No Choice

A no-win situation. One where no matter the choice one makes, they lose. Unfortunately for Arata, this seemed to be one of those times. Of course life doesn't wait for one's troubles, and so he was now walking into what had been his prior engagement before this all hit him.

"Ah, it's nice to see you again." An elderly lady greeted him, waiting for him on her front porch.

"Miss Nanri, it's nice to see you again too." He happily greeted her back. After what he'd been through today, this was a much needed break from the action. It was nice to get a sense of normalcy, since he hadn't been over the lady's house since right before the winter cold hit.

"I see you brought your tools over again. It's been too long." She said. As a way to make money for his hobby, Arata took some odd jobs here and there. But during his first year he found something steady by tended to the garden of an elderly woman.

"I know, I'm glad that the weather's gotten warmer again." And so, he got to work. Desperate to avoid his troubles, if only for a little while. His duties were nothing special, pulling weeds, watering the plants, she even let him plant a few flowers for himself. At the end of the day, he got to enjoy a little payment for his efforts. But while working this time, she approached him, nothing unusual, but what she said he didn't expect.

"Something bothering you?" She asked plainly. Normally the pair would chat a bit while he worked. Nothing deep or meaningful, but nice to pass the time. As well as get to know each other.

"Oh it nothing you should trouble yourself with." He answered. "Really it's just some teen problems I'm sure you don't care about."

"Well that's not something you can know for certain, is it?" She wasn't going to give up on prying into his business. The lady always wanted to hear about his day, or what he enjoyed doing. In fact, until today, she was the only person he knew outside his family that knew his secret.

"I guess I can tell you. You see I've got this problem with this girl." He explained.

"Oh I didn't realize you've got yourself a little crush now."

"It's not like that." He quickly corrected, feeling a bit warm under the collar. "She actually wants me to get another boy to like her."

"Ah I see, that sounds pretty harsh I can imagine. Though I'm guessing the reason you're so distraught over it, is because she found your secret."

"What? How did you know." She chuckled at him, smiling as if it were obvious.

"Well you told me yourself you don't have any friends." Coming from someone else, made him feel a little pathetic about it. Even if that was his own doing. "I doubt some random girl would've just asked to do something like that without being friends, or blackmail."

"Yeah, well now you can see the predicament I'm in, right?"

"Oh it does sound quite terrible what this girl is doing to you." She replied. "Not taking your feelings into consideration. But at the same time, I think you should do it."

"What?" That wasn't what he was expecting from her. Granted he wasn't sure what else she'd said in response to this, but it definitely wasn't encouraging him to do it.

"To go so far in the name of love. That really takes me back." It seemed as though she was falling away from their conversation. "When I met my late husband."

"Uh, how did you meet your husband anyway?"

"Oh that's another story for another time. It's getting late and I'd hate for you to get in trouble with you parents." She ushered him, unfortunately for him leaving conversations without a resolution was a common theme today. Leaving with what she said, bugged him. Yet it wasn't as if she was wrong.

If he chose not to do what Erina asked of him, she reveal to everyone his secret. One that he's been desperate to keep for his teens years. At the same time, doing what she said. Is that something he was even capable of doing in the first place? Why did she choose him of all people?

But now was not the time to be racking his head over, lest he not get enough sleep for school tomorrow. So he tried his best, as he got home, to keep his mind off it. Getting ready for bed, that was easy. However, his hope for sweet dreams was about to become his nightmare once more.

He was getting his papers and books into his school bag, making sure everything was where it was supposed to be. When a voice made his heart skip a beat.

"Wow, so this is what your room looks like."

"Ahhhh!" He yelled. A girl's voice, but it wasn't his mom's. In fact, it was, "Erina?" He looked at her dumbfounded, rubbing his eyes to make sure this was some illusion.

"Yep that's me." She answered, as if they were just simply greeting each other at school.

"How did you get in here?"

"Through the window silly." She said that as if that was a completely fine thing for someone to do. This was terrible, she was the last person he wanted to see before going to sleep.

"I'm calling the cops, this is ridiculous." He was about to leave and get the phone, when she stopped him.

"You could try that, but just know that your mom let me in."

"She what?"

"Yeah. I couldn't wait for your answer so I came here, but you weren't here." She explained. "When I told your mom I was a friend of yours, she got really excited. So when I asked if I could come back through your window later, she let me and left it unlocked."

"My mom is going to get me killed." He lamented. Even if she wasn't a killer, someone else could've gotten in this way. He was going to have to scold her later. "Besides, we agreed on tomorrow for when I give my answer."

"Let's be honest here. We both know you're gonna accept, plus thanks to this, I've got some more blackmail material. Just look at this room."

"Okay, I didn't come home, just so I can have some stranger disrespect me." He sighed, knowing that arguing wasn't going to be beneficial in any way. There was no way of ignoring it, what was going to happen next was going to be his life for the foreseeable future. "But, I know I don't have a real choice, so I'll accept." He relented to her. She got really happy over this news.

"Ha. I knew you'd come around." She gave him a hug in her excitement. If this was a different circumstance, he would've been happy to have this beautiful girl giving him affection. If it was anyone but her.

"All right, just get off of me." He pushed her off. "Don't act like I'm going to be happy about this, because I'm not."

"Of course I know that." She laughed at him. "And remember, I still have these." She waved a handful of photos in his face. More truth of his deeds. "So you better not fail." She gave him an evil looking smile. He returned it with a glare of his own. This was going to be his life now. A life that landed him in a spot he didn't know to expect.