-Yuri Yoshida-
-[I'm hungry…]
That was the only thought in my head.
I decided to get up and go to the kitchen. I was wearing short pajamas despite the cold because I hadn't washed the long ones. I'm somewhat skinny, not malnourished, just average. I've never exercised in my life. My hair was a mess, though I usually don't comb it, and even when I do, there's always a strand at the top that won't stay down, not even with gel. My eyes were tired, expressionless, still with a faint hint of brightness, though almost extinguished. I have long eyelashes that I'm honestly pretty indifferent about; my life would be just as miserable without them, though sometimes I hate them because they make long hours on the computer painful.
The house isn't very big, but the walk down the hallway to the dark kitchen felt eternal. I usually prefer no light when I wake up because it hurts my eyes.
My stomach was growling. I felt the cold on my skin. My head was spinning. I had a feeling something was going to happen. I can't say if what I felt was good, bad, or just unimportant. After all, nothing had held much importance in my life for about a year now.
A year of just living without any desire to do anything. A year of sinking into indifference.
When I reached the kitchen, I saw something on the table. I assumed it was from my stepfather.
I picked up the letter to read it.The moment I opened it, an immense laziness came over me. A huge block of text, probably full of unnecessarily long sentences.
{Dear Yuri: I hope you are well. I'm writing to tell you I won't be back home soon this time. So, I spoke with the General. He will assign you a room, but you must take the exam. You'll probably pass because I've put you in the care of a comrade from the Crusaders force. He will help you pass that test. Anyway, it's time for you to do something.}
It's weird… usually, Yoh Yoshida is a bit more brotherly. Anyway, I'd simply prefer not to get involved in these matters.
The Crusaders… my stepfather is one of them. They are capable of controlling elemental magic, unlike the common soldiers, who are just cannon fodder, or something like that. It's sad, but it's true, I suppose. My stepfather is a commander of his section, from what I know he usually seals his abilities, but we haven't talked much about that either.
I opened my front door. It was night. I thought it was earlier. I don't usually leave the house, but since it's night and there will be few people around, I'm going to the 24-hour store next to the gas station, somewhat close to home.
It's not that I care much about my clothing; I usually wear the first thing I find. At this hour, no one can say anything about how I'm dressed, or so I think. An old pair of pants that are a bit too big for me, so I have to wear them with a belt. The only one I have is a leather one that's worn out because I bite it when I get anxious. A basic black t-shirt. A sports jacket, typical of people like me, hikikomoris (hikikomori: extreme social isolation syndrome) who failed at life at an early age and shut themselves away to avoid fighting the life that turned its back on them.
I live next to the capital "New Tokyo," about an hour away. It's somewhat close to where the Crusader camps usually are. It's a low-traffic area, and I usually hear explosions in the middle of the night. It's kind of tiresome, but from my room and with my headphones on, it's not as annoying as you'd expect.
When I got to the store, I bought a simple snack, some potato chips and a cola. Stuffing myself would be stupid at this hour; I'll have to have breakfast soon.
Back at my house, I left my headphones on the table and went straight to my room, falling asleep immediately. It's 2:00 A.M. There isn't much else I can do. I can't be bothered to turn on the electricity to use the computer, nor do I have anyone to talk to or any game recommended by a non-existent friend.
(BOOM! BOOM!)
I wake up suddenly to the sound of very loud bangs on the main door. I look at my phone to check the time; it's five in the morning. I'm still half asleep, with no desire to have breakfast or even go see who the annoying bastard is knocking on the door like a maniac. You must have a lot of free time to be such a nuisance... I just stayed in bed, waiting for it to stop.
Then I feel that idiot hit the door so hard it breaks down. It sounded like one of the bombs from the Crusaders' training.
-[HEEEEEY!]
His voice, loud and raspy like that of a delinquent student, echoes throughout the house.
-[Yuri Yoshida, I'm the one who will train you from now on, so stop pretending you're not here, you shitty idiot!]
I panic and quickly get up, heading to the door to put the latch on, then I open the window. There's no light because of the early hour, but at five, people are already outside their houses, right? I find myself unable to think in this weird situation, only capable of imagining that day.
To be more specific, the first day of school, a little over a year ago.
I entered a "meh" high school; it was what I could get with my "meh" grades. It's not that I was bad at studying, I just wasn't interested, so I didn't usually pick up books or look up class material online.
