Fellow Losers Prologue

Prologue

Today, I thought it was going to be a wonderful day.

I woke up before my alarm went off in the morning, and my bedhead wasn't sticking up.

Although there was a pop quiz in math, the parts I had casually reviewed last night were exactly what was tested, and I got a perfect score.

And also... no, I guess that’s about it.

Thinking back, it’s nothing major. At least, after a few days, it’s not something I’d even remember.

But, just the accumulation of these tiny things was enough to make me happy—.

"Nn, no, you can't. In a place like this... mm."

Then, all of this collapsed in an instant.

This sight, I probably won't be able to forget it for the rest of my life.

There was a faculty meeting today, so school let out right after morning classes. It is just past 1:00 PM now, and there are hardly any students left in the school building, leaving it enveloped in a desolate atmosphere.

I just happened to return to the classroom to grab something I forgot—and then, they were there.

A boy and a girl, uniforms disheveled, embracing tightly.

The girl who was completely enveloped in the tall boy's arms, squirming happily, was the one I... always thought as my girlfriend.

"Wh-why..."

Peeking at that affair through the crack in the door, I couldn't move as if I were suffering from sleep paralysis; not only that, I slumped right down onto the floor.

Maybe she was being forced—I didn't even have a shred of such doubt. Her mouth said "no," but she showed no intention of resisting; rather, it looked like she was actively pressing her body against him.

No matter how you look at it, these two are dating. If I had thought that, I should have rushed away and pretended I didn't see anything... if that person wasn't her.

We had only been dating for a month—so the smile she gave when she accepted my confession that day is still burned into my mind.

I wanted to stay by her side forever. I wanted to make her happy. Even though I thought that... right now, she is passionately exchanging kisses with another man.

Faced with this reality, my hands were trembling. Breathing became difficult. Tears welled up, pouring out as if it were all some kind of joke.

"Nn, mmm...! Al-already... ahh!"

In the empty classroom, with everyone having left early after morning classes, she seemed to want to suppress her voice somewhat, but it still leaked out.

That bouncing, coquettish panting seemed more like she was enjoying the situation... it was a sound I had never heard from her before.

I was dating her. Not only that... she is my childhood friend.

Including today, we went to school together every day and often talked on the phone. We even promised to go see a movie together this weekend. We had been together since before we started dating, and I thought I knew her well, that I understood her—or so I thought.

However, she is currently casting passionate glances at a man who isn't me. She is single-mindedly twisting her waist, craving his lips, and pecking at them. Her words of refusal act more like a tease. I knew nothing of that side of her.

It is exactly as if she's a completely different person who just happens to share the same face.

(What is this, this hell...)

I thought today was going to be a wonderful day.

Yet, in an instant, I plunged into the worst kind of hell.

...No, I don't know. Perhaps the scene before my eyes could still be a dream or an illusion.

It’s just that, even if I wanted to confirm it, I couldn't even muster the strength to pinch my own cheek... Maybe I was just afraid to confirm that "this is reality."

Even though getting to this point practically means I've already admitted it.

"Ugh, guh...! Hahh, Hahh...!"

"Ah, no...! I'm, already...!"

Even in the depths of that hell, the act before my eyes continued.

The man's heavy breathing, her coquettish moan. Both coiled clammily around my ears.

I could only gaze at it all through the door. Even though time alone could never resolve any of this, I just prayed for it to pass by.

"...You've got to be kidding me."

I couldn't do anything; just whispering that took everything I had—eh?

No, I didn't actually say it out loud just now. That wasn't me...!?

—Bang!

Suddenly, the door in front of me flew open!

The two with disheveled uniforms abruptly turned their heads to look this way, and then—.

—Stomp!

A heavy footstep.

At the same time, someone brushed past me from the hallway and stepped into the classroom without the slightest hesitation or courtesy.

Smooth, glossy, perfectly straight, beautiful long hair.

A slender figure, long legs.

Just her back alone was majestic and brimming with power... This girl who had so suddenly appeared,

"Go to hell!!!!!!"

"Wh-what!?"

Simultaneously with that piercing scream, she delivered a fierce punch right to the cheek of the frozen male student!!

Without even watching him fall backward to the end, she immediately spun around... and cast her gaze toward me, who was frozen stiff by this sudden turn of events, just as they had been.

She was a breathtakingly beautiful young girl—.

"We're leaving."

"Eh!?"

For some reason, she grabbed my arm as I sat slumped on the floor and pulled me up.

I couldn't understand the situation at all, but having no strength to resist anyway, I could only let her drag me along as we left the classroom.

The pain in my pulled arm, the wide strides of her walking ahead, and the tears rolling down her forward-facing cheeks.

I still hadn't completely wrapped my head around the incident I'd just witnessed; even so, that back left an incredibly strong impression on me—

This was my encounter with her—Sachika Mamiya.

And so, contrary to dramatic tropes like saving a girl in distress and having her fall for me, or witnessing a hidden, cool side she normally doesn't show, this pathetic encounter will drastically change my—Amou Watanuki's—life.

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