Falling Apart

I woke up with enormous pain in my legs. I guess that's what I get for being non-athletic...

Seeing that I was running late again, I hurried to get dressed and grabbed a chocolate bar on my way out. I didn't have enough time to prepare breakfast.

"Hey!"

I turned around to see Ko running my way. She greeted me with a big smile.

"We were planning something, and I want to invite you too!"

Her face radiated excitement.

"Who were you planning with?"

It seemed like she thought I already knew.

"Oh, you didn't know?! Masato is planning to go to the mall, and he invited me and you!"

I found it confusing why she was so excited.

"Don't you go to the mall every week?"

That seemed like something a typical teenage girl would do, but I had forgotten...

"What are you talking about?! I haven't even been to the mall once! I only go to the petting zoo!"

Ah, yeah. It isn't that surprising...

"Anyways, he wants to check out the new jetpacks-"

My gaze fell when I heard that word.

"So he wanted to see if we can all go together to do shopping."

She finished with an ecstatic look on her face.

"Um... Can't we just order online by HPA?"

I tried to make her see that that would be a waste of time.

"Yeah, I know! Don't be a buzz kill! Come with us! Please!"

The puppy eyes again...

"Ugh, fine! I'll tag along!"

"Yeah!"

She hugged me and jumped up and down.

"H-hey! S-stop it!"

How does she make me flustered so easily?

"We have to hurry for the 100th time this week!"

As soon as I said that, we made our way towards the transportation point.

 Everything went normal in school until Professor Toshiaki's class.

"We have a test?!"

I could feel my soul leaving my body.

"Yeah, you didn't know?"

Masato was sitting in front of me, looking confused.

"I can't pay attention to history for the life of me! Ahh! My life is over!"

It is a well-known fact that if you fail the history test, you will get scolded by Professor Toshiaki and get detention, but things are different for me... Because I live alone, the school is supplying me with their funds, so if I fail Toshiaki's test, he will make sure they cut my budget for the next two months.

I scrolled through my holo-book, trying to remember as much as I could.

"Of course, you'd procrastinate..."

Masato looked disappointed at me.

"Sorry! I don't have anything else left! I can't let him-"

I stop myself in my tracks. I almost rated myself.

"Who you can't let?" 

My white-haired friend eyed me with a suspicious look.

"N-nothing! F-forget I said a-anything!"

My heart wanted to jump out of my chest and my hands were sweating.

"Hmm... I'll let you be if you don't want to talk about it."

He got up and walked back toward his seat.

"But don't forget! After school! You, me and Ko!"

He raised his voice so I could hear him. I simply nod, before returning to my holo-book.

After 5 minutes, Professor Toshiaki entered the classroom.

"Everyone, put your holo-books down. Get your tablets, we're having a test."

My breath cut out right after he said that. This is it. If I want the necessary money for this month I have to pass.

The next 45 minutes were one of the most stressful moments in my entire life.

"Hey, how did you do?"

Ko hopped up to me with a careless smile on her face.

"I-I don't know..."

I felt anxious about my work. I only studied for 5 minutes!

In a blink, a notification popped up on the screen of my tablet.

"42 points... 42 POINTS!"

I jumped up from my seat with joy. I narrowly passed the test...

"Yeah! Let's go Noboru! You're treating us to ice cream then!"

She came up to me and started to celebrate with me. When I heard what she said, I immediately stopped.

"Hey, you should be treating me instead!"

I said in a playful tone. After I said that she momentarily used her famous technique... 

"Why are you using your cuteness in such evil ways!"

We both laughed at that. It took us some time to compose ourselves.

"I was just kidding, you doofus!"

"Alright, enough of your flirting."

Masato walked up to us with his all-familiar grin. My face turned beet red.

"H-Hey! I-I would never f-f-flirt with Ko! I-It's not t-that I don't l-like her as a friend, It's just that s-she could f-find a better b-b-boyfriend..."

With how hard my brain was trying to find a way to defend itself, I could only stutter.

"I don't know... I never saw a difference between friends and crushes."

Ko made a thinking face. It seemed like she was thinking about the difference between friends and crushes.

"Hmm... I really can't tell, but it just shows how close we all are!"

She brought us into a group hug. My heart was about to explode from all of the excitement.

"K-Ko! A g-girl shouldn't h-hug b-boys this c-casually!"

"Yeah, I agree Noboru. She should only hug you."

Masato was about to burst into laughter.

"M-M-MASATO!"

...really, what is his problem? I'm just nervous because I'm around a girl. That's all. It's not like she likes me "that" way, right? And even if she did, she would probably hate me for what I did in the past...

I break up the hug. Mere moments later, the bell rang, signaling the start of class.

"Class is about to start guys. Get back to your seats."

They looked at me with confused faces, because of the sudden change in my mood.

"Hey, are you alright? Did something we said hurt you?"

Masato probably thought that his teasing went over limits this time.

"No, i-it's not-"

"Hey!"

Ko raised her voice. Her eyes looked angrily at me.

"You said that you would talk to me if something's wrong! It is obvious that you're bothered, so just tell me! Tell us!"

Tears started to form in the corners of her pretty green eyes.

 "You trust us, right?"

A pang of guilt overtook my body. Did it seem like I didn't trust them? I know I should tell them the truth, but I can't make them deal with my problems.

"It's about that nightmare I had the other day... Nothing serious."

My gaze shifted towards the classroom floor, as I didn't want to see their faces.

"...okay then. If you can't trust me, then I think that we can't be friends anymore!"

She walked back towards her seat and hid her face in her arms. Masato just shook his head and did the same thing. Did I make a mistake!? I don't know... If I told them, they would worry too much about me and if I didn't, they would think I don't trust them... This is hurting my brain...

When I came back to reality the class was well underway.

"Huh?"

I didn't notice that I was crying. No wonder that everyone was staring at me... After quickly wiping my face, I tried to focus on class.