Darkness engulfed Hajime as he fell. Strong winds raged in his ears and stole the breath from his lungs, barely allowing him to breathe let alone scream. His hand reaching out to grasp at nothing, fear and confusion racking at his mind as he tried to comprehend his situation.

Steep and unnaturally smooth cliff faces gazed at him from all sides, providing not even the glimmer of hope that he could somehow grab onto something to save himself. The only light visible a small glimmer from the ground above that rapidly sped away as he as tumbled ever deeper into the dark abyss. Hajime searched below him and on the cervices of the sides he saw revolving lanterns that cast a dim, hopeless red glow like the entrance to hell.

As his life passed before his helpless eyes, it filled him with a nostalgia for his old home. The fantasy that he tasted when he came to this world was too amazing to represent in words, the hope and wonder that it provided was almost unimaginable. He had spent less than a month here, but he understood that much at least. Yet there’s nothing quite like a life or death situation that makes you miss home.

* * *

Monday, the most melancholy of all the days.

For most people, if a time of the week they could hate more, and today was not an exception to this notion. However, in Hajime’s case it was not just a simple bother, today he was just depressed. As always, he started off walking to the same classroom he did every day when the bell chimed.

The classroom today was the same it was any other day as well (well, any other Monday). The room was wall to wall with the same old desks that sat there every day and the room was filled with the same zombified students that grouped up with their same old zombified friends. All of them talking about some new tweet, a boy/girl they “secretly” like, or just wishing the weekend would come back.

Hajime Got to his seat normally like he had done a million times before, listening to the idle chatter as he waited like many others for something to do.

“Hey Kite did you catch the American game last night?”

“I know right Packers VS. Stealers, who’d have thought the cornerback would . . .”

The three currently getting heated about an American football game that happened years ago was Saito Yoshiki, Kondo Reiichi, and Nakano Shinji, the westaboos of his classroom. Their parents still wouldn’t let them watch television late enough to catch the actual game when they aired in japan, so they had to wait for reruns or save up the money to buy CD’s of the games themselves.

It’s not like he ridiculed them for it. Hajime was a self-proclaimed otaku himself, or at least that’s what he said to his friends on the internet. His appearance and behavior was not really that different from anyone else. His hair was trimmed short and he didn't have a bedhead. He didn't have an assertive personality, but he wasn't anti-social either, besides he had just as many friends at school as he did online. He guessed he wasn’t really an otaku, just a bit of a….. what was the word? Ah, a nerd, he was just a bit of a nerd

Just as Hajime was going through a bit of self-reflection, he noticed someone looking in his direction before quickly turning away. The person in question was Hiyama Daisuke his best friend, or was his best friend. So why is his “friend” standing with a random crowd of people while secretly glaring at him?

The answer was a girl.

“Nagumo-kun, Good Morning! Almost late as usually, you should come earlier.”

“Ah, Good Morning Shirasaki-san.”

The girl walks up to Hajime as she is smiling. In this class, she is one of the few people that knew Hajime.

Her name was Shirasaki Kaori. She is known as one of the two goddesses of the school, popular among both male and female students and known for her very beautiful looks. Kaori had long glossy black hair that reached her waist, and large slightly weeping eyes that conveyed a sense of gentleness. She had a straight bridge nose that was small, and thin lips of Sakura colors arranged to perfection.

Always the girl with the endless smile, is very caring and has a strong sense of responsibility that often people, regardless of school year, rely on her help. She is always seen with a sincere expression without any unpleasantness, that’s why it is hard to believe she was just a high school student.

So, why is someone like Hajime acquainted so well with one of the most popular girls in the school? It’s a long story.

He and Daisuke were friends since childhood, and up until middle school were like brothers. They both watched too much TV and had the over active imaginations of a five-year-old on a sugar rush. Together they had what was probably the worst case of chuunibyou that a psychologist has ever seen.

They would spend hours reenacting fighting scenes from anime, getting into pretend fights with other kids, and pulling pranks on adults as our anime alter-egos. As kids they could get away with minor things like when they filled a teacher’s desk with shaving cream, or propped buckets of wet sand over the back entrance doors where the school cameras couldn’t see. Yet as they got older, understandably but still unknown to them at the time their parents started to get worried about their behavior.

In middle school, though, is where is when the first signs of problems started to emerge. When Hajime and Daisuke were in elementary, their antics were not only accepted by their peers, they earned the two of them many friends. The problem was as years based, their antics would earn them less “friends” each time and as minor pranks became repetitive, many of their “friends” left to look for something else to entertain them. So with each year in passing our circle slowly shrank until the second year of middle school when it was just the two of them.

“Nagumo-kun, Good Morning. Nice day huh? It’s just a shame its a school day today, I wanted to see that movie you were talking about.”

“Kaori, are you looking after him again? How nice of you.”

“For real, no matter what you say to this guy, all he does is sleep.”

