Haruki: *gasp* …*cough*…*cough*…Where in the world, am I? All I can remember was…? Yellow?

Haruki was holding his head, trying to shake his head for answers.

Haruki: THAT’S RIGHT! Yuki…. she dis…a…peared. In front of me…

A small droplet came out of his right eye. But he quickly wiped it away. In his heart, Haruki knew that she was still alive. He, then looked around him, looking for her. But all he saw was pitch black. There were no walls. Just black like a void. The only thing that was material was the floor, a checkered black and white with a few tiles missing. There was a sun-like illumination above the platform. At the centre of the floor, Haruki saw a bunch of his classmates crowding one area. What it looks like was a big man was grabbing a one-third of his size person by his collar. Haruki held his head while still gasping for air. Haruki vision went once again blurry. Haruki felt none of his muscles in his leg and he lost his balance. As he is about to hit the floor, someone grabbed his waist. It was the same porcelain arm that clanged on him during the sports day.

Yuki: HARUKI! Are you okay?

Haruki: Huh? Yu…Ki?

Haruki suddenly teared up and flung his arms around her neck while resting his face down on Yuki’s shoulder. Yuki on the other hand softly but forcefully pushed his shoulder to gain some distance. Haruki realised she wanted distance, and he quickly moved away from Yuki and immediately wiped his tears.

Haruki: *sniff* Sorry. I lost my composure.

Yuki: N-No. That’s not it. I just wanted to see your face again, Haru. I disappeared in front of you and I must have made you worried. Don’t worry. Here…

Yuki puts her hand on Haruki’s face. Haruki held her hand and cuddled with his face.

Yuki: You can feel me, right?

Haruki: Yeah. Thanks. I r-really was worried. I…umm…realised how much….

Yuki: Hmmm?

Haruki: I realised how much it hurts when someone you love disappears in front of you. It seems like I love you too much….hehe…

Haruki face turned red like a tomato. He shut his eyes in complete embarrassment. But, Haruki hated the suspense so he took a small peek through his tightly shut eyes to see Yuki. Yuki who was standing in front of Haruki showed no hint of redness on her face. Instead, she was expressionless. Haruki was dumbfounded. He thought the mood was perfect.

Haruki: Ah- I’m sorr-

Yuki covered his mouth immediately.

Yuki: Don’t apologize. It’s just I was caught off guard. I didn’t realise how much I meant to you. So, what I want to…tell you….is that…. I also…love you, okay? My dar~ling. Don’t you forget…

Yuki glanced away when she said but Haruki got a glimpse of her cute blush just before she turned, and his head exploded in joy.

Haruki: *dazed* hehe…Thanks

Yuki: Ok, that’s enough. Snapback to reality, please.

Haruki: Huh? Right. What is this pla- wait why am I even asking. It's not like you know.

Yuki nods her head in agreement. While Haruki was looking around for clues, he saw the commotion earlier he saw.

Haruki: What’s happening over there?

Yuki: Reigi is interrogating Genta.

Haruki: Huh? Why in the world would Genta know the ans-

Haruki then remembered Genta said something about a magic circle before he disappeared.

Yuki: Now you remember?

Haruki: Yeah. But this is not the way to ask. With Reigi involved in it, things only can go south.

Yuki: Yeah. Come on, let’s go.

Haruki nodded and ran towards the commotion. In the middle of the crowd, Reigi was holding Genta by his collar and breathing down.

Genta: That’s the only explanation I could possibly give. There is no other way we could end up here.

Reigi: That’s the 5th time you said that. There is no way I believe an otaku [1] who only read manga and watch anime say something stupid like magic exists.

Genta: Then, why don’t you explain what’s happening!?

Reigi: Why do you think I’m asking you?

Genta: See. Even you have no clue. What makes you certain that my explanation is wrong?

Reigi: Tsk! Y-You piss me off.

Reigi start winding up to punch Genta in the face. Haruki, who saw a potential one-sided massacre, started running toward the crowd, leaving Yuki behind. With his high agility, he did a couple of side steps into the crowd to get into the middle of the fight. As he saw, the punch going like a cannonball towards Genta’s face, Haruki jumped towards Genta. Haruki tackled Genta onto the floor while the punch barely missed Genta’s face.

Reigi: Asagami-san!

Haruki stood up from the floor and dust of his cloth. Haruki, then extended his arm downwards towards Genta to lift him up. Genta stood up while holding Haruki’s hand.

Haruki: You okay?

Genta: Y-yeah. Thanks Haruki.

Haruki smiled and nodded at Genta. Then he showed a menacing glance at Reigi. Reigi felt immense pressure from the glance Haruki gave, it was as if he did the biggest mistake of his life.

Reigi: A-asagami-san, please stand aside. We need to get proper answers from Genta.

Haruki: And what’s the proper answer you are seeking from him, Tatsukawa-san?

Reigi: Uhhh….um…. Like….

Haruki: It seems like you don’t have one. If you have no clue what is the “proper answer”, what’s makes you so sure that Genta’s answer is wrong?

Reigi: BECAUSE HE STARTED SPURTING SHIT LIKE MAGIC CIRCLE.! Only a hardcore otaku would have the guts to use his stupid pile of trash of books-

Genta: OI, you big brute! Don’t you start running your mouth about my books? I don’t care what you say about me but I wouldn’t just stand around with you yapping around about my books.

Reigi: HUH? You sure talk a lot of someones who is standing behind another. If you got the guts to run your mouth, why not you run your fist into my face, you fucking NEET [2]!

Genta: FINE! LET’S GO THEN!

The crowd started to murmur. Reigi was standing in the middle of the ring with his arms out, signalling Genta to come at him. Genta who was trembling a minute ago was suddenly a completely different person. He looked so confident that he could actually have a chance of defeating him.

