The Rejected Family

Chapter 4

Reject failure, Part 2

After a busy morning, the entire Mamoru family has a quiet lunch. In this peaceful atmosphere, Kikyo puts her moderate meal aside and brings up the elephant in the room.

"Do you want to tell them what happened today, or shall I tell them myself?"

Toki scratches her head anxiously, "er... Nico gave us a hard time today, hahaha."

As she embarrassedly giggles, the little girl looks at her older brother as if searching for a light in the darkness.

"But... you missed something amazing! Muro has finished some scary men off!"

"Huh? Have you gotten yourself into trouble? That's the third time this week," Calos asks his son.

Saul continues, praising his nephew, "well, did he smash that idiot's face in?"

"He went flying with one punch! Then he shouted: I surrender! I surrender!" Toki gets excited, holding on to her last hope.

Her uncle cheers at Muro's victory, "that's how it's done!"

Lua quickly finishes her tiny plate and has nothing to do but participate in the uninteresting conversation.

"And how did that stupid fight happen?"

Muro — who had been watching the others eat rather than actually eating — lowers his head, the smile completely gone from his face.

Toki's restless hands search for something to touch or squeeze, intertwining her fingers repeatedly in an attempt to relieve her visible anxiety.

Unable to directly meet her listeners' eyes, she remembers what she experienced earlier: "i was running after Nico and having too much fun, so... the scary man wasn't happy."

Her mother bites her lip, her shoulders tense with her blatant dissatisfaction.

"These streets are getting worse and worse. Seriously, in the commercial area? It's such a busy place! Can't a child even play anymore?" The situation saddens Honda.

"No, not like this. We've lived like this for years; she's been careless," Kikyo confronts her sister.

"She's a child."

"But that attitude was unacceptable. And you know what else? The guy worked for a developer!"

With her arms shaking, no longer able to hold her cutlery and cornered by the debate, Toki apologizes, "I-I'm sorry..."

Silence fills the room, where the only sound that reaches the ears of those present is the irregular noise of contact between wooden spoons and worn, simple ceramic plates.

The family members' eyes can't focus on anything, diverting their attention whenever they look at someone else's face.

Amidst the uncomfortable atmosphere of the overcrowded dining room, a single face remains unfazed, staring at the most embarrassed person.

"What would you do if Nico flew to another village?" Kikyo asks her daughter.

"I... would go after it!"

"That's impossible. Only those who overcome the trial can go to the next village."

"But..."

"Do you get it now? It doesn't matter if it's at the top or down here; there are places we can't go."

"That's enough!" Honda interrupts the endless preaching.

The conversation stops briefly, and those who had been talking go back to eating. Completely oblivious to the debate, Saul was eating uninterruptedly — with the manners of a barbarian — when he suddenly notices a plate being pushed next to him.

Muro finished his meal, moving the plate away. Still with his head down and clenching his fists in an act of intense strength, the boy mutters in his seat.

"That's going to change..."

"Huh?" His uncle needs help understanding what has been said.

"Tsk, that will change!" The boy repeats, confident in his affirmation.

His mother resumes the discussion, "didn't you hear what I said? The problem isn't in this village. Everyone higher up is pushing their problems down. We're not going to solve anything by moping around here."

"That's why we'll take care of this problem elsewhere."

"You..." Calos senses something.

The boy keeps his resolve while surrounded by anguished expressions.

"If we lived in the other villages along the mountain, everything would be different, wouldn't it? By overcoming the trials, we could go anywhere without being ostracized."

Looking into those childlike eyes and the upright posture of someone who never lets themselves be shaken, Lua tries to bring Muro back to reality, "you know what that implies..."

"If we were in a higher-up town, Toki could play around alone, either on the mountain or in the streets. Nico could fly wherever it wanted!"

"Muro..." Kelly partially closes her eyelids, feeling sorry for her grandson.

"Hey, Lua. Can you imagine having a bath like that every day? Aunt Honda, how would you like it if you no longer saw insects living by your window? Uncle Saul, wouldn't you like to have lunch whenever you wanted? They say that the higher you go, the more the possibilities."

His mother contradicts the excited boy, "Muro, we are not doing badly here. Everything's fine."

"Really? Then you should all enjoy this place for as long as possible.”

He stands up, pushing his plate towards Saul, who now has two lunches at his disposal.

Like a hurricane — which pulls everything around it into its center — all eyes in the crowded room are drawn to a single point, making it almost impossible to look elsewhere.

"Because I'm going to take you all to the Summit!" The boy says.

"He said..." Sitting down, Toki looks up, watching her brother with a contagious gleam in his eyes.

Muro exclaims his final declaration, "the city of nobles, where we will all live in peace! When I become a Repeller, we will overcome the trials and climb all the mountain villages!"

The words spoken at that moment reverberated in his mind throughout the rest of the day, now marked by the melancholy sunset the lonely young man walks under.

Holding two buckets, he walks towards a large water well while remembering a conversation with his mother.

"Muro, we need more water for the night. Can you take care of it?"

"Sure, no problem."

"Oh, one more thing, bring your sister home on the way back. She should be leaving school by now."

