Second – Just a second, the classroom felt too still.
"Come on, the class is waiting. Introduce yourself now," said the blond teacher.
Shinji felt embarrassed at the front, overthinking whether he should introduce himself or not. "Come on, come on, you can do it, Shinji," he muttered to himself.
Shinji opened his mouth. "M-my name is Shinji Valentine. N-nice to meet all of you." He paused for a moment, worried that he had messed up his introduction.
The teacher suddenly spoke. "Oh, please take your seat now, Mr. Valentine. Go sit next to Mr. Okami."
She pointed at a student who seemed to be napping near the window. He had blue hair.
Shinji sat beside the window.
The blond teacher said, "Good morning, everyone! For those of you who don't know me, I am Ms. Misa Daiga, or you can call me Miss Daiga." She smiled at everyone. "I will be your homeroom teacher for the rest of the year," Ms. Daiga said.
An hour passed.
At 10:00 a.m., the bell rang, indicating it was lunchtime.
The student with blue hair woke up to the sound of the bell. "What the hell was that?! So loud!" he mumbled.
He glanced at Shinji, looking rather curious. "Huh? Who are you?" he asked in a sleepy voice.
"Eh, I'm Shinji. Miss Daiga assigned this seat for me," Shinji replied.
"I'm Ryu Okami. Cool glasses, by the way," he said.
Shinji and Ryu engaged in a fun conversation.
After hours of lectures in various subjects, the final bell rang at 4:00 p.m. Shinji packed his bag and headed to the main hallway.
As he walked through the halls, something kept bothering him—his past regrets from his previous school and his family problems.
"Did I make the right choice leaving Tokyo? I don't think my life will be better here," he muttered to himself as he walked.
Upon reaching the main gate, Shinji saw Rika, who seemed to be with her friends.
Shinji walked alone.
While he walked, he couldn't stop thinking about his regrets and his past.
"Man… I need to clear my mind, but I can't," he murmured again.
It was getting late, and the streets were empty.
Shinji sensed that the wind felt off and that the streets were somewhat unfamiliar.
He kept walking, but everything was quiet.
His vision started to blur.
A sudden headache throbbed at the back of his head.
He heard a voice.
"You are not good enough."
"You're the reason your mother died."
"No one will ever treasure you, toy!"
Shinji knelt down, clutching the back of his head. "Stop, stop, stop!" he shouted.
The wind grew heavier, and screeching sounds echoed around him.
The ominous wind formed a human-like figure that resembled Shinji.
"Look at you, Shinji. You're hopeless," the figure said, surrounded by an eerie aura.
The tension in the air became suffocating.
Shinji looked at the ominous figure. "W-who are you?" he asked, his voice filled with pain.
The figure laughed menacingly.
"I… am… you."