It was a sunny day. Clear blue skies. A flock of white birds soared in the peaceful skies flapping their wings gently. A feather floated in the air and swayed as it made its way down. It made its way down into a school playground and fell onto a stage. Students were lined up on the stage overlooking the crowd of parents. The feather flew in front of a young man. He trudged towards a man in a suit stepping on the white feather in the process.

"It's been lovely having you here as a student Daichi. Congratulations on your graduation"

"Bah...who gives a crap. Just gimme my certificate already"

"Daichi!" A brown-haired woman from the crowd of parents shouted amongst the laughing students.

"Sorry mother"

Daichi grabbed the certificate from the man. In the man's other hand was a graduation hat. Daichi tried to cast his eyes away from the hat.

"Here, take this too Daichi" he said holding it out to him.

"Pfftt, that ugly hat. I ain't wearing that"

"Uhhh but..." the man had both his thick eyebrows pulled up in confusion.

"Daichi!" His mother yelled once again standing up out of her seat startling the parents around her.

Daichi sighed and shrugged his shoulders before taking the hat and holding it.The rest of his class was lined up behind the man who was the headteacher.

They all wore their hats. They were on a stage in front of their parents. They couldn't embarrass them. Daichi made his way to the end of the line.

"Daichi, why don't you wear your hat?" A girl asked him.

The girl was wearing her graduation hat over her wavy brown hair. She had white streaks going down her bangs that hung at the side of her face. She was wearing a white-collar t-shirt and a black skirt.

Unlike Daichi, she followed the school dress code.

Daichi wore a black hoodie over his untucked white shirt. He had his green and red striped tie wrapped over his forehead.

Her dark pink eyes stared towards the moody boy next to her.

"This shitty lookin' hat? Are you outta your mind Chieko?"

"Your mother is mad at you though. Redeem yourself"

"Hmm, how about no!" Daichi said frowning.

Chieko smirked and shrugged her shoulders.

"Your stubbornness hasn't changed since you started the academy. Now you're graduating and you're still immature as ever"

"Who the hell cares anyway? I just want my grades back"

"All that sleeping you've been doing in class recently. Don't get your hopes up. Have you been doing graffiti at night again?"

"Nah, 'course not" He smirked and shook his head.

His spiky black hair hung down as he pulled his graduation hat over his head. He adjusted his glasses on his face and looked forward at the parents.

After the graduation ceremony, the children met up with their parents at the school gates. Daichi couldn't avoid his mother.

She was standing right there.

He tried to get lost in the path of students but couldn't.He looked at her face and compared her face to the other parents who greeted their children. They greeted them with smiles whereas she greeted him with a frown.

"Daichi! We will talk when we get home. And take off that tie on your head, it looks ridiculous" she told him with anger in her voice.

Daichi sighed as he walked next to her. He didn't bother to take the tie off his forehead.

"Now it's just Kenichi, Ayako and Kaito left to graduate the Academy"

Daichi was surprised at her sudden calmness.

"Yeah, Keisuke started the academy a year ago"

"Yep, he's six years old now. He's growing up quickly. All of you are. You're turning eighteen in a few days. 25th July, I can't believe it"

Daichi shrugged. He didn't really care about engaging in conversations with his mother. Nor did he care much about his birthday. To him, a birthday was just a day. Celebrating the day he was born. Celebrating that he was still alive. He didn't really care.

Daichi got lost in his thoughts.

What is it like to die?

He asked himself this in his head multiple times.

"Daichi!"

When he snapped out of his daydream he had one foot in the road in front of oncoming traffic. He stepped back onto the pavement next to his worried mother.

"Daichi! Do I have to hold your hand when we're out on street? Pay attention! Do you want to die or something?"

Die.

He repeated that word in his head ignoring every other word his mother had said to him.

Die.

He felt something warm gripping his hand. When he snapped out of his daydream again he looked down to see his mother's hand holding his.

He pulled his hand away and stepped back screwing his face up in embarrassment.

"Don't hold my hand, dammit!"

"Hehe, do you want a hug instead?"

"No"

"It's always good to hug each other once in a while. If you refuse to show the ones who care about you the affection you will become a man without a heart" she said continuing to walk across the road.

