“Well well, we meet again, huh. What are you two love birds doing here?”

A Delinquent group of 3 people who were hanging around the alleyway approached us and surprisingly, I could recognize one of them. That’s right. It was the same guy with a delinquent hairstyle who tried to mess with me during the lunch break. It would be wrong to say that only he had that cringey hairstyle, as the other two guys also were the same but with black hair.

“W-we are not d-dating, we are just f-friends!”
Aya yelled in a soft voice, while keeping the volume low. I suppose she might’ve recognized who these guys were along with this Akio guy.

“Hey you, new guy. We have a thing to settle, you know? So why don’t we have another fight?”

“Aya, do you know who they are? I know this guy because of the commotion during the lunch break, but not the other two. Their uniform looks similar to ours…”
I whispered to Aya near her ears.

“...Yeah... We have a problem. The guy who tried to bully you, Akio, is the strongest bully in our school. He even brought his peers…”
She whispered back to me.

“F**king stop talking among yourselves . Can't you see I'm talking with you brats?”

“....”

We stood there in silence, as usual, trying not to get irritated at his poopy behaviour. But he just doesn’t listen.

“Hahaha look at them! Scared for their lives. Did you piss your pants? Thinking about your mom?”

I was already infuriated at their rude and inhumane behavior, but this remark of his, made me lose my cool and lash out at him-

“Please stop this nonsense, we have nothing to do with you. Just get out of our way, you're blocking it.”

Aya abruptly caught my arm and whispered in a stressed manner-

“No no Hisashi! I know that you knocked him out during lunch time, but that was because his guard was down, thinking of you as a small prey. He is extremely  strong!”

“You F**king as*hole have the guts to say this to me huh? You want a piece of me?”

Aya is being too worrisome, this guy truly was nothing compared to me hehe. I assured her with a gentle smile-

“He might be strong, in fact the strongest in the whole school, but he is not stronger than me. Besides-”

I reverted my gaze towards that Akio guy with a furious look.

“- I am not liking his behaviour, at all.”

She had a slightly surprised look, but the tension still didn’t fade away from her mind. I guess this would be natural, since she didn’t see me fight in actual combat before.
Suddenly, I sensed something odd.

“Aya, can you let go of my arm for a second…”

As soon as she let go of my arm, I quickly turned and thrusted my arm behind me, and caught one of his guys on the neck. Everyone, Aya, Akio and the other guy, were shocked at me. They were probably thinking how on earth did I perceive that guy behind me, and Aya’s face gleaming with surprise and shock.
It was kind of simple. As Aya was warning me about this Akio guy, I saw that only he and another guy remained in front of us. One of their guys was missing from the scene. As soon as I perceived that, the missing guy was caught in the corner of my eye moving behind us. So it was obvious that he had planned this and would be attacking me from behind.

“Hah, tryna play dirty with me huh? Unfortunately, you’ve got the wrong person.”

-or so I thought, but their main motive was something else.
At that moment, Akio grabbed Aya and pulled her back. She was shocked and so was I. She kept on yelling, so loudly that Akio covered her mouth with his palm as if trying to kidnap her. I was totally disappointed with myself for not being able to see through their trivial trick.

“Bah-ha! Gotcha! Whotcha gonna do now eh?”

I was so infuriated that this guy whom I had caught in the neck, threw him with such force that he crashed hard against the boundary wall of a resident.

 “You still don’t understand huh? Okay then, I will take the delight of groping her and feel those soft breasts. If you don't want that to happen, then stay still and let my guys beat your a*s up and mix it with dust. If you take even a single step she will be groped hard! Hahaha.”

“You frickin douchebag!! Let go of her this instant!!”

I was at the peak of my anger limit. I couldn’t get angry any further. I just wanted to kill this guy multiple times and dig him deep under the earth. This earth-shattering rage that I was experiencing right now, somehow managed to control it as reacting would make this scumbag grope Aya.
But for that split-second that I had lost my temper and lashed out at him, he took this opportunity and groped her breast.

“So you want me to, huh? How does it feel??”

She was screaming very sorrowfully, and my heart sank as I heard her screams. I had no other option, but to get beaten by those guys in order to save her.

“H-H-Hisashi.... D-don’t worry about me!”

As if I can let you get groped by some scumbags.

I didn’t utter a single word and kept standing there defenselessly. Yeah, I have submitted myself to those guys to beat me up. I couldn’t let Aya get groped by those pathetic scumbags. The only way to prevent it was to sacrifice myself.
That Akio guy signalled both of his guys, and they marched up towards me cracking their knuckles. I didn’t move an inch nor did I say a word but stood there as they came and started beating me furiously and mercilessly while that Akio guy kept on laughing devilishly, not to mention Aya’s cry.

