Oneshot: The Runaway Girl and the Man Who Doesn’t Pick Her Up

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Translator: Soafp

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“Hey, Onii-san. Can I stay at your place tonight?”

“Aah? What the hell are you talking about, you brat? Unless your brain’s filled with sponge instead of common sense, take back what you just said and go home.”

One day…

Amidst overwhelming fatigue, he was trudging home when a high school girl appeared in front of him. He identified her as a high school student because she was wearing a uniform.

“…Wow, that’s harsh.”

“Your lifestyle is a much bigger mess, so bad it’s painful to look at. See? That hurt, didn’t it? It’s good you got to know there are adults like this in the world. Now go home.”

“I-I… If I had a place to go back to, don’t you think I would’ve already?”

“Yeah, I do. And I also get that you’re old enough to know better, but with your poor judgement, you probably thought a misfit like me—who lives in a run-down apartment and looks like he doesn’t belong in society—would just let you stay because of some outlandish story you made up.”

“If you understand that much, then stop being mean and let me stay.”

“Don’t drag me into your pathetic life story. It’s annoying.”

The girl was left speechless, clenching her hands in front of her chest. Slowly, she began to comprehend the barrage of insults that had just crashed over her like a landslide. A single tear rolled down her cheek, and soon her emotions overflowed uncontrollably.

But the man entered the last room on the first floor of his wooden apartment. The phrase “at a loss” had never been more fitting. She wasn’t crying over past regrets or fears; she was purely bewildered at how much his words had hurt her.

Though she wanted to leave immediately, she was too sad to even remember that desire. She squatted by the side of the road, sobbing quietly. Meanwhile, steam rose from the man’s shower, and after the sound of the faucet turning off, the door opened softly. He stepped out, still dripping, with a towel wrapped around his head and bare-chested, and stood in front of her again.

“Hey.”

“…W-what?”

“Go to the convenience store and buy me some snacks. Chicken, imitation crab, and cucumber will do.”

“Why should I…?”

“I’m exhausted. I forgot to buy them earlier.”

He pressed a 10,000-yen bill into her hand. It was far too much for a convenience store run, clearly his way of telling her to find somewhere else to stay.

“…Okay.”

But the girl didn’t understand.

She simply bought what he asked and stood in front of his door again. When the doorknob turned with a click and she entered, the man looked at her, dropping a piece of macaroni salad from his chopsticks.

“You’re such an idiot. No wonder you have nowhere to go back to.”

“What the hell? You're the one who told me to buy this stuff.”

“I'm saying the fact that you took what I said in such an abnormal situation at face value shows how shallow your relationships have been, which is why you’re in this mess.”

“…They never taught me that in school.”

“They don’t, but most people figure it out while they’re there. Damn it, you remind me of my younger self, and it pisses me off.”

The man cracked open a can of lemon sour and took a swig. Watching him, the girl finally realized that the errand he’d sent her on had been a fake. She sat down on the floor and took a bite of the chicken, which he probably wouldn’t eat.

“Were you like me too, Onii-san?”

“That was just a slip of the tongue. If you don’t forget it, I’ll call the cops.”

“What’s ‘cops’?”

“…So, you’re not a delinquent, just a clueless brat.”

“Hey, answer my question too.”

“I’m not answering that. More importantly, you stink, so go take a bath. And don’t think I’ll let you off if you steal anything while I’m gone.”

“I don’t stink! …Wait, what do you mean ‘while you’re gone’?”

The man gulped down the macaroni salad, finished off his lemon sour, threw on a wrinkled T-shirt, and stuffed his wallet, smartphone, and e-cigarette into his pocket.

“Got it? Don't do anything stupid, okay? Even a fool like you should understand not to mess with other people's things, right?”

“Hey, wait! Where are you going?”

“I’m telling you I’m letting you stay.”

“I don’t understand why you’re leaving, though.”

“…Ha, haha… Hahaha! Ahaha!”

The man’s laughter burst out unexpectedly at the girl’s naïve words. It was as if he couldn’t find the right words to respond. But it was probably because he realized that the version of himself who had once hit rock bottom, like her, must have seemed just as defenseless and ridiculous from the outside.

“This is hilarious, really.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For misunderstanding you, Onii-san.”

The man pulled another lemon sour from the fridge, placed his pocketed items on the sideboard, and prepared his e-cigarette. It seemed he had lost the desire to go out.

“What happened?”

“…I don't know. I've never really thought about myself.”

“That's irresponsible. Sulking like that won’t get anyone to help you, you know?”

“But… if I did something s*xual, there were plenty of people who'd let me stay.”

“Those people are even bigger idiots than you. At least you got to see people who are even lower than you.”

While the girl was taking a shower, the man snooped through her belongings. A wallet, cosmetics, unopened underwear, and an empty plastic bottle. Her student ID showed an address from the neighboring prefecture.

He didn't bother reading her name or age because he didn’t care.

“You ran away from home?”

“Yeah.”

“What will happen if you go back?”

“…My mom’s new husband will do things to me.”

“I see, that's unfortunate. For something you came up with with your limited brain, it's a pretty well-crafted sob story.”

“I'm not lying.”

“If it's not a lie, then report it to the police. That guy’s a criminal.”

“But that would make my mom unhappy too.”

The man exhaled a plume of smoke, looking down on her with a sneer.

“I’m telling you to protect your precious mom from a criminal. A scumbag who would lay a hand on his stepdaughter is guaranteed to be a worthless piece of trash.”

“It's not that simple.”

“The only one making it complicated is you, you brat. And by the way, because of that piece of trash, I’m also indirectly affected. Why the hell do I have to take on the risk of harboring a dumb kid like you, who I don't even know, on my crappy, exhausting weekend because of some pervert? Huh?”

