Ningen Marionette.

Arsène walks through the hallways as he looks up at the signs or names of the classes, searching for his own. For a brief 5 seconds, Arsène’s eye look over at the digital clock on the wall in the cafeteria. It was already 12:48 PM, afternoon had begun and he was late to class. Well, he was in class during the morning session but left in the middle to deal with the Demon Duke Valefor. He sighs as he makes his way to his class, unsure what to explain or tell the teacher that was teaching during this particular moment. He walks through the hallway, before pausing and turning to stand in front of his class’s entrance.

He gulps as he stares at the door, unsure how to explain why he was not in class all morning. All of a sudden, the door slides open, as Arsène awkwardly stands by the entrance of the classroom. The students in the class and even the teacher, turn to look at Arsène standing at the doorway. Arsène in fact didn’t know that, the door opens and has a proximity sensor.

There is a brief silence before the teacher clears his throat and turns to look at Arsène. He had a stern look yet looked composed somewhat. He opened lips to ask Arsène.

“Ah, the 925th Child. You are late to class, and absent all morning. Where have you been?”

Arsène looked around nervously as he entered the class and stood in front of the teacher. He pleadingly looked over at Mukyu, who glances at Arsène for a second before looking back down, probably playing a video game. Arsène clenches his teeth as he nervously chuckles and looks at the teacher.

“Well, you know sir. I have been having this awful stomach ache. It’s like really.. really bad and painful-”

“Enough. Yesterday was your first day and you already caused trouble by hurting another student, they even filed a complaint.”

Arsène then glares at Zorome, who just averted his own gaze from Arsène’s at that moment. Arsène then smiles and looks at the teacher.

“Well, he was playing with fire, so he got burnt.”

The teacher sighs, looking at his tablet as he turns to the board or monitor in front of him. He then sighs as he starts writing on the screen.

“Your excused, back to your seat. Remember; You won’t be excused the next time you pull a stunt like this.”

Arsène nods as he frantically makes his way to his desk, avoiding everyone’s gazes all the while. He quickly gets seated and looks to Mukyu with an irritated look. He leans towards Mukyu as he whispers.

“Wouldn’t have hurt to cover for me, you know.”

Mukyu sighs and glares at Arsène, taking his eyes off the screen of his phone.

“First of all, you were the one who pulled the stunt with Ms.Vanessa, then you disappeared for all morning classes. Plus we barely know each other. Why would I ruin my reputation or social image for someone I just met or changed a few words with?”

Arsène looks stunned, as if not expecting such a response. He clears his throat as he looks forward, trying to avoid Mukyu’s glare as he asks.

“So what classes, subjects and topics did I miss?”

Mukyu sighs as he grabs his tablet and starts tapping on certain things. All of a sudden, the tablet on Arsène’s desk buzzes. Arsène raises an eyebrow as he picks up the tablet. The tablet lights up, as some text appears on the screen. Arsène squints his eyes as he examines the text.

‘Dear user.

Please hover your ID card over the reader.’

Arsène looks in skepticism for a moment but decides to trust the device. Arsène pulls out his school ID card and hovers it over the scanner. There is brief moment of silence as the scanner scans his card, before it lets out a beep and another wall of text appears. It was an End User License Agreement or something of that sort. Though he could have skipped through the nonsense on the screen, Arsène sighs and reads through the entire agreement, before accepting the terms. Then there is a loading screen before a massive wall of test appears.

‘Welcome to the Etyria Grand Academy Student Program.’

“Whats this?”

Arsène asks as he turns to Mukyu, who in return doesn’t bother looking at Arsène and just continues playing on his phone.

“It’s kind of like a device or program that has all your schedules, important dates, time table, etc on it. It’s basically the academic important stuff.”

Arsène’s eyes glance over at a mailbox symbol with a red dot on it. He silently taps on it as another window or box opens up. It was basically an email app like application. And it showed that Mukyu had sent him the necessary work for the day and all the stuff he missed in the morning. Arsène quickly skims over the work, it was stuff he didn’t know or wish to know. Yet he had to learn and practice it so that he won’t end up being the last in the class.

“Attention class, look at the front of the classroom for moment.”

