III.

. . .

Just get through today, King, then you can convince her tomorrow that you shouldn’t go were the words I told myself as we walked into the school, in my head of course.

If my mother knew what I was scheming before I put it into motion, then she would definitely not be convinced by the emotions I would put on the stage.

I would most likely have to check the late pass I would grab to see what class I was going to, considering I wasn’t here last week at all.

“Great, now I’m going to have to come here tomorrow if I wasn’t here last week,” I thought to myself once again.

“Alright! See you two later!” My mother spoke to Akane and I, “...remember to invite your friends! Only three each though!”

I sighed, not responding, Akane did however, it wouldn't be that hard for her to invite three friends.

I already knew who it would be too.

Kazuki, Seamona, and either Ann or Luna. That’s who it is every time. Every. Single. Time.

Right, …Seamona said she wouldn’t be back until the end of May, and while I would like to say that it is the end of May, I would say that it would be next week when she would come back.

Therefore, it would definitely be Ann and Luna coming tonight, which I’m fine with, I just don’t really know much about them however.

“Here you go Ō, …and here you go Akane,” the secretary woman, whose name I actually did not know, said as she handed us our late passes.

I usually get called Ō-sama by my class, and Ō by teachers, because they think that’s my name, it’s not. My name is King Okamura, I usually correct people but lately I just haven’t had a care to do it.

“What’s yours say?” I asked Akane as she glanced at her late pass. She took a moment, considering the handwriting was, well, to put it nicely, the writing wasn’t exactly legible.

“Uh…” Akane groaned lightly, “...I can’t read it…”

I sighed lightly as I glanced at my pass, “...oh!” I looked back at Akane, “...we’re in gym together.”

“Are you serious?” Akane groaned heavily this time, “...we leave for one week and now we have fu- we have gym,” she grunted, her eyes bulging slightly at each remark she made.

I let out a small coo as she stopped herself from cussing, “...well, I know Diana is in our class as well, …I’ll be able to say hi to her.”

Akane sighed, “it does feel good being able to understand your friends a little bit more, even if I don’t usually talk to her.”

I chuckled a bit when she said friends. “You mean ‘friend’, right? You know I don’t have any other friends aside from her.”

Akane put her hands on her hips as we walked into the actual school, “...and why don’t you try to get to know Diana’s friends? Then you’d have more!”

“When you think I can talk to the most popular kids in my class, then tell me about that, they hate me Akane, I’m not athletic and I’m a faggot, they aren’t going to talk to me.”

Akane sighed, “...that’s fair.” Her face had a slight gloomy look on it as I said the word faggot.

I wasn’t wrong, I am a faggot, I like boys as a boy, and I will call myself that word loud and proud.

“You know what? I will try to talk to her friends, maybe they’ll like me if I do that,” I said, chuckling a little bit, thinking about the potential consequences I would earn from speaking to the ‘heteronormies’ in my class. Just maybe, I would be attached to one of them. And maybe, just maybe, it will be Hibiki.

. . .

Akane and I walked into gym class together, cracking jokes with each other the entire time.

“And then, when Kazuki confronted her, she denied everything!” Akane chuckled as I felt a little bad.

She had been telling me about a story with one of Kazuki’s ex-girlfriends. Apparently she was actually a lesbian, but I’m not so sure why she would’ve been in a relationship with Kazuki, a man, if she was.

Akane said it’s something called ‘compulsory heterosexuality’, and it’s basically when a non-man feels like they have to fit into the heteronormative social standard. Hearing about it actually made me feel a little bad for this girl.

“...that’s actually really fucked up,” I spoke as someone grabbed onto my hand and pulled me away.

“King! You’re back!” Diana shouted, grabbing and pulling me into a hug as she spun us around.

“...yeah, I am, you missed me that much, huh? Your athletic friends don’t hold much of a standard to me, I guess!” I joked around.

Diana sighed, “...I mean they don’t… know about that.” She let me out of the embrace as she chuckled lightly, “...you understand me! Y’know that, right?”

I giggled a little bit, realizing what she meant.

“Right, right, they support that you’re a lesbian, I guess, but… they don’t know about the thing,” I spoke, lowering my voice in order to ensure nobody knew I was talking about a vulnerable aspect of Diana’s life.

