A long time after the young one's ellipses, in the year counted as 2003, Baku Yoshite was born. He came from a wealthy family; his father was the Vice president of a –billion euro worth– medical company while his mother was an indoor artist who stayed all day with her son at home.
Baku's life was peaceful, from a youthful age he got the chance to make friends at school, he spent enough time with his parents, and they provided anything he ever needed. Baku was not a needy child though, so he never asked for anything more than an enjoyable book. He read a lot, he was quite intelligent at an early age and both of his parents were proud of him and loved him very much.
In the year counted as 2012, his mother and father mysteriously disappeared for a week. Later both brutally murdered. The police gave up on the case a month after the incident and the killer was never found. Baku was still young and confused. The two most important people in his life vanished. He was all alone. Or so he thought. The one who mentioned the shocking news on his doorstep after that week that his parents went missing, was his uncle, whom he had never met in his entire life. All he knew about him was that he was his father's brother and nothing more than that. At the end of the funeral, the uncle took custody of him, and he decided to take care of him. That resulted in Baku having to abandon everything including his house and his few friends, to live with his uncle in a whole different city. Baku's uncle never spoke much. Unexpectedly though, together they lived happily for another 7 years.
As those 7 years passed though Baku and his uncle's relationship had started to change. They both slowly started to open to each other and Baku learned much about him. The uncle had short messy charcoal grey hair and a short, boxed beard of the same color. His face was too wrinkly, and he was in his 50's. He had a weird sense of humor, dark humor to be exact. He had a wife, Baku's aunt, who left him for an unknown reason which is why Baku never got to meet him. Ever since his wife left him, Baku's uncle had gotten very depressed, and the death of his brother really got to him. He explained that the reason he contacted Baku was the fact that he did not want him to end up like himself. Sometimes his uncle went on business trips to a foreign island. During those periods Baku would sit in the house all day and defy his uncle's orders by researching his father and mother's death. His uncle always told him to not try to find the murderer because he already knew the truth, he told Baku that he would not tell him who it was only to keep him safe. Though, Baku never listened to him. Instead, from the moment his uncle told him that he knew he always asked him and that sifted their relationship. Baku would get angry at him more easily; he would mock him sometimes and his uncle understood.
From the moment he lost his family, all he wanted was to know the truth, so he decided that his life purpose would be to find who destroyed his "normal" life and put them behind bars. Baku never bothered again to make new friends in school, all he wanted in life was to find the killer, to ask them questions and then let them rot in a cold filthy cell.
His uncle underestimated him, and that was his downfall. Baku was an intelligent kid and his most useful tool for his research was his uncle's own computer. That computer was locked and without the password, he could never access it. So, he had a goal, to find a way to open it.
On one certain business trip, Baku had thought of a plan. As usual, the night before, his uncle was drinking tea while finishing his work on his computer. Baku had successfully managed to drug the tea with sleeping pills and quickly his uncle fell asleep on the spot. That was Baku's only chance. He carried his uncle to his bed and then stayed awake overnight, trying to find a way to get the password. And he did, by installing a program that scanned everything his uncle had typed on the keyboard that night and as Baku read, he found it, the password; Seventh_P. In the morning Baku woke his uncle up and told him that he had fallen asleep on his desk. Throughout all the years they lived together, his uncle had built a sense of trust towards his nephew so without a second thought he thanked Baku for carrying him to his bed and left for his trip.
After that achievement of his, he would casually search through the computer and every single important detail he found, he would print in physical form and then keep it in a folder. Life continued like this for some years. Baku had not found out who the killer was, and he never stopped trying. The single detail he needed was the only thing not mentioned in any document, though he learned a variety of other things he had never heard of.
In the year counted as 2019 at Baku's 16th birthday party, since Baku did not have any friends, his uncle decided to invite all his adult friends to celebrate with a grill party and a birthday cake. During that birthday party, his uncle was sent to the hospital due to blood poisoning.
For Baku, the party was not necessary, but his uncle insisted on celebrating. After the party, the only thing that the police managed to find as a lead was that his uncle had been stabbed and poisoned that exact day, by one of the guests allegedly. And just like that, the one that stole his last family member was never caught.
Baku's last interaction with his uncle was in the hospital. They both knew that he would not make it out alive. As a last wish, Baku's uncle wanted him to not be sad over this death and move on, this time on his own. In his last moments, his uncle gave him a folder with his testament. It contained all the family's wealth and the ownership of an apartment in Uragiru, a city located in the center of that foreign island. Baku was the only one left in the Yoshite family tree. He knew that the deaths were not a coincidence. A part of him thought that if the police ended the case without finding the murderer, he would have to solve this one too on his own. The other side of him wanted to start over.
