Chapter Eight: Seven Samurai:

Daisuke found another way to escape from their hell at home. Sometimes, he just wanted to be alone. It was so hard to do with six children in a house with a rage-filled mother. The young man snuck out of the house one day in search of peace and quiet. While out on his walk, it began to rain. Daisuke ran in the streets looking for a place to stay and wait it out.

He came across an old-looking building. Daisuke stared at the inviting doors. This would be much better than going home. He shrugged and went up to the door.

“Hello?” he whispered as he opened it up a crack. “Excuse me. I’m coming in.” Daisuke took slow steps inside. The smell of silver and old licorice filled his nose. The thirteen-year-old boy covered his nose and took a step back.

What is this place? Somehow, the boy felt drawn further into the darkness in front of him. He used Jin’s eyes to adjust to the darkness. A puzzled look came over the boy’s face. Vintage posters decorated the back walls. Daisuke could recognize a couple of them for American movies. He tilted his head.

Wait, he thought. Am I… in a movie theater.

“Seems that way,” Jin replied.

“Has this always been here?” his master asked.

“Beats me,” the kitsune said. “So what do you want to do?” The boy shrugged at that question.

“We might as well stay,” he muttered. Daisuke walked up to the ticket booth inside and peeked in the window.

“Hello?” he whispered again. “Pardon the intrusion, but I’m staying here for the night if you don’t mind.” The boy didn’t see or hear anyone inside and quietly walked into the first screening room that he saw. All of the seats inside were empty. Daisuke’s let his eyes return to normal as he walked down the aisle. He came down to the front row and took a seat. In a few seconds, the picture started up again. The boy watched with big surprised eyes at what he saw.

On that day, the theater showed Kurosawa Akira’s Scandal. The first thing to catch Daisuke’s eyes was the motorcycle opening. Throughout this experience, confusion and awe came over his face. Scandal came out years before he was born and here this theater was showing it in the 1970’s. That really wasn’t on the boy’s mind at the time. The lead actor, Mifune Toshiro, drew him into a world that looked so cool on the screen. Jin watched the movie for himself and looked rather puzzled.

“What’s so great about this?” he whispered. His master waved him off during the trial scene. The kitsune drew his mouth closed and let the boy watch the movie. At the end, Daisuke had a new face of awe.

“Jin,” he whispered.

“What?” the kitsune asked. Daisuke turned to him with an excited look on his face.

“I think I’m in love with this place,” he said in complete awe. The kitsune didn’t get it.

“Okay…” he murmured. Daisuke decided to make it his personal mission to come back here whenever he can.

So, every time Haruka’s violence became unbearable and his sisters weren’t with him, Daisuke snuck off to that old movie theater. From there, he developed a love for Kurosawa Akira’s movies. Scandal and Stray Dog became his personal favorites. His kitsune didn’t understand the appeal.

“Why do you like these old movies so much?” he asked. Daisuke only shrugged him off.

“It comforts me,” he reasoned as they watched Seven Samurai in secret one winter night. “This is my alone time.” Jin didn’t even bother to ask any more questions. However, this alone time came at risk three days after his fifteenth birthday.

An old usher was walking around checking the semi-empty theater for trash when he spotted Daisuke after he let off a loud gasp during Drunken Angel. The old man flashed his light on the boy. The only customer in this screening room shielded his eyes rather surprised. The usher gave him a rather confused look.

“Young man,” he whispered. “Do you have a ticket?”

“Uh…” Daisuke muttered rather sheepishly. The old usher frowned at him. He grabbed onto the boy’s arm and walked him out of the old movie theater. Daisuke looked up at him with big beseeching eyes.

“Please let me stay here,” he pleaded. “I don’t want to go home quite yet.”

“I’m so sorry, pal,” the old man told him. “But I have to do this.” Despite the boy’s pleas and reasoning, he shoved Daisuke out the front door in the end. The fifteen-year-old looked at the old man pitifully. The usher shook his head in sympathy.

“Next time buy a ticket, buddy,” he told him before closing the big glass doors. Daisuke lowered his head and started the long walk home. However, the next day, he returned with enough money to stay for most of the day. The woman at the ticket booth greeted him with a smile.

“Welcome, Daisuke-kun,” she said. The boy smiled and gave her money for his ticket. Sometimes, he stayed over to help the people in that old theater. Kurosawa’s films built up a haven around him. Sadly, it would all come crashing down around him by the time he was seventeen.