My Hero: A Black Blade and the Gun Prologue.
After the re-writes, it seemed that a few of you wanted a few more flashback scenes or a full prologue detailing Shizuku's and Hajime's relationship pre-fall. I've also been thinking of doing that. Seeing as I didn't want to interrupt the main story by inserting too many flashbacks I decided to add this long one-chapter prologue. It is my intention to cover key scenes in their relationship from their first meeting all the way to the pre fall in Tortus. Expect this chapter to be long one. For folks that have read the extra story in volume 9 of the light novel, you'll see that I pretty much lifted that story of Shizuku and Hajime into my story.
First Meetings
"Shizuku-chan, Shizuku-chan! It's him, It's him!"
Shizuku Yaegashi turned towards her friend who was jumping up and down excitedly. Shirasaki Kaori was an easily excitable person, but this was too much even for her. She began to point in his general direction, distracting herself and others around her. Growing exasperated, she decided to silence her.
"Kaori, this is the entrance ceremony. Keep it down. I know you're excited. But keep calm okay."
Kaori decided to comply and keep calm at least for now. Shizuku sighed, she was used to this but she felt that this wasn't going to end well. Glancing around herself, she tried to spot this 'person' that Kaori was excited about. She didn't find the person, there were hundreds of new students after all.
"You there! Stop sleeping!" Reprimanded a teacher.
Shizuku turned around to see the offending student. He was rather non-descript for a person, he had straight but messy short black hair, with brown eyes typical for a Japanese boy of his age. The boy was gently sleeping on his seat despite the teacher's shouts. After being manhandled roughly by the teacher he slowly began to wake up.
"Huh. Oh crap, I fell asleep again…." He remarked as he yawned.
"Is that any way to act during the entrance ceremony?!" The teacher demanded.
"Teacher, trust me I want to do the right thing…. But I can't help it if my body wants to shut down." He explained.
"Why you?!"
"Teacher, calm down, will you. You're bringing attention to yourself. I get that you're all gung-ho about the ceremony but you're doing a better job of disrupting it than I ever did."
Seeing that everyone in the assembly hall was now looking at them, the teacher let him go, embarrassed.
"See me after the ceremony brat." He cursed.
"That was him! That was him!" Kaori whispered in her ear.
So that is the guy that Kaori's been obsessed with. What exactly does she see in him?
The boy yawned again as he took his seat once more. Whether he wanted to or not he had accidentally received the attention of the entire first-year cohort.
Shizuku quickly returned her attention back to the ceremony. Or at least she tried to, her best friend Kaori, excitable as ever needed to be reined in before she suddenly leaped at the boy.
Sighing heavily Shizuku could only wonder how stressful her High-School life would become.
The boy introduced himself as 'Nagumo Hajime." His introduction to the class was as non-descript as the boy looked. He simply gave his name, the characters that constituted his name, gave a formal greeting, and sat down.
Shizuku was briefly surprised that the mysterious boy of Kaori's dreams would be in their class. Kaori seemed to take it to mean that they were fated to meet. Given that Kaori was already shuffling in her seat excitedly meant that the poor boy would not have it easy this year.
Glancing around she already knew that her class was going to be somewhat troublesome. Sitting right in front of the teacher, was the 'Hero of Justice' Amanogawa Kouki. He liked to claim that he was a hero of some kind, but in Shizuku's eyes, he was an old friend who she had to clean up after more often than not.
Surrounding him was his ever-loyal blockhead Ryuutarou Sakagami. And as was the case for Kouki; a small gaggle of female admirers surrounded him and took in every word he spewed.
As the class slowly finished their introductions, their homeroom teacher; the rather short but youthful Aiko Hatayama continued with her brief introduction of the school and their expectations for the freshmen. She felt sorry for the teacher as she had clearly held no sway amongst her rambunctious students.
When Hatayama-sensei released them, Kaori who was already at her limit bounded towards Nagumo and immediately grabbed his hands, startling him and the rest of the class into silence.
"Nagumo-kun! My name's Kaori Shirasaki! You can call me Kaori if you want!" She greeted.
Startled by the show of affection and the attention that he received, he struggled to respond. She had immediately gripped both of his hands in a tight grip.
"I….. I… Uh….. I don't think that's right. I barely know you Shirasaki-san." He responded.
"Mouu. There no need to be so distant, Hajime-kun." Kaori pouted.
Growing more and more perturbed, Nagumo Hajime shook her hands off.
"That's a kind offer, Shirasaki-san but we barely know each other. It's been a pleasure meeting you and I hope we get along anyway." He dismissed.
It seemed that Kaori wanted to object again, so Shizuku interrupted Kaori to stop her. Grabbing her by the shoulder, she stop Kaori from making a further fuss and forced her to bow in an apology.
"Kaori, stop making a fuss, you're making him uncomfortable. Nagumo-kun, I apologize for my friend, she's a bit excitable but I hope that you'll get along with her."
Looking apologetic himself, he insisted that he understood and that he too was looking forward to getting to know her as well. She noticed that an exasperated look briefly flashed on his face before returning to a soft smile.
"I hope that I get along with you too Yaegashi-san." He greeted before leaving his seat.
He hastily removed himself from the classroom, before the questions started flying about what the class had just witnessed.
Shirasaki Kaori, began to berate her, whilst her childhood friend Kouki Amanogawa bounded to the both of them demanding an explanation. So of the boys in the classroom that had been ogling Kaori, looked at Hajime's fleeing back with a level of jealousy and resentment.
Noticing the ruckus and the murmurs taking place, Yaegashi Shizuku could only sigh. Deep in her heart, she wished that she could have at least one year in peace… It seemed that dreams weren't so easily realised.
Deciding that enough was enough, she dragged her best friend outside and began to reprimand her for causing another scene. She apologized with words well worn, but she could tell from her eyes that Kaori wouldn't rein herself when it came to Hajime.
She sighed once more, the exasperated look on her face setting deeper and deeper into her face.
Burdens and Considerations.
A caste system within the classroom had quickly been set, with Kouki Amanogawa and Kaori Shirasaki at the top, their friends in the second tier, the groupies in the third, the ignored in the fourth, and Hajime Nagumo in last place.
As Shizuku had predicted, Kaori did not stop showering excessive love and affection for Nagumo openly and publicly. Jealous boys in the class resented him for it and the more aggressive ones begun a harassment campaign; jeering at him and tripping him up every so often, etc.
