Chapter 6 - Don't Go

As the time for Kibou to set off for the academy gets closer and closer, Myu's feelings begin to show.

Arriving back home almost as if he was in a daze, Akemi goes to greet him but she instantly notices the bruise on Kibou’s cheek.

 

“Oh my gosh! Kibou what happened? Are you okay?”

 

“Yeah… I’m fine…”

 

“You don’t sound it! Let me get you a cloth!”

 

Stumbling into the kitchen whilst finding a cloth and dampening it with water, Akemi approached Kibou and lightly presses the cloth against Kibou’s cheek.

 

“What happened?”

 

As they take a seat in the living room, where Myu is still sleeping, Kibou tells his mother about what happened.

 

“Oh… well… I sort of bumped into Naos”

 

“Him? So he did this to you? Wait until I call his mother!”

 

“Ah! Please don’t call his mother, jeez, we’re not kids anymore, anything that happens between us can be sorted out between us… sort of… besides, I probably had it coming anyways...”

 

Akemi pouts, realising that her son no longer needed her as much as he used to.

 

“Surely you couldn’t have done anything that bad to warrant a punch to the face though”

 

“I dunno, either way I’d rather not think about it, can we please change the subject”

 

“...Alright”

 

Akemi sighed continuing to pout.

 

“Let’s talk about you going to the academy and the arrangements”

 

‘Not quite the change of conversation I was hoping for… I guess it’s better than the previous one though’

 

With less than two days before Kibou was to set off for the academy, he was completely put on edge by Naos’ words, if he did go, what would happen to him?

 

‘I shouldn’t let Naos get to me, I’ve made the decision to go to the academy and I’m going to stick with it… I hope...’

 

“I guess I should start packing up some clothes and stuff tomorrow then, although I’ll be back on weekends so I’ll only pack things weekly”

 

“Sounds good”

 

Mother and son nod in agreement.

 

“...I really am proud of you Kibou”

 

“Huh? What’s this all of a sudden?”

 

“Just a mother expressing her pride for her son. To think that you’ve become a Hero Candidate, I have no doubt that you’ll continue to give it your best in your efforts in becoming a Hero”

 

Akemi smiles a loving smile toward Kibou.

“Thanks mum, and I promise I’ll be the best Hero that I can possibly be”

 

“I look forward to it”

 

Before they knew it, it had become rather late. Kibou laid in his makeshift bed again that night whilst Myu continued to use his bed, he thought back to Naos’ words whilst he lay looking at the ceiling with his hands behind his head.

 

‘I’ve gotta go to the academy and get trained, regardless of whether or not Naos wants me there or not… My whole life… he’s been there to put me down and tell me that I would never be a Hero, well here I am… a Hero Candidate, and there’s nothing he can do about it, this is my life and I’m going to choose to live it however I want’

 

Though it didn’t seem like it, but it was an incredibly tough decision to make, after being undermined by Naos almost his entire life, Kibou had to make the decision to follow his own path in life, not one that someone would decide for him.

The next morning Kibou woke up rather late.

 

‘Woah... it’s already 12:00pm… I’ve gotta get my sleep schedule in order otherwise I’m gonna be late for morning training sessions at the academy’

 

Kibou had his breakfast that Akemi made for him, and he headed back up to his bedroom in order to pack some clothes for the academy.

 

‘It might be a little difficult telling Myu that I’m not going to be here very often for the next six months… Wait a minute, come to think of it, where is Myu?’

 

“Myu?!”

 

Kibou called out her name several times, before he glanced at his bag that he was going to pack his clothes in and noticed a round blue sphere popping out the top.

 

‘There you are… I’m surprised she can even fit in my bag…”

 

Kibou slowly walks over to the bag  and unzips it ever so slightly, Myu shudders slightly and slowly looks up to see Kibou staring at her.

 

“What are you doing, Myu?”

 

“Don’t… Leave…”

 

“Wait… How did you know I’m leaving?”

 

“Last night…”

 

Kibou recalls the night she was referring to.

 

“Wait, I thought you were sleeping?”

 

Myu shakes her head from side to side.

 

“So you were pretending? Very sneaky”

 

Kibou sits down in front of Myu with his legs crossed and picks Myu up out of the bag and sits her in front of him.

 

“Are you perhaps worried about me leaving?”

 

Myu nods her head and then follows up with:

 

“...scared…”

 

“Hmm? What are you scared of?”

 

Tears begin to well up in Myu’s eyes.

 

“Scary people like the people from before?”

 

Kibou decides to help Myu by making it easy for her to answer the questions, and as he does so, she nods.

 

“I see… Then how about this?”

 

Myu looks up at Kibou awaiting his solution.

 

“I promise… no matter where I am, I will always be there to protect you from any scary people who might hurt you, you know why-?”

