Songs in the Void

Arifureta Universe, Earth, Japan, Tokyo. 

The next morning, after Tatsuo got cleaned up and dressed, he made his way downstairs leisurely to have breakfast before heading to school. When he arrived in the dining room, he saw Sumire sitting with a tall, about 5'9" tall, beautiful, slender woman in her late thirties with long, purple hair styled into a bun, purple eyes, and a beauty mark under her right eye wearing a black blouse and a white skirt, and a bald man around the same age standing at 6'1" with brown eyes and dark brown skin wearing a dark grey business suit, sitting together and having breakfast. 

"Good morning, Mom, Dad, Minami-Sensei." Tatsuo said with a smile, his lips twitching ever so slightly when he said, "Minami-Sensei." 

"Good morning, Tatsuo." The man, Tatsuo's father in this world, Vincent Anderson, replied with a smile. 

"Good morning, Tatsu." The woman, Tatsuo's mother in this world, Soramoto Kyoko, said with a smile. "You didn't stay up too late working on that program, did you?" 

"Nah." Tatsuo replied as he took his seat next to Sumire. "It was just a little bug fix. So, it didn't take as long as writing it from scratch." 

"Good." Kyoko replied with a nod. "I don't want you to end up like Nagumo-San's son. *Sigh* I heard he sleeps through most of his classes." 

"And he still manages to get average grades." Tatsuo pointed out. "He's not as bad as everyone says, you know?" 

"Still, it's not good to sleep through class." Sumire said sternly. "Even if his grades aren't bad, how much better could they be if he applied himself?" 

"Well, school really isn't for everyone.' Vincent said with a smile. "I mean, I wasn't particularly good in school either." 

"Yeah, that's why you ended up in the military and not at a university." Kyoko said chidingly. 

"And if I hadn't gone into the military, I would have never met the most beautiful woman in the world, gotten married, and had a talented son, would I?" Vincent asked with a smile. 

"I guess you didn't' get your silver tongue in school either, did you?" Kyoko said while batting her eyelashes coquettishly. 

"Do you think you two could flirt away from the kitchen table, please?" Tatsuo asked while rolling his eyes. 

"Aww, are you embarrassed Tatsuo-Kun?" Sumire asked playfully. 

In response, Tatsuo only rolled his eyes again. Then, he started eating the breakfast that was already set in front of his seat. 

The rest of breakfast went on peacefully. And as expected, Sumire finished breakfast before Tatsuo did. Then, she left the house to head to the high school. 

"Don't be late for school, Tatsuo-Kun!" Sumire shouted from the entrance of the house. 

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Tatsuo replied nonchalantly. 

Not long after Sumire left, Tatsuo also finished breakfast. Then, he headed back upstairs to get his school bag before leaving the house, as well. 

About twenty minutes later, Tatsuo arrived at the high school he would be attending with Sumire and James. After changing into his indoor shoes, Tatsu headed to the second floor where his classroom was located. 

"About fifteen minutes until the bell rings." Tatsuo muttered while sliding the door open. "I could have chilled at home for a few more minutes." 

After muttering those words to himself, Tatsuo entered the classroom and scanned the room. Currently, there were quite a few students in the room, most of whom were girls. And when the girls saw him, all their eyes lit up. 

Meanwhile, the several boys in the room did not really react to Tatsuo's presence. Although they did not like the way the girls tended to fawn over him, Tatsuo had never done anything to make them angry, either. 

However, there was a group of four boys who were glaring at Tatsuo as if he had killed their parents. 

'Look at the way Hiyama and his flunkies are glaring at me.' Tatsuo said to himself with a grin as he made eye contact with Hiyama Daisuke, a relatively tall, well-built boy with short brown hair. 'They really wanna beat the hell out of me for all the times I stopped them from picking on Nagumo. Too bad for them, they don't stand a chance in a fight with me, even if they gang up on me.' 

Deciding he would not give the four bullies the time of day, Tatsuo walked to his seat, placed his school bag on his desk, then sat down. After that, he took a laptop out of his bag and started working on another program for work. 

Not long after Tatsuo started working, all the eyes in the room were once again drawn to the door when an extremely beautiful girl, standing at about 5'5" tall with waist-length black hair tied into a half ponytail and brown eyes entered the room with a gentle smile on her face. And there was one pair of eyes that were staring more intensely than the rest. Namely, Daisuke's. 

