James stiffly awoke and pulled himself up from his bed. He had been rolling around in his sleep and the cover and blankets were now all situated on the floor. James got dressed into a white t-shirt, covering it with a beige hoodie. He donned grey jeans and black socks.

He emerged from his room, yawning and wiping his eyes. He walked into the bathroom and began to brush his teeth, making sure to spend 10 seconds on each tooth. After he had finished that, he began to style his hair.

James had once again gone back to his usual, mundane morning routine. The same one he had for years. Waking up, getting dressed, brushing teeth, going to school, leaving school, doing homework, dinner, bed, repeat.

Though today was only the first time, as he walked downstairs and out the house, that a feeling of uncertainty was present. Every school day he had been able to predict up until now, from the moment he woke up, to the moment where he softly closed his eyes and dozed off to sleep. There was no possible way he could predict how today might go.

Yesterday he had gotten the day off from his mom, as she understood all the travelling had worn him. The flight back, while not as bad as the flight they took to get there, was still pretty awful. Once again, they struggled to find a map amongst the crowds of people. Though luckily once they did find a map, they realised they were extremely close to where their flight would be taking off.

James hadn’t told Joseph, Matthew, Hanna or even his own mother about his situation. He just didn’t want to talk about it.

Because James’s life never changes.

Throughout almost his whole life, it had never changed drastically. There was a decent amount of change to his life when he was 0-6: his parents divorce, him learning new skills, him starting school, etc.

But when James was around 7, he discovered anime. He couldn’t remember how, he just did. From then on, his daily routine was the same, his interests were the same, the people he hung out with were the same. Everything was predictable.

And he had grown to like it.

James liked the simplicity to his life, he didn’t want it to change. He was afraid of change.

Though he didn’t know that, as his life had never changed, he had never experienced change. Now all of a sudden he had found himself in this crazy situation: he has a hot girlfriend, he’ll be in a different school, he’ll be living in a new country, with a different culture, a different language, currency, a different family. Everything would be different. And he would have no way of contacting his friends or family. His mom never bought him a flip phone.

Everything he’d ever known would be gone.

James didn’t know how to feel about this. If he should feel scared, if he should feel excited, if he should feel anything.

Though the thing about feelings is you can’t dictate them. Even though James couldn’t tell what he should feel, that doesn’t mean he wasn’t feeling anything. Whatever he was feeling at the moment though, he certainly didn’t like it.

He just met this cute girl and went on his first date less than a week ago. He really liked her though he wasn’t prepared to spend the rest of his life with her, but he also wasn’t prepared to leave her so quickly either. He was perplexed with everything. He just didn’t know.

He didn’t want this to happen, he didn’t want to talk about it to anyone, he just wanted to be his usual self.

He did want this to happen, he felt like he should tell everyone, he wanted to change.

James speed walked through the town, a gentle cold breeze putting itself upon him. The town was rather empty this morning, further adding the unease that James felt.

He sat at the bus stop, praying that this was all just a dream and he wasn’t going to Japan.

He swiftly boarded the vehicle, frantically running around the bus until he found a seat. Sitting down, he could feel his heart rate rising. He couldn’t take the stress. He had never really experienced change to this degree before, he didn’t know what was going to happen.

James began taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself down. He had now gained eyes from everyone on the bus, nobody had ever seen him like this before.

The bus slowed down as it pulled into the school. As the doors opened a tear shed from James’s eye as he prayed that wouldn’t be the last time he’d be hearing that sound.

He walked into school, the most stressed he had ever been. It was only now that he was in his school for potentially the last time, that the fact he may never see any of his friends, family, classmates or teachers again set in.

Even though James’s life sucked, he liked it. He really did. He was used to it. And now it is changing.

James turned the corner, only to see Joseph and Matthew’s bright smiles, Joseph’s mouth opening as he readied himself to talk.

“Hey James! The convention was epic! Hey um…how come you ignored us when we asked how your date-”

“I’m sorry I can’t talk right now,” James swiftly told Joseph as he sprinted away to homeroom.

The smell of marijuana rushed into James’s nose as he walked into homeroom, the plump teacher vaping as she scrolled through her phone, her mouth wide open.

James frantically looked around at the room, thoughts rushing through his head at a near instant pace. James impulsively ran out of the classroom, his heart rate now at an all-time high. Matthew and Joseph right outside the homeroom door, Joseph worryingly staring at James, James staring direct back at them, breathing heavily.

