The First Move
The house is on fire, the flames getting bigger with the help of the wind. It devours everything in its path, the wooden walls, the furniture, even that ratty old television is not spared from its destruction. The smoke is so thick and black that he can’t see what’s beyond him. The heat seeps through his skin, making him wince. He tries to stand, to search for his siblings but the smoke seems to drag him down.
“Nii-chan!”
A tiny shrill voice cuts through the thick wall of blackness. His head shoots up.
“Riiko!”
Using all the strength he has left, he pushes himself off the floor, stumbling towards the direction of the voice.
“Nii-chan!”
The voice is nearer now. He hears it clearly. He can even hear the slight tremble in her voice.
“Don’t move! Nii-chan will come and get you okay? Is Seiji there with you?”
“Uh-hm. But he’s unconscious! Hurry, Nii-chan!”
“Shit,” he swears softly as he tries to go around the broken armchair.
He’s getting closer to his sister’s bedroom now. Just a bit more, just a bit…
The ceiling crashes right at the doorframe, blocking his path entirely.
“Riiko!”
A high-pitched wail piercing through the crackling of flames makes him claw on the concrete as he tries to clear a path to the bedroom.
“Help me, Nii-chan! Help!”
He grows more desperate when he hears her plea. The veins in his arms and neck starts to show as he tries to rip the wall of concrete pieces apart but for all of his effort, only little bits and pieces fall down, leaving tiny little holes in the wall.
“Nii-chan.”
Her voice is faint and he can barely hear it. And then he can’t hear any voice anymore. Not even a tiny sob.
“Riiko!”
He shouts as he bangs his fist against the concrete, his mind a total blank. All thoughts of saving his siblings goes out the window when he realizes that maybe he no longer has siblings to save.
Suddenly, he feels a pair of strong arms grabbing him from behind. He tries to fight it off but those arms grip tighter around his waist and pull him back.
“NO!”
He shakes his head wildly as he tries to break free. He can’t leave Riiko and Seiji in that room. He doesn’t care if they’re dead. He just doesn’t want to leave them there in that room. He has to get them out.
But the person with those strong arms is dragging him further from the room and he can’t break free no matter how hard he tries and he feels so helpless and…
His world goes black.
___
When he wakes up, he finds himself at the backseat of a car.
“Riiko! Seiji!” He shouts as he attempts to open the car door.
“Don’t be foolish. Your siblings are dead.”
His face turns abruptly towards the man in the driver seat. The stranger’s hat covers the features on the top half of his face so all he sees are his pale lips and even paler skin.
“Please,” he says as he grips the headrest of the driver’s seat, " I need to save my siblings. Please take me back.”
“Are you deaf? I said your siblings are dead.”
“But I need - “
“If you go back, you’ll be dead too.”
“What do you mean?”
The stranger looks at him through the rear-view mirror. With his head tilted up, he’s able to see a pair of shrewd eyes looking back at him.
“That fire. It wasn’t an accident. Someone wants your family dead.”
He releases his grip and leans back as he tries to absorb the ridiculous information. Nobody would want his family dead. His father is just a normal man who owns a small kimono shop and his mum is a housewife. There’s nothing special about his family at all. Unless…
“Why?”
“Your dad asked the wrong man for help,” the stranger replies without any emotion.
He stares at the stranger for a while. He doesn’t know what to think. All this information, they’re all too much for him.
“But my parents, they should still be alive. They’ve gone - “
“They’re dead too.”
“How would you know?” he suddenly shouts.
He’s getting frustrated at this stranger. He keeps telling him the things that he doesn’t want to hear.
“I saw their bodies being dragged out of Tokyo Bay.”
“You’re lying!”
He bangs his fist against the back of the stranger’s shoulder.
“They were on a trip to Nara. They never said anything about going to Tokyo.”
The stranger’s unperturbed by the pounding of fists on his back and keeps his attention fully on the road. His voice is still slow and calm when he answers.
“No. They went to Tokyo.”
He looks at the stranger, trying to figure out if he’s telling the truth but all he sees is a blank face.
“You can think that I’m lying if that makes you feel better. But a fact is still a fact. Your parents are dead. Your whole family is dead.”
He shakes his head. No, this can’t be happening. He turns towards the window, trying to let the scenery distract him from the present but it’s night and there’s nothing to be see. They’re passing through a field now. It looks like any field in Kyoto until he sees the huge rock. If he’s right, and he’s sure that he is, the plain field that they’re passing through right now is the field that he used to go with his family.
They used to have picnic here every Sunday without fail. His mum will wake up early in the morning and make bentos for them. Riiko starts helping when she’s old enough. He will be with his father, making sure the car’s okay, listening to radio for traffic updates, deciding which route to take. And then when they’re almost ready, he’ll wake up little Seiji who always complain about being woken up so early in the morning but will cheer up the moment he smells food.
Those were the days when his life is filled with nothing but happiness and sunshine. But now, there’s literally nothing but darkness right in front of him. He tries to look at the bright side just like he always does when he's in trouble but right at this very moment, he can't. There's no bright side to this situation.
He feels his cheeks growing wet and quickly wipes his tears away. He doesn’t want to show any weaknesses in front of this stranger.
“Where are you taking me?” he asks after a bout of silence.
“Somewhere where you’ll be safe. Tokyo.”
“But that’s - “
“It’s safe when you know the right people.”
Feeling numb, he nods his head.
“You’ll get a fresh start. From now on, your name will be Gum.”
“Gum?”
“Yes, Gum.”
After fifteen years of being Maruyama Ryuhei, he becomes Gum that night. No surname, no past, no nothing. That night, Gum is born.