6. The Return

Elephant POV

Day: 3

Morning

"Kept you waiting huh?" remarked Elephant as he flashed a smile at the mirror he was currently facing. His golden tooth sparkled as he stared, looking at the top notch job he did at cleaning himself up. He looked fresh and ready to roll.

He winked, clicked his tongue and straightened his school uniform, ready to start his time at school.

Well not exactly at school.

Rather at his home base at school in the delinquent underground.

Hold on wait, what do you mean kept you waiting, and was he in a hiatus?... like hunter x hunter?

Elephant knew all these important questions were going to be thrown his way so he needed to clarify everything.

"Yes to you..." Elephant said as he stared at where he assumed the audience were peeking into his life at, where the imaginary camera would be placed in his room, if he was living in the in real life Truman Show.

"...all you sweet people tuning in to my daily life shenanigans!" Elephant winked in the camera's direction, running his hand through his red and blue hair.

The opposite colour hair scheme is always a banger for the fans, Elephant felt eternally grateful for his parents genetics, for meeting when they did and deciding to marry each other to produce the main character.

"Ah crap, are you doing the main character routine again?" A female voice rang outside his room. It was his sister.

Elephant was certain she was not the main character as she did not barge in to his room, and thus she was not needed of a design and just a voice for the fans watching. 

Always shortcuts with these stories, Elephant shook his head to himself.

"Don't worry sis, I might have the whole chuunibyo act going on but the truth is I know I'm in something, I will make you important too" Elephant shook his fist at the imaginary camera, again to show he was serious.

"Whatever floats your boat weeb" his sister fired back.

Even if people did not appreciate it, Elephant had always wanted to make people feel important, especially if they are not viewed as the main character like his sister.

He seemed aware of the fact that he was an important character in a narrative. Or at least he assumed so. There is a lot of dramatic coincidences that he as observed throughout his childhood and school life that people usually assign to a higher being, like god, or for some others it is usually a conspiracy or shadow government agency pulling the strings.

The point is there is a sense of purpose every individual believes in when they are going about their daily lives.

Not to get too philosophical here, but Elephant here did not believe in a higher being in the same sense most people adhere to religions to. He thought that life had too much emotions and drama to be made of a higher being detached from creation. Thus with his observations and logical deduction, he came to the conclusion that the higher being that is dictating the world as he knows it, is a writer.

Potentially a human, maybe not, it didn't matter.

What mattered to him was the concept that history and humanity felt like the grandest of epics to have been ever told, and thus there was a writer sitting somewhere, writing the narrative of this world.

So with that logic he surmised that usually in these plots the main character would have an awakening and change the world for the better, and he felt he was one of them.

Well, it was the core principle he abided by, why he was a delinquent too. It was not that he was dissatisfied with the government, but rather looking for an answer to this life mystery. To shine a light on those who would otherwise be NPCs in a grand narrative, to give people a chance to take the spotlight.

A noble reason, it was this and other reasons (to which he did not feel comfortable disclosing right now) that drove him to be the leader of his gang, that consisted of a handful of people like That Kid, and to be a respected member in the delinquent underworld.

On to why he was saying he was back , Elephant was getting ready to fill that backstory up having done eating his breakfast.

He sighed as he made his way out his front door, having prepped everything he needed for his day.

His schoolbag? Check

Lunchbox? Check

Switchblade? Check

Perfect.

"So I am going to do a David Attenborough style documentary narrative in a yakuza voice as I make my way to school and bring you up to speed..." He spoke to no one in particular, staring dead ahead as he walked to school. He was talking to the imaginary camera ahead of him, and walking to it as it apparently rolled back, much like a documentary program.

"...Now, I have not attended the first 2 days of school because I was really enjoying the break, but I got to at least make an appearance sometime and it just so happened that Akaji hit me up with a message. Apparently some kid messed with him and he needs me to show up, and show up imma do" Elephant, sure the fake audience of his nodded collectively, before he continued, "Akaji said the kid called me by my nickname Elephant, so yea that kid is getting his jaw broken and swollen...Pause"

Elephant stood still for a second, contemplating if he was going to get a strike on his stream of his daily life if he said anything explicit. Apparently there was no change so he carried on walking and the conversation.