Haruki: CUT THE IT OUT ALREADY!!

The whole crowd went silent. Actually, it was more like they were frightened. Genta and Reigi who was about to fight suddenly felt weak on their knees. Reigi his knees were trembling in complete fear but he still stood up while Genta actually fell on his knees.

Haruki WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU, GUYS! We are in a place where there is absolutely nothing but us and a damn floor! What do you think you can earn from fighting each one another other than pain and suffering?

Haruki who was furious took a deep breath to calm down and started to talk to his classmates once again.

Haruki: *sigh* I understand everyone’s feeling here. Scared, alone, frightened. Almost all negative feelings that we suppressed are coming to the surface since we are in a place that we, who are considered the smartest in the country can’t explain. Putting one in a situation where he or she don’t understand can bring immense pressure and anyone can lose their composure. Let’s take Reigi as an example. Reigi, who never shows his anger for 3 whole years, suddenly snapped the next minute after coming here.

Each passing word that comes out of Haruki calms the sudden tide of emotions in each one of his classmate effortlessly. Such skill is always praised by many around… but also envied by many

Daiichi: *claps* That’s right. Rather than fighting, we should put our heads together.

Yuki: *claps* As expected from, Haru!

The whole class started clapping appraisingly.

Haruki: Please I don’t need your appraisal. Actually, I would like to apologize for shouting at you guys.

Haruki bowed down to apologize

Daiichi: Oi, lift your head. Look, nobody is angry at you.

Haruki lifts his head to look at the crowd. The whole crowd was smiling at him. Haruki stood back up and smiled back at them. Out from the crowd, Reigi and Genta came out.

Reigi: Asagami-san…umm…I just wanted to say…

Genta: Asagami-san, I too, wanted to say…

Genta & Reigi: SORRY.

Bothe Genta and Reigi bowed down to apologize to Haruki. Haruki was caught off guard but he collected his composure and tapped their shoulders, indicating both of them to raise their head

Haruki: It’s not your fault. Anyone can lose their cool. I’m just relieved nobody has lost their mind yet. It is really easy to lose their mind here. But regarding your sincere apology, I forgive you. So, don’t worry, I won’t hold any grudge.

Genta and Reigi raised their head. But their face looked that they were dissatisfied with how they are easily forgiven. Haruki managed to understand the message they were emitting.

Haruki: It seems you guys are not satisfied…

Reigi: Yeah, no one can forgive that easily

Haruki: As I said, it was the press-

Genta: Pressure or not, we cause a lot of problems for you. So please gives punishment for us to atonement

Haruki: Like I said that is not- You know what I do have a “punishment” for you guys?

Reigi: What is it, Asagami-san?

Genta: Just tell us anything. We will do it.

Haruki: Apologies to each other. Apologizing to me did not solve your dispute between both of you.

Reigi: But why should I apologize to someone who called me a big brute and started scaring others by saying magic exists

Genta: I too don’t want to apologize to someone who called NEET. And I told you that’s the only explanation anyone can think of for why we ended up here.

Haruki: *sigh* You guys… Tatsukawa-san, Genta, those words you said to each other, I can tell that you two didn’t mean it.

Reigi and Genta looked at Haruki in puzzlement.

Haruki: Because you said it subconsciously.

Reigi: Huh?

Genta: If our subconscious made us say those words, doesn’t it mean we really wanted to say them?

Haruki: True, but did you realise what you said to each other until the other person point it?

Genta and Reigi were surprised because such a thought never came to their mind.

Genta: Now that you mentioned it…no

Reigi: Same here.

Haruki: It’s because you didn’t say it consciously, it was your subconscious instead. The first thing that comes to your head is done by your subconscious mind. I like to name it ‘Raw Idea’. ‘Raw Idea’ is the base of the action or the words you are about to say to the person. Raw Idea can be filled with good intentions or evil intentions. But that does not define if you are a good person or not. Because what defines you as a good person or a person filled with bad intentions is what you consciously say.

Genta: Huh? Why? If your first thought is bad, then you can be considered evil right?

Haruki: *sigh* I hate that misinterpretation

Genta and Reigi were puzzled.

Reigi: What do you mean?

Haruki: The difference between your subconscious mind and your conscious mind is that your subconscious mind acts on your surrounding while your conscious minds act upon the feelings of the person you are talking to. Right now, look around you. We are in a space of the unknown, filled with negative energy, and the most effective one that is affecting us right now is fear. The more negative our surrounding is, the less we use our conscious mind to think. Right our conscious mind froze because of the immense fear we are feeling right now. Since it froze, we just spoke what came to our mind first.

Genta: Then, what did you mean by our conscious mind acts on our feelings?

Haruki: While speaking consciously, we choose the words suitable for that person according to their and our feelings. For example, someone you love. The words we choose for them are always filled with honey sweetness and romantic, and never painful or heart-breaking because we love them and adore them. Since you guys are classmates, there are no ways in the world you guys would say something hurtful like that to each other.

Genta: … I didn’t even realise it before.

Reigi: … Yeah, me too.

Genta and Reigi looked at each other apologetically.

Genta: Umm… I’m s-sorry for calling you a big brute,

Reigi: Yeah, I’m sorry for calling you NEET. It seemed like we were just scared.

Haruki could only smile at the atmosphere that he created. The atmosphere where two people sincerely apologizing to each other.

Haruki: That’s right, Genta. You said something about how we could end up here right?

Genta: Yeah, well it might be unrealistic. You might-

Haruki. It's fine. Right now, even I don’t have an answer to explain.

Genta: If you say so. As I was saying before, I read this type of settings before, in manga and anime.

Reigi: Genta, you can’t possibly mix reality and fiction.

