Hiro’s Hidden Triumphs FINALE: Friendship and What Comes After

"Master, Master, is Master really walking to school with Anna for once?"

It was Wednesday now, the school day having just started up. I was outside my house, early for once, and Anna had been waiting outside since I told her we could go together today.

I stretched my limbs upward, going onto my toes before letting out a slight groan. "Of course I am, we are together after all."

Anna nodded, and though she didn't show it, I could tell she was happy about it. "Anna sees, Anna sees indeed… Master must be a fake one."

"Oi, how did you come to that conclusion!?"

Anna turned to me, thinking to herself. "That is because the Master Anna know never wakes up on time, always flies to school on Master's bird, and is overall very lazy."

"I don't know whether to praise you for your honesty or to hit you for the way you view me," I grumbled, waving her along. "C'mon already, we're going to be late if we just stick around here."

"It is Master's fault for coming out late."

"I was only late because I had to get my Luna reserves charged up, since I don't know when I'll get back," I said, and we started the walk to our school.

"Master? Is Master really okay? Master slept till Tuesday."

I looked at her, noticing her eyes were pointed at the ground. "Well, it's not as if I was injured, since all my injuries heal after a time loop ends. But if you must know, I am kinda getting tired of needing to sleep so much. It's a pain. I'd rather eat to get my energy back."

"Is that so…"

"Is that so!"

"Anna does not get why Master does that either…"

I chuckled, looking up towards the sky.

I freaked out Luna and Lesty when I came back home and wouldn't wake up. They almost thought I was in a coma or something. I wonder if me needing to sleep has to do with whatever happened in during that fight…

I pulled out my key from underneath my shirt, sighing. I'm not complaining though, since whatever happened meant I didn't die that day. I'm just more curious on how I lived.

"Master?"

I got pulled out of my thoughts and shook my head. "Don't worry, I'm just thinking about what happened. I guess I really shouldn't sweat it actually; it wouldn't be the first time something strange like this happened to me."

"That only makes Anna worry more."

I laughed, patting her on the back. "Better get used to it; you can join the list of people who worry about me!"

"That is not something Master should be proud about…"

"You think so? I actually think it should be, crazy as that sounds."

Anna tilted her head, and I smiled, stopping in front of her. "Well, the more people who worry about me, the more people I know who care about me, right?"

"Care for you…?" She looked down again, starting to think to herself as she walked past me. "As Anna thought, Master is strange."

"I'll take it! Fuck being boring!"

"Anna did not mean it like that."

We walked past the same old convenience store, where we first met, and a strange wave of nostalgia passed over me.

"Seriously? The hell am I feeling nostalgic for? It's barely been a month since the two of us met."

"The author makes it feel as if it has been years though," Anna said, and I chuckled.

"Yeah, he can be quite lazy. Also, we should really stop breaking the 4th wall."

"Anna does not know what this 4th wall is. Rooms have 4 walls, is it similar?"

Well, at least the day has started off somewhat well.

---------------------------------

I take everything I said back, fuck this day.

"L-Lachesis, c'mon, you have to get to class!"

"NO! I refuse to let you stay here with someone as dangerous as him!"

Since my wonderful explanation had fallen on deaf ears, Lachesis had made it her mission to try to limit the time I could spend with Depra. I found it kinda funny, but Depra was, surprisingly, starting to get pissed.

"Seriously Lachesis, you have too! He's not a bad person! If you actually talked to him instead of getting misconstrued notions about his behavior, you could see that!"

Lachesis glared at him. "You know I don't know what the hell misconstrued means!"

Seriously? Does this girl not read?

"Hey, c'mon Hiro, do something! Aren't you annoyed too!?"

I leaned back into my chair, propping my feet up on the desk. "Yeah, but it's funny how wrong she is, so I'm just going to enjoy it. Besides, if I really wanted too, we could talk without her knowing about it."

"Then why don't you!?"

"Because he's a bad friend and an even worse person! Now stop socializing with him!" Lachesis yelled out, blocking Depra from my view.

Hmm, I guess I really should do something about it.

