Chapter Text
Prologue:
Well, I'd gone and done it now. I really only had myself to blame when you got down to it. Sure, my life hadn't been the greatest, and maybe it was the fault of the bullying I endured. But really, at the end of the day I was the one who decided to let it ruin me instead of getting back up and dusting myself off. I was a pretty bright kid, so I had that going for me. Everyone always said I was good with computers, and I was decently athletic. I was actually really popular up until the end of middle school.
That was when I built my first gaming PC. I can't bring myself to say I regret it, but that was probably where everything started to go wrong for me. Instead of managing my time properly I got way too absorbed in my Otaku hobbies.
Everything in moderation, they say.
I definitely ignored that one.
My family, bless them, tried to help me. I never hated them, but due to my depression I often snapped at them when they didn't deserve it, and shouted like a child whenever I didn't get what I wanted. I think they understood that, and that's why they kept trying no matter how far I fell. I really, truly appreciated them for that.
But even unconditional love has its limit.
Hell, even what happened that day could be considered a form of tough love. It was definitely working to fix my thought process, after all.
Yeah, about what happened that day...
Everything changed after my parents died. I was sad like everyone else, but being the waste of space wreck that I was I couldn't even bring myself to go to their damn funeral. My brothers didn't take too kindly to that. I retreated into my games and anime porn, trying not to think about the fact that my mom would never again give me a smile when I bothered to make an appearance for dinner, or that my dad would never again say to me in a soft voice, "I understand, but please ****, will you go with me to the employee center today? I have some extra time to help you." Even writing it now makes me wanna burst into tears, and not the manly kind.
So I did what I always did. Stopped thinking about sad stuff and jacked off to Im@s lolis. Momoka really is the best girl.
Which went about as well as you would expect when my older and younger brother came to get some of my parents' things. They dropped by my room, probably to demand where I had been, or to softly scold me for not showing up. Either way didn't matter now. But when they caught me beating my meat? Yeah, I totally understood their reaction. I had no right to be mad at them, but my younger brother taking his bat to my PC still stung. The poor little laddy didn't do anything to you bro, this was all my fault, so you shouldn't take it out on someone innocent. I didn't even react when they beat the absolute breaks off me, because I knew they had every right to do so. I even muttered a few apologies here and there, but I wasn't sure whether they heard them through all the grunting and the panting.
So that was how I ended up out on the street in the middle of a rain storm. Life comes at you fast, just like my bro's fist to my jaw. Not many people were out. School had got out about an hour ago and the rain was pretty bad, so I didn't get too many weird stares as I walked down the street rethinking my life choices.
Okay. I was always a pretty practical person, so I decided to think about this practically. You needed an address to apply for a job, and I was also dressed like a homeless bum, so no way in hell was I getting hired anywhere at this particular point in time. That left a homeless shelter.
Alright. I would find a homeless shelter, let my brothers cool off for a day or two, then go back and VERY politely ask for permission to use their address while also not moving back in. No way in hell they would let me back until I put my money where my mouth is. I didn't deserve it anyway.
Yeah. This could work.
A new start. That was what I really needed. I reminded myself to thank my brothers over a nice steep glass of rice wine once I mended those bridges.
I could already hear myself laughing, adjusting my tie at the bar after a hard day of work. "Man, you guys really kicked the shit out of me back then hahaha." They would laugh too, and I would joke that they still owed me a new gaming PC, and we would all laugh even harder because the new one I got was way better anyways.
Yeah, that would be nice.
Too bad I wouldn't get that chance.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"
A girl's voice?
I turned my head, and right smack dab in the middle of a crosswalk were three high school kids. Two boys and one girl. Apparently they were having some sort of argument.
Far be it from me to interfere, but they were seriously ignoring that the light was changing. The boy shouted something back, but I couldn't hear it over the rain.
Then I saw it.
The truck.
It was going fast. It had to have been speeding.
I tried to shout. "H..ey..." My damn voice cracked. When was the last time I drank some water anyway?
Fuck it, blaze of glory.
I started to run.
I knew I didn't have my old speed, but that didn't matter.
The girl... yeah she was cute. Really cute. I don't know why that was the first thought that popped into my head when I collided with one of her friends and sent him sprawling out of the way. I grabbed her hand and our eyes locked, and I pulled as hard as I could.
But she fucking resisted.
She must not have noticed the truck.
At least I saved her friend.
There was a bit of pain, but I think that there was so much damage done that I hardly even felt it.
I should have just pushed her too.
Dammit.
----------
Other Side:
My two idiot friends had a lot of nerve believing those rumors about me. Well, it was less believing and more confirming, but it still pissed me off that they would even consider them long enough to ask me about them.
Nanahoshi the slut.
Yeah sure, the girl who buried her nose in practical science books and shoujo Manga was sleeping with all the boys in school. Very plausible. Rudy even... sorry, getting ahead of myself.
Shinohara and Kuroki, the bumbling idiots, had been hearing unsavory things about me. The rumors started from one of the girls in my class and her boyfriend. One day while walking home, they decided to bring it up out of absolutely nowhere.
The argument pretty much lasted for the whole walk.
I wasnt exactly the most social butterfly in school so the fact that these rumors even caught any kind of traction was already ridiculous.
But to have my two closest friends ask about them?
Extremely embarrassing.
They owed me two, no FOUR crepes in return for this circus act. "We're just worried about you Nanahoshi. You don't need to act like this." Kuroki you dolt.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"
Shinohara held up his hands. "Alright, alright. Forget we asked, let's just..."
I sighed, "Listen... I don't..."
I did not see the fat man approach, but I did see him slam into my friend and send him flying.
Well, wasn't this just novel? He was even grabbing onto my hand.
A public kidnapping? How bold.
I resisted of course.
This was actually the wrong thing to do.
But I wouldn't know that until I regained conciousness.