There's been a weird feeling I'm being watched and no matter where I go it follows me. And it's only ten in the morning.

"..." I scanned my surroundings, but nothing seemed out of place. Students chatted within their groups and none of them spared me a single glance.

"Randall." Someone said right in my ear.

"Uwah!" I almost backhanded Prince Harvard. "The hell was that about?!"

"Have you seen Hunter by any chance?"

"No, why?"

"I asked him to do me a favor, but he still hasn't returned."

"I don't know why you're asking me. I have nothing to do with him."

"That's a shame. I asked him to get John Walker for me, but it's been almost an hour." That name sounded familiar. John Walker... Who was he?

!

"You don't mean to tell me you had an ignorant idiot like him-"

"I'm sure he is just having trouble finding John. Besides, like you said, you have nothing to do with Hunter." Harvard walked off with that annoying smirk on his face.

I sighed, much as I hate to admit, he's right. I shouldn't let this bother me and I have no right to poke my nose into his business.

Tap.

Tap. Tap.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

TapTapTapTapTapTapTap-

"Randall, go tap your pencil somewhere else!" The teacher kicked me out of the classroom.

It's bothering me. It shouldn't, but it is. What if something happened? I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something happened because I didn't check on him? God knows that shitty prince doesn't give a damn.

...Damn it. Why do I have to have feelings?

I quickly walked to the front office.

"Excuse me, could you tell me what class Hunter Poland had?"

"Room 509." I didn't thank the Lady and sped off to the class. If he's not in that class I need to look for him.

"Excuse me," I tapped the classroom door, "is Hunter Poland here?"

"He's not here today. Ma-" Fuck fuck fuck shit dammit where the fuck is he? I ran back to the main office.

"Could you tell me the class John Walker is in right now?" The lady gave me a long look.

"Is there something I should be concerned about?"

"No."

"...Room 214."

"Thanks!" I sprinted down to room 214. This time I didn't bother knocking and slammed the door open, startling everyone inside.

"What the-"

"Is John Walker here?!"

"No-" I ran off through the halls. If I were a simpleton like John Walker, where would I be?

The storage units away from the main building that no one ever uses!

I sprinted at full speed out of the building, forgetting things like dignity. There were about nine of these storage units total. I needed to be quick.

First one. Empty.

Second one. Just some broken tables and chairs.

Third one. Old moldy books in unstable stacks.

Right as I entered the fourth unit, I heard a thud from one of the other places. I stopped and listened intently.

"Sto-mmmph!" I knew that annoying voice anywhere. It sounded like he was in the eighth unit.

Bingo. The door was locked, and sounds were coming from inside. I went back to the second unit, grabbed the sturdiest chair I saw, and bashed in the door of the eighth unit.

My blood ran cold.

Hunter had been stripped of his clothes and had his hands bound tightly together. His feet were tied to two poles to keep his legs spread apart.

And that bastard had his hands all over him. One of his hands were about to unzip his jeans.

The chair slammed the bastard's head into the whole before he could turn around.

I kicked him away from Hunter, slammed his head against the wall again, broke a chair leg off, and stuck the sharp end right into his dick.

"AGHHHH!" He passed out from the pain. He'd never be able to use that dick ever again.

"Mmph!" Hunter struggled against the ropes. I untied his legs and arms fast as I could. He yanked the cloth out of his mouth and clung to me. His body shook violently, and I noticed blood going down his legs. Some cuts were on his legs.

"Hunter, you need to have the nurse look at that! Come on, I'll take you to the nurse."

"I don't want them to see. Please." Hunter sobbed.

"You can't let it go untreated."

"I-I don't want anyone else to touch me."

"...Will you at least let me treat your injuries then? As much as I get why you don't want anyone touching you, those cuts can get infected quickly."

"Only you." Hunter mumbled. He gripped tighter when I stood up. "Where are you going?"

"I was going to look for your clothes. Do you know where they are?"

"The shirt is no good, my pants are in the corner." I went over to pick up his clothes. From the looks of his, everything had been torn in half, excluding his slacks.

"Here. Put these on." I tossed them to Hunter. He hastily slid them on. "I have to do something real quick before we leave the school. You can wait in the carriage."

"D-Don't leave me alone!" Hunter clutched my shirt with trembling hands. Oh, for fuck's sake, how insensitive could I possibly be? Of course, he wouldn't want to be alone after what just happened!

"I'm sorry. That was insensitive of me. Here, put this on then." I took off my shirt and pulled it over Hunter's head. It was a bit big on him, but it'd do for now.

