1 Izumi Natsumura 1
"SOTOKA-CHANNNNNNNNNNNNNN!", I yell. Hi! I'm Izumi Natsumura, a regular high school girl who likes anime and manga, anime and manga clubs, anime and manga conventions, anime and manga watch/read parties, and so on and so on, but now I don't have time for this.
"SOTOKA-CHANNNNNNNNNNNNNN!"
I run as fast as I can: down the stairs, down the hallways, but I end up running over everyone. Why are you all here? The classes are already over! Go home or go to your clubs, but go!
What a nuisance they are.
I arrive to our classroom, 1-1.
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Sotoka-chan is not here.
I go away as fast as I can.
"Natsumura-san, stop running down the hallway!" Nagai-san's yells at me. She's a member of the disciplinary committee and also a nuisance and something very frightening.
'Cause she starts chasing me.
And she runs way faster than me.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH, KAMI-SAMA-CHAN, TASUKETE KUDASAI!" I yell.
"STOP YELLING!" she yells, and she keeps chasing me until she gets tires or something, 'cause she only yells. "Fix that uniform of yours and comb your hair once in your life, for god's sake!"
And I don't hear her chasing me anymore.
Girigirideshita.
:D
Anyway, I run down the hallways, the locker rooms and I get out of school. Sotoka-chan must be on her way home.
I follow her.
And, by the way, I could love manga and anime with all my heart, and it could be everything in my life and all, but this doesn't mean I'm an otaku.
And it's not like I have something against them; I just say it to avoid misunderstandings.
Anyway, I run past the sidewalks, I cross some streets, turn left in this corner, and there she is!
I hug her by the back, close my eyes and start crying.
"SOTOKA-CHAN..."
Sotoka-chan yells (she always does) and turns back to me.
"Oh, it's you, Izumi-san—
"CHAN! CALL ME IZUMI-CHAN!"
"Sure, Izumi-chan. But I told you to stop hugging me like that."
"BUT I WANNA DIE, SOTOKA-CHAN, I WANNA DIE, I WANNA DIE, I WANNA DIE, I WANNA DIE, I WANNA DIE, I WANNA DIE..."
"Shut up already", says Ino. Ino, in a few words, is the angriest and tiniest of our classmates, and also she follows Sotoka-chan everywhere. Damn you, Ino: Sotoka-chan's mine! Get someone else!
She's definitely a nuisance.
"Izumi-san", Sotoka-chan says, "shouldn't you be in the anime club?"
Yeah. The anime club. For a second I forgot all about it...
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"SOTOKA-CHANNNNNNNNNNNNNN!"
Now, normally if I cry that hard, Sotoka-chan immediately comforts me (yeah, that has happened many times before. Don't judge us), but it's not happening right now.
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Weird.
I open my eyes.
Oh, of course. I'm still hugging her by the back.
I let her free.
"Sotoka-chan".
"Yes?" Sotoka-chan turns towards me, and I hug her and:
"SOTOKA-CHANNNNNNNNNNNNNN!"
"There, there. Tell me what happened —Sotoka-chan puts her hand in my head and starts stroking my hair. Her hand is very, very soft and gentle. And her hair and uniform smell so, so nice, and she's so, so warm and kind and beautiful, and her chest is against mine, and it's so big. Maybe like a C o D-cup big. Or maybe D is a little too much, and she doesn't have a little too much of anything. She's so perfect, but that doesn't matter right now.
"They kicked me out the anime club!"
Ino starts laughs.
"Really? Even they got sick of you, huh?"
Ino laughs harder and harder.
"Shut up, Ino! Man, you really are a nuisance!"
"There, there, Izumi-chan" Sotoka-chan's voice is so close to my ear I start having goose bumps, "And why did they kick you out?"
I hug Sotoka-chan even harder, I close my eyes and get as close as I can to Sotoka-chan's ear. I whisper:
"'Cause they think I take anime too seriously."
I open my eyes. Ino's face is right in front of us. She's smiling.
"You're too otaku for the otakus", and she laughs as hard and annoyingly as possible. Why don't you mind your own business, you baka?
"I'm not an otaku!"
"No, you're worse."
"Shut up, Ino! Why are you always picking on me? I hate you, I hate you so much; I wish you'd die one of these days and...
"Hey, hey, stop it!" Sotoka-chan pushes me away. She's very angry (and she looks super cute that way).
"Sorry."
"You should never, NEVER, say something like this to anyone. That's not nice. Apologize to Ino right now."
"But, Sotoka-chan, she's mocking me."
"Apologize to her."
Ino looks at me smilingly and expectantly.
"sfnfsdfoiuygpisdfpujhkgomenlknsdfnkdsf."