Both Arsène and Mukyu’s eye dart up at the teacher. Arsène then saw, beside the teacher, stood a young girl. She had jet black hair and dark brown eyes. Her lips curl into a sweet smile. Her eyes had this look of innocence and warmth in them. Her skin was pale and almost looked like porcelain of that of a doll. Her features were beautiful and elegant. The teacher coughs, before he speaks.

“This here is Lily, a new student and a new member of your class. Treat her well.”

He says as he adjusts his glasses and turns to look at the girl, Lily. Lily smiles gently and her lips open as she spoke in a melodic and soft tone.

“Hello everyone. My name is Lily and from this day forth, I will be your classmate. Please take good care of me!”

She says as she makes some sort of cute face. The class whistles and cheers for Lily, everyone but Mukyu and Arsène, who just sit in their seat. The teacher and Lily talk for moment as Arsène watches.

“Your seat is beside that kid with purple eyes and purple hue with black hair.”

Lily turns to look at Arsène, a look of contentment on her face as she turns back to face the teacher, She smiles as she nods and starts walking through the small gap between the desks. She walks slowly and elegantly as she makes her way to the empty seat beside Arsène. She then folds under the skirt as she settles down. She then turns to look at Arsène, offering a bright and kind smile. Arsène, in response, smiles back nervously as he turns to Mukyu.

“Man, this girl looks kind of suspicious, don’t you think so?”

“I ensure you, only you think like that.”

Mukyu responds, pointing to the others in the class. Arsène looks to see the others glaring at Arsène, mainly boys, who were enchanted by Lily’s beauty.

Arsène sighs, before turning to Lily, offering his hand for a handshake. Before Arsène can introduce himself, the girl smirks.

“Oh, I already know your name, Arsène.”

Arsène for a moment goes silent, how does she know his name of all people? Arsène just smiles and brushes it off, before smiling at Lily.

“Oh, the teacher must have told you my name, didn’t he?”

Lily in return chuckles, before turning to glare at Arsène, all while grinning. She then shakes Arsène’s offered hand.

“Lily, Lily Sappho.”

Before Arsène can even compliment Lily’s name, Lily grins and continues.

“And I am, the pilot of a Mech Aegis. And the partner for your next mission. Personally chosen by your father.”

Arsène goes silent, his eyes widening a little as he looks Lily dead in the eyes.

“You know, your dad prefers to have me pilot a Mech Aegis, rather than someone as dead beat as you”

Arsène’s eyes widen more at Lily’s venomous talking manner. There is abrupt silence, until the door to the classroom opens once again.

This time standing at the entrance was, Ai, Arsène’s sister or whatever. Ai smiles as she enters the busy class, walking over to Arsène.

“Hey big bro, I need your help with something, mind coming with me?”

Lily pulls back, pulling back her gentle and cute facade as the others look at the three of them. Ai turns to Lily, her smile slightly falters but she composes herself, before smiling and opening her lips to talk.

“I hope you don’t mind if I take my brother here away for something, right?”

Lily smiles back, nodding as she replies.

“Of course, take your time.”

The teacher, watching this all unfold, tries to interject but just gives up and looks at the time. Before exiting the classroom himself. The class just watches as Ai grabs Arsène’s hand and drags him out of class. Arsène turns to Mukyu, who just stares as Arsène is being dragged away.

“Mukyu! Don’t forget to send me what I miss!”

Arsène’s voice deafens slowly as he gets dragged away.

As Ai and Arsène walked through the hallways, Arsène would occasionally glance at Ai. Ai on the other hand was just looking forward, not bothering to look at Arsène. Arsène clears his throat and smiles nervously as he turns to look at Ai.

“So, why did you drag me out of class?”

Arsène asks carefully, trying not to sound offensive when questioning Ai’s actions. Ai quickly halts and turns to look at Arsène, she sighs as she puts her hands on her hips as she spoke.

“So let me get this straight. Not only did you beat up Zorome, the top shot in the academy. But you also took part in taking down two whole demons.”

Arsène looks confused, then Ai grabs Arsène’s hands and turns him around. Arsène lets out a gasp of surprise as Ai then pulls his back hair up and brushes her hand gently on ‘his’ spine. Ai looks intrigued as she scanned the spine.

“So this is the ‘Prototype’. What Father was talking about...”

Arsène turns around and rubs his hand on his neck.

“Hey! Don’t just pull my hair and touch me without my permission! At least ask before you do.”

Ai sighs, turning around and putting hands on her hips again. She then pouts, before turning her head to look at Arsène.

