Chương 1: Aoki Sasaki
Japan is the quiet place of a fresh season. The sakuras on the grassy schoolyard had been blooming of cherry blossoms from a gust of spring, and the students outside the campus were enjoying their bond with normal breaths and words amid the recess. Benign sky and clouds indulged them to step outside, such as eating Pocky and Kit Kats and talking with their friends about anything personal. The sunlight glittered around the outdoor yard and through the glassy windows to shine their smiles and laughs within their closeness. The chirps of morning birds pleased their peaceful ears. They felt a balmy breeze across their skin.
Aoki Sasaki belonged to the senior class of a prestigious Japanese high school campus. He sat on the chair with a rectangular desk in front of him amid the classroom with sliding doors, open windows, and large rectangular-shaped whiteboard. He had his open sketching book on the desk to draw with his decent mechanical pencil and eraser, sketching some manga-styled figures—in amateur level. His spiky hair matched the standard appearance of every man throughout Japan. His lips had been timid and closed, and his eyes were focusing with silence, all alone. His friendless goal is becoming a mangaka/manga artist. He thought of it every day and night with silence comforting him to focus. Despite the clamorous classroom, he had nothing to complain, although his patience could change his mind, maybe.
Aoki gazed at his drawing as he adored his skills with hopeful belief. He soothed his chest and puffed out the gust of exhaust, drumming his pencil to clear out his stress. The classmates were chatting about their personal preferences, and then some of them inadvertently ruffled him from his silent focus. It was the guffaws from the circle of friends who surrounded an elegant raven-haired girl named Akari Takizawa.
"Akari-chan. How's your acting today? I always look forward to your drama shows already."
"Oh, my god~ I watched your promotional video on my SNS, and it was exciting for me to watch your masterpiece."
"There are some handsome-looking guys beside you. I wish that I'll meet with him so much... that one day, I'll send them more admirable gifts."
"Shut up! You cannot meet him if you dress yourself like that."
"Geez, don't irritate me as you talk back at them. You're a boy who has the only life seeking more chicks around the school."
"Saying in front of a well-known campus crush and a famous actress, isn't it?"
The friends of Akari teased and laughed together with their witty remark. Their sassy chattering irritated Aoki from drawing his imaginative figure. He couldn't peer on his sketching pad while tracing for his line art. He inhaled and blew out every second when the noises rattled his ears from silent peace. He twirled his pencil, toying around to think for his alternative solution. He observed around his surroundings to expand his thought.
Once the noise went irksome, he stood up from his desk and stepped outside the classroom, making no commotion to disrupt their friendly conversation.
Meanwhile, Akari glimpsed at his escape. His exit induced her heartbeat with unease. She couldn't bear his misery as if she felt something strange, but she continued to smile without displeasing her friends.
But one of them caught her eye.
"Why are you looking at Aoki? He is nothing but a closet chuunibyou from his otaku sense."
"Leave him be. He is a lowlife with an enormous debt of burden. He is useless to any group work where he is assigned to."
"Even though he only excelled at art class, I cannot see the difference between his art and his attitude."
"Tsk tsk~ I don't think his dreams will ever come true at all."
The friends were commenting about their impression on Aoki. Their thoughts rigged them from their frank empathy. As his longing classmates, they shook their heads as Aoki reminded them not to tolerate such "eerie beings". They thought his contributions wouldn't come to satisfy their needs while Akari herself differed from their hunch. She empathized with him for his lost cause. She couldn't handle what they thought about him. It gave her a pitiful heartbeat.
Raising for another topic, Akari ignored her feelings as she expressed their continual bond for a while to regain their conversation altogether, although she wanted to excuse herself for taking a restroom break.
* * *
Nobody would talk to him. Nobody would come to him.
Aoki was strolling with his eyes, looking down briefly to avoid any random eye contact. The hallway had more students crowding themselves for their leisurely bond. His shyness forced him to support his anxiety. His frown showed how his normal life expressed itself. He bore his silent words inside a hefty cage. He couldn't utter frankly since he thought nobody would listen to him. He had no time to tolerate random schoolmates without an open-minded help.
Abruptly, there was someone who came in front of him—it was a four-eyed, female teacher who was his class adviser. However, her strict-looking eyes gave him a sigh, thinking there was something serious going on.
"Sensei?"
"Aoki. Let's have an important talk," she insisted.
"Yeah."
Aoki nodded.