Sotoka-chan stares at me...
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And sighs.
"Good enough, I guess."
"But I didn't hear an apology", complains Ino 'cause she's the absolutely worst.
"Well, I didn't hear yours, Ino", and probably never will.
"Anyway, Izumi-san."
"CHAN! CHAN! IZUMI-CHAN!
"Sorry, sorry. Izumi-chan. If you're no longer in the anime club, why don't you just go home like us?"
I can't believe Sotoka-chan said that (although she's hasn't joined any club yet, so it makes sense.)
"'Cause that's the worst place to be, Sotoka-chan. We're young; we have to seize our youth. We can do everything, go anywhere."
"And you decided to join an anime club", Ino, as always, is trying to annoy me, but you know what? I'm better than that.
"We could even join any club", I say.
"So, Izumi-chan", Sotoka-chan why don't you do that?"
"NEVER!"
"But you just—
"That doesn't mean I should do it."
"Why not?"
"'Cause I don't like any other clubs. And people. And I don't think they like me that much either."
"Yeah", says Ino, "everyone hates you."
"So", Sotoka-chan says, "why don't you start your own club, Izumi-san?
My own club?
Start my own club?
Yes! What a brilliant idea! I didn't expect less from you, Sotoka-chan.
I take Sotoka-chan's hand (it's so soft and thin and beautiful and perfect) and take her back to school.
We enter an empty classroom, and I shut the door.
"Ok, what are we doing here, Izumi-sachan. Izumi-chan?
"We have to start our club."
"Our club?"
"Yes, our club, Sotoka-chan. Me and you will start a club and be together forever, and—
"But, Izumi-san, you can't make a club with only two members."
"Well, I guess Ino can join too."
"What? No, I don't want to be in your stupid club. I don't even like manga and anime in the first place."
"But manga and anime is the coolest thing ever."
"No, it's not."
"You only say that 'cause you hate everything, Ino."
"Why shouldn't I? Everything in life is either depressing, dissapointing or annoying.
"Ino, are you alright?
"And the only thing that can save us from life is death, but death is way worse!"
"Ino, you're scaring me."
Sotoka-chan hugs Ino.
"There, there, Ino-san. Don't think like that. Life's beautiful, and we have to enjoy it. Like now: we're having fun helping Izumi-san. Chan. Sorry. We're having fun helping her creating her anime club.
"It can't be an anime club," says Ino while she's trying to push Sotoka-chan away.
She's so dumb.
And I'm so jealous—I mean, being hugged by Sotoka-chan... I really want to be Ino right now.
But, anyway...
"WHAT? WHY NOT?" I ask.
"Because it already exists, dummy; you were kicked out of there."
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"KAMI-SAMA-CHAN, TASUKETE; INO'S RIGHT: I CAN'T MAKE AN ANIME CLUB; MY YOUTH'S OVER, I'M DEAD INSIDE; PLEASE KILL ME NOW!"
"Izumi-san, please calm down", Sotoka-chan says.
"But only if you hug me, Sotoka-chan."
"Come on, Izumi", says Ino. "It's not her fault you were kicking and screaming for absolutely nothing."
What? Oh, yeah, I'm on the floor. I must have been kicking and twisting while I was screaming and crying.
Yeah, I tend to do that (don't judge me).
"IT'S JUST I'M REALLY SUFFERING RIGHT HERE, AND SOTOKA-CHAN'S NOT HUGGING ME!" I yell 'cause that's the truth.
Sotoka-chan sighs, approaches me and hugs me.
She doesn't do it passionately enough, but that's fine; a hug is a hug.
"There, there, Izumi-chan", says Sotoka-chan, and she says it so close to me I get goose bumps. I hug her harder. "Hey, don't hug me that hard. Anyway, the club could be about something else. If there's already an anime club, why not a manga club?"
"'Cause the anime club is about anime and manga", I tell her, "but it only says anime 'cause is shorter and it goes without saying."
"Well, if it can be about anything, what do you like besides anime and manga?
"Nothing, Sotoka-chan (except you, obviously), 'cause anime is the best, the only thing that matters, the beginning and end of everything 'cause anime is life, anime is, is... ANIME LIFE!
Sotoka-chan and Ino look at me like everyone look at me when I say anything.
"ANIME LIFE! It's not just about watching anime, is about living it."
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"What?", asks Ino.
"Whatever", I take Sotoka-chan's hand (it's so soft and warm and I think it smells like coconut crème) and I take her though the stairs and the hallways.
"Izumi-san. Where are we going?" she asks.
"Izumi-chan. And we're going to the student council."
"What? Why?"
"To register our club."
"What club?"
"ANIME LIFE."
