君を守りたい — I Want to Protect You —

It had been a while, yet every step I took recalled everything that I had been through. I remembered how I used to run freely around this street. I remembered how I used to build a snowman on that blemished hydrant. Those were something which happened a long, long time ago but I managed to take a grasp of the atmosphere clearly.

I was standing at the exact same place where I spent my early years.

The whole city was asleep, but my house. I could hear faint quarrel that was happening inside. It must have been my parents, I thought as I got myself closer to the wall thus looking upwards. One of the windows on the second floor was wide-open. That was definitely my room. I took a step back before tossing a hook on to the window frame and climbed up.

There, I encountered a 6-year-old boy who looked terrified and was curling on his bed. His countenance resembled mine just right. He was my past self, the one whom I despised ever since he attempted to run away and let things ended miserably.

But that was exactly why I sent myself back here; so that I could help him; so that I could protect everyone.

So that my poor, pathetic current self would never exist.

I landed my feet inside, almost stepped on a stuffed bear. The thumping sound was enough to attract his attention that he was taken aback when his eyes met my figure.

“Who are you?” He did not falter, yet could not hide the trembling voice that came out. I was actually amazed at how brave I was, thus I gave him a tender smile.

“If I tell you my name is also Stark Kruger, will you believe me?”

He gawked at my assumption. “N-Now you mention it … you look just like me!” beamed him. “How old are you? Which school did you take later on? How could you be here?”

“Chill, little boy.” I chuckled at his enthusiasm as I knelt before his bed, thus planting a gentle caress on his blond head. “You see, I am 15 years old now …” I started in such a low pace. “Unfortunately, I didn’t choose any school because … I had never gone to that place ever since this day.”

I had not provided an answer to his last query, yet the little boy cut in with other questions. “What do you mean by this day? What will happen this day?”

A sigh escaped my nostrils as I closed my eyes for seconds. “You hear it? Our parents are fighting downstairs. Dad has just experienced layoffs. He is depressed and starts making fuss about anything trivial. But our mom, she attempted to comfort him every time, only for being paid with a blow …”

“… But you—we—could do nothing, and thus running away.”

(to be added later)