The Fog of Fame (Len x Oliver)

Chapter 2 - The Day I Met Him

I woke up to the gaudy effect of the sun's morning rays, piercing through the windows, through my eyes. Though it was not my preferred way of being woken up, it was still preferable to say—the shrill shriek of your annoying twin sister, by your bed, at 4am.

I got up and ready, grabbing a small bag filled with only my necessities before leaving out the main door. I saw kids with genuine smiles plastered on their faces running off to school, some were saying 'bye' to their mother. It had been so long since I felt so... normal; and it feels good. I stretched and yawned, taking in as much of the fresh, unpolluted, unperfumed air as I could, even my lungs agreed with me.

I took a stroll down the earthen road, sightseeing as they call it, watching people going on with their normal daily lives, allowing myself to bask under the magnificence of their simplicity. Then a thought occured to me, Why couldn't I have been born as one of those children instead?

I stopped for a moment, noticing an unusual, scrounchy feeling inside my belly. Hungry? Or...? I took a moment to pause and ponder, then lightly shook my head, catching a sign at the corner of my eye: コンビニ.

I entered the store and immediately found half of its shelves stocked with varieties of food I had barely even remembered existed at all: Rice balls, pork buns, and even fried chicken. I took a moment to just see everything again, as if seeing were enough to sate my tastelust accumulated from my years of being confined.

A drop of saliva dripped on the left corner of my mouth as my mind bolted back to reality. It was then I heard a small, shy voice from my left, "I-I'm sorry." It was from a boy who looked certainly no older than me, and perhaps even younger, dressed adequately but no more. He slowly, face down, walked past me, reached up and placed a little rice ball back on the cooling shelf, walking away in vivid disappointment.

He-

I took the rice ball.. and another for myself, walked up to the cashier, placed the exact amount of money – a measly ¥200 – before running off to catch up.

"Hey!" I called out to the boy; to which he immediately turned to me in surprise, curiosity in his eye; I noticed then he had bandages: on his head, his legs, and probably a few other places.

"Here," I handed the food to him, "Have it."

He frantically waved his hands close to him, "N-No, I-I can't possibly-"

"Nonsense, just take it, kay?" I smiled, my mind seemed to have wandered a little on its own however, as it made an unwarranted little comment, he's cute. It really wasn't a big deal though as I had by then seen plenty of other people, handsome, pretty, and almost as cute.

He stumbled his grip as he gently took the plastic-wrapped ball off my hands, took a few quick glances at me and shifted slightly every few seconds in what I presume to be guilt. "Th-thank you." He spoke meekly, though it was evident in his tone that he had tried to speak up.

"No problem."

Though I did not know why, it suddenly occurred in me to ask, "Do you have a place to stay?"

The boy looked shyly away, replying more quietly than he had before, stuttering and stumbling on every word he spoke, "I-I'm l-lost a-actually."

"Do you know where you live?"

He nodded, "Up north;" he told, "ju-just outside Sendai."

That's... pretty far away.

"How did you-?"

"W-We stayed here for the holidays, I— g-got lost in the train station on our way home."

It was then I noticed that his voice had gotten even fainter, much fainter than when he first spoke in fact; and that he had slowly backed himself away into a wall; he was almost glued to it! Damn, was I too nosy? I took another moment to inspect his features: from his golden blonde hair to his soft, little feet... bare – covered only by a thin few wraps of bandages, nothing else. He must have been lost for a while.

"Let's get you home." I smiled.