"A man without a heart?"

"Yes, you will become cold-hearted to others around you. You will struggle to express yourself. Remember what your sensei told you. Karate involves power but you must not abuse your power. You must always keep the power of love around you"

"But love just leads to hate....hate leads to war. If one experiences love once he loses the person he loves he will become upset. If his loved one is killed he will want to kill the murderer. If he kills the murderer his family will want revenge. Then both families will slaughter each other. It becomes a full-on war. It's bloodshed. That's why war happens between countries. Because of love. It's an endless cycle. Love is just a distraction to all of us" he declared quieting his voice.

"Are you out of your mind Daichi? Have you been reading that damn book again? I told you that I will burn that book. No use hiding it from me. That book is made by someone who is pure evil. They want to dim down the light and spread darkness in this world. You mustn't read it"

Daichi nodded hesitantly.

They walked through an alleyway between two houses and walked onto a quiet street. The cherry blossom trees swayed in the cool breeze.

His mother opened the front gate and walked into the paved front garden under the shadow of the townhouse overrun with bushes and approached the front door before putting her key in and twisting it.

Daichi stood there watching as she opened the door. As he walked in the sweet fragrance filled his lungs.

"Daichi, look what I made bro!" A boy yelled running up to him.

Daichi closed the door behind him and made his way to the kitchen. The strong smell got stronger as he walked through the corridor.

"Wow, well done Kenichi" he forced himself to say in a pleasant voice.

Kenichi was a fifteen-year-old boy with raven black hair hanging over his face. He was noticeably shorter than Daichi. He came up to his nose.

There was a big iced cake on the birch, wooden table. Daichi heard several footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Big broooo!" A boy ran at him and hugged him.

"Sup Keisuke"

He looked down at the boy smiling. Keisuke pushed his head on Daichi's stomach.

Behind Keisuke, two others approached behind him.

His brother and sister, Ayako and Kaito. Both Ayako and Kaito had raven black hair.

Kaito was a Thirteen-year-old boy who had dark circles under his eyes because of his lack of sleep due to his extreme gaming addiction. His hair was always unkempt. The only thing he got up to do was shower and eat. He wouldn't even say hello to anyone.

Ayako had just turned fourteen years old. She spent most of her time going out with her friends. At home she was quiet. She always wore a headband over her forehead for a reason Daichi didn't know.

"So you graduated?" Kaito asked rubbing his tired eyes.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

"Yep" Daichi said slamming his graduation hat against Kaito's chest as he walked by.

"Daichi, I will talk to you later ok?" His mother reiterated once again.

"Yeah, I'm going upstairs to shower. I'll be down soon. Kenichi, leave my cake in the box. Thanks"

"Sure"

Daichi trudged up the stairs. A tiring task to do after a long day at school. He strolled into his room which was at the end of the long corridor next to Kaito and Kenichi's room. Ayako had her own room which was next to his mother's on the other side of the hallway near the bathroom that was ahead of the stairs.

In Daichi's room was two beds. One for Keisuke who he shared a room and his bed. Opposite his bed was a big dark wooden wardrobe with cabinets in it.

Up against the wall next to his bed was the computer desk. Keisuke's bed was located next to the window that overlooked the street. He left the window open to let the cold, night breeze in the room at night and let the summer heat escape.

He took off his white t-shirt after taking off his hoodie and wrapped his towel around his waist before heading to the bathroom.

It was midnight already.

The phrase "time flies when you're having fun" actually made sense for Daichi.

He had been playing with Keisuke ever since they had finished having dinner. But finally, he had fallen asleep. He was convinced that Kenichi and Kaito were still awake playing video games in their room but he could hear his mother snoring loudly from the other side of the hallway.

Ayako was definitely sleeping. She always struggled to stay awake until midnight because she always used up all her energy at school. Daichi was wearing a black hoodie and tracksuit bottoms with white stripes going down the side. He had a black bandana tied over his head pushing his spiky hair down over his face.

He also had a backpack on his back. He was standing in the living room contemplating whether he should escape through the window or the front door. The front door would make too much noise closing.

The window was the only option. He knew he could squeeze out of it because of his slender build.