The girl hugged the towel blanket from the single bed tightly.

“…Damn it, fine.”

“Huh?”

“Tomorrow, we're going to settle this once and for all. A time will come when you'll have to face it. Dragging it out is pointless.”

“No way! I need to mentally prepare for that!”

“You were ready to suck off some dirty old man, but now you're scared? I'm going to smash everything to pieces, so just shut up and follow me.”

At that point, she couldn't think of anything anymore. She had clearly been captivated by his words, unlike anyone she had ever met before.

“…What happened in your past, Onii-san?”

“Just some trivial disputes.”

“If just those experiences could make someone like you, then there wouldn't be any adults who enjoy violating high school girls.”

“Don't act like a victim. You're just paying the price for your own stupidity.”

“Is being stupid really that bad?”

“If you were living on your own and dying in a ditch, it wouldn’t matter. But you're a stupid kid who can't take responsibility for yourself. You're dragging in those h***y monkeys around you and using them as props in your pathetic little drama.”

“…Yeah.”

“A decent adult might say there's still some hope for you because of your age. But I'm not that lenient. Remember this: in essence, you’re no different from the scumbags who paid for you.”

Having never been scolded before, she found his words, which seemed to split her personality from head to toe, strangely comforting.

Of course, she understood that these were violent words, not something a grown man should use. However, even in her ignorance, she knew she was wrong. Comparing herself to other girls and her parents to other adults, she knew something was missing inside her.

In just about two hours since he appeared, the man had filled that void. She felt kindness in the force with which he denied everything she hated about herself and confronted her with reality. She thought that, behind his words, which seemed spoken from experience, there must be similar struggles to her own, and that was why he understood her.

She convinced herself that he was the one who cared about her the most. The thought that maybe, even in her already hardened self, it might still be okay to expect something from someone warmed her heart.

The scent of the towel blanket tickled her nose. As she looked at the man who had appeared out of nowhere and saved her from despair, all she could do was think, “Thank you.”

“If you dislike me so much, why did you let me stay?”

“Because you still have a chance.”

…Her breath caught.

“If you could listen to what I said and still cry or feel hurt, then there's hope. That's why I decided to help you.”

“Fufu. But you still said a lot of mean things to me. That's strange.”

“A person who hasn't had a proper education can't teach anything properly.”

“But I think you know a lot of truths.”

“It's the truth about the lives of idiots like you and me, crawling at the bottom. To those who live properly and have their act together, it's nothing more than meaningless drivel.”

“Then, have you ever wished you could've thought that way from the beginning?”

“…No, never.”

The obvious lie made her look down. She felt ashamed of her ignorance for the first time, not knowing how to repay him for everything he'd done, aside from offering her body.

“I'm tired. I'm going to sleep.”

“Okay.”

“You use the bed. I'll sleep in the hallway. There's a guest futon in the closet. Never used it, though.”

“I'm okay with sharing the bed.”

“Don't make me more exasperated than I already am, you brat.”

After cleaning up the table and laying out the futon in the narrow hallway, the man turned off the lights and lay down. In the darkness, she silently watched him from the bed. She could see how tired he really was, and how he was desperately trying to live in the present, clearing away the past.

“Do you think I can become normal?”

“You can. So just sleep.”

“Then, one more thing. What kind of bad thing made someone like you, who's trying so hard, give up on yourself?”

The man turned over without a glance. She figured he wouldn't tell her. Just as she was about to give up…

“Read the newspaper from July 16th, ten years ago.”

The next day.

The man took the girl to the address, and as soon as the man at the address appeared, he repeatedly punched him in the face, forcing him to the ground. He then made the man bow in apology and instructed the girl not to look away from the scene.

He ignored the mother, who was crying and begging him not to hurt anyone, and didn’t say a single word to her. All he did was expose the shameful figure of the father and reveal what had happened between him and the girl. The commotion attracted nearby residents, and the police arrived, arresting the man, but he was released shortly thereafter.

The girl was placed in a facility. She began working a legitimate part-time job to continue attending school, trying to make amends for her past. She continued, relentlessly, living as best as she could. As she began to feel a sense of accomplishment and one day looked up in awe at the blue sky she noticed for the first time, a thought came to her.

“Oh, the newspaper.”

The girl, who had forgotten in the chaos of her new life, went to the library to search the newspaper archives. She realized that her past self would never have thought of finding out about past events this way. As she reached the article, she found a report about an incident caused by a certain boy.

“Murder…!”

It was a record of a murder case where a boy had stabbed and killed his father while trying to protect his mother. As she continued to investigate, she discovered a gossip magazine’s headline, which further sensationalized the tragedy by revealing that the boy's mother had committed suicide while he was serving his sentence.

The man who killed someone and the mother who killed herself—she realized how much she resembled the man whose voice still echoed in her mind.

“You can still go back.”

Those words came back to her. The girl now understood that “not being able to go back” meant not existing in this world anymore. For some reason, tears started flowing, tears that she hadn't shed since she began living so desperately. They poured out uncontrollably.

“Onii-san…!”

With that cry, she ran as fast as she could toward the man's apartment, a place she hadn't gone near since that day. She didn't care about the police’s warnings or the last words of rejection the man had given her. She had finally made it this far. What mattered was this moment. The girl wanted him, the man who had helped her grow, to see her as she was now.

More than anything, she desperately wanted to save him.

That thought alone drove her closer and closer. Step by step, she pressed forward with her own strength, her feet firmly planted on the ground. She knew that no one might forgive her. She believed that the only person who could forgive and comfort him for the past he couldn’t forgive himself for was her, someone who had once hated her own foolish past.

…Quietly, she stood in front of the door.

The place had become an empty room.