Ino Yamamoto 13

I think I've made a mistake.

"Come on, please forgive me, Ino-san. It's just that, I don't know, I couldn't help it…"

I've been locked up here for like five minutes and…

"…it was just because you told Izumi-san—

"CHAN, CHAN! CALL ME IZUMI-CHAN, SOTOKA-CHAN!"

"Yeah, whatever. Ino-san, you told her you were going to help her out with the truth or dare, and, I don't know, I just got really mad because that's not fair and you know it, but it's ok now, so don't cry…"

Sotoka-san's out there, and it seems she won't shut up because she thinks I'm crying AND I'M NOT, and yes, I could get out and show her I'm not crying and tell her I forgive her or whatever to get her to shut up, but I bet she'll end up hugging me and telling me how sorry she is, and it's going to be so awkward…

But if I stay here, Sotoka-san will never shut up because she'd think I'm crying AND I'M NOT, and this is going to be more and more awkward, and if I just tell her I'm not crying she'll think I'm crying but I'm too proud to admit it EVEN THOUGH I'M NOT CRYING, AND THERE'S NOTHING TO ADMIT BECAUSE I'M NOT CRYING.

But, anyway, she can say and think whatever she wants. It's not like I car—

"… and you never told me you got a crush on Fu—

"SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!" I yell at her because she was about to say a bunch of bullshit, and that's not worth hearing.

"SOTOKA-CHAN, SOTOKA-CHAN!" Izumi the yeller yells, and why's she always yelling? We can all hear her. "Who's that Fukuda-kun?"

WHY DO YOU CARE, IZUMI?!

GO DIE, INSTEAD!

"I barely know him, to be honest," Sotoka-san replies. "He's very shy, but very kind. Khanna-san, you know him better that me, right?"

"Not really," says Khanna-san, and that's a huge disappointment, NOT BECAUSE I WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT MARUO-KUN OR ANYTHING, but because if I'm going to be hiding here for a while, I need something interesting to listen to. "I've never talked to him—even though I can say the exact same thing of all my classmates. One time we had to a school project, and he did everything we asked him to do. Nonetheless, he never spoke or did anything we didn't ask. At first I thought he behaved that way to avoid any unnecessary words and/or actions, and I like that. But, considering what Hamano-san just said, he's probably just some introvert."

"Maybe we should get to know him," I don't know why Sotoka-san said that.

"NO!" I yell. "LEAVE HIM ALONE! AND WHY DO YOU WANT TO GET TO KNOW HIM?!"

"So we can tell you more about him, Ino-san, and also tell him more about you."

"AND WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!" I yell. "IF I WANTED TO TALK TO HIM—AND I DON'T BECAUSE WE DON'T KNOW EACH OTHER—I WOULD!"

"Khanna-san and I can introduce you to him," Sotoka-san says.

"WHAT?! NO! WHY WOULD I WANT THAT?! AND HE'S GOING TO THINK I'M SUCH A LOSER! ONLY LOSERS ARE INTRODUCED TO BY THEIR FRIENDS! OR WHOULD YOU GO OUT WITH SOMEONE WHO DIDN'T EVEN INTRODUCED HIMSELF TO YOU?!…

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Wait. Did I said it or thought it?

AHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Sotoka-san yells and leaps in excitement. "YOU SAID 'GO OUT'! YOU WANT TO GO OUT WITH FU—

"NO, I DON'T, I DON'T WANT TO DATE…! ¡SHUT UP! ¡SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!" I yell at her, but she doesn't shut up:

—¡YOU TWO WOULD BE SUCH A GREAT COUP████████████████████████ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████���███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

↑ Sotoka-san's yelling a lot of bullshit that I'm not going to write because it's a lot of bullshit she should never have yelled in the first place.

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And I believe there's only one way to shut her up:

I stand up, head to the door, open it and:

"I'M OUT, I'M OUT, ALLRIGHT? AND I FORGIVE YOU OR WHATEVER, BUT SHUT UP!

And Sotoka-san finally shuts up.

But she also hugs me.

"INO-CHAN, INO-CHAN, INO-CHAN, INO-CHAN!"

And she hugs me really tight.

"GET OFF ME!" I yell at her and try to push her away, but it's no use. "LET ME GOOOOOO!"

"I ALSO WANT A HUG, SOTOKA-CHAN!" Izumi yells and hugs us both.

Sotoka-san yells, and I can't move.

"GET OFF ME! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

But no one listens to me.

Even Khanna-san hugs me too.

"YOU GET OFF ME! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"Well, they were both hugging you, so the most logical action I could do was to hug you too."

"LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"When you told them the same think they didn't listen to you, so I'm really sorry but I can't leave you alone."

