One Sided Vows

**

The night was bright- crammed full of little shining balls of gas otherwise known as stars. The foreground was illuminated by lamp posts, which shone over the cracks and divots of the court.

Among the various stars, a girl’s hair glistened- overwhelming both the artificial lights and the ones made of gas.

The same girl stood tall and proud, proclaiming a vow to the boy who sat near her.

“I, Akari Anzai, vow to make your dream come true, Koji Thompson!”

With her chest puffed out, and back arched, the boy the vow was directed towards observed her finger- watching as it obnoxiously pointed at him. Well, he was less so observing and more so panicking.

‘huh?’ Koji had a moment of inner panic.

“HUHHHHH???” The “inner” changed to “outer”.

With wide eyes, Koji looked up at Akari, who had a big smile on her face with her eyes closed. Though, when she heard Koji’s scream, she began to open them.

As she did, a face of inquiry took over- as if she was asking: “What? Did something happen?”.

‘Yes! Something definitely happened..!’

“What’s wrong?”

Akari’s voice was that of earnest inquisitions. How that was possible, Koji didn’t know. There was just no way she could be unaware of what she just said…

And above all that…

…She knew his name!

How the hell did that happen?!? No… when the hell did that happen..?

Nothing was adding up.

Koji was about to go over everything that had happened up to now, until…

“AGH!”

Koji uttered a not so gentle squeal, as he was taken off guard by a flying ball which had made impressive contact with his head.

Koji lifted his neck, but not till after he had put his hand on his scalp for comfort.

“THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!??”

Koji screamed at an Akari who was in a bounce-passing position. Staggered legs and elbows straight, with arms extended towards Koji himself. Among all that, her face was cute and blank.

*dribble dribble dribble

The ball dribbled back to Akari, as there was a silence between the two.

“You… you were staring off again…” Her voice was quiet but also a bit pouty.

“SO YOU ROCKET A BALL AT MY FACE!??”

While “rocket” may have been and over exaggeration, her throw still hurt.

“sorry…”

The two shared another pause as Akari had gotten into a pose commonly associated with pleading, with her head down and hands tied together by the waist.

Suddenly, she picked up her sullen tone and continued.

“But c’mon! You got some work to do!”

“THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!!?”

“Remember? I’m helping you now.”

“WHEN- *exhale* When did I EVER agree to that?”

Akari grew silent, but suddenly unleashed her most powerful attack on Koji…

…The Puppy Eyes…

**

“Ughhhhhhh-hu-ughh…”

Koji groaned in pain, as his chest was fighting with the ground which he lay on as a result of continuous panting.

While Koji was slumped on the ground, Akari was snuggly fit on the bench next to him. She looked down and said in a happy, care-free tone:

“See? Just lean on me while you achieve your dreams.”

“*Huff* Lean on you- *huff* -My Ass!”

Koji let out a pained groan as he said that- as Akari just sat by and watched.

“All you did was watch and rebound!”

“What else could I have done

“I don’t know! You said I should lean on you, right!?!”

Akari grew pouty again as Koji started to bring himself up. He was lucky that practice was over- or else he might have really died.

As Koji started to wipe himself off, Akari asked a question. In response to the eerily soft voice, Koji looked up and saw Akari with a genuine expression.

“Why are you all-of-a sudden pursuing your dreams so diligently?”

Her face became a little gloomy, as Koji returned to looking at his sweat infested shirt. He wasted no time and gave her a response that came straight from himself.

“Because it’s my dream.”

Akari drew a puzzled expression, and then bursted out laughing in hysterics. Koji ignored this, and continued patting down his clothes.

“Ha-Ha! I suppose that makes sense, doesn’t it…”

“…”

After Akari’s odd outbreak, the two stood in silence. Or more so, Akari sat, staring at Koji as a hand held her chin up, while Koji stood, cleaning his dirtied-self.

“So, ready to go home?”

Akari broke the silence with a question which made Koji bolt his head towards her in puzzlement.

“What are you talking about now?”

“Hm? Oh, well since I’m your trainer now, I gotta take care of you.”

“Trainer? Take care??? Like hell! What are you actually talking about?”

“Come on. Pleaseeee…”

Akari once again attacked Koji with wide, pleading eyes, as he couldn’t avoid pupil contact in time.

Koji tried to save himself by snapping his neck in the other direction, but it was to no avail. He then answered Akari in embarrassment- presumably with a blush as well.

“F-Fine… You’re lucky I can’t run away from you right now…”

Akari smiled.

**

‘I still don’t understand…’

Koji and Akari were walking there way to his house, as Koji tried to wrap his head around things.

‘She’s being way, wayyyy too supportive for someone she just met…

Is she using me for something? Perhaps she finds joy in playing with others' livelihoods?’

He looked over to Akari, who hadn’t taken her eyes off the path that the two walked on. He followed her gaze to realize that the two were leaving the trashy part of town.

He put his attention back on her face, as it was filled with a pure smile and bright, wide eyes. The smile was blank, and had no reason to be there- and yet it was.

