Hello, all! It's been a while, hasn't it? I haven't written fanfiction in such a long time! I'm so glad to be back! This is inspired by a small, random thought I had: Shintaro has an IQ of 168, doesn't he? Then what if he knew Ene was Takane and was only going along with her pranks because he needed someone to distract him from his pain? This fits the definition of hurt/comfort perfectly actually, hahaXD Well, I hope you enjoy it!

The moment she appeared in my computer, my whole world got brighter once again.

Of course, not in a romantic way; no way in hell would I ever fall in love with someone like her. It was more like her arrival gave me hope again.

From the day Ayano disappeared from my life, I closed up my heart. I shut myself in my room, refusing to come out, and lived off of various snacks and coke. I was all alone. But it would be fine, wouldn't it? The previous days were simply part of a dream. A long, sweet dream that seemed like it would last forever. I was back to my previous self, and back to reality.

Ayano was the one that broke me out of my shell, and the one that opened up my heart. Now, with her gone, I realized the price of doing so. That was why I closed it up once again, sealing it shut, to prevent the heartache from hitting me ever again.

That seemed like a long time ago. Even though it was, I could still picture her clearly in my mind. Her long, brown hair, her eyes that filled with excitement, her petite physique in that sailor uniform, her melodic voice that called out my name with happiness, and most importantly, her smile… I remembered them all so vividly.

However, thinking about her made me more painful than ever. Whenever I thought of her, I would be reminded of how I wasn't able to do anything for her, and how I couldn't discover her sadness. Those thoughts ripped my heart into pieces, and I would spend endless hours crying and regretting my mistakes.

That was until Ene appeared.

The cyber girl was the complete opposite of Ayano. Her loud voice echoed throughout the whole room, and she tormented me endlessly, erasing my files and pranking my nonstop. It didn't take me too long to realize her true identity, one she would never reveal to me whenever I asked:

She was Takane Enomoto.

Aside from the facts that Ene was definitely more energetic and lively, her hair was now a brilliant blue, and she was now stuck in the world of zeroes and ones, it was still quite obvious that she was Takane. She calls me "Master", and I couldn't help but think of the stupid deal we made when we first met. She even looked the same as Takane under those pixels. I couldn't believe it at first, but after some time, I couldn't not believe it.

Takane Enomoto was one of the two upperclassmen Ayano and I befriended. She and Ayano became instant best friends, despite their different personalities. She was a huge video game addict, and she would flip whenever I beat her in her favorite shooting games. We soon started hanging out together, and although I didn't like to admit it, she was one of my friends.

I hadn't seen her since I shut myself in my room. However, I had heard she died on the same day Ayano did from Momo, who would constantly try to talk to me from the other side of the door. I don't know what happened to Takane that turned her into what she is now, but I thought it would be better not to ask, because I was clearly not the only one that was constantly tormented by memories of the one I loved.

If you knew Takane and you weren't a dumbass, then you could tell she was hopelessly in love with Haruka Kokonose.

It was blatantly obvious. Even an idiot like Ayano could tell. Takane's face would heat up immediately with Haruka by her side, and her stuttering would never stop. She pretended she didn't care about him at all, but she would be the one panicking the most if Haruka ever got hurt. She denied her feelings all the time, even though she pretty much accepted them already.

It was also obvious that Haruka loved her back.

You could tell even if you weren't Haruka's best friend like me. Unlike Takane, Haruka didn't do much to conceal his feelings. However, he was too dense to realize that his love for Takane went above friendship.

The two of them were clearly head over heels for each other, but they didn't confess to each other. This annoyed Ayano terribly, and to be honest, I was the same. The two of them should just get together already.

However, they didn't, because Takane and Haruka both died on the same day without conveying their feelings to each other.

I heard about Haruka's death through Momo. It was terrible. The moment I realized I lost all three of the only friends I had on the same day, I let out a hopeless wail of sadness and despair, and cried until my eyes could not produce any more tears.

Ene's existence distracted me from sadness. Her constant pranks and taunts gave me no time to be sad. I pretended I didn't know her true identity, and went along with most of her pranks. It was a type of coping, for both me and her.

Ene was just as sad and depressed as me. Her energetic smile was just a façade, and her loud voice was simply her copying mechanism. I've heard her cry silently multiple times during the night when she thought I was asleep, and repeating one name over and over again:

Haruka.

I was worried about her. I tried to ask her about what happened between her and Haruka multiple times, trying to be as subtle as I could.

"Hah? Why would you want to know something like that?" Ene had asked when I asked her if she had loved anyone before. "Are you coming to me for relationship advice? Is that what this is? Wait, do you like anyone, Master?"

"Does that concern you?" I had retorted.

"Of course it does!" said Ene, bursting into laughter. "I thought you only loved coke! That's a step up, Master!"

"Just answer the question!" I said, sighing.

Ene stopped laughing and sat down on the bottom of the screen of my computer. "Yeah. I did." she said.

I was surprised at how honest she was. "What kind of person was he?" I asked.

Ene's expression turned sadder, and for a second, I thought she was going to cry.

"He was… an idiot. A very kind idiot. He was kind to everyone, no matter who it was. Just his presence filled my world, and his smile made me unbelievably happy." she said. Her voice sounded choked, as if she was trying to hold back tears.

"…What happened to you guys?" I had asked, starting to regret my question.

Ene smiled sadly. "Nothing. The moment I realized my love for him, he disappeared from my life. I never confessed." she said. The both of us stayed silent for a while, before Ene let out a loud sigh and proceeded to delete a song I had worked on for three days.

From that conversation, I could see why Ene was in so much pain. However, she was a hypocrite. She kept telling me to get my shit together, but she herself was falling apart.

But that's the thing. We're both drowning in sadness and pain. Our hearts are broken and shattered. We're already used to the taste of tears. We're both liars in need of comfort and love. Although it doesn't look like it, we're comforting each other in our own ways.

Our broken hearts were patched up with each other's existence.

I do like platonic ShinEne, to be honest. Their relationship is pretty angsty. Well, leave a review to let me know what you think of this story! See you soon, I guess!

~Chinnie Ai