"Is that a club?"
"I don't know", Ino says while she's running behind us, "but it's a bad idea."
"Shut up, Ino!" I yell. "We don't lose anything for trying."
"Of course we do. We lose time, for starters."
And before Ino could say something else, we arrive to the student council.
I open the door and:
"We come to start the best club in this goddamned universe. ANIME LIFE!
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I seems I'm the only one excited.
"Natsumura-san", president Fujimoto is sitting in her desk, at the background. She's staring at me, "weren't you in the anime club?"
"Whatever. ANIME LIFE is the futuro. Now we only have two members, but if you convince Ino, we'll be three.
"But Izumi-san," says Sotoka-chan.
"CHAN!" I yell.
"Izumi-chan. We need more tan three members to start a club."
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"Tasukete, president Fujimoto-sama-chan; I only want to seize my youth, and don't go back home after classes; please, tasukete; I don't know anyone else, just let us start this club! Please, please, please, please! Onegaidesu!
"Natsumura-san!" yells president Fujimoto, "you don't need to yell and drop to the floor at every occasion; it's annoying for everyone", she says 'cause I was on the floor begging all this time. I haven't realized until now.
"Gomen'nasai."
"What?"
"Sorry, I mean sorry."
"That's better. And Hamano-san's right", she's talking about Sotoka-chan. Her full name is Sotoka Hamano, and her name's as beautiful as her. "You need at least five members to start a club."
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Oh.
"Well, anyway, thanks a lot, and sorry about everything. We'll leave now", Sotoka-chan takes my hand, and we leave the student council.
We close the door and:
"SOTOKA-CHANNNNNNNNNNNNNN, WHAT WILL WE DO? NO ONE WILL JOIN OUR CLUB, AND WE'RE ONLY US AND...
Someone opens the door, and that someone is president Fujimoto.
Of course she is.
"Natsumura-san, what did I tell you about yelling?"
I dry my tears off my face and try to calm down.
"That I shouldn't do it 'cause it's annoying to everyone."
"And why you're still doing it?"
"'Cause I can't repress my emotions anymore."
"But you're annoying everyone else, don't you?"
"Cry me a fucking river," says Ino very sarcastically. "Izumi just got kicked put the anime club, and that was the only good thing she had in her pathetic life—
"HEY, MY LIFE ISN'T THAT PATHETIC, AND—
Ino glares at me, and she seems pretty angry, so I'd better shut up now.
"But everyone else's clearly the victim here. It always is, because one is always wrong, right? Everyone else can be a total asshole, but because I'm the one who doesn't fit it, I must be the one who's wrong. Fucking hipocrites!" says Ino. And I know she only says it to be rude with everyone, but she was kind with me, and that's really unexpected.
Thanks, I guess.
"Got a problem, Yamamoto-san?" huh. I didn't know Ino's last name was Yamamoto.
"Are you dumb or what? Of course I have a problem; if not, I wouldn't say anything. But don't worry: I already got used to being ignored."
"Forgive us, Fujimoto-san. We're leaving now", Sotoka-chan takes my hand and Ino's and takes us outta there.
"You're the president, you should worry about everyone's sake, but you
only care about them. YOU'RE A FUCKING HIPOCRITE, AND THAT'S WHY THIS SCHOOL IS SO FULL OF BULLSHIT! YOU'RE THE SYSTEM'S BITCH, BITCH, BITCH, BITCH, BITCH!!" Ino yells as we run away as fast as we can.
Sotoka-chan takes us back to the classroom we were before.
"Fucking bitch", says Ino, and I hope she means president Fujimoto. "But, whatever, we only need two more members. It's not that hard. Sotoka-san, who do you know that would join us?"
"What are you doing?" I ask.
"I'm gonna shut that bitch's mouth, and you stop crying for god's sake and help me. Only two more members. It'll be easy.
"Ino..."
I get closer to her and:
"Don't hug me", she says.
Ok. I stop and I don't hug her. Whatever. I mean, I wasn't going to hug her anyway. Why would I? She's rude and tiny and wants to steal Sotoka-chan from me, and I'm not crying; this are not tears, and if they are, they aren't 'thank you, Ino-chan, thank you, thank you, thank you, this means so much to me; I'm completely sorry about everything I said before. I love you' tears, they are 'god dammit, Ino: first you said you won't join ANIME LIFE, and then you join. You could've joined since the beginning, but no, you enjoy pissing me off, and you enjoy it so much 'cause you hate me as much as I hate you, but you still joined, and I appreciate it. You want to start ANIME LIFE as much as I do, and that really, really, means a lot to me. And, who knows, maybe we could be friends in the near future' tears.
But I'm not crying.
