Staying True

“It’s in two days!?”

“Sshh!” Kokoro covered Evy’s mouth. “He might hear!”

She quickly tried to calm down. The walls weren’t too thin, but even then, Araldo’s room was still next door. Normally she wouldn’t have been so surprised, but how else was she supposed to react when only now she was being told Araldo’s birthday was in two days!

“Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

“Because you were spending so much time with him, and we didn’t want the surprise to slip through.”

“I-I wouldn’t do that.”

“We had to be sure…this mission is top secret!”

A surprise birthday party. That was the great mission.

Araldo wasn’t one for parties, but Kokoro wasn’t one for caring.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true.

She knew he didn’t like being with people, so she never tried to make a party for him. But now that it was not only herself and Ina, but now Evy and even Totoro…she could pull something off.

Kokoro had heard of rumors of a certain person talking to Araldo, so when she found out it was Totoro, a guy who sometimes helped out the clubs, she was thrilled.

She never talked much to the guy, but recently they’d begun bonding over Araldo and Evy (Oddly enough). They both held the same belief that Araldo and Evy should be a couple. Totoro was actually surprised they weren’t together.

Together, they’d now formed the TZC—TsuZeki Committee.

“Anyway, we already had everything planned in advance. I was just telling you in case you wanted to get something for him…or…” she put an arm around her, “You can confess your feelings…”

“N-No!”

“Didn’t think so,” Kokoro sighed. “Well, I’ve given you a head’s up. You have two days.”

“W-What type of things does he like?”

“Math.”

“Apart from that.”

Kokoro shook her head, “Don’t think you have a free pass. I won’t spill a word.” She made a zipping motion over her mouth. “Ask him yourself.”

“Won’t that spoil the surprise?”

“No way. He doesn’t know you know it's his birthday…plus he forgets his own birthday every year so…” she trailed off. “Don’t make It too obvious either though.”

Evy groaned.

How was she supposed to do that?

Evy met with Araldo downstairs like they’d done every day up till now. They pulled out textbooks, plenty of which were now the library’s, and got to studying.

Recently she’d noticed that Araldo had been talking less than usual. He probably had something in his mind, but she didn’t have the proper social skills to figure out what that something was.

She could just ask him. That’d probably work, but she didn’t know if maybe it was something he didn’t want to talk about.

What she could do was ask him questions so she could pick out the right present to give him. Maybe she could find something out while doing so, she thought.

The only thing she knew he liked was studying, maybe she could start with something similar and that she could be knowledgeable about.

“Hey, um, do you like to read books…books that aren’t these types I mean?”

Not the smoothest way to ask, but it would have to do.

“Are you just trying to get out of studying?”

“No, I already know how to do this,” she quickly finished a few more problems from the worksheet in front of her, “See?”

“Hm...you got one of them wrong…but why do you ask?” he pointed at one of the problems.

Evy quickly checked it, fixed it, and waited for him to nod before answering, “Just…I never see you doing anything that isn’t studying. Don’t you do anything just for fun?”

“Studying is fun.”

Yeah, this guy was borderline insane. Who found studying fun?

“But…” he continued, “I guess if we exclude that…I wouldn’t say I like reading much…so…”

Evy listened intently. She was ready to mentally write down anything he said. All she could hope was that it would be something she could easily turn into a present for him.

“Maybe…studying with you…” he said in what was almost a whisper.

Her heart skipped a beat. The brightness of her reddened face was almost alarming.

That, well, wasn’t too helpful.

“T-That’s…” she struggled to get the words out, “T-That’s still studying…Idiot…”

Even then, the last thing Evy was, was disappointed.

“I-I was just joking…I mean…” it seemed even Araldo was flustered. He’d probably said it without thinking.

Either way, hearing that was way more than Evy’s brain could handle.

“W-Well anyway,” Araldo tried to cover his embarrassment, “How do you think I’ll do in the test?”

The big test was coming up soon. Really soon. In fact, they only had a few days left.

From what Evy could tell, he had a good enough understanding of everything. He was a fast learner, but that didn’t take away from how disinterested he was in the subject.

“I think…I think you’ll be just fine,” she struggled to answer.

“I see…well, I can say the same to you.”

“T-Thanks…”

Their awkward conversation was replaced with an equally awkward silence. Neither looked at each other, instead, they kept their gazes fixated on the material before them.

---

“Hey, Ari—!” Kokoro, like usual, burst into my room. “What’s up with you? You’re all…deflated…”

That I was. I was laying on my bed, face first, groaning the entire time.

My conversation with Nor had filled my mind with many thoughts. Many of those were whirling around all day clouding my judgment.

There was no evidence greater than what I’d accidentally said to Ze’Seki.

I mean, I wasn’t lying, I guess, but that wasn’t something I would outright say. What was wrong with me?

“Did you get rejected by Evy or somethin’?”

“What’s with you people wanting me to get together with Ze’Seki?”

“Hey, I’m just looking out for the most single man in this country—neigh, the world!”

“That’s patently untrue.”

I wasn’t about to be put in the same boat as Ms. Vernadew.