Haruki: Tatsukawa-san, calm down. Right now, the only person with the most plausible answer is Genta, No one here has the amount of confidence in their answer as much as Genta.

Reigi: … Sorry.

Genta: It's ok. As I was saying, in many mangas, the main character of the story is transported to another world through magic to save the world from its demise. And the magic the circle we saw the other day, was similar to the ones I see in the manga.

Haruki: So, you're saying, that ‘magic’ is what brought us here, right?

Genta: Yeah… Hard to believe, right?

Haruki: Yeah. Sorry.

Unknown 1: But it is true…

A deep, dark voice that came from the dark void echoed throughout the whole floor, loud enough to cause the whole floor to shake. It causes all of the weak-willed people to fall on their backs or on their knees. Even Takaharu fell over and now he looks he is about to wet himself. The only people who were standing was Haruki, Daiichi and Reigi. Even though they were standing, the dark aura that was emitted from the voice made Daiichi’s and Reigi’s knees tremble while their eyes widened and gritting their teeth in fear. But Haruki stood with no hint of fear whatsoever. Instead, he glared back at the voice. The glare was so sharp, it cut through the voice and as a result, it had no impact on him.

Unknown 1: Hmm, someone looks like a Hero.

Haruki: Hero? I’m just a normal student.

Unknown 2: Humble too, I see. I am actually surprised to see someone still standing let alone talking back. Not afraid of us?

A more childlike voice was directed at Haruki. It was a soft voice but it had a dense killing aura. A single cold sweat trickled down from Haruki’s forehead down to his chin. A couple of his classmate fainted the next second after feeling the aura.

Haruki: Well, I won’t say I’m completely not afraid. I still have no idea about your motives. But what I do know, is that you didn’t bring us here to slaughter us.

Unknown 3: Oh my, the cute boy said that we won’t kill him. Wonder what made him say that?

The third person’s voice a sassy, female voice. It was seductive and it seemed many boys fell for it. Haruki, on the other hand, wasn’t fazed because he was thinking about Yuki.

Haruki: Well, if you wanted to kill us, don’t you think you would have done it by now?

Unknown 1: Interesting… Why don’t you indulge us by telling us your name?

Haruki: Didn’t your parents tell you to tell your own name before you ask someone else’s?

Unknown 2: Hahaha, you are way too funny. It seems like someone here likes to make jokes … even in situations like this. Have a death wish?

Haruki and the class felt an immense invisible force pushing his object, in actual an immense pressure was forced onto him

Unknown 3: Cut it out. We cannot hurt them…yet.

The pressure placed on the whole class dissipated immediately. Haruki, who was standing fell on one of his knees, trying to catch his breath.

Unknown 1: Realised that you're powerless? If you do, then stop with your heroic show and tell us your name.

Haruki realises that he can’t do anything. If he wants to live, he knew he had to comply. Rebelling here only means death for Haruki.

Haruki: Ah-ah, Ha-ruki, Asagami Haruki.

Unknown 1: Asagami Haruki…

Haruki, who seems to haven’t fully recovered, managed to say his name. A minute silence followed. The classmates who fainted gradually woke up one by one, and right after the last one woke up, three robed figures came out from the darkness. Haruki wanted to take a peek at their face but their face

Unknown 1: I would to humbly apologise for our misconduct just now. We didn’t mean any harm. We needed people from Earth to save our world.

Unknown 2: I, too humbly apologize towards Asagami Haruki for hurting you but we are in a dire situation. I needed to test to make sure there is not a single potential candidate…

Haruki: …Its o-okay

Haruki reluctantly answered the apology because even though the words meant for a sincere apology, he didn’t feel a single sincerity coming from him

Haruki: Anyways you said something about a dire situation… and a single potential candidate? What do you mean?

The female-voiced robed figure started speaking in a sad tone.

Unknown 3: Well, it started a year ago on our planet, Theros. I said our planet because we are the 3 gods in our world.

Haruki and the whole class were shocked. To know the gods exists all this time and the gods are asking for our help. It was a like dream for many to meet god let alone requested help from them.

Unknown 3: A year ago, there was a sudden surge of demons that invaded a city in Theros and completely inhabits the land. This is concerning because demons live in different dimensions. They never disturb the peace of the world. Because we gods cannot show ourselves to the inhabitants of the world, we required the help of the People of Earth. Please help us.

The female robed person worrying voice affected many including Haruki. But Haruki thought to himself on why strong beings would ask some normal, ordinary students to become their heroes and not some strong adults to help them.

Unknown 1: We understand what you are feeling right now? You were suddenly dragged here. You are now doubting our words but we are in a dire situation and we have no one to turn to.

Suddenly, the ‘Gods’ bowed down to ask for their help. The whole class was stunned. To see the gods to bow down to some mere students.

Yuki: P-please lifts your heads. We understand your situation, but before we can fully trust you, we need to at least to know the name of the gods who we are going to help.

Unknown 2: We cannot do that just yet.

Daiichi: Why? You are asking us to risk our lives to protect your world but you wouldn’t even tell us your names

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Unknown 3: Please don’t be hasty. I bet he has his reasons

Unknown 2: Yes. During the pressure you, potential heroes felt, there was potential candidate…

Haruki: Potential candidate?

Unknown 2: Yes. Potential candidate… to become the Demon Lord.

A potential demon lord candidate? In the class? It sends the whole class into a frenzy

Yuki: D-demon lord?!

Daiichi: …to know there is one in our own class.

Reigi: Its madness…I don’t think anyone here has an evil intention

Haruki felt something was suspicious was going on, because he felt it is kinda stupid to put the faith of their world in a bunch of students and then telling them about something a potential demon lord candidate in Haruki’s class.

Daiichi: Do you know who is it?

Unknown 2: Sorry. I can’t pinpoint it. For us gods, we cannot sense the feeling a demon lord has?

