[In Class]
"Hehehehehe." The snickering came from a trio of students holding a dirty sock on a stick, wafting it under the nose of their sleeping classmate.
Sniff. Sniff. "Urgh!" Taro jolted awake, swatting the air. "What a stink! Which one of you bastards did that?!"
"Mr. Taro!" The teacher's voice sliced through the classroom. "You have the nerve to sleep in my class, then wake up and immediately pick a fight? Get up here. Now. Solve this equation, or it's detention."
"Ahhhh, man," he murmured. Taro slouched to the front of the class, squinted at the whiteboard, and scrawled out an answer with misplaced confidence.
"Very good," the teacher said, a slight, unexpected smile playing on her lips. "You got it."
"Really?" Taro's face lit up with a glimmer of hope.
"Yep. You got it…" Her smile vanished, replaced by stern disappointment. "…all wrong. You couldn't be more off track. Detention."
The classroom erupted in laughter.
[After Detention]
Taro walked home, kicking a pebble along the sidewalk. "Tsk. These teachers," he soliloquized to the empty street. "Why they gotta downplay my intelligence like that? I'm supposed to be the cool, kick-butt and smart protagonist. But no. None of that's happening. Ughhh."
As he passed a overflowing trash can, a glint of gold caught his eye. He stopped. There, on the pavement, was a perfect, gold star sticker.
"A golden star? Wait, aren't these the awards they give to the honor roll kids?" He knelt down and picked it up, wiping off a smudge of dirt. "Whoa. Someone just threw it away. Who does that? Whoever it was must be such a high-level intellectual that they have too many of these things." He held it up, watching the fading sunlight catch its edges. "Well, I'll take it. I'll give it some real value. Since I'll probably never get one of these in my life anyway."
[At Home]
Taro pushed open the door to his quiet, dark apartment. "Mom! Dad! I'm home!" He paused, listening to the silence. Then he let out a laugh, a single, sharp sound that was more sad than happy. "Haha... ahhh, God. It's a nice joke. Considering I live alone. With no friends. Or family. Hahahahaha."
The laugh died in his throat, swallowed by the stillness.
[Later That Night]
"Well, it's about time I hit the bed. Yaaaaawn." Taro stretched, his joints popping in the quiet room. "Well, goodnight…" He trailed off, shaking his head. "Ah, who am I kidding? I have no one to talk to."
He paused, a thought striking him. He walked to his desk and picked up the golden star. It felt silly, but the loneliness felt heavier. He held it up.
"Goodnight, star."
He placed it carefully on his nightstand, climbed into bed, and drifted off to sleep.
The moment his breathing evened out, the star flashed—a single, pulse of deep, otherworldly light that swallowed the shadows of the room.