Chapter CV: The Friend Who Switched Schools
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
The shrill cry of the alarm clock echoes like a siren inside a cluttered room filled with old posters of vintage video games, a half-finished planet-like battle station from Space Wars, and a suspicious amount of empty ramen cups.
Suddenly, from under a mountain of blankets, a tuft of silver hair shoots up like a pop-up toaster.
"Ack! It's already seven?!"
WHAM.
A tall, lanky guy in pajama shorts leaps out of bed like he's been hit with a thunderbolt. In his haste, he karate-chops the flying alarm clock midair, sending it into a slow-motion arc across the room.
Time feels suspended.
"Oh crap—wait—WAIT—"
CRASH.
The clock lands with a bounce on his pile of gaming magazines. Masashi groans, backpedals, scoops it up, gently places it back on the table, and pats it lovingly.
"Sorry, sensei alarm clock. You did your job well."
He dashes to his wardrobe, grabs the first shirt he sees (it says "Macman ate my homework"), throws it on, and speeds down the hallway, socks sliding wildly like he's skating through butter.
In the kitchen, the smell of eggs and spam welcomes him like a warm hug. His mother, short-haired and stern-faced, is pouring hot chocolate into two thermoses.
"Masashi," she calls without looking, "don't forget your little brother's homework. It's on the living room table."
"YES MOM," he shouts, slipping past her like a ninja, tossing two packs of Hello Panda and three Yakult bottles into his dinosaur-print backpack. He grabs the homework folder from the table, flings it into the bag, and yells upstairs.
"RUI! LET'S GOOOOOO!"
His eight-year-old little brother, wearing a school uniform two sizes too big, barrels down the stairs with a slice of bread in his mouth like every anime protagonist ever.
"I GOTTA PASS MATH, NIICHAN!" Rui shouts, as if his older brother is a getaway driver and he's the heist master.
Masashi gives a half-smile. "Hop on the motorcycle, little man."
VROOOOM.
The city breeze hits their faces as they zoom through narrow streets. Rui hugs Masashi's back tightly while Masashi hums the theme song of Super Bario Kart under his breath. His head bobs slightly in rhythm.
As they pass the riverside—currently under renovation with the maintenance crew carrying various colors of paint and signages like "Dike Development Phase 2: Mind Your Step Unless You Want to Learn to Swim the Hard Way"—Masashi's gaze softens.
And suddenly...he flashbacks.
It was 2013, back to his childhood days. The sun is brutal, the classroom fan sounds like it's dying, and young Masashi is doodling a picture of a banana yelling "I'm potassium-rich!" on the corner of his worksheet.
"Karasuki! What's that?!"
His teacher's voice pierces through his daydream. The class snickers. He holds up the drawing proudly.
"It's Banana Moe. He's a health advocate."
The entire class bursts into laughter.
Masashi grins. Even at a young age, he's the class clown—the joker, the meme king, the one who once put googly eyes on every classroom supply and made the teacher nearly cry with laughter.
"Masashi, that's so funny!"
"You're like a walking cartoon!"
"Draw me next, draw me as a snail!"
But... not all the attention is good.
Behind the school canteen, Masashi's laughter fades as he's pushed against a wall by two older boys. One has a bandage on his nose like he just came from a brawl, the other is chewing gum like it's made of revenge.
"Pathetic," one sneers, "Masashi Karasuki... You think being funny will get you anywhere?"
"You're built like a school bus, man," the other adds with a smirk, "All yellow, fat, and dumb."
Masashi doesn't say anything. His hands are shaking slightly. His smile is gone.
But days later, his parents storm the school like samurai returning from war.
"You lay a hand on our son again, we'll file a case so fast your ancestors will feel it," his mom says with laser vision.
From that day on, the bullies disappear. Masashi realizes something.
Being funny is good... but being strong and informed is better.
During his elementary days, Masashi finds himself obsessed with one subject: history.
He reads everything he can about World War II, watching documentaries at 1.5x speed like a man possessed. He rewrites battle strategies in his notebooks. He debates online with forum users twice his age. Once, he corrects a high schooler on the date of the Invasion of Normandy and gets called a "nerd wizard."
Alongside history, he delves into video games—Macman, Plunkey Kong, Super Bario, and his secret guilty pleasure: Love Café Simulator 3000 (he never tells anyone he reached Level 98 in Relationship Counseling Mode).
Then at the Fifth Grade, a new face walks into class. He's neat, sharp, and looks like he doesn't know the horror of cafeteria meatloaf.
The teacher says, "Everyone, we have a transfer student from Honoko Private Academy. Please welcome—"
"Enmei Miru," the boy says, bowing politely.
Masashi eyes him like a scientist discovering a new organism.
After class, he marches up to him. "Yo, name's Masashi. Wanna play Plunkey Kong 3: Barrel Requiem later?"
