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 approached.
"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 sat.
"You forget to bring your coat?"
The student who was sitting down simply shrugged.
Hoku glances around, observing the other students leaving the classroom.
He leans in a little.
"So what you playin'?"
Once again he was met with a light shrug, to which he tilted himself to look at the screen.
In response, the student turned to face him with an annoyed pout.
droopy lime eyes, mid-length black hair so straight it could be used as paper, with an extra clump tied at the side with a yellow band. She wore square green 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 repeated.
"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 Jinny's place. You comin'?"
A group of classmates call out in the doorway.
He turned in the direction of the door "Yeah, one sec" 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 agressively pulling his arm.
"Now, now, now!"
"Whoa- ok, ok." He laughed 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 on the desk, staring at her ds.
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 door that was slightly agape 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 her newest obsession 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 glanced at him, then stared at his legs realizing he wasn't leaving. SHe rested the mop on the wall and moved to her bag, removing the jumper.
Hoku smiled.
"I hope you got some warmth outta it."
She held it up for him to take, averting her gaze, but he waited a little bit for an answer.
"Um, no, not really."
"Hm?" 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 she quickly reclaimed the mop
Hoku stared at her like she had just killed a puppy, making her incredibly anxious.
"You're kiddin', it was cold as balls yesterday."
"Then-"
"Then you shouldn't have left it behind," she snapped, eyes fixed to the floor.
She quickly glanced up at his face to judge his expression, then awkwardly twisted her body away from him, stiffly continuing to mop.
"Sorry, I'm not being seen with that in public," she said.
"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 up.
She watched him and realised 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:
"Uh, thanks, Hoku."
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 interrupted.
"Pity?"
He hesitated at the sentiment.
"N-no. I don't know. I thought maybe I could try talking to someone."
"What about those people you hang out with?"
"Them?" He sighed. "...All my friends are into music, and flowers and shit."
"Flowers?" She smiled.
"Yeah, so I just wanted to talk about something else. I guess."
"That's pretty stupid, I know," he said, rubbing the back of his head.
She readjusted her glasses and took a moment to build up courage.
"Who's your favourite starter?" She asked.
He looked up at her, surprised to see that she was actually looking back.
"Syrup," he answered.
"Hmm." 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 was broken when they started laughing.
"Uhhh, but honestly. Maybe Linosaur."
"Cool."
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?"
"Gross! 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?"
"Yeah."
"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."
"..."
"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 mistake a virus for a mod again?"
"No ma'am, this is base game"
"B-akana."
"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."
"oh ok."
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
Spring had come. The sun whispered through the windows of class 5-E.
School had just ended for the day. The classroom was almsot completely quiet.
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 watched him from her window seat.
"Serious?"
"No show, huh?"
Suddenly, Hoku turned back around, making Relia jump a little and pick her DS back up, pretending that she was playing the whole time.
Hoku turned to her. "Hey, you uh."
"Want to come to a party?"
She glanced hesitantly up at him.
"Nah, I'll pass." She answered, keeping her eyes on the screen.
"It's nothing special or anything, 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."
"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?" She asked.
"I mean, you don't really speak to anyone else."
"I don't see how that's any of your business? Why are we even 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 simple 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.