That was bad enough, but Kouki seemed to make it his pet project to 'reform' Hajime, seeing him as a problem child that needed to be fixed. For Nagumo's part, he seemed largely unresponsive and hence he bought for the err of much of the female population of the class.
Shizuku being concerned for Hajime Nagumo tried to rein in Kouki and Kaori. But she had lost much of the influence that she had on them when they were younger. And so her efforts were largely ignored.
For some reason, Shizuku was increasingly apologizing on behalf of her friends for her actions to Hajime, day in day out. Some days problems with Kouki and Kaori consumed her so much that she had no time to herself. She could feel her strength waning in this matter.
After a particularly rough day, she had stayed behind for long after her Kendo club had ended. The repetitious movements and actions brought forth a sense of calm that she had lost during the day. She had about forgotten the stresses and strains of the day when she realized that she had left something in their classroom.
It was already close to evening, so she hurried to the classroom. There she found a lone person basking in the evening sun. Hajime Nagumo was fast asleep, his head resting on his desk. He seemed to be in a deep stupor, snoring rather loudly.
She began to giggle, his ability to sleep in the oddest places was always a point of fascination for her.
Deciding that she could not tarry any longer, she collected her things and began to wake Nagumo up.
"Nagumo-kun, Nagumo-kun. Wake up. School's about to close…." She whispered into his ear.
His eyes fluttered open and shifted his head in the direction of the words that he heard.
"Oh, Yaegashi….. What's happening…. Oh I fell asleep again…." He realised as he was yawning.
Noticing that the day was slowly turning into evening, Hajime too jumped exclaiming that he needed to go back home or his parents would be worried.
Given that they were going both going the same way, Shizuku decided to accompany him along the way.
Reflecting on the day that had gone by Shizuku decided to talk about the elephant in the room.
"Nagumo-kun…About Kouki, I apologise for his behaviour. He took things too far."
Nagumo Hajime was found sleeping in the math class. Kouki took it upon himself to berate Nagumo all through lunch, causing Hajime to miss his lunch. Noticing his plight Kaori doted on him to the ire of the males in the class, causing more harassment throughout the day.
It seemed that he was lost in thought along the way. He stroked his chin
"Hmm. It's rare to see you by yourself Yaegashi…" He remarked.
"Normally you're with Amanogawa or Shirasaki…. Or your Soul Sisters…"
Shizuku shuddered. The Soul Sisters were effectively her groupies. Thinking about them gave her headaches and she visibly winced.
"You're always looking after them…. I guess that explains your 'Onee-san' like quality…"
Shizuku frowned slightly. Whether it was true or not, she didn't exactly like having her character reduced to the person who was looking out for other people all the time. It wasn't as if she wanted all this trouble. This was all foisted on her.
"Where was I going with this?" He wondered.
Stopping his legs, he paused to clear his train of thought. After two or three seconds his brown eyes flashed.
"That's right…. You don't have to look after me as well. You don't have to be considerate of me."
Shizuku paused herself for a few seconds. Had he noticed that she had concerned about him in class? Looking back she guessed that it was rather obvious.
"That thing with Amanogawa, yeah he's a bit annoying when he makes me miss my lunch but it's kinda still my fault my sleeping through class." He remarked.
"So you don't need to burden yourself with helping me all the time." He concluded.
Shizuku's eyes grew wide. Did he noticed how much it bothered her that she was looking after everyone around her? Shizuku took some time to let that sink in. Was it okay for her to unburden herself from taking care of people, even for a moment?
Before she noticed, Nagumo Hajime had already sped off leaving her alone in the shoe lockers. Leaving her to stew in her own thoughts. Her heart began to beat ferociously.
Maybe I can see why Kaori likes him so much.
For the first time in a long time, she smiled and for the briefest moment in time, she let go of her burdens.
But it would not be the last time.
A Beautiful Smile
Nagumo Hajime was not really interested in his classmates. They could be broadly categorised as part of two camps; uninteresting and annoying.
Amanogawa Kouki. Annoying
Ryutarou Sakagami. Uninteresting.
Daisuke Hiyama. Annoying.
Yuka Taniguchi. Uninteresting.
He was an otaku so it's not particularly surprising that he found most real-life people bothersome at best. He honestly wished that these people would leave him alone.
Chief amongst the people that he wished would leave him alone was the girl on the top of the caste system; Shirasaki Kaori.
Based on what she rambling to him one afternoon, she had apparently seen him when he saved a person from being beaten up back during middle school. If Hajime was being honest, he barely remembered that moment. How this justified how she kept pouring affection over him to his distress, she could never explained.
Hajime did not appreciate the resentful stares of the males in his class and the ostracising looks of the girls around him. Yet he wasn't an asshole, he wasn't exactly interested in breaking the heart of a well-intentioned girl. He just honestly wished that she left him alone.
The only girl that caught his interest was the girl that seemed to spend most of her time looking after everyone else and apologizing to him on everyone else's behalf.
He'll be the first to admit that he found her to be attractive. Her long black hair was kept in a ponytail that reached her back which was something that he appreciated in his favorite female characters. Add in her flashy red eyes and her skills in Kendo and boom, you've got yourself a 'waifu' in the tastes of Nagumo Hajime.
If that was all though, she would be been nice eye candy and nothing more but as he kept observing her to his surprise she held his interest.
He often wondered why she bothered to keep apologising for her friends? It was clear gave her no end to consternation.
He often nearly walked in to her reprimanding Shirasaki or Amanogawa. Every time she got them to apologize for taking things too far, he could tell that she sighed. She knew that this futile.
Why she continued to look after him perplexed him. If he was being honest it was spoiling her looks. He hadn't ever seen her smile for real because she was so stressed.
It was this problem that occupied his mind when Yaegashi Shizuku found him sleeping in the classroom that one afternoon.
It was a rarity to find her alone without the others. Judging by the glistening sweat on her brow she had been in Kendo practice for longer than the others. She looked more attractive to him on that afternoon, unburdened than any other day he had seen her.
After spending some time in awkward silence, she begun to apologise for her friends again. Her apologetic eyes twisting the life out of her expression.
That bothered him. She didn't need to stress herself out. She should smile a lot more. She should be happy, like everyone else. She didn't need to sacrifice her happiness for the sake of others.
