The Chosen One

The school day had come to a close. The evening sun, that beautiful bright star in the sky, peeked through the west windows, signaling to all us talented students to start packing our bags and get ready for a temporary reprieve from the academic grind.

The sun especially shined on me, Nodo Hade, like a spotlight from the gods upon the chosen one, as I strutted down a hall full of my peers. Eyes couldn’t help but catch me as I passed by.

Men glared as they grappled with jealousy, examining my smooth swayed walk so they might too be as cool as me some day. Women, on the other hand, gazed on in bewilderment, hearts in their stares as each of them wished for a leisure evening in my presence.

They had great taste. But the show hasn’t even begun yet…

“Eeeeeh!” A pigtailed gal sang a squeal, as if offering a prayer to me. “He looked this way! Did you see that? Ahhh!”

“We love you, Hade-kun!” A gal in glasses screamed as she caught Pigtails falling over in a faint. “Tell me you love me back! Please!”

Glasses wasn’t ready to hear that yet. So instead, I gave the two of them a wink as a temporary tribute to show I had plans for them in the near future.

My charm and good looks were great and all, and let me tell you, they really were… Thousands of hours staring into the mirror had a promising way of proving that… But all this hype was for another blessed gift of mine. There was a routine reason why ‘everyone’ was getting all excited for me at this time of the day.

It was a contagious vibe not exclusive to this school. In fact, everyone in this prefecture was gearing up for the most important hour.

And what was the most important hour, one might ask.

Well, beautiful audience of my imagination, I’m glad you cared. Because the answer was right inside the school's second floor set of former faculty offices. The teachers recently got a new place to crash on the third floor, leaving this one all for us to have a little makeshift broadcast center of an extra-curricular variety.

Awaiting me inside was a wonderfully short, extremely beautiful, sassy eyed girl with her dark hair tied back in a ponytail. Her arms were folded and her hips were tilted at just the right angle to tell me she was in my favorite mood.

“Cutting it close again, aren’t we?” Mimi-chan’s voice cracked like a whip, sending a euphoric shock through my veins. “We’re on in three. So I hope you're ready to talk.”

“I'm always ready to talk, Mimi-chan,” I replied in as charming a voice as I could. “Have I ever let you down? I’m here now, and that’s what matters.”

Her typical attitude retreated with a drawn out huff. With her disarmed of any mean spirited mood, I felt we could get things started.

“One of these days, you’re gonna’ be so late for the wrong thing and someone's gonna’ throw the book at you.”

She was so cute when she was aggravated.

“You can hit me with whatever you want, because I’m invincible, baby.”

“Famous last words,” she chortled. “And don’t call me baby! Get in the sound box already.”

I took my seat inside the soundproof room with only a single glass wall of window looking out toward Mimi-chan, who sat down to play her role as the board operator. As for me, a pair of headphones awaited my ears, and a large microphone awaited my voice. I leaned in as close to it as I could, keeping my eye on her as she skillfully caressed an assortment of knobs and buttons on her side.

Finally she flipped a switch, then gave me the thumbs up I’d been looking for to get on with the show.

I pressed the intercom button. A trendy K-pop jingle played as a cue to all tuning in that things were about to turn up.

“Hello, Konbanwa and Good evening, fellow students and all you other lovely listeners tuning in today. Hade-kun here!”

The airwaves were sanctified by my radio voice. It echoed through the halls of this and many other buildings across the region. I could feel the energy from my audience as I let my voice sway their mood, like a maestro of motivation.

“Whether you’ve been cleanin’ the street, doin’ paper work in an office seat , or just loungin’ at home and keepin’ the place nice and neat, you’re all part of the reason this world keeps turnin’.”

I always started things off by making sure my listeners knew they were special. They listened to me, after all–proof they had good taste. But it never hurt to send out a few rousing words to butter them up. Throw some enthusiasm at the mediocre of society and they’ll keep comin’ back for more.

I had perfect control over my voice, bending it in all the right ways to keep a fantastic flow. But this broadcast wasn’t just a way for me to get well deserved praise or motivate the masses. We had to justify it with a little academic advisory.

Mimi always left a paper packet to the right of my microphone, neatly stapled and signatured with a cartoonish drawing that proved she personalized it. That was the end of the day announcements, usually anything from the weather tonight to some facts the whole school would need for the next day. And if something really cool happened out in the wild world, that would get in here too.

