Chapter Text
Japan/ Tokyo/ Apartment on the Outskirts of the Red light District/ 2013/ POV:????
*Beeep*
*BEEEP!*
*BEEEPPP!*
Subaru's hand slowly moved across the rather thinly covered bed and to his small side desk. He slowly and steady brought his hand to the alarm and shut it. He can only, though briefly wonder the time as his eyes slowly, as per the average and daunting morning ritual, open. The sunlight showering his bed, while the amount small, acts as a flashbang for his eyes as he lets out a low and tired grow.
His eyes adjust to the small bit of sunlight pouring into his small room through the shut curtains of his apartment window. He slowly grips his alarm and brings it closer towards his face as he blinks. Subaru looks over at the time, his mind racing slightly as he grips his head and lets out a long and overly dramatic groan and sigh. Right, first day in a new school, the days of summer where over. He could no longer hid safely in his little shell and wait for felt to drag him kicking and screaming out of it.
It was 7:50 Am, school starts at 8:50am and ends at 3;30pm. He had about an hour to prep up. He wished he just had a bit more time to actually sleep.
Without another complaint Subaru groggily drags his body upwards and off the bed in an effort that feels like running a marathon for him. He hates how it is this much of a struggle to force his body off the bed. He hates it. As he briefly stretches his arm in the air, his red pajama pants sticking loosely to him and a little to wide for his waist he gently grabs his phone off its desk.
It was still charging how he left it last night and its now at 100 precent. Good, good. The brightness of the phone nearly flash banging him as his eyes still adjust to the brightness. No notifications outside of a small message from his best friend Felt practically ordering him to get his ass up and ready. Felt had been a childhood friend of his and the two had somehow stuck together. Despite his gradual transition into a full on Otaku or Neet she still, like an annoying fly (He secretly found it endearing but he wasn't going to say it out loud) stuck with him.
Making his way to the small pantry in his pathetically small kitchen Natsuki Subaru rummages thought, not bothering to make his bed and getting immediately to eating a packet of instant ramen noodles. Noodles.....the basic facet of his diet outside of the occasional breakfast burrito he manage to buy or in rarer cases, sandwiches.
Unfortunately there is no longer any tasty breakfast awaiting for him. It has been like this for about a year now and ever since his big blow out with his parents Subaru had been reduced to living on the money they send him for rent and what money he scrouges up from odd on and off jobs. Subaru knows, he knows they'll welcome him back into their lives.....But he is too ashamed of himself to even try to wedge his way back into their warm embrace.
He is a failure by every sense of the world, and he'd rather build himself back from the ground up and then go to them than just immediately running to them for comfort. His ego refuses for him to even conceive of trying the latter. Subaru watches as his instant noodles finish heating up in the microwave and makes a grab for them pulling them out and beginning to feast on them.
The entire process of breakfast is smooth and quick enough as he finishes up and moved immediately to the bathroom. He takes off his pajama's and enters the shower slowly feeling the warm water envelope him. The warm water washes over him cleaning off any sweat and stains he may have had from spending most of the night bing watching through Isekia after isekia and reading manga on his phone.
After finishing up his shower Subaru regretfully pulls himself out of his brief moment of enjoyment as he gently turns off the pouring water and begins his evitable march towards a new day. Subaru briefly considered on going through with the advice his dad had once given him as a child "Calling upon god" but decided to immediately shoot down the idea.
He wasn't as desperate as he try to speak to his childhood imaginary friend about his problems. It sounded ridiculous in every possible way though there was a little longing for a little bit of his childhood to return, even if imaged. Subaru moved his way, towel wrapped around his waist, to the nearby small closet on the wall facing his bed.
He grabs his under shirt, boxers, and then puts on his uniform. The Uniform is an all blue one, he had ordered it off his new schools website just a week ago and it had arrived in surprisingly pristine condition. It was one sign that the many stories of Lugunican high where true. The school certainly and rightfully prided itself on being preppy and tidy.
Yet despite this as he puts his uniform on he can't help but feel like he's putting on a prison uniform. It feels unnaturally vile in a way Subaru doesn't understand. He sincerely hopes this isn't a warning for things to come as if so, his final year of school will be lonely and mostly melancholic like his previous years in his old school.
