The Distance

The next day at school was painfully awkward. Upon entering classroom 1-B, Tan-Tan settled into her seat, her face wearing a worried expression. She desperately wanted to convince the manga club members to make up, but everything depended on how Nishi would handle the situation. She knew Nishi was in the wrong, but she couldn't just turn her back on him like Sakai Akinari had; she understood it would be wrong to abandon Nishi in his time of need. A few whispers could be heard among her classmates:

"Tanaka-san is sulking again, today."

"Where's her brave senpai? Did they break up?"

"Break up? Why are you assuming they were together?"

"She probably just got picked on again, you know how it goes with Tanaka-san."

Today, Tan-Tan could definitely hear the gossip. She wasn't as deep in thought as she usually was, thus, she could hear every hurtful assumption being said about her. She couldn't muster up the courage to say anything, she was deathly afraid of getting into unwanted trouble, especially a fistfight. Just the thought of being physically hurt made her heart race faster with anxiety.

Around lunchtime, Tan-Tan slipped out of her classroom and headed toward the clubroom. Once inside, she took a seat in Nishi's chair, inhaling deeply. The familiar scent of cheap cologne filled her nostrils and tugged at her heartstrings.

"What are you doing, Nishi-senpai? Why aren't you making up with Minami-chan?"
She whispered to nobody but herself. Reclining back in the swiveling chair, she spun around slowly. The sliding of the wooden door caused her to jolt; her eyes immediately fixed on the person entering the clubroom.

Stepping into the manga club, a timid first-year student appeared. His bangs covered his eyes as he clutched a piece of paper to his chest. Standing at around 5-feet-4-inches, the boy walked closer to Tan-Tan's desk, his eyes still hidden behind his hair.

"Are you... Kuromoto-senpai?"
He spoke in an almost feminine voice. Tan-Tan hadn't been expecting such a cute, soft voice to escape his lips, but then again, it fit his aesthetic quite well.

"I'm Tanaka Shina. I'm not anyone's senpai, I'm a first-year student like you."
She bowed her head without getting up from Nishi's chair.

"Tanaka-san... I'm Meguro Makoto... Pleased to meet you..."
He bowed slowly, not only was his speech pattern catching Tan-Tan off guard, but even his movements were just as slow.

"Meguro Makoto? That's a cute name!"
Tan-Tan giggled softly, studying the boy's facial expressions.

"Yes... I suppose my name... is gentle..."
Makoto raised himself from his bow, still unsure of what to be doing or saying to the random girl.

"Mhm! It's a nice name. I got stuck with a boring name like Tanaka."
She stood from her chair, surprising Makoto with her height.

"Um... Tanaka-san... You're quite small..."
Makoto's eyes finally shone through his bangs. He studied her petite stature for a moment, before returning to his usual stoic face.

"Hey, really? I didn't even notice!"
Tan-Tan's eyes narrowed at him, but instead of pouting, she was smirking. Tan-Tan, of course, had always been insecure about her height, but something about Makoto's gentle nature made her want to be sarcastic. She didn't sense any malice coming from him, so she figured she could momentarily let her guard down and try to have some fun.

Makoto found her sassy remark amusing. He smiled and let a few soft exhales through his nostrils, a weird attempt at a chuckle.
"Tanaka-san... I'm here to drop off my application... I hope I can join this wonderful club..."

He handed the small girl a slip of paper, his handwriting neat and just as feminine as his aura. She glanced at the paper for quite some time, feeling a little bit jealous that his handwriting was better than hers.
"You want to join the manga club? That's wonderful, I'll tell Nishi-senpai as soon as-"
She froze mid sentence, her smile fading into a worried expression.

"What's the matter... Tanaka-san?"
He tilted his head to the side.

"Oh, it's nothing to concern yourself with Makoto-kun. There was a small disagreement in the club the other day, so I'm not sure when the senior members will be coming back."
Tan-Tan walked over to Nishi's usual chair, placing the new applicant's form on the desktop.

The awkward silence lasted for a long time. Makoto was clearly unsure of what to do with himself. He shifted slowly to the door, trying his best to avoid any further conversation with Tan-Tan.