"AND WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE THEM INSTEAD OF LISTENING TO ME?!"

"Because they are the majority, and when I'm in a situation I can't understand at all—which happens very often—I always act like the majority, thus the chance I do something wrong is minimum."

"THAT'S A LIE, MAJORITIES ALWAYS DO THE WORST THEY CAN BECAUSE THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH IT! LIKE NOW!"

"That's a good argument indeed. But they are the majority, so their actions become the norm, and therefore aren't wrong.

"THAT'S A HORRIBLE WAY OF THINKING! ALMOST ALL HISTORIE'S WORST INJUSTICES WERE MADE BY PEOPLE WITH THAT WAY OF THINKING!"

"Well, that makes sense, so I'm going to look for and equally rational and less 'horrible' way of thinking, but while I find it…" Khanna-san hugs me even harder.

"NO, GET OFF ME! EVERYONE, GET OFF ME! WHY DON'T YOU GET OFF ME?! LEAVE ME ALONE!" I yell and yell but no one listens to me.

Well, it's not like I can set me free, though, so I think I'll die of awkwardness.

And suffocation.

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We're now on Izumi's parent's bed. We all have our pajamas on (except for Izumi because—surprise, surprise!—she sold it,) and we're looking for excuses to stay awake.

"We could contact one of our classmates to tell us what did they do these last two weeks, so we could catch up," Khanna-san's the one who says that, and yes, she sucks at this, but actually we never specified we were looking for good excuses, and catching on is one of the best options we have to use our time.

Wow, it's not that hard to think like her.

But still we won't catch up right now because:

"We can do that later," I say.

"Yes, and we can do it right now, too. What's your point?" Khanna-san replies as rationally as always.

"Only that I'd rather go to sleep that start doing homework right now," I reply.

"No!" You-know-who yells. "It's too early! And we can get together after class and catch up with homeworks and projects and whatever."

"So what do we do now?" Sotoka-san asks.

"Well, if catching up's off the table, I read on the internet that telling each other horror stories is a common practice at sleepovers," Khanna-san says. "Do anyone of you know a horror story? Because I took the liberty to print some," Khanna-san takes some folded pieces of paper out of her pocket, unfolds them in front of us and starts reading:

It was a fantastic evening. While taking a walk with my beloved Clara, I watched the moon and stars illuminate our path, and how the wind swayed the branches of the trees and made my beautiful companion shudder.

I quickly took off my coat and covered her back with it. She grabbed it from both ends and gave me a grateful but nervous look.

"Maybe we should go back," she said dismayed; "It is a cold night and, if we continue, we do not know what we can find if we continue."

"There's nothing ahead you should worry about," I assure her. "Besides, there's no one here except for us. The moon and the starts are our only witnesses."

We went ahead. She was walking nervously down the path, and I was behind her. The moonlight reflected off her chestnut hair that floated in the wind, and the sound of our footsteps was the only music that accompanied us.

"I'm already bored," fortunately, Izumi interrups a boring story. "I'd better bring some horror manga."

Izumi stands up, but Sotoka-san grabs her by the shoulder.

"No, Izumi, that's rude," Sotoka-san chids her. "Let Khanna-san finish her story."

"I can stop reading if you want," says Khanna-san unoffended. "I don't think it's a good story either; I mean, if Clara was so worried about what they would find during their walk, why did she decide to go in the first place? And if it was a cold night, why didn't she take a coat or something? I don't know, her character seems very careless and incoherent to me, and that is why it didn't surprise me that the protagonist killed her in the end.

"What?" It seems Sotoka-san didn't predict that predictable ending. "Spoilers!"

"Come on, Sotoka-chan, it was predictable and boring," I already said that, Izumi. "And why did you bring that story, Hanna-senpai? I expected more from you."

"Sorry, I was looking for horror stories for more than an hour last night, but all the ones I read seemed unreal and illogical—the vast majority talked about beings that don't exist, so there's no reason to be scared of them, and the others touched on common human phobias, which I do not share or understand; I mean, why they exist in the first place, and why are they so specific, I mean, if someone is afraid of spiders, what are they really afraid of, that it is an arachnid, that it is poisonous, that it is small, that it is hairy, that it has many small eyes, and if he is afraid of it because it's an arachnid, then is he also afraid of scorpions and ticks, or if he is afraid of it because it's poisonous, then is he also afraid of snakes and jellyfish, is he afraid of poison in general, and if so, why be afraid of it; I mean, poison can be as deadly as a heart attack or stroke, so he should fear them in the same way too, right, and if he fears them then what he fears is death (and I consider death and the unknown are the two main fears that exist, although they are completely irrational, since both death and the unknown are something natural and inevitable; one day we will die and it is impossible to know absolutely everything, so fear these ideas or concepts (which, in my opinion, it is already absurd) is only a waste of time and mental health, although, of course, fear helps us to keep them out of danger, but logic also and better, since, as I said before, fear is irrational, and what were we talking about?

