Chapter 2 - Chapter 2

“Yeah, did you hear?”
“That parade, it showed up at the weird kid’s house! You know, that tall guy with glasses!”
“That box was a coffin! It had a pirate in it!”
“Kuro’s a pirate, too! He and his filthy mother!”
All around him, Kuro and his mother heard the accusing whispers as she walked the young boy to school, but feeling nervous all the same. Even now, after such a long time, the children of the island still held that one moment of darkness in their minds. It continued to be a topic of discussion when nothing else would suffice.
“Are you sure you want to do this, Kuro?” she asked him hesitantly. “I won’t make you go to school.”
“I’m sure, Mom,” Kuro said brightly. “They can’t say anything to upset me.” This was quite true; ever since that moment three years ago, when he had seen his father in that coffin, he had brooded on his feelings about it. Though the past years had been difficult, he’d decided that, on a level, they were all correct; his father was a good-for-nothing pirate.
“Don’t worry, it’ll be okay,” Kuro reassured his mother. “I’ll see you at home, okay?” He gave her a quick embrace and hurried into the white-washed building, closing the pine and glass door behind him.
“Settle down, everyone,” called the instructor from the front of the class room. Kuro took a seat in the back, not bothering to notice that the students near him had moved up a few seats and cast dark looks on him as they did so. All except one who sat next to him; a girl who had short, black hair with two long strains of her hair that was suspended down, covering parts of her face and brown eyes that glistened in the light and looked him as she hid one of the most faintest of all smiles. “It so happens that we have a guest with us today from a neighboring island.”
Whispers flooded the room that, for once, had nothing to do with Kuro. He grinned to himself as he pushed up his new glasses, which always seemed to fall down his nose, with the palm of his hand. Perhaps, this new person wouldn’t care who Kuro’s father was. Maybe this person would be different... but, as he saw the instructor open the door that stood behind his desk, he merely began to focus on the floor.
He wouldn’t get his hopes up...
“I’d like you to meet...well, um...” the instructor stuttered slightly as the boy stepped up to face the kids. He was of a normal height with short, spiky blonde hair. Over his eyes was a pair of heart-shaped glasses that sat upon his face.
The children laughed and pointed at the boy; or, more particularly, his face. Kuro and the girl looked up for a moment, wondering why everyone else was snickering; they finally noticed the new kid and frowned inwardly. The boy’s face seemed squashed inward, as if he’d run face first into a wall. The boy frowned at them and started looking for a place to sit.
“Well, tell them your name,” the instructor said. The boy was silent for a while, scratching his chin as if in a deep thought.
“I don’t need them to know my name,” he said after a while. His voice was slightly raspy and high-pitched, which made the class erupt into fresh laughs. The boy noticed Kuro in the back and quickly took a seat next to him. Kuro once again interested himself in the floor. The girl growled inwardly as she gritted her teeth with her elbows on the edge of her desk and her fists on her lips and she said aloud with rage in her voice which made everyone stop laughing and caught everyone’s attention as she closed her eyes, “You know, if you keep laughing at him, it will do you no good!”
A student turned to look at her and said, “What are you--?”
The student’s sentence was cut short when she said after she looked at him and scowled, “Would you like it if everyone laughed at you?” As soon as the silence filled the room, she sneered, “Hmph, exactly.”
“Alright, Nagasaki, that’s enough!” the instructor shouted at her. “Now, let’s begin on your multiplication...”
The new boy looked over at Kuro through his glasses almost angrily. “Why didn’t you laugh at me? Don’t you think I’m funny?” Kuro looked up again and turned, hiding the shock on his face.
“Was I supposed to think you’re funny-looking?” Kuro asked cautiously. The boy shook his head.
“No. I meant, do you think I’m funny-acting? Like a performer?” Kuro just stared. He wasn’t quite sure what to make of these questions.
“I’m sorry,” Kuro said, turning to look at his desk. “I didn’t know you were trying to be funny.” This, however, must have been amusing to the boy, because he immediately covered his mouth to hide his wild laugh.
“Well, at least you don’t hate me,” he said after his laughter had subsided. “They,” he said spitefully, “don’t like me.”
“Don’t worry about what they think,” Kuro said suddenly, a flicker of anger in his eyes. “And, they don’t like me either.” The boy seemed shocked at this.
“Why?”
Kuro pushed up his glasses again before he spoke. “My dad was a pirate.” He said this very low, in case anyone was eavesdropping on them; no one seemed to notice, or care; they were too busy trying to study the problem on the board.
“Really?” the boy said, his eyes wide. “That’s cool.” Now it was Kuro’s turn to be surprised.
“You...don’t think it’s bad?” Once again, the boy had to cover his mouth.
“Of course not!” He said it as if such a thing was nonexistent. Silently, Kuro wanted to agree, but his father...he pushed it out of his mind and instead pushed up his glasses. He could hear the instructor signaling for silence again, for the class had begun to discuss how to solve the problem.
“Homework tonight: solve this problem, show all your work!” the instructor said loudly. “Have a good day!” The mad rush to escape the room almost bulldozed Kuro, the girl, and the new boy. One girl plowed into Kuro, knocking him over and sending his glasses flying across the floor.
“No!” Kuro cried for no reason, groping around for his glasses. He didn’t need them that badly, but everything appeared blurry enough that the desks looked like huge mountains. Large stampeding feet ran by, but no one stopped to try and help him.
“Here,” someone said, though Kuro could not see who. He felt himself lifted slowly to his feet and felt a hand pushing his glasses into his own hands. He placed them back on his face and saw the new kid holding him by the shoulder and the girl who was in front of him.
“Thanks,” Kuro said gratefully, standing all the way up.
“It was nothing, really,” the boy said, waving his hand as if to dismiss the thought.
“Anything to help out a friend,” the girl smiled.
For a brief moment, time seemed to stop as the three looked at each other and the girl’s words hung over him. It took a moment for Kuro to register this.
“F-friend?” Kuro sputtered in disbelief, his glasses falling askew as his head jerked forward. “Did you just call me ‘friend’?”
She blushed slightly and looked down. “Oh, I...I thought...” Kuro held up a hand to silence the girl.
“Yeah, why not?” he said, grinning from ear to ear. “You two could be my first friends.”
They both nodded. “And, you can be our first friend.” The three of them shook hands, almost like sealing a pact. They exited the building into the warming sun, watching the other kids play and, occasionally, whisper. They walked for a while, not talking, merely enjoying the company of people they could call friends.
“Well, I should be getting home,” the boy said to Kuro as the sun’s last rays began to fall over the island.
“Yeah, me too,” Kuro agreed. “Hey, I never asked...”
“Hm?” the boy and the girl stopped in mid-walk.
“What’s your name?” The cats that roamed the nightly streets started to poke their heads out and the black cat began to sing on the rail of the house between them.
They thought for a moment about this.
“It’s Django.”
“And Nagasaki Masterson. Pleased to met you.” She said as she held out her hand.
“Pleased to met you, too.” Kuro said and shook her hand.

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