What Lays In the Shadows

Hiroki Mori walked down the street toward his house. The day hadn't been as bad as he initially thought.

'It looks like I can have a good start after all the fucked up things that happened,' Hiroki said to himself as he lit a cigarette and continued his way.

"Home," if he could even call it that.

He needed to get money as soon as possible to get out of there and stay away from Kanoko and Kaede.

After arriving at his house, Hiroki put out the cigarette before entering and luckily, no one was home.

'Tsk, they must be with that bastard,' Hiroki said to the air as he left his shoes at the entrance and headed to the kitchen to find something for dinner.

"On the bright side, I don't have to see the damn faces of those bitches," he said while opening the refrigerator and taking out some things to prepare his dinner.

---------- Next Day----------

Hiroki Mori could be seen walking through the academy's halls toward his classroom, but he stopped feeling someone's gaze. He turned but found nothing.

'Uh? How strange, I feel like someone is watching me' Hiroki thought, still feeling the gaze on him.

'I must be going crazy' he thought, dismissing the matter.

Once he reached the classroom, he was greeted by Shoko his beautiful shining teacher, who smiled at him.

"Good morning, Hiroki," Shoko greeted Hiroki, who nodded.

"Good morning, Sensei Shoko," Hiroki said with a smile, one he hadn't shown in months.

"How has your day been, Hiroki?" Shoko asked, looking at him.

"Pretty calm, though I don't expect much," Hiroki said as he headed to his seat.

The class began normally until it was time for the break, where everyone went their separate ways. Hiroki went to the cafeteria to buy his lunch and headed to the rooftop.

While walking to the rooftop, Hiroki again felt like he was being watched, but when he turned around, once more, he saw nothing.

'Mmmmh, this is getting weird' He thought, seeing nothing but still feeling like he was being watched.

Hiroki quickly went up to the rooftop, where he saw Kasumi and Natsuki apparently waiting for him.

"Finally, you arrived, Wolfie," Kasumi said, making space for him.

"You took a bit longer today, did something happen?" Natsuki asked, seeing Hiroki, who had taken a seat between them.

"Nothing important, just that since this morning, I've felt like someone is watching me," Hiroki said as he began to eat.

"Ooh, could it be you have a secret fan?" Kasumi joked, giving Hiroki small nudges.

"I'm starting to think maybe it's that," Hiroki said, looking at the sky. While it felt good to know someone might be interested in him, it was a bit creepy that apparently, he was being spied on.

"Maybe she's just too shy to talk to you," Natsuki said while looking at her phone.

"I hope so..." Hiroki said as a bead of sweat fell from his forehead.

He preferred a shy girl over a creepy stalker, though given his situation, any kind of girl was welcome, just not those fucking bitches who betrayed him.

And so the break continued normally.

Hiroki talked about random topics with Kasumi and Natsuki: their hobbies, aspirations, if they participated in any clubs, and their favorite foods.

"Well, let's go to class. See you later," Hiroki said, saying goodbye to Kasumi and Natsuki, who nodded, also getting up to go to their classroom. It was a pity that the two sisters had different classes from Hiroki.

Once he went down the stairs with the two sisters, the three of them now felt someone's gaze, but this time it was very heavy.

"Do you feel it?" Hiroki asked in a low voice to the two girls, who nodded slowly.

"Have you been feeling this since the morning?" Natsuki asked, looking at Hiroki, who seemed uncomfortable. The gaze was very intense, as if the stalker was angry.

"Something like that. Now it's much heavier, in the morning it was just persistent," Hiroki said as he turned around, but like the previous times, there was no one there.

The moment the blonde turned, the gaze disappeared, as if the owner was hiding to avoid being seen.

"Seems like you have a real stalker here Hiroki-kun," Kasumi said, crossing her arms.

"Haha, very funny," Hiroki said with his hands in his pockets. "Anyway, see you," Hiroki said, walking toward his classroom.

But when he was about to enter, a girl in the student council uniform caught his attention.

"Excuse me," the girl said, lightly touching the blonde's shoulder.

"Uh? How can I help you?" Hiroki asked, looking at the girl.

"The principal wants to talk to you, please follow me," the girl said, to which Hiroki shrugged and followed her to the principal's office.

After a short walk to the ground floor, Hiroki arrived at the principal's office.

"Alright, the principal is waiting for you inside," the girl said before leaving.

'What does the principal want with me?' Hiroki wondered as he knocked on the door.

He didn't wait long before hearing a response to come in, and Hiroki entered the office, seeing a beautiful woman with dark hair sitting at a desk.

"I'm glad you're here, Hiroki-kun," said The Principal Ren Yamashiro with a gentle smile.

"Why did you call me here, Principal?" Hiroki asked as he took a seat in front of the principal.

"I called you because I want to discuss something with you," said Ren, pulling out some papers.

"Over the past two months, your grades dropped drastically out of nowhere. Fortunately, you've been able to recover without any problems," she said, placing the documents on the desk.

