CH1. NEW LIFE, NEW STORIES!

𝑰𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒆, 𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒓? 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝑰'𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔, 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒍𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒚, 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏. 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆... 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐, 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒔𝒆𝒆! 𝑰 𝒈𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒊𝒔 "𝒊𝒕" 𝒔𝒐 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍…

"𝑴𝒊𝒛𝒖"𝒔𝒂𝒘𝒂~

"I-I like you! I always have….I just didn't know at the time. I was stupid, dumb, and irrational!"

I, Sakamoto Minato, found my first love at the age of 17. I always thought life was shitty and it could go straight to hell! But when I met her that one summer day last year, it changed it all for me. She had silky-smooth black hair, and her eyes were that of an angel's eyes! Everything about her was perfect.

"Sakura-san…I want to be with you forever!"

What is he doing?! Calm down Aiko, it's another love confession. We've been through this before…I just gotta reject him smoothly an-

"I-"

Wait, what am I doing? What's this feeling…it's like I don't want to turn him down? Maybe spending all that time with him really got to me…I'm blushing now…what do I do?

"A-Aiko?!"

Oh man, I've done it now. I called her by her first name!

"W-what…?"

"Huh…"

Wait, is she blushing?! Her face is red right now. I'm not crazy for thinking that, right? Did what I say…really get through to her…?

"What are you looking at?!"

"Cute…"

Even when she's mad and pouting, she's unbelievably cute!

"Do…you really think so…?"

"Huh? Do you mean do I think you're cute? Of course I do! I'll say it a million times if I have to! After all, when I was in a dark place, you saved me and for that I'm grateful. One day, I'll pay it back ten-fold. Until that day comes, I'll be with you. Not because of some noble duty or anything but because…I love you."

"Wooowww.."

Somehow, I ended up watching a full-on love scene on a big screen TV inside a somewhat packed station. If you would ask me why? Well…I had nothing better to do? I was waiting for my best friend Arata-

"Yoooo, Maki!!"

Arata started walking towards me. He was waving at me to get my attention.

I was sitting on a bench waiting for him and started to stand up.

"H-hey.."

He looked up at the same TV screen I was just looking at.

"Ooooh, so this is what you're interested in? I see, I see," he gave me a sly but confident smile.

"Please. This? No way. It looks pretty tacky if you ask me. And besides, who the hell says her eyes were that of an angel's? Whatever that means!" I told him.

"It's love. Of course it doesn't make sense. You say the most random things, but to you it's exactly what you're feeling at that moment."

Somehow his attitude and face didn't match up to what he was trying to convey, almost like he was hiding something. But if he doesn't wanna tell me, it's not my business. I give him the best comeback I could think of.

"Whatever, it's garbage anyway."

"Hmmmm. I dunno Maki. This does seem like something you'd like!"

He was clearly holding his laughter. 𝘈𝘴𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦.

"No way. This is obviously fake. Someone like him dating a girl like that? Realistically, that would never happen. I mean, he looks C-tier at best, and she's definitely an S tier."

That's just how life is. It's unfair and cruel and it's nothing like TV shows and anime. In those worlds, the prince can be trash and still get the girl. Meanwhile, someone like me…

"Uhhhh Maki?"

He clearly looked confused.

"What..?"

"Did that really answer my question though?"

"…."

"Maki, you're pretty gloomy huh?"

As if he was waiting for the right moment, he started laughing hysterically.

"Sh-shut up!"

My face got bright red from the embarrassment of the fact he might be right… 𝘈𝘴𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯!

"So did you find out where we were supposed to go?"

Arata and I decided to take a seat in the station. It wasn't early. To be honest, it was twelve in the afternoon, but I'd be lying to myself if I said I wasn't still tired. 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱 𝘶𝘯𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘮 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦! Arata probably sat down for my sake.

"Yeah I did!"

Arata pulled out his phone and waved it in front of me.

"And I managed to even get two girls' Line info!"

"Congratulations?"

Seriously, what did he want me to say in this situation? 𝘞𝘰𝘸 𝘯𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘺! 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘈𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘩𝘢𝘩𝘢𝘩𝘢.

"Geez Maki. This could have been you!"

"Ooooh, thanks for the confidence boost, asshole!" I said with the most condescending attitude.

"It's a shame…Antisocialism is a bitch, isn't it? All anyone can do is change it, right?"

I clenched my fist.

"That's what I plan to do…"

"Right. Speaking of which, I actually have an assignment for you!"

"Assignment..?"

I don't know if I'm ready… I mean, sure, I asked Arata if he can make me cool, but Arata isn't the type to give me an assignment that's easy.

"Yep! It's simple, promise!"

Arata gave me a joyful smile and a thumbs up of reassurance.

"Basically I want you to talk to one girl. Any girl just won't do. She has to be hot! It also has to be more than a 'hi' and 'how's your day.'"

"Man, I dunno. I feel like I might come across sounding like an idiot for sure."

I'm not saying I'm a loser otaku. Of course I'm not that bad. I do have some conversational skills, so talking to a girl shouldn't be hard. No, the hard part is the fact Arata says it has to be a hot girl. You see, I can't really face people. Whenever I pass by someone, I try not to keep eye contact. It mostly has more to do with my insecurities. What if I smell bad or what if I have something on my face? The one killer was the fact I was definitely ugly. I had that fat body shape in which I'm not skinny, but I'm not fat. Because of that, it kick-started my downward spiral of depression and self-hate. I felt that because I looked like this, who would ever want to talk to me?

"Yeah. I can definitely see you fumbling over your words…"

Arata looked like he was about to cry.

