Like any other morning, my mother's screams on her phone woke me up. I had only managed to sneak a few hours of sleep after coming back from my night shift at the convenience store. As loud as always, she was howling at her husband or perhaps her lover about something, I didn't truly care to hear the details.
Telling my father not to visit our home was her usual complaint against him every morning, so expecting things to be the same, I focused on my own problems before worrying about anything else.
'My wallet…Where's all the money?' Seeing my wallet empty as I tried to take out some cash for a quick bite, my heart sank like an anchor. 'Did I misplace it?! Where the hell is it?!'
Upturning the whole place, I kept looking at every corner to find the cash that I may have dropped somewhere. To my horror, the money was nowhere, and asking my mom about it was akin to committing suicide at the moment. Even if she'd taken the money, there's no way she would admit to it.
"Just my fucking luck…" As I cursed my own fate, the message sound on my phone rang abruptly. Picking the phone out of my pocket, I noticed a text from Akane.
'Sorry for not picking up last night, was it something important? Also, I can't accompany you to school today, I had some extra practice early in the morning so I'm already at the track fields at school.' From her message, it didn't seem like she was in any kind of trouble despite what I'd heard from Sakura and her friends at the store last night.
Shooting her a text not to worry about it, I decided not to drag her into this mess since she was one of the few who wasn't yet being bullied. To the extent that I knew of at least. There was something definitely going on with her and the cheerleaders, but for now, I needed to focus more on informing Miss Yuuko about Hero's bullying at school.
Finally, on my way to school, I still had some doubts since there was no way his mom didn't have at least some clue about what her son was doing. Still, I wasn't gonna back down just yet, after all, things only get better if I do something to make them better. Arriving at the school gates much earlier than usual, I headed straight for the teacher's lounge without letting any distractions get to me.
'Nobody's on track…' The worst of them were the empty track fields which I noticed through the windowed stairs. 'So she's lying? But why?'
Things were moving too fast too early in the morning, thus I couldn't think clearly or arrive at a conclusion as to why she would do that. Lost in thought, I was frozen in doubt right by the teacher's lounge. Through the translucent windows, I could already see Miss Yuuko working at her desk on a giant stack of papers.
'Deep breaths and let's go.' Gathering my courage, I headed right in.
The moment the door flung open, being the sole teacher present at the moment, she turned to look at me with great confoundment.
"Daichi?" She muttered, her eyes squinted with curiosity. "Was yesterday's schoolwork too complex for you too?"
"I-I…Uhhh.." Taking a deep gulp, I walked closer to her desk. "I want to report a student for bullying!"
Her eyes widened to my words, and she quickly turned in her chair in my direction. With a deep grooved frown, she turned to her desk and plucked a sheet of paper out of her book. Visibly furious at the news, she picked up a pen in her fingers and pressed it onto the paper to note down the details of the incidents.
"Who is it? Tell me I'll drag them by the ears to the prin-"
"Hero…It's him," Her pen dropped the moment she heard his name. For a spell, she stayed as still as an idol as if trying to process what she'd just heard. "He's been bullying me and a lot of other students. Kimura is backing him up somehow so nobody tries to stand up to him."
"D-Daichi, Um-Can you," with a nervous jitter in her eyes, she looked at me with a pleading gaze. "Keep this a secret, I'll talk to him myself to stop."
At a moment's glance, I thought she really had the audacity to ask me to be hush about her son's actions, but then I saw it. In her eyes, a deep sense of fear strong enough to make her eyes jitter left and right. Gulping down on that phantom fear, she climbed out of her chair and quickly got hold of my hands.
"He won't bother anyone I promise!" She pleaded, her fingers giving my arms a death grip.
"B-but-"
"Look…Daichi, you're a smart kid, right?" Placing her hand by my left cheek, she forced a nervous smile onto her lips. "I can't have my son get in trouble again, the principal will kick him out if this complaint makes it to his desk. And if his father knew then…"
Covering her mouth as if she'd said something she wasn't supposed to, Yukko backed off from me. Taking her hand off her face again, she revealed the same nervous smile on her lips that barely hid her fear of something.
"How can you even? Don't you realize what he's doing is wrong?!" Glaring right in her face, I couldn't fathom what would make a mother hide her son's despicable actions.
Taking deep audible breaths, Yuuko lifted her nervous arm to her side as if she was about to slap me. However, if it was conscience or plain fright I had no clue but it made her put her hand back and down before she forced herself back into her seat.
"Okay…Just let me handle this, if he does anything to you again we can take this to the principal but until then, please don't talk to any other teacher about this," her pleading nature from a moment ago was now replaced by something far more indifferent.
It seemed as if she'd seen a ghost in her peripherals and was trying not to look at it. Standing before her as she returned to work, I knew this trip had been a huge waste of time which would amount to absolutely nothing.
"What the hell are you even scared of?" I couldn't help but mock as I turned around to leave the place.
From behind me, I heard the crumbling of paper before she furiously dumped it into the dustbin by her desk.
'I get that everyone has their phantoms, for me, it was my parents, but what exactly could an adult like her be so afraid of?' Having no clue why she was so terrified, I made my way to class, the only place the bullies wouldn't come before recess started.