- First Day in Saitama HS -

"Yume-Chan! Are you ready? We're gonna get late for school! " Kiyoshi yelled as he and Ryobe waited for Yume outside his bedroom while Yume fixed his blonde hair. The blonde-ness was faded, so Yume's hair had a lot more of a silver-ish tone.

He felt satisfied with his look, so he wore his uniform jacket in front of his full-body mirror in his room and opened the door, revealing his best friends, Kiyoshi and Ryobe, all ready for their first day at Saitama High School. Ryobe seemed pissed as he walked downstairs with his arms crossed over his toned chest.

Yume lived with his aunt Anzai Sora along with his friends Kiyoshi and Ryobe. They lived in a decent Japanese house. It was a medium-sized two-story house, having three bedrooms for the woman and the three boys.

"You done yet? We aren't going to any wedding ceremony." Ryobe tsked and walked to the door, Kiyoshi and Yume close behind.

"Don't mind that asshole. He meant nothing like that. You look amazing, my boy. Mwah!" Kiyoshi cheered, although Yume knew they had always been like this since childhood. He grew up with them, after all.

Yume always considered Kiyoshi and Ryobe his brothers, his only family. His parents had to leave him alone in this cruel world and go to the other side when Yume was just three-years-old. He doesn't remember much about his parents, or maybe at all.

He was too young when they passed away due to a car accident, which happened under mysterious circumstances. The cops couldn't seem to solve the case, or it might be something else.

His friends Kiyoshi and Ryobe were his only supporters apart from his relative Anzai Iesada and that said relative's wife, Anzai Sora.

"Here are your lunch boxes, Yume-Kun, Kiyoshi-Kun, and Ryobe-Kun. Are you sure you don't want anything for breakfast?" A subtle, quiet voice chimed in as they made their way outside.

"Yes, Sora Obasan. We'll grab something while on the way. Take care, I love you." Yume said, smiling as he kissed the woman on her cheeks in her late 20s. The woman smiled sweetly before returning the kiss to the boy.

Ryobe waited for them to finish, and Kiyoshi smiled at the scene, even though it was really common for him to see this interaction between Sora and Yume.

"Oh yes, do tell me what you do at school when you come back home, hm? I'm willing to listen."

"Okay. Bye! " Yume yelled as he hastily wore his shoes and joined Kiyoshi and Ryobe on the way to school, their backpacks slung lazily over their backs.

"Why are you so lovey-dovey with your Obasan (aunt)?" Ryobe muttered as they walked together to the bus stand.

"Shut up, Ryo. Why are you so rude? " Kiyoshi scolded the boy.

"What? I'm just asking. " Ryobe shrugged.

"This is so normal, you little dimwit! Sora Obasan is like his mum. You need to understand it." Kiyoshi argued while Yume watched them from behind and chuckled.

"Why do you always argue like old couples?" Yume laughed as he interrupted the arguing men.

"I don't know really. His words make me pissed off. I hate him so much. Ugh!" Kiyoshi huffed, pouting his plush lips, causing Yume to giggle.

"Stop acting cute, Baka." Ryobe said as he stopped in his tracks, making the trio realise that they had reached the bus stand.

Soon, the bus to their school arrived, and they climbed aboard, taking their respective seats. The bus moved swiftly through the roads of Saitama Prefecture to the Saitama High School.

Yume got to see the serene views of trees moving past the bus like filmstrips while the people were bustling to get to their offices in time. He saw small kids crossing roads hand in hand as they waddled. He watched women striding across the pathways. He saw couples walking by.

Couples walking by...

Yume has always been a romantic person, even though he wasn't into literature much. He simply loved the concept of romance and love. It gave him butterflies, but the thought of never having someone as his partner made those butterflies fade. He sighed.

And they reached their school within twenty-five to thirty minutes.

"Ooh! I'm nervous, Kiyo!" Yume nervously laughed as they made their way to the entrance of the school. Kiyo chuckled and patted Yume's shoulder.

"I don't know, but I'm feeling nervous too." Ryobe said as he and his friends stood still by the entrance before entering. Several students walked or ran into the premises, crossing the large grounds and entering the school's main building.

