Fairytales

        Once upon a time, a beautiful princess was captured by a fierce dragon and was locked in a tower far away from her kingdom. When the king knew of it, he spread the news throughout the kingdom seeking help to save his daughter. Hearing this, a man volunteered himself to save the princess in distress. And after facing a lot of difficult challenges, the man was finally able to defeat the dragon and saved the princess. Obtaining the title of the 'Hero', the man and the princess married each other and lived happily ever after. The end ~

        How good was the story? Great? Boring? Too simple? That is true... the story was just a simple fairytale. But all of us once dreamt of being either the hero or a princess of that story no? That is called a fantasy. A convenient make-believe we used to play as a kid. However,

        "I don't understand..."

        "What do you mean, my dear?"

        "Why does the princess need to marry the hero?"

        "Well, maybe the princess thought the hero was reliable!"

        "Did the princess do anything to get out of the dragon's prison?"

        "Well that is... uh..."

        "The kingdom could also send an army to fight the dragon too..."

        "... Haha! What a genius girl you are, my dear daughter!"

        Fantasy doesn't make sense, not much makes any sense. But...

        "Did you not like the story my dear?

        "I like it! It's fun! But I think I prefer reading your book dad."

        "... Is that so? That's good to hear."

        "Dad?"

        "Listen, my dear daughter, one day, when you grow up to be a beautiful and smart lady, a gentleman will surely come to ask you to be their partner in life."

        "What does that mean?"

        "You're too young to understand this thing, my dear. For now, just enjoy what you like, as one day you will understand."

        "Hmm... I don't understand..."

        Somehow, I enjoy it. But not being able to understand much of it, I tend to just avoid reading any more children's books about fantasy. Instead, I opt to read dad's book stashed in his library. Dad's book had a bunch of words in it, but for some reason, it's much easier to understand than any other fairytale I've read. Why? Maybe because dad's books are full of reason and context.

        Newton's third law stated that :
        "For every action, there's an equal but opposite reaction"

        In fairytales, some of the action doesn't come from any reason. What do I mean by this? Simply said,

        "Hm... Why did the hero volunteer in the first place??? Can't he just wait for the kingdom to do something about it?... It's dangerous too..."

        "Oh? What's this? Are you reading a fairytale my dear?"

        "...Yeah..."

        "Hm? What's wrong?"

        "I still don't understand it..."

        "That's okay my dear."

        "But Aoi said these books are fun..."

        "Oh? Aoi? Is that the boy you always spent time with at the park?"

        "Yeah! Aoi's fun!"

        "Oh? And why is that?"

        "Eh?... Um... I... don't know?..."

        "Haha! Is that so?"

        "*pout*"

        "Haha, my bad, my bad. How about this?"

        "Hm?"

        "Maybe, if you spend some more time with him, you'll get to understand this book too."

        Was what my dad said. But, in the end, I still don't understand anything...

        That is, until a few weeks ago. For some reason, I failed an exam, horribly. Oh well, maybe because I spent too much time on my experiment. It doesn't concern me. It... doesn't concern me... It... does?

        "Kokona?"

        I don't want him to see my face right now, so I tried to avoid looking at him directly in the eyes. But, that doesn't feel right... I don't know why... I don't understand why... But I know... right now... I just want to...

        "Eh!? Ko- Kokona?! Eh?! Wh- What's wrong?!"

        Somehow, being near him, calms me. Somehow, hearing his voices, calms me. Somehow... feeling his warmth... calms me.

        "So- Sorry Aoi... I- I don't know why... But... *sob* can we stay like this for a moment..."

        "Eh? Ah... yeah... sure... ...It's fine, okay? It's going to be fine."

        His word reassured me. What is this feeling? I don't know... but... I like it... it's... incomprehensible...

        Is this what dad was talking about?

        "Um... Kokona? I know that I sound like a bastard for saying this... but class is about to start. Everyone's gonna be worried."

        "Eh? Ah! Yeah! Yeah... I... I see..."

        The moment I let go of him, I felt... a bit sad?... I don't know why...

        "..."

        "H- hey! Y- you know! I also got a bad score on the exam too! A- Also, it's kind of rare to see you failing the exam! So! You know! Ah!... See!... W- What I'm trying to say is!... ...*sigh*..."

        "?..."

        "I'm here if you need me, o- okay!"

