I was furiously putting my pen down on my paper, scribbling almost as if writing was going out of fashion and I was desperate to keep with the times.
"Whaaat areeee weee wriiiiiiitiiiiiinnnng?"
A familiar sing song voice said.
I looked up from my parchment to see the girl I knew leaning over my desk, almost pressing her face to mine.
"I-it's nothing Touko..."
I stammered.
"You weren't writing it like was nothing,"
She said with a smirk.
I began to object but, she snatched up the pile of papers and she began to peel the papers from the bottom and scan their contents.
"Let's see... Chemistry, Math, History, blah blah boring."
She carelessly tossed each item behind her until she found what she desired.
"Oooh what's THIS?"
Her face lit up as she began to read my work.
She pretended to read it in an over dramatic and (to my discomfort) loud voice.
"Oh Trash Boat! How I lust for thee! Let me be human trash with you!"
Her long brown locks flowed behind her as she made a flamboyant display of mock affection for my crush.
It was a bit of a wonder her big round glasses didn't fall off when she twirled or that her longer than typical uniform skirt didn't trip her.
I blushed and giggled uncontrollably.
My name is Sakka Ayano, I go to the top school in Japan that everyone knows,
Hope's Peak Academy.
Other than being a pretty good writer, I consider myself a pretty typical school girl.
I mean compared to most everyone else, my talent seems as useful as a pair of flip flops in winter.
You'd think that being accepted into a special school such as this one would make you feel more like you mean something, but for me this was simply not the case.
I was just grateful to have a friend like Touko Fukawa.
She is a fellow writer like me soo… we're both kind of in the same boat.
Just not the uh, 'trash boat' she mentioned earlier.
I don't think I'll ever be on that boat to be honest.
"Speak
Of
The
DEVIL."
Touko leaned in and whispered in my ear.
I turned my head in the direction she was looking.
There he was, walking through the halls, being insulted as usual.
"Hey Trash boat! Nice hair!"
A very muscular guy said, and him and his friends laughed as he messed up the poor boy's hair.
The timid, sweet, and weak Komaeda seemed to flinch away afterwards, drawing his elbows and feet closer to his center. He raised his small hands to his tousled white hair and tried to tame the mess they had created in his mane.
Seeing him treated this way had always made me feel bad for him. Touko and I were outcasts too after all, but he was on a different level from us and since both of us were very shy we had simply never spoken to him.
Just as I began to step out of the classroom the bell rang signifying the start of the day. Touko and I rushed to our seats before the teacher could notice. As soon as we sat down we remembered the papers Touko had thrown about and began making a desperate attempt to pick them up and organize them.
Beyond some admonishment for being ill prepared for class, the rest of the period went by with absolutely nothing of note.
Just another day…
I allowed myself to drift off and think.
I kind of wish that I had helped him but, it's not like anything major happened.
Poor guy gets shit a lot…
Maybe, I should say something nice to him?
But… What exactly?
I began mindlessly moving my pencil, lightly shading the corner of the paper I had left open in my notebook.
Perhaps I should give him some sort of compliment?
How do I do that without sounding creepy?
I jumped as the bell rang once again and I began shoving my things into my bag.
As soon as I stepped into the hallway I looked up and saw him walking in my direction.
You know how in movies when the guy sees the really hot girl or vice versa everything slows down around them? Well, thats what seemed to happen at that very moment.
Oh god! He's getting closer!
In a matter of seconds he walked right into a space where he was close enough to talk to and once this happened we made eye contact.
Quick say something!
"Uhh.."
He stopped walking, giving me his full attention.
Right now dammit! RIGHT FUCKING NOW!
And then, it came out.
"Uhh… N-nice hair.."
I was shaking and could barely get the words out.
His eyes told me he was agitated but his smile said that he accepted the compliment.
"Thank you."
His voice carried the air of agitation as well.
I let out a huge sigh of defeat as he walked away.
I somehow managed to completely fuck-up.
I was grateful that at least with the distance he put between us, that my nerves could finally calm the fuck down.
I sauntered my way to class and I guess I carried my grief with me.
When I ran into Touko again as soon as our eyes met she gave me a look of concern.
She put her hand on my shoulder.
"Hey, you feeling okay?"
I averted my gaze from her's.
"Whats wrong?"
She said in a sincere and serious voice.
"Don't tell me…"
She was all seriousness now.
"It was that boy trash boat wasn't it?"
