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corfidbizna

Text Small World: KH13 Writing Contest Submission

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Author's note: Have you ever watched the Japanese intro of Birth by Sleep? Non-Final Mix? That version of the opening scene with Young Xehanort on the beach has nearly identical framing as a shot of Riku on the same beach with Terra later in the game. That parallelism led me to the notion that Riku might've turned out a lot like Xehanort were it not for one key difference: his friend, Sora.

Enjoy~!

 

 

  Why did I have to be born with silver hair? They say it's a curse. That I'm cursed. For all I know maybe I am. All the people in this tiny world sure treat me like I am. Every face I see I've seen a hundred times. Different people, but it's always the same face: hate. They try to hide it sometimes, but… adults don't realize just how bad they are at lying.
 The usual empty stares follow the young boy as he walks alone to school. Shuffling along, his white hair nearly brushes up against the top of his backpack.
 "Just keep walking—ignore them. Don't bother them and they won't bother you." The best advice I ever got.
 You'd think I'd've gotten used to it by now. After all, one gets to see the same people every day. This town is just too small.
 A large building—only two stories tall but very wide—comes into view as the boy rounds the corner. The local school. Many children make their way inside, the occasional parent towering over them.
 Bet this won't end well. Stuff like this never does.
 The boy begrudgingly shuffles inside the school. Despite his relative tall-ness, he tries to make himself inconspicuous.
 "Hey, it's that cursed kid!"
 Gee, that sure didn't take long! Just ignore him. Don't make eye contact.
 "Huh, I guess he's deaf, too!"
 He glares in his bully's direction before he catches himself. Too late.
 "Got a problem, old man?" The bully roughly slams his victim into a locker. The boy's arm is shoved into a handle, leaving his hand no choice but to drop his backpack. Both it and its contents clatter to the floor.
 They say starting fights isn't worth the effort, else I'd deck him.
 "Well?" His buddies, all shorter than him, snicker as he continues to pin his quarry to the wall, pain shooting up the boy's arm arm.
 Don't make eye contact. It'll only antagonize him. He shakes head.
 "Didn't think so!"
 Satisfied, the bully lets him go.
 Slumping to the floor, arm a little unresponsive now, the silver-haired boy reach for his bag.
 "Oops, sorry!" The bully's voice calls out, his foot imbedding itself into the backpack, flinging it a good distance away from its owner.
 The bully and his lackeys laugh as they move on, leaving the boy essentially alone in the locker room. Finally.
 Picking up the bag, the boy look around for the stuff that used to be inside it: his lunch, a pencil case, and two books. I can't help but be a little impressed at how for that kid managed to knock away some of these, to be honest—I can't even see where the second book went….
 A pair of shoes walk towards him.
 Glancing up, the first thing he notices is that this other kid's got his book.
 Looking a little bit too happy, this newcomer offers him the book. "This is yours, right?"
 "Uh… uh-huh." Don't make eye contact, the boy's mind tells him. He grabs the book from the cheerful kid's hands, shoves it into his bag, then quickly heads to his assigned classroom. Let's see… which one was it again?
 Footsteps behind him.
 Stopping, he turns to find the cheerful kid behind him. The kid's missing something important though. "Hey, don't you want your backpack?"
 "What?" he says with a little too much surprise. The kid spins his head around to find his own backpack resting on a stool where he mush have set it. "Oops, I guess I forgot about it. Thanks!" He smiles.
 A smile? Haven't seen one of those in….
 The cheerful kid leaves, and the silver-haired boy finds himself waiting for him. What's up with this kid?
 Hurried footsteps come back around the corner. "So what classroom are you in?" the kid asks, seemingly genuine-like.
 "Why?"
 Rather than answering his question, the kid merely says, "Mine's 4A."
 It's the same as his.
 …Wait, am I making eye contact?
 The boy's instincts turn his head away, but he still responds. "Mine too."
 "Woah, cool! We should sit next to each other!"
 What, why? This kid's sure got a weird way of making friends.
 …Making… friends. With me? That'd certainly be a first.

