I know this is kind of sudden, but, please, it will only take a moment. I want your honest opinion.
Are people equal or not?
A proper society will constantly strive for equality. There are those
who clamor for men and women to always be considered equal. As a result,
we raised the employment rate for women, we made specialized subway cars
only for women.
Sometimes, women will even argue over the order of names
in a family register.
The public opinion of people with disabilities has also
changed. We're now told that we should not use the term "disabled people"
when referring to them, so as not to discriminate. Nowadays, children are
taught that all people are created equal.
But is that true? I have my doubts. If men and women have different
abilities, then their roles should also differ. People with disabilities are still
disabled, no matter what polite euphemisms you use. No matter how you try
to avert your eyes, the meaning of the word does not change.
So, my answer would be, "No, we are not equal." To be human is to be
unequal. Equality does not exist.
"Hey can you give your seat to this old women?"
Speak of the devil. I was just thinking about equality then a situation arose involving it... interesting.
Currently I'm riding a bus on the way to my new school where a new life will begin. An office lady clearly being the good person she is is trying to help an old women who is having trouble standing on the bus.
She is trying to convince a blonde haired boy wearing the same uniform as me, to give up his seat.
"My my, and why should I do that?" Said the blonde boy
"Well she is clearly having trouble standing, so if you would give up your seat, it will be a huge help. Besides your still Young, so show some respect"
'Hahahahahaha' laughter can be heard inside the bus, and slowly the atmosphere thickens
"Nonsense! Just because I'm young I should give up my seat? That's illogical, it's true that I would be okay standing but over time I'll still feel tired. Besides why are you only asking me? Why don't you ask the others?"
The blonde haired boy has full control of the conversation. Glancing to the others, some are slightly troubled, and some just don't care
I look at the person beside and she clear belongs to the latter. She was a female teen with long black hair, shes also wearing the same uniform as me so I'm convinced that we're schoolmates. She was reading a book without a care in the world. I tried looking at the cover but it seems like she noticed my gaze so I immediately looked away
The two are still arguing and it seems like this tense atmosphere won't disappear if nothing else is done. 'Sigh'
"Ano... You can take my seat, I won't mind" I said
"Really?! Thank you!"said the office lady
"Thank you child" said the old lady
Well this is akward... Okay first of all I did mind but if nothing else was done this will be a very noisy bus ride and I don't want that
Second it's not too bad to start building up your reputation. But did I care about that? No, no I did not. I just did what I did because it benefits me more.
And with that, the atmosphere slowly went back to normal. Finally some peace and quiet.
___________________________________________
An hour passed by like it was nothing and I reached my destination... Advance Nurturing High School, a government affiliated school with 100% employment rate. It is said that students who graduated here become elites.
"So this is my new school huh"I murmured to my self
Okay this is where my new life begins, where I can finally be free. Take a deep breath and take a step into your new Peaceful life
"Wait" great what was that. I looked at where the voiced came from, And it seems like it came from the girl who was seating next to me on the bus.
"Uhmmm, can I help you?" I said to the girl
"Why were you looking at me earlier at the bus?" Said the girl. It seems like she was disturbed more than I thought 'sigh' this is troublesome
"Ohhh I was just thinking that you also didn't have any intention of giving up your seat like the others" I said
She got a little irritated by my answer
"Huh? Don't compare me to the "others". I simply didn't do it since I see no benefit from giving up my seat"
Ohhh so that's why, not that I care
"Oh I see"
"I can't stand simple minded people like you" she said that as she left like the wind
Well isn't this great, I'm still outside of the school and someone already said that they can't stand me 'sigh'
Well it's not like I'll see her everyday, right?
Well no point thinking about it. I stepped inside the school and it looks like a small city rather than a school. I see a lot of people interacting with one another, Showing different emotions, and other things.
I wonder if I can be like that overtime
While thinking about how I will turn out to be in the future, I got to my destination; the entrance ceremony. Similar to other students, I disliked it. Standing in line while listening to the words of gratitude of the principal to the student body that isn't even listening isn't something very interesting, in other words, it's very boring.
