Chapter 11:

I Won't Be That person Anymore

Somehow, I fell in Love With My School's Biggest Gal!


“Let’s go! I’m gonna beat you! You don’t have a prayer, Aki-Chan!” Ichigo laughed evilly as the Dance Star game booted up. “Oh, really?” Aki glared competitively at her friend with a smirk. “Let’s see! Just cause you’re the athletic and trendy type doesn’t mean that you can win everything!” The competitive aura between the two was incredibly intense.

“Uh…” Ryo sweated awkwardly. These girls were way too into this! He played with the tab of his can of Pepsi. He was so far out of his element right now! He wasn’t the Otaku type. He was a casual consumer of anime and manga, like most normal Japanese people, but he wasn’t really “into it”, so to speak. He’d never really been much of a game guy and hadn’t set foot inside of an arcade since he was in 1st grade! He had no clue why he’d went along with this idea when this sort of thing wasn’t really fun to him.

He supposed he was just lonely. After the last few weeks of awkwardness and his friendships With Mirho and Enfumi being violently severed…he could use some social interaction and positivity in his life. Spending most of his time outside of school lying in bed stewing in his negative feelings just made him feel depressed and gross.

He was also incredibly curious about the four girls that Sora had been hanging out with. He’d seen some of their pictures on twitter and couldn’t avoid noticing the group at school. They were quite loud and chirpy. But, even though they acted ditsy and annoying, they seemed super happy. There had been a definite change in Sora ever since he started hanging out with Aki. He had chosen her over their group for a reason…and now Ryo was starting to understand why. As obvious as they were, there was something…a joyful, happy energy around them all. He still wasn’t a fan of Aki, but she particularly seemed to have…something about her personality that was magnetic. He got the sense that she was the glue that held the whole group together. As weird as all this was, it was so different from what the four boys had had going on. You could feel the difference in the atmosphere, it was that tangible.

Ryo frowned at the ground, thinking deeply, as he fidgeted with his beverage, turning it slowly in circles. ‘That’s the one thing I keep coming back to’ he thought. ‘The one thing that I can’t understand no matter how hard I try. Enfumi and Mirho are toxic people, evil people. I fully believe that now, after I saw what they did to Aki and Sora.’ He recalled the blood and the sound of Aki’s bones cracking as she was stomped on. The look on the guy’s faces as they did that, and then as she cried and pleaded with them to stop…He swallowed hard.

Right then and there, he had known for sure that they had gone way too far. Regardless of what they thought about Aki, in that moment, she was just a scared young girl with no way to fight back against three boys who were far stronger and aggressive than she was. She’d put up a pretty good fight; thrashing, screaming, and kicking; but it had done nothing. Mirho was the top athlete in the school and, while it wasn’t noticeable when he was in his school uniform, Enfumi was pretty built from carrying on the family tradition of competing in martial arts.

Ryo’s stomach felt sick at the thought of what had happened. While he watched lots of horror movies, what had happened was still so brutal and horrific. These guys were only in 6th grade and they had brutalized a girl for no other reason than considering her a minor annoyance! They’d laughed at the sight of her bleeding and disoriented and were downright gleeful when she passed out, despite the fact that their beating could have legitimate crippled or killed her! That was so wrong on so many levels! Ugh! He was the worst for having ever been friends with them!

He looked up.

“ARRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!” The punk-looking girl screamed like she was about to about to murder someone. Her moves were fast, choppy, and aggressive. Aki was going just as hard as her friend, but she was more graceful, and her moves weren’t all over the place. Even so, it was the most…intense…dance battle he had ever witnessed. The two practically had their heads pushed together and were kicking up clouds of dust in their aggression.

“Uhhh,” He sweated in confusion once again. “It this...normal…for them?” Her turned to his left and asked the small girl standing next to him.

“Uh-huh.” Rina nodded, licking a sour-blueberry popsicle. “Pretty much. Ichigo-Chan is loud and intense about everything and her and Aki-Chan are both super competitive.”

