My Kind of Love

Around us, there’s all kinds of love.

Just now, as I was making my way to school for the last day of the semester, there was a couple walking in front of me. Though, how could I be so sure they had romantic feelings towards each other? It could’ve been platonic! Maybe the cynic in me was just jumping to conclusions. The way they were tackily clinging onto each other, twittering sweet words of love with huge grins painted on their faces definitely didn't mean they were dating.

A moment ago, I had also crossed paths with an assumed mother pushing a stroller. She had been moving forward at her own, sedate pace while gently humming a simple lullaby. It certainly was an effective one: despite the raging heatwaves slashing through the air, her baby seemed to be sleeping soundly.

And then there was me. Me and yet another completely worthless gacha pull in the idol mobile game Kira-Kira Party.

"C'mon! Why won't you come home? I've done at least a hundred pulls by now!"

As I had belted out my most earnest feelings among the ever-growing crowd, all eyes were on me for a second or two. However, I was more worried about upsetting my beloved so I calmed myself down for her sake.

"Well, it’s okay. I still love you Neri-nee, I always will. Do you hate me? That's fine, as long as I get to be by your side just like this. Do you hate my guts? Am I too overbearing, is that what's wrong? Do you want more money? But I can't take more part-time jobs, I can't grind for your events if I'm at work all the time! Won't you please hear my plea baby?" I mourned, gradually closing in the distance between my face and the smartphone I was holding in my hand.

My contribution of love to this world was somewhat of a mix of romantic love, idolizing adoration and pure, unconditional devotion. I would’ve done anything for Neri-nee's sake and everyone who knew me knew that. It was a love that traversed dimensions and despite most people around me not really being able to grasp that concept, I didn’t think of it as anything unusual. Besides, I knew I wasn’t alone. There were others in a multi-dimensional relationship like me: I had talked to them on Tbitter!

Still, I couldn't deny I wouldn't have thought about cuddling with someone else than my pillow every once in a while. Of course, just like most other teenage boys, I had dreamt of a physical girlfriend.

“Real” was a word I preferred to avoid when talking about my favorite character: anything that exists is real, even if it is only conceptual. In conclusion, Neri-nee was just as real as any other girl out there. The only difference between her and a 3D girl was that I couldn't touch the former. But it was not like I could touch a 3D girl either! They didn’t necessarily avoid me but to get close to someone physically, one would typically need to establish some kind of a relationship first and that was exactly what I struggled with.

So, even if Neri-nee had been a student at our school or a waitress at a local restaurant, I would’ve had to reach out to her first and hammer my way through the dreaded talking stage. Under the current circumstances, I didn’t need to say a single word to stay by her side. Perhaps the dimensional restrictions were better for the both of us after all.

As I was wholly occupied by the sorrow and agony caused by my unconditional love and wasted in-game resources, I arrived to the school grounds in no time. I had barely gotten through the ironclad gate when a familiar voice greeted me and its owner joined my company.

"What’s up, Kujiran?"

My real name was Kakuji Ran but my friend Iruka here had nicknamed me Kujiran due to my uncontrollable tendency of spending tangible currency on gacha games – a habit that’s in a single word known as whaling.

That snide alias he had bestowed upon me didn’t bother me at all: I had been amused by the sheer irony of my name even before he came into my life and pointed it out. It was like my parents had set me up for this fate! From the very moment little Kakuji saw the world with his own two eyes for the first time, his newborn life was meant to be wholeheartedly dedicated towards serving the RNG gods.

"Nothing good! Neri-nee still hasn't come home from the gacha revival after a hundred pulls. I'm starting to think she hates me", I sobbed as I grabbed onto the taller guy's shoulders for support.

"There there..." Iruka pretended to comfort me. "Ya gonna make it to the break celebration for the semester tonight? All students in our grade are going basically."

"You don’t need me there. Besides, I need to grind kira-kira blossoms for Neri-nee. She's due for an event real soon", I answered forthright.

I didn’t need to sugarcoat things for my best friend. In fact, he was the blunter of us two – just as he proceeded to prove in his response.