“Hisashi!! Don’t worry about me! Just fight back!!”

They were using any means possible, punching and kicking brutally. The brutality was so much that after one of his guys kicked right on my face, a single drop of blood dripped on the floor, which came out of my mouth.

“Hisashi!!!”

“Just shut up! He deserved it for messing with the king of Kaisei High School! bah-ha!”

“I-I can’t….let t-that happen...to you Aya….”

I tried to talk to her while a series of kicks and jabs kept falling on me. That Akio guy only took advantage of the situation and groped her further more intensely, and slid his hand under her skirt slowly. Aya had a terrifying look on her face as she started yelling and crying again.

“AAAAHHHHH!!”

If you guys are thinking that I was being made a fool of by getting beaten by a bunch of douchebags hoping that they would leave Aya out of it, then I am sorry to say but that wasn’t my intention from the very beginning. I was just waiting for a moment, a perfect moment where that Akio guy wouldn’t notice me and I would free Aya from the clutches of his gross hands. Any moment would be enough. Whether it be his gaze at Aya, a distraction, or even a blink of his eye, would be enough.

As he kept on groping her with his hand under her skirt, he shut his eyes to feel the pleasure. That was it, the perfect moment I had been searching for. I can’t let this opportunity slip from my hand.

Before he or the other guys who were beating me knew it, I moved swiftly. In fact so swiftly that it almost looked as if I travelled faster than light, as for a moment I disappeared from their sight, and delivered a flying kick right on that ba***rd who was groping Aya. The kick pushed him back a few meters and made him fall on the ground, freeing Aya from the clutches of his hands.
Akio’s guys were dumbfounded and perplexed as they couldn’t process what just happened, and him also. As he kept wrenching with pain, he was utterly confused and might’ve been thinking how did he not see me when I moved and got away from his guys.

As those guys came to a realization, they yelled out in complete infuriation.

“You re**rded fu**hole, you're dead meat now!”

The other two guys came rushing towards me while I was standing with my fist clenched, giving a menacing look at Akio. I slowly reverted my eyes and laid my gaze upon those scumbags who were rushing towards me. As they saw the look on my face, they flinched and stopped midway. I couldn’t stay calm anymore. They had crossed the limit, and my anger was overflowing with deep grievance. At this point I thought of killing them, even if that made me a murderer. I just didn’t care about any of that sh**. Even killing them wouldn’t be enough to atone the sins they have committed. I stood there with a posture that gave out an immense 'fight back' aura, and slowly stepped towards them. They further jolted in shock and fright, and rushed towards me blindly, one after the another.

I first gave a straight punch right onto the guy's face which he was successful at blocking, but made him lose his sense of balance, and kicked his knees sideways. I had poured a lot of my power on that kick which made it so powerful that the guy slid towards the direction of the kick and fell on the ground. For the other guy I again poured a lot of power on my leg and delivered a high kick on his face and delivered another attack, which was the swinging kick on his abdomen and made him slide back a few meters and fall on the ground too.

Thus, I knocked out all three of them.
During that time, I noticed Aya standing with her mouth open and shocked, and even blushing a little. I felt sorry for her that she had to go through all of that. But before I could go to her, Akio’s guys, who seemed to be out of breath, picked him up and left after leaving an insolent reply.

“*pant* *pant* We will deal with you f**kers later!”

Oh god, some bunch of jerks they were huh. Next time if I happened to see their faces again, I wouldn’t hesitate to literally kill them. They don’t even know the meaning of shame. But there was no point in thinking about them also, so I went towards Aya who stood with a gloomy look on her blushing face.

“Aya, are you all right? Are you hurt somewhere??”

“I-I'm ok, I didn't get hurt anywhere.”

 She replied fumblingly. Of course, she would be stuttering, because after getting groped, who would be in their stable state of mind? But at least, she was able to keep her cool and didn’t burst out in tears. This showed that she was mentally strong.

“But what about you? You were beaten up pretty bad…”

“No I'm all right, thanks for worrying about me.”

A gentle smile appeared on my face, naturally. Even after going through all that, she still had a sense of concern for me. If it was some other girl, they would have sunk on the floor with a horrified face intact. Her sense of concern for me without thinking for herself, would of course, make me happy.

“Let’s go, Aya.”

“Mmm!”

So we started heading home again.

While we were on our way, Aya seemed to have lost in her thoughts. At least I thought so, because she was just staring at me with a blank expression. I am not sure if her cheeks were red or not, but they did appear to have a slight tint of red colour. She didn't know that I already noticed her staring at me like that. I was kind of getting uncomfortable with that gaze of her, and couldn’t help but build up a troubled expression.