The gym teacher came over to Akane, Diana, and I as she spoke, “welcome back you two!”

Akane waved gently in a respectable manner and I greeted her with my voice. The two of us handed her our passes as she inspected them, throwing them out after knowing they weren’t forged.

“So, what are we doing?” I asked Diana as her face lit up.

“We’re just continuing practicing our trusting skills, it’s a little boring, but I can catch you up to speed!” She chuckled.

This unit was the worst unit imaginable.

Our teacher gave us all different groups, trying to separate the classes as year nines aren’t as strong as the year elevens.

I was stuck with Diana, Hibiki, and some random ass girl named Marcy.

Each group had four people, and I felt bad that Akane had to hang around people she didn’t know. But, I did have one friend in my group, Diana. And I think my teacher understood enough that Diana would be respectful to me and that Hibiki and Marcy weren’t going to be rude; they practically ignored me, unless they had to speak.

Hibiki didn’t even know my name.

“King, here,” Diana spoke as she brought a beam over, “...we have to walk across, sideways, with one person behind and one person in front. You should walk now since we’ve done this a bunch of times.

I think I audibly sighed when she said one person had to be in front as well, “...okay, …I can live with that…” I lied to myself.

It was a little odd though, Hibiki offered to be my other partner, as Marcy watched, almost immediately.

“...that’s fine, I mean, I don’t talk to either of you, so sure, why not,” I spoke, sighing as I got on the beam.

“Don’t worry, we’ve done this countless times, …you’ll be good,” Hibiki reassured me as I turned. I wanted to face Diana since I didn’t know anything about Hibiki, and quite frankly I didn’t want to look at a ginger.

“Alright! Go!” Marcy spoke as I slowly shuffled along, Diana and Hibiki–at least I think he was–followed, not touching me, but keeping their arms out just to be safe.

I made my way across the beam incredibly fast, I think it took around four seconds for me to get across?

“Woah, okay then,” Marcy spoke as she went back on her phone after stopping the timer.

“Ō-sama, …how did you-” Hibiki started, but he didn’t finish.

I blinked twice as I thought about something two people I knew told me.

Just trust your instinct, and if you think it’ll go wrong, it won’t. And if someone sees something they shouldn’t, …well they won’t remember it.

“Can you- nevermind. I’m just naturally good,” I chuckled lightly, “who’s next?”

“I’ll go,” Hibiki spoke, he got on the beam. I went to sit out as Marcy hadn’t done anything yet.

“Ready…” I spoke as I prepared the timer, “...go!”

Then he shuffled across the beam.

Then he got off.

The timer read fifteen seconds.

“Fifteen seconds!” I shouted, “...good job!” I spoke as I clapped. Marcy frowned slightly as Hibiki chuckled.

I replaced Marcy’s spot as she got on the beam, and Hibiki went to sit out. Diana and I put our hands out.

“Go!” Hibiki shouted, and Marcy started shuffling along.

Then she got off.

The timer read, “...thirteen point nine two!”

I clapped for Marcy to congratulate her.

Then Hibiki replaced Diana’s spot as she got on the beam.

Hibiki and I made eye contact for a few seconds, he looked like he… wanted that to happen.

My head tilted ever so slightly until Marcy shouted go, I started shuffling along the ground as Diana went across the beam.

Then she got off and Marcy shouted, “nine point zero two!”

After we finished the turns on the beams, we had to report our times to the teacher.

“Four seconds…?” She asked when I told her my time, “...hold on a second, I need to see you do it again to believe that.”

“Oh, yeah, …uh, I can do that…!” I spoke as we went back to our beam.

And so, I got back on the beam, Hibiki went behind me once again, and Diana went in front.

Then I shuffled.

And I got off.

The time read three seconds this time.

“...what,” Marcy spoke as she sighed. She looked annoyed slightly, but also a little impressed.

The teacher then announced to the class that, “...here’s our new beam champion, or our new beam King, King Okamura! With a whopping time of three point four seven seconds!”

Everyone stared at me and started clapping.

I felt a little more proud of myself at that moment, and thought maybe people would start talking to me.

But, I also felt odd.

Maybe I shouldn’t have done that.

