CH 1

Chapter 1 – Beginnings and Trauma

After returning from school and changing clothes, from the kennel in the garden, “Woof, woof,” dozle’s cry could be heard.

Dozle is a three-year-old beagle dog.

Of course, it’s a male.

Dozle was urging me to go for a walk as soon as I got home.

When I put on my sports shoes and went to the kennel with my walking lead, Dozle stood up on his two legs and clung to me as if he was waiting for me.

Such a cute little guy.

I tethered the lead to the collar of the excited Dozle and then removed his leash.

On cue, Dozle took off running.

I followed suit.

The course of the walk is from my house, through the residential area, along the river bank, and to the elementary school.

When we arrived at the primary school, I took him off the lead and let him play as much as he liked.

At first, I ran around with him, but after half an hour or so, I ran out of stamina and sat down and let him have fun on his own.

When it started to get dark, I said, ‘Dozle! Let’s go home~’ and he came stuttering back to me.

When I patted his head while saying ‘Yoshi Yoshi,’ he tried to lick my face.

But dog breath is a bit smelly.

I can’t help what I smell, even if it’s my only friend Dozle.

‘Stop!’ I said while covering my face with a hand and quickly connecting the leash.

◇◆◇

As I was walking home, I saw a woman with the same high school uniform as me walking.

If it had been just that, I would have just turned my back on it and walked on by, but on this occasion I stopped to look at it.

Because a suspicious man was following the woman.

I put my hat on deeply and scanned the area around, but the distance between him and the woman was unnatural, and I thought, ‘Maybe he’s a pervert?’ so I followed her.

Normally I would avoid trouble and pretend I didn’t notice, but I couldn’t leave it alone, perhaps because the woman’s back resembled a student I knew.

The woman continued walking through a residential area and was approaching a small park.

The prowler suddenly increased his walking speed and came up behind the woman.

I was like, ‘Ah!’ and without thinking, I let go of Dozle’s lead and started to run.

I grabbed the prowler’s shoulder at the same time as the prowler tried to put his hand on the woman’s shoulder.

The prowler was so startled that he made a strange noise and fell on his buttocks on the ground. 

At that moment, a kick burst into my field of vision.

Apparently, a woman turned around and kicked me in the face.

Unguarded, I received a heavy impact to the face and collapsed to my knees.

In my fading consciousness, I knew I shouldn’t have meddled.

◇◆◇

I was standing in the corridor.

The classroom in front of me is marked 3rd Class of Second Grade.

Ah, this is my middle school classroom.

Some girls could be heard talking inside.

One is the voice of someone I know well.

“Kasumi-chan, aren’t you going home with Moriyama today?”

“It’s okay, it’s okay, leave him alone.”

“Eh, isn’t that awful?”

“Even though he’s so in love with Kasumi~”

“He’s not even my boyfriend and he’s annoying me all the time.”

“Ah, but I get it! Moriyama is a nice guy, but he doesn’t read the air, seems to be a pushover when it comes to kindness, or something like that.”

“Yes, that’s it! He’s always meddling with me when I don’t ask for it, and it irritates me every time.”

Kasumi and I live next door to each other and have been together since kindergarten.

I liked Kasumi, so I did everything for her. Not only for Kasumi, but also for my friends and classmates, I was willing to do things that everyone else didn’t want to do.

But that was the moment when I was confronted with the fact that I was just a nuisance.