Chapter 1
I stare down at my empty desk. I can’t do anything else. If I look up, I’ll scare people away. If I look to the side, I’ll scare people away. All I can do is look down and listen.
“Looks like the delinquent got into another knife fight,” one student says.
“He doesn’t even try to hide it,” another replies.
“Looks like his dragon skin is penetrable,”
I turn to them, ready to tell them what really happened to me, but my eyes beat me from saying anything. Both of them turn to me and freeze. They immediately stand up and bow exclaiming “Forgive us!” before running out of the classroom.
I turn back to my desk and just stare down at it. It’s not what it seems. Really it isn’t. I’m not a delinquent or get into knife fights. It’s just that nobody ever hears me out.
First of all, I have this condition called “sanpaku”, which means that my irises are smaller than they should be. Normally, the iris would take up the eye up and down, except for the sides of course. But you can see the white part of my eye below the iris, which makes me look like I’m glaring all the time. Plus, the fact that I usually have bruises and cuts on me never helps me clear up the misunderstanding.
The reason why I have a bleeding arm is because I hit the glass vase by accident when my father threw me to the wall. My parents are wrestlers and have been using me as their punching bag for as long as I can remember. They thought it could help me gain endurance so I’d be fine if I were to ever get into a fight. Which, it kind of does. Not that I get into fights on a daily basis or anything.
However, when I first got into this school as a freshman, some senior punks wanted to fight me. I refused, but they still fought me anyway. I don’t mean to brag or anything, but it tickled. Ever since then, I’ve had a bad reputation and I didn’t even do anything. Looks can tell people so many things, but they can lie too. Other than the fact that it’s my senior year, and I look like a thug, I’m 20 years old. From certain head injuries, learning hasn’t been exactly easy for me to do.
In conclusion, I’m 20 years old, still in high school, have abusive parents, have no friends whatsoever, and will most likely have an extremely difficult future. Story of my life.
Chapter 2
I’m suddenly covered by a shadow by a female classmate of mine. Honestly, I’m a little startled because nobody has ever done that. Standing in front of my desk, is considered a death wish.
“You need to go to the nurse” she said.
I look up and see that it’s Aqua. She’s 19 years old, the second oldest student in the senior class. She has long blue hair that goes down to her mid back. Most of her bangs are brushed to the left, a little on the right. She wears a red headband and has her school jacket. Another feature I simply cannot ignore is that she has these big blue eyes. She’s just like me in a way.
I have blue eyes and blue hair too, except darker. I can’t deny she’s really pretty. I’ve never spoken to her; I’m too shy to do it. Besides, I always thought my eyes would scare her away, like everybody else. But I’m looking at her, and she’s not running away.
“Uh, no thank you. I’m fine, really.” I say.
Being raised by my parents has made me capable of enduring a lot. However, they also raised me to not show any pain whenever they kicked or punched me. They said that it would show I was strong. But that also meant I couldn’t go seek the help of others, or else that’d show weakness. I also had to be polite. Being polite lightened their blows. “No you’re not, your arm is bleeding”, she continues. She’s persistent.
“I’m fine, really”, I repeat.
“No you’re not”, she replies as she suddenly grabs my hand, my eyes widen and she smiles.
“Now let’s go to the nurse”, she exclaims before literally dragging me out of the classroom.
Chapter 3
Aqua’s still holding my hand in hallway. It feels strange, but it’s not that I don’t like it. It’s warm and soft compared to my rough hands. I have to admit, this is a bit forceful of her to do.
When we arrive to the Nurse’s office, she asks “What’s wrong?”
“His arm is bleeding”, Aqua answers.
The nurse gives the both of us a look and smirks.
“Are you his girlfriend or something?”
“No”, Aqua replied.
“Then what’s with the hand holding?”
“Uh”, Aqua says before letting go of my hand.
How did she not notice that?
The nurse is still smirking when she takes a look at my arm. She puts bandages around the cut and tells me to “Be careful”. Aqua’s in the waiting room when I leave the Nurse.
“I’m sorry I put you through the trouble on taking me to the nurse”, I apologize.
“It’s okay,” she replies.