 The silver-haired boy looks back at his classmate. Well, I guess he seems genuine enough. "Yeah, alright."
 "Awesome!" The kid's overgrown smile returns. Running up beside him, the pair head down the hall towards the room 4A. Apparently.
 "Oh wait, I almost forgot!" The cheerful kid moves ahead of him. "My mom says you're supposed to tell your name when you meet someone new." He reaches out his hand. "I'm Sora!"
 Near-speechless, he looks at the kid's outstretched hand. I gotta say, this kid sure is blunt, isn't he? His arm moves forward and their eyes meet. "Riku," he says.
 Sora grabs his hand and shakes it up and down with vigor. "Riku, huh? Race you to the classroom, Riku!" Then, suddenly (to Riku's surprise, although he should've expected it after what the kid had just said) Sora bolts off down the hall.
 What's up with guy? "Hey, we're not supposed to run in the halls!"
 Sora skids to a halt, then scratches his head, laughing. "Oops, I guess I'm just so excited. The first day of school and I already met someone cool!"
 'Someone cool,' huh?
__________________________________________________________________

 "So, what do you wanna do?"
 Why is this kid still talking to me? He stayed pretty quiet during class, but now… "Nothing in particular. I just want to go home."
 "Why?"
 "It's not like there's anything else to do around here. This world is just too small."
 "'Too small'?!" He shakes his head. "I've got just the thing for you! It's really cool. Wait 'till you see it!"
 I don't think he has any bad intentions, but… he's starting to annoy me.
 Riku shrugs. "Maybe later, okay?" He picks up his pace.
 "Well, look who it is. If it ain't the grandpa!"
 Riku stops. So does Sora.
 The bully (whose name Riku has discovered is Zell) is standing right in their path, lackeys beside him.
 I guess I can't ignore him this time… not like it worked the first time anyway. "What do you want?" Riku asks as blandly as he can, trying not to pick a fight.
 "I thought I'd walk you home, old man," he says, giving an eerie smile. "After all, you seem to have a bit of trouble walking!" He punctuates this with with a sharp kick.
 Riku's leg falls out from underneath him and his face nearly hits the ground. I can't believe he went to so far as to attack me outright!
 He takes a deep breath and get up to find Sora's fist planted into Zell's head.
 Riku's jaw drops. Didn't think he had it in him, to be honest.
 "Why you gotta be so mean to Riku?!" Sora demands.
 Sora's fist didn't seem to pack much of a punch. He only made the bully stumble a little, more surprise on his face than pain. "What the heck, man?!" He readies a hand and firmly decks Sora, knocking him over.
 This time, Riku finds his own fist meeting Zell's face. Much to Riku's surprise, as much as Zell's.  
 The bully spins, falling flat to the ground. He gasps, a hand reaching up to his face where Riku hit. "Alright, man, you win!" he whimpers, pretty pathetically.
 Confidence within him, Riku takes a step towards him.
 "Aah!" Zell scampers off, his buddies following pathetically behind him.
 After a few moments, Sora looks up at Riku. "Hey, you okay?"
 "Am I okay? You're the one who got punched." He helps his friend off the ground. "Honestly, yours was pretty pathetic though…."
 He looks up at Riku and smiles, face a little roughed up. How can he smile like that all the time?
 "To tell you the truth, I usually wouldn't dare to try. Zell scares me too much!"
 "Oh?" I could totally see this kid being too scared to act out like that. "What was different this time?"
 He shrugs. "I dunno…"
 The least informative thing I've ever heard him say.
 Sora's face lights up, as though he got an idea. "Now c'mon, lemme show you the island!"
 "What?" The way this kid's mood maintains its positivity, it's like the fight with Zell never happened. Does this kid have a one track mind or what?
 Wait a sec… "Did you say 'island'?"
 "Yeah!" Eagerly, he points towards the shore. "My dad's a fisherman, and sometimes he rows me out to that island over there. You should totally come, it's a cool place!"
 "Huh…" That's actually something I've always wanted to do. Riku had never thought something like that was an option for him—he could never get up the nerve to ask any of the fishermen. Not with the way they stare at him. Eyes full of hate… I wonder if this Sora kid's dad will be like that, too…?
 Riku turns to Sora, whose face is still beaming. "Maybe… tomorrow?"
 "Alright, it's a promise!"
 "Hold on…"
 "See you tomorrow, Riku!" Then, off he goes, in the direction of the beach.
 If his dad's a fisherman, then I guess it makes sense he'd live close to the shore.
 Riku's eyes drift towards the island in the distance.

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