The story we started

【Zaimokuza took the book out of his arms and placed it in front of his eyes, staring blankly at the cover of the tattered book.】

[The cover of this book clearly had nothing written on it at first, but now a few words have appeared prominently on it.]

[——"Smiling Man". 】

【Crash! 】

[The book fell into the sea of ​​white flowers, and Zaimokuza stumbled back a few steps. Finally, he fell to the ground because of his unstable steps, and he hugged his shoulders and shook. ]

[His eyes were fixed on the book, and his pupils shrank to the size of a needle tip as he trembled.]

[——Hey! Wake up, Zaimokuza! You can’t just die like this!]

[——You are the only friend that Kosaka-kun can confide in! If even you are gone, who will comfort him in the future! Who will help him! ]

[——Please, hold on! ]

[Someone seemed to hear someone's hallucination in his ears. The voice was so familiar, so familiar that Zaimokuza could imagine that anxious face in his mind after hearing the voice.]

【But he couldn't listen anymore.】

[Zaimokuza is now like a lost child, curled up and shivering in the sea of ​​flowers, looking at the novel that fell to the ground, his eyes empty and blank like a mirror.]

【He remembered.】

[I remember why I came here, the promise I forgot... and the real reason why I hate violence so much.]

【He finally remembered everything.】

【Zaimokuza finally remembered the real reason why he chose to embark on a journey and become a traveler.】

[The agreement with Mr. Hiratsuka was only one of the reasons, but it was also a cover-up to cover up the core reason, allowing Zaimokuza to escape the truth that he was most unwilling to face.]

[The real reason he embarked on this long journey was... regret. ]

……

【The origin of all this is just an unfortunate accident. 】

[But this seemingly ordinary accident changed everyone's fate overnight, sliding into a track that no one could have predicted.]

[At the time when the members of the Servant Club returned from the confession incident during the school trip, Sobu High School held its annual cultural festival.]

[At that time, the atmosphere of Sobu High School was very lively. All the clubs in the school were actively preparing for their respective activities at the school festival. Even the Service Club, which had always been unique among all the clubs, was no exception and racked their brains to plan an activity that could show the characteristics of their club.]

[In the end, with the help of the headmaster Yukinoshita Yukino's sister, Yukinoshita Haruno, and the instructor Hiratsuka Shizuka, the Service Club became the most dazzling star at the cultural festival with an open-air concert that attracted everyone's attention, stealing all the limelight, and bringing the cultural festival, which was in danger of stagnation due to the escape of a certain executive chairman, to the most successful end in recent years.]

[If it had ended like this, the story of the Service Club would not have ended like this. ]

[But after the concert, the members of the Service Club who were originally planning to go back together received two phone calls, one from Hikigaya Hachiman's sister and the other from Zaimokuza Yoshiki's mother.]

[This relieved the two who were a little worried because their family members had made an appointment with them to attend the Sobu High School Cultural Festival, but they were not there at all. They thought that they must have been delayed by something and could not come, so they called to let them know.]

[But after answering these two calls, Zaimokuza Yoshiki and Hikigaya Hachiman seemed to have fallen from heaven to hell in an instant. ]

[The voice coming from the other end of the phone was not the familiar voice of their family, but a female voice they had never heard before. She spoke the most cruel and sad news in the world for Hikigaya and Zaimokuza in the most calm and confident voice.]

[——Their family members died in the hospital after a car accident.]

[Zaimokuza doesn’t remember clearly what happened in the middle.]

[He only remembered that his mind went blank after he learned the news, and that his phone fell to the ground from his loosened hands. The sound of the screen cracking due to the impact became the last echo transmitted from his ears to his brain.]

[Then Zaimokuza, whose consciousness was blurred by the great shock, and Hikigaya were supported by Yukinoshita and Yuigahama, who knew about this. The service club and the instructors were all stuffed into the limousine that Yukinoshita asked her butler to drive, and drove straight to the hospital address that Hikigaya, who was still calm, said.]

[On the way to the car, Zaimokuza was in a trance. He had no sense of the ground with his feet. He felt like he was in a dream and had not yet fully returned to the real world.]

