Time skip a few months after that, I was mysteriously put on a hospital then got interrogated by the police about the bombing incident that took lots of lives. In particular, the lives of Maeda's bullies(?).
As for Maeda, after the trial, when he's being taken away by the police to be specific, he smiled at me one last time as if he still won in the end.
What I could say was the trial really did make a massive negative impact on his parents' name and the other people involved. Almost everyone want him to be sentenced to prison but he was a minor and latter turned out to be suffering from a mental illness.
He was put into rehab for a year and I was given a bit of cash by his parents for all the trouble their son caused me in return so I could start a new life somewhere else. I was hesitant at first but hey, I am a normal guy with needs. Like lots of needs. I was a homeless man up to that day so refusing the fortune offered to me would be a waste so I wholeheartedly accepted it. I felt bad afterwards though because that money was spent on pachinko parlors and gambling that it only took me a week to be broke again.
Due to some crazy coincidences though, he also started boarding the same apartment complex I was in. I think he started living here a few months later after Miyano-san took me in. His apartment was beside mine too.
At first, I was totally wary of him because of all the things he did to me but he looked like he's changed. He's more mature-looking this time and was more reserved. Being neighbors with him for a long time, we began starting as close pals all over again as if the past never happened.
In here, he was just Maeda the student. An ordinary high school boy who goes to a different yet ordinary school. It was like a reset. But honestly, there were times I felt bad for him. His parents never even visited him here. Not even once. And not even in the end of the world.
Fast forward today, I'm currently playing a fighting game with Maeda on his room. And he also started to call me "senpai" at some point. His reason? Because I'm his senior for being a failure in life. What a bad joke.
Despite of all the bad things happened to him, he didn't let it end like that. He struggled to change and lives a normal and peaceful life like he's having right now.
Every morning, he jogs to exercise and buy some breakfast. Sometimes I join him whenever I feel like it. Then he goes to school, hang out with his peers, occasionally invite me for some games and so on. The night of the explosion was totally forgotten by everyone but us. His family is rich, alright so the matter was settled without getting that much big. I'm also glad that he's doing better after all of that.
One thing though, what was really going on that night?
Many days already went by and but the reasons behind that action was left unsolved up to this day.
This might be the last day we'd be hanging out so asking it this time wouldn't hurt.
"Say, Maeda." With my eyes on the screen, I asked. "Why did you tried to kill me that night?"
"..."
Ah.
"..."
AAAHHHH...
Did I make it awkward? He suddenly stopped pressing the buttons on his controller as if he froze on the spot.
"It was a calculated risk."
After a few moments of stillness that felt like eternity, he spoke in a solemn tone.
"I did all of those elaborated things for my parents to notice me one last time. If you helped back then, something different would have happened that's why I waited and was disappointed."
Calculated risk?!
"To be frank with you, the bombs were already planted before you met me. Around that time, my only plan was to kill those bastards. All of that changed when you told me that you'd help me for my revenge. I never really expected much of you so I created various new plans. Those are; 1. To kill you because you might snitch me to the cops and all my plot for revenge will go down the drain and 2. I would use you as a scapegoat for all the crimes I would commit that day. It was just bad luck that in the end, I was proven guilty anyways."
"Why me? You're rich. You could have had hired lots of proxies to be your scapegoats."
"I had no one but you. I always trusted you since the beginning."
"If you trusted me then why would you kill me?"
"Because I hate you too."
Huh?
Maeda gazed at me with hatred in his eyes.
"I hate the aloof you, the carefree you and literally anything about you. All the freedom you had and surviving everyday by yourself alone. I hate all of you because I can never be you. Finding happiness even in the simplest of things while I struggle to live a life full of regrets and misery. You are the one person I can never be that's why I wanted you dead."
I uh, I don't understand. I really don't get it.
"And I hate liars like you. Pretending to relate to someone like me. What the hell can you understand about me?! Stop pretending to be someone like me because you aren't! You will never understand the pain of having no one and being in the bottom of everything!"