It was autumn. The leaves of the trees were all in the warm shades of red, orange, and yellow. Some of the leaves were swaying in the subtle breeze as if they were dancing. It was kind of a cool day. Not too warm, but also not too cool. It is just the right temperature. Yume really liked autumn. He watched the school grounds covered with dead leaves crunching under his feet as he gently walked to the entrance of the school building.

He used his locker keys to unlock the lock on his shoes, which were only designated for wear inside the school building. He wore them and made his way to the teachers' room to meet his homeroom teacher.

He and his two other friends followed in quietly as they softly greeted their teacher with a bow and a small 'Ohayo-gozaimasu', which means Good Morning.

The teacher smiled as she saw the three boys.

"Ah, Takahashi Yume, Kazuko Kiyoshi, and Ishikawa Ryobe, is it?" The teacher asked, her voice being very gentle and soft.

"Yes, Sensei." They said it in sync.

"Okay, here are your weekly schedules of classes. As you know, you will have to join clubs too, as a part of recreational activities and skill development. Regarding this, please contact your respective Student Council president or vice president during recess. For now, your class is about to start. Shall we go now?" She said as she handed some papers to the three boys.

"Surely, Sensei." They synced, making the middle-aged woman chuckle. She got up from her chair and made her way to her designated class.

Their shoes shuffled on the slick tiled floors as they walked into their class. The students stood up and bowed as per the instructions of their class president and sat down after paying their respects to their teacher.

"Good morning, class. As you can see, some new faces are present here with us. I want you all to treat them well as they are our new transfer students. Gentlemen, please introduce yourselves."

"Hello, I'm Ishikawa Ryobe. Nice to meet you." Ryobe bowed.

"Oi kawaii!" A girl squeaked. Ryobe sighed, rolling his light brown eyes.

"Hello! I'm Kazuko Kiyoshi. I hope we can be good friends." Kiyoshi bowed. The girls in the class were murmuring. And lastly, Yume. He took a deep breath and smiled.

"Hello! I'm Takahashi Yume. Please take care of me." He said it softly and bowed.

"Yume, are you a girl?" Some boys asked and cackled from the back, causing the young boy to get flustered and shift in his place profusely.

"Hey! You don't want to go outside the class, do you?" Sensei said in a strict tone.

"Please take your seats." The woman said softly, and the boys scurried to their seats. Yume's seat falls by the window side, three benches ahead from the back. Ryobe was sitting in front of him and Kiyoshi was sitting beside him in their individual seats. Their bags were hanging by the sides of their respective tables.

'I am not a girl...' Yume said in his thoughts.

Yume was a quiet and sensitive kid. He was handsome, but not the manly handsome that some of the hot men we see on Pinterest or Instagram are. He was much more on the feminine side of his beauty, and it was really noticeable.

His dirty blonde hair was very long, almost covering his dreamy hazel and monolid eyes. His tiny figure is always hiding in very oversized clothes or behind Ryobe or Kiyoshi, which also makes them not leave him alone as he is attractive to boys who tend to bully sensitive and feminine boys like Yume.

"Hey, don't stress it." Yume nodded at Kiyoshi's words.

"Alright, now please open page number 56 of your literature text book." The teacher instructed Yume opened the relevant page of the literature book. His eyes fell on the topic that was based on it.

'Akuma'

He scrutinised the illustration of "Akuma," or the Devil. It was vicious and very terrifying to look at. The evil smirk of the devil as he whispered all the wrong pieces of advice to the innocent people, which led them to do all the bad stuff and make this world a hell hole. Something really amazing about the devil is his superiority. He is the only superior one in hell, and the rest are the inferior ones, the pests.

Yume zoned into it as his teacher started the exercise on the next page, but Yume could feel his stomach twist when he read the phrase, "Kami No Okiiniri," which roughly translates to "God's favourite." He read further and understood something,

'Even the devil was once God's favourite.'

This particular sentence peaked Yume's interest. He took a mental note of visiting the library to get more information about it.