"Let's go." I waited for Hunter to stand back up, my hand outstretched to help him. He grabbed my hand and stood up. However, I noticed how badly his legs were shaking. I could carry him piggyback, but that'd make his slacks rub against the cuts.

"Is it alright if I carry you?"

"...Sure." Hunter looked embarrassed, but he knew he wouldn't be able to walk in his current state.

I gently hoisted him up in a princess carry. I shifted him until he was comfortable. Despite his muscular body, he was light enough for me to carry him for a while.

"What are you going to do anyway?"

"I'm going to go ham on a certain bastard." Hunter had a confused expression but didn't ask anything else. I made my way back into the school and went straight to the student council room.

With a loud bang, I kicked the door open. Inside, all the student council staff were there; Tabius, Christopher, Prince Harvard, Ezekiel, Jackie, and Zachary.

"What the hell are you doing now-" Tabius stopped when he saw Hunter. "Why are you- oh no, don't tell me you two fuc-"

"You mention something like that, and I'll personally rip your throat out." I glared at him, then shifted my attention to Prince Harvard. "You fucker, why the fuck would you do that to Hunter?!"

"What? All I did was have him stay in one of the storage units. I didn't actually tell him to go fetch John Walker."

"Well, because of YOU he-" I cleared my throat and tried to keep my anger down. "You may not have meant to, but John found Hunter in the storage unit."

"..." Harvard looked shocked for once. He regained his neutral face in a split second.

"You don't mean to tell me-" Tabius butted in.

"Yes." I breathed out. "You'll find him in the unit with the broken door."

"He won't still be there."

"Oh yes he will. I impaled his dick with a broken chair leg. Now, I'm taking Hunter to get his wounds treated."

"Mother of god," Christopher mumbled in shock. I shifted Hunter in my arms again and carried him out to where the carriages were. There were always carriages ready to go in case someone needed to leave for an emergency.

"Do you want to go to your house, or to mine?" I asked as I set Hunter down.

"Yours. I don't want my parents to know what happened."

"Okay, to the Howell estate." I told the driver.

"...Thanks for saving me." Hunter said, "I know you don't like me."

"Well, it's not that I don't like you I just...well...I didn't want to..."

"Deal with me?"

"Uh, I would've said something a bit nicer, but yes."

"I noticed. Prince Harvard tried convincing me that you did like me, but it wasn't hard to see that I annoy you."

"..." It was funny to think that a couple days I saw Hunter as nothing more than a nuisance. Now, I don't know what to think of him after what I witnessed.

Maybe I should stop thinking of this as an otome game world and start seeing it as real life. Because despite the otome game being all light-hearted and shallow, what happened today made me realize that sometimes being the hero or heroine does more harm to the hero or heroine than the actual villain.

I mean, the "plot armor" might keep them from dying but being the hero/heroine could lead to them being targeted by bad people because of their allure. I mean, all the hero/heroine's I've heard are either the most gorgeous people or are the most powerful or have super rare magic.

But have people ever thought of the difficult situation that put the hero/heroine in? Of the burdens placed on them? Of them being pressured into being this perfect being?

"...I'm sorry. That was an unfair judgment on my part. I was unnecessarily rude to you and purposefully tried to hurt you, so you'd stay away."

"...You know, ever since I came here, I had been shunned by a lot of people. And I don't think you were cruel to me."

My head shot up to stare at him in surprise, "what?"

"I mean, no one would've wasted their time on me and even the polite ones might've spent half an hour helping me, but then make up some lame excuse to get away. But you actually spent a couple hours helping me even though you didn't want to."

"..."

"Not only that, but you did give me some good advice, albeit in a terse and standoffish and rude way." Hunter had a teasing grin on his face.

"Ha...yeah. Right." I awkwardly scratched my neck. "Sorry about that."

"Why did you look for me anyway?"

"...Well, the bastard told me he had sent you to look for... you know who. Anyway, I did tell myself it wasn't my business, but I got worried and ended up checking to see if you were in class. You weren't, so I figured the storage units would be the prime place to look."

"It's a good thing you were right." Hunter shuddered. "We both know what would've happened."

"..." My hands clenched. I knew all too well what it was like.

"You good?"

"Yeah, just wish I wasn't as merciful as I was."

"Pfft! Merciful? By impaling his dick? HAHAHA!" Hunter hooted with laughter. I smiled a bit myself. Him laughing was a good sign. Hunter is stronger than I assumed.

"Ow ow ow!"

"What is it?"

"I moved my legs and rubbed the cuts."

"Be careful."

"Yes, mom."

"I am not your mom!"

"You sure are acting like a mom."

"I'm not."

"You are."

"...I'm not."

"You are."