Hajime’s flashback was suddenly interrupted by three newcomers. The name of the girl that greeted him first was Yaegashi Shizuku. Kaori’s best friend. She had long black hair done in a ponytail, slightly slit eyes, and she was tall for a girl at 172 cm, her dignified posture was similar to how a samurai. That last bit was what told Hajime that he wasn’t the only one that watched too much anime when he and Shizuku first met.

In fact, her family is in ownership of a Kenjutsu dojo. Shizuku herself is a veteran of her family style (as well as the owner of every Rurouni Kenshin related thing ever made, though she has since made sure Hajime has kept that a secret). Since she was a child, she had never lost in a tournament. Currently she appears in magazines as the “Beautiful Swords-woman”, she even have some die-hard fans(or in other words “stalkers”).

One underclass woman would even call her “Onee-sama” for a while out of admiration (while stalking her, and she in turn would call the police).

Next, the one that spoke a little clumsily to Kaori was Amanogawa Kouki. Just like his name suggested, he was the perfect man. He had good looks, was incredibly athletic, spoke like he was from a romance novel, and had a good personality. He had silky brown hair and gentle eyes. His body was completely toned and slender at about 180 cm. Kouki was nice to everyone and had a very strong sense of justice. Since he was small, he attended the Yaegashi Kenjutsu dojo like Shizuku, and with her help he became a national level athlete. Their continuous contact, love for similar kinds of anime heroes, and mutually warped sense of justice made Shizuku and Kouki some of the closest friends Hajime had ever seen. Dozens of girls have fallen for Kouki, but he is always close to Kaori and Shizuku for some reason. Still he is a very popular guy that gets confessed to at least twice a month from all over. It is unfortunate that he is denser than a nuclear bunker made out of lead, and believes that anyone who says “I love you” to him is a fan talking about his tournament matches.

The last person was named Sakagami Ryutaro, one of Kouki’s few best friends that weren't girls. His dad was an old boxer that did everything he could to "pass on his metal", and it showed. He's muscle brain that doesn't care about, or really understand, the finer details in things. He had the body a bear of a bear raised on red meat and weight lifting, had fiery red hair, and he stood tall at about 190 cm. He was so imposing that anyone who didn't know him personally though he was the scariest being on earth. Ryutaro is a very hot blooded and it's gotten him into trouble more times than he can count. It was on one such occasion, he'd ended up in a misunderstanding that resulted in him getting into a fist-fight with our very own hero of justice Kouki. By the end of it both of them were exhausted and unable to move on the school roof as paramedics came to pick them up. Though after everything was cleared up, the two came to a respect one another and have been best friends ever since.

He doesn't understand Hajime’s lazy approach to life, but rarely gives him trouble about it. The first time he tried, Hajime just showed the guy his last report card and the man crumpled to his knees like a he stood before Buddha himself.

Hajime did however, realize that he was surrounded by stereotypes, a fact he’s been all too aware of since all of freshmen year two years ago. He completely understood that he’s a completely average, expendable john doe surrounded by cardboard cut-out “popular kids”. And He really didn’t care.

Just as he said before, at the second year of middle school he’d finally realized that the attention they got from pranks wasn’t making them any real friends. That alone didn’t really bother him, in fact it made him feel like the underdog hero in his own anime. What finally changed his mind was a certain girl.

Four years ago a student transferred to the school, that student was the same koari that he was sitting with now. Back then she was only twelve so she didn’t look the way she does now, nor was she the prettiest in the school, but to him she was still very pretty. She was his first crush, though he doesn’t think she ever knew that. He never really confessed to her what he felt back then, not that it really matters now.

At the time he just wanted to look cool in front of her, he’d have done anything to get that. That day that she transferred however was the same day the he looked around the classroom and realized he didn’t look cool in front of ANY girl there. He was just a Chunni to them.

So he did what any sane man does in that situation, he changed my image.

“Ohayo, Hajime. Earth to Hajime! Your spacing out again, we can practically see you orbiting the sun.”

Shizuku, waved her hand in front of his face to try to get Hajime's attention from his daydream.

“Hey Hajime, you alright. You’ve been spacing out a lot lately, even more than last year.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m fine Ryu”

“If you knew about it, why not fix it? You’re gonna make your friends worry if you keep doing that.”

Kouki admonished Hajime about his flaws whenever he could get the chance. In Kouki’s eyes, Hajime didn't take anything seriously enough, and mutually hajime thought Kouki never payed attention to the bigger picture. They weren't on bad terms, they just knew how to get on each others nerves. They’re his friends, they’re just worried about him while he continues to be a jerk about it.

Even if they asked him to “fix” his spacing out, he can’t really help it anymore. It’s like his brain is rejecting reality at this point. Ever since he decided to “Fix” his image, ever since the argument with Daisuke four years ago, ever since the “incident”, it’s like he’s completely lost control of his life. Though there wasn't any use thinking about it now.