Pondering how he could resolve the situation he came up with one thing;
"You don't need to look after me as well. There is no need to be considerate of me."
"You don't have to burden yourself with me all the time."
Realising that his words were more embarrassing than he had realised, he sped off leaving Yaegashi Shizuku at the shoe locker. He realised that he had thought about Yaegashi Shizuku far too often for this to be normal.
"Am I seriously having a crush right now? Do I seriously have a crush on Yaegashi?" He muttered.
Shaking his head, he put such thoughts aside as her rushed on home. He hoped in his heart of hearts that he didn't just jeopardise his relationship with Yaegashi. He didn't mind it if anyone else in the class left his life, but if Yaegashi stopped talking to him, somehow that made him feel sad.
Throughout the rest of the night mentally screamed at himself.
For once in his life he pulled an all-nighter because he spend all his time thinking about a real girl.
The next day it already felt like he wanted to collapse due to sleep deprivation and mental exhaustion. Ironically he arrived early to school today, seeing as he wasn't able to get any sleep at home. He sat on his desk, using all the focus that he had not to fall asleep again. It seemed that he was about to pass out entirely when someone stopped him by propping up his back.
"Are you alright Nagumo-kun?" Asked the concerned female voice.
Turning around he found the face of Shizuku Yaegashi looking at him concerned.
"Ah….. It's nothing….. Just another all-nighter."
He yawned loudly.
"We have time before school starts. Why don't you take a bit of a nap?" She offered.
"I don't really care about Amanogawa, but I'd rather that he didn't cause me to lose my lunch again because he caught me sleeping."
"I'll wake you up before homeroom starts. After all I have experience in waking up sleeping high-schoolers." She joked.
She gave him a brief smile. But it was bright. Brighter than anything that he had seen on her. Before he allowed himself to sleep he thought about only one thing:
That smile is really beautiful.
He rested his head on the desk with relief. As his eyes grew tired and his focus began to wane. He thoughts began to fade, leaving it in a single beautiful memory of that brilliant girl, with the bright smile.
In time that smile would become the world for Nagumo Hajime. A smile that he loved. A smile that he would choose time and time again, no matter what else was weighed against it. Not his peace, Not his sanity, Not his humanity, not even the world.
Growing Closer.
Hajime Nagumo was currently wrapped underneath his blanket, internally screaming.
"So you have a crush on Yaegashi. Good Job Hajime!" He internally berated. He wanted to scream. It was all well and good to think that her smile was really pretty but another thing to act on a crush!?
He couldn't really remember the last time he had a crush on someone, so had no experience in dealing with his crush.
"What if she doesn't like me? There's no way that she likes me!"
"Aghhhhhhh!" He screamed out loud.
Suddenly the door to his small room, flew open.
"Hajime! What's wrong?!" shouted Sumire Nagumo, his mother.
"It's nothing mum! I'm just dealing with a few internal issues."
His mum uncovered his sheets and took a good look at him. She noticed the dark shadow under the eyes. Whatever 'internal issues' he had, this seemed to be something that was truly troubling him.
"Hajime. I'm your mother. As much I like to leave it up to you, sometimes I need to force to talk to me."
He groaned. He wasn't getting out of this one. His mother was rather forceful when she wanted to.
"Uh… Well…. I guess I have a crush on one of my classmates…." He explained. "But I don't really know how to deal with it. I mean do I even have a chance?"
Sumire took a moment and giggled.
"Mum!" He objected, red-faced.
"I'm sorry Hajime." She apologised "I've never seen you like this. You've been always aloof and you've never made close friends let alone fall in love with someone."
"But I am glad. I think you need this. You need someone closer to you than us. Even if its not a girlfriend, then at least someone that you care deeply about."
Pondering for a minute, she took her time to respond to her son's anxiety.
"Well as for how you deal with it, you just need to get closer to her."
"I can't guarantee that she'll like you back but if you care about her, you will want to be closer to her, you will want to be her."
"Get to know her better. And if she accepts you, she accepts you. And if she rejects you, well it's not as if you've lost anything. In fact I think you'll grow as a person."
Hajime wasn't completely convinced, his experience with his peers throughout his time casting a dark shadow upon his confidence. But he remembered that beautiful bright smile, that way that in that moment her eyes fixed solely on him. It was honestly intoxicating. Imagining losing that without even trying scared him, horrified him.
His eyes became determined. He had to act on his feelings come hell or high water.
"Looks like you've resolved yourself. Now that the serious parts over…." Sumire began. Bellowing in a loud voice, that seemed unnatural for a woman of her petite stature, she called her husband to come forth.
"HONEY! HAJIME'S GOT A CRUSH!"
"WHAT!? MY BOY….. MY BOY….. HE'S FINALLY GOT A CRUSH!" Cried out the loud (and obxionous) voice of Shuu Nagumo.
It wasn't long before his father Shuu Nagumo, the head of a small but growing game company burst into his room, presumably to tease him about Hajime's crush. He turned to his mother in exasperation, but all he saw was a glint in her eyes, the glint of a woman in the manga industry who would never let a good source go no matter if it came from his troubled teenage son.
And so the Nagumos spent several hours of the night extracting as much information about their son's new crush, leaving him with neither peace nor sleep.
He had spent the better part of the week trying to find the best time to talk to her. His main concern was that someone or (God-Forbid) Yaegashi would find out him trying to track her down, but it seems he didn't need to be concerned on that front. After all, it seemed that Yaegashi spent much of her time in school trying to put out the metaphorical fires of her friends, which more often than not involved him.
The only moment of peace that she seemed to get was during her Kendo club where Amanogawa and Shirasaki dared not enter. So that is where he waited, awkwardly, like an idiot.
"Hey Yaegashi. Fancy meeting you here." Nagumo Hajime greeted, flutily trying to hid how nervous he was.
"Hello Nagumo-kun. What brings you here…. to the Kendo club room of all places?" She questioned.
"Shit, she must think I'm a stalker now!"
"I just wanted to thank you….. you know for the other day…" He mumbled.
His forehead dripped with cool sweat as he waited for Yaegashi's answer.
She looked at him inquisitively for a second before her eyes widened slightly.
"Ah… for letting you sleep in. Don't sweat it. I think you deserved it, you looked exhausted then."
Searching for something that would extend the conversation.
