Chapter 1: Backstory

"Hey Shizuka, me and the guys were wondering if you wanted to join us out for a quick celebration!" Within a simple looking cafe, An excited looking boy asked the quiet boy next to him who was busy sipping his cup of tea.

The boy who he was talking to was known as Yūrei Shizuka, Yū meaning dim and rei meaning spirit or soul, His family name Shizuka simply meant silence, he was slightly over 16 years, Is an extremely athletic highschool student with several achievements under his name.

" I don't know Jiang..., you know am still busy training for the physical young athletes University entrance exams–"

"Come on!, not that excuse again!, Please just come along this once will ya, you know me and the guys haven't been seeing you around lately, your always busy with that so called training of yours that you barely have anytime left for us!."

"For crying out loud it's the day after our graduation!, we're supposed to be out there celebrating yet here you are still thinking of school work even after the graduation exams!"

"Sometimes I can't help but wonder whether your either human or a robot to be honest" said Su Jiang while massaging his temples seemingly exhausted.

This wasn't the first time he's asked his friend yūrei to join them to go out and have fun but for some reason, every time they asked, this muscle head would always insist on training his muscles and working out!, It was seriously irritating.

what kind of teenager would be so obsessed over muscles like that?!, couldn't he at least take a break for once he thought to himself grumpily.

The boy feeling helpless was non other than one of Yūrei's closest friends, Su Jiang, unlike Yūrei who preferred to train and work out continuously, Jiang on the other hand was more of a casual kind of guy who preferred letting lose and having fun most of the time, with parents who were adequately secured in the middle class of society, su Jiang lived a very nice life, though not a spend thrift young master of some rich family, Jiang was actually satisfied with his family's life style.

He and Yūrei had known each other since middle school, though different in their own way, it still didn't stop them from being the best of friends till date, it was a known fact that Yūrei was a boy who preferred the silent life, that was why whenever Yūrei turned down any social invitations, he would take it upon himself to try and convince him to join, no matter how much you loved staying on your own, you'd still have to depend on others to survive in this cruel world, Yūrei even more so than others since his families situation was far lower than Jiang's.

Losing his parents at a young age of 12 and with the heart break abandonment he suffered from his so called relatives, who quickly fled from his side after the death of his parents.

Yūrei Shizuka was forced to take up the responsibility of looking after his twin little sister and brother all by himself.

with nothing but the money he made off the internet as a Slightly popular TikTok'er, YouTuber and graphic designer, plus the extra money he raked in through his several achievements in the sports industry, Yūrei Shizuka was fortunately able to take care of himself and his twin brother and sister's needs after they'd finished using the last bit of money left by his late parents.

Thankfully the house they lived in was already paid for in full by his late parents, which helped in decreasing the poor boys work load.

It wasn't that he loved the silence but that after the death of his parents and the cruel abandonment from his heartless relatives, Yūrei gradually receded into the calm embrace of silence, after a day of hard work all he'd care about was his last minutes of silence before bed, After doing it day after day, night after night, that little ritual of his slowly became a habit, though it didn't stop him from interacting with his classmates at school, he still became a little bit reclusive because of it.

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"Sigh.....ok ok, I guess I can go..but just this one time ok–" Yūrei finally said after giving it some thought and to be honest he also thought that su Jiang was right, ever since he could remember, he had always been running up and down, doing all sorts of things without rest..., maybe taking just one-day off wouldn't be so bad after all he thought.

"Hahahaha now your talking!, You have no idea what you were missing my muscle headed friend hahaha, don't worry!, after today you'll never even think of missing out ever again!." Su Jiang said confidently with a prideful smirk on his face, he soon started going on and on about the crazy things they could do, meanwhile Yūrei didn't really think much of it, without so much as another word he quietly went back to sipping his tea casually replying to su Jiang every once in a while.

After finishing their drinks and beverages within the cafe, Su Jiang told Yūrei that he'd already notified their friends to meet the both of them at an area they were going to go to, so they quickly called for a cab and went off.

"Well this is taking longer than I expected, where are we going to anyway?"

"Dude that's a secret, you'll know when we get there"

"Huh?, what do you mean a secret, you sure your not taking me to some red light district to relieve some pent up stress"

"Pfft!!!!, The Hell!, Bro what the heck gave you that idea!!!!"

"Huh? Huh?, but isn't it true, you've been stealthily stealing glances of me ever since Jessica dumped you after our graduation exams.."

"Fxck you!, I was just planning on when to ask you to come join us but whenever I try, you always vanish before I can reach you god dammit!"

"Yeah...am not buying it, if you've got a crush on me just say it, were all bros here, I promise I won't reject you so harshly so stop acting like a peeping perv already..."

"Why you little!"

"Hey Hey don't look at me like that, your the one who said it was a secret, it's not my fault I got bored and said a few jokes, why so sensitive"

'Jokes my ass, your just making fun off me aren't you, you muscle headed goat!' Su Jiang cured inwardly in annoyance, this glib tongued idiot of a friend of his would've caused an accident right now if the cab wasn't artificially driven!.

After a while, Yūrei was still curious about where they were going, but no matter how many times he asked, su Jiang would say that he couldn't tell and that it would ruin the surprise and inturn Yūrei replied with a few savage sentences that left su Jiang helpless.

'Maybe this idiot keeping his mouth such was a good thing after all' Cried Su Jiang inwardly while feeling exhausted from exchanging words with Yūrei.