Weird Dream

I've learned a little in every subject in school but I haven't progressed yet. progressing so slow like a turtle is similar to no progression for me. I'm still at the bottom as usual, I didn't mean that I'm at lowest in class. No matter how many times I would avert my eyes, it was already revealed that I was a man who's waiting for a miracle to happen without working hard.

The ranking list hasn't showed up and I have a decent score in the test, I just barely reached at average score but in terms of social communication and personalities, I'm already at the bottom tier. Aside from that, everyone in the class didn't know my otaku side except from Tanaka.

She's quite a person who doesn't interact with the others and she's a shy person and I like that part of her. Tanaka's personality is good and I can see that by her looks even though I don't trust anyone. I still don't understand why did we get along. I hate to admit it, Tanaka-san looked like my ideal girl. I like short haired girls and a shy type is my type.

Well, I don't have any romantic feelings about her but I think I admire her a little. If I were to talk about our relationships, if you look at it, we were just friends with no benefits.

Other boys in the same class are staring at me with their expression of jealousy is poured at me. what a pain in the ass. this is something I don't deserve.

This may be all of a sudden to say this but I had a dream last night. At that time, I found myself in the Philippines when I was at a young age. I was playing a MOBA and FPS games at the internet café. It's kind of weird that I already have my own pc back then but I rather go there to play with my two friends since I was 5 years old.

I enjoyed playing with my friends, we played together and sometimes, me and my friends will have a 1v1 challenge on both FPS and MOBA games while the other one spectates the fight. Even I'm a 5-year-old, I can trash talk my friends in terms of competitive games and giving a middle finger sign to my friends if one of them makes mistakes and when they became bad at the game.

I'm just a casual gamer and there's no way I would do something toxic just like in my dream. Now then, let's proceed about the dream I had last night.

At that moment, I heard someone crying at the back of the internet café. I was thinking if I should proceed on playing or I should take a peek.

I can still hear her while I was wearing a headphone, I don't know if the headphone I used have noise cancelation or not, my dream is really weird. With my friends playing inside a noisy internet café, I slowly went outside to check who that person is. If that happens in real life, I rather continue playing and I shouldn't be involved in some fuzz.

Minding my own business is the only option if that were real.

The sound of a creaking door that was slowly opened appeared in a while. I walked a few meters going to the direction towards the back of the internet café. I can see some trashes displayed in the alleys, stray cats and dogs finding a way to eat. In Philippines, the place has more alleys in the past than nowadays and the town is not yet fully developed.

When I took a peek at the alley, I saw a young girl who was crying.

she had a long brown hair and she also have her blue tingling eyes set on me. she stared at me as if I found her crying. her clothes she wore was a little bit ragged and she slowly wiped her tears then she was trying to say something.

"who are you"

"Wanna eat some stones?"

In my dreams, I was an idiot who does stupid and cringy things. She continued to cry when I say something stupid to her. somehow, she's literally a crybaby who cries in just a small problem. I comforted her even though I don't have any idea how to comfort her in the past. I'm a kind of person who doesn't like anyone crying. "waaaah huhuhh" "nyyaaaaah" "hicc" something like that is so annoying. And a moment later, I held her hand and then I said something out of the blue without thinking anything.

"don't cry, I don't know about you yet and I don't know who you are, I don't even know what happened to you. But, crying is nothing but a waste of time."

Kara Tanaka reminds me of that young girl back then but Tanaka-san looks like she isn't a person who easily cries. well, it's a young girl so it's understandable.

After all, it's just a dream with no traces of memories in the past and I was wondering if I was the same person back then just like myself in my dream. It's obviously a dream because in reality, I don't have much friends back then until now. My memories since I was young were all vanished and my brain is all fuzzy when I tried to look back at my past. I can't really remember what happened 12 years ago and it might be possible that dream was true.

"Mr.Ichinose"

I was staring at her while I'm in the middle in the class and a few seconds later, I lately realized that I'm daydreaming. The class today is science, the lessons are easy to understand but the teacher is like Adolk Fitler in the history books. A strict teacher and he seems like a dictator. No, more like a person who takes everything seriously.

His body is average with his serious face made him looked scarier. He stares at me like an eagle saw its prey and my spines feels like its electrified when we exchanged our stares.

Sweats appeared in my forehead when everyone is staring at me including Tanaka-san with their mouths closed. My mouths were stuttering as if I was trying to say something. luckily, the teacher cuts the atmosphere by saying something.

