Chapter Text
Akira Kurusu was just like any other happy 5 year old when it happened, he was playing at the park with his parents watching him from one of the benches that surrounded the area – he waved at them happily as he eagerly clambered up the ladder into the small enclosed section that held the opening to the slide. Strangely there were no other people at the park at that time but being 5 he merely shrugged it off and pushed it out of his mind, he was watching his feet as he climbed as too make sure that he didn’t misstep and fall – unfortunately this meant that he didn’t notice the dirty looking man that was huddled in the corner of the space until it was too late.
He looked up and before he could make any sound of surprise the man grabbed him roughly, slamming his hand over Akira’s mouth and pulling him further into the space, Akira wiggled harshly trying to escape the man but he was jerked and then slammed onto the floor by his neck – the man was crushing his throat and Akira felt tears well up in his eyes, he felt something tear in his throat at the harsh treatment and more tears welled up at the pain.
Akira struggled to get air into his lungs, he grasped and pulled at the man’s hands, his short nails scratching and biting into the man’s skin – unfortunately for him the rugged, dirty man was too strong and with a measly jerk of the hand strangling him Akira stilled, darkness was starting to appear at the edge of his vision, black spots started dancing around and he felt like he was starting to float as his body started feeling lighter and lighter. Just before he fully faded he heard a blood curdling screech from the entrance to the slide, it was another child who had just barely poked his head over the top of the ladder, too far for the man to grab and now with attention brought to the situation the man had no other choice but to let him go and make a run for it. Letting go of Akira’s throat the man dashed towards the opening of the slide, this meant that Akira could gulp in large breaths of air but his throat tensed and he choked on the air, he couldn’t get any air in or out of his lungs.
Akira felt hands pulling him out of the play area, lots of screaming, shouting and bright lights, he could hazily remember seeing his parents panicked faces and then strangers in a red and white uniform – they injected him with something and Akira slowly faded into unconsciousness.
-
The doctors had told his parents that due to extensive blunt force trauma to his neck his vocal cords had torn and that because they had to insert a breathing tube for him to be able to breathe the wound was irreparable – Akira would never be able to speak another word again.
The man was almost immediately caught by the police, they found out that he was an escaped convict from a nearby jail that managed to escape due to negligence by one of the security guards, who had been paid off by a crazed fan of the man – a serial killer who had murdered over 8 children by strangling them till their necks broke. It seems like his breaking point was when his wife had cheated on him with another man, had his child and then left him, taking most of his money.
In the following months Akira and his parents went to classes to learn sign language so that he would be able to communicate with them but it seemed like the event had done something to his parents, they drifted away from him over the following years – becoming distant, they hardly ever spoke to him other than what was necessary. The man had taken away his voice, his innocence and the love of his family, all for something he had nothing to do with, because of the man’s anger at his wife’s infidelity and her child.
The injustice of the world hit him hard. The cruelty of adults knew no bounds.
-
At the end of his first year at high school Akira was walking through the silent night of the small town he lived in, on his way back from school when he heard the cries of woman and the angry shouting of man, demanding that the woman get in the car – Akira flinched in remembrance but steeled himself, there was a woman in danger and he had to help somehow. He walked up the street and rounded the corner to see a bald man trying to force a woman into his car, he was very obviously drunk due to his jerky movements and stunted speech – Akira hurriedly sped up so that he could intervene, he gripped the man’s shoulder and lightly tugged so that he could get his attention so that he could try and sign to him but as the man turned around Akira saw him very unconvincingly stumbled and fall, knocking his head open on the ground.
The man started shouting at him, threating to call the police for assault and Akira looked at the woman he tried to save, she was shaking and had obviously seen the entire act and that Akira had in no way assaulted the man but before he could try and console her the other man was up on his feet shouting at her, threatening her to tell the police that that’s what happened and she shakily nodded when the bald man thrust a couple of thousand yen at her.
That was how Akira Kurusu had been falsely convicted of assault on a random bystander, of how a woman he had been trying to save was bribed into lying and giving a false eyewitness account of the ‘assault’ and how corrupt the justice system really was when they brushed his account under the rug, claiming that due to his disability he felt the need to rebel and how the surveillance camera evidence mysteriously disappeared.
The world was truly an unforgiving and cruel place.
Due to the corruptness of a system – Akira was an unfortunate victim of circumstance.
20XX 4/09
Akira was startled out of his day dreams by the loud voice of a woman announcing their next stop over the train’s intercom system, after the ‘incident’ his parents had jumped on the chance to send him away – claiming that it was better for him if he got away from the rumours but he knew better. They said they had made arrangements with an old friend of theirs for him to stay with, in Tokyo, far away from his small hometown – and in turn, far away from them.
