Fiction Academy: CAS' Never Ending Story 2022

|87| A Father's Love

A Father's Love
by Niña Mikaela M. Basañes

Kaneki is an elderly man who lives with his only son in a small town in the Japanese province of Kyoto. Kaneki, whose primary source of income is a small sushi-making business, resides in the town with his 17-year-old son, Arima, his only child.

Arima, a slightly rebellious teenager, does as he pleases and seldom heeds his father's advice. Despite this, Kaneki loves his only son deeply, seeing in Arima a resemblance to his late wife, who succumbed to illness. Kaneki devoutly attends a Christian church every Sunday, displaying a strong faith in God. However, his greatest desire is for Arima to share in this belief—a wish he holds dear before his eventual passing.

One Sunday night, Kaneki returns home late, and Arima, hungry and frustrated, confronts him about the lack of food.

"Oto-San! (father), why is there no food? You know I don't want to be back in this house without anything to eat!" Arima rages.

"I'm sorry, my son. Our worship service was delayed due to a fellowship," Kaneki responds as he prepares to cook.

"Oh, you're from that Church again! You've always been fooled by those Church members! How many times do I have to tell you, Oto-san, not to go to that Church? There is no God; he isn't real," Arima yells angrily at his father.

"No, son, he's real, and he loves you and me; he loves humanity," Kaneki sobs.

"If he is real, why did he allow Oka-san (mother) to die? Why did he allow Oka-san to suffer? I prayed all night before, and my only wish is for Oka-san to be healed, and he never gave only prayer. That's my only prayer, Oto-san! Why?"

Arima begins to cry.

"Son, don't,"

Arima runs out and slams the door before Kaneki can finish his sentence.

Kaneki kneels and prays, giving his entire being to God in prayer.

Arima runs out of their house, crying, and runs wherever he wants to. Until he comes across a soldier who aggressively kicks a poor garbage collector, and as a result, Arima is unable to handle the situation simply by looking at it, and he bravely intervenes.

"Stop that, sir! You have no right to harm anyone!" Arima tells the soldiers.

"And who are you to tell me what to do?" the soldiers angrily ask, suddenly grabbing his gun and pointing it at the poor garbage collector.

Arima rushes to the soldier without hesitation, forcing him to stop doing anything that could harm the garbage collector.

"Run!" Arima yells to the garbage collector while putting all his strength to stop the soldier, while the garbage collector gets alerted and runs away from the scene.

Arima falls on the ground because of the soldier's strength, and he sees a broken glass bottle. He grabs it instantly while the soldier is busy aiming at the running garbage collector.

Bang!

In a loud shot, Arima gets up from the ground and accidentally stabs.

He is stunned for a moment, thinking about what he should do next when his father Kaneki comes running to the scene, his face filled with concern, after seeing Arima crying and staring at the dead body of the soldier beside him.

"What happened, son?" Kaneki wants to know, deeply worried.

"It was an accident, Oto-san," Arima replies, hugging his father.

"I didn't mean to kill him; I just wanted to stop him from murdering the garbage collector, Oto-san; I didn't want this to happen-...."

Kaneki taps Arima on the shoulder and tells him to finish his sentence.

Kaneki responds with tears, "I know, son. You have a good heart, I believe you."

Five soldiers appear from nowhere and point their weapons at Arima and Kaneki.

"What happened here? Who did this?" one of the soldiers asks, and Arima's eyes well up with tears as he gazes at his father.

"I did this, sir. Sorry, it was an accident. Please forgive me. I didn't intend to kill him," Arima is shocked to hear from his father, who is now standing and surrendering to the soldiers.

"No! he's not, Oto-san! No!" Arima screams in tears.

As the soldiers approach his father, Arima begins to beg for his father's submission.

He only cries as he looks at his father.

"I love you, son! Live your life. I never regret having you in my life," Kaneki exclaims as the soldier grabs him and pulls him away from his son Arima, who is now crying in pain and agony.

"I'm sorry, Oto-san!" Arima sobs.

Kaneki gives him a painful smile.

Then the morning comes, and Arima can't stop thinking about his father all night, and this is the only time he begs and kneels for prayer.

He sobs all night, blaming himself for everything that had happened.

Tok, Tok, Tok!

A knock on his door causes him to rise from his bed. He opens the door, and a soldier appears, holding a box containing his father's clothes and a letter. He can't stop himself from crying.

The soldier places the box in front of Arima and walks away.

Arima cries helplessly, allowing himself to cry until he falls asleep and accepts the fact that his father is already gone.

After a month, Arima gradually accepts the truth that his father gave his own life for his sake. Arima grabs the box that the soldier left a month ago, and there he finds a letter from his father, a last letter that his father wrote before he was gone.

"My dear son, don't cry; stop blaming yourself for what happened. I'm not mad at you, and I'll never be mad at you. I'll see your Oka-san soon, so I should be happy. I'm sorry if I'm leaving you in such a hurry. Forgive me if you ever felt I didn't care about you. If I can't answer your question about why God allows bad things to happen, I know God is with me in my Son. If you open your heart to his words, you will know the answer. I love you, son; live your life as you always have."

Arima sobs once more after reading his father's final letter. He carries out his father's final wish, which is to open his heart to the word of God. He eventually finds answers to all of his questions; he understands that you will only realize the significance of something after it is gone, and this reminds him to cherish every moment and every experience while he is still alive.

The End