Tunnel Vision

Someone was walking onto the stage of the auditorium, he was wearing a tucked in blue shirt, khaki pants, and black dress shoes. He had grey skin, short black hair, brown eyes, and a brown beard.

He was principal Kendi. And the other school staff were standing off to the sides of the room with their arms folded.

He sounded and looked tired, with his eyes straining, with the bags under his bottom eyelids out in the open.

Kendi said, "Can everyone shush..?"

The freshman kept talking, and Akira was tapping his feet on the floor, with his cheeks flustered.

He looked down, thinking, 'Kirin's leg is almost touching mine!'

Akira cleared his throat, and looked at Kirin, and Kirin was staring straight at him.

Akira looked away holding glasses, thinking, 'Shit!'

Kendi was shedding real tears, saying into the microphone, "Please, can you guys be silent for one second? I hate when this happens. It hurts so bad-."

The students started laughing, saying:

"HAHA! HE'S CRYING?!"

"BRO!"

Kendi clenched his fists.

"OI!" He yelled.

The students stopped talking, then looked at principal Kendi.

Akira thought, 'They hushed up pretty fast. Was it just the tone of his voice, or something else?'

Tengen stood up and exclaimed to Kendi, "HuHh?! Who the hell are you yelling at-?!"

Red drug Tengen back down in his seat, and Tengen was trying to break Red's grasp like a man, and Red was covering his mouth at the same time.

"You're embarrassing me in front of the girls, Tengen. I NEED MY OWN HAREM!" Red whispered.

Akira watched them, thinking again, 'They have a good friendship.'

Kendi continued, "Welcome to Hajimari high. Where you freshman will have to overcome all obstacles of academics to succeed. First thing I wanna get off my chest, is that there will be no fighting or using your powers on people or this school unless under different circumstances. No doing lewd things inside of the lockers. No pets allowed. Do not smell the teachers. Do not attack the teachers either, which correlates with rule one. No smacking loudly while eating, that's annoying. You all may feel confident in yourself because some of you have super powers, some of you are even registered heroes. But don't let it get to your head. You'll think all sorts of crazy shit-I mean stuff. This world is full of crazy and unnatural things, with superstars and idols turning people inside out, and people just trying to live their life. You can be badass out there, but not in here. I want us to have a good year, not a bad one. Got it? Nod if you understand."

Everyone nodded, besides Tengen, who was giving Kendi a mean look.

Kendi continued, "Any questions before we move forward?"

Akira raised his hand fast, and everyone's head turned towards him. Akira was shaking now, with his knee still tapping.

Tengen thought, 'Shin's brother? He's so puny..and nerdy..'

Red thought too, 'The younger brother of Shin..they look nothing alike now that I'm closer. They really give this kid a hard time. Shin told us he had the potential to be number one, but at the same time..Akira is too ecstatic, plus dangerous in Shin's eyes.'

Kendi said to Akira, "What is it?"

Akira thought, 'Everyone's staring at me!'

Akira stood up, and asked, "…Are we allowed to leave..during lunch?"

Everyone started to say:

"Wait, that's actually a good question."

"I thought that nerd was gonna ask about curriculums or somethin'."

"Good question.."

Kendi replied, "Yeah, knock yourselves out."

"Yes!"

Akira looked around, and he sat down fast, adjusting his glasses once again.

'People said I asked a good question! That's progress!'

Kendi said, "Well, yep. That concludes this freshman initiation. Everyone head to class and don't be late. Or we'll send the librarian after you all. Dismissed."

Akira says, "The librarian..?"

Everyone rushed to run out of the auditorium, except Tengen, Red, Kirin, and Akira.

Red said, "Man, I heard that the librarian is scary! But man she's got a nice body and a pretty face..I can definitely add her to my harem."

Tengen replied, "Stop drooling over me, fool! She's way outta your league."

Akira thought, 'Red..wants a harem? Well, he is a ladies man. Claims to be.'

A hand was put on Akira's shoulder, and Akira stopped, with his heart beating out of his chest.

"Oi..Akira.."

Akira turned around slowly to see who it was, with his eyes trembling and hands shaking.

Akira stopped, and he got himself together.