"So yea gonna figure this mystery, check up with my local gang, see how we handling the underworld rankings and make moves to stabilise the place or we all go..."

Elephant sighed once again.

This was his daily cycle, narrate out his life like a diary in hopes the universe or whoever is watching to send help.  No signs from the universe yet, and so he still remains on this quest to hunt the proper end, like a real good novel.

He had made it to the school gate as he was pondering the numerous things going through his head before he slammed right into someone who was not looking where they were going

"Goddamn it watch it twerp!" barked Elephant. He might be good hearted but screw people who walk like they need sonar to see.

"I am so sorry, do you want me to iron your clothes as the king? Shut it! Who do you think you are! Watch where you are going!" raged back the other guy.

A small moment of recognition flashed before Elephant's face.

"Oh wow...your the stupid kid Akaji wants me to talk to..."

Lo and behold, Kenzo was standing right in front of Elephant.

"That is right bozo, That Kid set that up between us, you better show up break time cuz I have something important to share..."

With that Kenzo caught up with some white haired friend of his before disappearing inside the school.

huh, dramatic coincidences.... Elephant mused.

*****

Lunch break

Elephant was now sitting cross legged on the sports field where Akaji, his right hand man, and Kenzo apparently had their fight yesterday. On his right was Akaji, and directly sitting cross legged from him was Kenzo.

Elephant was staring at the average looking dude in front of him. He reeked of side character vibes, but he also felt this dude had some dialogue exp, he was talking as if he was the main character.

So not only does he dare to speak the nickname "Elephant", he fought his right hand man and also thinks he is some main character.

What a delusional loser, thought Elephant.

"So you must be wondering why we are even having this conversation..." Kenzo started, and Elephant was already finding him annoying, but a deal is a deal and he believes in honouring things before letting his emotions get in his way.

"...this is something I had quickly planned. I needed an audience with you. You only talk to your members so I had to do the drastic goofy fight yesterday, though calling it a fight would be a disservice to me cuz your right hand man fell easily into my trap.."

"I did not know you were going to be pulling some asspulls like that" Akaji barked.

"Your fault bro, I don't see the villains in manga complaining if they get their ass whooped cuz they at least know about plot armour."

"Focus" commanded Elephant, showing he was not having this trivial conversation overtake the matter at hand. "What do you want?"

"Well bro, you can call me Jesus cuz I am your salvation! Listen up, you have been rumoured about amongst the normal student body with that awful nickname which I called yesterday, of which I do actually mean to apologise about... "

Kenzo bowed his head down for the apology, Elephant was unfazed but let him continue.

"....So this rumour of yours has a very bad story behind it...I would recite it to you but I am sure you are well aware of what..."

"That my LifeHelper watch glitched and send me my compatible partner months ago, and not only that but it gave me two names for lovers? That they now call me the elephant because they think I am going to start some polyamorous relationship and I am blowing up my ego, an elephant sized ego?"

"Uhh yea...never understood how it landed on that name but I understand it triggers you cuz they think you are some man whore even though you try your best for the community, but most normal students who don't care about the delinquent world, dont care to do their own research. Also you didn't need to tell me the story again I feel bad having you recount it..."

"For the sake of others who might be listening in I had to do the classical exposition." Elephant nodded to an imaginary entity on his left apparently.

Kenzo had a bewildered look on his face before nodding along and pretending to know what Elephant was talking about, knowing that if he showed much disagreement then he would lose all progress he made so far.

"Well...that's what I am here for! I realise you probably would hate to do anything school associated but I can clear those rumours for you by having you do something entirely simple! You can clear yourself and start gaining some positive reputation points back again with the main student body!"

Elephant did not trust Kenzo at all. But he was curious to see where this leads.

"What are you offering?"