‘Great.’ Ryo thought to himself. ‘They’ve got a gal, a punk-delinquent, a loli, and the stoic genius. This group is the biggest collection of middle-school stereotypes ever!’

“Kindly don’t injure each other, you two!” Mitsu-San called out, standing stoically behind Ryo and Rina, clutching her school-bag with both of her hands. “And you, Aki!” She snapped. “You shouldn’t be moving around like that! You just started recovering from the beating that you received! Use some common sense or you’re going to make your injuries worse!”

“I’m fine, Mitsu-San! Seriously, you worry too much! My grandma’s a nurse so I know about this stuff! I’ll be fine!” Aki called nonchalantly, continuing to dance and shove Ichigo.

“Man.” Sora sighed, stretching his arms behind his head. Ryo jumped. Sora had run to the bathroom and Ryo hadn’t noticed his return.

“They really are crazy! Not like I needed any more proof.” He let out a deep breath as he walked up from behind Ryo. He had no clue how to interact with his former friends now. So much had changed in a few short weeks. How…how should he approach this? What should he say? Just because they had exchanged apologies and cleared the air didn’t mean that they could just forget everything that had happened.

“…You…wanna go walk around?” He asked tentatively. “Knowing them, they’ll just keeping going until someone kicks them off of the machine.”

“Umm…sure. I guess I’d rather do that than just stand around.” Ryo said, ruffling his hair awkwardly. He’d always been the outgoing and social type, the exact opposite of the introverted and reserved Sora. He’d never been shy or awkward but after the recent insanity, he didn’t really have much interest in socialization. Now, thanks to how traumatic and imposing social interaction had become after Enfumi and Mirho’s betrayal, the tables had been turned. It was so frustrating! He was depressed and felt ill from the isolation, yet was too terrified to actually approach people! Both at the same time! Ugh! Just thinking about talking to people made his stomach hurt!

But…this was Sora. Ryo had known him since they will little. Putting aside all the recent drama, Sora wasn’t a threatening person. He was extremely quiet and rarely said anything unless he felt that it was meaningful or important. Besides, he had let him tag along with him and his new friends after everything that had happened, so it was very unlikely that he had any ulterior motives up his sleeve right now.

The two wandered out into the main walkway of the massive complex and Ryo couldn’t help but stare in amazement. “T-this is a whole mall!” His jaw fell. Sora couldn’t help bursting into laughter.

“Yeah! This place is considered a mall, even though it’s called a gaming complex. There are stores, restaurants, and merch stalls all over, in addition to every sort of game that you could imagine. We paid a flat fee to get into this place and that covers playing most of the games, but some of them, like the crane games and the carnival game galley, require extra money. There is also a movie theater under construction on the sixth floor.”

“This place has six floors? Dang!” Ryo exclaimed.

“Eight, actually. The top one is a super sweet café with an awesome view of the city.” Sora corrected. “This place is the ultimate Otaku paradise.” He grinned happily.

“You…sure know a ton about this stuff.” Ryo commented, finally getting his shock under control.

“Hmmm, yeah. I guess” Sora agreed, folding his arms behind his head as they walked. The complex was pretty busy for a weekday when the schools had all just been released. “Well, you know me. This is my favorite place in the whole world.”

“You know…I didn’t realize that you actually were that into this stuff.” Ryo admitted. “I knew that you watched a lot of anime and were into gaming, but I didn’t realize that you knew so much stuff about it or collected merchandise or any of this.” He gestured at the mall. “We all used to tease you about it but never really knew how big of a nerd that you really were. How sad is it that I didn’t know about the thing that was the biggest part of my best friend’s identity?” He mused wistfully.

“This isn’t really my thing the way it is for you but…it’s fun, I guess. And it’s honestly cool how much you know about. Well, at least from what I’ve seen today, but that’s admittedly not much so far.”

‘What…are you doing, moron?’ Ryo yelled at himself in his head. 

‘This isn’t you! It’s not the kind of person that you are! You’re the manly, artistic type who loves music and drawing! You are social and smooth, and everyone thinks you’re cool and fun! Why are you stumbling over your words and saying things so awkwardly? Why are you being so damn nostalgic? You’re talking too much and saying weird crap! You need to shut up and get ahold of yourself!’

