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My feet dragged me pathetically along the road towards the subway station.
School went as usual. Our last lesson lasted for some time, so my class got out late.
As I walked out of the gates, I saw Kazuki smoking at a corner against the walls, but I payed him no mind. I just continued on my way. I got on the train, and it started its journey, zooming me back to where our house was in Shirokane District, Minato Ward.
I learned my lesson the hard way the last time I got confused between trains, so I made sure to focus on the road and get on the correct one.
I watched the buildings change between the window panes of the train, the city lights smearing past. It was getting dark, and I felt nervous.
So much had happened within two days already and, honestly, I was overwhelmed. A bunch of threats from you-know-who, in addition to my classmates' humiliating treatment felt like two good blows (to the face, specifically). All of it was unfamiliar, so much unlike how it all used to be in Aogashima.
Aogashima is a small volcanic Island along the southern coast of Tokyo, belonging to the Hachijō Subprefecture of Tokyo. It's probably the most remote Island in all of Japan [nerd talk mode].
Ever since birth, I lived there.
Full of green hills and mountains, there was practically not much to see around the Islandic village of Aogashima. The population was and is still small, with only 170 inhabitants, including me and my family. And because of the tiny population, there was only one school in all of the village: Aogashima Elementary-Junior High School. It was where I met my classmates whom-contradictory to the kids here in Tokyo-gave a short-term negative impression of my appearance before ignoring it for the longest time.
It was probably the most frustrating time of my life, where I finally gained first-hand experience of the people's disdain towards visually displeasing folk, such as me. It wasn't forthright insults like the Tokyan kids here-at least, not in the beginning. It only manifested into tiny insults in junior high. Things along the lines of "donkey gal," which was the most prominent name of me at the time because of my comically protruding buckteeth. It only got worse when I got my braces ("cable mouth").
I did have a few friends, two or three maximum. Most didn't display that much hesitation when deciding to talk to me as much as the kids in Tokyo, but it was not like anybody really liked me either. They just fetched for me when I was needed or if something particularly concerned me. I was an ignorable existence there, compared to the most average in class. In Aogashima, the most adventurous kids-the ones who could travel around the Island fearlessly-were considered champions in our eyes. Looking back at it, we thought and acted like a bunch of tribal folk, which was understandable if you take the narrow perspective of a junior high school kid living in Japan's most remote Island. It was Lord of the Flies all over again.
