His Daily Life after the Incident

In the streets of Ishikawa, Sakura petals sway over the breezy wind on a Saturday morning. A certain boy walked through the streets holding a list of this to buy. But on the list is only labeled as Ramen on each number. His stomach growl from hunger for not being able to eat for 3 days straight. Good thing he became a content creator. He looked through his own wallet and started drooling underneath on his scarf, as he was imagining how many ramens he can buy with all of this money he received from just lazing around in his own home and just have the right equipment and have any confidence in acting well in front of an audience.

That’s what the Dark Winged user Shigeru Takeda has been doing since he escaped the hell 2 years ago. His escape was anonymously broadcasted through the whole country, it caused a riot in the whole country where most Mental users fought back. The police and the military are guilty of their actions towards Mental users so they were being targeted on the day of the event. the incident was pure bloodshed, bloody pieces, organs, skin, and flesh covered the streets, causing the public to slowly treat Mental users as normal beings but they were still being mistreated. From Takeda’s side, he didn’t know that this was happening, he’s just happy to find his freedom. This event has been named ‘The Dark Wings Incident’ and Takeda has now a bounty of 100000000¥ on his head and he didn’t even know he’s that valuable.

After his escape, he’s been hiding from the eyes of the government. Since he saw his own bounty on his head, he’s been careful where he goes, but he wasn’t able to do it right. Every time he sleeps in a shelter, he always has nightmares about his time in the facility, causing a nearby catastrophe. Creating craters and power outages around the area he stays in, they started calling it ‘The Dark Wings Sighting’. Due to the common occurrence of the sightings, His bounty was raised up to 5 times to the original bounty so when he heard about this, he decides to train himself to forget all of those old memories of his, by turning himself into a content creator.

But that doesn’t stop with his original goal, which is to kill himself.

He may be the source of happiness to others on his persona, but he still is traumatized by the events that happened 2 years ago. After his escape, he finally found the answers to his questions in his head.

“I only exist to cause suffering and suffer along with it.”

He doesn’t want to suffer anymore, so needs to find a way to find to kill himself peacefully, with no regrets, but he doesn’t have regrets, he has no one in his life for him to care for and someone to care for him. All he needs to do now is to grind for more money as a Vtuber and quits whenever he’s ready to die, peacefully.

At least that’s what he thought…

Shigeru arrived at the local supermarket in Ishikawa, but the thing is, in this supermarket, he seems to have a reputation for different reasons. As soon as he steps on the entrance, glares of the staff and customers are directly staring towards Shigeru. He could only do is scratch his nape as he was nervously sweating. He has the reputation of being a thief, even though he has enough money. He only steals packs of Ramen, but he ended up stealing more when he’s too hungry. He even got a Wanted sign plastered around the whole supermarket.

He casually walked to the manager, who was waiting at the cashier. The manager looked at Shigeru with the look of an angry tiger, about to leap up to his prey. Shigeru sighed as he walked closer, hearing the foot tappings that sometimes irritate him. He handed the manager a small envelope with a dead look on his face.

“Here’s the payment to all of the shits I stole, I’m sorry for the inconvenience” He continued to walk inside the store while the manager looked inside at the envelope and he suddenly jumped out of excitement to see a 1000000¥ inside.

“Why did he even steal when he has that large amount of money?” Shigeru eavesdrop on a nearby customer, chuckling at the surprised look at everyone’s face.

‘All of my hardworking, it paid off, I guess I’ll have to continue as a Vtuber’  He thought

Good thing that he was getting the payment from being a content creator but as a Vtuber.

He didn’t become an ordinary content creator, he turned into a lovable Vtuber. It sounds that he’s out of character but he was researching today’s trend on making people happy and he found out that Vtuber is the easiest way. When he found out that you can get money out of it, he was interested in being one, since normal work might get the chance of him being captured. He’s been one of the popular Vtubers on the net as of now cause his personality and delivery of his character towards his audience is spot on. Other than that, the sightings have stopped ever since he became a Vtuber.

But he still wants to kill himself peacefully, despite his success.

Even though he already paid up, everyone in the store that is close to him glares at him which puts him in a very uncomfortable situation. He continued to chuckle, now even more nervously as he picked up 3 packs of ramen out of the shelf. The best he could do is just to smile, a fake smile that makes him even more suspicious.

He walked closer to the cashier, as he places the 3 packs of Ramen on the counter. The glares didn’t stop at all. They’re glaring at him like they’re a pack of wolves ready to munch up a defenseless sheep. Shigeru tried his best to keep the fake smile on his face as his legs are pumped up to run out of the store. As each items are being scanned, the glares are getting even closer, like they were anticipating something spectacular coming from this dude again.

“So…” This young lady cashier decides to break the tension “Why do you even steal when you had this enough cash with you?” The glares stopped and they continue as usual.