I tried observing the other students and I found people that stand out quite a bit. There's a bald man with a big build that's giving of a very serious aura around him.
On the other hand there's a petite teenage girl with short lilac colored hair holding a cane.
I also saw the blonde boy I met on the bus, and he's checking himself in a hand mirror?
He's a narcissist Im certain at this point.
I stopped observing everybody because someone might notice me, and continued to listen to the principal
___________________________________________
The very long yet boring entrance ceremony came to an end... Finally
I'm currently walking to my Classroom which is very loud since I can already here voices and I'm still in the corridor.
'looks like people are already comfortable with one another huh, except for the a certain blonde haired boy' i thought to my self
I looked for my desk with a nameplate referring to me. It was at the very back-corner of the classroom near the window. Overall it's a very good spot for me since I'll be observing the class from time to time.
I sat down, and placed my bag on the desk.
I looked at the view outside the window and tried to recall how I ended up here. Running away from that place and that man is worth the shot. I resolved my self to never go back there and experience life from a different perspective. Sooner or later he'll definitely come to this school to take me back. But I won't allow that. I'll do anything to protect my freedom even if I have to protect the school it self.
Well no use thinking about troublesome thing for now, first things first I'll enjoy this temporary peac-
"The world really is cruel" my train of thought was Interrupted by a voice that sounds a little irritated. "To think that of all people in this school, you will be in the same class as me, and my seatmate at that"
I turned my head to see who keeps on blabbering only to see the very girl that said that she can't stand me
'sigh' "the feeling's mutual" I said to her as she sat next to me. After that small interaction, an akward atmosphere arose 'somebody please break this akwardness, it's very unpleasant' I thought to my self until...
"Everyone seat down" thank God that situation didn't last long. I glanced to the front to see who's the one talking
"I'm Chabashira Sae , and I will be this class homeroom teacher starting today until 3 years later; which is the time you graduate so let's get along"
She was was a woman who seems to be in her 20's. Wearing a suit and giving off a very serious aura. She had very generous proportion and black hair tied into a ponytail. Overall she's very beautiful.
"Although your here, you can do anything you want later since homeroom starts tomorrow. But pay attention to me first since I will be discussing the rules and regulations of the school" sensei said as she passed handbooks containing what we need to know
She first discuss the obvious, rules that you will find in any other school but that didn't last long "in this 3 years, contact to the outside is extremely prohibited but don't worry, everything you may need is provided by the school. From entertainment like theater, karaoke to things related to shopping like the mall and convenience store are here"
'heeeeh now we're talking, contact to the outside is prohibited huh, now thats what I came here for' I thought to my self
"And if your wondering how to buy stuff, you will be using something called private points" sensei said as she gave us phones provided by the school. She then introduce us to the S-System. "You can buy anything here using this points, remember that 1 point is equal to 1 yen. For now you will receive 100 000 points" as she said that the students in the room were shocked. Who wouldn't, 100k is a very big sum of money.
"Surprised right? This school is all about merit, since you got accepted to this school, that's your reward. Points reflect your worth meaning you getting accepted here is worth that sum of money. You receive your points on the very first day of each month, meaning the next month which is MAY 1st. That's all for now. You still have the rest of the day to do whatever you want. Any questions?" She said and none of the students showed sign of asking "I see, well welcome to ANHS"
When sensei exited the classroom, the room suddenly became noisy, people started talking about what they'll buy, how this school is the best and other trivial thing. While they're talking about how "awesome" this school is, I became suspicious about this school. 'reflect your worth huh' I thought to myself
I glanced to my neighbor to see her reaction and it seems like she noticed me
"What are you looking at?" She said
"Ohhh I was just checking your reaction to how this school gives student a large sum of money" I said to her
"Well it's obvious that this school is spoiling us too much, it may change the my sense of money once we return outside"
I see, so basically she's saying that students may get used to having a lot of money on hand. I'm disappointed, she talks like she's superior to everyone else but it looks like its all talk
'sigh' "I'm Ayanokōji Kiyotaka, what yours?"
