The Night No One Came

Cleaning duty was supposed to be a punishment. 

But for him, it was the only time the world forgot he existed - and that made it bearable.

That evening was no different. The other student on duty had already ditched him– like always.

So now this boy was cleaning the classroom Alone.

When he finally finished, the boy packed up and started walking down the quiet hall that lead to the shoe lockers with his head held down.

He stopped in front of a locker:

Kisaragi Touma 

It was the boy's locker.For a minute or so, he stood in front of his locker.. as if he was thinking about something.

 Then, with a familiar hesitation, he opened it.

Trash. Again. Crumbled wrappers, broken pens, leaking juice bottles were stuffed in it.

His shoes were missing.

With eyes that had lost all hope, Touma took out the trash and opened a nearby trash bin in which he can throw the trash.
In the trash bin, he found his shoes. Nothing new.

It was normal. He seemed unfazed by all these events.

Why? Because Kisaragi Touma was bullied at school, all other students knew about it, but nobody stood up for him

. 

Touma had no one to rely on. He always thought that – "If any other person is going through all this, they would at least have someone to stand up for them."He didn't want anyone else to go through the same situation as him.

By now, Touma's face has become a mask due to the bullying, but he was still hopeful– that someday, he would be able to get stronger and stand up for himself, or that someone else might. Which seemed almost impossible even to Touma, nobody had ever stood up for him.. so there's no way that a miracle like this could happen out of nowhere for him.

With these thoughts in his mind, Touma began walking to his home – with his head kept low as he looked at the sidewalk, quietly. Though he was walking silently, he was fast. 

"Look where you're going kid." Touma hit someone. It was a man. 

"Walk while looking ahead, not at your legs." The man was annoyed. Touma looked up, he was wearing a brown long coat and a hat. 

"I'm sorry." Touma said as he began to walk in the other direction. The man seemed as if he wanted to say something to Touma, but he didn't. 

"What a strange kid." He muttered to himself and went away. 

An hour later, Touma reached his home and shut himself in his room like he always did.

His parents had realised by now that something was wrong with their son. But whenever they tried asking him, Touma just said, "It's fine really, I can manage this much. It's not a big deal. But if by chance it does become unbearable, I'll tell you then." 

This was the usual way for Touma to evade the questions of his parents. His parents thought that maybe Touma didn't want to talk about it with them, they had a hunch that Touma was trying to put up a front on them, they thought Touma was hurting, but it was hard to confirm whether it was true or not because of the expression Touma always gave. 

All the bullying had made him a master at hiding his true expressions. So Touma's parents also thought in the back of their minds that maybe they were just being overprotective. 

It was the time for dinner, a voice came from the kitchen "Touma, come downstairs."

 It was his mother. She was calling out to him for dinner.

Touma didn't refuse, he went downstairs.
After dinner, Touma went to study before going to sleep afterwards. And then came the next day. He woke up and left for school at the usual time. 

Today something felt off, he had been getting this strange feeling that maybe something was going to happen today, but putting that thought aside, he still decided to head for school.

Touma reached school early today, he was sitting in a corner seat of the class, like he always did. He didn't mind this. It was in fact beneficial for him because this way, nobody was aware of his presence in the class, which meant he was out of trouble.

Lunchtime passed without anything significant happening, but just when he had finally begun to think that everything was going normal today, and nothing bad would happen to him today, a heavy voice reached Touma's ears. It was Hayato Sugino, the guy who was the main culprit behind Touma's bullying, Hayato was rich, good-looking, and even athletic, he seemed perfect, but there was one major flaw in him, he was pitiful on the inside, he was the worst. 

All the students knew that he bullied Touma, but nobody dared to inform the teachers or school authorities. The reason was not exactly clear, but it seemed like either the other students were afraid of Hayato Sugino, or that they didn't want to meddle in someone else's affairs. This made Touma lose hope of someone ever standing up for him. 

Touma knew now that if he got spotted by Hayato, his day would be ruined. Touma tried to turn his head a little to see where Hayato was, but their eyes met in the process. Hayato noticed Touma glance at him, being the bully that he was, his reaction was just as anyone would expect. Hayato called out to Touma, "Hey Kisaragi, what's that you're doing man? Wanna hang out?" with a grin on his face.

Touma knew exactly what he meant, his expression said it all. 

Touma didn't say anything, or rather – he didn't know what to say. A minute of silence passed. Hayato called out to him again, "Hey, Kisaragi! I know you've heard me, stop trying to pretend like you're some bigshot, you dipshit!" as he began to walk towards Touma. 

Luckily this time the teacher came, and Touma barely survived, but Hayato was annoyed, he only whispered to Touma, "I'll se you after school." and went back to his seat.