But maybe everyone will start calling me King too.

I smirked at that realization, and getting all of that attention did feel pretty damn good.

. . .

Gym was over and now was the period before lunch period. I had last lunch today since I was in my science class. It was chemistry, which is fun!

But right now, I actually had another fun class, art. I shared that class with Akira, Seamona, and Kazuki, who I sat with considering Akane knows both of them, Akira being her best friend, Seamona being Akira’s girlfriend, and Kazuki being Akane’s boyfriend, but you should know that by now.

Though, Seamona wasn’t in school this week, so it was just going to be Akira and Kazuki sitting with me today.

In my art class, we painted. It was a painting class that I had signed up for, considering I liked painting in the foundation class in year nine at the school in Shibuya and decided to pursue it as my art education in this school.

They were actually really nice about understanding that I had taken a foundation class at my old school.

If I’m being totally honest, I wouldn’t mind going off to college to study art, it’s peaceful, and lets me forget about the past. With my dad dying of pneumonia of course.

I sat down and awaited instructions, considering I wasn’t here for two weeks, they definitely started a new project.

Akira nor Kazuki were at the table yet, so I assumed they were late to class.

And then they showed up, chuckling together as they both noticed I was sitting at the table.

When they walked over, they both greeted me with nice and respectful hello’s.

If I was being totally honest, I didn’t know much about either of them, but for some odd reason, it’s always felt like Akira and I did know each other on a deeper level, but Akane feels the same way about Diana, so it could just be a sibling instinct between each other's best friends.

“So, you guys are finally back, hm?” Akira spoke with a gentle voice, “how was Shibuya?”

“Oh, really busy, I’m sure Akane will tell you two all about it, it was insane,” I spoke, “...my mother fell for a scam, my father got lost in a crowd on the way back to the hotel one night, Akane and I went into a store and encountered some wack Christian, it was… an experience.”

“Oh wow,” Kazuki chuckled, “...sounds like… a time.” He went over to the drying canvases to grab his and Akira’s work.

“Soooo, what project are we doing?” I asked Akira as Kazuki came back over to the table.

“It’s a landscape painting… with shadows and silhouettes…” she sighed, “...it’s going well surprisingly, …ours look beautiful, and I’m sure yours will too once you start!” She chuckled lightly, covering her mouth with her hand, which was holding onto the hem of sleeve.

Akira was a very, very respectable person, and she was super respectful to everyone. That’s why no one really knows she exists, she’s very quiet and doesn’t enjoy having attention placed upon her.

She’s in my public speaking class as well, it’s mandatory for year eleven’s to take it, sadly. Neither of us like it, but it is a class to help us bond a little more!

She once told me that she was… having her woman moment and that if she had to speak to the class that day that she would’ve probably vomited, and the teacher was not very respectful about that.

I think you can infer what ended up happening outside of the classroom.

Luckily, no one knew what happened and she ended up going home that day. I never felt more bad for her in my life than in that moment.

And then there’s Kazuki, who all I know is that he looks like a gay twink, but he is dating my sister, meaning he can’t be!

But, he is nice to her, and that’s a good thing, I don’t want anyone to be rude to her. Otherwise I’ll have to kill them.

Not really, but… yeah… okay I’ll shut up now…

“Well, I think the teacher will come and help you in a minute…- Oh, nevermind,” Akane took her words back.

The teacher wasn’t here, meaning we had a substitute. Which is fine, I can get away with being on my phone if there’s a substitute.

“...well considering I don’t know what I’m doing, I’m going to have to just sit here, …that’ll be fun!” I chuckled to myself.

“...and we’re stuck here having to paint… lucky us…” Kazuki joked around, sighing. He actually really liked painting, so did Akira. He wasn’t complaining, and neither was she.

“Say, King, what class did you have before this? If you were here of course,” Akira asked, her voice still very gentle as she dipped her paintbrush in black paint to start her silhouettes.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Gym, it was partner work,” I responded. I wanted to talk about Hibiki and Marcy, but I decided against it, at least for now.

“Oh, fun! Did you work with Diana?” Kazuki popped in. Kazuki had been over my house quite often and knew I was pretty acquainted with Diana.

