The Amazing Mangaka

Chapter 2: Let Go - A New Naoto

"What the hell what the hell what the hell.."

Naoto was panicking as he had his hand under the facet of his bathroom sink. Cool, soothing water ran down the clearly visible spider bite. The bite itself surprisingly wasn't as bad as one would think. All he felt was a light sting; a quick prick. What scared him however, was the fact that a strange-looking creepy-crawling-critter had hitched a ride in his bag without him even knowing.

Naoto gave it another minute before he shut the sink off and went back to his room, slapping a bandaid on the bite along the way. He grabbed his bag and flipped it upside down, literally pouring his things on to the floor. Everything he had in there, his pencils, his sketchbook and his folders, came out like water rushing out of an opened jug. Naoto feverishly dug through his things, scattering them around the floor as he frantically looked to see if there were any more spiders. He flipped the pages in books over and over. He shook his emptied bag in the area, trying to coax whatever was still in there to fall out. At one point, he checked his school uniform. Naoto wasn't taking any chances.

Thankfully, he didn't find anything. Naoto sighed in a huge relief. Spiders gave the boy a bit of the jitters and the idea of being around them didn't exactly excite him. Once he knew he was all clear, he began to clean up.

Naoto cursed the luck he was having that day. First, some first-year girl made him cry, and now he was bitten by some strange spider not too long after? What a day for him. Naoto simply sighed, deciding to try and not think more of it. Despite his attempts however, the mental image of the spider kept creeping into his head. The color on its abdomen was like nothing he had ever seen.

"What the hell kind of spider was that," he said to himself. Naoto tried to block those thoughts out of his head by choosing to work on his manga, which would thankfully succeed in doing so.

The rest of his night would go by like normal. Naoto continued working on his manga before beginning to study. Then, he eventually went to bed.

"Look guys! It's the weird mangaka!"

A pair of hands shoved Naoto down to the ground, causing him to land flat on his ass. He looked up and saw a group of kids looming over him.

They were laughing at him, poking fun at the poor boy. "Show us your manga, nerd," one of them said. Naoto was powerless as they called him all sorts of names. A boy wearing a baseball cap backwards called him a loser. Another one with spiky hair called him a weirdo. Naoto sighed and closed his eyes, deciding to simply take the verbal beating.

He was having a nightmare, and this wasn't uncommon for him. Naoto was bullied relentlessly growing up. He was constantly the odd one out, the quiet, awkward kid who was the target of continuous torment by his peers. He didn't have many friends, and as an only child, unfortunately had almost no one to go to for support save for his parents. His troubled childhood led him to develop his own defense mechanism for safety. Rather than standing up for himself, Naoto would ignore them. He'd allow them to bully him while he avoided eye contact, simply letting it pass him until they eventually gave up. He referred to this as "closing his heart."

And for the most part, it worked. The years would pass, and while he'd still find himself a victim of bullying, Naoto would never remember their faces, something he was completely fine with.

Naoto simply sat silently, blocking out his tormentors. The nightmare would continue to unfold. It was similar to ones he had before. Relive being bullied and endure it before it eventually came to an end. Nothing made it different from the rest.. Except for one thing.

His eyes opened as he heard a voice. A voice of a girl. He knew that voice. It was new, but at the same time, it was like one he was all too familiar with already. Naoto looked up. He saw the kids spread out, as if they were making room for someone. Then, his eyes locked on to the sight of a teenager wearing a school uniform.