Magical Boy ~ English version

Chapter 31

Nanaya had locked himself in his bathroom so as not to hear his friends knocking on the door. He couldn't think. He couldn't figure out what he really wanted. Hadn't he always said that becoming Experion was his dearest wish? Succeed his father and make him proud? It was what he wanted, right? So why did the thought of leaving Aitori to join Darkeas seemed so painful to him? In his head passed images of him fighting his friends. He could hurt them. He could even kill them. He could never bring himself to do it. Or ... wasn't it all his father's wish?

Curled up in a corner of the room, he tried to remember. Had he ever wanted something of himself?

"Kitty, open the door."

"Nana-chan, I swear I'll break that fucking door down if you don't come out!"

"Why always the violence, Chichi-chan?"

"Fuck you, shark!"

Nanaya stood still for a moment. He couldn't believe he should see Kenji and Kotaro as enemies. He could not. He did not want to.

He finally got up and slowly opened the door. They were both obviously worried. Nanaya could see all his other friends at the bedroom door, watching from afar to see if the two boys would succeed in reassuring their young comrade.

"You are dirty." Nanaya muttered, noticing the dirt on their clothes.

"We'll fix that after." Kenji assured. "Chichi-chan has something for you."

Kotaro waved him out of the bathroom, and set the metal box down on the table in the center. Nanaya was dumbfounded for a moment, before finally remembering what it was, even though he couldn't remember the content.

"Heh... we had to open it at twenty." He remarked.

"It's not important." Kotaro growled. "Open. I'm sure It'll help you get better."

Nanaya settled cross-legged on one of the cushions that surrounded the kotatsu, and grabbed the cover. He had a little trouble opening it, because of the rust that had invaded it.

But when finally the opening came loose, the first thing he saw was the teddy bear Kotaro had made for him. Kotaro gasped in surprise at seeing it as Nanaya pulled it out of the box to hug it.

"Did you put this in?" Kotaro wondered.

"Of course. It's the first real gift I've had in my life ... and you gave it to me."

Kotaro blushed, muttering that he wasn't very well made. The head was indeed potato-shaped, the eyes and ears were asymmetrical, the black and yellow stripes on his Waspeed costume were uneven, and he had one leg longer than the other. But it was his first complete creation, which he had made without even the help of his mother.

He took something in turn. It was a plastic sleeve with pictures of the two of them as children. There was one in particular. One where Kotaro had managed to make Nanaya smile.

There were only two letters left in the back of the box. Their names were written on it. Nanaya took his and opened it to read it.

"Dear future me,

Kotaro is the only person who is really nice to me. Don't forget to thank him. Hope you are still friends. I hope you became heroes together. You know, I don't want to be like father. I like him a lot, but I don't want to be a villain. Please don't become a villain. "

Nanaya stood still for a moment. No, he had never wanted to become Experion. He glanced at Kotaro who had hastily crumpled his own before Kenji could glance at it and smirked. Everyone fell silent and stopped when he stood up. He turned his head to Hyokko and smiled at him.