‘No… Definitely not…’

He threw away any stupid thoughts.

“Hey Akari, why are you helping someone you just met?..”

“Hm?”

Akari turned her head and awkwardly met Koji’s eyes. The two were quite close to each other, so that didn’t help.

“Did you say “someone you just met”? Who cares? We’re friends regardless, right?”

“…”

Koji didn’t even try to avoid eye contact this time. He was so warmed by her comment. And as cheesy as that sounds- being called a friend for the first time was a great feeling.

Especially when it was by Akari Anzai.

“And besides, I lost my dream long ago…”

Her voice grew sullen, as her wide eyes and cute smile turned into something worth pity. Her two greatest aspects turned into facets of despair.

Aspects of regret.

“…So I need to occupy myself, y’know?”

Her voice returned to normal, and shortly after her face did as well. She went back to looking at the road ahead.

Koji was at a loss for words. He knew so little about Akari, yet he tried to understand her intentions.

This was very heartless of him.

And to make up for it, he would start looking at Akari with a new light. One ridden of presumptions deprived from her social status or peculiar behavior.

‘I guess I’ll make a one sided vow too…’

And just like that, Koji had promised himself to better understand Akari…

“Hey Koji, are we almost there?”

Ignoring the fact that she used his name again, Koji looked around.

Quickly, he turned his head back in surprise.

“AH! WE PASSED IT!”

**

Akari stood on the grass which lead to stairs, which then lead to a door. This door then lead to Koji’s house.

Next to her was Koji, who was standing awkwardly, trying to figure out how to depart.

“See you, Akari.”

Could that be considered a smooth line, or just a lazy one?

Koji started to walk up the stairs, until he felt a tug from behind on his shorts.

‘The hell kind of situation is this?!?’

Koji quickly turned around, not exactly sure what to expect.

But needless to say- it certainly wasn’t one of the few scenarios he had imagined.

He faced a phone which oddly resembled his own…

Then Akari pulled the phone away from his face and started typing on it. As soon as she was done, she handed it back to Koji.

“Here. My number.”

“huh.”

Indeed Koji. “huh” Indeed…

Koji looked at his phone to see a contact listed as [Akari :)].

‘A SMILING EMOJI???’

“Oh, okay. ‘Preciate it.”

“Yup!” Akari lit up her face with a pure smile.

Koji couldn’t help but feel a bit nauseous on the inside.

“Alright. Imma head inside. See you soon.”

“Alright. See you Koji!”

Koji couldn’t handle this anymore. As soon as he got inside, he slammed his front door and peaked through the blinds.

“Few.”

‘She’s gone…’

Seriously, Koji couldn’t handle this anymore…

“Hey Ko…” A feminine voice rang out.

As he turned around, Koji saw his mom washing some plates in the kitchen. His dad was also sitting at the dining table, both hands on his head- clearly distressed.

“Tensai has his first prosthetic rehabilitation tomorrow. We’re gonna go see him after he finishes. Okay?”

Koji was kind of surprised to hear this. The change in conversation changed so abruptly, so it took him off guard.

“Oh… Yeah that’s fine. Just let me know when…”

“Will do!”

Mrs. Thompson tried her best to upkeep a bright mood.

“…Well I’m gonna go take a shower. Night. Night dad.”

“Goodnight Ko.”

“Night…”

**

In the room of presumably a professional artist, Akari could be seen scavenging through a cramped closet. She made sure to not knock over any of the numerous paintings as she did so.

“Ah!”

Finally, Akari had found what she was looking for and held it up above her face. She proceeded by getting up from her knees and heading to her own room.

Carefully, she took a picture of some used paper and forwarded it to someone- with the caption being as follows:

[Hey Koji. First text from your trainer here. Anyway, here’s one of my sister’s old training regimens. She was an athlete for a couple of years until college, so hopefully these are helpful. I better see you doing these!]

And of course, there was a photo attached to the message with some paper which held an in-depth training schedule.

*ding

It seems Akari had gotten a reply quicker than expected.

[yknow this is for ballet… right?]

After taking a closer look, it did seem that most of the regimen revolved around jumping in the air and twirling like a fairy. Are these the things Akari had better seen Koji doing..?

I mean, maybe they could help with vertical?

Quickly enough though, Akari got back to typing.

[Does it matter?]

[…]

Akari was a bit dumbfounded. She was never much of an athlete.

[different sports have different trainings. you really not know that?]

Well now Akari couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed.

Suddenly, Akari found herself hitting the “Call” button underneath Koji’s contact. This was a very sudden decision which was heavily influenced by her pouting and flushed face.

*Bip

“Meet me at the courts tomorrow same time.”

*Bipppp

Not even giving Koji enough time to affirm or rebuttal, she hung up the phone. She proceeded to throw it on her bed as she dug herself under a blanket.

She thought back over the day, until a certain moment crossed her mind.

Akari then proceeded to hold her wrist to her face, as she started getting teary eyed.

**

End Chapter 6:

One Sided Vows