"Alright, just don't be alarmed Depra."

"Huh, the heck is tha-!"

And suddenly we were on the roof, where I used to do my research along with Eris.

Depra looked around, bewildered before he looked at me. "Why didn't you do that before!?"

"Because it's a pain," I said, rolling my shoulders before exhaling sharply. "But if this keeps up even I'm going to get annoyed at her."

"You aren't already?"

I shrugged, plopping down onto the floor. "Not really. I can understand why she's doing it, so it doesn't bother me too much."

Depra collapsed next to me, putting his head between his knees. "Ugh, I just want all 3 of us to talk normally, yah know? I really think you two could get along…"

"Friendships are complicated," I said. "Haven't had them for a while, but they are. Sometimes they won't go the way you want them too, no matter how hard you try."

"… Are you some type of old man? Why are you giving sage advice?"

I chuckled, shaking my head. "Well, I know firsthand about friendships not working out; even had to forcefully break one off."

"Did you two not get along or something?" Depra asked, tilting his head as he looked at me.

"No, far from it. It was because we got along too well that I broke it off with him. Hurt him pretty bad in the process." I found my eyes gazing downwards as I clutched my knees. "I was so stupid. I don't even know what he's up to these days, although I doubt he wants anything to do with me."

"Do you wanna meet him again?"

"Nope!" I shot up to my feet, smiling at the fond memories I had with him. "It would never work out. Despite everything though, I don't hate him. So, I'd rather just keep these happy memories of mine untainted."

"It just sounds to me like you still wanna meet him," Depra grumbled, pouting to himself.

"Oi, you cannot be getting jealous right now. What are you, a jealous girlfriend or something?" I started to snicker. "Seriously bro, it's alright, he's not going to take me away. I've got you and a bunch of other people I can rely on. If fate did bring us back together, I would be happy knowing he had some people who care about him like my people care about me."

"If you say so," Depra said, and I offered him a hand, pulling him upwards. "By the way, you're acting stranger than usual again."

Eh? "Am I really?"

He nodded furiously, getting close to me. "Definitely! Something must've happened, like last time, right!?"

I pushed him back, scowling. "I don't think I change that much, cut me some slack!"

"But something happened, right!? I can sense these things you know! I'll call it my Depra sensor!"

I grew quiet for a moment, thinking to myself before nodding. "Yeah, something did happen. I guess you could say, I've finally accepted what happened."

"Why so cryptic?"

I grinned at him. "It's more fun that way sometimes, you know? I'll tell you about it one of these days."

"Something tells me you won't ever tell me," Depra grumbled, and I laughed as we walked back into the school, the school day starting up.

---------------------------------

"The hell do you mean you haven't even read one!?"

I winced at Pinkie's words, holding up my hands. "In my defense, a lot of things have happened the past couple of days. I've barely had time to breathe."

I decided to hang out with Pinkie for lunch today (if only to escape Lachesis' and Depra's constant complaining), so I met up with her in the library at the same spot we went to the first time.

"That's bullshit and you know it! I know you have time in your day somewhere!"

I thought to myself for a moment, thinking about everything that had happened. "Uh, I really didn't. I even slept all of Monday due to sleep deprivation, so yah gotta believe me!"

Pinkie sighed, pursing her lips. "Ugh, you did sleep all of Monday, Mrs. Cardea did tell us that. The fuck have you been up too?"

"Fighting in massive scaled battles, leading my troops to victory, beating up enemies, saving the girl, oh, and killing monsters, can't forget about that!"

"YOU'VE BEEN PLAYING GAMES THIS ENTIRE FUCKING TIME!?"

Well, I guess it could be perceived like that. "Hey, you should really calm down, you don't wanna get us kicked out."

"I am calm!" she yelled out before chugging down her water. "Man, why the hell do I deal with you?"

"Because you like me?"

She rolled her eyes. "As if dumbass. Just because you apologized doesn't mean we're straight, got it?"

I can't help but think this, but that cutesy voice of hers really doesn't suit her personality at all.

"Wait, is this what we would call, gap moe!?"