"Then why-"

Arata instantly changed his attitude.

"But! That's the old you. The new Maki is definitely more sharp and masculine!"

Right after high school, I had enough of feeling like a loser and I wanted to change, so I did what any smart person would do, and asked the most popular guy in high school for assistance. He also happened to be my best friend. He instantly told me the root of my problems were my insecurities, and told me if I wanted to change, we should start with that. I told him how I didn't like my body, so he gave me a really harsh dieting plan. It may have been even more harsh than keto itself. A few months passed, and I can confidently say I have muscle.

"Okay sure. I'm good-looking as you say, but that still doesn't help the fact I'll come across sounding like a complete idiot."

"Tsk tsk tsk. Maki, it doesn't matter if you're an idiot!"

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦!

"You look good. I can say that now. Before? Not so much…So go out there and be an idiot!"

That last part he screamed out loud, causing people to stare. S𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦…

"As long as you give them that cutesy flare, you failing to them would look cute! They would probably laugh it off and perceive it as you joking around," Arata told me while giving me a cutesy pose.

I've been thinking about this for a while, but what did Arata just do? Doesn't that prove my point? I wanted Arata's input.

"Hey Arata. Question: Let's say someone did what you did just now with the cutesy pose and everything. If he were ugly, do you think it would come across as stupid and lame? When I saw you do it just now, the first thing I thought of was '𝘞𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘺' but you made it look pretty cool."

"Hmmm.." Arata gave me a serious expression. "Well to be honest, yes-"

I knew it, life is pretty unfair…

"But that's just life. I mean a certain idiot realized that a little late and here we are."

Arata gave me a glaring look and all I could do was look away awkwardly.

"The way I see it is that this world changes all the time so we should too. If life is unfair, why not change that and make it fair? If life's unfair, that's because you didn't change."

I was about to counter his take on life when he continued.

"Say you did change and the world still isn't fair. That's probably because you didnt put your all into it. Remember, you'll only get results when you put one hundred percent into it."

"One hundred percent huh..."

Arata doesn't seem the most reliable person. Hell, if it were me or a hot girl he had to save, it would definitely be the girl. That's just who he is. A sleazeball. Even so, something about him is like…You can't really hate the guy. 𝘌𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦.

"Remember Maki, it's you v.s. the world." Arata gave me a face that held conviction.

"Well then, maybe I'll become a demon lord an-"

"You arent winning, dumb dumb." Arata gave me a karate chop on the head.

"Ow!" I was trying to lift the mood a little…

While I was rubbing my poor head, he continued.

"What I was trying to say is basically this: Why don't you just join the world instead of fighting back?"

"Right. You mean follow the trends?"

Like wearing cool clothing or maybe knowing a hit song everyone is into? Either way, these trends are definitely a formidable opponent.

"Yep yep! Trends!" Arata gave me a satisfying expression like he secretly wanted to say 'Thats my student!' But on the topic of trends…

"Arata, I have to ask…Why am I dressed…like this?"

I was looking up and down at myself, not because I was like "Damn, I'm sexy" but because I was wearing an outfit that looks, let's say, interesting, at least for me. It was a plain thin black jacket with a shirt over it and a white graphic tee. Next was a pair of black cargo pants with a pair of Nike SB. The final touch was a wristband on my left wrist and, if I was being honest, it was probably the only thing I liked. Either way, I felt like I was wearing someone else's skin, as they say.

"Well, it's my style and you obviously don't have one."

That's very true. When I was in high school I didn't care about appearances, so I generally wore whatever.

"And besides, I gave you clothes that generally don't fit me. Not like I would have any use for them now."

Arata was definitely bigger than me. I was 1.7 meters and he was 1.8 meters. Not only that, but he had a way more muscular figure compared to me. I was definitely on the slim side.

I started to look at Arata.

"Something seems off.."

I stare him down and there's a clear difference between him and me. I don't mean just in terms of social standing. 𝘖𝘣𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭. I don't know how to word it, but it feels like he definitely gives his outfits some thought. My outfit's cool, but it definitely feels mix-matched. But when I look at Arata, his outfit seems carefully hand-picked.

"How'd you pick my outfit, Arata?" All this thinking made me ask him this very question.

"Wow. Time flies, huh? We better get going!"

"Tell me!" Arata was whistling away, avoiding my question.

"Remember your mission, Maki!" Arata got off the seat and started to run towards the exit.

I instantly ran after him. "Arata! Come on, pleaseeeee!'' I definitely didn't care, but this was still fun on its own. 𝘎𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸…

When I exited the train station, it felt like time itself slowed down. So far, everything I've been doing has come full circle. I probably shouldn't be caring about this one small step in an overall big life, but that's just who I am. Every little thing matters to me. Today, Arata and I, after much struggling and fighting, got our own apartment! This had been our dream since we were kids so, it was cool seeing it realized! More importantly, it was needed for "Operation: College Life. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦 is 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴.

I finally got a good look at my surroundings after the light of the sun finished glaring upon my face. It all looked so relaxing, the train station was located at a spot that wasn't around any large areas like shopping malls and buildings, the only building next to it was a cafe probably used for people who needed a bite to eat, but were already running late. 𝘒𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦. This part of the city was way more low key, so many elderly were walking about and a couple of parents were walking with their children. I could even see a beach off in the distance. If this was surrounded by buildings, I'm pretty sure the scenery wouldn't be as beautiful as it is right now. This is definitely the type of area I prefer, a place not loud and full of people but something small, a community that treats each other like family with a scenery that feels like home. This was the place in Nensato City.