"Well sleep is kind of a luxury for me… So your help was invaluable. So thank you."
He rubbed his head sheepishly, trying his best to come up with something anything to get the conversation to continue.
Another awkward silence. A second seemed like an hour to Hajime, under the gaze of Yaegashi.
But it seemed like Yaegashi took pity in him.
"So Nagumo-kun. What made you stay up so late?"
Or not. That was the one question that he had no intention of answering truthfully. Even if he was going to out himself as a massive otaku he had no intention of telling her now.
Lying through his teeth, he came up with the most believable answer an otaku like him could produce.
"I was reading some manga….. Mum wanted me to review a couple of things."
It wasn't entirely untrue. He did try to distract himself with reading manga when the delusions got the better of him and his mother did ask him to review it. Shuffling around his bag, he managed to find the manga volume that was carrying. It was the first volume of a series that his mother's colleague was producing.
Yaegashi eyed it, intrigued. Sensing the opportunity he handed the volume over to her. On the front cover was an illustration of a female knight in a high fantasy setting. The title was emblazoned front cover.
"It's first volume cover of a manga that mums' colleague is authoring. Mum's thinking of trying a few things for a new series."
Yaegashi opened up the book and flipped around to see several illustrations.
"It's about a female knight, tasked with protecting the princess and finds love along the way. It a pretty unique setting for a shoujo manga. Who knew high fantasy and shoujo manga worked so well?" He explained briefly.
Her eyes lit up as she flipped through the pages. Before long she started to read in earnest. She was hooked. It took a while to realise that she had totally ignored Nagumo Hajime. She blushed red and handed him back the volume.
"I'm sorry, Nagumo-kun. That was rude of me." She apologised as she tried to regain her composure. Her eyes continued to look at the book in his hands. Noticing her interest, he handed her back the volume.
"You can keep it. I've got a few copies of that one at home. That one is for reading outside, I've got other copies at home."
"I can't do that. I haven't done anything for you." She denied, pushing the book back to him.
"You can have it. Its my thank you…"
"And if I'm being honest, I just want an excuse to talk to you more….." He explained.
"With me?" She questioned.
"I….. I'm not really popular in class. That's not really in question." He said. "I just thought that it would be nice it talk to someone who I shared something that I liked. I mean all the other 'otaku' guys don't even wanna talk to me because they're scared of being ostracised."
"You're nice enough to treat me with respect and kindness, so I wanted to talk to you more at least." He said. "Besides how could I deny someone the opportunity to read a book they took to in seconds."
His lips curved ever so slightly upwards, feeling a little comfortable speaking to someone who seemed to enjoy something that he liked.
She took the book and carefully placed in her bag.
"It's a promise then. In return for accepting this gift, I Yaegashi Shizuku will promise to be a friend to Nagumo Hajime." She declared, her eyes bright with a smile to match it.
"You don't have to take it that far….." Mumbled Hajime, visibly distressed by how serious she was about this.
"It's a treasured gift…. I have to treat our relationship with at least that much importance." She insisted.
He relented, this he figured was the price he paid for having a crush on Yaegashi Shizuku. They walked out of the kendo clubroom together, engaged in light conversation about other topics of interest. They managed to exit the area of the school without being interrupted by other people. Their houses were in the same direction and were a lot closer than they knew. When it came time for them to part ways, they stopped.
"See you tomorrow Yaegashi. I'll get you the next few volumes tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow Nagumo-kun. I'm looking forward to it." She farewelled, as she waved good-bye.
As the sun set, Nagumo Hajime could not feel more happier.
Kendo practice for the Yaegashi dojo had ended for the day, and the disciples of the Yaegashi art had began to stream out. The few that remained were close family friends who often stayed in the dojo for dinner. Shizuku, as heir to the dojo and beloved by all the students participated in the practice and joined them for dinner.
As she awaited dinner, she was busy sitting and reading the manga that Nagumo had generously gifted her.
"What is that Shizuku?" Her mother Yaegashi Kirino asked, as she was bring in the food for dinner.
"Oh, this is a book gifted to me by friend." She happily remarked, recalling the events of several hours ago.
Clearly interested in the developments her father Kouichi and her paternal grandfather Shuuzou joined in the conversation.
"I don't recall young Amanogawa or Shirasaki ever being interested in something like this." Shuuzou observed, looking at the book cover.
"I believe this is what is known as a 'manga' father. You are right neither Amanogawa nor Shirasaki had exhibited interest in this. Though the private lives of others are not our concern." Kouichi remarked.
"Well observed father, grandfather. The friend in question recently became friends with me. He offered to let me have this in exchange for friendship." Shizuku explained.
"In exchange?" They questioned, concerned about the nature of this relationship.
"No I expressed interest in the book myself and he generously gifted it to me." She reassured them. "He is a good person, and I do trust him."
She took to reading the book once more and at once they noticed a change in her demeanour. Shizuku was a serious girl even from a young age, she would never shirk her duties or responsibilities. Of course they were proud of her and everyone acknowledged her as the perfect heir to the dojo. But sometimes they wondered whether this was truly what Shizuku wanted.
When they looked at Shizuku's smiling face, reading the book that she clearly treasured they could not help but feel that they had failed in some sense.
"Shizuku, this boy. Do you like him?" her grandfather growled.
She dropped the book and spluttered looking at her grandfather incredulously.
"No! I don't like him like that…. He's a good friend" she explained. "Besides it's Kaori that has feelings for him. I couldn't possibly get in the way of that."
Her eyes grew slightly dimmer and her lips tightened in a way to indicate that this was a conversation that she clearly did not want to continue. The boy was clearly dear to the Shizuku in a way that even she did not understand.
"Shizuku, perhaps this goes without saying but treasure that boy. What influence that boy will have on you remains to be seen but you clearly care for him well enough. You should treasure this experience." Her father said.
She nodded resolutely. What her father said was true without being said. She would treasure Nagumo Hajime as much as she could.
Shattered Everyday
Yaegashi Shizuku's friendship with Nagumo Hajime grew in the coming months. They met in secret usually after Kendo club, where they would met discuss the latest book chapter. For a moment she could forget the stresses and strains of life. Hajime had managed to convince her to read other genres of manga, including several Shounens which she did enjoy.
