The Golden Gravekeeper

Seinagi Academy. Contrary to its name, this wasn't a holy school on sacred grounds. It was a demonic ground, ripe with the evils of its young students. Barely had I stepped into class when something smacked right into my face, knocking my glasses askew.

"Gah!"

"Ha ha ha ha ha!"

Cruel laughter floated out from my classroom as I dropped to my knees, clutching my face and blinking back tears. I hastily scrambled on the floor, searching for my glasses and snatching them up. Before I could put them on, however, a fist slammed into my nose. With a loud crack, I tumbled backward, blood gushing out of my nose.

More laughter ensued.

"Ugh…"

Grimacing from the pain and shaking my head as my vision turned blood-red, I tried to stand, only to see someone standing over me.

"What are you doing? Hurry and get inside the classroom."

Someone grabbed my collar and hauled me to my feet. Before I could react, I was hurled into the classroom – right into the path of another waiting classmate.

"Gah?!"

I doubled over as a fist sank into my gut. Before I could straighten up, a knee slammed into my face and sent me toppling backward.

"Ugh!"

"Don't lose consciousness just yet! We're not done! Take this!"

While I climbed to my feet, someone lashed out at the back of my neck with a kick and sent me sprawling on the floor. Wincing, I tried to stand, but that same person stepped on my head and pressed it against the floor with his foot.

"Nice. It seems like the scum has finally returned to his rightful place. Crawling on the floor like a bug."

Gritting my teeth, I resisted with all my might. Taking a deep breath, I suddenly grabbed his foot and yanked it off. Twisting around, I tackled the guy who stepped on me, knocking him over. He snarled something incoherently, but I wasn't listening. I was slugging him with all my might, drawing some blood from that perpetually smirking, handsome face of his.

It pleased me to see that he was no longer smirking.

Then suddenly someone grabbed hold of me and dragged me away from my target. Another person stepped in and cuffed me at the side of my head, and my vision swam with the pain. I heaved and brought my foot up, kicking my captor right between his legs. He let go of me with a howl and I responded with an elbow to his face. It was a good thing he had bent over to clutch his vulnerable part, or I wouldn't have been able to reach the taller guy's face.

Then my other assailant kicked me from the side, knocking me over. I threw my hands out to break my fall, but he stomped on my back and pinned me to the ground.

How dirty. Three against one. They needed three people just to take out little old me. Not that anyone was going to voice out the unfairness on my behalf.

"Ew…so disgusting!"

"Seriously, I don't want to breathe the same air as that thing!"

"It should kill itself."

It wasn't just the guys. I could hear the girls ridiculing me and dishing out verbal abuse as they flinched and stepped away. They looked upon me with disdain and disgust, sniffing as they turned away so as not to sully their sight with my supposedly pathetic form.

I was the one who didn't want to breathe the same air as these bastards. Clenching my teeth, I forced myself up and flipped over, sweeping my legs out and tripping the guy who had stepped on me. With a cry, he fell over and flailed helplessly. Before he could stand up, I was already on him, pummeling him.

"What?!"

"How did the three of you lose to just one guy? And a pathetic, weak loser at that?"

I began laughing, and the class fell into stunned silence. Rising to my feet, I stood over my bloodied victim and turned toward the rest of the class.

"Pathetic, weak loser? Maybe I'm one, but what does that make you guys, who are even more pathetic and weaker than me?"

The guys shrunk back, not daring to challenge me after having witnessed me take down three guys by myself. However, that didn't stop them from insistently believing that they were superior, and that I was a pathetic, weak loser.

I should destroy those delusions of theirs. But before I could approach them, a snide voice spoke up behind me.

"This isn't over yet, Tanaka."

It was the first guy who kicked and stepped on me, and also the first guy I brought down with a tackle and a punch. Turning around, I plastered a bold smile across my face.

"No, you're right, Kobayashi. It isn't over."

The leader of the bullies, Kobayashi Kenji scowled as I looked back at him defiantly. I studied his bloodied face with a little satisfaction, but the girls were utterly horrified at the red smear, and began fussing over him.

Never mind that I appeared to be more hurt than he was.

It was only natural. Kobayashi Kenji was an honor student who possessed great looks, excellent athletic abilities and supposedly high intellect. The last one was suspect because even though he scored impressive grades in class tests, he was stupid enough to pick a fight with me. Unfortunately, he never got into trouble for it.

I knew it was because he was the grandson of the chairman of the school board. That allowed him to do whatever he wanted without suffering any negative consequences. Good old grandpa would cover it up for him. The teachers tended to look the other way whenever he bullied others, for fear of losing their jobs.

That was why I was on my own.

For some reason, Kobayashi didn't like me. Actually, the whole class didn't like me. Not because I was a terrible person, mind you. Most people outside my class actually thought that I was a nice and helpful fellow. But my classmates found all sorts of reasons to bully me. Absurd reasons, such as my face being disgusting, I was an otaku nerd with a creepy obsession with manga, games and anime, or I had allegedly stalked a girl in class. It didn't matter if it wasn't the truth. Nobody would listen to my side of the story. They had judged me guilty and decided to punish me for it. And the ringleader, Kobayashi Kenji, reveled in my destruction.

Right now, he was being flanked by his two massive cronies, who were rubbing at their sore parts. The one who I kicked between the legs was Kijima Takeshi, and the other guy who I tripped and pummeled was Yamada Yuji. I wasn't surprised that bullying scum such as them flocked to Kobayashi like parasites, feeding off his wealth and influence so that they could torment people who were weaker than themselves.

Unfortunately for them, I wasn't so easy to bully.

