A Story About How I Ran Away After Being Rejected By My First Love

The morning after the happiest day of my entire life, I woke up early as usual and made my way to school. To be honest, what happened yesterday stuck in my mind and I couldn’t sleep properly. I’d slept past 2 am and my body felt groggy than usual – not that my body is heavy to begin with – haha.

The air is cool and crisp. What perfect weather today is! The athletes were already finished with their warm-ups and their morning drills were in full swing.

I arrived around 7:15 am. It was fifteen minutes earlier than usual.

Kurozawa-san usually arrives around 7:30 am so there should still be enough time. I sat on the nearby bench and gazed at the track and field where the soccer field was doing their drills.

The pain in my cheeks throbs once more. It still stings. The memory from when I was slapped by the ball was still fresh. Though, my mind wandered to Asahi-san.

From what I see, he has no flaws. I can’t say that he was a genius when it comes to soccer, it came from all his hard work. Even now, it’s early morning but he was giving it his all into improving. Not that I’m an expert in soccer but that’s the vibe I get when you see him practicing.

No wonder he was popular with the girls. He not only looks handsome, but also cool.

Though, what was up with that look yesterday? I’m pretty sure he shot me an intense gaze before going back to the game.

Time passed and it was now 7:45 in the morning.

Students are starting to arrive in bulk and it’s becoming crowded. However, there was still no sign of Kurozawa-san.

I wanted to wait more but I’ll have a sore thumb if I do that so I decided to make my way into the classroom.

It’s unfortunate that I couldn’t have a conversation with her, but it is what it is.

In a while, the morning bell for the first class rang.

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Ding dong ding dong.

It was now lunch break.

Students stood up one by one with their friends and made their way to the cafeteria.

Of course, me being a loner, I already had food ready and made my way to my hiding spot. It was a bench in the back of the school.

I unwrapped my lunchbox. It was a big box that contained a lot of meat. Of course, lots of carbohydrates too!

As I was eating, I heard footsteps coming towards my direction. I hoped that they wouldn’t come here since it was my solace. However, it turned out I lucked out.

“Hey guys. Told you there’s our luck.”

It was Nakamura and his lackey.

Nakamura was the school’s delinquent. He has a big figure with a permanent scowl etched on his face. Due to his size, most of the students are intimidated and he used it to his advantage. He’s not the smart type and mostly uses brutality to trample upon others.

Alongside him were Takagi and Watanabe. Takagi was the sneakiest member. He was small but he made up with his smart wits. He was the manipulating type of person.

Watanabe was the smooth talker for the group. He was eloquent enough to get them out of sticky situations. He was tricky enough to outsmart teachers while being ruthless towards his prey.

With this group, once they set their eyes on you, you’re dead. Unless you hold a certain power, you will never escape them.

And it looked like they had their eyes on me.

“Hey, since you’re eating solo, you won’t mind eating with us, right?”

“Oh shoot, we forgot our lunch boxes. You won’t mind sharing it with us, right? Aren’t you so kind?”

With swift hands, Nakamura forcefully got my lunchbox on my lap. I stood frozen in place due to fear.

“What do we have here? What a heavy lunchbox! We’re doing you a favor helping you finish all of these, you know?”Takagi followed.

My legs were trembling as I gulped my saliva in my throat. I was scared. I don’t know how I will survive school from now on.

It’s obvious I couldn’t fight them and telling them to teachers won’t do any good.

I meekly looked down as they gulped down my lunchbox praying they wouldn’t do physical abuse.

Watanabe-san locked his arms on me after finishing a bite on my lunchbox and said.

“Man, our family is struggling with finances. I wish I had a friend that can help me out. You’re my friend aren’t you, Aoyama-san~?”

A shrill run throughout my spine as Watanabe-san put her arms around my neck. My heart was pounding heavily, my sweat was cold. Beside him were Nakamura and Takagi with their mouths arched into a curve.

“You’re gonna help him, right?” Nakamura said in a low voice.

I swallowed hard and replied in a whisper.

“I… I don’t have any…”

Thud.

A brutal force was slammed straight into my stomach.

Notwithstanding the impact, I kneeled down on the ground clutching my stomach.

“You know that’s not the answer that we want, Aoyama.”

Above me, Nakamura stood, with his fist still clenched. They were laughing heartily as I writhed in pain.

“Oi, loser. You still haven’t replied? You’re gonna help out, right?”

“Why are you crawling there like a pig that you are? Let us help you.”

Takagi and Watanabe put their hands on each of my arms, forcing me to stand up.

“Recently, I haven’t had any practice with boxing. A training partner would be good.”