Chapter 12: Normal School Morning
"Yo, Ken! How was your first day apprenticing at Shin-corp?" Matsuda Oki asked me as soon as we met up on our way to school the next day.
I yawned, rubbing the dark circles under my eyes before giving him my answer.
"It was... Unique," I told him, I can't really elaborate about what happened, seeing as the supernatural is real, and I've read enough stories to know that these secret societies don't take lightly to people going around and telling people the truth.
"It was mostly a tour of the place and then a talk with the boss," I said, once more yawning into my hand as the stress of everything that happened yesterday set on my body like a lead weight.
"Is he nice to you?" Oki asked, "I heard stories about these big businesses being mean to their workers, and Shin-corp is a very big business," He explained.
"So, like, your boss treated you well, right?" He asked, his face looking away from me as I smirk slyly at his question.
"What's this? Oki Matsuda, the ace of the track team is asking how I feel?" I say loudly with a put on voice, "Ara Ara, What will the girls think?!" I ask as I wrap my arms around myself like someone hugging me before I wriggle around as if cartoonishly embarrassed.
"Shut up, Bro!" Oki yelled loudly before playfully pushing my shoulder away, causing me to almost trip and stumble into a streetlight.
"Hahaha!" The two of us laugh the rest of the way to school.
...........................
We reached the classroom early, Still need to keep my positive track record of being the #1 Student, Can't let Kiryuu take the title away.
"There you guys are!" Issei yelled as he ran into the classroom, his red blazer flapping behind him as the middle-schooler carried his bag in his arms, rushing towards our seats at the back.
"You won't believe what I managed to find yesterday," He whisper-shouted as he sat at his table between Oki and me in the back row before he opened his bag and quietly pulled out a magazine.
"Issei!" Oki whispered loudly at our perverted friend as he leaned closer, "Don't show us here! If Ojin-Senei catches this..." He warned our brunette bro.
Now I was curious as to what kind of Magazine he brought, so I lean over his shoulder and I see...
"Is that Prayboy?" I ask as the cover of the magazine showed off a model wearing a mixture between a shrine-maiden outfit and a bikini.
"Yeah!" The pervert of our group says as he opens the magazine to a page showcasing a... Large Chested woman of African descent... wearing a... very revealing Buddhist robe...
...Very revealing...
...Can that even count as wearing the robe?
...It's more like a line of fabric covering her private parts, leaving her toned midriff, long slender limbs, and deep cleavage exposed...
...She's practically Naked...
"Issei..." I whisper, catching the boys' attention as the two turn their heads away from the model on the page.
"Yes, Ken?" Issei asked as he slowly and stealthily closed the magazine, trying to quietly push it back into his back.
"We're friends, aren't we?" I ask him quietly, and he replies with a slow nod of his head.
"And friends help each other out, right?"
He nods again, pulling his backpack off the table and to the back of his chair.
"You wouldn't mind if I borrowed that magazine after school, right?" I ask him, a serious look on my face as I stare at one of my best friends, one of the boys, the third member of our three musketeers.
He shakes his head and slowly backs away, barely managing to make a few steps before Oki placed his hand on his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks.
"C'mon Issei, We're your friends, aren't we?" He asks with a closed-eye smile on his face.
"What are you dorks doing?" The playful mood we had immediately disappears as a fourth voice makes itself known as Kiryuu Aika enters the classroom, walks up to us, and snatches the magazine out of Issei's bag.
"My oh my," She whispers with a smirk as her glasses fog up, "I knew you hang around these perverts, Motohama-kun, But I didn't know you were also one..." She takes off her glasses and bites her lips looking at me.
"You know, I wouldn't mind teaching you a thing or two if you give me the title of number-one," She smirks, putting a tip of her glasses next to her lips and biting on it.
"Don't do it, Ken!" Oki and Issei whisper to me, "She's tricking you!"
"Quiet!" I tell them, my focus entirely on Aika as she held Issei's magazine close to her chest.
"Hmmph, You think I will simply surrender my spot as number one in order to fuel my male instincts? Ha! Don't make me laugh!" I strike a pose, one hand holding my glasses as the other points a finger at the witch known as Aika Kiryuu.
"You can't use my male instincts against me, You're thirteen!" I say before switching to a different pose, my arms crossed as my head points upward, although my eyes look down at this middle-school rival of mine.
"Check-mate," I say, and the boys start clapping.
"That's our Ken!" Issei cheers, "He won't be defeated so easily!" Oki joins in.
"Very well, Guess I'm keeping this," Aika shrugs and puts Issei's Prayboy magazine in her bag.
"Oh..." Issei and Oki immediately stop cheering for me and slump in their seats defeated.
Dammit, guys.
"Settle Down everyone, Class is starting," And We all sit down in our spots as Ojin-Sensei walks into class, and school finally starts for the day.