Haruki: Which is…?

Unknown 1: Hatred. Some people accumulated too much hatred either by themselves or the people surrounding them. So that person will become… a dark, vicious being.

The whole class had blues on their face as some of them were shocked and while others were scared that something like that was possible. But Haruki was indifferent. He knew something like was a complete lie but he knew telling them now is no point as none of them will listen.

Unknown 2: Since we can’t pinpoint, we would propose a suggestion. Rather than people pointing fingers at each other, we would like to hold a vote instead.

Reigi: Vote?

The deep-voiced robed figure waved his hand. A box and cubicle appeared in front of them. Then out of thin air, a piece of paper appeared and landed floated in front of each one of them. Haruki and the rest grabbed it.

Haruki: I see. You want us to vote for the person who is most likely the most hated one. Am I right?

Unknown 2: You are quick to catch on. Yes, we want you to vote who is most likely the most hated one and the one who has the most votes will be deemed the person who has accumulated the most negative emotions, which means he or she is the potential demon lord candidate.

Haruki: I see. So how do we do write our name on it? We don’t have a pen.

Unknown 3: This is a world of magic, cutie. You just have to think about what you want to write.

Haruki: We can use them already?

Unknown 1: No, not yet. We are just lending you some magic for you to write.

Haruki looked down at the paper. He wanted to test it out so he thought of his own name…At first nothing happened. So, he tried harder.

*Haruki: Come on! Write it! Write “Haruki” *

Then suddenly, rainbow-coloured ink was writing on the paper, letter by letter. It spelt “Haruki”

*Haruki: It seems like we can write our own name*

Haruki: I can write my own name. So, does that mean I can vote myself?

Unknown 1: Yes, you can. As we said, a person can accumulate hatred from inside themselves or from other people surrounding them.

Haruki: So, if everyone voted themselves… It will mean everyone has equal votes, right? What happens then?

That question made the 3 robed figures visibly stagger. The whole class who wasn’t aware of that plausible situation was also wondering.

The three figures started to whisper to each other about the matter

Unknown 1: It seems like there is one person here who can use his brain.

Unknown 2: Ever since he stood up against us, he pisses me off. Should we just kill them right here and now. He got the whole class following him so I don’t think we going to see any entertainment here.

Unknown 3: Don’t worry about it, boys. I feel like this batch of fools might actually be interesting.

Unknown 2: Huh? What makes you say that?

Unknown 3 points to a group of 3 in the corner of the crowd.

Unknown 1: Those 3? Aren’t those fools closest to him?

Unknown 3: Just watch…

The group that Unknown 3 pointed to consisted of Daiichi, Takaharu and…

Both Unknown 1 and Unknown 2 couldn’t do anything but follow Unknown 3 lead.

Unknown 3: Ahem, regarding your question just now, if everyone gets an equal number of votes, then we would send you back to your own world. That is because we do not want a demon potential candidate in our ranks. A lot of problems might arise. For example, betrayal during a war.

Haruki: I see. But I’m guessing you will take the necessaries steps before sending us back right?

Unknown 3: Of course. We would erase your memories before sending you back. We wouldn’t want non-heroes to know our identities.

Haruki nodded at the robbed figure. He felt relieved that there is a way out of this mess. Risking their own lives for another world that they never even heard about, what’s worse than they are just some young students who only know how to study, asking them to fight is almost the same as telling them to die. He is also relieved to know there is after measures. He doesn’t want his classmates avoiding each other because of believing something dumb like “potential demon lord candidate”.

Haruki started to move towards his classmates. He needed to make sure his classmates write their own names to prevent anyone from being stuck in this mess.

Sakura: Do you really think they will let us go?

Haruki: Yeah. Because what they say is true. I wouldn’t trust anyone in my ranks if there is a guaranteed traitor, too.

Genta: Damn, even though is its once in a lifetime opportunity

There were a lot of people staring daggers at Genta after that comment he gave.

Haruki: Genta, even though I don’t know how much it means to you, I won't stand by that comment. There are more than 30 lives at stake here. I don’t want anyone to stacking their lives. Get it?

A glare and those last words from Haruki send chills in Genta bones. Genta shivered in fear and couldn’t even open his mouth. Haruki understood what Genta wanted to say so he continued.

Haruki: Anyways, moving on… *sigh* I need each and everyone here to believe in each other.

Reigi: Believe each other?

Haruki: Yes. Because I need everyone here to write their own name on the paper.

Class: HUUUHH?!

Haruki expected this reaction because there is a huge risk. Even one mis-vote can cause the whole class to fall into another world and unable to go back home.

Haruki: I get it, I understand your feelings but if we don’t do it, we might never see our families, our loved ones or even worse, we dying for something we didn’t agree on. Our only chance of freedom is just by trusting each other.

Haruki wore a face no one ever saw. A face that no one expected to see from the always-optimistic Haruki. A face they cannot say no too. What the whole class saw was a desperate Haruki, who is always trying his hardest for the whole class. He looked at them desperately, with tears in his eyes. The whole class felt a sharp splinter in their hearts. The class was aware that if they didn’t go back, it will cause him to work harder to protect them from danger. They knew the solution was…and it was trusting each other.

Sakura: Stop looking like that Haruki-san. We hate that face.

Reigi: Asagami-san, we understand your feelings now. The number of things you do for us and never ask anything back is something commendable. So please wipe your tears away. Since the minute we have been here, you lead us all the way without anyone asking you.

Haruki: Ah, sorry. that was not my intent-

Reigi: Don’t get the wrong way. We appreciate you for protecting us. But now we would like to ask you to lead us. Since the moment you took you showed your leadership, we understand what the Red team members meant. About how it’s amazing you are.

