October 11th, 2019 (Lunch Break)
Hada Takehiko was born in Sapporo to a loving mother and father. He had dreams of one day becoming a great artist, and was surrounded by three inseparable people: his younger sister, Mika; his childhood friend, Yuka; and his best friend, Akihiko. His days were filled with joy and shenanigans, and most importantly—he was the leader.
This was his pride, and his downfall.
Shortly after entering high school, Takehiko got into a fight with a delinquent. He could remember her name to the letter: Kawamoto Kiku. To this day, Takehiko saw her as suspect number one—the enemy that ruined his life.
It was pitiful bullying at first: a missing eraser, a snapped pencil, and accidental bump into his seat. It soon escalated, as these things tend to do. Torn notebooks, discarded homework, and missing socks, to name a few. Naturally, these were unforgivable acts, but what is understandable is how they began.
Takehiko's unfaltering pride.
Hada Takehiko, spelled with the kanji for "Hero". From the moment of his conception, Takehiko strived to live up to his name. He'd help his classmates, lead his class to victory, and reprimand evil-doers about the wrongness of their ways.
And his classmates found that sickening.
"You know, you aren't very well liked, bro."
Like usual, Akihiko had slid in beside Takehiko's desk in 1C with a carton of milk in hand. His lunch was a plastic-wrapped soba sandwich, which was made to order and as dry as the Sahara Desert. Naturally, to set an example for his classmates, Takehiko had a homemade lunch, accented with his favorite foods that his younger sister prepared for him this morning. He never forgot to thank her.
Sluuuuurp... Takehiko took a long drag of his juice box, then turned to face Akihiko.
"—And?"
"Your social cred is in the pits, man."
"Sometimes it's a hero's place to be disliked," Takehiko said, emphasizing the pun behind his name. The joke translated loosely as "sometime's it's a Takehiko's place to be disliked", and was one of Takehiko's favorite deflection points.
Akihiko merely sighed.
"You say that, but...are you happy living like this?"
"Like what?"
"Dude, look around!"
Akihiko waved his hands around the classroom—that is, the empty classroom. Despite it being lunch, most students had dipped to other classes, or to eat in the hallway. The atmosphere had broken down, and the eye of storm was Hada Takehiko.
In modern society, he was something akin to a plague. Takehiko merely smirked, though.
"They'll come to realize the error of their ways one day—have you seen the study by the American Research Institute? 76.8% of high school bullies suffer from depression, and roughly half of them live on to regret their actions."
Akihiko tapped his foot impatiently against the floor as he scavenged through his mind.
"That's, that's—right, that's a platitude, Take. It's just non-sense. I'm asking how you feel?"
Takehiko paused.
"It's not pleasant."
"Right?"
"But I'm not planning on doing anything about it."
Akihiko bemoaned his fallen friend as he slammed his head against the opposite side of his desk.
"And anyway," Takehiko continued, "if you keep interacting with me, won't your social cred be in the pits?"
"Don't worry, it already is—you know Shiori?"
"Nope."
"Didn't think so. She's the ex-girlfriend of the volleyball team captain. We started dating recently—he got his entire following to take it out on me. Sometimes I come out of class to find that my gym shorts were dunked in the pool."
"Worse than me, but honestly laughable. What do they expect you to do about wet gym shorts?"
"It's worse, man—I'm talking about swimwear. They were going to get wet anyway."
After a brief pause, Takehiko and his best friend broke out into a fit of laughter.
"We both have it rough, huh?"
"Yeah, we sure do, don't we?"
Takehiko and Akihiko shared a smirk—they would continue this friendship for the rest of their lives, they were certain.
October 11th, 2019 (After School)
"Akihiko told me—you're still getting bullied?"
Koizumi Yuka stood like an apparition bathed in the evening hours of the sun, up on the ridge near the bleachers of the track field. The yellow light played against her body like the binding melody of a demon—twicefold, in fact, for Takehiko, as the hairs at the back of his head were standing completely on end. He looked up at her from the bottom of the steps, visibly nervous.
"N-No, I have no idea what you're talking about."
Takehiko couldn't whistle, so what transpired afterwards could only be related to the mating call of a distressed bird. Naturally, Yuka wasn't convinced.
"I told you to let me know if it got worse."
"So much for our alliance, Akihiko..."
"What was that?"
"N-Nothing ma'am!"
With a mock salute and bow, Yuka let out a sigh. "I'll have to talk about this to Miss Ouchi—..."
"—Please don't."
Yuka paused mid-sentence and raised an eyebrow at Takehiko's outburst. "And why not?"
"Because—I'm the one who started this. I need to see it through. Sometimes it's a hero's place to be disliked."
Yuka's eyes widened, "You're incredibly stubborn, and I admire you perseverance, but no. Not today."
Takehiko clicked his tongue in annoyance—he truly did care about Yuka, the pair had known each other from age five, after all. Their parents were friends, and she often came to visit back when they were children. They were separated for a period of about two years, but quickly reunited in middle school, and their friendship rekindled.
But she was meddlesome. Incessantly so. It brought Takehiko—the self-proclaimed leader of the group and martyr of the school—unneeded amounts of stress.
"I'm telling you, I'll be fine. I need to set a good example for the rest of our class, and tattling to my superior isn't a good look."
"Neither is whatever you're doing—crawling across the ground like a limp chicken who refuses to be put out of its misery."
Takehiko clenched his fists.
"That's not true."
"Then what is? What are you even planning to accomplish with this? Make a fool of yourself? Be disliked until the end of time?"
"—You wouldn't understand."
