This group is for writers and readers.

Here are the new rules:

1. If you are writing or have written stories you want to share with the VicsLab.com community, you can add your stories to this group, but we ask that you also leave feedback on another member’s story.

2. If you don’t have any stories of your own and just want to read stories, the authors would appreciate it if you leave feedback.

Anyone can join the conversation. Members also can create and comment via forum topics to discuss certain aspects of the stories, such as characters, plot, theme, style, and setting.

If you already have a story on your profile page under your “Stories” tab, you can add that story to the group by selecting the document and then selecting “associated groups.” There you can select this group so it can be seen here. Please select “logged-in users” for your story’s privacy settings if you don’t want non-members to view it. Also, please select “Doc author only” under editing privileges if you don’t want others to edit your work (i.e., make changes to your story).

Gateways to Casselonia chapter 1

You are currently viewing a revision titled "Gateways to Casselonia", saved on December 1, 2015 at 12:54 pm by Luis Aleman
Title
Gateways to Casselonia
Content
It was late afternoon in the Adachi Ward Public Highschool and club activities were coming to an end. Those who remained on campus were picking up after themselves. Like the baseball club for instance. Club members were gathering their bats, catching mitts, and other equipment to put them back in the storage rooms next to the field. All under the yellowing sunset sky above, crows cawing in the distance. On the fourth floor of the school building outside of his classroom near the windows that looked out onto that same baseball field, was Sorata Honda, a senior of the Adachi Ward Public HIghschool. He was mingling around on his smartphone while his three friends to his right were hyping about tomorrow's senior-class field trip. It's not that he wasn't excited about the field trip to a wooded area in neighboring Saitama prefecture, he was actually looking forward to it to be honest. But his friends had been talking non-stop about how they were going to have fun with each of their girlfriends at the trip since the day before, and Sorata, because he was the only single guy in his group of friends, couldn't really join in on the conversation. So with that said, he just pretended to do something important on his phone when he was actually waiting for his friends to call it a day. "Hey Sorata, let's go home now!" Sorata's childhood friend Takeru called out to him as the talk about tomorrow's field trip died down for the moment.Takeru had this kind of "cool guy" vibe to him, so to speak. He wore his uniform unbuttoned most of the time, and the white dress shirt underneath untucked. His slick black hair came down to mid-neck level and his front bangs almost covered his eyes, the frames on his glasses matching flawlessly with his overall style. "Got it." Sorata retorted and nodded his head. He proceeded to slip his phone into the pocket of his black chino pants and grabbed his school bag to finally head on home. "Hey, I hear we're gonna have a barbecue as soon as we get there. Sounds like fun, don'tcha think guys?" Sorata's friend Tsutomu asked the group as they all trekked down the stairs. "Really? I think we should have it as soon as we're done hiking to build up an appetite. That way we won't have people leaving loads of plates half eaten. Honestly, and then they're gonna have to throw out perfectly edible food." Sousuke, another friend of Sorata's and the tallest of the four, let his concerns be known over what he feared could turn out to be a wasteful disaster. He was the kind of guy who always offered a kind smile to anyone, no matter who it may be. The boys continued talking about the trip, but now it wasn't about girlfriends or kissing, or going over to the other groups to meet up with their girlfriends behind the teacher's backs. The topic this time was more wholesome relating to the hiking activities and fishing that was scheduled for the trip. Sorata felt more like he was part of the group now and smiled on as they walked down the stairs together. On the first floor of the school building near the entrance, the sun's orange rays peeked in through the glass doors and casted shadows upon colliding with the shoe lockers where students would change into their school shoes and vice-versa when going home. There was an open hallway there too where the arriving students used as a means to go either to the West building or the East building of the school, depending on their grade level. In that same hallway was a group of four girls walking over to the East Building. There was a girl with long, black, shiny hair walking with her three friends behind her. The group seemed more of an entourage than a group of friends because the other girls walked in sync with the long, black haired girl. Nonetheless, they were