(Kurai POV) 

Beep! Beep! 

“Ugh…”

 I shuffle around until I find my phone, turn my alarm off, and begrudgingly get out of bed. I walk to my little brother’s room, and open the door. “Hey, Asahi, time to get up.” I walk over to his bed and gently shake him awake. He sleepily rubs his bright blue eyes and smiles. “Good morning, Ku!” “Good morning to you too, Asahi.” I head to the kitchen and make Asahi and me some cereal, and I get Asahi ready for school. Then, I notice a note on the table. I pick it up and read it, and it says, “I had to leave early for work. There’s dinner in the fridge. Love you, Mom”. 

I sigh and head out the door with Asahi. I feel bad for my mom - after all, she’s working day and night to support us. I recently got a job at the grocery store to help her with money. Asahi tugs at my sleeve, and I jolt out of my thoughts. I smile down at him, and he smiles back and laughs. We go to the bus stop, and after a few minutes, the elementary school bus comes. He climbs on, and I wave goodbye. Then, I head to school, where my daily nightmare begins.

About five minutes later at the high school…

I slink into the classroom, hoping to not attract anyone’s attention. I get to my desk and slump down as far as possible. Thankfully, everyone is focused on the teacher as he leads a student into the classroom. “Alright, listen up. This is Hina Chinen. She’s a transfer student from Tokyo. Starting today, she’ll be in this homeroom. You might also see her in some of your other classes. That’s all the details, so settle down so I can call roll. Chinen, you can sit wherever you want.” She scans the room, and her golden eyes land on me. She walks over to the empty desk next to me and asks, “Hey, is it okay if I sit here?” I nod, and she smiles. She sits down, and class begins. 

At the end of the school day…

I walk out of the school, only to be greeted by the biggest bullies in the school - Genkei Ebina and his girlfriend, Kimiko Chibana. They both have super rich parents, and because of this, they believe that they can do whatever they want. Also, because I don’t have a lot of money, they had bullied me and beat me up since we were little. The only reason I haven’t ended my life is because I have to take care of Asahi and Mom. Otherwise, I would’ve done it a long time ago. 

I must look like I’m bored, because Genkei gets up in my face and sneers, “Oh, do you think you’re better than us? Well, I think that it’s time you learned a lesson on manners. Isn’t that right, Kimiko-chan?”. Kimiko laughs and looks at me disdainfully. “You’re so pathetic! You know, Kurai, if you weren’t here, life would be a lot better.” Genkei looks at me, and he has the look that I know all too well - the “I’m mad about something, so I’ll pin my rage on Kurai” look. He pins me up against the wall, and punches me in the stomach so hard that I see flashing stars for a minute. “Are you done already? Aww, poor little baby,” Genkei says as he pummels me even more. After a few minutes, he stands up and laughs with Kimiko as they walk away.

I slowly get up, my lungs burning. Then, I see Hina walk out of the school, and she spots me. She runs over, and gasps. “Who did this to you?!” “It’s normal. Don’t bother, you’ll just get punched too,” I glumly say as I start to walk home. However, she grabs my arm and, with a concerned look on her face, she says, “No, it’s not! You need to tell someone! Here, I’ve got some bandages in my bag. I’ll clean you up.” When she’s finished, I sigh and thank her. “Now, you’d better go. Otherwise, they might spot you helping me, and you’ll get hurt too.” Just then, I see Genkei and Kimiko walking back towards us, and before I can warn her, Kimiko mockingly laughs and says, “What’s this? Is this your girlfriend, Kurai? I didn’t know that an idiot who lives in a dumpster was good enough for you, Hina!” I reply, “She’s not my girlfriend. Just… don’t mess with her, okay?” 

Genkei looked shocked before bursting into laughter. “So? I don’t care what she is to you. She’s below us, which means that she can go to hell!” He throws a punch towards Hina, and in the blink of an eye, Genkei is on his back. Kimiko starts to get angry, and she charges at Hina. Then, Hina dodges Kimiko, and she knocks Kimiko out! Hina looks down at them, and, with cold eyes, says, “The next time you bully someone, it’s game over for you. Understand?”. Genkei fearfully nods, picks up Kimiko, and runs away. In that moment, I felt something. For the first time in my life someone had stood up for me. For the first time in years, I cried - not because I was sad, but because I was so overwhelmingly happy.