Nensato City is overall huge and was also pretty new to the public, built pretty recently. But since it's new, the people of Japan have this honeymoon phase and it gets a lot of tourists. I mean, it's also justified this city looks amazing anyone would be in awe stepping foot into it. But I feel the main reason we get tourists is because of "the school." 𝘔𝘺 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭...

"Man, this view will never get old." Arata looked at the beach in the distance with amazement.

I caught up with Arata and we both stared out onto the beach. "This place definitely does that to a person, but you better get used to it. This is our lives now, after all." As for me, I'm already used to this scenery. Someone had to come and sign paperwork.

"Yeah." Arata looked straight at me. 𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯?! "Maki"

"Y-yes!" my face got slightly red for some reason. 𝘐'𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴!

"I was just gonna say thank you for sticking with me for so long, and that we made it? Wait, are you okay? Your face is bright red!"

"Oooooh, yeah? Okay, no problem!" 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘨𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯! 𝘐 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘧 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘺𝘦𝘴? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨?

"Hmmmm. Maki, your pervy face is showing!"

"AHHHH! NO, NO, NO!"

Arata started laughing " I was joking, idiot, but guess I was right on the money! Who was it? The moms? Nothing wrong with a little mom action! Or wait…was it one of the old lady's? Maki you a sly dog!"

My face was bright red, that idiot doesn't get it! Maybe he should realize how much he stands out. Arata is beautiful. I'd fall for him! 'Whatever, let's go! Time's a wastin'!" I hesitated for a split second and grabbed Arata's wrist.

"Hmmmm, lets see-" Even though I said I visited this place a few times, I still wasn't used to the layout. Not only that, but my auntie was driving at the time, instead of taking the train station route, which was totally new to me. So I did what a normal person would do and opened up the map on my phone.

"Hey Maki, you think since we're walking down this hill, a beautiful young lady walking up the hill-"

"I already know what you're gonna say….wind equals panty shot, right?" I was irritated. I've known him for ten years, so these jokes can get tiring. 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨…

'OUCH! You know me so well!"

I didn't even bother looking up, kept on looking at my phone "You know you'd be the perfect human being if you didn't act like that."

"Perfect doesn't exist in my dictionary! And besides, I feel like it's part of my charm!"

𝘚𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶! I gave him a monotone reply. "Ooooh nooooo. Wa- huh?" I was startled for a second and completely forgot what we were talking about. I found a supermarket on my map that was 5 minutes away. Normally I'd just pass it by, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't hungry. I woke up pretty late today after all. "Hey Arata, we should go visit this supermarket down the street." I showed him my phone that showed the location of the market.

"And why do you wanna go there?"

He looked confused. 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘮𝘦! "W-well I mean it's for the mission right?" If I said the actual reason he'd just get mad at me.

"Wow, you totally weren't thinking about food? Damn, I was pretty hungry and thought we'd go check it out, but the mission also works!"

"...."

"What?"

𝘚𝘪𝘨𝘩.."Nothing. Let's go."

When we finally arrived at the supermarket, it seemed like it was a Nensato-brand store. I suspect we'll see a lot of Nensato buildings going deeper in the city. Honestly, it was quite amazing, it's like everything was designed to be premium once you step foot into the city. The building's structure looked well kept and was wide enough to be big, but not too big. A lot of green and dark green too. 𝘏𝘮𝘮𝘮𝘮𝘮𝘮

"The air feels so great in here!"

As we walked in, Arata cheered about the fact the AC was kicking. I've gotta agree. We've technically been walking all day and our outfits didn't help. "A-anyways you see any potential here?"

"Oh for the mission?!" He looked shocked I'd bring it up.

"Yes sir, the mission… Look I just wanna get this over with so I can eat, okay?" We moved to the side so we could scope out the area.

"So you really were hungry then?"

"Both?" I tried giving him a cutesy smile so he'd forget it and move on.

He starts laughing, "Was that supposed to be cute?"

"Tsk! What of it!" 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘐'𝘮 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘯!

"No no, it's not bad! Cute, yeah cute that fits you perfectly! Not me though."

My face was steaming hot from the pressure of getting called out "well then what are you supposed to be then?!"

"Cool." He gave me a face that was intimidating and awestruck.

I think I just felt some shivers around my body. Yikes. How does he do it? "Do you just practice that in the room or something?"

"Nope, all natural. Why?" He puts his index finger on his face and gives me a face almost like a confused baby

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘶𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦. I start rubbing my temple as I walk away "I'm gonna go look for food. Tell me when you find the right person for me."

"Yes, sir!"

I looked back and he was already walking towards the cashier lady. 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘶𝘩?

"Man, this place does have everything'' I couldn't help but say that aloud. Nensato City really is amazing. They have food, car parts, camping equipment, and even books? And some oddly specific school supplies. It's like if you have trouble with your everyday needs, you can just come to Nensato. I looked around trying to find something to eat, but I honestly don't mind what I get. I had two reasons for looking; one was because I was relaxed here thanks to the AC, and two was because I wanted to see what this whole store offers.

Once I finished looking around, I decided on just a simple egg sandwich from the frozen section that was in the back, but when I went there I heard some pretty loud noises.

"Huh! What do you mean you can't provide for us anymore?!"

"I-it's just I need these funds!"

It looks like I walked in on something I wasn't supposed to see. It seems like that nerdy kid owed those three girls money? Or was it something else? Either way, what was a guy like him talking to three girls who were obviously attractive? The only thing I can think of was…

"Please stop this!" The guy's eyes were getting teary eyed.

"Are you crying?! We should be the ones crying idiot!" They all started laughing in unison as the boy pulled out his phone.