Enmei blinks. "...Sure?"
That's the beginning of a legendary (and chaotic) friendship.
They meet every day to play games, crack jokes, and share ridiculous theories. One time, Masashi claims that Macman is based on a real fruit spirit from Okinawa. Enmei just nods slowly, munching on chips.
However, Masashi outshines Enmei academically. While Enmei draws robots in the margins of his test paper, Masashi's writing a five-page essay on how supply lines doomed the Axis powers.
Still, they click.
Masashi starts feeling like maybe being weird and funny and smart isn't a bad combo.
Just after their elementary graduation, Masashi and Enmei ride their bikes near the riverside behind the school complex, just as the construction for a dike is already in process. The sky is overcast. The smell of grilled street food wafts through the air.
The river is calm, reflecting their silhouettes.
Masashi throws a stone across the water. It skips three times before sinking.
"Enmei," he says, eyes focused on the ripples, "do you think high school's gonna be different?"
Enmei looks at him, blinking through his too-long bangs. "Different how?"
"I dunno," Masashi shrugs. "New faces, new bullies, maybe new adventures. I just feel like... things are changing."
He looks toward the construction signs being planted along the river.
"What do you think we'll find there? In high school?"
Enmei pauses, then mutters, "Hopefully better cafeteria food."
Masashi laughs so hard he nearly falls into the river.
"That's all on your head right now? Food?"
Enmei reasons, "Well yeah, I didn't have any breakfast yet"
Masashi then laughs, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's get some food at the convenience store in front of school."
They ride their bikes as they race each other to the convenience store.
The bell rings.
The gates of the school burst open like a scene from an anime intro. Fresh uniforms, slick backpacks, and awkward teenagers flood the campus as Masashi and Enmei take their first step into their high school life. Masashi's silver hair is already infamous, earning curious glances from students as if a K-pop idol just enrolled.
"Yo, bro," Masashi smirks, elbowing Enmei. "We're officially high school dudes. The dream starts now!"
Enmei, holding a bag that suspiciously looks like it has only a Bintendo Switch and no notebooks, shrugs. "Yeah. Dream of getting detention on the first day."
Masashi laughs as he scans the campus. That's when he meets them—a new breed of gamer-nerds with an energy level matching his own. There he meets Kota, Asahi, and Haru.
They click instantly, bonding over their holy trinity: Video games, memes, and violent sneezing fits when someone says "gaslight."
One afternoon, while the squad gathers in a dim corner of the school's rooftop (the universally accepted headquarters of all teenager mischief), Masashi flips open his phone and stifles a laugh.
"Guys. Check this out," he says, spinning his phone around. It's a cursed image of a guy holding a single spaghetti noodle like a violin bow with the caption: "When your mom says dinner's ready but you're still in the final boss fight."
Asahi nearly chokes on his takoyaki. "Bro, why is this me last night with my dog's medicine?!"
Haru, deadpan as usual, simply mutters, "This is what peak male performance looks like."
Enmei shows his own meme, something involving a poorly drawn anime character slapping another with a croissant.
Kota adds a meme that combines 2018's weird obsession with the Ogre Meme and a distorted Windows XP sound. "This is vintage," he claims with a nod of pride.
They all burst into laughter—except Haru, who just blinks and says, "The croissant one. That's dark. I like it."
In their chaos, Masashi notices a girl glaring from across the rooftop and that would be Himari, the prim and proper type who seems to hate noise and even more, hates Masashi.
"Oi, Himari-chan," Masashi teases, waving with exaggerated sweetness. "You look like you just ate a lemon dipped in taxes."
"Masashi, one more word and I will staple your tongue to a filing cabinet," she fires back, arms crossed. The boys "Ooooooh" in unison.
Unfazed, Masashi fires again. "Hah! Classic tsundere behavior!"
She throws a notebook at him. Misses. But it was close.
Another day, while scrolling his group chat, Masashi grins. Akiko enters the classroom and sits beside Kota. The usually composed Kota suddenly becomes more rigid than a metal rod in winter.
Masashi whispers loudly enough for everyone to hear: "Kotaaaa~ How's your wife doing today?"
Kota turns red. Akiko looks confused. Haru raises his eyebrows. Enmei just makes a dolphin noise.
Kota stammers, "Sh-she's not— Masashi! Don't make things weird!"
Akiko blinks innocently. "Huh?"
Masashi giggles, nearly falling off his chair. "Don't worry, I'll send the wedding invites."
Later that week, Masashi accidentally stumbles upon The Moment. He sees Kota crying and nervously talking to Akiko, surrounded by classmates. Her expression, more like an active volcano ready to explode.
She berates Kota relentlessly.
