The school bell rings as the clock strikes 1:00 pm, telling students that lunch break is over.
Students start to make their way to their afternoon classes...
Zoom
A gust of wind of wind was suddenly blown to the faces of the students.
"Ahh!!!"
"Kyaah!!!"
"What the hell?!... Kyle you bastard!"
Two silhouettes are running in hallways, their speed is as fast as a speeding bullet causing dust and wind being blown on students faces.
One of the silhouettes, a young man with red hair and a student uniform on turns his head.
"Sorry!!!"
But he continues to run at full speed. Running alongside him is a young man with light blonde hair and a student uniform.
"How uncouth. Your running is as rough and course as the dust you kick up."
"You better shut up Tim, before you trip and bite your rich tongue off."
"Putting the matter aside... Do you truly believe we can reach the classroom in time before the warden catches us?"
"Trust me, I've been scouting this route for weeks now. If we follow it, we'll be able to get there before he catches us."
The two speedsters continue to speed through the hallway, dodging students and obstacles in their path. But just as they were about to reach their classroom right around the corner.
"!!!"
"!!!"
CRASH
Both of them crashed on a wall.
"My head... Why on earth was there a wall there..."
"Ow... There definitely wasn't one here before..."
The wall slowly started to crumble away, revealing behind it a tall muscular man in his late 40's wearing glasses with a bald head reflecting the sun's rays.
"...Crap."
"...Shit."
A glint shines off the bald man's glasses as his teeth grinded against each other in rage.
"You two... How many times do I have tell you..."
Before the warden could even finish his sentence.
Kyle seizas in front of him, his head firmly on the floor, with Tim joining him.
"We humbly apologize for any and every mistake we have done, teach."
"I concur. Find it in your heart to forgive the transgressions of your favorite students."
The bald man who was given the nickname 'Warden' by his students breathes heavily as he massaged his temples with his fingers.
"So? What's your excuse this time."
Kyle raises his head as he explains his excuse but not before giving his friend a quick glance as he messages, he passes him a message using morse code with his blinks.
"We were in the east wing cafeteria having lunch and it would have taken us too long to just walk from there to the opposite wing, so we decided to run to not miss class."
I'll run left and you run right. He won't be able to catch the both us if we both run in opposite directions.
The warden raises an eyebrow.
"East wing? Isn't your next class in the west wing? Why didn't you eat there instead?"
"Because we wanted to see Miss Belle in all her glory eating lunch."
On the count of 3. We run at the same time. Got it?
Tim looks at Kyle and blinks twice to him.
Understood.
A vein pops on the warden's face as the audible sound of his teeth grinding can be heard.
"...I think my hearing has gotten worse over the years... Can you say that again?"
"We wanted to see the ultra-famous cute idol; Miss Belle breathe the same air as us."
...1
...
ZOOM.....
In an instant the two students speed off in opposite directions.
But...
....CRASH
The floor as if clinging on their legs stopped them dead in there tracks before they could get away, and made both students faceplant on the floor.
"...You fucking bastard! We were supposed to go on 3!"
"Touché you conniving snake! I knew you were planning to stab in the back!"
While the two students argue with each other, they fail to notice the warden seething with rage as another vein pops in his head.
"... I thought my hearing got worse... Turns out its just your brains."
"..."
"It was his idea!"
"It was his idea!"
PUNCH
Right across this scene is the classroom the two students where trying to get in, classroom '2-A'.
A phone levitating in the air flies to the hand of a female student.
"What was that about?"
"Oh, it's just Kyle and Timothy again, look I got a picture of their faces being slammed to the floor."
"Haha, send that to me quick."
A male student suddenly appears out of thin air as if he was invisible.
"...Damn I thought I was late. Guess I snuck in for nothing."
Unknown to him a student was right on top of him climbing the ceiling like a spider.
"You're wide open!!!"
The mysterious student drops to him and straddles his shoulders.
"AHHHH!!! KII YOU SONUVA-!!!"
