An Average Day that Suddenly Became Above Average
Kaeru Sekai was never quite average. But he wouldn't call himself extraordinary either. If he had to define himself, he'd simply describe himself as "above average".
At first glance, one might not even bother to spare him a second one. He didn't stand out all too much physically, maybe a bit on the thinner side without much muscle. He walked on weekends every so often, keeping the fat off him, but he never devoted too much to athletics.
In school, there was not much more to speak on either. He was a fairly above-average student to his own credit, his grades sat at a decent A- average, never dipping into Bs but also weren't consistently exemplary either.
Yes, simply above average.
Like most high schoolers, Sekai - more often than not - imagined saving his school from terrorists, or being transported to fantastical otherworlds as a chosen hero. Every day, wishing for something to break the cycle called "the everyday life".
However, that begs a question. Many philosophers and scientists have speculated on the subatomic effects one has on the world around them, effects that one can control no more than blinking stemming from their thoughts. So if we were to follow this train of thought, wouldn't that mean that maybe - if one wishes long enough and hard enough, that dreams might come true?
⸻
"...Absolutely hopeless." A girl's voice scoffed, "Ten years. I've been waking you up for ten years, and it's always like this."
Sekai's eyes twitched sleepily at the voice, "...Antei...?" He muttered,
"Yes! Now up! Do you have any idea what time it is?!"
"Time to go to school...?" Sekai yawned, and the brunette girl named Hyomen Antei clearly did not take well to this, raising her foot, she proceeded to dropkick him in the stomach causing him to gasp in pain and shock.
"B-brutish woman!" Sekai rolled out of the bed in pain as he tried regaining his wind.
"B-brutish?! Insulting a girl like that...you definitely need correction!"
⸻
Hearing the loud sounds of conflict upstairs, a certain Mrs. Kaeru sighed in somewhat happy acceptance. "They seem to be getting along as usual..." She smiled to herself, half-cupping her face in her cheek as she flipped a pair of eggs over for eating.
⸻
Needless to say, Sekai was more than used to the brutal morning assaults, once he was fully coherent, well-fed on his mother's breakfast, and non-sleep logged. He managed to drag himself into a presentable school uniform.
"I'll be heading out with Antei early today - is that alright?" Sekai asked, and Kiyomi Kaeru smiled at her son,
"Of course, make sure you take your lunch with you." Sekai nodded, and as Antei quickly finished doing up her hair and began heading out the door, she asked a question:
"Hey, did you do the homework?"
"Of course." Sekai said offhandedly, "It's easy to do once you get the hang of it." As he was speaking, Antei inched closer, and Sekai sighed, digging through his book bag with one hand, he passed her his homework sheet.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Antei clasped her hands and bowed before the boy.
"Now who is the hopeless one?" Sekai questioned, only for Antei to glare up at him.
"Do not take my gratitude so lightly!" Antei harumphed,
⸻
Unknown to them and most of the wider world, As the normal high school girl and her childhood friend continued their banter, a desperate fight for survival was occurring in the back alleys of the town located on the edges of the Greater Tokyo Area. A silver-haired girl with strange horns reminiscent of a Japanese oni ran through a dark and dirty alley, knocking over trash cans, half out of rushed clumsiness and half in a desperate attempt to lose her pursuers. However, the ski-masked men with assault rifles and pistols continued chasing her, undeterred.
"Don't be afraid to shoot!" One of them shouted, taking several potshots at the girl as she barely managed to round a corner in time.
"Leave me alone!" She cried out desperately, and as she did that, various loose items like ladders and flowerpots began to fall on her pursuers in a rain of trash, as if all simultaneously pushed by an invisible force. Continuing to run, she made her way towards a fence, beyond it was a park, open enough for people to notice anything unusual, but isolated enough that she could slip by.
'They won't pursue me out into places they could draw attention...!' She thought to herself, beginning to scale the fence. As she continued climbing, the men finally rounded the corner and wasted no time in opening fire. Just barely dropping over the other side, she prepared to run out into the crowd when a stinging pain hit her shoulder.