"Kenji!! Where are looking at!! You're also daydreaming like you saw a god with your mouth open!"

"Ah, My bad"

I don't know how to respond but I can't afford to apologize or say "sorry" In just a small problem. Now the classmates, Nagase and Tanaka san are staring at me now with a half-assed look. the teacher is also staring me with a stern look and he started to say something to me again.

"Never mind, just pay attention to class so that you can catch up with your classmates."

"understood"

The teacher nodded and started to proceed teaching us. people in the same class are now paying attention to him and so am i.

While I was listening to the teacher on the class I noticed someone is drawing or writing. The scribbling sound appeared inside my ears. I took a glance to the direction of the scribbling sound like I have a spatial awareness technique. There's a gloomy person sitting next to the gacha gamer and he sat in front of Nagase-san.

He was drawing a manga inside of the class. I don't want to be caught by a teacher so I better not to take a look closer. I wonder if he's a popular mangaka. Back then, after I get addicted to Anime and Eroge, I dreamt to become a hentai doujinshi artist (eromangaka) or even to become a popular light novel writer.

I'm a little bit jealous of him because he got such an amazing talent. Meanwhile me, who's good at doing nothing. Play games, watch anime, read manga and light novels. what a crappy life. this may be out of the blue, I don't have any interests to work and I'm also wondering why am I studying for.

I kept staring at him until he puts all his works to his bag and he started to pay attention to class.

Five hours later, the class is over and the ring bells as a sign for me to go home. I changed my footwear at the shoe locker and started to walk into the direction of the main gate. I was planning to buy a bike as a service but I find it unnecessary, I barely goes out of the house and I have no time to clean some parts of it.

As I walked a few steps, I saw Tanaka-san running towards me. I wonder why is she in a hurry. She stopped and sighed then she started to say something. she held my right arm and her face is so close to me. I can't ignore a girl who have such a pale skin and most importantly, we get along for a few days earlier.

I still don't know how to response about a cute girl clinging into me.

"let's walk home together."

"Alright, but would you please stop grabbing my arm."

My face is slightly red for having something like this to happen to me. it feels we've been flirting at the school. Not to mention, it's near at a Main gate where there are many students going out of the school. I have no choice but to grab her hand and goes away out of the school.

Nagase who just got out of the school building, she saw the backs of the two people with different sex who looked like a couple. A good-looking person who looked so gloomy at first and he's also a person who brings such a big value of money at school that even lent a money to her. Next to him was a beautiful girl who just transferred to this school. She had all figures that most boy paid attention to her when she showed herself to them.

Nagase felt a little bit jealous and she flipped her hair as if she didn't see that.

"they both look good together"

"I agree, but they're already a couple. I guess."

Two female students passing by were talking About me and Tanaka-san. While Nagase sighed and started to return home by herself.

I almost forgot, I was planning to buy a new smartphone after class and yet I agreed to have a walk with Tanaka-san. I know this feels bad but buying a smartphone is necessary, for gaming.

"Uhhmm, Tanaka-san"

"???"

"maybe you should walk home by yourself"

"what do you mean?"

"I was about to buy a new phone today at the mall."

"I see, can I come along with you?"

"ahh, ok"

Tanaka wanted to go to the smartphone shop with me huh. I guess I'll have her tag along since there's nothing wrong with it but at least there may be something I know about her when we're together. I also liked walking to exhaust my body a little since I always sit and play games on my computer. Tanaka didn't say anything when we were walking together towards the direction of the mall.

Somehow, I still don't know more about her. I haven't known her dreams, her past, hobbies and interests. I don't know if I consider that we're close or friends.

The glasses are found everywhere, vehicles lined up waiting for a signal in traffic lights, totally a crowded place. there are also a group of delinquents walked wearing their gang uniform. Some students say that they all look scary and they often have a fight.

[delinquents, huh. They all looked like a normal civilian with tattoos and piercings just to make themselves look badass and cool.]

Well, I've fought a group of delinquents back then in Philippines. Boxing is one of the most popular sports there so. Once a fight happens, someone will faint, break their noses and get beaten by pulp with just one person.

If u want to know what happened at that fight, everyone was injured including me. my wrist was dislocated for punching a person many times. The rests, broke their noses and if this was in a competition, it's a draw. No one wins, no one loses.

In a half of an hour later, we went inside a mall. I was on my way to the cybershop to buy one. In my wallet, I have 120 thousand yen. My wallet is getting bigger because of money inserted there. I can't even bend it properly.

