Broken and Shattered

High school had not been kind to Toko. While she got along fine at her original high school, she had to transfer to a new one after a move halfway through her first year. Joining a new school while the year was already underway was alienating and she never managed to fit in, so she secluded herself. However, even that somehow led to problems…

As Toko walked through the halls, a girl crashed into her, knocking Toko to the ground. “Sorry!” she mocked as her friends laughed.

The bullying was mild at first. Just “accidents” and mean comments, but even as Toko tried her best to not react, it still escalated.

When Toko first saw that her desk had been graffitied, covered with terrible insults, she almost cried. But she held it in and cleaned it up. After the third time, she stopped bothering. That was until a teacher told her to.

While the bullying was led by a trio of girls, most of the class would join in, and the rest, including their teachers, would look the other way.

Toko didn’t understand why she had become a target. She never did anything, she barely even reacted, but they never stopped. Maybe they had just singled her out, maybe they just hated her, maybe they could tell how crushing their bullying really was.

Every day Toko was miserable and every night she would cry in her room. She tried to get help, but every teacher brushed her aside, and when she tried talking to her parents about it, the only thing they were concerned about was her falling grades.

Keitaro had tried consoling her, but it wasn’t enough. He was still just a twelve year old kid and there wasn’t anything he could actually do for her.

But Toko powered through it all. By herself, she faced her bullies everyday, knowing that she’d make it out eventually.

And soon, she got her reprieve. Winter break came, and she was given two weeks of peace. No school, no studying, no bullies, no torture. Those two weeks were pure bliss for her. She spent hours at a time diving into video games, books, anime, getting lost in those fantasy worlds, far away from her real life.

However, her reverie was shattered as the return to school loomed closer. She had wished she could stay like that forever, but unfortunately, classes resumed.

While Toko had prayed that her bullies might’ve forgotten about her over the break, what really happened is that they had to make up for lost time.

The day had actually started out normal, and in a good way. Her shoe locker was untampered, her desk was clean, even snide remarks and sidelong glances seemed to be kept to a minimum.

Maybe her bullies really had finally moved on.

However, that notion soon came crumbling down…

The student body had been gathered in the gym for an assembly to recognize exceptional academic accomplishments of the students.

Toko wasn’t expecting much. She hated assemblies. Being in such a large crowd stressed her out, but at least the bullies couldn’t get away with much and she could tune the event out.

However, as Toko sat still and quiet, her head down, the assembly barely registering, something was said by the principal that snapped her back to reality.

“Toko Owari.”

Her eyes shot open. She doubted her ears, keeping her head down.

“Toko Owari, please come up and accept your award.”

This time, it was crystal clear. She actually had managed to win something. The thought of going up on stage terrified her, but as more and more eyes started falling on her, she knew that she couldn’t get out of this.

Slowly, she rose. Squeezing to the end of the row, she began walking up towards the stage.

Her mind raced. These awards were only supposed to be for the best of the best, how did she manage to get one with her lowered grades? But still, even as the eyes of everyone burned into her, she felt a surge of satisfaction and pride. For so long, the entire school made her feel as if she was invisible at best and complete garbage at worst. But if she was worthy of such an honor… then maybe she really was valued…

However, just as she got up on stage, just a couple yards from the smiling principal, somebody from the audience chucked something.

Toko noticed it out of the corner of her eye, and as she turned to look, it appeared to be a balloon filled with something, and it was coming right for her.

She held up her arms reflexively, but it was too late to dodge. The balloon collided with her head-on, exploding, covering her in a chunky, white liquid and knocking her to the ground.

The liquid was rotten milk and it had completely covered her. It had soaked into her clothes, drenched her hair, and some had even gotten into her mouth, and the rancid taste nearly made her throw up.

However, that was nothing compared to the reaction. The entire room had erupted into laughter. Every student was pointing and laughing, and some were even recording it with their phones. Even some of the teachers were chuckling.

Toko was frozen, completely mortified, but as the laughter grew louder and louder, she just couldn’t take it. She tried to hold back the tears, but she just couldn’t. As she started bawling, she got up and ran out of the gym and didn’t stop. It wasn’t until she was off school property that the laughter couldn’t be heard anymore, but in her mind that moment was on replay. She kept running and running until she was eventually back home. She locked herself in her room and kept crying. She cried for hours and hours. Even after her brother came home, she didn’t stop. Keitaro had wanted to console her, but he had seen the video, it was going viral online, and as he stood outside her door, about to knock, his mind filled with doubts. He didn’t think there was anything he could possibly do to help her after something like that.

The next day soon came, but Toko didn’t go to school. She never went back to school.

She just couldn’t handle another day in that hell.