"I, Kenzo Suzuki, am starting a club that will be for people who have any issues with love, be it drama or any hiccups with the LifeHelper, its going to put us on the map as love is going to be a huge issue going into our final year, with people so occupied with having the best first experiences, we will be insanely popular once the club starts, and with our love expertise, we would be untouchable! I am formally sending you an invite to this club!"

Akaji facepalmed while Elephant quietly took it all in.

He could see the pleading face on Kenzo, despite the really awful first impressions he has of the guy, he seems to understand that this man was willing to do anything for his goals. Despite his underhanded crafty plans and very toxic tongue...

While Akaji was telling Kenzo that Elephant was not interested and Kenzo was telling him to just shut up and let his boss speak for himself, something dawned on Elephant.

This Kenzo, he was driven to his goals. He was smart. He was an average looking person who gave side character aura but had a great deal of screen time presence so far it seems (from the one day Elephant spent time in school).

This could only mean one thing, he should not underestimate a character like this.

This person could potentially be his rival, every shounen has a rival and this must be his.

It felt like he opened a third eye when he reached that conclusion.

He must keep a close eye on this Kenzo guy, he could mean danger.

Elephant had no interest at all of doing anything drastic like joining a club to clear his name. As great as clearing the rumour could be, the only proper way he could do that is if he chose one girl and moved on, until then he could not put the rumour completely to bed.

But he was not in the mood right now to go through the crazy drama of having to pick between the two names, and he realised that with now everyone having a partner assigned to them, the rumours would flare up even more. It might not be his style to do anything to combat them as he normally would not care about what others do say about him as long as he can do his mission, but would it be a lot harder with this being on the student body consciousness again?

A love club, that could be like hitting two birds with one stone. A place where he can fix his reputation so he is not distracted from his main mission, and a place to exercise and see which of his future partners is his real partner.

This might be useful

"I accept" Elephant said, breaking the argument that was going on as he was deep in thought.

An extremely bewildered Akaji stared at his boss in horror as Kenzo rushed to Elephant and grabbed his hand to shake it with excitement.

"Thanks alot man! You have no idea how much this will help you out! You can still do your delinquent stuff of course you just need to appear as a member, so thank you!"

Elephant shook his hand back, but squeezed it slightly harder than usual, which had Kenzo yelping out when the pressure built over.

"Dont screw me over with this Kenzo"

"I wont I wont I wont!"

He let the boy go who jumped back and started massaging his hand, though a grin still plastered on his face as he accomplished what he wanted to do.

"Well Akaji, I want you to let the rest of the gang know about the club activities I am now a part of, and to keep them updated on that...also Kenzo"

Kenzo perked up at his name.

"All resources the club is allocated will be passed through my gang to use, and I assume you might need more members? I will ask my gang to see if anyone else is interested, a hand in the normal school could help us expand"

Kenzo nodded feverously, agreeing with all the terms. He could finally see his plan was seemingly coming together.

He should share the good news with Daiki...speaking of Daiki, Kenzo has not been seeing too much of his best friend around, mainly because he is untangling his own relationship.

He should check on him soon, he has begun to feel a bit annoyed that this girl called Sakura was stealing all his best friend's time. Maybe she has something up with her?

Nah what are the chances he thought as he made his way to leave before being called out again by Elephant.

"Also Kenzo, do not call me that nickname while you are around, call me by my real name"

"Oh? What would that be club member?"

"Hiro"

"..."

"You are literally telling me your name is Hiro? Like Hero in english?"

"Look Kenzo, I was born with a great purpose of course that is going to be my name, now get lost before I sent Akaji to beat your ass and you start respecting him again"

"Aight I am outta here" 

With that final conversation Kenzo dashed away, which left Akaji asking a million questions as to what just transpired.

For Hiro however, this felt like he was finally making some progress in this narrative of his the universe has out for him, something about this  new venture told him that this might be a right decision after all.

could this feeling be finally that sign he was looking for?

Guess there is only one way to find out.