The sun slowly crawled out from it's resting place in the east slowly rising unperturbed, illuminating the urban streets of Tokyo. Large apartment buildings occasionally stood out among the crowd of houses littering the visible expanse neither particularly standing out. Among one of such buildings, inside a particular apartment a boy sat on a sofa with his legs crossed holding a gaming console in his hands with headphones hung over his head blaring a theme song into his ears. His curly black hair streaked down almost to his shoulders. His bright orange eyes fully concentrated on the game before him. With his consciousness fully immersed into his hobby, his perception of the world around him grew muddled. His eyes darted frantically with his fingers moving in an erratic manner threatening to smash the buttons of his console. At that moment nothing else seemed to matter to him as he navigated the virtual world held in his hands moving a character in battle against monsters until he finally slayed the demon king.
After that his eyes lost the fierce glint that once stood there, and then he tiredly put away the console and headphones.
"Hāto. Breakfast is ready."
Hearing his name being called, the boy rose on his feet walking over to the dining table where his breakfast was served. Placed on the table was a single serving of omurice with ketchup spread over it in a zigzag pattern.
"Don't just stand there."
Hāto momentarily stood lost in thought until his attention was brought back to earth by the voice of the woman sitting adjacent his breakfast.
First things first, he took his seat and picked up his spoon and vandalized the wavy art drawn on his food by smearing hit until it evenly coated the egg's crust before taking a spoonful of it into his mouth. It was only after these actions that he lifted his head in the direction of the woman on the table.
"Mom, can you not smoke while I'm eating."
True to his words the woman did have a burning cigarette held between her fingers. Her black hair styled in a short bob with straight cut bangs paired strangely well with the bags underneath her dark eyes and deathly pale skin. She sat seminude with baggy pants on her lower half and nothing but a bra covering her upper body. Her eyes fixated on the boy she stood custody over with her lips pursed into a smile.
"It tastes different."
Halfway finished with his food Hāto voiced out his opinion making the woman chuckle.
"I had a little accident, glad to know you like it though."
Hāto struggled to resist rolling his eyes as he swallowed another spoonful.
"I didn't say it tasted better. And don't you have any sense of decency or does smoking feel better halfnaked?"
"Decency? Never heard of it."
"Is that your idea of a joke? Because it's not funny."
"Nice one, smartass. Just finish eating your breakfast and piss off."
"Language mom."
"Yeah, yeah."
It was rather comical how the breathtaking beauty somewhere in her late thirties conducted herself in the presence of her adolescent son. To an outsider they would have almost seemed like siblings due to the strange likeness of their raven black hair.
Somewhere along the line Hāto had consumed his entire plate only remaining at the table because of his mother then with the need for idle chatter gone, he promptly rose from the table. He was already dressed in his school uniform consisting of a plain white shirt with a dark blue blazer worn over it and matching pants, and after swinging his bag on his shoulder he proceeded towards the door. Only after completely opening it did he come under the assault of a hug from behind.
"Oh come on."
Unable to further restrain himself Hāto rolled his eyes before letting out an exasperated sigh.
"Is my little man too grown for a hug."
"Knock yourself out."
Locked in an embrace from behind Hāto stared at the piles of white snow scattered around the street. A deep breath drew the cold winter air into his lungs.
It's cold.
When finally released from the terrifying grasp of his mother's arms, he found a black scarf being wrapped around his neck.
"You're welcome by the way."
Without turning around to say a word of thanks Hāto walked away.
It was only when he had climbed down the stairs that he touched the fabric of the scarf then from the corners of his lips curved a faint smile.
Somewhere in Tokyo stood the prestigious grand cross high. An elite academy where only the highborn of society were allowed to enroll. This was Hāto's school despite the obvious fact that he wasn't highborn.
It was the last day of school for the year and students crowded the hallway frantically scanning the scoreboard in search of their names and positions.
Among the restless students stood a short and petite girl with glasses and her hair worn in two braids that flowed down her back.
Second place, again.
True to her fear, the girl had her name Anzu Hokama placed in second position with a score of four hundred and ninety six points out of five hundred. Her achievement by all means deserved to be celebrated but for Anzu it was the other way round.
In first place was Hāto Meguro with a total of exactly five hundred points.
In the process of wallowing in despair, Anzu felt the broad hand of a boy rest upon her shoulders.
"You know you can still tell him how you feel even if you don't beat him."
