"Welcome to Daichi."

Koishi continued to stare up at the joyful face of Shinju, still fixed to the ground. Initiated? A part of their group? Was that what that was before?

"Man! You really socked a good one on me Koishi! Didn't think you had it in you!" Shinju said rubbing his jaw that Koishi just now noticed was turning a pale purple. "Well, we don't have much time left for lunch. Be best to cram in what we can before the period ends." He took out another sub sandwich from his bag, the sight of it making Koishi blanch and reel himself backwards while covering his mouth. He stared anxiously as Shinju unwrap his sub at a snail's pace. It wasn't until Shinju took the first bite that Koishi looked away from the sandwich and focused on its holder's face. Shinju was watching him intensely and it looked like he had been for a while now. The sandwich was pointed at him making him flinch. "You want some?" Shinju asked. Koishi shook his head rapidly and Shinju just smirked knowingly and took another bite. The two friends next to Shinju also continued on with their lunch calmly as they began to converse with each other. He sat there trying to make sense of everything, he was too scared to move to reach for his own lunch. What was he supposed to be doing? Was what happened really so trivial?

Soon the 5 minute warning bell rang and lunch was over. The three boys stood up, but Koishi remained as though he didn't hear it. Shinju looked down at the boy whose expression was glazed over. "Hey!"

Koishi jerked and kept his head lowered and shoulders hunched.

Shinju looked at the cowering boy with a bland expression before looking at the Koishi's bento and smiled mockingly. "You didn't eat your lunch again. You want us to help you with that tomorrow?" His grin grew at the sight of Koishi's bodily jerk reaction. "Haha! I'm just playing with you Koishi! Anyway, we best get heading back to class, or we'll be late." The three boys walked off and Shinju waved behind him. "See you after school Koishi!"

Koishi swallowed thickly and it wasn't until the other three were out of sights that he felt he could move again. He scrambled to gather his things off the ground and ran back to his own class.

...

Sitting through the rest of the class became difficult for Koishi. He couldn't focus at all. Conflicted feelings and jumbled thoughts about what had happened earlier. What Shinju had done was really painful.

Koishi scrunched his nose. He wished he had a tissue, his nose was itching like crazy and everything smelled of mustard seed.

Shinju called it an 'initiation'. Said he was a part of their group now. But what did being a part of the group mean? Were friends then? He'd like to have friends again. He missed having them. He hadn't had a friend since even before he moved here.

It was a good thing he wasn't called on by the teacher at all. Otherwise he would have gotten yelled at. He didn't think he could handle getting yelled at at the moment… Then again, he didn't like being yelled at ever. It always made him think of the days back in middle school. They would yell at him. All the time.

"Koishi!"

Koishi startled and looked up at Shinju standing in front of his desk smiling. Behind the taller boy he could see that the teacher was gone and half of his classmates had already left for home or for club activities.

"What are you waiting for? Class is over. Hurry up and get your things together and meet us out front." Shinju took off and Koishi followed after him at a much slower pace. Shinju and the other two, Takumi and Arata, were waiting for him by the shoe lockers. Arata who was holding a soccer ball was the first to notice him. "There he is. What took you so long? You're even slower than Takumi."

"Oi! Don't criticize everything based on the way my eyes look!"

"I'm not, you really are just slow." Arata said in a manner that showed how little he cared about the subject.

Shinju cut off the beginnings of their fight with a light laugh. "Well now that we're all here, let's get going. Follow us Koishi."

They walked out the front gates of the school, Koishi cowering in the back and the three conversing as they moved on. Koishi tried several times to get himself to speak up and ask where it was they were going, but every time all that came out was hot air. Shinju took a peak behind him to see if Koishi was still following and snorted when he paniked face of the smaller boy with the way his mouth kept opening and closing. "What is it Koishi? Just speak your mind."

Koishi jumped, and adverted his eyes. "W-Where… where are w-we going?"

Shinju stopped and looked over the side of the bridge they were on. The water was flowing slowly underneath. "We're already here actually." His expression shifted from a smirk to the look of a child about to go into a candy store and took off ahead of them. "Race ya down!"

Koishi just stood there at first when the other three boys sprinted the rest of the way across the bridge until he registered there growing distance and started running after them. The three up ahead turned right as soon as they got off the bridge and ran the rest of the way down the slope leading to the small river that cut through town. When Koishi caught up with them he nearly got his eye jabbed with a finger when Shinju suddenly flipped around and stopped the boy by pointing at his face. "Last person is penalized!" Shiju declared like a king giving out rules to his subjects as he pleased.