'What a punk-bitch.' Tatsuo thought disdainfully. 'He has the nerve to pick on Nagumo because Shirasaki-San talks to him when he's too afraid to even try talking to her. Why, because he's afraid of Amanogawa? That dude ain't shit, either. He's just a pretentious, self-righteous prick.' 

The girl in question, Shirasaki Kaori, looked around the classroom for a moment. And when she saw Tatsuo sitting at his desk working on his laptop, she quickly made her way over to him. 

At the same time, when most of the students in the classroom saw this, they sighed in disappointment. Not because Kaori went over to talk to Tatsuo, though. Rather, it was because they knew that Kaori was only talking to him because he was someone else's only friend in the class. 

"Good morning, Soramoto-Kun." Kaori said in a friendly tone. 

"Ah, good morning, Shirasaki-San." Tatsuo replied while smiling wryly. "And before you ask, I don't know if Nagumo stayed up late last night. I was doing some work for his dad. So, I didn't really talk to him." 

"Oh, I see." Kaori replied, sounding a bit disappointed. "*Sigh* I just hope he rested properly this time. It's really not good for him to sleep through all his classes." 

Hearing Kaori's sad tone, all of the other students in the class were upset. Thanks to her outstanding, goddess-like beauty and kind nature, she was quite popular with both the boys and the girls of the school. So, the fact that she showed such concern to an underachiever like Nagumo Hajime, made many people either jealous or resentful of Hajime. 

Unfortunately, Kaori was completely unaware of how her care made the rest of her class treat Hajime, because despite her nearly perfect appearance and nature, she had a really glaring flaw. And that was that she did not see most of what was going on around her. Especially when Hajime was involved. 

"Well, I'm sure he'll be here soon enough.' Tatsuo said while shaking his head. "The first bell is going to ring soon, after all." 

"Okay." Kaori nodded, her smile turning quite sweet at the thought of seeing Hajime. 

With that, time passed quickly. While Tatsuo worked, Shirasaki continued to chat with him about Hajime. And finally, the moment Kaori was waiting for arrived, the boy she had been pining for finally entered the classroom. 

"Uh… I hate Mondays." A shorter than average young man, standing at about 5'5" tall, with black hair, brown eyes, and a kind looking face, said as he slowly walked into the room just before the first bell rang. 

This young man, Nagumo Hajime, could feel the unfriendly gazes as soon as he stepped through the door. Yet, he did not respond to them, at all. He already knew doing so would only make things worse. Besides, he had a good friend in the class. So, all the others were unimportant. 

"Oh, look, it's Nagumo the otaku." Daisuke said as Hajime walked past him. "Did you stay up playing an eroge last night? Is that why you're so tired today?" 

"So gross!" One of Daisuke's followers, Yoshiki Saito, a young man with a thin build, light brown hair, and slit eyes, said disdainfully. "I can't believe you stayed up all night just to play an eroge." 

After the first two spoke, the whole group, including Kondo Reiichi, a young man with spiky, dark brown hair, brown eyes, and freckles, and Nakano Shinji, a slightly overweight young man with spiky, black hair and black eyes. These four would ridicule Hajime every day, as if it were an assignment they received from one of their teachers. 

Although Hajime would never deny that he was an otaku as he was ridiculed for, that was not the reason why Daisuke and his friends were so harsh with him day after day. Instead, it was because of the next person who greeted him. 

"Good morning, Nagumo-Kun." Kaori said as she approached Hajime, who had sat down at his desk by now. "You really should try to come earlier, you know?" 

Daisuke was jealous of Hajime, who always seemed to have Kaori's attention. So, he took out his frustrations in this way. In fact, in a world without Tatsuo, he would have been plotting to find Hajime during the lunch break and beat him up with his three friends. 

"Don't the three of you ever get tired of the same shit?" Tatsuo asked with his eyes narrowed while glaring at Daisuke and his friends. "The only reason you pick on Nagumo is because you know he's too kind to fight back." 

"Soramoto, it's okay." Hajime said. "Their words won't hurt me." 

"If you say so." Tatsuo replied with a shrug. "But if those four get out of hand, I'll step in… Like last time." 