Turning to the side, she found a tall boy with a masculine build. He seemed to understand her plight seeing as he offered her some encouragement. But the more Anzu looked at the boy the more she felt a strange sense of condesent from him.
"Easy for you to say."
"Why don't you let me handle this. Just make sure to show up on the roof after school."
After reassuring the girl, the matchmaker swiftly made his way through the slowly dissipating crowd to the end of the hallway where Hāto was found sitting on the stairs fully immersed in his games.
"You didn't even bother to check your score."
Despite hearing his friend, Hāto continued to play his game without diverting the least bit attention outward.
"What's the point. I already know."
"Is that sass I sense?"
On the glass screen of Hāto's console the word victory was finally displayed giving him a moment of respite to look his friend in the eyes.
"No Haru, it's called confidence."
A whistle escaped Haru's lips as he reeled from Hāto's words.
"Anyway you've meet me on the roof after school, ok?"
Hāto glared at Haru with suspicion visibly written all over his face.
"Fine. Just don't do anything stupid."
***
At the roof of the school building stood Anzu with her fingers pressed into the gaps of the metal fence that surrounded it.
She only came to the rooftop because Haru instructed her to and now she had already begun to regret her decision.
What if he doesn't come? I bet I look really stupid standing here.
Realizing she was most likely wasting her time, Anzu turned around and headed straight for the door and it wasn't until she was just a few steps from it that it swung open. On the other side was her crush, Hāto.
"Sorry."
Before Anzu had enough to process what was going on Hāto unceremoniously closed the door, but just mere seconds from it was completely shut she stuck her foot in between the tiny gap that remained, preventing his escape.
"I love you!"
Hāto released his grip from the door knob, even he wasn't heartless enough to complete ignore a girl's heartfelt confession. He straighten his back and looked straight at Anzu.
What a drag. This is boring.
Hāto ran his hand through his hair and then stared up at the sky.
"I'm sorry but I have a girlfriend."
Of course that couldn't be more far from the truth. Hāto could already envision his future with Anzu, holding hands on while walking and spending Christmas together. Hence his problem, there was no point in doing something if it didn't excite him.
"Liar."
A dark cloud loomed over Anzu as she lowered her head.
"If I'm really that unattractive you can just say so. There's no need to lie."
From the corners of her face tears flowed down like a waterfall.
Hāto sighed before pointing his finger at the sobbing girl with an uncaring look in his eyes.
"Well then, I'll be honest. You're boring."
Not caring to pacify the crying girl, Hāto turned his back against her and walked away. His heart remained as stalwart as it had been at the very start of the day. School had ended for the day and as he walked home alone he couldn't help but wonder if he could be considered cruel. At some point he wondered what most people thought of him. He didn't particularly care about other people and didn't care if they thought nothing of him.
Does that make me a bad person?
He reached the door to his apartment and slid his keys inside before turning to unlock it. The interior of his home remained the same as it was in the morning, but somehow without the obnoxious voice of his mother it felt strangely desolate.
Hāto's daily routine after school entailed taking a shower follow by a can of beer even though he was seventeen years old, then he picked up a book to pass time. He remained engrossed in the pages of the book until his belly rumbled. It was time for dinner. He remembered the contents of his fridge and thought better of eating pickles for dinner.
***
The beeping of an automated door could be heard as Hāto walked out of a convenience store.
" Beef, sweet onions, carrots, and potatoes, I hope I didn't miss anyt..."
Hāto felt the salty taste of blood seep into his mouth as he bit his tongue.
Good grief.
In his hand was a nylon containing his dinner or rather the ingredients for it. The swaying of his bag resonated with his strides, his eyes remaining as bleak as always. Then his legs stopped moving, beside him was an alleyway where something in the darkness seemed to beckon on him, a vague silhouette. Unable to resist the allure he took a step, then another, then one more.
Hidden in the shadows was a figure of a person, a young lady that looked no older than twenty. Her face flawless and her ears slightly pointed with long golden blonde flowing down to her waist. She wore archaic clothes that seemed like cosplay with several cuts on its fabric and genuinely bleeding lacerations underneath. She stood with her back against the wall but then she turned facing in his direction. Caught in her gaze Hāto stared at the lady's blue and red heterochromatic eyes that seemed to glow with a strange passion burning within them. At that moment he stood in awe and whispered something underneath his breath nobody but himself could hear.
"How pretty."