“I was just checking the prototype out.. Take a chill pill dude.”

“Don’t get all touchy with me just because you wanted to check out my spine. Especially without my permission.”

Arsène snapped back. Ai in returns turns her head back to its original position and sighs. She then starts walking, signaling Arsène to follow her. Arsène hesitates, looking at Ai with suspicion but decides to follow her anyways. There is a moment of silence as Arsène just looks back and forth between Ai’s back and whats in front. He looks worried, worried if he made Ai mad. Arsène sighs and smiles, trying to start a conversation.

“So, did Zorome complain about me to the teachers? Like did he inform the principal or his parents or even Yami?”

Arsène watches as Ai takes a glance at him before turning back to look forward. She nods as she continues walking.

“Yeah, he informed the teachers, along with his ‘gang’. But father was able to calm the teachers down.”

Arsène glances at Ai, looking surprised.

“Wait, Yami actually calmed the teachers down, for me? How?”

“I don’t know, he probably used his authority as one of the HK-36’s Officials and scared the teachers or something. Maybe bribed them, I have no idea of what anything father does.”

Ai responds as she turns her head around, looking quite confused.”

“And why do you call him by his name? I mean, I get that he adopted you recently and all but he is still legally your father too”

Arsène shakes his head, looking quite conflicted internally.

“Yes, that’s true. But truth be told, I don’t view him as anything other than a guardian.”

Arsène nods as he continues.

“And a sketchy person.”

Ai chuckles a bit as she stops in her tracks, looking amused. She nods her head.

“Well, he is quite sketchy and suspicious looking I suppose.”

Her smile turns to a frown as she looks back down.

“Though.. He never tells me what he thinking, he tells me nothing actually.”

Arsène looks surprised, as he stops and turns to look at Ai.

“He never tells you anything?”

Ai nods, as she looks kind of down. Arsène looks at Ai, looking slightly guilty. Then smiles, trying to cheer her up.

“Hey! At the least, you guys interact ad talk, right?”

Ai however just shakes her head as she turns to her front and starts walking again. Arsène’s smile falters as he clears his throat and continues following her.

“So, this prototype, what is it?”

Ai asks, trying to start a conversation again. Arsène looks at Ai’s back, thinking for a moment.

“Well, Yami said it’s supposed to be a neural link between a Mech Aegis and it’s pilot. But I haven’t piloted a mech yet.”

Ai nods, looking back at Arsène.

“Oh, so like most spines given to pilots.”

Arsène looks surprised as his eyes widen and he opens his mouth to ask, walking a little closer to Ai.

“So other pilots have it too?!”

Arsène asks, intrigued by the topic at hand. Ai in return nods back.

“Well, our only pilot right now is Kami, who I assume you probably have met.”

Arsène thinks for a moment, realizing that Kami had mentioned some neural link before fighting Valefor.

“Is that why Kami was still and kept his eyes closed in the cockpit?”

Ai shrugs, brushing it off.

“Well, I am not exactly sure how the Neural link works. But I think when linked with the robot, you partially loose your senses or control over your body.”

Arsène nods as he looks down.

“Yeah, Yami did say that you can feel what the robot feels. Like it’s pain, it’s touch and other stuff. He made it sound like as if you become the robot.”

Ai’s eyes widen as she looks back at Arsène.

“Ah, so your senses become one with the Mech Aegis? That’s sort of cool. Yet sort of painful.”

Ai then looks down as she wonders.

“That reminds me, what happened with Zorome?”

Arsène looks at Ai, as if she made some mistake.

“He got hurt, obviously.”

Ai looks disappointed at Arsène as she sighs.

“Let me rephrase that; What happened to you while you fought with Zorome?”

“Oh! That!”

Arsène exclaims as he closes his eyes and thinks for moment.

“Well… I am not sure…”

Ai looks confused as she turns to look at Arsène.

“What do you mean? Wasn’t it you who beat that idiot up?”

Arsène shakes his head, trying to to explain what went down.

“Well, here’s the thing. Though I did beat up up, it wasn’t like I was the one that beat him up.”

Ai looks even more confused as she stops in front of the door of the roof.

“I don’t understand, you just said you beat him up then are saying you didn’t.”

A drop of sweat rolls down Arsène’s face, looking confused himself.

