"Hikari, lets just talk about this some other time, yeah?" Father said with a smile, while clearly showing his dissatisfaction.
"I'll study even harder... so won't you please allow it?" I told father.
"I won't repeat what I said." This time his voice was stern.
"But father-"
Before I could finish my sentence, a fist went flying straight to my face, cutting my words off.
"Hikari!" Hina came running to me who was observing our conversation.
This is the first time father ever became violent at me, so I was shocked.
"I-I'm all right, sis." I said to Hina, smiling faintly. "How could you!" Hina turns to father and glared at him.
"Leave your brother alone. This is between him and me, don't butt in." Father said to Hina.
"After what you did to him? No, I'm not leaving my brother's side!" Hina retaliated which made father extremely furious.
"Your brother comes up to me and says he wants to stop the one thing he's good at, and the one thing I believed in him to see through the end!" I understood that it was selfish of me to stop all of a sudden, but I couldn't take it anymore... if I were to stay there, I would eventually break.
"His grades are average, he doesn't excel at sports and he only stands out because of the features he got from me and your mother! He's a failure of a son!" Father told Hina, but before he could talk any further, he interfered.
...
...
I suddenly woke up and found myself sitting inside a bus. It was quite dark as I rub my eyes. After blinking for a few seconds, I finally remembered why I was here.
The pain on my shoulder was still there, but it felt as if though it was not as bad as before.
The bus I took was a night bus, and usage of cellphone was not allowed, so I couldn't see anything clearly.
I'll let you know that I hard reset my phone to make sure I wasn't being tracked. It would bring forth many problems I'd rather not deal with if I didn't. Plus, I didn't have anything important inside my phone before I hard reset, except contact information.
Still feeling sleepy, I went back to sleep.
...
...
I woke up to the sound of a bus hitting the breaks. When I opened my eyes, it was already morning, and I have arrived at my destination.
It is a town that is far from my hometown. Just being here makes me feel relaxed, and it somehow makes me forget about school and family for a while.
Inhaling a good amount of air, I breathed out and it let out a white fog. I'm not surprised since it was quite early, meaning the temperature was quite low.
I then started making my way to my destination. I rode another bus which took around 15 minutes, before stopping in front of my final destination.
Before me, a large dojo and a few people that seems to be students of it, there I saw him. My grandfather that is.
I entered the dojo through the gate. Grandpa was teaching a student when he spotted me from the corner of his eye. He was surprised when he saw me, so I raised a hand.
I understood his reaction since its been years since I was last here. He accompanied me when I first came here, and I was still in middle school at that time. In fact, just seeing the dojo and Grandpa makes me feel nostalgic and sad at the same time.
I shook my head to rid of my thoughts about the past and made my way to grandpa.
"Grandpa, I'm sorry for not telling you I was coming over, and I'm glad to see you're in good health." I told him. He dismissed the student he was teaching promptly.
"That appearance... is that you? Hikari?!" He jumped in surprise when I gave him a nod. I'm also surprised at the fact that grandpa is still walking with his back straight. If I was a stranger to him, I would be doubtful that he's that old. His name is Kawamura Hiroshi, but I refer to him as grandpa since he's my grandfather.
"You've grown a lot since I last met you! How are you? How's school?" He asked rather energetically.
"I'm doing fine, but more importantly, how are you?" I asked him to prevent him from questioning me about school life any further.
"Me? I'm doing great! Hahaha!" He said chuckling loudly while puffing his chest, before flexing his muscles underneath his training garment. I can assure that he can probably humble me just from looking at his muscles. On top of that, grandpa won multiple awards back when he was at his prime, so underestimating him would probably be a poor choice.
"That's great to hear."
"Enough about me." He said waving his hand in front of his chest. "What happened to your face? And you look battered up. Did something happen?" He asked.
"The usual, and the next day I got into a scuffle that I didn't want to partake in." I told him. There's no need to be reserved when it came to grandpa since unlike father, he is a kind person just like his grandson. I feel relieved being around him because I can be myself, and not be bothered by everyone around me. That's why I consider this place my land of respite.
"So he hurt you again, huh? Maybe I really should teach him a lesson." He said, a vein popping on his forehead as he smiled.
"No need. It's better this way." I told him with a smile.
"I see. You've already made plans." Grandpa immediately understood. We've known each other that long that he immediately knew that I had already made up my mind.
"So what happened to your shoulder?" He asked since it was fairly noticeable. My shoulder had a bandage and the cloth was ripped.
"Like I said, I got into a scuffle, and one of the guys pulled out a knife. It was crazy." I told him which made him chuckle.
"Ahahaha! Good thing you got off lightly! Your self defense training here with Kiyoshi came to fruition!" He said as he chuckled from joy.
