1 Jiro is walking without any assistance through the manor's garden, heading towards the fountain. There now lays a white bench in front of it, a piece he had added to the garden after his most recent surgery that took place a few months ago. Jiro could now walk on his own and he was much taller than he realized before. His bionic limbs had finally adapted to his DNA's infrastructure. It had now been a full three years since his accident, and he was glad he made a full recovery. He was just upset that his father wasn't here to see him. He sits down on the bench and puts his hand into a bag of crumbs, scattering them about on the floor and water. Four robins come down and start to nibble on the bread. He smiles and says softly to them, "Hello my friends." He goes on feeding them for a while when suddenly, a crow appeared and came down to eat the bread with them. "I don't think we've been introduced," said Jiro to the crow. The crow caws 6 times in a row right after he says this, staring right at him. It proceeds to attack the other birds around it, grabbing onto one and ripping its feathers off. "No!" said Jiro, grabbing a stick from the garden. He flailed it at the crow, saying, "Stop! Go away!" It flew away, and Jiro fell to the ground while looking down at the poor dead bird. It twitched. The bird was still alive. Jiro takes the stick in his hand that he was using to scare the crow, and puts it in the air above the bird. "I should put it out of its misery," he says. In one blow it was done. He cried out in disbelief and shook his head, gripping one hand on the stick so hard it splits right in half. Jiro brought a shoebox from the manor and placed the dead bird inside. He had dug a small hole in the ground, in a random spot of the garden to bury it. He patted down the dirt hill and stood up, pausing for just a moment before he made his way back toward the manor. Bastian walked out from the front door just before Jiro had come to the steps. He noticed the dirt on Jiro's hands and said, "Sire, you needn't do any yard work yourself." Jiro put a hand up to halt him, "It's alright, Bastian. This garden is everything to me." Bastian nodded and bowed as Jiro passed by him, going inside the manor. Bastian walked through the garden, looking over to the small dirt hill. "I wonder what Lord Jiro Has planted here?" He looked away, and off into the distance, and then saw something that caught his eye. Something black, laying in the back of the garden near the fence. He walked over and saw that it was, in fact, a dead crow. It lay mangled in the garden. 2 Jiro sat in his bedroom, staring intently at a painting his father had bought him many years ago. It was a replica of the famous painting by Hieronymous Bosch, 'The Garden Of Earthly Delights,' "It depicts the evil and sin in the world," he remembers his father saying to him when he first put the painting up in his bedroom. His father stood and stared into it with his arms crossed. "It reminds me of revelations." Jiro stared into the painting and repeated the last word. "Revelations." His father's next words echoed in his mind. "But, it was never meant to be so bad, Jiro." He stood up and checked the clock. 11 AM. Madame Aiko would be there soon for his piano lesson. He walked over to the side table and took off his black gloves, revealing his metal hands, and then put them into a drawer that contained a replacement pair of red ones. This was his new favorite thing, to play with red gloves. He liked the way they looked as he did. It was something different. Madame Aiko had finally convinced him to play for an actual audience, and he was still trying to get used to the idea. He thought perhaps something like this would impress them, as he wasn't sure what to expect. He had just prepared himself to play 'Clair De Lune,' when Bastian knocked at the door to the practice room. Madame Aiko came into the room and Bastian left them. Jiro began to play, and they spoke as he did. "Jiro, I can't wait to introduce you to the local music hall. I've spoken with the director of the hall for years about you and they're all very excited to finally see your talent." Jiro smiles humbly and says, "Talent, yes, but hard work and dedication are key." Madame Aiko's eyes softened with his words. She was amazed at his seeming maturity. She remembers the days when he was very frustrated with his playing. Even though his playing had always been relatively good, it wasn't good enough for him unless it was perfect. She had assumed perhaps the boy had Asperger's or something of the like. The saying goes, that nothing can be perfect, but she would like to think of his playing as an exception. He stopped playing. "But without a teacher, a student is nothing." She blushed and said, "I think you would have done well with any teacher, Lord Jiro." He shook his head at her words, "Not Lord. Just Jiro." She was surprised he requested such a thing from her. He looked down at his hands and his hair fell over his eyes slightly. "When we're at the hall- please don't call me Lord there, either." Now she understood. "I won't." He began to play again and Madame Aiko watched as he eased almost unnaturally well into the next song. "That's incredible," she says to herself again. "He's come so far from his accident". Jiro saw her looking at him from the corner of his eye and thought to himself, "I'm so happy she admires me". He finished playing, and she reached out her hand to put it on his shoulder, to compliment him. But right before her hand reached its destination, a small shock came through the air in the blink of an eye and Madame Aiko retracted her hand saying, "Oh!" He turned to look at her and he asked her what happened, and she rubbed her sore hand saying, "I think perhaps just some static electricity. I hate when that happens". Jiro frowned looking at her hand. He