“Well, it was as if… I was watching Zorome get beat up. As if I was watching but my body was moving on it’s own and it wasn’t in my control. As if someone else was controlling it.”

Ai’s eyes widen but she immediately shakes her head and brushes it off.

“Maybe you were just feeling a bit of a dissociation. It’s not common but it is the most logical explanation.”

Arsène looks at his hands, clenching them.

“Like a dissociative episode of sorts?”

Ai shrugs her shoulders and just points at the door.

“Kami told you to bring you to the roof, said he wanted to talk.”

She says as she starts walking away. Arsène turns to look at her, trying to stop her but just sighs, realizing it’s pointless. He just turns to look at the door of the roof and walks towards it.

“What would Kami want to talk about.. With me..”

He mutters under his breath as he enters the roof.

As Arsène entered the roof, he closed the door behind him. He took two steps ahead before looking up at the sky. He closed his eyes, feeling the cold breeze brush against his skin. He let out a sigh of contentment. He looked forward, saw Kami lying on the floor, staring into the sky. Arsène gulped and then started slowly walking towards Kami. Kami’s long black hair spread across the floor, and he wore these sunglasses with circular lenses. His partially shaved mustache and beard glistened or shone in the sunlight. Arsène walked over and stood before Kami, waiting for Kami to notice him.

Kami then turns his head, a smile playing on his lips as he slides his sunglasses back. His dark brown eyes scanned Arsène all over.

“Oh wow, your here early.”

He raises his hand and checks his wrist watch. It looked quite old compared to the ones most people wear these days. Kami rests his hand back down, looking at Arsène.

“Your early by 18 seconds. Great job!”

Arsène’s eyebrows furrowed, confused as to why Kami used exact numbers.

“You were calculating when I would arrive?”

Arsène asks, a bit of intrigue in his eyes. Kami in return nods back, the same smile still on his face.

“Of course! I tend to calculate a lot of things. However I act impulsive despite knowing the consequences.”

Arsène hesitates, unsure how to answer to Kami’s explanation. Kami sits up, patting on the spot beside him.

“Come on, lay down beside me. Let’s talk for a while.”

Arsène again hesitates but nods as he gets down and lays beside Kami. Arsène lays still silently, as neither of them say a word. Arsène feels somewhat at comfort, looking up at the clouds. The sun wasn’t out, well it was but the clouds were covering it. And the clouds were in a greyish colour. It looked like it would rain soon, but Arsène was unsure, he wasn’t a weather person or forecast worker after all.

“So what do you like in a girl?”

Arsène looks at Kami, confused on why Kami was asking that.

“Seriously? That’s why you called me over to the roof?”

Kami shakes his head.

“Well, not really. But just wanted to have a chill conversation with my little bro!”

Arsène sighs, looking back at the sky.

“Why do you consider me a little brother anyways?”

Arsène asks, clearly wondering why. Kami in return chuckles, looking at the sky as well.

“I consider almost anyone I have a close friendship with as a sibling. It’s just who I am.”

Arsène looks back at Kami, a bit disappointed.

“So you trust anyone you consider a friend?”

Kami laughs, sitting up and looking up at the sky. He then turns to look at Arsène, a wide smile on his face as he puts his sunglasses back on.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean I trust someone a lot. It just means I like talking to them a lot and consider them someone close.”

“Uh huh..”

Arsène replies, still looking up at the sky. He then tilts his head to look at Kami.

“So do you come here a lot?”

Kami nods.

“Yes, quite a lot, actually. I come here every chance I get. Even if it means I have to skip lectures.”

Arsène squints his eyes.

“Lectures? What’s your age?”

Kami looks back at Arsène, a smirk painted on his face.

“I am 21 years old. A few years older than you.”

Arsène’s eyes widen, as he sits up.

“So you must be from the university branch of the Etysria Academy!”

Kami nods in response and pulls out his ID card. Arsène takes the ID card. It has Kami’s picture, alongside his name. However, it didn’t feature his surname, like how Arsène and Ai’s cards had their surname; Ushinawareta. Arsène gives the ID card back, as Kami pockets it. Kami then smiles.

“You haven’t lost your ID card, right?”

Arsène tries to answer but quickly checks his pockets. His eyes widen as he couldn’t find the card. He quickly stands up and checks his pockets again. It wasn’t there. He turns to run and see if he dropped it in the hallway, but is then stopped.

