Chapter 1: Lonely Hearts

“WILL YOU GO OUT WITH ME!!!” 

To say the boy blurted out those words loudly would be the understatement of the century.

Head bowed in pathetic desperation, posture straight as a whistle, and face as red as a tomato. It would be easy to assume the young man had committed the most shameless of acts.

The girl, no, the victim of such an awkward confession could only look around awkwardly, hoping that nobody in the school courtyard could see them. 

“I know you're in a completely different league than me, and probably, no, definitely have better options than me…”

An audible cringe escaped her mouth.

“But I promise I will give it my all and make you the happiest man in the universe!”

Her eyes analysed the strange looking boy in question. If she was honest, she couldn’t even remember his name; she had only had three, no, two conversations max with this guy. This being one of them.

“Uhm… Tadashima-kun was it?”

“Yes indeed but you can just call me Haru if it's easier.”

“Well to be honest Tadashima-kun, I already have a boyfriend…”

“I see…”

He knew that was false, he had already done in depth research on her i.e. stalking her social media to confirm that she was completely single. So what she was really trying to say was:

I’m not interested.

Luckily for her, he could read her mind. He had already gotten used to those types of comments. 

“Thank you for letting me know, Suki-chan”

Haru quickly exited the situation, staying would only worsen the embarrassment.

In truth, he had already expected this outcome. After all, why would a girl as popular as her, want to be with a weird looking guy like him.

In reality, he wasn’t unattractive, nor ugly, but his appearance made him stand out.

His hair was short, black and naturally curled, dropping at just above his eyes. His physique was average on most metrics  albeit his muscles were a bit more toned than the regular boy his age.

But his most distinguishable features, for both good and bad, was his skin complexion and eye colour. 

His skin complexion was a mellow brown, but not in a way that seemed cross cultural. More…

Alien.

His ever-tired eyes didn’t help either. A faint dull gold; eyes that made him look non-human.

“Yo Haru! How did it go?”

“Do you really want to know…”

“Of course.”

“I got rejected. Said she has a boyfriend.”

“Ah shucks mate! Guess it's time to put the rom-com protag route to bed now.”

The hypocrite who had spoken in such colloquial English terms was none other than Haru’s best (and only) friend. 

Short, timid-looking and wearing the iconic otaku glasses from his second favourite anime, Ozu Inoue was the type of friend that would wait outside of school for his best friend, tease him about his various life failures and then go on a long monologue about how his time in England 'fundamentally’ changed him.

“No I refute your dream destroying notions dammit!” Haru grinded his teeth in frustration before continuing. “I will pull a ten out of ten, even if it's the last thing I do!”

“So how do you plan to do that then? Go down the slice of life rou—”

“Truck-kun.”

“Isekai huh, wow you're desperate.”

Arms crossed, head shaking in disappointment, Ozu knew his friend had fallen to a new low.

“Think about it for a sec, Ozu.” Haru tapped the top of his cranium like he had come up with a master plan.

“I’m thinking.”

Haru ignored his friend's confirmation and continued with the utmost insanity.

“If I go down the other world, light novel transportation route, I could use my natural otherworldly charm to seduce beautiful women, create great inventions and make absurd amounts of money.” 

He rubbed his fingers together to signify the exchanging of abundant wealth. His eyes’ glowing for the first time today.

“The rags to riches story.”

“Exactly! Become a super successful merchant, save a kingdom and marry a ten ten elf girl.”

“Wow.” Ozu clapped sarcastically. “So you're gonna jump in front of a truck. Die to hopefully get a chance at being reborn in another world, and somehow become successful with your ‘intelligent’ mind that can’t even pass a simple math test.”

“.....”

“And then hope you get born into a wealthy family, all so that you can somehow design a modern invention with limited resources. Oh! And did I forget to mention trying to avoid cholera and sepsis from badly designed plumbing infrastructure.” 

Haru rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, as Ozu smirked at him in perceived victory.

“Didn’t think it through, did ya…?”

“...Should’ve left the sarcasm back in the UK…”

“What did you say?”

“I said oh look, Kasiba sensei is behind you!”

Ozu turned on his heel like a gazelle in front of a lion. His eyes wincing in frustration as he took off his glasses and quickly rubbed them for clarity.

“My goddess!”

