Translator: White Lotus
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While cleaning the chemistry lab room, Hira was suddenly hit from behind by a boy and almost dropped the beaker he was washing.
The boy, who bumped into him, made a perfunctory apology.
“Oh sorry.”
“Miki, stop bullying Hii-kun.”
“I wasn’t bullying him. I just stumbled and bumped into him.”
“Nah, that was on purpose. Poor Hii-kun.”
And then everyone burst into laughter.
There was no specific meaning in their laughter. Laughter was only the easiest form of unity, as well as the exclusion of others. Hira, who was the target of the laughter, kept his head lowered as he continued to wash the chemical-stained beaker.
Although the cleaning team consisted of six members, only Hira was the one who was doing the cleaning properly.
It doesn’t matter if I’m alone, or invisible, I just want to spend this year peacefully.
It had only been a month since the day of class change, but the little hope of Hira went into smoke.
Due to the incident of his stuttering “hi hi hi” on the first day of school, Hira had been given the nickname “Hii-kun”. It was an unpleasant nickname, but there was no way for anyone to know the real origin behind this nickname just by hearing it.
Even when they called him “Hii-kun” loudly in the hallway, the teachers just walked past him with a look that seemed to say how beautiful it was to have a good friendship.
The group of boys, who had given Hira this disdainful nickname, was the most popular in the class. It wasn’t like they had good grades or were better at athletics. They just naturally dominated everyone around with their strong attitude and loud voices. In a place like school, where monkeys on the verge of becoming true human beings gathered, they were the strongest. Even without any valid reason, everyone thought as long as they didn’t go against that group of boys, they could consider themselves as winners.
Hira was the exact opposite. He thought that as long as they didn’t find any reason to stomp on him, it was okay for him to be considered a loser. Once the class system was organized, reversing the situation was extremely difficult in any world.
“Ah, it’s too hot. I want to drink juice.”
Shirota, the most flamboyant member of the group, spoke up. His spiky brown hair made him look stupid.
“I want a Coke. The red one.”
As Miki chimed in, the other two also began to clamor by saying “Me too, me too.”
Here it comes…
As expected, they called him by the name “Hii-kun!”, as if they were calling a dog. Hira heaved a sigh of giving up.
At first, they just made fun of him by calling him by that terrible nickname, but now they made him buy drinks and snacks, or run to the convenience store in front of the school, like a complete servant. Even so, this was still better than the torturous bullying. Hira tried to make himself think that way. Hira’s way of giving up and accepting everything with the thought of “it is better than this” or “it is better than that”, made him keep falling further and further into the lower tier. Sometimes he wondered how long this cycle would continue. If this continued even when he became an adult, then he had no dreams or hopes for his future.
“Hii-kun, go buy some juice.”
As Hira was feeling depressed, thinking about his future, Shirota called out to him once again. Even if Hira had no problem going to buy things for them, in the meantime, these guys wouldn’t finish cleaning while he was away. As Hira was feeling annoyed, thinking about how late he was going to be home again, he put the beaker he was washing in the sink…
“Do it later. Otherwise it’ll be late for us to go home.”
Kiyoi said, attracting everyone’s gazes.
“Let’s finish cleaning quickly and then we can go to McDonald’s.”
Kiyoi was sitting cross-legged on the desk by the window, and said without looking up from the “Weekly Shōnen Jump” that had been placed on his lap. As he was looking down, his long and slender neck was much more visible.
“That’s right. It’s better this way.”
Miki abruptly spoke up, and Shirota also nodded. The four of them gathered around Kiyoi, and began to talk about the ending of the manga in “Weekly Shōnen Jump” magazine. So, the conversation about drinks disappeared completely, and Hira picked up the beaker he was washing again.
Although Kiyoi said “Let’s finish cleaning quickly”, he, himself, didn’t do any cleaning. As if it were determined that it was natural for Hira to do such a job.
Kiyoi was part of Shirota’s group, but he didn’t have a particularly loud voice and attitude like others. At times when Shirota and his group were intimidating others with their loud laughs and voices, Kiyoi would just quietly be reading manga or fiddling with his smartphone. Even so, he was particularly respected within the group.
