Chapter 1: Where it all begins

The morning rooster's noise boisterously rippled through the skies, awakening people who were asleep in the small town of Hiraizumi , in Japan. 

Hiraizumi is a town that has a mixture between traditional style and modern style areas adopting a toned down version of the dynasties that were famous in the great country of China. The houses themselves looked as if they were made from oak tree wood, each one having been painted a different shade in colour. This small town of Hiraizumi is home to a particular young man Rogue who lived all of his life there, and today December 13th is a special day for him.

He was officially a college student and the graduation ceremony of his senior class was going to begin soon. As the melody of the rooster moved with the wind travelling all over Hiraizumi , the skies began to attain their radiance and that clear blue pigmentation that many adore. The sun itself peaked its orange yellow head from the mountain peaks giving light to the town beneath.

“ Rogue, wake up you are going to be late for the ceremony” An angelic tone came from one of the houses in the town, the house is a modern one with a touch of tradional Japanese style of housing, it had floors made from oak wood. The doors were the ones made from the paper like material and could be slid from left to right and right to left. The house overlooked a small lake from the top of the hill. This was the Strife residence, and the voice belonged to Rogue's mother. Seraphine Strife. Seraphine Strife is a 46 year old single mom, she has a darker skin tone and black hair, she stands at 5'7feet and currently she was setting the table for herself and her son Rogue. Her voice penetrated the frail walls reaching Rogue's room.

The room Rogue resided in is a simple one. It has enough space to fit three king sized beds, on the corner there is a walk in closet that is connected to the ceiling above. Next to the closet is a laundry basket full of habiliments that Rogue wore, on the furthest side of the room next to the window is a king sized bed that occupies the majority of the room itself. And near the door is a table with a computer setup and a chair above the table, placed and drilled to the wall is a television. 

Rogue got up from his bed and stretched his arms before rubbing his eyes to clear the sleep from them. His feet touched the oak wood floor and he stood up from the bed, exited his room and quickly took a shower to start his day. After taking a shower, Rogue decided to check his phone to see if there was any messages left to him by his friends and that one girl who was close to him. Quickly placing his index on the fingerprint his phone opened itself and he promptly opened Sitebook and looked at his messages, his smile brightening and widening when he reached a contact named “My Queen”. Opening the chat, he briefly typed the message and clicked on send. After sending the message he headed downstairs.

Reaching downstairs, Rogue sat down on the chair that was positioned on the other side of the table across the one his mother was sitting on, both did a little prayer for the food thanking God for another day he had given them. “So you ready for your big day?” Seraphine asked looking at her son who was busy eating without care in the world. 

Rogue upon hearing his mother's question stopped eating and smiled. “ To be honest mom, I'm kinda nervous. And I'm kinda sad. I mean my friends and i will probably split since we will be going to different colleges next year” Rogue answered his mother, concomitantly standing up collecting their plates and putting them in the sink. 

“ Don't worry about it Kiddo, even if you and your friends part ways. You guys will still be friends regardless of the distance between you all” Seraphine replied, her tone gentle and reassuring. Rogue smiled and jogged to his mother, giving her a peck on the cheek he grabbed his backpack and headed to the door. 

“ See you later mom” Rogue uttered and exited the house. Once he had left, Seraphine's eyes lost their radiance and she took out a piece of paper along with a pen, then began to write.

‘ Dear Rogue, by the time you read this you would've been told. Yes I suffer from cancer and it's at its final stage, I didn't tell you this because I didn't want you to worry about me. The doctors estimated that I had a month to live. And I guess, today hits a month’ Seraphine, thought her brown eyes twinkling with tears.

 She was breaking down and she could feel the cancer grasping her life. The tremor of pain wrecking her body throughout, she composed herself and went on.

‘I left all my inheritance to you. I still have a lot to tell you but with little time, I hope you can forgive me for leaving you so suddenly. Remember I'll always be watching you love you, your mother Seraphine Strife ’ Seraphine finished writing the last few sentences and put her signature on the bottom of the paper, tears staining the paper sporadically.

Seraphine folded the paper and placed it on the table. A knock snapped her out of her trace, wiping off her tears. She gathered herself and stood up to open the door. “ who is it?” Seraphine asked halfway.

She got her answer when opened the door. “ it's me, Lucy” The person now known as Lucy addressed herself. Calmy, Seraphine opened the door for Lucy. Her hands immediately lost all their strength and she fell down. Lucy extended her hands and grabbed her body. “ Seraphine, are you OK? Seraphine” Lucy asked. As she checked Seraphine's pulse and noticed that it was feint and it was dwindling.

