What you're name ?

Chapter 21 Baki

Made by @cataclysmiceve1 on Twitter!
-

October isn't so bad. He spends most of it getting ready for regional preliminaries for Judo, and studying for his real entrance exams. Most days are pretty good.

And then others...

Are pretty bad.

It's raining hard, it has been all day, and Chuuya didn't bring an umbrella—which is what has him diving into a convenience store, trying to find one to buy before school. He's shivering and dripping from head to toe as he walks down the isles when his phone rings.

Chuuya picks up without looking, pushing his wet bangs out of his eyes, "Look, Mori—I promise, you left it in the laundry room—"

"Chuuya?"

He goes still, his wallet almost falling out of his hand with surprise. "...Mom?" He hasn't heard her voice since...before.

"You answered," She sounds so relieved. "Sweetheart, I've been trying to get a hold of you for—god, I don't know how long—but they won't tell me where you are, and you moved schools—"

Chuuya struggles to keep his voice even, "Why would you want to know where I am?"

"Chuuya—" she sounds so sad, like Chuuya may as well have slapped her, "Because I'm your mother. Your sister won't even take my calls—"

"I didn't tell her to do that," Chuuya hedges defensively.

"No, of course you didn't—but I've just been—sitting alone in this house—" Chuuya's stomach twists with guilt. "—for months, and I hate that I've lost the two of you too, and I just—I just want to fix this—"

Listening to her cry—and not caving into it, it's one of the hardest things Chuuya has ever done. "Mom, you didn't lose Dad, he almost killed me." Chuuya has never actually said that part out loud before.

"I don't—" his mother sounds exhausted and confused, "Chuuya, he couldn't have meant to do that—he just—I don't know how to explain it, he just lost himself, I—"

"But he didn't." Chuuya doesn't think about that night often. Sometimes, the therapist Mori drags him to on Tuesdays tries to walk him through it. Chuuya hasn't made it through a session without begging to stop. "He knew exactly what he was doing, alright?" Chuuya mutters, "You weren't there."

"...You're right," his mother's voice breaks into a sob. "And I'm sorry, Chuuya—I am so, so sorry—"

"Are you leaving him?" Chuuya's voice is calm, unbothered, but the length of time it takes for her to answer hurts so much, he can't breathe.

"It's complicated—"

"Except it's really not." Chuuya snaps. "You left Ane-san's dad because he wanted to move to France. This seems like a much bigger thing—"

"It is, and I'm going to leave, I just—I can't right now—"

"Why not?!"

"His lawyers—they say it's going to make him look worse—they say it could impact his trial. And—we've been married for almost twenty years, Chuuya, I owe it to him—"