| Sakyo | I came to understand that my family wasn’t “normal” when I was in elementary school. |
| During the sports festival, all my classmates entered the parent-child relay with their fathers, but I ran with my mother. |
| “Where did you go over summer vacation?” “I’m busy after school with lessons.” “My parents bought me new clothes, a new game”—every time I heard such stories, I realized how different my own family was. |
| I understood that I couldn’t have what I wanted; even for my birthday, I thought about how much my gift would cost before I asked for it. |
| My mother endured and struggled far more than I did. I knew that, so I never complained. |
| But my classmates came to realize that I wasn’t “normal,” and little by little, they began to distance themselves from me. |
| I, too, looked down on my classmates as childish, and kept my distance from them. |
| Even though I really wanted to play with them, I just couldn’t admit it. |
| |
| One day, a kind classmate reached out to me. |
| “Do you play this card game?” |
| I don’t remember the name of the cards anymore. |
| |
| Before I could say no, I don’t, another classmate butted in. |
| “Of course he doesn’t play. You’re making him feel bad, so don’t ask him.” He sounded like he was taking pity on me, or looking down on me—and I was unbelievably frustrated. |
| I had never once felt embarrassed of my family or considered us unfortunate. |
| There are plenty of single mothers out there in this day and age, and I was happy living with my mother. |
| But in that moment, I witnessed how the world saw us, and couldn’t say anything in response. |
| |
| After school, I gathered my allowance and headed to the toy store. |
| I’m not pitiful, I can afford to buy some cards... I thought, as I purchased a pack of five. |
| It was the first time I’d used my own allowance for myself, and my heart was beating fast as I headed home. |
| I might have just gotten the strongest dragon card that my classmates were talking about. I might be able to brag about it in class tomorrow... |
| I imagined my classmates—who I never spoke to—gathering around me, and felt warm and ticklish inside. |
| |
| When I finally got home and opened the package, I discovered it was full of useless cards. Of course, the strongest dragon card was nowhere to be seen. |
| I read the explanation on the back of the package and despaired as I discovered that I needed forty cards to create a deck—I couldn’t even play a game. |
| What in the world did I just do with the little allowance that my mother gave me, I thought, sadly. |
| She’d told me to treasure my allowance, to only use it when I truly wanted something. |
| But I wasted it on a stupid pack of cards.... |
| I’d been meaning to save up for a mother’s day gift, and yet.... |
| I didn’t know how to face my mother. |
| I was bitter that I had wasted my money, and jealous of my classmates. I felt pathetic—I wasn’t supposed to be ashamed of my family like this. I felt horrible for my mother, and didn’t know what to do.... |
| Before I knew it, I had run out of the house. |
| |
| The landscape turned pitch black as I wandered aimlessly.
It was far past the time my mother came back from her part-time job. |
| How worried must she be right now? The moment I began to panic—I heard her voice calling out to me from afar. |
| She was probably exhausted from her part-time job, but I made her go out looking for me.
I felt terrible as I approached her—and she hugged me close, saying, “I’m sorry.” |
| |
| She didn’t scold me for running away. When we arrived home together, she made me some handmade cards. |
| She must have seen the cards I left on the tea table and assumed that I really wanted a deck of cards. |
| I wanted to tell her, no, I was just bitter that my classmates looked down on me. |
| But before I could say anything, she smiled proudly and said, “Looks pretty good, right?”—and I stopped caring about that anymore. |
| She asked me, “What kind of card do you want?” and I responded, the strongest dragon card.
Every time I answered, mother drew me a new card from her imagination. |
| I got to decide the stats and effects of each card.
The game didn’t cost any money. But we poured our hearts into it. |
| After that, my mother and I played with these handmade cards over and over again.
I couldn’t throw them away even after we stopped playing, so I kept them for all these years. |
| The day I ran away from home, I learned of my weakness and the depth of my mother’s irreplaceable love.
