I stared at myself in the mirror, frowning at the ugly brown school uniform I had to wear now. This school sure has a questionable fashion sense, I thought, adjusting the collar.
As I finished dressing, I looked at my old navy-blue school uniform sitting in the corner of my closet, or more specifically, at the pin in the image of a black bear sitting on the right-hand chest area.
"It's a gift, from me to you" echoed the voice of the person who gave it to me. Simply remembering that day made me frown.
Let's get going, I thought.
I made my way through the mountain of unpacked boxes scattered all around my house until I reached the living room.
It's at moments like these that I envy the people who wake up to an already-made breakfast by their parents. Instead, what I'm greeted with are the loud snores of my older sister who's on the living room couch about to fall off at any given moment.
She always brags that she used to be popular in her high school years, but looking at her right now, reeking of booze and drooling all over the place, makes me think she was just talking about a dream she had.
Regardless, she's family, so most of the time I just cook a simple breakfast for myself and leave two plates wrapped in foil for them for later.
"I'm off for school!" I say, knowing I won't get a coherent response.
"Ughahhg" my half-asleep sister groans back.
I step outside, with the crisp morning air hitting my face, and make my way to school.
Even these morning walks are nice in their own way, the sounds of chirping birds, crossing a bridge over a busy road, the breeze of the nearby ocean, walking under the warm sunlight as leaves crunch under your feet.
What? You want to know about my philosophy in life? Hell no.
Don't you know that's trope #11? The protagonist's philosophy? You know, when they share their thoughts on society or relationships or some crap like that. Which is usually something deep and intriguing… yeah, I don't got nothing like that.
You expected me to go on a rant about my opinion on relationships too?
Listen, I just want to lead a peaceful life, not everyone has a tragic backstory, a mysterious past or a controversial opinion on relationships. Some people just want a quiet life, what can I say.
Which is exactly why I woke up an hour early today.
If I was running late, I'd run the risk of bumping into someone running with a piece of bread on their mouth, or even worse, get involved in something troublesome.
"Kyaaa! Please give me your autograph!" Someone suddenly yelled from behind.
Before I even turned around, I felt a shiver creeping on my back.
What?! An event so early in the morning?! I thought as a drop of sweat formed on my forehead.
I slowly turned around with wariness.
Phew.
It was a false alarm. The person who asked for an autograph was farther off in the distance.
But it just wasn't one person, off in the middle of the beach and under the heat of the sun, a large crowd of people formed a circle surrounding someone or something.
"Please sign my shirt!" some people yelled, "Please look my way" others exclaimed.
I could see bodyguards in black uniforms desperately trying to hold back the swarm of people.
Thank God, it's just some random celebrity. I thought to myself, letting out a relieved breath of air and continued walking.
I would check it out, but as I have come to find out the hard way, those type of things only lead to disaster, that's why I thought for a second it was the beginning of an event.
What's an event you say? Well I'd rather not talk about it and risk jinxing myself, but simply put it's a big pain in the-
"Ah, Jumpei! Come down please!" an old lady yelled in front of me as she looked up on a tree.
Damn it. I thought
The old lady had a classic cat up in the tree situation. As I walked closer, the old lady noticed me.
"Oh dear young man, would you mind helping out an old lady?" she said pleading with her hands.
I looked up at the black cat up in the tree, to which it kept looking down condescendingly, as cats tend to do.
"Sure thing, ma'am" I said.
What, did you think I would reject her request? I'm not a monster you know.
But before I could even begin to climb the tree, the cat quickly jumped down and ran away.
"Ah! Jumpei!" the old lady exclaimed as she fruitlessly reached out to the cat.
"Oh young man…" she said looking at me with puppylike eyes.
Ha~ I let out a resigned sigh, "I'll be right back" I answered.
Perhaps you begin to see why I like a peaceful life.
I chased after the cat, running around the neighborhood houses, until eventually the cat turned the corner leading to an alleyway.
As I entered the alleyway myself, I lost track of the cat. It was a tight, narrow and obstructed place, a perfect place for delinquents to smoke or so I thought.
Crash!
A loud sound like a bunch of trash cans falling, came from around the corner.
Please cut me some slack… I thought, carefully peeking around the corner.
My palm met my forehead with a sharp smack.
Jumpei that dumb cat was sitting peacefully licking its paw on top of a trashcan.
