The year was 2045.
Technology had advanced far beyond what people once imagined possible. Towering holographic advertisements illuminated the cities at night, autonomous vehicles flowed through the streets like silent rivers, and artificial intelligence had become a normal part of everyday life.
Yet despite the world evolving so rapidly, human cruelty remained painfully unchanged.
Hiroyuki Aizawa understood that better than anyone.
At eighteen years old, Hiroyuki already carried the exhaustion of someone far older. His sharp eyes, rough expression, and disciplined physique were not the result of confidence or pride, but of hardship. Life had carved those traits into him over the years.
His mother had died when he was six.
His father, a robotics engineer working under the Japanese Defense Sector, had been forced to leave home due to the demands of his work. Though he loved his son deeply, the distance between them only continued to grow.
And so Hiroyuki lived alone.
An empty house.
An empty dining table.
Empty nights.
The only person who consistently remained by his side was his childhood friend, Fumi Hayashi.
She was older than him by a year, stubborn, unpredictable, and somehow capable of softening the rough edges of his personality whenever she appeared.
Without realizing it, Hiroyuki had begun depending on her presence more than he wished to admit.
But right now, none of that mattered.
Because another irritating school day had begun.
The hallway buzzed with noise as students walked through the corridor in groups, laughing and chatting carelessly.
Hiroyuki walked alone with his hands inside his pockets.
Then—
A loud crashing sound echoed nearby.
His eyes shifted slightly.
A group of bullies had cornered a smaller student against the wall.
They all were pretty bigger and fit in size, almost stronger than anyone from the school, the only one who can counter them was hiroyuki.
"What's in your bag monkey kid?!"
Asked the main one from the group with his head shaved of with some hair sprouts.
The victim trembled helplessly while the others laughed around him.
"I-its nothing!"
The student trembled in fear.
And something fell down to the floor from his bag. And it clashes.
The bully lifted it up.
"Oh my... Isn't it the latest pocket gaming set?, well I'm keeping this from now"
"No! Y-you can't..."
The student desperately tries to stand up for himself.
"What did you say?"
He smacked onto his head with a punch, the student clashes onto the floor losing consciousness for a second.
They lift him up again, pinned him into the wall while he is barely conscious.
"Ugh... please...someone..."
Nobody interfered.
Nobody ever did.
Everyone in the school knew what happened to people who stood against them.
They became targets.
Day after day.
Until graduation.
Hiroyuki clicked his tongue quietly and continued walking.
"None of my business…"
But his footsteps slowed.
Old memories surfaced inside his mind.
His own screams.
His own humiliation.
The same laughter.
The same fear.
His fist tightened
Hiroyuki stopped walking completely.
Silence settled inside him for a moment.
Then he glanced back over his shoulder.
The leader of the group grabbed the smaller student by the collar and raised his hands into the student as if he was doing something carefully.
He was piercing a needle between the finger nails and the flesh beneath it.
A-AGHHHH SOMEBODYYYY!!!
"Oi, oi oi, it's just fine just a little mo—
A powerful impact exploded through the hallway.
BAAM!
The bully's body flew backward across the corridor before crashing violently onto the floor.
The entire hallway froze.
Hiroyuki slowly lowered his fist which was hissing out smoke from that punch.
"...Hmph. One down."
He flexed his fingers casually.
"Been wanting to punch that main bastard for years anyway."
The other bullies stared in complete confusion.
One of them rushed toward Hiroyuki in rage.
Before the student could even throw a proper punch—
SLAP!
A brutal slap snapped across his face hard enough to spin him sideways.
Another charged forward swinging a wooden rod toward Hiroyuki's head.
The rod sliced through the air violently.
Hiroyuki leaned slightly to the side.
The strike missed him by inches.
At the same time, Hiroyuki's fist launched forward toward the bully's stomach with terrifying speed—
His eyes widened slightly.
"Oh fu—"
He forcibly halted his own punch inches before impact.
The air pressure alone bent the student's uniform inward.
Hiroyuki stared at his own fist.
"That was close…"
A cold sweat rolled down his neck.
"That punch would have ended his game."
For a brief second, his movement paused.
And that hesitation became a mistake.
CRACK!
The wooden rod smashed directly against Hiroyuki's head.
Pain exploded through his skull.
The sound echoed across the corridor.
His vision blurred instantly.
