Die. 

Garbage.

Retard.

Those were the words that stood out the most amongst the many insults scraped all around the top of my desk. The books under meanwhile, all tattered up, torn apart, some wet and some barely hanging together by a thread.

A surreal contrast with the single thin glass vase sitting neatly on top with a single white flower.

“Haha that’s what he gets”

“Maybe he shouldn’t have been so arrogant”

“What a piece of scum.”

All around me, I can hear the cackling and the faint whispers of my classmates. They all sneer at me as if this is some sort of damn spectacle to them, like an animal exhibit, waiting for it to freak out.

Their sly underhanded remarks. Their gossip. Their laughter. Their stares. It’s all unbearable.

 

<<Why? What the hell did I do to deserve this?!>>

I can only stare at the desk helplessly biting my lips.

Suddenly the crowd that had been watching me until then began to squirm around in a commotion. As I glance at the classroom’s entrance I see three girls standing outside and looking in my direction, their faces seemingly covered by a dark mist. But I can tell, they look at me with pity, guilt and regret.

 

<<Ah…it’s you three.>>

<<Are you also here to laugh at me?>>

“.....”

“....”

I can see them calling out to me, but it’s as if the entire world has suddenly gotten quieter. The words, and the laughter of everyone around me, increasingly became more muffled until eventually everything faded into silence.

The trio then began to make their way to me, crashing and bumping through anyone in their way. But their movements gradually became slower and as they reached out to me with their hands, it all came to a halt.

If only…

As I look back at the trio, I can feel it building up inside, with every fiber of my being revolting at the sight of them.

If only…

<<Ah…that’s right…Why have I been so blind all this time?>>

<< It was clear from the beginning.>>

 <<This entire situation…this all the fault of you three.>>

If only I had never-

 

I sat up gasping for air. After looking around and realizing I was in my room, my breathing calmed down. Nonetheless, my entire body was drenched in a gross sweat that clung to my body refusing to let go.

“That stupid dream again” I muttered to myself.

 

It was finally the long-awaited weekend I had desperately sought. Away from the troubles and headaches that school brought, and the perfect time to laze around on the sofa like a couch potato.

“Big bro, don’t forget big sis told you to clean the house, there's still a lot of boxes” said Arima as he stood behind the couch staring at me.

“Arima…let your big bro fantasize once in a while, don’t crush my dreams just like that…” 

“What?”

“Nothing…just complaining to myself…”

Even on the weekends life goes on. People must get up and get to their jobs, open their shops, and go on with their lives, regardless of the troubles they face. Unfortunately just like them, even during the weekends, I must take care of the chores around the house and of Arima since my sister is busy with her job.

From taking out the trash, cleaning the bathrooms, folding and packing the moving boxes scattered all around, to cooking breakfast, the fate of our household collapsing all rests on my shoulders…

 

<<Huh seems we are low on ingredients, but just enough for the two of us…>>  I think to myself as I cook our meal for the morning.

“Arima it’s time for breakfast!”

“Coming!”

As I set the food on the table, I couldn’t help but notice a nagging feeling everytime I looked at Arima.

“So?” I suddenly say to Arima.

“Hmm?” he responds, looking at me with an eyebrow raised while he chews.

“Made any friends yet?”

“You sound like an old man big bro”

<<Ouch, I just felt an arrow to the heart…>>

“You little…I just wanted to see how you were fairing off in your new school.”

“...Uh…Well I guess I’ve made a couple of friends, not like too close to them or anything but still friends”

<<Ha…I hope he isn’t lying to me>>

“Sorry Arima, because of me you gotta make friends again…”

“What’s up with you today, you’re being super creepy and weird.”

“I can’t even be worried about my little brother now?”

“You don’t have to worry about me so much now, it’s not like I'm a little kid anymore. Besides, big sis already explained to me why we moved, and it’s not like I'm mad at you.”

<<I might have honestly preferred if you were mad at me>>

Suddenly, Arima would look up as if a bright idea had just come to mind, and as such a rather sly and cunning smile formed on his face.

“Ahhh~ if I'm honest I’m reaaaaaaaaaally lonely these days, aaaah~ I cry myself to sleep these days, if only I had a reaaally kind older bro who would buy me some chips and the newest jump to make me feel better. Aaahh the sadness.”

