I woke up from a nice sleeping session of what? 5 hours? I don't know, I don't really keep track of it. I stood up, almost slipping from the pizza boxes that were right next to my bed, which I should definitely clean up but can't find the time for. And then I just walked towards the kitchen to get some good ol' cereal.
Okay but since this is the start of the story, I guess I HAVE to introduce myself, right? Well yeah, hello, I'm Henry Laress. I like video games, movies and other kinds of storytelling media. As you can tell, my apartment is a mess. There are clothes lying around everywhere and I almost slipped on a pizza box. In other words, I'm having the time of my life.
I sat down in the kitchen with my bowl of cereal and turned my laptop on to watch the daily news, the greatest way to get depressed. And today was no exception! Woah, who would've expected that. It was 7 AM in the morning, apparently there was a huge fight between some random dragon lord and Stonkman, the usual stuff.
I looked at the images of the fight through the news broadcast. Look how valiantly our hero fought! He made sure not a single building was left standing! Honestly, is this even a hero? You should give me all your money, you're trash at using it.
This was Varion City, the city of hero- nah. This was a place full of crime, hero complexes, stupidity and maybe like a slight sprinkle of.. Um.. Nevermind, there's literally nothing positive about this place. That doesn't mean I hate everything here, it's just that this place is a humongous mess between messes. A cool analogy for living in this place is to compare it to a plate full of candy.
It's enjoyable at first, becomes trash, is terrible for your health and gives you a huge energy rush that will leave you exhausted at the end. This is Varion City, the city of wackiness.
I took a shower, put my clothes on and looked at myself in the mirror. Now, most of you may be thinking, "what??? He takes showers?" and well yes, I do take showers. I'm not some psycho forum moderator. However, there is one little quirk I do have. I guess it's the fact that I always like to put on a headband.
"To survive another day."
I stepped out of the door to enter yet another bizarre adventure. When I walked out of the door of the apartments, nothing was out of the ordinary!
There was just a huge crater in the building with a whole bunch of people crying while heroes saved others from the rubble. There were firefighters putting down the flames that ravaged a few moments ago. I don't know how I slept through all of that, but hey, 5 hours is 5 hours.
I don't really like most heroes here. They're actually just terrible honestly, Stonkman's a good example. Like come on, AT LEAST care about the city that you're supposed to be protecting. Instead of spending all that money on creating cool prisons, space stations, shooting cars into space and building underground tunnels, spend money on actually helping the people!
You can start by helping me, I desperately need some money for clothes.
But while that's just an issue with the big heroes, these small heroes are actually quite fine. They have the heart to help the common people. But, something just feels so.. Robotic? I guess you could say that. It's like they exist just to help people.
Worst part about all of this is the fact that this isn't even the first time such a huge battle has happened. It's probably like a monthly occurrence or something. This stuff is frequent, no joke, why do I even live here? I could probably die or something out of nowhere. But honestly, the reason I'm still here is because I still have some connections.
I walked through the streets of Varion City, the city of hopes. Where children cry, where grown men run around in spandex suits and bank robberies happen right next to me. But all of that is just part of the glorious life in Varion City. What a beautiful city, the safest place for a regular person! Oh, also, it stank because of all the smoke from the battle.
As I made my way towards the school, you'd never guess what I saw. That's right, the nerd who got bullied a week ago just came back all buff with a new hairstyle, new clothes, nerd glasses gone, switched for sunglasses and suddenly all his acne disappeared too. Oh, and what did he do? He punched his old bully. I've seen this happen maybe dozens of times.
Life is just so repetitive in this world, it's actually boring. But at the same time, it's fascinating. Everything moves like it's written by some amateur writer. It really feels that way, I have no other way of explaining it.
When I went through the hallways of the school, I saw a guy pushing a girl against the wall and kissing her. Okay, nice, very cool, but why do that in public dude. There's also another nerd put into the trash bin this time, poor dude.
Oh and let's not forget, there was a nerd being pushed against a locker by a soccer player named Adrian. Wait, you might be surprised upon hearing this, but you actually know that nerd! Because it's me. Oh well, the usual. Adrian's one of the more popular dudes in this school, very famous among girls and is quite literally one of those huge playboys you see walking around.
"Hey, Henry Lar-Ass!" the guy spoke in my face while holding me up.
"Yo, what's good?" I responded while thinking to myself how he got my last name.
"Pheh you seeing this nerd?" Adrian spoke to his 2 other friends.
"They have eyes, they can see me."
