Tetsuya Aito, although having obtained 16 years of experience on Earth, has never once had a girlfriend.
Having gone to all-boys schools due to his normally above-average grades, he not only has never had a girl as a friend, he has nearly zero experience with females. The closest connection he's ever had to anyone of the opposite gender is his cat, Sakura. He may get along well with other boys, but he cannot lie that he is very interested in at least gaining a female friend.
He may have gained the chance.
Due to his father's job, they had to move farther up north, closer to Tokyo. This forced him to change schools to avoid commuting to/from school three hours. And due to location, there are no gender-specific schools around.
For the first time in his life, he will have the chance to socialize with females.
Tetsuya's current life goal, however, is to fall in love. Most definitely, with a girl.
He nervously straightened his tie, bid farewell to the empty house, and headed towards the entrance ceremony. He tried his best to remember the name of the school on the way there.
Continuing down the petal-littered sidewalk, without paying attention to what was in front of him, he shoved his hands in his pockets and tried to distract his mind from its nervousness. He tried braiding his shaggy brown hair, imagining his eyes as any color other than amber, seeing if possibly one arm was slightly longer than the other, trying to assume whether or not he had grown over the summer – in the end, he just assumed he had retained his previous height of 170 cm.
He startled himself by running into a railing on the sidewalk meant to keep cars from running over the sidewalk. He then and there thanked any construction worker that has ever existed that they kept his own existence intact.
It was then that he realized he was utterly lost.
"Oh, god…" he muttered to himself. "I remember the path I was supposed to take, but I have no idea what the streets are supposed to look like…where am I again?"
He just continued walking forwards, hoping that this would lead him to the school, or at least to someone who could tell him where it is.
It did not take him long to reach a collection of buildings lined along the many streets that now surrounded him. He saw a man looking into a nearby building and approached.
"Um, hello, sir?" The man slowly looked behind him, surprised that a high-schooler approached him.
"Hey, uh, you wouldn't mind telling me where the high-school is, would you?" Tetsuya asked.
The man chuckled. "Here, why don't you let me drive you there?"
"O-Oh no, sir, that's okay! I'll make it if I walk."
"No, I don't mind taking you there. I was just walking around, looking for something to do. I'm retired, you see."
"Well, uh…d-do you need the name of the high school?"
The man chuckled again. "No, no, there's only one local high school. Here, follow me to my car."
Tetsuya absent-mindedly followed the man a ways down the shockingly-empty sidewalk. There weren't even very many cars driving by, Tetsuya observed.
"Hey, uh…really, you don't have to take me there. I'm pretty sure it's not exactly close, and, well…" Tetsuya couldn't help but feel uneasy, for multiple reasons. One, he was getting a ride from someone he didn't even know. And, second…
The next thing Tetsuya knew, he was in front of the stranger's car, parked behind some small coffee shop. Out of the corner of his eye, which he assumed the older man couldn't see, was a worker smoking a cigarette.
The mildly assertive high-schooler attempted one last time to get out of the situation. "L-Look, sir, I really do appreciate the kindness, but I really don't need a ride, I mean-"
The man grabbed onto his wrist. "You'll get in the car if you know what's good for you."
Tetsuya was finally able to get a good look at the man. Without his upper back hunched, he was actually quite tall – much taller than himself. He was also much stronger than he first assumed he would be.
No matter how much Tetsuya tried to resist, the man was definitely stronger than he was. Tetsuya began to panic, and without a moment's notice, yelled out of fear.
"Hey, shut up before I beat you!"
Tetsuya's eyes filled up with the realization that he will not get away. He slowly began to stop resisting.
"Yeah, that's right," the stranger came close to Tetsuya's neck, placing his lips onto it. Tetsuya cringed, letting out a small yelp.
'This…doesn't feel right…' He thought.
'Help…I need help! Somebody save me, please…'
Tetsuya heard a loud thump as he began to fall towards the ground. Opening his eyes, he felt large hands grab him from underneath right before he touched the ground. He looked up to see another large, muscular man. His eyes filled with tears.
"H-Hey, you alright?" the man asked. "Well, I guess…we should get out of here first."
The man with large hands picked up Tetsuya bridal-style before carrying him into the nearby coffee shop. Tetsuya still shivered from the shock.
The man with the large hands placed Tetsuya onto the couch in the break room. Tetsuya looked at the man with tear-stained eyes.
"I-Is it…okay if I'm in here?" he asked, voice still shaky.
"It's alright, I'm the only one on shift right now," the large man answered. "Here, just wait here. I'll be right back."
As the large man was leaving, Tetsuya took a few seconds to get a closer look. Parted, faded purple hair, and a glint of grey in his nearly fish-dead eyes. An odd man, Tetsuya concluded, but he still felt grateful to the man for helping him escape what could have turned out to be extremely bad.
The man returned with a small cell in his hands, dialing a number. Tetsuya quickly stood, ran to the man, and firmly placed his hands over the phone.
"Who are you calling?" Tetsuya asked without hesitation.
"Well, I'm going to contact the police, so-"
"NO!" Tetsuya burst out suddenly. "DON'T!"
"Are you a moron?! I have to call the police! A crime has just been commited!"
Tetsuya's began crying again as he looked up, into the man's eyes. "Please…"
The large man with faded purple hair sighed. "Why not?"