“Well, it was actually a group of four, it was a beam walk. Hibiki, Marcy, and Diana had been working together, considering there wasn’t anyone else to join their group, so I got to join them.” I ended up talking about the group anyway.

Akira looked up from her painting with an… expression on her face, she spoke a little more aggressively, “Hibiki and Marcy? Were they nice to you?”

“Well, Hibiki was, Marcy didn’t really talk to me…” I confessed. “I also apparently got a new record on the beam walk too, so I got some attention drawn upon me…”

I was slightly nervous to talk about all of this, sure, it’s not like I’m confessing to a crime or anything, but I was never really the fondest of the kids in class, especially the popular ones I didn’t talk to.

“A new record?” Akira asked, she seemed very intrigued in what I was talking about now. “Doesn’t really sound like… well, you, no offense of course.”

“None taken, haha,” I joked along, I never really came across as the athletic type, “...no I actually am fit a little, you can just never tell because I’m always in baggy clothing.”

“That’s not necessarily a bad thing,” Akira chuckled as she smiled.

“Say, now that I remember, my mother said that Akane and I could invite three people over tonight…” I said, “...do you two want to go if Akane is fine with that?”

“I can’t, my parents are taking me and my sister out for dinner tonight,” Kazuki answered, sighing.

“You have a sister?” I questioned, never knowing about his sister, he’s never mentioned her directly to me.

“Yep! She’s a lot younger than I am, so you probably won’t see around quite often… and I have to watch her this weekend while my mother goes somewhere with my father,” Kazuki spoke, going back to his painting.

“I can probably go over, I’m sure Akane would want me to,” Akira chuckled, “...I’m assuming you’re just going to invite Diana?”

“Yeah, I don’t have any other friends than her… and well, she’s already inviting you, probably.” I looked down at the table. “...but, who knows, Hibiki was friendly with me today and… well, maybe he’ll wanna come over too, …doubt I’ll be able to ask him though.”

“Have Diana ask! She’s really popular! …wait, how are you guys even friends?” Akira asked, and she realized what a lot of people were probably thinking.

“She used to go to my school when I lived in Shibuya, but… she moved and… well, I only had one other friend.” I responded honestly.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Akira replied, her voice a lot lower than it usually is, I didn’t want her to feel sorry for me, I’m used to being quite alone.

“Nah, don’t be, I’m used to it,” I replied.

Her facial expression changed even more. She suddenly spoke, “...that makes it so much worse…”

I sighed, my face lightening from itself, I smiled at her, which told her that I liked it that way.

“Y’know what, I will try to talk with more people, if I do that, …well, maybe I won’t be as lonely as I usually end up feeling,” my voice let out, gently and softly. I pulled out my phone, texting Diana to ask Hibiki if he would like to sit with us at lunch.

. . .

When I walked into the chemistry room, I was surprised to see Hibiki standing near the doorframe waiting for me.

“Hey,” he spoke, smirking. He had his hand on his forehead, pushing his hair back slightly, it was almost like he was trying to seduce me.

“Hi?” I responded, confused as to why he was trying to converse with me. “Why are you talking to me?”

He chuckled lightly before answering, “can I not talk to people now?”

I chuckled a little bit too. “Well, I guess you can.”

Hibiki started walking to the desk as he sat next to the desk I usually sat in. “Take a seat.”

I blushed a little bit, I don’t know why, I don’t think he’s hot or anything. “...this is weirding me out.”

Hibiki chuckled again as I sat down a little hesitantly. Nobody sat at the desk to my left, but now Hibiki did, so clearly I did something to get his liking.

“Oh? And why’s that?” Hibiki asked, sounding like he did genuinely care about my answer.

“Well, I’m not used to talking to people like you…” I spoke before I blushed in embarrassment, “I- I mean! …I’m not used to talking to people that are… well, popular.”

Hibiki reassured me that he understood my point, he crossed his arms as he smirked again.

I sighed, sinking into my seat lightly, I glanced over at Hibiki with a side eye, he obviously noticed it considering he was staring at me in a way.

“Did Diana text you?” I muttered, slightly quietly. He heard me speak as he nodded, I glanced away from him at my hand.

“I’m fine with that,” Hibiki responded. He sighed lightly, which made the room become eerily quiet as we started paying attention to the class.

