Manifest

Chapter 5

Junpei entered his family house through his bedroom's window to not wake his parents up. His family may acknowledge he was an adult but the man would rather avoid confrontation about his whereabouts. They were still worrying too much about him. Not that he hadn't ever given them a reason to. He then took something from under the bed, he didn't even need to turn on the light to retrieve it swiftly: a photo album. He turned the light on anyway after, so he could look into the album. Looking at the photos eased Junpei's mind, those were the only souvenirs of a lost love, of Tadashi's happiness. Yes, those sometimes stalkerish photos were the only not-so-bad things left from his childhood. He put down the album on the floor after a moment and took his phone. He had a dozen messages to read. His friends and colleagues will taunt him about being a night owl for replying to their messages so late in the night but it isn't like he could do anything about his mania-induced insomnia.

Mania that would backfire at him sooner or later, as always. His brain liked to make him believe he was invincible, for a short time only. Junpei still knew perfectly he was weak, a coward.

"I heard you coming back quite late last night, Junpei." His mom said to him in the morning.

"I... I'm working on a paper about nightlife, you know, that kind of things." Junpei lied.

"Ok... Don't overwork yourself. You still take your medication, right? Work is no excuse, and would rather not see you in the hospital again."

Junpei sighed.

"I know how to care about myself, mom." He said as he drank a pill.

His mom let it go but Junpei could see her grimace.

"She is worried about you because she loves you, you know?" Junpei's dad scolded him.

"And I'm just telling her I'm ok."

"Maybe you are. For now. This is why she is stressed out. We don't know when it will go downhill. Again. And I don't know if she could handle this." His dad said.

Tadashi was working as usual today. The last few days were just bad days, after all. THe was only tired and stressed out, that's all. He thought. Junpei Taira was still lingering in his mind and he wondered about what could make him stop messing with Ainosuke.

All the skaters were gathered at Crazy Rock again for the last part of the qualifications. The women were screaming — hyped by Joe's upcoming beef. JOE was going against another newcomer but still a skilled skater. But, sadly for this skater, JOE won his race easily. The man was still proud of making JOE struggle a bit — as he told a friend. Saul didn't watch that race that much, he was not really interested in it because he knew JOE would ace it. Instead, he went to look for Tadashi, or rather Snake, he wanted to see the other man.

Next race was however the peak of the night: Cherry vs Adam so Saul had to cut his search for Tadashi short. Adam looked bored as usual, smoking a cigarette right next to Cherry. Junpei wasn't sure who he was rooting for, this time. He wanted to race against Adam to crush him but seeing Cherry throwing Adam out of the competition right away would be thrilling. Still, Junpei didn't expect it to happen. He knew Adam would win in a way or another even if it meant to hurt a former friend. And he did with Cherry once so he could do it a second time.

And Saul was right. Cherry wasn't showing any emotions on his face but Saul could feel his disappointment and anger, which he found quite understandable. At the very least, Adam didn't hit his former friend in the face with his skate, this time. The black haired skater looked around again, to find Tadashi. But the secretary was nowhere to be found in the audience. Junpei walked away from the race to see if he was hidden somewhere in the dark, looking at everything from afar.