Chapter 17 : School

Taichi

I lay in bed, I had my headphones on, up full blast with my favorite metal songs. They usually helped me calm down, deafened me from the sounds of life, and drawed me into a world where everyone suffered like me. But this time, it wasn't working. Everything I heard reminded me of Matt and his hopeless situation. There had to be something I could do to help him. But what?

I had been a complete failure in the alley, telling him things he didn't want to hear. I didn't know what to do. I had tried reasoning with him. I had tried yelling at him, that never worked. What was there left for me to do? I might have been able to talk at least a little sense in him. But I never got the chance. My sister had gone fuckin' chicken and phoned the cops. I still couldn't believe she did that.

We all knew the consiquences calling the police could bring. And our fears were confirmed. Yamato was going to be imprisoned, and if not that sent to an asylum somewhere. We had lost our chances to help him, now there was nothing we could do. There was no way we could think of enough reasons to save my friend. In fact, they would make us go against him. They'd put us on the stand as witnesses, make us tell everything that happened.

And there was no way we could lie. It'd be too obvious. And most of us wouldn't anyway. I know for a fact Joe and Koushirou wouldn't. They were too good for that. Mimi, she wouldn't, I'm not so sure she doesn't want Yama in jail. Sora, I wasn't sure of, she was honest, but she was also loyal to her friends. I don't know what she would do. Hikari...my mind boiled thinking of my sister. So much anger was blocked up inside of me. I needed to let it out somewhere. In the Digital World, I took it out on Matt. Now he was locked up somewhere...

Hikari, I forced my mind to the subject, what would she do? She'd tell the truth. She ratted on him, why not just finish the job and send him away? Myself. What would I do? The last thing I wanted was my best friend in prison. But I couldn't lie..could I? Maybe I just won't go to the trial...no I couldn't do that. I had to try something to help Matt. I just had to.

I rolled over on my stomach and glanced at the digital clock on my bedstand. The red lights blinked 3:21 am. Outside my room everything was quiet. I had heard my parents talk to Kari, and I heard her tell them everything. Why did she do that? Our parents would surely use the knowledge against my friend. They probably thought him a dangerous psycho that should be locked up.

He didn't deserve this. He just wanted revenge, that was easy to understand. Why couldn't they just let him find and kill the bastard who murdered Takeru? That wouldn't be so bad. The things would be great. Maybe. My mind fell silent for a moment, tomorrow was only Tuesday. Would my parents make us go to school? Knowing them. Yes. I sigh and try to sleep. The angsty words of my music played in my head all night.

~

I wake up to that sound. I had let the CD play all night. I glanced at the clock again. 6:34 am. I had barely slept 3 hours last night. I had waken up a few times to sounds from my sister's room. I knew she was having nightmares again. The previous days I had gone over to comfort her. This time, thought, I was too tired and too angry to. I suppose it was mean of me, but I just didn't feel like comforting the person who had turned in my best friend. Myself, I had a restless, dreamless, night. I don't know if it was becuz I barely slept at all, or if I was just spared of horrific images discribed as nightmares.

I heard my mom coming down the hallway to my room. Yup, I was going to school anyway. With 3 hours of sleep and a head full of anger, I knew this was going to be a bad day. "Taichi! Get up! You're still going to school today!" my mother's voice rang though the door. I didn't reply, but dragged myself out of bed. I had to talk to the others anyway. I got dressed quickly, I glared at my hair in the mirror. It was wild, stretching out in every direction, matted, tangled, just plain bad looking. And I didn't feel like fixing it. I ran a comb through, broke it, gave up and went into the kitchen.

I grabbed a piece of toast, my backpack, and exited the apartment. I was hungry, but I didn't want to talk to my parents and least of all my sister. I knew in the back of my head she was sorry and wanted to apoligize. But that wouldn't prevent what had happened, and I wasn't ready to forgive her yet. Anger was safe. It was better than all the other emotions I could be feeling at the moment. So much better.

The gobbled the toast hungrilly and walked down the street at a brisk pace. I didn't see Sora, we usually walked to school together as she only lived about a block away from me. Perhaps her mother let her stay home. Or maybe she was just running late. I don't know. I entered the courtyard of the school. Everything was so normal looking. People talking, conversing, gossiping. I hate them, their lives were perfectly fine.

A group of girls turned and looked at me. I didn't recognize them, "Hey look! It's Kamiya! Maybe he's a killer too! We'd better leave..." they hissed to each other, they hurridly shuffled away. What? Before I had time to think a group of guys came up to me, "Hey Tai! How'zit feel to have a psycho for a best friend?!" they taunted. "What!?" I screamed in disbelief. They laughed and shoved a newspaper in my face. I grabbed it angrilly and glared at it.

