The sleek black limousine pulled up smoothly in front of Chiba Academy's gates, its polished exterior gleaming under the morning sun. Raiden Mei stepped out gracefully, her pristine uniform crisp and immaculate as ever. She adjusted her bag and turned to give a polite nod to her chauffeur before stepping forward. The soft hum of morning chatter grew louder as she approached the main building.
"Raiden-san! Good morning!"
She turned to see three girls hurrying toward her.
"Ah, good morning," Mei replied with her usual composed tone, though her lips curved into a small smile. These girls had been among the first to befriend her at Chiba, and their enthusiastic greetings always helped ease her transition into the academy's social circle.
As they began walking toward their classroom, the conversation shifted between the latest student council announcements, upcoming exams, and gossip. Mei stayed mostly quiet, interjecting now and then with polite comments. Her focus was on the day ahead until one of the girls leaned closer, lowering her voice conspiratorially.
"Did you hear about the new transfer student?"
Mei glanced at her. "Transfer student?"
The girl nodded eagerly. "Apparently, he's starting today. But get this—he's not from a big family, not even from one with connections. Just some… nobody."
Another girl added, "And he's a boy. A boy! I can't remember the last time we had one transfer here."
"I heard he's a total weirdo," the third chimed in. "Bad luck follows him around like a curse. Can you imagine?"
Mei frowned slightly at the unnecessary harshness of their words but said nothing. Her thoughts wandered as they continued walking. It was unusual for someone without connections to attend Chiba, let alone a male student. She couldn't help but feel a tinge of curiosity—who exactly was this boy?
When homeroom began, the classroom hummed with quiet anticipation. Mei could hear snippets of conversation behind her as students speculated about the mysterious transfer student.
The homeroom teacher, a stern but fair woman named Ms. Ishikawa, cleared her throat to quiet the room. "Good morning, everyone. Before we begin, I have an announcement." She paused, scanning the room to ensure she had their full attention.
"Today, we'll be welcoming a new transfer student. Please be respectful and make him feel at home." Ms. Ishikawa gestured toward the door. "You may come in now."
The door slid open, and a boy stepped inside. Mei blinked, surprised. He was taller than she expected, with tanned skin and messy grey hair tipped with red. His posture was relaxed, but his tired eyes gave him a worn-out appearance, as if life had drained some of his energy. His uniform was slightly scuffed, with faint smudges of dirt here and there, making him stand out starkly against the pristine uniforms of the other students.
He stepped to the front of the room, shoving his hands into his pockets as he glanced over the class.
"Hey. Name's Hoshizora Akito," he said, his tone casual but not disrespectful. "I'm 17. Uh, I've got bad luck, so fair warning to anyone who sits too close."
There was a ripple of laughter through the room. Some students whispered to each other, their voices just loud enough for Mei to catch snippets:
"Did he just say bad luck?"
"What kind of introduction is that?"
"Figures a nobody like him wouldn't know how to act."
Hoshizora-san didn't seem fazed. He stood there with the same tired expression, waiting for the teacher to speak again.
Ms. Ishikawa cleared her throat, silencing the murmurs. "Thank you, Hoshizora. You can take the empty seat in front of Raiden Mei." She gestured to the desk near the windows, situated in the middle row.
Hoshizora-san nodded and trudged toward the seat, his gait unhurried. As he passed by Mei, she caught a faint scent of earth and something metallic, like he'd been through a storm and hadn't quite dried off yet. He dropped into his seat with a soft thud, setting his bag down with a resigned sigh.
Mei glanced at the back of his head, noting how his messy hair caught the sunlight. He didn't look like someone who cared much about appearances, and yet there was something oddly compelling about him. Maybe it was the way he seemed completely unfazed by the snickers and whispers of their classmates. Or maybe it was the quiet weight he carried like he was used to bearing far more than anyone his age should.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Ms. Ishikawa beginning the lesson. Shaking off her curiosity, Mei turned her attention back to her notebook, though she couldn't help but wonder if Hoshizora-san's self-proclaimed bad luck would make his presence in their class as eventful as the rumours suggested.
The bell rang, signalling the start of the break period. Mei gathered her things and joined her usual friends as they headed toward the courtyard. The weather was pleasant, with a gentle breeze rustling the leaves of the tall trees scattered around the campus. Mei and her friends settled on a bench near the open field, chatting idly about their plans for the weekend.