【Zaimokuza suddenly couldn't understand. When his parents, who were always busy with work, learned about the cultural festival during dinner last night, his father patted his chest and promised that he would definitely come to participate in the cultural festival to make up for the regret that they couldn't accompany him in the past due to their busy work. He clearly said so, and his mother agreed.】

[Even when I was leaving in the morning, my parents waved and promised me that they would definitely come. We had already agreed on this, right?]

[Since we have already made an appointment, how can we break it? 】

[——Until he saw the two bodies lying on the beds in the morgue, covered with white cloth, the faint fantasy in Zaimokuza's heart was finally shattered by the cruel reality.]

[He reached out his hand tremblingly and peeled off the cloth covering the face of one of the two bodies, revealing his mother's face with her eyes tightly closed. Her lips, pale from excessive blood loss, were like two sponges that had lost moisture, and could no longer speak his name in a gentle tone from that mouth.]

[When his palm touched his mother's face and felt the unusually cold temperature, Zaimokuza finally broke down completely. He fell to his knees and cried loudly, holding his mother's open right hand tightly with both hands.]

【That day, Zaimokuza Yoshiki lost all his relatives in this world. 】

[At that time, his best friend was standing behind him, also looking at the face that was revealed after the white cloth was removed, the face that belonged to his sister, standing motionless with his back to Zaimokuza who was kneeling on the ground.]

[But contrary to his usual behavior, he not only did not cry, he did not even shed a single tear. ]

[Hikigaya Hachiman just stared at his sister's peaceful remains, his eyes hidden by his drooping bangs, his facial features like a frozen mask as he stared at Hikigaya Komachi who seemed to be asleep, without saying a word.]

[When Zaimokuza fainted from excessive grief and was carried out, he still stood there without making any movement, nor did he respond to Zaimokuza and the concerns of others who were carried out.]

[Hikigaya just stood there all night, from dusk till dawn, then turned his back to his sister's body and left quietly, leaving the time of grief to his parents who came after hearing the news.]

[Without sadness or crying, he just calmly said goodbye to all the people who cared about him and tried to keep him, and walked quietly into the dark hospital corridor. His thin black figure was completely swallowed up by the shadows amid Shizuka Hiratsuka's cries, and he never came out again.]

[That day, Hikigaya Hachiman lost the light that had always illuminated his life. ]

[It was also from that day that something seemed to have been completely changed, like a perfect mirror that was shattered and scattered all over the floor, and everything could never be restored to its original state.]

……

[Afterwards, according to the police's investigation and evidence collection of the car accident, there was one thing that was always full of doubts, that is, no one could find the driver of the truck that caused the accident who was suspected of absconding.]

【According to eyewitnesses, the red truck did not slow down at all when it was about to pass the sidewalk, and even sped up as if on purpose, rushing straight into the crowded sidewalk, crushing many people including Hikigaya's sister and Zaimokuza's parents, before crashing into a tall building on the side and stopping, leaving behind bloody tracks and wailing on the ground.】

[When the angry people rushed to surround the vehicle and forcefully opened the driver's door, they were shocked to find that there was no one inside. The distorted music from the built-in speaker that survived the collision flowed through the empty driver's seat, adding a touch of weirdness to the tragic scene.]

[The car window was shattered by the impact, and the half of the window near the driver's seat was stained with a lot of blood, dyeing the scene reflected in the half of the glass red.]

[After testing the residual blood at the scene, the police confirmed that the blood in the cab belonged to the legal owner of the truck. However, since there was no trace of him at the scene, the police determined that he had fled for fear of crime and issued a wanted warrant in accordance with the law.]

[After years of searching, the driver seemed to have disappeared from the face of the earth. No trace of his activities in this world since the accident was found. Whether it was at his workplace or his hometown in Kyoto, the police were unable to find any record of him appearing on the secret surveillance cameras set up at these two places he often visited.]

[As time went by, the police, who had been searching in vain, could only reluctantly leave this major car accident unsolved case in the archives of the local police station, along with other unsolved cases that had been piled up for many years, and gradually no one cared about it anymore.]

【But all this has nothing to do with Zaimokuza at that time. 】

[He lost everything in the car accident, and locked himself in the house that no one loved for a whole month, just like the self-exile he did when his grandmother passed away. The difference is that this time there is no comfort, and no one will help him. He lost the protection of his parents and became alone. He must learn to face everything in this world by himself. ]

[No one knows how Zaimokuza spent that month, because he cut off contact with everyone and disappeared from the world in a social sense for a month. Except for a few close people who still missed him, it was as if this person had never existed.]

