21st of July, three years ago.

The reddish sky of the late sunset still gave enough light for people who were walking along the sidewalks of Jakarta, the former capital of Indonesia. Among the business of the metropolis, the then middle schooler Pras was walking unsteadily. His eyes were facing forward, but his mind wandered somewhere else. Especially to the past.

Everything that he had done, all that he had worked for, had been for naught.

He knew his family didn’t have much for years due to the betrayal done to his father by his colleague. Yet, instead of focusing on his studies and traditional dance practices to keep his scholarship safe, Pras chose to try to embark on a new path. He went for a gaming tourney and planned to win it, thus he could start carving his name on a path towards the pro gaming scene.

He knew that he needed to train a lot to achieve that goal. Thus Pras abandoned much of his studies to pursue what he believed to be the one with a better path. He even completely scrapped his dancing practices. Usually he didn’t need much study to maintain his marks above the required minimum to keep the scholarship as long as he listened properly in the class. As for the co-curriculum, he could easily replaced the traditional dance with gaming achievement.

But he didn’t achieve anything.

Pras failed to focus during school due to lack of sleep and his mind kept wandering about gameplay, tactics, strategies, builds, and stuff. So it was inevitable that his test marks went haywire.

His last hope was to win the tourney, giving him a valid reason for his falling grades and also serves as an non-academic achievement.

But, as cliche as it seems, the world was not all sunshine and rainbows. What his father experienced should’ve been a cautionary tale which he didn’t heed. Many people can’t be trusted, and they would stab others in the back when it was convenient to do so.

As if mirroring his father’s fate, Pras had his teammates betray him.

But that was not the most foolish act he did. It was his retaliation that finally put the final nail in Pras’ scholarship coffin. By revealing all the info he had about his former team to the opposing team, he managed to secure their defeat.

However, it was not long before Pras’ betrayal was discovered. And that’s when the real nightmare began.

His former team-mates doxxed him and uncovered his identity towards the masses. By revealing his betrayal, Pras was portrayed as the bad guy, the perfect target to be attacked and harassed by the masses.

Harassments and threats sent towards him were massive. He knew it was not a direct physical action to him, but nevertheless it was painful for such a young person like him. It also didn’t stop at him; his family, friends, and even his school were being targeted by the angry masses in social media.

That was the final nail. The school had considered to be more lenient on his scholarship, by giving him another chance. But the storm of hatred towards him had made them take it away. For he had done something irresponsible, malicious, and stained his school’s reputation.

Now, his eldest sister needed to take a break from university and get a side job in order to ease the burden of his parents and let Pras continue his studies. Pras knew it was unfair. None of it was fair, not even the betrayal done to his father. The burden that needed to be held by his sister and the pain his family had to endure due to his foolishness was the worst of it all.

He questioned why it was not only him that had to be punished. Why must people’s lives be so connected that one person’s mistake could ripple through other’s life?

“Meow!”

Pras, whose mind was completely clouded, had been startled by the appearance of a kitten that jumped in front of him. The orange tabby kitten rubbed its ear at Pras' foot, but then got startled as Pras hastily stepped back. It looked back from when it came then frantically dashed forward to the roads.

“Wait, not there.”

It was unclear what it was that propelled Pras to leap forward and quickly catch the kitten. Was his clouded mind too confused to properly assess the situation? Or was he feeling guilty for startling the kitten by stepping backwards?

“IDIOT!”

Someone cursed at him which was accompanied by a loud honk from an incoming truck. Pras didn’t realise his body was already on the road.

That time, perhaps because his brain was working so hard to find a way to save him, time felt dilated. Maybe, time did slow down to give him the perfect chance for him to leap backward. However, he froze. There was something else holding him in place.

A burden.

Pras thought he was a burden to everyone around him. Perhaps, Slasher was right. If he had gone, then there would be less burden for his parents and his elder sister didn’t need to take a break from university. Pras was truly a fool, and he thought he would end as one.

Then a sharp pain hit his hand. The kitten had playfully bit his hand. That time there was another surge of emotion swelled within him. He jumped to save the cat, if he didn’t jump back, he would do something half-assed as always. At least, for once, he wanted to do things right.

Pras tried to jump back to the sidewalks, but he didn’t know if he had enough strength to completely avoid the crash.

