Allies

In order to succeed in anything in life, you need allies. In order to topple down a kingdom, you need a tight group of rebels who are willing to stand up for themselves. In order to defeat an enemy greater than yourself, you need more than yourself. Because some things are just too much for ourselves to handle. Well, unless you're somehow that powerful.

Everyone needs some sort of social contact, naturally, groups appear of those who are like minded. So in order to win in life, you need a group. A group of like minded people aimed at a single goal. 

Gregory created a gap in his kingdom. It's only natural, he's at the top of a bully organisation. But that has its victims, the outcasts. Those who don't belong in his system, or rather those who his system rely on. Gregory is fixated on his business at school and leaves the income to his captains. But, those captains are bullies, so what do they do? They steal from those who are weaker, the outcasts. Unlike popular kids, the outcasts have 0 influence and thus 0 power.

I rested my head onto my pillow and stared at the ceiling. I'm becoming more and more like my dad.. No, I'm becoming more and more immersed in the story too. You, yes, you, the reader, you have noticed it too, right? My tone of narration has changed. It has become less playful and too.. Serious. 

So sigh with me, because the way this story is told also changes with the way I live. What am I even doing? I wanted a normal life and now I'm trying to support a liberator in a battle against the king of the school. In the end, that's not normal. But it doesn't feel bad either. What do I really want? Is it actually to live a normal life? 

I guess I'll just keep on doing what I'm doing now. As long as I don't stand in the spotlight directly, I suppose it'll be fine. Everything I do just needs to be overshadowed by Nello. But for now, I need to focus. How are we going to gather these nerds together? They get their butts beat senseless just for some lunch money, they're nothing compared to Gregory's legion of bullies. 

Of course, there are the nerds who stand up against their own bullies and then live a perfect life, but there are also nerds who don't. That's it! Those ex-nerds are potential allies too, and they've already proven themselves. In other words, Nello and I need to target them.

If I remember correctly, there was one in my year. His name is Harvey Asch, old nickname: Harvey Ass. Since he's loved by everyone, he could be really beneficial to us. 

Harvey's story started simple. As a transfer student in the 3rd year, he was bullied relentlessly until he defeated his bullies in a fight. Everyone saw him, which caused his popularity to skyrocket.

And like I said before, popularity is influence and influence is power. By having popular people on our side, we get more power. In that sense, we already have a nuke at our disposal. I just don't think it'd be safe for her.

Nello and I sat in the courtyard and talked. In the distance, I could see Kuro and Sakura talking. That's not really great for Makoto, again, he should REALLY consider getting closer to Sakura.

"So we have to find alies?"

"Yup."

"We have Merlo, don't we?"

"He's part of Gregory's group, do you think we can trust him?"

"True.."

"We have to look beyond Merlo."

"Do you have any ideas?"

"Harvey Asch, he can fight and he's popular. In fact, he became popular because he beat up his bullies."

"I see!"

…

"No."

"Wait, why?!" Nello asked.

"It's nothing personal," Harvey responded, "It's just.. I have a girlfriend now. Gregory's empire is scary, and totally in the wrong. But I can't risk what I have! I have people I care about. And if Gregory knows I'm supporting you, they could get hurt!"

So it was a failure. Dang it. This was an example of Gregory's power. If it's not through violence, it's through the consequences of that violence. People are scared, people fear what will happen and so people won't act. In fact, I understand him completely, because that's the same reason I wouldn't want to drag Emma into this.

"That's.. that's understandable," Nello said with a defeated face.

"I'm glad you understand, and I really hope you can find allies!"

"What do you think will happen if Gregory's power grows strong enough?" I asked.

"H-huh?"

"Gregory's only targeting the outcasts right now. But that's only a select number of people in the school. What if he decides that he wants more? He's going to target more people, going all the way up to the popular kids. The only reason he's not doing it right now is because it would affect his own popularity, people will rebel against him."

"Oh.."

"Do you still reject the offer?"

"... I'm sorry."

I sighed.

