Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Paradise Lost ❯ Railroad Man ( Chapter 13 )

Chapter Thirteen: Railroad Man:

March 4th, 1983.

Three-day-old Anna slept peacefully in an open drawer Daisuke used for her since he didn't have the money to buy a decent crib. Daisuke sat on his bed watching her. Eighteen years old with a baby. He lied back on the bed and sighed. Suddenly, he heard the door open. The boy slowly lifted his head to see his roommate walking into their dorm.

"Hi," he said sounding bummed out. His roommate tilted his head at him.

"What's the matter, Dai?" he asked. The other boy sat up and nudged his head over to baby Anna. The roommate looked at her.

"Oh," he mumbled. "That bad?" Daisuke nodded and sighed.

"I don't know what to do with her or myself," he spoke up. "I'm just stuck." His roommate looked at him in sympathy. He walked over to the bed, sat down, and patted Daisuke on the back.

"Have you talked to anybody?" he asked. Daisuke looked at him with a puzzled look on his face.

"Like whom?" The roommate shrugged at him, clueless.

"I don't know," he said. "Just anyone." The other boy shook his head.

"My problems are too big for that," Daisuke replied.

"Ah," the roommate answered. Then an idea came into his head.

"Make a journal," he suggested. Daisuke looked at him oddly.

"What?" he asked. "How will that help?" His roommate nudged him on the arm.

"It's better than nothing, right?" he replied. Daisuke thought about that for a moment.

"Guess it wouldn't hurt," the boy mumbled. His roommate smiled and nodded.

"See? There you go!" he said. "What would you do without me?" Daisuke gave him a little smile.

That afternoon when Daisuke went to the local store nearby to begin his new job, he happened to walk by the aisle of tape cassettes. He remembered what his roommate suggested earlier that day. The young father dropped his shoulders. Guess it couldn't hurt, he thought. He used his paycheck from last month to pay for the set of tapes and the recorder before he headed back home. In his dorm, he set everything up and hit record on his bed.

Tape Entry #1:

March 4th, 1983. I don't know where to begin on this, but my name is Kimoto Daisuke. I'm eighteen years old and a single dad. My daughter, Anna, was brought to me three days ago by hospital officials from Sapporo, Hokkaido. As you can expect, I don't know what to do. That's not my only problem, however.

He sighed and remained silent for some time, like he was collecting his thoughts.

I don't know… This was my roommate's idea. I'm more lost about doing this than before I started. Still, I have to keep going. So here goes. My life is a mess; I have many dark secrets.

He took a long pause on the recording.

It's my family.

His voice dropped into a whisper.

They are the Eda-Kimoto clan. Yes, that's right. I am a kitsune-tsukai descended from a long line of tsukai. My heritage dates back to the Nara period as I have been told many times. We employ foxes to give us our powers and do our bidding in exchange for giving bribes like food, protection, or sex as a price. Sometimes, we give them blood as a payment. According to our family history, our ancestor, Sen, was to marry this farmer's beautiful daughter. Her name escapes me at the moment, but she was always a sickly girl. Many thought that she would die soon. Afraid for her life, Sen desperately searched for a way to save his fiancée. That's where this story changes.

Sen made a pact with a powerful kitsune. This kitsune would save his wife-to-be if every forty generations; a daughter would be given to the great kitsune as payment. Sen agreed and thus the birth of our bloodline. We started out pure at first, but somewhere in the Meji Era, out family became corrupt with the taste blood and power.

End Tape Entry #1

Daisuke hit stop on the recorder and flopped back onto his bed. He squeezed his eyes shut when he heard his daughter crying beside of him. He sighed and sat up.

“Coming, honey,” he muttered before getting up and tending to Anna. After changing her diaper and feeding her, Daisuke realized something. This dorm isn't a good place to raise a baby, he thought. He needed to get out of this place and go somewhere else. However, he didn't know where he could go. He talked with his homeroom teacher about the notion.

“Are you sure about this?” Kuga-sensei asked. “Where do you plan to go?” The boy shrugged his shoulders.

“Don't know,” he said. “I'll think of something.”

“I still think you should stay here,” she said. “The school will accommodate you since you have a baby.” Daisuke shook his head.

“This isn't a good place for my daughter. I don't even have enough money to support us both. The local baby drive is nice, but I feel like I'm imposing on all of you too much."

“Don't be silly!” his teacher remarked. “It's fine.”

“Even so, I have to try and live on my own after I graduate,” he said. “I figured that I may as well start now. I already have a part-time job; I'll figure out the rest.”

“And there's no way to talk you out of this?” she asked.

“Thank you for all that you have done,” Daisuke said in a quiet voice. He stood up, bowed, and walked out of her office. By evening, the boy cleared out what little he had from his dorm, took his daughter, and headed out to parts unknown.