This girl in the cashier, from her looks, she’s still in High School, she even wore her school uniform skirt even on the job, she looks rather displeased on the work environment in the supermarket. Shigeru sighed in relief, even though he’s one of the most feared individuals in the country, he still is a normal teenager on the surface. He could’ve just use his ability to his advantage in this situation, but due to the current situation he’s in, he learned to control and put on a facade in front of these people, and how Mental users in this country are being treated after being captured. He doesn’t want to be involved in any troubles that would ruin his goal.

He just wants a life, free from troubles outside in his own bubble. His loved ones, gone. His so-called friends, gone. His humanity, shattered. He is now a shell of his former self with a demon living inside of him, living in a facade that is believable to the human eyes and he uses this facade to be a reckless teenager, just for him to have fun for once in his life.

But he didn’t feel anything at all, which confirms to him that he’s already dead inside.

“As long is that I pay, isn’t that enough” He replied while scratching his nape.

“You’re still doing a crime, It doesn’t matter if you pay up, Well, except the manager,” She placed the 3 packs of ramen in a box “What you did remains on peoples minds, they see you as a thief”

“Well, you got a point there, young lady.”

“Of course, It’s just common sense” As she closes the box, Shigeru notices scars on her right wrist. Knowing what it means, Shigeru decided to ask the young cashier

“Say, miss,” He crossed his arms, as he looked at her nametag, seeing that her name is Hamasaki Aki, which gained the girl’s attention “Miss Hamasaki, what exactly is happiness to you.”

“Huh, excuse me?”

“Judging from your looks, your new here, and that expression, you’re not exactly happy about this job of yours.”

“Are you telling me to quit?”

“Jeez, You’re quick to judge someone, what a strong lady” He smugly replied “I was just asking questions” He took out his wallet and pay up the ramen, as he gave her the money, he leaned in closer to her ears.

“Are you actually fine being used by others, framing you for something you never did?”

Shigeru looked at the girl’s horrified look on her face, as she remembers her own past and the depression she faced in her entire life. Those memories started to spiral around in her head, she started to mumble the same questions that Shigeru as himself 2 years ago. From the sound of this, it felt that she’s about to burst out her anger, causing her to be a new Mental user.

Knowingly, Shigeru brought suffering to others so he wants to use that to his advantage, to make others find their purpose in life.

He gave her a soft head pat, which surprisingly calms her down. The softness she felt, felt like a hug of someone who she deeply cares about, like a family member, or a loved one. During his months of becoming a Vtuber, he learned to feel the pain of others and knows how to comfort them. Cause he’s speaking from experience.

Shigeru just can’t stand seeing people in pain, even though he himself is in pain. He doesn’t even know why he does it. He might already find the answer to that question, but he doesn’t want to conclude that small mystery of his.

“There there now” He caressed her head like a child “Don’t go burst out your pain out here”

She was flustered from the sudden act and pouted when she realized she was being treated like a child

“Stupid, don’t just pat me out of nowhere you thief, Hmph” She looked away, showing a faint blush around her face

“You know Aki” He stopped “Suffering is just the start of a better life you have in the future, They’re the fragments in our mind that we want to forget, so we strive for peace and perfect life to live but everyday life is not just rays of sunshine and rainbows for you to walk freely, you always get to face a small sparkle of darkness on that light and when you faced the darkness, I’m sure you’re gonna be free from all of the pain on the past”

He took the receipt out of her hand and the box of ramen as he waved goodbye to the young cashier “Just remember that all of us aren’t born perfect”

Aki suddenly felt a tear falling on her cheek, just hearing a motivational speech from a thief. Even though she heard the same talk a lot of times, something about Shigeru makes her feel that she’s protected by someone who cares for her.

“Wait,” Shigeru stopped “What’s your name? I can’t just keep calling you Mr. Thief”

Shigeru chuckled “Welp...”

Out of nowhere, He suddenly did an over-the-top pose, his hands pointing at Aki as all in the supermarket are looking at him, he smirked as he loudly introduced himself.

“The name is Takeda Shigeru, I’m just your average reckless teenager. Yes, you can call me Mr. Thief” He winked at Aki which make her blush

On the surface, he sounds like a natural reckless teenager, but deep inside in his mind, he’s dying out of the cringy performance.

‘AAAHH!!!! What was that? What was THAT?! I wanna die now, I wanna die now. I can’t believe I did that just to impress a girl.’ He thought while screaming inside ‘I don’t want to wait, I wanna DIE!!!!!! AAAHH!!!’

He wiped his sweat, coming out of his forehead. Once he’s out in the store, he’s going to scream his lungs out. It was too out of character for him to do that. He bowed, swiftly turn around, and walk out of the store. He sighed in relief thinking that this will all be over as soon as he steps out of the store.

Or so he thought…

“Hold up there you” The store manager tapped Shigeru’s shoulder, which made him stiff like a statue in the entrance door “Wanna talk about this thing underneath your hoodie?” The manager holds one pack of spaghetti noodles while smiling.