"Oh, about that, I was just going through a rough time," Hiroki said with a sigh, knowing that eventually, people would start asking about the reason for the change.

"Can I know the reason for this sudden drop in your grades?" Ren asked seriously, causing Hiroki to sigh again.

"I...," Hiroki began, and he started telling Principal Ren everything about his family situation, the betrayals, and the abuse he had been experiencing over the past two months.

"That's everything, Principal," he said, watching as Ren remained silent, her expression darkened.

"They did what?!" Ren shouted, her fury evident.

Her eyes reflected anger, disgust, and above all, total indignation. As a mother, she knew her duty was to ensure the safety of her children, and hearing about Kaede's actions only made her more furious.

'Fucking Bitches' she mumbled.

"At first, I didn't want to believe it, I wanted to think it was all a cruel joke, but eventually, I had to accept it," Hiroki said, sinking into the seat.

"I need to report this to the police immediately," Ren said, reaching for the phone, but surprisingly, she was stopped by Hiroki. "What are you doing, Hiroki Mori?" she asked seriously.

"Please don't," Hiroki said seriously, with the Black Stars forming in his eyes.

"Why not? What they did is simply disgusting," Ren said, looking Hiroki in the eyes, not surprised by the Stars.

"Because it's something I need to handle myself," Hiroki said, releasing the principal, who then lowered the phone.

"Alright, but you must tell me if anything serious happens, understood?" Ren said, taking Hiroki's hand, who nodded.

"As you say, Principal," Hiroki said with a small smile.

"Just call me Ren, Hiroki-kun," Ren said with a warm small smile.

"Alright, Ren-san. Thank you for your concern," Hiroki said, standing up, to which Ren nodded, more at ease.

"You're welcome, Hiroki-kun. Go to class," Ren said, watching Hiroki leave her office.

"I can't let things stay like this," she said, picking up her phone.

"Hello?" a man's voice asked on the other end of the line.

"Hello Aikawa, this is Yamashiro," Ren said, speaking on the phone while looking out the window.

"Oh! Ren, how can I help you?" the man asked.

"I need you to investigate someone and find me an apartment near the academy," Ren said seriously.

"That's an unusual request, but okay, who do I need to investigate?" Aikawa asked.

"I need you to investigate Michael Henderson. He arrived in Japan about six months ago," Ren said, placing Michael's registration form on the desk, and looking at it with disgust.

"Alright, I'll see what I can find. About the apartment, what are your requirements?" Aikawa asked.

"Medium-sized, well-equipped, and most importantly, put it under the name Mori Hiroki," Ren said to Aikawa.

"Fine, I won't ask who the hell Hiroki is," Aikawa said in a disinterested tone. "I'll call you when I set everything up," he said before hanging up.

Classes had ended, but Hiroki decided to quickly head to the rooftop to smoke a cigarette with Kasumi and Natsuki, as he grew to find their conversations more amusing and fun.

"Oh! What are you doing here, Wolf-kun?" Kasumi asked, surprised to see Hiroki on the rooftop at that time.

"Just came to relax a bit before going to the club," Hiroki said.

Unaware that Kanoko and Ayumu had followed him, curious about what Hiroki always did on the rooftop.

"Who are they?" Kanoko asked Ayumu, looking at Kasumi and Natsuki.

"I don't know, I didn't know Hiroki hung out with other people," Ayumu said, feeling a bit sad to see her "best friend" with other girls.

"Well, here," Kasumi said, handing Hiroki a cigarette, which he took and lit.

"Much better," Hiroki said as he exhaled the smoke.

"By the way, Hiroki, do you have a girlfriend?" Kasumi asked, a question that caught the attention of Natsuki, Kanoko, and Ayumu.

"No, my ex turned out to be a slut who fucked the bastard Michael who used to bully me," Hiroki said indifferently.

"What a bitch. What's her name?" Natsuki asked with a frown.

"Nao Kinomoto," Hiroki said, frowning as he mentioned his ex's name.

"Oh! So your ex is that black guy's slut," Kasumi said, recognizing Nao.

"You know them?" Hiroki asked.

"Yeah, Kinomoto Nao from several rumors that she's a slut, a whore by nature and from what you said, the rumors turned out to be true," Kasumi said, exhaling the smoke.

"And the black guy because the bastard tried to hit on us, but I kicked him in the balls and spat in his face," Natsuki said with a frown, causing Hiroki to chuckle but then he turned serious.

"From your expression, I can guess something even worse happened, right?" Kasumi said with a somewhat worried look, something inside her told her she wouldn't like what she was about to hear.

"... That fucker slept with my girlfriend... with my sister, my mother, and even my best friend, just to screw up my life," Hiroki said, clenching his fists.

Kasumi and Natsuki fell silent, their faces showing total horror and disgust.

"The Fucker Did... what?" Kasumi said in shock while Hiroki lit a second cigarette, which was too much for Kanoko who then came out from the shadows.

"Why the hell are you smoking?!" Kanoko Mori shouted angrily, coming out of her hiding place to confront Hiroki.