The sky was clear… yet above Inoomi Kohaku Yōro specifically,
it felt like a tiny black cloud was following her around.
And it wasn't even a metaphor.
At the massive gates of the prestigious Kokkyō Academy,
a giant electronic board displayed the names of newly admitted students.
But only one name had a special, flashing, painfully embarrassing red note next to it:
"Inoomi Kohaku… has outstanding debts! (thanks to her deadbeat father)"
Kohaku stood there staring at the board, her expression as lifeless as usual.
Meanwhile, inside her mind:
"Fantastic… an official public humiliation on day one.
Thanks, Dad. This isn't just parental failure—this is art."
She wore the academy's simple middle-school uniform, the long navy skirt swaying lightly.
Her black hair fell to the middle of her back, and her cold gray eyes looked like they had already surrendered to fate.
As she contemplated her doomed future, the academy's golden doors opened.
Out stepped a very tall man, wearing a very shiny suit, with a very arrogant face.
President Saitō:
"Miss Inoomi Kohaku Yōro… welcome to Kokkyō Academy."
Kohaku, voice dead inside:
"…Hello."
In her thoughts:
"If arrogance were a person… it would be him."
He approached her with the confidence of someone walking on a cloud made of gold.
President:
"Allow me to explain why you were accepted… despite being a commoner,
not to mention ranking among the top scorers on the entrance exam…"
Kohaku:
"…I'm really not interested."
President (ignoring her completely):
"First reason: your grades. You're intelligent… to the point of being annoying."
Kohaku, mentally:
"Thank you…?"
President:
"Second—and most important—your deadbeat father worked here twenty years ago
and left behind a mountain of debt.
And since you're his daughter… naturally, the responsibility falls on you."
Kohaku blinked twice.
Then calmly said:
"So you're forcing a poor student to attend an elite, ridiculously expensive academy to repay a debt she didn't even make?"
President:
"Exactly! Isn't it wonderful? Our educational system is incredibly innovative."
Kohaku, internally:
"I would like to jump off this balcony now."
The president walked ahead toward the spacious courtyard.
President:
"To pay off the debt… you must become one of the academy's top geniuses—
specifically, rank first in the Kokkyō Supreme Elite Division."
He halted, turned to her, and smiled with infuriating confidence.
President:
"If you fail… you'll work for the academy until you're fifty."
Kohaku, voice completely flat:
"…Is this a school or a criminal organization?"
President:
"Come on, be positive! Your future awaits!"
Kohaku, inside:
"The only future I see… is my grave."
______________________________________________________________________________
After a long day of complimentary school-issued humiliation,
Kohaku found herself standing in the middle of the street, staring at an old building.
Old… but not the collapsing shack people would imagine.
She stared at it silently.
From the outside… the wall had scratches and the door was a little rusty.
From the inside… the apartment was surprisingly clean, quiet, and comfortable in the strangest possible way.
She lifted her bag onto her shoulder and sighed with a tired smile.
Kohaku:
"At least… that bastard of a father left me something decent before running away."
Then her expression froze completely.
Kohaku (internally):
"If I ever see him again, I'll kill him.
No, seriously—I'll kill him."
Her voice was calm.
That eerie, calm-before-the-storm kind of calm.
And at that exact moment…
A small, fluffy, adorable dog.
But the moment it heard the words "I'll kill someone"…
it froze on the spot, staring at her in horror.
Kohaku stared back, coldly:
"What? You got a problem with that?"
The dog took one step back.
Kohaku:
"I said I'll kill someone.
I never specified whether it's a human… or a dog."
Her tone was calm—too calm.
The dog understood perfectly.
Suddenly it leapt away and bolted at full speed,
running like it had just escaped the end of the world.
Kohaku raised a brow.
Then she casually lifted her foot and nudged him from behind (an exaggerated anime kick with zero actual harm), just to make him run faster.
Kohaku:
"Go on! Move along, you coward."
The dog scampered off, yelping in existential terror.
Kohaku:
"Yes… run.
At least one of us actually knows what he's doing with his life."
She climbed the old staircase leading to her apartment on the third floor.
A wooden plank snapped under her foot, but she ignored it the same way she ignored life.
As she climbed, memories returned one by one.
Memories of her damned deadbeat father.
Memories of all the awful things he did before disappearing for good:
He took loans under her name when she was only twelve.
He made her sign papers she couldn't even read.
He told her the electricity bill was a "puzzle game" she had to solve.
He left her alone for days claiming it was "work"… when he was actually gambling.
And the day he ran away… he left her a small note:
"Finish what you started."
Kohaku, inside:
"Finish what you started?
And what exactly did you start? Ruin? Debt? Misery?
Brilliant. Truly brilliant.
I swear I'll kill you."
And on top of all that, he left her:
A huge debt.
An elite school that hated her existence.
A future with no shape or color.
Yet despite everything…
she kept going.
Quietly.
Sarcastically.
With a worn-out heart that refused to break.
She reached her apartment door, unlocked it, and stepped inside.
Closing the door behind her, she muttered to herself:
"Tomorrow will be worse… I already know."