“Uh... erm... Aya, i-is something wrong? Why are you.....staring at me like that?”

“Oh...OH I'M REALLY SO-SOORRRYY!!”

“It's ok... If you want to ask something, then feel free to ask!”

“Uh.. it's nothing really, just that...you looked really cool back there….while you were fighting with Akio and his gang…”

I fell silent after hearing her words and blushed slightly. It was hard for me to believe what she just said. Did she say it for real? Or was I just hearing things? I guess she might’ve said it for real as her cheeks were turning bright red, as if her face would burst with embarrassment. An involuntary reply escaped from my mouth with my face’s reddening getting intense.

“O-oh…”

After sometime, as I was peeking at her, her reddening began to wear off and her usual, cute and goddess-like face appeared with a small smile embedded on it. Seeing it naturally brought a smile to my face too.

*       *       * (Shifting of POV)

“So this is where you live.”

Hisashi said and I nodded at him. We reached my house and were standing at the front gate. Since my father was a doctor and my mother was a businesswoman, our house was quite big, not that big though. You could say I was adopted into a rich family, but I didn’t care about that. I was getting bullied from my very own foster parents and my foster brother, and I hated living here. But in school also, I was getting tortured, so I didn’t have anywhere else to go but live through this hellish place.

“Cool, your house is really near to mine, I live just two blocks away…”

“Oh, Then we are neighbors! Just not next door…”

“Haha don't worry, we're still nearby. We can come to each other's house often.”

This brought a smile to my face. I didn’t know why, but I was kind of relieved to hear that from him. More than relieved, I was happy.

“Yes! I'd love to hang out sometimes! Even summer break is coming!”

“Yea sure!”

“Anyways, I should get going, it's really late now. Then see you at school tomorrow!”

Suddenly, I was hit by a melancholic feeling, which caused me to frown sorrowfully. I was scared, scared that I might not be able to see him again. I didn’t know from where or why did I experience this feeling, but it did frighten me very much. I grabbed Hisashi's shirt near the arm and asked-

“You will not go away...or disappear, right?”

My sadness caused my voice to be very soft and in a sad tone. Hisashi went blank for a few seconds. I had predicted it. Of course he would be perplexed after getting asked something like this out of the blue. But he was blanked out not for long, as he soon gave out a gentle smile and grabbed my hand, which made me blush slightly.

“Of course I won't.”

My frowning reddened face was involuntarily replaced with a beaming smile instantly as I heard him.

“Thank you! Thank you so much!!” 

I wasn’t happy like this in my entire life, this was my first time. This pleasant feeling, I was experiencing it for the very first time. I wanted to keep feeling it for the rest of my life. But wait, it was getting late and Hisashi also had to reach home, so I couldn't slow him down.

“Oh It's time for you, sorry I forgot. Then please reach home safely. I'm looking forward to seeing you at school tomorrow. Bye!”

“Likewise. Bye!”

We both waved our hands and Hisashi started heading home as I watched him for a few moments before opening the front gate and going inside.

He changed my life. He is the only one who brought me this much happiness.

I was reflecting, as I cut through the garden and headed to the front door of our house.
Since I was bullied every day, I couldn't even let a day pass peacefully. But Hisashi completely changed it. He completely changed my life and brought me so much happiness that I didn't want to let go of this peaceful feeling. I could experience this pleasant feeling only when I was with him, and I wanted to be with him so that I could live by this feeling and enjoy the rest of my life together. That was what I meant when I asked him back then to not leave me behind and go away and disappear from my life.

*SLAP*

A loud ‘slap’ sound emanated from the inside as I opened the front door. It was coming from the drawing room, I could tell. But, I was wondering what this slapping sound was.

*SLAP*  *SLAP*

The same sound emanated again twice. I was really curious about this slapping sound, and wanted to see what was happening. I went inside and towards the drawing room, and as I almost reached, I hid behind the wall and peeked inside, and saw my brother lying on the floor.

“These are the grades you show me and you want to go out with your friends for a party?! Do you have any sort of shame?!”

“Dad, *sob* I'm s-sorry *sob*”

*SLAP*

I shut my eyes when he hit Washizu. It was a bit too much for me, and I couldn’t bear him getting beaten by our father.

“Improve your grades or else you will no longer be able to go out with your friends!”

“Y-yes dad I promise *sob*”

Before they could notice me, I quietly escaped from the scene and went directly to my room. After entering, I jumped on my bed due to exhaustion, and stayed quiet for a brief moment.
This thing happened frequently, him getting beaten up by our father. Washizu is a guy who doesn’t listen to our parents and does whatever he wants to. Not paying enough attention in academics, average at sports, but was excellent at bullying and torturing other people. I was glad that I didn’t go to the same school as him. But still-

“I feel bad for him.”

