It was an early winter in November. Snow stuck to the windows of class 5-E.
School had just ended for the day. Chatter filled the air as the highschool school kids were leaving for the day.
A lone student sat at the window seat to the left, tapping the buttons on a blue DS, eyes glued to a little screen. Outside the window lay a canvas of pure white, effortlessly decorated by Mother Nature's cold song.
Another student approaches.
"Hey"
He was tall and handsome with wavy black hair that reddened at the tip, wearing a school blazer and a beanie.
It was Hoku.
He looks at the floor where a school bag sits.
"You forget to bring your coat?"
The student who was sitting down simply shook their head.
Hoku glances around, observing the other students leaving the classroom.
He leans in a little.
"So what you playin'?"
He's met with a light shrug, to which he tilts himself to look at the screen.
In response, the student turns to face him with an annoyed pout.
droopy lime eyes, short brown hair so straight it could be used as paper, with an extra clump tied at the side. wearing thick black glasses, a school shirt and a skirt.
She looks at him briefly, then looks down at the floor and back to her DS.
"Well?" He repeats.
"You wouldn't know it," she mumbled. She side-eyed Hoku and struggled to say something.
"D-did you want som-"
"Hoku! We're going to Jinsei's place. You comin'?"
A group of classmates call out in the doorway.
He turns in the direction of the door "I'll be right there," he responded.
"Hoooku, cmon! we gotta gooo," a girl with long, light curly hair and a peppy voice said.
"Yeah, I know, I'm coming, one sec."
He tried to turn back around, but the peppy girl came rushing through the desks like a hungry shark finding its prey. Once she closed in, she started pulling his arm.
"Now, now, now!"
"Whoa- ok, ok." He laughs nervously before being dragged to the door. He manages one last smile towards the window before he's dragged out the door.
Sitting in the classroom, alone at last. She exhaled.
Feeling at peace, she stretched out her back and rested her head, lying sideways on the desk, positioning her DS to the right.
Then she noticed, left on the desk next to her, was a jumper. It had an illustration on the front. She squinted at it and immediately recognised the character.
It was Syrup, the mascot starter monster from the popular kids' game Beast Battle.
She glanced at the open door and rolled her eyes.
***
The next day arrived.
After levels of guilt-tripping and piling on classroom chores on each other, in the end, she was left to clean the homeroom.
She didn't mind. After all, once she was finished, she got to play a pretty addictive game that she was getting into completely undisturbed.
She gathered up pieces of rubbish that were left on desks and dumped them into the trash. Then she grabbed a mop from the back and started on the floor by the chalkboard.
Then...
A wild Hoku appeared.
She glances at him, then rests the mop on the wall and moves to her bag. She removed the jumper.
Hoku smiles.
"I hope you got some warmth outta it, haha"
She holds it up for him to take, averting her gaze, but he waits a little bit for an answer.
"Um, not really."
"What d'ya mean?" He innocently grinned.
Then his face shrank. He took the jumper from her and said:
"You went out in the cold without it."
She shakily nodded her head, then her head and reclaimed the mop
Hoku stared at her like she had just killed a puppy, making her incredibly anxious.
"Your kiddin', it was cold as balls yesterday"
"Then-"
"Then you shouldn't have left it behind," she snapped, with her eyes shut, fixed to the floor.
She quickly glanced up at his face to judge his expression, then awkwardly twisted her body away from him and stiffly continued mopping.
"Sorry, I'm not being seen with that in public."
"Why? Who doesn't like Beast Battle?"
She shrugged with one shoulder.
Hoku crossed his arms.
"So you're telling me, you'd rather freeze to death than rep Syrup nation?"
She almost burst out laughing that someone would actually say that to her in reality, but instead she just shuddered and continued.
"It wasn't that bad out there," she muttered.
"I see."
Hoku started looking around the classroom. He spots another broom in the back, so he goes to pick it.
She watches him and realises his intention
"You don't have to do that," she said with a flat tone of voice.
He stared at her, then stopped for a moment to read the room and started walking towards the door, until he heard her whisper:
"Hoku..."
"Thanks."
As he's standing in the doorway, he scratches his head and decides to say one last thing.
"Doesn't it get boring? I always see you here, ya know...doing stuff by yourself."
"Is that why you started speaking to me?" She asked.
"Pity or something?"
He hesitated at the sentiment. He felt a little shocked, maybe even offended, but also a little happy.
"No? Ugh. I don't know, all my friends are into music, and flowers and shit."
"Flowers?" She laughs.
"Yeah, so I just wanted to talk about something else... I guess."
"That's pretty stupid, I know,"
She readjusts her glasses.
"What's your favourite starter?"
He looks at her, surprised to see that she's actually looking right back
"Syrup,"
Her eyes shift to boredom, considering Syrup was the generic main mascot character for both the games and anime.
"I'm kidding."
"Good, I was contemplating never speaking to you again," she sulked, which is broken when they both break out in laughter.
"Uhhh, but honestly. Maybe Linosaur."
"Okay, solid solid."
She adjusts her glasses, eyes struggling to decide between his face and the wall behind him. A prolonged silence takes hold of the classroom.
"So uh. By the way," he starts. "Could you..."
"Hmm?"
"I'm sorry."
"Could you tell me your name?"
Her gaze became focused on him, eyes wide and blank.
"It's Relia."
***
"Hey Relia! Did you get that app I told you about yet?"
"Mhm"
"Oh? Lemme see. Did you make an account yet?"
"Yeah."
"Huh!"
"W-what's with that profile picture!"