One hilarious incident occurred when she borrowed an old shounen manga volume from him and out dropped a sheet of paper. Horrified Nagumo attempted to take it before she could, but her quick reflexes caught the paper.
"Dark Void Breaker."
She sniggered and the she howled. On the paper was a poorly drawn figure, with an overall dark emo aesthetic, with a red-lined, black trench coat. On the other side of the sheet was list of powers such as "Dark Mirror – copy opponents moves- but in a dark way" and "Infinite Void Break – My final secret move!"
"Don't laugh!" He shouted.
She regained her composure and looked him straight in the eye.
"Okay….Dark Void Breaker."
She howled and laughed until her ribs where in pain and tears came flooding out of her eyes. Hajime refused to speak to her for the rest of the day. A quick phone call eased any tensions that they still had. Although she never really let it slide.
It was upon Nagumo's insistence that people didn't know about their friendship. They only met after Kendo finished and the school was mostly empty. Yaegashi had objected, stating that she did not care one iota about any rumours but he was stubbornly insistent on the matter, so she relented.
"Promise me, Yaegashi. Don't let other people know about our friendship."
She nodded in affirmation. If it was so important to Hajime she would always respect his decision.
She had at one point broached the subject of Kaori but he was always tried his best to avoid the topic. At once his face had this blank look and the light in his eyes dissipated. It was a look that she grew to know well; it was a look of displeasure, a 'don't talk about this face.' Kaori stopped being a topic of conversation.
Before she knew it weeks with Hajime turned to months. Her time with Nagumo becoming more and more precious by the day. This was her comfortable everyday life. A happy life that she would not trade in for anything.
Amanogawa Kouki hated Nagumo Hajime.
He was always a sore spot in his everyday life. The one person that refused to stay in line. He stood out without trying and always caused some kind of ruckus.
But it was worse than he thought. Sweet Kaori was already under his spell from the beginning. That was bad enough.
But he noticed how Shizuku looked at him now. At first it seemed like nothing but pity. After all she was kind person like that. But as the months passed the way she looked at him changed, that was a look of anticipation and look of longing.
It was rather obvious what happened. Nagumo had used some kind of method to entrap Shizuku's heart as well.
What he saw on that they confirmed every suspicion that he had. He noticed them meeting up after her Kendo practice. He noticed their conversations and their laughter.
This could not go on. He needed to know his place. He needed to be punished. He would see to this no matter what.
There would always be people receptive to his vision. He would have his way.
Rumors began to spread, that Nagumo had rejected Shirasaki. There were rumors that she was left in tears. The rumours began to spread like a wild fire and spread from the classroom to the whole school.
When Shizuku first heard such rumors, she immediately confronted Kaori and asked what happened.
"I didn't do anything like that! Hajime-Kun's been very clear that he doesn't think of me like that. I was intending to stay close and see what would happen down the line." She explained. "I tried to stop the rumors and tell everyone that this didn't happen. But they ignored me."
"Shizuku-chan. What do we do?!"
Shizuku re-assured Kaori, saying that everything would be fine. But that was a lie, she had no clue.
The rumors seemed to get worse by the day and they ballooned into exaggerated lies.
And so Nagumo Hajime's reputation plummeted. Whispers of malice abounded in the class. It felt like any day now something would set them off and take a turn for the worst
Shizuku had tried to talk to some people she knew to get them to see sense but they ignored her. Her pleads to Amanogawa where re-buffed with an insistence that his reputation was his own problem.
"What is it to you, Yaegashi-san? Are you friends with him?"
She remembered Hajime's words.
"Promise me Yaegashi."
Haunted by her promise she shut her mouth.
On that day she felt nothing but despair and burning anger.
Hajime sighed. This sort of thing was becoming a common occurrence. Graffiti marked his poor innocent desk and trash had been crammed into his desk.
His theory for dealing with bullies: Not to give them the satisfaction of winning. He began to diligently removed the graffiti with cleaning products that were given to him by the school's janitors and remove the trash. He had long since removed his textbooks and work pads from his desk and simply carried them around in a small bag around school.
He had gotten used to this, but his singular worry was that he wouldn't finish in time. In an attempt to stop her from becoming worried and doing something rash he hid what they had been doing.
It was already late into the afternoon, closer to the evening when most of the school had left. The only club that even operated until this time was the Kendo club. More specifically it was the lone member of the women's Kendo club, whose work ethic surpassed that of her peers, juniors and seniors combined that continued until this late.
He needed to hurry up before Yaegashi Shizuku finished and got worried about him and tried to find him. But it was too late…. There she stood.
Her face immediately twisted in anger and indignation. She had long since known about their class's bullying problem. Nagumo had been the lone subject of the worst that the class had to offer. He had done nothing wrong, save for being a boy who wore his hobbies on his sleeves and for having the affection of her friend: Kaori Shirasaki.
"How long?" She questioned the anger escaping from every syllable. "How long has this been happening?" She seethed.
"Ever since the rumors started." He admitted.
She felt the rage boiling inside of her, aimed at her 'classmates' and her 'friends' who turned a blind eye. This needed to stop now! As she was about to pull out her phone and dial the number of the class's ring leader; Kouki Amanogawa, she was stopped by the victim in all of this.
"Why?! This isn't right, Nagumo-kun! You've done nothing wrong!" She shouted and cried out, demanding justice for her friend.
"You don't need to do this for my sake." He insisted.
"But this won't stop unless we put our foot down!" She countered.
"This might not stop. But I'm not concerned about that."
"I don't want you to get into any trouble..."
"You keep telling me that! But I don't care. Why should I care about my reputation when my friend is being hurt!?"
"I care! You're my best friend Yaegashi. My only friend. I can only keep doing this because you'll still be there to help me. What would happen if you got hurt because of me?!"
She stopped in her tracks. She didn't realize that she meant so much to the boy. She didn't realize that she was in his heart, as much as he was in hers.
As much as he was in hers? That bought her to a pause. When did the boy start stirring such emotions for her? When did he start becoming precious in her eyes?
She did not know the answers to these questions. But that day, she realized that she loved this boy. Her stubborn, handsome, idiotic prince.
"At least let me help you." Shizuku offered.
He nodded, and they spent the rest of their time together cleaning his desk. Scrubbing each vile word from the desk, made her grow angrier and angrier. All of them were lies. Her beloved deserved more than this. He deserved to live the life he wanted. He deserved to be understood.
