Drafted - Part 6

"Have you found it yet…?"

"Muda desu… Why the hell are there so many books?"

"Quit complaining and keep looking. We need to do this. For Scarlet and Chase both."

After leaving those two with those words in the nurse's office, Sig and myself departed to the SF club room in order to locate the holy text.

However, we haven't had any luck locating it so far.

Though, I wouldn't mind if we stayed here for a while longer. The air-conditioning is a godsend. It's kinda sick that the school's clubrooms have it when most of the classrooms don't. The student body government is so damn weird with their spending, I swear.

"Man, I wish anime girls were real right about now."

"Huh, why now especially dude?"

"Cuz then when I'm working hard like this, she could smile at me and say 'ganbare, Sig-sama!' and everything would be okay."

"You're a real fucking weeaboo, you know that?"

"Shut the hell up dude. You know you'd like it."

"I won't deny that, but I'm not the one daydreaming about it all the time. There's better things to daydream about."

"Oh yeah, like what?"

"Like… I dunno, these days I've been thinking about how video games are art."

"Forreal…? What on earth would make you think that?"

"Lots of things, man! Like… Okay, listen to this right? You know how sometimes at the beginning of rpgs there's usually a mandatory fight with an enemy that's a much higher level than you? And he'll like, completely destroy you and stuff?"

"Uh, yeah. Tons of rpgs have those. Scripted fights, I think."

"I dunno man, small stuff like that makes me appreciate video games so much. Like, you can't not feel completely helpless during fights like that. You wonder whether or not you're doing something wrong or if the guy is actually beatable to begin with, but the reality of it is that the guy really is just way too strong for you. I think that show of power can really drive home how powerful an enemy from the later part of the story is."

"Eh, I dunno man. It's pretty easy to see coming because of how overused it is these days. I think Metroid did it best and it's not even really a real rpg."

"Haaa, I guess you're right. I'm probably appreciating it from a purely metaphoric standpoint."

"Huh? Metaphoric? The hell is that?"

"It's like… sometimes in life, no matter what you do, there's just some battles you won't ever win. Even if you grit your teeth and fight like it's your last day on earth, the enemy is still gonna be the same overleveled piece of shit monster that you can't win against. That's just reality."

"Nani… are you're saying it's better to give up?"

"Nah. Giving up is just poor sportsmanship. It's better to fight your heart out and put on a show. That way, even after you've lost you can say 'well, at least I had fun'."

"Huh…"

"That's why I created the 'Fated Ones'. Even if there's a chance that we won't be friends after high school, or even going into sophomore year, I'd still rather try than just give up because of one bad experience I had back in middle school. The fun times are worth the suffering after all."

I think Sig is the only person I can get this sentimental with.

He's a strange guy. One minute you're making fun of him for being an idiot, and the next you find yourself trusting pretty much everything about him. He's just that kinda guy.

Though, maybe if Chase were more open to talking about himself I'd do the same. I mean, I told fucking Scarlet about myself before him. That's just nuts!

"Still Nick-kun, I'm surprised. You're going to let a girl join the 'Fated Ones'."

"Man, you're telling me. I must've hit my head somewhere. What the hell is wrong with me these days?"

"Well… if you really don't want to then you could always change your mind."

"… Nah. She's just like us."

"Just like us?"

"I don't know exactly why I feel like this, but I don't think she belongs with the normies."

"Hmmm…"

"You see it too, right? It's hard to believe that someone as popular as she is gave us a chance and treated us like normal human beings. When I told her about my life in middle school, I was expecting her to make fun of me. Then I'd have all the ammo I needed to get Chase to drop her ass."

"… What'd she do?"

She comforted me.

It was something I'd been carrying for so long.

A pain I'd thought I buried after my first day of high school.

But her words really did comfort me.

She told me it was okay to feel that way.

Her, a girl.

Even though I had been denying her solely for her gender.

"It doesn't matter what she did. I think so long as we don't get between her and Chase, then things will turn out okay."