"Gimme that!" The girl seems like she's doing something with his phone.

"Please no! Stop it!" The boy was defenseless; all he could do was beg.

"Got the funds, we're good now." The girl tossed his phone next to him. They were about to walk away until…

"Hey Yukiko! Let's make sure he doesn't get the wrong idea again and betray us!" She then grabs his hair and pulls it up revealing a disgusting sight, his eyes watery with tears and snot running down his face.

"..." He was at a loss for words.

"Say cheese!" They all took pictures on their phones, laughing.

I should get going… I closed my eyes from the sight. I started to turn my back when I heard something unexpected.

"What are you looking at?" One of the girls was looking straight at me.

"Huh?" This is bad. I didn't mean to get involved! I should have left when I got the chance! I started breathing heavily. I feel weird, it's getting hard to breathe! It feels like I'm about to throw up. 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯!

"Hey, isn't that…?" one of the girls spoke up. What do they know about me!?

"Yooo, Maki!" I turned around and saw Arata. I was genuinely happy to see him.

"Izumi-kun?!" Before I could react, one of the girls did it for me.

"A-Arata.." Arata kept on walking towards us. I can't look at him… especially after what I just did..

"It's alright Makoto, you did good." He patted me on my shoulder and passed me but as he passed me I saw the look on his face. His face was cold and merciless, he was pissed.

"W-what are you doing here Izumi-kun!?" The girl was blushing and fidgeting with her hands.

"Nothing much, just in the neighborhood. What are you doing here, Yukiko?" He moved in really close to the girl named Yukiko.

"Why- how do you know my name?!" Yukiko's face was an even brighter red and she couldn't even look Arata in the eyes.

"I always remember cute girls that leave a mark." Arata moved his hand and moved it on her cheek and then reached the back of her hair and she had no choice but to look him in the eyes, they were extremely close, I wouldn't be surprised if I saw a kiss. While Yukiko's face was bright red, Arata still had a cold and cool expression on his face.

"N-no, not here…" Yukiko doesn't even try to move away, like she wants that kiss. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴.

"I'm sorry, I can't do this anymore!" Arata broke his poker face and started laughing hysterically "You honestly think someone likes you? You! Come on, don't make me laugh! Hahaha! Oh wait, I already am!"

"W-what's going on!?" Her embarrassed, cutesy face quickly turned into an angry expression. I looked at the other two girls because I was curious to see if they wanted to say something. But it was obvious that they didn't have the authority to do so, especially in front of Arata.

"Man, you guys are assholes. Seriously, how low can you sink? As if I would ever flirt, no, scratch flirt, more like being next to someone like you. I guess all that makeup you have on does amount to something? It shows how fake you are on the inside and out!" When Arata gets pissed he gets ruthless.

"Who do you think you are!? For someone who's on their high horse, you remember my name, right? What you're doing right now is the same thing we're doing!? So don't act like you're high and mighty!?" Just by looking at her, she looked like she reached the peak of anger. I looked around and saw more and more people forming a crowd. Arata should finish this up soon, or things could get ugly.

"This is getting annoying…" I heard a slam which I thought was directed at Yukiko, but landed right next to her, close enough to scare her and make her scream a little. "The only reason, and I mean only reason, I know your name, is because I overheard when you were bullying that kid! Sure, I'm doing the same thing right now, but I don't care! I'm not trying to be a hero. I hate people like you, who use their looks as a gain in life. For this? Are you happy? Do you enjoy feeling better than everyone else? Why don't you get off your high horse, because I'm here, and frankly, I'm way more popular than you, so when you're in my space, you're at the same level as the guy you were just bullying!"

"Tsk…" I can see her eyes getting a little watery and her legs getting weak.

"Everyone! I have an announcement to make!" Arata razed his voice. A normal person would stop after making a speech like that. But not Arata. He kept on going. "These three lovely ladies decided to ruin one man's life all for greed! He was bullied by a group! Is everyone okay with this?! Because I'm not!" I looked around and saw people's reactions. As I expected, they were all disgusted. "If I see any of you three near, or even look at that kid or me, you will regret it." He gave her one more scary look.

"You asshole!" She ran off with the other two following. For a split second, me and that Yukiko girl locked eyes, before she continued running off.

"Hey there, you okay?" Arata proceeds to walk towards the bully

"I- I don't know what to say… Why?" The guy was looking down defeated.

"Hmmmm? Why, huh?" Arata matched his height and put his hand on his shoulder. "I guess because… I felt like it? It felt wrong not to help. And like I said before, I hate those types of people." He gave him a smile to reassure that he was safe. Around this time, everyone who was watching started to leave.

"T-thank you!" The guy finally looked up and started wiping the tears away.

"Can I get the name of the guy I gallantly saved?" Gallantly? That's stretching it… but still you did a good job. I walked towards the two.

"You!?" The guy got angry out of nowhere, but the thing that caught me off guard was he wasn't mad at Arata but, at me? "You just stood there, didn't you!? You probably got a kick out of it, huh!?" I was speechless. What he said wasn't wrong. I just stood there watching everything unfold…

"I…" I tried to think of something, anything, but the words wouldn't come out. Thankfully, Arata saved me.

"Don't mind him, it's between you and me, and I want to help you alright? So tell me your name."

"I-its Sai…" he gave Arata a flustered expression.

"So then, Sai-kun! Can you tell me what happened? You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to." Arata looked like he generally cared and I guess it worked on Sai.

