1 Long Road

Takeshi Kagato, a man once infamous for his teasing attitude, playboy lifestyle, and violent nature was always a man who was simply misunderstood. His father always pressured him to study and get good grades so he could become a doctor and, no matter how many times Takeshi told him that he wasn't interested, his father would only grow worse.

Since his wife died giving birth to Takeshi's little brother, Takeshi's father would drink alcohol all day and barely squeeze by on taxes while Takeshi was working three different jobs to make sure his little brother, Shouichi, was as happy as possible. He didn't want his innocent brother to feel the pain and rage that he felt. He wanted Shouichi to be free and happy.

Since his father started drinking, Takeshi turned into a demon, terrorizing the students of his middle-school, and even becoming known as the "pass-around" for the girls, but they never realized that Takeshi was using them; not the other way around. When Takeshi entered highschool, however, he had changed completely.

Over summer break, his father had become severely addicted to several types of drugs along with alcohol, leading to his arrest, so it was up to Takeshi to provide for himself and his little brother. Due to his overwhelming schedule, Takeshi focused on his studies and made sure not to make friends, as they would only get in the way of his work.

This led to the downfall of the man once known for being untamable, untouchable, and unrelenting, confusing many people that used to know him. Though rumors tried to spread their vile wings around Minagura High, they eventually crumbled and blew away once people realized that Takeshi wasn't the same as before.

Even if people tried to get up in his face and insult him, Takeshi only walked straight past them. Even when they pulled him back and began to beat him, Takeshi took the pain stoically. It was almost like he was possessed in the way he moved. He was completely different. In his second semester of his first year, Takeshi had begun to succumb to his anger, fear, and anxiety, however, that was when a man in a white suit gave him an offer that would change his life forever.

Though he believed the man to be lying, Takeshi saw what he could do with his own eyes. The man could create fire by snapping his fingers, lift an entire tree from the ground with only one hand, and shatter the earth with a casual tap of his foot. From that day forward, Takeshi started a new life under the man's tutelage in search of a way to defeat the emotions running rampant in his soul.

The man's name was Yuzen, and he was something called an "Elementalist" of an Alliance named Shadow Legion. The Shadow Legion's main focus was eliminating those who posed a threat to mankind, or those who tried to expose their secrets to the public. Few people outside of Shadow Legion, besides the other Alliances, actually knew of their existence, and they were usually the Presidents of the various nations.

A common rule of the Elementalist world was that you could only have one apprentice after reaching the rank of Knight, which usually took years to achieve. The rankings were somewhat troublesome, as it went from Commoner, to Soldier, Squad Leader, Knight, Commander, and finally Supreme Ruler. It was almost like the ones who made the rankings wanted those at the lower end to get bullied.

Even more unsettling, Yuzen mentioned that only those who had no background as an Elementalist and were taken in as apprentices would start out as a Commoner, while those born into the families of an Elementalist would automatically receive the rank of Soldier. Yuzen was just a regular street urchin when he was a kid, as he said, and he got into a bunch of fights when he was taken in as an apprentice, however, he didn't give up.

Now, he's most likely the strongest person in the Shadow Legion Alliance, even though he's only a Knight. Everyday after work, Takeshi would go to Yuzen's house for training, even though it would always be late at night. However, this proved to not be a problem, since Yuzen was able to use some kind of Elemental Art, which was the stable of an Elementalist, to rejuvenate Takeshi and bring him back to his peak condition.

For now, Yuzen told Takeshi to continue going to his regular school while taking the beginner lessons with him before going to the school for Elementalist. He wanted to be sure that Takeshi would be able to defend himself, though he never stated that out loud. Yuzen was a man in his mid-thirties with ear-length, stark white hair styled into an undercut, emotionless grey eyes, and an almost average body with a few muscles here and there.

Takeshi was much the same, except he had dark-blue, almost black hair with red eyes that concealed a burden too much for his body to carry. Now, Takeshi started his second year of highschool, and his power as an Elementalist had exploded, but so too did a slumbering power hidden deep in his body. Well, it was more of a curse than anything, and Yuzen ended up sealing it inside of Takeshi's body since he was too weak to control it.

Takeshi was sitting in his desk with his head in the palm of his hand, and his eyes closed as he waited for the teacher to enter the room. 'It's too damn noisy in here...' Takeshi thought to himself as the voices of his classmates pierced his eardrums like nails through wood. Takeshi released a heavy sigh as his teacher, a man in his early forties with short grey hair, sunglasses, and a perpetual grimace walked in and set his things down on his desk.