From the corner of her eye, Mei noticed Hoshizora-san sitting by himself on a bench not too far away. He had his arms crossed and appeared lost in thought, occasionally glancing up at the sky as if searching for answers only he could see. One of her friends, a cheerful girl named Sayuri-kun, followed her gaze and raised an eyebrow.
"Mei-san, what are you looking at?"
Mei turned back to her. "Oh, nothing. Just wondering about that proverbial bad luck he mentioned. So far, nothing has happened."
Sayuri-kun giggled. "Maybe he was lying about it for some attention?"
Mei shrugged lightly. "Maybe." She wasn't convinced, but it was a plausible explanation.
Hoshizora-san stood up from the bench, slinging his bag over his shoulder. He began walking back toward the school building, his pace leisurely. As he passed under a large tree, Mei's attention lingered on him for reasons she couldn't quite explain.
Then it happened.
A heavy branch suddenly cracked and plummeted from above. Mei's eyes widened in alarm, and Sayuri-kun opened her mouth to shout a warning, but before any sound escaped, Hoshizora-san casually stepped to the left, narrowly avoiding the branch without even looking up. He continued walking as if nothing had happened.
Mei's breath caught. Her friends, equally stunned, watched as the scene unfolded further. A soccer ball came hurtling toward Hoshizora-san's head, seemingly out of nowhere. Without missing a beat, he crouched, the ball sailing harmlessly over him before standing up once more. He took another step forward, and three more branches fell in rapid succession. This time, he performed a smooth front somersault, evading them all with an almost lazy grace.
By the time Hoshizora-san disappeared into the school building, the courtyard was silent.
Sayuri-kun blinked, her jaw slightly slack. "What the…?"
Another girl, a quieter student named Minako-kun, softly muttered, "Guess he wasn't lying."
The day unfolded as a typical start at Chiba Academy for Mei Raiden, but the arrival of Akito Hoshizora quickly turned the mundane into the unusual.
After the break ended, the students returned to class, and the day continued. By the third period, they had chemistry. Mei couldn't help but notice Hoshizora-san quietly following instructions, carefully measuring liquids and jotting down notes with precision. However, the moment he turned on his Bunsen burner, there was a loud pop . A beaker on his workstation exploded without warning, sending shards of glass flying. Fortunately, Hoshizora-san remained unharmed, though his sleeve was singed slightly. The teacher rushed over, bewildered, as Hoshizora-san calmly swept the debris into a tray with an apologetic shrug.
"It wasn't even near a heat source," the teacher muttered under her breath. Students whispered among themselves, some throwing sceptical glances at Hoshizora-san, who just continued with the experiment as if this was an everyday occurrence.
Later, in the third period, math class began without incident, though the hum of the classroom lights seemed louder than usual. As Mei worked through an equation, a shadow passed across her desk. Before she could react, a light fixture detached from the ceiling with a loud crash , barely missing her desk and Hoshizora-san, who sat just behind her. He didn't flinch, only raising an eyebrow at the fallen light. The teacher hurried to ensure no one was hurt, and maintenance staff were called in to inspect the other fixtures. Mei glanced back at Hoshizora-san, who was scribbling in his notebook as though nothing unusual had happened.
By lunch period, the oddities continued. Mei and her friends had taken a table by the windows overlooking the courtyard. The sky had turned overcast, and soon a light drizzle began. Hoshizora-san, meanwhile, decided to eat outside under the covered benches. As Mei's group watched, they saw him walking toward the cafeteria afterwards, slipping into every single puddle on the way. Each misstep sent water splashing onto his shoes and pants. When he finally entered the building, dripping slightly, he slipped on the tiled floor, landing on his back with a thud. A teacher nearby helped him up, muttering something about mops, while Hoshizora-san looked unbothered, picking up his tray of food and heading to an empty table.
"Is this guy cursed?" one of Mei's friends, Kaede-kun, whispered.
Considering that, Mei said, "Perhaps he wasn't lying about that bad luck."
By the final period, Mei noticed the subtle stir among the students as they began murmuring about the peculiar string of events surrounding Hoshizora-san. While the teacher stepped out momentarily, a small group gathered near the back of the class.
