Heartfelt Quintessence

Chapter 1 - The Unexpected Meeting

"Thank you for coming, please come again!"

Haruma waved his hand to the last customer before he went inside to clean up the tables and rearranged the chairs. Looks like his shift ended on time today.

"Good job today, Haruma. The new recipe is well accepted by the customers. It's all thanks to you." The owner of the ramen shop patted the shoulder of the small guy, singing his praises as always. Haruma gave him a thumbs up and replied to him, "Hey, I just spice up things, I didn't help too much other than making a basic ramen broth. Oh yes, I need to go now, I have a meeting with my friends."

After he changed his clothes, wearing a red hoodie and sweatpants, he went straight to this one place to pay off half of his debts to those hooligans.

x x x x x

It was a black Maserati, parked somewhere behind an alley, simply looking out of place. Then again, it is well hid, and at this hour, nobody is expected to walk around wandering in this cold weather. The winter is coming soon enough.

A pair of emerald hues scanned the area, he could see a small group of youth gathering by the corner, laughing and 'welcoming' a new presence, on which a boy in a red hoodie walking towards them.

His eyes, locked on the newly arrived youth, watching from afar. Subtle classical instrumental tune plays on his background from the music player as he waited.

At the same time, Haruma rummaged through his pocket, letting out a sigh before he started a conversation with the gang leader.

"I brought the money, but only half of them. I know it won't make all of you satisfied with it, but I promised you, I will pay all of them the next month. So if you could-"

What awaited him not long after he spoke up a few sentences, was a knife pointed against his neck by the gang leader. The man who was probably in his late 20's made a bold move to threatened the poor boy. The boy expected he would at least get this kind of get treatment, but having a knife about one inch not too far from his neck was a no joke.

"Look, kiddo. Your parents shouldn't mess up with my dad. They knew about my old man's temper, let alone spending the rest of the money going overseas and finally pushed all the debts to you. You know, I have had enough of hearing your bullshits. And here you are, bringing half of them. Do you know  that your interest money increased by 20% if you paid them late again?"

Haruma couldn't deny that. Even though it was true, Haruma didn't sit still. He worked hard enough, more than any of those students who goofed around doing nothing. All for the sake of surviving in this harsh world he lived for.

"Mister, this.." The boy pushed the gang leader's hand away for a bit, so that the knife wouldn't reached his neck for the time being, ".. I won't run away like my parents, I just want you to hold on my debts, sparing my life before next month come. After that if I'm unable to pay you, you can do whatever you want to me."

While his inner mind said to hell with it.. He would just run away to another city before next month came. However, it seemed impossible since these hooligans wouldn't let him go, they even surrounded him. The peachy haired boy racked his head, was he going to be skinned alive tonight? Was it too late for him to have a life without debts?

Suddenly, a bright white light flashed towards the small group of youth. The brunette inside the Maserati used his vehicle's high beam as he drove by closer, making everything else around them shadowed, dark.

"Excuse me."
They could see a tall figure stood beside the car after he steps out, and stepping into the light.
One look to the man's face is enough to conclude that the man was a gaijin, though his accent shows none of his homeland.

The gang leader frowned his eyebrows and slowly withdrew his knife from the boy's neck. He signaled his underlings to step back from Haruma as well. Judging from the vehicle and the appearance of the unknown figure indicated that he shouldn't mess with a wrong person.
What was he afraid of? Obviously the gang leader outnumbered the man in suit.

"Who are you, huh? Want to play as a hero?" And that remarks make the other youths laughed sarcastically. The small boy remained calm, but he didn't know whether the new guy who stepped in was an enemy or not.

'Now what should I do' was ringing in his inner thought. He was a smart kid, so he quickly went to the tall guy's side and said, "Michael, you're late! Look at those people, they were trying to take my money!" He signaled his eyes to the stranger to just played along with him.

His emeralds saw the look on the boy's face, along with the whole acting.
"I'm not Michael." He replied almost instantly straight away blowing Haruma's whole act, obviously the gaijin refused to play along. He turned back looking at the bunch of suckers before him, eyes then locked on the one whom was holding the knife earlier.

"Is it your first time holding to one?" His voice, mocking.

The gaijin stepped forth, in a way letting the boy to move behind him, one arm rose, in a blink a sharp razor in between his gloved fingers. He does a couple of swift movement downwards.

Instantly the punk's shirt tore, closer to the collar.

"..You!" The other youth shocked to see their gang leader's, being making fun by the gaijin. Haruma too, startled to see the unexpected movement by the person himself. A look of disbelief displayed over his face, the same goes toward the gang leader that shouted to his underlings to attack the gaijin at the same time.
The boy didn't want to get involved with this kind of mess, so he said bye-bye to the gaijin and the gang before he left the scene. He ran as fast as he could, apologizing to the man in his mind and hoping he, would at least survive in the battle of one versus 11 thugs.

Henry clicked his tongue as the boy ran off. With a royally irritated expression, he turned back facing the group.
"...."

x x x x x

Moments passed, the scene earlier was left with half naked unconscious bodies, all of them. Very much alive, only knocked out.

"How inconvenient..."
The butler sighed, driving along the street, tracing the young master.

x x x x x

The small boy threw his body on his bed after running non stop, almost for half an hour. Thank God he was in a track and field club despite his legs were shorter than the other team members.

"Ahhh so tired.." He snuggled up his bolster, suddenly recalled the gaijin. "The foreigner seemed like a wealthy person. Showed out of nowhere with that luxury car, heh. Must be an arrogant person. Hmm.."

The boy then turned around, facing the ceiling of his small room. "And he even said his name isn't Michael, damn it! At least put on a pretense to know me ugh." Haruma blinked a few times, wondering who was the tall figure who helped him despite he, being a brat, ran away without saying thank you. And yet  how unfortunate of him to recall he had school tomorrow!

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gaijin - foreigner