"Is it okay if I decline?" She said slightly irritated
"It's okay but since your my neighbor and I don't know who you are, I'll just call whatever I like" I said to her
"It's Horikita, there, now don't talk to me" she said in a irritated tone
"I can tell that much from your nameplate genius" I tried annoying her some more, and since since she flinched it looks like I hit a nerve
"Horikita Suzune, there, happy?"
"I see" I said as I looked at the window to further annoy her. So this how it feels to annoy someone, it's actually kinda... Fun
"Well let's atleast get along" I said to her
"Hmph"
People started to leave but was stopped by someone
"Everyone can I take a bit of your time" the person who called out was a handsome boy. It looks like an honor student "soo we're going to be classmates for a long time and introducing our selves seems like a good start to this journey, so do you agree?" He said that to the whole class
"Yeah seems good"
"Yeah it would be akward if we don't know each other"
Voices like that can be heard inside the classroom
"Alright since I'm the one who proposed the idea, I'll start. I'm Hirata Yōsuke, feel free to call me by my given name. And for hobbies, I guess sports especially soccer. I also plan to join the soccer club. Well hope we get along!"
"Cool okay I'm next everyone, my name is Kushida Kikyo. I plan to make everyone my friends soooo let's get along!" Kushida huh, if I have to describe her she's a very cute girl. She along with Hirata will probably become the center of the class, since they're giving off the 'i can be friends with everyone' vibe
One by one everyone started introducing themselves. There were people who were shy and gentle like Mei Yu Wang, and there were some who were super energetic like Ike Kanji who quote unquote said "Im still single so if someones looking for a boyfriend, feel free to call me" when he said this some started giggling. Slowly but surely everyone introduced themselves and it looks like it's making it's way to me. Okay how should I introduce myself? I wouldn't want to stand out, but I also don't want to be seen as someone unapproachable. So I'll introduce my self in a slightly positive way but easy to to forget.
"Okay uhhm next is you at the end there"
Okay looks like it's my turn, good luck self this moment will determine if I will be someone capable of making friends so I hope nothing bad happe-
'Baaam!' I loud sound shook the classroom. It looks a certain someone kicked his desk
"What are we little kids? I stayed for this crap? It's not like we're grade schoolers or anything, so leave me out of it!" The red haired boy said as he left stormed out of the classroom and some followed slightly after
The cheerful atmosphere was suddenly shattered. And it looks like the majority of people, and what I mean by majority are the girls were trying to cheer up Hirata since it looks like he felt guilty since he proposed the idea.
So much for my introduction 'sigh'
___________________________________________
While time was passing by, students begun to leave the classroom. Watching this scenario unfold, I made two conclusion,
First is everyone is ignoring me since I look 'boring and gloomy'. While this is bad, it's not something that bothers me that much. Keyword is 'that much'
Second is worst that the first, and it's nobody noticed me. Maybe it's because I don't have much of a presence, add the fact that I didn't have the chance to introduce my self and it equals to; me being invisible to them.
Similar to the first conclusion, I don't really care that much either, but it's still something bad. Since it's my goal not to stand out, this to conclusions I made contradicts that goal, well atleast to a certain point. Let's take this quote for example:
"The best place to hide a leaf is in a Forest"
That's the situation I want. I need to blend in with other people so that I look like an ordinary student living an ordinary life, hence me not standing out.
But my situation right now is somewhat opposite. If this continue, I'll always be alone, being alone can make me stick out like a sore thumb 'sigh'
While thinking about this troublesome stuff, I noticed that everyone was gone leaving me all alone in the classroom. Meaning conclusion number two is likely the reason.
Why you ask? Simple, Hirata is someone who gives equal treatment to everyone, similar to him is Kushida, the girl who said she wants everyone to be her friend. And since I'm left alone, it's likely because she didn't notice me... Or she just don't want to talk to. The latter is possible but, it's highly unlikely considering Kushida's personality.
'Well no point thinking about it' I thout while making my way out the classroom. As I was exiting I noticed a girl leaning on the wall beside the door, namely Kushida. I didn't know what she was doing so I continued to leave. Approximately 10 seconds since I left the classroom, someone called out to me.
"Wait!" I turned my head to see who it was and it seems like it was Kushida. "Wait I need to talk to you" she said while closing the distance between us. I stopped to talk to her.