Inside a smartphone store, there are so many phones to be chosen. I want a phone that is designed for gaming. I went to look at each phones' specs one by one.

There's a salesman approached and asked which phone I'm looking for. Replied by saying what I wanted. The salesman recommended a smartphone for me. somehow, I have a feeling that I shouldn't buy this smartphone.

meanwhile, Tanaka-san was staring at the phone inside a glass. I walked towards her direction and tried to check the phone. After I asked the salesman about the specs, I my eyes were wide open.

"Tanaka-san, what are you looking at?"

"Kenji, here, take a look at this phone."

A phone that have 512GB storage and it also have the Latest generation of CPU and GPU. The battery health is very long with a high-quality built-in speaker and the most important, its screen have a high refresh rate. Camera isn't necessary for me as an otaku. so, I don't care about the camera. The price also kills me, it's about 95 thousand yen.

Tanaka-san also suggested to buy this phone. Most girls, buy an expensive phone just for a high-quality camera with higher resolution. If think about Tanaka, she's like a cultured woman for me I guess.

As I thought, Tanaka-san surely is different from other girls.

But this time, I purchased the High-end smartphones with no hesitation. I also purchased some accessories for this phone. The phone cooler, phone case, etc. Tanaka-san also purchased a new case for her smartphone. I looked at my watch, and it's already 7:30 in the evening. Not to mention, I'm also hungry like I wanted to eat at a restaurant.

Maybe I should ask her to eat a dinner with me at a restaurant.

"uhmm, Tanaka-san."

"no need to be formal, just call me Kara. What?"

"Kara, if you would like, I want to invite you for a dinner at a restaurant."

"well, I'm hungry so I have no reason to refuse. I'm too lazy to cook at home"

It's been decided. For me to have a dinner with Tanaka-san, I'm a little bit nervous. We went inside to the restaurant that was located near at the mall. We sat down waiting for the food to serve. While we were waiting, we have our short conversation chatting about the school.

Come to think of it, she's the first girl who I invited to have a dinner with me at a restaurant.

"Kara, you seemed to be popular at class even though it's your first day here."

"well, it's true. But our classmates are approaching me asking about my hobbies, interest and etc. somehow, being approached by a bunch of people bothers me. still, I don't hate them and find it annoying."

"I see. That's a problem"

After that, we both closed our mouths like we paused the conversation, later on, Tanaka-san asked me something out of the blue. It took me a few seconds for me to answer the question by being stunned all of the sudden.

"Are you really a die-hard otaku?"

Asking me something like that all of a sudden with a serious look. There's no way I can tell her. what revives on my mind is what happens if I tell her that I'm a die-hard otaku. She might say "how gross" or "No wonder why you wanted to change your appearance" or something like that then walks away. it feels like I'm playing a dating simulator but this is different. I mean this is reality, I really know what to say, I was thinking if I will escape the question or lie or tell her the truth.

"what's that all of a sudden"

"hmm I'm just wondering, you looked like a normie on the outside by judging your looks and sometimes we were talking about light novel, manga and anime."

I sighed and told her that I'm a hardcore otaku with a straight forwarded face. The food is now served on the table after I said that to her. she naturally smiled and started to say something.

"you're cool."

While I was about to pick the spoon, I was surprised when I heard that form her. actually, I didn't remember that I showed off my cool sides to her and I'm actually not cool from the beginning. Is she teasing me, nah, never mind, maybe I should pretend I didn't hear that and start to eat the food while it's hot.

Actually, it's my first time being called that I'm cool. My cousin always call me "lame" "virgin" something like that.

""itadakimasu""

"by the way, Kenji, I will pay for the bills even though you invited me, so fill your stomach. It's my treat anyways."

"understood and thank you"

"never mind, just eat"

While we were both eating, she scooped a meat with rice in it and she attempted to feed me. what was that? I'm not a spoiled brat. Why is she doing something like that. there's a meat in there so I have no choice but to eat the food she feed me.

"say aaaaah"

"no need, eat it yourself"

"just eat it, I'm embarrassed"

"then if you're embarrassed, you shouldn't do this. Simple as that"

"that's why you're so lame."

"alright, alright"

"…."

"is it delicious?"

"well, yeah"

The sauce that melts into the rice and was mixed with minced pork. It looked like a normal fried rice to me, but it really tastes good. The aroma, the heat, the taste, it's wonderful. I think of it as a special day every time I eat stew. Not to mention, the food is partnered with my favorite drink, the iced tea. I wanted to drink a beer but now is not the time.

