Your smile is contagious

Suzumebachi

Description

Children are supposed to have a family support system to raise them, but I didn’t. The only support that came to my side was a devil in disguise of a human, my grandfather. He is a devoted Japanese man who decided to take me in from that disgraceful orphanage because of my skills. He is my marionette, and he pulled all my strings to mold me into a perfect heir to take over his legacy. The Saito clan is one of the wealthiest families coming out of Japan. The clan is based on an island open to the public, and my grandfather always stayed on top by doing whatever was necessary. All my life, I have never experienced the word freedom. Would I ever be able to?

Sujets

• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris US
• Date de parution: 16 juillet 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9798369403211
• Langue: English

Extrait

Your smile is contagious
SUZUMEBACHI

 
Copyright © 2023 by Suzumebachi.
Library of Congress Control Number:
2023913050
ISBN:
Hardcover
979-8-3694-0323-5
 
Softcover
979-8-3694-0322-8
 
eBook
979-8-3694-0321-1
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
 
 
Rev. date: 07/14/2023
 
 
 
 
 
Xlibris
844-714-8691
www.Xlibris.com
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Contents
Part One
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Part Two
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Part Three
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Part One
Chapter One
A young boy was running through the eerie dark hallways trying not to fall on the scattered remains of scorched ground but failed since he fell face first onto the floor having the ashes paint his frightened expression.
“AKAZE!” A demonic voice bellows, shaking the entire hallway, making the boy, scared to get captured by the sinister wraith in human flesh, petrified in fear. Suddenly heavy footsteps march toward the boy, having their steps echo in the shattered halls.
“Don’t you dare escape, boy!” the figure yells, and the boy finally moves his body to run away from the vicious being, discarding the warning. The boy musters up his strength to bust through the black door. The uncanny halls disappeared, and the boy finally let go of his breath from relief, but his relief vanished from his eyes as he came face to face with whom he could never escape.
“Akaze-” a lamenting voice whispers out to him, but Akaze ignores the voice by fleeing backward, but he never makes it far, feeling a grip around his ankles. The sorrowful voice inch ever closer, creeping up to him as the figure finally revealed itself showing its terrifying visage crawling on its fours and looking directly at Akaze.” Akaze, you promised we would see the outside together.” blood descends from her gouged out eyes “why did you lie to me!” The once lamenting voice turned into a wailing cry for answers causing his ears to ring. The boy slid down the wall crying as the mutilated corpse kept inching ever closer to him, and all he could say.
“I’m sorry! It’s all my fault,” he mutters that same sentence in a crazed frenzy.
Akaze awakens from his nightmare as his eyes wander around his room in an erratic loop, searching for his demon. Feeling the intense beam of sunlight upon his skin, he knew the nightmare was over. “It was just a nightmare,” Akaze mutters to himself. As the sunbeams on him, the fatigue from wrestling with his demons washed away, but no relief is found in Akaze’s eyes since this dream has haunted him ever since that day. His thoughts were interrupted as his phone’s alarm sounded, reminding him of his important day. “Shit, I got to go!” jumping out of the comfort of his bed just for him to fall over face first.
“Yeah, what a great way to start a day,” sarcasm spilled from his mouth as he got up from the floor.
Today was when Akaze would start his first day at his grandfather’s prestigious high school as a regular sixteen-year-old boy. Many things had rushed into his head. He was nervous about how people would view him as a person, such as how the other students will react to his tan skin or curly/wavy hair texture and how they will think about his light-green eyes. The reason why Akaze was overthinking all of this in the morning was that he was located on his grandfather’s island in the Sea of Japan, surrounded by countries like North Korea, South Korea, and Japan. Most of the people from South Korea and Japan moved to that island to start fresh, and those people were not very used to seeing people with tan skin or different hair textures, such as any color other than dark black or straight. But it’s not just that. His biggest obstacle was facing two of his half-siblings. Before he started his schooling, his grandfather told him that he should force them to respect the future heir of the Saito clan, but Akaze went a different route because he wanted to start a new chapter in his life with a clean slate. He refused to share his real identity with anyone in this school. He did not want them to know that he was a part of the Saito clan, one of the wealthiest families who had ever walked on this earth and the family who ran this island. Akaze looked at himself in the mirror to see if he had a mark on his forehead, and luckily there was none.
“Just a little bruise, but it’s nothing serious” he ruffled his hair to let his curls fall freely on his head. “I want to know what it’s like to be an actual teenager, anyways what time is it?” Once he bent down to grab his phone, his jaw dropped when he saw the time.
I ’ m going to be late for my first day.
As he predicted, Akaze was indeed late, but to be precise, he was fifteen minutes late for school, and the reason for that was none other than traffic. There was no time to play, so he rushed to the principal’s office to get his schedule for the semester. As soon as he entered the office, he saw the top standing above his desk with two hands on his hips, waiting impatiently for the tardy boy.
“Mr. Saito, it’s your first day of school, and you are already leading with a bad example. Your grandfather entrusted me to look after you, but you must meet me halfway and be on time now.” Principal Sasaki sighed while sitting on his comfortable office chair that looked meant for a king.
Akaze did a ninety-degree bow to show his sincerity. “I apologize, Mr. Sasaki. This will be my first and last mistake.”
“Okay, Akaze.” Principal Sasaki stood up from his chair and walked to Akaze. “You can stand up now, and here’s your semester schedule. You will be a part of the top class, so focus on your studies and don’t let your grandfather down.”
“Okay, but Principal Sasaki, did you—”
“Yes, I changed your last name from Saito to Tanaka. You can start fresh without people knowing who you truly are, and your siblings have been informed of this, so you are practically strangers in this school,” Principal Sasaki informed the youngster. “Now, let me guide you to your homeroom class.”
The two walked to the homeroom, and Akaze admired the school’s interior. It was a classic yet modern school once the two were in front of the entrance door of classroom A. The double doors are massive and appealing.
My grandfather designed this school beautifully. At least he has something positive about him.
“Are you ready, Mr. Tanaka?” Principal Sasaki asked the anxious boy.
“Yes, I’m ready. Are any of my siblings here?” Akaze attempted to mask his anxiousness as he asked his principal a question.
“Only one, and that’s Yuta, but don’t worry, he promised to behave, or else he will be demoted to regular education.” Principal Sasaki answered to make sure Akaze had nothing to worry about.
“Okay, I’m ready.” Akaze forced a smile as he followed his principal lead.
Knock, knock.
The principal instructed Akaze to stay outside until he finished explaining to the class that a new transfer student was coming into their class.
“Come in, Mr. Tanaka.” The principal signaled him to come in.
As Akaze walked into the classroom, he stood next to the teacher in front of the class. As Akaze was about to introduce himself, he made eye contact with a person he