"Wow I didn't even notice you leave the room, you make no sound while walking at all, it's like your invisible" she said. I didn't know if it was compliment or not but I'll take it as one.
"You need to talk to me?" I asked her
"Yeah, I noticed you were the only one in the classroom, I wanted to talk to you then but it looked like you were deep in thoughts, so i waited to not disturb you" she answered.
"Remember when I said I wanted to make everyone my friends, well obviously that includes you so can I have your contact information?" So that's why, she waited for me so that she can make me her 'friend'. And she's asking for my number, I don't really mind.
"Sure" I sad to her while taking out my phone, I showed it to her and it looks like in exchange Shel also give her number to me.
"Here you go uhhmmm, sorry what's your name" she said slightly embarrassed. Well it's totally understandable since she asked me to be her friend but she doesn't even know what my name is. "I'm sorry for not knowing your name" "it's okay, I didn't get the chance to introduce my self so it was understandable" I sad to her
"I'm Ayanokōji Kiyotaka"
"Nice to meet you Ayanokōji-kun, I'm Kushida Kikyo By the way, Hope we get along" she said smiling while extending her hand forward.
"Likewise" I did the same to respond to the handshake
"Well I'll be off Ayanokōji-kun, thanks for your time, see you later" Kushida said as she waved me goodbye. I just nodded and also continued to walk in the opposite direction.
I eventually got out so I decided to explore a little bit. From places where not many people are around to places where there's a lot of crowd namely the mall. Since this is the first day, there's no need to rush, so I decided to go to a convenient store to by what I need. I only to see my lovable neighbor... Ofcours that was a joke. I did my best to ignore her but it looks like fate has other plans.
"Coinsidence can be cruel huh, why do I have to run into you all the time" she said to me while continueng here shopping.
"Seriously, you talk to me only to insult me?"
I say to here trying to be annoyed but it looks like it didn't work because of my unchanging monotone voice. " Let's call it payback for earlier" I see, so that's what it was.
Looking like she finished her shopping she left like the wind. In all honesty, it was a relief since that woman's attitude isn't exactly what you would call a good one. I also continued my shopping until I encountered something strange.
"Free huh" I said while looking at stuff labeled 'FREE'. This may not seem much, but with this information, I'm already 85% percent sure that theres a catch it the so called S-SYSTEM.
"Yeah isn't that weird" I heard someone saying those beside me. I looked to confirm who it was and it looks like there were two of them. Namely Haruka Hasebe and Akito Miyake. They were my classmates and since they were one of the few that got to introduce there selves, I remembered there name. "Hmmm" "ohhh sorry I just find it weird that there's free stuff when we literally have a ton of money" Haruka said to me. It looks like she also find this weird.
"Sorry if I disturbed you" she said while slightly bowing down. "Forgive her, thats just her attitude" Akito finally spoke "Ohhh it's okay, I don't mind" I said to them. "I'm Akito Miyake and she's Haruka Hasebe nice to meet you uhmmm" "wait don't just introduce us to other classes" Haruka suddenly spoke.
"Other classes? He's from our class" Akito said to her. It looks like that shocked her quite a bit.
"Eehhhh! I'm sorry for being rude" she immediately apologized to me. "It's okay, I get that a lot, I'm Ayanokōji Kiyotaka, nice to meet you too" I said to them to break the akwardness
"Ayanokōji huh, sorry about that" Akito said to me. I just nodded and took some of the free stuff. "How did you notice him Akito" asked Haruka "ohhh, let's just say 'those alike notices each other" Akito responded "heeeeh, Ayanokōji-kun are you also a loner?" Haruka asked me. Hmmm that's actually a good question.
"I can't say that im a loner but that seems to be the case this time since nobody even knows I exist" I answered her. "Well we understand how you feel, since we're basically like that" Haruka said and Akito Nodded.
"Anyway back to the topic, this is weird huh, you know the free stuff" said Haruka. "Maybe it's for those who spend all of there money fast" I said "That's a possibility but it's still weird, I mean 100 k is a lot of money" Akito said "That's true, well let's atleast save money Incase something is up" Haruka said to us. We both nodded.