I didn't really want to go to high school, mainly because I wasn't very sociable. I was a little scared of meeting new people, but ironically, for the first time, I felt like I wanted to have friends. Maybe it was because I felt a great loneliness, or maybe it was just my age making me want to share time with someone.
And precisely without looking for it, she appeared. I'm not able to remember her face, her voice, or even her name, because I erased her from my mind. She was in my class and sat next to me.
We talked little, to be honest. With the otaku knowledge I've acquired from being locked up for so long, I guess the right way to describe her was a "gal" (gal: subculture of young girls who focus on fashion and beauty, deviating from traditional Japanese standards. Gals are characterized by dyed hair, tanned skin, flashy makeup, fake nails, and extravagant clothing.), but without those weird tans they usually have. Maybe she was just a bit alternative.
I only remember her distinctive hair. A long mane that reached her waist, with distinct streaks of a blue, almost greenish color. A short fringe that allowed you to see her thin eyebrows with a piercing that shone like the sun.
Truth be told, that type of woman has never attracted me, because I always read bad things online about people with alternative styles, but given the situation, I guess I was just going to go with the flow.
I say I was going to, because on that very first day, I was talking to her in the hallway outside the classroom, when out of nowhere a guy appeared, with dyed blond hair, somewhat tanned, and he put his arm over my shoulder as if we were lifelong friends. Behind him was a troop of guys of the same ilk.
I was nervous. I didn't understand what was happening, so I just let him drag me along. I was too nervous to grasp the situation.
He took me to the bathroom, and between 5 guys, they threw me to the floor and the inevitable began. Kick after kick, spit, a horrible fear. For the first time in my life, I felt like running.
Then, at one point, the kicks stopped coming. I stopped feeling pain for a moment. The guy who started it all was paralyzed for a second. His friends got worried and made him back away. Then, when he regained movement, enraged, he started hitting me again, harder than before. I felt every kick as if the guy was really going to kill me.
That idiot's friends grabbed him. I could hardly see, but I forced myself to look into his eyes. Eyes full of rage. It was disgusting. I only saw them for a blink, and it made me want to throw up. I had already made the floor a mess, and it was then that one of the other guys grabbed my head and pressed it against what had come out of my body.
Then, the guy who started it all, his face still full of fury, grabbed me by the hair and dragged my powerless body across the bathroom floor to one of the toilets. The guy started dunking my head repeatedly while saying atrocities, of which I only managed to understand:
-[Don't get close to…]
It's not that I don't remember the sentence, it's just that it was hard to hear with my head submerged in the toilet.
When he got bored, he threw me back on top of my vomit and, without saying a word, left.
I stayed locked in the bathroom until the end of the day and didn't leave until the janitor appeared. He cleaned my wounds and told me a story I wasn't interested in hearing. I guess he wanted to motivate me.
That week, my stepfather was busy, I suppose at an army gathering, so I took the opportunity to skip the rest of the week. I needed to think a little.
The following week, I tried to go back, and while I was crossing the street, I saw the guy who had beaten me walking with the girl from my class.
At that moment, I don't know what came over me, but I ran. I ran to what was then my house. When I arrived, I locked myself in. I don't remember what else happened that day, I only remember waking up with a horrible headache.
Yoh came back a month after I had become a hikikomori. He talked to me through the door. He asked me questions. I wanted to tell him everything, but for some reason, a horrible fear flooded my body. Even though he was the person who raised me for my fifteen years at that point, I just wanted him to be quiet.
After that, my interactions with my stepfather consisted of him knocking on my door to let me know there was food. He always left a note with a happy face.
After two months of my stepfather being home, he decided we would move. The mere thought of having to go out, even for an hour, made me vomit. He forced his way in, and after that, I can't remember, because I fainted.
When I woke up,I was in the same room I'm in now with this lunatic.
Then the inevitable happens. The man who broke into my house also breaks down my bedroom door. I can't look him in the eye. Of course I'm scared; no one is completely prepared to die, right?
But with serenity,I close my eyes and point my head towards where his is. Just a few words come out of my mouth, which for some reason has an unexpected smile drawn on it.
-[What are you waiting for? Kill me.]
There's an uncomfortable silence, which feels like a countdown. I want to say something else, but it would be in vain. I just wait for my life to end the…
-[HAHAHAHAHA! I thought you'd be boring, Yuri Yoshida!]
