Side Story: A Little Love Song

I'd thought I'd long since forgotten my real name.

Even so, there are nights when it suddenly comes back to me.

By the time I was old enough to remember anything, my mother was gone.

My father was a man who lived like a parasite in the nightlife district of the biggest city around.

That wasn't mockery; he truly lived that way, so I was simply stating a fact.

He didn't work. He stole money from women and spent it on liquor.

My father had a handsome face, at least. With that face and his carefree way of life, he drifted from one room to another, living with women of the night. And he brought his son along, too.

Looking back now, I can't help thinking that, in a way, it was impressive how popular he was despite having a kid in tow. Not that I have even the slightest respect for him.

The only good things I got from having that man as my father were the face I inherited and learning how to dress and act in ways women liked.

Then, when I was fifteen, my father died. He'd made a move on a woman he shouldn't have, and she stabbed him. That was that. His end was abrupt...