THE BOY [ EDITING ]

i. fence & shop

001

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎Sano shinichiro is famous around the streets of tokyo.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎he is respected by those who
are way more stronger than him
and by those who he has helped
in the past.

he is a great leader or at least
his friends tell him so and he'd
like to believe them. right now,
he was just taking a walk around
an unknown place ── well, not
really unknown since he could
see the structure of the private
school his younger brother,
mikey used to tell him stories
about.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎made up stories where the
little boy would never shut up
about the school being haunted
in which shinichiro thought was
adorable and a bit ridiculous.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎"hey shin! wait up, what's
got you in a hurry?"

one of shinichiro's friend called
out, following him around for
absolutely no reason and maybe
he should wait for him, but
shinichiro has gotten a bit
hungry since he started walking
and he heard about a donut
shop being somewhere nearby.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎he hopes to have heard
the things that kind old lady
told him when he asked her
for directions right.

he decided to stop his tracks
and turn around, waiting for
his friend. "beat after another
practice? you look dead, goro."

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎they both met two years ago
while rumors about a street
basketball competition flowed
around the streets. goro happened
to be participating and ended
up hitting shinichiro with a
basketball in the stomach.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎"dude, coach literally was
about to quit today because the
guys kept on fuckin' it all up."

the two boys didn't realize how
close they were to the school and somehow didn't hear the bells
signaling the end of lunch. they
just kept on laughing together
while goro tried to explain the
position of basketball to shinichiro
who honestly couldn't really bother learning about something he'll
forget later on.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎"so, if you're the power
forward and that means that
you just, uh, make points?"
asked shinichiro while smiling
with his left eyebrow uplifting,
showing pure confusion, but it
pained him to have goro explain
anymore.

"uh, you know what? forget it!"
goro laughed it off and shinichiro
decided to join him while shaking
his head and looking away.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎it didn't feel like they were
even next to a school due to the
big trees that hid the buildings.

the two boys were interrupted in
their current conversation due to
the noise of something or probably someone touching the metal fence.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎due to their curiosity rising,
they both looked up and saw a guy climbing the fence and making it
look like the most easiest thing to
do.

the stranger reached the top of
the fence, placed both of his hands
at the top while hopping into the
air and placing his foot on top.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎then proceeded to jump up and
not showing a hint of fear which
caught both of the boys off guard
as they gave each other a surprised
yet concerned look.

shinichiro thinks that the boy
didn't notice them witnessing
his sudden action since he
seemed too busy trying to fix
his short dark brown hair which
allowed shinichiro to notice the
piercings he had.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎he must've realized something
because the next thing they knew,
he turned around and made eye
contact with shinichiro for a split
second before bowing and saying,
"sorry, excuse me," and then walking away.

all they did was watch him get
far away, both lost in thoughts
for a second.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎"damn, how'd he jump from
such a distance!?" goro exclaimed, making shinichiro turn to him and chuckle a bit. "no idea, but he's
really pretty."
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎── side eyeing him, goro said,
" oh yeah? i couldn't see his face,
you're lucky."
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

002

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎Sano shinichiro lets his curiosity run free a lot of times.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎he is wondering something
about the stranger from the private "haunted" school. well, he isn't
really curious, but meeting the
pretty boy again does seem cool
to him and shinichiro wouldn't
mind getting the opportunity to
take on every one of his features.

but he is a busy man, you could say.
he has a lot of things ( too many things even ) to worry about.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎"chiro, go buy some milk at
the store downtown. oh! here's
the money," said his grandpa.

nodding, "sure," was his reply
since he didn't want to refuse
or anything. after all, that'd be
very disrespectful of him and
shinichiro is anything, but
disrespectful.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎getting out of the house with his
beige jacket felt a bit overwhelming
in a way and he didn't know how
to exactly explain this. he felt warm,
too warm, but also very cold.

it was night-time now, 9PM to
be exact and shinichiro could
feel his silver chain necklace
bouncing with every step he
took on the concrete sidewalk
that still seemed to need some
fixing, but he shrugged off the
feeling of the empty spaces
where riverstone should be in.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎he arrived and pulled the
door, noticing another individual
walking forward and deciding
to open the door a bit more for
them.

"thank you sir," they said and
shinichiro looked at them with
a smile that dropped in less than
a second since he realized who
this is.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎"pretty boy?"

"huh?" ‎ ‎

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎"i said, uh, wait ──"

he didn't exactly know what
to say, but making up a lie to get
him  out of this embarrassing
moment would work. well, is this
even embarrassing?

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎however, since he was lost in
thoughts, he didn't notice that he
let go of the door and made it hit
the stranger from the other day
in the head. "oh fuck! i'm sorry," shinichiro was confused and
embarrassed and felt like the
dumbest person to ever exist in
this world.

"ugh, it's ── is okay," the boy
said and shinichiro noticed how
his hands were wrapped in bandages. maybe he was in a gang probably?
or maybe he got hurt from a fall,
but shinichiro wanted to go with
his first guess, in a gang. ‎

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎the boy started walking to
the store, stopping randomly
next to the shelf of bags of ships.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎── "also, i'm a girl, not a boy."