The reason that keeps me alive - BokuAka [English Version]

Chapter 19

A/N:

I don't know much about the legal system/court etc, so I'm terribly sorry if some of the things I write here aren't like that or don't work out that way in real life 😬

I'm not familiar with the system in Japan at all, so I just „took over" that now 😅

Sry hehe🤭 Hope it's not too bad xD

Have fun reading anyway🤗😜

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Two weeks later

Akaashi tried desperately to tie the tie.
After countless futile attempts, he gave up and threw the ribbon backwards.

„Do you need help?" asked Bokuto, who had appeared in the doorway. His tie was already tied, and Akaashi had to admit that the suit really suited him.
He saw him in his school uniform practically every day, but in a real suit it was something else.

„That would be nice," the black-haired man said without averting his eyes.
Bokuto smiled broadly. „Tezu!"
His older sister came into the room immediately. „How do you do that with your school uniform, please?"

„I never undo my tie," the boys replied as if from the same mouth.

Tezuka rolled his eyes. „Typical."
She took the ribbon from the bed and tied Akaashi's tie in just a few moves.

It was the third day of the trial, and on this one, in addition to Akaashi's former neighbour and Kenzo, Bokuto would also have to testify.
The next day it was his turn, his mother's turn and then, last of all, his father's turn.
Akaashi, however, did not sit at the front with his mother, but among the rest of the crowd.
Otherwise their contact would probably have been discovered if they had sued his father together.

Iyona was a slightly older, very honest and good-natured woman, so Akaashi very much hoped that her testimony would help.

„Ms Iyona, so you are the neighbour of Chiziwa Moronobu and Keiji Akaashi?"

She nodded. „Yes, that's right."

The judge took her particulars before beginning the questioning.
„Why don't you tell us something about how they came across to you?"

„Well, Keiji is always a very nice and loving boy. He always says hello, helps me carry in the shopping when he sees me coming back from shopping. I had felt for a while that there was something wrong with him, especially lately, he didn't really talk much. I thought it was because of the stress of school, but then I always heard shouting, especially in the evenings. I knew it was Chiziwa, I knew his voice. And the next day, when Keiji had spots on his face and his eyes were so red, I suspected that he was beating him. In general, Chiziwa always seemed very tyrannical to me, like he was controlling everything and everyone."

Akaashi squeezed Bokuto's hand. The latter looked at him briefly, but the questioning was currently his full attention.

"Did you notice what happened on the twenty-third of November around half past five?"

Iyona nodded as she put down the glass of water she had just drunk from. "I did. Not all of it, but some."

"So tell me."

"It was about half past five, I think. I was just in the front garden watering my flowers. Then I saw Keiji come home, he looked very angry as he went into the house. Then all I heard were loud voices. It had sounded like shards breaking.... After that there was silence. Then the boy came running out of the house, he now had a bag with him, and he looked so.... desperate." Iyona stopped for a moment to collect her thoughts. "When he was a little further away, Chiziwa came stomping out of the house, there was blood on his temple. He got into the car, what happened next I don't know."

The judge asked her a few more questions before asking the lawyers if they also wanted to ask questions.
The lawyer for Akaashi's father rose. "Ms Iyona, you said that you had witnessed the two of them arguing many times. Why did you never call the police if you already suspected that Chiziwa was beating him?"

"As you said, I suspected it. I didn't want to call the police because it could have been a misunderstanding. I know from my own children that it is difficult to deal with them at that age."

The lawyer nodded. "That's true enough. But what I mean by that is that children should still abide by what they are told. And Keiji has disobeyed his father's rules many times."

"I don't know that. All I know is that the boy was finished."

"Maybe so. But these wounds don't necessarily have to be inflicted by the father, do they?"

Akaashi's mouth was open. He knew what the lawyer was trying to imply.
And he couldn't believe what his father was doing to talk himself out of it.

"And so you are saying that Chiziwa would have abused him many times in front of you. So you practically stood in front of it and did absolutely nothing?"
Kenzo swallowed. "I...I..."
"You stood by!" His mother's lawyer looked stunned. "You said you felt sorry for the boy! Why did you keep quiet?"
"Because I have known Chiziwa since secondary school! I couldn't have just exposed one of my closest friends to the police!"
"Yes, you could have. You watched a boy being abused by his father for YEARS!"
Kenzo stroked his face.
"And you also lied at the trial Eleven years ago! Why?!"
"I already told you that! I believed him about Miyashita abusing Keiji! If I had known how deceitful he was, I would never have done that!"