"W-Wha-?"

"You are to be our practice goalie." Shinju said excitedly.

Koishi stood still as the three stared him down, not exactly sure what to do with himself.

"Well?" Arata said irritably. "Go stand by the wall."

Koishi flinched at the other boy's angry tone and hurriedly ran to the wall. He made it sound like something bad would happen if he didn't follow his instructions. He began to wonder if Shinju's friends didn't like him. It wouldn't be the first time. But Shinju said he was a part of the group.

"H-Here?" So he didn't have to worry.

"Yes, that's perfect." Shinju said.

Right?

"Now all you have to do is make sure that the ball doesn't get passed you. Got that?"

Koishi gave a shaky nod.

"Ok! Arata, the ball!" Arata tossed the ball and Shinju kept it in the air with his knees. "Now that we have a goalie we can havea 2 on 1, sound good?"

Takumi nodded and Arata shrugged his shoulders. "Sure."

"Yosh! Here I come!"

The three boys battled it out with their feet. Each trying to gain possession of the ball for themselves. Koishi began to wonder if any of them were even working together against the other. Had they specified who was on whose team? He was having a hard time following the course of the game. Who was in the advantage? Who had possession of the ball when they were kicking at each other's feet?

At one moment they were charging towards him with the ball at full sprint and the next the ball was in the air and going completely the opposite way. Their dance of no rhyme nor apparent reason continued and, again, Koishi was lost.

Then suddenly the ball was flying at him. Koishi was a dear in headlights. He had no time to think of dodging as the ball rammed into his stomach knocking the air from his lungs. Koishi bent over and held his stomach as the ball fell to the ground in front of him. He didn't notice the ball being kicked away or when the 3 boys continued playing, but by the time he got ahold of himself he was looking up to a soccer ball in his face. His head jerked backwards from the impact and knocked him to his butt. The ball ricocheted back to the boys and they continued the battle for the ball.

One could almost call it funny with the quick succession of hits to Koishi's person. But that thought never crossed Koishi's mind. All he could feel was how much his face stung. Tears were already forming as he remained sitting. A small trickle of blood coming out of his nose.

"Oi, Koishi! What are you doing? Get back up! We still need a goalie!" He heard Shinju shout.

What were they talking about? Couldn't they see he was hurt? He watched them as their focus was solely on the ball.

He wiped his nose with the back of his hand and rubbed it in the grass so he wouldn't get his uniform bloody before he began to stand back up.

Maybe they just didn't realize.

"U-Umm… S-Shin-"

"Heads up Koishi!"

The ball socked him in the guts, again, making him cry out in pain and surprise. He leaned forward as he curled inward and held his stomach, coughing violently from the air getting knocked out of him. The ball bounced lazily to the side and he saw a pair of feet out of the corner of his watery vision.

"What's wrong Koishi-kun?" He heard Shinju's voice say.

"H-Hurt… I-It hurts." He stuttered out between coughs.

"What's the hold up Choji!" Takumi shouted a little ways away.

"Koishi says he's hurt!" Shinju yelled back

"Seriously?" Arata scoffed. "We just stared. He can't be hurt that badly. Grit your teeth wimp!"

Shinju bent down and patted his back. "Well, you heard him. Up and at'em."

Koishi watched helplessly as the other straightened up and walking towards the other two. He carefully stood up as well his legs trembling. He was scared, he didn't want to get hit like that again.

But he did. It hit his legs and his stomach plenty enough as it came to the point he was about to throw up. His arms were hit the most from trying to shield his face. And every time he was knocked down, one of the guys would yell at him to get back up.

As the game went on, Koishi gradually growing in panic. He had tried to sneak away at one point but when Shinju called out to him asking what he was doing, he'd lost his resolve and went back to his spot. Koishi would try to doge the rest of them, but more often than not they would still hit him. He could only hope it ended soon.

…

They didn't stop until it was almost sunset. An entire hour later.

Shinju waved goodbye to Arata and Takumi as they left for home Koishi alone with the bandanna wearing adolescent.

"Today was fun, wasn't it Koishi?"

