School is…stressful.

There is no way around it, there is constant pressure to feel like you fit in, either by being good at socializing, sports, dating or studies. If you’re not sufficiently good in any of these, you can become an outcast. You’ll be at risk, you’ll become a target, you’ll become miserable, and everything will crumble around you, making your life…unbearable.

Young people aren’t fully mature to understand the consequences of their actions, of their stares, of their words and how all of that can consume a person who just wants to feel normal. This is why we depend on the support of adults, such as our parents or even our teachers, to comfort us, wipe our tears and guide us during hard times.

But…what if we can’t count on them? What if they also contribute to that abuse? What if we feel like we are all alone in this cruel world and there is no escape from this pain?

What will save us from all of it, if not…death.

In the last decade, Kashikoi High School has held its second place in the Top 10 Best Public High Schools in Japan, being located in Kanagawa. Its public goal consists in nurturing young minds and mold them into the best prodigies in the whole country, providing them with easy access to any college they desire, and, later on, their dream high class job.

This High School has a very good reputation, and many parents will do anything to sign their children in this place, to guarantee a bright future for them. However, this brightness and good image is just strong on the outside…on the inside, all you will find is…darkness.

Due to the high number of students, many teachers were recruited to lecture in this institute and, the grand majority of these, in their own unique way, abuse their students. Their lack of empathy is like no other I’ve experienced so far, they don’t care about your interest in learning or if you’re slower than the rest of the class. They don’t care if you’re bullied on a daily basis by your classmates and, if they feel you’re just a weak burden to the High School, they will emotionlessly tell you that you should just cut your wrists and seize existence…

This is the reason why the number of suicides in this High School is higher compared to other schools, but only a few are known to the public, due to the principal’s powerful connections which are sufficient to cover all the incidents and release them from any liability. Many students just give in to the pressure of achieving remarkable grades and avoiding humiliation by these teachers, in front of the whole class. When they get home, only few try to explain this horrible environment to their parents, but they just think they’re overreacting and that High School is supposed to be hard. It doesn’t matter what you do, this High School is just too powerful and you’re just too weak.

All of this just makes you feel helpless, to the point where you think you deserve this. For you, it becomes the only possible explanation, that your life is supposed to be a carousel of pain, anxiety, isolation and depression.

Then, you’re forced to make a choice, you either endure Hell or you free yourself…

No one deserves a life like this, no one deserves to feel this way.

You didn’t deserve this, Erena…if only I’d known sooner that you had made your choice, maybe I could’ve prevented all of this…

That High School…those teachers…they think they can continue to prosper and get away with all of this…but they couldn’t be more wrong….

I promise you…I will give them hell.