I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World and Became Unrivaled in the Real World, Too: Prologue (Vol. 1)
Prologue
I—Yuuya Tenjou—am a victim of bullying.
It's nothing new.
Even when I was little... Hell, from basically kindergarten onward, it was like I walked around with a target on my back.
Begging my tormentors to stop just amused them and made them bully me even more, and no matter how much I pleaded with my teachers, none of them ever listened.
Worse still, they started putting the blame squarely on my shoulders.
I might have been able to bear it if it was just the other kids at school or my teachers who treated me badly.
But my family has never loved me, either.
I'd like to think they showered me with affection when I was first born.
After all, I was their first child.
But that was all I was.
With each passing year, my face grew uglier and uglier no matter how much I wanted it to do otherwise.
Despite the fact that I never overate and always stuck to normal portions, my body put on more and more weight.
There were times when I tried to exercise only to find myself getting fatter still, making a mockery of my efforts.
Even though I never changed how much I ate.
Maybe I had some sort of illness.
Right around the time that thought crossed my mind...my parents completely lost any interest in me.
They had two new children—twins. A boy and a girl they showered with affection.
Neither looked anything like me, with their charming features, and my parents poured all of their love into them.
It also changed how they treated me.
The twins would get all the nice food, while I had to pick from day-old scraps.
Perhaps it was a blessing that I got any food at all, but my main source of nourishment during those years were leftovers and expired packaged stuff.
Even with something as basic as laundry, my parents refused to wash my clothes in the same load, claiming it would ruin their clothes. They eventually just stopped washing them altogether, saying it was waste of water.
As an elementary school kid, I was forced to use the public sink at the park to wash my clothes.
Incidentally, everything the twins wore was brand-new, while I made do with old hand-me-downs.
This even extended to backpacks. Only I had to go through all of school with worn and ragged backpacks.
The twins were a year younger than I was, and due to how my parents treated me, by the time I was going to kindergarten, I had to take care of most everything in my life on my own.
I always envied my brother and sister.
It's not like I ever did anything to deserve this... Or maybe I did deserve it because I didn't work hard enough to change it?
No matter how much I pleaded with them, my parents couldn't have cared less.
Because of that, even when I thought I had something physically wrong with me, they wouldn't even take me to the hospital.
I suppose I should consider myself lucky that I got food at all given the circumstances.
That said, I'm fairly certain it was mainly because my parents were worried about how it would look to society at large if they didn't feed me anything.
—Still, there was one person in my life who was kind to me.
Gramps—my late grandfather.
He rarely visited us because he was always off on one trip or another. I remember him bringing me back weird souvenirs from whatever place he'd been to last.
But whenever he was at home, he'd treat me, the ugly one, with love and care.
He never paid much attention to the twins. I was always the apple of his eye.
Gramps had always been something of a vagabond, constantly flying off to odd destinations. He had a reputation as an eccentric who collected strange trinkets, and my parents never liked him.
When I started elementary school, I'd visit him whenever he was at home, since his house was nearby.
No matter how angrily Gramps objected to how others treated me, my ugliness and his peculiar habits meant all of his objections were ignored and swept under the rug.
And the only person who ever showed me an ounce of love... Well, he was dead.
"Yuuya, keep your chin up. There's nothing to worry about. No matter how hard life might be, so long as you keep smiling, happiness will find you eventually. Someday, you'll show everyone that they were wrong about you... Besides, you've got a long life ahead of you, Yuuya. Take your time, stay patient, and be true to yourself. It'll be fine. I know you can do it, Yuuya."
With those words, Gramps breathed his last.
He left his house and all of his wealth to me.
Of course, my parents tried to take them from me, but Gramps was one step ahead of them and had taken all the necessary precautions to foil their plans.
As a consequence, my parents completely abandoned any pretense of caring for me.
Well, I suppose in a certain sense, that was a completely natural outcome.
That's why I moved out to live in the house Gramps had left me.
It wasn't like he left me a huge inheritance, but my parents weren't going to support me in any way, shape, or form.
Gramps left me enough money to pay for a six-year combined middle and high school, meaning I could at least finish studying.
I was able to cover the registration fees and tuition, but there wasn't enough money left over for daily living expenses, so I had to balance school with various part-time jobs.
