Arc 1
How to Tame a Bully
The next day, Arthur drove me to school in his car. It took us 15 minutes from home. The distance was not far but not close either.
"Alright son, make sure you call me when school ends. You can borrow the school's phone, I already informed your homeroom teacher about that. Don't push yourself too hard, okay? If anything happens don't hesitate to call me, okay?"
"Yes, dad. I promise I will be careful."
We were at the front gate of the school. Many students were entering the gate. I tightened my backpack as I felt a nostalgic feeling. How many years had it been since the last time I carried a school backpack on my back?
"Well, I'm going now dad."
I hugged him tightly as I felt his warmth. He hugged me back while patting my back.
"Stay safe." He mumbled.
We kissed each other on the cheeks before I waved at him and ran towards the gate.
My second high school life had finally begun.
***
I stood in front of my classroom door. It was good that I had found out which class I was in from my notebook. The original owner's handwriting was so bad that it took me some time to read it.
The owner of this body may have been here for a while, but this would be my first time in this class. I was not someone who cared enough about the first impression, but it was better to put in some effort. Well, at least that was what he emphasized.
"Listen, Kevin! If you want to start a new life, what you need to do first is smile." He talked to me as he put both index fingers on the corners of his mouth and curled it up. "Don't care about whether you like the person or not. What is important about social interaction is the basics, and first impressions are a must."
"...You look like an idiot with that smile you know."
"Hey, I'm being serious here!"
I chuckled remembering the day he helped me to apply to my first part-time job. He sure had a lot of time in his hand.
"Okay, here we go."
I gently opened the door.
The chatter inside the classroom suddenly died down as everyone's gaze was directed at me.
Whew, only a few seconds have passed, and I've already become the center of attention. Does being absent for a few days make you this famous?
I walked in when suddenly I realized something. I didn't know where my seat was. Oh well, there was no harm in asking.
I approached the short fox boy who was sitting nearby. He was focused on reading his book when I tapped his shoulder.
"Hello, do you know where my seat is?" I asked him with a friendly tone. "I've been hospitalized for days and my memories are slightly blurry now. Do you mind filling in?"
"Huh? What? Umm... I mean... sure, I guess?" He looked surprised that I talked to him. His ears twitched uneasily as he pointed at the back. "Your seat is at the back corner of the classroom beside the window."
Oh cool. I got a seat beside the window, just like every main character in anime.
"Thanks, buddy. Nice tail you got there." I walked to my seat as I pointed gun hand signs with both hands and winked, leaving him with a dumbfounded look.
I arrived at my seat while humming before noticing something was wrong. There were a lot of scribbles on my desk, unlike other desks around mine which were clean.
[LOSER] [IDIOT] [CLOWN] [WEAK] [GO DIE]
Lots of similar words were written with a permanent marker. I looked at the people around me. Some of them avoided eye contact while a few giggled at me openly.
"Yo. It seems the loser has finally come to school today."
A mocking voice could be heard beside me. A big brown bear beastman with a black punk jacket, a torn shirt, piercing on his ears, and mohawk dyed blonde was sitting next to me with his legs on the desk. He looked at me with a sneering glance.
"What a surprise. I didn't think that you would come back to school again."
Ah, so that was it. I already got a hunch from how my parents were avoiding my questions regarding my incident.
"I heard you were hospitalized. Lucky for you, huh? Or maybe it's the opposite?"
The bruises and pain on my neck when I scratched it, there was no mistaking it.
"How does it feel to stay alive, after trying to hang yourself?"
The original owner had committed suicide, and one of the reasons was in front of me right now.
***
It did not stop just there. There was someone who threw a ball of paper at me in the middle of class, and when I walked in the corridor I could feel someone try to trip me up. It was the same in the cafeteria as well.
"Hey, look. It's the loser. Here, I have something for you."
I felt something wet on my head. I was going to eat when someone poured a box of milk onto me. I heard people laughing behind my back. Before I realized it, the tray of food in front of me was filled with trash.
I lost my appetite, I went to the bathroom to wash my head. The bathroom was kinda dirty and smelly, like what you expected from a boy's bathroom. I turned on the sink tap and washed my head before my fur started to smell bad.
Suddenly someone pushed my head into the sink full of water. I was struggling while running out of breath. It wasn't long before they finally pulled my head out.
I coughed hard, choked by the water that entered my nose. I desperately took a breath, even though every inhale felt like burning.
"Does the water taste good, Kevin? If a rope is not enough then why not try drowning yourself?"
The bear from before was grabbing my fur hair with his two lackeys following behind him. Their reflection could be seen from the mirror in front of me.
One of them said, "Hey, guess what? I saw him hugging and kissed his daddy at the front gate this morning."
"Whoah, seriously? Gross." He laughed while throwing me to the floor.
"You should pick a better method to die. That way we don't need to see you pathetic ass again."
They left me alone while laughing as I lay on the floor, drenched from head to toe.
I tried to get up, which kinda failed.
"Ouch." I groan as I drop on my bottom. My waist hurt like hell as it hit the floor. They sure liked to play rough.
I sighed as I thought about my current state. Joining the class like this was out of question. What should I do now?
"Hey, are you okay there?"
