Last Leaf

"Hidari!" The brisk, stentorian voice of the commander cut through the bright blue sky. Shoes hit their soles agin the dry sands of the unfinished roads of Hatsumi. Specks of dust entertained a ballerina's twist, before curtsying, to rise. Parting the veils of ferocity their chords wished to hide, fear oscillated to and fro, like a pendulum, hypnotizing their irises.

"Migi!" The crowd standing tall beneath the clock that towered over their Lilliputian frames roared with determination. Their black irises burnt coals. Drowned in contempt and the persuasion to kill them all. The gaffers who crossed the street with their straw hats swung loose over their heads parted their curled lips to offer the resistance mouthful of their crooked smiles, and their approval.

"Jōshō!" A shot into the azure gave the impression of a white ring furbelowed with the clouds for wings. You could say the cloud of smoke that shot straight impressed upon the onlookers like it was a halo, watching down the good hearts, promising to protect them when the time struck right.

"Banzai Nippon!" My little brother of six cried, his fists pumping into the air, and his chubby countenance bursting through the smile of pride. His smile of assurance for the motherland. The crowds stopped and craned their necks towards the figurine of innocence that played the part to give them the strength they needed, after all those rumors that flew in straight. They nodded, grinning wide, raising their hands for the heavens to catch.

And they roared. Together. Taking turns to fill the zephyr their mother inhaled with the words she needed to hear. Exciting screams. The sounds of empowerment, and encouragement. "Banzai Nippon!"

I smiled, my lips struggling to find the structure it needed to birth, to resemble what would come close to that. Hiraku's words kept sprinting within my head, tangling itself between the neurons, and crippling it from thinking straight. And still, the hope my little kyodai Benjiro, and the others held on to inexplicably crushed my heart, plaguing me about the things I risked hiding from their eyes.

Ben clutched my faded Kimono tattered near the arms and volunteered to clean the dusty ground that spread in front. Our blue irises met, his of concern, and mine, of fear. "Are you okay, Mizuki?"

I stared at him, dumb, my foggy mind still tossing around things Hiraku whispered last night. My eyebrows rose inches high, before letting my lips settle with the smile of affliction. "Yes. Benji. I am. Why do you ask anyway?"

He shook his head, staring at me, wide. "No. It's just that I was worried if you are no close to recognizing that whatever you are doing does not fall into the classification of a smile. Mayhap you've got some zenaku sitting inside you-.'

My eyes blinked with haste, spilling horror, tightening my grip around his arms. "W-what? B-But h-how did you know that? It was Hiraku's secret, and mine too-."

"What?" His stare drilled deep, sending a shiver engulfing my nerves, and distributing them through my frame. I couldn't help but hide the unease spreading through my gut, my legs a devastating mess of udon drowned in burning hot water. The worn bread laden with green sprays running through its whites that we had to sate our appetite with seemed to prick at my throat, threatening to spill out.

And at that moment, my heart plummeting within my chest, in a haste to sprint out, and stop beating for once couldn't help but recognize how much his stare facsimiled my late father's, a violent abuser of his own accord.

Suppressing my tears that hath pooled beneath my irises, engulfing my blues, like the ocean dashing agin the blue sapphire. "Nothing," I mouthed, more to myself than to Benji. The crowds had started rushing through the streets, resurrecting the dust everywhen their heel kissed the ground.