One Above All

Chapter 5: Beautiful and dangerous.

Two months had passed since Hiro moved in with Kishibe. If asked who seemed to be in charge of everything happening in the house, Hiro would reply that he took care of everything himself.

Kishibe always worked hard, often coming home so late that he didn't even have dinner. Hiro thought he spent a good part of the night getting drunk, as he had often found him sprawled on the sofa with one or two bottles of alcohol.

Hiro decided it was better not to bother waiting for Kishibe all night, but he still felt somewhat lonely. Kishibe didn't bother to engage in any activities with him. Well, it's not like Hiro had ever asked him to play, but it always seemed like Kishibe wanted to do anything but play with a young child.

This led Hiro to develop a sense of boredom; there was literally nothing fun to do in this house. He had the television, but Japanese programming didn't appeal to him anymore, not even cartoons. Perhaps living with Kishibe had turned him into a bitter person who couldn't enjoy the beauty of things.

He refused to become as cold as Kishibe. But what else could he do? He remembered he hadn't talked to Kishibe about the demon hunter thing since that time. Still, it seemed like he wanted to avoid the subject. Hiro, for some reason, was also avoiding it, perhaps because demons still terrified him immensely.

Someday, he would have to overcome his fear of devils. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to help people attacked by those monsters. He couldn't save anyone if he didn't somehow suppress his fears. He wanted to become strong; he knew he had to, but not now. One day, he would start his training.

0O00

"Another school?" Hiro's question seemed to resonate throughout the kitchen as if it were a great revelation. It wasn't, at least not for Kishibe.

The man in front of him nodded, holding the paperwork for the school Hiro would be attending. Hopefully, he expected Hiro to learn a lot, but the boy always seemed to have the ability to pick up anything, so there wasn't much to worry about.

"You've been absent from school for two months. Your previous school understood the loss of your parents but only gave you two weeks to recover. However, you continued to miss more than you should, so they expelled you due to your excessive absences. Also, since they haven't received any messages from you or any other family member, they assumed you simply dropped out of school," Kishibe explained, and the boy in front of him looked embarrassed.

"Uh... sorry, I forgot to mention that a while ago. I just wanted... um," Hiro stopped, unable to finish his words.

Kishibe rolled his eyes. "You just wanted more free time, didn't you?"

Hiro nodded, looking at the floor, unable to meet the person in charge of him. In fact, he had considered going back to school, but somehow a strange feeling arose in him, as if the mere thought of returning to his school would make him feel lonely, as if he had disconnected from that place.

It was strange, to say the least.

"Sometimes it's a good idea to start anew," Kishibe spoke again, and Hiro lifted his head a bit to look at him, curious about what he was going to say next. "You leave all your past behind and step into a new world where nobody knows you, which helps a lot because you can start differently with other people and even become a different person. It works if you just want a fresh change and to escape from somewhere. Leaving behind a painful and unpleasant past helps us see new boundaries we can reach and seize with our hands. Your life becomes easier to bear, and you can even stop regretting everything when you've made great progress."

Hiro was amazed by Kishibe's speech. This man could be terrifying in certain aspects, boring, and a drunkard, but he was also someone who could speak like a sage. One of those people who knew how to describe feelings with words so simple yet perfect that his young mind could comprehend.