After My Contemporary Poured Their Heart Out to Me

*

You died when your classmate, who had defected, ripped open your abdomen.

You watched your former classmate cradle your heart in both hands. It was drenched in blood, yet he looked like a god who pitied all living beings. He laughed in a frenzy, seeming to cry and smile at once, then clenched his fist and crushed your heart to pieces. Blood and fragments of your heart dripped from his fingertips, staining your eyes crimson.

You came back to life, but this time you were no longer a sorcerer. You had no cursed technique and couldn't see curses. You accepted this just fine and decided to make up for the ordinary high school life you'd missed: study hard, improve every day, and do your best to get into Tokyo University through your own efforts.

But you clearly underestimated how difficult studying was and overestimated your own willpower. As expected, you failed every subject and came in last in the entire school.

"Yuji," you asked your friend and desk mate sadly, "if I hang myself in the Tokyo University president's office, would he let me enroll?"

Your desk mate laughed, thinking your joke was hilarious, then came up with a morbid joke of his own: "If hanging yourself got you into college, Tokyo University would already be packed with corpses, haha!"

You: ...That's not funny.

Your days had been passing peacefully and uneventfully until one day, your desk mate said he was transferring schools. When you asked why, you found out he was transferring to some unknown religious school.

You: ?

You suspected your desk mate had been scammed, but he firmly believed he hadn't. You could only accept the truth, regretfully and reluctantly: "Okay, Yuji, I'll miss you."

After all, without him, who would step in when thugs tried to extort you? Who would help you break down the lessons you couldn't understand? Who would get you a lunch roll when you failed to grab one yourself?

"Yuji," you repeated, "I'll miss you."

Your desk mate reached out to ruffle your hair and said, just as reluctant to part, "Yeah, I'll miss you too..."

He hadn't even finished saying goodbye when the bell suddenly rang for class. Your life motto was that nothing should ever get in the way of studying. So you turned and left without a second thought, leaving your desk mate with a heartless view of your back, your whole being radiating a longing to get to class.

Class, class, class! Go! To! Class!

But you didn't get your wish.

Because the classmate who had once torn your heart out, literally, was standing behind you, beaming as he called out: "Hey, Yoko. Long time no see~"

You: ...

You looked confused and asked, "Sorry, do I know you?"

You were kidnapped. Woe is me.

*The main story is in third person.

*Three ships: Yuji, Satoru, Suguru

Theme: The future is full of promise.