Contracts and Conditions

“Man…here we go.”

I take a deep breath as I approach the group of students surround the purple haired girl. My hands start to sweat and my head falls into a warm daze. I don’t usually have any issues having to talk to groups of people, so why am I so nervous now?

“Hey.” Nobody even bothers turning around to look at me even after I finally stopped myself from panicking. I quickly slap both sides of my face to snap myself out of it, and with a louder voice, I yell, “Hey!”

Everyone turns towards me, and they are all locking eyes on the one guy who’s interrupting them from their daily allowances. I take a deep, dry swallow as I feel a bead of sweat roll down my cheek. My heart beats as fast as it can to try and escape out of my body so that it doesn’t have to deal with the stares of so many people at once.

“What?” asks one of guys from the group with a stiff lip and tensed up eyebrows. I thought cliche delinquents only exist in TV shows, like the one Yume sat me down to watch with her the other day. It was a professional wrestling show, wasn’t it? If I remember correctly, he sure talked a lot of smack for someone who got sent flying over the ring ropes.

“Just stop. You all look so laughable for begging a single girl for money.” It’s pretty pathetic that you all have to gang up together just to squeeze some extra money of out of her, but maybe I should keep that part quiet.

“Huh?! Stay out of this!” One of the girls jumps right into the conversation. She’s got too much make up on and a mouth that’s too loud for her own good. Well, I’m involved in this mess now. I can’t run away despite how much I would love to take that option.

I shrug in response. Trust me, I do want to stay out of this. I hate being in these kinds of situations—it’s why I avoided them for as long as I could to keep my peaceful life. I don’t have much of a choice now that I’ve opened my mouth, and besides, there’s still a girl who’s being unfairly extorted as well.

“Really, you do know you’re at school, right? Everyone is going to know you’re all harassing a defenseless girl for money. You really want everyone else to think you’re a bunch of desperate gold diggers?” I ask.

I’m bluffing, of course. Who knows what everyone else is going to think of them, or the girl, or me.

“Yeah? And who the hell are you supposed to be?” The same guy from before speaks up again. He probably needs the money more than anyone else in the group considering his volume. My mind just keeps going back to that dumb wrestling show from before whenever I see and hear this guy. Putting him through a table would be really helpful right now, but that’s probably a bad idea. There was another guy who came out to talk him from talking though. What did he say and do again? Think…

“Nobody special. I’m just some guy who’s thinking to himself why such a rowdy group of people are trying to take money from a girl who probably can’t even hurt a fly.”

I look around and see a lot of students staring at the crowd and whispering among themselves. My bet paid off. Maybe. They could still trampled me into pulp after all I’ve said, but at least there would be a lot of witnesses. The main guy from before is starting to back up and look around. I just have to remember what that big wrestler guy said before throwing him out. What was it again?

“Now then, don’t you all think it’s a good idea to run off and save your fragile reputations before you lose more than just today’s lunch money? Or are we going to have a problem here?” I raised my voice on that final question to get everyone’s attention. I look around at the other students like the wrestler did to the crowd for a reaction as my stomach sinks into the bottom of my feet. I just have to keep this act up for a bit longer, and it should all be okay. If not, I doubt I’m going to be able to throw anybody around with my skinny arms. Why does Yume even watch these kinds of shows in the first place?

“Yeah! What he said!” Yume approached from behind and stood on my side like the tag team partner of the wrestler. Why are we even rein-acting this? I feel so silly now that I think how dumb I look and sound. The group stares at me and Yume, then they look around at all the eyes on them. After a few sighs, they slowly disperse with tongue clicks and mutters. Well done. Now more people know how much of an attention seeker I am. Great. The purple haired girl let out a deep exhale and leans her back against the wall, then slides down until she’s curling into a small ball on the floor.

“F-F-Friends…”

“C’mon, you know they weren’t really your friends. They were just using you for your money. That was pretty obvious. ” This girl can’t still seriously believe that, right?

“I…don’t have any friends now…” I can’t tell if she’s talking to herself or us. She starts to cry, then her crying turns into wailing, and soon after, her wailing makes me panic. Why didn’t she cry when she was surrounded by those jerks?

“Ah! W-Wait, you don’t have to cry!”

“You going to do anything, Yuma?”

“I…uh…” I don’t know what else to say. I’m just not the person who can handle these kinds of situations. Groups of bullies? Wasn’t much of a threat. One crying girl? Yume, please save me.

As I stand there frozen in shock, Yume shakes her head and kneels down to hug her.

“There, there. The mean people are gone. It’s alright. They weren’t really your friends. It’s okay. You don’t have to give them your money anymore.”

Yume’s hug works, and the girl eventually stops crying. She wipes away her tears until she’s only frowning. I can’t believe I’m thinking this, but I’m glad Yume is here with her magical hugs to stop a crying girl. Why am I so bothered by crying girls anyways?

“I’m Yume. What’s your name?”

“K-Katsumi…”

“Nice to meet you, Katsumi. That grumpy guy is Yuma. Despite what he says, he helped you out.” What do you even mean by that? Are you trying to pick a fight?

