The Monster of Tokyo

Chapter 1

There were only 5 people in the room, yet their screams and cries were equivalent to that of over 100 people. They wallowed in despair as they remembered the tragedy that had occurred. The tragedy where a young and beautiful girl had been ruthlessly killed and mutilated to the point that she was nearly unrecognisable. They cried at the death of someone dear to them but they also cried at the painful horror she had to go through. But amongst them, one voice bellowed the loudest. Amongst them, one cry was greater than the rest. Amongst them, one despaired more than the rest. His cries alone gave others the overwhelming urge to cry with him, too. The despair of her husband was so great that no colosseum could ever hope to contain it. Hours had passed yet her husband remained in the same position, bowing in front of a picture of his beautiful wife. "I'm sorry...i failed you." he said faintly, with tears of great pain slowly dropping onto the carpet. Her parents witnessed the husband being swallowed by the abyss of anguish as he quietly cried, full of regrets and agony. "You've cried enough, Chōshin, now is the time to move forward as your name suggests." the father said in a voice so calm that even the waves could be put to rest and upon hearing the voice, the cries slowly came to a stop. Chōshin slowly raised his head "Thank you, Kimio, but..." his head had finally been fully raised and Kimio was shocked and left speechless but the sight Chōshin had left him with. Chōshin had seemingly taken the form of a man that had not eaten for weeks, with eyes that had no substance, passion or fire. His eyes were empty, staring at an uncertain future completely obscured by the thick fog of anguish. "...If I stop crying, then i would've failed my wife even more. First, I couldn't protect her and now I couldn't cry enough for her? I refuse to shame her further." Chōshin finished, his voice becoming more raspy with every word he muttered. Kimio was at a loss for words and for the first time in his life, he was uncertain. Uncertain of the path that the young man before him would take. Suddenly, the two simple paths that Kimio had envisioned became a multitude of irregular paths. Paths that were simple yet treacherous, paths that spelt doom and death, paths that lead into other paths and one path that was infinitely long with no end in sight. The sudden feeling of uncertainty caused Kimio to cry, for being unsure was a sign of weakness and as the head, weakness must not be displayed. But he didn't cry because he showed weakness, he cried because the young man before him was descending onto a path with pain and grief, no matter which one he chose.

Hours had gone by but the depressing mood hadn't been lifted, but it was time for everyone to leave. Chōshin conversed with both his and his wife's parents "how come you didn't invite anyone else?" Chōshin's father, Kenji, pondered with every intent to put his mind off the reality happening around him. "Those that used to be close with me left me as soon as I found the one i loved. The friends I've made with my wife were not close enough to see me in such a state. That's all." Chōshin replied, his voice much more raspier than before. Kenji had no reply to offer to his son, nothing he could say would be beneficial to his son. But even so, Kenji held Chōshin tightly by the arms, hugged him and kissed his forehead "if you ever need anything, we're all here for you. We're all your dear family, don't you ever forget that indisputable fact." Kenji felt his son hug him back firmly, and in that moment; they shared a great many tears.

Everyone finally begun to leave the venue, all going back to their homes. Chōshin, despite invites to stay over with them, walked home alone. As he slowly walked through the streets, he looked up at the night sky. He was completely enticed by its vivid beauty, the beauty that the moon and the stars and the sky held within themselves nearly made him forget. It nearly made him forget the pain that he had underwent not so long ago, but he remembered and felt a great shame from nearly forgetting about the death of his wife. "Why?" he asked himself "why is it on the day that I finally say goodbye to you, that the night sky is much more beautiful than it ever has been before? Why is it now that I suddenly felt the need to look up at the sky, why did i nearly forget you despite truly parting ways not that long ago? I nearly forgot you. I nearly forgot you so soon and that galls me." Chōshin began to laugh, he laughed harder than he ever had before. Even with tears running down his face, he was still laughing. He widened his eyes but he still couldn't see. He couldn't see anything beyond the path he was walking. Just darkness, uncertainty and fear. His laughing, crying and thinking suddenly came to a halt as he felt something hit him. He felt something hit his shoulder with force. He came back to reality and was able to discern the situation he now found himself in. While he was laughing, he remained walking down the narrow path but opposite him were two young adults, in their 20s. One had blonde hair with black hair dye while the other was completely bald. They both were skinny, tall and had piercings around their lips and nose. From first sight, they seem like delinquents to the common eye but Chōshin saw through them: they were puppets, following someone ignorantly. But they had seen him walking and felt the urge to cause trouble and approached him, angling themselves so that he would barge them. "Despite being puppets, they have enough freedom to cause trouble. What a bother." Chōshin thought to himself, before giving off a heavy sigh and wiping any remnants of his tears that remained glued to his eyes. "Why the hell are you sighing for? We make you tired or something?" the bald headed delinquent inquired, walking closer to Chōshin. He simply looked down, avoiding eye contact with the bald head that was now face to face with him "I don't want any trouble...i just recently lost my wife." Chōshin said faintly, he looked up slightly to see a sympathetic face in the bald headed fool before him. "Why did I tell them about my wife? Am i looking for sympathy? No. I just want them to leave me alone, I'm just saying anything that could get them to-" Chōshin's thinking was interrupted by a sudden pain in his jaw followed by the taste of blood in his mouth. He realised that avoiding trouble was impossible now, for he had just been punched by the blonde delinquent that was clearly irritated by the sudden revelation about his wife. "Why are you looking for sympathy? You bastard! You think I care about a bitch that doesn't live? Hell no! I just wanted you to kiss my feet and say sorry for barging me! But now I'm going to have to rough you up for thinking you could get a pass just because someone died!" the blonde fool began cracking his knuckles, clearly ready and yearning for a fight. Chōshin lay on the floor, tasting his own blood that mixed with the saliva in his mouth. "She did more than just be someone that loved me..." he thought to himself, suddenly rising back to his two feet "...She helped me escape from a life I didn't know I didn't want to be apart of..." Chōshin began to crack his neck and approach the challenger before him, emitting a great amount of malice. Malice so great that it causes the bald headed idiot to shudder and back away "...She did so much for me and set me on a new life. But I wasn't able to repay her. But at the very least..."  the blonde haired fool charged at Chōshin, reaching for a knife that was at the back of his pocket. But suddenly, he didn't see the weak minded soul begging for sympathy. All he saw was a fist metres away from his face. He felt it as quickly as he saw it, the great fist digging into his face as his nose was rearranged completely. He was charging at the man and now suddenly the back of his head had crashed into the concrete ground. He was running but now his feet was lifted from the grounded, causing him to fly. He could see but now his vision was fading and the only sense that was working properly was his hearing. He could only hear two things. The wailing of his delinquent friend and the deafening voice of the man he had underestimated, echoing into both of his ears "...I WON'T LET YOU CALL HER A BITCH!".