"Okay, what's the deal with this guy?" Haruto-kun, a boy who sat near the windows, asked. "It's like the universe hates him."
"You think he's jinxed?" Sayuri-san chimed in, half-joking. "I've never seen anyone slip that many times during lunch."
Another girl, Airi-san, rolled her eyes. "Maybe he's just clumsy."
Before the debate could continue, Hoshizora-san walked back into the room from the restroom, his hair slightly damp. The students fell silent, returning to their seats as if they hadn't been discussing him. Mei glanced over at him, but he was already flipping through his notes, oblivious to the attention.
When classes ended for the day, Mei and her group stayed behind in the classroom, chatting about homework and their plans for the weekend. Sayuri-kun, who had been looking out the window, suddenly gasped.
"What is it?" Mei asked, moving closer to see what had caught her attention. Outside, the rain had turned into a torrential downpour. Hoshizora-san stood at the school gates, holding a broken umbrella, the fabric flapping uselessly in the wind. His annoyed expression was visible even from their vantage point. He shook his head, then reached into his backpack, pulling out another umbrella as though this were a routine occurrence. Opening the new umbrella, he stepped into the storm without hesitation, leaving Mei and her friends in stunned silence.
"Well," Kaede-kun said softly, "I guess he wasn't lying after all."
Sayuri-kun nodded, a mix of amazement and pity on her face. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone that unlucky before."
Mei stayed quiet, her thoughts lingering on the peculiar boy and his seemingly endless streak of misfortune. Despite everything, he moved through it all with an air of calm acceptance, as though bad luck was just another part of his day. For reasons she couldn't quite articulate, she found herself curious about him.
The school term continued, and Hoshizora-san's streak of bad luck only became more apparent with each passing day. The class collectively began to reconsider the phrase "bad luck," finding it woefully inadequate to describe the string of bizarre misfortunes that trailed him like a shadow.
Despite his low social standing as a newcomer and nobody from an unconnected background, some students attempted to bully him. Yet, as if to mock their efforts, Hoshizora-san's luck managed to turn their pranks into awkward, self-defeating displays.
One memorable incident occurred during a history lesson. As Hoshizora-san walked up the aisle to his seat, a girl named Hikaru-san extended her leg to trip him. Instead of stumbling, Hoshizora-san's backpack slipped from his shoulder, sailed out the open window, and somehow snagged on a tree branch outside. The entire class froze, stunned by the absurdity of the situation. Hoshizora-san stopped, gave Hikaru-san an annoyed glare, and then calmly left the room to retrieve his bag. The snickers that had begun turned into nervous silence as students realised Hoshizora-san wasn't rattled in the slightest. Hikaru-san, on the other hand, turned bright red, muttering excuses about how she didn't mean for that to happen.
Another time, during lunch in the cafeteria, a boy named Daisuke-san decided to dump a glass of water over Hoshizora-san's head. As the icy liquid splashed down, Hoshizora-san reflexively stepped back, slipping into the puddle that had formed. His feet shot out from under him, and he landed with a loud thunk against the edge of a table. Gasps rippled through the cafeteria as blood trickled from a small gash at the back of his head. To everyone's shock, Hoshizora-san remained unfazed. He pulled a roll of bandages from his backpack—something he apparently carried routinely—wrapped his head with practised ease, and informed a nearby student, Haruto-kun, to let the teacher know he was going to the nurse. He left without a single word of complaint, leaving the cafeteria eerily quiet in his wake.
The consistent display of chaotic luck became a topic of fascination for everyone at Chiba Academy. Mei's friend group was no exception, often discussing the new transfer between classes.
"How is he still alive?" Minako-kun mused one afternoon. "If I had his luck, I'd never leave the house."
"It's like the universe is messing with him on purpose," Sayuri-kun added. "And he just... deals with it? No yelling, no frustration, nothing."
"It's almost impressive," Kaede-kun said. "Almost."
As the days went on, the pattern continued. During chemistry class, despite Hoshizora-san's meticulous adherence to instructions, his experiments would inexplicably backfire. Beakers shattered, Bunsen burners flickered unpredictably, and once, his lab coat caught fire in a freak spark. In math, the light fixtures over his desk seemed especially prone to creaking ominously, much to the unease of the students seated nearby.