        Intriguing. Truly intriguing. That day, I felt something I've never felt before. Everything was new. And I know that I need to learn more about it. With Aoi by my side, I can do everything!

        Was... what I thought...

        But for some reason, I can't ask him about it. I can't confront these feelings towards him. My mouth was shut, unable to say anything that has to do it. It's a bit problematic. But rest assured! If I can't do it directly, I'll just have to do it implicitly.

        "Aoi let's watch this!"

        "Eh? A romcom? I thought you can't understand this kind of thing?"

        My first experiment! I can't wait to see the result. But somehow...

        "Eh... I DON'T UNDERSTAND!"

        It ended in failure...

        What went wrong I wondered? Pondering this thing, I have to put the experiment on hold, as another one of my trials for augmented reality needs to be tested too. So I don't really have the time needed to create another experiment. 

        That's when it hit me. I can just reuse some of the things I've done before! But what? Looking through the pile of boxes filled with old experiment, one thing caught my attention, an old cellphone experiment. I created this along with dad during elementary school. A cellphone that could send a message onto a tiny LED display attached to a bracelet. What was it called again? 'CNTRL', Cellphone – Network Transmitter and Remote Locater.

        This would suffice! I can just temper with it, applying some condition to activate it. And if I remember correctly, during my past 'daily network sniffing' experiment, Aoi often visits that certain website. The content is a bit hard for me to understand, but I think there's something that has to do with a device that controls other people. I can just use that as a theme so I don't have to explicitly tell Aoi what to do, he can do it himself. I'm a genius! Even I'm afraid of what my genius could do to me! Now all I have to do is place this well-made package in front of his house. All set to go!

        "You really are something Kokona..."

        Right!?

        "I'm sure it would be easy-peasy for you to get into a fancy college or even a famous university outside of Japan..."

        Right!? Oops! Maybe I got too excited. I got to calm myself down.

        "Haha. Thanks for the compliment. But you know, this really is nothing compared to what they are doing over there."

        Yes! Something like that! I shouldn't be on a high horse.

        "Even so..."

        ...

        Huh?... Aoi?... Why are you looking like that?...

        Somehow, I can't bear looking at Aoi at that moment. Was it because of me? Did he get sad because of me? He did didn't he? He was talking about me...

        ...

        Maybe... I should end the experiment as soon as possible... One last test... One final test... Yeah... Maybe... I shouldn't bother Aoi anymore with my experiment... Maybe... that's... for the best...

        *Thump!*

        My heart aches... but this was much more different than when I failed the exam... I don't... I don't want to be away from Aoi... But... If Aoi was sad because of me... I have to... I... can't...

        "I love you..."

        The word somehow came out of my mouth. And the instant it does, Aoi takes off his headset looking a bit confused, somehow... looking kind of red. Was it because of me? It's because of me... Aoi turned red, just like in the movie... Wait... what was it that I do?... I told him that I love him... so...

        Wait!!! I did it!!! I can tell him!!! I can tell him now!!! I can tell him now! I... ...

        M- Maybe... I'll do it tomorrow?

        But when 'tomorrow' becomes 'today', I am still unable to tell him, not even through an online message. And this is starting to get on my nerves. So I gave up and just continued with the cellphone plan. Waking up super early in the morning just to put a box doesn't suit me at all. But for the sake of conveying this feeling to him, I'll do whatever it takes!

        With that! All I have to do now is to invite him tonight using a study session as an excuse. As I was waiting near the park where we would always pass through on our way home, I brought some cold sweets to battle the summer heat. But after waiting for 10 minutes, the heat got the better of me. And just as I was about to grab the last ice cream, ICHIGO took it away and gave it to the person I was waiting for the whole time. It's a shame that I can't get the last bite of that ice cream, but at least I got to invite him.

        ...

        Now, everything so far has been going well, although Aoi's was a bit late, as long as he used the device on me, I could just play 'make-believe' with him similar to the one in that website, creating a 'mood' and somehow forcing myself to confess to him.

        I understand it now dad! This is what they are talking about right? This feeling I have for you, for mom, for my friends and more importantly, Aoi!

        It's love!

        Haha! I can't believe it took me this much effort to understand it. My body felt kind of hot for some reason!  But who cares! A minute before the clock strikes 6! All I have to wait for now is–

        "Kokona sure is amazing huh..."

        ...

        No... please... No more of that face...