Chapter 02: れ

After a short five minute walk, I finally arrived at the Chizuru railroad station. Checking the time, I confirmed that it was now 7:18.

*Perfect! I'm two minutes early and not late for once,* I thought, as I did a silent fist pump.

"Morning, Kyukichhi," called my bestie.

Locating the source of the noise, I turned my head to the left with an exasperated sigh. Standing there was my friend and fellow otaku Akihiro.

"Oh, good morning, Akihiro," I promptly answered, with my dull expression immediately changing into a smirk after seeing his depressed face. "Did you get rejected by another girl again?

"Ahhh, shut up, Kyuki, as if you had a girlfriend yourself," grumbled Akihiro. "In fact, you don't even have the nerves to hold a conversation with your crush without mumbling or being flustered and turning bright red, much less ask her out."

Shaking my head in exasperation, I questioned, "So who is it this time?" "Eh, I think it was some girl named Haruno." promptly answered Akihiro.

"Wait, you 'think'?" Sighing loudly, I continued, "Why am I even friends with somebody who would stoop as low as to hit on any girl just because he wants some love."

"Heh heh hehh..." chuckled Akihiro. At that very moment, there came a fast rattling sound from afar, steadily increasing in volume as it hurtled toward us. Not a moment later, it slowed to a stop with a hiss. This is the bullet train, the biggest public transportation system in all of Japan.

Giving Akihiro another exasperated sigh, I walked into bullet train, with Akihiro right behind me. Not a moment later, Akihiro let out a loud groan. Shaking my head at that bakachhi Akihiro, I scanned my surroundings for any vacant seats. No luck, all seats were already filled.

"Guess we'll have to stand," I mumbled. But hearing no reply from Akihiro, I glanced behind me at him. His face was a brilliant vermilion red, and his eyes were locked upon a rather cute girl.

"Oh god, not this again... It only took him 36 hours to change crushes after being rejected?" Staring at Akihiro with an exasperated gaze, I suddenly noticed something strange. Very strange and peculiar.

Instead of the usual lustful gaze that he stared at his previous crushes with, the gaze he gave the cute girl was one of genuine love. *This is strange, what's different about this girl from all the other girls he crushed on?*

Wanting to find an answer, I gently tapped Akihiro. However, it was to no avail, as he seemed to be under some type of deep love spell. In that moment, the cute girl glanced behind her, eyes locking on to Akihiro.

Seeing Akihiro's intense gaze, she immediately blushed and whipped her head back to the front. With this quick flash of motion, blood immediately flowed into Akihiro's brain and he immediately broke out of the gaze.

Just a few moments after, the realization hit him that he and the girl had locked eyes. He gave a quick cough, before glancing off to the side, to the right.

*Huehh...? Akihiro, THE AKIHIRO, has a tsundere side? Normally, he's so shameless and straightforward, immediately confessing to a girl a day after meeting her.*

I couldn't resist my temptation to poke fun at him. "Hm hm hm, knowing THE Akihiro, he'll probably ask her out today, riiight?" To my surprise, Akihiro gave me a threatening glare, before mumbling "S-shut up, Kyuki... Please don't ruin this... okay? I'm begging you..."

Seeing his soft side, I couldn't help but acknowledge his request. Softly asking, I asked, "What's different about this girl from all the other girls you crushed on."

Akihiro then softly whispered, "I don't know myself, but I feel myself drawn to her... It's like our souls are connected and I have this overwhelming desire to be with her, to lean against her, to give her happiness."

Hearing Akihiro's inner self, I knew I had to lower his hopes. If he asked the girl out, only to get rejected, I felt he would be depressed beyond belief. "O-oi, Akihiro, maybe it's better to not get your hopes up too much, k?

"I mean like, around school, you're known as some super-pervy idiot who's only good at sports and academics. Most girls think of you as the guy who's willing to date any girl, even if it's an eighty-year old woman."

Akihiro flashed off a smile, before loudly saying, "Ahhhhh, that's true. I suppose I shouldn't get my hopes up, eh? I mean like, would such a beautiful girl even want to date me? After all, I'm like you, I don't have any redeeming features."

"Shut the hell up, Akihiro. In fact, I DO have some redeeming features." I quipped back. However, even with my sharp reply to him, I was secretly happy that he had returned to normal.

"Mhm, sure. The only redeeming feature I see in you is your vast weeby knowledge of anime and light novels."

"W-well, I also have other features like uh... uh.. what was it...? oh, my ability to study nonstop!"

"Pffffft, girls don't give a damn about that. What they're looking for is somebody athletic and hot. So basically somebody like me."

~Psssssfffft...~

During our back and forth exchange, the bullet train had arrived at our stop. Without a chance to insult Akihiro again, I calmly waited for other students to leave the train so that I had space to walk out.

The crowd of students gradually thinned and I walked out of the train with Akihiro. "Alright, let's go!" Akihiro enthusiastically called.

Flashing a smile back to Akihiro, both of us headed up the stairs out of the station together.