And as of this moment, I need to leave right now unless I want to be late for work. Unfortunately, I've just been dragged behind the school gym.
The only thing that could possibly await me there is—
"You got some nerve, lardass!"
"Guh?!"
—a savage beating.
A constant flurry of kicks and punches.
I struggle to breathe, and because I always skip lunch to save money, the only thing I hack up is bile.
After several minutes of this, they seem to grow tired of giving me a thrashing so Takeshi Araki, the leader of the bullies, grabs me by the hair and drags my head up as I cough.
Araki is what you would call a stereotypical delinquent and he sports bleached hair and piercings in his ears.
He never wears his school uniform properly, and evidently, he's a member of a high school gang called the Red Ogres that's based in this area.
"Guh! Hack!"
"Stop coughing, fatty. You're supposed to be my punching bag. So tell me... Why exactly is a punching bag trying to leave on its own?"
"Oomph?!"
I feel the sharp impact of his knee meeting my face.
My nose is bleeding profusely, and my whole face throbs with pain.
"Hey now, Araki. Not in the face, eh? It's too easy to see."
"Eh, no one gives a shit about trash like him."
"Bwa-ha-ha-ha! This is hilarious!"
Several tacky-looking girls start snapping pictures of me on their phones.
After watching them for a moment, Araki's lips curled into a malicious grin, apparently happening upon a grand idea.
"Hey, I just thought of something fun. Since we're already taking pictures, let's get some nudes!"
"Oh! Yeah, great idea! Let's bring more people over."
"A'ight, send texts to everyone in your contacts."
"Ah?! W-wait..."
"Shut your mouth, asshole!"
"Guh!"
Another kick to the face.
I feel light-headed, as if I'm losing my grip on consciousness, but if I pass out here, there's no telling what they'll do to me.
But it's not as though I can do anything to resist, and it isn't long before the people Araki and his friends called over begin gathering around us.
"Oh, c'mon, you said there'd be something interesting..."
"Sigh... Now I have to look at this disgusting face."
I somehow manage to turn in the direction of the cold voices. An incredibly attractive boy and girl stare down at me with their oddly similar faces both twisted into matching scowls of annoyance.
—It's Youta Tenjou and Sora Tenjou...my younger brother and sister.
They're only a year younger than me, so I occasionally run into them at middle school. Every time they see me, they dismiss me with nothing but a scornful glance.
I'll be a first-year high school student in the spring, and they'll be third-year middle school students, but I guess there isn't any way for me to avoid them in the long run.
Of course, there's no reason for them to be back here behind the gym, so it's probably safe to assume Araki or one of his cronies invited them.
"Eh? Youta, you know this pig?"
"Yes. While I hate to admit it...he's technically my older brother."
"Your big brother?! Oh, you've gotta be kidding me! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! You look nothing alike!"
Araki stares at me before bursting into a fit of laughter.
"Well, we have nothing to do with him. We just happen to be related, legally speaking. Not that it matters."
"I see, I see... Well, whatever. At least enjoy yourself while you're here."
After that exchange, I notice that nearly twenty people have gathered. In the end, I'm powerless to do anything as Araki and his goons strip me.
I fight as hard as I can, and I even plead with them in desperation, but every time I object or resist, they silence me with another blow. Before long, I'm completely naked.
"Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
"Hey now, don't be shy!"
"Ugh, disgusting!"
I'm assailed by taunts and insults from the people around me. I bite down on my lip, bearing the scorn as best as I can.
I hear the sounds of cameras snapping shots for a while, before Araki raises his voice to address the crowd.
"Thanks for coming today, guys! Well, guess it's about time to call it a day!"
With that, Araki turns to me, and his teeth gleam in a predatory grin—
"A'ight! Go fly, piggy!"
"Gah!"
I take a powerful blow to the jaw, which sends me flying like a rag doll. I lose consciousness as soon as I hit the ground.
When I come to, there's no one around, and the moon is high in the sky.
I check my belongings and find that all of my money has been stolen, my textbooks torn, and my clothes left in a puddle of mud.
"Ngh... sniff...sob..."
I try desperately to avoid breaking down, but I can't bear the pain, the humiliation.
...Gramps, what am I supposed to do...?
This is what passes for my daily life.
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