-[Huh…?]
I open my eyes and see a very muscular person, with spiky hair and a patch over his right eye. He's wearing a black shirt with a collar but no sleeves, and with a steel zipper. Wide sweatpants, low-rise, giving him a somewhat rebellious vibe, which he complements with black platform boots that make him look taller than he already is. I stare at him in shock for about 5 secon…
-[HAHAHAHAHAHA! Why do you go quiet after saying something so absurd? Are you a complete idiot?]
I'm still shocked, but then I think about what he said:
"Yuri, I'm the one who will train you from now on, so stop pretending you're not here, you shitty idiot!"
I misunderstood everything. Though it's normal, what kind of sick person breaks down the door to enter a hou…
-[GET READY, BECAUSE I'M GOING TO PUT YOU THROUGH HELL!!!]
-[Could you please stop interrupting my narration?]
-[Huh?]
-[No, nothing, forget it. Anyway, I'm not interested in joining the army, so you can leave. Don't worry about the doors, I'll figure out what to do with them.]
I proceed to cover myself again. It's early and I'm still a bit sleep...
-[NO!]
-[I told you to stop that...]
He pulls off the blankets where I had submerged myself completely.
-[I don't know what you're talking about, but I was given this mission, and I was just looking for a rival worthy of my claws!]
I look at his nails. They are long and sharp. He's like a human beast.
-[Get up, I want to fight!]
Then he lifts my arm, proceeds to touch it and look at it carefully.
-[Whoa, there's a lot to work on here, skinny.]
-[Can you get out of my room? Please.]
He gets very close, right in front of me, and his expression changes to that of a psychopathic killer, very intimidating, so intimidating that it makes me hear white noise.
-[Can I hit you until I break every bone?]
-[No…]
As if it never happened, he steps back and removes the crazy face he had put on a few seconds ago, drawing a somewhat ironic smile on his face while shrugging his shoulders as if preparing to say something stupid.
-[Same question, different answer.]
-[It's the opposite…]
He takes my arm and pulls it hard towards him, forcing me to get up. I fall back onto the bed, but he pulls my arm again to make me stand. My face returns to being as expressionless as it always is. I guess I wasn't going to die yet...
I tell him without much enthusiasm but obviously forced by this lunatic's strength.
-[So… where are we going? I hope it's not too far…]
He proceeds to put his hands on his waist while puffing out his chest. He seems very confident; he even got me a little excited, as if he were about to talk about a legendary place, a place where he's lived a ton of adventures, a most mystical, even magical, unreal place, a place like…
-[Out here.]
Oopsie, I was wrong.
We moved to the kitchen.I sat at the table next to the television, and he put on an apron that I didn't even know we had in the house. He went to the kitchen and took out 5 eggs and a package of rice without asking me. Then he started cooking without bothering too much with spices/salt/sauces. Then he took a piece of lean meat and cooked it in a pan. I remained seated, not feeling like saying much. I put on the headphones I had left on the table earlier and rested my elbow on the table, waiting for the idiot using my kitchen to get bored of playing.
After about 10 minutes, the guy who broke into my house comes to the table with a giant bowl of rice, with the meat and egg on top. I can only look at him with a sour expression.
-[Do you really think I'll eat all this just for breakfast?]
Then, with a confident face and an idiot's smile while crossing his arms, he says:
-[Well, yes. As your trainer, I know what you should eat.]
-[But this is an absurd amount of food… Oh well…]
With nothing else to retort, resigned, I start eating. It tastes like "meh," like life itself. I eat just to eat, because there's nothing else to do at the moment. I mean, there's a huge guy who says that if I don't train with him, he'll break every one of my bones.
Then he breaks my calm and asks me with a proud face, lowering his torso to the level of the table and putting his face annoyingly close to mine. I guess it's because he thinks his food is good.
-[How's my culinary creation?]
-[It's fine…]
I tell him that to avoid talking to him any further. He already seems to have surpassed the limits of how annoying someone can be. I keep eating.
He proceeds to sit in front of me, in the only other chair we have at the table, though I suspect he would have sat in front of me even if there were more chairs. I doubt what he's doing is on purpose; he must just be that… special… For example…
-[Well Yuri, it would be correct to get some information about you. I only know you're Yoshida's son.]
-[I'm not his biological son.]
-[I see… that explains why you don't look alike at all. How old are you?]