“Is something up or is it just the weed?” Joseph asked.

James didn’t change position. He continued to stand there, breathing heavily. Eventually he broke down into tears and ran off.

“James!” Joseph shouted as he ran after him.

Even Matthew, who usually wouldn’t care if anyone was in a state such as James’s, was worried for his friend.

The two chased after James as he ran through the building. James turned right to find that the janitor's closet was wide open. James ran inside, frantically slamming and locking the door behind him.

Submerged in darkness, where nobody could find him, James curled up into a little ball and placed his head against a slim broom.

James quietly sobbed in his little room, by himself, as he slowly began to calm down.

***

James’s tears had now become sniffles. He had stopped thinking, he just laid there, by himself. It had helped to calm him down a bit.

James began to get up from the painfully uncomfortable floor. By now his eyes had adjusted well to the darkness, so he had no trouble in finding the door. James put his hand on the cold, circular door knob, taking one last breath before he began to turn it.

James pushed the door open, a sudden flash of light blinding him. James rubbed his eyes as they adjusted to the light, though stopped after he heard a faint noise. He couldn’t put his finger on exactly what it was. At first he assumed it was just the constant buzzing sound that the school’s lights produced, though that was only for a brief moment, as the initial sound he heard was now being followed by voices.

And then just as he realised what was happening:

CRASH

James impulsively dived to his left to avoid the debris that spilled from the walls that once made up the janitors closet, turning his head to the left as did, he briefly saw Haruki with his katana amongst the pieces of the just destroyed roof of the janitors closet.

James landed right on his face onto the floor. Ignoring the brief pain, James turned onto his back, to see Haruki standing atop of the debris from the janitor's closet he had just destroyed, Komni emerging from behind him.

Haruki wore a black, sailors uniform. Despite it sounding bizarre, it fit him well. Komni donned yet another oversized white hoodie, light blue jeans present on her legs.

“James! Are you alright?” Komni worryingly asked, James unable to answer due to the events he had just witnessed.

“Come, boy!” Haruki shouted at James, James nodding in answer.

Komni slid down the pile of rubble, god rays shone down unto her from the clear sky above, light let through from the parts of the roof that had been destroyed by Haruki’s quite literally explosive entrance.

Reaching the ground, she swiftly bent down and grabbed the hand of the terrified James, pulling him up off the ground just as fast.

The destruction and shouting had alerted everyone in the school, who now were just about to turn the corner into the hallway where James, Komni and Haruki were in. Komni pulled James along by his hand as she ran.

As they ran up the pile of rubble, James’s hand tight in Komni’s, everyone turned the corner, to James Connors, the person they all hated, the one who always lied, the one who never accepted their drugs, running away with a hot Asian girl.

To them, that wasn’t fair. They were pissed.

A boy wearing an unzipped red hoodie and a backwards cap, shouted from the front:

“GET HIM!!!” alerting James and Komni, causing them to quickly turn their heads to witness almost the entire school starting to chase them. Almost the entire school; Joseph and Matthew were missing.

They slid down the rubble and turned right, the same way Haruki had gone. (who was slightly in front of them) James, expecting to see Haruki was sent into a state of sheer shock when they turned the corner to see Joseph and Matthew standing there.

Komni paid no attention to them, as she was more focused on running away from the people who were trying to kill James than attempting to identify each person who was trying to complete the aforementioned goal of killing James.

It felt as if time slowed down for James, Joseph and Matthew at that moment. The disappointment present on his friend’s faces as they witnessed him running away with that one hot Asian girl that he was totally not instressed in, holding hands.

James and Komni kept running, following suit in Haruki, though Joseph and Matthew stayed exactly where they were, a wave of anger washing over both of them, though each for completely different reasons.

“That fucking bitch!” Joseph exclaimed angrily.

“What the hell, how the fuck is it her fucking fault? James is just a dick!!” Matthew argued, something had just clicked for him at that moment. He somewhat hypocritically realised that James was nothing more than an asshole, and that he was only friends with Matthew because they had similar interests. Their constant bickering had somewhat annoyed Matthew deep down inside for years, but this was the straw that broke the camel's back.

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As James had foolishly told them nothing, they believed was now just running away with this Asian hottie and leaving all his dearest friends behind for this random hot girl he met in an act of selfishness, hurting all of the people who loved him so much. In his usual, “I’m perfect” manner, Matthew thought he had done so much for James by being his friend all these years, only for him to run away with this hot girl. No thank you, no closure, just pure selfishness in Matthew’s eyes.