Haruki was stunned. It was the first time when someone asked him to lead. Even the Red team appointed him because he was enthusiastic. Haruki immediately wiped his tears and collected his cool.

Haruki: Thank you.

The whole class smiled brightly and some patting his back.

Sakura: So, “Captain”, what’s the next step?

Haruki: Easy, just write your own name like this.

Haruki showed his paper that he used before to write his own name. The whole class look at him weirdly.

Haruki … Is there something wrong?

Sakura: There is nothing there.

Haruki: Huh? What do you mean? There is my name on it. There, “Ha-ru-ki”

Sakura: Like I’m telling you. There is nothing there.

Haruki: Fine, how about you write your name on it?

Sakura: OK

Sakura struggles were visibly seen by Haruki and the others. Then after a minute, Sakura showed Haruki her paper but it was empty,

Haruki: Did you write something?

Sakura: Huh? Of course, I did. Right there, it spells my name.

Haruki: Yeah, it either you are lying or-

Unknown 2: She is not lying.

Haruki: Huh?

Unknown 2: There is her name on it but since she used the magic, only she can see it because it is borrowed. The effect of borrowed magic is significantly low. Since my magic level is high, I can read what she wrote.

Haruki: I see. Thank you.

The childlike robed figure nodded and continued his conversation with the other robe figures.

Haruki: They just had to make it harder for us. I wanted to check everyone’s paper personally before putting it in but that’s impossible now. I can only depend on trust no…

The whole class looked visibly frustrated at Haruki, indicating “Don’t you trust us”.

Haruki…It seems like “trust” won’t be a problem anymore.

Sakura: ~Mou~, you need to trust us more.

Haruki: Sorry, sorry…. But thank you… for believing in me.

Haruki showed a relieved smile which was so contagious it spread throughout his whole class… well, almost his whole class.

At the back of the crowd, which was out of Haruki’s field of vision was the group of 3 the lady robbed figure pointed at earlier.

Takaharu: Tsk. It seems like Mr Big Shot took the spotlight again.

Daiichi: Calm down. Today will be the last day for him to bask in it anyways, am I right?

Daiichi looked in the direction of a blacked-out figure who is part of the group.

??: Yeah, let him enjoy it for now. All we need to make sure is we follow the plan exactly.

Daiichi: Of course. Getting rid of him is one of my dreams anyways.

Takaharu: If he is gone, our lives would be much better

??: I don’t want him just gone… I want him to suffer. Just you wait, Asagami Haruki.

_________________________________________________________________________

Haruki’s classmates who haven’t written their name started to write their name on the paper. Haruki wanted to see if it was possible now but alas, it is still the same result.

Haruki: *sigh* still can’t see… But it doesn’t matter. I trust you guys to not betray each other. If everyone is ready, we should go and vote now. Let me go f-

Sakura: WAIT! You are our leader. You are supposed to be the last one to put it in. As a leader, you need to have the honour of putting it last.

Haruki: Ehhh, but-

Sakura: No buts.

Without even caring about what Haruki is about to say, the whole class was lining up to vote in their votes. Haruki who was about to enter the line…

*Bum*

Takaharu bummed into Haruki

Takaharu: Sorry

Haruki: N-no its okay.

Takaharu smiled at Haruki quite…evilly. Haruki felt uneasy but he quickly shook it off as he thought that he was overthinking it. As he was about to enter the line again, he realised that his paper is gone. He then thought about Takaharu, who bummed into him and wanted to call him out but he knew it was an unjustified and false accusation. So, he concluded that he dropped it somewhere, so he started to search. As he was looking down on the floor and wandering around, he wasn’t aware of his surrounding and slammed himself into Yuki and fell over.

Yuki: ~Mou~, how much of a klutz are you?

Haruki: Ehh, Yuki. I’m sorry

Haruki stood up first and like a gentleman, handed his hand to Yuki to pick her up, Yuki grabbed his hand and stood up,

Yuki: So, what happened to make you worry so much?

Haruki: Huh? Oh, right. I dropped my name down.

Yuki: You mean this one?

Yuki showed a piece of paper flat on her right palm to Haruki but Haruki saw nothing on it.

Haruki: It has nothing on it. It must be yours.

Yuki. No, this one is mine.

Yuki showed another piece of paper on her left palm which cannot be seen Haruki also.

Haruki: That is also empty but since you can differentiate it, that means that is yours and this one is mine, just upside down.

Yuki quickly took Haruki’s hand and intertwined her right hand with his left hand with the paper in her and dragged Haruki’s face close to her face.

Haruki: Yu-Yuki!

Yuki: Haru, I just wanted to say that you looked cool today. Talking back on those people who have are stronger than us, finding ways to bring us back. Protecting the whole class… protecting me, you were exactly like a hero in a fantasy book.

Haruki: Yuki…

Yuki: I’m so happy to have you as my boyfriend. Brave. Smart. Strong. Heroic. You had everything that any girls would want. So, even though I will forget what happened today, one thing that one change is that the fact I am your girlfriend

Yuki passed the paper to Haruki’s left hand and kissed his hand. Haruki blushed really hard that he thought he was about to explode.

Yuki: You never change, do you? Blushing even at the smallest compliments.

Haruki: I-it can’t be helped, can it? Because my girlf-

Yuki puts a finger on Haruki’s mouth to silence him.

Yuki: If you say it now, I will forget. So why don’t you put it in first so we can go home faster?

Haruki: I understand. Umm…

Yuki: *sigh* want to put it together?

Haruki lit up like a light bulb and nodded quickly. Yuki smiled at him and held his hand, dragging him towards the box. Both of them saw the box. It had no top but there was a see-through blue cover covering the box. Haruki tried to put his hand through but it was sturdy like a wall. Haruki realised it only allows paper that they held to enter. Both Haruki and Yuki held their hand which had their votes in it, hovering over the box

Yuki: On 3, ok?

