EIGHT YEARS LATER
"NOT TODAY EITHER?!!!"
All of Miso's abilities have awoken, except for one: Dash.
Miso can hide in the shadows, he can climb walls, he can turn invisible, he can get swords from his hands, he can see what any camera sees in a 200 meter radius, he can super-boost one of his senses, but he cannot dash yet.
The dash is one of the best parts of his ability, but unfortunately, it hasn't arrived yet. Just this one more ability, then Miso can fight monsters.
He tried fighting an F tier monster once, and now he has a giant white scar running along the length of his arm. And the monster is still alive and happy, eating tasty civilian children.
Miso calms himself down. The ability should be arriving by the end of this month. Calm down, let's just get to school today.
He sighs, then takes a bath in freezing cold water. The heater doesn't work, but it doesn't matter. Miso's used to the cold now.
He brushes his teeth in the shower, dries himself, puts his clothes on, then goes to school. No breakfast, he doesn't have that kind of money.
He can't afford to go late to school today. Today is the date where they'll test his ability in school and give him the permission to gain work experience as a hunter.
Before he knows it, he's standing in front of his high school, Ohio-Tokyo High School. The fees is cheap, but it is a quite famous and well-reputed school. Miso will use it as a steppingstone. A steppingstone to enroll in the famous AAD University.
He walks through the main gate and into the block where his class is.
As expected, the corridor is bustling with students. All of them seem to have friends, which makes Miso just very slightly sad. He liked the idea of having a friend.
Everyone could be heard talking to their friends in the corridor.
"Did you watch that show with the Mesugakis in that Magical Academy?"
"Can you lend me that Mesugaki videogame?"
"Bro, I think I'm a lolicon."
"Kill yourself."
Miso ignored them and walked to his class. He was invisible. Not literally, ability usage in school wasn't allowed. Nobody really cared about him.
He opened his class door and walks to his chair.
"Oops." Charlotte bumps into him. "I'm sorry..uhhh…ugh" she realizes that she bumped into Miso and doesn't hide her uncomfortableness being around him. "Umm..anyways. Sorry..umm.." she doesn't know his name. After an entire month of being classmates.
"No problem." Miso walks to his chair. He's never really cared about friends or relationships. All he needed was a studio flat with a working heater and the money to pay for gas and water bills.
He sits in the corner. Nobody noticed him. He didn't mind either, Miso feels uncomfortable being the center of attention.
Thankfully, everyone kept talking to each other. Nobody cared about him. Nobody knew about his existence.
The classroom is warm. The lights haven't been turned on yet, and the sunlight coming from the tinted windows gave a dull golden hue. This made Miso's eyes heavy. He did wake up early to attend school after all, and he couldn't properly sleep the night before due to the anticipation. What if he got his final ability after he woke up?
….what if he doesn't?
What if the most powerful sounding ability of his, dash, would never arrive?
Miso's stomach drops a bit.
That's not possible.
Yeah, as improbable as losing your parents to a car crash.
….
No point thinking about it. Miso just wants to sleep.
He struggles and pushes the scary thoughts aside and puts his head on the table, trying to sleep.
Aaaaaaaahhh, that feels good.
If only this momen-
"KYAAAA! Ichika!" One of the girls scream and snap Miso out of his slumber.
"Wha- Obamna?!" Miso wakes up, confused and half asleep with drool leaking from his mouth.
His eyes focus on the girl coming through the door.
Ugggghhh. Ichika. Popular, talented, smart, and all-round model student. And obviously, incredibly fucking beautiful. Long black hair, blue-green eyes, and...….
Miso's eyes lower a bit, and he stares for a second, even though he feels like a disgusting pervert.
'Nice tits. Medium size. Very nice.' He stops staring and acts as if he's deeply in thought, but all that's running in his mind is 'very nice. Good tits. 7/10.'
'I am such a chimp.' He thinks to himself. 'Disgusting.'
"OH MY GOD! HOW ARE YOU TODAY, ICHIKA!"
Miso sighs inwardly. He just wants some peace and quiet.
"I'm good." Ichika sounds annoyed.
Miso wasn't surprised. Anyone would be annoyed by this. Who the hell even likes this much attention.
He wished for the voices to get quieter, but unfortunately for him, Ichika's seat right next to him, and all the noise follows her.
Ichika plops down on her chair and a small gust of air wafts to him. He smells something nice. Lemon? Rose? The smell only makes him sleepier.
One of the boys walks up to Ichika and asks, "Prepared for the Junior Hunters Exam?"
Ichika smiles and says, "Of course I fucking am."
Not surprising, since she's part of Wei Lim's friend group. Everyone who are friends with Wei Lim are all incredibly strong and passionately want to be hunters.
Plus, Ichika has openly stated that she wants to be a Hunter many times.
Miso sighs. Her ability sounds goofy as hell: Psycho Calc, but she's rumored to have already hit F tier. And hitting F tier is a challenge even for most adults who have a hunter-type ability.
'How the hell am I supposed to compete with that?' He asks himself. Miso hasn't hit F tier yet.
'Whatever' Miso tries going back to sleep.
But her face is burned into his mind. 'She's so damn pretty. I wish I could ask her out on a date, man.'
Ichika looks to her side and sees that boy, Miso, sleeping.
People like him get on her nerve. Such laziness. Every time she sees him, it pisses her off. He always looks half dead, his eyes look fully dead, he's got a permanent bedhead and half the time he doesn't even look like he knows what's going on around him.
She doesn't know what's even going on in his head, what his ambitions are, or why he's even here, in school. What is the point of living a life like that?
ARGH