He pushed it open and managed to squeeze out of it just as he planned to. He closed it behind him and hopped over the fence. Daichi then took his phone out of his pocket and pressed the phone icon to call a contact named Rento.

"Yo Ren!"

"Sup Dai, You ready?"

"Yup, where are you?"

"I can see you"

"Huh?! Where?!" Daichi exclaimed.

He looked carefully at every detail in the street to try and spot him.

"I'm hiding in someone's front yard. I'll come out"

Rento appeared in the darkness. He looked around the same age as Daichi but was slightly shorter than him. His spiky, silver hair glittered as it hung down under his backwards cap. He had violet coloured iris's and had wide almond-shaped eyes.

"Yo!" He yelled to Daichi as he approached.

"Yo Ren. Now we're waiting for Kalonji to meet us"

"He's there!" Rento said pointing towards the dark alleyway.

Kalonji appeared out of the shadows. The moonlight shone brightly on him. Kalonji was a tall, dark-skinned eighteen-year-old boy who had short black dreadlocks on his head. He gazed at them with his narrow, brown eyes smiling. He waved as they approached him.

"Wassup Kalonji!"

"Nice to see you again Daichi"

"It hasn't been that long since you've seen him right? You saw him earlier at the graduation. Giving the headteacher grief" Ren said.

"Hmmm...I think so. I wasn't really paying attention"

"Well anyways do you guys have the items we need? Ren? Kalonji?"

They both nodded at him.

"Well let's go"

After a fifteen-minute bus ride, they found themselves in the seemingly abandoned train station in the Kanrei district. The Kanrei district was once known as the slums until recent gentrification in the area. It was in the southeast of the city near the river. In the distance, they could see the downtown district. All the tall buildings lit up at night. They were standing on the platform.

"What the hell are we doing here Daichi?" Kalonji questioned.

"Get the spray paint outta your bag" Daichi commanded him in response.

"Nah, graffiti in the Sawamura Clan's territory. Are you stupid or what?!"

"The Sawamura doesn't play. They will kill us" Rento fretted. His voice was trembling.

"Pft, who cares?" Daichi shrugged his shoulders and forced a smile on his face.

"I care about my life. I have parents at home who cannot live without me. You didn't tell us we were going to come here. We never do graffiti in places like this. We usually graffiti in that abandoned skateboard area in our local neighbourhood park" Kalonji complained.

"Exactly, 'cause it was near our homes. We had school in the morning so we had to get home quickly. We're finished with school now so we can go where we want. Anyways, no questions. Now let's do this" Daichi said enthusiastically taking the spray paint out of his backpack on the ground.

He pulled his hood over his bandana and sprayed the wall with blue paint.

"Ah, it works" he said with relief. He looked back at his two friends who had their face twisted with terror.

"Ok, you guys can watch. We won't be long here. Just tell me what to spray on here"

Silence.Neither of them responded to his request.

"Fine, watch me"

He shook the can before spraying. As he sprayed a formation of random letters on the wall a train approached slowly and stopped at the platform. The suspicious train didn't even have lights on. It just drove in the darkness blending in. Daichi didn't bother to look behind him. He wasn't concerned about that at the moment.

"Oi!" A man shouted when he got out of the train.

He was wearing a black suit and was holding a silver briefcase in his hand. His black hair was slicked back with gel and he was wearing sunglasses. He had pale skin and a pronounced jaw. He also had a birthmark on his chin. He took the cigarette from between his lips and blew the smoke towards them.

Daichi looked back as the man approached Rento and Kalonji who quivered uncontrollably.

"You do know where you are right now don't you?" His voice was aggressive and he waved his head erratically side to side.

Kalonji nodded at his question.

"This is Sawamura territory" he said, his deep voice quavering.

Daichi looked at the train driver through the window. He was looking to see if he was the only passenger on board.

"Who are you?" Daichi asked bravely.

"An associate of the Sawamura Clan. Why the hell do you care brat?"

"Go home bitch" Daichi told to flashing him with malice sparkling in his eyes.

"Daichi! Shut up!" Rento shouted.

"You are gonna get us killed you idiot!" Kalonji shouted at him.