“Woah there, buddy, don’t panic.”

Kami says as he tosses an ID card into Arsène’s hands, Arsène quickly catches it before turning it around to see it was his. Arsène sighs, then looks at Kami with a bit of anger.

“Seriously? That wasn’t funny. I thought I actually lost the ID card!”

Arsène says with anger in his voice. Kami instead chuckles and waves his hands.

“Calm down, little brother!" I was just messing with you.”

Arsène realizes he lost his temper; he sighs as he looks at Kami.

“Sorry, I was just really worried.”

Kami smiles, nodding as he puts his hands on his hip.

“It’s fine; I wasn’t offended or anything. I was just trying to lighten the mood and make it a bit more active.”

Arsène’s eyes slightly widen. It seemed Kami just wanted to make Arsène laugh a little. Arsène smiles as he looks at Kami.

“Thanks, I appreciate it.”

Kami nods as he puts his hand on Arsène’s shoulder.

“Any time, lil bro.”

Arsène realizes how tall Kami is, wondering how exactly tall he is.

“How tall are you, Kami?”

Kami smiles, pulling his hand back.

“Around 6 feet tall. What about you?”

Before Arsène can answer, Kami chuckles.

“You don’t have to tell me. You look like a 5’8.”

Arsène’s eyes widen; he was right; Arsène was indeed 5 feet and 8 inches tall.

“How did you-”

Kami shakes his head as he puts a finger over Arsène’s lips.

“It was just a hunch; don’t think too much about it.”

As Kami pulls his hand back, Arsène looks at Kami in the eyes. Perhaps there was more than meets the eye when it comes to Kami. Arsène smiles then looks at the time.

“Ah, lunch is about to end soon.”

Kami looks at his wristwatch and nods. Then he smiles sheepishly as he pats Arsène’s back.

“Yeah, I need to go soon too.”

Arsène looks down, thinking for a moment. Then he looks to Kami.

“Why don’t we walk our way back together?”

Kami’s eyebrows slightly rise up, but he just laughs and pats Arsène’s shoulders.

“Of course, Lil Bro, anything for you.”

Kami’s smile never falters, as he pats Arsène’s shoulders again and then starts walking. Arsène sighs peacefully and takes another glance at the sky, smiling as he closes his eyes for a moment, letting the air brush against him. He then opens his eyes and runs to Kami before slowing down and talking to him. They talk as they make their way to their respective locations.

As Arsène enters his class, the entire class, which was loud and chatting earlier, goes silent. Arsène slowly makes his way to his seat; it was clear everyone was suspicious of Arsène and why he has been gaining more and more interactions with some individuals. Not to mention, the incident with Vanessa was already something most people would make rumors about. Perhaps people have already spread rumors about him and Vanessa. He just shakes his head and shrugs it off as he gets seated in his seat. He quickly looks at Mukyu, who had his eyes closed and sat still and silently.

Was he meditating? Who knows, maybe he is. After all, due to Arsène, Mukyu must have also been gaining a lot of looks on himself. Arsène looks at his desk, wondering if he and Mukyu were friends or not. Sure, they haven’t talked much and just met recently; they seem to ‘get along’ quite well. Arsène then turns to look at Lily, who was smiling and talking to her other new friend. And what's the deal with her? She seemed so sweet and caring when she introduced herself in front of the class and talked with other classmates. But when she talked with Arsène, she was unnecessarily mean and venomous in tone.

Arsène sighs and looks back at Mukyu, who had now opened his eyes and was looking at his academy tablet, swiping on the screen as his eyes followed the screen. Arsène took a quick peek by leaning close to Mukyu. Mukyu sighs as he looks at Arsène, looking quite irritated.

“Do you have a habit of breaking into other people’s hobbies?”

Arsène sits back in a proper position, chuckling nervously as he rubs the back of his neck.

“My bad, I was just wondering what you were up to."

Mukyu blinks at Arsène for a few seconds before sighing, then looking at his tablet. He continues swiping on it as he opens his lips to ask.

“So you were spending time with Kami? How did it go?”

Arsène’s eyes widen as he looks at Mukyu. He gulps as he shakes his head and looks at Mukyu cautiously.

“How did you know?”

Mukyu, for the first time, smiles as he keeps his eyes on the tablet.

