Bullying
In a world where 99% of the population possesses a unique ability, there is a child who appears to belong to the remaining 1%, known as Null Users.
It was the year 2097 A.U. (After Uniqueness) when this child was attending Middle School and his journey began.
...
This child was named Seichi Tetsuo.
At 15 years old, Seichi had experienced the loss of his mother in a car accident, followed by his father leaving him to chase another woman after the tragedy. And, despite living for 15 years, Seichi had not yet manifested any unique abilities.
His life was sure full of bad luck.
...
On the 25th of March, during school hours
"Seichi, have you completed our homeworks?" Toshida, one of Seichi's classmates who had bat wings instead of ears and was known to be one of his bullies, asked.
"I-I have them here, Toshida-san!" Seichi stuttered before receiving a slap across his face in front of the entire class.
"How many times do I need to remind you to address me with proper respect? We are not equals!" Toshida shouted while spitting on Seichi's face, causing embarrassment in front of their classmates.
The class burst into laughter at first but stopped when they noticed that Seichi did not react or show any signs of distress as he usually did.
"Did you at least complete them correctly?" Toshida inquired while placing his foot on Seichi's face.
"Y-yes, Toshida-sama," stammered Seichi with Toshida's foot still on his face.
Toshida then proceeded to kick Seichi with the foot resting on his face and demanded impatiently, "And why haven't you handed them over yet?"
Upon receiving the kick from Toshida, the papers containing their homework slipped from Seichi's grasp and fell onto the floor, scattering all over it.
"You can't even hold some stupid freaking paper!" Toshida said as he delivered another kick to Seichi.
"Hey, guys, he threw our homework to the ground, let's teach him a lesson." Toshida said while assaulting Seichi and summoning his friends to do the same.
But, Seichi just endured the beating without sheding a single tear, as this was just a daily occurrence for him.
...
After five minutes of beating.
"Hey, Seichi, when we come back from the lunch break, I want to see the homeworks fully gathered and in order!" Toshida said, then added, "So hurry up and gather all the paper!" while one of Toshida's friends kicked Seichi on his butt, throwing him to the other side of the class.
The Uniqueness of that kid was Enhanced Body, which was why he could throw Seichi to the other side of the room so effortlessly.
...
During the Lunch Break, in the hallway of the school.
"Hey, why don't we stop bullying Seichi," one asked Toshida.
"Are you serious, bro?" Toshida replied.
"It's just a waste of time; middle school is ending, and we should spend more time on training than beating that waste. I mean, I don't have a Uniqueness as strong as yours or Ken's" replied the kid to Toshida's confusion.
"Well, you can stop if you want, but I'm not. He's not a waste of time; instead, he benefits me since he's like my slave. He does my homework, he buys me groceries... while I can train!"
"Why did you choose him when we have three other Null Users in the school?" The same student asked Toshida. Toshida responded, "Listen, Ryota, he is the only Null User in the school who's good-looking! How can a Null User like him be so handsome? The girl I liked asked him out! But I confronted him afterward, I injured his arm, and when I revealed to her that he was a Null User, she immediately lost interest in him, hahahah! Trash like him should just serve us and not steal our crushes attention!"
Toshida vented all his frustration at that moment by expressing his anger loudly and revealing the true reason behind his behavior.
He felt envious of Seichi's appearance.
"I guess that's the real reason..." Ryota whispered softly.
"Did you say something, Ryota?" Toshida inquired.
"No, I didn't say a word," Ryota quickly replied.
"Let's go back to our class now and check if that guy has completed his assignment properly!" Toshida said with a sly smile.
...
In class
Toshida and his friends entered the classroom and found Seichi holding all the homework assignments.
"You did a great job, Seichi!" Toshida complimented as he checked the homework.
"But one is missing!" Toshida pointed out while looking at Seichi's worried expression.
"B-But, I b-brought five c-copies..." Seichi stuttered nervously in response to Toshida.
"Well, yes, but just five minutes ago I made a new friend and you should have anticipated it and made an extra copy for him too," Toshida explained as he handed over the homework copies to Ken.
"Now, you've earned yourself a beating," Toshida stated as he and his friends, excluding Ken who was holding the homework and observing, were once again physically attacking Seichi.
"Take this!"
"And this!"
After a kick landed on Seichi's back, an item fell from his pocket - a picture.
It happened to be the sole picture Seichi possessed of himself with his mother.
Upon realizing that his most cherished possession had fallen, Seichi attempted to retrieve it, but Toshida was quicker in grabbing it. "What do we have here?"
"A picture of someone; presumably your mother since she shares your eyes," remarked Toshida as he took a good look of the photo.
"She truly is beautiful. I wonder if you'll introduce me to her one day," Toshida remarked with a mischievous smile on his face.
Seichi was now seething with anger while enduring the assault due to Toshida's words.
"Oh, right, she's deceased," laughed Toshida. He then added, "Otherwise, I would have tasted that body of hers, i wonder what it tasted" while licking the picture.
Seeing Toshida licking his mother's picture caused Seichi to lose control.
He lunged at Toshida, pushing away the other bullies with an unexpected display of strength. Upon reaching Toshida, he grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and lifted him slightly.
"GIVE ME MY PICTURE!"
Seichi shouted directly at Toshida's face, surprising him with his actions. Toshida responded: "And what if I refuse? Will you attack me? What strength will you use? Null User!"
...to be continued