reached out and grabbed it and she blushed looking up at him as he examined it closely to his face. His eyes were blank and cold, and he looked deeply at her hand, seeing one small red dot on the thumb. She notices then just how rough Jiro's hands were underneath his gloves. He never took them off, and he always dressed in such a way that his entire body was covered. He always dressed elegantly. However, she admired that. He kept himself distinguished. He put her hand down and apologized to her and she shrugged it off. Her smile faded as she looked on at him, still staring out into nothing, looking right through her. After his lesson was over, he saw Madame Aiko out. She waved goodbye to him, and he smiles returning the wave before she closed the door behind her. He looked over to the side small table next to the front door, and he saw a postcard that was sent to him recently. It was an invitation from a son of his father's friend. He had been inviting Jiro on and off to come to his large countryside mansion to join in one of his fox hunting parties. Jiro thought to himself that perhaps it would be good to finally take him up on that, to try and blend in with other children his age again. Maybe it would be good for him, he thought. 3 A week later, he found himself in his old stretch limo, wearing his finest red jacket and fashion scarf. He was headed up a very long dirt driveway, and could see the large white countryside mansion a bit ways off. The sun was just about to rise, but inside the mansion was supposedly a party of about 20 boys around his age. Even he sat amazed at the wealth around him. The mansion itself was at least three times the size of his humble Manor. It was in the shape of an L, with perfectly trimmed hedges all around it. There were also other sorts of buildings on the property, such as barns and stables, for example. Much of the surrounding forested area belonged to the owners as well. As Jiro rolled up to the front steps, he wondered if he was really doing the right thing. But it was too late to turn back now. Two butlers had been there to meet him at the bottom of the stairs and they had opened his door and greeted them almost as soon as the limo stopped. He was then shown inside and taken to the main hall, where dozens of other boys his age were socializing. One boy, a little older than him, approached. He had brown shoulder-length hair and wore thick, round glasses, standing a bit taller than him. "Lord Jiro! So glad you could make it!" He shook hands with him and said, "It's great to see you again, after all these years!" Jiro smiled and modestly replied, "Lord Desmond, thank you so much for inviting me." Soon enough, the party started to pour outside. Jiro was given a black rider's uniform and a helmet by a man and was told where to change. He heads over to a small building, and once he was inside he realized that this was a shared changing room, with no stalls. He looked at himself in a tall large mirror from across the room as he passed by making his way over to a bench on the far side. There were two boys left in the room with him as most other boys had changed already. He couldn't just stand there, he felt awkward, so he slowly began to unbutton his jacket while facing into the corner. He was just about done when the last boy was finishing up, and once he left, Jiro sprung into action, quickly changing into his rider's clothes. He was just about done, only needing to put on a glove, when he heard footsteps outside the door. He tried to get the last glove onto his metal hand as soon as possible, but just as he was pulling it on, the door opened behind him and he turned to see one of the boys standing there looking at him oddly. "Oh! I'm sorry, I hadn't realized you were still in here, I didn't intend to scare you like that." Jiro gave a short sigh of relief before saying, "That's alright, no harm done!" he smiled at the boy. Jiro grabbed his helmet and left the changing room. 4 He stepped up onto one side of the horse and pulled himself over, taking his seat amongst the other boys and following along the back of the group. Jiro didn't know much about the hunt or what they were really supposed to do. "Leaving the meet!" yelled a man in red. One of the boys wearing red nearby him told him to spectate from the back and go where he says to go with the others wearing black jackets. They all trotted across the fields, leading up to a heavily forested area. The dogs were being guided by the staff, and the hunt Master, which happened to be the boy who had invited him there. They moved along in a group led by the field master, listening for hounds as they went over the landscape. Jiro saw the boy from the changing room, who had walked in on him just before he left. He was giving him an odd look again, but once he saw that Jiro was watching, he quickly darted his gaze away and moved further up. Jiro became worried. Could he have actually seen my hand? A boy in red called out his name, "Jiro! can you hear me in the back? We're going left down this next bend!" He gave a wave up and called back, "Yes, alright!" Eventually, a horn went off and the dogs were heard. "Oh! They've got one!" said one boy excitedly as they all rushed over. They took direction and followed down a hill to a spot hidden by bushes. "There it is!" called out one of them, pointing. When it was all said and done with, pieces of the fox could be seen by everyone. They did a viewing of the animal, and everyone looked down on the fox's body as they passed it. Some were smiling, others were pretending not to care. The huntsman was examining the body pieces and collected from it the head, tail, and feet to be given as trophies to the members of the group. While on the hunt, Jiro felt pride by being with other boys during this endeavor, but now that he had seen the fox's body the way