"And you're thinking something stupid again," she muttered, placing down a volume of Bl*ck Cl*ver. "And here I actually managed to get decently far into this. I was hoping you did so I could actually talk to someone about it for a change."

"I am sorry you know. I'll start reading them when I get home today, promise."

I can't believe she was actually excited about this, I thought as I shoveled leftover spaghetti in my mouth. She managed to read another 10 volumes, which was pretty damn impressive.

"Anyway, this is better than I gave it credit for," Pinkie said, picking up the volume. "I can see why you like it so much."

"I know right!? I always look forward to Tuesdays for the anime, and plan on picking up the manga if the anime goes on some sort of hiatus! I'm glad you like it!"

She looked down, frowning to herself. "I hate how you have good taste."

"Uh, would you prefer I had shit taste?"

"Yeah, because then I could make fun of you."

"Fuck you," I said, continuing to eat.

"Hmph, fuck you too." She said cheerfully, tossing me a volume of the manga she recommended. "Now, read bitch."

I should've saw this one coming. I complied, and started to read and eat, making sure food didn't get on the manga volume. We stayed in silence for a bit as we read, before I noticed Pinkie was staring at me.

"Uh, are you trying to tell me something through telepathy? Is it that you can't help but notice how cool I look while I'm focused?"

"No, and you kinda look constipated when you focus, so ew."

"Hey, I do not!"

She rolled her eyes. "I'm just wondering why you couldn't have started off this nice. Would've saved this whole bonding thing a whole lot of steps asshole."

"And you have to stare at me while thinking about it?"

"If only to freak you out some, yeah."

Snarky little sonuva-! "Yeah, well I had some issues to work out, so forgive me for not being a friendly bear."

"Issues like wondering how best to be an asshole to everyone except Depra?"

"Fuck you," I grumbled, and she giggled.

"No, but seriously, what type of issues could you have? Oh, was it your loner problem? Did you finally realize you wouldn't get girls by trying to act like a lone wolf?"

I hate her, so much. "I was a loner by choice damnit, not because I wanted to look cool. And as for girls, I only need Luna in my life."

I could already hear the next words that were going to come out of her mouth, so I beat her to it:

"And I'm not a fucking siscon damnit!"

"Damnit, you beat me too it! How'd you do that?"

"Hmph, you're simply too easy to read," I said, and was awarded a kick to my shin.

"Ugh, forget I asked then. It was stupid anyway."

I put away my containers before looking at Pinkie, who had continued to read.

"It was about my mom."

She froze before her eyes darted upwards, closing the volume as I continued.

"As it turns out, I wasn't really over it, you know? Her death I mean. I remembered some things about her that made me realize this, so I've been working my way through them."

"… Did you?"

I thought about what had happened on Sunday, and grinned. "Oh yeah, most definitely. I made sure of it!"

I started to laugh to myself, but Pinkie remained silent, looking at me.

"I guess I was worried over nothing then…"

I managed to stop laughing, missing what Pinkie said. "Did you say something?"

She rolled her eyes before opening up the volume again. "Yeah, I said we all have our issues, don't we?"

"I bet even Prez has something she's worried about," I said, and Pinkie started to giggle to herself.

"Wanna bet it's on what weird activity she's going to make us do?"

"Oh, it's probably on how best to torture Caelus."

"You're right, she does like to mess with him a lot," she giggled out, and we both started to laugh until the Librarian came around and yelled at us for making too much noise.

-------------------------

"Yeah, yeah, I get it! Damn that woman, always ruining my plans."

It was the end of the school day, and after unsuccessfully trying to escape from Eris to reach my dear Luna, I was forced to once again attend this strange club.

I stopped to watch the (American) football team start their practice while outside, taking a moment to bask in the warmth of the sun.

"Have to say, I don't envy them," I said, watching how sweaty some of the guys already were. Then again, I probably had it worse since my chance of death is exponentially higher than theirs, but details. I do get paid a boatload, so I guess it works out?

I proceeded on, heading towards the old school building, opening up the sliding door.