When Tatsuo mentioned last time, Daisuke, Saito, Reiichi, and Shinji all began to shiver. Because they vividly remembered what he was talking about. 

Once in their first year, Daisuke and his friend had beaten up Hajime, for seemingly no reason. Though, everyone involved knew it was because Daisuke did not like the fact that the average-looking Hajime, who often fell asleep in class and did not pay much attention to the teachers, got so much attention from Kaori. 

However, part -way through the beating, Tatsuo happened to find them. Then, he beat all four of them up and dragged all five of them in front of their teacher. 

And although He, Daisuke, Saito, Reiichi, and Shinji were all suspended for a week for fighting at school, he left a deep impression on the four. And they've hated him just as much as they've hated Hajime ever since. The only difference was that they did not dare to start anything with Tatsuo because of how fierce he was when he fought. 

In fact, the reason that all the people in the classroom treated Hajime poorly was the same as Daisuke's and his friends' reason. However, none of them were so infatuated with Kaori that they hated Hajime for it. 

Actually, some of the girls disliked Hajime for the same reason that the boys disliked him. Except, you could switch their worship from Kaori's beauty to Tatsuo's handsomeness. Then, there were the girls who disliked Hajime because they thought he was wasting Kaori's good intentions. 

"And good morning, Shirasaki-San." Hajime said after stopping Tatsuo. 

Hearing Hajime greet her, Kaori's smiled became even more radiant. And that caused all the glares on Hajime to increase in intensity. 

'What's with all this murderous intent?' Hajime asked himself with cold sweat forming on his back. 'Why does she always show so much concern for me? I know about how caring she is in general, but this is too much. It's not like I'm particularly good looking, I'm average at best, and she's always with two of the best-looking guys in the class, too.' 

Unfortunately, Hajime had no way of knowing that Kaori had a huge crush on him because she saw him do something quite kind when they were in middle school. Because of that, she had gained a big interest in Hajime and researched the things he liked in order to interact with him better. She even dragged her best friend into her research on more than one occasion. 

As if they were waiting for Hajime to have that thought, the two good looking guys he was thinking about, Amanogawa Kouki and Sakagami Ryutaro, along with Kaori's best friend, Yaegashi Shizuku, entered the classroom after their clubs' morning practices ended. 

"Nagumo-Kun, good morning." Shizuku, a beauty on par with Kaori in terms of looks with waist-length black hair tied into a ponytail, bangs that cover her forehead, and sharp red eyes standing at about 5'8" tall, said while smiling wryly. 

In fact, Yaegashi Dojo, the swordsmanship dojo James attended was run by Shizuku's family. And she was a national-level kendo athlete because of all the training she had undergone since childhood. She was also very well respected among her peers, especially the younger girls, who always called her Onee-Sama with fervent gazes that made her rather uncomfortable. 

"Kaori, are you looking after Nagumo-Kun again?" Kouki, a relatively tall, almost 5'11" tall, young man with fluffy brown hair, brown eyes, and an athletic build, asked in a self-important tone. "Seriously, you're way too kind." 

Kouki was considered the perfect student, he was kind to everyone, had good grades, and was exceptionally handsome, though not as handsome as Tatsuo. But he was a lot more approachable. He was also an impressive athlete, when you combine that with the points mentioned before, he was basically a superhuman to those around him. 

Unfortunately, all the praise he often received combined with the way he was brought up made him so confident in himself that he always thought he was right in all things. Even when evidence was presented to the contrary. 

"There's no reason to pay attention to someone who has no intention of bettering himself." Ryutaro, a young man standing at 6'2" tall with a buzzcut, a pair of lively brown eyes, and a bear-like physique, said in a ridiculing tone before shooting a challenging gaze at Tatsuo, who had bested him several times in unarmed combat spars. 

Despite receiving such a gaze filled with challenge, Tatsuo did not dislike Ryutaro. He was as straight-forward as they came. The only reason he spoke so harshly about Hajime was because he was a hard worker who always strove to be better. Though, that really only applied to his martial arts and athletic pursuits, as Tatsuo suspected that like the rest of his body, his brain was also made of muscle. 

"Haha…" Hajime chuckled hollowly. "Good morning, Yaegashi-San, Amanogawa-Kun, Sakagami-Kun. I'm just reaping what I sew. It really isn't such a big deal." 

