Estrangement Syndrome (Estrangement Syndrome 1) ✅

Chapter One

April 19th, 2027

It was not the ideal way he had wanted to ride the Shinkansen for the first time.

Shuei jabbed this finger on his cell phone screen, hitting "Pause" on the Let's Play video he'd been watching and slouched in his chair. He folded his arms over his chest and stared out the window with a sullen expression. The train was full as it was a Monday, but the aisle seat beside him was unoccupied. Well, he had made it difficult for anyone to sit next to him when he put his largest suitcase in the seat, with two other large bags in the overhead compartment. No one seemed inclined to approach him to ask him to sit down. Either because of  his dour demeanor...or his leaf-styled bleached blonde hair.

For all they know I could be a student at Yukinaga, but today's a school day after all. Ah well.

But it wasn't like he'd dyed his hair to act like a student at Yukinaga. He did it because of the stigma of the color. He did it to make people uncomfortable.

Shuei picked up his phone checked the time, and then restarted the video. "One more hour," he grumbled to himself.

It was hard to believe how his entire life could turn upside down in a matter of days, but he seemed to be a magnet for such bad luck. Just the Friday before he had stood with Moria at Shibuya Crossing to mark the five-year anniversary of the Tragedy of Shibuya Crossing. The day that some idiot decided to drive drunk and push another car on top of a crowd of people. Of the four people who had died that day, two had died instantly while the other two...not so easily.

They said the high-school girl who was killed died on the way to the hospital screaming for her mom. And...my dad...

Shuei snarled and scrubbed a hand over his face. The familiar anger was starting to rise inside of him. Anger that was only amplified when he remembered the Governor of Tokyo's speech during the dedication to those who had died.

"In times such as these, it is important to keep the memories of our loved ones in our hearts. As it is also important to allow your hearts to heal from the pain. We must never forget what has happened, but forgiveness is also a proper healing balm to the pain."

"Easy for you to say," he hissed, glaring at his cell phone screen. Your dad didn't have a car land on his fucking head, he added silently.

Forgiveness? Forgiveness for what? He didn't know of a single person in his life who deserved his forgiveness! Not the bastard who killed his dad, and certainly not the bastard whose legacy he was now tethered to!

When the memorial service was done, Moria and him had gone to pay a visit to Keibi's grave and pray for him. Then they got lunch before returning to the apartment. What awaited them at the apartment had been surprising. Shuei's stepfather was home, as were his two infant twin half-brothers, but they also had visitor. A peculiar man with a flashy suit, monotone voice, and sunglasses that he did not remove indoors. He wore his hair slicked back and he had a large frame; one that Shuei would expect from a heavyweight boxer and not a simple lawyer. The man introduced himself as Eisuke (Shuei assumed to be his family name), and he wasted no time getting to the point.

"I am here as acting executor of Hogo Monbon's last will and testament," Eisuke began, opening his briefcase.

"Who?" Shuei had asked.

"Your paternal grandfather, Shuei," Moria quickly whispered to him.

Shuei responded with a grunt. It had been a rhetorical question of course. He had known who Hogo Monbon was. Or knew of him, seeing as they had never met face to face.