Chapitre 7: A Lost Hamburger

On his way home, Hajime stopped by at a certain park he frequented. Seating himself under one of the trellises there, he finally got to take a breather after his eventful day. The adrenaline that enabled him to drag himself out of school was now completely gone and he felt as if his appendages have gone limp. As soon as he lay down on the bench, he couldn't get up anymore.

Most of the time, Hajime would stop at this park to pass the time since there was nothing to do at home anyways. Besides, he doesn't have the energy to clean, it would just waste his energy. The mess in his house didn't help welcome him either, so he'd rather stay at the park than go home.

Sunset came soon after, flooding the skies with a nice orange tint as the atmosphere drastically cooled down. The occasional breeze became more occurrent, blowing against Hajime's jet black hair and putting some dirt on his eyes. From afar, he could hear the faint sounds of children's laughter and the gossip from a few people who were by the playground section of the park. With all these perfect conditions, Hajime felt like he was being lulled to sleep as he forgot to think about his life. A contented smile formed on his face. 'If I had food, this would've been the perfect scenario.' He told himself, clenching his stomach.

Then he fell asleep, completely forgetting the possibility that the debt collectors might find him in the park and abduct him on the spot.

.....

"Look, mom, a stalker!"

Megumi clenched her fists in anger upon hearing a child say that to his mom, all the while pointing towards her general direction. It's not like she wanted to do it, but since she had time to kill before her driver arrives at school, she decided to follow Hajime a little bit, assuming that he'd get into trouble as soon as he stepped foot out of school.

She was a complete amateur when it comes to tailing someone though since a child immediately noticed her. Had Hajime been paying attention, he would've noticed that a certain someone was following him, but he was too preoccupied with his hunger to notice.

'What is he up to this time?' Megumi curiously asked herself, hovering by the edge of the park as Hajime headed to one of the benches and lay down. 'Is he waiting for someone? Doesn't look that way.'

A few minutes passed, and then Megumi cautiously poked him, wondering if he was really sleeping. He was. One would think he wasn't though since he was sleep-talking and squirming around while hugging his stomach.

Riiiing!

Megumi almost jumped out of her skin as the phone in her pocket started ringing. In a flash, she got out of the park and headed back to the school where someone picked her up. She did have one stopover before doing so though.

.....

It was already nighttime when Hajime woke up. By now, the temperature had dropped to the point where he shivered, and the sky had turned a nice hue of purplish black. Stars started littering the skies as well and that was what greeted Hajime beyond the trellis which partially blocked the night sky view.

"That smell... " Hajime trailed off. It didn't take long before he noticed the hamburger sitting right beside him. It was your regular fast-food burger, except it had a sticky note plastered on its wrap.

The note read: It's not poisoned, you looked hungry. Eat up.

An illusion? Hajime rubbed his eyes to confirm that he wasn't hallucinating and sure enough, the hamburger was still there. He immediately got up and took a look around, wondering if the person who left the hamburger would still be nearby. There was no one.

"Who left this hamburger here?" He wondered. "No wait— no one would give me a burger without an ulterior motive... I'm sure whoever left it here is planning to get me into something."

'Don't tell me?!'

'Maybe if I eat this burger, I'd have to give one of my kidneys in exchange!'

'No way!' Hajime shook his head. Even he found that thought ridiculous.

Before he could be tempted by the mouth-watering meal, he got up and walked away. He still wasn't convinced that the one who left the food for him didn't have bad intentions behind it. But after walking three steps, he retraced his footsteps and looked at the hamburger for the second time. 'Since when did I last tasted— no. What if one of those debt collectors left this hamburger here? No, I won't be tricked.'

"Hey, are you going to eat that?" A voice suddenly addressed him out of nowhere, causing him to whirl his head.

Right behind the brushes by the park was a man, walking towards him. Based on his tattered clothes and the grease on his skin, Hajime immediately realized he was a beggar. Without thinking twice, he grabbed the hamburger from where it was and headed out of the park. He didn't want to interact with the beggar for fear that he'd jump on him just because of one burger.

Hajime had reached the point of no return by then. A few steps later, he was already unwrapping the burger and savoring it to his heart's content. For once, he disregarded the risks and decided to believe the note stuck on the burger's wrapper— that it wasn't poisoned, and that he should just eat up. Well, even if it were poisoned, it had been more than a year since Hajime last tasted a burger, of course he'd give in to the temptation.

Well, the burger was finished before Hajime even started enjoying it. As if on cue, he found himself in front of his house by the time he finished the burger. "I'm ho— " Hajime paused, wondering why his tongue always slips like that.

"It's not like someone's home to welcome me anyways," He heaved with a sigh as he unlocked the door.