Outlanders at Sunset

It’s been a whole week since I tried handing in proof that Haruka is a monster to the school newspaper, Kaito thought.

I mustn't ask for help about Haruka’s true form to the other school peers.

Making a true relationship with her is something that is never gonna happen, anyways.

Looking at the nearly blank lined page in his notepad, Kaito balanced his pencil on his philtrum. He was figuring out how he could manage to get serious attention for his Haruka conspiracy.

And yet, all Kaito would worry about was that they were wrong. Why are their thoughts always focused on the priorities of school? Why not take sanity towards reality?

As a loner sitting on an empty wooden bench, he noticed the second major thing that bothered him.

The other students weren’t alone.

He was out in the back of the school, watching all the other kids have a school lunch from their bento, or talking to their peers, or patting that certain archetypal person from the athletic team on the back, or drawing a cute picture on the sandy soil with long twigs and some leftover water. Or Whatever.

They all had something, and Kaito didn't. And he denied admitting the answer.

Kaito managed to take paper to pen and wrote: 

No new case development so far…

With his health bar going low, and his stomach growling like a wolf wanting a craving for prey, Kaito was ready to have his second thoughts…

After all, no one would ever want to be friends with a person who has the time to say “I need to poop!” as a Smoke Bomb tactic, or that one time where I broke her-

“What’s with the messy paper letters, my antihero of justice?”

AAAAAAUGH!

It was his enemy, Haruka. Or that’s what she wanted him to be.

The moment he laid eyes on her, he became frightened.

Startled, his jump was no higher than an unsharpened pencil, and he closed his notebook and notepad immediately. One full of brief conspiracy newspaper pages, and the other with observations of Haruka. 

“N-Nothing I swear! I’m just writing a story!! I love looking at other people’s habits!” Kaito yelped.

“Well, if it isn’t my sworn enemy, Kaiju! After what happened yesterday…”

Kaito prepared for any worst outcome attack. Ok Fine! He thought, 

I might deal with hunger and friends later or another time, but now’s a good chance I’d-

“Can you eat some of my bento lunch for me?”

Then she handed him his red bento. 

“Please? It’s only because I bought some donuts near the gourmet donut store yesterday, and ate some of my favorite ones today,”

“Wait, huh?”

“I’m not a huge fan of vegetables. I can eat some of the rice and the mini octopus sausages. but I hate the omelet, and I don’t feel like eating anything with seaweed parts or vegetables in it. Because the Queen of Mortal Doom doesn’t eat that,”

“But, I thought omelets were mostly made from eggs and milk, not plants,”

“Does ketchup come from outer space?”

“Nope! Ketchup is technically tomato, although companies that make ketchup do use artificial flavoring-“

“Look, Kamifusen, do you want the ominous harbinger to accept the favor I’m giving you, or not?”

“Well-“, Then Kaito’s stomach growled and moaned. Even worse, Haruka heard it, loud and clear. “Yes.”

And so he ate the lunch from Haruka’s red bento, but as time for class crept closer, watching best friends part to go their separate ways, she felt something she never knew how to describe. A mix between dark but also hopeful like a sunset.

“I wasn’t kidding about how loud your stomach was, Kaidan. You might be my enemy…” Haruka stopped.

She closed her lunch box, and was ready to walk away. But she turned around. At that moment some of the students went back to school, for the final classes of the day.

“But I’ll try and see when I can stick around with you for another time, if you want,” said Haruka.

The school bell played its Westminster Chime melody, as all the students scrambled or walked quickly to reach back to school, away from the gates.

“I’ll check on you later, Press Operator. It’s about time to get to you- I mean OUR learning school,” Haruka continued.

“Whatever.” Said Kaito, following her.

In the last class of school, Kaito managed to complete part of his school textbook assignment.

“Ok class,” the teacher said.

“Good work on your textbooks, we’ll continue this topic for tomorrow.”

Ah, what a relief.

Then he went to the front of the class and firmly clapped his hands thrice to check if all were awake. Some students were startled by the clapping.

“Until you are to leave at the assigned time, you are going to clean an empty space today. Since we believe that every student deserves schools, like ours, to be hygienic,” the teacher stated. “Each pair of students are responsible for cleaning a school classroom and windows for now. The pairs who are assigned to clean together are…”

“Gendo and Junko, Ishi and Fuuka, Kaito and Haruka…….” The teacher wrote down all the groups on the whiteboard.

Hmmm, Haruka might be nice, but is still like a python if I’m not careful with her, thought Kaito, thinking about Haruka from lunch.

“Please take a broom with a dustpan, a bucket with a rag, sponge, disinfectant spray, and cleaning wipes for each group. Remember to get your gloves and face mask before cleaning. And yes, Ishi and Junko, please ask the librarian for the vacuum cleaner-“

All the kids ran with force and took as much as they could for each classmate, not knowing they were almost crushing the teacher’s space at full force.

“Ow! Owowowow! One at a time, class, one at a time!”

Perfect! Let's get this over with! Kaito thought to himself while gathering all of his materials, with Haruka peeping alongside him.

“…. Now where do we go from here, Kanji?” Said Haruka, but the way she spoke felt like something in her voice was…diminishing.

