The entirety of my first year at Inoue High School was a never-ending nightmare. Utose Higane, the Queen of Inoue, did everything in her power to make my days miserable. After the incident on the first day of school, she successfully spread rumors that I was a violent and troubled kid. That caused a lot of people to be wary of me and in turn, made it nearly impossible to socialize. Then behind closed doors or empty classrooms, Utose-san would utilize all forms of bullying alongside her circle of friends to break me down even further.

It was five other students who joined Utose Higane. One of them was a male student in the year above named Katsubaru Yakugata. He was known for being very handsome and was the captain of the boxing club. He was a tall and well-built young man with strong arms, short spiky brown hair, and green eyes.

Katsubaru-san also had three friends who were the scariest delinquents in the school. Keiseki Sakibe, Fumomi Tomiriama, and Okibaru Mizuhoshi. And two gyarus who were always by Utose-san’s side— Hikase Fukuyama and Tori Aibaru.

The six of them together formed the “Great Lords of Inoue” who ran the school with an iron fist. Not even the teachers or the principal could do anything without facing serious repercussions themselves. Utose Higurashi was an extremely influential man who could ruin Inoue High with just a word. With that in mind, the staff bent to the will of Utose Higane to keep their jobs. And any unlucky saps like me were given the title of “jesters”! Our duty was to continue playing the fool to appease the rulers of the school.

Every single day I was forced to do chores or run errands for the six popular kids. Whenever I didn’t do a job properly or didn’t do it at all I was punished in various ways. One of those ways was for my desk and locker to be graffitied with horrible words and for my school supplies to be torn to shreds or drenched in something awful smelling. After damaging my personal items beyond repair, Katsubaru-san and his friends would beat me up as if I were a punching bag. 

As you can guess, the punches of the captain of the boxing club were nothing to joke about. My face would become as bruised as a peach and I would walk home with a limp. Hikase-san and Tori-San would also record me getting beaten and laugh their lungs out. 

I had no friends at the time and I could turn to no one. Anytime I told a teacher they would either give me an empty promise or scold me saying that it was my fault I got messed with. And not even my own sister did anything to get me out of the bullying.

“I can’t avoid them— I can’t even fight back!” I remembered shouting those words of frustration at Otoki. “What am I supposed to do!?”

Otoki replied, “There is nothing you can do now. Those in power will always find ways to utilize it. The only way to be free of their grasp is for them to lose interest or for them to lose said power.”

“So what you’re saying…is to just wait and hope she gets tired of messing with me!?”

“Mitsuki, you did all the right things. You told a teacher and you didn’t retaliate violently. If you did, the Utose Family would have made sure you would suffer for it. For right now, as a low-class citizen and a simple high schooler, this is all you can do.”

My frustration was its peak that I even began to tear up.

“This sucks…I can’t go on like this! How can anyone sane deal with this!?”

After yelling those words my sister slapped me across the face.

“H-huh…?”

It caught me off guard, the sudden physical assault. While I and Otoki did not get along we never attacked each other like she had done me. But there was something off about Otoki that day. After she had slapped me her blonde hair seemed to have been waving around as if she was standing in the middle of a hurricane and her golden eyes seemed to burn with some intensity.

“Don’t be a fool!” Otoki said in a loud and powerful voice. “The world isn’t a place that coddles you! As you become an adult you will encounter many people like Utose Higane! Those who use their riches to do as they please! If you become too consumed in your feelings and make a reckless decision, they will see you as a bug and crush you! Use your head! Endure and then eventually…”

Otoki turned away from me and walked away.

“You’re finally free…”

Once she was out of the room I held my red cheek where Otoki slapped me and cried.

“H-how can you say those words so easily? I know…it’s because you’re smarter, stronger, and will definitely get far in life! But me…”

I sniffled in rubbed my eyes. 

“What can a fool like me do…?”

My days in Inoue High continued but I found no peace to my strife. And one day, on a very rainy Friday I was tasked by the teachers to take care of cleaning the classroom. As I was sweeping the floor, the five stars of Inoue entered loudly while conversing with each other.

They pushed aside the desks and sat around, ignoring the work I was doing.

“U-uh…”

I wanted to speak up and tell them that I was busy cleaning, but the purple eyes of Utose-san fell on me first.

“Hey there, loser!” Utose-san said. “We’re going to karaoke! Wanna come?”

I was taken aback by the sudden invitation. I stared at Utose-san with wide and suspicious eyes. While it sounded like a nice invite from classmates, my heart was telling me that there was something evil under her words.

The grins of the five other classmates Utose-san also gave away what I had feared— they were planning to do something with me. With an anxious look on my face, I turned my head away.

“I-I would love to but I can’t…Mr. Arata told me to clean this room and I have some chores to do back at home and—”

“Come on, Risho-kun~!”

The strong arm of Katsubaru-san went around my neck. While it seemed like at first he was being friendly in truth he was using his strength to hurt me. My fragile bones felt like they would snap under the pressure of Katsubaru-san’s muscular arm. I tried to break free, but I couldn’t even move an inch.

“It’ll be fun~! We’ll listen to your awful singing voice as you pay for all our drinks~!”

Everyone laughed aloud, their voices matching the booming sound of the thunder outside. It was then made clear to me that all they wanted was for me to be their “wallet” as always. Despite Utose-san easily having the ability to afford the entire karaoke bar, she would rather throw my coins into the street than use a single dollar in her own account.

I wanted so badly to refuse, but the intense stare of Katsubaru-san shut down any confidence I had. I sighed in resignation and calmly placed down the broom I had in my hands.

“L-let’s go…”

I tried to sound excited but my shaky voice betrayed me. Utose-san giggled at the sight of me trying to speak but failing miserably.

“I knew you would say yes~! You don’t have any friends, so it makes sense to say yes…”

Everyone laughed again as I looked away with red cheeks. I then was dragged out of the unfinished classroom and soon was out of the school building. I had but a very flimsy umbrella that kept me warm and the others happily walked ahead of me with their own umbrellas or jackets. They were cackling and gossiping about whatever nonsense was going on in the school as I lagged behind staring off into the distance.

As I was looking around, my eyes landed on an individual in a black dress suit with dark blue stripes over it. He wore a black fedora that had the same color scheme. His skin was extremely pale and his bright blue eyes stared right into my soul and made me feel as if time had stopped. 

I was filled with curiosity and a slight fear of the stranger. But then my attention was taken away by the calling of Utose-san.

“Loser-kun~! Hurry up~!”

“C-coming, Utose-san!”

I looked back to see that the stranger was gone as if he never existed. Uneasiness was still all over me but I put it aside as I followed the others.