Secret Lovers (Shin Soukoku)

Past (Part 1)

Third Person

Atsushi had lived in an orphanage for most of his life. He hadn't had the greatest life whilst in the orphanage, being caused by the fact that he was severely abused by the headmaster of the orphanage. He would get nails hammered into him, he would be locked up, hit, electrocuted, stabbed, and that's only to put it lightly. He would sometimes sneak into the kitchen to get food, as none of the workers would cook, or give Atsushi any food.

One day while Atsushi had been chained up, he had heard kids playing and having fun, which the thought made him cry. This was because while he was chained up the other kids were living their lives happily, playing and smiling. He could never handle these days. Only an hour after that the door in the cell opened up, to no surprise it was the headmaster. Atsushi immediately silenced and tried to hold back the crying. "Your punishment has finished, you may head to room." The headmaster states as he begins to take the chains off Atsushi. When Atsushi's punishments were over, he would always be forced into his room, as one of the workers would lock the door, the same happened today. when Atsushi made it to his room, he noticed that even more of the furniture had been taken away. Normally there is a futon, and a light, whereas now it's just the light. Atsushi lies down on the floor, freezing. The night continues, when Atsushi wakes up the next morning, he hears some kind of commotion, he stands up and looks to the camera that was in his room. "What happened?" Atsushi asks, "A tiger trampled the farmland." A voice from the camera states.

A month after Atsushi's tenth birthday, the orphanage kicked him out, with the reason being 'one less mouth to feed!' as they were running out of crops. When Atsushi exited the orphanage after being kicked out, he walked around until the sun set. When it did, someone happened to be walking by. "Hello." The boy says tiredly. "Hi." Atsushi responds. "You look lost, do you need directions?" The boy questions. "No, I actually have nowhere to go. I was just kicked out of my orphanage." Atsushi says in response. "So, you live in the slums now?" The boy asks, "I guess, yea." Atsushi responds. "Well, I do too. I have a few friends who do alongside me." Says the boy. "Cool! By the way, what's your name?" Atsushi says. "Well, I'm Ryuunosuke Akutagawa." Says Akutagawa, "I'm Atsushi Nakajima, nice to meet you!" Atsushi say gleefully. "If you want you can come stay with me and my friends." Akutagawa mentions, "Sure!" Atsushi says. "Alright, follow me to where we stay." Akutagawa says as he starts walking in some direction towards a forest as Atsushi follows. "Just wondering, how old are you?" Atsushi asks. "12 years old." Akutagawa responds, "Cool, I'm 10." Says Atsushi, as they stop. "Here." Akutagawa says, as he walks into what looks like an abandoned building. "I'm home!" Akutagawa says as five kids come running up to him. "This is Atsushi, he'll be staying with us." Akutagawa states "Hi!" Atsushi says. "Hi!!" All the other kids yell excitedly, as they begin to introduce themselves. (I'm too lazy to give them names, so let's pretend they have names) "Follow me." Says Akutagawa, as he begins to lead Atsushi to the fire they had. When they get to the fire everyone sits around it. Everyone goes in a circle saying stuff about themselves, first they start with Akutagawa's sister, Gin. Then goes around until they reach Akutagawa, to which he says, "I like tea, figs and antiques. And I don't like bonsai trees and dogs." Then It's Atsushi's turn, "I like, cats, chazuke and chameleons. And I don't really have anything I particularly dislike!" Atsushi states. Atsushi was the last to go, so when he finished, they all got up and went out, some had gone to work their night shift, while others went to sleep. Atsushi and Akutagawa decided to stay up, and so they didn't bother the ones who were sleeping they got up and went outside. "Hey, are you ok? There seems to be something on your mind." Akutagawa asks worried. "I'm fine! Just a little lost in thought that's all." Atsushi says before chuckling awkwardly. "Alright, if you say so. Just know I'm always here to talk to." Akutagawa says. "Yea, I know." Atsushi says as he looks up to the stars. "The moon sure is lovely tonight, right?" Atsushi says mesmerized by the view. "Yea." Akutagawa says in response.