Then she exhaled.
"But… at least nothing can get any worse than this."
Kohaku opened the refrigerator door.
She looked.
She went silent.
She slowly closed it… then opened it again just to make sure.
Still nothing.
No onions.
No rice.
No bread.
Not even that tiny immortal piece of cheese that usually survives every apocalypse like a cockroach.
Kohaku froze on the spot.
Kohaku:
"…Am I… living or dying?"
Internally:
"Even the fridge abandoned me. Wonderful.
This day just keeps getting prettier."
She exhaled, grabbed a small note from the old wooden table, and sat down to write:
Rice
Eggs Cheapest vegetables possible
Pasta (only if on discount)
Tea, because life needs bitterness
And maybe… a tiny sweet thing
Then she added at the bottom:
— Something to improve my mood… if it costs under 50 yen.
She stood up, got tired of life in one second flat, and became so lazy that her pen slipped from her fingers.
Kohaku, quietly with pure disdain:
"Why won't this life just end? I want a permanent vacation."
She opened her black, feather-light wallet.
The money inside was…
little. Very little.
The kind of little that would make rich people tear up in sympathy… but not her.
Kohaku:
"Alright… enough for one meal. Or half."
Internally:
"If the rich saw this, they'd think I'm storing playing cards, not money."
She tucked the list into her pocket, grabbed a small tote bag, and put on shoes whose souls had been leaving their body for two years straight.
She opened the door and stepped outside.
Her walk?
It was the walk of a zombie from the tenth sequel of a horror movie.
Half-closed eyes.
Drooping shoulders.
A heavy sigh.
And complaints leaking out naturally.
Kohaku:
"Why do I have to buy food? Why can't it just fall from the sky?"
She passed a shrub.
Kohaku:
"You're too green… annoying."
She passed a bicycle parked by the building.
Kohaku:
"Stop shining at night… no one likes show-offs."
She passed a kid laughing with his mother.
Kohaku, under her breath:
"…Damn happiness."
The kid glanced at her with mild horror.
She walked on, muttering:
"Shut up, world… I'm hungry."
On her way, everything became a source of pure annoyance:
A cat meowed?
"Shut up."
A car drove by?
"Why are you so shiny?"
The red traffic light?
"Why are you stopping me? You're just a lamp."
She was literally walking around as a ball of dark energy with legs.
And the strangest part?
People automatically moved out of her way… without her saying a word.
Even the atmosphere seemed to understand she was not in a 'social interaction' kind of mood.
Kohaku walked into the store holding her tiny basket like it carried the weight of her entire tragic existence.
She trudged between the aisles, mumbling complaints with every step:
Kohaku:
"Rice… where's the rice… why is everything hiding… is the store plotting against me?"
She grabbed the eggs.
Then the cheapest vegetables.
Then the pasta that tasted like cardboard but was mercifully cheap.
And finally… she reached the sweets aisle.
Her favorite place.
Her safe haven.
The lone beam of light in the tunnel that is her miserable life.
She stood in front of the shelves, scanning them with exhausted grey eyes.
"Where… where is the saving grace… the holy candy…"
One minute passed.
Two minutes…
And then she found it.
The disaster.
Her favorite candy—
Sold out.
An entire shelf… empty.
Just like her heart.
She froze in place.
Then, very slowly…
She reached out… grabbed the edge of the shelf…
✦ And slammed her forehead against it.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
With impressive force.
Enough to make her brain rattle inside her skull.
Her eyes spun like a cheap carnival ride.
Kohaku:
"Arrrrghhhh… whhhhyyyyyy?!"
And at that exact moment—
Because of her continuous head-butting—
The shelf above her trembled…
And a massive box of chocolate began to fall—
Huge. Like "lottery prize" huge.
Right toward her head—
✦ Until a strong hand caught it!
And suddenly—
Kohaku was yanked forward, pulled sharply—
Straight into…
A firm, warm, annoyingly broad chest…
A calm, low—and slightly stupid—voice:
"Are you okay?"
Kohaku froze.
The giant chocolate box was safe in his hand.
And she was pressed against a stranger's chest…
Feeling his breath above her head.
But the real shock?
When the boy looked down…
She wasn't there.
Because Kohaku had slipped away like a cockroach and was now standing a full meter away, completely emotionless.
The boy blinked.
"…Huh? W-Where did you go?"
Kohaku brushed her clothes, face cold as ice:
"Excuse me… we are not in a romance anime."
She raised a finger and pointed at him.
"Nor a shoujo manga."
Then she bent slightly as if comforting the broken child inside him:
"So… please forget the dramatic scene."
He stood there, utterly stunned—
His pale blond hair swaying a little,
His wine-colored eyes widening in beautiful confusion.
"…Huh?"
Kohaku:
"Yes. Exactly. 'Huh.'"
She took the chocolate from his hand, inspected the price—
"Oh… expensive. I don't want it."
Then she placed it carelessly on the wrong shelf…
And walked away.
He remained frozen like a statue:
"W-What… what just happened?!"