But What If I Was Better? | Mob Joins UA

[After Dad's Heart]

Wow, I actually don't want to make my characters suffer for once. I'm in such a good writing mood today.

Me finding out Reigen was canonically bullied as a kid tho ;-;
Just from personal experience, I barely remember anything from my years in public school, but apparently the bullying got so bad that I was pulled out and homeschooled because of it. 😅

Anyways, enough about me and on to the the story!

Chanting: One more arc until the finale. One more arc until the finale! One more arc until the finale!! ONE MORE ARC UNTIL THE FINALE! :D
(Then comes the sequel 👉👈)
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Age fourteen. Second year of middle school.

     I never was considered physically strong, or durable, or whatever. Despite that, my dad always pushed me to attend sports. "You have to remain diligent, son." He would always say. "If you don't want to grow up to be a wimp, then it is crucial to push yourself!" Yeah... While his words made sense on paper, he failed to see the bigger picture each and every day...

     I'd just gotten done with running that day. A terribly hot day no less. I was on the track team. Why? I didn't know. My dad always said I had to be in sports, but he never specified that I had to stick with one for very long. So, I tended to jump around, looking for the sport that suited me best. ... Or, rather, for a club or group of kids who would actually accept me.

   "You're such a puny little thing, aren't ya?"
  "How many sports did you say you played? Because I'm having a hard time believing you've ever played anything in your life!!"
  "Ha! Looks like Reigen was chosen last...AGAIN!"
  "Yeah, he's always chosen last!"

     I don't really know why my dad pushed me so hard with sports specifically. I had excellent grades, was great at negotiating, and was even told I had a bright future ahead of me by many of my teachers. ... I always just assumed it was because of his own disability, since he used to tell me how much he wished he could play a good old game of baseball with me..but couldn't.

     I was better off playing videogames...by myself. At least then, there was no one to bother me.

     I fumbled my way out the boy's locker rooms, still sliding on a clean teal shirt in a hurry, since I had cram school immediately after this. Usually, I'd only leave if the coach was with me, but today he was too busy cleaning up my vomit thanks to me pushing myself too hard again. So, I was stuck between awkwardly waiting for him and then embarrassing myself by arriving late to afternoon classes, or taking my chances. I went with the second option.

     Outside the locker rooms, I was hit with the sun's intense heat, immediately wrapped in a warm blanket of humidity. There was no in-between from the lockers to the pavement, which was only wide enough to fit one car at a time. On the other side of the thin strip was a chain-link fence. Behind it was a wall of dense trees. Here was a crossroads of sorts..between two parking lots. Once my head had finally squeezed through the shirt hole, I hurried to the right.

     "D###, he's even slow at changing! Are you a sloth, man?!" A bratty kid around my age remarked. I caught my gasp, head jolting up to see a group of kids leaning against the brick wall to narrowly escape the sun's intensity. They were some of the same kids on my track team, all of whom I at least recognized. The biggest of the bunch pushed himself from the wall, taking a few steps toward me with a cocky grin on his face. I panicked. It was either face them or run around the whole building campus, which I knew I couldn't do without vomiting again or fainting!

     "Hey-heyyy, guys!.. I like ice cream.. You like ice cream... Ho-how about we settle this over a nice treat, huhh? My gift to you for not pummeling me today." I stepped back, nearly tripping over completely flat concrete somehow. The kid in the front, who I called "Roger" in my head, smirked.