"Well, we don't want to see you!" Adrian yelled in my face.
"Okay, leave me alone then, easy."
"No, you're going to give us your lunch money before that-"
"Dude, I hate to disappoint you, but I'm broke. I do not have lunch money."
"Well, you're going to have to pay in another way!"
"This isn't that type of story."
"What?"
"Sorry, not so child-friendly joke."
Adrian was not pleased by the joke and pushed me into the locker again, which kind of hurt but okay.
"Enough games Lar-Ass! I am sick of your attitude."
"Okay then."
"Now.. How about we beat you up as part of your pay?"
"Okay, so let me get it clear. You are with 3 guys, and want to beat me up. Basically, you want to beat up a THIN FRAGILE NERD like me using 3 dudes? That's rough buddy, can't call that a victory."
"Hmm.. You have a point, I'll beat you up myself," Adrian said while letting me down from the wall.
Immediately when I was unpinned, I sprinted. I wasn't staying there, nope. For some reason the thing that usually happens, isn't happening, so my second option is to run for it. That's how my story always goes.
"GET HIM!" Adrian yelled.
I honestly made a stupid mistake here. These guys weren't just regular guys, they were guys who played football, like the soccer type of football.. So.. What in the hell was I thinking, running? These guys are faster than me, they literally exchanged their brains for faster legs.
"Oh, crap."
Adrian was the fastest. I really did mess up here, didn't I? But then all doubts disappeared, because finally it happened, the thing that usually happens! I forgot to explain it, but you remember how nerds usually come back to defeat bullies? Basically, karma exists in this world.
And just like always, someone came to my rescue and tackled the bully. This happens every time someone tries to pick on me. I looked back and stopped running. Adrian's friends also stopped.
"Hey! Pick on somebody your own size, bullies!" a boy with an exceptional aura and red hair yelled at the bullies after getting up from tackling Adrian.
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Adrian yelled.
"What's wrong with me?! What's wrong with you?! You're chasing someone who's obviously weaker than you! You're abusing your power and I won't stand by, looking at how this injustice takes place."
"You.." Adrian said while balling his fist.
Oh, what the hell, how much more cinematic could this get? The lights suddenly became brighter, people in the hallway were starting to play music and suddenly the boy had the spotlight of the school.
"I am Nello Mortirior, the man who will become the greatest superhero in the world! I will defeat enemies like you, enemies like Vanquilla, enemies who threaten our day to day society and enemies who threaten our future! I am Nello Mortirior, remember this, bully!"
Damn, that's a nice goal. Though that's probably impossible, the sheer amount of power and potential you'd need to achieve that goal is crazy. Surprisingly, although we live in a world where superpowers exist, I haven't actually seen someone whose goal is to become the greatest superhero in the world. You'd think, in a world like this one, more of those people would appear, but nope.
"Heh.. Nello, it's a shame you came across me then. Because anyone who stands in my way, won't even live to see another day."
{"Are you implying murder?"}
"Well, bully! I am not just anyone! So I will face you, I will fight you and I will fight every single person who even dares to lay as much as a finger on um.." Nello looked at me and asked, "Hey wait, what's your name?" "Henry." Nello looked back at the rest and continued, "Henry!"
"Hm? You will try," Adrian said while approaching Nello and I.
"Henry, run!" Nello said.
Except I was already gone.
"Okay."
And so, I ended up back in this scene again. You know, the scene where a boy gets chased by 2 other dudes. These guys were still fast though, but I had an idea. I saw the trash bin one of the nerds was shoved into and jumped behind it, hiding myself from the bullies that were chasing me. And as expected, they ran right by me.
"H-hey, is someone there?!" the nerd said while being upside down in the trash bin.
"Yo, stay silent."
"H-huh!"
It seemed like they were gone. I moved away from the trash bin and looked at the nerd that was stuck. Poor guy, he's not getting out of here. Look, I'm tight on time too, but I don't like seeing things like this. This guy probably didn't deserve it. I grabbed onto his legs and pulled him out of the trash.
"Thank you!"
"It's alright."
"Hah! Found you, Lar-Ass!"
I turned to look at the two bullies again. I sighed. Yeah, that was to be expected. They were staring at me with that dumb look on their faces. At this point, I knew I was cooked. I could run again, but where would that lead me? Is the story just forcing me to fight or something. Nope, I'm not agreeing, nah, I'm not fighting. I don't want the spotlight.
Okay, Henry you're being a bit too stupid here, you're already in the spotlight. People already pulled out their phones to record a public execution. Crazy, will I survive this? Maybe I should just start yapping.