Hours passed, and then rang the final school bell, it meant the school was over now, Touma knew he had to hurry and leave as fast as possible. If Hayato were to see him, he'd be in serious trouble. Touma packed up and was successful in leaving the building, he put on his shoes, but just as he was about to leave from the front gate – Hayato appeared standing in front of the gate. He said, "You think you can run away from me, you little piece of shit?" 

Without a second thought, Touma started running away from him, towards the school building. And so began the chase: the bully kid running after a weak kid no one had ever defended. All the students saw this, but no one dared to step in, most pretended to ignore it, while some were looking at Touma running away from Hayato.

Touma was running as fast as he could, turning left and right, he was shifting his path as much as he could, just like a deer running away from a predator, but he was not athletic, just this stride was enough to make him lose breath, but he knew that he mustn't give up. Hayato was still running after him. In this rush of running here and there, Touma wasn't able to make sense of where he was running to, or where he would end up if he kept running. And just as he feared, Touma took the wrong turn, and he reached a dead end – behind the school building.

Now cornered, Touma had nowhere left to run to, he had been caught. Hayato was standing in front of him, and his anger was visible on his face. Touma knew what was about to happen to him. Hayato started approaching him as he said, "You think you can run away from me huh? You've got some damn nerve in you! Even after you know whatever you do is futile, you still try to run, and you know what Kisaragi! Seeing you run makes it all more fun for me!" 

"So you think this is fun.." Touma murmured.

"Huh? Did you say something to me?!" 

"I said what you heard bastard! You think you can bully the weak as you please just because you are rich and strong huh? So what if I'm weak, what if no one stands for me? Today.. I'll be the one standing up for myself." Touma snapped.

Hayato took a step back, then said "So you think you can take me on? You pathetic little piece of shit!!" 

It was obvious to Touma that there was no going back now, it's now or never, he had to fight. By the time he had finished thinking, he saw Hayato's fist approaching him. Hayato was serious this time. Touma miraculously dodged, and he knew he had to do the same, he wouldn't get another opportunity. And then, with all his might -Touma clenched his fist and threw a punch at Hayato's face, he must have been lucky at that time as he was successful on his first attempt. 

But Hayato seemed unfazed by the punch, instead, he was now really furious at Touma. "You've got some nerve, fighting back when you know that you can't win, huh! I think it's about time for you to know your place!"

Hayato grabbed Touma's collar. Escape was impossible now. Hayato was furious, he threw a punch with all his might. Touma fell, and Hayato didn't stop, he kicked Touma in the stomach. Leaving Touma unable to breathe, as he was thinking "Why does this always happen to me? Why am I so weak? Why doesn't anyone stand up for me? Why do I have to go through this?"

Hayato didn't stop, he continued for some time before his phone rang, it was his father, Hayato had to go home now. Touma survived. Hayato left after he said, "I'll take care of you tomorrow." as he glared at Touma, and left afterwards. 

A few minutes later, Touma got up and began heading off to his home. It was time for sunset, and it would be night for sure when he got home. Plus those injuries, how will he explain them to his parents? It was a troublesome matter for Touma. But he had no other choice, he couldn't go anywhere except for his home.

Touma took a shortcut that day, he didn't want to spend time outside anymore, he wanted to be in his room, closed up and safe.

But something felt unusual on the way home today, the was this tall, lean man with a familiar face walking ahead of him, on the road that had a dead end ahead and was only connected to other streets by an alley way. On a bit longer look, Touma realised it was the man from yesterday. He was wearing the same attire today as well. Something seemed strange with him.

Then suddenly, Touma's glanced at a woman walking just ahead of this man, suddenly she turned towards the alleyway and started walking in it. Something was definitely wrong, it seemed as if this man was trying to lure her in there.

She was walking fast, her hands were trembling. A few seconds passed an she got out of Touma sight, she went deeper in the alleyway. The man followed.

Touma wanted to go home quickly, but he couldn't anymore. Instinct took over, and he followed both of them into the alley.

Touma peeked from a corner first, the woman was standing in the alley facing towards the man, who was now moving towards her. Suddenly the man pulled out a knife from his coat, and just as he was about to swing his knife and stab the woman – Touma jumped in and punched the man in the face with all his might in a sudden adrenaline rush. 

The man fell over, Touma's body was hot with the adrenaline rush. But he looked happy, he saved a person. He turned towards the woman, beaming with excitement. "I did it! I stood up for someone, I saved somebody!"

But his excitement suddenly plummeted the moment he saw the woman's face. She looked much more scared than before now.

Touma was wondering why she had that look until the she spoke up, "Y-your.. stomach!"

His eyes widened. It happened so fast Touma didn't even realize it. But when the warmth started leaking from his stomach– he knew.He had been stabbed.