Prologue: Bitter
Betrayal is a feeling that everyone experiences at some point in their lives. The effects of betrayal can lead to people feeling angry, grief, or feeling doubtful of others. However, it was all of the above for Takashi Kinomoto, the transfer student of Chicago High School, as he stood in his room late at night. Ever since he got home from school, instead of relaxing, Takashi had been punching his wooden training dummy all afternoon, bare-handed. The wounds on his hands that he made for himself on his first day had reopened and were bleeding immensely. However, the pain he would feel was numbed out by the rage boiling within him. Each punch he landed on the dummy was faster and stronger than the last, and soon enough, the thing started to dent. Takashi eventually felt tired, but his anger helped him continue hitting the dummy.
“*Huff!* *Huff!* Damn it! Nngh!” he struggled to say as he threw another punch.
He then recalled the event that had happened early afternoon today that made him so rageful.
“H-He... he started all of it. H-He kept hitting me, over and over...!”
“Starting tomorrow, you will be serving detention after school for this week and the next.”
“T-Takashi, please! I-I can explain...”
Takashi’s rage exploded like a volcano, and he clenched his fist as hard as he could.
“RRRAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!” he howled.
He struck the wooden dummy with all he had, and unexpectedly, the wooden dummy finally gave in and broke in half. Takashi then collapsed onto his knees from exhaustion. Sweat was pouring down his body, and he struggled to get his breathing under control.
“*Cough!* *Cough!* *Huff!* Katelyn, you goddamn backstabber! Why the hell did you have to screw me over like that?!” he yelled.
He then looked up at his broken training dummy and shook his head.
“*Sigh* Well, looks like I won’t be practicing martial arts for a while... nngh!”
The pain in his hands had finally caught up to him as he looked at them in disgust.
“Shit. My hands are a total mess. It will take weeks for them to fully heal now. Great! I’ll still have to cover my hands in bandages then.”
Then suddenly, Takashi’s phone began to ring on his table. He got up and looked at the Caller’s I.D.
“Jesus. Of course, she would want to talk to me right now. Well, I don’t have much of a choice.”
Reluctantly, Takashi answered the phone.
“Yes?”
“Oh, thank god that you answered right away! Are you alright, Takashi?!” a woman’s voice asked, concerned.
“Sure~, I’m doing fantastic. Why do you ask, Ms. Izumi?” he sarcastically answered.
“Because the principal informed me that he gave you two weeks of detention! What on Earth happened today, Takashi?! I thought you said you’d keep yourself out of trouble?!”
“I know! I know! But what had happened today wasn’t something I could have simply ignored during the moment!”
“Alright, alright. Then please, tell me what transpired at school.”
Takashi then explained what happened to him at school to his probation officer, Ms. Izumi.
“So, in a nutshell, you saw Sarah, the student council president, hitting her younger sister in the girls’ bathroom. You intervened and stopped her, but all three of you got caught and were sent to the principal’s office. And to top it all off, you were punished, and Sarah got off free because her sister lied about what happened, correct?”
“Yeah, that’s right,” Takashi confirmed, irritated.
“Oh my goodness, how could she do that to her own sister?!”
“Believe me, I’m just as shocked as you are.”
“Were there not any teachers around for you to report to?”
”No! There were none! Besides, did you actually expect me to do that?! There was no way I’d let that continue! I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if Katelyn were to get hurt even more! She would end up just as miserable as Kasumi!”
“*Sigh* I understand, Takashi. I couldn’t blame you if that’s how you felt about the incident. Seeing someone getting hurt like that would definitely make you remember what your sister had to endure.”
“Yeah, it would. But that damn snake, Katelyn! Why the hell would she support her sister when she was the one who hurt her?! It doesn’t make any sense!” Takashi shouted.
“Takashi! Calm down. Being all bitter about it won’t help you.”
Takashi then took a deep breath.
“Alright, alright, I’m calm.”
“Good. Okay, listen, I’ll talk to Katelyn tomorrow and convince her to tell the truth to the principal. Hopefully, that will be enough to at least lower the amount of detention time you’ll have to do.”
”No! Don’t do that!”
“Huh? Why not?”
“Listen, when I fought Sarah in the bathroom, she told me that her dad was a police officer. I don’t know if she was just bluffing or not, but if she was serious, then that’s a problem. If you talk to Katelyn and she tells her sister about it, Sarah might ask her dad to look into you because she’ll question why a counselor would protect the “infamous transfer student”. And if her father finds out that you’re actually my probation officer, then your cover will be blown, my past might get digged up, and we’ll both be fucked. Do you get it now?”
“I think you’re overthinking all of this, Takashi. But I understand. Very well. I won’t speak to Katelyn about this. But, what are you going to do then?”
“*Sigh* I’ll just have to do my two weeks of detention and get it over with. After that, I’ll lay low so that I can avoid any more unwanted attention.”
“I see. Well then, meet me at the counselor’s office after school tomorrow. I’ll lead you to the detention room. This school has one of those.”
“Got it. Good night, Ms. Izumi.”
“Good night, Takashi.”
Takashi then ended the call and shook his head.
“*Sigh* This is gonna be a long, two weeks for me,” he muttered.
After patching up his busted hands, Takashi went to sleep, waiting for his two weeks of detention to begin.