“That’s a little secret of mine.”

He replies as he turns to look at Arsène with a smirk painted on his face. Arsène, on the other hand, was stunned, surprised, and flabbergasted. No one besides Ai and Kami himself knew about this little meeting. And Mukyu, who was in the class the whole time, somehow knew.

Arsène takes a deep breath and then sighs before smiling and looking at Mukyu.

“Aww man! I guess I am caught! Please don’t tell the teachers!”

Mukyu’s smile falters as he looks surprised at Arsène, but that surprise turns to disappointment. Mukyu sighs as he turns to look at his tablet again.

“Aren’t you shocked or confused on how I knew?”

Arsène simply shakes his head, smiling wide.

“You probably saw us on the rooftop during lunch; that’s probably why!”

Mukyu sighs again, but this time with a gentle smile on his face.

“Idiot.”

A few hours pass as the classes end. Arsène quickly packs his sketchbook and tablet in his bag before standing up. He then smiles and turns to Mukyu, who was too busy playing some gacha game and collecting pulls for characters.

“Well, see you tomorrow, man.”

“Uh huh.”

Mukyu replies, not bothering to look at Arsène. To which Arsène just chuckles before turning to leave.

"Oh, Arsène~ Won’t you say goodbye to me?”

Arsène sighs and turns to look at Lily, who was grinning wide with predatory eyes. Arsène gulps and just does as she asked, forcefully.

“See you later, Lily.”

He says as he turns on his heel slowly. Before sprinting out of the class, grabbing the attention of the remaining people in the class.

As Arsène made his way to the dorms, he just silently stood in the elevator. He just blinked from time to time while looking at the monitor on top of the elevator. He just watched as the numbers changed and ascended. Arsène just rests his back on the elevator wall while holding onto the railing. He sighs as he reminisces about the day. The morning when meeting Mukyu, the interaction with Vanessa, the fight with Valefor, talking with Ai, talking with Kami, and finally talking with Mukyu during the classes. He sure had quite the day. It was his second day at the academy, and he had fought one demon yesterday, one today. Who knows when he will fight the next demon? Perhaps tomorrow? That’s for destiny to decide.

Arsène opens his eyes as the elevator comes to a halt and the doors open. He quickly walks out of the elevator and starts making his way to his dormitory. He slowly walks as he checks the dormitory numbers. He comes to a halt as he sees his dorm. He then slowly pulls out his ID card and hovers it over the sensor. The sensor beeps as the door slides open. Arsène was expecting a calm welcome but sniffs as he smells something burning. Arsène quickly takes off his shoes and sprints through the hallway. He looks over at the kitchen to see smoke coming out of the room. He grabs the fire extinguisher and runs to the kitchen; he then immediately comes to a halt at the door and sees Kami, Paz, and Alya trying to put out a flame. Arsène gulps as he points the extinguisher at the source of the flame and presses the trigger.

White sodium bicarbonate shoots out of the hole as it puts out the fire. Arsène finally stops and sighs before looking at the kitchen, which was now covered in baking soda. They all sigh a breath of relief but then immediately get to cleaning.

“What happened here?”

Arsène asks while cleaning the stove. Alya replies almost immediately.

“It wasn’t me! Paz wanted to cook something and caused all this.”

Almost immediately, Kamui appears behind Alya, back from the university.

“Don’t you dare lie. We all know it was you.”

Alya lets out a gentle squeak as Kamui gently handcuffs her on the head.

Everybody laughs as they continue cleaning. Later, they all finish dinner and are about to head to their rooms. Arsène quickly enters his room and then leaps onto the bed, too tired to even change clothes. He tries closing his eyes and falling asleep. The lights in the room automatically dimming as Arsène falls asleep.

But he then wakes up at midnight as he opens his eyes and sees faces in the dark. A part of Arsène wanted to look away, but he couldn't. Arsène kept his eyes on the faces in the dark, his whole body trembling. He remembers something similar to this as he hears distorted mumbling and whispers. It was the same as yesterday night—the same distorted whispers and mumbling. Arsène turns his head and covers it with a pillow, trying to block out the whispers and images forming in his head. But he couldn't; it’s as if they were stuck in his head and were following him as he tried falling asleep.

“This sucks… This sucks so much. Leave me alone.”

He prayed and mumbled to himself, small tears pricking at the corners of his eyes.