But all around him were the knocked-out bodies of students. Many were clearly trashed, bruised and in funny poses, hell a guy even got pantsed.
Whoever did this to the poor guys clearly had a weird sense of humor.
They all also had different uniforms to my own brown one. Black uniforms that probably belonged to a nearby school.
"Jumpei!" I called out to the cat, slowly and carefully stepping over the knocked-out students, making sure to not step on any of them.
"Jumpei! You dump cat get over here!" I called out once again, but to no avail. The cat gave an annoyed look at me and continued licking its paw.
Seeing that he wasn't coming over, I quietly and swiftly made my way to him.
Just as I was about to reach him, a hand tightly grabbed my ankle, scaring me in the process. Making me cover my mouth to stop myself from screeching.
One of the knocked down students, a tall bald guy in a weak voice began speaking, "Please… save our boss…" shortly after passing out once again.
Save your boss? I considered the idea for a whole micro-second, before looking all around me and at the 15 guys lying on the floor.
What a funny joke, how am I supposed to beat a guy who takes down 15 others by himself I thought. Maybe if I was built like a character from a fighting manga like Baki or something I'd stand a chance, but I ain't him.
I finally reached Jumpei, who started rubbing himself against my chest affectionately, despite having given me the side eye a minute ago.
"You're a big pain in the butt you know? Trying to be cute won't get you any points" I said to the cat.
Despite the cat's previous arrogant attitude, he let himself be picked up with no trouble.
As I made my way back, a voice shrieked in horror behind me "HEEELP!!!"
I turned around only to see a guy with a mohawk, desperately dragging himself away from whatever was around the corner.
That must be the boss. I thought.
He looked in my direction and spotted me, "YOU! PLEASE HELP ME! SHE'S CRAZY!" he yelled out.
But after spurting out that line, quickly looked back, and his face turned pale, "WAIT NO, I DIDN'T MEAN ANYTHING BY IT! MERCY! HAVE MERC- AHHH!"
As he continued screaming in horror, he began to be dragged back around the corner leaving only the scratches made by his fingernails.
Oh yeah no. That guy is definitely dead.
I remembered the parting words of his loyal subordinate who asked a stranger such as myself to help his boss out. Such acts in this day and age are truly respectable…
"Welp, not gonna ruin my day" I said as I walked away.
…..
"Oh thank you so much young man! How can I ever pay you for bring back this little rascal" the old lady said as she patted her cat who enjoyed being pampered.
"Don't worry about it ma'am, it wasn't a big deal." I replied.
Although I am running tight on time… ha~ so much for waking up early. I thought, looking at the clock on my phone.
The lady then began to browse through the purse she had on her, "Oh please at least let me give you this"
I shook my head side to side, "Seriously ma'am it wasn't any trouble, you don't need to give me anything"
But the old lady completely disregarded what I said, "Please, you youngsters are so humble!" She said as she grabbed my arm and forcefully placed the item from her bag into my hand.
A cold, hard and sturdy item.
I stared at it for a long moment, then glanced back at the old woman who handed it to me
"A wrench…"I said in disbelief.
"A wrench indeed." She answered.
What the hell am I even supposed to do with this.
The grandma just looked at me with a sinister smile, "Just take it, no need to be so shy."
"Thanks…" I answered hesitantly.
"Well I hope you have an excellent day young man; I can see fortune follows you wherever you go" the grandma said before walking off.
Let me be clear, this isn't normal. People don't just hand out wrenches to strangers on the street. This isn't a video game where you pick up quest items for later use. This is real life.
...Well, kind of. My life might be the exception.
I let out a sigh, how troublesome, but at least nothing crazy has happened. I thought to myself, as I walked to school… with a wrench in hand.
But my thoughts are cut short. As I round the corner, a man and a woman, both dressed in neat, black and expensive suits seemed to be in distress.
The man is in full-on panic mode, sweat dripping down his face as he looks at the hood of the car. And not just any car, a ridiculously expensive car. The kind of car that looks like it costs more than a school's entire annual budget.
"Ah what are we supposed to do!! The young miss will be late at this rate!!" he exclaimed.
"She could just walk to school you know…" the woman next to him replied.
"OVER MY DEAD BODY!" he answered in a strong voice, clearly having strong feelings over such a simple issue. "Someone of her stature? I won't allow it!"
