Gantz: The beginning

Corrupt

Nishi left the apartment and locked the door; he looked at the key in his palm. He had been pondering the thought of leaving for the past five days. Try as he might, Nishi didn't want to live there anymore; it wasn't his apartment to start with, and without Yoko there, it just felt wrong. Chewing his lip, Nishi took one last look at the key in his hand.

"The locksmith came and changed the lock while you were in the bedroom, so here's the new key." Yoko placed the key in his other hand, kissed him on the lips before he could avoid it, and jogged out of the door.

Nishi frowned and slid the key through the door's letterbox before he could reconsider. "I won't mourn you, Yoko, but I promise, I will not die." A part of Nishi missed Yoko, she was, after all, his first girlfriend, and they had been through a lot together, helped each other in more ways than one. "Five days is enough." Nishi did allow himself that small bit of time to adjust to the fact that she wouldn't be with him anymore on a Gantz mission, but now he needed to focus on surviving. Nishi placed a hand on the door and stood there silently for a few seconds before stepping back. "Goodbye."

Nishi was still employed at the motel, so his room remained available to him whenever he needed it, and now was the time to return.

...................

Nishi wondered why he still came to check on his mother because it pained him to know that he couldn't embrace her and tell her he was okay, especially since he had to start over and was nowhere close to freedom.

Nishi stepped up to the house's living room window and peered inside to check, just like he had done many times since his first mission. Nishi furrowed his eyebrows; his parents seemed to be arguing, and he could already see tears on his mother's face; were they arguing about him?

"It's been five months Emiko! Face it, the little shit ran away, and he doesn't care, so forget about him!"

Nishi curled his hand into a fist, angered by his father's words because they were half true, weren't they? Nishi had given up when he threw himself off the roof, wasn't that the same as running away?

Emiko pounded her fists onto Eiichiro's chest, tears streaming down her face. "You're wrong, you're wrong! He would never run away, he's too strong!"

Nishi glanced away from the window, a shameful expression crossing his face. "I wish you didn't have that much faith in me," he whispered.

"I'm going to search for him again."

Nishi's attention came back to the window; again? How many times had she done that?

Eiichiro grabbed Emiko's arm angrily, pulling her close to his face. "Stop! Just stop these pathetic excuses, Joichiro isn't the son you claimed him to be, he's a fucking delinquent, and that's all he'll ever be!"

Nishi's blood boiled with every word spilling from his father's lips; he knew the man resented him, but those words....

"No!" Emiko narrowed her eyes and slapped Eiichiro across the face. "Joichiro is the greatest son I could ever ask for! I just wish I could say the same about my husband!"

Slap.

Nishi's eyes widened at the sight of his father swiping his mother across the face; she hit the table, and glass shattered.

Nishi snapped.

The teen caught his parents' attention, breaking down the back door that led into the living room. Nishi appeared from the fuzz of static, holding out the Gantz gun in front of him, directly aimed for his father's head.