Mixtape Sixteen

anatomy of a boy

Saito didn't know why he ended up being surrounded by bullies older than him, here, in the middle of a field in nowhere land.

The only thing he could remember was that he was with his parents strolling around in the park, enjoying the sunlight. It was summer vacation, and his family decided to go to their province, a vast, rural town in Hokkaido, to spend time with their relatives.

The next thing that Saito remembered was that a large butterfly caught his eye and he chased it, down the rolling hills, to the fenced cucumber farm which he climbed to gain entrance to, to a secluded forested area, and here he found himself, in a grassy field in the middle of nowhere, the large butterfly nowhere in sight.

Saito is only 10 years old after all, and his sense of geographical direction is made hazy by his imaginative and curious mind.

The bullies, four of them, all probably in junior high school, surrounded him, with sticks in their hand, beating him, poking him. They all laughed.

Maybe it was his innocence, or his lackadaisical youthful face which gave this victim vibe off of him, or his introverted behavior, which made him a bully-magnet.

Curled up in a ball, Saito cried in pain as the boys beat the hell out of him. Bruises covered his body.

And then: a loud, deep voice boomed from afar.

"Kensuke!" One of the bullies exclaimed. His voice was tinged with apprehension.

And then this newcomer called Kensuke said something, and then the sound of flesh being beaten, a body falling on the grass, and then numerous feet rushing and running away.

Then Saito felt someone pulling him off the ground. When he opened his eyes, he saw an older brother, possibly in junior or senior high, with thick eyebrows, chinky eyes, tan, manly face, and a baseball cap turned backwards on his head.

"Those fucking bullies," the older brother said. "They're such troublemakers."

Then he inspected Saito with curious eyes. "You're not from around here, are you?"

The ten-year-old Saito shook his head. With tears still running down his cheeks, he sniffled.

"Come on now, stop crying." He patted Saito's back.

"Where do you live here, anyway? I'm gonna return you to your parents."

Saito shook his head.

"What do you mean?"