"Ah, you got me. Now it's your turn to hide."
"Huh?"
"Aren't we playing hide and seek?"
"What are you saying? Kheh are you seeing this idiot? He thinks we're playing hide and seek!"
"Is that not what we were playing?"
"We aren't!"
Notice how I'm not even mentioning their names in the dialogue tags? There's a simple reason for that, they're irrelevant. Literally, these two people have the same personality, it's like their sole existence is to be one - pause, that sounded weird.
"Oh, we're not? Okay, bye."
Then, I walked to class. At first these guys were just allowing me to leave, I thought my plan was working. But as it appears, they still have enough neurons to realize they're supposed to bully me. One grabbed onto my shoulder, I knew what he was going to say. I turned around and looked at him.
"Your next line is, 'where are you going? We're not done here yet.'"
"Where are you going? We're not done here yet- WHAT?!"
That felt cool to say.
"How did you know what I was going to say?!"
"I'm a fortune teller."
"Are you huh?!" the second bully said while walking up to me.
"Yuh."
"Then, predict this! What is going to happen to you in just a second?"
"I'll get beaten up."
"Wrong! You-" the bully stopped talking and looked at his friend before saying, "I hate this!"
"Same, let's stop."
"No!"
"Okay."
Suddenly, I heard someone out of breath behind me. I saw the faces of the bullies just turning into straight terror. Honestly, their faces reminded me of when I saw a cockroach standing right in the middle of my pizza- I should really clean up my apartment sometime. Either way, I turned around and not to my surprise I saw Nello.
"W-what happened to Adrian?!"
"I defeated him," Nello said while out of breath.
"Oh crap, we have to get out of here!" the bullies said before leaping off.
Okay, so that was that. I wonder how Nello took down someone like Adrian though. That's unusual for a story, like, usually there's a comeback arc but instead he just wiped that guy in the first encounter.
"You're safe now, Henry!"
"Yup. How'd you defeat Adrian though?"
"Sometimes when I get angry, all I see is red. I think I have a demon inside of me, because when I woke up, I saw Adrian on the ground.. I don't remember beating him!"
Bruh. So not only does he have red hair, he claims he has a demon inside of him. And not only does he allegedly have a demon inside of him, he defeated Adrian. Worst part of all, when I looked in the hallway where he supposedly defeated Adrian, there were no eyewitnesses. Don't ask me how there weren't any, that's just how this world works. Either way, with all these clues, combined with the idea that he wants to become the greatest superhero in the world.
I can confidently say..
He's a chuunibyou. Come on, a demon? Defeating an opponent with no one around? That's not believable at all, especially considering the rarity of his goal. Look, I won't fully scratch out the possibility that he might have a demon inside of him, but I'll need proof.
"Ah crap! I have to go to class, it was nice meeting you, Henry!"
"Bye."
Either way, I don't have to think much about it anymore, that was that. These stories come and go. Every person that has saved me has never appeared twice. So, I doubt I'll see him again. Welp, time for maths.
I entered my classroom, class 4-C and took a seat that sat in the middle. Yup, a regular place. In the back of the class, more specifically the left back, there was a person sitting with black hair too and looking out of the window. Do you know who that is? Of course you do, that's the protagonist of a story. Honestly, considering his behavior, he really might just be like me.
Like, his black messy hair, all anime style. He's always staring out of the window, deep in thought. He's never paying attention in class. Yeah, he's the tip top stereotypical anime protagonist. His name is Makoto, a japanese name. But the weirdest part of all is that we're not even in Japan, he's not an immigrant and neither is his family.
Either way, this guy is actually one of my favorite people in class. Why? Because his story is so obvious here. He's not the only person with a japanese name, no, there's his best friend Gojo.. Not the Gojo that can blast purple stuff, no, his name's Gojo Yamamoto. They're always together to the point you might get confused and think they're in a yaoi relationship.
But, basically, Makoto's story is one of romance. How do I know? Because there's one last person in this room who has a japanese name, Sakura Yamada. That's how I know these people are in the same story. But.. Why.. Why have they not talked yet?!
They weren't the only people in class though, nope. There's the goth, the nerd, the twins, the popular girl, the smart and popular guy, the delinquents, the jocks and then there's me. I don't know what story I'm supposed to be in, or what character I'm supposed to represent, but I exist.