"Makoto-kun? Do you have a favorite manga?"
She spoke from a distance, watching as he turned around to face her. His eyes were slow, but his movements were calculated.

He tapped his chin and looked upward.
"Um... I really like Welcome to the Otakuciety... both the novel and the manga..."

Tan-Tan's eyes sparkled, she immediately dashed closer, her fists curled by her chin.
"That's a pretty niche pick, Makoto-kun! I'm a fan of the anime series myself!"
She started humming the opening theme song in her soft voice.

"Y-yes... The anime was quite... enjoyable..."
He followed along, gently singing the lyrics.

The two dueted until the lunch bell rang to life, interrupting their moment. Tan-Tan quickly led the quiet boy out of the clubroom, waving as she ran down the hallway.

"Come by the clubroom after school, Makoto-kun!"

"Sure... Tanaka-san..."

Tan-Tan spent the rest of class sketching images of Misaki from Welcome to the Otakuciety, her mind quietly playing the theme song as she drew. She hadn't thought about the series since her father had shown it to her as a middle school student; using it as reference to what her life could become if she didn't make good friends. Rather than be scared by the harsh realism of the series, she fell in love with the story. To her, it brought peace knowing there were people out there who had internal struggles like her, even if the situations were drastically different. For this new applicant, Makoto, to have such a strong connection to a psychological series must have meant he had gone through similar problems in the past.

As the final bell rang to life, students scrambled to get out of class, leaving Tan-Tan to take her time putting her notebooks away. Heading toward the clubroom, she saw a familiar quiet boy, sitting alone just outside the door.

"Makoto-kun? Why aren't you inside?"
She squatted next to him.

"Oh... Hi, Tanaka-san... I didn't want to interrupt them..."
He smiled up at her, setting his smartphone in his lap.

"Interrupt who?"
Tan-Tan tilted her head. She began to hear muffled shouting coming from inside the clubroom. Quickly, she jolted to her feet, yanking the door open. What she saw waiting for her made her gasp.

Kuromoto Nishi and Sakai Akinari were in a full-blown fistfight, shoving and punching each other with all their strength. Nishi jabbed at Akinari, only to be sucker punched right in the gut with a counter. Tan-Tan stood there baffled: she began screaming at the two.

"Nishi-senpai, stop it! Sakai-senpai, you're hurting him!"
She couldn't bring herself to move. Her legs were frozen in place, unable to rush in to save them.

The deafening sounds of skin slapping skin made her begin to cry. She watched as Akinari brutally drove Nishi into a corner, beating him senseless. She watched helplessly as Nishi bled from his nose and mouth, occasionally landing a hard blow on Akinari's face.

"Nishi-senpai! Oh, no! Nishi-senpai!"
She fell to her knees, bawling her eyes out at the bloody brawl.

Upon seeing Tan-Tan, Sakai Akinari took a step back, spitting out a clot of blood from his mouth. He walked out of the clubroom, cursing under his breath. Wiping her tears from her eyes, Tan-Tan gazed at the bloody face of Nishi, his left eye already swelling from the fight. His glasses had been shattered into pieces, and fragments of glass were scattered across the desktop.

She crawled over to Nishi, immediately using her handkerchief to pat his scrapes and cuts. She sniffled in silence, wiping the sweat and blood from her senpai's handsome face.

"N-N-Nishi-senpai... Why did you..."

"I'm sorry, Tan-Tan... The club is disbanded."
He grunted in agony as he stood up, using the desk as leverage. He grabbed his school bag and slung it over his shoulder, limping out of the clubroom.

Tan-Tan's face was stuck in disbelief, her eyes wide and her mouth agape. She sat there, all alone, waiting for somebody to say this was all just some huge misunderstanding, but the only person there was Meguro Makoto, quietly sweeping shards of glass around the clubroom.

"Disbanded?"
Makoto squatted next to Tan-Tan, emptying the dustpan into the trash can beside her.

She sat in silence, not quite understanding the situation herself.

"Nishi-senpai... What have you done?"