A/N: Okay, first of all: THANK YOU FOR FAVORITING/ FOLLOWING THIS FANFIC OF MINE! ALSO FOR THOSE WHO BOTHERED READING THIS! I' m really glad that you guys even bothered to take a peak in this.
Anyways, that wasn't the only reason why I placed an Author's Note in the beginning of the story. I think some of you might get triggered by some of the themes in this chapter. So if you don't want to see it, press Ctrl and F then type "THIS PART IS SAFE NOW"
That is all.
STORGE: The Familial Bond
STORGE: CHAPTER 5
When Happiness Went Missing
Bullies are quite unavoidable, no matter who you are and what you do. They just keep on coming and coming, always looking for the perfect opportunity to attack their victim.
Minami is one of them, the victims that is. He tries to avoid them, but they just keep on finding him.
Tsubara, Haruto and Kenji: the known delinquents in school. They are known for breaking rules like vandalizing school property and the like, but the most infamous one is bullying those they think are weak in the male population.
They taunt and insult his love for Figure Skating, his passion and his identity in general. Trying to lower his self-esteem to feel more superior than him.
Of course it doesn't work; Anri always reassures him whenever he gets affected. She tells him that he is fine for who he is, that no matter what people say, he is amazing in his own right and shouldn't be told otherwise. She lets him cry on her shoulder if it gets a bit too much for him, hugs him to comfort him, muttering threats to those who had hurt him. She is his pillar, his shield.
As of the moment, she's not here, which means he was alone.
And the bullies saw it as a chance, cornering him to a dead end alley. This time, they didn't just use words to hurt him. This time, they got physical.
They punched him and kicked him 'til he's black and blue. Spat on him and laughed cruelly, telling him that he is disgusting and useless. That he is nothing but a weak person who hides behind a younger girl's back. They to tell him to just die, that his friend is just going out with him out of pity.
They never noticed the said girl was behind them until it was too late.
Both friends ended up in the hospital. Minami felt very guilty. He couldn't defend his friend from getting involved in the beating and trauma. And now they are facing the consequences.
Minami watched with his good eye as Anri calmly walked towards the older male students. Her steps are eerily silent and so is the serene expression on her face.
Tapping on the shoulder of the person in front of her, she smiled at the confused look of the leader, Tsubara. But it immediately was wiped off her face as she punched him in the jaw.
She threw herself at the taller boy, straddling on him and threw more punches at his face. Just as fast as she attacked, Haruto pulled her off their leader and threw her at the wall beside them.
Minami winced as he heard as painful crack when Anri's shoulder hits that concrete wall. Helplessly, he watched as Haruto held her by the hair and punched her in the face repeatedly. He saw her broken glasses fall on the ground with blood on it.
Kenji joined in and punched her at the stomach. When Tsubara recovered, he told the duo to hold her up and with a malicious glint in his eyes, whispered something to her ear.
Whatever it was, it made Anri tense in fear for a moment, giving the older male to attempt to touch her. She began struggling violently and screaming in terror. The three tried to cover her mouth but it already alerted the residents and the rest is up for your imagination.
He tried to apologize but Anri told him that her health and sanity be damned; he is the top priority that moment and will not regret any of her actions. She'd rather fight and lose rather than to stand and not defend a precious person.
He cried tears of joy. What had he done to deserve a friend like her?
The bullying didn't end there.
The news of what happened seemed to have spread, but it has a twist.
The twist made Anri's neutral reputation drop to the lowest level. All because of a single sentence: "She enjoyed it."
The moment Anri returned from her hospital leave, she noticed that people are looking at as though she did something absolutely disgusting.
Some people began to vandalize her table writing the words slut, whore and the likes. She began to receive hurtful letters from her locker, which is how she learned the rumor. Heck, someone had a great idea to place an unwanted gift her desk every single day: a vase with white lily in it.
Anri endured it all. She cleaned her desk every single day, ripped the letters and threw the lily away, taking home every single vase each day. But what crossed the line was when a group of girls decided to cut her hair when she was trying to rest in the clinic.
This angered the bespectacled girl. So she followed the group to the washroom and proceeded to take her revenge. She beaten up the girls and cut their hair, smiling sweetly while doing so.
Anri got suspended for a week for that action. Not that she ever regretted it.
Her nightmares are getting worse as so is the frequency of her panic attacks. The words the he breathily whispered to her ear, the eyes that seem to strip her from her clothes, she rumors that spread around in school.
Behind her brave façade she puts on in public, Anri is just a terrified little girl. She may know how to defend herself physically, but mental attacks are different. She is already in distress that Vicchan is showing signs that he is dying, and the fact that her coach got himself in a hospital due to stroke. His
With all of this happening, her appetite is dying and so was she inside.
Her calls to Yuuri and Phichit are getting less and less frequent until she stopped calling entirely. She began to hole herself in her room, not bothering to go outside anymore. She doesn't even bother with social media anymore, fully knowing that this made her brother and online friends worry, but she really doesn't care at the moment.
Minami still visits her though, telling her of his victories and loses in the competitions he joined in. That the main bullies where finally expelled due to the amount of violations they did again the school rules. He told her that the students in her class finally got to hear the real story behind the rumors through him and the residents that got to witness the incident.
She only listened and he knew she did. He didn't pry or questioned her silence; he just comes over to give her comfort. It still wasn't enough for her to go back. The trauma was just too great and she doesn't want to deal with it at the moment.
Her behavior worried her parents and proceeded to confront her with the issue. They were shocked with the rumor as they knew of the real story, so they asked her if she still wanted to attend school there.
She told them that she will think about it and remained in her room for two more weeks. Her brain wasn't really functioning well, so she doesn't truly trust her decisions. She needs more time.
When Mari finally had enough of her shit, the eldest sibling took it upon herself to get the now skinny Anri back to shape. That, and getting Vicchan to stay in her sister's room for the attention that she owes him.
The young adult took the teen to a doctor, who gave a prescription on what Anri needs to take. Anri was also brought to a therapist, as her sister discovered about the reoccurring nightmares of the attempted rape.
THIS PART IS SAFE NOW
Anri dedicated her time to Vicchan and helping out in the inn, even if her family tells her to leave it to them.
Vicchan is an old dog and wouldn't last long anymore. So she took care of him (read: spoiled). She made sure that he eats and drinks properly, bathes him as often as possible, and plays with him.
Minami visits her to give her the notes that her classmates are giving to her. She was suspicious at first, but later on just accepted them and copied them down. Then the two began to chat, topic varying from light hearted ones to the slightly darker ones.
They make sure to keep in touch and Anri proceeded to call Yuuri and Phichit through FaceTime. Yuuri was worried for her because she usually answers his calls the moment she sees it, which she replied with the excuse of being too busy with school work. The two college students were suspicious but ignored it for the sake of chatting with her.
It seemed like that they actually tried dating each other (Phichit's idea that Yuuri humored him with) but ended up being buddies instead, something Anri squinted at due to Yuuri's embarrassed expression when the Thai mentioned it.
They bid each other farewell and ended the call.
That was when Vicchan threw up blood.
Everything was a blur after that.
"And now we're here," Anri scratched the dog lazily, "a lot of things happened these past months, huh?"
"I hope Yuuri goes home soon," the dog barked in agreement, "yeah, I miss him, too."
The girl continued to ramble to the dog, who was listening attentively to her. At some point, Anri fell asleep and cuddled the old dog.
Hiroko woke her up to take Vicchan's cold body out of her arms.
TBC
A/N: I'm so sorry for this.