Beginning Beyond The Horizon

Hajime wanted to cut off all contact with his mother, so when he left home, he left his mobile phone on the bed. He didn't bring anything except clothes and books. He wants to start a new life. With the help of a local priest, he was enrolled in school without any issue. He attended school for a year and was able to complete his junior year. This year will be his final year in high school, and he is still considering whether to go to college. His homeroom teacher advised him to go to medical school because that was where he got the highest grades.

In terms of work, he works in a convenience store not far from home. He used to work in a club and earned a lot of money as a waiter, but the manager, customers, and employees kept harassing him, touching his breasts, and grabbing his butt. He quit after working for a month. Now, he works part-time at a convenience store and goes to school full-time. Money is bad, but at least he can work without being harassed by customers, colleagues, or managers.

Getting out of a bad relationship with his mother always brought him peace. Now and then he thought of his mother, her welfare, and her love affair. Sometimes, he even wondered if someone would help her into the house when she came home drunk at night. He knew that every time he thought of his mother, the pain and abuse she had brought to him would suddenly come to his mind and give him nightmares, but no matter how bad his mother was, she was the one who gave him life after all. He still hopes that one day, when his mother finally decides to change, he can meet her again, after all, in this world, they only have each other.

It was the first month of school, and when Hajime was sitting at a table in the corner eating lunch, a classmate approached him. The male student is tall and handsome. He sat across from Hajime.

Hajime asked, "Do you need anything?"

June looked at Hajime and said, "My friend." He pointed to a beautiful female student sitting two tables away from where Hajime sat. "She wants to know your name."

Hajime looked at June and said, "Hinode."

June smiled and said, "Hindoe-kun, I've seen you since last year, and you've never hung out with anyone? Do you have friends at this school, or are your friends at another school?"

Hajime said, "I don't need any friends. I'm fine by myself. Please leave me alone

June looked at Hajime and said, "You're one of those pretty boys. Are you top or bottom?"

Hajime hated this question very much. He knew what June meant. For years, he hadn't decided which label he should label himself. It never occurred to him which one was better for him, other than the fact that he knew he was attracted to men. When he was with Kenji, he was the bottom one, but because he loved Kenji deeply, he was willing to do anything for Kenji. He looked at June and said, "Either." He picked up his bento and walked away.

June walked back to his three friends. He looked at Akako and said, "His name is Hinode."

Akako asked, "Do you get his number?"

June smiled and said, "If you want to ask him out, you can ask him yourself."

Akako looked at June and said, "If I have eyes on someone, I won't let it slip away."

Shi smiled and shook his head, "Are you really going to eat all the men in this high school?"

Akako bit her chopsticks and said, "Not all of them. Only those I find cute and interesting."

"I believe he's gay," Kota said with a laugh.

Akako hit Kota on the left shoulder. She frowned, "Stop talking. You are ruining the image of my prince."

"If you don't believe me, you can test it yourself by kissing him. If he's gay, he won't kiss you back," Kota said.

Akako smiled and stretched out her hand to Kota. She smiled and challenged, "Do you want to bet?"

Kota grinned, "How much?"

Akako smirked, "Two hundred thousand yen."

Kota shook Akako's hand and smiled, "Fine. Let's shake."

Akako smiled and took Kota's hand. She snorted, "And the deal has been finalized." Akako stood up and walked away from the three men.

Hajime suddenly doesn't want to eat after meeting the classmate whose name he doesn't know. He dumped the contents of the bento into the trash can and started walking back to the classroom. Suddenly someone pushed Hajime into the storage room next to the canteen. He turned around and a young lady started kissing him forcefully. He pushed the person away, and it turned out to be Akako, the girl June mentioned just now.

Akako began to untie Hajime's belt. She quickly pulled down Hajime's pants and panties. She puts Hajime's member in her mouth. After she sucked it for five minutes, Hajime's member was not hard. She spat on the floor, then stood up and looked at Hajime.

Akako asked, "Hinode-kun, are you gay?"

Hajime quickly pulled up his pants and rushed out.