Everything that Yuka had said was right—his plan failed after the first week. But Takehiko was prideful. He wouldn't admit defeat here. He realized how hypocritical he was to get upset at Yuka dressing him down, despite that being the very thing he did to earn the ire of his classmates, but that was that and this was something else entirely.
At least, that's how Takehiko saw it. He was young and stupid, and incredibly dense. But he held onto his convictions, no matter what.
"...I wouldn't, huh?"
"Huh?"
Takehiko turned around to look at Yuka for the first time—she was leaning back on her heels with a despondent expression.
"I see...okay, I guess I don't."
"Yuka?"
"It's fine, Takehiko."
Takehiko.
Not "Take". The word, despite it being his name, felt like a punch to his gut. As he opened his mouth to say something in response, all that escaped was cold, bated breath.
She shook her head, "I got it, I won't bother you anymore."
The only sound Takehiko could hear was the sound of her fleeting footsteps, as the sun came to its ceremonious close.
October 16th, 2019 (Lunch Break)
Kawamoto Kiku was smiling, and Takehiko was growling. His eyes were enraged, and a solemn phrase repeated itself in his mind.
This bitch...
For once, just like in his imagination, Kawamoto laid out in a subservient position beneath him. But she wasn't bowing for his forgiveness—instead, she was cowering in fear.
But her smile was too clear to see—for Takehiko, at least. For his classmates, they were starring at him in shock.
"He pushed Kawamoto..."
"I knew that shithead was crazy..."
"Wow, and he has the balls to lecture us?"
Takehiko wanted to say that they had it all wrong, that they were being played like a fiddle. But he couldn't, not in the moment. No, he was simply too filled with rage. He turned to look at Kawamoto with fury in his eyes.
"Kaaaaawaaaaamotooo—"
"—And we'll stop it right there, Takehiko."
Takehiko felt his legs lift off the ground and slam onto the hard wooden floor. Gasping, his breath escaped his lungs with as much fury as he had to offer Kawamoto mere seconds earlier. His eyes darted around as if in REM to search for his assailant.
Akihiko was holding him down.
"What—"
"—Remember when we were kids? You told me: 'Akihiko, stop me if I ever become the villain'."
"I-I—We were kids! I was obviously—"
"Please. No more, Takehiko. It's over."
Akihiko stood over Takehiko with a solemn expression, but Takehiko's rage would not abate. He let out a yell, attempting to toss Akihiko aside.
If I can't explain myself with words, I'll show him with my actions!
But Akihiko was a former member of the basketball team, and a professional athlete in his own right. Takehiko was wrong to assume Akihiko was let go due to his inability—he only quit to save face for Shiori. So she wouldn't be known as someone who hopped around from athlete to athlete.
It only took one motion for Takehiko to croak out all his courage. His vision blurred as he began to drift away.
"I'll take responsibility for this along with you. Don't worry, bro."
"Are you okay, Kawamoto?" The sound of several males in the class reverberated in Takehiko's ears as they gathered around Kawamoto.
"Holy shit, you have a huge red spot on your cheek! Are you feeling alright?"
Kawamoto sniffed, "I-I think..."
"Damn..." Akihiko whispered from above my slowly fading body, "You sure outdid yourself, didn't you, bro?"
October 16th, 2019 (After School)
Assaulting an innocent girl: Kawamoto Kiku. That was what he was being charged with. But of course, that charge didn't go very far—after all, Kawamoto Kiku was a well-known delinquent, and after playing teacher's pet for so long, Takehiko's teachers were naturally suspicious. It didn't take long for them to uncover her bullying, and little more after to get her to confess to staging the whole event in the first place.
Takehiko hadn't pushed her—he merely tried to readjust his bag after she lunged for it. The motion of his arm was all but a calculated assurance by Kawamoto to make it look like he had slapped her. She had even gone as far as to apply blush to the side of one cheek only. A fake handprint.
That bitch...
Kawamoto was enlisted after school to help pick up garbage—an awfully light punishment for falsely reporting aggravated assault, but of course, that's probably why bullying continued to be commonplace at Otsuka High. A slap on the wrist wasn't enough to deter a deliquent like Kawamoto.
"H-Hey, bro, I'm sorry—"
"—Don't talk to me, Nishioka."
Nishioka Akihiko paused mid-step, looking stunned. Takehiko gave him a mocking grin.
"Your atmosphere is getting in my way."
With that, Takehiko left through Otsuka High's front doors at exactly 4:35 PM, leaving Akihiko standing alone in the entryway. Not a single shoe in sight, aside from two.
Nishioka Akihiko's, and Kawamoto Kiku's.
November 6th, 2019 (Evening)
Despite Kawamoto Kiku's false report, and the explanation Miss Ouchi gave the following day, Takehiko's treatment didn't change. Instead, it only got worse—his only saving grace, Akihiko, was unable to help him. But not for lack of trying.
For the next three years, Akihiko would do his best to get any opportunity to speak with Takehiko, and to make-up for failing to believe his best friend. But Takehiko wouldn't have it.
It wasn't until the end of their third year, two weeks before final exams, when he'd finally give up. And naturally, he hadn't talked to Yuka since that day at the track field, either.
Three weeks after the incident, his parents sat him down in the dining room. His younger sister, Mika, wasn't there. She was still at softball practice. It was 5:10 PM.
"We think you might benefit from living on your own for a bit, Takehiko." His father said.
"Your actions are starting to upset Mika, and you expressed yourself that you were interested, so we think..." His mother began.
They both kept talking, but Takehiko didn't hear them.
After all, sometimes its a hero's place to be disliked.