"Ha~ this is why the young miss finds you annoying you know? Well at least the miss is content eating dessert inside the store." She said as she pointed at the patisserie shop behind them.
The male guard opened the hood of the car, and a small cloud of smoke let itself out.
"Just what we needed, and we didn't even bring the tools." He said.
I contemplated at the wrench in my hand.
Ha~… It's too early in the morning for this crap man. I thought as I began walking towards the man.
"Excuse me, I happened to overhear you were in some trouble, would this be of any use?" I said, showing him the wrench.
The eyes of the man lit up like a shooting star, "AH! YOUNG MAN YOU ARE A LIFE SAVIOR!" he exclaimed excitedly.
I handed him the wrench and the man promptly began to mess with the components inside the hood of the car.
"You can keep it" I told him, after all it's not like I was going to use it for anything, I'd probably get in trouble if a teacher saw me walking around with this thing.
His colleague then walked up to where I was, "Thank you, young man, you don't know how much help this is to us." she said while slightly bowing to show her appreciation.
"For real, good things will definitely happen to you kiddo" the man said, "Ah… but what were you doing with a wrench in a first place…" he asked before abruptly stopping his tweaking.
The lady also seemed to mentally pause for a second as well to think about it, and both looked at me with their eyebrows raised.
"A grandma gave it to me." I replied.
"Oh. Ok… it's fine if you don't want to tell us…." he said while averting his eyes like I was some weirdo.
Damn it, that's literally what happened!
"Well I hope you can fix your car problems" I said and quickly walked away before their judgmental eyes were too much to handle.
As I gained distance, I could overhear the lady whisper to her colleague, "What a strange kid… let's hope he never meets the young miss"
IT'S NOT LIKE I WANTED IT IN THE FIRST PLACE. One tries to help, and you end up like a weirdo…
….
"Ha~" I let out a sigh. What are first days even supposed to look like anymore? I can't seem to remember.
I continued walking and finally got closer to my new school, and as such, I found myself surrounded and being passed by boys and girls alike, dressed neatly in brown school uniforms.
Some gleefully greet their friends and walk together, others joke and play around, and some are still half-asleep dragging their bodies to school.
Before I knew it, I found myself at the entrance of a large, gated school campus.
Kamakura High, and the new school I'll be attending. A new beginning and a refreshing restart to my highschooler career.
"Round two." I mutter to myself.
….
"Everyone please pay attention!" The teacher, Ms. Aoi, announced inside the classroom, "I'm delighted to announce to you all that we have a new student coming in. He missed the first couple of days of school, but I hope you all will get along with him and show him around" She could easily be heard from the hallway preparing to introduce me.
Ms. Aoi opened the door and peeked outside to where I was standing, "Kurogawa-kun you can come in now!" she said.
I stepped into the classroom, where a class of around twenty students all had their sights set on me.
Now this is probably the part where you go, 'wait, isn't this also a cliché?'
To which you would be correct! Cliché number seven: The transfer student!
You seen it, you know it, no need for some bothersome explanation. But you must be wondering why a guy such as myself who wants nothing to do with tropes, has willingly partaken in one.
Unfortunately, this is a necessary evil for the sake of my peaceful school life! As such I must be very careful as to not trigger anything.
Normally in this trope, the character says something weird or quirky in their self-introductions that triggers a flag with another character. So the secret to this trope is to be as boring and unremarkable as possible!
Standing in front of the small little classroom podium, I introduced myself.
"Nice to meet you all, I'm Naoki Kurogawa. My given name is written with the kanji characters 直樹. 直 (Na) means 'straight' or 'honest,' while 樹 (Ki) means 'tree'. My family name, Kurogawa, 黒川, consists of two kanji characters. 黒 (Kuro) as in 'black,' and 川 (Kawa) as in 'river'. I hope to get along with everyone."
After bowing down, everyone did the usual courtesy clap and just like that I was free to sit and relax.
Exactly as planned. I thought to myself with a devious smile forming on my face.
"Thank you for your introduction Kurogawa," Smiled Ms. Aoi, "As for your seat… hmm… you can go ahead and take the seat in the back corner next to the window."
Hmm…? The… back…corner…?
A shiver ran down my spine.
Looking at the back row and next to a girl with her head down was a single open seat where a light breeze blew the curtains around.
Worse yet, there was a suspicious ray of light being cast on that very same seat.
Oh for fuc-
It was that stupid seat again.