"What's wrong?"
"Two muscular anime men kissing?!"
"And?"
"There's spit and everything."
"Oh, get with the times Hoku, there's nothing wrong with a blossoming romance."
"Alright, forget that. Do you know how to use it?"
"More or less."
"Nice, I'll call you later then."
***
"Hoku..."
"Yeah?"
"I got a shiny."
"Really!? Do you have any PowerBalls or Legendballs?"
"I ran out, what do I dooooo?"
"...So, Hoku, is BB your favourite game?"
"Oh..."
"Yeah, I guess. It's the only one I'm playing now."
"Reeeaaalllyy?"
"It's not like I love everything about it."
"Like, I never really liked the whole monster catching thing"
"What?"
"I-Isn't... that the main appeal?"
"Guess so."
"It also feels a little easy"
"Well, the game's basically made so babies can play it. Uhhhh... have you... Have you tried mods?"
"Nah. Isn't that a lot of effort? Well, I've never really tried it, so I guess I shouldn't bash it"
"I could walk you through it. I've done it with other games."
"I'll show you in person."
"...Wait, so no offence, what do you even like about the game?"
I mostly just like the combat"
"Oh."
"Oh?"
"You wanna try something else?"
"Like what?"
"Mmm hm hm, I got a whole genre for you, dude."
***
"H-Hoku"
"Did you finish The Dark Chronicles of the Bloodless Prince?"
"..."
"So what did you think?"
"That-"
"THAT WAS THE BEST DAMN GAME I EVER PLAYED!!!"
"The characters 10/10"
"The gameplay 10/10"
"The writing 10/10"
"The story 1000000/10"
"I'm so glad you think so! What did you think about the forest part and the knight squad backstory, and Terin joining the villain's side?"
"OH My GOD, that was insane, I thought he was gonna help beat the final boss, then Boom! He comes out those church doors, pointing a flaming sword at me, covered in darkness, looking cool as shit, aaaahhh"
"Haha. well, it's my favourite game for a reason."
"Oh ho, what a coincidence."
"Hokuuu, we gotta expand your horizons before you start making up your mind on that."
"True."
"B-but don't worry, Professor Relia will expect a top 10 list delivered to her desk by the end of the year."
"..."
"A year, huh? Well, if they're all like that, I can't wait!"
***
"Relia, Relia, look"
"Is that Blood prince? W-what am I looking at?"
"Look it's Terin!"
"What happened to him? Why's his face like that??"
"Did you accidentally download some cursed mod?"
"No ma'am, this is base game"
"I don't believe that."
"You'd better"
"He looks like... an elephant on meth"
"What did this brute do to you, my sweet prince?"
"I cooould show you my method"
"Absolutely not.
"I'd like to keep my Terin as he is."
"Awww, Reliaaa, don't you wanna seeeeeeee?"
"Keep your dark arts to yourself, demon."
"Hmph, Fine. I was also gonna tell you about a special exploit to get rid of his clothes texture, but I guess I'll keep my secrets to myself"
"Nggghh, the demon tempts me."
***
"Hoku did you see?"
"They're making a remake of Tenshiri SoulBlade"
"Oh shit? I hope they do the original justice"
"You gonna play it, dude?"
"Errrrr, Maybe, Been pretty busy with life stuff lately. I'm also playing through The Skeleton Keep"
"I thought you beat Keep."
"Yeah, I'm replaying on the nightmare difficulty."
"Wow..."
"So Hoku?"
"You doing anything after school?"
"Yeah, sorry."
"...Ok."
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
Spring had come. The sun whispered through the windows of class 5-E.
School had just ended for the day. The classroom was completely quiet aside from sound.
Two students sat by the window to the left, one tapping the buttons on a blue DS, eyes glued to a little screen. The other checking his phone.
Hoku got up from the seat next to Relia and walked towards the door, moving his phone to his ear. "Hey, I'm on my way, okay"
"Yeah, yeah."
"Ha, shut up, man."
"Oh my god, you're so corny."
Relia puts down her DS and watches him from her window seat.
"Serious?"
"No show, huh?"
Suddenly, Hoku turns back around, making Relia jump a little and pick her DS back up, pretending that she was playing the whole time.
"Hey, you uh."
"Want to come to a party?"
She glanced up at him.
"Nah, I'll pass." She answered, keeping her eyes on the screen.
"It's nothing special or anything, just super casual."
"They're all people I know, and they're probably just gonna be talking about stuff they like."
"I don't know, sounds kinda lame."
"Uh, no offence," she added.
"Right..."
"Look, I get it."
"Sounds a little scary."
"I was in the exact same place a few years ago, trust."
"But you gotta break out of it eventually, talk to other people, ya know."
She doesn't even entertain what he's saying, as if the words were coming in through one ear and leaving out the other.
"It's just."
"I feel kinda bad," he shrugged
"Huh, about what?"
"I mean, you don't really speak to anyone else."
"Is that any of your business? Why are we talking about this?" She grumbled, hunching towards her DS.
"Relia, I don't know. I kind of feel like... I'm holding you captive or something."
She laughs at the sentiment and even snorts a little.
"What!?"
"If anything, I'm holding you captive, dude."
Hoku stares at her with a slightly concerned look. She notices his gaze and glares back, making him avert his eyes to the side, blushing slightly.
An awkward silence hangs over them, broken by three words.
"Go. Be happy."
Hoku felt like he was fighting a losing battle; he couldn't do anything against the melancholic smile that was painted on her face.
In the end, he could only walk away.