Prologue: The Best Day Ever

He never thought the day would come when his closest companions turned out to be his worst enemies. But as he sat there underneath the crushing weight of the dragon’s foot, his bones creaking all the while, he couldn’t help but feel resentment towards them.

Every last one of them. Staring at his blood dripping from his mouth to the floor, he thought about how this all got started. So much had changed in just a single day.

***

It was nearing the end of summer vacation. And as the bright sweltering sun shone down over the city, there was a lone boy sitting on the park bench, eagerly tapping his foot.

Kishigami Yusato, a sixteen-year-old with bronze brown hair parted to the side and mint green eyes. While he was overall pretty average looking, he had received compliments about his colorful eyes, which made him a little grateful.

He wore his standard issued school uniform, a black blazer with a white undershirt and red tie fastened around his neck. He was considering changing it up a bit and making some additions since this would be his final year of high school, but deviating from the norm had never been his style.

Yusato let out a sigh as he looked up at the sky. “All three of them are late…”

“Sorry! Sorry!”

A panicked voice called out. The sound of a purse swaying in the wind along with hurried breaths caught in his ears.

A dainty girl wearing the same uniform as Yusato, except with a skirt and ribbon instead of tie rushed up to him, her hands on her knees. She had pink hair the color of cherry blossoms that fell past her shoulders. The girl panted and caught her breath before looking up to meet Yusato. Her usually kind baby blue eyes looked rather tired today.

“I’m so so sorry, Yu! I’m not late am I?!”

“You’re earlier than the other two at least,” Yusato said.

Tani Azumi, one of Yusato’s childhood friends. A sweet and sincere girl who always put others above herself. They had grown up together, but somewhere along the way, Azumi’s popularity seemed to have skyrocketed.

She was beloved by everyone in the school. Even Yusato himself had grown more attracted to her over the years. She truly was a beautiful girl, not that he’d ever be able to say that to her directly.

He’d thought about confessing before, but he was afraid that it’d end up ruining their friendship. And that was the last thing he wanted. There were three things Yusato valued above all else. One was integrity. Another was trust. And the last were the bonds with his friends. Also a good home cooked meal.

—Okay, maybe four things.

Regardless, he never wanted to do anything that would jeopardize their friendship. So he bit his tongue all these years about his feelings for Azumi.

Azumi clasped her hands together and bowed. “Please forgive me!”

Azumi had a habit of apologizing a bit too much. Though Yusato couldn’t help but find that a bit endearing.

“Relax, Azumi, It’s fine.”

“It’s not fine!”

Azumi was directly in front of Yusato’s face. He flinched a bit in response. He blushed as he realized how close she was. Yusato averted his eyes.

“I said it was fine, alright?”

A male voice rang out from behind the bench, “Geez, flirting first thing in the morning?”

A girl’s voice accompanied the other one, “Gross.”

“We’re not flirting!” Yusato and Azumi both shouted in unison as they turned to the owners of the voices.

The two voices belonged to Murase Tomoki and his cousin, Murase Mahina. Like Azumi, they were Yusato’s childhood friends. Tomoki, the one who accused them of flirting was the leader of their group and he had no problem acting like it.

He’d been making his own personal adjustments to the school’s uniform ever since they were first years. At this point, it hardly even resembled what the rest of them wore. His unbuttoned blazer was rolled up past his elbows and he wore a red and white bandanna on top of his messy spiky black hair. Several bracelets were gathered at his sleeves.

At this point, Yusato thought the school faculty had all but given up on him. Still, he always admired him for that. It was a big reason why Yusato himself wanted to try and start doing it as well. Tomoki had always been his biggest aspiration ever since he first met him back in year one of grade school.

Mahina placed her hands on her hips and scowled at Yusato. “You better not have been doing anything dirty to her, ya hear me?” She peered into his eyes with an intense relentless gaze. “I’m watching ya.”

Mahina’s small body was a contrast to her loud and boisterous presence. Something that Yusato never quite grew used to. She had her dark orange hair bundled up in two twintails and her hazel eyes were sharp to go with her overpowering personality.

“Give it a rest already.” Yusato rolled his eyes. “Why do you always insist that I’m a pervert?”

“If the shoe fits.”

“Mahina, you’ve known me for years. You know that’s not true!”

“Then why did you peep on me in the shower?!”

“That was forever ago! And it was an accident!”

“It wasn’t an accident to me!”

Mahina was Tomoki’s younger cousin, but she moved in with him ever since they were little kids. So the two of them were practically like siblings at this point. Only, Mahina highly respected and admired Tomoki as well. She copied his whole uniform aesthetic, down to the letter.

Honestly, she probably respected Tomoki even more than Yusato did. He knew Azumi also looked up to him, but as far as he could tell, neither one of them were any match for Mahina in that regard.

And it was probably for that reason, that Yusato ended up getting the role of a big brother who had to deal with an annoying little sister instead.

Mahina made sure he never got a break. He couldn’t breathe without her accusing him of doing something perverted. Though admittedly, it might also have been because of that shower incident years ago.

Man, that girl could hold a grudge…

Tomoki placed a hand on Yusato’s shoulder and smiled with his warm onyx black eyes. “Not to worry man. I’ll always support you. Go do your thing!” He winked with a smirk.

“I’m serious! We weren’t flirting!”

“Yeah, that’s right! We’d never do that!” Azumi reaffirmed, her hands balled up into fists at her chest.

Ouch. Even though he was denying it too, that hurt Yusato more than he wanted to realize. He shook his head and regained his composure. “Anyway, you two know you’re late right?”

Tomoki shrugged. “Eh, what’s it matter? It’s summer vacation.”

“It’s the end of summer vacation,” Yusato corrected him. “Soon enough, we’ll all be third-years. We’re going to be busy studying our butts off for exams and preparing for university. We won’t have as much time to spend together anymore. That’s why I wanted us to spend this summer having as much fun as we could.”

Mahina mocked Yusato by mimicking his mouth with her hand. “Yeah yeah. You said all this at the start of summer break too, remember?”

“Of course, but that’s exactly we should make this last week even more special. Do you guys get what I’m saying?”

Putting a finger to her lips, Mahina mumbled, “I guess.”

Azumi nodded. “Sounds like a good idea to me.”

Tomoki looked down at Yusato and bit his lip. “Listen, man. I’d love to, but I have to start preparing early. Today will be the last day I can hang out with you. The whole reason I was late today is because I was busy studying. You’ve gotten great grades, but we don’t all have it as easy as you.”

“I see.” That revelation hit Yusato hard. He really was hoping for them to have the best week of their lives together. Honestly, he didn’t ever want to have to split up from them. He knew it was only natural.

They were getting to ready to move on into the adult world and they would soon have to go their separate ways. And no matter how desperately he wished for these fun times to never end, he knew there was nothing he could so about it. One day, they’d have to say goodbye.

Yet, that only fueled his desire even more. And so he said, “In that case, let’s make today the best day ever.”

Yusato grabbed onto Tomoki’s sleeve and pulled him along. He caught the briefest flash of a snarl and wondered if maybe he’d tugged him a bit too hard. Suddenly a bright white light engulfed them all. And within a split second, they were all gone.

Only Yusato was left, his his arm dangling in the empty air.