"What, ya happen to have an hour when you're not working and you're going to spend it with your pixel chick? Ya waste all your money buying resources anyway, grinding is useless. If ya ain't careful, you're gonna turn out to be a NEET.”

"I know you don't mean that. Also, someone who works and studies cannot be a NEET, it's literally an oxymoron. Do you even know what the acronym stands for?" I tipped a wiseacre remark.

"Yeah yeah, damn straight I don't mean it. After all, ya man is fresh out of the grind for Yona-chan... I maxed out the card though. This break is really going to bring me back to life!"

The dark-haired boy let out a relieved sigh accompanied by the sounds of a spine cracking as he bent backwards to stretch. After he was done, he pushed up his glasses, a bit too large for his frame, with a swift movement of his middle finger.

Iruka and me were both in the same boat, or at least in the same waters, given that he didn't play Kira-Kira Party at all. However, he had actually gotten into idol games before I was even aware of their existence. I couldn't say how his love would’ve fared in comparison to mine but he was a lot more subtle about it than I was for sure. He wasn’t exactly a closet otaku; he just knew when to quiet down. Of course, I knew that too. I just didn't care enough to shut up.

"Maybe I'll make an exception. For the sake of your hard work with Yona”, I offered.

"Ya never do things for others. What's the real reason? You're being creepy", Iruka questioned, staring straight into my soul with squinted eyes. He had taken off his glasses and was now using his sleeve to clean the lenses.

"No reason. Just feel like living my youth a little."

That wasn't a lie. I may have had the essence of a thoroughbred shut-in but I had always been kind of mad at myself for all those hours I had wasted cooped up in my room over the years. Though, lately I had been spending most of my so-called free time at my part-time job in a small, local convenience store. My parents had ceased my funding when they found out what I was using their money for and since I was still a minor, the only money they couldn't confiscate from me was the kind that I had earned through working. But it was a small price to pay for an almost full collection of Neri-nee’s in-game cards.

"Living your youth, huh? So, it is a selfish reason after all", Iruka smirked as he put his glasses back on.

"Just accept my kindness!"

A dangling despair possessed my tone as I laughed off his observation. Ever since our first meeting in middle school, Iruka had always known how to get the better of me.

"Ya got it, better show up after all that boasting! Let's get a move on, I don't wanna miss the moment Hongou-senpai starts weeping during his farewell speech. Wanna bet on how long it'll take?" he suggested maliciously.

On the last day of every semester, it was tradition in our school to hold a longer morning assembly that included speeches and performances from both students and staff. It was a good opportunity for clubs, classes and circles to show what they had accomplished during the semester. As I hadn’t been up to anything grand this term, which was nothing out of the ordinary in my case, the fact that the farewell ceremony was once again happening didn't awaken much in me. I had always been a firm believer of the go-home club supremacy and since the rules didn’t have any restrictions on part-time working, I had been using that as a fair excuse to escape the tedious extracurricular activities.

Maybe my days would’ve passed differently if I had challenged myself to step outside my comfort zone. There wouldn’t even have been any harm in trying as there was no actual obligation to join a club one had visited barely to get a feel for. In my defense, I did consider joining the anime club but apparently it had just disbanded the year before I enrolled. Though, in post-wisdom based on anime clubs’ reputation in general, I may just have dodged a bullet – I really don’t care whether Goqu can beat Zaitama or not.

Iruka, however, was a bit more well-versed in after-school activities. He was actually a member of the photography club, hence the Hongou-senpai, and quite a tech-savvy person in general – he was always helping out the elder teachers with the machinery. He wasn’t a popular guy by any means but he was living his high school life to the fullest by being in regular contact with an overwhelming amount of people, at least by my standards. In my case, the only people actively present in my life besides him were my parents and my darling Neri-nee, of course.

Before I had time to come up with a counter-attack for Iruka’s witticism, the ear-splitting sound of a bell resounding from the speakers halted our friendly squabble. As we were making our way towards our homeroom, he turned towards me and spoke a few words in passing.

“I’m betting on twenty. Twenty seconds until Hongou-senpai breaks.”