Eikou felt an immediate dislike towards Takara. He had heard of her before. Of course he knew the prodigious daughter of the illustrious Yuzai family. He couldn’t have named her, no, but her surname was Yuzai and that was enough. She was a gifted student, cold and calculating, but that was to be expected of her family; she was a model on the weekends, a martial artist too, and she kept a foreign lover in secret, but Eikou thought those rumors were farfetched; she had a poisoned heart and her veins ran with hellfire, this Eikou knew, but he had never heard. He was immediately overcome by a feeling of defeat, laying his head on his desk and bemoaning his luck. Arakawa leaned over and patted Eikou on the back.

“Arakawa, pay attention!” The teacher, an older woman with graying hair tied into a bun, snapped at him. “Now, my name is Mrs. Wakiyaku…” Eikou didn’t pay too much attention for the rest of class. Like most people in class, he was waiting for the real classes to start. After lunch, the legitimate and illegitimate would split and he would move underground. The classes weren’t particularly hard for him. He had gotten in on an academic scholarship, but he planned on only doing enough work to retain it. He spent most of the time looking out of the window and at the clock.

Finally, class ended. Eikou was excited. He was going to see his friend Kentaro Kaneshiro for the first time in years. They had been keeping up online, sure, but it was the first time they would actually be talking in too long. As he walked out of the classroom, he felt nervous about whether or not they would actually be able to talk. Kentaro had sent him an odd request of where to meet. “Trees at the NW corner of the building you’ll see it when you get there. There’s a table”. While Eikou found it strange, he didn’t care too much. Eventually, Eikou saw what Kentaro was talking about. The table was pushed far into the foliage, making it invisible from the outside eye. Eikou had told him he wanted to discuss something important, so he assumed that’s what the purpose of the hideout was. Truth is, Kentaro had spent years carefully cultivating his image to the school and didn’t want a rogue variable throwing him off. He was already waiting for Eikou. Neither were prepared for how much the other had changed. Eikou thought he would see a goofy nerd that looked like he spent most of his time in self-imposed solitary confinement. Kentaro expected to see a well-adjusted member of society, but saw an edgy, nerdy loner. Meanwhile, Eikou was looking at a shining young man, muscled to the perfect amount with a warm smile that made Eikou want to smile too(which was not his natural reaction to anything). His hair was golden-blond, if that was even possible, and it fell effortlessly like he had put no effort into grooming it. It had taken him hours, but he would never say that. Eikou immediately felt uncomfortable, thinking that things were going to be awkward due to some newfound philosophical divide. Kentaro, however, was only shaken for a moment before recovering.

“Eikou!” He ran over to give Eikou a hug, which Eikou found slightly painful. “I haven’t seen you in so long! How’ve you been?”

“Fine, I guess. I mean, I just started, so not much has happened.”

“What do you mean not much has happened? I just reconnected with my old friend Eikou! How is that not exciting?”

“Well, I wasn’t counting this, because it is literally happening right now.”

“Of course. Even still, I heard you’re sitting behind Yuzai. That’s big news! Even if it is bad news.” He put his hand on Eikou’s shoulder, his face quickly becoming solemn. “My condolences.”

“Why is everyone treating me like I stepped on an active landmine? She’s just a girl, isn’t she?” Kentaro looked around, like talking about her would summon her from the pits of hell.

“Welll, she has a bit of a reputation in the school.” He began whispering, despite their isolation. “How do I put this without sounding childish… She’s a bully. Just really unnecessarily mean. As the story goes, she used to be super popular. She was always really mean, but before, it used to endear people to her. She was like the queen bee of the school. People are really desperate for approval, I guess.” He let out a fake laugh. “Anyways, she controlled the entire flow of the school. Who was on top. Who got bullied. There was this one girl, I don’t remember her name, but she was pretty popular. Until, as the story goes, she called Yuzai ‘Takara’ and she became her knew favorite target. She lost of all of her friends and eventually, you know…” Kentaro ran his finger across his neck, making Eikou feel a little bit sick. “Anyways, all the people who used to follow her abandoned her, and she withdrew into herself, becoming even colder on the way in. One time, my friend Shirou actually tried to confess to her-“

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Dude, is this necessary?”