Someone was talking to me. I raised my head and saw a white rabbit beastman with ears dropped. A french lop it seemed.
"Well, stupid me for asking. You don't look okay down there. Need a hand?
"Haha. Yes please, if you don't mind."
He helped me stand up as I held my waist. Man, it still hurt like hell.
"Need a ride to the nurse's office? I can carry you if you don't mind."
"No thanks. I'm okay. It's not that hurt. This is not my first time anyway. Thanks for worrying me."
"No problem."
I tried to fix my drenched shirt while he stared at me with a pitying smile.
"Man, Bronte sure has gone wild as always. Kinda wonder why he never got tired of picking on you."
"Bronte? Who's that?"
"Um... You know, Bronte, the Arctos with a blonde mohawk." He answered with an eyebrow raised. "How did you even forget his name? He is the one that you interact with the most in the school, in a bad way of course."
Arctos? Why was he using his scientific name? Oh well, it's not that important right now.
So his name was Bronte huh? He does look like a cliche bully character with two followers behind his back.
I scratched my head while smiling wryly. "Well, actually my memory has been kinda messed up ever since I woke up in the hospital, so there's a lot of things that I don't know."
"Really? Wow, that sucks." He shook his head while walking outside the bathroom. "Well, first thing first, you need warm clothes. You will catch a cold if you wear that thing all day."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." I glanced at my clothes which were already soaken, especially on the collar. Not to mention my fur, which is probably more difficult to dry. "But I didn't bring spare clothes."
"No problem. You can borrow mine like last time." He pondered for a while. "Or you probably don't remember that. Nevermind, come here."
So he did lend me his clothes in the past? Well, I guessed he was the original owner's acquaintance then.
I followed him as we continued our chat.
"So, having any difficulty from the memory loss?"
"So far it's not much. Just kinda wish someone would be kind enough to fill me."
"Is that so? Well, I don't mind filling you in, if that makes you better."
"Thank you. So..." I looked around the empty corridor, making sure nobody was around. "How about we start with this 'Bronte' guy?"
"Sure. Just give me a second." He paused for a moment to sort his thoughts. "Bronte Petterson. He is the son of the Comptroo Company chairman. Well, mainly put, he is a rich kid in the class who likes to stir up trouble."
He laughed awkwardly. "Well, you're just unlucky to get caught by his sight. The teachers usually ignore his behavior because his family has some influence in the school. So please don't think badly about our classmate, they can't do something that can upset him."
"I see."
So he was from an aristocratic family, huh? I wasn't blaming them though. It couldn't be helped if they didn't want to get into any trouble. It was not their responsibility anyway.
We arrived at the boy's locker room. He picked up gym clothes and a towel from his locker and threw them to me.
"Here, I'll lend it to you. I always prepare a spare in my locker every day in case I forget to bring one for practice. Just make sure you wash it before you return it."
I looked at the clothes while smiling. Our body types were kinda similar, so I'm sure there was no problem with the size.
"Thank you, erm..." I paused for a moment. I didn't know his name yet, am I?
He chuckled. "It's not your fault you forget me."
He stretched out his hand to me. "My name is Rannier Ward. You can call me whatever you want. We are in the same class for your information."
I smiled and shook his hand. "My name is Kevin. ...Kevin Atkins. Nice to meet you Rainy, and that you very much for your help."
I paused before adding the original owner's last name. I didn't involuntarily spell my real last name because I rarely use it, for a reason.
"'Rainy' huh?" He raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "Heh. Funny name. Guess lesson learned about telling people to call me whatever they want."
We ended up chuckling together. He was quite a funny guy.
"By the way, you said you have practice every day. Does that mean you are in a sports club?"
"Yeah, that's right. I usually played basketball after school with other members. You can watch sometimes if you have free time."
"Haha, sure, if I have free time."
I was not a fan of any kind of sport, so I probably won't come. Maybe sometimes.
"You know what? Somehow you changed a lot since the last time we met. I wonder if it's because you lost your memory or not." He tilted his head while making a curious gaze. Somehow his red eyes became sharp as he examined me.
I tried to react casually. "I did?"
"Yeah, you did." He talked as he closed his locker and locked it. "Usually, you'd've never approached anyone at your own volition and put up a gloomy face all the time. And now what? You started flirting with a guy for the first time in a while in class, and it's none other than Troylen Roberson."
Learning new information, my ears perked up. "You mean that fox?"
He suddenly frowned at my remark. I wonder if I said something wrong.
"Why did you call him that?"
"Uh, did I say something wrong?"
He examined me for a while before his expression became softened.
"Oh, I forgot that you have amnesia." He scratched his head while laughing awkwardly. "Must be so severe that it makes you oblivious to common sense."
He paused for a while, like trying to find the right word before continuing.
"Listen. Some people might not mind it, but you should refrain from calling someone with their local feral ancestor name. You could make someone offended because it's considered disrespectful."
Uh-oh. Well, sh*t. So I was being racist this whole time?
"So... Vulpes?" I asked hesitantly.
He nodded satisfyingly. "Good. Please keep that in mind."
Sure, I would make sure to memorize all of the animal scientific names.
***
Meanwhile, in our universe