My time in middle school wasn't the greatest. Actually, scratch that—I’d say my past 15 years on this earth have been pretty shitty.
People have always avoided me. I don't know whether it's out of fear, hatred, or something else. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say it's because of my looks. Apparently, I look like I'm constantly out for blood. Well, that's the story of my life summed up: people stay well out of my way, so I never had much chance for social interaction.
Most people approached high school with a sense of optimism—they considered turning over a new leaf, having a fresh start, and all that. They'd think to themselves, "Maybe things will be better.” To be honest, I never entertained any of those ideas.
As it turned out, my pessimistic outlook was both right and wrong.
Don’t get me wrong, though. Everything was still basically the same: people avoided me like the plague, hated on me, you know the deal. I was already used to it, though, so I didn’t really mind.
“Oh well, I guess that's just how it is.”
I repeated that to myself over and over again, so I wasn't the least bit surprised that things remained the same once I'd entered high school.
However, not everything turned out the way I'd expected...
“Yo. Wanna hang out at DonMac later after school? I mean, we’re in the same class and all, right? So, why not?”
He was the only one who talked to me with a friendly smile on his face. He was none other than the protagonist of our story.
Not only was he attractive, but he was also super athletic and smart. He was the kind of guy who got scouted by modeling agencies whenever he went out. He was the kind of guy who would always top the charts for our test scores. He was the kind of guy who'd be the ace of any sports club… even taking into account the fact that he was part of the student council.
Most people would figure a guy that perfect must be a cocky douchebag, but he was nothing like that. Actually, he treated everyone as equals. .
He was the perfect hero to any story, the kind that people looked up to and aspired to be.
So with all that said, it's safe to assume that Haruma—that’s his name, by the way—was pretty popular around school. You'd be right.
And, for the cherry on top, he was also popular with the ladies. Because he was the perfect package, he was always surrounded by cute girls who wanted a little slice of the cake.
Take his childhood friend, for example: she was one of the popular girls in school, and she was always hanging around him. The student council advisor, a pretty hot teacher, relied on him most of the time. He even had a cute little sister, to boot.
Mix it all up, and you had the perfect recipe for the leading role: handsome, popular, and studious. This placed him right at the very top of the school’s social pyramid. I mean, if he wasn't the protagonist of the story, then who the hell would be?
So, long story short...
The more you knew Ike Haruma, the more you'd think that he should have been the main character of this story.
Don't even bother comparing yourself to him; it would just drive you mad. The only thing you really could do would be to wave the white flag and admit defeat. You couldn't help but think, “Damn, this guy is really amazing.”
At some point, I ended up becoming his friend. I don't really know how or why, but it happened. You know the character who tended to stick around the protagonist, the side character? That was me. I didn’t really mind that, though, as I was more proud of my status than anything.
I didn’t really give a damn about how the others at school might have hated me. As long as Haruma understood my struggle, I would be fine. Just the mere thought that the protagonist of the story got what I was going through was enough for me. It was nice to know that he had my back, and it eased the burden off my shoulders a bit.
…Anyways, back to my life at high school.
At this point, you might be thinking that it was mediocre at best, and shitty at worst. Then again, it couldn’t have been that bad, right?
It's true. Thanks to Ike Haruma, the whole experience wasn't as bad as I had expected.
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Nothing really outstanding happened in my first year of high school. Once we reached our second year, though, something happened to me; something that was totally out of the blue for a side character like me.
“Senpai, will you be my boyfriend?”
She was a total cutie, with light brown hair that skirted around her shoulders, and makeup perfectly applied to highlight her features.
So that begs the question... Why did she confess to me, of all people?
“Say what?”
She sighed at my response. Was it wrong of me to assume that I'd misheard her? I mean, look at me: I’m the guy that everyone at school ran away from. Why did someone as beautiful as her want me to be her boyfriend?
This was something Haruma should have experienced, not me.
“You’re gonna make me repeat myself? You’re such a meanie, Senpai… I said, 'Will you be my boyfriend?'”
She smiled faintly at me, but there was a serious look in her eyes as she repeated herself.
She happened to be the protagonist’s sister. Like her brother, she was also at the top of the school hierarchy. Definitely someone who could have been considered the heroine of any story.
Her name was Touka. Ike Touka.
☆