"Do you think they even love each other? Their relationship was fake to begin with…"

"Huh?! What are you talking about? Did you forget about when…"

Before I finish my response, I find something strange peeking out from one of the corners of the room…

Well, to normies I think everything in here would probably count as strange, but this thing takes the cake.

"Hey Sig, the hell is a bra doing in here?"

"A bra?!"

He quickly rushes over towards me to inspect it.

Who are you, Taokaka?

"… Yokatta, it's not Momo's."

"Why the hell do you know what kind of… nevermind. Do you think it's Reyna's?"

"Huh? I dunno. I don't stare at her tits. Momo's are the only ones that matter! Maybe Chase would know. Dude loves himself some tits."

"Hmmm… Actually, club was cancelled yesterday wasn't it? The only person who would've been here yesterday is the person who was hiding out here in the first place…"

"…"

Nah, maybe I'm overthinking this.

There's no way Chase would break his oath.

Absolutely not. There's a zero percent chance of that happening.

"Oh by the way Nick-kun. Did you realize something from Scarlet's story?"

"Ah, you mean the misunderstanding we've had all this time?"

"So you noticed too, huh?"

Yeah. Judging by her words, it seems that we've been misunderstanding a few things about the love triangle going on with Jack, Chase and Scarlet. It wasn't two people battling for Chase's affection, but Scarlet's.

Which in turn, means that…

"Chase-dono isn't a trap after all…"

He looks down in despair.

All of those Astolfo lewds are gone forever.

And for what?

Some ridiculous misunderstanding we had because we were on some kind of trap-high that day?

How stupid.

Poor Sig…

"It's okay man… We'll rebuild that folder for you from scratch. Don't let it bother you."

"…"

"Uh… Sig?"

"Hey, Nick-kun."

"Y-yeah? What's up dude?"

"Let's turn Chase into a trap."

"Huh… Huh?"

"Let's turn Chase into a trap."

"Wait wait, slow down. What the hell are you saying right now?"

"Let's turn Chase into a…"

"I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TWO TIMES!"

I scratch my head.

Okay great leader, calm down. Just hear him out calmly. You can do this.

"What the hell are you on about?"

"Well, this whole thing just gave me an idea. Chase isn't really a cross-dresser, right? But we both still thought so without him ever implying it. Doesn't that mean we both think he'd make a good trap?"

"W-well…"

"Man, there's no shame in it. Just admit it. You've been looking at him differently these past few days. You've been thinking 'damn, I wonder what he looks like in girl's clothes'."

"Ugh, dammit Sig! We're the 'Fated Ones'! We can't be lead astray by such impure thoughts!"

"Exactly!"

As he exclaims this, he pulls an exercise book out of the pile of books he was digging through.

"Ah, you found the holy text! Excellent work. Now, allow me…"

I reach out to grab it from him, but he pulls it away.

"Nick-kun… How about it? We make him cross-dress once. Just so that we don't keep asking ourselves about what could have been."

"Sig…"

"Think about it! In one year, no. In perhaps even less than that, puberty might hit him like a truck! His shoulders will square out, his voice will deepen, and he'll get taller! Do you really want to be asking yourself what he could have looked like in girl's clothes back then?!"

"…"

"Don't live your life with regret! I know I won't! I want to do it! I'm gonna make Chase Masters into a trap!"

"…"

"You're right, Sig."

"Nick-kun..!"

"Ahh dammit, fine. Goddammit! The two of us are just a bunch of homos, aren't we?"

Just after we came to the conclusion that liking traps is gay… How on earth did it turn to this?

"There's nothing wrong with being a gay, remember? And besides, it's only for a little while. After we finally observe it with our own two eyes, we can go back to staring at anime boobs just like we usually do. But for now…"

"Yeah. Just for now, we're going full homo."

We bump our fists.

We're sorry, Chase. But this too, is something we need to do.

For the survival of the 'Fated Ones'.