(Just practicing. I'll gradually improve my writing.)
(A slice-of-life story. Since the protagonist acts like a jerk early on, he'll get what's coming to him.)
(If it's not too much trouble, please click the mustard-yellow button on the last page of the work. It absolutely won't get your hands dirty.)
Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School was planned by the incumbent Prime Minister Kijima around fifteen to twenty years ago, when he served as Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. It was established by the former Chairman Sakayanagi and became a renowned university.
All students attending this university were at least eighteen years old and legally adults.
Early April, the start of the school year.
It was the season when the Cherry Blossom Tree shed its petals, and the beginning of a cherished memory that many students would remember for the rest of their lives.
Tokyo, Chiyoda Ward. A detached house in a residential neighborhood.
"Goodbye, Grandma. Sorry for the trouble these past few days. If all goes well, I'll see you again in three years."
The kind-faced old woman stood with her hands behind her back. Her gentle eyes reflected a tall, slender figure, who waved goodbye to her with his back turned.
The spring breeze rose, and cherry blossoms fluttered down. Even after the wind died, the petals kept drifting.
Ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling...
The wind chimes seemed to play a song of farewell for the dark-haired boy, and the opening notes of his journey.
The scene froze on that moment.
As he walked down a road strewn with cherry blossoms, Kamigami Haruo seemed to watch where he was going, but his thoughts were elsewhere.
As a result, by the time he was about to reach the bus stop, the bus bound for the school was already in sight.
Seeing the bus doors about to close, he could no longer stroll along calmly.
Ten meters, five meters, three. As the distance shrank, the doors were nearly shut.
His running legs came to a halt. As if gathering himself, he crouched and pushed off hard. In an instant, his slender figure appeared at the doors, and he managed to block them with his hand.
Kamigami Haruo felt a little helpless. That sudden burst of effort had left his leg cramping, and it would take a while for it to recover.
The driver, confused by the sudden appearance of a passenger, rubbed his eyes. He couldn't understand it. He had checked that there were no passengers before pressing the door-close button.
Looking at the eye gunk on his hand, he figured it must have been covering his eyes and keeping him from seeing. He needed to tidy himself up, or the company would dock his pay.
Since this was the beginning of the bus route, most of the seats were still empty.
After tapping his bus card, Kamigami Haruo steadied himself with one hand on a seat and limped over to a window seat.
He set the bag slung over his shoulder on the seat beside him, then rested his arm on the window and propped up his face, gazing aimlessly at the cherry blossoms drifting outside.
The scenery beyond the window was reflected in his pupils, but his thoughts had wandered somewhere else, as if he were imagining something.
Was it the uncertain future? Or the genuine thing he was searching for?
His name was now Kamigami Haruo, and he was riding a bus to his destination: Advanced Nurturing High School.
This would be the beginning of everything, and the start of a youth he had never had.
As for why he had ended up here, that went back to a few days ago.
He vaguely remembered the sun and moon taking turns in the sky at least seven times.
He had been about to enjoy a long-awaited dessert delivery when a sudden urge to pee interrupted him.
After relieving himself, he shivered and closed his eyes without thinking.
When he opened them again, he saw a toilet that looked nothing like the one in his home.
Puzzled, he looked around the bathroom. Only then did he realize he wasn't in his own bathroom anymore, but somewhere unfamiliar.
He stumbled out of the building, still dazed. Before he had time to think, the landmark tower in front of him had already made it clear where he was.
He scratched his head in confusion, then narrowed his eyes and sank into thought.
Only then did he realize he was in a foreign land.
"Hey! You filthy hentai! You piece of social garbage!"
Smack!
Kamigami Haruo knew for sure he wasn't dreaming. The handprint on his face was proof enough.
He hadn't slapped himself to check whether he was dreaming. He had gone back to the bathroom to see if there was a way home, and the girl he encountered there had slapped him.
After all, as a shut-in, he was used to going around shirtless. In Tokyo, where perverts were everywhere, it was only natural for him to be mistaken for one.
To avoid getting caught as a pervert, he could only hurry away from the scene.
To anyone who didn't know what had happened, his retreating figure really did look suspicious.
Once he reached the street, Kamigami Haruo pulled out the phone he carried with him twenty-four hours a day.
He saw Fushiguro Toji on his lock screen, unlocked the phone with his fingerprint, and opened the home screen.
The notice said there was no network service.
He hadn't been expecting much anyway, so he pretended to be a delinquent and squatted near a convenience store. He was trying to mooch off its Wi-Fi.
But even after he connected to the Wi-Fi, the browser still said there was no service.
None of the apps that needed mobile data worked, either. He couldn't tell whether the server was the problem or if his phone's software version was too far ahead.
With nowhere to go, he wandered aimlessly through Tokyo's bustling nighttime streets.
Curious, he watched the people passing by. There were delinquents, gals, high school girls, and students among them.
Everywhere he looked, there was brightly colored hair. Tokyo was almost exactly as he remembered it.
In Japan, where people were so open-minded, a shirtless man like him shouldn't have stood out that much in a crowd.
But when he realized people might be staring at his back, he noticed something strange there.
Though puzzled, he calmly moved away from the crowd and headed for a nearby park.
He wasn't particularly muscular, so he had no trouble plucking several sticky notes off his back.
Curious, he read the notes in his hand carefully.
The first sticky note explained why he had appeared on the streets of Japan.
His expression of dawning realization lasted only a few seconds. After reading the next few notes, Kamigami Haruo's expression went through a remarkable series of changes.
The notes told him the truth behind everything that had happened.
"Please forgive me, child. The lifespan of a certain universe has come to an end.
"The collapse of space caused a spatial disturbance, which created a spatial node.
"My carelessness dragged you into another world.
"To make amends, I'll grant you a power that can help you protect yourself in this other world ^_^
"A body with an extremely high upper limit. Its potential is based on the highest standard in the current world.
"Good luck ^_^"
Although the note wished him good luck,
he felt something wrong with his body and broke out in a cold sweat.
He couldn't put the feeling into words. Was it his muscles writhing? A sharp pain deep in his bones? Or was his body gradually slipping out of his control?
Tormented, he could only curl up alone in a corner of the park, clutching his phone tightly.
To temporarily forget the agonizing pain, he recalled memories buried deep in his mind.
From his childhood babbling, to the wing-clipped bird who had to memorize books by rote, and then to the lonely person he was now.
Before you continue