Rain. The one thing that allows me to forget the reality of my life. As I look out the window of the dilapidated apartment that I live in, I take a look at the drug dealers, prostitutes, pimps, drug addicts, and regular people going about their daily lives. The sounds of the rain hitting the apartment roof drowns the sound of gunshots, screams, yells, and the cries of agony. I only hope mom can make it home safe tonight.
I turned my head towards my door as I heard the locks turn from a key. I checked the time, and it was around 8:00 PM my mom isn't usually home so early, so I go under the couch to grab the gun mom bought with a month's savings. As I aimed the gun at the door I waited for it to open. Once it did I saw my mom with grocery bags in her arms and I sighed.
"Mom you scared me!" I put the gun back under the couch and my mother smiled.
"Oh, I'm sorry about that Yumi. I should have told you I was going to be home early tonight," My mother opened the fridge and put a small number of groceries in, "Tonight we are having Tonkatsu." Oh? Such an expensive meal, I hope my mother didn't overwork herself.
"Mom are you sure? We can have onigiri for another night, you didn't have to do that." My mother frowned and shook her head.
"Yumi a growing girl like you needs healthy meals. Onigiri every day isn't going to cut it." By the tone of my mother's voice, it seems having Tonkatsu was final. I sighed and sat next to the window, and admired the beautiful rainy night. I hear the oil sizzling from the pork and I glance at my mother.
Every time I look at her it makes me sad. My mother is a prostitute and is paying off the debt of my shitty father. My bastard father died in a gambling incident and the gang who he kept borrowing money from decided to have us or rather, my mom, pay off the debt. The debt is 55M Yen that my father promised he would payback. The gang known as the Whistling Crows gave my mother two choices, either she works as a prostitute or they sell me on the black market to the highest bidder. I think it's obvious what my mother chose.
I didn't realize how long I was staring at my mother and she waved at me. I waved back with a smile and looked outside the window once again. The rain night gives me motivation. The motivation to try and get me and my mother out of this mess, this state of living, and finally be able to have a normal family life. The smell of pork could be smelled throughout our small apartment, giving me a small sense of hope. That was until I heard a harsh banging on the door.
"OPEN THE DOOR KAORI!" My mother immediately stopped cooking and signaled for me to hide in the closet next to the window. I nodded and ran to the closet but not before I grabbed the handgun. I heard my mother unlock the door and immediately heard a slap.
"You know why I'm here. Pay your monthly payments." The asshole who just slapped my mother is Nobori. He's one of the many gang members of the Whistling Crows.
"A-Alright." I heard my mother go under the kitchen sink and unlock our safe.
"Good." I heard Nobori unzip his pants, and I gripped the handgun in anger. How dare he?!
"You're a prostitute, right? Well, do your job." At that very moment, I wanted to leave the closet and unload a clip inside of Nobori's chest. After an hour of listening to Nobori do it with my mom, he finally left and I bursted out of the closet. My mother was naked and crying in the middle of our small living room. It saddened me to see my mother in such a way. I dropped the gun and hugged her with tears in my eyes.
"Yumi, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry." Mom, please don't apologize! I hate how useless I am, all I do is burden my mother. I can't do anything!
"Mom, you don't have to apologize for anything!" My voice was shaking and my vision was blurry from the tears streaming down my face.
"I have so much to apologize for! I'm sorry for the condition in which you were raised, I'm sorry that at twelve years old you have to worry about if you're going to eat tomorrow, I'm sorry for getting you wrapped up in your father's past debts, and I'm sorry for not being an acceptable mother!" My mother's heartfelt apology shook my soul. My mother has no reason to apologize yet here she is, apologizing for stuff that out was outside of her control. I'm truly a useless daughter, I can't even support my mother in her time of distress. WHY WAS I BORN SO USELESS!?
I hugged my mother tighter and cried into her shoulder. I cried, we cried. We cried for a while before we just stopped and hugged each other, eventually, I fell asleep. When I woke up my mother was gone, probably at work, and the sun was just rising. I stretched and made my way to the bathroom. As the water washed over me I dreamed of a better life free of poverty. I soon finished my shower and got ready for school.
It's a school in the center of Tokyo, that my mother is working hard for me to get into. It's a junior high that is incredibly prestigious and most of the kids there are rich. I finished styling my blonde hair and put on the school uniform. I grabbed my keys and left the apartment after locking the door. Now I have to make the treacherous journey to the subway station. The trip from my apartment to the subway station is around 15 minutes on foot.
I walk down the stairs of my apartment and avoid eye contact with the people standing in the stairwell, once I reached the ground floor I made my way down the street and to the subway station. I avoided anyone who came my way and finally made it to the subway station. I paid the subway fare and waited for the subway to arrive. I made myself aware of my surroundings and saw something that got my attention. It was a flyer on the wall that read.