Joseph however, actually had put in so much effort into their relationship. He had tried so hard all the time, through all these years, he had made himself like James. He couldn’t let go of his friend, and as he was his friend, Joseph believed that James would never do anything that might hurt him. Joseph had convinced himself that Komni had manipulated him into running away with her. Joseph viewed Matthew in a similar light, convincing himself that he wasn’t a total ass.

“Matthew!! James would never do anything to hurt us! He’s our friend!! We’ve all tried so hard to be such good friends to each other! Why would any of us just throw all that effort away? The memories, the goods, the bads. Why would we throw that away? Why would he throw that away?”

“Because he never fucking tried!! He didn’t give a flying fuck about you nor me! You can’t throw an imaginary effort away!” Matthew replied.

“Well even if he didn’t put any effort in, we still have all those memories together! Why would he throw away those!” Joseph pointed out.

“Because he’s a heartless dick! How dense are you?”

“Matthew you don’t understand! That bitch manipulated him!! James would not leave us!! Why are you arguing!”

“Because I don’t want someone as damn nice as you to waste your time on somebody as worthless as him!!”

“Matthew, please. We need to get rid of this girl! Trust me here, once we do, James will be back to normal and I bet you’ll regret saying everything you’ve said. Please?”

Matthew looked down and leaned against the wall, the faint roars of the disgruntled highschoolers who were now all but out of Matthew and Joseph’s range were distantly present.

Matthew thought to himself. His opinions and positive memories clashed inside his brain. He liked Joseph and didn’t want to upset him. Hesitantly, he decided to come halfway.

“Okay, how about this? We go after Komni and we…do whatever you’ve planned, and if James isn’t super nice and all, we kill him,”

“Wait, doesn’t that seem a little too far?” Joseph pointed out.

“Well seeing as you’re so confident that I’ll regret what I’ve said, I don’t think it’ll come to that,” Matthew responded, turning his head to look at Joseph’s, a mischievous grin present on his face.

Joseph nervously looked down to the floor.

“Deal,”

“Epic but um…how are we gonna get rid of Komni?” Matthew asked.

Joseph looked up at Matthew and grinned.

“Ever wanted to be a badass with a katana?” Joseph inquired.

“Hell yeah,” Matthew answered, grinning a grin that told Joseph he knew exactly what they were going to do.

“Um wait…how do we know where they’re going?” Matthew questioned.

“Oh well they’re pretty close right now, aren’t they? We could just ask them,” Joseph timidly told Matthew.

“That is the dumbest idea ever,” Matthew commented.

“But it’s kinda funny so yeah, let's do it,”

Joseph and Matthew sprinted through the school. It was fairly easy to find where the crowds went as they left a mess wherever they went. As they continued, the voices of the angry teenagers grew louder and louder, further helping them as to where they had to go.

Eventually they came to a hallway with a large part of the roof in the middle. It was slanted up against the rear of a makeshift hole onto the roof, where everyone was clearly standing.

Matthew and Joseph swiftly climbed up the debris up onto the roof, where they witnessed hundreds of teenagers attempting to fight Haruki, who behind him were Komni and James. Haruki’s limousine was sustained in the air, with a little propeller at the top allowing it to fly. Haruki, James and Komni were slowly backing up into it.

Joseph and Matthew watched as Haruki sliced hundreds of teenagers into pieces with his swords, blood splattering everywhere. Just as they were about to dive right into their car Joseph put his hand up and shouted:

“Um, excuse me, I have a question,”

Everyone collectively stopped and turned their heads towards Matthew and Joseph, a guilty expression present on James’s face.

“Um, yes go on,” Haruki said in his usual, deep voice.

“Uh, we were wondering, where are you guys going?” Joseph inquired.

“Um, Japan?” Haruki answered.

“Oh okay,” Joseph responded.

Everyone stood still for a brief moment, rather confused as they expected Joseph and Matthew to attempt to fight Haruki.

“Um, are you going to, like…fight us, or?...” Komni asked.

“Oh no, that’s all I wanted to say,” Joseph continued.

“Oh yeah, okay…” Komni replied, rather confused.

Matthew turned to Joseph and whispered in his ear: “Um, how are we going to get to Japan? That seems…kind of far?”

“Oh don’t worry, I have some pocket money,” Joseph responded.

“And how much is that?” Matthew inquired.