Even mundane tasks turned into comedic spectacles. Mei noticed that Hoshizora-san's movements around campus seemed to invite trouble. Loose floorboards, sudden gusts of wind, and misplaced soccer balls all conspired to trip him up. Yet, despite the constant barrage of misfortunes, he carried on with a stoic air, as if it were all just background noise.
One rainy afternoon, the end of the school day brought another display of Hoshizora-san's peculiar resilience. As Mei and her friends lingered in their classroom, they watched from the window as Akito stepped outside into a sudden downpour. His umbrella immediately turned inside out, the spokes snapping in the wind.
"Is it possible for someone to actually be cursed?" Sayuri-kun asked, her voice tinged with equal parts disbelief and concern.
"Apparently, yes," Minako-kun replied. "I mean, who even carries three umbrellas expecting two of them to break?"
They watched in stunned silence as Hoshizora-san pulled a third umbrella from his backpack, opened it, and continued on his way as though nothing had happened. The sight left an impression, sparking a mix of sympathy and admiration in those who had witnessed it.
For Mei, the feeling was more complicated. Hoshizora-san's quiet resilience intrigued her. No matter how many challenges his luck threw at him, he moved forward with an unshakable calm. In a way, she thought, that was its own kind of strength.
The staff and teachers at Chiba Academy had their own thoughts about Akito Hoshizora. On paper, he was the ideal student—punctual, disciplined, and consistently respectful to his peers and instructors. He never spoke out of turn, completed his assignments on time, and followed school rules without complaint. Yet, despite his commendable behaviour, an undeniable aura of misfortune seemed to follow him everywhere.
During a faculty meeting, his name inevitably came up.
"Is it just me, or does everything seem to go wrong when he's around?" one teacher asked.
"It's not just you," another chimed in. "Yesterday, during chemistry class, half the equipment at his station malfunctioned simultaneously. I've never seen anything like it."
"Even in gym, the basketball hoop collapsed while he was just walking past," the PE teacher added. "I swear, the bolts were fine the day before."
Principal Hayashi, who had reviewed Hoshizora-san's transfer records, shared a knowing sigh. "You think that's bad? You should see what his previous school had to say about him."
He rifled through a file and pulled out a report from Hoshizora-san's former principal. "It says here that some of the staff at his old school genuinely believed he might be cursed. Damage reports from his time there were through the roof—broken windows, faulty plumbing, spontaneous electrical failures. And yet, every investigation came up with nothing. Just 'bad luck,' they said."
"Cursed?" one of the newer teachers scoffed, though there was an uneasy edge to their voice. "That's a bit much, isn't it?"
The school nurse, Ms. Ichihara, had also noticed something uncanny about Hoshizora. "It's not just the bad luck," she said. "Have you seen the animals that follow him around? Black cats, crows, even a fox once! They seem drawn to him like he's some kind of magnet. Honestly, it's eerie."
"Maybe," Hayashi said, rubbing his temples. "But explain why every school he's attended mentions the same thing. It's not just the accidents. Black cats, crows, owls and even foxes love following him around. You can't make this stuff up."
The biology teacher, Ms. Nakamura, nodded thoughtfully. "I saw a black dog sitting outside the gates this morning. It just watched him the whole time he walked to class. Didn't follow anyone else."
"And what about the tanuki near the cafeteria yesterday?" someone else added. "It's like he's a magnet for them."
Despite the peculiarities, the staff couldn't deny that Hoshizora never complained or let his constant misfortune disrupt his work ethic. If anything, it seemed to fuel his determination.
"I'll give him credit," the math teacher, Mr. Sugihara, said. "Most students would've broken down or caused a scene by now. But Hoshizora? He just picks himself up and keeps going, no matter what happens."
"It's admirable," agreed Ms. Nakamura, "but it's also... unsettling. It's like he's so used to it that he doesn't even react anymore."
Principal Hayashi nodded gravely. "We should keep an eye on him. If his bad luck gets any worse, it might be a liability—both for him and for the school."
Unbeknownst to the faculty, their concerns were already spreading among the student body. Stories of Akito Hoshizora's misadventures circulated like wildfire, with some students whispering about his supposed curse and others brushing it off as exaggerated gossip. But for those who had witnessed the strange events firsthand, there was no denying that Akito Hoshizora was anything but ordinary.