The Lightning Flash

Chapter 16: Being Special Pt. 1

5 Years Ago:

Masao Takehiko was a completely ordinary Japanese middle school student and if he were to describe himself using one word, it would be "average." In his mind, there wasn't a single special thing about him. He wasn't athletic enough to be considered a jock but struggled, academically, to the point where calling him intelligent wasn't true, either. Throughout the entirety of Masao's school life, he hadn't been able to make a single friend which showed the extent of his social skills that were practically zero. He hated talking to people, both boys and girls, because it made him feel incredibly uncomfortable. Every day, Masao contemplated if there would ever be a day where someone would finally take notice of him. If anyone would see him for more than a verbal and, sometimes, physical punching bag. That's all he wanted...more than anything. For someone to find something special about him for the sole reason that he couldn't find such a trait, himself. Today, was no different than any other day for Masao. Most kids ignored him both in the hallways of the school and in the classroom. The only students, who did take notice of him, were the kids messing with him, right now. One of the bullies was significantly taller than Masao while the other two were about the same size as him. The two smaller bullies would use their words to hurt Masao's already non-existent self-esteem while the larger bully, who acted like the ring leader, used physical force to get his message across. If there was any good news that Masao could focus on, it was that the larger bully didn't seem to be in the mood to do any of his usual physical bullying and was resorting to the same verbal assault that the two smaller ones, usually, did.

"Oh, it's getting kind of late...we don't want to be late for class," said one of the smaller bullies, taking notice of the time on one of the school clocks.

Masao was relieved to hear this until the larger bully slammed all of Masao's books onto the floor of the school, causing them to scatter. To make things even more difficult for Masao, the larger bully kicked one of his notebooks down the hall, away from him.

"Looks like the dipshit is going to be late for class, again," mocked the larger bully, smiling. "You got to work on that. Your teacher's going to be pissed."

With that, all of the bullies were gone, leaving Masao by himself. He knelt down to gather all of the notebooks that were still within his proximity and prepared to make his way down the hallway to where the other notebook was, that the bully had kicked.

"Um, is this yours?" asked a gentle voice, causing Masao to pause.

Standing in front of him was a girl, about his size, with chestnut brown hair and hazel eyes. This girl was holding Masao's notebook in her hands, offering it to him, with a small, delicate smile on her face. Masao was at a complete loss for words. No girl had ever talked to him, before, let alone, done anything to help him. Eventually, he forced himself to speak up so the girl wouldn't have stand, awkwardly, in front of him. He didn't want her to be late for her next class like he would be.

"T-Thanks," said Masao, taking the notebook from her. "I-I appreciate that."

"It's no problem, Masao," the girl responded, clearly. "Those other boys that were messing with you, though...don't they have anything better to do with their time?"

The only thing that Masao had latched onto from what the girl said was that she had used his name.

"Y-You...know my name?" asked Masao, shocked.

"Yep, we were in the same class last year, after all," answered the girl, smiling. "We kind of sat far away from each other, though, so you might not remember my name. It's Asuna...Asuna Yuuki."

Asuna Yuuki, Masao repeated inside of his head.  She...actually...took...notice of me. No one...ever notices me. Even the kids, who bully me, don't know my name. They just call me whatever the hell they feel like. But...this girl...Asuna Yuuki...she's different. She remembered my name. She's shown me kindness. It feels...nice.