My Friends Can Help Soothe The Pain of NTR

My head hung heavy with the shame of cuckoldry. I returned to the cafeteria... but I didn't want to be alone. Not after this horrible day.

I looked around the cafeteria with hopelessness. Past the crowds of students around long tables, I finally caught sight of two familiar figures and my NTR-induced despair evaporated ever so slightly. My friends! My friends were sat at a table in the farthest corner of the cafeteria, conversing over something irrelevant and stupid, but irrelevant and stupid was what I needed to take my mind off the supreme humiliation that felt like it was about to crush me. As I walked, I overheard their vibrant conversation, saw their animated faces, and I couldn't help but be improved in spirits. My closest friends and allies, Kaz and Takana...!

Kaz and Takana were close together. Their lunch trays were left half-eaten and ignored, because they were both hunched over something in Takana's hands. I realised that it was his phone. Kaz's face was twisted in concentration, leant against Takana's shoulder as he leisurely played on his phone. It became apparent that Kaz was far more invested in the game than he was.

"Run, you animals, run! The supreme virgin is coming to slaughter you all!" Takana jeered cruelly, thumbs moving fast on the screen.

Kaz pointed at the screen, desperation on his face. "Watch him, he's trying to flank! Watch him!"

I couldn't help but feel a sense of brotherhood and comradery. A singular manly tear brimmed in my eye. My friends, Kaz and Tanaka... Oh, my friends.... I gently placed a hand on Takana's shoulder.

"Hey, guys-" I opened my mouth to talk.

"DON'T FUCKING DISTRACT HIM!" Kaz roared. I pulled my hand back like Takana was radioactive. All sense of brotherhood evaporated. That single tear dried up instantly. My friends, Kaz and Takana.

Kaz's eyes was alight with eagerness, he was acting like a coach for a fighter, shouting constant advice from the sidelines.

"Don't jump on those crates! Stop trying to snipe! Go around, use your melee! Yeah, like that, like that!"

I sat opposite the duo, just watching them play, though from the angle I couldn't see anything. Takana's thumbs were moving erratically on the screen to a pattern only the two were familiar with. "Do it! Melee him!" Kaz urged.

A peverse satisfaction came over the two students faces at the wet slash of a machete into flesh. "Dead, dead,dead!" Takana laughed, loud and maniacally cruel. "HAHAHA! Run, mortals, run!"

Kaz cheered alongside him, thumping the table in jubilance at his victory. "Capture the flag now! You've got a clear shot, it's straight ahead in that house, these rookie shitheads probably haven't even set up barricades around the house! HEY! The house is left! LEFT LEFT LEFT!"

A horrifying, sadistic grin stretched across Takana's face. He laughed maniacally. "Haahahaa! No, you fool, my blade shall taste the blood of the entire team, and after that, I'll burn their houses and salt their farms!"

"Are you for real?! Oh, shit, just- just throw a grenade! Throw a grenade! ITS THAT BUTTON THERE! WATCH YOUR FLANK!" The sound of gunfire blasted out from the phone, followed by a single desparing shout.

Kaz screeched and slammed his fist on the table violently. "FUCKING IDIOT! WHY DID YOU TRY TO MELEE HALF THE ENEMY TEAM?! WHERE'S YOUR GAMESENSE?! YOU COULD HAVE TAKEN THE FLAG, STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!"

"Tch," Takana, unfazed by Kaz's tantrum, just pushed his glasses up, which shined in the light. "This pathetic game was merely a warmup." He said smugly.

Kaz suddenly looked over at me, remembering my existence. All the anger dissapeared and he grinned cheerfully. "Oh, hey Hifumi! Why aren't you with Himiko?" He chirped.

Takana chuckled darkly at my arrival, his stick-thin arms folded over his chest. His dark eyes framed by mascara dance with cruel delight. "Oh, so the virgin returns!" He sneers.

Gentlemen, meet my friends, Kaz and Tanaka. Nicknamed by the rest of the school as the Zeroes, because they would never amount to anything in life. Why did I, a self-described 'normal person' hang out with them? Well, uh... I knew them since I was little. I would never just abandon them to fit in, no matter how weird they are. Though, now that I think about it, I might have gotten the whole 'normal person' thing wrong. I'm not normal. Normal people don't get cucked.