We both go back into class in silence. I sit back down in my desk and refuse to look at anybody. I peek at Aqua and see that she is pulling at the end of her sleeves, like if she’s hiding something. What is she trying to hide?
Chapter 4
Chapter 4
“You and you will do a project together based on laughter”, the teacher announced. He pointed to Aqua and I. Is this because of her dragging me out to the nurse?
Aqua sits in the chair next to me, and we really don’t know what to say.
“Looks like the delinquent and the slut are working together”, someone says.
“Who knows, maybe she’s going to go after the delinquent now”, somebody else adds.
“How much do you get paid slut?” Hime asked. She’s the most popular girl in the school, and I can honestly say she’s incredibly annoying. Aqua’s just looking down and I really can’t take such a nice person getting bullied by her.
“She’s not a slut”, I say.
“Whatever”, she replies before walking away.
Aqua is silent for a few second before she says “Thank you”.
“You’re welcome”, I reply.
That was probably the first thank you I’ve ever gotten in my life.
***
It’s nearly time for dismissal when Hime comes again to Aqua. She starts bullying her again and she’s ignoring everything I’m saying. Suddenly she raises her first to Aqua. I catch her fist before they make any contact to Aqua. Now I’m pissed. Hime is just shocked.
“I’d appreciate it greatly if you leave her alone”, I say.
“Tch. Fine.”
“Thank you’, I say as I let go of her fist.
“Whatever”, she replies before walking away.
Aqua once again thanks me, and we leave the school building.
We walk to the library for our project. After I put my belongings on a chair, I go to a shelf and look through the books that are there. Aqua is beside me trying to reach for a book out of her grasp. Suddenly, she loses her balance and falls on top of me.
Oh my God. She’s on top of me. Oh my God. We’re in a public place. Oh my God. I never knew her upper area could weigh so much! (I’m sorry but you have to understand that 1) I’m a guy and 2) a girl with a large bosom is ON TOP OF ME)
I can’t move, or breathe at that matter. My eyes are wide, and all she says in this situation is “What’s wrong?”
You have got to be kidding me. You HAVE got to be kidding me! She’s on top of me and she isn’t fazed AT ALL by the compromising position we’re in?!
As much as I am in disbelief, I reply “You’re on top of me”, straight to the point.
“Uh’, she replies as she gets off me, “Sorry”.
I take a big intake of breath when she’s off of me. I don’t know why, but I think my heart nearly stopped for a second.
“It’s okay”, I say.
I guess it makes sense that a strange girl would make me feel strange things.
Chapter 5
Aqua and I read for a little while, and I give her a little fact on laughing. Who knew it was a good exercise for your abs? Anyway, she doesn’t say much, so I leave first and go home.
I’m greeted with a punch to the stomach, and being thrown to the wall. A glass vase breaks in the process, and I get cut in the other arm. That’s nothing new. I don’t show any emotion and just go to my room.
I can hear my parents praising me but I just ignore them. It’s another ordinary day in my house.
***
The next morning, I see it’s raining. I quickly get ready and bring an umbrella. On my way to school, I see Aqua standing in the rain without her jacket on. Her arms were full of scars and I see a few stitches on one of them. She is looking down, and I know Hime has something to with this. I go to her and place my hand on her back and walk her to school. She’ll get sick if she keeps standing in the rain. I glance at her arm and see it’s bleeding. I hope she didn’t see me glance at it.
When we get to school, I take off my jacket and guess she noticed the cut on my arm because she says “You need to go to the nurse”. Honestly, I’m annoyed now. Her arm is in worse condition than mine is, and she’s telling me I have to go the nurse. It seems hypocritical to tell somebody else that they need to go to the nurse when you yourself are in worse condition, so I said “I see your arm isn’t fine but I don’t see you going to the nurse’’. She stays quiet and looks down. I know I made my point so I ended it off with “Exactly” before I went into class. She doesn’t show up for the rest of the day.
***
It’s after school and I’m looking for Aqua. It’s still raining. I go to the park and see her asleep against a tree. I sigh and take off my jacket and lay it on her like a blanket. It’s the least that I can do after I said what I said this morning. I walk back home and get the regular beating I get every day.
