4 Chapter 4: friends

"We will start in two days and the training will be outside the town, so say goodbye to you relatives, we may not come back again." Cesar got up and left.

"How am I going to explain it to Ryota and Akina, this is really difficult." Kotaro grabbed the phone and called his two friends.

"Knock, knock." An hour after Caesar left, the two arrived.

"Hello, didn't you miss us?" one of the two people spoke and they were none other than Akina and Ryota.

"Welcome, come inside." Kotaro opened the door and asked them to come in.

"are you okay now?" Ryota asked.

"Yeah, no need to worry, and thank you for coming and checking on me." Kotaro smiled grateful to his two friends.

"Tomorrow you will come to school, right?" Akina spoke happily.

"I'm sorry Akina, but I probably won't go back to school after today."

"What? Have you lost your mind?" Akina cried. "If you don't want to go to high school, what are you going to do?"

"Kotaro, I know you are still depressed and sad because of losing your mother but giving up school is not a wise decision and you will regret it" Ryota intervene and speaks.

"I have my reasons, so please don't make it difficult for me." Kotaro refused to reveal the reason for his departure, then said, "I will leave the city in two days and I don't think I will return here, so I asked you to come so I can say goodbye to you before leaving."

"I won't accept your goodbyes, go to hell." Akina stood up and said with a teary face, then left: "Come on, Ryota, we'll talk when this idiot comes to his senses."

The two of them left with feelings of anger and sadness while Kotaro said nothing and rested his head on the dining table thinking what to do.

On the second day, Akina left her house, but she did not go to school, but to Kotaro's house, and after arriving, she knocked on the door.

"Caesar, is that you?" Kotaro opened the door, thinking that this person was Caesar, but was surprised and said, "Akina!! Didn't you go to school?"

"Cesar? Who is this?" I asked Akina

Kotaro tensed, then said, "Ah, he's the maintenance worker."

"Tell me right now what's going on with your idiot mind and your thought of leaving us and dropping out of school." Akina's expression changed and she started scolding Kotaro.

"Akina, I made my decision earlier and I won't change it, please understand" Kotaro spoke frankly and expressed the seriousness of his decision.

"are not we friends?,you and Ryota and I used to share all our problems and solve them together, so what changed you?" After Akina failed to convince Kotaro, she started crying and sobbing.

"Please don't cry, I'm doing this for your own good."

"My best interest is with you," Akina said.

"How do you know what happened to me? My mother was killed" Kotaro cried out in despair.

Akina stopped crying and opened her mouth in shock, she didn't know that Mrs. Shamak had been killed because this matter was covered up by the police and it was only announced that she had died of fatigue and illness and Kotaro did not tell her or Ryota about it either.

Akina was surprised, saying, "What!! Mrs. Christina didn't die, she was killed!"

Kristina Shamak was the same as Kotaro's mother.

"Yeah, I didn't want to tell you, but since you're so stubborn, I had no other choice," Kotaro said.

"I'm sorry about what happened to your mother, but who would dare to do that?" Akina spoke, then added, "Wait, you knew the killer and you're looking for revenge, right?"

"That's right, now that you know the reason, leave to your house," Kotaro commanded, and Akina walked out.

In the evening, Akina returned, but this time she had brought Ryota with her after telling him the truth, and they confronted Kotaro together after he was surprised by their arrival.

"Hello Kotaro, Akina told me about what happened to your mother so we decided to help you take revenge." Ryota began speaking directly.

"We'll leave school and go with you anywhere you want and we don't want any objection from you, understand?" Akina confirmed their decision.

Kotaro was surprised and didn't know what to answer or how to oppose their insistence, then spoke: "I don't know what to say, I didn't expect you to go that far for me."

Ryota smiled, "are not we friends."

"But what about your families, would you give them up for me?"

"You don't have to worry about us, it would be much better if we went with you," Akina said.

Akina was an orphan girl in the orphanage before she was adopted by one of the spouses, but she was not happy with them. They used to order her to do hard housework, and when they were angry, they healed their feelings of beating her and blaming her for this, most days she went to school and the effects of the beatings on her body. As for Ryota, after his mother's death, his father remarried, and Ryota had a half-brother and sister from his stepmother. Three years later, his father also died due to a car accident, and then Ryota's suffering began. His stepmother incited her children to bully and harass him because he was smarter and better then them in everything.

It was Akina and Ryota's miserable lives that encouraged them to reveal what they felt to Kotaro, and they had nothing to lose by going with him anyway.

"Akina is right, you know what we were going through with our families and in fact we were jealous of you sometimes for having you a mother like Mrs. Cristina," Ryota said shyly.

"Guys, I am really sorry for not understanding your feelings and it would be a shame for our friendship to reject your decision and resolve. Thank you, thank you for everything." Kotaro was crying tears of happiness to have two such friends.

After an exchange of words between them, Cesar came towards them and with a serious face and in a heavy tone shouted: "Hey Kotaro, what's going on here, didn't I tell you to keep your friends out of it."

"Maintenance worker? What is he doing here?" Akina said in amazement.

"Who is this?" Ryota wondered too.

"I'll tell you later" Kotaro was calmed the sudden situation.

"Uncle Cesar, listen to me for a moment. It is true that I ignored what you told me, but I ask you to respect my selfish decision. These two are among the closest people to me after my mother and the most who stood with me in times of crisis, and I entrust them with my life, so I don't see a problem in telling them everything." Kotaro said, trying to persuade Cesar.

"Shit, I hate things to happen the opposite of what I want, but this time I'll concede and accept your decision," Cesar sighed.

"Thank you." Kotaro bowed his back in gratitude.