I quietly nodded my head.
"Well then, he'd better watch out..."
She then did something completely unexpected.
"Otherwise.."
She made a move to grab something and then.
"The mighty psychopathic Genocider will slash him to bits!"
as she said this she pulled out a pair of safety scissors and swung them around making slashes in the air.
I burst into laughter, Touko always knew how to lighten my spirits.
"If I ever see that trash boat I'll rock 'em sock 'em good I will. Turning down the beautiful talented Ayano like that, who does that anyway?"
I wasn't sure if my face was red from laughter (seeing as I was still laughing) or from this compliment that I received.
Afterwards, the day carried on, until the final bell rang and everyone began to go wherever they went after school. Sports, clubs and anything in between were now open and everyone began pouring in to wherever their talents guided them.
Touko and I always hung out in the library which was so big it had its own separate building on campus.
I scanned the crowds of exiting students until eventually I saw her shy form.
See, the thing about Touko is that, as nice as she is to me she is very shy.
I've known her for a while so, I know that she just doesn't like the forced interaction of a school environment. Whenever I'm not with her she bows her head and her hair tends to just droop over her face so she looks kind of like a slightly hunched over 'cousin it' because she just has so much hair.
She was doing the thing with her hair so that was how I noticed her.
"Heyy!"
I shouted to her waving my arms trying to get her attention.
Her head jerked up in my direction and her expression went from confusion to joy as she ran to me.
"Hay gurl, hay!"
She said as she approached me with a huge smile on her face.
"So do you wanna go anywhere before we head to the library today?"
I asked as we started making our way out of the crowded halls.
"Hmmm.."
She put her thumb to her mouth in thought and then a wicked smile crept up from her jawline.
"You know what? I'm glad you asked."
She became devious so fast I almost wanted to object but, I was too interested in what she had to offer.
She looked around the halls like she had lost something and a moment later it was as if she had found it.
I opened my mouth to ask her what she was looking around for but before any words could come out she grabbed my arm with an iron grip and began to runs faster than anyone would anticipate a book-wormy hermit to ever run for any reason other than her favourite author being on sale over 50% off.
After we exited the building she dragged me a bit farther my legs began to hurt but, I was grateful she had taken me to a bench.
As soon as we came upon it I collapsed in it, spreading my arms and legs across the small seat claiming it as my very own.
She wasted no time pulling a book from her bag, putting it in my hands and making me open it to a very random page. She then had a grip on both of my wrists and lifted it towards my face, positioning myself as if I were reading.
"Hold that pose."
She said between gasping breaths.
After letting go of me she turned and ran, jumping behind a trash can on the other side of the sidewalk.
A few moments passed and I eventually caught my breath. I saw nothing other than students milling about or venturing to their activities.
And, well, a girl hiding behind a trash can for god only knows what reason.
I wondered.
What the actual fuck is wrong with Touko Fukawa?
Oh wait,
Everything is wrong with Touko.
Suddenly, Touko yelled from her place behind the waste can.
"Hey Trash boat! Get your trashy ass over here!"
I couldn't help but giggle.
Out of the crowds suddenly emerged Komaeda. He seemed anxious and hesitant but he arrived.
He stood between the two of us on the sidewalk and seemed to take a few deep breaths, I could also see a bit of sweat collected on his neck as well as his knuckles turn white as he grasped the straps of his backpack.
He looked around himself, trying to discern who had called him and from where, eventually his gaze fell upon me.
In that split second I looked onto the book and turned the page.
This must be why she gave me the book.
I could feel his gaze on me as I pretended to be interested in nothing else but the book Touko had given me. What must've been only a moment stretched into an eternity as I began perspirating and started losing my grip on the book.
He eventually let out a sigh and uttered to himself, he was so quiet that I almost didn't hear him.
"Hell is other people."
I then heard his shoes once again connecting with the concrete of the walkway and I looked up after he had put more distance between us.
I then heard a 'psst' come from the direction of the garbage.
Touko's head peaked out of the side and she gave me a motion with her head that seemed like she was pointing at Komaeda with her nose.
I finally understood what this mission was.
Touko is helping me stalk Komaeda, wow.
I then imagined her winking and saying "You ain't never had a friend like me!" like genie from Aladdin.
We let him walk a bit farther, Touko ducked behind every possible item while I just tried to act casual.