Hiroyuki dropped onto one knee.
The world around him tilted violently.
"W-What…"
"My body feels… heavy…"
The bullies began laughing.
"What happened, hero?"
"Already kneeling to us?"
Blood slowly trickled down Hiroyuki's forehead.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
The warm blood slid past his eye like crimson tears.
Hiroyuki slowly stood back up.
His expression darkened.
Veins bulged around his neck.
"HOW THE HELL…"
"CAN I KNEEL TO TRASH LIKE YOU?!"
The hallway fell silent.
His voice echoed with raw fury.
"IF YOU WANTED ME DOWN SO BAD…"
"YOU SHOULD'VE KILLED ME ALREADY!!"
The bully roared and swung the rod again.
But this time—
Time itself seemed slower.
Hiroyuki smirked faintly.
"...here it comes."
The Blood flows from the head to his right eye and the blood starts to flow down from his eye like tears.
The rod descended toward his skull.
Then—
The rod hit onto his head, A mere illusion.
Hiroyuki disappeared from the bully's sight.
The bully's eyes widened.
The strike had only hit an afterimage.
Before his brain could process what happened—
BOOM!
Hiroyuki's fist crashed directly into his face from the side.
The bully's body blasted sideways through a classroom door.
The surrounding students screamed as the body flew past them.
when you move an object from place to another so fast that it leaves an after image, an average human brain and eyes does not have enough capabilities to see an object moving at the speed of more than 500mph, in this case, the bully didn't even notice when hiroyuki dodged, instead the his brain focused on the after image of him.
By the time, Hiroyuki had already counterattacked.
Another bully attempted a kick.
Hiroyuki reacted instantly.
He intensionally slammed fist into the incoming leg of the attacker crashing onto his thighs, the impact was double the amount since the punch and the kick both collided together.
The student collapsed immediately, screaming in agony while clutching his leg.
"AGHHH MY LEG!!"
Hiroyuki exhaled nervously.
"...I hope I didn't break it."
Another rushed him from behind, and wrapped his hands around his neck to choke him.
Hiroyuki grabbed the attacker's arm firmly.
"Are you ready?"
"Eh?!"
The poor fellow was confused.
Hiroyuki flipped him over his shoulder as if he just whipped him like a wet cloth onto the ground.
The student slammed into the ground hard enough to knock the air from his lungs.
Silence.
Hiroyuki glanced around calmly.
"Hmm."
"Guess that's everyone."
THUD!
A school bag smashed directly into his face.
"UFFGH!"
Hiroyuki stumbled backward.
A familiar angry voice echoed across the corridor.
"Could you explain WHAT exactly I'm looking at here?!"
Hiroyuki slowly pulled the bag off his face.
Standing there was a girl with short dark hair, sharp eyes, and visible frustration across her face.
Fumi Hayashi.
The only person in the world capable of attacking Hiroyuki without fear.
"...Oh."
"It's you, senpai."
Fumi folded her arms angrily.
"Don't 'senpai' me this time."
Behind them, the rescued student pointed shakily at Hiroyuki.
"T-This guy saved me…"
Fumi's eyes widened.
Then she looked at the unconscious bodies scattered across the hallway.
"WAIT."
"Are these dead bodies?! You beat ALL of them?!"
Hiroyuki scratched his cheek awkwardly.
"...I don't think they're dead."
"Probably."
"PROBABLY?!"
The lunch bell suddenly rang throughout the school.
A gentle breeze flowed through the school garden.
Hiroyuki sat quietly on a bench while Fumi cleaned the blood from his forehead with a napkin.
"Ow—"
"Stop moving."
"Yes, boss."
Fumi sighed softly while continuing to clean the wound carefully.
Hiroyuki looked at her face for a moment.
Then blinked.
Her eyes looked watery.
"...Senpai."
"Are you crying?"
Fumi immediately turned her face away.
"W-What?!"
"No!"
"But your eyes—"
"Shut up."
"...Yes, boss."
Fumi quietly handed him a lunchbox afterward.
"Here."
"I made lunch."
Hiroyuki blinked in surprise.
"You cooked this?"
"M-Mhm…"
A small smile appeared on Hiroyuki's face.
"Itadakimasu."
Fumi watched him nervously while he ate.
Then—
A quiet thought crossed Hiroyuki's mind.
Maybe…
Maybe life wasn't completely terrible after all.