I just looked at Takana blankly. Normally, I would have laughed and said something like, "Shut up, you crazy bastard." Today, I didn't quip back. I just sat there, dead-eyed.

"Did you see his play? Shitty casuals on my team like him are the reason why I quit that game." Kaz joked with a lopsided grin. Now, it was Tanaka's turn to bristle. "Video games are universally for fools and peasants. As such, it is unsurprising that you care for it so strongly." He sneered.

"Excuses, excuses! Am I right, Hifumi?" He laughed and nudged me with his elbow. I just sat there, my head in my hands. An uneasy silence descended over the table. "Speak, virgin." Takana suddenly commanded. I hung my head. "Just shut up." I mumbled.

Kaz sensed something was wrong. Concern dawned on Kaz's face and he shuffled closer to me. "What's wrong, man?" He asked tenderly.

I looked up at him and made sorrowful eye contact for the first time. I opened my mouth.. and it all came out at once. The floodgates opened, and the waves of my despair came crashing out. I told them everything, I ranted and complained and thumped my fist against the table. I told them about the cuck-ening I just witnessed, my feelings of betrayal, how I put Himiko on such a pedestal but despite everything, some asshole took her away from me. Why him?! I was great to her! Why can't I be good enough?!

At the end, Kaz didn't say anything. Not even Takana insulted me, for once. He just cringed. "Wow, that's bad." I sulked, then glanced over at Kaz.... Kaz was staring right at me, an unnaturally calm expression on his face. He didn't look angry, he didn't look sad. He was totally emotionless, totally tranquil, like his face had been frozen in ice... But his eyelid twitched. It was the creepiest shit I have seen all day. I looked aside. "I just don't know what to do... I don't feel like a man anymore. Should I pretend like I didn't see it? I don't want to leave her."

Takanaka opened his mouth, maybe to comfort me, most likely to insult me and call me a cuckold. But he was interrupted. Kaz suddenly grabbed his empty lunch tray and flipped it, violently, in uncontrollable rage. Dark curry splattered across the plastic table.

"THAT FUCKING BITCH!" He raged, his face glowing red. "WHO THE HELL DOES THAT WORTHLESS FEMALE THINK SHE IS?!"

His fury shocked me out of my trance. I stared, shocked. "Hey, calm down-" I put my hands up nervously.

"I TOLD YOU SHE WAS GOING TO BETRAY YOU! I TOLD YOU! WHAT DO YOU EXPECT, HUH?! SHE'S A FILTHY FUCKING FEMALE AND THEY ALL BELONG IN THE KITCHEN!" With a frustrated screech, he hurled his plastic spoon down against the wide cafeteria table, it bounced away onto the floor. He shouted so loudly that even with the deafening volume in the crowded cafeteria, the people on other surrounding tables stared at him in varying degrees of shock, fear and irritation. Kaz looked around wildly, then slowly sat back down, breathing heavy like he had ran a marathon. Takana edged away from him, further to the side of the table.

Unlike Takana, Kaz might have appeared normal. Normal, until any conversation that featured women. Since he was fifteen, Kaz spent hours daily playing highly competitive multiplayer video games. While it had improved his reflexes and hand-eye coordination and made him impossible to beat, it had also given him anger issues, a gambling addiction, and after a negative experience with a female teammate... Kaz wasn't just a mysoginist, he was the mysoginist, single-handedly responsible for a significant potion of annual nationwide reports of online sexism.

"So, anyway, uh." I said nervously. "I just need advice, guys. What do I do?"

Kaz was now looking down at the table deep in thought, his hands pressed together. Slowly, he looked up, still panting softly. "We should kill her." He said simply. My eyes widened at his words. "Are you crazy?!"

"Why the hell not? One less disgusting female creature in the world."

"I-" I stumbled over my words, my face going pale. "I still love Himiko! And besides, I can't hurt a girl! That's not right!"

Before I could say anything more to chastise him, Takana intervened, pushing his glasses up his nose, deliberately angling them so they'd reflect harsh in the light. I winced. "Tehehehe... you foolish creatures." He ruminated. "The man is responsible, is he not? He is the one who dared to grope Hifumi's girlfriend..."