Kawamura Kiyoshi, that was the name of my cousin who I referred to as brother. We both came here, and neither does mother and father know this place. And I highly doubt they would come here, since father left home early, and grandpa moved places, that's why he doesn't know this place.
"Yeah... it was definitely worth it." I told him as the atmosphere suddenly got heavy.
"I'm sorry, I should've mentioned him in front of you." He said as he scratched the back of his head.
"No no. It's fine. It's not like I mind when someone mentions him, but what I do hate is when people mock him." I said to him, which immediately dispersed the heavy atmosphere.
"I see! That's good then!" He said before chuckling again. "Let's go inside and drink tea as we talk instead of standing here." Grandpa offered.
"That would be great." Both of us went inside his home after grandpa told the students to continue training, since his house was near the dojo.
I told him why I came to this place and told him bits and pieces of my school life. He allowed me to stay here for the meantime, since he knew my circumstances about my family. He even told me that he would come to my hometown with me to reason with my father. This is why I highly respect him.
"A girl confessed to you and you rejected her, and that's the reason you got i-into a s-scuffle?" Grandpa was barely containing his laughter.
"That's right, it was annoying. I just wanted to go home and they go and beat me like there's no tomorrow." I sighed before grandpa chuckled heartily.
"Ahahaha! Your situation is similar to Kiyoshi! Kiyoshi had several confessions that he turned down, however, he didn't get beat up since he was respected by everyone around him."
"Grandpa! It's not funny you know!" I told him which made him chuckle even more.
"This old body of mine, I can feel its lifespan is decreasing everytime I laugh, phew..." He said as he wiped a tear from his eyes. Props to grandpa for not making the atmosphere heavy. Also, he was probably chuckling since he probably knew a scuffle like that wouldn't be enough to throw me off. I sighed.
"That's why you should stop laughing you know." I told him as he finally settled down, before he drank the tea he prepared while I did the same. The tea was really good since it was prepared by grandpa. They say white hair represents knowledge and grandpa is a living proof of that. Albeit, my hair is also white, so should I be considered knowledgeable? I don't know.
Regardless, after our short exchange, grandma came into the living room with some sweets, and it just happened to be my favorite which is taiyaki.
"Here you go." Grandma sat beside grandpa and smiled at me. Seeing that smile, it was as if I was really at home. They welcome me with open arms and they don't spew venoms at me. These two are the only people I really feel comfortable with...
"You look happy, Hikari." Grandma said to me. I slowly touched my face and replied.
"...I do?" Both of them nodded with a smile.
"When you arrived here earlier, your expression was quite dark and it was as if something was bugging you." Grandpa said to me.
"I did...?" Both of them nodded again.
"Just seeing my grandson visit us makes me feel elated." Grandma said. My eyes felt watery as both of them smiled at me genuinely, but I controlled the urge to let it out.
"I... thank you very much..." Were the words I managed to utter, and those words were enough to relieve both of their worries for me.
"Well, I'm gonna train the students now. If you wanna join us, feel free to do so." Grandpa said as he stood up.
"I'm gonna clean the house after breakfast." Grandma also stood up.
"I understand." I slowly stood up as well and helped grandma with the dishes. After that, I helped her clean the house for a few hours, before I went to the dojo to train with grandpa. The day ended without too many incidents, and the day ended before I knew it.
"Phew..." I just got out of the shower and I walked to the living room where grandpa and grandma were at. We ate dinner and talked about trivial things. After that, all of us went to sleep. It may not look like it, but I felt really calm here.
The next day, we were eating breakfast. My uniform was sewed by grandma yesterday and it was good as new. The wound I got on my shoulder felt a little better when grandma tended to it when she noticed it when we were cleaning yesterday. However, healing it isn't as fast as you think. It takes time. This is reality after all, not fantasy.
"Grandpa, grandma, I'm gonna go back after breakfast" I told them.
"Already, huh?" Grandpa said with a sad smile.
"Are you sure? It wouldn't hurt to stay for another day you know." Grandma said to persuade me to stay for another. But unfortunately, I need to get back before the problem I left spirals out of control.
"I'm sorry, but I really need to." I told her as I smiled.
"I see."
After breakfast, both of them saw me out before I left.
"Hikari." Grandpa called me and I turned around. Both grandma and grandpa were smiling at me gratefully.
"You've grown." Grandpa said as he smiled with his teeth out.
"We're proud of you." Grandma said as she smiled heartily.
Both of their words... I knew it was from the bottom of their hearts, and I knew they weren't saying those words to cheer me up.
"No, I'm more grateful to both of you." I said to them before turning around. "I'm going now." I slide open the door.
"Have a safe trip." Grandpa waved goodbye to me.
"Be well." Grandma said.
"I will, and both of you should as well." I walked out of the door and made my way to the station and took a bus that was going to my hometown. I'm gonna miss this place... since this place is what I can truly call a "home".