"Well you see, something happened… at school, and well, in order to resolve the issue, those three girls decided to help out. But in return, I'd have to do things for them… But it wasn't supposed to go this far! Next thing you know, I had to give them a monthly allowance of ten thousand yen… It's been like this for four months now." He was obviously hiding something, the way he was talking, it was almost as if he was trying to dodge one key point. That key point was the reason, the issue that started everything. And it seems Arata knew that.

"So that's why they came? So they can collect those funds?"

"Yeah…"

"Let me see your phone." Arata grabbed the phone.

"Wait, why?"

"Password?" Arata gave back Sai's phone

"I don't get you…" He unlocked the phone and gave it back to Arata. I guess that was extremely easy for Arata to do? Any other person would have just said no, but I guess Sai already reached rock bottom, so he didn't care?

Arata took out his phone this time."This should do it!" Apparently he was messing with both phones. Once he was done, he gave Sai his phone back.

"W-wait, what!? What is this!?" Sai's face was full of shock. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰?

"I just gave you back the money they took."

"But that's double what they took!"

"Aren't I a nice guy!" Arata helped Sai up and pat him down "Look, they won't bother you anymore alright? So go out there and live the best life you can!"

"Thank you, Izumi-kun!" His face turned from embarrassment to awe.

"Oh, and one more thing!" Arata whispered something into his ear.

"Ack!...fine…." Sai's face suddenly turned red. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯? Sai then decided to leave the store but before he did he gave me a dirty look. 𝘚𝘪𝘨𝘩…

"Bye bye!" He waved and then walked towards me. "Hey Maki, you good man? I saw, and you definitely didn't look good."

𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦! "It's fine the moment you enter it calms down."

"That's good, the last thing we need is a panic attack. Don't go too far without me." He started petting me.

"Yeah, yeah but come on how was I supposed to know something like that was gonna happen? And also what you did was completely uncalled for! I mean sure they were being assholes but still.." I mean sure what he did was justified but there has to be another way. I just can't think of one right now…

"Someone has to play the villain Maki and I happened to do so. If we let them go Scott free they would end up repeating the same thing and it would have gotten worse, much worse. I personally didn't want to witness something so horrible." He looked sad while saying that Arata always had a soft spot for bullying. He doesn't like getting involved in things and I get that I'm the same. But whenever bullying gets involved he acts without thinking and what you get is what you just saw.

"Okay I get." No point in arguing when he's like this.

"Good! That's settled, shall we get going? Honestly that interaction ruined my mood. I wanna leave this place as soon as possible." He started walking towards the exit of the store.

"Hey wait, what about the mission?!" I quickly follow. If you asked did I still care about the mission, I didn't I was mentally drained as while

"Don't worry about the mission will have plenty of moments later." He looks back at me and stares at me like I had something on my face. "And besides you look like the last thing you need right now is more trouble." 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯?

"Why do you word it like that…"

"Let's see, it's 3:30 right now." I was checking the time out because I had nothing better to do. Especially because I'm currently alone…

30 minutes ago…

"You know Arata, that's great that we left that store, but the main reason we even went there was for food…" After we left, we started walking towards our apartment. Pretty soon we will enter the housing district. The way this place is split, is that there are different areas for different needs. If you're looking for a store, you won't find one in the housing area, but in the market area, and vice-versa. So I imagine I will probably end up passing a lot of people when leaving and entering the housing district.

"I am too…sorry, this was a slight delay of thought on my part!" He gave me another cute smile. "Anyways, can't you find a place on your phone for us? Isn't that how you found that store?"

"Don't you have a phone? Can't you look it up?" I was tired of being used like this.

"Come on Maki, please! It's too much work!"

"Ugh, fine." I still somewhat owe him. I pulled out my phone to look for the nearest food stall. I showed him my results. "Okay, so I found a place selling teriyaki. Not my personal favorite but-"

"Great, I'll go get it! You stay here Maki, don't need you working too hard!" He ran towards the direction of the stall.

𝘋𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘰𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘵… I decided to wait and found a bench I could sit on.

Present.

Seriously, where is he? It doesn't take that long to order, pick it up, and come back. I'm getting annoyingly hungry at this point. I start rubbing my temples.

"Hey, you okay?"

A voice I wasn't familiar with called out to me so I looked up and saw a beautiful looking girl with nice silky-smooth bright red hair tied in a bun. Judging by her track outfit, it looks like she was going for a run. She also has a great figure, so that's more evidence towards my claim.

"Um, you okay?" She gave me a confused look.

I must have stared at her longer than I thought. 𝘋𝘢𝘮𝘯 𝘪𝘵! "U-uh yes, sorry!" I couldn't tell her I was staring because of how beautiful I thought she was!

"You sure? You look tired. Do you need some water? I've got some!" She took out her flask and handed it to me.

"No no! It's fine, really! I'm just hungry, that's all! My friend actually went to get us something. You don't have to worry about me." I got up and started bowing as a thank you. I honestly didn't want a beautiful girl like her worrying about me.

"Ooooh, that makes more sense!" She placed her hand on her cheek and somehow I thought that was the cutest thing I've ever seen. "I hope it's not the teriyaki stall though."

"Huh, why?" I sat back down. Wait, did something go down? Is that why Arata hasn't come back yet?.

"Well, it gets super packed around this time!" She made a huge circle and then burst it. I guess to show me visually that it was packed?

"Ahhh that makes sense. I've been waiting here for over twenty minutes." I gave a reassured smile.

"More than twenty minutes?! At this point, you should have just gone yourself!" She seemed shocked I'd stay for this long. But I mean, would me being there change anything…?