The train jolted to halt by the platform he needed to get off at so that he could get on the next train that would bring him closer to the location he would be staying at – Akira had to struggle to make his way out of the train, people seemed to pay the small black-haired teen any mind and thus would not make space for him to leave the train car. He huffed out a tired sigh, being mute and short did nothing to help him in these sorts of situations but he shook his head, being negative would help him either so with a renewed pep in his step Akira made his way up a set of escalators, following the arrows printed on the handing signs on where he was supposed to go next.
He went down a set of steps into an underground section and paused to get his phone out, he looked at the directions sent to him by the man he would be staying with – Sojiro Sakura seemed like a terse, no nonsense man from what he could gather from the short and curt texts he had received from him. Akira was so focused on the contents of his phone that he hadn’t noticed a light brown haired teen standing in front of a rack of magazines and thus walked straight into him, nearly going sprawling if it weren’t for the quick reaction of the boy to grab his wrist, the other teen hardly seemed affected by the bump whereas Akira almost became close friends with the floor, another disadvantage of being small he supposed.
Once he had regained his balance he looked up at the other teen, barely reaching his shoulder Akira had to almost look straight up to see his face due to them standing so close, being distracted by how handsome the light-haired boy was Akira lifted his hands and made the quick gesture of ‘Sorry’ without thinking that the other might not know any sign. It wasn’t till the other boy responded in a slightly stiff and mechanical sign that it was no problem that he had realised what he had done and blushed softly, quickly getting out his phone – ignoring the perplexed expression on the teen’s face – he opened his text-to-speech app and typed out his response.
“I’m incredibly sorry for bumping into you, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.” The slightly mechanical, monotone voice said, the small noise coming from the speakers of his phone.
The boy seemed to pause for a moment and in the same stiff movements as before he answered – it was obvious that he did not use sign language very often – that it caused no harm, he had to spell out most of the words and it became clear to Akira that he didn’t know sign very well.
“Thank you understanding and you do not need to sign, I cannot speak but I can hear perfectly fine, however thank you for the consideration.” Akira gave a small smile to the teen, most times people would just glare at him and continue whatever they were doing or ignore him completely once he started signing.
“It is no problem, I haven’t had to use sign language in quite a while and it seems that I have gotten somewhat rusty in that time. As for the little bump, it was a simple accident and no one was hurt so it’s really no problem.” The teen gave him a polite smile, his voice sent delighted shivers down Akira’s back, it was so soft and kind.
Akira once again glanced at the directions he was given and then around the large underground station, he was unable to find a sign that could point him in the direction of his next line so under the slightly curious gaze of the other boy he began typing away. “I’m sorry to be such a bother but could you please point me in the direction of the Yongen-Jaya line? I cannot seem to find it and I would prefer not to wonder around and run the potential of stumbling into another unfortunate stranger.”
“You really aren’t a bother nor should you think so, the platform you are looking for is down this path and to the left, you should see a card scanner and an attendant in a booth next to them. I hope you find your destination…” He trailed off and looked at him in expectancy, it took him a moment to realise that the boy wanted his name.
“Akira Kurusu.” A different voice came from the speaker, a personal recording done by an old friend of his since the app said it weirdly. “It’s lovely to meet you…”
“Goro Akechi, pleasured to make your acquaintance Akira – I do hope we meet each other again, under different circumstances of course, now you better along now or you’ll miss the next train on your line.” Akechi responded, another polite smile on his face.
Akira’s eyes widened and he shot the other teen a happy smile and nodded – he hoped that they did get to meet again, grateful for the help he bowed and then rushed off to the area he was directed to. Only once he was seated on the next train did he allow himself to think back to the encounter and blush, Akechi was really pretty.
-
Akira wondered through the backstreets of the area he was supposed to live in but the directions he got were somewhat confusing and soon he was so turned around that he had no idea where he was, never mind where he was supposed to be – he spotted a police officer and hurriedly made his way over hoping that the man would be able to help him. He tapped the man on his shoulder to get his attention, the man turned but he did not look very happy to be bothered and Akira rushed to get his cell phone out so that he could explain to the officer what he needed but the man scowled at the sight of the device.
“Get out of here kid, I have no time to deal with brats.” The man grumbled and proceeded to shoo him off with a dismissive wave of his hand and before Akira could even begin to make any signs to explain the man had turned away and completely ignored him.
He tried to open his app but it seemed to freeze each time he opened it and he let out a frustrated huff, he stomped away and tried to find someone else that could help him but the other three people he went up to basically had the same reaction – they either completely ignored his presence or told him to get lost. Eventually he gave up on trying and with tears of frustration in his eyes he walked into the first restaurant he stumbled upon, he slumped into the stool by the counter and thumped his head on the counter top – the man behind the counter just snorted in amusement while cleaning a white coffee cup.
