Aki

Trudging to campus, Hiroki's legs dragged as if they were pulling cinder blocks. A consequence of staying up until 2:46 a.m. to defeat Akumatsu.

In a door, up some stairs, a turn and another turn. All focus was put into walking normally as a sleep-deprived freshman could, with none left for his surroundings.

His meandering through the university corridors somehow led him to the lecture hall, room E302.

Heaving himself up the lecture hall stairs to the desks, he settled for the third row, too tired to carry on to the more revered fourth.

He picked the second seat in from the aisle steps. Any further would be strenuous exertion he couldn't handle in his zombified state.

His bag dropped to the floor, his body fell into the chair, and his head to his arms, face down on the desk, trying to gain a few more seconds of sleep before class started.

His eye lids felt heavy, darkness began to fill the room, and the voices began to fade...

Click, click, clack.

It was the sound of a game controller in his right ear. Is someone gaming? Slowly, he wrenched his head without lifting it.

Three seats over was a girl in a sweater three sizes too big, with shoulder length hair, the bottom half dyed blue. She was cute, with the presence of a shaded nightingale.

In her right hand was a handheld console about the size of a tablet. In her left, a convenience store egg sandwich being gnawed at.

In a half-awake trance, he asked without full consciousness, "what game are you playing?" The realization of what he inquired sank in immediately. He feared even giving a hint to his unrevealed obsession could lead to a repeat of his lover-less high school experience.

Without word or sound, the girl tilted her screen for Hiroki to see. What his eyes were observing  took a few seconds to process.

The game didn't look familiar. A dialogue box with some words that were too small for him to read. It was a visual novel. Behind the textbox was the unclothed, peach-colored skin of two soft-featured men embracing each other. Erotic boys' love. In public?

The realization shook Hiroki awake in a way that five coffees injected straight into his bloodstream could not.

"Oh," was the only sound he could produce with emptied, bewildered, lungs. The girl's face remained completely unfazed as she took another bite of her egg sandwich.

Unable to conjure other any other words, he turned his face back toward the desk.

What just happened? His mind spiraled. Unsure of whether to feel disgust or fear. He had heard of people who played such games. To hear about the fantasies by women of two men erotically falling in love is one thing, but to have it laser etched onto a set of unprepared eyes was unforgiveable.

"What are you playing?" said a male voice coming up the stairs. Another victim about to have all purity ripped away from him.

Hiroki turned his head back to watch the death of more innocence - it was Nobu. His eyes finally saw what was happening on her screen.

Immediately, the cackle of a hyena echoed through the lecture hall as tears welled around Nobu's eyes. "Never change, Aki," he said, wiping tears from his face, continuing to laugh.

"You should have seen his reaction," she teased, pointing to Hiroki. Nobu's eyes followed her finger and another bout of laughter began. "See you at practice, man," Nobu giggled as he walked away.

Aki looked to Hiroki, following up with an exaggerated wink, the kind with her teeth visible and the corner of her mouth pulling into a half-smile.

His face once again returned to its rightful downward place, nested in his arms.

Not her. Definitely, not her.