“$123234”

“Yeah okay, I don’t think we’ll have much of a money problem,”

“Komni, boy, get in!” Haruki commanded as he stabbed yet another teen in their chest.

James and Komni dove right into the open compartment behind them. Tumbling into the car and falling off the red leather seats, they frantically scurried to the door to close it, as to stop the violent crowd from getting in.

There was a loud, sudden thump as Haruki dove perfectly into the driver's seat, his weight causing the flying car to briefly jolt down.

Haruki instantly began to fly off, the sudden change of speed causing James and Komni to jolt back as they lacked seatbelts. Angry cries from students and teachers alike could be heard from atop the building.

From below a loud honk could be heard. The group looked out their windows to see a school bus with a turret situated atop following them. James climbed back into his seat, holding his head in his hands, his heartbeat once again returning to beat at an alarming rate from the stress.

Komni was getting rather worried about James. As she crawled her way over to him across the seats, they were both swung onto the door as Haruki swerved out of the way to avoid the bullets that the turret produced.

James and Komni found themselves in a rather awkward position, with James now sitting in between Komni’s stretched out legs. They briefly looked at each other, embarrassed, though the embarrassment evaporated when Haruki began to speak.

“Komni, boy, the children are jumping off the roof of the bus to try to get on top of our car and kill us. They’re failing rather miserably though I’m going to go up there to make sure they get on. You two stay where you are,” Haruki explained as he set the car to sustain itself while he climbed out.

James fell back into his state of anxiety, beginning to breathe heavily, frantically repeating, “No, no, no, no, no, this can’t be happening…” his head in his hands.

Komni sat down next to James and began to rub his back. James broke into tears.

“James…” Komni said, a worried, though still soft and calming expression present on her face.

“A-are…are you…alright?” she inquired.

James continued to cry.

“It-it-it’s just…my life is changing…I don’t want change. But I also do want change. I…I don’t know!”

Komni looked down as James continued to cry.

“I don’t know…do I want to spend who knows how long away from all of my friends…my books…my mom…my…my…”

Komni stood idle.

“With me…god…I really do just make everything worse…” Komni exclaimed.

“No, no, it’s not your fault…I…I just don’t know if I want this. This might be what I need. This might be the turning point in my life…I don’t know…” James explained as he continued to cry.

“Oh…James…” Komni softly muttered as she leaned onto him, wrapping her arms around his waist.

“I don’t know either…I don’t want to say goodbye, I really like you…but…all this stress…it’s not good for you. It’s clearly affecting you…maybe I shouldn’t have been so selfish and just-”

“NO KOMNI. It’s not you…I feel the exact same way…” James told her.

A sudden revelation washed over James as he realised what he was saying to Komni. Even in the short period of time between their last meeting and now, James had somewhat forgotten what exactly it felt like to be around her. He felt more comfortable around her, like she was someone he could really trust. He treated her differently too. He wasn’t really the same douchebag as he usually was to others.

As the soft feeling of Komni’s warm embrace washed over James, his tears temporarily stopping, he realised:

Maybe this wasn’t so bad.

Was it time for James to accept change? Was it time to let go of his past and embrace the future? Was it time…to let Komni fully enter his life?

James was a lot more sure what the answers to those questions were now than he was before.

With mild uncertainty he thought:

Yes. Maybe it was time to start changing.

“Komni?…” James said, his tears gone.

“Yes?...” She responded.

“This isn’t a dream…right?” James questioned.

Komni didn’t respond, out of fear she might make things worse, she decided to just keep quiet and listen unless she had to say something.

“Because I hope it’s not…” James continued, alerting Komni, causing her to look up at James.

“Because I want to see you everyday…I want to come to school with you…and I want…I want to see you continue being…you,”

Komni began to cry as she held James tighter.

“I do too James!! I want to be with you!! I want to see you happy! I don’t want to be the cause of your stress!” Komni cried.

James gazed at the floor.

“Well then…we’ll both help each other get what we want…we’ll support each other…we’ll be there for both of us…there might be a few rough patches but, we’ll get there…”

James and Komni sat there as they held each other, listening to the sounds of Haruki fighting from above as they gazed into the distance.

“I like that idea…” Komni softly replied.

James and Komni both closed their eyes as they sat there, together.

***

All of a sudden James and Komni jolted awake as Haruki jumped down into the car from the open sunroof, a sudden mixture of emotions washed over James as he saw Haruki witnessing James lifting his head off Komni’s shoulder.