"HAHAHAHAHA I TOLD YOU, DIDN'T I KARL?! I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!"
The two students fight amongst themselves, the student in the bottom running around trying to tear the other student straddling him.
All the while other students cheer them on and laugh.
"Go Kii! Show him who's boss!"
"Come on Karl! Show him what the captain of the soccer club can do!"
The two student's fight, bump one of the tables in the classroom causing the items place top of it to get knocked over.
When the two of them saw who's table they hit, they were left frozen in fear.
"!"
"!"
The table they hit belonged to a beautiful girl with elegant silver hair reaching to her shoulders and hiding one of her amber colored eyes.
The girl releases a cold gaze towards the two boys, a slight but overwhelming pressure crushing the two boy's bodies. Before it slowly disappears with a sigh from the girl.
"...S-sorry."
"...Sorry..."
The girl leaned down and picked up the books and items that fell on the floor and continued on her business.
"...You idiot! You hit Anna's desk!"
"It was your fault riding me like that!"
The silence of the classroom slowly disappears, replaced by the usual rowdiness of the students.
It was shortly cut off as a woman with red hair tied up in a ponytail wearing a teacher's uniform walks in the room, carrying a stack of papers on one hand. Causing the students to slowly shuffle their way back to their seats.
"All of you settle down! First things first I'm announcing your mock exam results, I'll be announcing it from highest to lowest scores. When I say your name, come up and get your test paper."
The teacher places the stack of paper on the desk and picks up the fist one on the pile.
"Alright top 1 of our class with a perfect score. Anna Nikolaevna."
The girl with silver hair and a cold demeanor stands up and picks up her paper from the teacher.
Most students react in awe and admiration, as if it was already expected that she would get the highest score.
"Next up, Ren Wagner."
The mood of the classroom suddenly takes a turn. As the awe and admiration turned into hatred and disgust.
A male student with black hair and grey eyes stands up from his seat in the corner of the class, wearing a grey hoodie with several stitches and patches adorning it.
"Congrats 99 points."
The male bowed slightly to the teacher before receiving his paper.
As he walked back to his seat, he could not escape the looks of disdain from his classmates. He paid no mind to it though and sat back down his seat.
Unknown to him, some of the boys were especially angry at him.
*************************
The last bell rings at 4:00pm. Most of the students are already making their way back home, some stay for club activities as a speaker announces that all students that have a shooting talent make their way to the east gym. But some students stayed for a different reason...
PUNCH
PUNCH
PUNCH
Below a stairwell Ren was surrounded 3 guys, all of which were his classmates. One of them has Ren restrained his arms turning into a glue like substance trapping Ren while the two other classmates beat him.
PUNCH
"Gah!!"
A particularly hard punch to his stomach causes Ren to gag in his mouth as he almost throws up. If it weren't for the fact he was being held up, he would have fell down on the ground convulsing already.
One of the students grabbed Ren by his hair forcing him to look back up to him.
"Not so smug now huh? Pretending like your so much better than us even though you don't have talent.
Well what now smart guy?"
PUNCH
"Acting all smug even though you don't have a talent."
PUNCH
Another strong punch from the superpowered student landed straight in Ren's chest. Knocking the air out of Ren making him go on a coughing fit.
At that moment footsteps can be heard going down the stairwell.
"Tch. Let's get out of here."
"Uh what about him boss?"
"Leave him, not like anyone's gonna care."
The student who had Ren's hands glued from behind lets him go to collapse to the ground. Ren clutches his stomach in pain while the bullies escape out of sight.
Footsteps from the stairwell got closer and closer, revealing a group of girls stepping down from the stairwell, noticing Ren.
"...Hey, what's wrong with him?"
"...Isn't that the talentless guy from 2-A?"
"...Yeah, your right, what's he doing though?"
"...Who knows? Probably some weird fad talentless people do."
The girls giggle before they to disappear out of sight, leaving Ren alone at the bottom of the stairwell, finally managing to sit down on the floor but still holding on to its stomach in pain.
