Drums of a Different Song

Chapter 6: Don't Let Go

-"Hustle 'till I D.I.E" by Prominent Talent-

It was ten in the morning and Eiichi lay on his bed, reading a copy of William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, trying to push away the thoughts that would not stop poking at him.

His fight did not make him feel any better. He had a bruise on part of his jaw and a knot on his head. He was lucky that Makoto got a few lucky shots in, or it would have looked like he just ran up and started beating on him, without giving him a chance to run. His sentence was three days away from school. Not as long as when he was out from his hospital run, but it would be a nice extension, away from all the shit...though he wouldn't been seeing Kotonoha's face every day like before.

He shook his head violently and focused on the page in front of him.

Torio stepped into his room wearing a tee and gym shorts, rubbing sleep out of his eye.

"So you're here another three days."

"Yup," Eiichi turned the page.

"And you still don't want to tell me what it was all about."

"Nope."

Torio watched him, "Did it have to do with Katsura-san?"

Eiichi huffed and continued reading.

Torio leaned against the door frame, "Listen man, I know you've been going through some stuff, and it's cool with me that you keep some things to yourself, but I can help you with some of it. If you keep it all to yourself, no one can help, and this might happen again."

He actually had a point, Eiichi had been confiding in Kotonoha all this time, and as soon as he lost that, he went berserk.

"She doesn't want to be around me anymore..." he muttered, still staring into the book.

"It couldn't be because of anything you did."

"No man!" Eiichi put the book down and sat up. "That's what I've been trying to tell you, she's not interested. She's in love with someone else. He's a bastard and she's too dumb to see it."

"And I suppose that's who you worked over," at times, Eiichi wondered if Torio was really the one reading emotions. "As hard as it is for me to believe that that beautiful young woman, that was showing up on our doorstep these past couple days, is stupid in any way, I can see how enough misunderstanding and hormones can work things in favor of the person she feels bound to."

"She's making herself into a victim, just like the rest of 'em. She dated him for a short time, he started sleeping around and hasn't said a word to her about ending it. And he has had plenty of opportunities to do it."

"Oh, sounds like we're dealing with a 'pimp daddy' here."

Eiichi grinded his teeth.

"Easy, easy. If there is one type of person I understand more than you, it's this guy."

"Yeah, like what's the difference?"

"Low blow man, low blow. But I'll let it slide 'cause you're hurting," Torio stepped over to Eiichi's desk and sat in the chair. "I've met a lot of guys like him, and the thing I've experienced most was dishonesty. Apathy too. He's probably just skating through his life, right? He probably saw an opportunity and took it."

"Uh, pretty much..." Eiichi admitted. He wouldn't claim to know that much about Makoto, but he did.

"That's because guys like him don't think. I know you have your thoughts of what I do, be they negative or positive, but here's something I can tell you little brother, I have never betrayed a girl," Torio looked him right in the eye. "So mister lie detector, am I telling the truth?"