"Sensei?!" Akira exclaimed.

It was Sensei Ultra. And Red, Tengen, and Kirin were walking away.

Akira asked, "Whyyyyy are you here?"

"Ya questionin' me? I work here."

"You moved schools..?"

"Obviously if I work here."

"You..YOU MISSED ME SO MUCH THAT YOU COULDN'T STAND TO BE AWAY FROM ME!"

"Definitely not."

"Aww.."

"Cheer the hell up, Akira. I've seen what you've become."

Akira exclaimed excitedly, "YOU DO?! TELL ME WHAT YOU SAW!"

"That day three months ago, your dog was taken by some giant hawk. I was at your front door that day so I could check up on you after a rough day at school, and I saw you leap into the air and dash off of nothing. It sounded like thunder. Scared the shit outta me."

"You..checked up on me?"

"I felt bad. And I'm no soft ass. AT ALL. I just felt bad for a second on how things went down."

"T-Thank you..I thought you were gonna say something like-."

"How you're fighting villains without being a registered hero?"

Akira gasped, stepping back and waving his hands slightly, "I-It's not like I attacked them first! They came at me! Kinda.."

"There's nothing really wrong with fighting crime while being an unregistered hero, brat. But the Hero Syndicate are weird when people are trying to become vigilantes. It's just that if you're looking to be known, it's better to be registered. You aren't labeled as a hero. And being a registered hero means you could get a ton of leeway, money, connections, and a better life path depends on how you perform. The Hero Syndicate is picky."

"But my parents! I showed them my powers a MILLION TIMES, and they still won't-!"

"Yuu and Yamato are probably just trying to keep your strength to yourself. I'm pretty sure you know by now that you're overpowered as FUCK."

"I know! And I don't even know where it came from! Well..I-I always had these wraps powers, but I never used them for fighting."

"Interesting. Welp, you're in my class. Hurry up and get there."

Ultra began to walk away, and Akira grinned, 'I feel much better now that I know she's my teacher. Yes!'

As Ultra was walking down the aisle, she said, "And one more thing..Akira."

"Hm-?"

Ultra turned around and threw a golden glowing spear at Akira, and it was almost at light speed.

The spear was getting close but Akira caught it in mid air, and his wraps were covering his right hand, with some of his hair white.

Akira asked, "U-Ultra?!"

"What? There's no one else in here besides you and me."

Sensei Ultra reached out her hand, and a dozen golden spears floated in front of her.

All of the spears out to Akira faster than the last spear.

In the blink of an eye, Akira gripped the spear he was holding, and he dashed past the dozen spears coming at him.

The spears shattered, and Ultra thought, 'I could barely see it..but that brat actually used my own spear to destroy the other spears.'

Akira crushed the other spear into pieces with one hand, and he sat up all the way.

"Whyyyy did you do that? I liked you!"

Ultra grinned, "Just checking some shit, nephew."

"You're not my aunt."

"You still don't believe I'm your dad's sister..imagine. Your dad Yamato is an idiot by the way."

"You can't be my aunt. You and my mother look NOTHING alike. AT ALL."

"Neither you and Shin, but you two are brothers. The hell?"

"I..I-I guess you have a point," Akira pushed up his glasses.

Ultra began walking away, saying, "Better bring your ass to class in 5 minutes."

"Y-Yes ma'am!"

Akira released a sigh, and he started to pull out his notepad. He pulled out a small pen, and wrote, "Wrap spears? Possibly could create those? Non-tested."

At the top of the auditorium, Kirin was watching the whole thing, and she was playing with a yo-yo.

Akira was walking down the hallway, looking at more posters and looking at other students walking past him in friend groups.

'I still need friends. Shit.'

There was a large window to the left of Akira, and Akira looked out of it.

He saw Shin standing there in the middle of the courtyard, and there was a line of girls standing in a single file line in front of him.

They all were taking turns asking Shin to be their boyfriend.

One girl said, "Please be mine! I'm a good girlfriend!"

Shin replied, "No."

The girl sighed and walked off, yelling, "I'LL TRY AGAIN ANOTHER DAY!"

The next girl walked up to Shin, "I'm better than every girl here! Please go out with me!"

Shin answered, "No."

