Chapter 36: Shadow of the Past
The stares I received today were different—much colder than the ones yesterday. People avoided me as though I carried some invisible plague.
The only person who spoke to me was my roommate, Marius. We walked together down the hallway toward our classroom.
This feeling... I’ve felt it before.
Ah... now I remember. This is the same as being bullied and ostracized. It’s just like what happened back in high school on Earth, I thought bitterly.
Back then, rumors started circulating that I came from a broken home and that my mother was... not an honorable woman. Hearing those things enraged me. I couldn’t let it slide, so I began searching for the source of the gossip.
Eventually, I found the culprit—a lackey of the bullies I had fought before when they were bothering my big brother, Naki. He had escaped punishment and remained at the school. When he found out that I, Naki’s brother, was attending the same school, he spread those lies as revenge.
I snapped. I confronted him and beat him so badly that he passed out. I thought that would put an end to it, but instead, the rumors only escalated. Now, they labeled me as a short-tempered and violent lunatic.
The torment didn’t stop during my entire first year of high school. It drained me to the point where I seriously considered quitting school altogether.
"Should I just start working instead? At least I could earn money sooner," I mused while eating lunch alone on the rooftop, my thoughts heavy and bitter.
That’s when someone unexpected approached me.
"Hey, whatcha doing? Having lunch? Whoa, share some with me!"