Just like now, if things didn’t go according to Kiyoi’s wish, all he needed was to speak a few words, and no one dared to go against his words. After things went the way he wanted, Kiyoi would yawn in boredom. This behavior was similar to that of someone who was born to be king.
“Kiyoi, Shima-chan from the first year confessed to you the other day, didn’t she? What’re you gonna do about it.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Shirota asked as he was still peering at the “Weekly Shōnen Jump” magazine.
“Seriously?” Mike was surprised. “Even though Shima-chan has a cute face, her breasts are very big, really looks nice.” While everyone was excited, Kiyoi said in a cold voice,
“I rejected her. She’s kinda fat.”
“You rejected her? What a waste!”
“I understand Kiyoi’s feelings. Having big breasts and being fat are the same thing.”
“For me, I can tolerate her being fat as long as she has big breasts. Or rather, I like the chubby ones.”
“No chances.”
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Hira placed the last beaker upside down on a clean towel and approached Kiyoi and the others. He took three deep breaths, and only after imagining his lower abdomen being stabilized, did he speak:
“…Umm.”
All of them looked at him. In an instant, his cheeks heated up. Even though he had practiced properly in his imagination before calling out to them, he was so nervous that his heart was pounding and words couldn’t come out from his mouth.
“Are you done?”
As Kiyoi asked succinctly, Hira nodded his head in agreement. Shirota and the others began to say as they were leaving the chemistry lab room: “It’s finally over!” , “Let’s go, let’s go.” They left their bags in their classroom, so they had to go back there. Hira also silently followed behind them.
“Kiyoi, are we going to McDonald’s?”
Shirota asked as they walked down the hall.
“Why don’t we go to karaoke instead? There’s a new one right in front of the station.”
“Okay, but since it has newly opened, we have to queue up to get a room! I’m too lazy to wait in the line… ah.”
Suddenly, Kiyoi turned around.
“You, go stand in line.”
As it was so sudden, Hira got startled and began to look around in panic.
“We’ll wait at McDonald’s. So when a room becomes free, let us know.”
“Ah..hm..ho..how do I contact you?”
When Hira asked this, Kiyoi showed an annoyed expression as he stepped towards him and stretched out his hand.
What? What does he want? Money?
A cold sensation surrounded Hira.
“…I don’t have it with me now. My wallet is in my bag.”
“Huh?”
Kiyoi frowned, and the others burst out laughing.
“Hii-kun, you are ready to be extorted, huh.”
“What an ideal slave!”
While everyone was laughing, Kiyoi, looking very displeased, reached his hand inside the pocket of Hira’s uniform.
Hira became stiff in shock at this sudden act, but Kiyoi’s target was the cell phone in his pocket.
“A flip phone?”
Kiyoi clicked his tongue and typed something into Hira’s phone, and then gave it back to Hira.
“…Is this Kiyoi-kun’s number?”
Hira asked while staring at the number on the screen of his cell phone, and Kiyoi made a face that seemed to say, “How annoying!” Then he quickly turned around and made his way back to Shirota and the others, who were trying to hold back their laughter.
Hira kept staring at the eleven-digit number. Then he registered it as a new contact very carefully so that it wouldn’t be deleted due to any operational error. There were very few contacts registered on Hira’s mobile phone, since he didn’t have any close friends.
Ki-yo-i-So-u.
He typed the name by carefully pressing the words on the keyboard of his mobile phone.
Meanwhile, Kiyoi and the others had already gone ahead, so he hastened to follow them.
As soon as they returned to the classroom, they heard a bit of commotion was going on in the classroom.
One of the boys in the cleaning team was playing around and knocked over a bucket of water, and the girls were looking down at the waterlogged floor in disgust.
“Clean it up properly! After all, Yoshida, it’s because you guys were playing around that this happened.”
The girls said coldly, and then went out to throw away the trash. Yoshida and the others, who stayed in the classroom, began to bewail: “How troublesome!”, “I don’t want to touch the mop!”
“You idiots! It’s so messy that it’s hard to walk. Clean it up now!!”
Shirota was walking over the wet floor by taking big strides. Hira went to his desk, feeling annoyed in his heart, thinking after hearing Shirota’s words: You’re the one to talk!
