Better, Maybe

Evy burst from the water, sucking a deep breath as she brushed the hair off her face. The scent of the chlorine was almost pleasant, and thanks to her lenses, it didn’t hurt her eyes much.

“That was pretty good!” Kokoro clapped.

“T-Thanks.”

It felt nice to be complimented, but seeing as it was a race, and Kokoro had completely dominated her, there was a slight sourness to it.

“Did you take swimming classes back home?” Kokoro asked.

“Not really,” Evy shyly answered. “I’ve just liked swimming since I was little.”

Unfortunately, she didn’t get many chances to be around large bodies of water like pools. Her hometown only had one pool and it was communal, so it was usually packed to the brim with people.

Because of that, she found it weird that a school would have a pool in it, but she wasn’t complaining.

It was the final period of Evy’s first day.

Although she wasn’t in the same class as Kokoro, the school combined two classes into one when it came to physical education. By sheer luck, she just happened to end up with Kokoro’s class.

The massive pool was filled with beautiful blue water. It had an almost artificial look to it. Lifeguards stood at the perimeter of the pool, scanning the waters like a hawk. Most of them were Ichtshune, a race that had a natural affinity for the water. They had a more apparent aquatic appearance with fins at either side of their head, near their calves, and forearms. Even their skin had a slicker appearance.

While they looked over the pool, the forty or so students splashed around, enjoying the final few minutes of class.

“Want to take another lap?” Kokoro excitedly said while she stretched.

Unlike some schools where they had a specific swimsuit they had to wear, McKinley allowed their students to wear any swimsuit they wanted (As long as it was appropriate). Because of that, Kokoro was wearing a blue sporty one-piece swimsuit. It revealed most of her toned legs and arms, making Evy feel just slightly insecure about her own skinny appearance.

She lowered herself until her chin reached the surface of the water. “I-I think I’m fine…” she trailed off.

By now she was pretty tired of swimming. As much as she loved it, she didn’t have the muscle strength to keep up with someone like Kokoro.

Her arms and legs already ached.

“Alright then,” Kokoro shrugged.

Evy thought that Kokoro would go swimming without her right after, but instead, she leaned back on the side of the pool and smiled.

“How’ve you enjoyed your first day?”

“Oh…it was good.”

That was probably the first time she’d ever been able to say that and actually mean it. It was the first day granted, but it still had gone much smoother than she’d expected.

“Did you get lost getting to class?”

At first she definitely wandered around looking for her class, but someone saw her and pointed her in the right direction. That someone was actually a person she’d met before, the guy she and Araldo met when they were taking the small boy to his house.

“A little,” she confessed. “Somebody helped me though.”

“Yeah, it happens. Little Ari actually wandered around the entire school just so he wouldn’t get lost—which made him get lost in the process,” she laughed.

Well, that explained why he knew about the roof. However, although he did mention the exploring part, he did conveniently leave out the fact he got lost.

She would add that to her stockpile of ammunition against him.

“Make any new friends…see any cute guys?” she nudged Evy.

“H-Huh?” she stammered. “I-I wasn’t looking for…that…”

Kokoro burst into laughter.

“Of course you weren’t. You only have eyes for Ari, don’t ya,” she pat Evy’s head.

“W-Wha—N-no!” she let out, turning bright red.

“Come on, it’s so obvious! I’ve seen how you glance at him at home.”

“That’s not…” she trailed off.

For as much as she wanted to deny it, she knew she would be lying—about the glancing part that is. She always glanced at him when he was around. There wasn’t much reason to it, she thought, it just sort of happens.

“I’m just saying, you two would be a nice couple—and it would stop all those rumors of Ari and me dating.”

Huh—?

Kokoro’s last comment caught her off guard.

Dating? Weren’t they related? Why would anyone think they were dating?

“…People think that?” she asked a relatively safe question.

“Of course they do!” she crossed her arms. “A guy and a girl apparently can’t just be friends walking home together.”

Friend.

“So…” she was nervous to ask, but she kind of had to know now. If anything, it would be more embarrassing to get it wrong later. “You and Tsutsumi aren’t related?”

Kokoro looked at her. She stared for a few seconds before laughing.

“Of course we’re not. Do you really think I look even a little bit like that guy?” she continued laughing.

Evy’s face flushed.

Now that she was thinking about it, they really didn’t have anything in common. She had only assumed that because they were living together and seemed pretty close during dinner and just walking around the house.

After letting out all her laughter, Kokoro caught her breath.

“I see why you’d think that, but no, we’ve just been friends for a really long time.”

Evy could only groan.

“Oh, but don’t let that get to you. I won’t be fighting you over his affection or anything,” Kokoro pat Evy’s head again, “He’s all yours for the taking. I’ll even help you!”

“I-I don’t like him like that!”

“So you like him even more than that? It might be a little early for marriage, but you might be able to—”

“N-No, not that either!” Evy submerged herself underwater.

She could easily hear Kokoro’s muffled laughter even beneath the surface. With her eyes closed, all she could feel was flowing water as people moved around her.

Suddenly, a stronger force leaped out of the water and then quickly back in. She burst back out of the water and found Kokoro holding a small, soft-looking ball.

“Stay here,” she said before swimming back around two meters. Almost everyone was at the other side of the pool to their far right, so they had a pretty large area free to them. “Hit it back.”

Pomf

She lightly hit the ball, sending it into the air much higher than expected, but heading towards Evy at a slowish pace.