"Nagumo-kun. I really can't stand this….. You mean a lot to me too! If I don't do something, anything. I'll never forgive myself." She declared. "You know when I tried to tell them of leave you alone, they asked me; "What is it to you, Yaegashi-san? Are you friends with him?" The next time they ask me, I'll tell them, yes, he is; he is my best friend."
"No! What are you talking about?! You can't get involved in all of this! They'll try to destroy you." He objected
"I'd like to see them try. They'll be dealing with the successor of the Yaegashi-clan. A bunch of sniveling high-schoolers isn't a match for me." She reaffirmed resolutely.
"But…."
"Nagumo-kun, in the months that we've known each other, I've grown close to you. You are my best friend as well. And if I did nothing that would be a true betrayal. If I don't make it clear that I'm by your side until the end, I can't call you my friend."
"So promise me okay. That as my best friend; you'll never leave me as well." She asked, an expression of hope and expectation on her face. She stuck out her hand, inviting him to accept her offer.
Leaving Yaegashi? That was never a consideration. Whatever temporary crush he may have had had long since been replaced by love. The woman that declared that she would never leave his side deserved no less.
He grasped her hand that day. Promising never to let go.
The next day Shizuku made her position clear. Anybody who attempted to bully Nagumo Hajime would now answer to her. Staying by his side became her priority, she even asked to take a break from Kendo, to assist in this endeavor. The club captain and even Nagumo Hajime objected to this move but she rebuffed them saying; "I have no right to wield a blade if I abandon my friend."
She stopped hiding her friendship, openly eating lunch with him. It didn't stop his reputation from plummeting but the bullies stopped being able to openly harm him. She did not stop trying to convince other people to see that the rumors were wrong and Kaori attempted to assist in this regard.
After a while, the people who were less inclined to believe the rumors stopped caring too much and started to ignore Nagumo. A better position he was in only a few days ago. However, more and more people began to ignore her. In her opinion a small price to pay.
There was a few hold outs. People who she suspected hated Nagumo for no other reason than they hated him. She had confronted them about this, but they remained opposed. Amanogawa Kouki and his ilk being the main culprits. For the most part, they seethed in isolation and no longer made open moves against Nagumo Hajime.
She had cut pretty much all ties to Amanogawa Kouki and refused to speak to him despite his constant pleads. This seemed to have made her enemies amongst his groupies. Not that she cared. Even her own 'groupies;' the Soul Sisters had it seemed fallen into a pathetic state of civil war; with some opening declaring that she was no longer worthy of respect and the other faction deciding to remain loyal. Not that she ever go involved in their conflict.
Her actions had gained a kind of watchful peace. She no longer could no call a few people her friends. But if it protected Nagumo, then there was no price she would not pay.
A choice to Make
It happened so suddenly. In the middle of homeroom a bright light appeared and a magic circle appeared underneath all of them. It appeared too fast for either Hajime nor Shizuku to react to it. The classroom disappeared and they found themselves in a medieval throne room.
It was an Isekai situation through and through. Their class had been transported to the world of Tortus. It appears that this world was on the verge of collapse from the demon race's war machine. Much of the southern continent had been overrun by the demons.
As the last resort, they had to summon a hero and a hero's party to assist him, as a desperate way to save themselves. Their homeroom teacher Aiko objected vociferously to this idea and demanded a way to return. The magic it seemed was rare and they had no way of bringing them back to Japan at the moment.
"Everyone. I know this isn't a situation that we want to find ourselves in but can we ignore the plight of these people. I will not." Amanogawa Kouki, the hero declared. "Whilst we are here, shouldn't we do good?! We should fight for the greater good. Whose with me?!"
Aiko's objections were soon drowned out. The class led always by Amanogawa Kouki was pulled into this conflict. The King and the head priest praised the decision.
On account of their summoning to a world of magic, they had all been granted classes and skills. They passed along what was known as a status plate; a magical artifact that could tell you what skills and stats you possessed. The system was incredibly game-like; whereby levelling up would increase stats and use of skills gain mastery over them which lead to the potential to unlock stronger derivative skills.
Almost as if the world was acknowledging Amanogawa's hero status he was granted the class [Hero] and was granted the highest stats amongst the new party.
Yaegashi Shizuku was granted the class [Swordmaster] and appropriate class for the heir to the Yaegashi-style.
Much of the class had received combat-oriented classes such as mage, brawler and others had classes suited for battlefield support like Shirasaki Kaori's [Healer].
Fully expecting at least something useful in order to protect himself Nagumo Hajime was displeased, to say the least when his class [Synergist] appeared on his status plate. It seemed to be a class that was used primarily in material construction, a common class, and one that was often used by laborers and craftsmen.
It seemed that even a new world was destined to ostracise Nagumo Hajime. But if Shizuku was being honest she was relieved. If he was stuck in a non-combat role that means he would be safe. She breathed easy knowing that person that she loved would not be in danger.
It seemed that was rather naïve of her. He showed up the next day for combat training and refused to back down. He was fighting with them
They had an open fight about the whole thing and they very nearly came to blows, were it not for the intervention of Shirasaki and Aiko.
"Yaegashi! If you want to stop me you're gonna have to beat me down and break my bones!" He declared whilst being led dragged away by Aiko.
"You stubborn mule! Nagumo-kun, if I swear if I have to leave you in bandages in the castle, I will do it!" She screamed as Shirasaki tried to get her to calm down.
Eventually, Nagumo exhausted himself and had to leave for his room. Yaegashi spent the rest of the day absolutely fuming, snapping at anyone that tried to speak to her.
With each training session, Nagumo Hajime appeared and insisted on participating. It wasn't as if he improved all that much, the gulf between him and the rest of his classmates with their cheat-like abilities was too great, but his stubbornness kept pushing him forward.
By this point in time, Yaegashi Shizuku had calmed down. She still did not agree to his decision and wanted nothing more than for him to stay behind but now more than ever seeing him struggle she wanted to convince him to stay behind for their first combat mission the following day.
"Nagumo-kun, it's me. We need to talk."
She knocked on the door to get his attention. With each bang knocked harder, demanding that she be let in.
"Don't make me break the door down." She threatened.
She heard loud shuffling sounds and the click of the door opening.
"What is it Yaegashi?" He muttered, with some venom in his voice. Clearly, he hadn't gotten over their fight yet.