"Well…" Tetsuya hesitated, but would rather face this man than the police. "I'm a minor, so the police will try to get in contact with my parents," he admitted.
"What's so bad about that? They do that to help you, obviously."
"…" Tetsuya was at a loss for words. In one swift move, he spilled everything on his mind.
"My dad owns a huge business company and relies on my two older brothers to help him so I live at home alone and ever since my mother died at a young age my father shows lots of resent towards me so if he were to find out something like this happened-" Tetsuya stopped himself, refusing to look upwards. His knees suddenly felt weak, causing him to fall towards the ground. His hands were still clasped tightly around the man's hands.
For what seemed to be the longest time, nothing but silence filled the break room. Finally, the large man with eyes the resembled those of a dead fish said something, relieving some of Tetsuya's built-up tension.
"I don't think ignoring this is very legal, you know. Even then, I don't know who you are-"
"My name is Tetsuya Aito! I just transferred from the south and commute to the local high school! I live…somewhere to the left and I have no idea how to get around! My birthday is July 29, my blood type is AB, I have a cat named Sakura, I-"
The man with large hands placed one of them over Tetsuya's mouth, followed by a small chuckle. "Here's a deal – you have to come by every day and tell me something new about you."
Tetsuya was surprised at the man's reaction. As the man walked back into the shop, Tetsuya followed him, slightly confused.
"And, whatever you've said up to now, doesn't count. And make it interesting."
"S-sir, I-"
"It's Ikuto. Masume Ikuto."
Ikuto grabbed a pen from the drawer and a few napkins. Tetsuya sat on one of the counter stools while listening to the sound of a pen scribbling. Before he knew it, he felt napkins being placed on his head from behind. 'When did he get behind me?'
"Here's a map to this shop and the school from where I assume you live based on what direction you pointed. I guess you can just circle where your house is."
Tetsuya slowly took the pen from Ikuto's hand, very internally happy that he was there to help. His face felt hot as he circled what looked like where his house should be.
He looked up to hand the pen back to Ikuto, noticing he was now by the front doors, about to open the store. "So, why are you walking around in your school uniform anyway?"
It took Tetsuya a few seconds to snap back into reality. "Ah! I need to be at the award ceremony! But, by now, it's already started…" He crossed his arms onto the counter, burying his head in disappointment. "My dad's gonna hear about this for sure," he mumbled.
"Got any plans?" Ikuto asked. Tetsuya shot up out of curiosity. "Well…no," he replied.
"Well, I'll be here until noon, and the way you make it sound, being home doesn't sound too fun - mostly empty. Just hang out around here, yeah?" Ikuto offered.
Tetsuya's eyes lit up. "M-Mister Masume, thank you so much! I-"
"Before you continue," Ikuto sighed. "You need to speak more casually to me. Call me by my first name, or something. Calling me by my last name makes it sound like I'm your teacher, or something…"
Tetsuya thought for a moment before a light bulb appeared over his head. "Iito-kun!"
Ikuto was slightly taken aback. "I-Iito?! That's what you name a pet, not a person!"
"W-well, it's easy, so…"
Ikuto placed his hand on Tetsuya's lowered head, causing him to lift it. "Would you like something to drink, sir?"
Tetsuya grinned widely as Ikuto rounded the counter. "One regular coffee, please!"
"Hm, you drink black? I'm surprised, not a lot of kids like the taste," Ikuto added as he brewed his first cup for the day.
"Well, I've been drinking coffee for a while, you know. Ever since I entered high school. I don't' really wake up easily…" Tetsuya rubbed one of his hands on the back of his head.
The conversation continued like this until noon. As the last customer left, Ikuto began rounding the building and turning off the lights. Tetsuya followed close behind.
They both eventually exited the front door of the building.
"I live in this direction, so why don't I walk you home?" Ikuto offered. Tetsuya nodded happily.
As they continued down the road, Tetsuya slowly began to remember seeing things previously. He even recognized the barrier he ran into.
"Starting to remember where you live?" Ikuto asked.
"Yeah, yeah! My house is just up here! I'll just head on, thanks for walking my home, Iito-kun!"
Tetsuya ran ahead in the direction of his house. When he arrived, he stopped to check for mail and pick up the paper before opening the gate.
"Um…" Tetsuya quickly turned around to see Ikuto standing, seemingly at a loss for words.
"What is it, Iito-kun? Did you forget something?"
"Are you the one who just moved here?..." Ikuto asked.
"Yeah, why-" Tetsuya took a few seconds to react to his sudden realization.
"N-NO WAY?! WE'RE NEIGHBORS?!"
There was a small awkward silence before Tetsuya snapped back into reality.
"W-well, gotta go bye" Tetsuya quickly picked up the papers he didn't realize he had dropped and ran inside, slamming the gate behind him. He ran inside, quickly took off his shoes, tossed the papers onto the couch, ran into his room, and flopped down on his bed.
'okay, okay relax…he's just next door! It's not like we're living together or anything…wait wait, why am I so nervous all of a sudden! He's somebody I just met! I'm probably just nervous because…I was shocked! Yeah! I didn't expect him to live next to me! And, by the looks of it, Iito-kun didn't expect it either…'
Tetsuya sat up, leaning against him bed. Sakura walked into the room and sat down on his lap.
'I can already tell, moving here is going to prove to be more difficult that I first anticipated…Kami-sama, help me please!'