Chapter Text
The first rays of sunlight gently filtered into his room, bathing the space with a golden glow. Chifuyu, in a desperate attempt to evade the invading light, covered his face with the sheets, trying to prolong the darkness that enveloped him just a little longer. He felt the comforting warmth of the sheets, a final refuge before facing the day.
A few sharp knocks echoed at the door, breaking the morning serenity. He got up so quickly that he lost his balance, clumsily falling to the floor. The pain in his knee was a bitter reminder of his fragility.
Great, another day starting with a stumble.
"Chifuyu, you're going to be late. Get ready already" —his mother called, before going back to her chores without even checking if he was okay.
The young man, still disoriented, got up as best as he could and headed toward the closet. He opened the doors and took out his uniform, but froze, trapped by a storm of painful memories flooding his mind. Every insult, every hit, came back to him like an echo, reverberating in his head.
Why can't they leave me alone? What did I do to deserve this?
It wasn't that he hated studying; in fact, he was passionate about learning new things. However, he loathed school. Every time he crossed the doors of that place, it felt like the whole world was conspiring against him. There, his existence seemed meaningless, and the teasing and beatings were a cruel, constant reality that no one bothered to stop.
"Chifuyu!"— his mother's voice echoed loudly as she barged into his room. "Hurry up! How can you be late on your first day of school?" she almost yelled, then slammed the door before returning to her chores.
He just sighed. He didn’t want to go back to that hell. Maybe, if he was lucky, they would forget about him, or he would just suffer the teasing without it escalating to violence…
A few minutes later, the young man with golden hair came down from his room, ready to face another day at school.
"See you later, Mom"— Chifuyu said as he opened the door to leave.
He didn’t get a response. His mother didn’t even bother to glance at him, ignoring him as if he were invisible. What a surprise, once again, I’m a ghost in my own home. Fortunately, after a year of mistreatment, he had grown used to her indifference. He quickly left the house and started walking toward school, his heart heavy with uncertainty and the hope for one less cruel day.
Please, I just want one day where I don’t have to fight to breathe.
soon as Chifuyu touched the classroom door, his teacher’s voice invited him in. He opened the door and walked toward his seat, feeling the eyes of all his classmates fixed on him, silently judging him. The sensation was suffocating, as if a thousand needles were piercing his skin.
What are they staring at? Don’t they have anything better to do?
When he reached his seat, he took out all his materials and began to pay attention to the class, trying to ignore the weight of those inquisitive stares.
Don’t let it affect you. It’s just another day… just another day.
A few minutes passed, and the class ended. The students sighed in relief, got up from their seats, and grouped together, chatting animatedly. The noise of their conversations was a reminder of his isolation. They have their own world. One where I don’t fit.
Chifuyu, on his part, crossed his arms on the desk and hid his head, desperately waiting for the next teacher to arrive. Maybe if I don’t move, if I don’t make a sound, they’ll leave me alone…
“Hey…”
“Hey…”
“Hey, faggot, I’m talking to you!”— said a boy with black hair and a furrowed brow. He grabbed Chifuyu by the collar of his shirt and pulled him toward him. “Answer me when I talk to you,” he demanded with a serious look.
Chifuyu stayed silent, avoiding eye contact with his aggressor.
Don’t give them the satisfaction of seeing you react. It’s not worth it.
“Look at me, idiot!” —The boy grabbed his chin forcefully, forcing him to look at him.
“Ewww, Ritsu, do you want to kiss him or what?”— intervened a girl with brown hair, sitting disdainfully on one of the desks. Her expression of disgust, with one hand partially covering her mouth, stood out as she looked at the blonde with mocking eyes.
“Eh? Nothing like that, shut up, Aiko,”— the boy responded, his voice full of contempt as he shoved Chifuyu, causing him to fall off his chair. “I’m not a faggot like him,”— he added, sticking out his tongue and shaking his hands as if trying to get rid of a disgusting stain.
Chifuyu stayed on the floor, his spirit more wounded than his body, as the echo of his classmates' laughter and whispers filled the classroom. The noise continued relentlessly, indifferent to his suffering, like a sea of cruelty surrounding and suffocating him.
The scene felt like a cruel parody, where the words and actions of his classmates pierced his soul like sharp knives. The sunlight filtering through the windows seemed to mock his misery as he sought the strength to rise, to face another day in that place that felt like a prison.
I have to get up. I won’t give them the pleasure of seeing me defeated.
Suddenly, a boy appeared and kicked Chifuyu, abruptly interrupting his attempt to get up.
“Who gave you permission to stand up?”— It was a boy with black hair and red tips. He squatted down and brought his face close to Chifuyu's. “You’re a waste, you know that, right?”— he said as he looked at his friends and laughed. “You know… we’re not bad, we’re just giving you what you deserve.”—
Those words stabbed Chifuyu like knives.
What I deserve? Seriously? What kind of sick justice is this? "What I deserve?" he murmured to himself, feeling a deep emptiness.
“Hey, Ryo, leave the poor guy alone, careful, he might start crying,”— Aiko spoke again, her voice dripping with mockery and disdain. “Pfft… haha, what idiot would say something like that?”— she laughed as she got down from the desk and walked over to where Ryo and Chifuyu were. She sat on her knees near Chifuyu, leaning toward him. She raised a finger and started tapping the blonde’s forehead.
“Hey, careful, he might break, haha,”— Ryo said, laughing.
Aiko burst into laughter as she continued her actions. “You’re really cute, too bad you like being given more than giving.”—
The two boys burst into laughter as soon as the girl said that and only stopped when one of their classmates shouted that the teacher was arriving.
“Ah, too bad, we were just getting to the good part,”— Ryo said as he stood up. “Come on, guys, we don’t want to get in trouble.”— After saying that, he turned and headed to his seat. Aiko quickly followed behind him to take the seat in front of him.
“You’d better not say anything… or you know what will happen,”- Ritsu said, glaring at Chifuyu before going to sit down.
How could I even tell someone about this? No one would listen to me.
Chifuyu, still on the floor, felt the humiliation and pain enveloping him. He slowly got up, adjusting his clothes, trying to regain his composure. He put on his best face, even though he felt shattered inside. He couldn’t afford to express his pain, not there, not in front of so many eyes.
The classroom, which had been a stage of cruelty moments before, returned to its apparent routine thanks to the arrival of the teacher. But for Chifuyu, every corner, every desk, was a constant reminder of his suffering. He sat at his desk, staring ahead while his soul struggled not to crumble under the weight of the hostility surrounding him.
When the teacher began writing on the board, Chifuyu felt a paper hit him on the head. He took it with trembling hands and unfolded it to read: “See you at lunch. Don’t forget your spot.”— A chill ran down his spine. What else do they want from me?
During the class, Aiko turned in her seat, looking at him with a malicious smile while showing him a crude drawing of him in a notebook. Ryo and Ritsu, sitting behind him, murmured and laughed among themselves, throwing knowing glances at Chifuyu.
As the minutes passed, Chifuyu felt more trapped, more isolated. When will this end? The bell for recess rang, but for him, it was just the prelude to another round of torment.