Masashi ducks behind the doorframe, witnessing it all. Like a romcom movie in slow-mo. Kota just nods, forces a smile, and says, "It's okay. I understand."
But the pain is evident.
Masashi wants to run and comfort him, but a teacher calls both Kota and Akiko into the office.
That night, their group chat lights up.
Masashi: "Bro, you okay? Want me to send memes until you pass out from laughter?"
Asahi: "Do you want a care package with hot choco and a pic of a hamster with a gun?"
Kota: "I'm fine... just tired. But thanks, guys."
Masashi: "We gotchu. You're stronger than Windows Vista after a RAM upgrade."
Their brotherhood strengthens.
He then enters Second Year. The same gang. Slightly taller. Same vibes. More memes.
Classes resume, and Kota and Akiko start interacting again, albeit slowly. Masashi observes from the sidelines, whispering to Asahi like a court gossip. "They're talking again. Look! They shared a pen!"
"Scandalous," Asahi gasps, pretending to faint.
But everything changes.
The pandemic hits. Suddenly, classrooms turn into Zoom calls. School becomes a series of waking up five minutes before class and arguing with muted mics.
Despite the chaos, Masashi and the squad thrive in their weird way.
They spend nights playing Craftsburg—a knock-off sandbox game where they build cities, escape zombies, and prank each other by filling each other's houses with virtual chickens.
"Who filled my base with lava!?" Kota screams in a voice call.
Masashi laughs uncontrollably. "That's not lava, it's artistic expression!"
They also move their meme sharing to Accord, their chat app. Masashi creates a whole channel called #MemesThatKilledMyGPA.
But not all is fun.
After months in isolation, Asahi begins posting cryptic messages. Images of dark quotes. Messages like "Does anyone else feel... hollow?" begin appearing.
Concerned, Masashi and the others confront the topic seriously.
When the lockdown ends, Asahi arranges a hangout at a fast food chain. Masashi, despite being the one to suggest it in the first place, arrives fashionably late.
He bursts into the restaurant with dramatic flair, only to find Kota, Toshiro, and Enmei deep in a serious conversation.
"...I've seen him doing self-harm during our video calls," Kota says quietly. "But he always stops. I think he's crying for help."
Toshiro frowns. "Who in the world advertises their own methods like that?"
Enmei nods, "It's like a weird performance."
Masashi steps forward, gently. "Guys... Asahi's hurting. Even if it looks like attention-seeking, it's still pain. Let's not abandon him for that."
Just then, Asahi walks in. Everyone falls silent.
He stares at them first, a long awkward pause, but continues on the way.
Then Masashi walks up and hands him a burger. "You're still paying for your own fries, though."
The group bursts out laughing. Asahi smiles. A real one.
As he enters Senior High School, Masashi's life takes a sharp turn.
One evening, he's with his mom, surrounded by bills, when she breaks the news.
"We're not enrolling you at Shinomiya High School anymore. Tuition's gone up again. You'll transfer to the Prefecture University."
"What!?" Masashi snaps, standing up. "But all my friends—everything's there!"
"I'm sorry, Masashi," his mom says, clearly distressed. "We can't afford it anymore."
"But that's my school! My life's there!" he yells.
They argue. It's heated. Masashi storms into his room, punching his pillow until it looks like a mashed potato monster.
The next day, he quietly packs.
But despite being at a different school, the bond remains.
When Kota turns seventeen, Masashi attends the celebration. There, he meets Gin who in fact can be a rival to the mouth from The Neanderthals to the modern documented history, who could rival even his own obsession with WWII trivia.
"You think the fall of Berlin was avoidable?" Gin says, eyes gleaming.
Masashi raises an eyebrow. "Only if you reversed the entire war's logistics. And gave the Fuhrer a Bintendo Switch."
They laugh, then immediately dive into a 3-hour historical debate while the others argue over pizza flavors.
Over the years, Masashi and Gin become debate buddies, often sending each other historical facts, conspiracy theories, and cursed pictures of generals edited into meme formats.
The flashback then ends.
Back in the present, the motorcycle rolls to a stop in front of Rui's elementary school.
"Go get that 75% in Math, champ," Masashi says, ruffling his little brother's hair.
Rui hops off, adjusting his backpack. "I will! And if I get 80, can we buy that new manga with the demon ballerinas?"
Masashi salutes. "Deal."
As Rui disappears into the school gates, Masashi gazes at the river again.
Now it's concrete. Organized, and completed with parking and trees and a single Sakura tree. Like time itself, reshaping memories.
He stares at the river flowing gently. He takes a deep breath.
"Ah, those were the days, wonder what are the squad doing now?".
As he takes out his phone, he sees a post on YourBook, and it's the post made by the squad about Akiko and Kota goes missing.
He then chats up the squad that he'll be helping in finding them.
"Oh you Lovebirds, where did you both go?", he wonders.