1 Fragments - part 1

Having a boring life wasn't that bad. I went to school where a couple of friends were waiting for me every day, I tried to make my parents proud and to make everyone around me happy. At least that's what you'd expect to hear from me, even knowing it's not the truth.

I've always hated my life. Each day was the same as the previous one, nothing new happened. When I realized that following the rules no longer counted, I began to think that maybe everything would take on new shades. God, how wrong I was at that moment. When I started doing what I wanted, everyone immediately marked me as a troublemaker, someone who only brought bad news. Maybe that's why I started to think so too. Suddenly I became a bad boy with no friends, who wanted to be with someone like me? Sure, I was studying in one of the most renowned schools in the country, but it wasn't my merit. The only reason I still attended that institute was my father's money, the only thing that gave me a future. My world was black and white, I should have been grateful for my instructions, but I couldn't. However, I didn't move an inch to change my life. I soon began to see the world as a game, a sadistic encounter between me and God, which has always won. I didn't put much effort into studying, my mind seemed to hate books. I could have been a good guy if only I wanted to, but I felt more trapped than ever. When I realized that stopping worrying about things was less painful than living a lie, I started having fun breaking rules that were not meant to be broken, I wasn't afraid of possible punishment. It's more or less how I've handled everything, but maybe that's what got me here.

***

"Everything good?".

"You haven't answered for two days, please pick up as soon as you read this."

"Oi, are you there?!"

"Call back as soon as you can."

Those were the sentences that appeared intermittently on Yuuya's phone along with the time that marked two in the morning. The room was dark except for a lamp on the desk that emitted a dim light, like a distant glow. The floor was covered with dozens and dozens of T-shirts and other clothes to wash. On a small sofa in a corner of the room were placed several electronic devices of different sizes that continued to flash undeterred.

A boy was lying on the double bed covered with potato chips and newspapers. His fair complexion seemed to mingle with the bedsheets, while his messy dark hair fell in locks across his face, covering two bored green eyes. The boy couldn't have been more than eighteen, but something in his gaze seemed too adult for someone his age. A glass of water still full was hovering on the edge of a chair while the now empty bottle was overturned on the parquet floor. A breath of wind would have been enough to make it fall.

Yuuya did not seem interested in responding to his friend's messages, on the contrary, he merely observed the screen flashing and sighed with a bored expression. If only he could, he'd have left immediately.

The next day was a Monday, which meant he would be forced to go back to school after a week off, without trying to do his teachers' assigned homework. Yoichi would have killed him, but he wasn't in the mood to care about such nuisances.

Closing his eyes, Yuuya could already see the horrible day that awaited him. If only he could not wake up the next morning...

***

"Have you heard of Sakura Matsuda?"

"Who?"

"A girl who studies here. She's been missing for a few days," explained Yoichi as he pointed to the photo of a student hanging on the wall. Yuuya raised his eyebrows and continued walking, completely ignoring him "I don't care. It's her problem, not mine."

Yoichi, a tall, blond boy with brown eyes shot him a dirty look "You're impossible."

The two went to their class, where the math teacher was waiting for them.

Yuuya didn't like studying and even less doing homework, therefore it was obvious that the professors of an elite school despised him. His grades weren't the best, but thanks to the money his father gave to the school in the form of donations, they allowed him to get through the year without too many problems.

On the other hand, Yoichi Harada seemed to be immune to the bad influence of his friend, and indeed, he always managed to end up first in every subject. It was his habit to prevent Yuuya from returning home until he finished studying, but most of the time he ended up arguing with his friend. The two had known each other for a long time: their parents worked in the same place and dealt with similar topics.

Yuuya never asked his father what was his job, the only thing he knew was that it had something to do with the military and weapons. The boy didn't mind as long as he earned enough money to do whatever the both of them wanted. But apart from the same bank account, they didn't share anything at all. It was a sad reality, but at least neither of them had to hide the truth. Yuuya only saw his father on the weekend, when they had breakfast together and sometimes on Monday evening when he came back from baseball practice. They usually shared a few words such as "Hello" or "How was your day?" before returning to their own lives.

Luckily, Yuuya had never felt the need of being near a parental figure, on the contrary, he much preferred the way things were now.

When he was younger his father used to scold him whenever the teachers complained about his behavior at school, but it all stopped as soon as Yuuya started caring less day by day.

Sometimes Yoichi tried to ask his friend was doing, but he just let go of him as soon as he noticed his rejecting behavior.

***

"Before starting, I have an important announcement to make. Can I please have your attention?" announced the math teacher after clearing her throat several times. Twenty-four students' heads immediately snapped at her.

"A female student from your same year went missing in the past week. The police have already been investigating for several days while the family has decided to organize a search group made up of Sakura Matsuda's friends. If you are interested in joining you will first have to sign a form at the reception and present yourself at the school gates tomorrow morning at 6 o'clock. And please, if any of you have seen or heard something don't think twice about saying it, every witness is important. " said the teacher as she slowly walked around the room.

Yuuya couldn't help but sigh: they would almost certainly forbid him to go out at night. He didn't care about Sayaka, or whatever her name was, her death was none of his concern. And it wasn't certainly the first case of a girl's disappearance, things like that happened all the time. He couldn't understand why people bothered to make such a big fuss about something so insignificant. The police were already searching for her, why would anyone like to get involved in such dark and complicate matters?

