As you know, in the high school hierarchy, each social class is worlds apart from the others. This is exactly what things are like at the high school Horohoro and his friends attended.

There was a small gang - the most popular bunch in the school. This group consisted of Yoh, Hao, Lyserg, Chocolove, Anna, Pirika, Jeanne, Tamao, and the group's leader, Horohoro. They were what everyone wanted to be. Smart, athletic, popular, and good-looking. They looked down on all groups they believed were below them, and Horohoro found nothing more amusing than making life for the unpopular a living hell.

Consider Tao Ren. A slender boy with deeply colored purple-black hair. He had a reasonably good-looking face, with his keen golden eyes. Ren had the potential to be popular, but he chose not to. The boy had no friends whatsoever, because of his shyness and his reluctance to interact with his fellow students. He rarely spoke at all, and he didn't care for social events or fun. Ren was a straight-A student, and he recieved top grades in all his classes. These reasons, all put together, was why Horohoro and his gang loved to torment him so much. This day was no different.

The bell had already rang, and Ren was eager to get to his class in time. He was walking at a fast pace, with downcast eyes, not daring to look at anyone. He felt comforted this way, like he was invisible, and protected from the outside world.

Without warning, the boy felt a hand grab his collar and slam him into the wall of lockers. He yelped in surprise and pain, but despite the cruel ambush, he refused to look at his attacker. He already knew who it was, anyways. Who else could it be? Who else loved to torture him, to make him miserable, and to physically and mentally harm him?

Laughter echoed around from the gang and some passerbys. Horohoro grinned smugly. "Good morning, Tao," he smirked. "How's life as my favorite little punching bag going?"

Ren looked away and remained silent. Yoh found this very funny. He started cracking up.

"Filthy worm," Horohoro laughed, releasing the boy. "Are you so stupid that you don't even know how to talk?" The group enclosed Ren in a circle, trapping him.

"Leave me alone, Usui," he whispered.

The gang guffawed. "Did you hear that?" sniggered Chocolove. "The little nerdling's trying to cop an attitude. We'll teach you to talk back to us, pointy-headed freak."

Ren gasped as Chocolove's foot made contact with the side of his ribcage. "No...I just...please leave me alone..." he whimpered.

"Good one, Choco!" Yoh laughed. "You show that little brat!"

Ren squeezed his eyes shut as Yoh kicked him in the stomach. He staggered back and coughed, collapsing and sinking to his knees. Tears welled in his eyes.

"Awww...are you going to cry?" Ren looked up as Anna grabbed him by the hair and gave him one of her hard, infamous bitch-slaps. "You disgust me," she snapped.

This recieved more laughter. Yoh chuckled and handed Anna some hand sanitizer. "Aww, Anna, ladies shouldn't get their hands dirty by touching filth like him," he laughed.

Anna smirked. "You're right." She rubbed the sanitizer onto her hands. "I can't believe I touched the dirty little rat."

Hao reached down and grabbed Ren's scarf. "This is an awful nice scarf you have, Tao," he said cheerfully. "Too bad it's wasted by being worn around your scrawny little neck." He gave the scarf a hard jerk. Ren choked. He couldn't breathe as the scarf tightened severely around his throat. He gasped for air as Lyserg removed the scarf.

Jeanne smiled serenely. "There's no hope for him. He's to filthy to be able to recieve eternal blessing after death."

Horohoro laughed as Lyserg handed him the scarf. "We're not through with you yet," he smirked. He grabbed the defenselss boy's arms and pinned them behind his back. Ren struggled uselessly as Horohoro blindfolded him with the scarf. He kicked him hard in the stomach, earning a cry of pain.

"Worthless bitch," Horohoro hissed in his ear. "You are nothing." He twisted Ren's arm behind his back roughly. Ren yelped, which encouraged the Ainu to wrench it harder. The boy cried out in pain as Horohoro threw him back onto the floor.

"Let's go, guys," he said, swaggering away. "See you later," they laughed, leaving Ren to lie defenseless and still blindfolded on the ground. The boy huddled into the corner, ignoring the bell as it rang, signifying he was late. He didn't care anymore, he just wished that they would stop hurting him.

He crawled away and sought safety behind a small cart of textbooks. It was a good spot, and no one would be able to see him. Other than the fact that the area was littered with shards of broken glass from where students had hidden empty beer bottles, it was relatively confortable. He hugged his knees to his chest and waited, singing softly to himself to try and make the emotional pain dissolve.

"itsuka otozureru jouku metsu no toki
shitte ita ka no you ni mukae
subete o dashi tsuku shita sono nochi
mae e to taore you..."

He let out a long sigh before picking up one of the glass shards. He rolled up his left sleeve, clutching the sharp object in his right. He slowly made a thin vertical cut across his wrist, watching as the blood trickled out. It hurt terribly. Ignoring the pain. he made another cut. It was a trick he had learned from his sister. The pain would be enough to take your mind off things, but if you cut vertically, you wouldn't die. Sighing again, he tossed the glass aside and rolled his sleeve back down to conceal the fresh wounds.

He slowly made his way out from the hiding place and stumbled down the hall. At that moment, the bell rang, signifying that class was over. Great. Another session of time that Horohoro and his gang could use to torment him. They would never miss the oppurtunity.

Ren's prediction was right. Horohoro and company approached him, and he shamefully looked away. Then he did nothing but let them insult him and continue to cruelly beat him.