[For a month, Shizuka Hiratsuka, the instructor, came to his house on time every day at work to get a cold shoulder, but no matter how loudly she rang the doorbell, the door of the house was not opened even once.]

[Occasionally, Yukinoshita Yukino and Yuigahama Yui would come here with Hiratsuka Shizuka to persuade him, but later, Zaimokuza, annoyed by the noise, simply locked the door handle with an iron chain, highlighting his determination to be a coward.]

[His complete refusal to meet and talk made Hiratsuka Shizuka so angry that she jumped up and down, but in the end she could only leave on time because she was late for work. If she hadn't seen the lights on in the living room with the curtains closed every night when she drove by, this house would have completely become a haunted house.]

[After a month of stalemate, Hiratsuka Shizuka, who was completely enraged by Zaimokuza's attitude that seemed to be a deadlock, finally couldn't stand it anymore and fought back.]

[This woman actually took a fire axe that she got from nowhere, and swung it with a gloomy face like a robber who broke into a house and blasted the locked door open. Amid the discussions of the onlookers, she rushed to Zaimokuza's room and kicked the door open, and forcibly "pulled" Zaimokuza, who was stunned by her action, out of the takeaway garbage that almost filled the entire room. ]

[Then Hiratsuka Shizuka gave him a loud slap in the face, which woke Zaimokuza up from his discouragement. Then she began to lecture him while he was staring at her with his hands covering his swollen face.]

[“It’s about time you stopped! Do you know how worried I was about you guys this past month? Can’t you and Hikigaya let me worry a little less?!”]

[“Although your parents are gone, it doesn’t mean that there are no people who care about you! You still have the Service Club, Yukinoshita and the others, and me as your teacher!”]

[——That was probably the first time that Zaimokuza saw the cheerful and generous Hiratsuka Shizuka crying in front of him.]

[Tears flowed down her red eyes along the long curve of her eyelashes. Under the sunlight outside the window, they looked like morning stars falling from the sky. When they fell to the ground, they also created silent ripples in Zaimokuza's heart.]

[After that day, Zaimokuza once again set foot on the road to school after a month.]

[It seems like everything is getting better?]

【No, that is not the case.】

[——School bullying, I believe many people have heard of this term, but except for those who have unfortunately experienced it personally, no one can imagine what it feels like. ]

[In addition to the numerous clubs in this country, school bullying has become a must-try campus feature, and has even become famous overseas. The suicide rate caused by this has ranked first in the world on average in recent decades.]

[If we use the description of martial arts novels, it has basically reached the point where "if I am only second, no one dares to claim to be first."]

[Students in this country's schools have a special habit of subconsciously rejecting people who are out of the group, or people who are different from others, and people who have different experiences from others.]

【Zaimokuza, who lost his parents in a car accident, became an "alien" in the eyes of those people, thus arousing their curiosity. 】

[To some extent, the mentality of those people is like many ignorant children who always like to grab the wings of dragonflies and tear them apart alive, without thinking whether the dragonflies will feel pain because of this behavior.]

[They just want to use this method to gain a kind of morbid happiness in their hearts, a dark pleasure that is based on hurting others, like flies buzzing above a stinking ditch, the blood flowing from others' wounds attracts their instinct to pursue happiness.]

[One month was enough time for the news that Zaimokuza and Hikigaya had lost their families in a car accident to spread throughout the school, and naturally attracted their attention.]

[On the third day of arriving at school, Zaimokuza encountered school bullying. ]

[The ones who bullied him were members of the Taekwondo Club of this school, a group of bad boys with a great notoriety in Sobu High School.]

[After practicing Taekwondo, those guys always like to bully the younger generation in the name of friendly communication, relying on their physical fitness. This behavior is undoubtedly against school rules, but because they all have some family background and are also a little smart, they never provoke those students with prominent family backgrounds, so the school can only turn a blind eye to it. ]

[As for the younger students who are bullied by them? Seniors bullying the younger ones is a standard feature of this country. Not to mention schools, it happens everywhere. It is too normal. It is so normal that everyone subconsciously regards this twisted and morbid behavior as the norm.]

