Nightmare Melodies

          
“Jiro! Jiro!” called Suguru’s mother, her voice echoing shrilly through the house. Firmly clasped, she dragged Suguru through the main hall, looking for her errant husband, muttering, “Where is that man? I swear, he’s about as good at hiding and as lazy as you are.” Taking hold of a servant’s arm, she shoved Suguru into them. “Clean him up, and see that he’s brought straight back to me.”


          
“Yes, Fujisaki-san.” The maid bowed, then led Suguru off to one of the bathrooms on
the main floor, where they kept medical supplies.

~~~


          
The doors to Jiro’s study burst open, causing him to fumble and drop one of his
experiments. “Nami! Didn’t you see the warning sign on the door?!”


          
“Never mind your useless dabbling. You need to speak with your son about what he’s
done to himself this time!” Mrs. Fujisaki waved off her husband’s work as
inconsequential.


          
Mr. Fujisaki put down his ruined glass and sighed, dusting his hands. “What do you
mean, what he’s done this time?”


          
“I mean, your son not only damaged school property, attacked one of his schoolmates,
and cut himself!” Mrs. Fujisaki’s voice had gotten, if possible, higher and more shrill.


          
“What?! Cut himself?!” Mr. Fujisaki bolted out the door, heading for the room where
Suguru was being bandaged. “Suguru, let me see!” His fingers trailed along the wounds,
eyes growing miserable. As he’d feared, his son was leaving them, one way or another.
“Oh Su……. Why?”


          
“Because it doesn’t matter.” Suguru murmured, leaning against his father. “Because I
hurt anyway, this hurts less.”


          
Wrapping his arms around Suguru’s shoulders, his father murmured, “I will make this
better. I promise.” Perhaps it was time to invest in Tohma’s help. It would give Suguru
an outlet away from his mother. If anything, Nami shouldn’t even protest, considering
their son would be sent to train under the man she wanted him to be as good as.

~~~


          
However, Nami Fujisaki had other plans in mind. Instead of coddling Suguru, she meant
to give him a taste of shock therapy. The next day found Mrs. Fujisaki and Suguru at the front desk of Hokkaido’s mental institution. "And where would he be kept, if we
decided it was the only viable option?"


          
"Oh, he'd have a special room all to himself. We wouldn't want someone as talented as
him, hurt by our other patients. But you should stay the day, see some of them, and if
you're quite sure...."


          
Suguru ignored them as they discussed terms for possible entry. Wandering off, he
peered into the door's window closest to him. Inside, there was a man half-off the bed,
leaning back with an expression of what seemed like pain. Between his legs knelt
another person with their head in the man's groin area. Then the man moaned.


          
Confused, he turned to blink at the staff person. Why was no one coming to help
rescue that man?! But the staff person just tugged him along, closing the window's
slat. "That's not something a child should see..."


          
"I'm not a child." Suguru murmured, following along. It was easier to go willingly, then be hauled along like luggage. "Where's my mother?"


          
"She'll be back to pick you up in a little while." The orderly soothed gently, though her tone indicated, 'if you're good and behaved, proving you're not insane'.


          
Frowning, Suguru allowed the woman to escort him into a room that held a variety of
patients his age, the ones deemed ‘fit for social time’. Eyes dull and listless, he watched a few hug and rock themselves, a few playing pirates with the chess board pieces, and a few who thought the couch cushions were taffy and were plucking out pieces to chew on. His response to the situation, and his mother’s abandonment was all of one word: “Whatever.”

TBC