My first day with an angel

The night was rough for Taro like he expected, the most that he could remember was the wailing of sirens and being wheeled into the emergency room. He was told he would have scars on his chest, but that didn't matter, it would just be an addition to his collection. He was happy there wasn't any on his face, that would make it much more difficult to hide them. Luckily there was somebody nearby who called for an ambulance as the assault was unfolding, but this left Taro feeling bitter. If you saw someone being attacked, you would intervene, right?

"A guardian angel huh? Maybe my luck is changing." Taro's mind jumps to a different subject as he checks his phone to find the time. He groans as he realises he has woken up early yet again. It's too early for Kami to show up anyway, she did say that she would show up at noon, didn't she? Taro just had to survive that long at school, and when Kami showed up he had the knowledge that he was safe.

Finally, the hum of his phone sounded for him to get out of bed. He groggily gets up, forcing himself to his feet. The bruising is bad and still extremely painful when he moves, but he's become so used to it that it feels normal. He makes sure to throw on some clothes before heading downstairs, he would feel ashamed if his parents ever found out about the abuse that he was getting at school.

Making his way into the kitchen, Taro pours a box of cereal into a bowl. He doesn't have much of an appetite for anything today, he just wants something simple to fill him up before school. Taro finishes filling the bowl with milk and limps to the kitchen table where he sits with his dad who is also eating, albeit better-looking food. Taro and his parents have a good relationship, they always go out on the weekends together and do a fun activity. It's a way to bond together, get exercise and have a good time. Taro's favourite thing to do is rock climbing. He always likes the strategy required, it required a good grip and a good mind.

"G'morning sport, did you have a good rest?" Dad smiled, Taro knew exactly what he should have said but instead, he smiled back and nodded as he shovelled his cereal into his mouth. Taro knew how to hide what he was truly feeling, it was both a blessing and a curse. It has helped him get out of a lot of tough situations, but it also stopped him from speaking out about the bullying going on at school.

"That's good, I'm glad." Dad spoke softly. Taro and his dad sat on the opposite ends of the table, doing their own thing. The silence was rather calming for Taro, it wasn't often he got to be with someone who wasn't trying to make fun of him or batter him. He enjoyed the quietness combined with the company of another person. With a small smile on his face, Taro finished his food and placed it into the sink. It's not like he's exactly in a hurry, but he can wash it later.

He then makes his way to the bathroom, locking the door, turning on the shower and stepping into the warm water. It hurts, but he has to clean himself somehow. It's not like he can go into school dirty, after all, that's just all the more reason for people to dislike him. Taro runs his hands through his white hair to get all of the shampoo out. Finally, he gently cleans himself with a wet cloth, it hurts a little less on his bruising that way. Once he gets out, he softly pats himself down with his towel and heads back to his bedroom where he then gets dressed and prepared for school.

At last, the part he had been dreading the most: Leaving the house. Just thinking about it is enough to make his breath waver, but he pulls through and inhales deeply as he throws his backpack over his shoulder. His nerves skyrocket as his fingers wrap around the door handle. His heart might as well be pointing right out of his chest. Then, he exhales and all the nerves that had built up are then repressed.

"I'm off!"

"Alright kid! Take care!" Taro's dad calls, as the boy opens the door, letting the overcast sky come into his view. A beam of light coming from a breakup in the clouds shoots to where Taro is standing, stunning him briefly. Once he gets out into the streets he starts to feel a little better. Maybe that single beam of light was a sign that everything was going to be okay.

The journey to school is a long one, but he doesn't take the bus in order to avoid his classmates. Despite this, he has never once been late to class. Taro has always been good at managing his time, although, he can't predict the unpredictable. He manages to avoid his classmates wherever he can, but when he bumps into them he knows he has to get out of there as quickly as possible before something bad goes down.

Taro stands at a halt when he suddenly hears footsteps quickly approaching from behind him. The thud of boots on the pavement, shaking him to his core, Taro clenches his fists, bracing for an impact but the footsteps suddenly stop and an arm is thrown over Taro's shoulder. Next to him is his best friend, Ren.

"You looked like you were about to be hit by a car." Ren jokes. The two of them go way back, Ren used to protect Taro from his attackers but got kicked out of the school because he went a little over the top one time, Ren spent a few months in a juvenile detention centre. Although Ren did it for a good cause, it only affected Taro negatively, but he understood that Ren meant well.

"Yeah, you'd look like that too if you had someone sprinting towards you at a rate of knots." Taro snapped back at him. The two have a stare-off for a second, the tension rising rapidly and then suddenly both of them burst out into laughter. The tall blond boy was probably the only person, other than his parents, that could make Taro laugh like that. Taro's bond with Ren was unbreakable although they had started drifting apart recently.

