I've always wanted a friend

Hasuki's house wasn't anything to gawk at but Hideki did feel a bit out of place there. In his past life he had lived with his mom in a small apartment. It was a cheap old place that wasn't very nice, but it was all they could afford. Even now he felt a bit jealous of her for being able to live such a comfortable life. 

"You two can sleep in here." Hasuki said, leading Hideki and Aoya to a spare bedroom. It was nice but a bit cramped. The beds were a bit too close to each other for his liking.

"When did you decide that this weirdo was staying here too?!" He asked. Unfortunately Aoya was still drunk. Hideki wondered what the drinking laws were in this world because clearly none of them were over 21, nor were they over 18. 

"Oh, I thought he was your friend. He did follow you all the way here, so you must know him somehow." She said. Hideki groaned. He didn't want to share a bedroom with some smelly guy he had just met, In fact he had expected to be able to weasel his way into Fuka's room when she wasn't looking. 

"He's not my friend- Whatever, it's not like I can be picky anyway." 

Hideki hoped that if he went along with everything she said that she would start to trust him more. Then maybe with a bit of sweet talk she would fall head over heels for him and he wouldn't have to worry about her keeping Fuka from him. 

They followed her to her living room and Aoya collapsed onto the couch and instantly fell asleep. They hung around for a while talking.

"How come you don't have any money?" Hasuki asked. She was intent on making sure he wasn't some sort of molester or thief. 

"Well...um...I'm not from around here." He tried to come up with a good explanation for how he was utterly lost with no money but the more he stuttered and mumbled the less she believed him. 

"Not from around here? Are you from the neighboring kingdoms?" She asked suspiciously. Hideki wondered just how different this world was from the one he was familiar with. For the most part the people in this world seemed normal, the buildings and how society worked were also quite average. Sure, the architecture didn't resemble anything he'd seen in Japan but it wasn't anything crazy.

"If neighboring kingdoms are extremely far away then I guess I am." He said.

"Why'd you come here? Are you visiting someone?" She asked. It was like an interrogation and Hideki was feeling a bit uncomfortable. 

"Come on Hasuki, he might not want to answer these personal questions. Shouldn't we give him a break?" Fuka quietly entered their conversation. Hideki could barely stand how cute she was.

"Oh, sorry. I don't trust you at all, but as long as you don't do anything bad I have no place to judge you." Hasuki sighed. She obviously valued Fuka's opinion.

"I understand. I can't tell you much about me, but I will tell you one thing. I have no money, nowhere to stay, and I know absolutely nobody. Once I leave tomorrow I'll probably end up living on the streets." He said. He didn't want sympathy from them, though he was slightly hoping that she would take pity on him and let him stay a bit longer. 

"I see. I can't let you stay here and I can't lend you any money, my parents would freak out if they knew I was letting a complete stranger live in our house. You're on your own." She said. She didn't care what his issues were and she made it apparent that the only reason he was allowed to sleep there that night was because Fuka had asked her. 

"I know! Why don't you ask him if you can stay at his house?" Fuka suggested, pointing to Aoya who was sprawled across the couch drooling on the cushions. Everyone went silent.

"You want me to sleep under the same roof as him?" Hideki asked in disbelief. It was a ridiculous idea, one that he had not even considered. "I just met that weirdo two hours ago!" 

"You just met us at the beginning of the day. We could also be creeps." Hasuki said. "You're only fine with sleeping here because we're girls." 

It was true. Hideki had never felt ashamed of his woman chasing ways but something about this situation made him feel shameful. 

That night he learned a lot about the girls and the world he was placed in. The world was divided into large regions with dozens of big kingdoms in them. The regions were the size of continents and each kingdom was about the size of an average country. Some kingdoms were constantly at war with each other. The kingdom they were currently in was called Showakusei, named after an asteroid that hit the area when it was created. 

The currency that Showakusei used was small wooden disks painted red, orange and blue. The disks had different types of metals inside. Blue disks had gold in them which made them the most valuable. 

He learned that Fuka's parents owned a small store where they sold homemade goods. He wondered if he could possibly ask her if they would hire him but he decided to wait until morning. Her family couldn't afford to send her to school so her grandmother taught her. He wondered if all schools cost money to attend in this world or if it was only specific to this place.