When Hajime greeted Shizuku, he could feel another wave of unfriendly glares. And he was pretty sure he knew what all of their owners were thinking. It was probably something along the lines of: "Who gave you the right to speak to Yaegashi-San?" 

"If you understand your own short comings, why don't you try to improve them?" Kouki asked in an advisory tone. 

From Kouki's perspective, like everyone else's, Kaori was wasting her kindness on someone like Hajime, who never tried to improve himself. 

"And who are you to tell anyone how to live their lives?" A male voice asked from the classroom door. 

When everyone heard that voice, they saw a tall, about 6'3" tall, foreign student with a handsome face, caramel-colored skin, cornrowed black hair, brown eyes with strange dusk pink outlines, and an athletic build that was even better than Kouki's walking into the room with a ridiculing smile on his face. 

This young man was James Sataniel, or James Alaverus in this world. And like Shizuku and Kouki, he also attended the Yaegashi Swordsmanship Dojo. And thanks to his inherited memories, he did not like Kouki at all. And that was because of his self-assuredness. Not to say that he disliked anyone with self-confidence. Rather, it was because he could not stand the fact that Kouki never considered the fact that he could be wrong, even when the evidence was glaring. 

At the same time James asked his question, he could feel a murderous glare being directed at him. Glancing in its direction, James only shook his head. 

'So, it's Nakamura Eri.' James thought to himself. '*Sigh* She looks so unassuming. It's too bad we're going to have to kill her at some point. But someone that unstable only made everything worse in the version of the story I heard from Tatsuo, Alfonzo, and Lici.' 

The girl in question, Nakamura Eri, was a shy, delicate-looking girl with black hair styled into a bob, brown eyes, and wore glasses. The reason for her murderous glare at James was because she was completely obsessed with Kouki to the point she could not stand anyone even questioning him. 

Meanwhile, Kouki, with a slight frown on his face gestured towards Hajime. 

"Can't you see I'm telling him for his own good?" Kouki said. "Kaori can't take care of him forever. So, he should be trying to better himself while he still can." 

"There are two things wrong with what you said." James said as he approached the group. "First, if Nagumo is happy with the way he is living, then you don't' have the right to say a damn thing. Especially since what Nagumo is doing isn't hurting anyone. And second, what Shirasaki does and who she decides to give her attention to is none of your business. Even if you are her childhood friend, what gives you the right to tell her or anyone how to live their life and spend their time?" 

Kouki's frown deepened when he heard what James had to say. In all his seventeen years of life, no one had ever rebutted him like this. Yet, ever since James transferred into their school, he had done so at every opportunity. On top of that, he could not even get away from James after school, since they both attended the same dojo. 

What made it even worse, Kouki was completely outclassed in terms of swordplay, as well. So, even when he could no longer take James' completely reasonable, yet jarring to the ears, rebuttals, he could not even force him to be quiet. 

"Alright, the bell is about to ring." Sumire said as she stepped into the classroom. "Everyone take your seats and get ready for homeroom." 

After saying that, Sumire looked at James with a bit of malice in her gaze. 

"Alaverus-Kun, you're not causing trouble with Amanogawa-Kun again, are you?" Sumire asked. 

Hearing that the intern teacher, Minami-Sensei seemed to be on his side, Kouki's frown relaxed. However, when he heard her next words, he almost spat a mouthful of blood. 

"Even if the way he thinks he's always right is annoying, stop causing trouble by antagonizing him." Sumire continued. "Just ignore him like Soramoto-Kun does." 

At that moment, the first bell rang, signifying that it was time for homeroom to start. So, with no chance for anyone to reply, they all just took their seats. At the same time, Hajime, who was already sitting down, laid his head on his desk and fell asleep. 

Several periods later, Hajime woke up. His internal clock was telling him that it was time for lunch break, after all. And as someone who slept through most of his day at school, his internal clock was quite well developed. 

So, in a daze, Hajime picked himself up from his desk. Then, he reached into his school bag and pulled out his lunch box before wolfing it down in about fifteen seconds. After that, he laid his head back on his desk to get some more sleep. After pulling two all-nighters on his hobby for the past two nights, his body really needed the sleep. 