The girl jogged away crying, and the next girl stepped up.

"S-Shin! I've been a big fan of yours for a while now! I just want to ask if you wanted t-to be a couple?"

"No. You stand weird. Makes me think you're about to morph into a gazelle demon trying to devour me."

"Huh?!"

"No."

The girl walked away, saying, "I don't give up!"

For the next 2 minutes, Shin's been rejecting each and every girl that asked him out.

After, Shin wiped sweat from his forehead, and looked to the right, and he saw Akira staring at him through the window.

Akira was breathing heavily with steam coming out of his head, and he was gritting his teeth.

Shin tilted his head, "Akira."

Akira pointed at Shin, "How dare you be popular with girls around me! I won't forget this!"

Shin's eyes strained red and shook and grew wide, and he said, "Are you..threatening me?"

Akira gasped, and started running to class.

Akira thought, 'HOW DARE HE! HOW DARE HE! HOW DARE HE!"

…

Akira finally made it to class, and he barely opened the door, cracking it open.

He looked through the crack, thinking, 'WHY ARE THERE SO MANY PEOPLE IN MY CLASS?! THEY'RE ALL GONNA STARE AT ME! Shit! Shit! Shit!'

Akira saw Kirin sitting down at a desk, and he saw Tengen. Red wasn't anywhere in there, because he had a different class.

Immediately, the door opened wildly, and Ultra yanked Akira into the classroom, holding him by his ear.

Akira covered his face, and all of the students looked at him.

Ultra said to Akira, "Introduce yourself to the class."

Akira responded, "I-I-I..I'm Akira. I just wanted to say..I'm Shin's younger brother. And I'm very..v-very strong."

The class was silent, and then they started bursting out laughing, except Kirin, Tengen, and Ultra.

The class said:

"Him?! Strong?!"

"Didn't he get bullied in middle school?"

"All through middle school!"

"Hahaha!!"

"Could never be me!"

Akira stood there, and wrap was slowly wrapping around his fist.

Ultra saw it, and slightly gasped.

Ultra said to the class while chewing gum, "Oi..shut up. All of you. You'll all show him the same respect I have shown you. And everyone will show everyone else the same exact respect. Understood?"

One student answered, "Huhhh?! Why-?!"

"I mean it…"

"Okay..okay.."

"Akira go take the window seat like they do in that manga stuff."

Akira nodded, and he started to walk to that seat. He kept his head down, and his face was turning red.

'So many eyes following me. So many eyes. Don't look up. Don't look up. Don't look up.'

Akira sat down in the window seat, and everyone was STILL staring at Akira.

Akira sat his head down, 'THEY'RE STILL STARING?!!! SOMEONE HELP!'

Sensei Ultra said, "Now then. I'm sure as hell not gonna repeat what the principal said. So you'll all start getting acquainted with each other. There is a name under your seat, and that name is the person you will be interviewing. Go."

Ultra sat down at her desk, kicked her feet up, and started playing games on her phone.

All the students started looking under their seats, and they pulled out white cards.

They read the names, and started asking people who is who.

Akira reached under his desk and grabbed a name, and he gasped when he read the words.

"Tengen?!!" Akira exclaimed.

Everyone looked at Akira, and Akira hid himself, "S-Sorry!"

Tengen was digging in his ear, and he saw Akira looking at him.

Tengen said, "Heh?! The hell are you all looking at?"

Akira walked up to Tengen, saying, "E-Excuse me..I-I have to interview you."

Tengen stared at Akira for a few seconds, not saying a word.

Tengen finally said, "Heh!"

Akira jumped back startled, and Tengen pulled up a desk, and demanded Akira, "Sit and interview me!"

"Y-Yes sir!"

"And don't call me sir!"

"Sorry!"

"And stop saying sorry!"

"My bad!"

"THAT'S THE SAME THING!"

Seconds later, all the classmates were interviewing each other, asking each other questions about themselves.

Kirin was being asked questions, but she answered each one with an, "I don't know."

Kirin looked over at Akira, and then looked away.

Tengen said to Akira, "Ask me questions!"

Akira asked, "D-Do you like being popular?"

"Weird first question. But I don't care about popularity."