Shigeru tries to his mouth then suddenly, people behind the manager, pointed him to look down, and see 5 packs of spaghetti noodles on the floor.

‘SHIT!’

“Uhm, yeah, Uhm...” Shigeru slowly walked backwards “You know, I need this money to pay my rent, so I was wondering if I…”

“Shigeru…” The manager and the people in the supermarket glared at him except for Aki, scratching her nape. Shigeru chuckled and suddenly, he grabs 3 packs of spaghetti noodles and the bag of ramen, then he decides to make a run for it.

“BOYS!!!!” All of the store staff readied their weapons on their respective jobs in the market “AFTER HIM!!!!” Most of the staff left the store and chased after Shigeru.

“Why do we always let him in? I wanna suggest that we should ban him from this supermarket. Aki, do you agree? Aki?”

Aki on the other hand couldn’t help but laugh at the situation that just happened. She laughed so hard that it looked like someone tickled her to death, then it made her tear up out of laughter, this is the first time after her years of torment that she laughed again at something stupid.

She stood up properly as the other cashiers looked at her, worryingly. She sighed out of relief, as she smiled gracefully.

“Thank you so much, Shigeru”

...

The staff chased after Shigeru, but Shigeru was too fast for them. He slowed down just for Shigeru to tease them. They cause a lot of ruckus throughout the town, disturbing nearby pedestrians. Grunts and groans came out from the pedestrians’ mouths as they complained.

“Sup old farts, can’t catch me. I’m so fast that it makes you guys look like 70-years old”

‘That was a bad attempt at a joke’

“You piece of shit, COME BACK HERE!!!” The manager yelled

“Bleh, Hehe” Shigeru sticked his tongue out, in an annoyingly tone.

They suddenly arrived at a nearby crossroad, the traffic light signed to red and the traffic enforcer told them to stop while another group of pedestrians walks by. Shigeru smirked at this situation since it’s his only way to escape. He swiftly went through the pedestrians as cars go by, he just leaped to every single car that passes by, one step on each car. Complaint after complaint, the whole ruckus created a huge traffic. He safely landed on his feet, then he looked back at the masterpiece of this facade he created.

“Hehe, Looks like another sweet escape for me” Shigeru shrugged, thinking that all of this is over

“Move out of the way!”

Or so he thought…

Shigeru suddenly heard a faint scream of a girl to his right, he started to hear the nearby pedestrians grunted and groan irritably, the sound of the bike gears screeching started rising right in his direction. He was looking at the items if he still has them, without noticing the impending doom coming down the slope on his right.

“I’M SORRY!!!” She yelled as she kept pressing the bike breaks

Her face becomes dead when she suddenly saw a large drop slope down in the road, no matter how much she tries to stop with the bike she’s using, it doesn’t stop at all.

‘Oh my gosh, how am I going to stop this?!’ She started to panic as she’s getting closer to the slope ‘Wait, I’m going to using my shoes to stop it’

As her legs almost hit the ground, she suddenly remembered that these shoes are so important to her.

‘What am I doing? If I scratch this, Sensei will be mad at me. Huhu’ She imagined an angry look of her sensei seeing that the shoes have been scratch.

Gaining back to her consciousness, she suddenly realized that she was flying down the slope. Upon the sudden realization of where she’s at, took almost 3 seconds to realized that she was flying. Now, she’s screaming out of her lungs as she’s falling.

Shigeru, now feeling irritated, decided to look to his right and saw a blue-haired girl flying in his bike, It felt like the whole world stopped in front of him as the hair of this girl swayed like the ocean water, it looked so smooth to Shigeru that he didn’t realize where the bike is going to land.

“GET OUT OF THE WAY!” The girl screamed but it was too late

Shigeru snapped back, only to see a wheel of a bike in front of his face.

‘Oh, shi-’

He didn’t have enough time to react that the bike hit his face, it felt that she a rough clay that is about to crack. A loud snap that sounded like pot then what comes after that was a loud fleshy sound as the body of Shigeru scraped through the floor. The bike finally stopped but the sheer force of the bike caused Shigeru’s body to tumble and flop like a tumbleweed then he hit on a nearby street light.

“Oh man, that was intense, I never experienced anything like this in my life, Hehe-” She stopped, upon realizing that she hit someone down.

She slowly turned her face from the horror that she created, Shigeru on the ground, with the cup of ramen he ate on his head, grunting out of pain, bubble foams forming in his mouth, and blank white eyes.

“EEEEKKK!!! I-I’M SORRY!” She screamed and apologized at the unconscious Takeda

The place got a little bit crowded at the scenario, but one in the crowd notices a mask broken down in half. It’s a man in a teacher’s outfit, he analyzed the mask clearly.

“Welp, I found it but I guess she’ll be pissed if she saw this thing broke into pieces” The man chuckled as he looked back at the two “Good thing she found him already”

The man walked away casually, as the crowd is getting larger, the store staff arrived at the scene to see an unconscious Shigeru.