LadyChiffa

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Nishikiyama Isamu was rarely home. Akira loved his father with all his heart and often refused to go to sleep until he came home. His mother would glance at the clock with a sigh, but his father was still gone. Eventually Akira couldn't stand it anymore and fell asleep, waking up not on the living room couch but in his own bed. Each time he tried to catch and unravel this magical moment, but never once did he wake up in time.

On his father's back was a picture of a koi carp – just like the ones Akira and his mom used to feed in the nearby pond. Mom told the legend that a persistent carp would one day turn into a dragon, and Akira kept asking her when those park kois would turn into dragons. Mom would laugh and answer that they must not be persistent enough.

One day little Akira told his father that when he grew up, he too would have a persistent koi carp on his back that would one day turn into a dragon. Smoking at the table, his father turned abruptly toward him and looked at his son in a way that made Akira want to run away. He had never seen his cheerful and kind father like that before.

"No way in hell," his father dropped the words hard and weighty, like nails hammering them into Akira's brain. "It won't happen as long as I live, do you understand me?"

Akira nodded quickly. His father, noticing that his son must be frightened, smiled slightly and his gaze warmed.

What would Nishikiyama Isamu have said when he saw what his son had become? He would probably have been disappointed, angry, even enraged...

wanted to make some ishin goromi! ❤️

Certified !