Hira needed to hurry up to get in the line for karaoke. When he took his bag and was about to leave the classroom, someone called out to him.
“Ah, Hii-kun, wait.”
“Me?”
It wasn’t anyone from Shirota’s group who stopped him, but Yoshida and the other guys from the cleaning team, who were calling him. Hira had a bad presentiment about this. He had never been called “Hii-kun” by anyone before other than Shirota and his group.
“Well, Hii-kun, can you please wipe the floor for us?”
Yoshida asked Hira with a wry smile. Hira felt a tightness in his heart.
“… I’m in a hurry right now.”
“Huh? Are people like you also in a hurry?”
Yoshida held back his laughter, and spoke in a lowered voice.
“Hii-kun, you’re so good at cleaning.”
Everyone in the class knew that Hira was being used by Shirota and his group. Beside Yoshida, who was cruelly sneering at Hira, the other boys looked troubled. The girls, who remained in the classroom, muttered: “Stop it.” Everyone was observing the situation and waiting to see what was going to happen.
Hira lowered his head and looked at his feet. There was a line drawn in front of him right now, and he had to choose whether to stay on this side or let himself be dragged to the other side. Hira was standing at a crossroads. If he made the wrong choice, he would be a slave not only to Shirota’s group but also to the entire class.
It would really be miserable if that happened. He didn’t think he could stand it. What should I do? No matter how much he thought about it, there was no way for him to fight back as he had been imprisoned at the bottom part of the pyramid since he was in elementary school.
Keep your mind as calm as possible. Don’t be sensitive to stimuli.
Be like Captain Duck, who floated through the dirty artificial river with long, curly eyelashes.
When Hira bit his lip, Kiyoi muttered: How annoying!
“What’re you doing? Hurry up and go to Karaoke to make a reservation.”
As soon as Kiyoi finished speaking, everyone in the classroom turned their heads to look at him.
“Ah, but…”
Hira looked back and forth at Kiyoi and Yoshida.
As Hira was perplexed, not knowing what to do, Kiyoi furrowed his eyebrows.
“Yoshida.”
Being called by Kiyoi, Yoshida shivered a little.
“Why are you calling him ‘Hii-kun’ all of a sudden?”
“Eh? Because you guys call him by that name too.”
Yoshida blinked repeatedly.
“We call him by that name, so what?”
Kiyoi lifted his chin, casting a cold look at Yoshida.
“Speak, so what?”
The entire classroom was completely silent. Everyone was holding their breath.
“Ah… so… how to say it…”
Although Yoshida barely managed to keep a smile on his face in front of everyone, he was feeling utterly terrified. After defeating Yoshida with just his eyes, Kiyoi looked around the room. Everyone quickly lowered their eyes.
“Well, then Let’s go.”
Kiyoi said lightly, breaking the silence in the classroom. As if giving a cue to break the tense atmosphere that enveloped the classroom. Everyone, who was still tense, returned to do the chores that they were doing earlier. Kiyoi left the classroom, followed by Shirota and the others. As everyone stepped aside to make way for them, Kiyoi turned around.
“You, go to karaoke.”
The cold gaze and the words that were cast upon him rendered Hira’s whole body numb.
It was as if an electric current ran through his body, from the top of his head to the tips of his toes.
Kiyoi and the others left while Hira was dazed from the shock. When he finally regained his composure, he quickly ran out of the classroom. This time Yoshida didn’t stop Hira anymore.
As Hira sprinted, he managed to catch up with Kiyoi and the others at the entrance. They were still walking unhurriedly as usual. Hira took out his sneakers from the shoe closet and changed into them.
“Ah, umm, Kiyoi-kun.”
Hira called out without taking a deep breath. They all turned back to look at him at the same time.
“I… I… I’m going!”
His voice was exceedingly loud. As Kiyoi made a sound , “Huh?” , narrowing his eyes, Hira’s whole face heated up. Like a spring-loaded mechanism, he bowed his head once, then turned on his heels and dashed. A few seconds later, he heard a burst of laughter erupt behind him.
“Good, good! There’s nothing better than having such a polite slave.”
“Hii-kun, do your best for us.”