Lucy's eyes widen and she called the Ambulance, all the while carrying Seraphine outside to the porch on her shoulders. The ambulance arrived and Lucy would place Seraphine on the stretcher with the help of the paramedics, the paramedics lifted the stretcher and placed it inside the ambulance, Lucy being concerned decided to go to the hospital with them. All the while trying to get to Rogue. Due to her being a close family friend she had the contacts of both Seraphine and Rogue incase for emergencies. “ pick up Rogue” She bit her lip impatiently .

Rogue during this events had already reached the school premises and had placed his phone on do not disturb mode. Upon reaching the entrance Rogue was greeted by his friends. Silver and Morris. Silver was the same age as Rogue, standing at 5,9 feet tall. He had dark hair in dreadlocks form and a pair of silver colored eyes.

Morris on the other hand was a bit shorter than Silver, standing at 5'8 feet. He had blonde hair with a pair of cerulean blue eyes. “ Yo Rogue, wait up” Silver articulated. His hand in his pockets, Rogue turned around and stopped in his tracks a smile gracing his face as he squinted his eyes. 

“ Yo Silver, Morris.” Rogue greeted back and the trio ventured into the school grounds heading to the auditorium where the ceremony was being held. Along the way, The group of three grew from trio to sextuple, three boys and three girls. Once they arrived at the auditorium, the group split into duos and each headed to different locations. Rogue and Skyla took their seats on the furthest corner in the auditorium having a clear view of all the seniors that were present.

The ceremony began with the head principal taking center stage. Mr Woo the principal of Origin high stood afore all the seniors his hands on the pulpit which had a microphone that was connected to the speakers in the auditorium. “ Greetings class of 3056, today is a memorable day for everyone in here. The journey that all of you undertook since kindergarten wasn't easy and many of you hated school” His loud voice boomed around the auditorium followed by a round of snickers from students and teachers alike. 

“ But after all these years, you have perservered and managed to finish your senior year in high school. Your high school days will be remembered by all, I Sun Woo am happy to announce The beginning of the crowning ceremony” Mr Woo uttered his voice being projected out from the speaker reverberating from the all over the room.

Soon after his miniature speech, the crowning ceremony began with students taking their certificates. Rogue and Skyla being the last ones to take their certificates, once all students had attained their forms the cafeteria welcomed all the students at a banquet. The party began to get in full swing as students who were 

now legal citizens drowned themselves with booze, and many began to dance to the music that played.

“ So babe which University are you going to?” Rogue asked as he stood at the swings in the school yard with Skyla. Both of their right and left hands intertwined together the others holding cotton candy.

“ State university in Tokyo” Skyla replied. Skyla is a lady with fair skin tone, standing at a height of 5'4 feet, She has black hair and golden eyes, currently she was wearing princess ball gown which was decorated with blue and white lilies, she adorned gold Tiara on her head.

“ That's nice. I got accepted in Osaka's main university of science” Rogue replied finishing the last of his cotton candy and coiled his hand around Skyla's waist. 

The lass herself placed her head on his shoulder enjoying the silence the outside offered. By now the sun was setting and the ceremony was reaching its pinnacle. “ Rogue, let's go inside it's getting chilly” Skyla articulated to her boyfriend, Rogue would nod and the duo would stride into the auditorium once more.

Upon entering the Hamlet, Morris and Silver separated the duo taking Rogue to the men's corner saying they have something to tell him. “ I think it's time man. You've went through sophomore and junior years with Skyla and you've still yet to kiss her man, you gotta do it today” Silver whispered and Morris agreed with him.

“ But guys you know I love her and I'll never do anything to displease her” Rogue replied back, his eyebrows creasing as a blush tainted his cheeks.

“ Man you gotta stop being a whimp and do it” Morris and Silver uttered at the same time pushing Rogue to go and find Skyla. Rogue could only nod and do as told, He'd loosen his t-shirt sleeves and maneuvered over the crowd using Skyla's dark hair as a beacon to locate her.

What his opticals saw was dumbfounding, there five meters away from him was his girlfriend Skyla, Rogue's heart broke into pieces. Skyla was kissing his classmate Ashlee, tears trinkled from the corner of his eyes descending down his cheeks. “S-Skyla...” Rogue whispered. 

Skyla turned around and her mouth was wide open, upon noticing that he had attained Skyla's attention he twirled on his heel and ran out of the auditorium tears streaming down his face.

Running a good mile, His stamina started to wear off and he ceased his run. “ Why why... Why did you do this” Rogue questioned no one in particular, he felt suffocated. He felt like he couldn't breathe, his heart was in so much pain that he felt his lungs clog up. Grabbing his phone to check, on the time he stumbled on 25 missed calls from Lucy. His face was mixed with puzzlement and anguish.