So, I've been stuck in idol hell for a while now, but I haven't really been in a writing mode till now. Now that I am, I've been sitting in front of my laptop trying to come up with ideas. And of course, those ideas led to this, so I hope you enjoy this!

Date Published: 7/12/16
Word Count: 2,447
Page Count: 4

Prelude: Childhood Promises

At times, children could be the most despicable things in the whole world. They would pick on others just for some sick amusement with wide grins plastered on their smug little faces. They enjoyed the torment they inflicted on their unfortunate victims, acting as if they had no morality in their souls. Most of the time they would never get in trouble for their actions in the classroom, much less outside of it. It was as if the adults were blind, or simply didn't care.

A young and meek Umi knew quite well what it was like to be harassed by those types of children. The bullies saw her shy and quick-to-tears personality as the perfect target for their cruelty. She never fought back, and she allowed them to do whatever they pleased. She would be too scared to let out a single word, much less a full sentence in protest. They pushed her around, tugged on her long dark blue hair, and proclaimed how pathetic she was for being such a cry baby. All the young girl could do was shake in fear as she tried her very best not to look in their direction because of the tears in her eyes. She didn't want to cry in the first place because it was a sign of weakness, but she couldn't help it. She wasn't a strong person like she desperately wanted to be. So she did her best to try and hide how right they were about her being a pitiful child.

Silently, she would pray for someone, anyone, to come in and save her. She was too feeble to stop the bullying herself despite wishing to be a stronger person. Umi could think of all of the things she wanted to say, yet nothing but frightened whimpers emerged from her mouth. She hated her weakness, but she couldn't find the strength she desperately desired anywhere in her small body. So she wished that a hero would burst in dramatically and scare off the mean children. To not only save her, but to also help her become a stronger person worthy of the Sonoda name. She wanted to be a strong person that could stand up for herself and others, but she knew she couldn't do it on her own.

On that day in the park as the sun bathed her in its warm orange light, she found herself wishing for someone to save her once more. She was talking with Kotori, a friend she had made a while back who happened to go to the same school when the girls from her class that usually bothered her happened to pass by. The group of three were laughing about something when they stopped at the park's entrance and saw the two. Umi didn't even notice the girls until they started to walk towards her, and she quickly froze in her place and directed her eyes to the ground. She knew it was a stupid idea, but if she didn't acknowledge them, she hoped they would just disappear.

"Umi-chan? What's wrong? Are you not feeling good or something?" asked Kotori in a concerned voice while she turned her head slightly. She was a few inches away from her companion and Kotori had her back turned to the oncoming trouble. Umi hadn't mentioned the bullying to her friends, so even if Kotori saw them, the girl wouldn't have a clue why Umi suddenly froze like a frightened animal.

Before Umi even had the chance to mumble out a single word of warning, the Umi-chan Harassment Squad approached the two girls with little smirks on their seemingly innocent faces. The ring leader of the squad was a small girl with short brown hair, and she spoke in condescending tone while she pointed her finger at Umi, "Look at that guys! Umi-chan actually has a friend! I guess someone took pity on her since she's always by herself!"

At that comment, Kotori turned around and looked at the three girls who looked around her age. She didn't recognize the three, so she determined they must have been in a different class considering they knew Umi. The usual soft and caring look on her face quickly turned into a serious one as she stared directly at the ring leader and replied, "We're friends because she's fun to play with." Her voice shocked lightly due to the uncomfortable atmosphere, but she tried to put on her bravest face.

The brunette didn't seem to care for what she had to say and walked up to Umi while acting as if Kotori wasn't even there. The bully placed her hand on top of Umi's head and pushed down on it roughly while saying in a cruel tone, "You really like to look at the ground when we talk Umi-chan. I guess it shows you know your place is below me, huh?"

Umi couldn't say anything due to the fear that started to course throughout her small body. It was if someone had frozen her face which prevented her from opening her mouth and speaking. All she could do was shut her eyes and let out little whimpers while praying that someone would come and stop it. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes, and she tried her best to keep them from seeping outwards. She hated how easy it was for her to start crying, and she despised how easy it was for someone to pick on her. She just wanted to tell them to leave her alone, but even something as simple as that was nearly impossible for her.

"Hey, you're hurting her!" yelled Kotori who had turned around once more to look towards the brunette and Umi, yet she didn't move from her spot. She didn't know what to do, much less how she could stop the girl from hurting her friend. If didn't help that she too started to fear scared with the brunette's minions standing beside her.

"Isn't that sweet? Too bad she can't do anything to help you! She's scared just like you!" laughed the girl as she started to dig her nails into Umi's skull while started to apply more pressure to it. The harasser was the same as usual. Cruel, uncaring, and she received all sorts of joy from the blue-haired girl's suffering.

Umi could feel that the tears started to spill out of her still closed eyes as the pain started to get worse. She hated it, all of it. She wanted to fight her off, to push away the demonic girl and take Kotori and run away. Far away where the bully couldn't so anything at all, but she would never have the courage to do that. She felt her strength leaving her body and the tremors of fear took its place. She wanted to fight back, but she couldn't do anything. So she just prayed that someone would walk by and save her.

"Hey! Leave my friend alone you jerk!" yelled a familiar voice that caused her to open her eyes. The grip on her head lightened and then vanished due to the cry which likely surprised her harasser. It then allowed her to raise her head upwards and looked towards the source of the voice. Running towards her at full speed as if on cue was Honoka, who waved around the wooden sword she liked to play with. The three had been playing in the back of the park when Honoka noticed she misplaced her toy. So, she told Umi and Kotori to go on ahead of her since they were going to have to get ready to leave before too long and she needed to find it.