'Fighters Needed! Payment of 100,000¥ per winning match! Call XXXX for details!' 100,000 Yen?! If I win over 500 matches I could pay off the debt and still have money left to spare! Though the chances of that happening are low and how am I going to hide this from my mother? I sighed and took the flyer anyway, I wasn't going to let this opportunity go to waste. The subway arrived and I walked on and waited until I was in the heart of Tokyo.
After sitting on the subway for over an hour, It finally reached the center of Tokyo and I breathed a sigh of relief. I walked out of the subway station and made my way to my Junior High. My school was called the Junior High school of Tokyo, creative right? Despite its horrible name, it's one of the best schools in the country and my mother worked her ass off to get me into it. The school allows the students to pick which classes they would like to take and will mold the students into their own vision. I've decided I want to go into the medical field, due to its high salary. Despite being a first-year, I have the highest test scores and best grades.
Now that sounds nice but it's only nice if you're rich. You see, rich kids seem to believe everyone that isn't rich is below them and when you have me, a poor girl, being better than them academically it creates conflict. Now, most of the stuff they do is incredibly harmless and is just annoying, they are brats, not monsters. I arrived at my school and walked through the front gate towards my class.
"Well if it isn't Yumi or should I say, poor girl?" And that's the start of my day. I looked up and a black-haired girl was standing in front of my desk with her arms crossed. Her name is Minami Mikoto, and she's the daughter of some prestigious lawyer. I rolled my eyes and sighed.
"What do you want Minami?" Minami pouted at my lack of reaction and pointed her finger at me.
"I want you to," Minami paused in the middle of her sentence I think she was looking for an insult, it's kinda cute, "I want you to stop being so smart!" I don't think she realizes that she complimented my intelligence.
I laughed and decided to play with her for a bit, "And how do you expect me to do that Minami?" Minami crossed her arms and pouted again.
"Just don't be smart!" If she wasn't such a brat, I think we could be great friends. I rolled my eyes before putting my head back down, and waited for class to begin. The bell rang and I heard my teacher open the door and begin writing on the chalkboard. After six hours of school, I left the campus and made my way back to the subway station. I took the flyer out of my bag and contemplated on if I should contact them. My mom won't be home early again, I know that for certain, so what's stopping me? The only answer is injuries, if I get injured my mom will definitely notice, it's not like I can hide bruises or black eyes.
I could make up the excuse that I fought some people trying to mess with me, and my mother knows that I'm not someone who would let myself be pushed around. So that could work, but what if she sees the same injuries for over a month. Then she's going to get suspicious, my mother wouldn't stop trying until she found out the truth, if we weren't so poor she'd be a great detective or lawyer. Another thing is, I have no formal training. I know how to fight, considering where I was raised, but I don't know any martial arts. But then again, who said I have to win every match? I could win at least 10 and have 1M of the debt paid off, and my mother already paid off 1.5M of it.
Contacting them seems like a good idea and if my mother ever finds out I'll just have to tell her the truth. I took my flip phone out of my bag and contacted the number.
𝘙𝘪𝘯𝘨...𝘙𝘪𝘯𝘨...𝘙𝘪𝘯𝘨...
"Soaring Dragon fighting ring, how may I be of service?" It was a sweet feminine voice that made me slightly relieved.
"Uhh, I uh found one of your flyers. I was wondering if I could register to fight?" I heard the woman typing and she answered.
"Yes, please give me your name and phone number, please." What about my age? This is kinda shady...
"Yeah, my name is Yumi Nakamura, and my phone number is XXXXXX." I assumed the woman typed my information in because I heard the clicks of a keyboard.
"I have one question."
"Yes?"
"What about my age? Shouldn't this kind of thing be for people 18 and older?" I know I want to make money and I'll do anything I can to make a large but I want to know what I'm getting myself into.
"Age doesn't matter in the Soaring Dragon fighting ring. Now, we won't pit you up against someone who's twice your age but you will fight people slightly older than you, the most is around 3 years." Oh, it isn't as bad as I thought.
"Alright then, so when do I fight?" The sooner the better, if I win it means money, and money is always welcome.
"Go to the Sakura Bar, tonight at 8:00 PM. Go to the side door and tell the bouncer this code, 'Rager Blue' he should let you in. Once he does, follow the lights along the stairwell, and you will meet our contact." I feel like I'm on some espionage mission, like one of those American movies, I think it was called Mission Impossible.
"Okay, goodbye." I hung up the phone, as the subway reached its destination. I walked out of the subway station and made my way home, tonight I was going to make some money.