There'll always be someone in the world who'll question you, like you, hate you, maybe even ignore you.
It isn't the world's fault that these occurrences happen to people, it's the people themselves that cause this occurrence.
When people band together, they're combining unique minds to form a group, a group that consists of different people with different goals.
Sometimes, those goals may come together, other times they may conflict. It's not surprising that people see different groups live or die together.
In today's world, the word 'people' isn't just used to describe individuals that are alike, instead it's used to describe individuals who are similar to one another.
For example, if there are two students, they may refer to each other as people, if it were a teacher and a student, they wouldn't call each other people but use a different term.
An instance in someone's life, a person who goes by the name of Gou lives in such a system while attending school.
The peers in this school refer each other to their own 'people' but he is a loner. A loner that stands out in the crowd, standing by no group and usually found isolated.
Peers who are in situations where they're near him, whether it'd be in the same class, same building, or in the same time, they know of him but dare not to approach.
Gou is a unique existence in this school, his behavior follows the simple, show up to school, follow his lessons, eat lunch, and abide by the rules of school.
The baffling thing about this school is that, this school isn't some ordinary school, it's a school meant to push someone to their utmost limits. To Gou, the school wasn't able to make Gou be pushed to his limits, let alone challenge him.
While Gou peacefully continued on in his school life, others who are of similar age had noticed this and this particular details eventually spread to those older than him, and eventually reaching the school staff themselves.
No matter the test, no matter the task, Gou always completed whatever came his way.
One day, a random girl had decided to approach him, asking to meet him in private.
With nothing to lose, Gou decided to play along with whatever this girl to request in private, not knowing the consequences of his actions.
As Gou followed behind the girl, he noticed a few things about her.
She seemed to be a fellow student in the same year as him. Someone of equal height as well, not claiming to be tall in comparison to his peers, but surprised that there was a girl of equal height to him.
As time slowly ticked, the girl eventually led Gou to the backyard of the school, leaving them isolated with only trees to surround them and the loud chatter of students participating in their afterschool clubs.
They both stood in silence, the girl had her head down staring at her feet, pondering on what to say.
She seemed to be quite nervous and shy, feeling the pressure of being under the stare of Gou, who just quietly stood and waiting for whatever was to come.
While the girl was struggling with her own dilemma, Gou was patiently waiting for whatever the girl had wanted to say, taking in the business of his surroundings, not knowing what to think or say as he simply wanted to leave school and go home.
Soon, the girl spoke. "Hey, have we met before?" The girl said as she slowly looked up to match the gaze of Gou, who was watching the surroundings in the distant slowly realign his vision to the girl.
Gou didn't speak, he kept his vision steady and his breathing calm.
Seeing this action, the girl proceeded, "We've met for sure haven't we? You look familiar but not quite, do we know each other?"
Calmly, Gou spoke, "No, I don't believe we've met each other before." He said smoothly, no falter in his words as he breathed out, not bothering to care about this conversation. He simply felt bored and wanted to go home.
Not taking his words for granted, the girl decided to step forward and tensed her muscles before unleashing a punch towards Gou's face.
Taking in the action that the girl had committed all of a sudden, Gou quickly stepped back a step and reached out his arm to intercept the girl's punch, pulling her forward to tip her off balance and strongly pull her towards him to lock up her arms to prevent her from moving.
The girl, locked up by Gou's arms didn't falter or struggle, she simply relaxed her body and continued talking, "What's your name?" Truthfully speaking, the girl didn't know the boy's name, only sensing familiarity with the boy's face.
"My name is Gou, a bit odd of you to ask who I am after meeting in private and attacking me." To Gou, this might be in his top 5 moments in life of something random happening to him. He never expected to be attacked by someone let alone without being provoked.
"Then do you know my name?" The girl asked after watching his facial expression to see anything changing.
What met her watching gaze was simply a shake of his head, he didn't look like he was lying nor did he seem to care.
"My name is Fae, stop playing games with me, we both know what's happening." The girl said with strength in her words, feeling that her sensation wasn't wrong and that she wanted to finalize her thoughts.
"What games?" Gou said with a slight smile.
Staring at the changed expression on Gou's face that was now a slight smile, Fae finally felt certain in her decision. Soon, she slowly spoke, "Give it up, I've finally found you... g-grandpa."
Hearing her say grandpa, Gou couldn't help but grin while his eyes curved into a smile.
"Who is your mother?"
"Taerou."
"I see."
Soon, Gou released her. To be honest, he wasn't really surprised that she had found him, only that she had found him sooner than later.
Fae, feeling that she was released, created distance between them, her eyes locking onto Gou.
After a brief silence, Gou spoke, "Good job finding me, now find the real me."
After saying this sentence, his body slowly disintegrated into the air, leaving no traces of him.
Fae seeing all of this happen before her eyes in a matter of moments was left in shock and disappointment.
She thought that she had found her grandfather only to be left with a smoke trail. She had needed to find him and get answers out of him. Only he had the answers she needed in life.
Meanwhile, on a large bed, a figure could be rustling awake from him slumber.
The figure in question was quite old, white hair, white beard, and a frail figure. He had been sleeping for quite a long time, long enough that no one really knew how long he had slept.
The place he went to slumber, a space no one knew about, a building that remain standing beyond time and understanding. Only resemblance of life from within this building was the slumbering old man.
This old man's name was Gou. He only ever had a first name, no last name. He had a family, but said family had perished many years ago.
By erasing his family's name from his own, he had destroyed the link between them and him. His name now stood alone as the singular thing related to him.
The old man slowly straightened himself on the bed and crossed his legs, resting his elbow on his leg and prompting his chin with his fist. The old man sat like this for a long time, only thinking about the recent occurrence.
As time flowed and wavered, the old man finally stirred from his position, he straightened his back and closed his eyes. As he closed his eyes, his body began to move and by the time he opened his eyes, he was in his office.
The old man shook out his limbs, creating cracking sounds from them, igniting some sort of rejuvenation on his skin and flesh. When he was done stretching, every wrinkle and aging sign that engulfed his body had vanished and soon it was replaced by a clean and pristine skin, flesh strong enough to resist time, and bones that endlessly fueled the body.
He had returned to the same appearance as Gou from the school but this time around, he looked far more mature than his teenager form. He stood for a bit to crack his back only to have his aura released like a flood, slowly filling up the building. Relaxing, he absorbed all of the aura that was released and sat down, leaving only the stillness of the air to flow through the place.
Seated at his desk, he waited.