"You always were a little softy." Ren smiles, as he continues to walk next to Taro. It was nice to have someone walk him to school for a change, being in the company of somebody who cared for him was nice.

"You're headed for school, right?" Ren continues.

"Yeah..."

"It's still happening... isn't it?"

"Y-Yeah..." Taro's gaze turns to his feet as he holds his hands close to his chest. Tears beginning to fill his eyes. Life has never been kind to Taro, but he lives his life as if this is a normal thing that he should be experiencing. It hurts Ren to see him living this way. Ren places his hand on Taro's.

"You can't keep living like this... It's not right."

"I-It'll get better soon. I promise"

"You keep saying that, but nothing has changed." Ren noted. It was true that Taro had been hoping for a future that wouldn't arrive for another few years, but he was certain that now was that time that he had been waiting for, maybe he wouldn't have to run away just to have a good life. Taro pulls Ren's hand closer to his chest and looks deeply into his eyes.

"This time, I know I'm right. You just have to trust me." Tears still trickling down his cheek, the two boys stand like this for a while, Ren towering over Taro. The overcast sky begins to clear as if Taro's confidence made it happen. The boys continue to walk to school, with smiles on their faces.

"Alright short stuff, I trust you." Ren smiles, still holding Taro's hand. His grip isn't strong, or at least it isn't with Taro, Ren appears to know how to control his strength around certain people. A softy like Taro needs a soft touch and Ren is able to adapt.

Finally, they make it to the school gates. Taro looks at the big building, his anxiety beginning to build up. He can feel his heart beating faster and faster. Taro grips Ren's hand tighter as his nerves start to build up.

"Well, well, well. Look who it is." a voice from the distance calls. The boys lock eyes with the owner of the voice. Daisuke and his grunts have made it to school early, this was bad. Taro's mind is racing with what-if scenarios. Daisuke is the scariest person that he had ever met. He could be considered the ring-leader to Taro's abuse. People loved Daisuke for some reason, even though he took advantage of the vulnerable.

"Leave us alone. Nobody wants to see your ugly mug." Ren sneered. Daisuke was unphased by this comment, turning his attention back to the frightened Taro.

"Y'know, you have a lot of nerve bringing the murderer back here."

"He's not a-"

"Shut it!" Daisuke's voice boomed. Taro went back to his frightened state, whenever he gained enough courage to speak back to Daisuke he would always be shut down, his courage would be in vain. Taro has his fingers crossed behind his back, hoping that the bell for homeroom would ring, although, being this close to the dark-haired monster was not preferable.

Ren and Daisuke argued among themselves as Taro tried to scout out a way to the classroom. He thought that if he took a run for it now he would be able to make it there and be in the protection of a teacher in no time. Maybe if he just-

Ding ding ding ding

Before Taro can even leave the bell rings and as expected Daisuke waits for Taro. On the bright side, Taro could see his grunts leaving the two of them alone. Ren turns to Daisuke, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and pulling him as close to him as possible.

"If you hurt him you are going to feel the worst pain you have felt, ever." Ren threatened. Although with a quick exhale of his nose, Daisuke was still unphased by this, he knew that Ren was serious. He had done it once and Daisuke was damn sure he would do it again.

While all of this was going on, Taro made a break for homeroom, sprinting as fast as he could down the path and into the building where he caught his breath. The door creaked open and upon entering the classroom, everything was oddly quiet other than people chatting about a new student to the school.

Taro took his seat at the back of the class and tossed his backpack under the desk. Fortunately for Taro, he didn't share the same homeroom as Daisuke. It was a huge weight off of his shoulders, at least if he wasn't there and people continued talking about the new student, people wouldn't pay him any attention.

Finally, homeroom starts and the teacher starts yapping on about how the new student is in a different homeroom and so on, a lot of people were disappointed by this because apparently, she was super pretty, but Taro's eyes were glued to the clock, counting down the minutes until the clock hit 12. Time only seemed to slow down when he did it, but it couldn't be helped, he was excited to finally be safe, to be protected by a godlike being that wasn't Ren.

Some time passed and in his third class, he finally heard the voice he had been waiting to hear all day.

I need you to go out into the hallway.

This confused Taro a little bit, was something bad about to happen in the classroom? He sure as hell wasn't sticking around to find out. Taro threw his hand up and asked to go to the toilet. The teacher, giving a quick nod, allows Taro to leave the classroom.

Stepping into the hallway, Taro looks around to find... Nothing. Maybe he should get further away from the class. Yeah, that might be a good idea. Taro wanders down the hall for a little while until suddenly he hears a familiar voice.