Daichi smirked.

"I will murder him in seconds...don't you worry"

Daichi tilted his head sideways and grinned.

"Daichi shut up!"

Rento stepped forward and covered Daichi's mouth. The man in the suit bared his teeth. After noticing the man's willingness to fight Daichi pulled Rento's arm away, stepped forward and adjusted his glasses before dropping the can.

"I see, another suicidal kid here. I will be glad to end your life"

The man threw his cigarette in front of Daichi. He looked down at it and stomped on it. Antagonised by this Daichi dropped his jagged grin and bared his teeth before clenching his fists.

"Do it then!" Daichi yelled and pulled himself away from Rento.

As Daichi ran at the man the man reached in-between his trousers.

"Shit, he has a gun!" Kalonji yelled.

"Pull it out you big bitch. Who uses a gun against youngers anyways?" Daichi continued to taunt the man fearlessly.

The man was aware that he was just acting tough.

"Stop frontin' fool!"

As the man pulled it slowly from between his trousers Kalonji ran at him out of fear and tackled him down back into the train and began to bang him in the face multiple times.

"Kalonji!" Rento shouted. They both ran to the train as the doors closed.

Daichi kicked the closed doors repeatedly until the train started to move.

"Ah shit, Kalonjiii!" Rento yelled.

"Noooo!" Daichi shouted.

The train departed from the station with Kalonji still in it. Daichi and Rento jumped onto the tracks and chased after it sprinting as fast as they could.

PAP PAP PAP PAP

Four gunshots echoed out of the train. Daichi and Rento looked ahead in horror. Rento had lost his breath and was panting heavily. The same feeling Daichi had long ago remerged in his heart. The feeling of heartbreak. This time he felt guilty. He was the cause of his friend's death. In fact, his hot-headedness was a contributing factor.

"Daichi! Look, the train stopped"Rento pointed out.

"Let's get it!"

Daichi ran ahead leaving Rento as he bent down still panting. The train was in front of him now. He wasn't prepared to see Kalonji's corpse but he had to avenge him. Even if he dies in the process. He climbed up and reached for the button to open the doors. After opening it he climbed in.

When he stood up in front of him was...

....the man's body.

He had four bullet wounds on his back bleeding out. His face was bruised because of Kalonji's punches. Daichi felt a weird feeling in his brain. He was looking at a dead body. He had never been a fan of gore. He was beginning to feel sick to his stomach.

"Daichi!" A voice called out.

He turned to look and there stood Kalonji.

Unharmed.

Daichi ran up to Kalonji and tapped his shoulder.

"Y-You ok?!"

"Yeah, I feel a little sick though. The blood that came outta that guy when he got shot"

"Who shot him?"

Kalonji shrugged his shoulders.

"Did the train driver?"

Daichi hurried to the train driver's room just across them. The door was already open. There he was sprawled out on the floor unconscious but not dead.

"Huh?! What's going on?"

"You kids shouldn't be out this late at night" a woman stated.

She emerged from the darkness she was blended into by the dark, hooded cloak she wore over her concealing her identity. She had a neck gaiter covering the bottom half of her face. All that showed was her cold gaze. She tucked away the gun under her shirt and walked towards the dead man. She got on her knees picking him up and held him over her shoulder after picking up his briefcase

"Go home and don't come back here again" she told them.

Daichi nodded slowly. He was frozen in fear. Before she could step out of the train he yelled...

"Who are you?!"

She looked back at the boys face twisted with horror as he stepped forward avoiding the pool of blood.

"You look just like him....but you don't act anything like him"

"Who?!"

"Daichi!" She called out.

"How do you know my name woman?!"

"You are h--"

"Who the hell is that?!" Rento interrupted looking up at her. She looked down at his troubled face.

"Be careful on these streets Daichi. You boys too"

She jumped down onto the train tracks and walked past the terrified Rento. He watched her carefully expecting her to do something to him but she continued walking casually as if she wasn't holding a dead body.

Daichi and Kalonji hopped down onto the tracks and met with Rento.

"She's a damn creep. How does she know my name?!" Daichi asked not expecting an answer?

"I don't think I'm gonna sleep tonight" Kalonji moaned. He leaned over and retched.

