Fikush-ON!

Ch. 44: Tears Over a Broken Teacup

I sat there on my heels, tremblingly breathing the cold air. My heart kept racing, my hands wouldn't stop shaking. A high-pitched ringing filled my ears. There was a constant, painful pounding in my head that didn't seem to stop. My nose was stuffed with blood, which kept dripping down onto the ground. Everything hurt, especially my face. My vision kept blurring up if I didn't blink every two seconds. The parts of my body where I was punched in felt scorching hot, whilst the rest of my body felt very cold.

Except my back, which Ui was currently hugging.

I could hear her quietly crying against my back as she kept me in a tight hug. I looked down to see her arms wrapped around my body. She was squeezing me tightly, almost to the point where I had a hard time breathing. I then raised my trembling hands, looking at their shredded knuckles. I slowly brought them to Ui's arms, and grasped them. Just feeling her warmth was comforting. Ui kept crying against my back, whilst I just stayed quiet, holding her by the arms. We stayed like that for a short moment, until Tsukuda began struggling to get up. Alarmed, I flinched, but Ui kept me in place, not allowing me to stand up. Tsukuda turned his head to give us a quick look. I quietly glared back at him. But, to my surprise, he began crawling away from us. After traveling a meter, he slowly stood up, but quickly fell down again as he grunted in pain and held the aching side of his abdomen. He was left standing on one knee, crouched down.

It was quiet. Even Tsukuda's gang had quieted down. Tsukuda hacked, gargled, and spitted a crimson splatter on the ground. He kept peering around the rail yard, until he glanced at me.

"...So, that's it," he muttered. "I don't think I can stand up for a while. Can you?"

I frowned at him, as I wasn't feeling too talkative, and I definitely wasn't up for some casual conversation with someone I just tried to kill. Regardless, I ended up shrugging slightly.

"Yeah. But she won't let me."

Tsukuda grinned and laughed quietly, nodding. "Ah, I see..." He then grimaced out of pain as he hung his head low again.

He took many deep breaths, the last one exhaling out as a sigh.

"Guess you won, then."

It's hard to imagine someone like Tsukuda admitting defeat. I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't experienced it once already. But he knows what he's doing, and he knows when to back down. One doesn't bounce back from a liver shot just like that, and he knows it.

Tsukuda wiped off the blood of his upper lip, and then shook it off his hand.

"...You know," he began. "My stepfather beat my mother to death when I was a kid."

Hm, what's all this, now? I didn't have any sympathy to spare at the moment. But the previous fight had drained all my strength, so I didn't bother to make him shut up either, so I had no other option but to listen.

"I tried to stop him, but I couldn't. I was too weak. Too fucking weak to protect the only person I ever cared about." He looked at his shredded knuckles, and chuckled. "And the best part? That bastard told me that himself as we were waiting for the cops to arrive. You think I'm bad? You should meet that drunk fuck, then you'll think I'm a fucking angel."

He sat down carefully, still holding his side. He raised one of his knees, wrapping his vacant arm around it.

"That son of a bitch didn't even get sentenced for murder, but for 'voluntary manslaughter'. I wouldn't see him hang, he wouldn't even get a life sentence. Just twenty years... My mother's life was worth twenty years to the judiciary. Ain't that a bitch, making a small kid lose his faith in the judicial system from the get-go."