Wearing headphones and carrying my phone made it a hell of a lot easier too, anytime he started to look behind him I'd just act like I was picking a song, entirely disinterested in the world that surrounded me.
Thank you Bill Gates, you have no idea how much you've improved the stalker life.
Eventually, a huge gate came into view.
It was just like what you see in films, big fence like door attached to a brick wall.
Komaeda approached the wall on the right side and put his hand to the bricks.
I got closer to see what he was doing and to my surprise, he seemed to slide the brick over and then I realised,
the brick was just a cover for a small compartment that held a keypad.
He dexterously punched the numbers with his pointer finger, he did it so fast I had no hope of seeing the code he punched in.
A moment later, the massive gate opened for him.
His already small figure seemed to look even smaller compared to the massive structure he walked through.
"Well, what are you waiting for? We don't know how long that gate will be open!"
Touko seemed to magically materialize just two centimeters behind me and it made me jump.
"Move it you dingus!"
She started to push me but, it didn't take much pushing to encourage me to go after Komaeda.
We wasted no time as the gate began to close and miraculously, we made it and none of our clothing had gotten stuck on the edges of the gate.
After a while, we were managing to keep Komaeda in our sight as well as go without being noticed but, something started eating at me and making me really nervous.
At this point in time Touko no longer made an effort to hide behind objects since there were none so we walked out in the open side by side, just a yard or two away from Komaeda (which side note; when you think about actual yard sticks really isn't that far and probably not the best stalking distance).
I eventually began shaking and had to slow down, I knew that I risked losing sight of Komaeda and therefore destroying the entire purpose of this mission but, I really needed to stop.
As I came to a complete stop Touko stopped as well and realised that my hands were shaking.
"Whats wrong?"
She said holding them by the wrists.
"I-isn't this breaking and entering?"
My anxiety was not at all hidden, but in plain sight which just made me more anxious because, what if someone saw us and asked questions? How would we answer said questions?
I certainly didn't know.
"Well I didn't break anything did you?"
Touko never missed an opportunity to make a joke around me, especially if I needed to feel better, this was just more evidence of this if you didn't catch on earlier.
"Well, no, but…"
I was about to bring up how it's still trespassing but Touko spoke before I did.
"See? We're totally fine and look! Thats his house!"
I turned just in time to see him heading up a walkway to a very big house. Actually no, it would be an insult to say it was a house.
The building he approached was a mansion.
I counted the windows going up from the ground to the rooftop.
Whoah! this place has five floors!
Not only that but the house seemed to have a fresh coat of a deep red paint and every edge of every window pane was carved decoratively along with the window sills. The Manor also had one of those porches that went all around the base of the house.
The place was beautiful.
This guy is stupid rich! I would have never guessed!
We were so busy gawking at the house that I had almost completely forgotten about Komaeda.
We now stood pretty much in the middle of his front yard on the path to his front door. We saw his backpack sitting next to the open front door and assumed that he had walked inside.
I took a step forward but Touko grabbed my shoulder.
"Wait,"
I turned to her.
"Walking into a house uninvited is definitely more grounds for trespassing than walking into a gated community. We should stop here."
I was confused by this statement.
"What do you mean?"
She let out an annoyed sigh.
"What I mean you dingus is, we can stand in somebody's yard sure but we'll definitely get arrested if we walk into his mother fucking house."
Touko hated to explain things, it made her lose all patience. She really didn't like repeating herself.
"Well then, what DO we do? What the point of stalking someone and finding out where they live if not to in fact ENTER THEIR GODDAMNED HOUSE?"
Touko wasn't the only annoyed party, I don't like being out of the loop. Yes, I was interested in what Touko had to offer at first but she still hadn't fully explained why we were doing this or even what we were doing.
After my retort Touko put a hand over my mouth and started dragging me away from Komaeda's open threshold.
"Will you be quiet!"
She uttered an angry whisper.
"He might hear you!"
She dragged me out into the street, after she let me go I realized that the sky was starting to darken to a deeper blue.
She then proceeded to drag me to my dorm room.
"Now remember no funny buisness."
Touko said for the millionth time.
"Ok, goodnight Touko."
"You better get some sleep Ayano."
She spoke motherly.
I let out a sigh as she shut the door behind her.
My room, like most of the rooms in Hope's peak was a single.
Single could be used to describe a lot of things in this room; a single bed, a single desk, single window as well as a single chair.
Not to mention me of course.
I belly flopped onto the bed and drifted off into blackness…