Toya POV
*Flashback*
Four years ago . . .
(Akito Age: 12, Toya Age: 12)
Everything hurts.
My fingers hurt.
My wrists hurt.
My elbows hurt.
My shoulders hurt.
My heart hurts.
My father made me practice the piano for hours and hours and hours and hours until I got it right.
I don't understand how I messed up.
He said I "didn't play with the right soul."
"Why can't you be a natural like your older brother?! You're a failure compared to him. You are unworthy of being my son until you can prove it."
I managed to get out of the house today thanks to my mother. Otherwise, he'd trap me in my room again.
I think I'm going insane. The walls keeping closing in on me like four suffocating hands reaching out from around me.
I ran out of books to read two weeks ago.
That's how I have survived the past dozen years. Reading is my escape from this place.
In between the pages, I can be someone else. Anyone else.
I could be a kid and his friend struggling to survive in a alien apocalypse where the otherworldly beings transfer the zombie disease to Earth from the planet they tried to leave behind.
Or one of two guys getting dragged into the mafia by someone much closer to them then they could ever expect . . .
Or a teen who wanted a different future from the ones their parents envisioned; slowly being morphed into someone they don't recognize. And, with the help of a composer, find themselves again.
I go to my usual spot and sing a song I found online.
This is to spite my father.
Street music is the farthest possible thing from classical, and I'm going to do it against his wishes.
Fuck him.
I'll put my all into this. And maybe, someday in the future, it won't hurt anymore.
A small crowd gathers to watch me, clapping enthusiastically when I finish the last note. They all disperse except for a ginger-haired boy who looks about my age, with a determined expression on his face. Our eyes meet for a brief moment, then he turns away and leaves.
What is this strange feeling? I feel like that guy's important for some reason . .
ye bro u just met ur future fiancée real
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