Chapter 11 – Bad Boy
After Makoto finished walking around the apartment complex, she walked home. The area around her home had several houses and apartments. She entered one of the apartments that looked new compared to the others.
“Tadaima1!” She opened the door to her apartment unit. Her mother rushed out towards her while wearing home slippers.
“Okaeri2, Makoto. It’s the weekend, but you look so tired. You also haven’t eaten dinner, right?”
“Yes.”
“I will warm up dinner for you.”
Makoto placed her protective clothing down near the front door, then took off her shoes. She saw that there were large shoes near the door.
“Did dad already come home?”
“Yes, he came back just now. You can eat dinner with him.”
“Okay.”
Makoto walked to her room and took off her uniform. She could smell faint body odor from it, so she wanted to take a shower first. But she then changed her mind and decided to eat first, so that she didn’t shower with an empty stomach. Makoto went out to the dining room and sat in front of her father, who was eating while watching television. On top of the table, there was rice and miso soup prepared and a variety of side dishes.
“Itadakima ~ su3.“
Makoto quickly started eating the dishes on the table. While laughing from watching comedy shows, her father asked about kendo and school. Makoto answered casually while also watching the television.
“Wow, that car is cool!” Makoto said when she saw the ad. “Dad, change your car.”
“We must save money for someone who will go to university, so it’s impossible.”
“But your Silver Subaru car is already old. It’s been ten years since we bought it, right?”
“Don’t you dare to disrespect my car.”
“I don’t care. The SUV is definitely cooler!”
That was when her mother brought tea to the table. “Please lower your voice.
The television sound is also too loud, you know.”
Seemingly worried by the sound being heard by their neighbor’s house, her mother picked up the remote and lowered the volume. Then she joined the dining table and participated in the conversation about the car.
When the comedy show ended, the news program started.
[Today, at half-past six in the afternoon, in Aiide city, the body of a four-year-old boy was found. This case—]
The announcer’s voice spread throughout the dining room. Her mother immediately took the remote and turned off the television.
“Cases like these make me feel hurt,” Makoto’s mother said while exhaling a deep breath.
“I agree with that.” Makoto’s mother and father put on sad faces because of that case.
“Gochisosama4. I’m going to take a bath first.”
Makoto left the dining table then entered the bathroom. She entered the bathtub to release her fatigue from Kendo practice. The bruises on her shoulders and arms due to the bamboo swords of her juniors had already turned yellow. There was also a new red bruise that was added onto Makoto’s upper arm.
The bruise that arose when the boy struggled when Makoto strangled him. Though he was a kid, he had good strength.
“Makoto?” Her mother’s voice could be heard from outside the bathroom.
“Yes? What happened?”
“The shampoo is empty, right?”
“Ah, I don’t know about that. I haven’t used it.”
“I guess it was empty. I’ll just put the new one here.”
“Okay.”
Makoto came out from the bathtub and took the new shampoo. Then she washed her hair and body while humming. When she finished her bath activities, the dining room lights had gone out and the house looked quiet. Are all of them sleeping? This was the life of a regular citizen of this city, an ordinary life.
Makoto slowly opened the door to her room not to wake them. Utilizing the dim moonlight that penetrated from the closed window curtain, Makoto opened her desk drawer with a key.
In the drawer, there was a piece of a human’s body stored in a two-layer zippered plastic bag so that the smell won’t come out. There was also dried blood that had turned black on it and the skin had wrinkled and looked disgusting. Besides that, there was a single sheet of a polaroid photo. In the photo, there was a boy who closed his eyes, he looked pale as if there was no blood that ran through his body. Makoto put on gloves, then pulled out the photo, and checked it under the moonlight.
“I see. So your name is Yukio, right? ” She muttered softly.
Since he came to watch the Kendo matches for the elementary school this summer, Makoto had paid attention to that child.
“So I was right. You are a bad boy. ” After Makoto said that, she returned the photo to the drawer, then locked it again. At that moment he remembered Watanuki’s words.
“Makoto likes children … right?”
While laughing alone in a low voice, Makoto climbed into her bed.