A girl who doesn't give up (1)

“I’m sorry, what?”

The girl in braids tilted her head confused. “In my research archives, there has been no indication of the Oni having hearing issues. Interesting…”

“I- Once again, what!?”

The more the girl spoke, the more Makoto became confused and slightly irritated. She appeared out of nowhere demanding him to become her… What was the word she used again? Familiar? He didn’t even know what it meant but it sounded like an adjective not used to describe a human.

“It seems that my words do not reach you. Is it perhaps due to differences between human and oni languages?”

It felt like the situation was going nowhere as the girl continued to say things only someone delusional would. Makoto turned his head towards Takumi, hoping his friend might understand what was happening. He didn’t as when he noticed that the red-haired boy’s attention was on him now, he only shook his head trying to conceal his amusement.

Makoto once again turned to the girl who looked genuinely concerned muttering to herself god knows what. “Look, I don’t know who you are little girl but I do not have time for your roleplay thing so just go to your friends and play with them instead, okay?”

The girl with round glasses suddenly brightened up as if she just realized something. “Introductions! How could I have forgotten about such a crucial element of bonding?”

Really? Did she decide to ignore everything else that he said to focus on the introduction? She was an oddball alright but at least it would finally take this situation somewhere.

“Behold the greatest priestess of the century who sees both monstrous and human world! The name’s Watanabe Mami, your soon-to-be master with whom you shall conquer the evil herd of wolves!”

That’s it. This girl is insane. Makoto had his assumptions before but now it was clear as a day as he stood in front of her dumbfounded by the overwhelming introduction.

Tomoya on the other hand was amused by the situation so much that he bursted out laughing uncontrollably.

“She said similar weird things when she approached us.”

Makoto turned around and looked down to the ground when he realized it was one of the guys he had beaten up together with Tomoya. Both of them had to just get their consciousness back as it looked like they were still getting back in shape, trying to at least change their positions from laying to sitting which must have been painful for them as they winced while doing it.

“We tried to explain it,” the shorter one spoke up this time. “When we approached you this morning, Onitsuka-senpai, we just wanted to ask if it’s possible to join your gang even if we are not from your school.”

“You are our inspiration!” the other one chimed in.

Makoto and Tomoya as if they were perfectly synchronized with each other, exchanged looks while hearing this.

“Well this is awkward,” Tomoya scratched the back of his head. “Sorry, we beat you up like that.”

“Yeah, it was our bad. Lately, there are a lot of sleazebags around that bother girls after school,” Makoto explained as he reached out to the guys with his hands to help them stand up as they accepted the help. “We were thinking about expanding outside of the school but we are still working on that so if you don’t hold any bad feelings towards us for beating you up just now, we would like to have you in Yokai Gang!”

“Really? This would be our dream come true!” the taller one said not even trying to hide his excitement.

“And don’t worry about beating us up!” the other one added. “It’s a true honor experiencing the punches of the captain and vice-captain of the Yokai Gang!”

Okay, they were fanboying a bit too much but they had their hearts in the right place. Makoto was great at judging characters or at least he believed so. So far, he never had any issues with his gang members. Even though the general idea for creating a group was mostly to have fun, they still made sure that every member was fitting in.

“By the way, what are your guys' names?”

“Oh! I’m Yamada,” the tall lanky one with long dark hair answered first.

“And I’m Tanaka,” the short one with short bleached hair responded right after his buddy.

Makoto and Tomoya looked at each other with satisfied smiles only to give their attention back to the boys. After all, as a leader of the group, the red-haired teen had to make sure both of the members were properly welcomed into the gang.

“Well then, Yamada, Tanaka, welcome to -”

“Hey! How dare you disregard my presence for those peasants!?”

Ah, right. Makoto forgot that the weirdo was still around. He had wished for her to just get bored and go away a while ago, to be honest, but it looked like she was very determined to complete her quest or whatever else she was doing with her theatrical speeches and strange acts. “Listen here, I don’t know what your deal is little girl,” Makoto began as he walked towards her to which she responded by taking a defense pose. “But you should not walk around like that bothering everyone,” while saying it he flicked her forehead with his finger.

“B-but I -” the girl tried to still catch his attention but to no avail as Makoto had already turned his back to her and walked towards his childhood friend who was in the middle of exchanging contacts with the two recruits.

“Come on, let’s go. I am getting real hungry.”

“Kay~” Tomoya responded with an easygoing tone. “And you guys,” he started looking one last time at Yamada and Tanaka. “See you guys later, we will keep you updated on our gang activity!”

The two guys saluted their superiors and walked away in the opposite direction.

For a split second, Makoto felt the urge to turn around and look at the girl who introduced herself as Watanabe Mami but quickly stopped himself from even thinking about it. He didn’t want to indulge in the game she was playing. It had to be some ridiculous prank. A one-time thing, an event that will never repeat. That's why he decided that the best thing to do is to pretend that she is not there and not to give her any hope of giving her any attention again.

With that resolve, together with Tomoya, they continued with their day as they usually did. And indeed, nothing eventful happened for the rest of the time. Tomoya cooked dinner for them and his sister, they ate it as they chatted about different topics. Makoto said goodbye and once he was back home, he took a shower, did his homework, made sure to set up the alarm clock on his phone correctly this time, and went to bed.

As the boy was slowly drifting off to sleep, for some reason his mind took him back to the situation with the strange girl. He wasn’t sure why. Makoto didn’t think even once about the girl since the moment he left her where he met her. Sure, Tomoya did tell the whole story about the situation to his sister but back then, the red-haired teen just rolled his eyes and didn’t listen to it.

Something about this girl was mysterious. It felt like giving off an explanation that she just played some game or a prank wasn’t enough. Maybe it was something in her big brown eyes that hinted authenticity of her words. Or maybe it was just her being kind of cute that made Makoto think of her again.

Nope.

Not that, definitely not that. He never was a guy who goes after a girl for her looks and he wasn’t about to become one, no way in hell.

After some time tossing around in bed, Makoto finally managed to toss away those irritating thoughts and fall asleep peacefully with no dreams or nightmares bothering him for the entirety of the night.