also gossiping about the school trip that would be held the next day."Hey Mizuki" The girl with long black hair turned her head upon hearing her name being called, " We were thinking, like, we should totally sit in the back of the bus tomorrow so the teacher won't see us talking while he's giving his boring speech about safety before the trip". Mizuki, the girl with the long black hair, smiled raising her left hand up to shoulder length with the palm of her hand facing upwards "As much as I'd like to sit in the back, we unfortunately have a seating arrangement for the trip tomorrow" She said with a high and mighty tone in her voice. Upon hearing this new revelation, the enthusiastic expressions on the girls' faces turned to  frowns accompanied by sighs and groans of discontent. "Can't you do anything about it?" “Yeah! you're the vice-president of the student council anyway!" The three girls looked at Mizuki anxiously, hoping that the fact that they were friends with the vice-president of the student council, they could convince her to use her authority in their favor. "Sorry girls but like you just said, I am the vice-president. Ultimately the decision comes down to the entire student council and the president." The harsh reality was hard to accept for Mizuki's friends as they rolled their eyes at her. Mizuki continued her speech after a short pause " But don't fret girls, because this year is our last year attending Adachi Ward Public Highschool, I will take into great consideration your requests regarding our last school festival!" Mizuki flipped her hair majestically with her right hand as she finished speaking. She knew that promising her friends the best school festival experience for their senior year would completely change her image from " dreamcrusher" to "savior" in the eyes of her friends. Needless to say, it worked like a charm. "Awww, as expected of our senior class idol Mizuki Taniguchi!" "Not only are you the most beautiful but you're the most pure at heart!" Mizuki's friends squealed in excitement, and their eyes shined with the utmost joy and admiration, almost as if putting Mizuki on an olympic pedestal. Mizuki turning her head forward again, she gave a very proud smile and placed her right hand on her chest "Oh you girls are too kind to me! She basked in their praises, making her ego grow more and more. Mizuki was the kind of stereotypical rich girl with the financial power and physical power, meaning she could use her good looks to get what she wanted. Her grandfather was mayor of Adachi Ward and her father and mother both ran a large company in the middle of the city, so it was obvious that she would end up a self-centered person, most 17 year-olds with that kind of background were bound to have some sort of narcissistic disorder. Sorata and his friends were now on the first floor of the school building. They stopped only a few steps before turning to the right where the shoe lockers were. Sorata was in front of the group now and heard Takeru call out to him "Hey Sorata, you've never told any of us but ... Isn't there a girl you like?" Sorata stopped walking and turned around to see that his friends were smiling mischievously at him. Being asked this particular question always made people uneasy, and Sorata was no different since he was much more introverted than his friends. They were curious about what he would say, but their smiles just made the connotation of the question much harder to answer for him "Umm, well..." He turned his eyes away from his friends while contemplating whether or not to be honest about his feelings. Even though they had all been good friends since the beginning of junior high, Takeru being the exception since Sorata and him had been together since kindergarten, Sorata never really mentioned any of his love interests to his friends. And now that he was thinking about it, he figured how weird it was that he never talked to his friends about the girls he had ever liked. They were his best friends after all, so even introverts  like him could speak their minds to their closest friends right? He mumbled "The girl I like is... Ta-Taniguchi-" Before he could even finish saying the girl's full name, Takeru abruptly interrupted with his own conclusion " Taniguchi Kana!" "Huh?" Sorata looked at Takeru as if asking him why he would be so rude as to cut him short, but huh was the only thing he could say because he wasn't expecting to be interrupted, or atleast as fast as Takeru had just done to him. "Taniguchi Honoka!" Sorata's friend from junior high, Sousuke, blurted out the name of another girl with the last name Taniguchi, thinking it might be her. "No that's not-" "Taniguchi Christina! The half Japanese half American girl!" Sorata's other friend from junior high, Tsutomu, took his chance at guessing the girl whom Sorata liked. "What!? No!". "Taniguchi Ayane!" Takeru guessed again but with the wrong Taniguchi. "Taniguchi Misao!" Sousuke came in again but he was wrong. "Taniguchi Junko!" The three