Akako wiped her mouth and walked back to her friends. She sat sullenly in a chair.

June asked, "What's wrong?"

Akako said, "He didn't get hard."

Shi said, "Maybe you did it wrong."

Akako said angrily, "I gave him a blowjob, and he's still not hard."

Kota slammed his right hand on the table, "I knew it. He is gay."

The three men laughed at Akako.

Akako is angry because her friends are laughing at her. "I want to teach that fag a lesson."

June asked, "Why? Just because he's not interested in you. Just move on to your next victim. There's a lot of masculine young males out there, why bother with sissies?"

Akako said, "He wasted five minutes of my time sucking him. Would any of you volunteer?" She pulled out her credit card and put it on the table.

Shi asked, "How much?"

Akako said, "Three hundred thousand yen."

Shi said, "Three hundred thousand yen to pretend to like him…No Way…"

Kota shook his head, "I'm not an actor, so I can't do it."

June said, "I'll do it, but the price will double. It'll be fun trying to do something you three wouldn't dare to do."

Akako said, "Fine. My father is rich. Name your price."

June laughed, "Eight hundred thousand yen."

Akako pushed the credit card towards June. She laughed, "Three hundred thousand in advance. After the work is done, you will get the rest." She raised her eyebrows at her three friends.

June picked up the credit card and smiled. "It's going to be a fun rollercoaster ride, my friends," he said, smirking at his friends at the table.

June spends an entire week trying to convince Hajime to hang out with him and his friends, but Hajime rejects June's invitation every time. Hajime has been ridiculed and teased countless times, so he hardly trusts anyone but himself.

It took June a full month to find out where Hajime was working. So, after school on a Friday night, June goes to the convenience store. When June arrived, he found Hajime kneeling at the end of the aisle stacking cans. June walks up to Hajime and stands beside him. June said with a smile, "Yo…Hinode-kun."

Hajime looked up to see June smiling down at him. Hajime said irritably, "Leave me alone." He opened a box, grabbed three cans, and continued to pile up the cans.

June said, "Hinode-kun, I mean no harm. I really want you to hang out with us."

Hajime sighed in frustration. He said, "Senpai, please leave me alone. I'd rather be alone."

June said politely, "Hinode-kun, it is better to have friends than to be alone. I sincerely want to be your friend."

Hajime stood up and asked, "Why?"

June said with a smile, "Can you tell? I like you."

Hajime said, "Even if I am gay?"

June laughed and said, "Yes, I didn't choose friends based on sexual orientation." He approached Hajime and quickly kissed Hajime on the lips. "I'll wait for you at the station. Then you can decide." He walked out of the convenience store.

Riku walked over and asked, " Hinode-kun, who is that?"

Hajime said, "Amino-san, he is just a classmate."

Riku walked to Hajime and said, "Hinode-kun, when I was your age, I would kiss anyone who wanted to kiss me. I even got myself a nickname."

Hajime asked, "Really? What is Amino-san's nickname?"

Riku said with a smile, "The Kiss Collector."

Hajime asked, "How many kisses have you collected?"

Riku smiled. "Once I hit a thousand, I stopped counting because my doctor told me my blood sugar was too high," he said, reaching into his pocket and placing a Hershey kisses in the palm of Hajime's right hand. "Hinode-kun, we only live once, don't wait for luck to come, because we wait for a lifetime, luck will never knock on our doorstep. Take a risk, walk into the unknown, that is what makes the adventure excited." He sighed. "That was the last word my wife said to me before we parted at the airport. She went back to the US to visit her parents and died in a car accident." He laughed. "That was a long time ago. I'm still waiting for the day when I will meet her again." He smiled.

Hajime stared at the chocolate on his palm. "Amino-san, thank you," he smiled, pocketing the chocolate kisses and continuing to stack the canned goods.

As soon as Hajime finished stacking the first box, he turned to the left to open the second box, and that's when he saw the little girl waiting a few feet away from him again. This time, he saw her face clearly. The lights illuminated all around her, as if she was brighter than everyone else. The little girl smiled at her and said, "Hajime... your time is up."