Kaito and Haruka went to a classroom near the gym, where no one cleaned the lockers, the showers smelled hot and steamy, and it hid all the important sports equipment so that no one would try to steal them.

“You know, your voice faltered a bit when you asked that question,” said Kaito.

Haruka looked away. At this point, she was sweeping the outside of the classroom.

“What do you mean by ‘falter’, Germ Slayer?” Haruka responded.

“You know, like today? you didn’t act like your normal self at lunch? And when you asked where we were going, you sounded like you were in a nearly total emotional mood!” Said Kaito, not noticing the tone of voice he’s using.

“Oh, um, yeah… I understand,” said Haruka.

“Yeah, but you are friendly and everyone understands you, so you’re not so bad overall,” said Kaito.

“Yeah…that’s right,” said Haruka, still putting her head low and not showing her head to Kaito, as he walked near her.

“And you are a good cleaner, and take superiority at dissecting frogs and fishes, shopping, and even share nice lunch food! You can even help me with something for the school newspaper…if you want,” Kaito rambled, and the demon in his mind laughed.

“I was also thinking if we-” said Kaito, making Haruka turn her head around. “Huh?”

Haruka, the harbinger of doom, was crying a harbor of tears.

Oh no, what have I done? Kaito thought.

“Are you saying that once I grow up…” said Haruka with a much sadder and faltered tone of voice.

“…I’ll be at war with square one?!” she shouted angrily at Kaito.

“No, I wasn't actually intending to get you mad, I just-”

SLAP!

“Kaito, stop! I know you like my attitude, but when will you ever understand?!” shouted Haruka, who then wiped her tears off her eyes with her shoulder and ran away.

“Haruka!” Shouted Kaito. But…why? He thought, confused. Feeling the warmth of the red mark on his cheek, he didn’t know what to do at first.

I’ve got to find her!

Kaito walked quickly, went to class, put away his cleaning materials, and walked past the teacher, who was watching Kaito walk fast, before scratching his head and turning away to prepare to leave for the day.

Kaito put on his backpack, and ran and ran and ran, then he went to the back of the school, where Haruka was waiting for him. 

She was menacing. Her horns, pupils, tail, and teeth turned monstrous and sharp, and she had that eye patch all eighth-grader syndrome students wear, except it had a blue splat with scarlet highlights in the center of her patch. Her contrasting purple and black girl’s sailor suit is now fluffy as faux fur, but it doesn’t hide the sharpness of her black jagged skirt with spikes on the brim, nor her angry sharp hands and her longer, pointier reddish fingernails. 

SHE’S HUGE!!! Kaito thought, nervously.

“Haruka! I’m having a bad feeling you shouldn’t be doing this!!!” Yelled Kaito, as loud as he could. He felt an eerie and menacing energy, the distance between them unreachable.

“I understand Kaito…I will show you the ‘true harbinger of doom’ that I’d always let out! Time to let the boss fight begin!!” Said Haruka.

“Ready to forfeit the battle of no escape?” Haruka said, daring him to challenge her.

“No, Haruka! I’m not coming to battle you. I’m here to figure out what’s going on with you!”

Pfft! He must be wrong, thought Haruka. 

“I don’t want to know!! GET OUT OF MY WAY!”

 She raised her arm, her ginormous hand ready to attack.

“If my friends don’t take me seriously, no one ELSE WILL!” yelled Haruka.

Huh? it’s almost like she-, thought Kaito. 

“And it’s always because people are always focusing on their tests, or lessons, and they still don’t take anything seriously like myself!” Haruka boomed out loud.

“Haruka-” Kaito responded, yet Haruka cut him off.

“Everyone else in this school might have friends; they might fit in, but not me!” Haruka continued.

“Haruka! Stop cutting me off!” yelled Kaito. 

Haruka’s hand stopped raising and her hands stopped making the incantation motion. 

“Kaito…,” said Haruka.

“I should be apologizing. Remember when you saw me at lunch today?” said Kaito.

Haruka thought about it, and nodded while wiping away her tears with her eye patch.

“I was alone at lunch. I’m not the best storyteller or journalist. Our classmates think I’m an embarrassing weirdo obsessed with nothing but conspiracy theories,” said Kaito.

“And when I first sat at lunch in the beginning of the school term, I thought some friends would come, but no one did. Even though I met friends with the people who are so caught up with everything else in life, they don't help me get past this situation. Not even my parents, or teachers. Maybe especially since they give me dissatisfaction when I’m a joke in each class.” He continued.

As Kaito spoke, Haruka began to shrink smaller from her enlarged size.

“Huh, so you’re a lonely person…?” said Haruka, her voice less booming, a little calmer, becoming clammy with congestion.

“Well, I always have wanted a friend who has experienced struggles, as opposed to a ‘friend’ who’s been caught in the twists and turns of school and life,” Kaito suggested. “So… don’t cry. What about you?”

As Haruka looked at the sunset and then slowly turned to Kaito, she shrunk back to her normal size.

“I have always wanted an outsider who understands me more as time progresses. Just like a henchman of doom, or a sidekick of justice. But we’re not robots.” responded Haruka. “So, do you want to call, or text? It’s for reminders, just in case.”

“Sure, why not,” thought Kaito.