Sōshōteki High School was surrounded by what looked like an entire forest of splendid cherry blossom trees. The skies were blue and clear. Golden sunlight illuminated a merry scene. Over a hundred young people, all dressed in the mandatory Sōshōteki school uniforms, were on and about. Tomorrow would be the first proper day of school, so today the various after school clubs introduced themselves.

“Come on, join the Judo Club!”

“Have you ever thought about doing Origami?”

“Math Club! Maaath Club! Boost your grades and meet like-minded friends!”

Many of the clubs booths were already crowded by interested people, mostly the popular activities like Baseball.

One booth, however, stuck out.

It was rather small, just big enough for the student sitting behind its desk and a poster hanging over his head. The poster was written in what could have been really artsy or plain atrocious handwriting. It read “Morbus Fortis Society”.

Naturally, the booth itself drew little interest. Nobody had ever heard of such an illness before and even if they did, joining a club that dedicated itself to a disease was a surefire way to become unpopular with the crowd. The only thing that ensured the booth did not go unnoticed was the student maintaining it.

He sat on a simple folding chair, his legs crossed, eyes half-closed like he was about to doze off. His coat was draped over his shoulders, going strictly against school rules. Before him lay a popular magazine for Shōnen Manga which he had apparently read before losing interest, having crossed out words or parts of Kanji* with a ballpoint pen to make the protagonist say naughty or rude things. His hair was of a bright, crimson color and went just past his ears, with many streaks of it running over his hair.

One student approached the booth. It could not be more obvious that the booths proprietor had caught his interest.

“Excuse me.”

“Mhhm?”

The senior student opened one eye, seizing his kōhai. He already wore his school uniform. He looked unassuming.

“I was wondering what it is your Club is doing exactly.”

“None of your business. Now shoo.” The crimson-haired student made a gesture as if to chase off an irksome fly. The younger one looked bewildered.

“B-but I was just asking...”

“Yeah, I heard you. And I'm telling you its none of your business. We don't accept outsiders, so go away.”

Still perplexed, the younger student walked away. As he looked back, the crimson-haired student placed the magazine on top of his face, looking up at the sky. Maybe, the young student thought to himself, I ought to join the Drama Club.

The school bell chimed four times. With a yawn, the crimson-haired student took the magazine from his face. The schoolyard had almost completely cleared out.

“Nobody this year, huh. Figures.” He got up. Just as he reached for his poster to tear it down, a female voice spoke out behind him.

“Morbus Fortis. Also called Protagonist Syndrome.

It is a rare genetic disease, only found in approximately 0.02% of the Japanese population. Syndromes include unusual composition of melanin-like substances in the hair follicles, leading to exceptional hair colors, as well as a similar phenomenon in the eyes which can manifest as odd colors present in the iris.

Additionally, a disproportionate amount of affected people exhibit a high amount of muscle tissue from birth, leading to higher-than-average athletic potential. A high amount of people with Morbus Fortis also score very well in IQ-tests, often reaching the Gifted category or above on the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale. For reasons yet to be explained, only those with Japanese heritage are affected by Morbus Fortis.”

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“Well, color me impressed, Ms. Smartypants.” He turned around. A girl stood behind him. She looked prim and proper, wearing a spotlessly clean school uniform and round glasses. Her hair was styled in two corkscrew-like pigtails. It was lemon green.

“I am, as you have probably guessed, afflicted myself.” The girl took a short, very polite bow. “My name is Atsushi Kaneko*. I will be attending this High School from today on forward. Please look after me*.”

“Heh. No need to be all formal. Names Itagaki Katsuo. So, you're interested in joining the club?”

Kaneko nodded.

“Why?”

She seemed to be taken aback by this question.

“I- well, quiet frankly I was surprised to see that there was a Club dedicated to a disease I thought to be so rare at the very School I would be visiting. So I thought that in joining it I could find people, who understood...”

“Understood what, exactly?” Katsuos gaze seemed to pierce her.

“People who understood what it is like to be in... this sort of situation.”

“This sort of situation, huh”, Katsuo repeated slowly. “I don't really think we're on the same page here. What could you be referring to?”

Kaneko took a deep breath. Her eyes locked into his. She did not want to back down.

“There is another factor of Morbus Fortis that I have neglected to explain earlier. Those afflicted by it tend to stick out by nature, but apparently that is not all there is to it. Protagonist Syndrome seems to affect people even on the scale of sheer probability, often tossing them in extraordinary situations.”

Now, Katsuo grinned. She knew, he thought. She perfectly knew.

“And that is unacceptable to me. As much as I am thankful to be gifted with such unique abilities and skills, I do not wish to be defined by them. I want to live a perfectly normal life in spite of them. It might be selfish of me, but-”

Katsuo cut her off with a gesture. “I know. Believe me, I know. Alright, you can join the club. We'll be meeting every Tuesday after school in the Practice Building, Room 104. Do not come late, we're locking the door once we think nobody else is coming and we don't open after that.”

Kaneko nodded.

“Just to be very clear on this: We don't want to be defined by our disease that much, either. So we band together in order to keep all that shit away from us. You will have to abide by our rules to do so, or you'll be kicked out. We will explain these rules to you tomorrow. So be there. Do not tell anybody about when or where we meet. Do not bring anybody. Got it?”

“Yes. I understand.” She did see a flaw in Katsuos logic, the whole clubs premise, but she decided to let them explain it to her.

“Alright then. See ya.” Katsuo nodded and got up, tossing the Shōnen Magazine behind him as he went. “Buncha bullcrap.”

Kaneko looked after him, as he exited the school grounds. So far, everything had gone well. He did not attack her with energy blasts, nor did he tell her about an ancient prophecy. They had not been attacked by aliens and Katsuo had never seen her panties due to an unfortunate gust of wind. Maybe this club would be the break she needed from always being the Protagonist.

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Notes for this chapter:

1. Kanji, also called “Han Characters”, are characters adopted from Chinese used in the Japanese language. Kanji are logographic characters, i.e. every single Kanji represents a word or even a whole phrase rather than a letter or syllable. Japanese language has a habit of cramming multiple Kanji together to form new words, so crossing out individual parts of one can drastically alter its meaning if done correctly.

2. Since this story takes place in Japan, the family name will always be given first unless explicitly stated otherwise. This is both to keep in with the story's tone and flair and to appease the authors inner weeb.

3. The phrase Kaneko is using here is “Osewa ni narimasu” (お世話になります), which literally translates to “Thank you for your help”, but can mean a plethora of other things as well. In this case, she uses it as sort of a greeting, which usually would be “Yoroshiku onegai shimasu” (宜しくお願いします ). However, since she is his underclassman and just entering High School at that, she uses Osewa ni narimasu instead, in this case as sort of an appeal to look out for her in the future. So, in a way, she is asking for her Senpai to notice her in advance.