CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 9

The tutoring meant that Hikari came over three times a week. Fujio spent a while preparing after the first tutoring session. He completely rearranged his room, prepared an outfit, and even studied for the first time in his life. He folded his clothes with extreme precision, sharpened all his pencils, and lit candles.

The second tutoring session went similarly to the first, and so did the third. As time went on, Fujio started becoming more comfortable. He kept narrating his experiences to Eiichiro as well. Fujio had started being more open with Hikari as well. He even found himself eagerly waiting for tutoring days.

It was now fall, and the week of Autumn holidays. Fujio enjoyed fall because of the slight breeze, colorful trees, and jackets. He enjoyed the look of fall jackets and felt more confident when he dressed well. His routine stayed mostly the same, he would go to school, and then go home and either have tutoring, piano lessons, or free time.

Fujio was heading to the park. Not the playground near his house, but an empty lot at the end of his neighborhood. It was far from his house, so he had to take his bicycle. Fujio enjoyed biking, but never really felt the need to use it.

It took him about 15 minutes to get there, even though he was going full speed the entire time. As he made it to the large tree at the edge of the park, he parked his bike and spotted Eiichiro sitting by the lake.

Fujio walked up behind him very silently, hoping to scare him. Just as he was about to tap him on the shoulder, Eiichiro suddenly turned around and shouted.

“AH!” Fujio screamed and fell backward. However, they both eventually started laughing together.

The trip to the park was something they did every time they had school holidays. This was a special spot where they used to play all types of games together during middle school. Recently, they had just met up to talk.

These talks weren’t as casual as most of their conversations, something about the park made it a perfect spot for serious moments. The lake was huge; it took almost 20 minutes to walk a lap around it. The sun shone directly on top of it in the evening, and the trees surrounding it made a beautiful background.

They sat there laughing for a while until it faded, and they both started at each other in silence.

“Hey! Did you miss me?” Fujio asked as he scooted up next to Eiichiro.

“...”

“Eiichiro...?”

“I’m worried about you, bro...” Eiichiro said flatly, it felt like he was trying to hide something.

“Huh? For what? Things have been going well! Guess what? I managed to ask more questions than ever before ye-”

“It’s not that... have you seen our school’s social media?” Eiichiro fixated his gaze at the lake.

“n-no? I don’t use that stuff, you know this right?” Fujio was intrigued, but he could feel himself start to sweat again. He knew something was wrong.

“Oh. It’s nothing major, but basically people are making fun of you for standing outside the school. I honestly don’t know why it took them so long---That was like three months ago--- but yeah...” Eiichiro shifted a little bit in his spot and then continued watching the lake.

“Oh... that’s not that big of a thing! I hate being embarrassed, but at least it helps me be more confident!” Fujio was smiling, he was slightly excited at the thought of being the odd-one-out at his school, it reminded him of one his favorite manga characters.

Eiichiro, after hearing this, smiled at him. They continued talking about random things for the rest of the evening. Around sunset, they both headed home. Eiichiro slowly biked home, lost in thought.

That night as he lay in his bed, Eiichiro tried to comfort himself. He knew how these small trolls could spread and destroy Fujio’s life. He knew, better than anyone, that Fujio could handle hard things, but he also knew that he could break very quickly at times.

Eventually he fell asleep, still thinking about Fujio.

“I hope you find the strength for what might be coming” Eiichiro thought, and then he drifted off. 

THIS CHAPTER ENDS HERE

AUTHOR'S NOTE
Hello everyone, and thank you so much for 200+ views on this series! Each view keeps me more and more motivated to continue this story. I am very happy and grateful for all the readers. Thank you once again!