“Watch out!”

There was another force that dragged him out, saving him from a certain crash. He fell flat on his back on the sidewalk. There was also a loud thud and clatter.

People gathered around him, all of them were asking about his well being. Some even ran to find help. Meanwhile, Pras was utterly shocked.

His eyes widened, looking at the sky. Flashes of memories surged his mind. He remembered the time he was awed by the flying formation of F-15 EX. His family were there. He remembered their smiles and their honest laughter when he said that one day he would be a fighter jet pilot.

They were always there, no matter what the circumstances were. They stuck together and helped each other. They never said he was a burden nor they blamed him for what had happened. They just told him it was just a lesson to learn in his path to being a proper human.

He was truly a fool to forget that and tried to let his clouded mind proceed on making a poor judgement.

“Are you okay?”

Among the crowd, a girl slightly younger than him had stepped forward. She had black short hair, wore a necklace with a flower crystal pendant, and stood with the help of a crutch. Some part of her body was covered in bandages.

The stranger girl was smiling while extending her arm. For Pras, it was not a mere offer to help. It was akin to the light of hope depicted by a stranger who could even still care for others.

Pras tried to reach out to her hand, then stopped. He tried to stand up alone while wiping his watery eyes.

“T-thank you.”

“You are welcome, o’ solemn stranger.”

“Solemn- what?”

Pras couldn’t ask her properly of what she had said since other people kept asking if he was truly okay. They were also telling him to be careful on the road, and pointed out the kitten could’ve saved itself by covering under the truck. Some scary and rough men also seemed eager to track the truck driver and give him some beating for speeding and not slowing down.

“No, don’t, it was my fault,” Pras said hastily. Revenge, with good or bad intentions, had proven to not have a good end. At least that’s what he learned from his recent personal experience.

One old guy with prayer cup suspected that Pras was attempting suicide by purposely jumping to the path of a truck. The old man told him that his life is still long and if he needs help, he should go seek one. That suspicion had drawn a comment from his saviour.

“My, you thought of that?”

“N-no,” Pras tried to straighten things up. However, he was rather speechless since he was still overwhelmed by the whole situation.

“Chin up!” The girl exclaimed. “Fight on, live on, though your love remains unrequited!

Pras flustered. He couldn’t fathom why the topic changed to love matters.

“D-don’t jump into conclusions like that!”

“Oh, I know! You do not have friends, right?” The girl changed her playful accusations. “Do not worry, one day you will find those who could accept you just the way you are.”

The whole situation was overwhelming, but the girl’s overflowing positive attitude was beyond that. Pras was completely speechless before her. However, that moment also gave Pras time to realise the blood on the girl’s bandages.

“Did you get hurt because of.. saving me?”

Pras' heart sank. Just as he felt a bit better about everything, some part of him lamented how her saviour was hurt because of him.

“My, my, do not think about it, a speck of blood is nothing compared to the worth of a life. Just think of it similar to a blood transfusion.”

That was not an allegory Pras had expected. Nevertheless he tried to regain composure and offered, “L-let me accompany you back to the hospital.”

“Do not do that, nurse Rita would just direct her anger towards you. My au… elder sister might overreact too. Let’s say I just sneaked off to get a nice walk.”

“B-but….”

“Shh…” the girl put her index finger on her lips as a sign for silence. A playfully mischievous smile bloomed on her face as she walked away.

“See you again, solemn stranger.”

“Eh? Solemn?”

The girl stopped, then pointed at the kitten that Pras still held with his left arm. She grinned and disappeared at the gate of a very nearby hospital, leaving the stunned Pras behind. Not long after, a hysterical wailing was heard from the direction. Perhaps that was nurse Rita the girl had mentioned.

Pras laughed out loud. He didn’t know when the last time he had an honest laugh was like now. He thanked the other people around him and bid his farewell to them.

As for the kitten, he still held it softly.

“You know, I don’t guarantee that my family could afford to take care of an additional member in our family,” he said to the kitten, “but if they accept you, I might need to give you a name?”

“How about Galung?”

The kitten meow-ed as if approving the name. The word just came without the need of much thinking. It means ‘victory’ in his native language.

Pras never realised what was the real cause of him taking the word. Whether because he felt victorious over his situation on that day, or perhaps because he longed for a victory that never came to be.