Haruki: Ok

*3*

*2*

*1*

*Drop*

The paper floated down but it was slow. The paper slowly turned to show its other side but then-

Yuki: HARU!!

Haruki quickly turned his head towards Yuki. Meanwhile, the paper passed the blue barrier and landed on top of the rest of the papers in it.

Haruki: Wha- What?

Yuki: ~Nooothing~

Haruki: Seriously, you bring your teasing level to a whole new level

Yuki: Hehe

Meanwhile, the 3 robed figures were looking down at the scene.

Unknown 2: It seems like you are right this time.

Unknown 1: To know his closest companions to stab him in the back.

Unknown 3: Didn’t I tell you? But now, it is our turn to help them to make it successful

Unknown 3 followed the unknown person with her eye. The unknown person saw it and gave a wink, Unknown 3 nodded.

_________________________________________________________________________­­­

It has been almost 30 minutes…Haruki presumes because he can’t feel a sense of time here as it is dark and the only thing is lighting the place is a bright-like-sun.

Unknown 1: Sorry for the wait. It took a while because we were counting the votes and…

The deep-voiced robed figured looked like he found out his child got kidnapped. The other 2 figure also showed the same body language.

Sakura: Is something wrong? Are you saying we can’t go back even though we got the same vote… or are telling me…?

There was no answer. The uncomfortable silence sends the whole class into a frenzy. Sakura, who asked the initial question, covered her mouth, which was wide open in shock with both her hand.

Reigi: There is no way something like that would happen. I demand a recount!

The whole class was screaming in agreement.

Unknown 3: … But would that change anything? We can count the votes over and over again but the result will be the same nonetheless.

The whole class fell into complete silence. It was true as there was not many of them.

Unknown 2: Anyways, we would like to show the list now.

The childlike robed figure snapped his finger

*snap*

*Fwoosh*

The list, one by one, the names begin appearing from the bottom with the lowest vote to the highest. But the whole class went into complete shock to see who was at the bottom. Haruki froze. He couldn’t move any part of his body and his eyes were only glued to the bottom of the list. The name was none other than…. HIS OWN! It was something Haruki himself couldn’t believe. And when the list finished listing the names, the name at the top was Haruki’s closest person, Daiichi! With votes, Daiichi toped the whole list since everyone had only 1.

Sakura: No way….

Takaharu: Was he hated this much…

Haruki fell on to his knee. He rubbed his eyes once more but of course, it didn’t change. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Reigi grabbed Haruki by the collar.

Haruki: Wait, it wasn’t m-

Reigi: HOW IN THE WORLD IN CAN’T BE YOU! You’re the only person whose name doesn’t have a vote!

Haruki: I wouldn’t sell him out like that!

Reigi: Then, how do you explain it then?

Haruki: …

Haruki stared into Reigi’s eye. His eyes were burning with rage. Haruki couldn’t help but glance away. Haruki knew that. Even he would pin it on someone who hasn’t a single vote.

Haruki: Please believe m-

Daiichi: Ah, my best friend…

Daiichi burst onto the scene like a scene in a soap opera. Haruki was relieved to see his best friend as he thought he was there to save him but-

Daiichi: Do you hate me that much?

Haruki: Huh?

Haruki was shocked. His eyes widened while his pupils dilated. Haruki’s face was distorted.

Haruki: D-don’t mess around, Daiichi. There is no way-

Daiichi: Then why is my name has 2 votes and yours have none…

Haruki: I-I DON’T KNOW WHY!! All I can remember was…

Haruki started to relapse his memories before he voted. Then he remembered about the Takaharu.

Haruki: YEAH, n-now I remember, Nakajiwa-san bumped into me. He must have swapped my paper.

Takaharu: Huh? Yeah, I did bump into you but you dropped your paper, remember? Moreover, you are the one who can vote. I voted mine way before I bumped into you.

Daiichi: Haruki… It's not good blaming others

Haruki: W-wait. I know there is something is wrong

Haruki at this point was desperate. Everything up until now worked out well. He can’t make another mistake because one more mistake means… that everyone can’t go home.

Haruki concentrated harder…harder than before, but as he relapsed further into the memory, there was only one person who was in it the whole time. The person who held his hand gave him confidence and did the honours together. Haruki thought to himself that it was impossible. Even if Daiichi told Haruki that she committed a murder, Haruki would call Daiichi crazy. But Haruki knew it couldn’t be anyone else but-

Haruki: Yu...ki…

Haruki called out her name. Haruki looked at her with disbelief. Yuki, who was standing in front of the crowd, looked at Haruki. Haruki was waiting for her to tell something but she gave a sympathetic look… but then it gradually changed into a wicked smile.

Yuki: Oh my, Haruki… are you that desperate until you would use your own girlfriend as your shield?

Haruki couldn’t believe it. His…own…. girlfriend. Stabbed him in the back. The last person he wanted to betray him. Haruki felt a heavyweight on his shoulder. It was heavy, the feeling he felt. As it was too heavy for him to contain in him, a single drop of tear fell from his right eye.

Daiichi: How low are you willing to stoop? You didn’t have to do anything anymore. You achieved your goal, didn’t you? Me, becoming the demon lord?

Haruki: N-no. O-of cou-

Takaharu: This is too much, Asagami-san. Just when we followed your lead, you used our trust to betray our beloved classmate

Haruki: L-liste-

Yuki: It’s a shame… That Daiichi is selected to be the Demon lord. I can’t believe I dated such a cold-hearted person

Daiichi: It's ok, my friends. I will stall the demons as long I have too. Just make sure…you kill me.