The teacher came into the room and started to explain maths. Did I have to pay attention? No, why should I? Instead, I looked at the characters doing their own thing. It's fun to observe other people. For example, Sakura and Emma, the popular girl, have a really tight bond together.
The delinquents are actually really good friends with the jocks, they usually go out to party with a whole bunch of girls after school. Though, they're also the same guys who like to bully Larry. For some reason, Larry's the biggest loner aside from me. He's always the butt of the jokes together with me. Poor nerd.
I looked at Larry and said, "yo, are you going to be there after school?"
"H-Henry?"
"Sup, either way, you there?"
"N-no, I'm going to study."
"Do I have to bring one for you too?"
"Really?"
"Yeah, I'm willing to do that."
"Thanks!"
Look, we're not really friends, but it's still fun to have another nerd around. So, because of that, we can bond here and there. He's probably the only guy in this room closest to being my friend.
UGH CAN THIS GUY SHUT UP WITH YAPPING. I'm talking about that one smart and popular guy, Ellias. Every time he answers a question, he gives a 3 page essay on the problem when it could be answered in just one sentence.
And when he's done answering, everyone just starts talking and gets impressed saying he's such a spectacular guy. Like bro all he's spectacular at is yapping. It's not like I'm jealous of him either. Sure, he's got nice looks, almost perfect scores and stands in the center of the class, but that's what separates us. I do not want to stand in the spotlight, I want a calm life.
Oh, another question was asked and someone else answered. This time it was Emma. I actually don't dislike Emma. Unlike Ellias, she answers briefly and then sits down to focus again.
It was break, the popular girls sat together, the jocks and the delinquents sat together, the two anime best friends went off to the roof and I continued to sit in the middle of the classroom.
I looked at my phone and saw that there was yet another up and coming athlete from the hood shot. It was tragic news, but honestly it's just your average tuesday. Yes, it's tragic that another bright star was shot, but this happens a lot, like a LOT.
I shouldn't think that way though, after all, another life was lost. But this just feels so.. Weird. I feel disconnected from all those deaths, I feel like it's all not real anymore. Just like how nothing feels real anymore.
Oops, I got a bit too deep.
After class ended, I stepped outside of school. But, that's when I was taken by surprise. Someone was waiting for me. He had red hair, was a bit younger than me and was standing by the school gate.
"Nello?"
"Henry! You're finally here! I was waiting for you."
"You waited for me? Why?"
"Because.. I want to be your friend!"
A friend.. If I could really have such a thing, that'd be cool, though I doubt I'll feel connected to him. But, I'm really surprised. I didn't think this was possible, a character appearing again after saving me. That's so out of the ordinary, it became interesting.
"Really?"
"Yes! Yes really!"
You know what, why not?
"Sure, let's be friends."
But the alarm of my phone went off. Crap! I was going to get too late, I needed to run. I sprinted off, leaving Nello behind. He was trying to run behind me, but I had no time to waste. Faster than ever, faster than against the bullies, I ran.
"Henry, wait! Where are you goin-"
"I'm going to get business done!"
I have to get there as quickly as possible.
I sprinted towards the building, there were people waiting outside. Not waiting in the sense of a waiting line, no, there were two guards. I didn't recognize them, that means they weren't hired by the owners. I had to rush in, I had to be the first.
"Hey! Halt!" one of the guards said.
I yelled, "get out of my way!"
"You shall not pass!"
"Nope, get away!"
They tried to block off the entrance, but I jumped up and hit one of them. How, you may ask? Well, I used a 720° cheat hook kick into the laryngeal prominence, causing the guard to drop down and have trouble breathing. Then, without fail I used the momentum to get closer to the ground so I could land a sweep kick to the other guard's left. And right as he fell onto the ground, I jumped over him to run into the building.
There was a short brat trying to grab onto the precious object. I leaped right at him, using the momentum I had already gained to pass him and grab onto the object before he could. He stared at me with a hilarious look as I slid the object to the counter and said, "I'll be buying this."
What was it, you may ask? Well, the new game that was released of my favorite franchise, Super Fry: Deluxe. I wanted to be the first to buy this.
"Of course you will," Tay, the cashier, responded.
"Boom, I'm the first."
"AAARGH THIS IS UNFAIR!!" the brat yelled.
"You're the one who planted guards in front of the door."
"I wanted to be first, I wanted to be first!"
"Brat."
I also bought one for Larry, after all, he was going to study and couldn't come. I looked at Tay, the cashier and she asked me, "How was your day today, Henry?"
"Oh well, it was just another day in my life in a.. Crazy world."