IWSBSB 01

Chapter 01

My name is Inamori Hirokazu, and I was the long-awaited, late-in-life child of my parents. I was, consequently, raised soaking up their absolute, undivided affection.

My parents always adjusted to my tempo, always seemed to anticipate my every thought. The result?

I grew into a typical only child: utterly my-pace and wretchedly bad at expressing myself. I ended up being clumsy, conspicuously eccentric, and apparently, I naturally emit an ‘aura’ that repels everyone else.

This, mind you, is the unflattering assessment given to me by my childhood friend, Saitou Mitsuhiko. He tacked on that I’m actually a nice, loyal guy once you get to know me, but I always figured he was just being kind—a total lie.

I’m a second-year student at a private high school, a brisk fifteen-minute walk from home.

It’s supposed to be a college-prep school in the area, a decent institution. I had been encouraged to try for a school with a higher ranking when I first entered high school, but I reasoned that for my mental health, it was better to be somewhere near the top than struggling at the bottom.

And, let’s be honest, the short walk home sealed the deal.

Thanks to that decision, my grades hover near the top of the class, yet otherwise, I was perfectly unremarkable, leading a perfectly peaceful high school life. Because of that repelling aura, though, I didn’t have a single person I could genuinely call a best friend in the entire school.

It was a bitterly cold day, not long after the third term had begun. I woke up, drew back the curtains, and saw snow dancing in the air.

The rooftops were already dusted a faint white. I really don’t want to go to school on a day like this, I grumbled internally as I got dressed and headed down to the dining room.

My parents were just finishing their breakfast. Our family rule was to eat together whenever possible because my father’s work schedule was often irregular.

We truly were a close family. My parents, especially, were still all lovey-dovey¹ even past fifty, spending every possible moment together.

”Hirokazu, your father is going to be driven to the station earlier than usual because of this weather,” my mother announced.

She drove my father to and from the station every single day. Since the snow was falling and might cause train delays, they were leaving earlier than normal this morning. While my father prepared to leave, my mother quickly set out my breakfast.

”Lock the door properly, and please be careful on your way.”

”Okay, Mom. Have a good day, Dad.”

”You be careful too, Hirokazu,” my father called out, just before the door clicked shut.

I sat there eating breakfast, half-hoping my mother would offer to drive me to school when she returned. But she didn’t come back; perhaps the traffic was already dreadful.

I gave up and decided to leave on my own. Stepping outside, the faint, wailing sound of an ambulance siren drifted in from a distance.

My Modern Japanese class had just started when our homeroom teacher, Aizawa-sensei, slipped into the room. They exchanged a brief, hushed word with Shimada-sensei, who taught the class.

Then Aizawa-sensei turned their head toward me. “Inamori-kun, could I see you for a moment?”

Once we were outside the classroom, they spoke with a grave expression.

”I’m sorry to pull you out of class. Come with me to the principal’s office.”

The principal’s office?

For what?

I hadn’t done anything to warrant being summoned, I thought, utterly bewildered. The confusion deepened when I walked in and saw a police officer from the Traffic Division sitting there.

”We apologize for having to call you out during class, but we have an urgent matter,” the officer stated, his voice professional and brutally direct. “Are Inamori Hiroshi-san and Inamori Kazu-san your parents?”

”Yes, they are. Has something happened?”

”This is extremely difficult to tell you, but this morning, they passed away in a traffic accident.”

I vaguely remember being taken to the hospital where they’d been transported and seeing my parents, horribly altered. Everything after that is a blur.

The funeral passed in a fog I couldn’t escape.

Mitsuhiko and his mother were always there, a steady presence by my side. My father’s company seemed to take charge of all the funeral arrangements.

My paternal grandfather had passed away when I was in kindergarten, and my grandmother when I was in middle school.

But my mother’s parents? I realized I knew nothing about them; I’d never been told anything at all.

It was one of my mother’s friends who revealed the truth: My father was an only child, and my mother had also been an only child who had married my father against her family’s fierce opposition, resulting in her being completely cut off.

Watanabe-san, the lawyer for my father’s company, did some digging, only to find that my mother’s parents had already passed away, too.

And so, the blunt truth was revealed: I had no living relatives left. I was completely alone in the world.