He shot a quick look at Yoichi just to know how was he reacting to the sudden announcement, but all he saw was a blank face. "Nothing to worry about," he thought, "He already knew about it."

The lesson passed quickly enough. Despite the lack of study and commitment, Yuuya could understand most things without having to try too hard. He spent most of his time daydreaming and scribbling caricatures of some teachers in the notebook in which he was supposed to take notes, but his mind was just wandering elsewhere.

The night before he noticed some job opportunities for different companies on an online ad, but he hadn't paid much attention to them, after all, money was one of the few things he didn't lack. However, Yuuya began to think that a part-time job in a famous company would dispel the boredom that filled his days. He wouldn't choose something too complicated, just a simple chore that would allow him to enjoy life more and at the same time be less dependent on his father.

Having no friends outside of Yoichi, Yuuya spent most of his days indoors reading comics or walking around town watching the people pass by and drinking coffee at the bar. He never knew who to play baseball with and asking for help from one of his father's underlings or domestics would have been too embarrassing, so most of the time he just threw the ball in the air while walking around. When he went out he always tried to hide his face under a surgical mask and a hood: being the son of one of the richest people in New Tokyo, he risked being recognized by some passers-by. Luckily, almost everyone wore air-filtering masks at that time: pollution that year had reached higher levels than usual in the city center, and in order not to breathe too much smog it was recommended to protect your face.

Already a few years had passed since the creation of the first city with more clean energy, but in many other countries, people still used harmful fuels like petroleum. New Tokyo was one of the bigger cities in the world, and it was famous mostly due to its new type of energy created in 2021.

The bell that marked the start of the lunch break suddenly rang. Without even bothering to wait for Yoichi, Yuuya headed for the canteen where he could have finally filled his stomach.

During lunchtime, many students stopped to talk and the corridors, creating large masses of people that prevented the passage. Fortunately, Yuuya had learned over time not to worry too much if someone yelled at him after being pushed to the side, so he managed to get to the canteen in a couple of minutes without too many hitches. Usually, he would stop and wait for Yoichi, but that day he was not in the mood to eat cold food.

The New Tokyo Academy, or NTA for short, was the first institution to use the new method of serving food for students: large glass counters on which was placed food served by machines with their intelligence could sound a little strange to anyone who wasn't born in the wildest luxury, but most of the students who attended that institution had at least one at home.

Yuuya was one of those people who just refused to let robots to do his jobs. It wasn't a matter of trust issues, more like the thought of "letting non-humans behave as such."

The raven-haired boy looked down at his uniform: a simple white shirt, a blue jacket with the school's initials embroidered in gold, a grey tie, and a pair of black trousers. He just hoped no one would have noticed the yellow Converse he put on instead of the white shoes he was supposed to wear.

Just as he sat on a bench against the wall, a hand reached towards him and slapped his head. Yoichi was standing in front of him with a stern expression, the one he would usually do when something bad happened. Well, most of the bad things happened because of Yuuya.

"You darn idiot! I told you to do your homework but you were all "I'll do it later" and now you have to stay here after school!"

"I don't see the problem. Why are you worrying about such a nuisance? Haven't you got some scientific stuff to do instead of stickin' up your nose in my business?" replied Yuuya while checking his phone.

"Well, I SEE the problem since you were the one who should have taken me home with YOUR car!"

"You can always call a cab, but if you insist I'll tell the driver to bring another limousine just for you."

"Thanks," replied Yoichi, even if his words were far from sincere.

Yuuya wasn't excited about having to return home after everyone, mostly because that afternoon he wanted to make a call to the human resources team of the corporation that searched for new part-time employees. After pondering about it for a few minutes, he decided to give it a go, even if that meant earning another punishment for not respecting the previous punishment.

The two of them ate in complete silence until Yoichi decided to speak up "So, I guess you want to find a job?"

Yuuya's eyes widened immediately "H-How do you know?"

"You left your phone on." replied the other while pointing to the screen.

"Yeah, but I'm not sure where I should start".

"Try with the Skyard Inc. first, they're the best out here."

"How do you know?"

"Because I called them too, duh."

Skyard Inc., one of the biggest companies in the entire world. It was what permitted people to use clean energy. Yuuya heard about part-time jobs there such as laboratory assistant and receptionist, but he never seemed interested in earning money. But one of the perks of attending the NTA was that he could have worked where he wanted.

"By the way, why did you get punched by Tanaka yesterday?" asked Yoichi while drinking orange juice.

"Uh, nothing important. I just talked a little too much."

"What did you say this time?"

"N-Nothing, I-I swear!"

Well, it wasn't entirely the truth. He did say something to Tanaka, one of the most fearsome jocks in the school, who probably bought his exams just to pass the year. He had the bad habit of messing with Yuuya every time they were alone, but the raven-haired male never tried to rebel against him. The previous day, the two of them accidentally met at the cinema, and while one was bragging about his new motorcycle, the other one was laughing out loud and saying: "Pfft, I could buy you and your entire family!"

And that's how he got punched.

"Well, if you don't mind, I'll leave you," said Yoichi after finishing his lunch.

"What if I mind?"

"I'd still leave you, but while enjoying your expression with a smirk on my face as I walk away."