“Rough day kid?” A gruff voice asked, and Akira just nodded his head – not even bothering to lift his head. “Don’t mind if you feel like sharing, there’s no one else here to hear and I myself am waiting for someone to show up”
Akira slowly pulled out his cell phone and began hastily typing out the short version of his story, feeling the need to get his woes of his chest, he gave a quick rundown of his literal run in at the train station, his inability to decipher directions and how he was basically ignored by all the people he had tried to get help from – and now here he was, running late to meet up with the man who was generous enough to give him a place to sleep all because he couldn’t verbally communicate with people.
After a few moments of silence the man let out a bark of laughter and put down the cup he was cleaning and the cloth with which he was cleaning with and rested his hands on the counter top then he leaned forward as if to get a closer look at Akira and then he let out another snort of amusement, or rather a snort thay signified that he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“So I take it you’re the ‘Violent assaulter’ Akira Kurusu?” Akira whipped his head to look at the man so fast that he thought he actually heard the bones in his neck crack in protest and the man chuckled at his bewildered look. “My name is Soijiro, nice to meet you or whatever. You aren’t really…. What I was expecting to say the least.”
That was an understatement, when the kid’s parents had called him and gave him the details of what happened, Soijiro thought he’d be housing a tall, burly delinquent like teenager with tattoos and scars littering his body but instead he got a short, black haired boy who seemed like he would be pushed over by a particularly strong breeze – his large black rimmed glasses added to the look, making him seem even younger and more like the type that would be bullied for money on the playground.
Akira sent the man a somewhat relieved smile, glad to have finally found the right place, even if it was totally by accident, he typed up a reply but before he could finish the man interrupted him by placing the cloth he was cleaning with onto the counter and walking out from behind the counter.
“If you’d follow me I’ll show you to where you’ll be staying for the coming year,” Soijiro gestured for Akira to follow him but the way he went made the black-haired boy raise an eyebrow in confusion. “Just follow.” Akira shrugged and followed the older man, apparently there was a small staircase hidden on the far side of the restaurant that lead up to an attic area. “Now I suggest you clean it as soon as possible, there is a bathroom downstairs that has a small shower in it and there is a bath house across the street if you feel like relaxing. The futon is over there, rest up after you’re done cleaning since I’ll be taking you to your new school tomorrow so that you can speak to the principle about the rules and any special circumstances due to your… condition. The box your parents sent over with all your things in it is over there and anything you find up here that you want, bring it to me and I’ll say whether or not you can have it – now I’m going to lock up and go home.”
With that Soijiro made his way back downstairs without even waiting for a response from Akira, who just stared blankly at the – his – room until the sound of a door closing roused him – it was a little overwhelming but he had dealt with worse so he mentally shook himself and then rolled up his sleeves and began to clean.
-
Akira was startled awake by the loud voice of Soijiro shouting at him from downstairs to wake up and get ready so he blearily tumbled out of bed and put on his glasses so that he could actually see the world around him, he dressed in comfortable but neat clothes and a pair of high top boots so that he seemed a little taller than he actually was, more his own sake than to look better. He made his way down stairs and was greeted by a cup of milk tea, which he gladly accepted and drank down greedily and nodded in thanks for.
“As part of being your legal guardian for the year I was privy to your medical records and saw that you had bad reactions to caffeine in higher amounts so rather than make you a cup of coffee I went for something that would relax you for the meeting today. Now I’ll be driving you there today but this is a onetime deal, from tomorrow onwards you’ll have to take the train but it’s simple enough – you have your passenger card so everything should be fine.” Soijiro nodded, as if he was mentally checking off things on a list. “Now you know that it’s very lucky that you got into this with your record so you need to be on your best behaviour, although I highly doubt you could cause too much problems,” at this Akira could see the older man eye from head to toe and mentally pouted. “But you’ll need to be extra careful in any case and if anyone causes you any issues due to your… inability to speak then you come straight to me and I’ll sort something out alright?”
Akira nodded in understanding, there had been a lot of problems in his previous school with bullies who thought it was funny to pick a fight with someone who couldn’t shout for help, so he knew exactly what Soijiro was talking about but Akira knew how to avoid those types of people so he doubted the older man would need to intervene. Once he was done with his tea – which was a divine lavender and vanilla blend – they made their way out the door and into Soijiro’s car.
The trip to the school was spent with nothing but the babble of people on the radio to fill the silence, Soijiro would grumble every once in a while because of something another driver did or didn’t do but the silence was companionable enough that it wasn’t too awkward. They arrived at the large building of the school soon enough and were lead upstairs by a student council member with short brown hair once they walked inside, there were three people waiting for them in a semi-spacious office.
