Hyoma stumbled onto the schools roof as he collapsed on the floor. His face was turning purple as he let out heavy pants of air flood out of his mouth. The heat of the sun collapsed on his back, causing his skin inside his clothes to grow uncomfortable as it started to itch.
'School sucks...'
He started to forcefully drag himself across the floor, eventually laying on top of a metal bench next to the fence. Not long after he got on there, 2 others entered the roof.
One was a boy short boy around his age with bowl cut hair with two thin bangs on each side. His chin was sharp, and the pupils were reminiscent of a cats giving him a rather creepy look. He was also wearing the same uniform as Hyoma.
The other one was a slightly taller girl wearing black glasses. Her lavender hair was braided into two pony tail's which rested on each shoulder, and a patch of freckles was present on each of her cheeks. She was also wearing the same blazer and tie as the boys, but she wore a checkered skirt and stockings instead.
"Oh, hey guys!"
"You look dead already.", the boy said.
"School sucks!"
The two sat down around Hyoma, kindly giving him the entire bench to rest on. The boy with orange hair then started to go through his bag, as he pulled out a lovely packed lunch surprising Hyoma. This startled him.
"Oh.. OH! I FORGOT MY LUNCH!"
"Great! I can watch you be sick and starve!"
Hyoma's loud stomach then echoed as his pains grew even worse.
"Arima! That's a bit mean? Won't you at least pity me?"
"Heck no! Aren't you meant to be rich or something? I thought you had maids that did this stuff for you."
"Didn't we clear this up already? I have nothing like that!"
The girl which had been quiet up till now started to rummage through her own bag, pulling out her own lunch which was just as well prepared. She finally spoke but her voice was quiet and meek, almost like a mouse.
"You always forget your lunch.. so I prepared extra again today. We can share it if you want?"
And then with a big grin, Hyoma replied,
"Thank you Ai! I'm glad you're here otherwise I would've been dead by now! You've saved my life countless times unlike this short stack over here."
"Useless?? I've given you my lunch countless times as well! You can barely even remember your own last name, never mind your own lunch!"
Hyoma flinched harshly as he quickly sit back up to argue,
"It's not my fault that its ridiculously long.. or was it ridiculously short??? What was is it again even?? Hm... Suzuka?? No.. Suzuko! Yeah that sounds right."
Ai looked at him with a shocked expression as if she was seeing at this for the first time, while Arima had already grown sick of this seemingly everyday event.
**
Some time passed as the group conversed for a while. What they had been getting up too over the weekends, any kind of drama going on in the city, and even any local stories. Ai then asked a question,
"Have you guys heard about what's been going on?"
Hyoma immediately grew a little uncomfortable while Arima took a keen interest in the situation,
"The burning's? Oh.. I don't think it's a good idea to talk about those. I heard that If you speak about them too much, then your home will be targeted next."
"That things just a stupid myth! Think about it seriously... an invisible house fire? It's probably just a methanol fire or something similar, heck, it could even be something new that we've never seen before."
The burning's were a mysterious unexplainable event taking place within Roku city, that consisted of a mysterious fire burning down peoples homes for no apparent reason. However, the mysterious part was that the flames are completely invisible. Even the smoke can't be seen, and it doesn't trigger any kind of fire alarm.
In the rare scenario that you do realise that your home has been set ablaze by the mysterious flame, it would already be too late.
The temperature in your house would rise instantly, and your skin would start to itch and fry, before it would burn into a crisp along with the rest of your body. Your home would look fine at first, but in the next 5-10 minutes, it would already begin to collapse as the walls blackened and singed and the roof caved in on itself finally crushing you to death if you hadn't died yet.
The only good thing about this whole mess, was that the flames didn't spread from house to house for some reason, so it was somewhat contained. But until the cause has been found, and the issue has been resolved, entire households would stay outside due to fear, never returning home for days at a time.
Some even opted for homelessness rather than living in their own house.
Arima sighed as he said,
"It's been going on for almost 3 months now... if this doesn't get resolved soon, then it'll only be a matter of time until our homes are next."
A tension hung in the air as all of their lives.. everyone's lives in Roku city hung on an invisible thread. This seemingly random fire had a chance of killing anyone of them, making them all very scared of course.
Right before Ai had a chance to say anything else, the doors to the roof slammed open, and a very loud boy declared his presence as he struck a flamboyant pose.
He had yellow hair styled in a similar fashion to Hyoma, two black ear piercings in his right ear. His uniform was the same as the other two boys, however the sleeves of his blazer were rolled up, exposing the numerous bandages that wrapped around them.
"Yes.. the dark demon that haunts this city.. it is terrifying indeed.
However!
I too have a demon of my own!"
The three looked at the student, stunned at what he was saying. They were so stunned in fact, that they were frozen in place and had no choice but to listen to his ramblings. He was directed at them after all. All three simultaneous thought,
'Oh god.. it's the
The student kneeled to the ground, as one of his hands gripped his chest.
"For within me... I possess a power that can quell that demon and put an end to it for good!
An overwhelming power that can destroy this fragile world in one flick, that I must actively suppress so that an even worse calamity doesn't befall you all!"
He then abruptly stood up as he reached for the sky,
"For within me... is the power of a god of death!"
The 3 looked at each other for a moment, processing everything they just heard before erupting into laughter.
"I am the Shadow Hero, Shinten Kage- Hey! What's funny??"
Shinten was a transfer student who had moved to Roku city 2 months ago. Immediately once he arrived, he became known as a stupid Chūnibyō with a distasteful main character syndrome. As a result, he had zero friends with even the person who was meant to show him around the school, abandoned him just half a week after he arrived.
The afternoon bell began to ring, signalling that lunch was ending soon and that it was time to get back to class. Hyoma mentally braced himself as he stretched.
"Welp.. I'll start going first. See you guys later?"