"O-Oh..okay. Um..what's it like being in Shin's guild? Do you like it?"

"Why? Ya wanna join it or sun?"

Akira nodded his head.

Tengen sighed, "It's cool for what it is. I don't hate it. If you're looking to join it, you'd definitely get some exposure at least. And get stronger. At the Valhalla base, there's different hero teams/squads within the guild, which heroes have all been assigned to. Me and 8 other heroes are in the main and top squad with Shin, the highest ranked heroes as you already know I'm assuming. They host a lot of entertaining shit at the base as well, and there's a lot of people there who would want to see whatcha got."

"That's so cool! I mean um, yeah that's great. Next question..has Shin ever mentioned me?"

"Another weird ass question?!"

"Sorry.."

"..He said you used to be a lost cause. He would often push you to be better, even going as far as bullying you just so you can stop being a little brat. He says it'll take a long time for you to earn his respect."

"Mm. Okay!" Akira smiled.

"Just..okay?"

"Next question, what's your favorite thing to do?"

"Kill."

"Really?"

"No. I like to fight! I like to kick ass! I'm always under stress. I like using my astral projection to fight, it relaxes me."

"Cool! Wha-."

"My turn to ask questions."

"Y-yea?"

"Why do you wanna be accepted so badly?"

"It's hard for me to accept myself when I'm not using my power, I'm completely useless without it. If people accept me, then maybe it'll inspire me to accept myself. AND I WANNA BEAT SHIN!"

"Why?"

"I saw Shin as a rival when I was little, I was always trying to do things better than him, but I never could, and he would always laugh in my face and kick me in the dirt. I want him to accept me also, to acknowledge my capabilities to my face."

"That's deep. You have a looooong way to go. I haven't seen your powers. What the hell can you do?"

"I'm..really strong. And..I'm very skilled and really really fast."

"I wanna see. Fight me right now."

"I-I can't! It's against the rules…"

"You wanna be a got-damn hero don't you?! Huh?!"

"Y-yes but-."

"Heroes break the rules sometimes, nerd! That's the world we live in! If you wanna make it to the big big leagues, you gotta take risks."

"…I know you're strong..but I don't wanna hurt you..or possibly kill you by accident..Tengen.."

Tengen looked at the sad look on Akira's face, and laughed.

"HAHA! You should see the look on your face! Such a stupid look!"

Akira released a sigh of relief, and he said, "Okay..haha, you g-got me. Can I ask more questions? I'm not really that interesting."

"What do you like to do? Nerd?"

"OH! I LIKE TO FIGHT TOO SO I CAN WITNESS MY SKILL OVER AND OVER! AND I LIKE TO DEBUNK EVERYTHING AND CREATE THEORIES OUT OF EVERYTHING! AND I LIKE TO STUDY VARIOUS PLANTS AND SPECIES! AND I LOVE TO DRAW AND READ AND BRAINSTORM AND-.."

"Alright alright alright alright alright. That's a shit ton. GEEZUS!"

"I'm not good at talking to people."

"It's hella nerdy, but someone out there will like that."

"T-Thanks!"

"It wasn't a compliment."

"I'm taking it as one."

(Lunch time)

All the students started to make their way to the lunch room; chatter and laughing and playing was all that was making noise. Students were sitting down at the lunch tables, placing their school lunches or homemade lunches down on the table.

Akira was in the hallway with some other students, and they were all talking to other students who owned school clubs.

They were laughing it up too, and Akira was scouting each club room and personality to see if he wanted to join or show interest in them.

'All these clubs..they're pretty unique. I need to see about a club that stands out. And then I'll stand out!'

People were constantly skipping over and ignoring a club where they explored suspicious cites for anything paranormal.

There were only two people in that club, twins. They both wore aluminum foil over their school outfits, and they wore aluminum foil on their heads as helmets.

Their names were Kota and Touta. They both had shaggy orange hair, and they both wore aluminum foil glasses, and they had greenish blue eyes.

Kota exclaimed, "Step right up! Step right up!"

Touta added, "We are the paranormal explorers! We go to critically acclaimed haunted places and we see if the myth is true!"

"And if it is real, we record it and post it!"

"You'll be SOOOO POPULAR!"