"Well, it wouldn't matter right? Will I still be in the same situation? The way I see it is I'm saving my energy by doing this." Which was true.

"Hmmmmm, you're one of those types, huh. I have a friend like you!" What do you mean by one of those types? She sat down next to me. "Do you mind if I sit next to you? While you wait for your friend, I mean?"

I must have gulped the loudest I ever gulped before. And my heart was racing. I can't just say no! "S-sure.." I looked away flustered.

"Huh?"

Again she looked at me with a confused expression. 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥?!

It was honestly pretty silent for the most part, with small banter. Mostly her though. I told her about the plans with Arata and me moving in today, and it being our first time seeing the apartment. And she told me about how she also lives here. There was one key thing I noticed though, while we were talking. She kept on glancing at her phone, and I started to get curious about what she was looking at. I knew it would be rude, but I decided to ask her about it.

"Hey, um, I probably shouldn't have, but I took a look at your phone, and I wanted to ask, was that red dress done by you?" It felt only right that I looked her straight in those beautiful eyes, especially since I did something I shouldn't have.

"H-huh? Y-you looked?!" She was looking down all embarrassed and she got flustered for some reason and seeing her flustered made me flustered.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, really!" Man, I'm saying sorry to this girl a lot.

"It's fine..it's just, this is a topic that is very sensitive to me.." She was still looking down but this time she had a sad look on her face. 𝘐𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵!

"I don't think it should be a sensitive topic." I kept my head down so I could hide my nervousness. I mean, it's true if she did make this dress, that's amazing, that's something you should be proud of. Anyone can tell that this girl is talented.

"Huh?" She gave me a face that practically said "What did you just say?!"

"I- mean, like-" I'm standing on thin ice here! "I mean, sure, I don't know why it's a sensitive topic, but no matter what it is! You shouldn't let anything ruin what you love! That's what I think anyway…" My face most likely looked very stupid and red.

"..." she gave me a warm smile "The thing is… I did create that dress you saw. But like, I dunno, it feels like it's not enough to go through with it. It's my first official piece to… No one wants this, especially not for the person it's for, my friend." So it was for a friend, huh? She must be one lucky friend.

"Can I tell you something?" I don't know why but I felt like I could tell her anything. And so I did. "This is pretty silly, but I actually wanna become an author." I felt embarrassed just saying that, hell I haven't even told Arata, my best friend.

"Oooh, really? That's a surprise, it definitely doesn't look like it!" 𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘩, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘈𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘢.

I continued. "I'm still new in the writing world, just like you in the way with your clothing. But we both won't get there if we don't release anything right? You know what I thought when I saw your dress? I thought, "Wow this girl must be extremely talented," and I still think so. Even if we don't like our own work someone else might and well in the case of your work I do. So I would like it if you went through with it. If not for you, then how about for this random stranger on this bench." I honestly felt like she was throwing her future away if she didn't finish that dress. Somewhere along the conversation we were looking at each other.

"You really wanna see it?!" She got unbelievably close to my face.

"Y-yeah sure…" I tried my hardest to look away. 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘥𝘺!

She made a puffy face "Hmph! You don't sound so sure!"

"Yes Ma'am!" 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯!

"Hahahaha, okay okay. I'll keep working on it for this random bench guy."

"It's Suzuki…"

"Oh? Suzuki? I guess since we're giving names, mine is Hinata! Please meet you Suzuki-kun!" Somehow, it felt way different from when she said it than when anyone else does. We both end up smiling at each other. 𝘏𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘢-𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘶𝘩..

The eye to eye contact was broken when Hinata's phone started ringing "Sorry, I should answer this!" She walked away so she could answer the call. I overheard some of it.

"Yes, I'm sorry I told you I was gonna be back by now, but I got caught up in something! I met this super cool guy an-" For some reason whatever happened next made her flustered. "No, it's not like that! Geez you're always like this! I'm hanging up. I'll be there in a few!" She walks back.

"Looks like you better get going, huh?" From the conversation she had on the phone one thing was for sure that person wanted her home. Maybe it was her boyfriend? She seems like they type who would have one.

"Yeah sadly, my friend can't live without me! Also thanks again for the confidence boost. I definitely helped."

"No problem, I'm always willing to help out someone who's new like me." She starts to walk away.

"Oh yeah and one more thing!" She turns around. "I don't really tell people I'm a fashion artist…so keep this secret between us!" She winked at me and at that very moment my heart skipped a beat.

"Yeah, well I guess you also have to keep a secret because you were the first person I told about being an author!" She looked completely shocked.

"Oh! That's interesting! Good luck on your writing journey, Suzuki-kun!"

"Same with your fashion design, Hinata-chan!" And with that we both gave one last smile to each other and she was off. 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘧 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯?

Not even five minutes had passed when Arata finally came back with the food.

"Sorry I'm late! I tried getting here sooner but ran into trouble and it was crazy packed!" Just like Hinata said. And judging by how he's breathing and the sweat, it seems he ran back. 𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘺.

I gave him a tired look. "About damn time! I'm starving, and couldn't you at least try running faster?"

"I was! If they had speed limits for running, I'd definitely get a ticket!" He then bowed as another way of saying he's sorry.

"Come on man, don't cause a scene." For some weird reason or another I was happy. And that was probably why I was smiling the whole time. Maybe talking to a girl just does those things. Of course I'm not saying every time talking to a girl makes you feel like this, just this once, that moment with that girl meant something.

"Maki why are you smiling weirdly like that? It's creepy coming from you."

I guess it finally caught on. I was smiling like an idiot. "I um- it's nothing! Promise!" I had nothing I could use to get out of this situation. But I couldn't tell him the actual reason. He'll just laugh and that's the last thing I need.