 

Kibou places his hands on Myu’s cheeks, wiping away her tears as he does so.

 

“-Because I’m your Hero”

 

“...Hero?”

 

“That’s right!”

 

Kibou gives a glowing smile toward Myu and in return Myu begins to cry more, she leans forward and hugs Kibou, the same we she did the day they first met. Kibou embraces her hug and rubs her head. Myu had been reassured and comforted that she was going to be protected by Kibou no matter what, that he was going to be her Hero. After a few minutes Myu began to calm down and Kibou sat her on his bed.

 

“I’m going to continue packing some stuff, okay?”

 

Myu nods, wiping away a few stray tears.

 

Kibou, on the mark of Myu, continues to pack some of his clothes and things that would be required for his stay at the academy. After some time, he finished up his packing. Kibou would be leaving the next day so he couldn’t of left it any later, still, he was packed and ready to go.

 

“All done!”

 

Kibou wipes a little bit of sweat from his forehead after packing everything he needed into one bag. Now it was just a matter of time before Kibou had to leave to go to the academy.

Throughout the day both Myu and Akemi could be found tearing up or crying, both for similar reasons, but it seemed to get less and less consistent as the day went on, but Kibou knew that as soon as it came for him to leave the next day they would both, if not all, be crying again, this thought actually brought a heartwarming smile to his face. Kibou would be leaving early the next morning by an escort vehicle, it would only be a short journey to get there but it was customary to leave early in order to have a proper tour of the academy and for the Hero Candidates to make themselves acquainted with the rooms they would be staying in. That night, everyone fell asleep almost too peacefully, it was understandable for Akemi and Myu as they had been crying most of the day and had probably exhausted themselves by doing that.

Early the following morning Kibou just about managed to wake himself up, he considered it early training, training his sleep schedule that is. Both Akemi and Myu wait by the front door with Kibou, awaiting his escort.

 

“Ahhh, I can’t believe it! In just a matter of moments my little boy is going to be setting off to become a fully fledged Hero!”

 

“I’m not little any more mum…”

 

“I’m so proud!”

 

Akemi totally ignored Kibou’s remark. The much anticipated moments continued to pass… longer than what they should have…

 

“Hmm? They seem to be taking their time getting here, don’t they?”

 

Then, at that very moment,  it was like Kibou had sunk inside himself.

 

“Mum…”

 

“What is it?”

 

“I know why no one is coming…”

 

“How so?”

 

“W-Well… No one actually knows that I’m a Hero Candidate!”

 

The same feeling that had just consumed Kibou had consumed Akemi.

 

“Ah! Y-You’re right! I-I’ll order a taxi!”

 

Myu just stared at the pair of them as they made a mess of the situation. Kibou had totally forgot to put any thought into it, the idea of no one knowing about him being chosen.

 

‘How will people react when I arrive from the same village as Naos? How will they react with there being an 11th Hero Candidate?!’

 

Eventually a taxi did arrive and the sound of the horn could be heard.

 

“Well… This is it, it’s time for me to set off…”

 

“Oh Kibou! I’m going to miss you so much!”

 

“You make it sound like I’m going to be away forever! I’ll be back on weekends”

 

Akemi hugs Kibou as tightly as she possibly can. Kibou feels a familiar tugging on his trouser leg, as he looked down at Myu, she looked like she was doing her very best to hold back her tears.

 

“Aww, it’s okay to cry, you know”

 

Kibou says kneeling down, and almost by command, Myu’s tears begin to stream down her face, Kibou embraces her with a hug and wipes away her tears.

 

“You’ll be safe with mum, and remember? If anything scary does happen, I’ll be right there to protect you, no matter what”

 

“Miss… Kib…”

 

“I’ll miss you too, from the bottom of my heart”

 

After giving one more heartfelt hug, Kibou gives his farewells and puts his luggage in the trunk of the taxi and he looks back at Akemi and Myu in the doorway he waves, with his arm  as high as possible in the air. Myu and Akemi both wave back, and with his hand in the air, he brings it down and gives a thumbs up and a wink. Kibou enters the taxi. The blacked out windows meant that this was the last Myu and Akemi would be seeing of Kibou for a week, although they couldn’t see in, Kibou could see out and they began to bawl their eyes out again.

 

‘Jeez… those two’

 

Kibou puts his seat belt on.

 

“Hero Academy please!”

 

“You got it, kid!”

 

The vehicle pulls away from the curb and get’s smaller and smaller as it gets further and further away, and then it’s almost as if it vanishes into the distance.

 

Kibou was now on his way to the academy, to train to become a Hero, his dream was finally within his reach.

Author's Note

Some parts of this chapter felt a little rushed to me ^-^' I hope you still enjoy it though.