-[16]
-[Shouldn't you be in high school? Are you a hikikomori?]
I don't answer him, I just keep eating, without looking him in the eye.
-[I guess so. Well, honestly, I feel a bit sorry for you.]
I'm a bit surprised by what he says; I wasn't expecting a comment like that. Anyway, I ignore him, so I keep eating.
-[You live practically alone. You have no friends. I imagine your life is based on watching anime on pirate sites.]
I keep eating.
-[Or maybe you're a pervert and watch a lot of hentai, like any disgusting hikikomori.]
I keep eating.
-[Well, at least you're pitiful to someone. Your father must be very indifferent towards you. After all, he always leaves you alone.]
I keep eating…
-[Your gaze is getting more and more downcast. Why do you keep pretending you don't care?]
I keep eating…
-[(Unintelligible.)]
I keep eating…
The electronic devices in the whole house flicker, turning off and on at high speed. Lightning and electricity sounds start crackling in the air. My headphones stop working. Then I take a deep breath and manage to hear the imbecile in front of me again.
[Tell me Yuri… how does it feel… to have one foot in adulthood and be a useless piece of shit…]
All the electronic devices in the house turn off as I look down. I drop the chopsticks, which fall to the floor. I find it hard to think, breathe, move. I'm scared, but I'm furious. Nothing I see makes sense, until suddenly I see the man in front of me…
-[AAAAAAAHHHHHH!]
An electrical discharge shoots out of my body at high speed and heads towards the guy in front of me.
He dodges it as if it were nothing. Then I feel a bit dizzy, and everything returns to normal.
Then the guy gets up from the table and gives me a glass of water. I'm so dizzy I accept it without hesitation.
After I take a sip, he tells me in a joking, somewhat ironic tone:
-[So that's why this house didn't have a converter or any way to control the electricity… Yoshida is a shameless one; he used his son all this time as a human electrical tape.]
Still recovering and having trouble speaking, I look up and ask, intrigued.
-[H-how did you figure it out?]
-[Because I have the same abilities as you. It doesn't have much to do with it, but I'm good at reading people.]
He adjusted his eyepatch a bit after saying that.
Somehow, he gathers all the dust in the house and manages to materialize a small stone. Then his expression changes to one a bit more serious than usual.
-[I'm sorry for everything I said… and for making you burn your wall… Yuri, they told me I would find someone normal here, the son of someone who needs a place to stay for a while, but it seems I found a rough diamond.]
After finishing that sentence, he smiles sincerely. I respond with an expressionless face.
-[I forgive you… but that won't change anything. I have no intention of being a Crusader, and I'm not interested in being cannon fodder in the normal people's platoon.]
-[How boring.]
-[Huh?]
-[Well… I can't accept that!]
He takes my arm and pulls me towards him, making me fall again. Like before, I see there's a lot of training equipment: wooden swords, replica guns, cones, weights, etc.
-[How did you bring all that?]
-[With my big, strong arms.]
He struck a pose worthy of a bodybuilder, flexing his enormous, burly arms. His bicep was easily as big as my head, including my hair.
I looked at him in disbelief.
-[I guess I'm forced to…]
-[Yes, but not yet…]
He throws me one of the wooden katanas from the training equipment he brought, and I catch it somewhat clumsily.
-[I WANT TO FIGHT YOUR ELECTRICITY!]
I look at him with a bit of disgust, but without realizing it, I raise my gaze to his eyes.
I looked someone in the eyes. Wow, it had been over a year since I last looked into someone else's eyes. His eyes showed real determination; he truly wanted to face someone like me. Or perhaps he wouldn't have fought someone as weak as me without an order; I doubt he was genuinely interested in someone like that.
Still a bit surprised, not quite believing I was able to look someone in the eyes, and still a little nervous, I tell him while clumsily adjusting the katana on my pants' waistband.
-[I understand…]
After that,I stand up straight, a bit nervous but expressionless, give a bow, and say.
-[I am Yoshida, Yuri Yoshida.]
He makes a disgusted face back at me, but one deeper than mine; it actually hurts a little.
-[I know that, you idiot. I came for a certain Yuri Yoshida.]
Then his expression changes to a more serious one, but with a sincere smile, as if we were already close friends.
-[My name is Ino Ryuji, Crusader of Japan, Captain of the 1st Squadron of the Crusader Special Forces. A pleasure.]