Once h's up and ready Subaru makes his way to the door of his apartment grabbing his already ready backpack which is on the side of the hall leading to it. He slings it over his shoulders, his hands grip the doorknob and turn it. The process is a slow and painful one as he could just skip the first day, he doesn't need to come out of his safe space to explore a new and most likely alien environment. But what can he do, he isn't no coward!.
He finds a familiar and mostly frustrated face waiting for him on the other side. Subaru is nearly ashamed he was caught off guard by the inevitable sight of Felt tabbing her foot down and waiting for him in her own, all bit it stained school uniform. The shorter girl is just a year his junior, has a rather yellowish golden hair, and has perhaps the most amusing pout on her face.
"I've been waiting here for nearly 10 minutes big bro you've got to be faster." The girl remarks with a pout as Subaru lets out a rather dry chuckle.
Subaru, still not fully there briefly looks at the halls yellow ugly walls, the sound and sight of the lights buzzing and occasionally flicking off. Thus run down apartment complex where he had unfortunately (Or fortunately considering felt lived here too) was his new home. The rent was cheap however and it helps that he had extra cashed saved due to the cheapness. The side affect of this it took a team effort from him and a reluctant felt to turn his apartment into something visibly livable when he first moved in. Said effort took a full week.
Subaru and her had quite the inseparable history together. As kids they got up to all sorts of trouble. This was of course at the expense of his parents, Felts parents on the other hand where non existent in her life and she had been living under the roof of her guardian Rom, who if rumors where true (Which subaru believed due to how massive the man was), Rom was an Ex US marine who had settled in Japan after the 2nd world war.
Subaru and Felt had as children garnered a reputation wandering off and nearly giving them heart attacks as well getting lost in the woods just outside of the city repeatedly during trips. Typical things children do. Despite Subaru in his slow neet transition phase shaking off nearly all pervious friendships, she had somehow found a way to continue sticking to him despite his now more reclusive nature.
He had, honestly a lot to thank her for and she had convinced the land lord of this place, Rom, to lend him one of the apartments to pay rent off of. While the apartment complex was on the very edge of the red light district, and had certainly some shady characters living in it, it was Subaru home and has been Felt's home for nearly her entire life.
Subaru slowly pulls out of his internal rant and concentrates fully on Felt who seems to have acknowledge he was having one of his usual moments.
"Sorry-" Subaru begins rubbing the back of his head before Felt swiftly cuts him off.
"Its fine but we got 30 minutes to walk to school and not be late so get a move on big bro." She remarks with a small mock grumble as Subaru quickily follows her down the stairs out of the apartment complex.
The "Joy's" of living near the Tokyo red light district and the ghetto's of the city meant the walls by the stairs of the small Apartment complex were a disgusting yellow. The smell cigarettes walked close behind them as they went through the agonizing process of getting as far away from the complex as fast as they could. As cool as having someone like Rom of all people be your land lord was, being inside constantly in that apartment complex was a dangerous hazard just to the smell around it.
He found it rather Ironic how in middle school it was him coming by to this place to remind her not to sleep in since Felt had a habit of oversleeping. Now the roles had been reversed once he had begun to regress more and more into a shut in once high school hit. Despite the two going to different high schools until now, they and stuck together. It spokes volumes of how loyal Felt was or how stupid she was for even wanting to still stay with him......
Subaru was a failure, but he would toil on, and try to make the best out of this new year.
Maybe he just needed a fresh start.
Subaru once more found his eyes wandering to the rather poor condition of Felts school uniform. It was somewhat big for someone as short as her. Subaru was 5'9 while she was just hitting 4'11 although she claimed she was an inch taller. Did it make a difference, nah, but Subaru would roll with her arguments on her height since adding an inch to her height seemed that important to her.
"Hey if anyone gives you shit, I'll trash them for you." Felt then said out of the blue as they left the poorer edges of the red light district and entered into the more posh area's of Tokyo. Felts voice carried an unexpected amount of caring to it, something that caused Subaru to give her a genuine and rather tired smile.
"Thank you....though considering your height and stature I don't see how you could-" He began with a tease only to earn a playful punch to the shoulder by her
"I be caring for one moment and this is what I get? Height jokes serious big bro?" Felt remarked coly and pouting in a rather adorable manner.
