My Neighbor Ikeda-san

I started opening my eyes slowly. Why does the Earth's gravity feel heavier more than usual?

"Ug—gh.", I grunted.

I reached for my phone and looked at the time. And, it's now 3:17 pm.

"..."

Sh*t! I thought to myself.

I saw 50 message notifications from Zeno-chanღ.

I opened the messages.

'Hey! Xeco!!!! Where you at!!!!!!!'

Xeco was the username I'm using. Then, I started scrolling down again.

'IT'S GONNA START!!!!!!'

'OIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!'

'...'

'...'

'...'

'REPLY TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!'

'HEY! DID SOMETHING HAPPEN??????? OIIIIII!!!!'

And, so on...

I... forgot the event...

So, I replied.

'Sorry~, something just happened earlier.'

The circle beside his picture lit up from grey to green.

'You better have an explanation. Or. Else.'

'So... this what happened earlier.'

'I bought a new keyboard and mouse earlier for that event, and then I ate, after that... I saw three guys ganging on this silver-haired girl then she beat them up.'

'So? what you gotta do with them? You got beaten up with them too?'

'No!! Well... I did nothing...'

'So? what part of that, of you. Missing. The. Event.'

'Oh, about that, actually when she beat those 3 thugs, the police came and soooo I got caught up with the situation, so I ran too.'

'And?'

'And? Are you for real? I almost got arrested for just standing there!'

'You should've got arrested then'

'...', I can't believe this guy...

'Let me get this straight, you almost got arrested because tried to be a hero and did nothing? And because of that, you missed the event?'

'Yep. But... About the event... I missed it because I fell asleep...'

'...'

'...'

'Just go sleep forever, you useless piece of sh*t.'

'Hey hey, sorry okay?'

'No. F*ck. Off. '

'Come on~ I'll give you the Dark Etherion Ring. How about that?'

'For real?'

'Yep'

'Okay.'

'Alright.'

'But. If. You. Ever. Do. That. Again. There. Will. Be. No. Next. Time. I felt worried about you earlier! I thought something happened to you! And I went with some random plebs! I didn't get anything!'

'Alright alright, sorry.'

'You better be.'

'Btw, about the girl that I mentioned earlier.'

'Hm??'

'Actually, she knew me. Even though I haven't met her and the other day she suddenly talked to me out of nowhere and asked me about fate.'

'Fate?'

'Well yeah, I was at the library looking for something to read, and she came out of nowhere and asked me if I believe in fate, then left.'

'Whoa. Maybe a stalker of yours?'

When I read that, my whole body became stiff.

'... Maybe...'

I could feel sweats forming on my forehead and became nauseated.

'That's creepy, is she pretty though?'

'Uhm... yeah.'

'A pretty stalker, huh. Yandere?'

'OI! don't joke about that! '

'Haha, just kidding, but take care though.'

'Yeah... better get going then.'

'Okie~ Buh-bye. And never do that again.'

'Yes yes.'

I closed my phone.

I'm currently thinking about how the silver-haired girl knew me, so basically she knew back then when she approached me?

Wait, is she some sort of a spy from an organization to recruit me? And she will become my partner to go on the most dangerous mission? Or... maybe she has some supernatural powers? That's why she asked me about the fate thing. Maybe, I'm the key to saving the world and I get to fight an evil organization?

As I immerse myself in my thoughts, the door opened.

It was Asuka-chan peeking her head in my door.

"Nii-chan! Play!!!", smiling at me.

"Haha, all right."

I decided to play with Asuka-chan instead of thinking about the silver-haired girl, I have no clue how she knew me or why she asked me that question. Now that I think about it, was it a coincidence that she was there at the fast-food restaurant I'm eating on? I got a ton of questions that needs answers. Since she asked me this thing about fate, I guess I'll wait for this 'fate' thing to meet her again.

✯ ✯ ✯

Days went by quickly, and now I have 2 days before school starts.

I woke up earlier, and it's currently 6 am.

I decided to take a jog to the public park, that I went to, a few days ago.

But, when I got out to the front porch, I met Ikeda-san who looks about to take a jog too.

So, I greeted her. "Ah, Ikeda-san, good morning."

"Oh, Ta— Okita-san". while having a stiffed smile.

"Are you taking a jog too?", I asked.

"Yes", she answered.

"Want to go with me? I'll be going to the public park."

"Eh? Ah, Yes yes I would love to.", she answered in a flabbergast way.

"Let's go then"

She nodded and followed me.

But, when I looked back at their house, I saw Sakura-san having a stupid grin on her face.

I ignored her.

As we are walking to got the public park, I noticed that she's wearing a long-sleeved shirt, leggings, and sneakers. Then I get to see her whole appearance up close, she's a beauty like her mother, her face looks matured. Blonde hair like her mother, beautiful face, and dazzling blue eyes. On top of that, her body, I could say that she took care of it very well, with huge boobs and curvy features. All around I could say that she's sexier than most models at a gravure magazine.