I hope I'll be able to at least watch some more One P*ece before someone else shows up.

I opened the door to the clubroom, and to my utter horror, found it occupied by the last possible person I wanted it to be.

"Oh, it's number 1! Or, should I say number 2 this time?" Prez sidled towards me, giving me a sly grin.

I ignored her and sat at my seat before pulling out my phone.

Okay Hiro, calm down, it's just Prez. You're able to handle Hera and Caelus now, have dealt with over 100 hundred enemies, and killed a 950 meter monstrosity! What's some crush in the long run?

She sat down at the seat to my left, looking directly at me. I turned away, only to find her in my field of vision again. This time, I did a 180, facing the other side of the room, only for her to pop up in front of me again.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, I can't do this!

"Hey, Prez?"

"What's up Hiro?"

"Mind telling me why the hell you're so close to me?"

She grinned, crossing her arms underneath her chest. "Well, I plan on studying your every move in order to take your place!"

I sighed before turning away again.

"And, I'm also trying to figure out why you've been avoiding me lately."

I tensed up at her next words, turning back to see her pulling on her hair slightly. "You've been really strange lately, and don't deny it, everyone else has noticed it as well. I don't know if it's something you're dealing with, but since you're avoiding me, I have to wonder if I did something…"

"THAT'S NOT IT AT ALL!" I yelled out, grabbing her shoulders. "It has nothing to do with you at all, trust me! You've done nothing wrong, alright!?"

We both stared at each other for a moment, before Prez gently removed my hands from her. "I see… I'll believe you this time, since that was the first you properly looked me in the eyes."

She walked back to the seat on my right, smiling to herself. "So it really wasn't my fault. That's a relief."

She started to hum to herself, swaying back and forth, her legs kicking up and down.

Ah, I think I may have done something incredibly cringy. I shook my head internally. At least I was able to look at her, that's a start.

Agh, damnit Hiro, get over yourself already! "So, do you think anyone else is coming? Normally Caelus would be here too."

"Nah, I doubt it. I'm pretty sure they have a project or something," Prez said. "You weren't here when they assigned it, so you probably haven't finished it huh?"

I scoffed, grinning. "Of course I've already done it, the hell do you think I am? You finished it?"

She nodded, bouncing up in her seat. "Of course I have, I've got better things to do than worry about something like that! After all, the top 10 should set an example for the others you know!"

Ah, that means I'm stuck with her. Can I really handle it? I managed to get this far, but who knows when I'll break down into a nervous wreck?

"Well, since it looks like it'll just be us two, and since I haven't thought up of anything to do today, let's get brainstorming number 1! Oh, but before we begin, why're you wearing a woman's shirt?"

"The hell are you talking about, this shirt is…" I trailed off as I looked down, my brain coming to a standstill.

"Uh, hello in there? You okay?"

WHY THE HELL AM I WEARING PREZ'S SHIRT!? Wait, more importantly, something has felt off about this entire encounter, as if…!

Wait, this is exactly like the Trial! How the hell this happened I have no clue, but if I'm wearing Prez's shirt, that means that…

"I could ask you the same thing, you're clearly wearing a guys' shirt," I said, realizing that it was my shirt I had worn in the Trial. Again, I have no fucking clue how it got here, let alone why Prez is wearing it, but that's irrelevant. The more important thing is what's in my wallet right now, what I promised to give to Prez here. Plus, if everything goes as planned, that means I might be able too…

"Oh, I guess you're right. How did I get this? Wait, that's not important, you totally dodged the question! What do you think we should do!?" She leaned in close, giving me a view of what was under her shirt.

Calm down Hiro, just remember the conversation you had in the Trial. Luckily for me it was pretty memorable, so I'm pretty sure I answered something like this:

I pushed her away, scowling at her.

"Hey, what was that for!?"

"You got too close, that's why. Personal space," I said.

Oh shit, actually, if I answered like that, doesn't that mean she-!

I watched her grin to herself, as she quickly got the wrong idea, well, technically the right idea, but the wrong idea in this scenario.

