1 Denial

Blake never felt like he did something wrong in his previous life.

He might not have been the best son, nor the best student, nor the kindest person, but for all he knew, he never thought that hell would be his destiny after he died, especially so because he was only fourteen years old.

There was no warning, there was no omnipotent god and wishes, just a flash of light and 'kaboom' he became baby Mineta...

'It is punishment, for all of your sins, for all the wrongs you did.'

No, it isn't, I won't accept it, I never did anything wrong, I was just being myself... Why... why...

......................

Sighing he raised his head as he watched some boys coming towards him with smiles on their faces.

"Oh, look everyone, it's the hopeless midget!" One of the boys shouted, and the others turned to look at him and started laughing slightly. It was like that every day.

Frowning Mineta stood up and was about to go to the back of the class, seeing he was being ignored, the kid frowned and noticed that he forgot his backpack.

"Hehe, what have we here? I didn't know that dwarves use backpacks, I thought you guys liked to carry everything in your hands."

Some kids started laughing again, his friends smiled at him and they opened Mineta's bag and started throwing everything out.

Clenching his fist, Mineta turned back and was about to speak, but once he turned, the boy was laughing at him while holding a little ball with electric arcs around it. "What is it Mineta-San? Do you want to say something?"

He then proceeded to throw the ball and it flew past Mineta with such speed that it literally made a hole in the wall.

Mineta had no choice but to lower his head and wipe out his anger from his face and silently take his belongings. But that didn't stop there, while he tried catching his things from the ground, the boys constantly pushed him around, kicked him using just a bit of strength so that no marks would be left behind.

They called him many things, and the girls always added more salt to the injury.

"Tsk, why did we have to be stuck here with this minion? He's so ugly and small. I would like Satoshi to be in our class instead..."

"Yeah he is tall, handsome, his quirk is powerful and he's a true gentleman, unlike Mineta who never shares his homework and the answers of the test and is such a sore to the eyes."

"Fufu, you guys are right, I bet the only reason he does so well in the tests is that he has no friends and have all the time in the world to study."

Mineta's body was shaking as the other boys finally let him alone and went to their seats, tears were falling from his eyes as he bit his lips. Again, again and again, his purple curly hair, his baby face, his height, his personality, his everything is always the target of criticism, in ten years he couldn't remember a single moment someone praised him with the exception of his caregiver.

If at least he had a father or a mother, but not even that, his grandpa never told him what happened to them, and he also dislikes him, making him live in a house with a caregiver/maid.

Honestly, he felt like dying most of the time and that made him wonder what sort of life original Mineta had, could that perverted personality of his be a way to escape this reality? If so he could finally say that he truly understood Mineta.

All that talk about being cool and liked by the girls probably came from those comments he heard every day, they were even more consistent than the physical abuses...

Time passed and the school bell rang. People took their things and started leaving, it was only after he remained alone that he finally moved.

'They are kids, you shouldn't be too hard with them.'

Mineta gulped and looked silently at his notebook, the cover was scrawled with the words, dwarf, ugly, useless, hopeless, asshole.

Tears once again fell from his eyes, he did nothing wrong, he didn't deserve that... Why... Why...

'You're going to do this again? How many times do I have to tell you, listen to me Blake, don't let it consume you, go forward, let go!'

"Shut up..." He muttered, from the corner of his eyes he saw his own shadow looking at him, but it wasn't Mineta's shadow, it was his, a boy with short black hair, wearing glasses and his old school uniform.

But the boy shook his head.

'You know why you hate him, you two are all too similar, it was like that as well... Do you remember? Or have you locked it in some corner of your mind?'

"Shut up! You're wrong, I'm nothing like him!" He took his bag and left through the doors, but the shadow followed him, it whispered in his ears, no matter how much he tried to ignore it.

'Remember Ingrid, remember the others, we might have been taller at the time but it doesn't change that they all hated us, and you really liked her, you also wore a mask of a pervert, it felt more bearable that way because at least you were finally giving them a reason to hate you.'

Mineta covered his ears and sped through the corridors, the sight of the exit giving him a slightly renewed hope.

'You always thought that this would make it better, that way they wouldn't speak about your appearance, about your intelligence, about your being, they would always speak of you being a pervert.'

At some point Mineta fell on the ground, the tears formed a small pool beneath him, one through which he could see his own reflex and there was something behind him. Its hands were touching his shoulders.

'Let go, Blake, accept it. Nothing you do will change reality, but you don't need to erase this truth, you just need to shape it, make it more enjoyable. It's a new world with new rules, hope is not yet lost.'

Mineta closed his eyes and stood up, with his head lowered, he went past the doors, but they weren't as they were supposed to be, it wasn't bright outside, it was dark, everything was a mix of black and white...

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