Burnt to Ashes - Kenichi Todoroki

The Other Side of Paradise

Kenichi's POV:

How I escaped was easy; I burnt through the ankle bracelet and the alarms on my window and jumped onto the roof. All I had to do was climb down somewhere away from the windows and be quiet so nobody caught me. Then I booked it.

I was absolutely terrified. Not only because the fact that I had escaped, which I was definitely going to get in trouble for, but what Coda was trying to say to me and I didn't hear. To what Shinju wanted to talk about.

But I was going to show up anyways.

I could see him facing away from me, his mohawk blowing in the wind. It was dusk, but the sky was a pretty purple-pink in the sky. It seemed right out of a movie. I had some hope; maybe he wanted to talk to me about the fight and say how scared he was and how he's glad I'm okay.

But my dad did say he stopped showing up to see me in April.

"Shinju." I called out to him. "Hey."

"Kenichi. I have to go."

I was confused. He called me all the way out here, and I risked everything to come. Now he has to go?

"Well why'd you call me out if you were just gonna go?" I asked him.

"Because I wanted to say my last goodbyes." He said.

"Last goodbyes?" I echoed.

"I can't stay here Kenichi." Shinju said, his voice breaking, pushing back tears. "I can't. After watching you sacrifice yourself and the police sirens and.. I was scared, Kenichi. For you to end up the same way Tora did. The memories came rushing back and I just.. I can't."

"What?" I whispered. "Where are you going? I don't understand, I'm fine, it's not going to happen again-"

"How do you know?" Shinju shot. "You said this last time, Kenichi. I can't risk it anymore, I have to save my brother and.. you're holding me back."

"I'm holding you back?" I clenched my hands into a fist. "I'm the reason you got all that money for the bail. I'm the reason why you have even a little bit of a shot to save him, which you had asked me to help you in the first place. I've dedicated my life to you, Shinju, how could you say that?"

"We didn't get nearly enough." He said. "I'm wasting my time being here, don't you see? The Bloody Mambas have all gone their separate ways, and the some who didn't don't even want to look at Graffiti Alley again. You've traumatized them-"

"Don't blame that all on me! This was your fault, you tricked me!" I cried. "You used me for your stupid little plan, and now that I'm not of use to you anymore, you're throwing me away to go and use something else for your stupid little plan! Did you even love me?"

"Kenichi.."

"Did you?" I shot. "Or was leading me on apart of your stupid little plan too?"

Shinju and I stood in silence for a moment. A dumb look was on Shinju's face, and he lowered his head to look at his feet. He sat on the curb of the circular round-a-bout middle. "..I didn't love you because I couldn't love you. You had no trust in me, I had no trust in you. I don't like your personality, I don't like your goals, and the only remarkable think about you is your appearance."

A new kind of pain struck through me, not one I was familiar with. How could.. how could Shinju say this to me. Tears poured down my face, and though I tried so hard, I couldn't stay silent. My eyes stung, my nose stuffed, all while I sobbed into my hands.

Memories came rushing back, to when we first became friends. My tenth birthday when he got me my motorcycle. Back then, things had been so easy. So nice.