It was the local newspaper, on the front in big, bold letters was the headline: "Rock Star Ishida Yamato Arrested for Attempt Murder" I blinked, read the title again, growled then started reading the article: "Last night teen rock star, Ishida Yamato (16) kidnapped and attempted to kill a young girl, Tachikawa Mimi (16). Tachikawa was a friend of Ishida's and had known him since they were 11. Other friends of the boy had found him with Tachikawa pinned to a wall with a knife in his hand. They had attempted to stop him, but he threatened them.

"Kamiya Hikari, the younger sister of Taichi Kamiya the best friend of Ishida, had phoned the police worried. The police arrived at the scene and saw Ishida, knife still in hand, and about to kill young Tachikawa. Ishida had been arrested and taken to the Odaiba County Jailhouse. He is to remain there until his court session which is to take place this Friday at 7:00 pm at City Hall. Ishida's parents..."

The article went on to talk about what Matt's parents' had said and discussed perhaps why this has happened. I crumpled it and threw in angrilly at the ground. "Heh, who'd have thought, Yamato the Star is now Yamato the Killer." someone was saying to their friend. I couldn't take it anymore. Yama was not a killer. I exploded.

"Shut the fuck up bastard! You don't know what the hell you're talking about! Yamato didn't kill anyone!" I screamed. The person who had spoken before, some guy named Okashi sneered at me, "The psycho almost did, what's the difference? He had a knife pointed to the bitch's throat! A killer's a killer." "Shut the fuck up! Shut the fuck up! You don't know him!" I yelled, maybe I was trying to convince myself that Matt was innocent.

Okashi shoved me; "Why don't you go cry somewhere Kamiya? Oh! My best friend is in jail! What ever will I do!?" he mocked. I growled, clenched my teeth and slugged him hard in the chin. The guy fell backwards into his friend. I felt the people around us gasp and hiss at each other. "You don't know what you're talking about, bastard." I told him. Okashi got up, "You think you're so great don't you, Kamiya?" he swung at me.

I ducked and launched another attack, my fist connected with his jaw. The son of a bitch flew backwards again, he was no match for me. I kicked him. "Tai!" I spun my head, I saw my friends approach me. "Stop it, Tai!" "Why should I!? The bastard deserves it!" I replied, and kicked him again. Okashi groaned. "Tai! Come on! Whatever he did, it's not worth it!" Sora grabbed my arm.

The bell rang. The crowd spilled into the building. I looked down at Okashi, then at Sora and the others. I spit at the ground next to Okashi and leave. My friends follow, no one said anything. They didn't ask why I did it, or what the guy had said or done. I guess they knew. My anger subsided for a moment, replaced by depression. Why wouldn't Matt listen to me?

~

The day had been slow. The halls were filled with harsh whispers between the students. I hear their rumors, I hear them talk about me behind my back. "Did you hear!? Yamato's in jail!" "I heard that Taichi started a fight with Okashi this morning!" "Yamato killed Mimi!" "Matt's a murderer?" "Hey, did you know Takeru is dead?" "Sakomi told me that Tai's a killer too, they're all killers, a group of them!" "I heard that Yamato's having a trial on Friday." "Matt tried to kill that Tachikawa girl!"

Their voices hanut me. They provoke me. Prod me. Yama's not a killer, no way. I refused to believe it. He was..just confused and angry...he wouldn't really have killed Mimi...Would he? I was filled with doubt. Why couldn't I have stopped him? Why did I let Kari call the police...It's all my fault. If I could have stopped Matt sooner, Kari wouldn't have called, and none of this would have happened.

I thought of Hikari again, my sister. I had been very cold to her, I had been angry. I suppose I couldn't blame her, it was my fault, not hers. My fault. I couldn't admit it to myself, it's all my fault. And I had taken it out on her, man, why'd I hafta be such a jerk?

Yamato's band had been devistated. Their star had been charged for assult and attempt murder, that did not improve their image. They had known something was up with their friend, but they hadn't known of this. They had no idea. Now the band was being teased by the bastards as well, we were all in the same boat. "I'll bet the whole band is Yamato's lackies, they're all killers." "Them and the guy's little friends, Tai and those other people." "They shouldn't be allowed to be in school!" It was a living hell all day, I had broken several times and started a few fights.

That didn't help, when I figured out that fighting them made me look worse, I stopped. I just took it. I let them taunt me, what did it matter anyway? They're all jerks anyway, they didn't know anything. We were only guilty by association,...nothing more. But Yama,...he wasn't really guilty,...he just needed help. That's all,...he'd get better...

The whole week was like that, I couldn't concentrate at all. The trial Friday was all I could think of. And how Matt was feeling, he was locked up somewhere. How would he be feeling? Sora, Koushirou, Joe, Hikari, and I stuck together all week, many of our other friends turned on us. Just because we were close friends of Matt. How stupid was that?

I failed a few tests and my parents got pissed off. But I didn't care, all I did all week when I got home was go into my room and lock the door. I didn't eat much. I didn't sleep much. It was a horrible week. I wanted Friday to be here more than ever. I knew the others did too. Life sucks.

Next Chapter

© Kiriska