Seridano x Elyka
 

Alone. Who sits alone outside in the pouring rain, staring up at the sky as if seeking answers but to no avail? While this may not be so terribly odd, who does this while huddling inside of a broken cardboard box? You’d think somebody would be curious, that somebody would stop by to help or simply point and laugh at the freak in the box, but no. All these questions, but it’s a long story that led to Elyka actually ending up in his current predicament: beaten, homeless, and too miserable to even care.

Growing up as the son of a successful Japanese CEO father and an always-on-the-go British super model mother pretty much taught Elyka Odagiri the ability to be independent from an early age. Mummy popped by every once in a while to bring presents and laughter into the otherwise solemn household only to turn around and leave the next day. She was more of a magician than a model it seemed to the boy: now you see her, now you don’t. As for Father (never Daddy)…he was…well, frankly he was intimidating. Maybe it was the fact that he never smiled, or maybe it was the fact that his idea of relaxing was taking off his tie while remaining in his dark suit, or the fact that he was usually screaming into a small cell phone in angry gibberish…Whatever the case, Elyka tended to shy away from the man. Okaa-san, good. Otou-san, scary.

As far as school went, Elyka attended a private school from elementary through 11th grade. After eleven years though, he finally had enough of the snooty little rich children. He had tried to beat them, he had tried to join them, he just…he just didn’t belong there with them. If there was one thing he learned at the school though, it was the art of language; the ability to speak fluently, persuasively, and passionately. He used these three things to create and present to his father a thirty two page report with one central meaning: get me the hell out of that school. Apparently he presented his case well enough because it was good-bye St. John’s, and hello local high school hell. It was for senior year only, but still…Ah, bliss. However, it was there that the problems began.

Normal parents would be proud of A’s and B’s on a report card. To the elder Mr. Odagiri however, B’s were the same thing as blasphemy. An 89? I think not. Elyka began attending prep classes at night as well as regular classes during the day after that wretched grade. After a month or two of this, his body screamed for rest, ached for relief. The friends he made at school were sympathetic to his plight; they kindly offered him booze and pills. Which of course he refused. Of course…At first anyway.

Elyka never let himself get too tipsy. When he felt his face collide with a hard surface, usually from falling down onto his friend’s kitchen floor, he knew that he had had enough to drink. See? Perfectly safe. In which case, he would stand up, dust himself off and wish his friends farewell. It was a bit of a wobbly walk home, but he made it home nonetheless without too many problems.

And then one day, it all became too overwhelming. Just…everything. At 18 years of age, the Japanese-British young man was legally an adult. Legal to do whatever he damn well pleased, including dropping out of school. When he told his father this, the man did not take kindly to the news; mildly speaking. Though the CEO had always been intimidating throughout the years, he had never physically hit his son. Until he heard those six defiant little words: “I’m dropping out of school, Otou-san.”

Elyka bowed low before his father, arms straight by his side while his body formed a right angle. It was meant to be respectful, but vulnerable was a better word for it. Silence greeted the statement, altered only by the ticking of a coo-coo clock on a nearby wall. Suddenly the blows came: elbow driven down into back, knee connecting with stomach, fists colliding with delicate face. For an older man, Mr. Odagiri seemed to have a lot of…energy.

“How dare you?” The words were hissed, meant to be intimidating perhaps. Elyka simply smiled at the man in front of him with his split lips and one slightly up tilted hazel eye swollen shut. This earned him a rough jerk of his shirt collar, which put him nose to nose with his father.

Coo Coo. The clock chimed the hour.

“Ah, Father. The clock knows you well!” Just as quickly as he was pulled close, he was thrown to the ground.

Coo Coo.

“Get out of my house.”

Coo Coo.

“Yorokonde.” With pleasure.

Coo Coo.

“You are no son of mine.”

Coo Coo.

“Wakarimashita.” Understood.

Elyka stood shakily to his feet and offered his father a mocking half-bow, finally stumbling out into the night and slamming the door behind him. Well, that went well. Okay, so he hadn’t expected to be disowned for a simple decision, and he hadn’t expected it to rain that chilly autumn night. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a shirt advertising his old prep school (of all things). A jacket? Nope. Shoes? Natta.

Aimless wandering led the boy nowhere, but he had nowhere to call home now. Apparently it was trash day for the neighborhood he currently found himself in, green plastic trashcans parked beside every mailbox as evidence. Beside one of the green trashcans was a large cardboard box. It was pretty much soaked by the rain, but then again so was Elyka so…

He went over to the box to inspect it closer, smiling some at a thought that crossed his mind: This’ll be my home. He dragged the box up onto the sidewalk and circled it a few times. Seems spacious, maybe with a few pictures and potted plants it will be more cozy…

“Oh who am I kidding? This suuuuucks.” Elyka sighed, grabbed the box by one of its little flaps and dragged it along behind him as he walked. Up ahead was a little park and though it wasn’t big or fancy, the neighborhood kiddies probably loved it all the same. It seemed like a better place than the middle of the sidewalk to make camp at any rate, so Elyka parked his new home there.

The rain seemed to be letting up; at least one thing was trying to go right now. Elyka shook his usually-shiny-and-silky-black hair back and forth like a dog, only to discover that this movement hurt too much. Mmm. After a bit of rearranging, he finally managed to settle himself in the box. It wasn’t particularly comfortable, but it would have to do.

Elyka sat hugging his knees against his chest. He wiggled his toes, which were already trying to fall asleep, and then sneezed. And then to top it all off, the rain changed its mind and returned with a vengeance. It was going to be a long, long night.