"Come on, tell! I won't tell a soul!" 𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰'𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘢 𝘬𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵!

I was out of options so I desperately reached for my teriyaki and grabbed the plate out of his hands and took a mouthful bite "Woah, this is good!" Luckily, it wasn't hot so I didn't burn my tongue taking that mouthful.

He gave me a disgusted look. "Uhhhh, you good man?"

I stared back ready to go for another well. I still had food in my mouth "Yeah?"

"At least finish your first bite… and try not speaking with food in your mouth?" He sits on the bench and I swallow the bite I had.

"We aren't walking while we eat?"

"Sorry but I didn't have the luxury of sitting the whole time. I'm beat." He let out an exhausting sigh.

"Seems fair." I sat down alongside him. He started eating his teriyaki.

"Wow, this isn't bad!" He gave a face of bliss even though what I did was pretty much a gag. It really was good.

"Right!? No wonder it was packed!" We began eating silently. Something was bugging me however, ever since that incident in the market I wanted confirmation. "Um, Arata?"

"Hm?" His mouth was full but his face showed he was confused, naturally it was for a good reason.

"Well I was wondering, ever since that incident in the store those four girls. They were students from our college right? They knew who you were and you had never been here, right?" If there's one thing I'm good at, it's observing my surroundings. And that incident and the run in with Hinata confirmed something about me.

"Yeah they are, why? I mean, I figured it was obvious." He looked at me like he still didn't get the point."

"Yeah that was obvious, but what I really wanted to say is, don't you think it's weird? Ever since we stepped foot in this area, notice how mostly everyone walks by are students?" When we went into the store I saw supplies for school, but the supplies were oddly specific, like something you should only be getting on school campus.

"Hmmm, never thought of it like that. You might be right…" Arata's face looked dead serious. "This might be the school's doing…"

"Arata you've been at the school for 2 weeks now, how is it?" Arata went to school earlier than I did. Technically, I started at the same time, but the school allowed me to skip so I could focus on work, so I could afford the apartment. They didn't even bother saying no. It's like they know how elite the school is.

"Well, it's definitely something. It's elite for sure, but nothing serious. Nothing you can't handle, anyway. That title, elite, is just something they use because the school is for talented people." That word… talent. I don't have any, but I was able to get in because of my grades and all the studying I did. If talent was the only way to get in, there wouldn't be much point of a school. But obviously the school must be something if this is what Nensato is known for.

"Hmmm…" couldn't help but feel puzzled in this situation.

"Geez, don't think so much about it! You have a week before you start attending. Let's make the most out of that! The school situation can wait!"

I was still full of questions, but he had a point. Worrying about something I can't do anything about is pointless. "Shall we get going then? You know the reason we even came here?"

"Arata threw away his plate. "Yep, let's go! That was a good snack! Can't wait for you to cook something for dinner." He walks off having the time of his life.

"Wait, who said I was gonna cook something?! Wait, you sloth! How can you even be hungry after what we just had!" I made sure I threw my trash away before catching up with Arata.

I quickly glanced at my phone, and the time said 4:15. Crazy how we spent about three hours screwing around. But after all the delays, we finally made it to the housing district of this part of the city.

"Look at the houses! We made it!" Arata's face looked like a child's looking at something for the first time ever.

"Dude, these are everyday houses. Calm down." Children these days. Couldn't be me.

"Yes, I agree with you on that! But- but one of these buildings holds our apartment! Doesn't that make you excited!" Arata forcefully pushed me towards our location.

"H-hey! Okay okay, I get it, I'm going!" He obviously wanted me to hurry, and so I did just that.

"Hmmm, where is it? Hmmmm." Arata had his hands in the shape of binoculars looking around. I, on the other hand, thought it would be smart just to use the GPS.

"You do realize it would be much faster if you also used your GPS, right?" Seriously, he's wasting his time looking for an apartment like that. I'm pretty sure he doesn't even know what the building looks like.

"But that's so boooring. This is way more fun!" He continued to find the apartment using his own methods. 𝘐'𝘮 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘧 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦, 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵!?

At that exact moment, I heard my phone beep, telling me I was practically at my destination. "Arata! Over here! It's here!" Arata stopped what he was doing and looked at me, but I had no time for it. I instantly ran towards our building. 𝘐 𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘥. 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥! Arata followed.

We both were in awe at what we saw, our apartment was finally in front of us! Arata and I have dreamed of this moment since high school. Sure, being young is cool and all, but you're also limited on what you can do as a teen, and so Arata and I really wanted to become adults. It's more liberating and there are way more possibilities. Us getting this apartment was the first step to adulthood. In saying that, we are technically only 19… but let's cut the small details.

"Maki, I see it! I see it!" In moments like this, I forget how old he actually is. I mean, this time it's actually justified. I'm excited too. I'm just good at hiding it.

"Yeah, yeah." The light and dark brown apartment complex was pretty big, in both width and length. In front of us was a door which was also pretty big. It was probably an entranceway to the lobby, where we could take either the elevator or stairs to any of eight floors. We were on the 4th floor. I decided instead of staring all day, we should go inside, but Arata stopped me.

"Wait, Maki. Before we go in, one thing." I looked back in confusion. "We did it! All our hard work finally paid off! And from here on out, your college life starts today! You gotta work double as hard in school and on my missions!" He gave me a thumbs up and a stupidly wholesome smile.

𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺… 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘮? "First of all dumb dumb, its not my college life, its ours. Get that right, at least! And now my college life starts in a week, remember? Meaning, like you said, I can relax!" I gave him a thumbs up and smiled back, basically copying him.

"Wow, you got me there… Okay fine, since you don't have college at the moment, that just means you can work double time on assessments!" He gave me a sly look and pointed at me. "You got this!"

"Hey, wait!? What happened to relaxing! You said I can take it easy!" If talking to a really hot girl was easy for him, I can't imagine the difficulty! I was extremely worried and it showed on my face.

"Sorry, I meant that I relax well, you do the training! You'll never change at the pace we're going!" He walked towards the door and I followed.

"Ugh, fine, I'll do it alright, but please don't make it any more difficult!" We entered the lobby and figured it was super spacious. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦?

We decided to take the elevator up because the faster, the better! Technically, I've already seen the complex and the room digitally. So seeing it now for the first time here at this moment only feels somewhat new to me. Arata was completely new however. We walked on the 4th floor and three rooms down, we were finally standing in front of the apartment door.

"You wanna open it, Maki?" He handed me the key card. 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘥𝘰! I opened the door and I imagined light beaming our faces. Of course, that didn't happen, but still.

When we both entered everything felt so cozy. Our auntie took the liberty and decided before we moved in, she would give us all the necessary needs for a new home. As a "congratulations you made it this far" type of gift. Honestly, I don't even know how I'm gonna repay her.

The layout of the building is actually really nice and tidy. Once you open the door, you're greeted with the living room and a small kitchen on the side. There's no room for a kitchen table, so meals will probably be eaten in the living room. Down the hallway are the two bedrooms across from each other and going further down is the restroom. There's also a balcony which I myself enjoy having. This place really is big.

While I was looking around me, Arata seemed to be walking around and something caught his eye. "Maki…come here for a sec." The way he sounded made it seem like trouble was about to happen, so I hurried to his side. What I saw was something I knew we'd get but still wasn't prepared for..

And at that moment me and Arata both screamed "A stove!?" That's right. The reason we were acting like something terrible happened was all because of a stove. You see, auntie was very strict on us and would never let us cook anything. She was afraid we'd start a fire and flat out told us no each and every time. Secretly though, on the off chance it was only me and Arata, I would cook something up before she got the chance to notice. 𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘦! Over time, I loved to make new recipes and Arata loved to eat those new recipes. I'm so glad we have a stove now, I can try making so much more! And who knows? Maybe I'll get into baking!

Arata decided to go lay down on the sofa while I checked the cabinets and drawers. Everything seemed in perfectly good shape.

"Okay, so like, what's for dinner?" Arata sat up.

"Geez, I told you we just ate not even an hour ago!" Where does that food all go?

"Yeah well I'm just thinking ahead! Come on Maki, we have to have a little celebration party going!"

"And who's money were you planning on using?" Seriously, he doesn't even try thinking two steps ahead. I mean sure, going grocery shopping is probably the best bet right now…

"I'll pay you back! I'm low on funds!" He kneels down and starts begging. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘰'𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵!

He won't stop till I say yes, huh? "Fine, but next time you're paying! And I get to choose what I cook this time."

"Thank you!" Arata sprang back up overjoyed

"Anything pleases you, huh?" I gave him a sly look. I can probably get away with a lot of things if I just do what he wants. Speaking of maybe I can get out of today's mission? "Soooo, Arata."

"Hm? What is it?"

"Since I'm making dinner and all, maybe we can call off today's mission?" I closed my eyes hoping he'd say yes.

"Nope we already made a deal remember! Since you're buying, you decide on the meal you cook. You could have gone the no mission route if you were a little bit more smart!" Arata probably knew what I was planning, so that's why when he responded, he had that condescending face like he knew I couldn't get out of the mission.

"At least I tried…" All I could do was give out a gloomy face and show my desperation

"Well get going master chef! Before it gets super dark!"

"You can come too, you know?"

"I can… but I kinda wanna feel the apartment a little bit more! And besides, don't you like being by yourself? Isn't that what antisocialism is?"

"Geez, don't call it like it is." I picked up the things I needed and I headed out.

"Wait! Before you go, what are you making?" I turned around and he had the face of a drooling dog.

"It's a secret!" I gave him a big smile as I slammed the door shut and as soon as I did my face turned into annoyance. "Man, I feel like I'm the only one who can handle living with that guy." I say to no one but myself.

I ended up walking towards a convenience store that was placed next to the housing district and picked up some macaroni and cheese and stuff to make hamburgers. Not the most healthy meal, but like Arata said, this was a celebration party. On the way bac,k I was finally able to collect my thoughts about today. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘐 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘏𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘢, 𝘐 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘢 "𝘩𝘪 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘺𝘦" 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘸? 𝘖𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘴𝘰 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘢 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴. 𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵? 𝘐 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘶𝘱 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮. 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴, 𝘐 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘤𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦… 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭, 𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘧 𝘈𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦, 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰𝘰. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭, 𝘱𝘭𝘶𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦!

For a split second, an image of Hinata popped into my mind. 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘧 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰…

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Hello! Mizu here. If you made it to the end, I just wanna say thank you. It really means the world that someone read my very first work! I still have a lot to learn and I hope you can come along and witness the evolution of a beginning writer! I don't have much to say as of now but did you know this was a year in the making? I started a year ago and got up to three chapters! But I didn't like how they turned out so I scrapped it and then I waited for art which took even longer and I guess all that came full circle and here we are with the release of chapter 1! I wanna make more author comments like these so maybe down the line I'll add some trivia/facts to spice things up! Also keep an eye on Hinata, she might become the best girl! She is for me!