Chapter 1746 - 242 - Shredica and Leon (5)

Akane's POV

When I finally came home, my father was there, sitting around with several empty bottles beside him and looking completely drunk.

I had honestly thought he was finally starting to cut back on drinking, but since today was his day off, apparently he had decided that whatever limits he usually had simply didn't matter anymore. Judging from the number of bottles scattered around him, he had probably been drinking for hours without stopping until he reached the point where even standing properly looked like it would be a difficult task.

"You just came home?" he asked while glaring at me from where he was sitting. "What the heck have you been doing outside for so long, huh?"

"I just went to my friend's house," I answered while trying not to sound irritated. "Is that really such a bad thing?"

"Was it that boy?" he asked suddenly.

I was already about to walk into my room before he could continue questioning me, but I stopped the moment I heard that.

My hand was already wrapped around the doorknob, yet I couldn't bring myself to turn it.

"It's a boy, isn't it?" he continued, his voice becoming more accusing. "That boy from next door."

I couldn't answer him.

How did he know?

I hadn't told him anything about Tsubasa-kun, and as far as I knew, he shouldn't have had any reason to suspect anything either.

"You're such a slut..." he muttered bitterly. "You're just like your mother."

My fingers tightened around the doorknob.

For some reason, I couldn't turn it anymore.

The strength slowly left my hand, and I found myself standing there without being able to move, even though all I wanted at that moment was to get away from him and shut myself inside my room.

"Am I really your daughter?" I finally asked.

"Huh?" he replied, sounding confused for a moment before his expression changed into something much uglier. "Kuhahahaha!"

His laughter filled the apartment, and somehow, hearing him laugh like that made my stomach twist even more.

"Why are you asking me that question?" he said while staring directly at me. "Did you finally start questioning it yourself?"

His face was partially covered by the shadows of the room, but I could still see the bitter expression on it clearly enough.

"Well, I doubt that you're even my child," he said. "If you really were, then I don't think I would've ended up becoming this much of an alcoholic. You weren't just the reason that slut died, either. I found out that before she died, she had been meeting another man behind my back, and that made me wonder whose child you actually are."

I sucked in a deep breath.

The words hit me harder than I expected.

Somehow, I felt like this was something I should have been told a long time ago, instead of finding out about it like this from a drunk man who could barely keep his anger under control.

"If you really doubt that I'm your daughter, then why are you still clinging to me and taking care of me?" I asked.

"You want to know why?" he replied.

He stared at me for several seconds before giving me an answer that somehow felt even colder than his previous words.

"Nothing. There's nothing more to it than my own curiosity, that's all."

"Is that so?" I said while glaring back at him. "If you really hate me that badly because of what my mother did, then you should've just let someone else take care of me instead of keeping me here and fucking your life up even more than she already did."

The moment those words left my mouth, his expression changed.

He reached for one of the bottles beside him and threw it toward me.

For a brief moment, I thought he was actually trying to hit me.

Thankfully, his aim was terrible enough that the bottle missed me.

Unfortunately, it passed close enough that when it smashed against the wall, one of the broken pieces flew toward me and struck my cheek.

A sharp sting immediately spread across my face.

I instinctively touched my cheek and felt something warm running down my fingers.

Blood.

I didn't wait for anything else to happen.

I ran out of our apartment.

My father shouted after me, telling me to come back, but I couldn't bring myself to listen anymore. Staying there had become so unbearable that I felt like if I remained inside that apartment for even another minute, I would completely fall apart in front of him.

I kept walking without knowing where I was actually going.

The rain had already started pouring heavily, soaking my hair and clothes within minutes, but I barely cared about it anymore. My tears mixed with the rain running down my face, making it impossible to tell which part of the wetness came from the sky and which part came from me.

I shouldn't have existed.

That thought kept repeating inside my head while I continued walking through the rain.

It felt like my existence was nothing more than a source of despair for my father.

Maybe everything really would have been easier if I had never been born.

Or maybe he wasn't even my father.

I didn't know anymore.

He had said that I might not actually be his child, but...

I couldn't bring myself to think about that anymore.

I didn't want to know.

I didn't want to question it.

I just wanted everything inside my head to stop for even a little while.

While I continued walking along the road, I should have been paying more attention to where I was going, but the heavy rain had reduced my visibility so badly that I could barely see anything beyond a short distance in front of me.

The sound of vehicles passing nearby was also muffled by the rain, making it difficult to judge where they were coming from.

Because of that, I failed to notice the truck approaching from beside me.

It was moving far too quickly.

By the time I finally noticed it, the truck was already dangerously close.

My body froze.

I couldn't move.

The truck was about to hit me.

Before it could, however, someone suddenly rushed toward me and pushed me out of the way.

I stumbled across the wet pavement, completely stunned by what had just happened.

For several seconds, I couldn't even properly stand.

My heart was pounding so hard that I could barely hear anything else around me.

Then I looked toward the person who had pushed me away.

The moment I recognized him, my entire mind went blank.

The shock lasted only for a moment before something much worse took its place.

Despair.

"T-Tsubasa-kun!"

My voice came out trembling as I called his name.

Tsubasa-kun was lying on the road.

Blood was spreading across his body as the rain continued pouring down around him.