He followed her strict footstep. They headed together to the faculty room and sat on her respective office desk. Pen, test papers, and laptop occupied on it. She handed out the book of accounts—which meant that he was left unpaid.
Once he glanced at her attention, he felt desperate, rubbing and pinching his collared skin. The paper was the Statement of Account, which was concerned about his late payment. Although his eyes remained in calm sight, he forced himself to remain patient. He bit his bottom lip with his grumble as he broke out his sweat from exasperated heat.
She glared at him and spoke, "Aoki-kun. When will you pay your tuition fee? You haven't paid for straight four months without giving yourself some proper excuse to remind me. Plus, your grade has decreased until it drained from the supposed average score till now. The headmaster issued you. You seem to have a disappointing school life."
Listening to her words, he pressed his forehead and sighed once again to relax himself from preoccupied stress.
Aoki said, "Sensei. I don't have a single penny to back me up. My parents were divorced abroad, and they left me out without a single message… I don't have a choice… I… I don't have anyone who will support me. "
"Then, I'll suggest three choices for you. The first choice is to beg for money or a student loan from your personal asset or any third-party insurance. Second choice is to plan for a part-time job. Then, the last choice is to resign from this school's registration."
Multiple decisions came in front of his thrilling face. He fastened his lips to wash out his guilt, but it was futile and helpless. His desperate high school feelings tempted him to resign from this bothersome place. The unnoticeable issue noticed his surrender. His heart throbbed with empty pockets of despair.
However, someone appeared before them—it was Akari who voiced out her voluntary benefit. She was stalking him and listening to their conversation the whole time.
"Sensei. I'll support his payment. Many debts were left stranded for him to live in his apartment. I can understand his issue since we are neighbors' next door."
"Akari-chan. Are you sure you'll support his bill? Even if you gain sufficient profit from your side career, it will require much burden to redeem his diploma."
"—I don't care… as long as Aoki-kun finished his studies. Whether he had low grades, he shouldn't waste his time here studying for a mere presence."
Akari palmed on her chest. She hesitated that it might not change his choice to stay. Her help would benefit Aoki to continue his study, even if his grades would dissatisfy him. At least, Aoki wouldn't mind about his grades. He had no concerns about it as he only believed in his supposed manga dream. He understood that his high school learning wouldn't bring sufficient benefits as a future mangaka. Although, he didn't want to extend Akari's burden despite a rich girl like her who gained an enormous profit from her acting career.
I gained nothing from this school. It doesn't mean it was worth horrifying or enjoying. It was boring, Aoki thought for his supporting claim of decision.
Although Aoki had a hard time thinking about his messy circumstances, he planned to decide his last call. He believed Akari, but he also opposed her help since he wanted to avoid more troubled debt from an unexpected financial urge.
He inhaled for his embrace of calling.
"I'll resign myself from the school registration."
With that, he decided his agreement—which gave Akari an unanticipated gasp. He briefly bowed his head without a single sign of his uncertainty. The teacher nodded while securing her eyeglass.
Akari concerned, "But we are almost approaching the conclusion of the second semester. Why do you want to give up on our graduation ceremony? Supposedly, you need to finish your high school degree before you can have a stable part-time job for your enormous debt, and it will also affect your future financial security sooner enough. Do you think it might bring a sufficient—"
"There's nothing I can do. Plus, working a part-time job is boring to be productive for me to satisfy myself. Since my skills have decently improved, I'll give myself a shot to submit my work to the publisher if it's worth appealing or not. What do you think if completing high school can secure me sufficiently when there's nothing to appeal to me over my apathy?"
Aoki surely wanted to cure his apathy. His blank face had expressed nothing to other people's eyes and even Akari. The trauma he had before consumed him into emptiness. He preferred something to satisfy him, although there was nothing to handle, but a sole solution could cure his personal problem.
The teacher proposed his decision, but she asked one more time to conclude his sure decision.
"Is that a final 'yes'? If not, you have more time to think before due."
"Yes. I don't care about my high school accomplishment. I just want to do my manga drawing as soon as possible."
"Well. That should be taken care of."
While the teacher shrugged and kept down the book of account, Aoki walked out the faculty room by himself while Akari stood still to compose herself. She accepted his decision although she could have saved her career from an unfortunate fate, but something bothered them—their mutual feelings gave her pitiful sympathy which reminded her of a voluntary promise to halt.
With that, she shook her head and returned to the classroom.
She kept her prospective questions for him to plan for having a sweet night chat with him—later.
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