Ryu

A light flickered in a room located in a shabby apartment in Tokyo. The room is plain, featuring only a desk and a mattress laid on the floor. Laying down on the mattress is a 17-year-old boy, who despite having handsome features seems malnourished and skinny.

"Damn, if I don't get this studying done, there's no way I'm passing my midterms" Ryu thought to himself. He was studying from a textbook labeled "Beginner Pre-Calculus".

Giving up on studying for the night Ryu closed the textbook and began recounting the events that had happened over the course of the day. Being a victim of heavy bullying, there was nothing pleasant about these memories.

Slowly drifting off he started to enter the dream he hadn't been able to escape for the last few years. It always began the same way, with a distinct smell. The smell of the bathroom floor, it was every day that he was forced down onto that floor. The smell, to him, represented his status, he was at the lowest rung of the social ladder. Day after day he was ridiculed and dehumanized.

Fully drifting off into sleep, he awoke to his alarm clock with cold sweats.

"Another day in hell" Ryu though to himself, as he sat up in his bed, as the covers fell it revealed a bruised and battered body, furthermore it was clear that he was malnourished by his visible ribs and sickly white skin.

He prepared himself for school, showering, preparing his uniform, and eating a small breakfast before school. He may have been a victim of severe bullying, but he took care of himself regardless.

As he looked around his room before leaving for school, he noticed that his Pre-Calculus book was left open on his desk. "I really fell asleep before finishing my studies last night" Ryu thought to himself. There was no doubt about it he was screwed for his midterm today, it's not like it mattered though because he wasn't planning to attend college, but to enter the workforce to help support his mother.

Walking into the living room from his bedroom, his eyes met his mother's who had just woken up. The reason Ryu woke up so early was to hide his battered body from his mother when he had to walk to the shower, he knew that seeing his skin would destroy the perfect image she had of her son.

"Good morning, honey, all ready for school?" Ryu's mother asked. Her name was Dianne, she was an American who had moved to Japan, making Ryu half foreign half Japanese. She was about 5'6 and could have been described as beautiful years ago, but now overworking has removed much of her beauty and replaced it with sullen eyes and wrinkle lines.

"Yeah, I'm all good for school" Ryu said as he made his way to the door, trying to remove himself from the situation, he usually avoided talking at all costs.

"Wait, Ryu, did you study last night, you know I'll do anything to send you through college" Ryu's mother said.

Ryu responded with a dismissive, "Yes mom, I'll be heading out now, just please be safe today and take some rest." His mother worked long hours in a factory which caused some worry from Ryu for his mother's wellbeing.

Ryu walked out the door and headed towards school, on his way towards the stairs he peered towards the elevator. He mentally chuckled when he saw the sign on the elevator that said, "Out of Order", it was comical because the elevator for as long as he remembered had never been "In Order".

With this he opened the door and headed on his way to school. The walk was short as the apartment was located close to his local school, there was good weather and breeze that gave him an unusual sense of comfort and hopefulness for the day. As he walked through the gates to the school all these positive feelings waned and were replaced with a sense of dread and anxiety.

Ryu noticed that his least favorite person in the world was walking through the gates next to him, Kenzo, who had made his life a living hell for the last few years. He made a quick jest in his mind, as he would be too timid to say it aloud, "Kenzo, how ironic a meathead like him would have a name meaning 'wise'." Just as the thought passed through his head, a hand passed towards the back of his head at the same speed.

Wham... a slap hit the back of his head almost knocking him over. "Morning string bean" said Kenzo, "You got my morning pay?" Ryu too instilled fear to respond, just grabbed the 1000 yen in his pocket and paid his weekly tribute to the devil.

Kenzo grabbed the crumpled-up note and pocketed it, responding to the "donation" with, "Thanks, bud, it'll be put to great use, now leave my sight before I slap you again."

Ryu hurriedly walked away from him and held his head down to avoid attention, making his way to his homeroom classroom. Once inside he sat in the back, next to an empty seat who normally contained the only person who showed him an ounce of kindness named Kenji.

The bell for class rang, and about three seconds later Kenji walked in. He was around 6'1 and had a large amount of muscle on his body as he was a basketball player, a small forward to be exact. Despite looking like a typical meathead, he was a pretty good athlete-scholar student, consistently scoring top 10 in the school's grades in multiple subjects.

The teacher, Mr. Ito, pretended not to see his tardiness as he had a soft spot for Kenji. He quickly gathered the class to attention and proceeded to pass out papers to his students. These were the dreaded math midterms, the ones that Ryu had slacked off on studying.

Before Mr. Ito had made his way to the back of the classroom where Ryu and Kenji resided, Kenji whispered to Ryu, "Yo, bro, did you study for these?" Ryu replied quietly saying, "Yeah, but barely man, I'm gonna bomb this test." Kenji responded back saying, "Man me too, I'm probably gonna bomb this test with you."

Ryu thought to himself, "Isn't that what you say about every test, if only I could get top grades without studying." He resumed focusing on the tests being passed around and waited for his turn to receive the midterm.

Once Mr. Ito had passed him the test, he looked down and he couldn't tell if he was looking at math or hieroglyphics. His chances of passing weren't looking good. Regardless, he worked diligently and turned it in hoping he could at least get a passing grade.

His next period was lunch, a period he dreaded because instead of making his way to the cafeteria, he made his way to the bathroom for his daily "loser punishment".

As he entered the men's bathroom, he saw Kenzo. Kenzo stood imposingly, his aura of anger was noticeable to anyone around him but especially so to Ryu who noticed he looked worse than usual today.

"You idiot, you were 3 minutes late to your punishment, I guess that means I'll have to dish out extra for you today" said Kenzo.

Visibly shaking Ryu tried to back away from Kenzo, but one of his lackies blocked the bathroom door and pushed Ryu towards Kenzo.

Kenzo, visibly frustrated from the feeble attempt at retreat a fist and struck Ryu in the face, causing Ryu to fall onto the floor. "Here's the familiar floor, with that gut-wrenching smell" thought Ryu.

Once he had fallen, Kenzo didn't stop as he normally did. He repeatedly threw punch after punch into Ryu's frail body. He wasn't going to stop for the foreseeable future.

After each punch Ryu let out a muffled cry, he felt the pain course throughout his entire body. His consciousness was slowly fading, this wasn't a normal occurrence and hadn't happened before. He felt pang after pang of pain, each one worse than the last until finally he felt nothing, he had lost consciousness.