Behind him, while Shirota and the others were cheering for him, Hira responded in his heart: You idiots, who said I’m running for you? I’m only running for Kiyoi’s sake. Whether for cleaning or queuing for karaoke, no matter how absurd the thing was, he would only run if Kiyoi told him to.
After all, did they see how Kiyoi was just now?
It was the first time Hira had seen someone so strong who did everything the way he wanted.
It was not like Kiyoi had helped him. If it weren’t for that situation, he felt that no matter if they called him “Hii-kun” or used him as a servant, Kiyoi wouldn’t stand the thought of his orders being put aside. And it was only for this reason that Yoshida was repulsed by his cold gaze.
He had been embroiled in an eternal cycle of loss since elementary school and was on the verge of falling even lower. Kiyoi pulled him back on the other side of the line for his selfish motive. He changed the world around him with something that wasn’t kindness or pity or something like that, but it got easy for Hira.
It made no sense. But Kiyoi possessed that power.
How amazing! He was so cool.
Perhaps his thought was wrong.
But sadly, he was aware that kindness and righteousness couldn’t save him.
Just as he had no choice but to watch Captain Duck being carried away by the dirty irrigation canal. Even if kindness and righteousness took pity on him, who was trapped at the bottom of the pyramid and still falling further, none of them would ever pull him up the way Kiyoi did.
Some people would ask you to have a little courage or call out for help before you complained that no one would do anything for you. As they spoke so seriously, those who were the weakest only had the option to bow their heads and apologize for not being strong enough. You couldn’t argue against those people, who were completely infallible.
Hira, when he was having dinner with his family one day, suddenly froze upon hearing the news from television that a high school student committed suicide due to bullying. At that time, Hira couldn’t help but shiver. He instantly filled his mind with Captain Duck, thinking: Don’t think about it! Don’t empathize!
Hira ran with all his might all the way to the station.
Today, his usually downcast face was firmly raised.
The bangs that were deliberately kept long to cover his eyes because he didn’t want to see the world around him were blown away by the wind. The world had unfolded in front of his eyes. This world, covered in dust, wasn’t clear at all. But today, he wasn’t afraid. That was because the name of his owner was stamped right in the middle of his exposed forehead.
KIYOI SOU.
It was written on his forehead with a black marker pen, clearly and firmly, just like the way children often write their names on their stuff. He now became the property of Kiyoi Sou. Whether he was being cherished, or being played with, or being stomped on when he was annoyed, or being thrown away when he got tired of him, it didn’t matter to Hira.
A grim yet gleaming brand had been stamped on his forehead. It had a power as beautiful and overwhelming as a thunderstorm in spring, which easily overthrew everything that was kind, or righteous, or fragile.
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Poor little boy(
Thanks (=˘︶˘=).｡.:*♡
sigh, poor Hira….
Ty for the translations, I’m already in love❤️
Those bunch of school bully jerks
….. Don’t know how I feel abt the ML but he does gave me a very distasteful first impression.. Poor Hira deserves so much better than these scums
Thank you for the chapter! ❤️
so ummm… idk what to feel but i feel sorry for u hira, u know u deserve better like how can u would fall in love with the person who bullies u?!!! no matter what u say idc bcs what ML did to MC now is considered bullying
fr
Right
Idk but is being stupid and naïve a thing in school???
it seems so at this point I don’t like it
wow he really is pathetic
I hope Hira can see or find his own worth, and find someone who can lift his self-esteem and confidence. I don’t know if I can accept Kiyoi for our precious Hira right now. Can’t wait for the character development!!!!! TY for the translation!!!!!
Sorry, I did not mean to reply here
I don’t know how to feel at this point
ML rejected a girl because she was fat ok uh
I hope Hira can see or find his own worth, and find someone who can lift his self-esteem and confidence. I don’t know if I can accept Kiyoi for our precious Hira right now. Can’t wait for the character development!!!!! TY for the translation!!!!!
Wow! Very sad.
I don’t like this ML. I am hoping things turn around and that I am misunderstanding things because bullying is not love, not even like.
I just got chills at the end, your translation is really good!
Hira is so pitiful, Kiyo save your husband!!!