“Cool? Really?” Sora asked, blinking in confused shock. “You know…” He gave a little laugh. “That’s what Aki-Chan told me back when we first met…and I told her she was losing her mind. But…” He smiled at the roof. “…This stuff makes me happy and it’s even more fun when you can share it with other people.” He paused, leaving the duo in silence for a few moments before he gave a self-conscious laugh.

“You know, my otaku hobby…that’s how Aki-Chan and I became friends.” He flushed in embarrassment.

“I noticed that she had an anime song as a ringtone on her phone and that lead to us talking about the visual novel games that the show was adapted from. We basically ended up getting into a discussion about anime, manga, and games. Then we found out that we both loved coming here and she dragged me here. I’d never come here before, so I ended up having an amazing time because she was so fun to hang out with…and the rest is history.”

“So that’s what…?“ Ryo asked, alluding to the prank that had been derailed by Sora leaving the school with Aki.

“Yeah.” Sora confirmed. “I don’t know how or why it happened, but… it was just like…she wasn’t what people said she was and it really caught me off guard. She was nice, fun, and energetic, so I wanted to get to know more about her.” He rambled absently. “No one ever understood why I liked this stuff before, and I didn’t have anyone that I could talk about it with. Other than my parents, no one thought that I was as into this as I was and just thought it was a weird but typical thing. Man.” He sighed.

“I’m really struggling to find the words right now to describe how I feel but…I guess…it’s like I know a lot about this stuff and think really deeply about it. I have all this knowledge about anime and games stored up in my mind, but no one ever appreciated it or realized how much time, money, and brain power I had to put into learning about this stuff. They just saw it as a mindless time-killer and not a passion of mine. But Aki-Chan…she got it. She’s just as into this as I am and was really excited to finally meet someone like her. Regardless of all the bad rumors about her, I couldn’t help liking that and wanting to spend more time with her because she understood me better in ten minutes than you and the other guys did in my entire life! Oh, no offense! Sorry.”

Sora apologized with a start, realizing how horrible his monologue might sound to his friend who was already emerged in a sea of his own regrets.

“No one ever made me feel as excited or happy as she did. But she did kind of take advantage of that. She dragged me around to a lot of different places and made me meet the other three girls.” He continued

“So that’s why you hang out with the other three girls.” Ryo surmised.

“Yeah. That’s where we’re different.” Sora admitted. “I…have my otaku hobby, but nothing else. She just has this…love of life and joy…it’s really infectious. She’s like me, but she has friends and other interests, too. And…let’s just say we have some other stuff in common in our…family lives, too.” Sora said, purposely dancing around the whole Japanese Christian issue.

Ryo stopped suddenly and took a deep breath. It was now or never. He would never be able to relax until he got the last of all this crap off of his chest. He’d already apologized once, but he needed to put the rest of his thoughts and feelings out in the open before he would be able feel comfortable in his own skin and move on with his life

“Hey, Sora? I’m…sorry.” He stared at the floor in shame. Even if Sora had managed to talk him out of his intense self-hate, he still wouldn’t be able to forgive himself for what he had done, at least not for a while.

“I thought the worst of you. I thought…well, I honestly don’t even know what I was specifically thinking, but I thought that you let yourself get seduced by…” He shook his head.

“Anyway, I don’t know why even I thought that! Actually, I probably didn’t even think that. I just went along with whatever the other two thought and they manipulated me into thinking that you betrayed us and ditched us for her. I was a brainless fool who let them do all the thinking for me. But I was wrong. We were wrong. You aren’t a pervert and you aren’t a false friend. This is all one me for being a petty, easily manipulatable idiot and letting those two use me like a puppet to hurt you.” He shoved his hands in his pockets.

“I guess I just felt… insecure because I felt like I didn’t know you and you were more willing to open up to the school whore than you were to me when we’ve been friends for so long. This whole thing was all just the most dumb and childish argument in history!” He laughed sadly.

