Five Things Shoutarou Ran Away From and The One Thing He Didn't
5. Samurai Family
The day Shoutarou arrived in Fuuto was also the day he met Narumi Sokichi. He had just finished middle school and decided he couldn’t stay at home anymore. Since he wasn’t the eldest son, there was nothing he would inherit anyways from his very traditional family. Shoutarou didn’t want stay in a confided cage where he would be no help anyways. Whoever decided that only Shinkengers could fight Gedoushu was clearly a stick in the mud.
So a few random train rides and losing a few very concerned kuroko, Shoutarou had wandered into Fuuto City. Not even five minutes walking around in city before he got stopped by a policeman. “Hey you! You should be in school!”
Shoutarou’s eyes widened and he took off running. “Hey! Come back!” the policeman shouted.
Turning a corner, Shoutarou shouted the first thing that came to mind. “Ah! UFO!” he shouted, pointing to the sky.
To his surprised, the policeman actually stopped and looked up. “Where?”
Not stopping to question it, Shoutarou took off. He had just jumped over a wall, turned the corner and ran straight into man wearing a white suit. Shoutarou gave a hasty apology and started to run past but the man grabbed him by the shoulder.
“Hold it, boy. Why are you running?”
A stern look, mouth drawn in a firm line, eyes hard looking. Shoutarou knew the look on the man’s face. It was all too similar to his father. There was no getting out this conversation. With a heavy sigh, he told the man, Narumi Sokichi as he introduced himself, his story.
Sokichi hadn’t been happy that Shoutarou had run away from home at such a young age, but nevertheless he grudgingly agreed to let Shoutarou stay in his office. It was better than having Shoutarou wander around the streets of Fuuto. Eventually he managed to weasel out of Shoutarou the information about his family. Shoutarou fought tooth and nail to make sure Sokichi didn’t inform his family where he was. He was convinced that they would drag him home right away.
Shoutarou didn’t want to return home. He would much rather stay in Fuuto with Sokichi where he isn’t expected to follow the samurai code or forced into sword training and mojikara practice every day. It’s selfish of him but living here is like a dream that Shoutarou stubbornly doesn’t want to wake up from. Sokichi and his hardboiled western detective lifestyle was the furthest thing from being a samurai and it was something that Shoutarou desperately wanted.
“Idiot!” Sokichi smacked him on the head. “Every parent deserves to know if their child is safe.” Then his normally harden features seemed to soften. “I will work it out with your family. You don’t have to return if you don’t want to but they at least deserve to know that you are safe.”
Shoutarou beamed. He doesn’t have to return? Meeting Sokichi was the best thing ever. “Thank you boss!”
4. Name
Sokichi settled everything with his parents. They yelled at him for running away and making them worry so much. Ryuunosuke was the only one who remained calm enough to ask if this was what Shoutarou really wanted. But Shoutarou could tell Ryuunosuke was ready to breakdown in tears when he said yes it was. There’s a small part of him that felt extremely guilty over that. Shoutarou might fight with his parents but he never wanted to hurt Ryuunosuke.
“Sorry Ryuu-niisan,” Shoutarou softly apologized. He twirled the phone cord tight around his finger.
“If this is what you want, then you should do it,” Ryuunosuke reassured over the phone. There’s another stab of guilt at Shoutarou’s heart. Because he was the youngest, Shoutarou did have the choice of doing what he wanted. On the other hand Ryuunosuke as the eldest didn’t. The responsibilities and legacy of the family lay all upon Ryuunosuke’s shoulders. It’s only pure luck that Ryuunosuke actually enjoyed being a samurai and a kabuki actor.
“Just promise me Shou-chan,” Ryuunosuke said. “That at least you will keep practicing your sword techniques and mojikara. I know you hate it… but it never hurts to be prepared.”
A large knot formed in the pit of Shoutarou’s stomach. The meaning behind Ryuunosuke’s words, the reasoning, and the memories associated with it, all come rushing back into Shoutarou’s head. “Ah, yeah,” he dully promised. Hopefully he’ll never have to ever make good on that promise.
The rest of the negotiations go fairly smoothly. His parents agreed to let him stay since he was that passionate about it. Ryuunosuke told him to come home when he’s ready and to keep in touch. Several days later, Shoutarou would receive a package from his parents containing some of his personal objects that he had left behind. He reluctantly accepted the calligraphy set and shinai that he knew Ryuunosuke added to the package.
Sokichi told him he would have to finish high school if he had any intention of staying in Fuuto. There was no chance that Sokichi was going to take on a protégé that didn’t even finish high school.
Shoutarou looked at the high school application form then he looked at Sokichi. “Can I change my last name?” he asked, tapping a pen against the desk. He had hoped he wouldn’t have to take the high school entrance exams but it was a small price to pay to remain in Fuuto.