How come her breast is so big? I thought to myself.

During all that time, I saw Ikeda-san looking at me.

Sh*t. Did she see me looking at her breast? I thought to myself while panicking inside.

"Ahh, Uhm, so how are you?", Ikeda-san asked me.

"Eh? Aah, I'm okay, I guess?", I answered in a panic.

"Oh, okay", she said.

"I'm glad", she said in a lower voice.

"Hm?"

"A-Ah, nothing.", she said then smiled at me.

After walking for a few minutes, we arrived at our destination the public park.

"How about we stretch ourselves first?", I asked.

"Okay.", she answered.

We did our stretches for quite some time.

After doing our stretches we decided to jog together.

We ran for about an hour.

Upon seeing Ikeda-san out of breath, I decided for us to take a break.

"Let's take a break, Ikeda-san.", I said.

"Haa, Haa, Huff, Haa.", Ikeda-san panting getting herself some air.

Apart from us, I only see a few people here, so I looked for a bench to sit on.

Then I saw an empty bench, underneath a tree which is perfect we could use that since the tree is providing a shade for us.

"Ikeda-san, let's go to that bench.", I pointed out.

"Okay, thank you so much Okita-san", still panting.

We sat on the bench underneath the tree.

After a while, I could see Ikeda-san's breathing becoming normal.

Then she spoke, "Thank you again, Okita-san. Sorry, you stopped because of me", in a shy manner.

"It's okay, besides we're only jogging, it's not like we're training for something.", I said while I let out a little giggle.

She shyly blushed.

After taking a break, we continued for an hour and stopped.

We went back to our spot when we took a break earlier.

I handed her a drink from the vending machine, I went to, earlier.

"Thanks, Okita-san", Ikeda-san thanked with a smile on her face.

"No problem, by the way, the school starts 2 days from now."

"Yeah, I can't wait for it.", she said.

"Eh? You're excited?", I asked with my eyes widen.

"Yeah, It's a new school after all. I get to meet new people and I get to be...", then her face flushed with red.

"To be?", I asked confusingly.

"A-a-ah, N-n—Nothing!", she exclaimed with her whole face beet red.

"Oh, okay then..."

"How about you?", she then asked.

"Me?"

"Yeah? There's only you here and I'm only talking to you, Haha", she giggled.

"Hm... I don't really know. Yeah, I could say that I'm excited but at the same time I'm scared..."

At the same time, Ikeda-san's face turned sad.

"...that something will happen, aside from that I could say that I look forward to it."

"Really?", she said with a sad expression.

"Yep", then I smiled unconsciously.

I know that there will be ups and downs in life. Hence why I learned to accept all the shortcomings that will obstruct my life. Despite me having a mental illness, I decided to make progress in my life, by entering high school.

"I'm glad", she smiled.

She gave me a genuine smile and I felt like the time flow became slow. My heartbeat became faster and my face was beet red. I thought I became immune to beautiful girls because I'm used to seeing my mom and sisters. But, I guess not.

I lowered my head to hide my shame and the redness of my face.

"Are you okay?", she asked concerningly.

"Y-yeah, I-I'm okay. H-how about we go home now.", I'm stuttering my sentence, I can't think straight.

"O-okay then.", she said while confused.

Following that, we head home.

At the front of my house, she suddenly called me.

"Ah! Uhm, Okita-san!"

"Y—yes!", I responded.

"Uhm... C—can we call each o-other with our first names?", she said with her face beet red.

I was left surprised, by her sudden request.

"U—Uhm, I guess we could? We are neighbors and Aunt Ayaka treats you as a family."

"Ah, Y—yeah! Yeah yeah, we are neighbors.", she said while having a sad expression.

"O-okay, then, Naoki-san?"

Then she glared at me, and said, "Only Naoki".

My eyes became wide when I saw her glare at me.

"T—then Naoki.", I said shyly.

"Okay, then, Tatsuya", she said with a thousand-watt smile at me.

My whole was frozen when I saw her smile.

Then she looked down and muttered something, but I couldn't quite hear it.

"Hehe~ It's been a long since he called me that."

She bid farewell to me and went inside her home leaving me outside still in my frozen state.

After a while, I broke out of my frozen state and blushed intensely.

I went inside the home.

And, Aunt Ayaka saw me.

"Tatsuya, are you okay?", she asked concerningly.

Asuka saw me too and asked.

"Nii-chan are you okay? Your face looks red. You look like an apple"

"Aah, N—nothing, I'll go take a shower first!", I rushed upstairs.

After calming myself down, at the showers.

But, I felt something odd when I was about head down.

I went downstairs and saw Aunt Ayaka having the biggest grin at me while holding her phone.

I glared at the phone she's holding.

I'm getting some bad vibes from her phone...