<<This little twerp really knows how to pull my heart strings…>>

“Fine…You’re lucky I needed to go out to do groceries anyways, common let’s go”

“Ehhh~ but im soo sad I can’t even get out of the house~”

<<Give me back my concern you twat. >>

 

“Let’s see…the nearest grocery store is…”

I had been walking around for a while. Especially since I had to navigate through an unfamiliar area, it was still rather hard to remember where everything was. But at least there was a sense of adventure in discovering new places and scenery in the city. Eventually, I found myself at a stop light in a rather busy street. 

<<10…9…8>> I counted down as I watched the remaining time left until I could cross. 

<<3…2…1…>> Just as the light turned green and I was about to cross, a black limousine stopped right in its tracks in front of me. Then, the door suddenly slid open and before I could even react, three men inside would grab me by the collar and drag me to the dark interior of the limousine.

<<What the fuck?>> As if straight out of a movie, I just got kidnapped in broad daylight in the middle of Japan.

In typical fashion, the man inside had tied me up, blindfolded me, and taped my mouth shut. Despite trying my best to resist and attempting to ask who they were or why they kidnapped me, the most I could do was make mumbling noises.

“This is the price you pay for messing with and belittling the young miss,” suddenly declared one of the men.

<<Young Miss…? Oh you gotta be kidding.>>  

With just that sentence, I could piece together what the hell was going on. And as I sat there helplessly while the limousine swiveled left and right, I found myself rather frustrated.

<<Getting close to Kido would only bring problems, so logically I distanced myself from her to avoid problems…and now distancing myself has backfired and brought me problems.>> There was one burning question I desperately wanted answered, <<What the hell am I supposed to do then?>>

After a while of driving, the limousine would come to a sudden halt, and the men would force me out of the vehicle. It was clear we had arrived inside some type of building; no ambient sounds of cars, or birds, and the only noise was the loud resounding echoes of their footsteps on the ground. 

As they pushed and led me from behind, I would unexpectedly hear a ping-like noise directly in front of me. After one more sudden stop, and taking a few steps forward, the floor would begin to rumble and shake. It was an elevator.

<<1,2,3…30…45…>> 

A full minute passed before the subtle shaking of the elevator finally stopped and the familiar ping signaled that the doors were opening. The men behind me urged me to step out and as I walked onto the floor, I noticed the softness beneath my feet, probably a carpet of some sort. Turning right, I heard the creak of an opening door, and the men continued to push me forward, before I was stopped one final time and I found myself sinking into an incredibly soft cushion.

 

“Naoki Kurogawa,” a firm and cold voice suddenly spoke. 

“Take his blindfold off. I'd rather speak to him face to face.”

As the men took my blindfold off, I quickly began to scan my surroundings.

It was an office. No doors other than the one behind me, decorated ostentatiously with fine carpets, tapestries, and sculptures. While in front of me was a large wooden desk, with a single leather chair facing away from me and looking at an incredible view of the metropolitan area below.

It was not long before a person suddenly stood from the chair and made his way around the desk to me. A man in his late fifties, with golden combed hair and a grown beard with hints of white hair spread around. He held quite a resemblance to a certain someone I knew, and as he approached me, he held a mug in one hand while he placed the other behind his back. 

It was none other than the man who had scared me straight many years ago.

“To think the little young boy I once met has grown into such a heart-breaker, tell me how’s your father?”

<<Shit, has Kido told him everything?!>>

“Mhmhm!” 

He would raise his hand and after a small gesture, one of the men would rip the tape from my mouth.

After gasping for a bit of air, I would answer, “Mr. Sato…it’s been a while…” 

“It indeed has. I'm sure you understand why I brought you here in such a…unrefined manner, and I'm sure you also remember what I told you a long time ago right?”

<<Should I play dumb?>>

“Ahaha…maybe you could refresh my memory…”

“...Alright. See, a little while ago, a little bird happened to come by, and this bird told me the most curious of things…My little precious daughter suddenly confessed to a brainless thick-headed idiot son of a b-....ehem, of course, I as her father, after breaking a couple of vases and chairs, reacted appropriately and accepted her feelings of love for that boy. After all, she is a girl who can take care of herself and she is at that age I suppose…but then…” The mug Mr. Sato had held until then, began to shake uncontrollably while drops of coffee began to spill over.

“But then the bird said that the blockhead she confessed to just rejected her! Casted her away! Disregarded her like she was nothing! And it just happened to be that the boy she confessed to was none other than the little kid she used to play with all those years ago! ”

<<Holy shite, he's a hardcore doting father! Playing dumb is definitely a bad idea.>>

“How could my little girl fall for a doofus like you. I remember when she was an adorable child and would come begging me to play with her all the time and spend time with her, ah those were the good days. But then she met a little twerp and happened to make some promises to him that she never let go of!”

