Chapter Eight: What is a Man? A Miserable Little Pile of Secrets.

「Hey Trash, got your message.」

Pazu walked out of the kitchen, wiping his hands on a towel.

「Ah shit, Sorry. I was going to grab something from the convenience store. I totally forgot. I didn’t mean to show up empty handed.」

Trash heard a loud snort from Saki, who had gone into the kitchen, probably to check on whatever Pazu was cooking.

「No worries, man. Are you okay, though? You look kind of out of it.」

Trash relaxed and let himself smile. That was how Pazu always was. From back to their school days, Pazu was always looking out for him.

Pazu wasn’t particularly good-looking. He was rather thin and short. He let his hair grow out these days into a weird ponytail, but it matched his face.

Trash had been big for his age, while since primary school, Pazu had always had a small stature. When they had originally become friends in middle school, they had always made a strange pair when they went out in public.

But when they first met, they had not spoken at all, even though they were in the same class.

From the first day of school, Pazu had attracted the bullies in the class. He was small and sickly looking. He had been very shy, so he made a perfect target.

That was until word spread about Trash’s family. Suddenly, all the focus seemed to shift to target him. Children prefer a simple world. Bullies prefer an easy target. Not even halfway through the first year of middle school, Trash had been marked. For the next three years, he had to deal with the mocking and the laughter, the constant insults and cruel childish pranks.

The school had strict anti-bullying rules, and the hazing was never to the level of the news stories. There was never any physical violence, perhaps because he was actually larger than all of his tormentors. But Trash never had a moment when he felt like he could be accepted. At every opportunity, his bullies cut him down and undermined him. Mocked his name, his appearance, and moat of all, his family situation. But what they didn’t know was that as mean as they tried to be, it was nothing compared to what he received from his own blood.

Trash took the ostracizing in silence. He hoped that, eventually, the bullies would get bored and move on to someone else, but they never did. Still, as mean as the bullies were, it was the isolation from the others in the class that cut him harder.

He became a total outcast. No one would speak to him outside of an order from the teacher. Even the teachers tended to ignore him. He would sometimes go days without uttering a single coherent sentence.

Because of that, his language skills dropped. He received poor grades and was identified as an underachiever. His chance of getting accepted into a decent high school, or even one he could afford, was laughable, so he was forgotten by everyone.

Except for one person. Pazu.

Pazu was a classic geek. He was quite ill growing up. Because of his sickness, he couldn’t run or participate in sports and was even bedridden from time to time. His parents doted on him and worried constantly, indulging in him in any way they could.

This allowed Pazu to embrace his passion. He was obsessed with anime and manga. Posters of anime characters and comic books filled his room. His nickname was drawn from the hero of his favorite animated movie, and he idolized all the protagonists of the stories that he consumed with an insatiable hunger.

After he was bullied for his appearance, he wanted to quit school. He even mentioned it to his parents one day, and they contemplated pulling him out and putting him into a private school. But the suddenly, it just stopped. The bullies never bothered him again. It was like they forgot he ever existed.

It didn’t take long to realize what had happened. He had been replaced with a shinier toy. Someone who didn’t represent a threat, but who made the bullies feel more justified in their activities.

The big, quiet kid just took it. He never fought back, and though he was obviously disheartened, he kept coming back every day.

Just watching it tormented Pazu. He wished that he could have withstood the tormenting, or fought back like the heroes in his favorite stories. He wished he could suddenly get strong enough to protect himself and everyone else who got bullied. But that wasn’t reality. He knew he was weak, and he feared regaining the attention of his former tormentors. He kept quiet and watched along with the rest of the class as the quiet boy suffered in silence.

By the second year of school, the social order was locked in stone. Trash was at the very bottom. Pazu was on the sidelines. A generic kid in the class. Neither had any friends, but at least the other students would speak to Pazu.

Pazu had learned to keep his interests to himself. While everyone watched animated movies and TV shows, or read comic books, it wasn’t considered normal to talk about them constantly. That was primary school behavior. Classroom interests were now more diverse. People talked about bands and sporting events. Lunchtime conversations would shift from the new issue of Shonen Jump to the antics of variety show celebrities to the latest appearance of Hideki Matsui in the American major leagues.

Fearing being labeled by his classmates, Pazu kept quiet most of the time and just followed the flow of the other kids. Only his parents called him Pazu; to everyone else, he was Hiro, or Hiroyuki. Most of his classmates just referred to him more formally by using his last name, “Takeda.”

While he had grown a bit stronger physically, he was still small, and because of that, he was excused from joining the athletic clubs. Instead, his parents told the school he went to after-school tutoring, so that he could leave after the last class. In truth, he just came home and read more manga and watched more anime. He never had great grades, but managed to stay around the class average, keeping scrutiny off of his hobbies.

His parents continued to let him choose his own path. Things could have been worse for Pazu, but he was generally diligent and, for an anime-obsessed geek, had very high emotional intelligence. He found that he was good at reading the emotions of the people around him. Possibly because he spent much of his time, just watching and observing.