"*cough* *cough*..! I think my ribs broke... Even though his super strength is C it still hits hard...
...Guess got I gotta go to the nurse..."
Though painful Ren pushes himself off the ground, slowly limping his way to the school nurse. Slowly climbing the steps of the stairs while he holds on the railing lest he slips and falls back down.
"...Whos bright idea was it to put the nurse's office at the second floor?"
Ren sarcastically remarked as he grits his teeth.
Making his way on the hallway of the 2nd floor, the school seems to be mostly empty. That was because most of the students have either already went home or are attending their club activities by now. As a speaker blares out announcing that everyone from the shooting club assemble in the field.
Eventually Ren makes it to the nurse's office, he sighs as he slowly opens the door.
The nurse's office was as typical as it gets, looking exactly like what you would see in any other school. With beds and cabinets filled with medicines or stuff that looks like it belongs on a first aid kit.
The school nurse, a man that looks like he's in his late 30's with short blue messy hair, eye bags under his eyes, and a lab coat was sitting on one of the chairs.
"Ren. You look like shit."
"Fell down some stairs doc."
"Sure, you did, probably Jakee and his friend right?"
The nurse used his head to gesture to the bed.
"Nope, I just slipped."
Ren sat down on the bed, while the nurse got up from his seat and poked Ren in his chest, right where his broken ribs were.
"Ah! Doc what the fuck?!"
"I've never seen someone trip on the stairs and break two of his ribs, without his legs, arms, or head being touched."
"...It was a very unfortunate fall."
The nurse sighs as Ren were determined to let this incident be called an accident.
"I know this isn't my place to say this... But can't you just switch schools? You know the principal isn't gonna do shit with this since that kid's family sponsors the school. But almost everyone else here treats talentless people the same way, can't you just leave?"
"Have you seen the tuition on the other school's around here doc? And I'm too poor to afford any of that. Besides, this school gives out free money if you maintain a high enough grade for a while. So, if you think about it that way, I'm getting paid for the shit I'm going through."
Ren lets out a self-condescending laugh.
The nurse lets out a sigh.
"...Well, it's none of my business whether you stay or not, stop falling down stairs all the time then. Try outrunning it or something."
One of the nurse's nails extends, turning into a type of nail syringe. Sticking it into the Ren's neck right above his chest. Ren can feel his ribs snapping back in place and his bruises disappearing.
"...Very funny doc. And Thanks."
The nurse waves Ren goodbye as he gets up and leaves the nurse's office.
Ren sighs as he looks out to see the sky slowly getting darker.
"I should start getting back, she'll probably get worried if I come back late. I'll just take a nap at the tram."
Ren walks down the hall and out the school, as the sunset drapes the landscape with a beautiful orange hue. Passing by a plaque that says 'Asougi Academy'.
He makes his way to the the tram station where he gets in one of the tram's. Though the tram was completely cramped he still managed to get an empty seat.
Ren starts to settle down in his seat as the tram starts to move. Just as when he was about to fall asleep, he notices that a pregnant woman was having a hard time standing in the middle of the tram.
"*sigh* Hey lady, want my seat?"
The woman was surprised but hesitant to take the offer.
"Ah, thank you, but you don't need to."
"My stop is close by, and I'm not that tired. Go ahead."
Ren gets up from his seat to make room for the woman.
"Ah. Thank you..."
The woman bowed in gratitude to Ren, but Ren ignored her as she took his seat.
Ren grabbed on to the railings as he slowly doze off.
Ren opens his eyes, waking up, he checks his flip phone, seeing an hour has already passed.
He checks the seat where the pregnant woman was seating only to see a drunken office worker was now sitting there, snoring.
Ren sighs and continues to hold on to the railing for another hour.
After another has passed, he finally made it to his stop. Kumachinko
Kumachinko is best described as an entertainment district with small clubs, smoky pubs, and snack booths crammed into every lantern lit alley of the district. A whole myriad of people enjoy the night life and the entertainment Kumachinko provides while a red hue lights up the district at night.