Akira quickly slid in, and smiled, "Popular?! ONE OF YOU SAID POPULAR!"

Kota and Touta shook Akira's hand at the same time.

Kota said, "Welcome! Welcome!"

Touta added, "Are you finding interest in our club?"

Akira replied, "Yeah! When do we start?!"

Kota grinned, "Ooo, quick to become an explorer I see. We'll start tonight!"

Touta pulled up an article on his phone, and showed it to Akira.

"Read it! There's been something strange going on with the abandoned tunnel on the other side of the city. People claim there's something creepy and demonic in there! So we're gonna check it out and see what's down there. Tonight!"

Akira said, "AWESOME! Wait, isn't that kind of dangerous? What powers do you have?"

Kota and Touta reached inside of their shirts and pulled out a rock necklace.

Kota said, "We'll be protected. We got these stones from our grandmother, saying it'll protect us for all of our days."

Akira thought, 'It's just a regular rock.'

Kota asked Akira, "Soo..are you in?"

Akira thinks, 'They are kinda like me…'

Akira smiled, "Yeah!"

Touta responded, "Great! We'll take your number down and we'll call you when we're ready to make a move."

Minutes later during lunch, Akira was sitting on the rooftop alone, eating a few rice cakes, while writing in his notepad.

He wrote: "Potential friends? Best friends? No, that's too far, too sudden. First step in becoming popular, almost complete."

He then started to chow down on the rice cakes fast, adjusting his glasses, and started drawing different things he could form with his wraps.

'Good ideas..good ideas..I'm a genius.'

(Hours later)

(The end of the school day)

(Last 5 minutes of class left)

Akira and his class were packing up, and Sensei Ultra said, "Alright..tomorrow we're having a pop quiz on what you've learned from middle school. Don't worry, it won't be easy. Oh, and we're gonna dissect something too. You all will take a vote on which small reptile you wanna dissect on. Now get the hell out."

The toned school bell rang all through the school, and all the students were rushing to get out.

Before Akira could leave, Kirin came up to him.

Kirin said, "Boy."

Akira jumped back with his cheeks red, "K-K-K-K-Kirin?!"

"I like your wraps."

Kirin started walking away, and she left the classroom.

Akira sighed, looking down at the floor trembling.

'Kirin..talked to me! Me!'

Sensei Ultra noticed Akira, and she said, "You blew that."

Akira scoffed, "Hah?! No I didn't!"

"Totally did. Now run home."

(35 minutes later)

[Akira's gouse]

Akira ran through the door of his house, and his mother and father Yuu and Yamato were sitting on the couch, competing and playing video games with each other.

Yuu exclaimed to Akira, "Hiiii! Akira!"

Yamato said to Akira, "We borrowed your game for a bit, Akira. Your mother swore up and down she could whoop my ass in Crash Bros!"

Yuu replied, "You're cheating! You're soooo bad!"

Akira stepped in front of the TV screen, and took a deep breath, saying, "I'm gonna hang out with people tonight."

Yuu and Yamato froze, dropping the controllers.

They looked at each other with dull faces, and then they looked at Akira.

They stood up, and Yamato asked, "Are you..on drugs?"

Yuu added, "Yeah..please don't tell me you are.."

Akira tilted his head, "Ha?"

"Oh..baby.."

Akira scoffed, "No! I'm not on drugs! I'm actually hanging out with people! People from a club at school, we're gonna be exploring a place."

Yuu and Yamato sat in silence for a few seconds, and they said, "Congrats! Congratulations! Finally!"

They both started to hug and squeeze Akira, jumping around with him.

"Akira has friends! Akira has friends! Akira has friends!"

Akira grinned, trying to fix his glasses as he was being forced to jump around.

Akira moved away, saying, "Okay, okay. I'm gonna go put on new clothes and wait for the call! See ya later!"

Akira started to run upstairs, and headed to his room.

Yuu said to Yamato, "I thought he was gonna ask us about the hero thing again.."

Yamato replied, "Me personally, I would let him. But he's not fully ready to be a real hero, especially someone with his nature. He could be a loose cannon while doing professional jobs handed to him by the Hero Syndicate."