Chapter 6
The next day comes and Aqua’s arm is bleeding profusely so I tell her she should go to the nurse. All I receive as a reply is silence, so I grab her wrist and drag her to the nurse. The nurse winces as Aqua takes off the cloth that was poorly hiding her bleeding wound. The nurse luckily knows how to treat the wound.
“How did you get this wound?” the nurse asked.
“Oh uh I fell on some shattered glass.”
Bull crap. I know what a wound from shattered glass looks like.
“Well be careful next time”. The nurse doesn’t look convinced that shattered glass was the case.
***
Later on this day after school, Aqua gives me back my jacket. My mouth starts to twitch so I hold on side of my cheek down so I don’t scare her.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“Then why are you holding your cheek?”
“I’m trying not to smile.”
All of the sudden she’s smiling at me and going into my personal space. I keep backing away until my back hits a tree. She’s still smiling and getting even closer to me. I turn my face to the side while I’m covering my mouth. She’s making it extremely hard not to smile. She faces me again and gets closer to me, still smiling. There’s only so much a man could take so I run away from her.
“Uh! Hold up!” she runs after me.
“I’m sorry but I’m not going to smile!” I say while covering my mouth.
“Okay fine... You don’t have to smile if you don’t want to.”
I don’t hear any footsteps behind me so I guess she stopped running. I stop running and put my hand down. She walks beside me and I ask what really happened to her arm.
“I know that wasn’t from a broken shard of glass”.
“Uh I remembered I have to do something!’ she says as she begins to walk away from me. I grab her wrist and say “Please tell me”. I really do care for her wellbeing. Seeing that wound made me realize that I care about her a lot. That must’ve hit something because then she said “Fine... My father stabbed me with a knife.”
I am in disbelief. How could a father do that to his own daughter? At this point, I want nothing more but to escape my own abusive parents. I’m done with just accepting all their blows. And so, I grab her shoulders and smile and exclaim “We can runaway together!”
“Really?!”
“Yeah!”
“But where would we go?”
“We can go to a motel I’ve been to. We can stay there until we can save more money to get an apartment. I’ll get myself a part time job as a bouncer.”
“And I can get a job at the Maid Café!”
“Exactly!”
“Um how about we celebrate with some Blue Fire soda?’
“Sure.” I replied. I grab her hand and we both go to the store to buy Blue Fire soda. I buy them and when we leave, we sit down and celebrate. I tell her that the next day in the morning; I’ll be waiting outside her house for her. We both depart back home, with silly smiles on our faces.
I know I would’ve never wanted to run away with a girl, mostly because I know they wouldn’t want to be near me because of my eyes. But I said it to Aqua that we could run away. I nearly smiled around her, and I cared about her wellbeing. She’s the first one who smiled at me and didn’t run away in fear. It doesn’t take me a long time to realize I fell in love with her.
Chapter 7
I’m waiting outside of Aqua’s house when I suddenly hear her screaming. On impulse I run to the house and take down the door. I’m running to the direction of her screaming, my veins pumping with adrenaline. Her shrilling screaming is piercing through the walls of the house as if they’re vibrating.
When I get to the bathroom, all I see is her father letting go of her, and all I see from Aqua is her blue hair covering her face underwater in the tub. A rush of emotions goes through me in a second: disbelief, confusion, despair, anger, and then finally hate. I know my irises are smaller than they’ve ever been as I charge at her father. I want to kill him. I want to make him pay for killing my Aqua. The only one who wasn’t afraid of me.
But he’s too fast when he grabs a knife and drives it into my heart. The knife piercing my skin and going through my heart has a foreign feeling to it. It makes my entire body feel as if it’s on fire. My veins feel as if they’re being ignited inside of me. All my movements stop at once, and my eyes are wide in shock. Everything is shutting down, and the darkness is swallowing my vision.
The last feeling I feel even though my body feels numb an overwhelming sense of regret. I never got to tell her I loved her. I couldn’t avenge her death. I couldn’t do anything. The last thing I think before everything goes black is: Forgive me, Aqua.
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