At this moment, as he looks in the direction he's been asked to go, the Mountain of Trials captures his attention completely.

Away from the main streets of the Foot of the Mountain, the village's central well is located in an area with no other buildings, giving a clear and direct view of the primary mountain. 

Muro's momentary focus is lost in the vastness of the rock mass as he observes the dozens of villages surrounding it along its entire length.

Its complexity cannot be understood from a single perspective, with villages all around it. On the other side of the mountain, the towns the boy can't see arouse his most genuine desire as if they were warmly calling his name.

With a view that goes from the unreachable summit to the lowest village, reality returns to Muro's eyes, as he now faces the only entrance to that longed-for world, the Waterfall of Trials.

No more houses are separating him from the mysterious waters that cascade down. There is only a path between him and the breathtaking landscape free from interruptions. Even so, his body remains still, as if it knew it couldn't go in that direction.

Muro drops both buckets on the ground, abruptly letting go of them, "what the hell... why am I holding us back? Of all the others, I probably want to reach the summit the most."

As he mutters to himself in deep dissatisfaction, his eyelids close in anger, preventing him from seeing so much as a glimpse of the intangible scenery.

"Because if I reach the summit... those who have been waiting all their lives for me to become a repeller will finally be able to follow their dreams."

Remembering those waiting for him, the boy revisits some memories from when he was ten years old.

His memories take him back to an atypical evening, with nine of the ten family members gathered in the dining room. Everyone there was standing as if they were anxiously waiting for someone.

"Will he succeed this time?" Little Toki asked.

"He's just discovered what he's capable of," Honda also wondered about the expectations of those around her.

At this point, Kikyo raged, "have you lost your minds? He still has no control over himself. What are we going to do if my son ends up getting lost?"

"Yeah, this is taking too long. Go after him, Muro," Lua transfers the responsibility to her brother.

One suddenly appears next to Muro without a trace of movement or even a sound.

Calos celebrates his youngest son's achievement, "that's my boy! Go for it!"

"Incredible, One!" Toki enthuses.

Kikyo still doesn't know how to react, "so, does he teleport whenever he's alone? What should we call that?"

"My boy rejects solitude! Impressive, isn't it?" Calos enlightens his wife's thoughts.

"That's nice, One!" Lev congratulates the boy.

Lua raises her eyebrows, "It's no big deal."

One can feel all the happiness around him, excited at new possibilities, "can we now take part in the trials?"

Saul strokes One's head, trying to contain his excitement.

"Not yet. All team members have to be repellers to take part."

Muro sits sadly in the corner of the room, as if alone in a party.

Saul continues, "that leaves just your brother. Soon, we'll be defying the trials. You can hardly wait to see your uncle here destroy the other teams."

"Why don't you go without me?"

Coming from someone who barely has the strength to speak, Muro's hoarse voice gradually reaches everyone's understanding. The ensuing silence is accompanied by an expression of complete shock coming directly from the child's mother.

Muro elaborates on his unfortunate thought, "anyone who achieves a hundred merits in the trials can go to the next lowest village on the mountain. The higher they go, the better their lives will be. Why are you still here?" 

"Have you gone mad?" Lua questions that nonsense.

"How can you even think of such a thing?" Honda can't believe her ears.

Kelly interrupts the discussion, "that's impossible, Muro."

"Grandma, Kelly, you're the oldest here. What if I take too long?"

"What a horrible thing to say, kid." Calos is disappointed in his son.

Kelly stares at her grandson with the utmost determination, without any doubt, on her face.

"That's not an option."

"We're not leaving anyone behind. You shouldn't even think about something like that," Honda adds.

Muro insists, "but you don't know when—"

"Muro, that's not going to happen," his father states firmly, leaving no room for questions.

Kikyo calls out to everyone in the family, about to say what will be no more than a formality for something already decided since birth.

"Why don't we make a promise to clarify things? We'll just participate in any trial and go up the mountain with everyone on the same team."

"I thought that would go without saying," Lua puts the thoughts of those present into words.

"That way, everyone can relax without any worries."

What Muro witnessed at that moment would be remembered by every muscle in his body. Even if he were ever to fall unconscious, it would be impossible to prevent that body from protecting each one of those smiles that calmed him in all their beauty at that miserable moment.

"So?" Kikyo waited for the oath's verdict.

All the family members answered, but they sounded like one anxious boy who finally had a moment of absolute affirmation.

"Deal!"

With sixteen years full of memories and buckets full of water, Muro's mind refocuses on the present.

"You have waited all these years. You should be living your own lives, everyone. And that's why I will look after you for as long as possible."

The boy spots Toki running agitatedly and alone through the village. 

Toki? He tries to understand what he sees.

Muro drops the buckets he is carrying and follows the child into the forest.

Her class should be over by now. But why is she going that way? She should be waiting for me at school.

The cheerful girl enters the mysterious forest next to the village. Her brother loses sight of her, confused by the countless trees and bushes in the area.

"Where are they... where are they..." Toki hums to herself.

She stops running in front of a bush full of berries. 

"Berries!"

The child celebrates her long-awaited victory as unknown footsteps approach. Before unlit eyes and a blade immersed in darkness, the fruit picking would continue relentlessly.