"Nello, let's go."

".." Nello looked at Harvey and yelled, "You used to be bullied! You know what it's like.. At least think about it again some time! I get that you don't want to endanger anyone, but by staying silent you'll endanger everyone! Please think about it!"

"I-," Harvey paused and looked away, "will." 

Nello smiled and we walked away. So this was the charisma of a protagonist? Even though we failed, it didn't feel like a total loss. Nevertheless, we're still low on people. 

"Do you have any other ideas?" Nello asked, "I think we should look for other nerds!"

"First of all, the nerds are outnumbered. For every nerd there are like 2 bullies. Second of all, everyone's already scared. We have to find allies beyond the outcasts, but who in the right mind would want to join us?"

"We can only know if we try! I say we go to the anime club and ask if they want to join us!"

…

"Gomennasai!" The three weebs present yelled.

"Eh?! What does that mean?"

"They're apologizing."

We were sitting down on the ground in the seiza position. This was the anime club, a band of weebs completely enamoured with Japanese culture. It was smelly, almost as if they didn't hear about deodorant. Don't get me wrong, I also love anime, but some people in the community have just never heard about hygiene.

"Aw crud! Seriously guys, you don't want to work with us?! Those bullies are making your lives sour! Jerry, you've literally lost weight because they kept on stealing your food!"

"We really love what you do, Nello-kun, but Gregory is too strong!" Jerry responded.

"Yes! We really admire everything you did for us, arigato!" another one responded.

"Alligator?-" 

"He's saying thank you."

"Oh. Well you're welcome, but still! Don't you want to be a hero too?! There are others suffering the same fate, we have to do something about it!"

"Naruhodo, but Nello-kun, we're weak, we're no heroes.."

"Anyone can be a hero, it just depends if you have the courage to be one! If you have the heart to stand up for what's right!"

"Naruhodo means 'I see'," I told Nello. 

"Naruhodo!" he responded.

"Nello-kun.. Guys, we have to do somethin-"

"Psh, what are you trying to do, Nello?" a guy said while barging in. It was Emmanuel and his cronies. 

"No way.." Nello said while standing up.

"W-we're not doing anythin-" Jerry said before getting his face kicked.

"Shut up, loser," one of Emmanuel's cronies said.

"Stop it!" Nello yelled. 

"Tell me, runt, what are you doing?" Emmanuel asked while standing right in front of Nello.

Nello stayed silent.

"If you're not going to tell me, I guess your little dweebs will," Emmanuel said while signaling to his friend. 

"We were recruiting!" Nello responded.

"Oh? Tsh tsh, Nello, you're supposed to leave us alone, you know? Do you want to end up becoming an example again?"

"Stay silent," I whispered into Nello's ear when I stood up.

"Hm? No answer? Well fine, but don't think you're getting away with this!" Emmanuel said before punching Nello in the stomach. He was about to drop on the ground because of the pain, but I caught him.

"This is your final warning, stay out," Emmanuel walked away while saying.

"Are you okay, Nello-kun?" one of the weebs asked.

"Yeah.. More importantly, Jerry, are you okay?"

"I am, don't worry."

"Great.."

Nello got up again.

"You guys don't have to join us, it's too dangerous."

"Gomennasai, Nello-kun.."

"It's okay, you don't have to apologize. We'll find something. Right, Henry?"

I nodded.

"If we can't recruit people inside of school, we'll need to recruit outside!" Nello said.

It was quite inspiring to be honest. Even though he just got hit, he still wants to do good. This is what makes him a true protagonist, a true hero. I'm actually proud of him. 

"Henry, the game shop has a lot of nerds, right?"

"Yeah."

"How many of them come to our school?"

"Quite a few."

"Alright then! Let's recruit there!"

…

"Join us! Join us against the tyranny of Gregory! Save East-Sun High, become a hero!" 

While Nello was preaching, I was just staring. People were crowding around him, asking what was going on. Obviously, he explained what was going on. But there were barely any people from our school. And if there were, they just walked away in fear.