"Hey, could it be, that you like me? Fufu, I know that I'm pretty attractive, so it's okay if you get nervous; it's only natural after all." She leaned in close to my face, so close that all it would take to kiss her would be to move a mere inch forward. Note, I really did wanna kiss her, but fuck, I really shouldn't, especially since I have no clue how she'll react. If I follow the script, it should go to plan, hopefully.

"Ow!"

I flicked her forehead, causing her to fall back into her seat, wincing in pain.

"Hey, that actually hurt! Don't you know that it's against a gentleman's honor to hurt a fair maiden such as myself?"

"Sorry, but you're far from a fair maiden, and I'm even further from a gentleman. I believe in true gender equality!"

She pouted, doing those cute puppy eyes. Agh, why must I find her cute! Damnit, resist it Hiro, you're almost fucking there!

And as quickly as she was hurt, she did a 180, beaming at me by a sudden revelation.

"I've got it! Oh man, thanks to this convo, I figured out what we'll be doing!"

Wait, don't celebrate yet, she could still pull a fast one on you!

"Since you suck at being a gentleman, I've decided!" She pointed at me, grinning. "In order to get back to our lady and gentleman roles, you and I will be going out with one another!"

FUCK YES, IT WORKED! IT WORKED!

Ahem, wait, we're still not there yet, this is only the beginning after all.

"Uh, say wha?"

"Oh yeah, this is totally going to work! We can practice being a lady and a gentleman and grade each other on it! Yep, this is what we're doing today Hiro!"

"Hold up, wait just a minute! Why the hell would I go out on a date with you, despite how drop-dead gorgeous you are!? You're still too crazy for me, and what would someone I know think if they saw us!?"

"Silly Hiro, you don't have any friends besides us in the club!"

I fell to the ground, holding my chest. Agh, I saw it coming and it was still a critical hit! "Damnit, it was by choice damnit, by choice!"

"Fufu, so, anymore complaints?"

"I still have to refuse," I said, holding up my hand. "What's stopping me from not acting gentlemanly even if I do go anyway?" Although I would still act relatively nice, I'm not an asshole anymore (although some people would say that's debatable).

"Simple, the loser will have to follow one command from the winner! And it can be anything, no limits whatsoever!"

Okay, now for real moment of truth. "In that case, I'll just leave today, See yah." I grabbed my backpack and started to head outside the building.

Alright, if I remember right, she should have the perfect countermeasure for me!

"…Cardea."

I froze at the word, glancing back at her.

"If you don't cooperate, I'll tell Mrs. Cardea!"

IT FUCKING WORKED BOIS! I'M IN THE CLEAR, LET'S FUCKING GO! I KNEW I HAD IT IN ME!

I fake-sighed, ruffling up what little hair I had before turning back. "It can't be helped I guess."

"Really!? You really mean it!? Hooray!" She grabbed my hand and started to jump for joy. Oh man, this is totally going to work out, I really am a genius!

"Okay then, let's stop by my house first so I can change!"

Right, gotta mention the clothes. "Really? What's wrong with this outfit?"

She scrunched up her face, glaring at me. "You know, in case you forgot, I am a girl! I even got the boobs to prove it, look!" She thrusted her chest outwards, causing them to bounce slightly.

"Oi, I get it, no need to yell it for the world to hear!" I did enjoy the bounce though, but you really didn't have to do that. It's kinda weird.

"Alright then, lets get going! Follow me!"

Ah, actually, I should probably do this before I forget. "Hey Prez, before we go, I actually have something for you."

She stopped mid step and pivoted around, her eyes wide. "Oh wow, for me!? As expected of number 1, you're already ahead of the game!"

I took out my wallet and pulled out the piece of paper that was originally in the shirt pocket I was currently wearing. I didn't know what this paper said, but I doubt it should mess up anything too much.

"Here, for you. You can open it now or later, doesn't matter." I handed her the paper and started to walk outside as she walked next to me, opening it up now.

I don't know if it'll go exactly the same, but I made a promise I would do this, and that's a promise I intend to keep.

And Thus Ended Hiro's Hidden Triumphs.