Kaz paused, mulling over what his friend said. He nodded enthusiastically along. "Actually, good point!" He suddenly grinned, ferally. "We can kill them both. Let's start with the man first, he'd be more of a challenge. We can leave the female creature for later."

I opened my mouth to protest desperately against their homicidal plans, but then, I paused. ... And then, I thought about my situation. I was cucked, punked, NTR'd, emasculated; it was a humiliation that I'd never, ever live down. No injury could ever compare, no insult could ever hurt me worse. After much thinking, I realised that I... well, I was not totally adverse to the idea.

... Was I really contemplating killing Mondo?

Takana grinned savagely at the topic of murder. "So who commited that vile act against you, hm? He shall be the target of our bloody vengeance." Kaz chimed in, pushing Takana aside slightly. "Look, we'll fuck him up! If it's three of us against him, it'll be easy as pie. I can bring my family sword along, too!"

I sighed. "... Mondo did it."

Kaz and Takana froze in their seats.

"...Nevermind."

"It was a bizzare idea."

"I didn't mean to wind you up, I'm sorry."

"Violence is never the solution."

"You should really move on, bro."

"Virginity is necessary for enlightenment."

"We can still kill her, though."

I groaned in annoyance and frustration, burying my head in my hands. Oh, who the hell was I kidding? I wasn't going to kill Mondo. For one, I didn't have it in me to hurt him like that, even after what he did. For two, if I jump him with my friends, I still wasn't even sure I'd win. I absent-mindedly trailed my finger in a circle pattern on the table. "So, what? Should I just break up with her?"

"You gotta let her go, man." Kaz implored tenderly, leaning closer on the table. "She failed you, what did you expect? Expecting a female creature to not fail, I don't know, their boyfriend? Or their e-sports team? That's stupid."

I shot a withering glare at him. "Don't give me that shit, Kaz. I failed her. I should have went back in there, stood up for myself, and won her back like a real man... Instead, I ran away... instead, I'm here."

Kaz shrugged. "Fair point. I'm not tooting my own horn here, but you should have listened to me from the start. The female creature is savage and-"

"No, I shouldn't have and I'm glad I didn't! Himiko was the best thing that ever happened to me!" I suddenly said, anger and frustration rising in me.

"Hey, watch your tone with me, shithead!" Kaz snarled, standing up from his seat.

"Fuck you, you incel piece of shit, don't tell me what to do!"

"Fuck me? No, fuck you!"

"FUCK YOU!"

"NO, FUCK YOU!"

"QUIET!" Takana boomed. We were shocked out of our trance. I nervously glanced around, remembering that I was in a crowded cafeteria.

"Sorry, Kaz." I mumbled.

"It's alright, bro."

"Kaz is correct. You do not need her." Takana said, with the air of a teacher lecturing his young students. "If you spent excessive time with that filthy sex-having creature, she would likely entice you towards the indecent acts... You would join the ranks of the sex-having animals, and as such," Takana pushed up his glasses. They shined in the light. "Our friendship on this earth would reach it's end." Takana put his hands together with a strange look in his eyes.

"Indeed, virginity is not a curse but a virtue." He boomed. "Follow in my example, for I do not require the touch of women. Infact..." He swept his hand across the table. "My virginity brings me magical powers!" He declared proudly. "Allow me to elaborate for you, Naegi."

"Oh, great. Not this again..." Kaz groaned.

It was too late. Takana started rambling.

"I was not born here, Hifumi. In another life, I was rich and famous beyond your wildest imaginings. I was a tall musclebound male model and my life was one of ease and tranquility, until a freak automobile accent, and I was bought here..." Takana pushed his glasses down so he could push them back up again. "Now, I have been reincarnated in this fantasy world and my virginity is my ultimate power system! And the longer that I go without the touch of a woman, the stronger I become, and as I hold a virginity streak of approximately 18 years, 6 months, 5 weeks, 6 days, 14 hours, 5 minutes and 54 seconds, my power system has strengthened to the point where I am capable of ..."

I tuned his ramblings out. I couldn't even bring myself to laugh or smile, like I usually did. My dissapointment was immeasurable... And my day was thoroughly ruined.