boys were taking turns at guessing which girl with Taniguchi as a last name was the right one. "Taniguchi Yoshiko! Taniguchi Yuki!" By now, Sorata's friends were just spouting random first names, adding Taniguchi as the last name. Every first name they mentioned never even came close to the actual girl's name whom Sorata had a crush on. Sorata was now feeling annoyed by the fact that his friends seemed to be messing with him, not taking him seriously at all, nor giving him the slightest opportunity to give an answer to their question. To be honest, Sorata felt it was the right time to tell them about his love interest at first, but now his friends were getting on all his nerves and he knew he had to shut them up NOW. "Dammit you guys, shut up!! Besides, just how many girls with the last name 'Taniguchi' do you think there are in this school anyway!?" "But Sorata..." Takeru looked at Sorata with almost a dead look in his eyes, as if he had just seen the gates of Hell. He stretched out his right arm and put his hand on Sorata's left shoulder. Sorata flinched slightly upon feeling Takeru's firm grip on his shoulder. "You don't mean... you like Taniguchi-" right before Takeru could finish, Sorata interrupted him just as he had done a few moments earlier in a slightly fed up voice as a way to show Takeru how it felt to get interrupted " Taniguchi Mizuki! The girl I like is Taniguchi Mizuki!" A smirk appeared on Sorata's face. He felt a deep pride in his declaration and the way he said it without showing any signs of hesitation. With this, he showed his friends just how much guts he had in him and he could bet every damn yen he had saved up since he started saving since his junior highschool days from allowance money and part time jobs he took on in the summers that they would be blown away. Unfortunately though, Sorata was dead wrong. He had anticipated to be looked upon by Takeru, Sousuke, and Tsutomu with praise in their faces but instead the boys stood in silence for a few seconds and immediately burst out with laughter. Takeru tried keeping in his laughter by  covering his mouth with his hands, but it was useless. Tsutomu and Sousuke looked as if they were about to fall over from laughter, but they used each other as support to keep it from happening and as a result Sorata turned around as quickly as he could. "Yeah, some friends you guys are." "Oh come on Sorata, we weren't expecting it that's all! Takeru wrapped his left arm around Sorata's neck and pulled him close as a way to show they were still the best of friends. "Okay look let me make it up to you then. I'll tell my girlfriend to help us out in getting Mizuki and you alone tomorrow, I promise. Hell, even these useless cherry boys behind us will lend a hand!" Pointing at Sousuke and Tsutomu with his left thumb, Takeru once again reassured Sorata that he was on his side. "Hey what the hell Takeru! Weren't you laughing at him too just now!? "Says the guy who's practically feeling on other guy." Sousuke and Tsutomu were not amused by Takeru's little insult to them. Sorata let out a sigh. He didn't want a little argument to get in the way of what he could accomplish "Alright fine, but you guys better come around with your promise. I don't wanna see you all ignoring me tomorrow because you're off with your girlfriends." "That's the spirit!" Takeru tightened his arm around Sorata's neck after hearing he would go through with their plan. "Starting tomorrow, our little Sorata is gonna take the biggest step in becoming a man!" The delighted Takeru took his arm off of Sorata, and then without warning, pushed him forward with all his might. Takeru's push was only horseplay between good friends, but Sorata was caught off-guard. Sorata was getting closer and closer to the corner as a result from being pushed from behind by his friend. If he made it past the corner, he would be in the hallway connecting to the shoe lockers at the entrance of the school. But it seemed he might not make it past the corner. Not because he was recovering from the push, but because someone else was now walking past that same corner. CLASH! "Kyaaaa!" The sound of a girl's cry filled the hallway. Sorata's friends looked on at what had just happened. They didn't move a muscle because they couldn't believe whom Sorata had just collided with. On the ground, Sorata rubbed his head trying to relieve the pain from the impact " What do you idiots think you're doing!!" Sorata lifted his head up and saw two girls fiercely yelling at his friends "Look at what you've done to Mizuki!" That familiar name echoed in Sorata's ears. In the  blink of an eye he turned his head to the left and saw Mizuki Taniguchi, the most popular girl in the senior class and the girl he liked, on the floor being aided by one of her friends. Mizuki's friend helped her to her feet gently "Are you hurt anywhere Mizuki? We should go to the nurse's office." Mizuki closed her eyes and gave her friend a relieving smile "I'm ok, really... It's only a small bruise