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He’s torturing his up another constructed Me through the park HisThen the scene switches to a young Hideo on his knees before his parents, sobbing, begging forgiveness, hysterical, inconsolable, even as they try toin bed, curled up, silent, listening to the faint crying of hisfro everya thin, silver streak grow steadily into his black hair I wince The trauh I a our e shaineback, what it rieve with no closure at all, to live with an open-endeda knife forever in ht at the entrance of his parents’ hoine that pain and, even inbut the sound of water rippling against the rock When Hideo speaks again, his voice is loeighed doith a haunting, all-consuain after his disappearance They blamed themselves, put the shahbors and the police stopped talking about Sasuke, too, out of respect for my parents They can’t look at photos of him; I could only save what I had He exists now solely in their sculptures My ; she led her neurology tea My father developed a cough that never went away He gets sick frequently" Hideo’s eyes follow the path of the Gemini constellation, the stars that foraether He was cleverer than me--had aced every exam he ever took, tested effortlessly into every elite academy you could think of"
I understand now "You invented the NeuroLink because of your brother Warcross was inspired by that game Sasuke played in the park You created Warcross for him"
He pauses, and the water ripples as he turns toI do is for hi I say can possibly be right in thisat all I only listen
"I don’t talk about hiain "I haven’t talked about him in years"
This is Hideo stripped of his fortune and fa every day for his brother to coht, anything, differently It is hard to describe loss to someone who has never experienced it, ies you But for those who have, not a single word is needed
Hideo pushes away fro back up to the bathhouse He offersas always to the scars on his knuckles "It’s getting late," he says gently
24
We have dinner that night with Hideo’s parents I look on at how carefully Hideo fries etables, and sets rice in the steamer While he does, his mother fusses overup at ive her a big bowl It will add soh "Please"
She shrugs "I a you, she needs nutrition if her mind is to perform at its best You rey delivered by your blood?" I exchange a wry smile with Hideo as she launches into an explanation about blood
Hideo is the one who sets the table, who lays the food out for us, and who pours everyone tea Dinner is so delicious that I wish it could last forever--juicy, tender cuts of chicken fried to perfection; gleaetables for garnish; soft mochi cakes made of sticky rice flour for dessert, each stuffed with strawberry and sweet red bean; soothing cups of hot green tea As we eat, Hideo’s parents speak Japanese to each other in low voices, sneaking occasional smiles at me as if they think their e Hideo sitting beside ," he replies, even though I see a faint blush on his cheeks "I don’t usually have tirin "But you cooked dinner for et in return fros, bashful "Well," he says, "I wanted to do soe" He looks expectantly atfifteen-thousand-dollar electric skateboards Flights on private jets Closets full of expensive clothes Dinners at restaurants he owns And yet, none of that has made my heart skip like this earnest, hopeful look on his face as he waits to hear if I enjoyed the food he made for me
I lean my shoulder into him as I hold my bowl "Decent," I reply He blinks in surprise, then see our first h escapes hi back
Still Even as he talks easily with both hisabout his words from earlier, that Sasuke is a topic never discussed with therief and shame run so deep that they can’t even bear to have their second son’s portrait in the house No wonder I never heard about this in all the documentaries I watched about Hideo No wonder he has such a strict co about his family
"They don’t want to move," Hideo tellsthem a thousand times, but they don’t want to leave our old home So I do my best to keep theuards watching their home at all times"