A New Challenger Approaches

Cutting through the crowds of people, Aoni did what he knows best when it comes to social settings and found a dark corner of the room with an out-of-sight couch before making it his resting spot while he waited.

It wasn't that he didn't want to interact with other people; if anything, he wasn't exactly socially awkward; instead, there was this hesitation whenever it came to being surrounded by his peers.

Be it a side effect of a lifetime of bullying or even the household he grew up in, none of it had conditioned him to be the so-called "Popular" guy.

Sure, his family lacked money, and that in and of itself was more than enough to become a target of harassment from kids his own age, but surely there had to be one or two other kids in his age bracket who were in similar situations…right?

Wrong

Even the other kids with familiar backgrounds to his own would quickly cast him aside, given the opportunity to change their own miserable lives.