"Taro!" The voice calls out. Taro looks over his shoulder to see a very pretty girl with long blonde hair that has been braided, and her bright blue eyes could almost be mistaken for windows to the sky.

"Oh, hey. You're the new kid, right?" Taro hesitated. This didn't go over too well with the girl standing opposite him. She turned away and gave him a pout. Taro has never been a peoples person, so this reaction didn't surprise him all that much, in fact, he expected it.

"So you don't recognise me, do you?"

"Other than your voice, no." Taro responded, completely serious. This only seemed to annoy her more. She facepalmed and stared Taro down as she leaned in a little closer.

"It's me, Kami. Do you really not recognise me?" As Kami says this Taro's face turns completely red from embarrassment. How, even with all the obvious signs, did he still missed the fact that she was in fact Kami.

"Oh my god... I am so sorry." Taro chuckled a little bit, burying his head in his hands. Kami walks up to Taro and gives him a hug. Nobody has ever done this to him before, well, nobody other than Ren. Taro's mind begins racing again.

Before he knows it, Taro's arms are wrapped around Kami and he's gently sobbing into her shoulder. Just the touch of another person is enough to bring him to tears apparently. Had he really been starved of physical affection this long?

"How are you even here right now, I thought you were in my head" Taro continues, wiping his tears away as Kami runs her fingers through his hair, comforting him.

"Well, I figured it would be a little odd if you were talking to yourself during class. So I gave myself a physical form."

"Wouldn't that limit your powers?"

"Nope! As long as I'm with you and within my time slot, I still have my powers." Kami confirms. this was a relief to Taro, he didn't want to be a burden on anybody, not even a god. Finally, the bell rings and the two let go of each other.

The final class is uneventful, Daisuke shot a couple of spitballs at Taro and that was about it, all of them missed though thanks to Kami, although, the way she did it made it seem so natural and as if she wasn't doing anything at all. Daisuke was scolded for doing it too, which never usually happened. Once the bell rang for the final time, Daisuke darted out of the class as fast as he could. He was about to do something extreme and Taro had a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"Kami... something bad is about to happen."

"Don't worry about it, I'm here to protect you." Kami confirmed as the two walked out of the building together. Taro was already trying to protect himself from any attacks that may come out of nowhere. Kami looks over her shoulder to see Taro, terrified out of his mind. She turns around and put her arm over his shoulder.

"It's that bad, isn't it." Kami said with a frown, although her personality completely changed, she was still the same caring person. Taro nodded, and the two continued out of the school. It almost seemed like they were about to get out scot-free, that they wouldn't come across Daisuke and his grunts. Taro's glum expression faded as they made it past the gates and out onto the street.

"See, we're-" Kami says before both of them are grabbed, the attackers cover their mouths so they can't scream for help. Taro starts to feel absolute dread and despair. Although Kami manages to maintain her cool, it doesn't change the way Taro remembers how things went in the past.

"Did you really think you could just make me look like an idiot in front of everyone in class?" Daisuke shouts from across the street with absolute fury spread across his face. This was it, Taro knew it all too well, he's putting all of his faith in Kami here. She's not panicking because she knows something is about to happen, right?

Daisuke begins to cross the road as he reaches into his pocket. Taro begins to struggle more and more, he knows what's in that pocket and he doesn't want to be around when it gets used. He's almost halfway over the road by now. Taro shifts his eyes to the right.

"You are dead." Daisuke concludes. He keeps walking menacingly. Taro stops struggling. Suddenly the horn of a car sounds just before it rams into Daisuke at almost full speed, sending him flying further down the road. His grunts drop Taro and Kami to make sure Daisuke is alive.

Taro gasps for air while Kami comforts him, she knows that what the two of them have just experienced is the worst thing that Taro could have possibly had happened to him. Getting back up onto his feet, Taro turns to Kami and wraps his arms around her.

"Thank you... Thank you so much." He weeps. Kami smiles as she does the same. The two are locked that way for a short while.

"Want to go home?" Kami asks.

"Where do you even stay?"

"I'm living with you now, at least until midnight." Kami giggles as she begins to pick up her pace and run to Taro's house. The sudden change in pace startles Taro, but he starts to run too.

"Last one there's a rotten egg" Kami calls, as Taro attempts to keep up. A soft smile grows onto his face.

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Taro shouts, still chasing after the godlike being. It's funny, isn't it? This boy has had it bad for such a long time, but in just one day, he has felt happier than he has ever before. It's all thanks to his friends, Ren and Kami. The only thing Taro has to worry about now is how he's going to explain where Kami came from and how she's going to live with his family.