“Psst,” Hibiki let out lightly, I glanced over at him.

“What?” I asked slightly rudely, my tone was a little more stern then I would like to admit.

“Hi,” he whispered. I swear to god if he’s genuinely this annoying all the time, I may just regret getting that time.

I rolled my eyes, huffing lightly as I ignored him.

His whole demeanor felt like he was trying to tease me, which honestly would be decently hilarious if he was attempting that. And if he wasn’t, then what the fuck.

I had been thinking about things in my head for a little while. I sat at my desk, tuning out the teacher, and in the process, tuning out Hibiki as well.

I shouldn’t have gotten that fucking time… I spoke to myself in my thoughts.

“Hibiki? Are you… genuinely being nice to me?” I whispered under my breath, for some odd reason, he did hear it. I turned to face him, my expression blank.

“Yeah, I am. Why? Can I not want to make a new friend?” He responded, smiling lightly at me. He chuckled lightly as I smiled back, a soft smile, one that meant I understood.

I sighed, closing my eyes as I turned away. I then spoke with a soft voice, “...would you want to come over to my house tonight? My mom wanted me and my sister to invite friends over… and well, Diana is technically my only friend.” I chuckled lightly, Hibiki seemed to feel a little bad.

“Oh! I… I don’t have plans so sure!” Hibiki responded enthusiastically, smiling lightly again.

“Wait… really? A-alright!” I started smiling out of my own free will. I felt a little strange about this whole ordeal, but if Hibiki Kaiyo was going to step into my house, he was going to see how rich my family really is. And if he sees that… …maybe more people will want to come over… and maybe that means more friends, right? “Just one small thing though…”

“What is it?” Hibiki asked, smiling slightly too. I couldn’t lie to myself, this all seemed genuine. A little too genuine.

“Well, my family lives on a private island and we have to take a boat there, is that okay?” I spoke, very very quietly so that only Hibiki could hear what I was saying.

“No way, that’s… wait… don’t tell me you live on Hojimi!?” Hibiki spoke a little loudly.

“Shhh! I don’t want anyone to know that!” I snapped back, my attitude slightly rude. “...sorry, I just- I don’t people knowing about where I live and shit.”

“Don’t worry, I get it, trust me, I really do,” Hibiki responded, not removing his gentle smile.

If he was lying about something, damn was he good at lying about it, because I felt no ulterior motives in his body language or emotion at all.

And, even if he was, I’m not really the greatest at reading people, especially people I’ve never truly interacted with. Just what did this bitch want from me?

I glanced over to him again, trying to read him once again. For some reason, he was still smiling, but now it was a smirk rather than full on smiling.

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it… I just don’t trust the people in this school… heh…” I chuckled, looking down at my hand. I was clenching a fist and it was definitely trembling. I knew I was nervous, but I didn’t think I was this nervous.

. . .

I didn’t want to walk to lunch with Hibiki, much to his disappointment for some reason. When I walked into the cafeteria, I sat where I usually sat, in the back of the cafeteria. Hibiki sat down across from me as we waited for Diana.

“...I think my sister has this lunch…” I spoke, pulling out my phone as I grabbed my bento. It had rice, two soy sauce packets, two sashimi pieces and two california rolls. I also had a thermos which had miso soup in it.

“Oh, nice,” Hibiki chuckled as his eyes wandered to the entrance of the cafeteria. I looked over and saw Akane walk in.

“...yeah, that’s her,” I sighed. “...she’s with her boyfriend.” I poured one of the soy sauce packets onto my rice as I grabbed a tiny bowl my mother gave me to pour the rest of the sauce for my sushi and sashimi.

“Do you have a girlfriend?” Hibiki chuckled lightly as my eyes widened.

“N-no… I don’t…” I chuckled out of embarrassment. I sighed as I took a bite of some rice.

“Why’s that?” Hibiki asked, however I didn’t answer him because…

“Hey King!” Akane chuckled, waving her hand lightly as she walked over. She didn’t notice HIbiki immediately… but Kazuki had.

The thing is, Kazuki was actually in my grade and is seventeen just like Akira and I, meaning he knew Hibiki existed.

“Oh, who’s this?” Akane asked, glancing down at Hibiki and then glancing back at me.