Haruki couldn’t believe it. His closest companions all turned against him. Haruki turned to his classmate with a saddened look, a look filled with fear, despair and pain. But… his classmates gave him a disgusted face

Reigi: Don’t give us that face again. We won't fall for it again

Genta: Sure, we might not be as smart as you but at least now we know a fake person from a real person

I was hopeless. His class was against him. His friends, who were with him for 3 years all turned against him. Not a word of his is getting to them

Haruki: Please listen to me!

Sakura: …so that you can trick us one more time? So, you can blame us for Daiichi becoming the demon lord?

Haruki: NO! I wanted to expla-

Unknown 3: *ahem* We are wasting precious time. So please settle your dispute in our world. So Those who are heroes please step into the light gateway.

Unknown 2: And the potential demon lord candidate, Nakamura Daiichi, please step up to the dark gateway

The childlike robed figure waved his hand and 2 gates appeared. One was a light arc door where it was a light space, while the other was a dark arc door and inside was a dark space. Daiichi started walking towards the dark gateway.

Reigi: No, Daiichi-san…

Yuki: *sob* Daiichi…

Takaharu: Is there no way to save him…?

Just as Daiichi was about to cross the gateway…

Sakura: I DEMAND A RE-VOTE!

The whole place went silent. Daiichi stopped walking. Meanwhile, under the hoodie, the robed figures were grinning wickedly

Daiichi: Its ok, Sakura-san. I don’t thi-

Unknown 3: If the majority would like a re-vote, we will be obliged to give one.

The whole class was relieved that it was possible for the re-vote. Haruki was also relieved to hear the re-vote…

Sakura: Why are you feeling relieved?

Haruki: Huh? It means we can go ho-

Sakura: What makes you think we are gonna vote ourselves, again? It means you are just gonna take advantage of us again.

Haruki: Wait! I never did that, please believe me. It won’t be the same-

Sakura: Sorry…but we all have someone we hate already.

Haruki’s face lost all colour. He fell onto his knees. He couldn’t speak, he couldn’t even breathe. He was suffocating. The papers once again popped in front of each and everyone again. One by one his classmates lined up and put their votes in. Even though he can’t see the votes, he knew whose name was on it. Haruki could only helplessly stare at his empty paper. Tears dropped from his face and onto the paper. He couldn’t show his strong front anymore. Then, Haruki saw to pair of legs in front of him. He looked up slowly and saw two faces he never wanted to see…

Yuki: Oh my, what a disgusting sight

Daiichi: It seems like someone lost all his “perseverance”

Haruki’s heart was beating heavily and slowly. He was suffocating worse than before. The emotions were heavily affecting. Hormones were being produced at an insane rate until Haruki felt that his body was gonna break. Haruki looked down

Haruki…why?

Daiichi: HUH? Speak louder, I can’t hear you.

Daiichi went closer to Daiichi who was on his knee. Haruki looked at Daiichi’s face. What Daiichi’s saw was the most disgusting face he ever saw. Tears flowing not stop from his, snort coming from his nose, his mouth was bleeding as he tried to control his emotions earlier.

Haruki: Why…did you betray me?

Daiichi: Because I wanted to see this face. A disgusting face fitting for the out-of-place fool.

Haruki: Did I intentionally hurt you? If I did, please forgive me

Haruki bowed down on all four. Daiichi was angry. So, Daiichi grabbed Haruki by his hair

Haruki: Ah-ah

Daiichi: I DON’T WANT YOUR FUCKING APOLOGIES! Do you have any fucking clue how much I despised you at school? It was always topping the class, it was always you people compliment, but you didn’t stop there. You even went as far as humiliating me at the sports festival. Those teachers gave us a hell of a time because of you. It was you this, it was you that. EVERY-FUCKING-WHERE IT WAS ALWAYS YOU, HARUKI.

Haruki then remembered something from the day of the festival

* Haruki felt the dark aura was filled with dissatisfaction and…and…. *

Then Haruki felt the same aura today. He final understand what he felt that day. It was inferiority, Daiichi, a rich boy felt inferior to Haruki, the poor boy. Whatever Daiichi did, Haruki was better than him. Studying and running. Haruki realised that Daiichi couldn’t move out of Haruki’s shadow so he took an easier path, get rid of the person who is casting the shadow, Haruki.

Daiichi: HAHAHA. I never knew it would feel this good. This is bad. It is way too addicting. I want to see more. I want to see you suffer.

Haruki: Daiichi, please stop. Let me go. You got what you want. I’m going to be the demon lord, one way or another. So please let me go.

Daiichi: *tsk*, *tsk*. I want to see you suffer more. Don’t worry. It won’t be a long session anyway… but it will be more painful. Yuki?

Haruki looked up to see his (ex)-girlfriend, Yuki. But she looked down at him like he was trash, the same way the White team looked at him during the sports festival.

Haruki: Yuki…

Suddenly, Yuki stepped on Haruki’s face,

Yuki: Don’t call me by given name so easily, trash.

Yuki twisted her feet on Haruki’s face

Yuki: God, what a disgusting dating experience. I can’t believe I had to fake this relationship for 6 whole damn months. But it also had so upsides. The way you looked when I just said some empty words like “darling” or “I love you”. It was very funny.

*Haruki: It was fake?!*

Yuki: You know how disgusted I was every time you try to say” I love you” or “You’re my girlfriend”. It-was-disgusting.

Yuki laughed her heart out. Haruki’s heart, which was already at its breaking point, broke. Those last few words broke Haruki in whole. Haruki, who poured all his love and soul for her…was just one-sided. Haruki started relapsing his memories with her. Dates, alone together under the tree in school…and the sports festival where she cheered for…who?

Haruki: … That can be true… Then, the dates we went too and the sports festival where you cheered for me…?

