Chapter 77: A Rough Start

The next morning, I woke up feeling just as gloomy as I had the day before. I'd hoped that after a night's sleep, something might change, but no such luck.

This is just how I am, I guess—a pacifist by nature, someone who hates conflict. If things escalate to a full-on fistfight, that's almost preferable, because then I can just go all out. But on the other hand, I'm really bad at those slow-burning kinds of conflicts. Like when you have a fight with someone and it drags on for ages, or when you get picked on by a bully and have to live in fear, or when something embarrassing happens in class and you have to keep living with the shame.

I dread falling into those kinds of psychological cold wars. Nobody likes it, but for someone like me, who's really sensitive to the emotions of others, an ongoing tense atmosphere is particularly torturous.