The students were all ready in their seats as the teacher began to speak. He congratulated his students on making it to their second year of highschool, and he began to explain the schedule he had planned for the year, and told the class that they would be picking the class representatives toward the end of the day.

Takeshi was bored out of his mind and wanted to go train, hell or even go work, but he would end up making it a habit if he started skipping school. Since it was the first day, Takeshi knew he would be able to take it easy and relax a bit before having to get serious and study all the time, so he was enjoying it while it lasted.

Before he knew it, it was all ready time for lunch. Takeshi stood up and yawned as he stretched his stiff back. This earned him a few strange gazes, but he didn't pay them any attention as he left the room and began to walk down the long, empty hallways toward the stairs leading to the roof. Takeshi liked to spend his lunchtime on the roof since it always had a nice breeze and view of the ocean.

Takeshi opened the door to the roof and took his phone out and dialed Yuzen's number. He answered and immediately said "I'm not picking you up. Walk home." in an annoyed voice. Takeshi clicked his tongue and said "Here I was calling to check on you to see if you had grown old and bald from loneliness, and immediately try to start something? Poor old loser..."

Yuzen growled from the other side of the phone before shouting "You little bastard! You're the one starting shit, you pathetic excuse for a man!" Takeshi walked over to the railing and leaned on it before chuckling and responding. "I'm pathetic? Aren't you arguing with a second year in highschool?" Yuzen sighed and Takeshi heard the sound of a flint striking metal before Yuzen took a deep breath.

"Master, are you seriously smoking right now? Does a sixteen year old make you that stressed?" Takeshi said as he tried to suppress a laugh. Yuzen muttered something about never having kids, but he was speaking too low for Takeshi to make out the rest. Suddenly, Yuzen began to speak in a serious tone. "Take. I got a letter from the head of the Shadow Legion Alliance. He said he wants to see you in a week from now...I, ugh, I don't know what to do. I'm sorry. He's gonna want to enroll you in his school for Elementalist and have his thugs target you just to spite me..."

This time, Takeshi did laugh, stunning Yuzen in the process. "Don't worry you old bastard, I can handle myself! I'll make sure those worms get crushed, no matter what." Yuzen sighed before saying "Look, kid, don't go doing anything that'll make my situation worse..." and hanging up. Takeshi shook his head with a smile on his face as he slipped his phone back into his pocket.

As Takeshi stared out at the ocean, a voice came from behind him. "Wow, I never knew you could smile and laugh like that, Mr. Emotionless, or should I say Takeshi Kagato?" Takeshi clicked his tongue and turned his head back to see a woman that had elbow-length black hair with white tips parted down the middle of her forehead, piercing blue eyes that seemed colder than the winds in Antarctica, and she appeared to be a third year judging by the color of the school badge she had on.

"Who are you?" Takeshi asked as he immediately swapped to his cold and aloof self. The woman walked over and leaned over the rail next to Takeshi before introducing herself. "My name is Katsue Takemiko, and I believe we have a few things to discuss..." The two both went silent, and Takeshi began to remember who Katsue was the longer he looked at her.

"About what you asked me during middle-school..." Before Katsue could finish Takeshi turned and walked past her without saying a word, leaving Katsue feeling confused, as she was used to the bold, daring, and violent Takeshi back from middle-school. She had only just transferred to Minagura High because she had intel that Takeshi was there, but he was completely different when compared to how he was in middle-school.

"W-Wait a second! Where do you think you're going!?" Katsue yelled as Takeshi opened the door leading to the stairs. Takeshi glanced back and said "I'm going to class, obviously." before descending the stairs and leaving Katsue to herself. Takeshi let out a relieved sigh as he walked through the hallway and into his class, thinking he had dodged a large bullet, however, as he sat down and class started once more, the teacher cleared his throat with a small smile.

"I just got news that we have a new student here today. She transferred all the way from Osaka and is not the type of person you would usually see on a daily basis!" The door slid open to reveal a dejected looking Katsue, but she immediately perked up and adopted a sly grin when she saw Takeshi sitting in his desk at the back; his mouth wide open from shock and disbelief.

'There's no damn way she found out where I went to school and magically transferred into my class...damn rich people!!' Takeshi had forgotten about Katsue's recent debut as an author due to how busy he is, but of course he knew how famous she really was. She was a hot topic with teenagers and adults alike, and her novels go out of stock every time they come out, so she's garnered a good bit of attention and money alike.