And that is exactly what he did. One year later he moved to Uragiru, the first and biggest city in the world. It was where his uncle's apartment was located, and it was the only lead he had in finding the culprit since his uncle would always have those "Business trips" there.
Starting a new life and "leaving his past behind," was a new adventure for him. Having a "normal" life, going to a "normal" school, making "normal" friends, in a "normal" city all, over again.
Baku travelled by plane and when he landed, he took a train to Uragiru. When he arrived in Uragiru the first thing he did was to go straight at his new house. Walking on the streets was vastly different from anything he had ever experienced. Everyone was more exquisitely dressed, the streets were extremely clean, and the scenery was beautiful. Back in his country everything was way less exciting, rubbish everywhere and even in the streets everyone acted unprofessional and immaturely.
It was his first time seeing so many people walk in different directions, going to separate places at the same time. As he walked, he turned on the radio on his incredibly old phone and put on his headphones. Instead of music, the radio played a monotonous annoying noise of some strange melody. Baku thought of it as a red flag and immediately closed it. He had a bad feeling about it, but he just ignored it.
The apartment was near the train station and thirty minutes away from the well-known Joy Mall. The house was quite small but just enough for one person. One kitchen, a living room, a bathroom, and a bedroom. Baku expected to see his uncle's items there, but when he searched every inch of the apartment, he found that the house was stripped clean. Someone must have moved them. "But how did they know about his death?'" He was certain that something had happened there.
Once he made it in, after calling the moving company, he left his house key on the door (just as they told him to do to deliver his items and furniture) and went straight to sleep on the floor, with only a blanket he had inside his bag.
The next day, he woke up early, and his back ached. He splashed water from the bathroom sink on his face and made ramen for breakfast. Later this morning he would have to go and apply to his new school. He had already sent an email application from his uncle's computer which he purposely did not bring with him. So, he got ready for his first day there.
The moment he stepped outside of his apartment, he noticed that there was a letter lying on the floor… The letter was from someone named Hattori Hiroki, who claimed to be a principal from another school 40 minutes away from Yoshite's house. The one who sent it wanted to meet with him in person and talk about his future and the school he would attend. Originally Baku would ignore the letter but a strange fact about it was that with darker ink on the bottom of it he wrote Seventh_P. Baku's body froze. How could this person know about that password? There must have been something more to it, not just a password, Baku thought. This was a major hint and something inside him wanted to investigate, and he did. He needed answers. Could he be his family's killer?! Without a second thought, Baku started his way to meet him.
After a long walk, when Baku reached the school's front strangely golden gate, he had not seen one before. He started thinking about what he was going to say if someone asked him why he was there. There were a lot of students from different classes, he did not know where to go, though he had to do this, he already had convinced himself to go through with it and meet Hattori Hiroki.
Once he stepped inside the school's campus, he looked around for a while. The yard was huge, filled with green grass and lots of fresh pink Sakura petals. It was early spring, and the first time Baku saw the remarkable blooming cherry blossoms. The whole campus looked like a huge garden. Another thing he noticed was the three core buildings straight ahead of the gate. There were also fields for sports and an indoor gym.
Eventually, he saw some people that looked around his age go into the second building. So, he went in. While entering the building he saw that this school was vastly different from the schools in his hometown. Before everyone went in changed shoes, they were all wearing the same school uniform while he was the only one in his casual clothes a black t-shirt and blue jeans. There were lockers where the students put their items like bags, phones, books, etc. The floor was made from wood and the building was mostly lit by sunlight.
While walking through the halls, some students stared at him, his clothes, and his shoes and others did not seem to glance. Seconds after walking further he heard a girl's voice, yelling at someone from far deeper inside the building.
Then from one side of the hallway, someone ran towards Baku without looking in front of him. Then, as expected, he bumped into Baku and they both fell on the wooden ground.
"Damn. Fuck. I'm so, so sorry…. Are you okay?
"...Yes, I think so.
(Why didn't I just dodge him?)
This student seemed different from the others. He was very tall and had dark red dyed hair along with crimson red eyes. He had a very cheerful aura which Baku noticed almost immediately. The student then reached his arm to help Baku get up.
"Get up, we need to run… FAST!
"Run? Why?!
Baku said as he took his hand and stood in front of him.
"Follow me, quickly! Before SHE gets here…
"What? Who is 'she'?