4 years after Atsushi was kicked out of the orphanage, some of the older kids, or the ones old enough to get jobs, had gotten a paycheck. They happened to be walking while Akutagawa was somewhere else. While they were walking a group of older guys came up to them, grabbing the pay envelope out of their hands. While one of the other ones grabbed one of the kids. "I have a deal, if you give us every one of your paychecks, this kid gets to live another day." Says one of the smugglers. "Give him back!" Yells Gin, as she does Akutagawa comes in and uses his ability, Rashomon. They immediately ran back to the building they were staying in, when they got back one of the kids had found a diamond while listening into someone making a deal. Not long after that Akutagawa realized that since the snow had been so soft, the kid had left footprints. "Everyone pack up! You have one minute!" Akutagawa yells as he hears footsteps coming towards them. "You don't have a minute." The dude says, as he holds up his gun shooting the kid with the diamond. He continued to shoot the other kids while Gin, Akutagawa and Atsushi were the only ones surviving. Unfortunately, they had been separated from each other. Atsushi searched everywhere, to no avail. He looked day and night for Akutagawa. 'What if Akutagawa didn't survive?!' Atsushi thought, he continued having those thoughts until he gave up searching.

Akutagawa's POV

After me and Gin had ran away, we realized we had lost Atsushi. We searched and searched although we still could not find him. Eventually we ended up in a dumpsite where we met a man with brown hair wearing all black, named Dazai. He decided to give us shelter on the condition we join the group he was in, the port mafia. He trained me and helped me control my ability to a better extent, until I was an actual member. He was the predecessor of the boss. He always wore bandages all over him, and a black jacket. He had a weird personality, he could be funny and goofy one minute, then the next serious and psychotic. He was my first parental figure in a while.

He trained me until I bled, he kicked and shot me if I didn't work hard enough, 'It makes sense, he's just trying to help me get better. Success takes pain and hard work.' I would think. It was rare he would give me any kind of approval, or compliment. Most of the time he would insult me, 'He's just criticizing me, to help me get better.' I would always say to myself in reassurance. One day on my free time I was sitting in my room just talking to myself with no real reason. "I wonder where Atsushi is." When the topic of Atsushi was brought up in my head, I flung out of bed thinking maybe, just maybe I could find him. I quickly put on a black sweatshirt, and grey sweatpants. I rush out of my room onto the streets of Yokohama, I look around for a few hours, again to no avail. I go back to the dorm I was staying in (It was provided by the PM) When I enter, I run to my room and lay down on my bed just staring at the ceiling, the only thing on my mind being Atsushi. Ever since we met, I've had this weird feeling of butterflies in my stomach when I think about him or see him. I blush every time he smiles, or whenever I'm around him I just feel complete. And I don't know why. So, on the day we lost each other, I have just felt empty. I have searched everywhere to find him, but I just can't. If I could wish for one thing, I would wish to have him back, I would never let him leave me again. That's when I felt my eyes start to water, then I was crying. I haven't cried in years, yet he just makes me feel more alive, but now that I've lost him, I don't know what I'll do. I just decided to just continue laying on my bed, crying. Not even trying to make myself stop, because I know I can't. Tears were dripping from my eyes quicker than anything, my heart was racing at the thought of him being dead. I thought that I should still get some sleep, so I close my eyes.

The next morning, I wake up, change into my normal dress shirt and black trench coat. Then I go into my bathroom to brush my teeth, when I look in the mirror, I had really dark eye bags, and my eyes were still red from crying. But I still know personal hygiene, so I brush my teeth. After that I quickly grab an apple and head off to the PM. When I get to the PM headquarters, I greet Dazai-San before heading to my desk to see the paperwork I have to fill out, and if I have any missions, all I have is paperwork, so I immediately start on that.