“Hibiki, he’s uh… a friend…” I spoke, sighing. Akane sat next to me and Kazuki sat next to her, something he usually didn’t do.

“...hi Hibiki…” Kazuki scoffed. He looked pretty upset but he also seemed a little... curious.

I sighed once again as Diana walked over and sat next to Hibiki, smiling gently at me.

I didn’t know how to continue the conversation so I just put it out there. “Akane, …Hibiki’s going to… come over tonight…”

Kazuki’s face shifted as he scoffed again, “sounds like fun, wish I could come.”

“You can come over next week, Kazuki! We’ll all hang out together and have a bunch of fun!” Akane joyfully expressed as Kazuki scoffed even more.

“Akane… I don’t think he was being serious,” I blurted without thinking. Diana let out a slight chuckle, though it was more of a huff rather than a chuckle, as Hibiki spoke up.

“I’m not as bad as everyone thinks I am,” Hibiki let out casually, sighing lightly before he started drinking his drink.

I started rubbing my eyes and stopped when I noticed someone was walking over here, it was a girl, and I knew she was. She sat next to Hibiki, the only other available spot at the table unless she wanted to sit next to Kazuki.

“Hi Hibiki,” she spoke very softly, “hi Diana!” Her tone increased very, very slightly with excitement when she spoke to Diana.

The girl gave Hibiki a light hug, considering the two were dating, Hibiki gave her a light kiss on the cheek. “Hey, I’m going over O- I mean, King’s house tonight, you wanna come?” Hibiki spoke to her.

“Oh, King, you’re having a little party?” She spoke to me.

“W-what? No?” I spoke, confused. My tone was slightly off with that, “...could be fun though.”

“You? At a party?” Akane chuckled as I sighed. “You’d be the least sociable one there!”

I sighed once again. I glanced at the girl and sighed. “It’s because my mother told me and Akane that we could invite three people over tonight… and while I don’t necessarily have three friends… I now know your boyfriend soo…”

“Ah,” she let out. “I would say yes because I know how awesome you can be but… I’m busy tonight… I really wish I could though! I bet your house is really cool!”

“Thanks Celeste…” I sighed as I ate one of the sashimi. This girl was Celeste Nakamura, she was probably one of the most popular girls at my school purely based on the fact that she’s smoking hot. Diana, as much as she tries to deny it, definitely has a crush on her. I can’t blame her, I guess? I mean, I don’t find women hot, but Celeste is definitely one of the prettier ones, to me.

“He lives on Hojimi,” Hibiki chuckled. I sighed again when he said that, and Celeste didn’t look very surprised by it.

“Oh? You do?” She tilted her head slightly while glancing at me. Akane glanced at me too, more so wondering why I told Hibiki that we live on Hojimi.

“What… he kind of needs to know where we live…” I sighed, realizing something. “Wait, did you ask if you could even come over?” I asked Hibiki.

“Well, considering this was just an option, obviously I haven’t,” he chuckled, which made me blush slightly. “I’ll text my mom and ask if I can go over.”

“I will too!” Diana chuckled as she pulled her phone out of her sweatshirt pocket. I went back to my own phone and my food as they both awaited responses.

“I’m not going to tell her you live on the island,” Hibiki said, “she’d probably be scared shitless if she found out I was going on a boat.” Hibiki chuckled.

I chuckled lightly too, “If I’m being totally honest… your reaction to me living on the island was… not what I was expecting.” I sighed. “My family is filthy rich.”

Hibiki’s expression didn’t change that much, “oh c’mon, you think I didn’t know that?”

I stared with a blank expression at Hibiki, “...what do you mean?”

Hibiki chuckled again as he showed me his phone. He had opened SnapChat and was looking at Diana's story. “This? I had to ask where she was because…well, you don’t see a house like that everyday.”

“That’s… true…” I sighed, “...it’s a lot bigger than you’d expect, …we have a lot of business people come over on occasion and… well… Akane and I sometimes get caught up in it and it's bullshit.”

Akane chuckled, she smirked, “...it’s a fucking pain, I swear.” She sighed as she looked at Kazuki. “Just ask him, I’ve ranted about it more times than I can count.”

