Not long after the curtain on the stage closed, it was quickly pulled open again. The scene-shifting grew faster and faster, signaling that the story was drawing to a close.
On the day of the school graduation ceremony, men from the Yakuza drove deep into the mountains and surrounded the school. In full view of everyone, they came and took away the boy who had graduated at the top of his class. In this isolated little town, that procession was practically like a small nation's guards coming to take away their prince... The rumors were true after all: the boy living in the foster home really was the child of a Yakuza Boss, and extraordinary blood flowed in his veins. From that day on, the mayor and the Principal of the school listed this boy and this incident as forbidden topics in the town; no one was ever allowed to discuss or even bring them up again.
The commotion and gossip quickly subsided within the town, but there are always traces that verbal bans can never erase. On the school's wall of honor, the photo of the boy with the stubborn gaze still hung at the very top of the top graduates' section. There was also the newly built dormitory building on campus, its brand-new facade completely out of tune with the old surrounding architecture... and then there was the other boy left behind in the town.
Chapter 442