 

<<Why does he know about it? And its promises again…not promise, what the hell is going on? Regardless I need to calm him down.>>

“...Mr. Sato, I apologize for rejecting your daughter,”

“Oh is that so?”

“Yes, I know I did it in the worst possible way, I won’t deny that, but I can’t undo my actions. Rather than staying on the past we sh-”

“YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO TALK ABOUT PAST!” Mr. Sato yelled while he slammed the desk with his mug, nearly shattering it.

“Do you know what Kido has been through?! Do you?!?!” he said as he looked at me with eyes that showed hints of frustration and regret. But shortly after he calmed himself and regained his composure.

“...Japan is quite a peculiar country when it compares to the rest of the world. Here, all it takes for someone to be an outcast, for someone to be shunned from the general population is the tiniest deviation from the norm, the smallest insignificant difference. It is quite pathetic honestly, and for Kido, it was like being a beautiful marble amidst a sea of rocks,” he would say before covering his eyes clearly shaken by something.

“Because of our wealth, our status, Kido has always been the subject of envy from her peers. Always seen as the distant role model, always seen as the perfect student, always seen as the rich kid who you shouldn’t dare to get close with. Someone who is so close and yet so far. As such she tried her best to fit in, she wanted to be right alongside everyone ‘normal’ as she liked to say. But it was in vain. It broke my heart when she asked to be put in a public school so she could stand side by side with the ‘regular crowd’ like she wasn’t a regular person… in her eyes she was far from normal.”

“...” 

“But you know what the worst part is? When the person she dearly remembered just tossed her aside.”

<<It’s not like I wanted to hurt her…and I didn’t know this meant so much to her…>>

“Mr. Sato I… I jus-”

 

“Dear?~” abruptly asked the voice of a woman from behind the door, to which a mature voluptuous lady with pale blond hair would walk in. An outstanding beauty, with hair that slightly covered one eye and a white dress that accentuated her figure, and an uncanny resemblance to Kido.

<<So that’s where she got her beauty from>> I thought to myself.

 

“Ha-Hana! What are you doing here…” responded Mr. Sato with a pale face.

“Oh Sato ~I told you not to do this anymore,” she said as she placed her hand on her chin.

“How many times will you interrogate any boy who tries to get close to our Kido, she isn’t a a little girl anymore”

“KIDO WILL NEVER STOP BEING MY LITTLE GIRL!” Mr. Sato abruptly exclaimed

“Is that so? D e a r ~??” She asked with a sinister smile that made Mr. Sato immediately flinch back.

Mrs. Hana would let out a disappointed breath of air and shake her head, “You need to stop doing this,” while she slowly approached me from behind and began to untie me.

Mr. Sato would continue, “but…but I swear I have a really good excuse this time.”

“Oh really? Let’s hear it,” she said as she continued to fiddle with the rope tying me.

“He’s the kid that made Kido cry”

“He’s…the one…?”

 

Suddenly with one swift motion from Mrs. Hana, I felt my guts being compressed with tremendous force.

“Miss… I think… you tightened the rope by accident…” I struggled to say.

“Shut your mouth you ********”

“Dear…? Are you alright?” Mr. Sato would ask with a frightened and pale expression.

“Bodyguards, get me some pliers, a vehicle battery and 10 gallons of water”

“Um dear…? What are you trying to do…?” asked Mr. Sato cautiously.

“What am I trying to do? Well obviously i'm going to ****** while I ******* to his ****** so he will never be able to ***** after I **********” 

<<I'm dying here ;-;>> 

“QUICK SECURITY GET HER OUT OF HERE!” exclaimed Mr. Sato with urgency.

<<Mr. Sato my savior!>>

“LET ME %!$%** TO THAT SON OF A *****,” yelled Mrs. Hana as the bodyguards carefully dragged her out of the room.

Once again, peace and quiet had returned to the room.

 

“Sorry, she’s a bit of a doting mother”

<<These people are lunatics!>>

“Anyways here's the deal Naoki. As much as I hate to admit it, Kido loves your head-ass, and it pains me greatly to see her heart broken like this. So here’s what you're gonna do. You are going to see her at school again and apologize for the incident on the rooftop and say you were flustered and you do in fact remember her, but not only that but also that you have loved her ever since.”