She raised both arms and hit the ball as hard as she could. Unlike Kokoro’s hit, hers didn’t reach even half as high.

“Also,” Kokoro said as she hit the ball. “Just remember that I’m being serious about helping you.”

Pomf

Halving more space between them, more people could catch wind of what they were saying. But because of how out of context her statement was, it didn’t really reveal anything, so Evy was fine with it.

“I told you…it’s not like that.”

Bam!

“But it could be like that…”

Pomf

“…”

Blam!

Out of embarrassment, she accidentally hit it much harder than she had before—without aiming too. The ball flew out of the pool, far enough so it was impossible to get from inside the pool.

“S-Sorry!” Evy let out.

“It’s fine,” Kokoro pointed at the ball.

Within seconds, a small four-legged animal with smooth green and blue scales ran towards the ball. Pairs of wings on its back allowed it to fly high enough to land on the ball, and with its feet, pick up the ball.

The long-snouted creature flew in their direction and tossed the ball back inside.

This was a variation of the Reipter she’d seen in the library. It was an aquatic version which meant not only could it fly, but also swim. Its eyes were also much softer, with the only downside being that they didn’t have the same paralysis abilities that the library one had.

It was pretty cute.

“Thanks!” Kokoro waved at the creature.

It responded with a chirp before flying back to the side of one of the lifeguards.

“Pretty cool, right?”

Evy nodded.

Putting that aside, that did remind her that Araldo and her weren’t banned from the library anymore.

We should probably go there soon, she thought.

“Watch out!” Kokoro yelled.

But by the time she did, all Evy could do was watch the ball close in and smack straight on the face.

---

The bell rang.

Finally, the day was over.

Well, kind of. I still had to drop off some stuff by the office—which meant I had to see Ms. Vernadew for a third time today.

Today really couldn’t be worse huh?

Walking down the wide pristine hallways always felt weird. Compared to my last school, this was borderline futuristic. The white surface with a touch of black had this modern feel to it I couldn’t very well explain.

I felt like some rich kid even if I had gotten into the school for free.

The only thing I’d have to pay for was the teaching program. It wasn’t too expensive, but it still costs money.

“You think you’re all that, don’t you?!”

I froze.

For a moment I thought the question was directed at me, but I quickly realized it was coming from around the closest corner.

I slowly stepped forward and peeked over the side.

There, four students were looking down at another student whose papers were all over the floor. The kid scrambled to pick them up, but one of the other students stepped on all his sheets.

“I-I just want to go home,” he pleaded.

“Heh, you think you can just look down at us at go home just like that?!”

The kid on the floor shrunk into himself as he trembled.

He continued to be berated by the four students, but I kept walking before I could hear anything else.

Although it wasn’t entirely commonplace, I’d seen this type of bullying happen before. A lot of these people had egos higher than the IQ of this entire school combined. Any person who ranks too high gets discriminated against if they aren’t popular enough or looked tough enough for people to not want to mess with.

My scores were high, but never that high to be the best in every class. Not that if I was I’d get bullied too, I wouldn’t let people do that to me in the slightest—not anymore at least.

The tightness in my chest and the unconscious clenching of my hand made it plainly obvious to me that my hatred still hadn’t disappeared. Not that I need any reassurance for that.

I could intervene. There were plenty of times I could’ve actually.

But the risks to do so were much higher than what you get out of it.

For your possible expulsion, you would get a possible thanks and maybe a sorry from the person you helped. That wasn’t worth it. And everyone knew it.

That’s why this kept happening and why it’d probably keep happening.

“Yo, Tsutsu, going home?”

“Don’t ever call me that again in your entire life.”

Totoro laughed, “Come on, it fits you!”

“How could that possibly be true?”

He shrugged.

For some reason, Totoro had been talking to me a lot more all day. He even spent some time with me during lunch.

I didn’t mind it much since I simply ignored him most of the time.

“Anyway, you didn’t answer my question.”

“Well, what else would I be doing? Do you genuinely believe I want to stay another willing second in this building?”

“I guess not…” he trailed off, “Your friend Kokoro stays today, doesn’t she?”

That she did. Sometimes she goes and helps some of the clubs. Where she found the energy to do that after a long day of school was, again, beyond me.

“Wait, how do you know that?”

“No need to be all defensive, I’m not stalking her or anything.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me.”

“I feel like it really should.”

I was really just trying to call him a stalker in some way. If I was told he really was a stalker, I wouldn’t believe it right away.

“A friend of mine has a huge crush on her. He sent me a text that she was there right now.”

I didn’t know how to feel about hearing someone having a crush on my best friend, but at the very least I got my answer now. But speaking of, I had gone to the office which means I was coming out later than usual.

Why was Totoro still here?

My question went unanswered as we reached the main school door and exited the building. Totoro let out a, “Oh!” and smirked. “I see you already have other plans.” He tapped my shoulder. “Good luck,” he whispered.

I didn’t get what he was getting at right away, but as he walked towards the school gates, I noticed him waving at someone.

Waving back, awkwardly standing there, was Ze’Seki.

My phone buzzed. Quickly taking it out to check it, I saw it was a text from someone who wasn’t in my contacts.

— This is Totoro

— I’ll be here if you need any dating advice

— :)

How did he get my number?

That was really the only question in my mind, but that soon disappeared as Ze’Seki and I locked eyes—and she smiled.