Tuesday, October 12, 2021

The Bloodline

 “Hey, Max! Come here!”


Max was walking by, wearing a t-shirt that was a bit too big for him, a hand-me-down, and a pair of shorts that might be too small for him, as he was called to the living room by his brother. Shuji had a bunch of friends over and they were snickering together and trying to quiet themselves down as Max approached. Max was a few years younger than his half-brother and a bit cautious around him. He knows Shuji hates him and wishes he wasn’t around, but Max is just a kid and has to live here now. Max doesn’t want to make Shuji angry, so he came a bit closer and tried to play nice with his seemingly perfect, fully Japanese older brother.

 

“Listen, I wanna play a game with you. It’s called Mercy. You ever heard of it?”

 

“N-no.”

 

Shuji’s friends started laughing a bit but stopped quickly. “It’s a game, where we hold hands like this.” Shuji said as he interlocked his two hands together. “And the goal is the make the other person say mercy. It’s easy.” Shuji displayed this by twisting and digging his hands into the other, showing how one can deal damage to the other in Mercy.

 

“And we can’t let go of each other’s hand until someone gives. So, you get it? Easy right?”