The Broken City of Yokusuka - Part 0

People with darkness in their hearts are attracted to each other; and the stronger one always swallows up the other.

-

Life will chew you up and spit you out without another thought.

To survive, you must sacrifice more and more of what you care for—that is the only way.

This is my story.

;

***

;

'Stop it... you're hurting me...'

Who cares anymore. You people constantly bully me without a second thought, yet now when you feel a little bit of pain you cry and beg for help.

You're garbage.

I looked down at the crumpled face of the crying girl. A 'normal' person probably would've felt bad for her, however, I did not. The amount of times I've been humiliated, my body was littered with scars and wounds which haven't even had time to become scars yet.

I pressed her arm against the wall behind her.

She cowered in fear.

'Please... I'm sorry, let me go.'

Your posse never let me go when I begged for you guys to stop. The splotches of bruises on my face is a never-ending and unyielding reminder of that fact. Her boyfriend was the prime suspect in all of this.

Just like how no one cared for me, this hallway was empty—there wasn't a person in sight.

What was it again...? The strong swallow the weak? That sounded about right.

I hate you.

'Teru will kill you!' She squealed in a single breath.

'Sure, but that will be in the future, right now, it's just; me and you.'

She looked up at me with eyes which were covered with tears.

Now what was I going to do?

I raised my arm and clenched my fist.

For the first time in my entire life, someone looked at me with pure, unadulterated fear. Ah, so this is what it felt like to completely overwhelm someone else.

However, the more I felt the emotions of the scene, the more I was confused. The feelings I felt weren't nice, it wasn't good, it was just eh. I didn't understand, why did people see the need to dominate others?

Suddenly, I heard the loud stomping of people approaching from the distance.

Looks like this was the end of me.

In just a few seconds, I saw a glimpse of a tall muscular boy, anger plastered all over his face. He charged towards me like a rhinoceros, a big, fast and unstoppable force.

The level-five Esper, Teru Mugami.

His body crashed into mine with enough force to send me flying into the wall. I felt a crunch on the front of my chest. I couldn't breathe, air was struggling to get into my lungs. My head was in pain. My arms were in pain.

'You little piece of shit!'

Well, I'm dead for sure.

I slowly lost consciousness, drifting away into nothingness.

*

<You have the Vampire System>

Huh? What was going on?

My eyes were filled with pure white, suddenly, I saw words appear in front of me.

-

<The Vampire System>

~

<Attributes>

Strength: 1/100

Speed: 1/100

Agility: 1/100

Spatial Awareness: 1/100

~

<Abilities>

Unlocked Abilities:

- The Soul of Swallowing Hope (Rarity: ???)

- Blood Strength (Rarity: Common)

- (No others detected)

- (No others detected)

~

<Experience>

0 [100 needed to level up]

-

What was this?

As I looked around, I realised that I was back in my room again. My small bed, my wooden bookshelf, my tiny cupboard, my window—it was definitely my room.

What was I doing here? I thought I was going to die.

Suddenly, words appeared in front of me once again.

-

<Missions>

1. Make your bed (Difficulty: 1)

2. Do thirty push-ups (Difficulty: 3)

3. Read a book (Difficulty: 2)

-

Missions?

Maybe this was related to the 'Vampire System' I was previously shown. I guess I'd try it out and see what happens.

I got up as my old bed squeaked in pain. One corner at a time, I spread out my blanket and made sure that it was nice and even. As I fixed up the position of my pillow, I suddenly saw the words appear once again.

-

<Missions>

1. Make your bed (Difficulty: 1) - CLEARED [+10 experience]

2. Do thirty push-ups (Difficulty: 3)

3. Read a book (Difficulty: 2)

-

After a few seconds, a new mission was assigned.

-

<Missions>

1. Go outside (Difficulty: 1)

2. Do thirty push-ups (Difficulty: 3)

3. Read a book (Difficulty: 2)

-

These missions seemed relatively simple at the moment. From memory, I think I needed 100 experience points to level up, I guess I'd do these mission for a little while and see what happens.

I made my way out of my rooms and to the front door of my house. I opened the front door and stepped out on the porch.

-

<Missions>

1. Go outside (Difficulty: 1) - CLEARED [+12 experience]

2. Do thirty push-ups (Difficulty: 3)

3. Read a book (Difficulty: 2)

-

<Missions>

1. Eat a plain slice of toast (Difficulty: 2)

2. Do thirty push-ups (Difficulty: 3)

3. Read a book (Difficulty: 2)

-

It looked like the difficulty had increased. I assumed that this was what was going to keep happening as I completed these mission. At this moment, I noticed that I could toggle these menus as I wished with my mind. There was no need for me to look at them every few seconds.

I walked back into the house and placed a piece of toast in the toaster, in the meantime, I got on the floor and began doing push-ups.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14... Oh this was starting to sting a little... 15... 16... 17. I didn't know if the mission meant that I needed to do all of them in a row. I decided to push through just in case. 18, 19, 20... I held my arms straight for a little while. 21, 22, 23, 24, 25... 26... 27... 28... ah... this was hurting... 29... and 30.

I collapsed to the floor and spent a little while to catch my breath.

My toast had just finished.

I pulled myself up and grabbed the toast out of the toaster. I was pretty peckish so I finished it in no time. The book mission looked like it was going to take a little while so I decided to just check the mission menu again.

-

<Missions>

1. Eat a plain slice of toast (Difficulty: 2) - COMPLETED [+21 experience]

2. Do thirty push-ups (Difficulty: 3) - Completed [+37 experience]

3. Read a book (Difficulty: 2)

-

<Missions>

1. Kick a soccer ball (Difficulty: 2)

2. Speak to a person on the street (Difficulty: 3)

3. Read a book (Difficulty: 2)

-

I decided to also check my experience screen even though I knew how much experience I had.

-

<Experience>

80 [100 needed to level up]

-

Well, it seemed right.

I guess I'd do some more missions then.

There was still so much I didn't understand, however.