“Alright folks, time for us to get down to business.” I flipped through the packet quietly so it wouldn’t be picked up by the mic. “We’re lookin' at clear skies. And thanks to the shorter days, you boys and gals in practice might get a nice view of the stars on your walk home. Perfect time to walk with that girl if your thinkin’ about it…”

I was speaking from experience there.

“What’s this? I think I had the forecast wrong, because we’re actually getting a meteor shower tonight. Might not need umbrellas for that one, folks.”

Mimi smirked and rolled her eyes at that joke. I shot her a wink of appreciation through the glass.

“Moving on to school activities, our math team’s gettin’ ready for a contest. Why don’t we wish those lovable nerds some good vibes, yeah? They've been multiplying those trophies lately…”

From then on the broadcast was fairly straightforward and informative. Nothing major of note for me, but I naturally assumed somebody was happy with my quippy casting, especially since Mimi was entertained. If I ever needed a judge of whether a joke landed or not, I just needed to look at her and see her reaction.

“And that about wraps things up. Really lovin’ you guys. You’ve been a great audience, as always.”

Mimi-chan was getting ready to end the show. But what she didn’t know was that I had a little extra planned for the very end…

“But hold up now, folks. Your beloved Hade-kun has one last shoutout before we get on with our evening...”

Mimi’s expression shifted to shock as she glared through the glass. She mouthed the words “Don't you dare!” but I ignored her.

“There’s two gals that caught my eye, and I think they deserve a little attention...”

This was my favorite part of the broadcast. An impromptu appreciation to the beautiful girls at this school, and even outside of it too.

“One had the most twisty pig tails I’d ever seen on her head, and the other had the best eyes, made even more beautiful by the glasses framing them...”

“Eeeeeh!” I barely heard a double squeal pierce through the soundproof walls.

“You two ladies are welcome to join me for karaoke tonight, if you’ve got what it takes.”

“Eeeeeeeeh!” The squeal intensified tenfold, like they were shouting in my ear. The glass window of my room nearly cracked at the high frequency.

Meanwhile, Mimi cut my mic. “Get on with the end!” her voice ripped through my headphones. “We’re on the clock, idiot!”

“Gotcha’” I finger gunned, then she gave me permission to use the mic again. “Now that about wraps things up for real this time. You guys are beautiful… Have I said that already? Keep shining like the stars in the sky. Love you.”

And that was the end. Felt pretty good about this broadcast, especially since I scored a nice double date tonight. No way those girls would turn down my invitation. Nobody would ever dare waste an offer like that, especially if it meant they’d get up close to me.

Mimi came storming into the room like a typhoon ready to strike. But a series of her best breathing techniques eased her anger.

“Hey, Mimi-chan, nice wo-”

“Don’t…” she raised up her hand, her cheeks flush red as whine and her eyes momentarily closed. “Don’t you have any shame?”

“‘Course I do,” I replied. “It’d be a shame if I didn’t ask those gals out on a date.”

Life left Mimi’s eyes as they rolled to the back of her head. Not the best look for her, but I still digged her.

“You gettin’ overworked, Mimi?” I asked, a counseling smile on me as I stood to my feet. “You know, if you wanna’ go out tonight, I wouldn’t mind-”

“You do realize you just asked out two random girls on air, at once…” her head tilted with her brow low. “Now you have the gall to ask me out to my face?”

“Yes,” I replied. “And your answer?” I rolled my hand. “Need a yes or a no here. Don't leave me hangin’, milady.”

“How about you learn to invest in one girl at a time. Then we'll talk.”

Mimi was always one of the very few who just never clicked with me that way. Part of me was disturbed that anyone could have been so oblivious to what they were missing out on. But there was another portion of my soul that was more intrigued than insulted.

She was the one I couldn’t figure out. A white whale, so to speak. I'd never tell her that because she might think I was calling her fat. And with a toned up body like hers, that couldn't have been further from the truth.

They say an old dog can learn new tricks, so maybe I hadn't found the right honeyed words to send her heart fluttering. It was only a matter of time before a spark lit flame, and I had a wet match in my hand.

“Well, we’re done here. Good work today, Hade-san.” she said, half-heartedly while packing her book bag to the brim. “Enjoy your karaoke fling, I guess.”

“Hey, thanks. I will enjoy it.”

“Ugh…” she grumbled, returning her attention back to the sound board to shut it down for the day.