"Alright students, that's it for the instructions. Follow your homeroom teacher and don't make any trouble for us~"
The sun shone across the clear blue sky, scattering golden warmth across the ground of the Tatsukiri High Preparatory School, Tokyo.
As the name suggests, it's a prep high school, meaning the main focus of this school was studying.
The students of class 2B stood in lines of two, for the instructions given for the vacation trip, they were going for.
This year, they were all going to Hokkaido for this summer trip.
With the cool climate and natural beauty in summer, Hokkaido presented an excellent choice for a trip for high school students.
After the teacher gave instructions, students were asked to follow their homeroom teacher, to the bus.
And at the end of the line, there was me, observing the reactions of the students to the instructions presented.
Mostly they were bored from the long explanation, and some even grumbled about it, in the middle of it.
Well, it was perfectly normal for them to get this much worked up, after non stop studying for two whole months.
We went in line to the bus, as instructed.
First, the boys line got up, one by one.
As I was at the end of the line, I had to wait for my turn a bit.
Behind me, stood the girl's line, who would get up next.
The bus was pretty much large enough to accommodate all of us, along with the teachers going with us.
I will quietly find an empty seat at the end of the bus, by the window.
Don't get the wrong idea though.
It's not like I don't have any friends, or I am just an ignored loner.
There is a fundamental difference between alone and a loner.
I am of the first category, as I prefer to be alone.
And, I strongly believe that there is nothing wrong with it.
It's not like I get nervous while talking to others, especially girls.
And, its not like I don't participate in conversations.
I don't converse in pointless discussions.
There are things I enjoy, like games, movies, books, sports, too.
But, my preference simply doesn't match with that of my peers.
That's why, I can't point out one student among these 40, whom I can call a friend.
And, that's not at all saddening to me, because I am not getting bullied or ignored.
I have never been, in my life.
This is me, Yuuji Kobayashi, a second year high schooler.
As the boys got up one by one, it was finally the turn of the student in front of me, Masaki Honda.
A large built boy, from the Karate club.
He was a little rowdy, playing around even in this line, with the boys in front of him.
He got up, and it was my turn.
However, Masaki didn't move one bit into the bus, moving around, like the entrance was his own.
As I was going to call him out to move, a sudden push from him broke my balance.
My hand slipped at the exact time, making me fall from the entrance itself, backwards.
And behind me, there was one girl standing in front of the girl's line.
She didn't get enough time to react, and unfortunately, I fell on her, both of us falling on the ground.
I didn't have much injury, as I checked myself.
"Ah, sorry, are you alright?", I gave her my hand to stand up.
She stared at me for some time.
"The guy in front of me pushed me suddenly.....I am sorry that you had to take the fall. Can you get up?", I extended my hand again, explaining myself.
She still stared at me, her friends got her up, and followed her suit, in staring at me.
The look I got was like they were looking at some criminal.
I retracted my hand awkwardly, and turned towards the bus to get up, only to notice the other boys, along with Masaki, clicking their tongues.
Did I do anything wrong?
It was Masaki who pushed me.
I even apologized to her, so what's the issue now?
The girl, is definitely not one of those whom you want to mess with.
She is quite popular, due to her looks mostly.
Fuck them.
It's not my fault anyway, so I just got up on the bus and found an empty seat in the second last row.
I took the window seat, took out my headphones, and listened in to the playlist I always have on.
Students got up one by one, but no one sat beside me.
Well, it was understandable, but the strange part was , everyone who passed by me to sit on the last row, or the one in front, stared at me for no reason.
It was like the whole bunch of students in that bus had turned against me.
I was alone for sure, in my class, but never had I ever felt that I was hated like right now.
Sure it bothered me, but ignoring those stares, I shifted my line of thought towards my own fantasies.
Towards one of the stories I had conjectured from my imagination.
This is one thing that keeps me going despite the oddities I have to face everyday, like the incident from before.
The bus swiftly passed through the trafic free road, as we were entering an overbridge.
Things had settled down, for the better, I guess.
Looking at my phone, there was a message from my grandfather, stating to take care of myself.
It took me by surprise, as he never cared to put in any message like this before, neither did he say it to my face.
After the death of both of my parents, in an accident, and shortly after my grandmother's death, he lost any interest in things around him.
Well, I was happy enough to see his message, at the very least.
Just as I locked my phone and put it in my pocket, there was a screeching sound I heard.
The bus started shaking, uncontrollably.
The screeching sound tore through the bus, sharp enough to pierce even through my headphones.
I pulled them off instantly.
"What—?!"
The bus lurched violently to the left, then right, throwing students against their seats. Screams erupted from all directions as bags fell from overhead racks, thudding against the floor. Someone shouted the driver's name. Another cried out in panic.
My body was slammed against the window, the glass rattling as if it might shatter at any moment.
—yet, something was off.
Through the chaos, through the screaming and the violent shaking of the bus, my eyes were drawn forward.
To the driver's seat.
The man who had been gripping the steering wheel just moments ago was no longer sitting.
He was standing.
For a fraction of a second, my brain refused to process what I was seeing.
The bus was still moving. Still swerving. And yet, the driver stood there calmly, unnaturally steady, as if the laws of motion didn't apply to him.
In his hand—
A gun.
The screams at the front seats rose sharply, terror-laced and piercing.
"W-What is he—?!"
Someone tried to stand up.
Someone else cried out for the teachers.
I opened my mouth, but no sound came out.
The driver raised the gun to his own head.
No hesitation.
No trembling.
Just a hollow, resigned expression carved into his face.
Bang.
The sound was deafening.
A sharp crack that drowned out every other noise.
The driver's body collapsed instantly, falling backward as crimson splattered across the windshield and the dashboard. The bus jerked violently, completely out of control now.
The students sitting at the front screamed—raw, horrified screams that scraped against my ears and burrowed into my skull.
Some froze.
Some tried to crawl away.
Some covered their eyes.
Everything happened too fast.
Too fast to think.
Too fast to react.
The bus smashed into something—I didn't even know what. Metal screamed as it twisted. My body was thrown forward, then sideways, then—
Pain.
White-hot, all-consuming pain tore through me as my head slammed into the seat in front. My vision exploded into sparks, then fractured completely.
The screams faded.
The world collapsed inward.
Darkness swallowed everything.
But the pain wasn't the worst part.
It was the obliviousness.
That suffocating sense of being cut off—from sound, from touch, from reality itself.
As if I were sinking into an endless void, fully aware, yet unable to move or scream.
No light.
No time.
No thoughts.
Just a lingering, dreadful certainty—
That whatever had just happened…
Was not an accident.
And then—
Even that certainty faded.
Leaving nothing behind but silence.