Pushing my glasses up, I confronted them. The tension in the air was so thick that you could cut it with a knife. The class was cheering Kobayashi, Kijima and Yamada on, ironically unaware that they were relying on three guys to beat me up. I cocked my head from side to side and stretched, getting ready for another bout.

I wasn't going down without a fight.

Before I could lunge at my bullies, however, the entire classroom disappeared in a storm of light. Before I could react, I felt as if the floor beneath my feet was dropping away and my body suspended in nothingness. Blinded, I groped around, but my fingers only caught air. Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself down and closed my eyes.

This will pass. This will pass. Relax…

Easy to say, but…

"Kyaaah!"

"What?!"

"Whoa?!"

The screams and yells of my classmates were making it really hard to calm down. Fortunately, as I suspected, the explosion of blinding white light didn't last long. Before we knew it, we were drifting in what looked like an empty space. Except that instead of black, it was all white. Sort of like Heaven, but I didn't think Heaven would look this bare.

"Where is this place?"

"H…hey! Where the hell are we?!"

"How would I know?!"

"Did we die and go to Heaven or something?"

Maybe…except that this heaven looked really empty. Where were the angels? Where was God? Where were the white, pearly gates of Jerusalem?

I scanned the area, various possibilities running through my mind. Alien abductions, summoned to another world, maybe even the idea that we had somehow died after a meteor crashed into our classroom or something. Never mind that I didn't see or hear any meteor in the moments before we found ourselves here.

…wherever here was.

At the edge of the white space was some shimmering rainbow-colored screen that appeared to be some sort of barrier that kept us in. I wasn't sure, but it reminded me of a movie where Heimdall used the Bifrost to transport Norse gods from Asgard to Midgard and vice-versa.

And speaking of gods…

"Heroes, please calm down."

Everyone fell silent and turned when they heard the lyrical voice that seemed to drift in the air, leaving an echo of harmonious notes with each word. Striding toward us was a beautiful woman in a simple, white gown. The aura she emanated seemed to be so ethereal, so…otherworldly that despite her physical appearance, she was clearly not a human.

Golden hair that flowed to her waist, and sapphire eyes that seemed to drown anyone who looked into them. She had ample assets, which along with her curves, were visible through her thin garments, and her long legs complemented her slender waist. Needless to say, the guys' gazes were all drawn to her ethereal beauty.

The girls glared at the guys, probably out of jealousy or something. Ignoring them, I kept my eyes on the lady in the white gown and waited.

"I am Evelyn, the goddess who summoned all of you here."

…I knew it.

I sighed. The moment she mentioned heroes and introduced herself as a goddess, all the pieces fell into place.

"Where is here?"

As expected, Kobayashi was the first to respond. He kept his voice level even as he demanded answers, concealing his rage and panic. I noticed that he was ogling the goddess as well, trying to swallow as his mouth watered. The lust that shone in his eyes were self-evident.

He wanted her.

"Please don't worry, we'll be arriving in Restia shortly. Ah!" the goddess was about to elaborate when her eyes went wide. She strode quickly toward Kijima, who was approaching the rainbow-colored barrier and reaching out curiously with his fingers. "Don't touch that!"

"What…?"

Kijima looked at her, confused.

"Right now we're being transported from your world to mine through an interdimensional rift that temporarily ruptures the space-time fabric to connect two points."

"Huh?"

Almost the whole class stared at her, baffled.

"A wormhole," I simplified. Everyone glared at me.

"No one asked you," a pretty girl, Tsukishima Tomoyo, snarled.

"Yeah, keep your mouth shut!"

"Um…he's right, though?" the goddess pointed out, baffled at their treatment of me. She turned to Kijima and gestured for him to step away from the barrier. "In any case, it's not safe to step near the edge of the uh…wormhole. If you fall through, you'll end up being transported somewhere else, to a place where even I can't reach."

"Really?"

Kobayashi was grinning. I didn't like that expression at all.

"Yes. In any case, please settle down. My world, Restia is in danger, and that is why I have called upon you heroes to…um…what are you doing?"

Kobayashi was nodding to Kijima and Yamada, who obediently followed him. The trio stomped over to my position.

I knew it. I knew I had a bad feeling about this.

"What are you doing?!" the goddess repeated, her voice rising in panic, but Kobayashi and his flunkies ignored her. Instead, they cuffed me at the back of my head.

"You…"

Already anticipating that, I fought back, kicking Yamada between the legs this time. However, a punch from Kijima caught me off guard, sending me spinning to the ground, and Kobayashi kicked my torso, his foot grinding against my ribs.

I toppled over, the breath knocked out of my lungs, but I refused to give in. with an enraged cry, I slammed into Kobayashi and bowled him over.

"Hey! Don't just stand there! Help us!"

"O…oh!"

Despite the goddess's protests, the other guys and girls in class complied and surrounded me. I fought as fiercely as I could, but I was severely outnumbered. Punches and kicks rained on me from all directions, knocking me off my feet.

"Gah…"

My vision spinning, I tried to climb to my feet and lash back, but hands grabbed my arms and heaved me up. It wasn't of much comfort, but I saw that it took at least ten guys and girls from my class to incapacitate and drag the kicking and struggling me across the white space and toward the glowing rainbow barrier.

"Throw him out!"

"No! You can't! You'll kill him!"

The goddess, Evelyn, protested, but Kobayashi flashed her a smile.

"That's the plan."

At his command, my classmates threw me out of the rainbow barrier. I felt disorientated as I crashed out, the white light was completely replaced by total darkness.

And then I was falling forever.