 “Yuma…w-we met before in the hallway…”

“Yeah, over a week ago. Didn’t expect to run into you again like this.”

The students around us slowly walk off to their own classroom and Katsumi seems like she’s calmed down. I let out a sigh of relief.

Katsumi pulls out a ten-thousand yen note, shakily pushes it towards me. “H-Here.”

“You don’t have to pay me…” Is money the only way she can communicate?

“Still, I didn’t expect you to use lines from the wrestling show we saw the other day. What was it called? New World Order Wrestling? No, that’s not it. World Wrestling Pro? No…oh! It was—”

“New Globe Pro-Wrestling.” Katsumi’s confidence in that answer shocks both me and Yume.

“Yeah! How did you—”

“Nota Hayabushi, May tenth, fourty-two minutes and sixteen seconds. He says ‘don’t you all think it’s a good idea to run off and save your fragile reputations’ to his Blood and Gore opponent, Iori Tazuki.” A wide smile spreads across Katsumi’s face as she lights up from explaining that specific detail.

“Yeah…he did say that…” Yume’s lost for words at Katsumi’s memory. I don’t know how she’s able to recall something so specific either. Does she have photographic memory?

“I-I like professional wrestling…” She recoils and covers her mouth with both of her hands as if she just blurted out something she shouldn’t have. I definitely believe her after she was able to recall something so specific out of nowhere.

“It’s pretty fun stuff, isn’t it? It’s amazing how wrestlers can come out, talk, and then throw each other around the ring.” Katsumi nods.

“So cool…” She looks at me before swiftly turning her head away. She better not be getting any ideas.

“Oooh, looks like you’re her hero now.” Yume lets out a small giggle as she teases me.

“Shut up.”

“Aww, c’mon. The least you can do is ask if she’s okay, or did you save for her a different reason?”

“Yume…” Why did I save her? It’s not like I even know her or care enough to get involved with her. I used to have a reason before, didn’t I?

“Okay, okay!” Yume widely smiles as she tries to get me flustered.

“Hero…” repeats Katsumi.

“Don’t repeat after her. She’s a bad influence.”

Wait, I didn’t want to say that aloud.

“What do you mean a bad influence?!”

That’s why.

“You’re loud, you eat a lot, and you have no filter. If more people were like you, we’d have a huge problem on our hands.”

 “I do have a filter!” She purses her lips.

Well, she’s mostly honest at least.

“Somehow, I find that bit difficult to believe.”

She pouts and grabs Katsumi’s hand. Is Yume mad? Did I go too far?

“Fine! I’ll take her to her classroom and leave you alone then! That’s what you want, right? Let’s go, Katsumi!”

Yeah, I went too far. Oops.

“E-Eh? But—”

I cross my arms as I watch Yume pull Katsumi away. Katsumi keeps her eyes on me even as she’s dragged by Yume. Does Yume even know where she’s supposed to go? Well, at least I can have some peace and quiet to myself again. I make my way to my classroom. I look at my phone and see I still have fifteen minutes before class starts. Just enough for a quick nap.

“Finally…” I mutter to myself.

I yawn and plant my head back onto my arms laying on my desk. A familiar place. Comfortable. Sleep.

I hear footsteps approach my desk and then stop. I keep my eyes closed in vain as I try to push Yume out of my mind. Sure, she’s pretty, but I need my own personal space. It’s the only thing that’s kept me going these past couple of years. I can’t give it up just because of a girl now. Why did I help out Katsumi though? I think and try to remember what my reason was back then. I remember helping out other people in elementary and early middle school, and yet, I can’t recall any reason—as if it’s all missing from my mind.

“Hmph,” says Yume.

I hear her slide her chair out behind me and sitting down. No poking? No calling my name? No annoying me? What a miracle. I get to sleep in peace.

“You weren't like this back then…”

Huh? Who’s Yume talking about? Me? Yeah, right. We only met a few weeks ago so there’s no way she knows who I am.

“Ah, Satoro!” He must’ve just walked into the room.

What a strange girl. Maybe she’s talking about someone else. I’ve always been myself after all. I haven’t gone anywhere or done anything for years. We only met a few weeks ago after all.

“I wonder if this was a mistake...”

Huh? What does she mean? I hear her sigh once again and then she quiets down. Looks like I won’t be getting any bonus minutes of sleep today. I lift my head up and see the teacher walk in to get ready for the class. She’s said a bunch of nonsense today that has already tired me out.

“…I’m sorry.” All of her usual enthusiasm is gone from her voice. I didn’t realize I hurt her that much. I should apologize back to her. Now I’m starting to feel bad. As I’m about to lift my head, my vision blurs and a painful migraine spreads across my face. What’s happening?

“Yume?” I turn around and see her widen her eyes and gasp.

“Wait, you’re not supposed—”

Her voice cuts off as the world shuts itself off from me. I know this feeling. I felt it before when she first showed me her powers.

I’m scared. What’s happening to me?

What did Yume do me?