He tried not to abuse the freedom he was given, and managed to get acceptable grades, and even looked at attending a good high school.

It wasn’t until the end of the second year of middle school that the paths of these two strange boys would intersect.

Trash had to pick up a stamp from his grandfather’s factory. His father was supposed to do it, but had been too drunk to go out, so he gave trash some cash to take the train to Akihabara.

Trash was eager to go. He had grown up in Setagaya and rarely ever left. Traveling downtown was a treat, even if it was just a simple errand for his grandfather.

He hadn’t even left the station before getting lost. Instead of exiting onto the street, he found himself in a small shopping center with no idea how he got there. He wandered around, trying to find an exit, but soon found himself in the largest toy store he had ever seen.

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The toys were amazing. There were rows and rows of Gundam models. He and his father had put one together once when he was younger. He had no idea that there were so many different kinds.

For a toy store, it was strangely specific. There were no baby toys or dolls. It was full of giant monster figures, robots, and live-action sci-fi toys. It was like a new world to Trash, and he wandered around, amazed at all the new things he never even knew existed.

That’s when he ran right over a small boy who was crouched in front of a section full of paints specific to coloring Gundam robot models.

He hadn’t even seen the boy, and practically fell on top of him. He tried to apologize but found his tongue tied, so as they untangled from each other, he prepared to run away and escape the store somehow.

“「 know you. From school. You’re-」

「N-no. You’re mistaken.」

Trash blurted it out, but as he did, he got a good look at the boy. He did know him.

「S-ssorry. I didn’t see you.」

The boy was small, but Trash realized they were the same age. It was one of his classmates. The one who used to get bullied.

「What are you doing here?」

Trash was conflicted. He still felt the desire to run, but the boy wasn’t intimidating, nor did he look upset that he had fallen on top of him.

「Just a family errand.」

He was surprised to see that the boy looked disappointed.

「W-why are you here?」

Trash winced. He stammered a bit when he was nervous. The boy didn’t seem to notice at all, however.

「I come here a lot. To look at all the stuff. The stores here have much more cool stuff, don’t you think so?」

He thought for a moment, then nodded.

「Have you ever built a Gundam model? They have every kit ever made here, I think.」

It was strange. He had never even said a word to this boy, but now he was talking so excitedly. For the first time he could remember, he wasn’t intimidated by his peers, though it was hard to be scared of a boy half his size, even if he was the same age.

「Yeah, I made one once with my dad.」

「Really? Which one? Was it a HG?」

「Huh? I don’t know. It was a Gundam, though. I never watched the show. I don’t know all the names.」

「Oh, there’s lots of shows. Wait, was it this one?」

The boy ran around the corner and into another aisle. A second later, he returned with a box in his hands.

「Is it this it?」

Trash looked at the painted picture on the top of the box. It did look similar to the one he had made. White, with blue and red parts and a head that looked like a samurai helmet.

He nodded.

「Yeah, I think so.」

「Figures. For your first kit, it should be this one. It’s the original.」

「What’s it called?」

「RX-78–2 Gundam.」

「Huh? What kind of name is that? It’s just numbers.」

「That’s what’s so cool. It’s like real life. They have model numbers and stuff. It’s not like the kid shows where they yell stuff, and the robot moves. The pilot drives it like a car or a jet plane.」

Trash couldn’t remember ever having a conversation like this. He had seen the others in the class talk like that, about music, manga, and baseball. But the quiet, short kid who never really talked to anyone in school was now enthusiastically explaining things like a teacher.

「You should try building this one. I just finished making it. It’s called a Dom. They are the elite bad guys, but I think the design is way more interesting.」

As interesting as it was, Trash remembered he had to go to the factory before it got too late.

「Um. Sorry…」

Then he paled as he realized he couldn’t remember the boy’s name.

「Oh! Sorry. We haven’t spoken before, right? I should introduce myself. My name is Takeda, Hiroyuki Takeda. You can call me Hiro… or Yuki…」

The boy suddenly frowned slightly, as though he was trying to make a difficult decision.

「Since we met here, you’re kind of my comrade, so you can call me Pazu.」

「Pazu?」

「Yeah… like-」

「Balse!」

This time there was both shock and delight apparent on Pazu’s face.

「Yeah! You like that movie? It’s my favorite.」

Trash chuckled.

「Yeah, I watch it whenever it’s on the Sunday Roadshow. It’s one of my favorite movies too.」

「What’s your favorite?」

「Hmmm. The Crimson Pig, maybe?」

「A pig that doesn’t fly…」Pazu read the line out dramatically.

「Is just an ordinary pig.」 Trash finished the quote.

Pazu laughed with a huge grin.

Then, as if remembering something troubling, Pazu’s face fell.