That was when I decided that I wanted to repay her one day, with my own strength. |
| |
| Azami | I’ve never heard that story. |
| Sakyo | It’s a pathetic story from when I was a brat. Why would I tell you? |
| Izumi | Then these cards are...? |
| Azami | ...We made these when I was in elementary school. |
| I’m the same as shithead Sakyo. There were rumors flying about that I was the son of a yakuza, so I never had any friends. |
| I thought I could make some friends if I played this popular card game... that’s why I bought a pack with my own allowance. |
| In my case, dad found out and immediately threw them away. |
| “The heir of a yakuza shouldn’t play with shallow toys.” I was so pissed—whose fault is it that I needed these cards in the first place? |
| That’s when I learned to never, ever let dad find anything I bought with my own money. |
| But in the end, he found my makeup kit and threw that away, too.... |
| Izumi | I see.... |
| Sakyo | When the chairman threw away bon’s cards, I was reminded of my own past, and I understood how bon felt. |
| I felt like I was looking at my past self, so I told him, make your own cards. |
| If we make them gokudo[1] cards, the chairman won’t yell at you. |
| Izumi | I see. That’s why it’s the Guardian of the Jingi Woods.... |
| Kumon | Then those older cards mixed in the pile were...? |
| Sakyo | It’s more fun if there’s some variety, right? So I added them to the deck. |
| Azami | So those were the cards you made with your mother.... |
| Sakyo | Yeah. |
| Azami | No wonder, I thought the art was too good for it to be yours. |
| Sakyo | Aah? |
| Kumon | Did you want to be a makeup artist back since then, Azami? |
| Azami | ...Yeah. |
| Sakyo | That was right around the time I heard bon’s dream of becoming a makeup artist. |
| At the same time, the chairman told me his dream: raising bon to be a fine heir, further deepening Ginsenkai’s ties, and continuing the tradition of respectable gokudo. |
| I haven’t forgotten what the chairman and Ginsenkai have done for me. I sympathize with the chairman’s dream, too. |
| But I still couldn’t deny bon’s dream. |
| I’m sorry for supporting you from such a half-hearted standpoint—and for making my own dream come true before yours. |
| Azami | .... |
| Sakyo | But now that my dream has come true, there’s something I can tell you for sure. |
| Don’t give up. |
| Azami | ——. |
| Sakyo | Don’t give up your dream for someone else, even your own parents. Your life belongs to you. |
| Azami | ——. |
| Sakyo | I want to support the chairman, but even more than that, I don’t want you to give up on your dream, bon. |
| Azami | —Why are you suddenly saying all this.... |
| Sakyo | Because I’ve been the closest to you all these years; I’ve seen how serious you are.... |
| Azami | .... |
| Sakyo | I’ll do whatever I can to help you convince the chairman. |
| Azami | ...You’re not lying, right? |
| Sakyo | Yeah. |
| Azami | If he hits you, it’s not my fault. |
| Sakyo | I’ll take about half the pain. |
| Azami | Just half? |
| Sakyo | The rest is up to you. |
| Azami | ...Hmph. |
| Izumi | (I’m so glad... Sakyo-san’s feelings reached Azami-kun.) |
| |
| Sakoda | But man, aniki’s memory sure is incredible. He remembers these card stats from so long ago. |
| No matter how many times I tried, I couldn’t even remember my times tables. |
| Azami | What’s the point in remembering this stupid thing anyway? |
| Sakyo | I have a good memory. |
| I remember how you slicked your hair back for the first day of elementary school and stuck out like a sore thumb, bon. |
| Azami | ——. |
| Sakoda | You’re so cool, Azami! |
| Sakyo | I also remember how during the second grade sports festival, bon was way too strong in the kibasen[2], so everyone avoided him and his team just paraded around. |
| Kumon | Amazing, Azami! |
| Sakyo | Third grade. You made a knife out of clay for your summer arts and crafts homework, and your homeroom teacher called you to the teacher’s office—. |
| Azami | What the hell! Stop blabbing away with all this unnecessary information! |
| Sakyo | That’s what you get for laughing about my glasses. |
| ...I never forget the things I want to remember. |