Hasuki's parents both worked at the hospital so they were usually gone all day and most of the night. She was regularly unsupervised so she skipped school and hung around places she probably shouldn't be. She was also responsible for taking care of herself and buying food. He wondered what her parents were thinking when they decided she could buy food on her own because buying a huge bag of apples was probably not the best choice. 

The girls went to bed and Hideki slung Aoya over his shoulder and carried him to their room. Hideki dropped the boy onto one of the beds and pushed the other one close to the wall. He had no desire to be anywhere near him. 

Hideki didn't have any change of clothes so he decided he would just sleep in his suit. As uncomfortable as it was, it would have to do. 

"Hey...where am I?" Aoya asked. Apparently he had come back to reality a bit. 

"A friend's house. You have to leave in the morning." 

"Oh. Damn, it always ends like this." Aoya buried his head in his pillow and let out a long sigh.

"What do you mean?" Hideki asked.

"I've crashed at lots of places. Just the other day I slept at this dude's house and when his mom came home she beat the crap out of me- had to get out of there before my head went flying." 

"That's not good. Where are your parents?" 

"Busy. Probably out partying or something." He said. He looked at Hideki and frowned. "You're kinda overdressed for sleeping, aren't ya?" 

"I don't have pajamas." He replied. It felt strange to be talking to another guy so closely, but something about it made him feel like he could relax. There was nothing at stake talking to Aoya.

"I always bring a backpack when I go to the bar, then if I end up somewhere that night I'll have something to change into." He said with a grin. He had a look that said "aren't I a genius?" 

"Where is it? I don't see a backpack with you." Hideki said. He was trying not to laugh as Aoya frantically looked around the room. He hadn't even seen a bag with him when they were at the bar. He either forgot it there or didn't bring one with him at all.

"I forgot it." He said, defeated. 

"You're kinda overdressed for sleeping, aren't ya?" Hideki laughed. Aoya smiled. 

"What's your name again?" He asked. Obviously he wouldn't remember, since he was completely out of it when they had met. 

"Hideki." 

"Nice! I'm Aoya, great to meet ya." 

"I know. um, good to meet you too I guess." Hideki said awkwardly. 

Aoya's clothes were dry now and so were Hideki's. It had taken a while for his suit to dry after falling in the river. Aoya turned out the lights and Hideki turned to face the wall. 

"Goodnight." Aoya said with a yawn. 

Is he seriously saying goodnight to me? Hideki thought. It was kind of funny to him for some reason.

"mhm." Hideki mumbled.

 He closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep but it just wasn't working. He didn't like the feeling of falling asleep in a bed that wasn't his. He missed the smell of his house, the smell of his mom's perfume and laundry soap lingering in the air. The sound of the small heater in his room buzzing in the winter and the fan in the summer. The soft shine of the street lights peeking into his room from the window and the sound of cars driving past their apartment.

Before he knew it he felt a tear fall down his cheek. He had never cried in front of anybody but his mom. He was only sixteen, an immature teenager. 

His dad died when he was six and his whole life he had to take care of his mom. She was an immature woman who wasn't good at housework or cooking, but she was a great mother. Although you might not think it by his appearance, he was good at all those things. If he hadn't been able to cook, or do laundry or clean, or do anything of the sort they wouldn't have survived. 

His mom's low income job was their only source of money. She had never attended college and she wasn't particularly smart which was why she wasn't able to get a very good job. 

Despite all his struggles he had never once hated his life. He loved his mother and was happy to take care of her. When he was with his school friends though he got embarrassed about it. He always acted so high and mighty, like he was better than everyone else. It was obvious to him that if any of them found out he wasn't the rich and sophisticated person they thought he was they wouldn't like him anymore. That was why he had died. He died because he was ashamed of himself.

He hoped Aoya couldn't hear his sniffling and wiping the tears off his face. It would kill him if somebody he just met saw him crying. 

That night he fell asleep imagining he was at home again and dreamed that he was back in that old house with his mom enjoying the things he had always taken for granted.