"No, no, I know I look like that guy, but I'm really not him! You guy heard it was an internet prank, right? You won't get any money!" Hitoshi cried out even though he knew the group of athletic teenagers chasing him wouldn't listen; they never did.

"Catch the murderer!" yelled the boy wearing a bright yellow sweatshirt stained with orange.

"Let's get the reward money from those Homra guys!" cheered another in a mauve windbreaker.

It'd been like this ever since he'd come back from... wherever he had been. All he knew was that one moment he'd been living his little small-town life as always, going to school, escaping the notice of, well, everyone, and then the next he was waking up in Shizume City with people, a sword-wielding boy and a busty girl, looking at him with tears in their eyes. Apparently, as it had been described to him, some super-powered guy possessed his body and took him to Shizume City, where he murdered a member of a super-powered gang. He then possessed the body of another, immortal, super-powered guy, while this new guy went into Hitoshi's body, but with amnesia. The gang hunted down Hitoshi, or the immortal guy, or whatever, thinking he was the killer, offering a reward for his capture, putting his photo and a video of him killing a guy everywhere. The immortal guy brought the killer into Hitoshi's body, and then the gang's leader destroyed him. But since the immortal guy was still there, Hitoshi's body got better. Eventually, after a bunch of stuff that Hitoshi didn't need to know about, the magic rock that gave all these super-powered people their superpowers was destroyed, the immortal guy, who's no longer immortal, went back to his own body, and Hitoshi finally had his own body to himself once more.

After the guys in blue coats had finished explaining all this to him, he'd asked them what comic book they were reading from. The awkward men had then proceeded to retell the story, this time with puppets being used intermittently.

What really added insult to injury was that no one in his hometown had cared. Supposedly, yet another super-powered guy had erased any information about him in any database, but even his teachers, neighbors, and classmates had bothered to look into, or even really noticed, his disappearance! Sure, he lived alone and it wasn't unusual for him to skip school, and he had no friends, but... Now he was just making himself depressed.

Remembering this while being chased was probably a bad idea, since he tripped, rolled down a steep hill, and careened into the river. His groceries, previously held in a plastic bag, bobbed around him as he floated downstream, caught in the current.

"Help!" he cried to his pursuers, but they just cursed at not catching him and sauntered off.

...

Half an hour later, a waterlogged Hitoshi squished up to his front door and pulled his mail from the metal wall box, careful not to get it damp. His old crappy apartment had been sold by his ex-landlord during his absence, so he'd been forced to by a new, even crappier one with the money given to him for "any experienced inconvenience," as the creepy guy in the gold rabbit mask had put it. The door swung open since he didn't keep it locked; there was nothing worth stealing inside. Flopping face-first onto his futon, he willed the day to be over, to sleep, to forget the grumbling of his stomach. The only bit of his groceries he'd managed to salvage was the plastic bag, which he then recycled.

Tomorrow he had school, with teachers that he knew didn't care and classmates he knew might not even know him. He'd been back for nearly a month, and only a few teachers had made even the smallest comments, mostly about a missing worksheet, on his reappearance. The blue-coat guys had pulled some strings so his unapproved leave wouldn't mean he'd have to quit or repeat a year, but surely someone could say something!

He sat up and shrugged off his jacket, pushing a hand through his white hair. The busty girl who'd been there when he'd woken up in Shizume City had kept pawing at his head, screaming at him to "give her Shiro back!" Even now he could feel scratches on his scalp where her nails had dug in. They might have scarred.

He sorted through the three letters that'd been in his mailbox. Two were just restaurant advertisements everyone received, but the third, a purple envelope with an Shizume City return address, was from Kukuri.

During the short period of time when whoever was in charge was deciding if it would be okay to let him go home, Kukuri had been like a pillar of normality in a sea of weirdness. Like him, she was confused about what was going on around her a lot, as she was apparently sort-of-friends with the used-to-be-immortal guy, but had shown him how to deal with it without going insane. They'd talked quite a lot, and next thing he knew, they were pen-pals. Plus, Kukuri was perhaps the only person who didn't totally forget about him as soon as he was out of sight.

The letter inside the envelope had a manga-ish drawing on the back of Kukuri flashing a peace sign.

Dear Hitoshi,

Guess what? I'm officially signed up to take that university entrance exam I was talking about! I know it's not like I got accepted yet, but I'm just so excited! I know you said you weren't really thinking about college, but I want you to know you're really intelligent, (you helped me with my homework issue, didn't you?) and you may want to reconsider. Maybe we could go to college together! Wouldn't that be cool? Oh, so, during summer break, me and a bunch of friends are heading to the beach, and if you aren't busy, you could join us?

Hitoshi read through the trip details Kukri had written. There was a good chance he could go.

If you can't go I completely understand. Write back soon!

Sincerely,

Kukuri

Sighing, Hitoshi laid back on his futon. Tomorrow he'd write a letter telling Kukuri he'd see her at the beach. And maybe, just maybe, he'd discuss some college options with his guidance councilor.

Even if he had to remind the guidance councilor what his name was.

Author's Note:

I just wrote this in a few minutes. Didn't put a lot of thought into it. So if it sucks, sorry. Peace!