“To what?”

“The story. The story you were just telling.”

“Well, that story ended. This one is just funny. The last one got a little bit dark so I thought I might bring the mood back up.” Kentaro shrugged. He was a bit of a gossip.

“Is that story really true?”

“More or less, I think? There definitely was a girl who killed herself a couple years ago, but I’ve heard it may have been because of home stuff. There’s also a lot of variations for the way she offended Yuzai. Some say it may have been spilling a drink on her or something. I actually heard that it was because they were wearing the same thing, so take everything with a grain of salt.” Eikou was pretty sure that it was true. He already didn’t like Takara, so this seemed to confirm what he had already thought. Thus, Eikou formed an opinion on her without ever even talking to her.

“Is there something I could do about it?”

“Well, I guess you could just ignore her. That would probably work.”

“Why is everyone being so dramatic about it then?!”

Kentaro shrugged again. “High schoolers? They’re pretty melodramatic.”

“Don’t act like you weren’t doing the same thing!”

“I’m a high schooler, aren’t I?”

“Yeah, but if you understand that they don’t need to act like this, why do you do it too?”

“C’mon, Eikou, you already know the answer.” To fit in. Eikou knew it. He had known it the whole time.

“Still…”

“Wasn’t there something you wanted to talk about? We don’t have that much lunch time and I told my friends I would meet them, so I kinda gotta hurry.”

“Yeah, sorry. So you know how when we all go underground we’ll be grouping up? I need you to group up with me.”

“I already told some guys I would group with them, though, so-“

“That’s fine. I just need you to say you are grouping up with me. Then I need you to ask Ushinawa to join our group. When she does, just drop out near the end and rejoin your friends. It’s foolproof.”

“Ohhhhh, I see.” Kentaro sounded like a child teasing his friend. “It’s about a girl.” Eikou blushed and looked down at his feet.

“No, I mean-I guess…I guess technically it is, but it’s not what you think! There is nothing romantic about this!” Eikou’s face was so hot he thought he would pass out.

“Uh-huh.” He gave Eikou a playful punch on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, bro, I got you. We’re friends, after all. What kind of friend would I be if I left you out to dry!”

“I really think you’re getting the wrong idea. This is really just-“

“Say no more! I’m on your case!” Kentaro seemed a little enthusiastic. Eikou felt like that shouldn’t worry him, but it did.

“Okay…Thank you.”

“Alright, anything else? No? Okay then, I gotta go, but I’ll see you after lunch?”

“Cool.”

“See ya!” Kentaro jogged off, waving to those he saw on his way back. Eikou felt a disaster was about to happen, but he couldn’t give up now. Truth is, there was something between him and Ushinawa. Or, there was. When he was a child, she had saved him and he had never gotten the chance to return the favor. He remembered that he had loved her, and she him, but that was when they were children. Now, he had forgotten what that felt like. Deep down, Eikou knew that he wanted that again. Love. She was his best hope. He had come here for her. All those long nights studying, all those missed opportunities, all of himself he had given up, it was for her, so he wasn’t about to give up. Still, those feelings were veiled under a feeling of responsibility which had been weighing on him for years. He knew that falling back into love with Ushinawa was a small possibility, but he had come here to save her. All those years wishing he could, wanting to repay her for what she had done, and now he could. Heroes don’t back down from insurmountable odds, they conquer them; he had to be a hero, he owed her that much; he owed everyone that much. This is how he would earn back his place in the world.

Eikou ate his lunch in silence. Everything was about to happen. His world teetered on the edge of a needle, ready to fall. His legs shook, his fingers could hardly hold his food straight. How was he going to talk to Ushinawa like this? He wanted her to like him. What if Ushinawa wasn’t how he remembered? He had been building a perfect statue of her this whole time, but what if it had rusted? Nothing could be expected to go the way he thought. He didn’t know if he was prepared, but he had to be. The bell rang; it was time. He wondered if this would be a defining success or failure of his life. Eikou thought that the worst it could be was nothing at all.