Meanwhile, Shizuku, whose seat was in front of Tatsuo's, turned around and spoke to him in a small voice after taking her own lunch out of her bag. 

"Can you tell Nagumo-Kun that I'm sorry for the way Kouki and Ryutaro act?" Shizuku asked. "They're not bad people, It's just…" 

"I think he already knows what you want to say." Tatsuo said with a wry smile while setting his lunch on top of his desk. "The same thing has played out every day for almost a whole year and a half." 

"*Sigh* I know." Shizuku replied while shaking her head. "Anyway, please let him know that I apologize on their behalf." 

After that, Shizuku stood up to join Kouki and Ryutaro for lunch. 

"You're just enabling their behavior." Tatsuo muttered to himself while watching Shizuku walk away. "If you keep letting them act like that, they're going to eventually try pushing their own ideals onto someone who really doesn't care who they are. And their gonna get themselves hurt or even worse." 

At the time, James walked over with his own lunch and sat down in front of Tatsuo, turning Shizuku's chair around as he did so. Then, the two, who were cousins in this world, chatted about what to expect on this mission while they ate. 

At around the same time, kaori approached Hajime and spoke just before he fell asleep again. 

"Nagumo-Kun, why don't you have lunch with us?" Kaori asked in a cheerful tone. "It's so rare to see you in class during the lunch break, after all." 

'Why can't she just leave me alone?' Hajime thought to himself. 'All her concern is the reason why everyone in the class hates me, can't she see that?' 

In fact, kaori could not see it, and Hajime knew it. Besides, her concern for his well-being was genuine. So, Hajime could not bear to say something so cold to her. 

"Sorry, Shirasaki-San, I already finished my lunch." Hajime said while holding up the empty plastic bag he brought his lunch in. 

"Really? That's all you had?" Kaori asked in a shocked tone. "There's no way that's enough. Here, I'll share my lunch with you." 

'Dear God, please just take the hint.' Hajime thought to himself. 'This atmosphere is getting worse every day.' 

"Kaori, let's go eat together." Kouki said while smiling brightly, saving Hajime from the increasingly oppressive atmosphere as he, Shizuku, and Ryutaro approached Hajime's desk. "It looks like Nagumo-Kun didn't get enough sleep. Besides, do you think I'd ever allow a sleepy head like Nagumo-Kun to eat your homemade lunch?" 

That bright smile and those nauseating lines made many of the girls in the classroom swoon. However, they seemed to have no effect on Kaori. 

"Huh? Why do I need your permission to share my lunch with Nagumo-Kun?" Kaori asked while tilting her head to the side. 

Kouki's expression turned awkward after hearing Kaori's reply. 

"Pfft!" Shizuku sputtered while trying to hold in her laughter. 

"Ahahahahahaha!" On the other hand, James laughed uproariously, having no intention of holding back his laughter. 

Meanwhile, Hajime was just wishing that everyone would leave him be. Other than Tatsuo and James, by association, He did not have even a low-level of friendship with the rest of the class. 

'Seriously, why won't these four just leave me alone?' Hajime thought to himself. 'Won't some R.O.B. summon them to another world already? I mean, they look like they'd make up the perfect hero party with Amanogawa-Kun as the hero, Shirasaki-San as the priestess, Yaegashi-San as the sword master, and Sakagami-Kun as the monk.' 

While having those delusions of grandeur, Hajime stood up to make his escape. However, just as he did, he completely froze in place with a dumbfounded expression on his face. And the reason for that was because of a small glowing circle that appeared under Kouki's feet. 

In fact, the glow was so bright that everyone in the classroom, including Sumire and the social studies teacher, Hatayama Aiko, noticed it. So, they all saw the circle when it expanded to cover the entire classroom. And they all froze as it passed over them before relaxing when it stopped expanding. 

"Well, I guess we don't' have to wait too long for the teleportation to Tortus." Tatsuo muttered while watching the circle expand. 

"Good." James replied. "At least I don't have to be in school for that long." 

"Everyone! Leave the classroom quickly and orderly!" Aiko shouted. 

Unfortunately, before anyone could follow Aiko's orders,, the circle glowed even brighter. So brightly, in fact, that it covered the entire classroom in its radiance. Then, the light faded after an indeterminate amount of time. And when it did, all the people who were within the boundaries of the circle had disappeared.