Come to think of it, I eat the food that Kara feed me. then that means, an indirect kiss. In an anime, people blushed when something like that happened. Well, anime is different than reality so I shouldn't compare each other. On the other hand, Tanaka-san doesn't seem to be picky in food when there are vegetables on her plate.

I can't wait to try this phone out when I get home. I will download more music, manga, anime and a Light novel PDF. Regardless, I will download more FPS, MOBA and gacha games. I will screw every gigabyte I have when I reach home.

In a several minutes later, we finished eating our dinner and we started moved out of the restaurant after Tanaka-san paid the bills. In the end, I can't read what's on her mind. Or maybe because I'm just a clueless person after all.

I sighed and I put down my shoulders while carrying a bag in my back. My body can't make it, I want to take a rest. it's not that my body is physically weak, its just that this place is uncomfortable. It's so crowded and I've been in the city for almost 3 hours.

While we were walking on our way home together, my eyes moving like I was using a gyroscope while aiming. When I was staring anywhere, something caught my attention. The back to person who have different sex or in other words, they are lovers who are on a date. That guy was talking to his lover while he grabbed her girlfriend's ass. grabbing some girl's ass in the public, he surely has some guts.

Well, I'm not involved with it so, better pretend I didn't see that. Tanaka-san was beside me and I often didn't see her when I try to find her. when I talk to her, I was facing down a little because she's a short girl. somehow, she looked like my ideal girl just like in 2D dating simulator game.

Short hair, Shorty, blue eyes and brown hair with her pale skin. She's a real deal but a gloomy and anti-social like me isn't a good pair for her. I'm just a side character after all.

I have a feeling that she looks at me without moving her head. She pinched my uniform like she's clinging into me when it getting more crowded. something revived in my mind when I glanced at her. a glimpse of memory in the past. it feels like a déjà vu.

This happened in the Philippines before, 12 years ago, a young girl with long brown hair wearing glasses like a young nerd, she was clinging onto me because she was bullied and I picked a fight when there's someone who's trying to bully her.

Now it's 12 years have passed, I wonder if that girl is okay, If I were to meet her again, I would be ashamed of showing myself to her being like this. That was a long time ago, maybe she forgot me and moved forward. As I remember, her name is Kiana, no Kiana or Kia I guess.

Somehow, I think I missed something. I met that certain girl at the Philippines and I met Tanaka-san in the airport which is also located Philippines. Tanaka-san looked like the girl I met back then. Maybe I need to know about her past even just a little.

[is this a mere coincidence or not]

Not to mention, we used English language when we had a conversation at the airport back then. I know that she can speak Tagalog because she stayed at the Philippines but still, I want to confirm.

"Tanaka-san"

"what?"

"Marunong kaba mag salita ng tagalog? [[ Do you know how to speak tagalog]]"

"Medyo, makasalita ako ng tagalog pero hindi ko pa alam yung mga salita na hindi ko pa narinig [[ I guess, I can speak tagalog but I still don't know about confusing words]]"

"I see, I'm sorry for asking you all of a sudden"

"it's fine"

If maybe i ask her some questions so suddenly, it may be weird for her to hear something she don't know. what if she just looked like her. I mean there are many billion people living in this planet. So, there would be at least one person that would look like her.

We finally arrived at the apartment. Tanaka-san was so sweaty with her uniform she wore, I let her go upstairs first. So funny for a side character like me pretends to be gentle man. At that moment, she lost balance when she took few steps. She was about to fall and I was behind her, I can't catch her because I held three plastics with the phone bundles inside with my both hands just to be exact.

Unfortunately, I got pushed and we continuously fell down to the ground. I suddenly moaned because of the small impact. My head hurts and my uniform is dirty. Tanaka-san face was buried in my chest for a moment, her breath is warm that was directed into my chest and after that, she blushed and gets off of me.

"Are you okay, Kenji-kun"

"yeah, I'm fine"

I removed the dirt in my uniform and immediately took the plastic with phone accessories inside. She apologized and she was making a little bit wimpy face. It is like a stray dog that whimpers. Just by watching her face. Something appeared on my mind, that was the time I got injured into the fight just by protecting the girl from the bully.

"that's why I said I'm fine."

She had her back facing me and she finally went inside of her place. i rushed also into my room to activate the smartphone I currently purchased. I inserted a sim card, signed in my email address and do the thing I have planned for my phone. Not to mention, there are some pre-installed games in the smartphone I bought.

And so on, I ended up staying awake late at night playing a MOBA game in my phone.