The classroom was quiet. The students watched from their desks, their eyes curious, focused on the two new additions to the class. The teacher spoke in a monotonous voice as she briefly introduced the two new students.
There was a skinny boy, slightly taller than average, with neatly cut straight black hair shaped like a bowl on his head. The teacher asked him to introduce himself to the class by saying his name and favorite hobby.
"Yuuma Fujimoto. I-I like animes. It's a pleasure to meet you all." Yuuma spoke in a weak voice, his head lowered. He shrank even more in embarrassment when he heard a few laughs coming from the back of the room.
The teacher simply thanked him and handed the floor over to the other boy. This boy was tall — much taller than Yuuma — but unlike Yuuma, he didn't shrink away. He stood with a confident and relaxed posture. He had black eyes and black hair, a handsome face, but a disinterested expression. And with the intimidating scar on his right elbow, he didn't look particularly friendly.
"Raiki Kazuya. I like baseball. It's a pleasure to meet you."
This time, there were no laughs from the back of the room, only a few whispers from the girls in front. Raiki didn't seem to care. The teacher told both boys to sit at two empty desks in the back of the classroom, and it didn't take long for the lesson to begin. It was already mid-year, and there was no time to waste.
Time passed as it always does during a boring class — like it would never end. But after spending a few hours imagining what he'd do if he had to fight a gorilla, who would win in a fight between Goku and Saitama, and what he'd eat for lunch, Raiki finally heard the bell for break time.
He quickly grabbed his lunchbox from his backpack and placed it on his desk. He didn't know anyone at this school, and since he didn't plan on staying long, he wasn't interested in getting to know anyone either. So, he opened his lunchbox and started eating alone.
'At least Grandpa knows how to cook.' That was one of the few thoughts he had as he savored his meal. He was an athlete — he needed lots of calories throughout the day, and it helped a lot when those calories came from tasty food.
Unfortunately, Raiki's good mood was ruined rather quickly.
"Hey, new kid! Looks like you're eating some pretty good stuff there, huh?" Said a chubby boy with an arrogant expression.
For a moment, Raiki thought someone had gone crazy and was trying to mess with him, but with just one glance, he realized that the "new kid" the chubby boy was talking about was the other new student — Suuma, or Fuuma, something like that.
"H-Hi! Y-Yes! D-Do you w-want some?" Yuuma looked like he had seen a demon as he stared at the chubby boy. He held out his lunchbox with trembling arms and spoke with difficulty.
"Haha! Loser!" The chubby boy smacked Yuuma's lunchbox hard, knocking it and all the food inside to the floor. "What are you looking at? Clean it up!"
"Y-Yes! I'm sorry!" Yuuma quickly dropped to his knees and began gathering the food back into his lunchbox. It looked like he was about to cry at any moment.
The chubby boy started laughing along with his two lackeys — one was short and bald, the other tall with a full head of long hair. The three of them seemed to be having a great time watching the frightened Yuuma clean the floor for them. Normally, they had to rough someone up a bit to get them to this point, but Yuuma seemed like the perfect lackey already.
"Hey, fatso!" A voice interrupted the laughter of the three bullies.
The chubby boy stopped laughing and turned around, irritated by the voice. He was ready to punch the idiot who had called him fat, but before he could even see the face of the person who insulted him, a fist appeared in his line of sight — and a moment later, that same fist landed squarely on his nose.
"Ahhh!" The chubby boy fell flat on his butt, dazed. His hands scrambled to stop the blood pouring from his nose. "My nose! It's broken! It's broken!"
Raiki looked down at the chubby boy crying on the floor and gave a slight smile. He could've been a boxer if he wanted to — that was a beautiful straight punch.
The chubby boy's two lackeys stared at Raiki, terrified. Raiki was definitely not the kind of person they wanted to pick a fight with, and looking at their friend's bloody nose, they were scared they might end up the same way.
"I believe you won't be messing with him again, will you?" Raiki asked in a calm voice. It was a clear threat, and the two lackeys seemed to have gotten the message.
"No, sir! We're sorry!" The bald lackey said quickly as he rushed to help the chubby boy up, along with the long-haired one. The three of them stood up and hurried out of the room, but of course, before leaving, the chubby boy threw a hateful glare at Raiki. This matter probably wasn't over yet.
Raiki just sighed and calmly returned to his seat. Now that the annoying people were gone, he could go back to eating in peace.
"Thank you so much for helping me!" Yuuma bowed to Raiki and expressed his gratitude after finishing picking up all the food from the floor. Raiki simply nodded — he didn't like bullies, but he wasn't exactly a fan of cowardly fools either.
Yuuma then returned to his desk and sat down in silence. He didn't have any food left, so he just stared at his hands. It didn't take long for boredom to set in, and with his mother's constant lectures echoing in his head about how he needed to make friends, he gathered the courage to do something he had never done before — start a conversation.
"Do you like animes?" Yuuma asked excitedly — probably the only topic he genuinely enjoyed. Well, there were also manga and erotic games, but it was better to stick with animes for now.
Raiki looked at Yuuma like he was some kind of idiot, which immediately made Yuuma regret opening his mouth. However, Raiki's answer caught him off guard:
"Hm, I've watched a few."
"Really?! Which ones?!" Yuuma lit up with excitement and didn't even try to hide it. Finally! He had found an otaku friend! An otaku friend who could also fight!
Raiki was a little startled by Yuuma's reaction. He started to wonder if he should've really helped this weird kid, but in the end, he just shook his head. It didn't hurt to be friendly.
"Dragon Ball, Naruto… You know, just the good ones." Raiki said casually. He'd spent most of his life playing baseball, so he only watched animes when he couldn't go outside. And obviously, he only liked fighting animes — those were the only ones worth watching.
And now it was Yuuma's turn to look at Raiki like he was a idiot. Dragon Ball? Naruto? This guy clearly had no idea what good anime was, did he?
Yuuma had to take a deep breath to keep himself from being rude — he really needed to make a friend here. So after counting to ten in his head, he spoke — or rather, shouted:
"Naruto? How can you like that crap?!"