Tay came walking over to me.

"Hen, what's going on?"

"We're trying to take down the king of our school."

"Henry.."

"I'll be careful."

"You know what happened last time."

"Yeah, I know."

"Promise me you'll be careful."

"I will, I promise."

"I trust you, but I also know what you're capable of." 

I stayed silent.

In the end, no one joined us. It was to be expected. You'd have to be out of your mind to stand up against a notorious group like Gregory's. For example, Big Bunga once jumped onto someone, and that someone has not yet left the hospital. That should show you the scope of what we're dealing with.

All this reminded me of my first day at this school. If I had made more friends before, maybe this entire process would be easier.

…

"Introduce yourself to the class," the teacher said.

"I am Henry Laress, I like anime, videogames and reading."

No one really cared about my introduction. You'd think, Larry cared, but he couldn't. Because he was being picked on by the jocks. The class was just like any other, not much could be said about it. 

I sat down at my seat, only for it to be pulled away at the last moment. I fell on the ground. It definitely hurt my butt, but oh well. I looked at whoever pulled my chair, it was Brody. 

"Welcome to East-Sun High, nerd."

His legs were wide open, I could have stabbed them with scissors. Or I could have punched him in the no go zone. Nevertheless, I wanted to hurt him. I wanted to tear his throat out, to make sure he doesn't bother me again with his voice. But I couldn't do anything, not again.

I had to hold back.

That was the hardest part about coming to school again, the bullying. I don't like bullies. Abusing their power on people weaker than them. Picking easy targets is not something to be proud of.

"Thanks for the welcome."

Using a neutral face, I hid my bloodlust.

"Can you give me back my chair?"

"Why would I?"

"Because it's mine."

"What if it's not? I had it before you touched it! You're going to have to pay if you want it."

"Then I'll pay for it."

"Hoho, fast learner."

"Yup, I'll pay for it with a kiss."

"WHAT? Oh hell no," Brody said while noping out of there.

 I sat on my chair. Class was about to begin, so Larry sat next to me.

"Hey, you were really cool.."

"Nice," I responded while resting my head on my arm.

…

Avoiding conversations became a habit for me. I didn't want to interact with people, not even with people that I knew were nerds. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate nerds, but they were victims of bullying. And I knew that if I got too attached to someone that got bullied, I might end up doing things I regret. That's just who I am.

It's selfish, knowing I could take down most bullies in just seconds. But instead I watched them bully nerds without doing much to help them. But I just couldn't risk becoming a monster. I just wanted to stay out of the spotlight. 

By becoming a background character, I never appeared in the spotlight, and thus never risked doing anything. So day after day, I got bullied and saved. Again and again. People joined our class and then left again. Seeing all these faces pass, I lost my feeling of attachment.

At some point, my motivation for staying alone changed. I didn't stay alone because I was afraid of getting attached, I stayed alone because I couldn't get attached. 

But now I did get attached. To Nello, to Emma. I don't know if this is right, if this was the most rational thing to do. But I don't mind. It feels right, and that is what matters. With Nello, I don't think I'm going to end up repeating the same mistakes I made in the past.

I looked at my phone. Should I call her? I just don't think I should get her in danger too. If she falls into dangerous territory, I'm afraid of what might happen. But I got desperate. 

I called her. 

No response. I called her a few times to be sure, but not a single response. That felt odd. I just sat there, looking at my ceiling with a blank mind. Not a single ally. Not even ONE person joined us. 

Man, socializing sucks. 

…

"Nello did, huh?" Gregory spoke.

Gregory and his gang were sitting by the stairs, being up to no good. Who is narrating this, you may ask? It's your one and only, the writer. So while Henry is thinking about how scary social relations are, Gregory is thinking about what Nello is planning. 

"Keep an eye on him, if he does something, handle it."

"Yes sir," Emmanuel responded.

But Adeno was present too. He looked at the situation unfolding and stared down at the ground. And thus, his struggle between loyalty for his master and his own morality continues!