SuNNY-ShO-ShUN 黒潮

~The Other~

When he opened his eyes, his head rested on Misako's lap. The woman gently caressed his hairline as she hummed his favorite song. Shota continued to pretend to sleep; he didn't want her to realize it hadn't worked.

Why hadn't it worked?

Usually, he would have replaced him. It was because of Sunny, that annoying girl. Shota remembered how he gazed at the wristbands as he wrote his punishment, thinking he didn't want to give Sunny her Shota back. He was the rightful owner of this receptacle. Why should he leave to please his mother or this other foolish girl who believed in unicorns and a candy-fluffed world?

Why did everyone love him?

What was so unique about the anti-social wimp who was nothing but an imposter?

Everybody preferred the imitation to the original.

Did it make sense?

Where on earth was that possible?

Their behavior was insulting, and because of it, he refused to leave. Shota was unhappy and going through purgatory. He would take all of them through the descent to hell. Still laying on her mother's lap, Shota looked around. She had brought him to this room, the third-worst place of the mansion. Their childhood bedroom, where everything was stuck 12 years ago, the furniture and the ghosts on the wall smiling at him made him feel like he were on a tombstone.

Memories of when they were a family flowed to his head, memories of when they were two, alike, yet unique, the yin and the yang. Now they had fused.

I AM YOU.

YOU ARE I.

I IS WE.

Shota didn't remember how he left, but he clearly remembered the first time he became their Shota.

"Misako, Sama."

"Yes, Fumi San."

"The car is ready."

"I'll be there in a minute."

Fumi San bowed and left the room.

"Shota, I know you can hear me. I love you. Please don't resent me; everything I do is for your and Matsumoto's industries' prosperity. Listen, you must be a good boy. You must be my sweet, adorable Shota."

The boy held back his tears, which queued upon his eyelids. For he knew to stain her suit with his tears would have him staying in the West Wing for at least a year. Misako gently rested his head on the bed and kissed him on the forehead before leaving.

°°°°

Once gone, Shota stood up and threw whatever could throw, ripped, and shattered all things. He screamed and howled as he went. Finally, he stood in the pool of his disaster, where there were enough glass fragments to rip him to shreds.

The disorientated boy sat down on the floor and took a chunk of glass from a photo frame. Shota glanced at the wrists bands; he too was desperate though he had the better role, Shota thought as he stared at the cuts. One body for two, the battle for total reign, was ferocious; they could be only one.

In his masochist motions, the only element which suffered was his body, his shoulders throbbed from the bamboo blows, and his cheeks still thumped in remembrance of the slaps.

Shota lifted the piece of glass and cut lines like the ones you found in prison cells when prisoners counted their days when the door jerked open with Miyama, Fumi, and Haruhi San on their knees.

"Onegaishimasu bouksama, please do not do this while we are here and make us carry the guilt of not helping you. If you hurt yourself or if you die here, we too might as well take our own life for Misako Sama will kill us," Miyama San pleaded.

Shota heaved as the blood trickled from above the previous cuts.

Shota knew Miyama was right. It would be impossible to live in Japan, where even the government relied on Matsumoto industries and its CEO. He would sentence them to death.

The young man rose to throw the glass to the ground, stepping on the shattered pieces while drops of blood tinted the thick gray carpet and wandered to the door. The employees made way for him. As soon as he left their sight, they cleaned.

Fumi San ordered new frames, mirrors, cardboards. Everything had to be identical. It was the fourth time he had such a fit, and it represented extra work for the employees who only worried about the house mistress reaction. They rushed to clean the blood before calling a specialized company to take care of the rest.

Miyama San tended to Shota himself, drawing out the bits of glass stuck in his foot; the heir didn't even react as he pulled. The older adult washed the cuts on his wrists, asking no questions. Anyone would confirm Shota suffered from dissociative behavior, and his social rank forbad him to seek help.

How absurd it might seem to the ordinary citizen. Who would search for a therapeutic answer and medication? A typical citizen would even exile abroad, but Shota could not act like your average mortal.

He was a Matsumoto, the only successor to an empire whose influence stretched out worldwide. Matsumoto's history was even classified as far as the Sengoku era. Traditions, etiquette Shota, must observe them. If the media didn't talk about him, it was only because Misako kept an eye on them.

Misako's presence withheld him from attending school with Haruka. For the days when his mother stayed in Tokyo, he would be her Shota and go to Kuromori Gakuen. The whole uniform was black, the shirt included this always gave him the impression of assisting to a secret society, and it kind of was. There too, he would put on a mask; he lived so many lives in one.

Shota didn't harm himself with the resolve of killing himself. The self-harm confirmed he was alive. Living like a robot without any identity made him doubt. A product manufactured by a man hurting himself allowed to distinguish reality and the mirage. To top things off, the boy felt nothing when he cut, with no regret or remorse. Shota was just empty; he had no value. The cherished one rested buried 6ft under next to his father in Aoyama cemetery. He was just a stand-in whose right to exist was revoked. Even his name found itself deleted, he was unable to utter it.

"Ssshhuu."

It was as far he could go as he stared at his reflection because saying his name would be admitting he wasn't the dead one.

>>>つづく (To be continued)  

Hi everyone,

Now you've met Shota's mom, what do you think of her?🤔

Was the chapter too creepy?😨

And one million dollars question, what is Shota's name? I'm sure you know by now.💲

Okay, tomorrow, you'll meet another new and crazy character (the most insane yet, actually they are all a little zin here). 😁

Thank you for reading, and see you next week.

Muchos suki 💋