There was a larger, bald man seated behind a desk who Akira assumed was the principle due to the placard on the desk that said ‘Principle’ – standing to his left was a curly haired woman who looked incredibly unimpressed, she was of average height and wore a muted yellow that wasn’t hard on the eyes, needless to say she was taller than Akira was. The other person in the room was a boy who looked to be Akira’s age in a light coloured jersey top and dark pants, he had dark blue hair and had such a terrified demeanour that Akira was impressed he hadn’t bolted out the room as soon as the door opened. Although he seemed confused when Akira and Soijiro walked in, almost as if they weren’t who he was expecting, and he shyly glanced towards Akira but quickly averted his gaze – Akira just tilted his head to the side in confusion with a somewhat unsure smile on his face.
Before he could look around any further the principle got their attention by clearing his throat, once everyone in the room had their attention turned towards him he started to talk, “Akira Kurusu, since your grades at your previous high school were adequate you shall be in Kawakami-san’s class of 2-B, you shall listen to her and not cause any trouble – you should be grateful to have been accepted into this school due to your record so if you cause any trouble what so ever you will immediately be expelled without hesitation.” The man got straight to the point, his voice stern and left no room for arguments. “Now in regards to your disability,” at this Akira flinched, “this is Mishima Yuuki, he shall be your basic translator for when your need to give answers in class since cell phones are not permitted to use during class hours however under special circumstances you shall be allowed to use it.”
The other teenager gave him a nervous smile and a small bow which Akira returned with a much brighter smile, it was obvious that they boy was scared of him – a small frown wiggled into the forefront of his mind, but why was he scared of him? No one at the school should know of his record but maybe Mishima had been informed due to his presence as his translator, he waved the worry from his mind – it was highly unlikely that the other students knew of his past other than being the new transfer student.
After a few more warnings and his schedule, Soijiro lead Akira out of the building and back to his car where they got in and left the school grounds, the older man turned on the radio in order to hear if there were any traffic accidents that he should avoid on the way home but all that was on was coverage about the train crash that had happened the other day and the supposed mental shutdown that caused it.
“Tch, what is happening to the world these days?” Soijiro mumbled under his breath and turned the radio off. “Now listen here, this was a onetime deal – from tomorrow onwards you’ll have to take the train to school, you have your card and everything so you should be fine just follow the signs and they will take you to the right place, Don’t be late and don’t cause any trouble at school or else you’ll be expelled and trust me when I say that it was hard enough getting you into this one.”
Akira just nodded, he felt bad for putting Soijiro through so much trouble even though he technically didn’t deserve this either but Akira felt bad for burdening others with his mess anyway. He sighed and closed his eyes, hoping for a good start to his school year tomorrow.
-
Of course he would be caught in the rain without an umbrella, first his train was late due to the crash, then he had gotten lost in the station and finally he was now stuck – sopping wet - under an overhang due to a sudden downpour of rain that the weatherman had not menti9oned in the news this morning. Just his luck.
Akira was interrupted in his pity party by someone else running under the overhang to get out of the rain, they were wearing a bright red hoodie with the hood pulled up of their head to protect them from the rain, they shook of the excess water clinging to them and pulled the hood off their head. A plume of light blond hair was released and Akira had to hold his breath at the beauty of the light bouncing of the rain onto the hair, the owner of the hair was a pretty, young woman who smiled in amusement at his awestruck face and he blushed. Before he could reach for his phone to apologize for staring a red car pulled up and the window rolled down to reveal a man, Akira stared in bemusement as he smiled up at the girl and offered her a ride. Akira looked at her and saw the strained smile she had on her face as she accepted and climbed in, the offer was extended to him but at the harsh look in the man’s eyes, he declined and hung back watching the girl as the car drove of – she looked so sad and defeated…
Akira was startled out of his observations but a blonde teenager running up from out of nowhere trying to reach the car, at first Akira thought that he was trying to get a lift but reconsidered when he heard the blonde curse under his breath as he caught he breath, leaning on his knees. The boy was dressed in a bright yellow tee, the same school pants that he was currently wearing and jacket – his short, sunny blonde hair drew his attention, he’d met more blonds today than he had the entirety of last year in his small hometown.
The blondes head snapped towards him when he shifted from one leg to the other and basically glared at him, “What?” The blonde snapped at him.
Rushing to get his phone before he could anger the other further, Akira hurriedly typed out a short ‘nothing, sorry’ before shyly glancing down. A confused frown took place on the boys scowling features and he gruffly mumbled something along the lines of ‘I’m not going to bite you jeez.’
The boy was significantly taller than he was but at the same time it seemed like he was hunched over, as if trying to make himself seem less noticeable – Akira felt bad for seeming like the other was going to harm him and quickly typed out another sorry before introducing himself, the other seemed shocked at first that he continued to interact with him but then shot him a crooked smile.
“Sakamoto Ryuji, it’s nice to meet you.”