on my wrist." She let her friend see for herself at the bruise. The wrist had minor swelling, but still needed to be treated. The calm voice that came out of Mizuki's mouth then changed into a dark, threatening voice as she looked over at Sorata's friends. "Do you boys not have an ounce of intelligence inside your useless heads!? This is a hallway, not a playground for you to be throwing yourselves around like animals!!" Takeru tried explaining what had happened to Mizuki "Look, we never meant to hurt anyone. It was all my fau-" Takeru was immediately shot down by Mizuki's sharp words "Shut up peasant! I don't remember giving you permission to talk!" It looked like the Mizuki that everyone knew was in fact a totally different person once she snapped. Only her friends didn't have a dumb look of confusion on their faces, they obviously knew about Mizuki's bad side by now and they knew how to back her up when the time was right. Mizuki turned her gaze down onto Sorata who was still on the ground. The situation couldn't have been any worse. The girl that Sorata liked was looking down at him menacingly and with disgust, almost like his existence was meaningless in her eyes. And if looks could kill, Sorata might as well been massacred by now. "And as for you... you disgusting monkey. Do you not have even the slightest idea who I am? I am the vice-president of the student council: Mizuki Taniguchi and I am the grandaughter of the mayor of this town. So not only do I hold power within the school, but within this entire town as well! Sorata's perfect image of Mizuki had now been completely destroyed. He didn't want to believe it, but it was all too real. He was dumbfounded, confused, and scared, all he could do was sit on the ground and take the insults thrown at him by the one girl he liked. Mizuki spoke to Sorata one last time " I would slap that ugly face of yours for what you did to me, but I don't want to sacrifice my remaining hand to the likes of you." Mizuki turned her body to the side and resumed walking. Her friends followed without wasting a second, and now, the most humilliating moment in Sorata's life was finally over. Standing below the shower head almost lifeless, Sorata turned off the running water. He opened the door of his room, now changed into blue shorts and a black shirt as pajamas, and walked inside. On his desk was his cellphone with a blinking green light which meant he had recieved a text. He picked it up and turned on the screen. It was a message from Takeru titled: "I'm so sorry!" Next to it was an apologetic emoji conveying Takeru's possible position if he was physically there. Sorata with a blank expression, saw that the message was recieved at 8:30 pm. It was now 8:42 pm, so it came in while he was showering. The message read: I am so so so so so so so so so sorry!!! It's my fault for pushing you! Please let me make it up to you tomorrow on  the trip! The guys and I made a plea that we would do whatever we could to make you feel better! So please, forgive us!!!" Unimpressed and lacking in emotion, Sorata responded to the message from his friend: "Don't worry yourself over it, forget what happened today." He typed it with a forced neutral response that placed no blame on anyone. He was faking it of coarse, but he'd rather fake it than create more problems between him and Takeru, though he did want to curse or maybe even give him a black eye or two because of it. Sorata was just that kind of person, he hid his true feelings even from his friends sometimes so as to not escalate any situation and instead kept it all inside. Sorata hit the send button on the screen and then quickly turned off his cell phone because he didn't want to be bothered by more texts that would require him to remember how he got humilliated by Mizuki earlier that day. He put his phone back on the desk, turned off the light in his room, layed face down on his bed, and turned his head to the side on his pillow. It was still pretty early to go to bed, but right now that was the last thing on Sorata's mind. He could only think of how Mizuki had told him off because he made her fall and as a result ended up bruising her wrist. By now, he knew that he would never be able to talk to Mizuki, let alone go out with her as a couple and there was no way he could go back in time to re-do the day. The thought alone made Sorata feel depressed. The girl he had liked, now despised his entire being and he would only be remembered as "the guy that knocked her over and bruised her wrist". My life is over. Sorata muttered in a low voice with a blank look that could practically drill a hole into the wall next to him. Soon enough, Sorata's eyes became heavy and were blanketed with a sleepy essence that drove him to sleep in no time.
Excerpt


Old New Date Created Author Actions
January 10, 2016 at 8:13 pm Vic
December 2, 2015 at 11:04 pm Luis Aleman
December 1, 2015 at 11:31 pm Luis Aleman
December 1, 2015 at 5:55 pm Luis Aleman
December 1, 2015 at 5:54 pm Luis Aleman