“Were supposed to be Christians Ozu?”

“It’s a figure of speech okay!”

Haru backed off, content to watch his friend stare into the distance at their beloved teacher. 

I can’t deny it. She is stunning.

Miss Kasiba could only be described in one word: Perfect.

She was the quintessential teenage boy, fantasy English language teacher:

Gorgeous – check

Kind – check

Smart – check

Do teenage boys care about anything more?

Ozu waved at her, he was her favourite student after all. 

She smiled, her almond eyes peering through her glasses as she walked up to them. 

“What are you boys doing here, waiting after school?” She asked softly, her voice as serene as she was intelligent.

“Just going home to study, Kasiba-san.” Ozu said, his expressions reminiscent of a beaming puppy.

“As diligent as ever Ozu-kun, but we’ve already done enough afternoon studying together. Maybe you should study something else?”

“Neve— I mean maybe.”

“Hmmm, and you Tadashima-kun…?” Her eyes gleaned with friendly curiosity. She was the type of teacher who always wanted to be invested in her students' lives.

“Going to my Dad’s old dojo, I need to collect some rent payments from the tenants.” 

“Ooh, I didn’t know your Dad owned a dojo?”

There was a beat of silence.

Haru turned sideways, he looked out to the sky for a moment, watching a crow fly across the setting sun.

“Yeah, he did…”

“Did I ask something inappropriate?”

Haru shook out of his stupor.

“Nah it’s fine sensei. It's a mixed martial arts dojo down the river on Takeba street.”

“Ah, wonderful. Well I won’t waste anymore of your time then.”

“It’s never a waste of our time talking to you sensei.’

Haru internally cringed at his best friend's comment. Damn. Talk about a way to make it obvious!

The duo said their last goodbyes and left the school in haste. Ozu continually gushing about his seemingly ‘close’ relationship with his favourite sensei whilst Haru internally mourned over his ever-shrinking dating prospects.

“Y’know I plan to marry her in the future. Make her mine for good!”

“Mhm.”

“I’ll start a social media marketing agency and sell my services abroad to English speaking countries while making profit by paying people from poor countries to do the service!”

“Ahah.”

“What do you think bro, wanna work for me? I can pay you well and you can be my right hand man.”

Haru knew that Ozu was baiting him in for conversation, after all, they both knew that he would never work as a right hand man to his best friend. He had too much pride to do that.

“Sorry ‘mate’ I’m too busy evaluating my Isekai prospects at the moment.”

“Still on that again?”

“Yep.”

Just as they were about to enter the train station, Ozu stopped in front of him and turned towards him on the step above, arms out wide like a bird.

“Look bro, I know you're feeling like a lost puppy after being brutally rejected. Even though I warned you that Nabi’s out of your league, and you needed to go down the friendship route to warm your way into her heart…”

Haru grumbled.

“...But that doesn't mean it's the end of the road for you. Look at me and Kasiba-san, if love like ours exists, then there must be love out there for you as well.”

Haru’s eyebrow lifted.

“I know you're a hopeless romantic at heart, Haru. A man who yearns for connection with another.” Ozu got theatrical, fist to his heart with pure compassion for his brother's anguish.

“But no matter how cool it seems, you don’t need to go to another world to find love and success…” Ozu’s voice dimmed, eyes centred fully on his friend's widening gold.

“No… Let another world come to you!” 

Awkward silence. 

“That was the most lame thing I've ever heard from your mouth.”

“It wasn't that bad.”

“Ehhhhh…”

“So ungrateful, that was supposed to help you, y'know!”

“Oh really, what? Was a hot elf girl in fantasy armour supposed to walk past me?”

“Uhhhh…”

“Whatever, let's just get out of here. Can't be asked to listen to any more platitudes.” 

Haru’s legs moved alongside his mouth, climbing the stairs before Ozu could respond. Leaving Ozu to simply smirk and roll his eyes. 

“If you say so…”

They continued into the station, reaching the ticket gates. Which were for some reason…

Faulty?

The flaps were broken, swinging back and forth as if someone had violently rushed through them. “Huh must be faulty maintenance, welp, free tickets for us!” Ozu, uncaring about the law, walked through the barrier with joy.

“Uh bro, isn't that just stealing.” The Christian in Haru did not feel comfortable with this.