"Yeah, I get it. But he's so strong…"

"Too strong. Anyway, are you ready for me to kick yer ass in CRASH?!"

"Bring it! Whore!"

"Slut!"

Upstairs in Akira's room, Akira was flexing in the mirror, changing into his wrap form on and off, over and over again.

His dog, Munchie, just watched while sitting on the bed.

Akira said, "I might as well call them my friends. They seem cool! But Munchie, today has been the craziest first day ever! A dude tried to fight me, and I almost sent him to the realm of the dead! And then I talked to TWO of the 9 highest ranked members in Shin's guild! Today was crazy! Kirin LOOKED AT ME! She's pretty..but she's outta my league."

Munchie barked, and Akira grinned, "Damn right I'm happy."

(6 hours later)

(Nighttime)

Akira was laying down on his bed looking at the ceiling, and his phone finally rang.

Akira quickly answered, "Yes?"

It was Kota, and Kota said, "It's time…explorer."

"Yokai."

[Abandoned Tunnel]

Kota and Touta were still wearing their aluminum foil gear, and they were waiting outside the tunnel. They saw flickering lights in the tunnel, but that was just from the old dark brown lights on the wall.

Akira was standing behind Kota and Touta, and said, "Guys!"

Kota was wearing a red short sleeve shirt, a black watch on his right wrist, jean shorts, white socks, and black and white casual shoes.

Kota and Touta jumped back in fear.

Touta pointed at Akira, "D-Don't scare us like that! We didn't even hear you!"

Akira shrugged, "It's a habit. My brother does it a lot."

Akira stepped forward, saying, "So this the tunnel. Looks neat. Let's go!"

Kota said, "You're so ready for this. Very well, explorer. Would you like to take the lead?"

"Sure."

Akira started walking forward towards the tunnel, and Kota and Touta followed him.

Kota said to Touta, "He's walking in there without a shred of fear."

"I know right. He's strange. Like us."

All three of them took one step into the tunnel, and suddenly, they found themselves far deep into the tunnel.

Kota said, "What just happened?! Did we get teleported?!"

Touta exclaimed, "Why are we all the way in here? And the tunnel isn't this long!"

"I wanna go home!"

"W-We're probably just going crazy!"

Akira looked to the left and right, and there was no light at the end of them.

'Something's not right..'

Kota and Touta were trembling, and Akira thought, 'Hold up..'

Immediately, 50 giant fat men that stood at about 18 feet tall were surrounding them in the blink of an eye.

Their bodies weighed about 20,000 pounds, and there were human hands sticking out of their stomachs. They all wore brown diapers only, and they had heads that shook like bobble heads non stop. Their heads were twice the size of their bodies. They all had a stuck smile on their faces with pitch black eyes, and they had plastic slick grey hair.

The two leaders looked like the other unknown creature men, but the leaders were larger, had slick red plastic hair, pitch black eyes, and a plastic smile.

All of the creature-men faces were literal plastic with a stuck horrific expression.

The two leaders' names were Boe and Toe.

Kota and Touta looked around shaking, and then they screamed to the top of their lungs, and they fainted on the floor, while Akira looked at all the creature-men around him.

Akira asked Boe and Toe, "Who are you..?"

Bo answered, "Me and my brother Toe just want to be humans. We believed we had to consume as much human souls as we could to become like you lucky beings, inhabiting your bodies. But as many humans we've eaten, nothing worked. But we sense tons of power in you. If we consume your soul, we are sure to inhabit your body. That's our power that we never had to use yet, because weaker humans were prohibiting us. We're tired of living in the shadows, too afraid to show ourselves to the outside world. But no more. We'll be eating you and your friends' souls. We need your bodies!"

Toe added, "Running is impossible too. Once you're in here, you're never getting out. You can run down the tunnel all you like, but we made this tunnel infinite! Hand over your bodies to us gods."

Akira started to make wraps cover his entire body besides his head and face, his eyes turned dark red with a black X pupil, and his hair turned fully white.

Akira said, "No. You're not gods. Piss off."

"Tragic. We weren't asking. We all will inhabit your body, we do things together."

Boe, Toe, and all the other creatures jumped at Akira, and Akira just stared at them while they were falling down towards him.