He’s intelligent, has a brilliant GPA for someone his age, and his father was a game creator who knew important people in the field. He Could just live a quiet student life, why was he bothering with fantasies.

“Iya~Ahaha…”

Therefore, laughingly, Hajime let it go. Though Kaori suddenly interjected in a course tone.

“Kouki-kun, What are you saying? We’re just talking to Nagumo-kun because we’re concerned as his friends, we aren’t asking him to “fix” anything.”

“Oh? …Ah, sorry, Kaori is so nice.”

Kouki tends to take Kaori’s responses about Hajime at face value. Kouki was a good person, but he lacked the ability to really understand what he said(He fails his reading and writing comprehension exam a lot). Hajime took this time to look up at the sky to escape the awkward situation.

“…I’m sorry? I don’t want to rude to you to, but…”

At that place the person with the best understanding of people, Shizuku, secretly apologized to Hajime. Hajime replied with a “No choice” with a grin and a shrug.

The bell chimed to signal the start of class, and their teacher entered the classroom. He conveyed the usual information. And, Hajime started another daydream while the class started, a more peaceful one that didn’t involve the past.

* * *

Hajime woke up to the bustle of a noisy classroom. He was a light sleeper, so he never worried about missing anything important (like Lunch or a bomb drill). Looking around he saw everyone getting ready for the lunch break.

Hajime raised his face from the desk and took out his lunch box with a rustling sound. Looking around the people who were buying food were already out the class, so the number of people in class were decreasing. Still, there were still about 2/3 of the class with their bento left, while their 4th period social studies teacher Hatakeyama Aiko (25 years old) was chatting with several students near the podium.

Ji~yururu, ki~yupon!

Hajime just tried to eat quickly so he could go back to sleep. However, Kaori approached his desk like she wanted to talk.

Hajime Tried his best to at least look like he was paying attention, but he was especially sleepy on Mondays. Usually before Kaori’s and the other interacted with him he would have been gone to find a place to sleep, but during the weekend he had to pull two full all-nighters with a ryu over the internet (the poor guy had a test in math today, without Hajime’s help he wouldn’t have stood a chance).

“Nagumo-kun, how rare it is to find you in class at lunch. Obento? If you want let’s eat together.”

“Ah, thanks for the offer, Shirasaki-san. However, I already finished eating so why not join the others?”

As he said that, he showed her my empty lunch pack and motioned to where Shizuku sat just a few desks away. Kaori had a fascination with eating on the roof with at least one of her friends, she said it was something she picked up from her grandmother at home. He wondered why the heck her parents would let their elderly mother and young daughter eat lunch on the roof of their house, but decided it was better not to ask.

However, such a low level refusal was not enough to stop the Goddess from trying.

“Eh! You only ate that much? That’s not good, you should eat properly. I’ll give you some of mine!”

(*sigh* Fine I’ll just pull in early when I get home.)

Suddenly a wild Kouki appeared with his groupies in tow.

“Kaori. Let’s eat together. It seems like Nagumo hasn’t slept enough yet. I won’t allow such a sleepyhead to enjoy Kaori’s delicious meal.”

Kaori just laughed refreshingly at Kouki’s smug response. For someone as close to Kouki as Kaori, the Ikemen’s smile and words didn't really have effect on her. That’s mostly from the fact he doesn’t mean anything by it, he quick literally imitates lines from the video games he, Ryu, and Hajime play together from time to time. One night they were playing FF7 until late and started joking that the main character fit him perfectly, so he started saying lines from the game whenever he thought they fit and it just became a habit (that last one was from a dating sim they played for laughs).

“Eh? What are you unable to allow?”

Shizuku unwittingly blew out a laugh at Kaori’s response. Kouki just laughs at that and starts to just chat it up. The 4 of them were quickly getting lost in their own little world.

Hajime Thought to himself that it probably wouldn’t matter either way if he dozed off while they were preoccupied.

(*yawn* they seem like their having fun, they probably wouldn’t notice if I just closed my eyes for a bit…)*snore*

Hajime’s mind escapes reality for a moment, filled with the darkness that comes before dreams, but just as he got ready to doze off, a glimmering light caught his attention. He squinted at the floor as something strange happened beneath his feet.

In front of his eyes, a complex array of snow white circles drew themselves on the linoleum floors and circled around his feet. He would have assumed he was just day-dreaming, but the other students also noticed the sudden light show. He tried to get up and get a better look, but he soon found he couldn’t move. He watched as the patterns shone with blinding light and the force that held him down started to grab the other students. His mind spun as thought this had to be some strange ultra-real dream.

The magical formations gradually got brighter and brighter, expanding until it lit up the entire room. When the students finally processed the situation they tried to move and scream, but When Aiko-sensei finally shouted “Everybody get out”, the formation immediately exploded.

Light covered the classroom for a few seconds, then a few minutes. When it cleared no one was left in the classroom. All their belongings that were not on them were left behind untouched.

The world would later call this the first recorded spirited away incident, but that was another story.