"I know just wait for a sec!" Someone shouted
"Hmmm I wonder what going on there" said Haruka. We checked to see and it looks like the red haired boy from our classroom is arguing with a clerk. 'Seriously what's up with this store, first Horikita, then theres Haruka and Akito, then this boy?, All of them is from my class... Coinsidence can be freaky huh' I thought to myself
"Ohhh it's the Delinquent looking boy from our class" said Haruka. "Delinquent huh, well from the way he acts and the way he looks, he does look like one, but let's not judge someone so easily" said Akito. Well that was true.
I excused myself for a moment, and made my way to the red hair Kun. And it looks like he was having trouble since he forgot he's student id, that is also used for buying things in this school. Since he doesn't have it, he was holding up the line of customers.
"Hahahaha, it's only the first day and your already causing trouble" someone said. "Huh I only forgot it, so stop yapping punk "hahahaha punk he says, that's not the way to talk to your upperclassmen first year, let me guess, your in class D" said the upperclassmen "So what got a problem with that?!" "No No I just feel sorry for you defective people, well do your worst, besides hell is only beginning for you people" said the upperclassmens while exiting the store.
Looks like that last line made red hair Kun angry, so I stepped in to try to fix the situation, since this is becoming a big problem Every second
"Ano I can pay for you if you want" I said to him to distract his mind from the previous situation
"Really? Wait what's the catch?" Said Red Hair Kun "ohhh nothing, I just want to end this tense atmosphere, besides it looks like your holding up the line" I said to him "ohhh okay, thanks men, I owe you one"
I proceeded to pay for his grocery and since I also had mine, I paid for it too.
"Thanks men, here you go" he said while give me a cup of ramen. "Since you were the one who paid for it, let's just say it's a part of my thanks" I accepted it since there's no reason to refuse. "I'm Sudō Ken" "Ayanokōji Kiyotaka" I said to him
"Ayanokōji huh, well I'm off, thanks again dude" Sudō said while leaving, I just nodded
After he left, Haruka and Akito approachdd me.
"Wooah that was tense huh" said Haruka
"I'm impressed You did that" said Akito
"Ohhhh it was nothing special, since he was from our class, I just decided to help him"
I responded "still that was very good, nee let's exchange numbers. You know, since we're like loners who don't belong to any group, it won't hurt if we make our own" Said Haruka. It wasn't a bad idea to be honest. "I don't know about group but friends seems like a good start" Akito spoke "well I don't mind, here" I said while showing my contact information. After me, they did the same adding two numbers to my phone.
After that little exchange we decided to leave the store and go the dorms since the sun is beginning to set. Eventually Haruka waved goodbye to us since the girls dorm is seperated from the boys. While walking towards the our dorm rooms, Akito and I talked about those free stuff earlier. I gave hints from time to time about the things that I concluded about the system. Let's just hope that he gets it since I'll feel bad if he doesn't. Especially because he's one of my first friends in my intire life.
I reached my own dorm room; room 401. I entered and it looks... Neat. There's a bed, a kitchen with a refrigerator. Obviously a bathroom, there's also a tv. For me it's fine the way it is, it's clean, organized and simple.
I just need to fill in the cabinets with ingredients for food, so that I don't need to buy food from the cafeteria or shops.
I changed my clothes, made a light dinner then eventually laid on my bed.
I recalled the things that happend. Thinking back, even though this wasn't the best first day of school, it's still precious to me. I made Friends. I'm living the life that was impossible in the past. And I can finally say that Im Free.
Some things will happen that I won't expect. Maybe it may disturb this peaceful life. But that's totally fine, I'll just cross that bridge when I get there.
Word Count: 8886
Okay so, I'll end the first chapter here. This is my first time so I understand if you don't like it that much. Well I am doing this for fun.
I would actually appreciate it if you criticize. Since it would help me in a lot of ways.
Reminders:
•I will slightly be detailing Ayanokōji's daily life so, it will be slow paced story... But don't worry, I'll just include things that are interesting.
•All pictures that were used does not belong to me... They belong to their respective owners
•Have Fun and Have a great Day!