Tota's past part three

After Tota arrived at Frinstion Public School, he quickly realized that he was already known as a cursed child thanks to parents telling their children to stay away from him. A child unknown to Tota came to his defense.

"Aren't you all ashamed of yourselves for judging him without knowing a thing about him or his situation?"

Even with the child's words, the class continued their conversations.

"Of course, he's trying to help him; he's a weirdo too."

"A weirdo helping a weirdo makes a lot of sense."

"Tch, you all are so easily influenced."

Tota looks over to the podium in front of the classroom and notices a white-skinned woman wearing a gray and white blouse alongside her black skirt.

"Tch, you just arrived in class, and you're already causing trouble. Hurry up and find a seat so I can start my class."

"Umm... okay"

"And stop acting so nervous; you'll never become anything special shivering in fear like that."

"Umm"

Tota starts looking around the classroom and notices the distaste in all of the students' faces.

Tota starts walking toward a seat in the front. He attempts to grab a seat, but the child sitting next to the seat moves the chair before he can sit down, causing Tota to fall to the ground. Everyone in the class starts laughing hysterically.

"Haha! You look so dumb! Don't sit next to me, weirdo!"

Tota starts to cry upon hearing the kid's words. The teacher gets up to walk to the board.

"What's your name again? Tota? Who cares? Could you hurry up and find a seat? You're distracting the class."

Tota gets up and continues his walk to the back of the class. He looks over to the same red-haired boy from before and notices that he's pointing to a seat next to him.

"Come on, dude, don't listen to them and just sit next to me."

"Umm ok"

Tota takes a seat next to the red-haired boy, and the teacher starts her class.

"Hey, your name is Tota, right?"

"Umm, yeah, I just got transferred in today."

"Cool, my name is Arvin. I've been in this class for a while now."

"Umm, okay, but what is this?"

"Wait, you don't know what's going on?"

"No, my mommy was taken one day, and I was stuck with these weird men for a long time. Then today they brought me here. I'm so scared. Why is this happening to me, and where's my mommy?"

After hearing Tota's words, Arivin thought to himself.

"Wait a minute; the situation is worse than I thought."

"Hey, Arvin what am I doing at this place?"

"Oh, this is a class where we learn about different things that will help us grow up smart."

"Oh, um, well?"

Tota starts to tear up as he speaks his next words.

"When can I leave?"

"Wait, why are you crying?"

"I'm scared!"

"Oh, Lord, this is going to be rough, isn't it? What can I do to make him feel better?"

After asking himself that question, Arvin gets an idea.

"Maybe if I relate to him. Aye Tota I'm guessing you're being held by the Frinstion gang."

"Umm, yeah, I think so. My mommy has had to deal with them for years."

"OK, I get it. You're just like me."

"I am?"

"Well, not exactly, but I have had to deal with the Frinstion gang since their boss Nubuki killed my father five years ago. My father was a level zero, but to me, he was the strongest man on the planet. My dad used to be one of the biggest gang leaders in the city, but when Nubuki appeared and took down every gang in the city, he had to go into hiding. He eventually met my mom in a bar, and nine months later I was born. My mother left my father with me three weeks after I was born, so I've been pretty much raised by my dad. When I was five, the Frinstion gang found us, and Nubuki murdered my father with his powers. Nubuki took me in and forced me to go to this school, just like he's doing with you. He's making us learn so we can be useful to him in the future."

Tota wipes his eyes after becoming more comfortable with Arvin.

"Wait, why is Nubuki even doing this? Why does he keep destroying so many families so he can force all of them to do his work?"

"Well, I don't really know, but what I do know is that man's main objective is to take over the entire underworld."

"Wait, what is that?"

"Oh, I guess you wouldn't know. We live in a world split into four zones. Gangs, secret organizations, and things that go on completely out of the world's sight are what everyone calls the underworld."

"Wait, and that is why people like my mommy are being forced to work for him?"

"Yes, he's using level zeros like us to reach his goals."

"Wow, that's scary."

"Aye, don't worry, because I plan to escape this city someday."

"Wait how?"

"Hehe, you'll find out when I take you with me."

"Wait, you want to help me escape, but why?"

"Well, to be honest, ever since I lost my father, I've had no one to talk to. You're the first person who hasn't ignored me in the past five years. So if I'm going to escape, I would rather do it with someone I can talk to."

Arvin puts out his hand for a handshake. Before he went to handshake him, a few thoughts ran through Tota's mind.