That honestly stung. Yaegashi loved this boy with all her heart. Even if she felt that what she was trying to do was the right thing to do; no girl ever wants to have their crush dislike them.
"Do you hate me?" She whispered, the hurt in her voice evident.
"No… I don't. I don't think I ever could… How could I?" Hajime explained. "But when you told me that I wasn't strong enough… That hurt. I want nothing more than to keep my promise to you. But you essentially told me that I wasn't strong enough to be by your side anymore."
"I didn't mean it like that. You know I only said that because I want to protect you." She insisted.
"I know you're only trying to look out of me. To protect me like you always do but Yaegashi, this is a whole different situation. I can't have you fighting dangerous monsters while I sit back in the castle doing nothing. I'm not backing down even if I have to drag myself down to the labyrinth." He insisted.
She sighed. This was not going anywhere and if she continued they'll get into another shouting match. She asked to sit down. She sat on his bed and asked him to join her.
"Nagumo-kun. Let's stop. I don't want things getting worse between us. You're still my best friend... No, you mean more to me than that. If you died because of this..."
"I don't think I'd be able to take it."
After a moment of silence, Nagumo formed his own thoughts.
"I feel the same way. If you died and I wasn't there to help... I'd never be able to live with myself."
"So what should we do?" Shizuku asked, pondering their future. "Should we run away? I know you don't want to fight this war and we don't really owe the class anything. I think we could get a couple of people to join us. Kaori would join if you and I run away. Ai-chan sensei might agree with us."
"No. It's true I don't really trust the class. But splitting up from them seems like a bad choice. It's a completely new world. If we go on our own we'll have nowhere to go and we'll probably die." Nagumo countered.
"So….. We have to stick with the class?" She questioned, concerned for their future given their recent history with class.
"Well, that's true… But I know one person that I would trust with my life in that class." Nagumo stated.
She nodded in understanding. She would trust her Nagumo-kun with her life.
"I guess what it comes down to it we have to look out for each other. Honestly, I don't think I would have it any other way." Shizuku stated, her beaming smile restored, filing Hajime with hope and happiness.
"I'll stick close to you in the dungeon, Yaegashi. I think that will set your heart at ease." Nagumo offered.
"It will. Thank you Nagumo-kun."
Deciding that their chat was over and that they had come to an agreement, Shizuku got up and took the time to observe her surroundings. Noticing some books on his desk she inquired about them.
"Those? One is book a summarising the important parts of this world's history. That other one is about magical theory and about rare artifacts that can be found." He explained. "I'm not sure how much of this is going to be necessary but I figured that it would be helpful to know more about this place given that we're stuck here for the foreseeable future."
They spent several more minutes talking to each other, catching up on how the other was doing given the change in environment. They both missed their families terribly and the thought of fighting a war that they were effectively dragged into didn't sit right with them.
Deciding that it was getting late, Shizuku left the room after promising to see him the first thing the next day to prepare for the dungeon. He smiled at her, the bright smile that she promised to protect no matter what.
Of Blood and Dreams.
It's one thing to practice with the sword for years and years. It's another matter altogether to take a life with that sword style. The feeling of cutting through flesh and blood, the resistance she felt on the blade, the blood-curling cry of the monster that struggled to live as the blade amputated another limb. None of it would leave her.
Dazed and stunned she was an open target for the goblin-like monster that was lunging towards her. Nagumo Hajime reacted instantly and shoved her aside. Using his single skill [Transmute] to pin down the monster. The monster was pinned down but Hajime could not stop his blade from sinking into his shoulder.
"Snap out of it Yaegashi!" Screamed Hajime, as he struggled, managing to wrench the dagger free from the goblin's grip. He dashed away as far as he could.
Frantically, she took out her blade and swung the blade down, attempting to cut down the monster. But the cut was poor and the blade was stuck in the ribs of the monster. Shizuku struggled to remove the blade as the goblin trashed around. After some effort she managed to free her sword from the monster and swung down, finally ending the monster.
She scrambled to where Hajime was who had the goblin's dagger embedded into his right shoulder. He was in pain but calmly taking out a bandage. Once he was ready he wrenched the dagger out of his shoulder.
"Shizuku. Help me with the bandage please.."
Trembling she helped to dress the wound. It wasn't too bad, nothing that healing magic couldn't heal instantly. She stayed silent the whole way back to the party. She barely communicated or responded to anything that others said to her. She barely remembered the trip back to the party's home base.
She locked herself into her own room. She felt drained and exhausted like her limbs were about to snap. She practically fainted onto her bed, hoping that her exhaustion would give her some respite. But as she shut her eyes, blood and guts flashed in her mind. She remembered the way that the flesh resisted her cuts and she had to make multiple messy cuts. She remembered the blood draining from their faces, the blood and guts spilling out from the cuts she made. She remembered the weight of the blade, becoming heavier and heavier due to the excess fat and the blood.
But most of all she remembered her mistake. She relived the moment where the dagger hit Nagumo Hajime's shoulder for what seemed like a thousand times, her mind and body wore out, unable to react.
Trapped in the darkness of her mind her fears twisted her memory to show her the dark possibilities of her mistake. A dagger to heart, A dagger to the brain and blood, blood that she couldn't stop no matter how much she tried.
She wretched out the contents of her stomach onto the floor and cried and cried.
"Nagumo-kun…" She whispered. "Help me….."
Someone had seen Shizuku enter her room, so he figured that was where she was hiding. Bringing a tray of food for her to eat, she knocked on the door.
"Yaegashi. You have to eat. Come out before I transmute the lock off."
After a few seconds, he heard the shuffling of her feet and the lock being opened. She looked terrible to say the least. Her hair was untied and a complete tangled mess. Her eyes were red and puffy, a clear sign that she had been crying nonstop. She looked haggard and judging by the foul stench that emanated from her room, she had clearly vomited what little food she had in her stomach.
He walked into the room and proceeded to lay down the plate of food that he bought. He took a look at the vomit on the floor, He sat her on her chair and proceeded to clean up the vomit. He refused any help. After a couple of minutes, he finished.
He urged her to eat the food, but she had no appetite to eat any food, and looking at the food made her physically sick. She pushed the food away.
"You need to eat, Yaegashi." He insisted.
She shook her head.
