1I'm in despair! Living in a world where the media could be lying about anything has left me in despair! They said that the manga would come out in February, but the last time I believed a claim like that, I was terribly disappointed! They said the president would take office in January, but he's already taken office! (And if I'm wrong, tell me.) When I went to a bookstore to buy a certain volume of a certain unpopular book (don't ask me what) on the day it came out and every day after, It wasn't there! And it's not because people would have bought it! I went to multiple bookstores, and I know only two or three people who would read such a depressing story, including myself! So the internet lied! The media lies! But living in a world where you're criticized for not believing something you see in the media just because everyone thinks everyone else believes it, leaves me in despair!

For every chapter, I'll go on a depressing rant, then get on with the show.

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One: They've been here so long it doesn't matter what I do anymore.

Is it right to be loved? Is it wrong to be hated? That's what negative thinker Itoshiki Nozomu thought. Back when he was young, he had broken the record for most number of consecutive rejections.

Sixteen years ago...

"Yuki-san... would you go out with me?"

"NO."

"Awww......"

Back at home....

"Enishi-nii, I got rejected again."

"... Nozomu, you're ten years old. People your age get into that gooey kinda love before thinking about dating."

"You mean staying with each other all the time at school while saying 'I wuv you. No I wuv you'?"

".... In a nutshell, yes."

Flash! Flash! Flash! Flash!

"I'm in despair! Not being loved just because the natural standard age for love has yet to be reached has left me in despair!"

"Now Nozomu, love isn't only about age, you misunderstand me..."

"You mean I could be loved, but I'm not?!"

"..... uhhhh...."

Ever since then, Nozomu hasn't even thought about having a relationship. He just thought that he wasn't the type of person that would be liked. But he never even tried.

Nozomu was walking down the hallway.

"Ugh, reliving these awful memories has left me in despair."

He opened the door to his homeroom.

"If a man cannot be loved, what else can he do but die?"

His entire class looked down. 'I really feel sorry for this guy...'

Kafuka raised her hand. "But sensei! If you say that, then what do you say for all other people like that?"

".... it's the law of love."

"But it's not a lack of love, it's just that nobody's made a move yet!"

"I have..."

"But have you ever let her?"

Everybody in the class took this into consideration.

Matoi looked at him from under his podium. Jii~

Then, instead of her usual staring sound effect (Jii) she spoke to him. "You made a move on me! And now it's official!"

Nozomu thought 'I don't exactly know what she's talking about...'

Chiri rose her hand. "Sensei, you also made a move on me!"

"WHAT? No!"

"You slept with me!"

"No! You just rolled over into my bed!"

"Well then I made the move then! It doesn't matter, we still slept together! And as a couple who slept together, we should act as we should and get a proper marriage..."

"I don't care how perfect you think that logic is, I'm not buying it!"

Kaere then underwent her change to Kaede. "Sensei, I would prefer if you got married to me!"

"Um, I'd really like a distraction for this one."

DIVINE WIND. Kaede's skirt flies up, and she's wearing... strawberries! Which is strange, since that's usually the overused kind in the anime world (in reference to Ichigo 100%, Magikano, an earlier episode that had a panty shot, etc.) Kaede turns back into Kaere.

"You all looked didn't you? I'll sue!" She then proceeds to run out of the room.

Mayo took her chance and threw a pencil at Nozomu's forehead, and when it hit, it stuck there.

"Um, I'm afraid that if I take this out, I'll bleed like crazy." He looked over at Mayo. He saw three pencils in her hand. "No, no, it couldn't have been you Mitama-san. There's too much evidence."

Mayo blushed as she threw the remaining three pencils.

"Ouch... couldn't have been.... you..."

Everyone in his class nodded in union.

Ai Kaga spoke. "Um, me too?"

"..... eh?"

"You're the first person who told me what my problem was...."

That made Nozomu ponder. 'Wait, absolutely NOBODY told her that she has a guilt complex? In her entire seventeen year old life?'

"Oh! I'm sorry! I spoke out of turn didn't I?"

'Apparently, knowing what your problem is isn't the same as solving it...'

Then Rin came into the picture.

"Aw, come on! You too little sister?"

"... No, I want to marry out of my family. Plus, you're just way too negative for me. Those two traits separate don't mean much, but... together, they make you completely unavailable to me."

'Wait, so if I dropped negativity, she would marry me regardless of the fact that I'm her brother? If anything this day puts me in despair more, it's hearing her say that...'

Kafuka rose her hand again. "And you come on to me too!"

"HOW?"

"Well, you know how people usually pretend to ignore the kindness of people they like? It's pretty much that!"

'She's even turned my ignorance of her kind and positive attitude into something positive!'