"Wait, what will happen to Mommy? Will we be able to get her out of the city too?"

"Aye Tota, are you still with me?"

After hearing Arvin call out for him, Tota snapped out of it.

"Oh, sorry, I was just thinking about my mom, but I will escape this city with you no matter what."

Tota firmly shakes Arvin's hand, solidifying their resolve to escape Frinstion City.

"Let's do it for real!"

"Yeah!"

Tota looks toward the rest of the class and notices that the entire class is starting at them, which includes the teacher.

"Umm, Arvin I think we made too much noise."

"Tch, who cares?"

The teacher grits her teeth and screams, "Both of you keep it down or there will be consequences!"

Both Arvin and Tota looked at each other and laughed.

After that day, Tota and Arvin became best friends. For the next four years, both of them stuck together through everything. They did way more than just go to school together. Arvin didn't have the same restrictions Tota had, so Tota had to ask the Frinstion gang members watching him to let him play with Arvin. The guards allowed him to play with Arvin anytime he wanted to outside of school, but he was told if he attempted to escape, he would be caught and Arvin would be killed as punishment. Tota made sure to follow their rules well for Arvin's sake.

It was once again another sunny day, and Arvin, now fourteen, was in a bakery looking for something.

"Where is it? I know I saw it here yesterday."

Arvin looked around a little more and saw what he was looking for.

"Oh, there it is!"

Arvin looks toward the cashier and screams, "Can I get this one right here?"

"As long as you have the money, kid!"

About a few hours later, Tota arrived at a park near Frinstion Public School. Tota is here because Arvin told him to meet up with him at their secret spot, which is near the slide.

"Hey, Arvin where are you? How is he going to call me here and be late?"

Something grabs Tota by the back, which scares him.

"Ahh!"

Tota jumps away from the mysterious figure. Tota turns around, and the person who scared him turns out to be Arvin, who is currently laughing to the point where there are tears in his eyes.

"Hahaha! You should have seen your face!"

"Hey, that's not funny, Arvin! You know I'm easily frightened, and what did you even call me here for?"

"Calm down, Tota. This will be quick. I just have something to give you."

Arvin walks behind the slide and grabs something. He pulls out a box that seems to have something inside it.

"What is this, Arvin?"

"Well, the other day you told me you had never had cake before, so I went to grab money from my savings and bought this."

Arvin opened up the box, and inside of it was a purple and green cake that said Happy Birthday."

"Happy birthday, Tota!"

Tota's eyes opened wide after seeing the delicious cake.

"Wait, is that for me?"

"Yeah, dude, it's your birthday, isn't it?"

"I mean, yeah, but you didn't have to do all of this!"

"All of what? All I did was buy you a cake."

"But?"

Arvin takes a seat on the ground.

"Aye, we aren't going to get a lot of times like this, you know? Just take a seat and eat this cake with me before the flies decide to do it for us."

"Hehe yeah, you're right, let's tear this cake up!"

"Haha, that's the spirit!"

Tota and Arvin start eating their cake and chatting the rest of the day away. After two hours of the funniest time he's ever had, Tota starts walking back home. When he reaches the same house he has lived in his entire life, it is nighttime. He runs into one of the Frinstion gang members guarding his house.

"Hey kid, do you know how late it is? Be late like this again, and I'll kill you!"

Tota, seeing the guard overreact, realizes that he's drunk.

"OK, I'm sorry. I'll make sure to keep that in mind."

The goon grabs a huge bottle and starts gulping the drink as fast as possible. Tota quickly rushes into the house. Tota drops his bag on the ground and looks around the dirty house.

"This place used to be so much cleaner when mom was around. Oh well, I might as well start cleaning."

Tota starts cleaning the house, but outside the house, there seems to be someone lurking. The guards are sleeping after many drinks of alcohol. The shadowy figure carefully runs past the guards and heads to the window of Tota's room.

In the house, Tota is tidying up his room until he hears something.

"Hello, is that one of the guards? I'm already home; there's no need to check up on me!"

All of a sudden, his window opens, and a person dressed in all black with a mask jumps into the room.

"Ah—"

Before he could scream too loudly, the mysterious person covered his mouth.

"Shh, Tota, it's ok. I came to save you."

While still covering his mouth, the mysterious person took off their mask. When he saw who it was, Tota's eyes opened wide. The mysterious person lifted their hand off Tota's mouth.

"Mom?"

Chapter 63 end