At the pause between statements, most of the audience scattered around the large hallway of the court.
Bokuto tried to hide it, but Akaashi could sense how nervous he was.
More nervous than before a school assignment.
And that meant something.

"You know what you saw, and you absolutely have to stay with that. Stay calm, or the lawyer will probe even more the more nervous you answer." The lawyer tried to help him, and it actually helped a little.

As with the other witnesses, the judge first took his personal details.

"Okay, and so you are a friend of Keiji?"
Bokuto nodded. "Yes, we are best friends."
"Did he ever talk about how he was doing at home?"

Bokuto hesitated for a moment. "Yes. A few times."

"And what exactly did he say?"
„That his father was aggressive towards him. That he was afraid to go home because he knew his father would hit him again. That he-„ He cleared his throat.

It had almost slipped out.

„He said he didn't know why his father hated him and that everything he did was wrong and therefore a reason for him to punish him."

„Did he also say punish him in what way?"

„To a storeroom. That's where he locked him up many times after he beat him."

The judge leaned back in his chair. „Interesting. Then what happened on the twentieth of November? In the morning, to be precise."

„I went to school normally. Then when I was at the entrance, I saw his father beating him, so I intervened. I told him to get off the school premises. Then he left."

„Without saying anything else?"

„Well..."
Akaashi could literally feel how nervous and tense his friend was.

„He...said...that...he...was supposed to be home at.... Eighteen o'clock..."

„And was he?"

Bokuto looked at the table in front of him. „No."
„Then where was he?"
„With me."
„So he spent the night at your place?"
„Yes."
„What did you do?"
He hesitated again, and the setter felt as if it would burst out of him at any moment.

No, that couldn't happen.

It could affect the whole process.

„Watched a movie."
„And the next day Miyashita Toshiyuki's lawyer contacted him?"
„Yes, exactly."
„And what happened then?"
„He said that his mother had seen him at the Tokyo final and wanted a DANN test so they could be sure."
The judge narrowed his eyes sceptically. „And the test showed they were related?"
Bokuto nodded, the judge looking confused.
„I see, and what happened on the twenty-third of November at about half past five?"
„I...um...don't really know how it started. He texted me an hour before, just confirming, and I guessed he was upset and wanted to talk to his father, so I tried to stop him."
„But he went anyway?"
„Yes. And ten minutes later he was at my place."
„And then?"
„I saw that his neck was red and he had several red marks on his face, he was also bleeding. I didn't get to ask him about it because the doorbell was already ringing."

Bokuto was so nervous that he did not even dare to take a sip of water.

„His father literally stormed our house and then beat him in front of all of us, including punching him in the stomach. I told him again to stop, but this guy was so into it that he kept going."

„And then your mother intervened, right?"

„Yeah, that's right. She ordered him to leave the house. When he left, he still said that Akaashi shouldn't dare to ever come home again."

The judge made a note. „Thank you for your testimony. Are there any questions for the witness from any of the lawyers?"

Chiziwa's lawyer rose. „I would have a few more, yes."

„Here you go."

She stood in front of him and Bokuto took a quick sip while she was still not looking.

„So...you said he had wounds on a frequent basis. How do you know they came from his father?"

„Akaashi told me what he did to him. So I put one and one together."
„Ah. And no one else noticed?"
„Yes, but he mostly didn't respond to it."
She raised her eyebrow in disbelief.

This woman seemed so arrogant and conceited, with her perfect brunette hair coiffed back and her big black eyes that seemed like staring into space, that Akaashi just couldn't stand her, and neither could Bokuto.

„So he merely confided in you?"
Bokuto nodded.
„And why you?"
„Because we're best friends."
„Best friends?"
He nodded.
„Not any more?" she added.

Akaashi crossed his arms angrily in front of his chest.

He had known.
He had known what this woman was trying to say.

And he felt sick just thinking about the lies his father would tell when he told him.