From the Inside

Faint

Nagatoro was sleeping with no disturbance. Silence was all over. She was dreaming, but it disturbed her that she didn't have any bright dreams. Rather her dreams were dark, literally. All she dreamt was a void.

She felt nervous, with nothing going on. Just then, she saw the void turn into the school library. The library was the same as always. Except it felt off, for some reason.

"Ugh, I'm having some goosebumps here. What the hell?"

She then saw a boy reading alone, sitting in one of the tables. It reminded her of someone, he had sheep-like hair, glasses, and a small smile in his face.

"Senpai?" She said silently. She walked closer to the boy. The boy noticed the teenage girl come close and seemed more nervous whenever she came close. When she was standing over him, he quickly put his face down into his book with this hands covering his head.

"P-please...don't hurt...m-me..."

Nagatoro saw how quickly he covered himself. It gave her a since of guilt that he scared the boy. She crouched down to be face to face with him.

"Hey, I won't hurt you. Relax.."

"H-how can I t-trust you?"

"I promise I won't. Pinky promise?"

She held her pinky up to him. He slowly looked at her, removing his hand from his head.

"I-I don't trust you. Somebody did the same thing, then they hurt me again. I won't trust anybody!"

Nagatoro saw his face as he was crying. He was obviously forcing it to stop, he didn't want to portray weakness. That was obvious. But, it made her feel more bad for the kid.

"I promise I won't. Please trust me, I'll do anything."

"A-anything?"

The boy began to look look down at his hands, full of callouses. Nagatoro was surprised in the amount he had in his small hands. He then looked at her and said.

"R-read my manga, p-please..."

Nagatoro nodded and the boy went to his backpack to retrieve a notebook. He then slowly gave the notebook, shaking a bit. He was blushing, his face full of crimson.

Nagatoro took it and flipped. She began reading. The art wasn't great by any means but it definitely showed effort. And after turning the pages, she could see the improvement of his art. It now looked like a manga.

The story wasn't as good as others but she knew this. It was about his personal struggles. How did she know?

"The knight is you?"

"Huh? N-no, of course not. I-it would be dumb if I was the k-knight.". The boy began to push his glasses a lá Senpai.

"Hmm? But the enemies, is not monsters. It's humans. Why?"

"W-well, the knight needs to show them he is as good as he thinks he is. But people still don't believe him. He gets harassed and he gets told to stay in his place. But he wants to improve. He wants to show he is capable."

"I'll ask again, is the knight you?"

"N-no! Why would it be?! I said it, it w-would be d-dumb if I-I was that knight!"

"But who is he? Is he the person who you want to—"

The library door opened and a bunch of boys came in. They were causing a ruckus. They began to play around with shelves amid the library and spilling all the books. Then they noticed the lonely boy and the teen girl.