[Zaimokuza had vaguely heard of their reputation before, but had never met this group of people, and had no reason to visit their club, so he had never seen what the ecology of the Taekwondo club was like.]

【And today, he had the honor of reading their style. 】

[“I heard that your parents were hit and killed by a car a month ago? Oh, is it true!?”]

[The tall and strong deputy minister stood in front of Zaimokuza, looking at him with interest as he lowered his head and said nothing.]

[“You must have been to a funeral home, right? Tell me what it’s like there! You know, I’ve never been to a funeral home in my life!”]

[The deputy director pointed his finger at Zaimokuza's school badge and deliberately pushed hard, causing Zaimokuza, who was not prepared, to retreat. Then, several members who were surrounding Zaimokuza laughed and dragged him back, pushing him forward again.]

[“How did you feel when you saw the bodies of your parents? Come on, tell us about it and share it with the seniors. You know, as seniors, we have the obligation to discuss various issues with the juniors.”]

[The deputy minister put his arm around Zaimokuza's shoulders like an old friend, and deliberately smiled and said in his ear.]

[He looked at Zaimokuza's slowly clenched fist trembling at his side, and laughed even more happily. His face originally looked a bit like a monkey, but now when he laughed, he looked like a red-bottomed monkey in a monkey's clothing, and every line on his face was filled with deep joy.]

[“By the way, did your parents tell you anything about forgetting before they died? Something like how much inheritance your family has left—Ah!”]

[The deputy minister suddenly covered his mouth with a surprised expression, and then "apologized" to Zaimokuza. ]

[“I’m sorry, I’m sorry? I forgot. I heard that when you rushed to the hospital, your parents had already passed away. How could they have had time to tell you their last words? Um… I don’t want you to ask them, right?”]

[“Oh no! How could I forget again? My memory is really…”]

[This time, he slapped his head in annoyance, and trying hard to hold back the cracked corners of his mouth, he put his mouth close to Zaimokuza's ear and whispered softly.]

[“Excuse me, how can you ask them? Is it the senior’s fault?”]

[“——After all, you don’t have parents anymore, Junior-kun! So how can you possibly ask?!”]

【"""Hahaha!!!"""】

[The Taekwondo club members around seemed to have heard something funny and started laughing. Some even laughed so hard that they slapped their knees and tears came out of their eyes.]

[The rolling laughter echoed around this corner where few people would pass by in the past, like a group of monkeys squeaking and screaming, but the laughter was filled with the pure joy that only highly intelligent creatures could have.]

【“…”】

[Amidst the laughter, Zaimokuza's trembling fist suddenly stopped, and then he slowly loosened his palm. ]

[He no longer made any movement, but just lowered his head. His bangs, which were originally combed back, fell forward as he moved, covering almost his entire face.]

[The deputy minister looked at Zaimokuza's unclenched fist and patted his shoulder with satisfaction, his action was like his father's appreciation for the employees who were willing to endure his exploitation.]

[He just likes to do this, to provoke others' anger with words, and then see how they will react next.]

[If he fights out of anger, that would be the best. You know, he has never lost a fight, not to mention that he has the advantage in numbers. How can this fat guy fight against a group of us?]

[What he likes most is to use his own force to teach these bad boys who "disrespect their seniors" a lesson, beating them until their faces are covered with snot and tears, and just watching makes him feel good.]

[Even if I didn't dare to do anything, watching them suppress their anger and compromise was a good thing, and it was like a dessert after dinner.]

[It seems that this guy is the second type of person, a coward without guts, the vice president thought with regret, and then continued to pat Zaimokuza's shoulder in a pretentious manner, but his expression was full of sneer and ridicule.]

[This kid doesn't have the courage to do it. ]

[——The second before the fist hit his cheek, the deputy minister was still thinking this.]

[So, his face also maintained that sarcastic smile before it was transformed.]

[As the people around him stared in astonishment, the vice president was hit by Zaimokuza's punch, causing several teeth to fly out.]

[The broken teeth, still with traces of blood, kept colliding and falling at the entrance of the stairs. The clacking sounds were like the beginning of an absurd musical.]

……

[When the school received the news that students were fighting and rushed to the scene, everything was settled.]