“And, the funniest bit of it all is that I… we don’t even know what our father does for work!” I spoke a little louder.

“Is he a lawyer? That could explain people coming over to your house,” Celeste spoke out. I honestly would’ve forgotten she was here if she wasn’t in all of that hot pink clothing and her beach blonde hair.

“Mmm, I don’t think so, no…” I sighed, “...it doesn’t really matter to me, I’m all for the money under any circumstances, but Akane wants to get into the business.”

“It’d be good for me and my future kids!” Akane chuckled, she glanced over at Kazuki and smiled.

Kazuki blushed a little as he looked down in embarrassment. I chuckled a little bit.

“...god I wish I had a boyfriend to have kids with-” My eyes widened for a second, “...I mean, a girlfriend.”

Hibiki stared confused for a moment, “there’s no shame in being a fag, y’know?”

My eyes widened, “did you seriously just say that to me?” I wasn’t angry, just caught off guard.

“Sorry, I’m so used to saying slurs that I should probably watch my mouth,” he sighed.

“Well, I hope you don’t say…” I sighed, “...nevermind. I honestly don't care that much.” I was lying, I don’t know if I was good at concealing it, but Hibiki still responded.

“Trust me, I do not,” Hibiki sighed. “But yeah, I don’t give a shit if you’re gay or not. I mean, hell Diana’s a lesbian and you don’t see me having a problem with that.” Hibiki chuckled.

“I guess I really got the wrong impression about you,” I chuckled as Hibiki’s phone rang.

He stared at the message as he smirked, “okay, I’m clear to go tonight.”

I sighed again. I moved some of the hair from my forehead as I glanced down at my food. “...you should come right after school, because… well, …that makes it easier.”

Diana still hadn’t gotten a response from her parents. “...we have our last period together. If she responds, I’ll tell you then.”

I nodded, “...ugh, …I’m so exhausted…” I looked down for a moment before something crossed my mind. “Do… you have interest in occultic magics…?”

“...well, it’s interesting but… nah, not really, why?” Hibiki asked, I felt a little embarrassed by that.

“Well, I have a lot of books about occultic stuff… like fantasy elements and…” I felt really… weird. “I like learning about these fictional lands and stuff…”

“Oh, that’s cool! Maybe we could check them out while I'm over,” Hibiki chuckled, he started fidgeting with the hem of his sweatshirt as I sighed.

“I mean, if you really want to!” I felt a little more excited and… also a lot more… feminine. And then I felt it, “...shit, Celeste… can you… come to the bathroom with me really quickly? Bring your bag…”

“Oh, okay!” She smiled as we both left the cafeteria. I motioned to Akane to take my stuff for me.

And then we went into the bathroom together, “...do you have a tampon… my cramps are starting…”

“Oh, yeah, I do!” She fished in her backpack and showed me the different tampons she had. I took the one that would work for my flow and… well… I used it.

“...are we still keeping it a secret from Hibiki?” I asked her, she glanced into my eyes as I felt a little more guilty.

She sighed as I held my stomach from the cramping, “...I think it’s for the best.” She left the bathroom as I washed my hands and I looked in the mirror, seeing the two figures still standing there as I sighed.

“...should I keep it a secret from Hibiki?” I spoke to them as I felt my back twitching slightly.

. . .

Akane had packed up my stuff just like I asked. And as I came back into the cafeteria to take it, the bell had rung and everyone was still at the table, but now they were getting up.

I took my bag as I gave Akane a hug. “I’ll see you at the end of the day.”

“Alright! Love you!” She chuckled as she walked off with Kazuki before they eventually separated paths.

Diana and I were walking together, I looked at her, my expression dark. “Why the fuck did it have to start then?” I sighed as my back twitched more.

“I don’t know…” She sighed, “if only we could switch sexes.” She chuckled as I glanced at her.

“Luckily for me, I don’t have any tits… which is odd because my mother has… some, and then look at Akane,” I chuckled. “...oh well, maybe one day I’ll get a dick, or maybe we can transplant each other's genitals to each other.”

“And why are we still having this conversation?” Diana groaned, blushing slightly and sort of chuckling. “Anyways, they were wondering why you didn’t ask for me to go with you… and I didn’t know what to say.”