“Why would you want to do that?” Sokichi questioned. Ikenami was a fine name.
Shoutarou shrugged. “Just want a new start.” It wasn’t so much as he wanted to throw away his old family, but a fresh clean break without the previous burden of his family was too tempting.
Sokichi’s eyebrow rose, but otherwise he didn’t question it. “Well then how about Hidari?” he suggested.
Shoutarou’s eyebrow furrowed together in confusion. “Left?” he asked. “Why left?” Hidari seemed like a plain name to him.
The detective smirked fondly and ruffled the small boy’s hair. “I don’t need a right hand man, no hardboiled detective does. But having a left hand man I suppose could work.”
That was how Hidari Shoutarou came to live in at Narumi’s detective agency.
3. Sword
Losing Sokichi was hard. It brought up ugly memories and there was nothing more that Shoutarou wanted to do then to run away as fast as he could. But he can’t. He wasn’t a child anymore. Running away was no longer an option.
Then there was Philip. Insane, weird, manic, odd, Philip. Philip whom Sokichi entrusted to him. Philip doesn’t understand, but does. A weaker person would just blame Philip but Shoutarou was stronger than that. Deny it as much as he could, but Shoutarou was a samurai and the least he could do was grind his teeth and bare the wound he had dealt to himself.
There was no one else to blame but himself.
So Shoutarou tried. He tried to piece together his life once more. It took time to get use to Philip’s new presence and Sokichi’s missing one. It’s awkward and unsettling but somehow it worked.
Three days after Begins Night, Philip brought up the question of W and whether Shoutarou would continue to have the courage to ride with the devil. The organization was still out there and Gaia Memories still plagued Fuuto. Shoutarou agreed without hesitation. Stopping the organization that had killed Sokichi was the least he could do to honor the man who took him in.
They start by testing all the forms of W. Syncing with each other was easy enough but Shoutarou was more than relieved at the fact that none of W’s forms produced a sword. He isn’t sure if he’s ready to hold a sword again. The same could be said for a bow and arrows.
“It’s a shame W doesn’t have a sword,” Philip commented one day.
Shoutarou looked at his new partner. “Why?” he asked.
“Because you have training with a sword,” Philip stated. He pointed to the shinai tucked hidden in the corner. “Every morning you go out to practice with your shinai. I researched kendo last night. It’s very impressive the amount of katas you know. You are not a beginner.”
Shoutarou winced at Philip’s logical breakdown but it goes unnoticed by the Child of Fate. He had kept up with shinai practice because of Ryuunosuke’s request but it is still largely something he refused to acknowledge. It seemed he was not quiet enough in the morning while sneaking out to practice.
“Yeah… too bad,” he weakly agreed.
2. Mojikara
“Why do you insist on using that old thing?”
Shoutarou looked up from his report. “What thing?” he asked. They had just finished a case of yet another missing pet and all Shoutarou wanted to do was to finish up the report before finding some sushi to eat.
Akiko was standing in front of his desk, pointing at the typewriter. “The typewriter,” she clarified. “Why do you insist on typing in romanji?”
“Because it’s hardboiled!”
-Whack!-
“Idiot,” Akiko said with a huff. “There’s nothing hardboiled about that at all!” She twirled around and marched away from his desk. The clanging of metal told Shoutarou that she had gone downstairs into the garage. No doubt to see what Philip was doing.
Shoutarou grumbled and nursed his head. Akiko didn’t have to whack him with her green slipper. Still at least it threw her off his back. He ran a hand over the typewriter.
While he can’t get away from writing in Kanji as it was his native language. Kanji reminded him too much mojikara. Like with the shinai, it was something he still practiced per Ryuunosuke’s request but at least using the typewriter, Shoutarou could escape it even if it was for a brief moment.
1. Stage
When Philip had… volunteered them to be Kamen Singer on Fuuuuuutic Idol, Shoutarou was more than unhappy. He had never thought he would be on a stage again. He didn’t want to be on a stage. It reminded him too much of kabuki even if singing on Fuuuuuutic Idol was nothing like that.
He tried hard to drown out the cheering from the audience and butterflies in his stomach. As usual, he couldn’t fault Philip doing this, but that didn’t stop Shoutarou from being miserable.
Shoutarou can only pray that Ryuunosuke will never see this on TV.
And One Thing He Didn’t
Hero
Being W was the greatest thing in world for Shoutarou. He wasn’t a Shinkenger but he was still helping people. He was making a difference. As a detective he was doing something to improve people’s lives, even if it was just finding a lost pet.
The colors were different but he still got to be the hero he always wanted to be. It took many trials and sins and even more stumbling and mistakes. Shoutarou had run away from one family and into another. He didn’t regret it one bit.
“Saa, omae no tsumi wo kazoero!”