“Nah, it's just being opportunistic." Ozu replied, not feeling any sense of guilt. 

“Eh, whatever… I’ll repent later.”  The peer pressure had won this exchange.

“So what you got planned later? Wanna hop on a lobby?” Haru said, curious.

“Hmm, sorry man, I got a lot on.”

“Such as…?”

“You really want to know?”

Haru nodded. They arrived at their intended platform. Ozu sighed, his face now serious as he looked at the passing trains. “Sorting out moms funeral arrangements.”

Silence. A train swished past.

“Oh.” He didn’t know what more to say to his grieving friend, all the words he had to say had already been said. “You know you can talk to me whenever, right?”

“I know.”

Swish. Another train swished past.

“You don't have to worry Haru. Kasiba-san has been helping me out.”

“I know, but—”

“You've always carried the emotional burden for me in the past, Haru. This time don’t worry about it, leave it to me to sort out, okay. Got that?”

The next train came to a stop at their platform.

“This one’s mine bro, chat later?” 

Ozu smirked, before putting out his hand for a fist bump, a gesture of affection he had learnt from his time abroad. Haru stood conflicted, Ozu’s words from earlier repeating in his mind. 

Easier said than done, idiot…

Haru put on a wiry smile. “Yeah. Sounds good.” 

He bumped him back, watching as his friend disappeared into the carriage, the train picking up speed as he vanished from sight.

Haru waited a little longer for his train, onboarding and arriving at his destination by the time night fell upon the seaside city.

Takeba street was illuminated by fluorescent lights, and the river,  black as the night sky, reflected the moon above. Creating a subtle, unexplainable ambience. 

The wind passed over Haru’s skin, making him shiver from the autumn cold, he turned past a dark alleyway and into a hidden street.

Billboard lights lit the top of the dojo, saying: Tatsukikata MMA Club

“The owner did a good job sprucing up the place…” 

Haru walked into the warmth of the dojo, students training their judo throws and front kicks. 

It was a rather big dojo, roughly the size of three to four properties and filled with multiple rooms to train different styles and techniques. 

It was rented out by a company named Tatsukikata, a Japanese organisation that wanted to build up mixed martial artists nationally. 

“Hey Haru!” The manager waved at him, motioning him over as Haru waved back at the familiar face.

“Yo Akaji, how’s business doing?”

The two of them had been close for years; long-time business partners with shared history and despite Akaji’s older age, he didn’t mind Haru speaking to him casually, he was the type of man to prefer authenticity over social conventions.

“Been going great, trying to get my students more into strength training.”

“What. You gonna build a gym in here?” Haru replied warily.

Akaji flexed his muscles. “Pssh. Maybe, gotta get my students into the big leagues.”

Haru rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, you do that and I’m upping the rent.”

“Mercy, Haru, mercy.”

“No way. My greed is ever expanding, my pockets never full!”

“What would your poor father say if he heard those words, huh?” Akaji responded sarcastically.

He was the only one who could bring up his father and cause nothing less than a laugh out of the young man’s mouth. Haru held his laughter down and straightened himself, a cheesy grin still lingering.

“He would probably tell me to stop messing around and get the rent.”

“Yeah, yeah, here you go… 450,000 yen right? What a scam!” Akaiji rolled the money out and put it in Haru’s greedy hands.

“You're the boss Akaji!” He winked at the older man and shot a finger gun, beginning to leave.

“Yo kid, c’mon have a session with us, show these youngsters the Tadashima experience!’

Haru paused midstep. The air stilled. He didn’t look back.

“You know I don’t do that type of stuff anymore…” 

Akaji gave an exasperated sigh, pausing for a moment to collect his thoughts. “Don’t mind me, a bit of nostalgia took over for a second. Get home safe yeah!”

Eyes forward. Haru nodded back, his feet resuming his departure from his parent's, no, his dojo.

“Damn, it's really getting close to winter, huh…?” 

He could feel the chill air of the coming winter, as he turned down another alleyway.

His mind was still lost in thought, unable to free himself from the rejection that had broken his heart and soul. I… no, she 

just isn't into me like that and that's fine. After all, wouldn't Mom say it takes a few eggs to crack an omelette!? Wait, no. Wrong saying, mean—

His body went still. He knew on instinct. Something was watching him.