Breaking Point

Do you know what the butterfly effect is? Surely any person with conscience has heard of that term before, right? In simple terms, it is some sort of “theory” that small events can trigger the biggest consequences. Normally, these types of events happen in everyday life without the people being actually conscious of it.

For example, a post in social media uploaded from an account which has never seen the light of relevance, can become a “hot topic” sparking even political discussions and influencing popular opinion around the globe.

A person can randomly strike a conversation with another, and one of many things can happen: one, It could form a friendly connection; two, It could lead to the encounter of a soulmate; or three, while it doesn’t form a connection, it leaves the participants with a desire for change and sudden inspiration with a lesson acquired.

“Everything is going to shit… isn’t it…?”

“… I wouldn’t go that far… but things are… changing.”

Socially speaking, the butterfly effect can lead a soul to its fated one, it can lead them to a group of people that will make them happy… It can lead to heartbreak.

But most importantly, it can lead them to realize how harsh reality is.

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In a bench at a school’s courtyard, three boys the same age sat taking their time to enjoy their small break before classes continued. Normally this would be a peaceful time, nevertheless there was always the possibility for something to ruin the fun.

“I hate my life…” Plopped on the table with his shoulders slumped, Hajime Shiraishi groaned in annoyance with a paper on hand. “Ten percent on a Chemistry quiz… was it that hard…?” Souta Nakamura took the paper from Hajime’s hand and scanned it carefully… then made a disgusted face, “Ugh, one question only…”

“What do you expect? Professor Kazuki’s method of grading is weird after all, hahaha.” Yasu Ito laughed heartedly. Souta glanced at him and nonchalantly asked him, “What about you?”

“Oh, ten too!” He said with a straight face.

“…I-I see… It looks like I’m about to die now, isn’t it?”

“Probably, well, don’t sweat it. It’s a mere grade afterall.” Yasu continued eating carefreely after folding the paper and saving it in the inner pocket of his jacket.

“IT DOES MATTER YOU IDIOT! What if our averages drop because of that?! Oi, why don’t you start using that brain of yours instead of sleeping in class, huh?!” At Hajime’s outburst, Yasu stopped eating and stared at him in disbelief, soon enough his face turned into a grin and he snickered:

“Imagine being a mere one-sixty-three centimeters and thinking such a threat will work against me.” Hajime, being the shortest one in the group, took it personally, “What does my height have to do with anything?!”

“Sorry, I can’t hear you from up here~”

“We’re sitting down, there’s not much difference is there?!”

Hajime had a bad temper, that’s why Yasu enjoyed toying around with him. The two had been friends for over six years now, being the first friend Yasu made after transferring schools due to his parent’s job transfer. Then followed by Souta, whom he met through Hajime, the three quickly hit it off and have been inseparable ever since.

“…the bell rang…”

“It did indeed.”

“Well, I don’t really care,” Souta said standing up, “Wherever the wind may lead then.”

“You haven’t done the test and yet you already gave up…?”

“Yup.”

“I see…?”

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When it came to dates and critical thinking of historical situations, Yasu wasn’t the person for the job. Being on borderline failing in history class was no surprise for him, while others said that Contemporary History was the easiest subject of the second year curriculum, Yasu obviously objected.

However, there was a certain girl whose strong point was historical data, she became Yasu’s seatmate as arranged on a two-people-per-table criteria. “…they did it for political prowess, didn’t they?” A small voice came from beside him as he paid attention, well… at least tried to pay attention to his history teacher.

The girl herself seemed to do it involuntarily, feeling Yasu’s gaze, she turned to him with a confused expression and tilted her head. “What ‘s wrong?” Hatsue Shiratori said.

“Say, Hastue… hasn’t anyone told you the frequency to which you murmur during this particular class?” Yasu said in a whisper.

Hatsue and Yasu met during their first year of middle school, their institution went from kindergarten all the way to high school, so naturally not many people came from outside and the class roster tend to remain unchanged during years, while Yasu came in during the last year of elementary, Hatsue came in during the first year of middle school.

The two were once paired up for a sort of school dance, which furthered their involvement and became good friends, nevertheless the two distanced themselves for quite a while due to their involvement with other people. However, it wasn’t until their first year of highschool that the two spoke regularly again, though they ate separately.

“E-eh? Do I?” said Hatsue a little flustered. For Yasu, Hatsue reminded him of some sort of… cartoon character. Which was odd, but it was mostly that way due to Hastue’s cartoonish and exaggerated reactions.

“A bunch yeah,” as the teacher finished, she assigned a bit of classwork for the twenty-five minute empty gap after her explanation. “To be fair, I learn more from your murmurs than from class itself.”

“I see? I feel like I’m being made fun of…”

“You are being made fun of.”

“I knew it!”

Yasu opened both his notebook and textbook and began to write. He was fighting sleep but tried his best to keep himself awake. He wanted to go home and play some games, not do homework. As he worked through the questions, he compared answers with Hatsue—

“Why don’t you try thinking for a little bit instead of copying my answers?”

“Because I don’t feel like it? Stop making obvious questions.” No… rather, he was copying off Hatsue.

Hajime and Souta knew that you couldn’t really count on Yasu on things he doesn’t care about, like these types of classes… and people in general.

Yasu wasn’t the most interested in things that didn’t benefit him, that’s why aside from these three people he called friends, he had no one to talk to. At Least within his city. In truth, he had two childhood friends, they were older than him, but only by a year and two years respectively. Though he hadn’t seen them since he moved over.

“Well, in return, mind helping me with Calculus today?”

“Hm? Sure, math is my strong point so there’s no problem I guess.”

A standard give and take relationship was what made Yasu smile the most, he took from someone and then paid back the favor, something simple and not too complex. Until his mind changed for the worse, this was the kind of relationship Yasu preferred. As long as he was left to be, he was fine with it.

People may find him as weird, but hidden within his illusions was the place he could call home. “I wanna go home already…”

“Class is about to finish, hurry up and copy.”

“…yes…”

Sensing something is about to change, a premonition of some sort, was not something that has ever happened to any of the protagonists of this story. If anything, the events that were to unfold came in completely unannounced.

Events that tested their mental fortitude, how strong their ties were and how much they’re willing to lose in order to win the jackpot. They threw a die and hoped for the best, and the worse the odds, the more the pleasure.

Such was the story of an emotional masochist.

First Installment – Like a Theater Without its Actors