Rules and Connections

After the blunt way Ravel asked Fantasia to be his ‘li’l Joe’, he is met with a defensive outburst from Eleona.

“Haaaaa-?! So in the end, you did come to make fun of her, you bastard!” She grits her teeth and almost lets off a hissing sound as a snake fending off its foes. “What is this ‘li’l Joe’ nonsense? Does she look like a little boy to you?!”

“How dare you question the importance of ‘li’l Joe’?!” Zhang makes a step forward with a raised clenched fist in addition to his voice.

“Yeah, tell her Zhang!” Seko encourages Zhang to stand firm.

“’Li’l Joe’ is the ultimate form of love! Any kind of love! His intentions are pure!”

Zhang's booming voice caught the attention of other students walking by, causing them to turn and halt in their tracks. Yutaka facepalms in exasperation.

“Okay, so Ravel wants to date this ugly girl for real? But what if she says yes?!”

Seko talks to Yutaka while being careful so that Fantasia or Ravel doesn’t hear his foul mouth.

“I heard about you, Ravel Unique. You are just wandering from a class to class, trying to seduce girls because of your obsession with dating girls in alphabetical order. So no wonder you would even date this repulsive girl, as long as her name fits into your ‘World Order’ nonsense.”

Fantasia’s classmate sitting on the other side of the classroom is a know-it-all.

“Is that what this is about?!” Eleona grabs Ravel by his collar upon hearing the story.

“Shut up, Big Ears.” Seko steps in to put the classmate in her place in a nonchalant way known only to him. The beautiful girl starts blushing and hides her slightly bigger ears under her hands even if they’re covered by her hair, unable to say anything back.

“It’s true that Ravel is a World Order freak but there’s a catch in your logic. He was looking for his Lady E. But you all know what this girl’s name is. It’s Fantasia. She would be his Lady F.”

Yutaka’s clarification made Eleona step back and release Ravel.

“You understand what that means, right?”

The three boys line up shoulder to shoulder and prepare to shout in unison…

“He’s willing to break his ultimate rule just for her!!!”

The whole class goes silent but their empty eyes show they actually don’t care about him at all and so they go back to their chats, disregarding the unfolding drama.

Eleona, on the other hand, is a different story. Her eyes fill up with tears. Ravel smirks under his nose.

“So, what do you think, Fantasia?”

Fantasia was just standing there the whole time, trying to understand what is going on around her. Maybe she could say this is the most attention she ever got, but it would be lying to herself. She gathers unnecessary attention all the time, for all the wrong reasons.

“I… I still d-don’t know what you m-mean… I’m just a plumber who happened to fix your sink and accept the dinner invitation because you didn’t have cash…”

“No, babe! He…” Eleona sniffs. “He really means it… I can feel it… he actually cares about you!”

“I am not forcing you to any kind of relationship! I just want to get to know you more!”

Yutaka grabs Zhang and Seko and with a slight movement of his head, indicating to leave it to Ravel now.

“Well… I mean… I guess because of this injury I won’t get to work any time soon properly so I might have more free time…”

Fantasia has been very timid, not even realizing what she’s saying. She feels different to Ravel than when he was with her alone. Back then, she appeared much more confident and easygoing.

“Thank you! This is more than enough for now! I’ll come by after last period and I will walk you home!”

***

“I’m here! Fantasia, shall we??”

Ravel doesn’t waste any time and comes to pick up Fantasia from her class. Eleona grins after seeing him.

“Y-yes, I’ll just pack my stuff…”

Fantasia takes her books and carefully placing them in her backpack. She walks past Eleona slowly and nervously, as if drained of energy.

Eleona smirks and playfully slaps her bottom.

“Go get’em, babe!!”

Fantasia comes alive, her eyes open wider and she groans loudly from the surprise. This sudden jolt of energy fueled her, propelling her to walk faster towards Ravel who was waiting outside of the classroom.

Eleona keeps smiling while looking at them departing together, speaking to herself.

“I really am happy for Fantasia. Ravel seems like a kindhearted boy… I am afraid to say it but… even I wouldn’t have the courage to date a girl like her…”

***

Ravel and Fantasia are walking on a sidewalk in silence. Fantasia’s gaze is fixated on the ground, while Ravel’s head appears to be in the clouds, grinning from ear to ear.

“So how was school today for you?”

“Well… it was nice, I guess…”

Still a little timid, eh? Ravel thought.

“So how long have you known Barbie-, I mean, Eleona?”

“Uhm, ever since we were in kindergarten, I think…”

Man, this is though. How did the conversation flow so well yesterday when today it is so weird?

But Ravel wasn’t giving up.

“Do you have any more friends?”

“N-no, Eleona is my onl- WOAH!!! Look at that wall!!! So beautiful~!!”

Fantasia is captivated by an old building that has visible cracks on the walls. The paint has faded out over the years. They had passed by numerous buildings and houses who looked modern and even luxurious.

Why is she so interested in such a rundown building?

Ravel observes her as she touches the walls with her right hand, being cautious of her injured fingers on her left hand.

“I still don’t get it but you seem very fond of it, so… want me to take a picture of you next to that wall?”

Fantasia looks back at Ravel and her eyes sparkle even more than when she first noticed the building.

“Woah, you would do that?!”

“Of course! Make a nice pose!”

“A… pose? Why?”

“I don’t know, to look cooler or something! Haha.”

“I can … look cooler by posing?” She really doesn’t get him at all.

“Yeah… well… never mind. Look into the camera!”

Fantasia touches the wall with one hand and looks directly into the camera with a smile gracing her face.

“Show me, show me!!” She jumps at Ravel to see the photo.

He shows her his phone and she zooms in on the wall.

“So pretty~! This building experienced the flow of time and it shows visually. Just like a person who gets old, this building also has its own life cycle.”

Ravel found her change of behavior incredibly endearing. The more he witnessed her excitement, the brighter his own mood became.

“It turned out amazing! Haha! Give me your socials, I will send it to you!”

“Sure!”

They exchange the contact information. When Ravel navigated to her profile, he noticed a number 5. This number signifies the number of connections, in other word, friends, that she has online.

I bet the others are just her family or something… Ravel concluded anxiously.

“Aaaand accept the friend request! Yay!! I have 6 online friends now! Isn’t this very exciting?!”

Ravel forced a polite laugh as he glanced at his 247 connections on the social media. Then he shook off his head and showed a genuine smile.

“Yes, it’s very exciting. Because being connected with you is much more meaningful than having 246 other connections.”

Fantasia smiles at him even if she didn’t know what he actually meant. But one thing was certain. It made her happy.

CHAPTER 4: END