Ummmm…

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"Oh, yeah, horror stories, right?" Finally someone remembers, and it's Sotoka-san. "Does anyone else know a horror story?"

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"No? Ok, let's make our own stories, then. Who wants to start?"

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"No one? Fine, I'll start, then…"

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"Sorry. Here it comes: Kanojo is laying on her bed. The sheets she always sleeps in cover her almost completely. The lights are off, and there's no noise to be heard.

"And that relaxes her.

"Little by little she falls into a dream, but when she is about to fall asleep, she hears SOMETHING. SOMETHING turns the knob slowly.

"But the door doesn't open.

"Kanojo always locks it.

"Then SOMETHING turn the knob harder and pushed the door again and again and growls and shouts Kanojo's name and curses her.

"Until it goes away.

"SOMETHING always goes away.

"But it always comes back. With a key. Kanojo had seached for that key many, many times, but she'd never found it.

"Maybe SOMETHING carries it on his pants.

"SOMETHING then puts the key into the keyhole and turns it. The key unlocks the door, and SOMETHING turns the knob and pushed the door.

"But the door doesn't open.

"Kanojo always bocks the door with everything in her room.

"Even her bed.

"SOMETHING then pushed the door harder and harder and growls and shouts Kanojo's name and curses her, and opens the door little by little, and sticks his arm there and tries to grab Kanojo, and Kanojo takes her sheets and covers herself with them and screams and cries and wants to run and escape, but she knows there's no windows in her room. Just a door.

"And SOMETHING is there.

"And SOMETHING always opens the door.

"Kanojo then puts her knees in front of her chest and grabs the sheets as hard as she can, and she doesn't move, and she didn't even breathe, and maybe SOMEONE doesn't see her and maybe it's too tired and maybe it goes away and never comes back, and maybe SOMEONE comes and saves her and takes her away, and maybe the sheets will protect her.

"But the sheets don't work.

"Sheets never work. Sorry," Sotoka-san stands up and goes to the bathroom.

And we wait speechless until she comes back.

"Did you like my story?" For some reason, she seems nervous about it. "I've just made it up."

And we're still speechless, until:

"I withdraw what I said earlier," says Khanna-san: "horror's not at illogical as I thought."

"No, it's not," says Sotoka-san. "Now, who's next?"

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"Oh, come on," Sotoka-san complains. "Ok, let's go to sleep, then."

"No, Sotoka-chan, it's too early!" Izumi yells, as always.

"So tell us a story, Izumi-chan," Sotoka-chan replies.

"But I don't know how to make stories, Sotoka-chan. I just read/watch them."

"Doesn't matter. Tell us a story or we'll go to sleep."

"Ok… just because you tell me to, Sotoka-chan…"

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"And you'll owe me a hug 'cause of this."

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"Ok, here it goes: this is the story of a little kid whose parents are always working and he has an imaginary world with a lot of people and monsters and elves and creatures and whatever he thinks about because it's his world and he can do what he wants with it, but one day he discovered that the world he imagined is merging with reality so he thinks he's going crazy, but the good kind of crazy 'cause he created that world to escape reality, and now reality is cool and awesome so he doesn't need to escape reality anymore, so that means he's not crazy anymore, but if he's not crazy, he won't think of that imaginary world anymore, so it will disappear eventually, and he'll start seeing reality as it really is, and reality is horrible, so he'll need to create that world again until it starts merging with reality again, so he becomes so crazy he's not crazy anymore—

"Boooooring," I finally said it.

"Ino, that's rude!" Sotoka-san chids me.

"No, it's weird and boring, and she was supposed to tell a horror story."

"Shut up, Ino!" Izumi yells. "Like you'll come up with something better."

"Better that that? Easy. Here it goes… You'll shit your pants with this one, Izumi: '"I don't want to see you anymore, Izumi," said Sotoka-chan.'"

"Pffff." Izumi shakes her head pretending she's not scared. "That's not scary 'cause Sotoka-chan will never say that to me. And as Hanna-senpai said: 'it's illogical, and if it'll never even happen, there's no reason to be scared of it,' or something like that. And also I have a story so scary I bet you won't hear 'till the end: '"I love you, Ino-chan," said Fu—

"SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!" I yell.

"Hahaha. Nailed it. Ino and Fu██████████████████████████████████ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████���████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████��██████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

↑ Izumi yells so much bullshit I lock myself in the bathroom to stop listening to her.

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But I think I've made another mistake.

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