"I see. I understand now."
In summary, it's like this. Maeda was bullied and his parents never acknowledged him as their son. To have his revenge and to be seen as their own child, he plotted a city-wide crime. The plan changed after he met me so he revised it to include myself in it as a scapegoat or just another target of his inferiority complex. He then went on a rehab and pretended to be a new person but he still couldn't let go of the past.
In the end, he just wanted to be seen as him. Someone with equal footing as him. Someone he can call "friend". Yet all this time, I only see him as a troubled young boy and nothing more than that. Despite hanging out with him for a long time, since when did I think of him as a friend?
Teenagers really have it rough, huh.
To be honest, I'm not even that sure if I really get his point. But you know, if they're this lonely, they could have just said so... Heh. Of course there's no way that could be easy. I was once a teen myself too.
"..."
In the end, the fault also lies in me, huh... He already said it lots of times, I just pretended not to notice because he's right, I saw him too as someone inferior than me. While I was living in the park, listening to his qualms for a short period of time, for me he was a sad crazy brat.
If I helped him back then, will something really change? Will I be happy? Will he be happy?
I've been thinking of what to do if that situation happened again after the day of the explosion but up to this day, nothing comes to mind...
"Maeda."
"What?"
"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to not fully take you seriously. It's my fault. I didn't know what to do to help you or anything but I'm genuinely concerned about you. From the past up to this moment, I'm worrying about you and for your well-being."
"Cut me the lip service, senpai. I'm at fault too myself for dragging you here and living with the guilt of killing people with me. I'm sorry too."
Maeda didn't sound sorry. He looked empty and his words were hollow.
"Oh, senpai. Can you help me with something?" He seemed like he returned to his smiley ordinary boy personality.
"About what?"
"I'm planning to meet with my parents tonight. I want to show them the life I've been living in the past. I think I'm ready to face them now and besides, we might die tonight or tomorrow, who knows. I just want them to see the side of me they never probably thought I had. I want to be seen one last time. So, will you help me?"
This...
This is it.
This is the last chance I can do something for Maeda to help him.
"Alright. What should I do?"
"We will kidnap them tonight."
"HUH???!!!"
"SENPAI, THIS IS THE LAST DAY I WILL SEE THEM SO WILL YOU HELP ME OR NOT?!"
Ehh, that was one strange request right off the bat.
"Senpai, just think straight and listen to me! We will die anytime soon and laws doesn't exist anymore! And besides, they should be probably still in the building they're staying tonight."
"Do you even have a plan?!"
I'm sorry but I think all my common sense is gone.
"Yeah. After months of visiting them, I planted explosives all around the building without them noticing. I used up all the money they gave me for me to use it against them. In fact, I haven't eaten any decent food for a while now aside from stolen ones."
"You are insane..."
He literally spent all of his life here living in the middle of nowhere just to have his revenge. This is really insane. Even for a kid, there's no way he can pull this off so easily... Like how...
"Senpai, it's alright. There's nothing stopping us anymore but yourself. If you don't want to then it's alright. I won't be dragging you anymore."
"...No. It's uh, it's alright."
NO WAY!!!
Maeda, why can't you just let go of the past?
This is really crazy ー!
From outside, I heard continuous knocking. Probably in my apartment.
"Hello. Are you there right now? I want to talk with you. Hello!"
That's a voice of a woman I know but I don't think this is the right moment to talk with her.
"Someone you knew?" Maeda asked.
"Kinda." I lied.
But why would she appear this time of all days?
"You still hate me, huh. I will be back tomorrow."
After few minutes of knocking, the woman seemingly gave up and left. Good grief...
"Is it alright?" Maeda asked once again.
I nodded in return.
I will deal with her later but I need to focus on what's going on at the moment.
ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー
In the end, I realized that I, myself, was also insane like him because there's no way I would normally do something like this.
Here we are, in our way to kidnap Maeda's parents in this very tall building I never thought I would see again.
"Senpai, the plan is simple. We breakthrough here and take my parents to my old high school."
