An applause came from a single person among the crowd, and a voice came saying,
"At first, I thought you were just arrogant and ignorant because your grandfather is a captain of a region, but when I saw you fight for the first time, I thought you were like that because you were strong. And now, I understand why you are like that. You just do as you like without thinking about anything. You are just funny and entertaining."
The person who spoke came out. It was Saito Yuudai. He was a thin, tall person, about five foot eight to nine inches, with buzz haircut, a somewhat irritating smile, a punchable face and speaking manner, and, most of all, arrogance, as his father is a big corporate individual.
I hate someone who's arrogant calling me arrogant. Fucking hypocrite.
Ishikawa Karen followed him just like a tail. He went near Zen'in Shoya and said, "Don't feel bad or sad. It was just a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes, just replace them with better swords. That's all," with a voice that showed no concern or encouragement, just a sarcastic one that was looking down on him.
He patted his back two times with a sly smile. It seemed like a perfect smile, one that was even more punchable.
He came to me while carrying the smile with him, and that made me feel like insects were crawling on me. I took two steps back, and he said that he wouldn't eat me and offered his hand for a handshake. I would have rejected it if I could, but I couldn't, as it didn't seem the right place to do so.
"I wanted to have a conversation with you for a very long time but didn't get the opportunity. Now, after seeing what you've done, I wanted to know you better. What do you say?" he said.
I didn't believe a single word that came from his mouth. I didn't reply to him and stayed silent.
He stared at me with a blank face. Kenji waved his hands from the back. He moved his mouth in a way that said, 'I know you want to reject, but save his face in front of his girl and others. Just say okay.'
After what he said, I had no choice but to do so.
After I reciprocated what he wanted, he introduced his bodyguard, Ishikawa Karen, as his girlfriend. That surprised me. I thought they would hide it, but he then whispered,
"As a proof that I believe you, I am telling this to you. Everyone in here thinks that this matter is a rumour, but no, it's true. Not even our fathers know this," he said very confidently with a smug and proud face.
I don't know whether he knows what's happening around him, if he's acting, or if he's just dumb, but this guy is a fool, certified fool.
Ishikawa didn't speak. She was silent the entire time.
Zen'in Shoya apologized to everyone for making that kind of swords and bringing them here, thinking that they were good. He left with that new girl after his apology, saying he would replace them, and the others also left except for the Saito couple and us four.
The real convo started after everyone left.
"Don't get fooled by shoya's smile, actions or behaviour. That's all a front," Kenji said in an alarming way.
"Why? He seemed nice and even apologized to everyone," I said.
"You don't need to know. Just trust me and do as I ask you to do. Come on, man, this is the least I expect from you," he said.
After hearing that, I didn't feel like asking him further questions and said, "Yes."
"Why shouldn't he know about him? Isn't it common to know about a black sheep? I'll tell you about him, what kind of a man he is and all," Saito butted in with a firm tone and a little bit of anger in his voice, with a serious face unlike before.
"No! If anyone wants to talk about him, let me be the one. I will tell you," Kenji came in and continued.
"The mistake he made before was intentional. He brought the swords with full knowledge of what might happen, and he is not happy for you and Keiko. You see, Satoru, his paternal grandpa is one of the funders for the JSA. He was practically raised by him rather than my aunt. He doesn't listen to my uncle—his dad or my aunt, just his grandpa. This all started when his dad was still young. His dad was the bastard of the family."
"Wait, bastard? Zen'in's dad was a bastard? And I thought the info about the funders is classified as they might be targeted, but you are just saying his name in the public like this?" I asked with a surprised face and tone while Kenji was still explaining seriously.
One of the things he doesn't like is getting cut off when he is saying something serious, and I did exactly that. He kicked a sword piece at me with full force and asked me to be silent, then continued his long story.
"That's right funder's info is classified, in my house it was no big secret so it came out without knowing, now listen. Yes, Shoya's dad is a bastard, when he became eighteen, he came out of that house, leaving them. He didn't want anything to do with them, and his surname was his mother's, just like any bastard's would be.