"Fine, fine. I'll promise not to tease you today" Subaru said mockingly much to her mock chagrin
They had soon moved into Tokyo's inner Suburbs. Located in the middle of the city yet somehow aesthetic wise they looked like any suburb of a well off town. It was a series waste of space, but wealthy people will do what wealthy people always do. Take up fucking space. Still it and the edges of the "Normal city" where the usual vibrant streets most of the people of the city and foreigners knew of. It was a safe space for those who did not want to look at districts such as the Red light and its edges.
When the school itself comes into view the time, according to his phone at least, is 8:40. A large bust of the schools founder, apparently a European man by the name of Gionis Lugunica, Greats him. Subaru briefly fiddles with his uniform and adjusts it as the large sign on the entrance of the school reading "Lugunica high: High school of the Dragon" reads out. From what he's heard and seen online the posh and preppy schools mascot is a stereotypical Isekia anime Dragon.
Subaru is still somehow baffled he even got into such a school. Felt he could understand, she had worked hard to earn a spot in a seemingly non "Shitty" school despite her background, though even here some where shooting her looks for her less "kept" appearance as the two walked down towards the entrance. Parts of the schools entrance, was adorn with what he hoped was fake gold as if it was real Subaru knew he probably wouldn't last a day in a school with such a big ego.
"First thing you need to know, people here take the student council elections seriously. However only Senpia's, 3rd years, can run in them, meaning you could try to run but I doubt anyone would vote for you big bro. Also your taste in manga is trash and not refined like mine so you couldn't even get any support from your fellow anime consumers" Felt begins teasingly as Subaru shoots her an annoyed look.
"This is coming from the girl who reads some of the girliest manga-"
"It is not girly!" Felt said annoyed giving him another pout "This is also coming from the dude who only consumes fantasy rpg and isekia stuff. That genre is just a repeat of the same type of plot over and over again-"
"Woh, woh, woh. No Isekia is a perfectly suitable genre to have." Subaru said waving his hands in a mock fashion as they two walked down the well cleaned and fancy halls of Lugunica high.
"Keep telling yourself that. Now onto serious business, every year a new student council president is elected with most candidates spending the summer preparing what they need to run and campaign. The campaign lasts for 4 months before voting begins and the final results are displayed in the first week of January. You are required to chose or get involved in one of the "Clubs" or "Camps" of those who are running are your pretty much a social pariah. You'll probably see whose running when the results are given over the loudspeakers today over lunch. Now outside of that there are the actual clubs you can join after school, personally they are just as "politically" enraptured with the "Camps" so one way or another you'll be forced to vote for whoever candidate your club wants to assist in electing. In terms of sports theirs's boxing surprisingly enough and outside of that most sports and what you'd see in your last high school. That's about all you need to know. As long as you pick a side you'll be fine here." Felt said as her voice turned low.
Subaru absorbed all this in and was nearly distracted by.....White hair, beautiful white hair. He blinked, he focused back on Felt, he swore he had seen white silky hair and someone pass by just inches from him in the crowded hallway. He shook his head. Right so he had to get invovled in these election as an active member of these "Camps" or a passive voter.
Works well enough for him though the process probably annoyed Felt considering Subaru couldn't confidently say she was a people person. Same could be said about him but Subaru was not a people person for what he thought where very different reasons. Subaru checked his schedule which he Shakely pulled out from his backpack as he and felt found one of the smaller, less packed, side hallways of the enormous school.
He briefly checks over his schedule.
First period is Geometry 2
2nd period is English 3
3rd is....Fencing? That was a requirement?
4th is regular PE
5th Was Advanced Japanese history
6th was Business 2
His 7th and final period was study hall. He shared Period 3, 4, 5th, and 7 with Felt. There was also a short and rather lunch period meshed in-between 5th and 6th period though felt had the lunch period before that. Felt having check over her own schedule waved him a quick goodbye and a look that practically ordered him to remember her earlier words and he nodded as the smaller girl vanished into the crowded main hall.
Subaru looked at his phone once more. 8:48!
He was going to be late for his 1st period!
Subaru made a dash to his 1st period room