Though all his emotions were quickly replaced with stress with a slight hint of determination as Haruki opened his mouth to speak.

“Boy, I need help. They were failing pretty miserably at getting up onto our car until they started putting on boots with springs attached to the bottom. There’s too many, boy, come with me!”

Haruki threw James one of 2 katanas from the satchel situated on his side as he pulled himself up. James ran to the open sunroof, determined not only to finally get revenge on the classmates that pissed him off, but also to protect Komni.

Just as he began to pull himself out of the car, he ceased, staring at the fearful Komni.

“Stay right there, it’s gonna be alright,” James softly told her after a deep sigh, a determined look present on his face.

Komni, lost in a sea of emotions, proceeded to answer.

“Okay…” she timidly nodded in agreement as she softly replied in her usual quiet voice she had when she was nervous.

James, using all the force in his body as he climbed out of the car out to the roof, leaped into the cold air that the winter climate generated as he impulsively swung his katana to his left, accidently slicing a student right through their stomach, impressing Haruki, as it looked so intentional it would not be out of one’s mind to assume James was a professional.

James clutched his sword in his 2 hands as he held it barely in front of his nose.

He turned his head up towards the grim, cold sky, a student suspended in air fell down unto him, his first in front of face, ready to deliver a strong blow to James’s face.

James slid to his left, the student not having enough time to react and alter his position, fell right down next to James, James slicing him in half moments before his fist met the roof of the car they fought atop.

James and Haruki continued their killing spree as more students attempted to violently leap onto the roof of the black limousine. Back to back they stood as the disgruntled teenagers continued to fly, their swords slicing through them as if they were a thin slice of butter.

James began to feel out of breath, as all the stabbing and slicing had naturally worn him out. Down below from atop of the bus in close pursuit of Haruki, watched the ringleader of the whole group, still donning his unzipped red hoodie and backwards cap, was starting to get rather fed up with the poor progress they were making, and noticing that James had let his guard down, decided to try himself.

“Yo, pass me some of em’ spring boots will yo?” He shouted down into the bus, where a group of around 10, just as angry teenagers were situated as they supplied the attackers.

A pair of spring boots were tossed up to the boy who swiftly equipped them and took a brief flight into the air, jumping at an oblique angle upwards towards Haruki’s car.

“Hey, Connors!” He shouted, alerting James who swiftly looked up from the ground, only to witness the boy falling straight down onto him, his fist similarly positioned in front of his face as one of the previous students he fought.

“Did you know that people die when they’re killed!” The boy shouted, a horrid grin present on his face, a testimony to the quality of the education the school provided.

“Well no shit, sherlock!” James replied as he swiftly readied his katana, sending the boy into a state of shock as he realised that he was unable to fight James and had now found himself in a situation in which the outcome would almost certainly be death.

The boy twirled and spun in the air as he tried to reposition himself, though by the time he fell within proximity of James’s sword it too late, as James violently jabbed his weapon through the boy’s chest, the blood flying straight past James through the wind as the boy’s corpse remained attached to James’s katana.

The death of their leader sent the army composed of almost every person in the school into a state of shock, causing them to retreat. Some of the people fighting weren't even aware of why they were fighting James and were just kind of going with the flow.

James and Haruki stood atop of the car for a moment as they watched the sea of teens escape into the distance, soaking up their victory before themselves retreating back to the car.

James and Haruki squeezed their way back into the car, Haruki comfortably sitting back down into the driver's seat and James sitting right back down next to Komni, who was visibly worried, her mouth slightly open.

“Are they gone?...” Komni quietly asked, her head facing the ground.

James let out a long sigh as he laid back.

“Yes…”

“I hope you enjoy Japan James…”

“I’m excited to see you everyday…”

“Me too Komni…” James quietly replied, an underlying tone of hesitation present in his voice.

“Maybe we could go to a temple…” Komni proposed, the car now coasting through the air at a steady pace.

“Yeah…”

James turned his head towards Komni’s and gave her a soft smile.

“Y’know, I think one time my mom said there were monkeys in rock buble pools or something like that…” James told Komni, a smile present on her face now too.

“What? I don’t think there’s anything like that in Japan,” she joked.

“Well you never know right?” James responded.

They both stared into the distance. The sun was setting now and the clouds had cleared, the sky had turned a dark enchanting orange, a thick line of pink present around the area on which the sun set. Days were still rather short, as the spring days had not yet been given enough time to show themselves.

The two drifted off to sleep.