Everyone was trying to talk to Katsue, but she ignored them and began to walk toward the back, which is where Takeshi sat and, since he was seen as an outcast, almost no one sat near him. Cursing his luck, Takeshi could only watch as Katsue slid a desk over next to him and sat down before flashing him a shy, innocent-like smile and looking away with a small blush.

Though Takeshi didn't let it show on his face, he almost fell for Katsue's little act, but the bloodlust from his classmates brought him back to his senses. Hell, even the teacher was glaring at Takeshi as Katsue slid her desk all the way next to Takeshi's. The rest of the day was a blur as memories of Takeshi's past began to roll through his mind, each one bringing more pain and self-loathing than the last.

He was shown all of the girls he had tricked and cheated on, all the people he beat half to death and stole from, and all those that had wronged him, making him into what he used to be. Sure, it was painful, but he knew that he had no time for being depressed. He had two separate shifts he had to work at two completely different jobs that were almost four kilometers away from each other.

Takeshi ignored the various words and things thrown at him as he walked through the halls and to the front doors of the school. Takeshi hurriedly slipped his outside shoes on and put his school shoes in his locker before shutting it and walking out. Thankfully, no one tried to stop him. Takeshi didn't know if he would have been able to hold back his anger with how jumbled his mind was at the moment.

Takeshi used a breathing technique Yuzen taught him to calm himself as he neared his first job. He walked into the staff room after greeting the manager, who was serving food for customers, and immediately started to get dressed into his uniform. "You're early...did something happen?" A tall man with olive skin, brown eyes, short, spiky red hair, and features that made you think "stupid hero protagonist" walked up to Takeshi before leaning against the wall with a brow raised.

He was a third year at Takeshi's highschool, as well as the new rising star of the baseball team, Katsuga Kai. Takeshi shrugged his shoulders as he buttoned his shirt and said "Nothing really, just felt like getting my shift over with so I can have as much time as possible to get to my next job." Katsuga sighed and shook his head before saying "You work too hard, Kagato. I'm sure you have other things to do than come to work on a day off..."

Takeshi shrugged his shoulders again and said "Don't care. I have to keep the money coming, or else I won't be able to provide for my brother." Katsuga clicked his tongue and slammed his hand on the table in the middle of the room before saying "The others talk bad behind you back, and even use you to cover for their shifts! They're using you, Kagato, and you don't give a single damn!?"

Takeshi tied his tie around his neck and said "Yep, you're right Kai. I really don't care because I'm getting money and they're not. It's that simple." Katsuga rubbed his temples for a few seconds as Takeshi turned his phone on silent before slipping it back into his pocket. "Then, I guess I'll have to work your shifts when your off for you!" Katsuga flashed a wide smile as he held his thumb up, but Takeshi turned and started to walk toward the kitchen door while saying "That's not how it works, dumbass."

Takeshi wasn't good at dealing with people, so he decided to become a cook at his first job since he all ready had some experience. His other two co-workers, Natsume Fujimine and Misane Koyataka, were the only other people besides Katsuga and his manager that he even bothered to remember names for. In his eyes, most people didn't really deserve to be remembered if they were pieces of trash, but some would argue.

Misane was a shy girl with long black hair, usually styled up into a ponytail, with deep green eyes that reflected an emotion so buried that even Takeshi couldn't see through her gaze. Natsume, on the other hand, was the complete opposite with short, shoulder-length orange hair and strange pink eyes with a teasing and playful personality.

Due to this personality, however, almost every guy Natsume talks to ends up thinking that she's flirting when, in reality, she's subtly bashing them. Just thinking about all of the poor guys who got rejected when their confidence was at an all-time high made Takeshi feel bad, although it was hilarious to watch for him. "Whatcha thinkin' about, Kagato?"

Takeshi had spaced out for a second, and Natsume took the opportunity to get up in Takeshi's face; her eyes filled with curiosity. "I was thinking about bringing a few guys over here so that I could watch you tease them and reject them. Makes for some good entertainment." Natsume's face morphed into a deadpan expression as she said "Don't use me for your own entertainment, Kagato..."

Takeshi shrugged and walked back toward the sliding window over the sink as a knock came from the other side. "It's probably Katsuga with an order." Natsume said as Takeshi walked over toward the window. He slid it open and said "You don't have to knock. It's not like anything is...happ...ening..."

When Takeshi slid the window open, the familiar face of Katsue was on the other side instead of Katsuga's. "Oh, so you do work here! Great! I'll be right back, don't go anywhere!!" Katsue had a large smile on her face as she shut the window, leaving Takeshi stunned and sweating bullets as his worst nightmare was beginning to unfold right in front of his eyes.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this...?"