The brunette, with a look of confusion plastered over her face, didn't move from her spot as she stared at Honoka. That seemed to aggravate the orange-haired girl even more and she declared loudly, "I said leave her alone! If you don't you're going to pay!"

"Huh? What's with this girl?" was all she managed to say before Honoka reached her and raised the wooden sword and nearly wacked the brunette on the head. Honoka's usual cheerful blue eyes were replaced with ones of irritation that Umi had never seen before.

"Like I said, leave her alone! It hurts to get hit with one of these, so you should do as I say!" she declared in the same loud voice while she continued to hover the wooden sword above the girl's head.

The brunette just looked at Honoka in shock before turning her gaze slightly over to Umi. She looked frightened, likely due to the fact she never actually had anyone show up and try to stop her. She then looked back at Honoka and mumbled lightly, "F-fine. You win. We'll leave."

With that declaration, she quickly ran off with her minions following after her. Honoka didn't need to say anything to get them running, likely because they knew they didn't want to push any of her buttons. Getting smacked around isn't as fun when you're the one getting hit, much less if it's with a piece of wood. For once, the villains knew when to properly retreat than to talk big and get defeated horribly by the hero.

As they started to run off, Honoka yelled, "And don't you dare try to do anything like this to her again! If you do, you're going to get in big trouble! I'll tell everyone I know about what you did and then you'll never be able to show your faces again!" With that declaration, she turned her attention away from the retreating girls and over to Umi.

"Are you okay Umi-chan?" she asked in a lighter tone as her eyes lost the serious glint and returned to their usual bright shine. She lowered the wooden sword to her side, and then walked up to Umi and inspected the top of her head with her free hand, "It doesn't look bad to me. Does it hurt anywhere?"

"H-Honoka-chan, I don't think you should be touching her head if it's hurt! That girl from school might have really hurt Umi-chan's head," added in Kotori as she quickly ran up to them and stood next to Honoka.

"Ahhh! That's true! I'm so sorry Umi-chan if I hurt you! Oh, I hope I didn't make things worse!" she yelled while pulling her hand away from Umi's head and looked over to Kotori with a frantic expression, "What should we do?!"

"I-I'm fine," mumbled Umi as she looked at the two girls before turning her attention over to Honoka. No matter how many times she prayed, no one ever came save her. She was always forced to deal with the cruelty of others and was unable to do anything about it. Her weakness prevented her from doing anything to stop it, and the obliviousness of the teachers didn't help. No one had ever stretched out their hand to help her out of her problem. Yet at that moment, someone actually heard her silent prayer. The very same person that stretched out her hand the day they met and asked if she wanted to play.

"Umi-chan…" spoke Kotori in a gentle tone as she looked at Umi's face, "Are you sure you're okay? Your crying."

"Ahhh! I'm so sorry for hurting you Umi-chan!" declared Honoka in a worried and anxious tone while waving her free hand around frantically, "We should take you home so your parents can take you to a doctor! I hope there isn't anything wrong with your head!"

"Really…I'm fine…" she spoke lightly while trying to wipe away the tears from her eyes but they didn't want to stop. She was just so happy that Honoka saved her that she couldn't keep those tears from falling. She didn't want them to see it, but her body wouldn't listen to her. Her first true friend had heard her plea for help and stopped them from hurting her. Someone had finally come to her rescue.

"Thank you," she spoke as she looked Honoka directly in the eyes, "Thank you so much." She had saved her again. Honoka saved her from her loneliness and she didn't care in the slightest that she couldn't speak her mind. Thanks to Honoka, she was able to make another great friend who tried to defend her. Thanks to Honoka, she was saved from the people who tormented her.

"Huh?" responded Honoka in a confused tone before she realized why she was being thanked. Her expression turned into one of happiness as a bright smile crossed over her face that was beautifully reflected in the shimmering sunset, "You're very welcome Umi-chan! If anyone tries to hurt you again, I'll scare them away with my sword!" After that, she stretched out her hand towards Umi and spoke, "All you have to do is tell me, and I'll be there to help you! It's a promise! Oh, and I promise that when we get to school tomorrow, me and Kotori-chan will tell a teacher what they did so they will get in trouble!"

"Yeah!" added in Kotori in soft voice along with a gentle smile, "I didn't help out much, but I promise to help put Honoka-chan tomorrow and make sure they get in trouble for what they did to you!"

It was on that day Umi decided she was going to repay Honoka no matter what. She would become a stronger person with both Honoka and Kotori at her side. She would work hard to become a person worthy of not only her family name, but also the kindness given to her by her friends. So that one day, when she was stronger, she would be able to repay the person who continued to stretch out her hand. Honoka had always put out her hand for her to grab when she was in trouble, so she wanted to do the same thing for her no matter what.

Without a word, the blue-haired girl grabbed hold of the hand out before her. She hadn't stopped crying, but with Honoka by her side, she would be fine. Even though she could be hard to deal with, and she never listened to what she and Kotori had to say, she was still one of her best friends. It was thanks to her she was saved from her loneliness and the bullies that plagued her. Umi's will to become stronger grew that day because Honoka would be there to help her out no matter what happened. Even if she would have to put herself in danger, she would do so for the sake of someone she cared about.

As I was writing this, I was wondering if I should have just gone straight into what happens next chapter, but I decided that some backstory would be a nice way to set up what's to come. Oh, and for those who haven't read the manga, Honk used to do kendo along with Umi and she was shown playing with a wooden sword when she was little. I wanted to incorporate that somehow 'cause I liked that idea. Any who, I hope you liked the prologue and of course please leave a review!