"Hmm, alright. I'm not going to shovel food into your mouth if you can't take the food. Let's take a bit of a walk and let's talk for a bit."
He gently guided her out of her chair, making sure that she was able to walk properly. They walked out into the terrace, overlooking the Labyrinth city of Hourad. It was well into the night, and the stars illuminated the black sky, unhindered by any light pollution.
The slight chill in air was refreshing and she felt a little bit of her strength returning. She took a few deep breaths.
"Are you okay Nagumo-kun?" She asked weakily.
"Do you mean the shoulder? Shirasaki healed it pretty quickly. It's a bit stiff but that's all." He replied.
"Are you not going to ask about this whole thing?"
She gestured to the mess of her face.
"No. You're not really alone in this respect." Hajime explained. "Pretty much everyone took their first kill poorly. Some took it better. Some took it worse than others. You're just in the latter category in my book."
He relayed the number of people in the class that was currently holed up in their rooms, unable to function properly.
"But… That's not it!" She exclaimed. "You took a blow that was meant for me. You could have died. I was paralyzed by fear and shock. I very nearly killed you! I claimed that I would protect you. Why a lie that was."
She balled her fists in rage and self-loathing. A few tears emerged from her eyes.
"What if I don't get better? What if the next time I face a monster I can't swing my blade anymore and you die because of it?" She questioned fearing the worse possibilities. "I want to be strong for Kaori and for you but how can I when I'm a hindrance?!"
"Shizuku, you should compare yourself to a hardened warrior or anything. Everyone is going to be a bit shocked in their first day."
"You seemed to be fine." She remarked.
Nagumo had managed to make a few kills during their first day. He never seemed to flinch when facing monsters.
"Hmm. That is odd. It's true I took it pretty well. Better than most I guess." He pondered. "Maybe I have few more screws loose than I thought."
"Yaegashi, I don't think of you as any worse. You're not a hardened warrior. You're just a young girl with a bit of sword training. I've known you for a long time now Yaegashi. You're not always strong or perfect. I don't want to belittle you but it's nice to know that there is something that you're weak at."
"Yaegashi, if you're weak in something I'll take up the slack. And when I'm facing something insurmountable you'll be there to beat it down with me. That how I see the relationship between you and I." Hajime reassured her. "So it's okay to be weak Yaegashi. You can cry and I'll be there for you. So let it out."
"You don't have to protect me all the time. You have my back and I have yours." He re-assured her.
She stood there in silence, taking in his words. Trying to understand, trying to calm down, and focus on the truth of the matter. Feeling the air growing colder, she gestured to Hajime for them to return to her room.
The plate of food was seemed more appetizing and she slowly ate the half-cold food. As she was finishing the plate of food, she saw that Nagumo was sitting in the corner, preparing to make himself comfortable.
"Are you going to be here all night?!" She cried out in concern.
"I intend to…. I'll sleep in a corner, so shout if you need anything."
"Nagumo-kun you know that you'll be sleeping in a girl's room right?"
"I get your concern. I'll go get a blindfold." He offered.
"You might be okay with this but I'm not!" She shouted angrily.
"I'm not leaving until I know you'll be okay." He insisted.
She sighed. She knew where this was going. She and Hajime were going to argue and he'll probably ended up collapsing in her room anyway.
"Fine, you can stay until you confirmed that I'm fully asleep" She finally relented.
She didn't even bother getting changed, she wrapped herself in her blanket and tried to sleep. She closed her eyes but she found no peace there. The blood and guts invaded her mind, staining her memory. Her eye scrunched in stress and strain. Immediately, he came up to her, resting his hand in hers, a technique that he remembered that his mum did when he had bad nightmares.
"I'm here for you Yaegashi… I'm here for you."
His calm soothing voice rang out against the seas of screams and blood. A light to guide her in the troubled seas. She focused on that voice and let it drift her to sleep.
Satisfied when he saw that her eyelids were no longer troubled he unclasped his hand from hers and left her sleeping peacefully.
In the coming days, even though the memories of that first day would continue to haunt her, Hajime's presence always calmed her down. His words comforted her even in the dark recesses of her mind.
Labyrinth Floor 20
The Behemoth was a terrible monster that even trained adventurers could not fight against. It was not something commonly encountered on the 20th floor.
Its mere presence incapacitated several members of the party. They had no choice but to flee across the stone bridge, but their instructor and guide; Meld had been knocked out by a blow from the monsters. Amanogawa Kouki, unable to process what had happed stood there in stunned silence.
THWACK!
Nagumo Hajime's fist connected with Amanogawa's own.
"Snap out of it you idiot. Rally the rest of the party and get out of here!" Nagumo commanded.
Without a hint of fear, Hajime charged the monster. He charged his mana and prepared his strongest skill, immobilizing the monster mere seconds before the monster reached him. His work done, Nagumo Hajime scrambled across the stone bridge, shouting and signaling all the while.
"BRING DOWN THE BRIDGE!" He screamed at the top of his lungs as he ran across the bridge.
The mages in the party prepared their most powerful spells and aimed at bridge. After an intense barrage, the stone bridge was cracking under its own weight. Nagumo Hajime had only a few more metres to go before he got to safety.
But he would never reach safety. A fire spell hit him as he ran, the force of the spell sent him flying into the air, the bridge soon collapsing sending Hajime and the monster hurtling into the chasm.
Shizuku Yaegashi looked in horror as her worse nightmares were realized. At this moment her body did not betray her. No one in the class was able to react when Shizuku accelerated herself into the chasm to reach him.
She managed to reach him and she could not prevent them from falling. The afternoon sun had tied their fates together. Now it was the Abyss that held their fate.
That's a wrap to the longest single chapter I've ever written in fanfiction. This thing has gone through so many changes. Much of it was intended as a spinoff the Black Blade and the Gun series where the isekai portion of the story doesn't happen and Shizuku and Hajime's relationship grows without the falling into the abyss portion.
I didn't like where I was going with it so I re-wrote the whole thing as a prologue to Black Blade and the gun, explaining why Hajime and Shizuku were already so close at he start of chapter one. Hopefully I've managed to stay true to the characters and that the this prologue fits the story that I've already written.
For those wondering where chapter 6 is; I am working on it and I believe I should be half way done. However, I'm probably gonna review the chapters that I have already written and clean them up. I need to make sure that the chapters that I have written now match the vision I have for the story.
Until next time!