"I'm confused. What happened? Kalonji's ok? He may be vomiting but he didn't get shot did he?"

"She shot the man instead and she knocked out the driver. Somehow she knows my name"

"And was that his dead body she was carrying?"

Daichi nodded.Rento's face twitched in disgust.

"Yuck"

"Sorry guys. I thought this would be fun but we almost got ourselves killed"

"Correction, you almost got us killed. Whenever you get angry you don't stop. That's the first time I've ever heard a gunshot up close in my life" Rento complained.

"Damn. Let's just go home"Rento and Kalonji inclined their heads in agreement.

Meanwhile...His mother had woken up to go toilet. After she went toilet she remembered that she had to talk to Daichi about his rude behaviour at school. She was convinced that he was still awake. She remembers the time she caught him playing his Nintendo DS at night. Maybe he was doing the same thing again.

She walked quietly through the dark hallway and stepped into the room only to see Keisuke sprawled out on his bed.

Only Keisuke she saw.

"Daichi" she called out softly.

There was no reply. She figured out that he was not in the room and left. Kenichi's door was closed. She heard constant clicking in the room. She opened the door suddenly startling them as they sat on their beds. Kenichi dropped his controller and slammed his head down pretending to be asleep and Kaito froze up letting his game character get shot dead by the enemy player. Blood splattered all over the screen. Kaito glanced at his mother's frowning face and began to sweat.

"Boys, it's one in the morning and you're awake? Go to bed or I will sell that stupid PS4. You're lucky your uncle even brought that for you all"

"Sorry mother" Kaito apologised and tucked himself in bed.

She closed the door and headed to Ayako's room. It was unusual for Daichi to be in Ayako's room but she thought that she should check anyways. She opened up Ayako's door and there she was.Sleeping peacefully. She closed the door after inspecting her room. It was just as she thought. He wasn't there. She stepped down the stairs and called......

"Daichi!"

Even raising her voice she didn't get a reply from him. She froze in her footsteps. 'Not again' she thought. A few years back when her neighbours told her about his delinquent behaviour around the neighbourhood she had caught him sneaking out at night.

He can't be...not a big seventeen-year-old boy. He couldn't be. She told herself.

"Ah, shit" Daichi muttered under his breath. The living room window was slammed shut and locked. He had no chance of getting into the house. He stood there hopelessly. He couldn't just knock on the door and he couldn't open it with his keys either. It would make too much noise.

Distracting him from his conflicting thoughts was a fat ginger and white cat that rubbed up against his leg meowing loudly.

"Damn it. Shut up Chiyo!"

Chiyo marched up to the door and stood up to scratch on it.

"Chiyo" he whispered.

He knelt in front of the door and grabbed Chiyo.

"That's a good girl. Goooood kitty" he said making quiet smooching sounds.

Chiyo hissed loudly as Daichi held her in his arms and began to scratch him. Daichi bared his teeth trying to keep himself from screaming out in pain. He desperately thought of a plan to make her quiet. He reached to the bush with his left hand and pulled a leaf off it before waving it in Chiyo's face. Chiyo slapped it out of his hand with her paw and let out a long meow.

The door swung open suddenly....it was all over.

"Daichi?!" His mother shouted.

Daichi let the cat out of his arms and stood up scratching his head.

"Get inside!"

She pointed towards the dark corridor leading to the kitchen. When he stepped into the house she closed the front door and watched him take off his shoes.

"What the hell were you doing out there again?"

"Mother, I can explain--"

"A big seventeen-year-old boy playing around outside at night?! Are you stupid or what?!"

He looked down at his bare feet avoiding eye contact.

"Now that you've finished school what will you do now?"

Daichi shrugged his shoulders.

"You know what. This whole summer holiday you should do practice real art. Do some good paintings. In September you will apply for art university"

He nodded.

"None of that stupid graffiti. Ok?"

Daichi nodded once again. Her judgemental words hurt him this time.

Stupid graffiti? Does she know how hard I worked to get it looking good? He asked himself.

Daichi stepped up the stairs with his mother following him behind. She watched him as he walked into his room.

This time not with a face of anger. But a face of worry.