"Ah!" The girl cried out, she was hit? She shook her head, running blindly into the park. Looking back, the men in protective gear and black ski masks had stopped at the fence but weren't firing.
"Do we pursue?" One of them asked, and the man from earlier shook his head,
"We have her tagged, and we can access every camera in this town. Let's regroup with Serpentine and we'll keep watching her." The men nodded, and with that, they faded into the shadows, leaving nothing behind but bullet marks and small signs of a scuffle.
⸻
"Hokura Imano?"
"Present!"
"Shiro Hanada?"
"Present~!"
"Sekai Kaeru!"
"Here," Sekai answered lazily, as the elderly teacher continued going through the names, Sekai lazed at his desk, dully going through his school laptop.
"How mischievous~ going through pornography right under the teacher's nose?" A male voice teased from beside him,
"This isn't pornography." Sekai replied dully, "I'm not in constant heat, unlike someone I can mention Shiro."
"Always with that holier-than-thou attitude, you always act like you're better than us, words hurt Sekai-san," Shiro shook his head in mock hurt,
"For one - I am better than most of you." Sekai stated, "And two - a pervert like you doesn't get to have their feelings hurt."
"As a representative of lonely males everywhere - I take offense to that statement."
"Seeing as that category includes me to an extent, I declare your opinion invalid." A third voice from the other side of Sekai stated.
"The last thing lonely men need is someone like you making statements on their behalf."
"You're mean Hokura-san!" Shiro complained, "Is there no one willing to be this poor Shiro's understander!?"
"Ahem~!" The elderly teacher at the front coughed, "Is there something you want to share?"
"No sir!" The trio responded at once,
"Then quiet down." The elderly teacher shot at them, and so the three boys that collectively made up the Goon Squad of Kotono High School were silenced for the first time that day.
⸻
As the perfectly average day whizzed past them, Sekai and his friends found themselves outside eating lunch together. To outsiders, it was a strange group. The straight-man Sekai, the hot-blooded Antei, the jokester, pervert, and resident eccentric Shiro Hanada, and the impassive observer and occasional menace that was Hokura Imano. How this group came to be was a mystery, even within its confines.
"I will never understand you, morons! Sekai! Why do you tolerate them?!" Antei asked loudly when lunch came around,
"Someone has to keep them from blowing up the school," Sekai answered nonchalantly,
"How cold, do you really have so little faith in your friends?" Shiro replied, waving a rolled omelet from a pre-made bento box in his face.
"Yes." Leaning forward, he swiped the omelet with his teeth, causing Shiro to shudder.
"I feel violated by that action, that move is reserved for cute girls!"
"It's the closest you'll get to one, settle down." Antei shot at him.
"You aren't exactly the guy killer yourself!" Shiro shot back, "You have a perfect ratio of 0:0 across the board! 0 butt! 0 personality and-"
"Finish that sentence." Antei said coldly, poking a set of chopsticks dangerously close to his eyes.
"Now, now...I was simply joking no need to get antsy...!" Shiro desperately tried digging himself out of the hole he only just realized he was in.
"I'll take your trash," Sekai stated,
"H-hey! As her handler, you need to restrain her!!! Protect me Sekai-san!!" Shiro called out to him, but Sekai suddenly gained a strange case of deafness as he proceeded to pick up the trash around their table. As Antei began brutalizing Shiro - to his own dismay and Hokura's amusement - Sekai sighed to himself,
'These uninteresting days...is it bad that I wish something would happen?' He wondered distractedly, carrying the stacked bento boxes and meals. "Antei finished everything as usual...does she really like my cooking that much? I suppose it is better than the pre-packaged meals Hokura and Shiro purchase..." Sekai stated, As he mused over this, he went behind a building to throw his trash away, he was lost in his own thoughts when he finally noticed a silver-haired girl with horns of an oni, rifling through the dumpster.
He blinked, frozen in surprise.
She stopped rifling through the trash and turned to stare at him, frozen in fear.
Their eyes met.
And at that moment, for better or for worse, Sekai's teenage wish was granted and his life changed forever.