it was... "It's kind of barbaric, really," he thought. Everyone around him was so happy as they went off at it again, trying another spot on the property. They spent the long end of the afternoon riding around from place to place. Dusk was just about to begin when the dogs were heard again, and this time, Jiro could see the small fox running for its life through the field ahead. Four dogs chased wildly behind it, and he watched as they caught it, tearing it limb by limb as the huntsman tried to get them to back off. There were cheers all around, and another viewing of the animal. Finally, it was time to call it a day. Jiro stayed behind the group as much as he could, trying to avoid the changing room. After most of them were gone, he slipped in and did the same as before. It was no problem and Jiro was happy with himself this time around, although he still worried about the look that boy had given him. He brushed it off, thinking perhaps that the boy was just being nervous about him. He left the changing rooms and looked over to the back entrance of the mansion. It was located at the top of a tall set of white stairs that wrapped around a white porch. They were built into the side of a hill that descended down the back of the building out to the fields. By the entrance, two butlers stood at each side of the open glass sliding doors that led into the main hall, they were holding trays of champaign. It was now completely dark outside. Jiro stood in the crowd surrounded by the other boys. "It was a fine day for us!" said Lord Desmond, as he stood above the crowd on a platform in the room's corner. "I'd again like to give my appreciation to everyone who attended today's hunt and I'd like you all to part from here today with a bottle of my family's wine. They cheered and clapped and he Lord Desmond held up a hand to calm the crowd saying, "It's the very least I could do. The bond we all have here is special." They clapped as he went on, "I'd also like to thank my dear friend, Lord Jiro, for attending today's hunt!" He pointed him out to the crowd and they all applauded him, he felt something unlike he ever had before. He was unsure of how to react. He humbly smiles and bowed his head. Lord Desmond went on, "And as an extension of my generosity, I shall reward the head of the best fox!" The crowd cheered again and Jiro was pleased until he caught the eyes of that boy from the change room again. Lord Desmond's voice was heard again, catching everyone's attention once more. "I invite him publicly to return next week for our final hunt of the fall season! This is what it is to be part of a group. Jiro didn't much like the sport, but he still wanted to come back again. Another week passed, and this time around, Jiro changed clothes in the washroom. They started out much the same as they did last time, only one thing seemed to be different. Every now and then, Jiro would see one of the other boys staring at him. He told himself not to think the worst, and that people were probably just nervous of him because he was new to them. He stayed in pretty much the same place in the group as he did before, in the back, trying to keep out of everyone's way. Clouds came in. The field master made his calls, and the horns sounded. They all went through the motions but caught nothing. "I'm afraid today isn't our day," called Lord Desmond over the crowd on horseback. They were done for the day and it has just begun to spit rain. People were happy to be done with the day, it seems. They all undressed rather quickly and made their way inside before Jiro had even finished putting his horse inside. Before he left, Jiro had put his clothes into the changing rooms, as he couldn't have left them in the washroom. Since everyone was finished, he saw no issue in changing there. He even looked out the window to see if anyone was straggling back, but he saw the two butlers closing the glass sliding doors. Everyone was inside. There were tall black streetlamps that lit up the pathway to the stairs, so he wasn't afraid of nightfall. He decided he would change there, as it would be odd for him to walk through the crowd inside to the washroom. And besides, everyone was gone, so he had no reason to worry. Even so, he quickly began to unbutton his jacket and change. He had gotten the jacket off when he realized he had yet to take off his rider's helmet as he was previously distracted by thought. He clicked the strap and pulled the helmet off, placing it onto the bench. He thought about the other boys and what their lives must have been like to always be coming to a place like this for their weekends. He assumed perhaps they were much like him. He was standing with his entire metallic torso exposed when to his horror, ten or more boys ran into the change room yelling, "Call the others!" More of them started to push their way into the room and Jiro fell to the ground, shaking as they stumbled forward together as a crowd. No one besides Bastian, his father, and the doctor had ever seen him like this before. The boy who had been staring at him last week yelled over the crowd, "See!? I told you!" Lord Desmond pushed through the crowd and found Jiro on the ground in shock. When Lord Desmond saw him, his eyes widened and his feet froze. He was almost pushed right on top of Jiro by the crowd, which snapped him back to reality pretty quick. He turned and yelled at the crowd to leave, and slowly the boys made their way out of the change room and into the house. Jiro lay there for about another hour before Bastian showed up. He came in and picked up Jiro by the arm and helped him walk out, saying, "Now, now, my Lord, everything is going to be alright." Later that night, Jiro stared into a tall round standing mirror at the far end of his room as he sat on his bedside and thought to himself, "I shouldn't even be alive".