I wonder how long it's been since I asked for something. Ten years? No... fifteen years.
I was about six years old when I finally asked for something from my parents. An action figure.
"I don't know if that's a good idea," I remember my dad saying. "It's better if you focus more on your reading than some toys that you'll grow bored of."
After that, I forgot all about that action figure and did nothing but read a bunch of books all the way through my primary years.
When I was in middle school, I remember some kid asking me for help with his homework or something. I helped him, he aced the assignment, he thanked me, and that was that. Except, there was more to it than that. I remember having this nice... feeling surge throughout my body. I decided to help out even more people. It was then when I realized that I enjoyed helping other people.
But it was also then when my kindness was suddenly used against me.
It happened in my first year of high school. The class was in the middle of self-study and I was just looking over material for an upcoming test, when all of a sudden another student ran up to me with panic and desperation written all over his face.
"You gotta help me man," he begged me. "Please, tell the teacher that this magazine is yours and that you dropped it in the hallway!"
The magazine that he handed me caught me off guard a little. It was a porn magazine. I didn't know how to react to this, but the teacher suddenly came bursting through the sliding doors and walked straight to the student standing next to me.
"That magazine is not school appropriate material," he said. "It will be confiscated and you'll be coming with me to the principle's office."
"I'm telling you that it isn't mine!" the student protested.
He was obviously lying and he obviously knew what would happen if he got caught, but for some reason I still wanted to help him out.
"Th-That's actually... m-mine," I managed to say. "I... I dropped that somewhere in the hallway without realizing it. I... I'm truly sorry!"
The teacher was taken aback by this - fake - news. I guess it would make sense for someone to be surprised to find out that a kid who kept to himself most of the time would actually - still fake - do something that broke the school rules.
"Well... I... I, uh... a-appreciate your honesty," the teacher finally said. "P-Please come with me to the office."
And that was how the torturous part of my life started.
Apparently everyone in the entire school heard about what I did. When the rumors spread, I lost count of how many people started asking me for favors. Sending messages, taking blames, cleaning the class, and delivering stuff was all dumped on me to do, which was supposed to be done by the ones who asked me to do it.
It eventually became way too much for me to handle, so I stopped interacting with anyone.
Everyone who wanted favors from me eventually became pissed at me for not helping them out, so that was when I started getting bullied. Writing on my desk, my bag getting dumped in a river, which ruined all of my notes, food and trash getting thrown at me; it was as if my life suddenly turned for the worst.
Then one day, I completely snapped.
"So you can't even spend a few moments to help us out huh?"
Two girls surrounded my desk while I was in the middle of reading a book. I tried pretending that they were not there, but it was obvious that they weren't going to take no for an answer.
"We got no cash for lunch, so we were wondering if you could spare some," one of the girls asked. "I'm thinking about... ten thousand yen."
I didn't answer back. In fact, everyone in this class should've known what my answer was to their "favors."
"Still keeping to yourself huh?"
One of the girls snatched my book out of my hands and started ripping the pages out right in front of me. I was pretty upset since I was enjoying that book, but I still kept quiet.
"Seriously, what are you a freaking robot or something," the other girl said, waving her hand in my face. "Because you look pretty brain-dead to me."
"Ok, I'm going to stop fucking around with you," one of the girls said as she suddenly grabbed me by the neck and jerked me off of my chair. "We, as well as a couple of my other friends, need money to go to a karaoke booth. My dad isn't willing to give it to me, but I think that I can beat it out of a pussy like you!"
"Why don't you go and just... get a part-time job?"
"...!"
I actually didn't want to say anything, but they were really starting to get on my nerves. But I guess they were more pissed off than I was.
"Tch! You got some nerve telling me that... YOU FUCKING PRICK!!!"
WHAM!
Her fist ended up connecting to my stomach, which sent me sprawling to the floor. I coughed multiple times while tears started streaming down my face after feeling the intense pain. If she hit me any harder than that, she might've ended up damaging an organ.
"You're so pathetic you know," the girl who punched me said. "All we're asking for is money, so cough it up and we'll leave you alone."
"...heh... Like hell you will..." I coughed out. "You'll just...end up coming back to me for more money. Just like...everyone other cunt in this class does. And you're no different."
That last comment ended up earning me a kick to the face. Blood was pouring out from my nose and mouth. I've never tasted my own blood before. It wasn't pleasant.
"You know what, I have a better way of getting money," the other girl said. "We can just sell him off to a group of molesters. My brother knows how to access the deep web, so I'm sure he can help us out."
"Hey, that's a great idea," the girl who punched me said. "After all... that's all he's really worth of in this world."
"Shithead!"
"Retard!"
"Dumbass!"
"Pervert!"
"Selfish prick!"
"Waste of space!"
...
...i...e...iie...
...ll...ust...ie...
he...y...ould...ll...st...ie...
"They should all just die."
WHAM!
Before I could even fully process what had happened, the girl who it me a couple of times was now lying on the ground on an expanding pool of blood
"...!"
"...!"
"Holy shit!"
"Dude, the quiet guy just knocked that chick out!"
"No way... did that just happen?!"
The entire class saw everything that had happened? They saw these two girls ganging up on me, and one of them was beating me, yet you just sat there and watched?! You probably took pleasure in watching it as well. But when I land a good hit, now all of a sudden I'm the bad guy?!
"...heh...hehehehehe... You're all so fucking pathetic," I said with a cruel snicker. "I turn the tables on these two sluts and you want to take this seriously now? You're all nothing but a bunch of low-life shots."
Why is this happening? I don't want this! Please...stop this!
"NANA! ARE YOU OK?!"
"...eergh...wha...what happened...?"
The girl who was friends with girl who hit me - I guess her name is Nana - went to help her out. Half of her face was covered in blood and her eyes were twitching a little.
"I THINK SHE MIGHT HAVE A CONCUSSION!! WE NEED TO GET HER TO A NURSE NOW!!!"
"I don't think so."
POW!
I connected my right hand to the side of her face and with a satisfying "CRACK!", she was sent two feet across the floor before landing face-first on the ground, a pool of blood expanding from underneath her as well.
"You see, you don't deserve help," I said. "I've had to put up with your bullshit for so long, and yet nobody was ever willing to help me. You all deserve to feel the same pain that I felt every single day I spent in this hellhole. However, I don't think that I'll be able to give you that pain. So instead, let this be a warning to you guys. If you ever try to do what you did to me to any other kid, hehehe...I'll be sure that you get something that not even fate itself can give out."
And with that, I left the school.
When I arrived home, I lied to my parents about what had happened. I told them that I wasn't learning anything here and that I needed to go study elsewhere. They gave in, of course, and bought me an apartment with the money that they've been saving up. It wasn't in Tokyo, but it was in a town that was pretty far from here. The good thing is that nobody in that school new my name. They all just referred to me as "The Quiet Kid."
I was so quiet that even most of the teachers didn't know my name.
I started a new life at my new school and tried to pretend that those memories never even existed. But, of course...that wasn't the end of it.