Koishi tucked his head in and looked away tears brimming his eyes. He knew what was happening. Koishi may be foolish and naïve, but he wasn't that stupid. He had realized halfway through, that those shots at him were intentional. They always went straight for him, they weren't trying to get the ball passed him. No, they were trying to get the ball through him. It fully came to him when Takumi hazzah'd when Koishi was nocked backwards, the ball bouncing off him and hitting the wall. Takumi hadn't cheered before when Koishi managed to doge the ball at it hit the wall. None of them had. In fact, Shinji's friends grumbled at him whenever he tried to dodge.

He should have realized it earlier during lunch. It wasn't anything like how he was treated before. Back then it had mostly been just hateful glares and mean words not counting that one day. He knew what they did could be considered bullying. But they did what they did for the sake of someone else. For Koishi, everything that happened back then was all his fault, he couldn't blame them when over half the things they said to him he agreed with. Even if they got to be a bit too mean at times.

This though, this was different from being mean. No. This… this was worse. This was cruel. For whatever reason, they wanted to hurt him. Had he done something before? Was this all because he tossed food at Shinju the other day?

"-morrow they start up practice again, but it doesn't start till-"

"Why?" Koishi blurted. Not realizing Shinju was talking to him until he had spoken out loud. And now Koishi was realizing he had just interrupted him. Shinju, the person that apparently wanted to hurt him.

"… Why what? You need to be more specific Koishi." His tone calm and placating. But it just made Koishi burrowed his head further between his shoulders and kept his eyes trained to the ground.

Shinju stepped closer and leaned in toward the shuddering boy. "Go on." He said soothingly.

Koishi swallowed before he mumbled softly. "You s-said… I was a part of… the group. But… you're trying to… to hurt m-me, a-aren't you? …Why?"

The taller boy straightened up putting his hands in his pockets. "Hmm? Didn't I tell you yesterday?" He began with innocent confusion. "I said Daichi was a boring school. Remember?" Shinju took another step closer and his shadow completely covered over Koishi.

The intensity of Koishi's shivers when up a notch at the other's close proximity.

"And what better way than to have our very own jester?"

Koishi caught a glimpse of that smile he had seen on the boy once before. The one that was different from his other smiles.

"You wanna know why I'm gonna keep you around Koishi?"

Koishi didn't think he wanted to.

"It's cuz to me, everything that comes out of that mouth of yours is something akin to comedy gold." Shinju took a step back and Koishi took a glance up.

Shinju's smile, was so… serine. It was just wrong in the present situation. And the sun setting behind the taller boy giving him a glorious halo was not helping the disturbing image at all.

"I don't know what it is about you that just makes me want to… hold you by the ankles over the side of a train just to see you squirm."

Koishi was so confused and greatly disturbed about the that mental immage. He didn't know what to say or do. How could the other look so genuinly happy while talking about putting Koishi in that sort of life endangering situation. Nothing Shinju was saying was making any notable amount of sense. What did he mean by having a jester? Is he talking about those brightly dressed people with bells attached to their floppy hats from the medieval days? Was Shinju calling him a clown?

"Unfortunately," Shinju continued. "Things like the way you talk doesn't entertain the guys as much as it does for me. They find humor in the simpler things. What sort of simpler things?" Shinju poked Koishi's forehead making his head bob back and Shinju took his opportunity to flick his nose.

"Ah!" Koishi covered half his face with his hands, still refusing to look up completely.

"Pain is a prime example for one. Of course, not just any pain will do for them. It has to be the kind of pain they can inflict on a person that make them feel… bigger, I guess is the best way to put it. It makes them happy I guess and as any reasonable person would agree, I like my friends to be happy. So I let them do as they please. Within my given parameters of course." Shinju patted Koishi's head. "So don't worry my little harlequin, I won't let them cause any permanent damage."

The head on Koishi's head suddenly felt very heavy. And even when it was removed and Koishi was left alone after Shinju left he could still feel as though something was barely touching him. Something taht felt like a 100kg spiked glove, just hovering over his head, waiting to squash him into the dirt.

What was he going to do? What was he supposed to do?

Koishi wished he knew.

No Seido in this chapter. But no worries, they will be apearing in the next one.

Thankyou so much to those that offered some of their ideas for the bullying scenes. They have deffinitely helped and it has inspired some ideas for future stuff.

I very much appreciate all of those that commented and said such wonderful things about this story. It makes me happy.

Thankyou for following and favoriting this story. I like that people actually like it.