「Umm. What should I call…」

Trash grimaced. No one ever asked him what he wanted to be called. He didn’t have a nickname. There was his given name, but only his father and his teachers used it. He hated it most of all.

The kids at school had called him many things, but most of those were just a variation of his name, mocking him. Now, most of them had just started calling him “Trash.”

「They call me ‘Trash,’ I guess that’s fine,」 he said with a grimace.

「Really? I think it’s a pretty cool nickname. Like a character from an anime. It’s cool to have names written in katakana. Yeah, ‘Trash’, is pretty cool. You sure it’s okay?」

That took Trash by surprise. He knew what the word meant. Where those idiots in school had picked it up, he had no idea. But when he heard Pazu describe it like that, it did kind of sound cool. Much better than his own name, at least.

「Uh, yeah, That’s cool. You’re right, it is kind of cool. A little bit.」

「Ok, Trash, you said you were running errands? Where do you need to go?」

「Oh shit, I mean, Yeah, I need to go. I have to pick up something from my Grandfather’s factory before they lock the building. Actually, I got lost and ended up here.」

「Huh? Where is it?」

「Just off of Showa Street. I’ve been there before, but I got all turned around in the station.」

「Ahh, yeah. You need to get out on the Showa Street exit. You must have found the hidden Akihabara Department Store entrance.」

「Hidden entrance?」

「Yeah, not many people know there is a direct exit into this place. Most people use the Electric Town or Showa street exits. Congratulations! You found a secret!」

Trash smiled. He liked the sound of that. It was a silly, useless thing, but he liked the idea of having something rare.

「Here, I’ll show you how to get there. It can be tricky with all the construction going on these days.」

In the end, Pazu went with him all the way to the factory and waited while Trash ran in to find the seal. He was a little embarrassed to have his new friend see the place. It was an old, Showa era workshop that made some kind of metal fittings for who knows what.

Calling it a factory was being generous. It was just an old building, about the size of a small two-story house, on a tiny lot near the train tracks. The factory hadn’t been active for years, but they still had an old man who watched over the place during the day, and his Grandfather stored tons of old junk there. It seemed like a huge waste of money to Trash.

As the left, Pazu exploded in excitement.

「That’s so cool! You have a base in Akihabara! I’m so jealous! It took forever to convince my parents to let me come out here by myself. They are so overprotective sometimes. Man, someday I’m gonna have a house here. That way, I could always go out without having to take the train. There’s so much cool stuff here. Do you still have time? Want to check out Asobit City?」

The small boy was so excited, it was infectious. Trash knew if he was late getting back, he might get in trouble, but there was also a chance his dad would be out drinking, or just sleeping in the house. As long as he got back before too late, he was sure he would be fine.

「Sure. I’ve got time.」

「Cool! I know a shortcut to the main street. We can cut through the construction sites from here. Man Akiba is full of construction these days. Big, huge towers like downtown. I bet in a few years, this will be the coolest place in Tokyo!」

「Akiba?」

「Oh, that’s what the locals call it. Cool, huh?」

「Yeah… Pretty cool.」

During the summer break before their last year in middle school, Trash and Pazu would spend a lot of time wandering the streets of Akihabara.

Trash mentioned to his dad that he could help take care of the old factory, and while his dad might have been a bit suspicious, he was more than happy to let Trash take care of things for him, and even provided him with an allowance for train fare.

In the end, taking away that responsibility and spending all that time out of the house might have been yet one more thing that led his father on his final descent.

By the end of Trash’s last year in middle school, his father was gone.

Pazu got into a fairly good high school not far from his house, but Trash didn’t have the grades or the test scores. Instead, his grandfather agreed to let him stay in the apartment on top of the Akihabara factory, as long as he attended a nearby vocational school. That way, they could let the old man who watched the place retire.

This arrangement was perfectly fine with Trash. Now, he could stay in Akihabara, and Pazu could hang out whenever he had free time. Pazu was actually green with jealousy when he found out about it.

Finally, about a year ago, Pazu finally fulfilled his dream, well mostly.

He managed to get a loan, with the help of his parents, to buy a small condo with a business space attached, just between Ueno and Akihabara. He had big plans, and Trash had been eager to help in any way he could. Now, the two of them could hang out like they used to talk about when they were younger.

But as soon as everything looked like it was coming together, it all started to unravel. He was losing the apartment in just a week. With no money and nowhere to go, Trash was forced to take a huge gamble.

Now, he had to do something he had been putting off for months. He had to tell his best friend what was happening. Not only that, but he had to do it while also asking him for a huge favor.

Trash stared at his friend, who was patiently waiting for an explanation. Trash rarely showed up uninvited. Usually, it was the opposite. When they wanted to hang out, Pazu would typically come over and stop at the factory.

「So, what’s up?」 Pazu asked while peeking into the kitchen.

「Saki, make a plate of that, will you? I think Trash is about to pass out.」

「Well,」 Trash started to explain, 「it’s kind of a long story.」