"Why there?" I asked.
"I want to show them the reality of my life for the last time. Not as the image of their perfect son but as my true flawed self. I want them to see the real me."
Heh.
Isn't it funny how a simple childish request can turn into something like this?
There's no backing out this time.
This was the least I could do to help Maeda though if I'm being honest, I don't really know what I'm doing here.
I know what he did before and what we're doing this time were both wrong but, was there a right answer to begin with?
No matter what he does, he's still losing and when I had the chance to help him, I didn't take him seriously.
Good grief... Whatever happens, happens!
"Senpai, let's go!"
"Yeah!"
It sounded like we're charging ahead in the place with lots of securities but we're basically entering it simply with me tagging along as Maeda's guest.
The infiltration was surprisingly easy. It went so smoothly that we didn't even wore any spy-ish clothes. I was on my gray sweater and pants of the same color while he's wearing a comfy striped basil-colored collared shirt and brown pants. He's clothes were like from a certain scooby character.
Finally, we arrived in the room where his parents were, I think.
He gently opened the door and saw both of his parents panicking and answers calls and all. Through and through, they were both busy people.
"Mom, Dad. You guys are the fucking worst."
It was at that moment that his parents finally noticed him standing in front of them.
"I don't have to deal with your drama right now, Takeru. Ah yes, hello? About the... Ah, I see." Said his Dad while talking with someone on his phone.
That sight pissed off Maeda because of how uncaring his parents were despite the fact that this might be the last time they'll be together as a family. However, who was pissed off at that room the most was ー!
"YOU COLD BASTARD!"
It was me.
I hit his father on the face that it sent him flying from his seat.
"You..! Dear, call the securities! We have a trespasser here ー!" I charged towards the father and hit him in the stomach this time.
"Mom." Maeda on the other side, stopped his mother from calling the guards and pulled a remote on his pocket. "That won't work, you know?"
He then pressed the remote and a loud explosion happened somewhere in the building.
Maeda then hit his mother in the face that knocked her out.
Seeing what he did, I thought of doing the same however, his father suddenly yielded.
"Stop! Stop! You are, you're the one from the trials right? So you're after for our money alright?! Then then it's uh it's on the the table yeah, the table over there! And h-h-here, here's my wallet with all of my credit cards in it. Just don't kill me... TAKERU, MY SON, SAVE ME FROM THIS MONKEY OR I WILL DISOWN YOU! KILL HIM! KILL THIS GUY!"
"Son, you say? Since when did I became a son to you?!"
It triggered Maeda's murderous intent that if not for my quick reflexes, he would have stabbed his father already but he didn't. I stopped his knife with my bare hands... AAAAAHHHHH!!! WHY IS THIS SO BADASS IN THE MOVIES???!!! SO FUCKING PAINFUL, AAAAAAHHHH!!!
"Maeda! Don't forget what we came here for! Aren't you going to show them something?!"
"You're right..."
"Show us something?! Takeru, what does that mean ー!" I knocked the father out.
"Maeda, we need to hurry up or else, the building would collapse!"
"It won't. It's just a simple explosion to distract all the guards and make them go there so the path to the elevator would be clear."
"You are a waste of a human intellect, man." I sarcastically said.
"Senpai, can I say something weird?"
As we both reach the elevator with two bodies on our backs, Maeda started a conversation.
"Yeah, go ahead." As if there's something that could be weirder than this one.
"I'm glad I trusted you. Without you, I would probably ー! Oh, we're here already. Let's go to the school now. It's not that far."
"We're dragging them there?!"
"Yeah ー!"
"Hey you! Where are you taking them?!" A guard with a pistol appeared! And we're literally a few steps outside too!
"I asked him to take Mom and Dad to a hospital. Can you drive us there?" Maeda wasn't a bit intimidated.
"Well, if the young boss says so. Come."
That could make our work easier, thanks random guard.
"Maeda, what are you saying again?"
"Nothing. I'll tell you later."
ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー
We're finally in front of the hospital.
"Thank you for bringing us here." Maeda said as he took a gun from his pocket and shoot the guard in the head.
AAAAHHHH!!!
I vomited in the car as he nonchalantly kicked out the corpse of the guard and simply droved away the car like nothing happened.
"Maeda, you're fucking insane!"
Or maybe he wasn't after all. Going here in the capital where the hospital was located didn't make us the crazy ones. Seeing riot and killing and fire here made me realized that being nuts was the most reasonable thing to do.
A few minutes later, we finally arrived at the school.
He then waked his parents up by putting their heads on the water faucet outside the school that somehow still worked.
Having their hands tied, his parents couldn't do anything but speak with their mouths. "You are crazy, Takeru! You're a worthless child! A parasite! I shouldn't have born you!" His mother said as we dragged them at the top of the school as per his orders.
"Dad, do you know that I was once forced to lick this stairs clean but no one believed it?" Maeda began speaking in a deep somber tone as he relieved the past that haunted him up to this moment.
"You must be kidding. There's no way it could be true."
"See? Even you didn't believe me. How about you senpai, do you believe me?"
Me?
"Well, yeah. Seeing you beat up everyday in the past is enough proof."
"What are you saying? There's no way my son Takeru would be subjected on something petty like bullying."
"Look at his arms, sir."
In a while, this was probably the first time any of us here saw Maeda wearing a shirt that fully shows his arms. There's lots of cuts, wounds and lot more.
"I can't believe you didn't notice something so obvious for years now."
"W-Well, it's his fault! Besides, he deserves it! He's nothing but a worthless child anyways. He can't even live up to our expectations. How dare him act like this after destroying our lives because of his foolishness! Takeru, do you even know how much damaged we had to pay because of you! It took me years to built our business for you to destroy it overnight! You're a psychopath!"
Man, this bastard...
"Dad, Mom. Why won't you accept the real me? This is me, a psychopath like you said and all I wanted is your love and affection. Is it really that hard?"
"But we gave you everything you need, Takeru. We gave you shelter, food, money and everything. What more do you want?" His mother asked in return.
"Anything but those. I just want you to understand me and trust my words just like how I trusted you to save me from this life which you never did."
"Takeru..."
"That's why, for once, I want to be with you one last time. I want us to have a good family talk here. Just us, me being your son and you being my parents."
This might be the last time I would see Maeda cried.
Not just him though because it looked like both of his parents realized what they did as I opened the door of this school's rooftop.
Seeing the skies from here, I didn't noticed that it's already night but the riot all around this place brlow still managed to make the world seemed festive because of the lights and fire.
"Senpai, can you take the gift I have in the car? I kinda forgot to bring it here." Maeda requested which I immediately obliged.
"Oh, I see. Alright."
"And you can take all the food I had in my house, those are for you. Think of it as a payment for your help. Without you, I would probably never have a chance to be with my family one more time. Thank you, senpai!"
"Yeah!"
With him saying that, I left with teary eyes. What am I feeling right now? Happiness? Sadness? I don't know anymore. Seriously, what's going on inside that kid's head...
They're probably having a heart to heart conversation right this moment as I looked for the gift Maeda was talking about. I hope they patch up already. We barely have two days left to live, you know ー!
"SENPAI!!!"
From the rooftop, I heard Maeda screaming at me.
"I'M GLAD THAT I MET SOMEONE LIKE YOU BUT THIS IS IT FOR ME! THANK YOU, SENPAI! ALL YOU NEED TO DO NOW IS WATCH ME END THIS ALL WITH A BANG!!!"
With a what?!
Don't tell me... "MAEDAAAAA!!!! STOPP ITTTT!!!!"
AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!
. . .
I watched the whole school collapsed through my rear mirror as I drove away the car. Maeda...
"Maeda... MAEDAAAAAA!!!"
Everything happened so fast that I wish all of these were just a one big fever dream. I can't do this anymore.
Anyways, this concludes my night, I guess.