"Someone that really shouldn't find me right now...
"Why is 'she' chasing you...?
"I-I did something. And she found out.
The student seemed to be… blushing for some unknown reason and Baku felt a little uncomfortable.
"A-anyways what I did is not important right now.
"...
"What's your name by the way?
"I am Baku Yoshite.
"Well, it is nice meeting you Yoshite! My name is Ar--
"ARAKAN FUKUSHIMA!?...
A girl shorter than them grabbed Arakan's hand harshly as she was out of breath. Her hair was long and blonde and her eyes yellow like the sun. She wore a Sacramento green uniform, just like every student here, she was one herself.
"OH… UMM...HEY, Yuumi...
"You are coming with me to the principal's office.... NOW.
"Oh, COME ON… It was not my fault.
"Spying on me while I'm changing… AGAIN….
As the two students yelled at each other, Baku was a little stunned. "Do people casually do that here?" It was surely strange. Fukushima was the first person (around his age) he spoke to after so many years. For some reason when he saw him struggle, he felt the need to help him even though what Fukushima did sound immoral in his book. So, he decided to interfere.
"What part of this isn't your fault exactly?
"Uh... should I leave you two?
"OH... I am so sorry you had to see all that. I am Chisaka Yuumi, please forgive my friend there... Fukushima.
"Oh. I don't judge, don't worry. I'm Baku Yoshite. Nice to meet you.
"Yoshite? Where are you from? You don't look Asian to me.
"I am new here. I'm from a country in Europe.
(European? With that family name?)
"Oh great, that is simply great! Then we'll be in the same school, hehe!
"Well, look. I am not here for that… I am here because of this.
Baku from his right pocket brought out and showed the letter to Yuumi, hiding the part with the darker ink. His reasoning was to find out if she knew more of Hattori Hiroki whom the letter was from.
"Oh, so you got the invitation as well? Why not stick to this school though?
"Invitation?
"Don't you know? This is the Uragiru Prestige High School. Usually, it is ridiculously hard to get in here, only a few students pass the exams and others get a special invitation, just like you did!
"Oh, that's what it is… Well, I don't know if I will be able to attend here... You see, my apartment is extremely far from here. The school does not suit my interests either... So yes, it is very unlikely for me to stay.
"Sigh…and here I was… hoping on helping Erity… to find a new boyfr–
"Wh–
"—I MEAN … FRIEND … YES
"...
"Ehem.. Follow me. I will take you to the principal's office right now...
Mindlessly, Yuumi helped Baku find the headmaster's office. It was located deep inside the third building on the second floor. On his left-hand side, were large windows. Outside, students were rushing in and out of the buildings. It was still early in the morning and their classes were about to start. At that time Fukushima was long gone, far away from Yuumi. Until then she had not noticed.
Standing there, Baku felt a weird presence. It was as if someone was watching him. He looked around but no one seemed to be around. That feeling kept bugging him.
"Here we are!!
"...
"Yoshite, are you okay?
"Ah... yes. I just spaced out, sorry...
"Wait… where is Fukushima?
"I… do not know.
"Great! He escaped… next time, I am gonna break his leg.
"...
"Does he do these kinds of things often?
"H-HE… YES…. His mind is corrupted. Stupid horny Arakan…
"....
"Well… He is not always like this. You see, he is a close friend of mine.... Most of the time he is kind, strong, funny and--UH… Never mind that... You get what I am saying though...
"...Yes.
"...
"Please do not mention this conversation to him…
"I don't really care about that so there is no reason for me to do so.
"Woo, so blunt. Okay, it works for me!
"--By the way... Who is this Erity you mentioned earlier?
"Oho? Are you interested?
"I-I … no
"She is my best friend! If I get the chance, I will introduce you to her!!
"Well okay!
"If you do not mind. I am gonna head in.
"Okay.
"-------------OOOOH BAKU!!!
"What is it?!
"I almost forgot to tell you. Before you go, remember one thing. In this school, everyone is all about first impressions. Don't look at me and Arakan, we have already made our impressions lol. But be careful out there! Even if you don't stay long.
"Okay, I will remember that, thank you.
"No problem!
"See you around.
"You too, good-bye!
"....
(Those two looked strange…Fukushima and Chisaka…)
(I hope I get to see them again…)
And so, Baku was found standing idle in front of the headmaster's office. A memory he might never forget, the big brown door, ready for him to knock on it. What he did not know was that after this move, tremendous changes were ready to hit his so-called new life.