Kokoro walked up to my bed and sat down. She poked my cheek a few times, trying to catch my attention, but that wasn’t going to work.

“What’s with all those books on your desk? It’s all messy!”

“Was reading them.”

“Why are they covering your laptop? Does that thing even work anymore?”

“Cause I don’t use it much? And yes, I think it does.”

“Really? What do you do all day then?”

“Study.”

“That’s sad.”

“Thanks.”

What was with her random questioning? Was it really that weird that I studied all the time? Well…apparently it was because two people had commented on that fact today.

And now I was thinking about what I told Ze’Seki all over again.

I groaned.

“This room just looks so bland…ever think of adding some stuff? You know, put some posters on the walls or some figures here and there, they would really bring this place to life.”

That was a hard no. I used to have more stuff on my walls apart from books and stuff, but that was a while ago now.

“What happened to all the Transforcons figures you used to have? I’m sure those would spice up this place a bit.”

Now that was a name I hadn’t heard in a while.

When I was younger, I was really into this show called Transforcons. It was some silly show of robots who turned into vehicles and stuff. At the time I found them to be really cool, but my love for them had dwindled with the years.

If I had to be honest, it mostly happened because I was made fun of for liking it. Maybe I overreacted about that, but since things were already not going well for me at the time, the last thing I wanted was to be seen as childish on top of it.

Kind of stupid seeing as I was a kid, but…I still think it was for the best.

“I threw those out a long time ago.”

“Huh, why? You had some pretty cool ones.”

“They’re toys for kids, that’s why.”

Kokoro chopped at my head.

“Ow,” I finally raised my head, “What was that for?”

“Sit up.”

I groaned but did what she said. If I didn’t, she would probably make me do it by force anyway.

Now we were sitting side to side. She put both hands on either side of my head and stared at me. After a few seconds, she shook my head.

“What are you doing?” I asked as I was shaken.

“Shaking the idiot out of you.”

“I don’t think that’s how that works.”

“It better, if not I’ll have to find other, harsher, ways,” she (I hope) joked.

I didn’t really see what she had an issue with. All I did was what I saw I needed to do. Maybe it didn’t help in the long run since my reputation had already hit rock bottom long before anyone knew about my liking for that series, but still…

Maybe it was a desperate attempt at trying to keep some semblance of how I was before, but now it was just how I was now.

“You don’t have to be ashamed to be who you are,” she stopped shaking me and instead looked directly into my eyes. Her pupils looked like blue marbles as they reflected the light of my room. “If you try to hide your real self, all you’ll do is meet people who aren’t like you and be in situations you don’t want to be in.”

Something stung my chest. It was like she knew what’d happened to me, but I knew that couldn’t be true. No one but me and…well…them…knew about it.

Although, if anyone would connect the dots using kids toys from my childhood, Kokoro would be the one.

“People who care about you will care about you regardless of what you like…or don’t like…” She smiled, “I don’t get your incessive need to study, but I haven’t gone anywhere, right?”

That’s true…but at the time, I could feel how things were changing. Maybe not between Kokoro and I, but in my mind that was only because we’d been friends for so long that I couldn’t see her not being with me.

Making friends is hard when your likes don’t align with everyone else’s. I’d realized that a long time ago and tried to fit that mold. In the end, I’d gotten burned by my choices.

I blamed everyone else for it, but deep down I had a feeling that wasn’t right.

Nor probably knew that.

No.

He did know that.

Kokoro brought my head to her chest and gently hugged me.

“I’m not going anywhere. Neither is Evy. She probably cares about you more than you even imagine…” she trailed off.

What was I doing?

Nor was right.

But it’s not something I could just suddenly change about myself. The way I see people…that’s hard to switch…

“Is the idiot knocked out of you now?”

“…What if I say no…”

“I could bring my sword—my real one.”

“I-I think I’m good.”

We looked at each other for a moment…then we burst into laughter.

I don’t know what we were laughing about, but honestly, it made me feel somewhat better.

“Also, did you just come to my room to criticize me?”

“Something like that—I was mostly bored,” she smiled.

Yeah, that was about what I expected from Kokoro.

---

Kokoro closed the door behind her. She’d said a few more things to Araldo after, but he seemed to be doing better now.

Evy had told her how he’d been acting a little weird, but it wasn’t like she hadn’t noticed either. Kokoro just didn’t know how to approach the topic. It was almost a miracle it went as well as it did. If Evy’s plight hadn’t brought the memory of his figures back into her mind, she probably would’ve still been scratching her head on how to talk to him about things.

Or what to talk about in general.

Speaking of which—

“I would classify that as cheating,” Kokoro whispered to the girl sitting right outside the door next to Araldo’s room.

“I-I was just sitting here…” Evy looked away, “It’s not my fault you two were so loud.”

“Well, what are you going to do now?”

Evy looked at the ground pensively, then sighed. “Can’t you help me a little…?”

“Depends on what.”

“Well…”

After explaining herself, Kokoro laughed, “That’s…interesting…but I think it’ll work.”

“So…”

Kokoro smiled, “I’ll make some calls.”

“You don’t have to make it sound ominous…”