Underneath the Moonlight: REBOOT! || Osorō Shidesu x OC

!!Prologue, 2 - Kyle Sterling & Aru Akiyama

Aru had just turned fourteen two days prior, and as he stepped out of his limo to head to the movie theater, he felt like a million bucks. After all, he was enjoying his summer – but once it ended, he was finally a high schooler, and at an amazing school like Pennystone Academy, at that. That basically made him a man now, didn't it?

However, before he could enter the theater, a group of bullies from middle school approached him, shoving him to the ground. "H-hey!" he protested.

"You think you're better than us, because your rich daddy got you into Pennystone Academy?!" One of them yelled at him, reaching down to grab him by the collar and yank him back up. "You're still just a loser! That'll never change, even at a place like Pennystone!"

"That's not true, you f&$*ing racists!" Aru dared to yell back, fed up with them constantly picking on him just because he was a short Asian guy.

"What the hell did you just say to us?! You'll regret that!"

The guy lifted his fist, prepared to pummel him, and Aru closed his eyes in anticipation. Instead of feeling his fist against his jaw, however, someone new yelled, "HEY!"

Someone new hurriedly broke through their group, fighting his way through until he was ripping the guy off Aru and pummeling him until him and his friends got up and ran away. The new guy spit on the ground in front of him as he yelled after them, "And stay away!"

Aru's hero turned to face him, huffing dark bangs out of his face. He was an older kid, probably already in high school, and he had dark brown hair and cold, emerald green eyes. His hair was swoopy and messy, and both of his ears were pierced multiple times. He had a plain longboard with him, and wore jean shorts, a white tank top, and a large denim jacket that didn't quite fit him – it was falling off his shoulders.

Realizing he was staring, awestruck, Aru cleared his throat and said, "T-thank you. They're jerks."

The guy scoffed. "Yeah, no kidding." He sized him up. "You're going to Pennystone this year?"

"Yeah," he replied, "I'm a freshman this year. Name's Aru Akiyama."

The guy's eyes widened. "Holy shit. Big name like you, and you're letting them step on you?" When Aru shrugged, the guy shook his head and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "I'm Kyle Sterling. You could learn a thing or two from me about standing up for yourself, ya know."

Again, Aru shrugged, and without thinking, he blurted bitterly, "I'd rather learn how to stand up for my sister."

Kyle raised an eyebrow, confused yet curious. "Why's that?"

He hesitated. "It's... complicated. I don't know if I should talk about it."

Kyle suddenly straightened and held his pinky out, as if asking for a pinky promise. "I swear on my mom's life I won't tell anyone." When he noticed Aru hesitating, he added, "My mom's dead, by the way, and you seem like you've got something to get off your chest."

Aru blinked and stared at his pinky for a while. Finally, he sighed, and locked his pinky with Kyle's – because he was right, he did have something to get off his chest, and if Kyle was swearing on his dead mother's life... he had to be serious. "Fine."