-after reflecting on our father’s brutality towards my brother, I kind of felt bad for him. It was most likely the feeling of pity for him.

I got changed and had dinner. After that, as I was about to head to bed, the door to my room blasted open and saw Washizu dashing inside. He had an angry look on his face which was so creepy that it was comparable to a monster from one's worst nightmare, no, even worse than that.

“D-do you need something o-onii-san?”  (onii-san = brother)

 I tried asking him as he dashed inside my room. He didn't reply but came right in front of me, grabbed me by the neck, and then pulled me up and threw my body on the bed. His grip on my neck was so strong that I trembled with pain. Even though there was no point in asking, I still tried asking him-

“*pant* O-onii-san *pant* wh-why did you...?”

There was no point in asking because it was an everyday situation. He used to torture me whenever something like this, i.e, him getting beaten up by our father, happened.

“Your foolish father was torturing me because I did not get satisfying marks in the test, even though I worked my butt off. I am freaking stressed. So why don't you help me relieve it?”

 He complained as his demonic face got wrinkled with sorrow, anger and exhaustion. It was truly a terrifying sight as chills went down my spine. He grabbed my hair swiftly, pulled me up and kicked right on my stomach with his knee.

“Glugh!”

 That kick was brutal as it targeted the vital point. It felt so painful that I kept wrenching with pain, trying my best to relieve it by stroking my stomach.

“Huh, you’re hurt this much after only a single hit? I see...It's not going to be easy for you.”

That pain was devouring my whole abdomen. As I peeked at him, he took out his belt from the school uniform he was wearing.

“Blame your father for all this beating, you piece of crap!”

Saying this, he began hitting me with his belt, not once or twice, but a countless number of times. I kept on crying as the pain was so unbearable and kept lying down on the bed helplessly, with scars of the belt appearing on my arms and legs. Fortunately, the hits were not extremely lethal and there were no cuts or bruises, and hence, blood didn't come out.

“Haah, finally some peace! You're lucky you didn't get much beating from me as my mood improved.”
Thumping his legs, he moved out of the room and slammed the door, closing it.

The pain from the hits of the belt slowly creeped up on me as if my arms and legs were burning with the feel of blazing fire, and it propagated throughout my body, devouring me as a whole. At this point, I couldn’t think of anyone else, but Hisashi. Tear drops emerged and poured down my cheeks as I kept thinking about him.

“Hisashi….please, Hisashi…..save me…*sob*”

Soon the intensity increased dramatically, and I began to lament, lament with deep sorrow. The tears that welled down my face dampened the bed sheet. I just wanted to see Hisashi, I just wanted to see his face at least once more. I could feel that pleasant feeling only when I was with him, so only he could help me in a situation like this. But no matter how much I begged, no matter how much I cried, and no matter how much I appealed sorrowfully, I couldn’t see him. I could only meet him tomorrow at school. So I had no other choice but to hold on.

*       *       * (Shifting of POV)

After a refreshing shower, I came and sat on my futon bed, while wearing a plain green t-shirt and a black shorts and rubbing my hair dry. I suddenly reflected back when I held her hand to assure that I won’t be leaving her alone, and my face gleamed red with embarrassment. But soon snapped out as I remembered that I had put something on the stove and rushed to my kitchen. Thank god, it didn’t burn.
I have been living alone here in this rented apartment for a few weeks now. It would be wrong to call it an apartment, as it was just a usual house with 2 floors. The owner lived on the 1st floor, another family on the ground floor and I lived on the 2nd floor. It had 3 rooms, a kitchen, a bathroom and a living room where I slept on a futon, and a wardrobe attached to the wall of the room. My living room was mostly empty, where only my school bag, and a futon with an alarm clock nearby were kept. From my room, you can probably guess I wasn’t the stylish type. Since I lived alone, I had to do every single household chores by myself. Not that I am complaining, as in fact, I liked living alone. I don’t know why, but I loved silence. It was some sort of meditation that gave me peace of mind. 

After I finished having my dinner, I washed the utensils and sprang on my futon. It had been such a tiresome day, mainly because of the fight with that Akio guy. What a scumbag he was though. I developed anger again as I remembered what he did to Aya. I knew that angering myself would only lead to destruction of the peace of my mind, and so, tried to calm myself down. But concern for Aya struck me.

"I hope Aya's doing all right..."

Apart from the students in the school, Aya said she was bullied by her father and her brother also. Her mother stays unknown though, but I hope at least she would give love and care to Aya.
But I couldn’t think anymore since I was hardly keeping my eyes open, and dozed off within a few minutes.