“So what did you say?” I stopped walking as I turned to face her, my voice was a lot deeper than it should’ve been at that moment. “...sorry, my cramps just really hurt…”

“I just said I didn’t know what you were doing,” she spoke, shrugging. “I wouldn’t give away that secret of yours at all.”

“Thank you…” I sighed, “...let’s get to math before someone realizes we're now aimlessly roaming the halls…”

“We’re literally right next to the room,” Diana pointed to the door as my eyes slightly widened.

“Oh, okay,” I chuckled as we both walked into the class, finding our desks, which were situated right next to each other. We both instinctively pulled out our phones as we waited for class to begin, shouting here when the teacher called out our names for attendance.

I glanced at Diana for a moment before the teacher got up and we all, and yes I mean all, put our phones away.

The teacher stood in front of the room and explained that we needed to work on our packets from yesterday, in groups. I groaned before I remembered–though how could I honestly forget–that Diana was literally sitting right to me. I’m a fucking dumbass.

“Okay, well, let’s… do this, I guess…” Diana sighed before I pulled out a pencil.

We both worked together on the math, which was arguably pretty easy, just for the fact that there was a lot of it.

“...there’s… three more pages…? Are you kidding me?” I groaned as Diana rolled her eyes.

“It’ll be fine, we’ll get through it,” Diana chuckled as she flipped to check the pages. “These are problems, I think we’ll be done in no time, it’s not that much work.”

“Yeah, you’re right… it’ll be done in no time…” I sighed as I continued working on the problems with her. We joked around on occasion but we were, unsurprisingly, the first group to finish.

We both got up as we handed in our papers, the teacher thanking us as we both went back to sitting down, going back on our phones.

“You should download SnapChat, Hibiki kind of reminded me about that,” Diana chuckled as I scoffed.

“Never will, never want to, it doesn’t interest me at all,” I sighed as I noticed the teacher getting up to answer the phone. It was the other math teacher, and I’m pretty sure it was the class Akira was in currently.

The teacher turned around to face Diana and I as she kindly asked us if we could go down to the classroom with extra copies of the packet we were just working on.

“I mean, sure, give us something to do,” I answered, mostly for Diana, but she looked ecstatic to help out.

“Yeah! We can do that!” She cheerfully answered as both of us got up and went to the teachers desk. She gave us a handful of packets each to carry.

“...this is quite a lot…” I joked around, chuckling slightly as the two of us left the room.

And off we went to the other math classroom to drop off some worksheets to Akira’s class.

“...hope they can work on these problems faster than we did,” I chuckled as Diana chuckled too.

“Or maybe they’ll be slower and go through all the torture of not understanding it at all,” Diana giggled lightly.

Considering all of the math classrooms were in the same hallway, or branch as the school refers to them as, it didn’t take that long for us to find the classroom.

I knocked on the door as I had less paper in my grasp and the teacher answered the door.

“Hi, we have the paper for you,” I said. The teacher motioned for us to come in and so we did. She told us at the back of the room that there was a table we could put them on.

Diana nodded as we both stepped inside of the classroom. I noticed Akira and gave her a small smile as Diana and I made it to the most open separation between desks.

But, as I walked by I made eye contact with someone, and even though I was still walking, we kept eye contact as I blushed and my mouth opened slightly.

I placed the paper down on the table as my eyes stayed widened, and… Diana looked a little concerned.

“What?” She whispered to not disturb the class.

“You know that kid I told you I knew in Shibuya?” I spoke to Diana as her eyes widened too.

“That’s him!?” She spoke a little louder.

I nodded as I felt a little sweaty.

Diana and I turned to walk again and I looked at the guy again, motioning my eyes, which told him to somehow leave the classroom. He nodded, which told me he… probably understood.

And then Diana and I left the classroom, rather quickly.

“Stay here,” I spoke as I was smiling insanely wide, trying not to cry or… well, anything that could look… weird.

“Okay,” she responded fairly quickly, I glanced at the door, praying that he would walk out of the classroom, and then he did.

I looked at him for a second, reading his figure and body, before I went to his face.

“...Ryo?” I spoke, my voice rather shaky as he ran up to me, giving me a tight hug as we both laughed for a good minute.