Ren barely gave any of the clubs and women a look as he masterfully weaves through the lines of stalls and people, as if he has been doing this his entire life. While walking through an alley he sees a business man being thrown into the streets from inside a restaurant.
A big muscular man then walks out right after him, seemingly being the one who threw the first man out.
"5 months motherfucker what did I say?! Get me my money by 5 months. And 5 months later, here I see you eating all fancy and shit without payin me back!"
"...Please...I'll get you your money..."
From the looks of it, it looks like the guy on the ground borrowed money from a loan shark and hasn't paid him back yet.
"...Ren is that you?"
Right beside him Ren noticed someone whispering to him. Its an old short man with a whitish mustache and dusty clothes, manning a small stall with kid toys for sale.
"...Gramps. Found a new place to do business?"
"Haha, you know it. Rich folk with their kids keeps passing through here, its easy money.
"...Looks like you're not the only who thought of that."
Several other stalls like a ramen stall with drapes to cover the inside was set up besides the restaurant too.
"Bah! Business is still booming; these parents can't say no to these brats wanting toys. Though now I'm wondering if I should switch venues..."
We both look at the man in the ground being punched repeatedly by the bigger man.
"AM PUNCH I PUNCH A PUNCH JOKE PUNCH TO PUNCH YOU?!"
"AHK!! NO!!!"
"Daddy!!!"
A little girl was trying reaching out from inside the restaurant being stopped by an older woman who seems to be her mother.
Gramps grumbled under his breathe.
"Damn, I know loan sharks are brutal, but to do it in front of the man's kid..."
"Yeah... Hey can I have that?"
Ren points to a small plastic slingshot toy with rubber balls as bullets.
"Heh, 3 dollars."
"You know I'm broke gramps. 1 garlic bread on the house with extra garlic, what do you say?"
The old man smiles before passing Ren the toy slingshot.
"...Make it two."
"Deal."
Ren grabs the slingshot and takes aim.
Firing straight into the ramen stall.
The rubber ball flies true and causes a loud crash inside the ramen stall.
Several buff men in suits walk out of the ramen stall and immediately noticed the loan shark beating the man to death, approaching him menacingly.
"Hey you! Big guy you!"
The loan shark, pauses his beatdown on the business man looking at the men in suits with his face red in anger.
"Huh?! What do you want?!"
One of the suited men pull out a small rubber ball and showed it to him.
"This yours?"
The loan shark looks at the rubber ball confused.
"Why would that be mine?!"
The men in suits look back at the man's back pocket, where a plastic toy slingshot is clearly visible.
The loan shark pulls out the sling shot in his pocket.
"The fuck is this?!"
But before he could figure it out, a very tall and muscular man wearing a suit, much bigger than the loan shark, stepped in front of him with a very noticeable stain in his pants.
"...This was... a custom made... 15,000 dollar suit... my momma gave to me..."
The loan shark's balls dropped when he saw the much bigger man shaking in anger.
"W-wait...H-HOL-"
"WAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!"
The loan shark's head became one with the ground after the much bigger man hammer fisted his head.
The men in suits walk away consoling the bigger man as he cries over his suit.
Meanwhile the girl and his mother run out of the restaurant to embrace the business man that the loan shark was beating.
The business man looks at Ren who was already walking away.
"..T-Thank you!"
But Ren didn't seem to hear the man's gratitude as he continue to walk further.
After walking for a while Ren arrives to a much quieter part of Kumachinko. The lights and stalls are much fewer here, compared to the center of Kumachinko.
He then sees the lights of a certain small bakery still on as he sighs and quickens his walk.
He gets to the front of the bakery a small chalkboard hangs on the side of the wall with the words 'Le Aube' written in it. The sign in the bakery says close but Ren opens the glass door.
A beautiful girl with long whitish blonde hair wearing an apron was holding a broom, she seemed to have been in the middle of cleaning before noticing Ren, giving him a warm smile.
"Welcome back, Onii-chan."