Friendship Formation

It was 2:00AM in Japan, where Tomoko Kuroki was doing her usual routine of playing video games. Today was Saturday after all, and she doesn't have to go to school which she was ecstatic about. Not only was she not told off by her parents for playing games this late, but she didn't have to have to try and make friends at the school, which she was not good at.

"If only people in real life were like the people in these games. If that were the case, I'd be the most popular girl in school! Guys would be all over me, and all the girls would want to be me! That would be the most amazing fuc…" Tomoko mumbled to herself before she heard the ping of the game chat.

"Hey there Tomoko, you did great today! Thanks for saving my ass from those monsters in the last dungeon," the message said. Tomoko smiled at the message. This message was from someone who she had been talking to the past couple of weeks during her time playing MMORPGs. And she loved taking to this person.

For the past several months, she had been trying to create various facades for herself to make her popular. They have not worked, and have made her lose a lot of her confidence. But when talking with this person, she doesn't need any gimmick or scheme, she just needs to be herself.

However, today her talks with this person were going to be different. Tomoko wanted to learn more about this person. They had been talking to each other for a couple of weeks, but Tomoko hardly knew anything about the person she had been having pleasant conversations with. It was time to do some investigating.

"So…I've been meaning to ask you some things…" Tomoko typed and sent, before realizing how weird it sounded.

"What kind of things?" a response read.

"Well for one thing, I wanted to know how old you were."

"I'm in high school. I'm about to graduate this year. You?"

"I'm in high school too, but I'm almost done with my freshman year. Another question; Are you a boy or a girl?"

"I am 100% a girl. You?"

"I'm a girl too. Also, I noticed that you and I were talking about some of the same news about potential molesters. Do you live nearby?"

"Yeah. I live in Kasukabe." This answer made Tomoko pause. She just found out that this girl that she had been getting along with so well by just being herself lived in the same town that she did.

'This is great! This is amazing! This is the best possible thing!' Tomoko cheered in her mind, before being brought back to reality by the pinging noise of the game chat.

"Hey, you still there?"

"Yeah. Sorry, I was just thinking. Anyway, I actually live in Kasukabe too."

"Cool."

"Yeah, cool. So we've been talking a lot online, but since we live in the same city, do you want to meet up sometime?" Tomoko looked at the screen at what she had just sent with fear and panic etched on her face.

"Oh my God! I think I blew it! I asked too quickly, and she's gonna think that I'm a freak that…" Tomoko mumbled to herself in despair before she heard that all too familiar pinging sound again.

"Sure, why not? I'm free at 1:00 tomorrow." Tomoko looked at the text over and over again, with her smile growing and growing with each time that she read the sentence.

'YES! YES! YES! FUCKING YES!' Tomoko practically screamed in her head, before hastily typing her response.

"That would be awesome! We could meet at the Game Center!"

"Great! See you then!"

Tomoko signed out of the game and started jumping up and down.

'YES! I CAN'T WAIT FOR TOMORROW! Well, technically later today, BUT WHO CARES!? I ACTUALLY HAVE PLANS!' Tomoko screamed in her head before stopping.

"Wait…I need money," Tomoko mumbled to herself.

The Next Morning…

Tomoko's parents were fast asleep before an alarm started ringing. Tomoko's mother turned off the alarm and sat up. After she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, she noticed that her daughter was standing at the edge of her bed.

"Good morning, Mother," Tomoko said, with the widest smile that was humanly possible on her face.

"Good morning, Tomoko," her mother responded, a little suspicious about Tomoko's odd behavior this early in the morning. Tomoko usually tried to sleep until noon at the latest, and here she was at eight in the morning with a smile on her face and greeting people.

"So…I just wanted to ask…if I could have some money." Tomoko asked in the sweetest voice she could muster, which did nothing to conceal her nervousness. Her mother kept a straight face on, so Tomoko didn't know what to expect.

"What do you need money for?" her mother asked.

"I'm going out with a friend later today, and I need some money for the Game Center," Tomoko answered, causing her mother's jaw to drop briefly before she recovered.

"Wait, are you going out with Yu?" her mother asked, knowing that Yu was her daughter's only friend.

"Nope. I'm going with someone I met a few weeks ago. We've been talking online a lot, and she lives nearby, so we decided to meet and…why are you looking at me like that?" Tomoko explained, before noticing that her mother was smiling with a faraway look in her eyes despite the tears of happiness coming out of them.

"You…made a new friend?" her mother asked, not being able to hide her excitement.

"Yeah, I was surprised to, but she said that she wanted to hang out, so…" Tomoko continued to explain before her mother put some money in her hand. Tomoko brought the stack of money to her face, and her eyes widened.

"30,000 yen!? Wow, thanks mom!" Tomoko exclaimed excitedly, still staring in awe at the money her mother had just given her.

"I want you to have fun today with this new friend of yours," her mother responded, still having that faraway look in her eyes. Tomoko nodded in response and ran up to her room with determination in her eyes. She had to get ready, and she had 4-5 hours to do it.