Abiru said "It isn't nice to be walking out on the commitments you made."

The whole class agreed.

Kudou said "I'll hold him down..."

"Wait! I'm your teacher! You can't hold me down..."

"First of all, you don't look that strong, and I could probably hold you down pretty well. Second of all, I meant with my story."

"AW CRAP!"

"In the winter day, there was an orphan, and his dog..."

"NO! NELLO! PATRASCHE!"

Nozomu ran before he could continue.

"That story of a dying boy and his dog gets anybody sad! I'm glad I made it out in time!"

He picks a random room and runs into it.

In the dark of the room he heard a little ring.

"Oh, I've got mail."

You can't run away forever, you four-eyed pansy. Running away from commitment....

"Wow. I think I may have found the one thing my entire class agrees on. Commitment..."

Then he heard a small giggle. So he turned around. It was hard to make out in the dark, so he used the light from his cell. He saw Kiri Komori.

"Ah, Komori-san. Please hide me!" There was a sort of sad desperation in his voice.

"Yes... Sensei..."

She pointed him over to the closet. (This isn't a rip-off. If you read them in order, it gave me this idea. But it won't have the same result. You know who you are.)

He slid the door of the closet shut.

"Sensei... I'll tell you when they stop searching..."

The sound of clomping feet and shouting could be heard from outside.

"Respect your proper marriage proposal!"

"You said you'd....(die) with me!"

"I'm sorry, but I must find you!"

"Don't wimp out onii-chan."

Guess who. And if you guess right, you get a prize!

It had been two days. Nozomu hadn't seen any other living soul except for Komori in that time. She snuck him food when he asked for it. And occasionally, Chie-sensei would come over to Komori's room. Nozomu didn't know what they did while he was in the closet, but at one point in time, he would hear Komori say "don't open" or "don't look".

Three more days pass. You can still hear them walking the halls, calling out to their sensei. "Don't they have anything better to do? I mean come on!"

Komori told him "You're their teacher, and you aren't there. I don't think they have anything better to do..."

"Komori-san, you may be the only normal one. I mean, besides you being a hikikomori."

"What do you mean?"

"Well for one, you aren't turning me in like anyone else would."

"......"

"And you don't have an unhealthy attraction to me."

"!"

"I mean, a person like me, I don't think anyone should love me. I'm a worthless human being."

"... that isn't true...."

"Huh?"

"...."

"But isn't it?"

The door opened. Nozomu immediately slammed the closet door shut.

"But Sensei, if that were true, nobody would care."

Nozomu knew that voice. It was Kafuka. He opened the closet door. It wasn't just Kafuka. It was Matoi, Ai and Mayo.

"All of you?"

Mayo hit him with a brick.

"Owww... it couldn't... have been you... owww.

Ai quickly said "I'm sorry, but I need to disagree. Sorry."

Matoi spoke. "If I thought your life was worthless, I wouldn't be following you. In fact, because of the bugs I put in your collar, I knew where you were all along."

'So that's why my neck itches...'

Kafuka again. "Nobody would be looking. We all think your life matters, so that's why we're looking."

"I always thought it was because everybody likes proving me wrong. And because they like putting me in difficult situations. For everybody who doesn't, it's your opinion that my life matters. If you ask the world, the majority would be that my life is worthless."

"But that still means that some people think you're not worthless. If it's a matter of opinion, than it doesn't matter what the majority thinks. What matters are the facts!"

"And who better to know about the facts of my life than me? I know my life is worthless. It's your OPINION that it isn't."

"Sensei..."

"Just leave me alone. Please don't tell them where I am."

Matoi. "Okay sensei, but please try to see eye to eye with us."

".... I'll give you this little figure to look at in place of me in return for not telling them."

Nozomu hands Matoi a little statuette of himself. "Made by Kei-nii."

"It isn't as good as you, but it'll hold me over until you decide to come out."

"Maybe."

All but Komori left. "That's what I meant when I said that it isn't true."

".... I'm going to sleep."

Komori closed his closet door.

'Sensei is so depressed. I want to cheer him up. But I need to figure out how.'

In the closet.

'Attracting attention from women it would be morally wrong to be with under the assumption that I would be a pedophile which I'm not leaves me in despair.'

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Well, that was the first chapter. How did you like it? Did it fit your tastes? If it didn't, that leaves me in despair. If it does, it leaves me in more despair, because I know that your vision of Nozomu is equally as depressing. Tell me if I went wrong somewhere. I know I did. Did I?

Hey, it's a good friend of mine! Hey how are ya doin'? What are you doing with that knife? Why are you holding it out? I'm not peeling any fruit, or cutting any.... Why is that knife so close to my face? Why are you raising that knife in the air?

STAB