Yuki: Dates? Cheering? …. All of them were fake. But the cheer was real but too bad. It wasn’t for you

Haruki: Huh? Then…

Yuki blushingly pointed her finger towards… Daiichi, Haruki’s so-called best friend.

Haruki: No…

Daiichi: Do you remember… about Yuki ‘cheering’ me up?

Haruki: No…please stop…

Yuki: The promise was… if he won, he would be on top. Too bad, you lost…darling.

Haruki: It was still enjoyable, babe

Haruki: No…no…no…no…no…

Haruki was holding the back of his head and smashing his head on the floor. He was going crazy. He was being played as a fool. His girlfriend and his best friend. For six months he was being played for a fool. He couldn’t take any more pain. Then, the paper he was holding flew from his hand and landed on Daiichi’s face.

Daiichi: It seems like you haven’t voted. Here, let me help you. Think of what is going to happen next as a parting gift.

Daichi wrote something on the paper and placed it in the box.

Unknown 1: All votes have been counted and accounted for.

Unknown 2: We will now announce the result.

*snap*

*Fwoosh*

The list popped up like before. From the lowest to highest. Everyone on the list had 0 votes except for the top 2. Haruki had 30 votes while Daiichi had 1

Reigi: Seems like someone still had the guts to vote Daiichi...

Genta: And he wanted us to believe him…

Sakura: What a loser…

Unknown 1: As votes showed here, the demon lord candidate will be Asagami Haruki.

Unknown 2: All heroes, congratulations on being selected as the future heroes of Theros.

Unknown 3: Please step into the gateway.

The lady voiced robed figure flicked her hand and a white gateway appeared. All of Haruki’s classmates turned and saw Haruki for one last time and gave him some “parting words”

Sakura: Don’t worry. We will put you out of your misery soon.

Reigi: It won’t be too long for us to…kill you. So just wait for us.

Genta: Take it as gratitude from us to you for helping us for all this time…Even though it was just you putting up a fake act.

Haruki couldn’t believe the fact that his whole class are now up for the idea of killing him as if murdering him was the right thing to do. As soon as they have finished their “final words”. Haruki saw his whole class walking through the door. Disappearing one by one. Haruki started to run in the direction but…

*Fwoosh*

*Bang*

A black ribbon-like grabbed Haruki by his leg. It came from a black gateway in the opposite direction. Haruki stood up and despite being pulled by the ribbon, he still walked towards the door

Haruki: Please…. wait…. don’t leave me alone here. I don’t want to be alone…again.

Unknown 1: *tsk* what an annoying pest.

Unknown 1 snapped his fingers

*snap*

*Fwoosh*

*Fwoosh*

*Fwoosh*

3 more black ribbons came and one wrapped his other leg, while one grabbed his waist and the other wrapped his mouth.

Haruki: Mmmhhmmmh…

Unknown 2: Oh yeah, before we forget. As a demon lord candidate, we need to give you this orb.

The childlike robed figure took out an orb. It was darkish purple, with flares coming out of it.

Unknown 3: This demon lord candidate orb we got from another demon lord candidate. As gods, we can’t hold on to it for too long because it might curse us, so we usually pass it to the demon lord candidate. So here you go… It's better to make it fresh, you know?

The orb floated from the child-like robed figure and it drives itself forcefully into Haruki’s chest

Haruki: MMMMMHHHMMMHHMMMM!!!!

Unknown 3: I forgot to tell you. The process of accepting the demon lord candidate orb is pretty painful. Hehe.

Haruki was screaming in agony but it was muffled by the black ribbon. While the orb was entering his body, he felt someone was talking to him

*Loser*

*Haruki: I-I’m not a loser*

*Going to be alone again*

*Haruki: N-no, I don’t want to...not again*

*You have nothing*

*Haruki: I STILL HAVE…still have…. still…have…*

*See? You have nothing. You are nothing but a loser*

*Haruki…No. I must have something…*

the number of his classmates he can see was decreasing every second. When the process was over, everyone had crossed the gate but 2 people. It was Daiichi and Yuki. As there we were about to cross, they turned around to see Haruki. They smiled at him.

Daiichi: For the 3 years of “friendship” I would like to give you a gift.

Yuki: Me too. As thanks for “dating” me for 6 months

Daiichi turned to Yuki. He intertwined his left hand with her right hand. He took his other and caressed his cheek and slowly brought it to the bottom part of her mouth. He lightly pulled it down. Daiichi closed his mouth with hers and kissed her while his eyes were on Haruki. He was playing with Yuki’s tongue with his own. They kissed passionately, gasping for air for a while and going back with for more.

When Haruki saw the scene, Haruki wanted to scream stop. He couldn’t. Haruki wanted to scream for help. He couldn’t. Haruki wanted to cry. He…couldn’t. He felt so much pain, he cried so much and he suffered so much. At that moment, Haruki felt that he lost his emotions. He lost the ability to trust. He… lost his heart. He was nothing but an empty shell.

Haruki saw Daiichi finished kissing Yuki and both of them looked at Haruki, with a smug smile.

There were shadows over his eyes, covering his expression.

*Haruki: Hey, my inner voice. *

*…Yes*

*Haruki: I just found out I have something…*

*And that is…*

Both Yuki and Daiichi started to walk together into the gateway. At the same time, the ribbons pulled Haruki into the dark gateway

*Haruki: A will…*

*A will…? *

Just as Haruki was about to cross the gate, he saw the scene in front of him and burned it into his head. What he saw was two of his closest companions betraying him and abandoning him and the so-called “Gods” who are smiling wickedly at Haruki.

Then, Haruki crossed the gate into a completely dark space,

*Fwoosh*

*Haruki: …a will to take revenge on those who wronged me*

*HAHAHAHA. Interesting. Let’s see how far you can go…*

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