Aberration

Interlude 1

Interlude

-Enter: Ami Shirai

My name is Shirai, Ami Shirai. I'm the heir of the ruined noble family of Shirai. I'm the second child and first daughter, so even if we were still noble, I wouldn't have gotten much of anything. I don't really mind that, though. Kazu, my big brother, deserves it all anyway! He's always been a hard-worker, he's kind and conscientious of others, and he's good-looking. Yeah, I didn't really receive any of the good genes of the family, so I'm a little chubby in places, but not anywhere that's particularly flattering. My hair is always a mess because I can't be bothered to tame it, my face is always red with pimples, and I've been told that I often smell funny.

So, combining all of my appealing factors together, I'd say that I have a 0.00000025% chance of even giving my parents grandchildren! Basically, I'm a waste of space and energy! My grades are poor because I skip class in order to hide in the bathroom! I only have one friend who only hangs out with me because she pities me! I've been bullied my entire highschool career and I've contemplated ending my life several times! I'd be doing my parents a favor, so they won't have to put up with their stupid, fat, ugly, dissappointment of a child! Oh! And Kazu could inherit our family's empire of shit! Nothing! My big brother wouldn't get a single grain of rice because my father would have spent it all gambling! It's not that I really want to complain about it, but I guess it would make sense to explain that people who know wealth and fame typically don't take it well when it's stolen from them. I don't really know all the details, but I've heard Mom yell at Dad about how he'd spent all of the Shirai family's money from when they were nobility. He spent it on luxuries that he couldn't reimburse and alcohol, so when we ran out, he resorted to gambling... which he wasn't much good at, so he asked the Yakuza for a loan once.

I've never hated my parents, not even my Dad. Not even when he was angry and took it out on us. Not even when he forced Kazu to leave and get a place of his own. Sometimes he'd hit me, but I guess... I felt like I deserved it. Like it was okay because at least I served a purpose this way. Their useless, stupid, ugly, disappointment of a child could serve a purpose by being a punching bag when she needed to be. She could be a punching bag for her father, she could be a punching bag for her mother when she yelled and berated her for her appearance, for her grades, and how she'd never be anything like her older brother... and she could even be a punching bag for her classmates when they needed to. Suzume Higuchi was my friend since kindergarten. I don't know what changed, but she's been bullying me since the last year of middle school. She'd kick me, spit on me, laugh at me, make me feel disgusting... She took pictures of me naked once and threatened to spread them around the school if I ever mentioned what she did.

I'm sorry for whining. Anyways! After my parents were killed, apparently I was possessed by a woman named Yoko. She's... beautiful. I've never seen anyone so breathtakingly gorgeous. She has yellow eyes, like sunflowers, but what I found most beautiful was her white hair that flowered like beautiful rivers of silver. It was the exact same color as my brother's hair. Everyone thought his hair was cool! He was like a manga character, you know? The reserved and wise character whose hair was representative of an elder's wisdom. I can't remember a single time that kids bullied him about it: they always wanted to touch it or compliment how cool it made him look! Kazu is pale and was always a little sickly as a child, so we ended up being really close. Whenever I was sad, we could just sit in bed and read manga together.

When I woke up from my coma, I saw a young man quietly reading from a book. He seemed... so cool... stoically flipping through the pages of his novel with the dawn sun fluttering against his back. Though he and my brother look nothing alike, he reminded me of him and I felt safe, somehow. I didn't know where I was, what happened, or why I was hooked to an IV drip with a heart monitor beeping beside me, but I felt peaceful as long as he would sit there and continue to read to himself. Then, of course, he happened to look up and turned out to be a total asshole. Yeah, he was an asshole, but hmmm. How can I explain this? Some people are just into anal, you know what I mean? I can't explain why, but I know that Arash is kind, just like Kazu. I have no clue what waits for me, and I'm more scared than I've ever been in my life, but perhaps he's supposed to be my sensei: the master that the protagonist is always assigned to grow stronger in shounen manga! Or maybe he's the love-interest? I don't think I'm against either path... Wait, since I'm the protagonist, wouldn't this be a shoujo? In which case, the story would be catered more towards young girls instead of young boys. So it would format to a romance-centric story as opposed to a fighting-centric story. But, then again, am I even the protagonist? Maybe he's the main character that gets all of the super strong powers. Wait... he's already strong, so it can't be the formulaic Hero's Journey story that shounen manga often shovel down... So that means I must be the protagonist, right? That's why my life has changed so drastically, because it's my origin story! Right? Right...?