“And then…I honestly have no explanation, no excuse, for why I helped them hurt Aki. Now I know that she isn’t a slut at all but, back when I did…even then…I knew that she didn’t deserve it, that we had no right to hurt anyone. But I helped them. I just sat and did nothing until you got involved. Even if I saved you two at the end…I was the reason that it got so far in the first place. I know that I already said this earlier… but I’m sorry. And I want to thank you for forgiving me and being so nice. Aki, too, but I’m not ready to directly talk to her about this yet because I’m still not sure how I feel about her.

“It’s honestly not a big deal.” Sora waved it away with a smile.

“I understand your thinking and I accept your apology, but I’m not upset over it anymore. This was just a strange hot mess and I’m honestly just grateful for the chance to start over and figure out who I really am. The only thing that upset me was that you didn’t trust me but…” He shrugged.

“Well, as you put it, this was a stupid, childish hot mess and we were all idiots. I’m just glad that we were able to talk and set things straight and become friends again. There’s no point in being angry, especially since Aki-Chan doesn’t hold anything against any of you three. Besides, you’re different from Mirho and En. You’re a good person and I can tell that you’re sorry and genuinely want to start over. Actually…” Sora looked like he was thinking something over.

“That’s the only thing that really upset me. I thought that I had lost you as my friend and was worried that all the time we had spent together had been a lie and that you didn’t know me or care at all. I thought that you would have known me better than that, but you took their side and turned on me in less than a day. But I’m glad that I was wrong. I’m better off now. We’re good and I have Aki and the others, too.”

“Th-thanks.” Ryo stuttered. He was shocked. Sora…had been upset over losing his friendship and glad to have reconciled? Why would Sora want to be his friend that badly? He was glad to be friends with Sora, but still…he wasn’t anyone special. Though, he supposed it made sense, since Sora wasn’t exactly standing out himself.

“Oh, wow, we made it back already?” Sora asked in surprise as the two found themselves back in front of the arcade game center.

“I wonder if Aki-Chan and Ichigo have gotten tired and given up again?” Sora wondered. “They’re really good at that. Just so you know, they’re all nice and totally harmless, but they are all totally weird and crazy with no exceptions. You may regret being friends with them.”

“D-do you think that that is possible? Becoming friends with them?” Ryo blurted out. “Will…will they really accept me? Especially after what I did to Aki-San?”

“Are you crazy?” Sora asked seriously. “Of course, they will! They don’t know that you were one of the people who attacked Aki. She never told anyone who it was who attacked her, not even the principle! We’re the only ones who know and Aki forgives you and isn’t angry, so I’m not going to spill the beans! We are done with that thing and will are not going to bring it up anymore.”

“Really?” Ryo asked, a desperate tone of hope in his voice.

“Yeah. Aki…” Sora stared at the ceiling. “I’ve never met anyone like her. She’s really kind and just lets stuff roll off her back. She doesn’t even know about all the rumors that have gone around about her. She’s super outgoing and cute, too! Trust me, you’ll quit feeling uneasy around her before too long!” Sora patted his friend on the shoulder.

“Guys!” Aki called as the four girls approached them. “There you two are! We thought you ditched us! We’re going to the crane game hall!” She turned to Ryo.

“It’s really fun and is my favorite part of this place! You’ll love it, I promise! It will be fun! I know you feel really bored and that this isn’t really your thing, but I promise that it will get better! So please don’t leave! Keep playing with us!” She smiled widely/

Ryo’s guts tied themselves into a massive knot. He was terrified of these girls, of them finding out about his pathetic, petty past self. But…he thought it was worth the risk. He wanted to start his middle school life over again. He wanted to have real friends and be a dependable person, someone who was real and honest. He didn’t want to be the shallow person that he had been any more. He wasn’t going to have any more regrets. He’d rather be a good person who everyone said bad stuff about than a selfish scumbag who was loved by everyone. He drew in a deep breath.

“Yeah, that sounds good.” He gave a tiny smile as he matched his pace to his four friends’