being screams at him for turning his back to him when Mr. Nakamura will almost always take advantage of it.

So, he's not surprised when he's grabbed by the back of the neck and thrown to the floor. Hitoshi lets it happen, he lets him kick him. If his ribs weren't broken before, they are now.

He's okay with it. He's more than happy to take the hits as long as it's not anyone else. He listens to Ren's and Mai's cries as the beating goes on.

Yumiko begs Mr. Nakamura to stop. She begs him to hit her instead, but Hitoshi refuses to be the reason she ever has to take the hits for someone else.

So, when Mr. Nakamura moves to advance on Yumiko with the sickest smile Hitoshi's ever seen a man wear, he doesn't think twice about grabbing him.

'Not her,' he pleads with his body due to the inability to do it with his voice. She's only fourteen, not her. She can't take it. She's just a kid.