REMPAK: The Destruction

Part 22: The Girl's World Collapses Into the Ground Like an Avalanche

"Friends? Which friend? Do you have any friends?" Saka a little denial with Jizo's words. Everyone knows that the child is not very good at socializing.

Just count how many people Jizo knows outside the Corvus organization and its guild. You can use two hands plus a few toes. Jizo is on good terms with other people. Saka is even more convinced, Jizo spends his high school days having fun alone and making trouble, rather than building relationships.

Jizo scowled at the ridicule that was clearly offensive, but on target. He refrained from stuffing Saka's mouth with a pile of lollipops that he seemed to like, he liked very much. Replacing his cigarettes that he did not dare to turn on in the room, especially with Haru who was around them.

"Well, I can't call him a friend, okay? Satisfied?"

"I do happen to know and have dealt with him to meet his parents as well, especially his father. That's all."

"Wait, Jizo." Ko interrupted. The Corvus leader looked at his nephew suspiciously.

"Connect with him until he meets his parents? Did you make trouble at the Western District school, Jizo?"

Puf, Jizo shriveled. Saka shaken hard. He had just opened the ace of a Jizo in front of the only person the man would be afraid of.

Arba pretended not to hear it, while Haru already shook his head. Where maybe three years of Jizo in a foreign place does not cause a single problem in the slightest. The world would be too calm if that really happened.

"Hey, hey! That's not important! See what our topic is now!" Jizo diverted the almost deranged conversation and threatened him for a longer sentence.

Jizo refocused on the photo. He wanted to not believe it, but it was clear who was there. The corner of his heart was pinched sliced, Jizo could imagine how the woman would react when she found out.

If true, the man in the photo is Airi's father. Ah, even now Airi's face was already spinning around Jizo's head like a broken old cassette.

Jizo still left a little corner in his heart space to not believe what he saw. Jizo once met Airi's father, Royo. Why he remembered it was because of the way the ageless man had fake smiles even at his own son back then.

She meant nothing but to upset Airi, but became unable to control her mouth to say what her instincts said. This jizo is big in a harsh world, seeing which ones are fake and which ones are real has been his daily food since childhood. He could conclude once seeing that Royo was not entirely benevolent.

Jizo warns Airi about Akane, but not so hard about her father. Those are two different things. Jizo can make Airi leave a fake friend, but a fake father? It can't be in Airi's dictionary. The girl was too sensitive if Jizo brought her up. So, the only thing the man did was to warn Airi not to be too trusting.

Is Airi crying so much, huh, now?

"Arba, I'm going to the local bureau. I'm going to see his guardian."

"Jizo, we're not done talking yet." Ko held back the man who had risen from his seat.

"I'll explain later. I have to get there now, she's already there, right?"

"Who?" Arba has yet to digest Jizo who suddenly becomes so hunted. He followed the man out of the room. Jizo's luggage was left behind.

Saka and Haru both do not understand Jizo's behavior. Ko let out a breath.

"Water! Airi's already there, right?"

"Wateries? Who's Airi?"

The man was too upset to answer straightforwardly. He was just yes and yes, leaving the people in that place clueless.

"Arba, make sure Jizo doesn't mess anything up," Ko's message briefly before Jizo and Arba enter the pudding man's car.

No one understood what exactly was on Jizo's mind, not even Jizo himself. Back then, he just wanted to quickly go to meet Airi there. But, deep in the corner of his heart, he prayed that his conjecture was wrong. Jizo wants what he sees to be inappropriate, his relationships unrelated.

It took ten minutes to reach the office of the Eastern District local bureau. Jizo immediately rushes in, with Arba showing his identification first to the guard.

The man ran down the ridge towards the waiting room. Jizo ran out of air in his chest when he reached a glass barrier.

Jizo's heart seemed to stop beating right then and there. The piece of his mind that had become a sheet, now stood firm, clanging loudly, mocking and praising him at the same time. The thing Jizo was most worried about happened.

There, a straight-haired girl in her white dress cried as she hugged the big bag that was now soaked by her tears.

Jizo raised his hand, knocking twice on the glass barrier weakly. He let out a voice that had been his tone to call out the name of the girl.

"Water..."

Jizo doesn't know what to do now. Seeing Airi limp on the cold floor of the waiting room of the local bureau office, made her lost for words.

Behind him, Arba managed to catch up with Jizo. The man looked at the object that Jizo was fully concerned with. He was the guardian that Arba spoke to on the phone.

He must have been so devastated that he did not know that two men were now looking at him from a distance of a few meters.

Jizo realizes Airi's body is shaking violently, but he can't move a fingernail to get to her. Airi who is in Jizo's memory is a submissive woman who likes to wrinkle her face, bend her expression, explode and angry, also being cold to others. But, seeing Airi's side like this with her own eyes made Jizo's heart crumble.

The man did not realize that his relationship with Airi for almost three years could have an impact like this.

The girl must have been heartbroken to dust. He was a typical person who loved and trusted his father to death. Airi even asked Jizo about the Eastern District, after lowering her ego a bit.

As Jizo had expected, Airi had indeed gone here. Apparently, to visit his father. Where, on the same day he was instead left pitifully.

Jizo must not look at the girl any longer if he wants to separate the affairs of Corvus' organization from his personal feelings. Jizo knows very well he is an implusive teenager who still likes to change. The man tried not to mix things up.

Really, but Jizo wants to approach the girl now. Teasing her, giving her a piece of cheese bread, throwing her a regular guyonan, for the girl to smile back. Returning to Airi who is in Jizo's memory.

"Jizo, is that Airi?"

Arba shook him with a slow question. In contrast to Jizo, a man of Saka's age looks so calm and mature. He did not let anything become a distraction for him.

"He's... Airi." Jizo replied weakly with his voice hanging from the silent ceiling of the local bureau.

What a pity Airi, his poor countryman.