<<Does… he not know of our second encounter?>>

“If you refuse i’ll break your legs”

<<Fuuuu…...How the hell am I supposed to tell him that I already rejected his daughter twice…I’ll be killed! And he wants me to tell her that? It's literally impossible, but how am I supposed to refuse?>>

“I refuse.”

“Did? Did you just not hear the part about me breaking your legs?!”

“What you’re asking me to do is even worse than my rejection. Regardless of what she feels, this isn’t right.”

“Damn brat! Do you not understand your position?!”

“I do. I rejected Kido.”

<<Twice and in the worst way possible as well.>>

“And precisely because of that, I refuse to lie to her.”

<<At least a third time.>>

“Hah…” Mr. Sato would lean on his desk while putting the palm of his hand on his face.

 

“You got balls, kid. At least you got that going for you, unfortunately, I didn’t bring you here to make a kind request, this is an order from me to you Naoki…it’s obvious from the kidnapping that my company has quite some useful and hefty connections…of course, that includes a pretty wide intelligence network. And these people have informed me of a peculiar incident in your previous school…some real NASTY rumors surrounding you. You wouldn’t want that spreading around your new school would you?”

“You…So you’re going to blackmail me?!!”

“Yup, that's exactly what I'm going to do. That or you can deal with my wife,” he said, smirking as he pointed at the door behind me. As I turned to look, my heart skipped a beat. A small crevice between the doors revealed a single, menacing eyeball, glaring at me with a look that could freeze my very soul.

“I think we both know what choice you should pick.”

<<This damn geezer! If those rumors get around my peaceful life will end before it even begins! Why did things turn out this way?>>

I grit my teeth and clenched my fist, but soon I let out a resigned breath of air, accepting my fate.

“Fine. Have it your way.”

“Now that’s what I like to hear! Gentleman kindly untie the kid”

The men would hesitantly untie me while giving me death glares.

“Well Naoki I’d like to say this has been a pleasant reunion but it has not, especially after you broke my daughter's heart. But I'm sure you’ll be able to figure something out. Ciao.” 

 

The man would begin to escort me out of the room while Mr. Sato would continue talking, “Think long and hard Naoki, like your life depends on it! Hahaha, see what I did there?”

As I walked back to the elevator, right next to it stood Ms. Hana with a sinister smile waving goodbye with one hand and holding a kitchen knife on the other.

“Come back soon…” she said in an eerie and cold voice, enough to send shivers down my spine.

This is the worst possible scenario.

-------------------------------------

“Dude…what’s up with you lately, you've been looking more and more drained with each passing day,” asked Nakai as I simply reclined into my chair. “You aged 40 years in one weekend my guy…”

He was right, I had bags under my eyes and looked like I just pulled a week of all-nighters in a row, like a man who supports a family of 5 with just part-time jobs.

But all it was that I hadn’t been able to sleep the entire night after I got kidnapped…

 

“Say Nakai…what would you do if cliches out of manga and animes kept happening to you…”

“Oh dude look Misaki is taking some time off as an idol,” said Nakai as he scrolled down on his phone.

“You’re just gonna ignore me… alright.”

“Waah apparently she’s trying to get inspiration for her future album look” 

On the phone was an article that read “Idol Seo Misaki Shocks Fans with Unexpected Career Hiatus: Health Concerns and Academy Enrollment Revealed” and under was a subtext that read: “This weekend idol Seo Misaki had abruptly announced her hiatus from the idol industry, fortunately, she has confirmed that she will not be retiring but rather taking a break due to health concerns. Furthermore, she has hinted at enrolling into an academy in order to get inspiration for future songs!”

<<A break huh, wonder if my words impacted her that much>>

“Man, can you imagine if she enrolled into our school?”

“Nakai please don’t raise flags like that.”

“KYAA!” Suddenly, a burst of excited screams erupted, drawing everyone's attention and gathering every student at the classroom's window. Of course, Nakai and I were also curious, so we joined them to see what the craze was all about.

Outside at the gate of the school, all the students who had arrived had neatly made way for a single person. In the midst of the crowd, stood a dazzling girl, with fluffy cloud-like pink hair, star-shaped eyes and a killer smile that had easily infatuated everyone with her presence. Even worse, she was wearing the school’s uniform.

The class became engulfed in chaos.

“No way!”

“Is that?”

“It’s the idol Misaki!!”

<<Nakai you jinxing bastard!>>

Despite her being far away, it was as if she noticed my presence and was looking directly at me. With her mouth, she seemed to be saying something at me before giving off a wink.

“I  F O U N D  Y O U”

<<AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!>>

Please give me a break already!