He went to college to study business and met my aunt, but he dropped out as he found his true passion in blacksmithing, and my grandpa helped him to open a shop of his own. Within a three years' span, he became one of the best in the nation, and his old man got wind of this.
He called him and made him an offer to work for him, but he refused. I don't know what happened after that, as my father didn't say, but at last, the old man asked him to become one of the family and also accepted to let him carry on the blacksmithing.
He got married to my aunt, but they never lived in that house of the Zen'in family. They lived here in Tokyo with us, but after Shoya was born, he was taken in by the old man and was raised to be like that.
The old man raised him like he raised his sons, not with affection but with fear and discipline. I don't know the details, but the old man proposed Keiko's and Shoya's marriage in our first year of middle school, and my father didn't accept it.
From that summer, he started bullying Keiko as she was weak and would say, 'That's how a woman should be, weak and in need for a man's strength to live. Marry me, Keiko. I will give you everything you want.'"
"That fucking bastard! Who does he think he is? And what were you doing when he's bullying your sister?" I got smacked in the back as I was venting my anger. It was Akiko. She asked me to be silent, and Kenji once again began his story.
"He would bully her in the name of sparring, and what was I supposed to do? She didn't want me to report it to my father or grandpa, as we would be proving what he said to be true, and you know her.
Now, let me continue. That went on for two summers, and the third one, every match they had ended with a draw. That summer, he didn't bully her openly. There were other strong older ones, and he would make them defeat her and would smile at her. He was trash and is trash."
"Why go to the Zen'in family's house every summer?" I asked him.
"It's the only time my aunt and uncle could see him, and we were asked to go along to know him at first, after seeing how he was raised our aunt asked us to help him change, but it was too late" Keiko replied.
"He is a coward who hides under his grandpa shadows, a lot of people have grudges against him and I have one myself", Kenji said seriously. I thought about what he had against him and then remembered something he said in the past.
"Is it that 'thing' you spoke about?" I asked him.
"Yes" he replied.
"Then the girl in that story, is it the one that was beside him?" I asked again.
He nodded his head and went silent. Then I realized that the one she looked at was Kenji and not me when I first came in.
"Now, I will continue, as we both went to the same school, and that's not all he did," Saito continued.
"He was like that at school, looking down on others and hurting people. Most of all, he's a womanizer. He would go around with a new girl every week. I don't say it's wrong unless he's hurting them, so I didn't care at all."
"Aren't you both from different regions?", I asked him.
"Dude, are you serious? I am in the middle of explaining something big and all you care about is this?" he said with a disappointed tone.
"What can I do? You are from Kyushu and he is from Tohoku." I replied.
"I completed my high school in Tohoku, satisfied?" he said.
"Yes" I replied with a contempt tone, then he began his story again.
"One day, he was rejected in front of the whole class by a new transfer student, and you know what he did? Take a guess."
We stayed silent, and he continued.
"He made his men hold her hands and legs tightly and stuffed her mouth with a kerchief. He unbuttoned her shirt and skirt and removed them.
"I stayed silent, as I didn't want to get involved with him. I thought he would stop there, but he went on to unbutton her inners, and I couldn't bear to watch it. I stopped him, saying that was more than enough and he had crossed a line by doing that.
He stopped there and let her go. That day, after covering her with clothes, the way the girl cried is still vividly stored in my head. That sound of her weeping, unable to breathe properly while crying, tears flowing down, and her face was indescribable.
I regret my decision of not stopping him from the start till today."
"You are one piece of shit. I knew that you were an asshole, but I didn't expect you to be this degraded and that guy to be less than a living thing," Akiko said with anger.
Keiko and Kenji were calm and silent, as if they knew this.
I asked her to be calm and requested him to continue.
"The girl didn't return to school after that. How could she? After experiencing such a thing. But I felt something wrong, so I investigated and found out that she attempted suicide."