death of hope

Chapter 908: "Wild Growth" (321) Rust Belt

A dilapidated tube building in the new Sapporo downtown area.
This is low-rent housing, and the people living here are all poor people from the bottom of society.

In a dim little room, the electronic ring of the alarm clock sounded particularly harsh.
"Drip drip drip!"

"Fuck! You woke me up at the critical moment, and I almost touched it!"

Ryuji Kimura woke up cursing, staring at the moldy ceiling, trying hard to recall the naughty girl in his dream.

He reached out to turn off the alarm, pushed aside the thick stack of pornographic comic books beside him, fiddled with the toilet paper drawer, sat up and stretched:

"Wo~ce~ah~"

He got out of bed without putting on slippers. He walked to the bathroom to wash up in his stinky bare feet, stepping on the dirty cement floor.

His mother was busy with housework in the living room, looking at him with some surprise:
The eldest son, who always stays in bed and sleeps until he wakes up naturally every day, got up very early today. This is not a good sign.

Does this mean that my son should reform himself, stop hanging out on the streets, and concentrate on studying?

That was obviously impossible, the mother sighed and shook her head helplessly.

She knew in her heart that her eldest son had completely inherited the inferior genes of his dead father, and was full of the air of a sloppy ruffian. Sooner or later, he would be like his father, getting stabbed twice in a fight and dying on the street.

The mother had a clear conscience. She had tried everything: scolded, beat, and advised her child earnestly, but this naughty child just wouldn't listen.

·
Kimura Ryuji spent every day hanging out with his bad friends on the street, learned to smoke and drink early, and his academic performance was a mess.
He kept fighting with others in elementary school, and in junior high school he was naughty and got a tattoo. His neck was covered with tattoos, and he was nicknamed "Black Neck".

Being so stubborn, what awaits him must be the standard ending of the new Sapporo bad boys:

Enter the infamous 'Kurose Academy',
The worst high school in the city has an almost zero college admission rate, and the future fate of its graduates is either to work in a factory as a screwdriver or to be in the underworld and get shot.

The extremely disappointed mother simply treated her eldest son as a free guest, allowing him to fool around and kick him out when he turned 18.

She pinned all her hopes of a comeback on her second son. At this hour, most people were still sleeping soundly in their beds, but her second son had already arrived at school and was reading in the morning self-study room.

The child was her pride. He was not at all tainted by the gangster genes of his damn father. He was sensible, smart and hardworking. He was admitted to a key junior high school and even received a scholarship.

If everything goes well, he can get into a good university and get a job in a large company after graduation, which will change the fate of the Kimura family's generations of poverty.

(When my second son becomes successful, I will move out of this garbage slum and live in a luxurious community with a lake view. I will no longer have to listen to those gossipy women in the public housing estate talking about celebrity gossip. I will attend salon parties hosted by middle-class ladies.)
Mrs. Kimura thought about it and giggled. Her eldest son's rough and piercing voice woke her up from her sweet dream:

"Mom, I'm leaving!" (Get out of here now. It would be best if you die outside. Don't come back!)
Kimura Ryuji, who was a thick-skinned man, didn't notice the resentful gaze coming from behind him, and slammed the door with a bang.
"Thump, thump, thump!" He ran and jumped down the stairs.

"Black Neck" thought, since his younger brother was very capable and would make a lot of money to support their mother in the future, he just needed to enjoy himself in the present moment.

·
He has lived in this low-rent apartment building since he can remember. There is nothing surprising about it. For more than ten years, everything has been the same.
Elevators that can never be repaired, noisy neighbors, stray dogs peeing and pooping everywhere, graffiti-covered corridors, rusty water pipes,
Illegal wiring and optical fibers, clothes drying poles everywhere, and faded clothes that have been washed hundreds of times...

Those travel bloggers are always happy to share the prosperous side of the new Sapporo with their fans, but they pretend not to know where these slums are.

Everyone who lives here suffers from incurable terminal illnesses and poverty.

Downstairs, a few hooligans wearing Adidas sweatshirts were squatting next to a burning trash can roasting sweet potatoes. When they saw Kimura Ryuji, they greeted him:
"Hey, this is 'Black Neck', why are you up so early today? Have you found a partner?!"

"I have so many girlfriends! Which one are you talking about?!" Black Neck lied.

With his ferocious looks and neck covered with tattoos, girls would avoid him.

·
Between several tube-shaped buildings is a large area of ​​bungalows and dilapidated shacks. It was originally a community garden, but because the city hall did not care about the quality of life in the slums, no one maintained it and it gradually became deserted and slowly turned into a market.

'Black Neck' walked into a simple shack made of wooden strips and plastic sheets. This breakfast shop has been in business for more than 30 years, which is twice as old as he is.

"Boss, I want some kelp and tofu oden, salty."

The owner of the breakfast shop was a dirty, fat old man. Because he was so fat that he had five chins, his neighbors nicknamed him "bean worm":
"Hey! What a rare guest, kid from the Kimura family, what are you doing here? Don't you want to have lunch directly after you get up?"

"Soybean worm, you old devil are so good at slandering people. Let me tell you, I have decided to take the college entrance examination from now on. I will go to the library to study in a while!"

"Come on! You're an illiterate? Do you know all 26 letters?!"

"How come you can't recognize them all?!" Black Neck raised his middle finger and said, "A, B, suck, brother, righteousness,

"Aifu, You, C, K, Y, O, U, fuck!"

There was a burst of laughter in the breakfast shop, and old man Yamamoto, who collected scraps in Building 2, was so happy that soy milk sprayed out of his mouth.

The boss gave Heibo a middle finger and told his wife to serve him the food:

"Kelp and tofu oden, salty, one serving~"