The moments between us

Chapter 1

Being born quirkless in a world of Gods was suffocating. You knew it better than anyone. The pain, the sadness and the disappointment that comes with it is inevitable. Many people think so. You do as well. There's never a day that goes by where you aren't reminded of your deficiency. It's all around and it's not even people. It's the billboards, the education and the society. Everywhere you go there are fleeting reminders. It's constant and you can't escape. And you accept that. You've come to accept your vulnerability before anyone else did. Before your parents did. It was a bitter pill to swallow but it had to go down nonetheless. Things would be a lot easier that way and they had been.

For starters, by acknowledging that fact you were able to make peace with yourself. You were able to walk around freely without a heavy heart and your peers, friends and family also stopped worrying about it. About you. They stopped feeling pity, concern or sorrow.

It's better that way. You remind yourself.

Your life has been swift, if you can call it that, from the day the heavy weight was lifted from your heart. You lived a normal life, in a normal college with normal friends who aren't too flashy but also not too weird. You have average grades, average home and pretty average parents. Nothing out of the ordinary.

As of right now, you're in your final year of college: revising, learning, and anxiously anticipating a fresh start at university. The prospect was thrilling yet undeniably daunting. It felt good.

Your life was good and you don't want it to change but it seems the heavens have a different path for you. God forbid you ever get anything you want. There's always an obstacle you have to overcome whether it's annoying patronising boys or your parents or your dropping grades, you've always overcome it. Just like you're going to overcome this obstacle now. It'll be tough but it's nothing you can't handle.

This problem being your parents' sudden decision to move to the other side of the world— to a country you've never visited, where you don't speak the language, and where everything feels unfamiliar and overwhelming. You don't know what came over them, but suddenly, your entire life had changed in an instant. Everything you knew was slipping away, and there was nothing you could do to stop it—where could you possibly go, and what could you even do to fix it?

It had to be accepted, just like everything else in your life that was decided for you. There was no room for protest, no chance to argue—it was simply the way things were. And before you even had the chance to process it all, you found yourself settling into your new home in the heart of Tokyo. A city so vast and unfamiliar, it felt like a world away from everything you had known, with no ticket or even the faintest possibility of going back to the life you had left behind.

God I hate my life... You thought with defeat while rubbing your temples to soothe the ache.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You entered the café, the warmth of its golden hues and the inviting scent of freshly brewed coffee immediately wrapping around you. The space was large, with wooden beams stretching across the high ceilings and long windows that let in soft, afternoon light, casting gentle shadows on the polished floors. The quiet hum of conversation and the occasional clink of cups created a sense of calm in the bustling city outside. You approached the counter, ordered your espresso and a pastry, and then made your way to a seat by the window. As you settled in, you gazed out at the lively streets of Tokyo, the world moving outside as you quietly adjusted to your new reality. Your eyes drifted from person to person, soaking up their appearance and making a judgement on their entire lives with just a glance at how they presented themselves.