Chapter 81 – Making Special Friends
Chu's POV
"*sigh* This freaking sucks…"
"Are you still upset about being in Special Ed?" Klug asked me.
"How could I not? I'm an 11-year-old in the 10th grade and yet I'm being treated as if I have 11 IQ. It's insulting."
"Pretty sure having 11 IQ just means you're brain-dead…" Klug gained a sweatdrop.
"Well, whatever. It still sucks, nonetheless. And even worse is that I couldn't bring Venom with me."
"Chu…I HIGHLY doubt anyone wants to be around a butterfly that leaks poison from its wings. Who knows what effect that could have on normal people."
"I guess…" I didn't want to admit it, but he did have a point. I got lucky when Venom leaked poison in the bathwater last night and it didn't do anything to the others. Mainly because a lot of them are not normal humans. "…But it still would've helped to have him around. He would've helped me forget that I'm in Special Ed."
"You really won't let that go, huh?"
"Not a chance. I mean…how could anyone be happy about it?"
"Well, Raina seems happy about it."
We both then turned to the other side of the classroom where Raina was. She was currently going around the classroom introducing herself in the derpiest way possible…
"Hi, I'm Raina! Nice to meet ya!"
"Hi, I'm Raina! Nice to meet ya!"
"Hi, I'm Raina! Nice to meet ya!"
…By straight up hugging them.
"I'm sorry."
"Sorry for my friend."
"I apologize. My friend doesn't know better."
With Marvett following behind her apologizing to the people Raina hugged out of nowhere.
"Yeah, but she's always like that." I said.
"True…" Klug gained a sweatdrop. "…But still, you have to at least give this situation a try. Maybe you'll make a friend out of it."
"A friend, huh..." I then went silent.
The only way I'll make a friend here is if they're the same age as me. As if THAT will ever happen…
"Alright, class." The teacher said as he came into the room. "Let's get homeroom started."
"Hiya, teach! Name's Raina Feilding! Can I kick you sometime?!"
"Wh-What?"
"Raina, please sit down!" Marvett said as she pulled her friend back into her seat.
…
"*clears throat* Anyway…" The teacher continued. "Before we begin, I must alert you all that we have two Special Ed students in this class."
"Well, we already know who one of them is…" Said a girl with blonde hair made into a ponytail by a red ribbon. She stared at Raina with an exasperated look. Pretty sure she was annoyed by the fact that she hugged her out of nowhere and without any reason whatsoever.
But for Raina…it didn't really register to her as annoyance. And she simply waved back with a derpy smile on her face.
Raina is on a whole new level of carefree…
"Well, as for the other one…" The teacher continued. "…Would you mind introducing yourself to the class, uh…Chu Duranné."
"Tch! Oh, no…" I silently whined.
"There's no escaping it. Just get it over with already." Klug whispered to me.
"Y-Yeah, but…"
"Aw! Don't be shy, Chu! Upsy-daisy!"
"R-Raina?! Wh-When did you?! H-Hey! P-Put me down!" I panicked after Raina (somehow) snuck up behind me and picked me up from my chair. Having the whole class look at me with dazed looks in their eyes.
"Huh? She's Special Ed?"
"She looks rather young. And emotionless."
"She's a cutie, though. I wonder what's her type…"
"I don't have a type! I'm 11-years-old!"
"E-Eleven?!" The whole class shouted in shock after I had mistakenly said that out loud.
Aw, crud…
"Raina, please put Chu down." Klug said to the clone. To which she finally complied.
"S-So, let me get this straight." The blonde girl said. "You're seriously an 11-year-old girl in the 10th grade?! A preteen in a school filled with teenagers?!"
"That's primarily the reason why she's in Special Ed." The teacher said.
So, Shigu was right. I am being singled out for my age…
"W-Well…th-there isn't anything wrong with that…"
"H-Huh?!" I yelled in shock.
"You being an 11-year-old in high school…why should that be a big deal? I mean…it's not like you're hurting anybody, right?"
"Well…no…"
"Then don't worry about it. Your age doesn't make you any special. S-So, stop thinking about it. I-If you please…"
Why did she whisper that last part?
"Uh…okay, then." Was all I said as a response.
"So, with you being 11, you gotta be like, super smart and all that?" One girl, with short green hair and wings similar to Harpy's asked.
"Uh…y-yeah, I am. I can even speak a few other languages."
"Woah! So totally tubular! Say something in Japanese!"
"Wh-Why Japanese?" I questioned the random request.
"It is the most recognizable language in this city…" Marvett said.
"*sigh* I guess…" I then went silent for a bit. Thinking of what to say in Japanese.
"Kon'nichiwa. Watashinonamaeha…uh…Duranné Chu. Hajimemashite. Soshite, watashitachiha issho ni yoi gakunen o sugosu koto o negatte imasu."
(Hello. My name is Chu Duranné. It is nice to meet you all. And I hope we have a good school year together.)
"Woah…so freaking tubular!" The girl said.
Tubular? Isn't that something Harpy says a lot?
"Ooh! Try French next!" One student shouted.
"French, huh?" I went silent again. "Bonjour. Je m'appelle Chu Duranné. Je suis ravi de tous vous rencontrer. Et j'espère que nous passerons une bonne année scolaire ensemble."
"Wow…"
"I wanna hear Chinese next!" Another student shouted.
"Seriously…" I mentally groaned. "Nǐ hǎo. Wǒ jiào zhūdùlán nī. Jiàn dào dàjiā hěn gāoxìng. Wǒ xīwàng wǒmen zài yīqǐ dùguò yīgè yúkuài de xuénián."
"Cool…"
Then, surprisingly, the blonde girl from before raised her hand.
"Uh…I-I don't suppose you know Galician, do you?"
"Galician? That's a first." I went silent for longer than the previous two times. I've never had anyone request Galician before. So, it took me by surprise.
But eventually…
"Ola. Chámome Chu Duranné. É bo coñecerte a todos. E espero que teñamos un bo curso escolar xuntos."
"I-I…Impressive." Was all the girl said.
Come to think about it, I don't even know her name yet, do I?
"Ooh!" can you do Italian next?!"
"And Spanish?!"
"And Greek!"
"I want to hear Portuguese next!"
The number of requests I was getting from everyone in the class was getting insane. I was starting to get overwhelmed with it all. And felt like I was going to have a panic attack on the first day of school. It was truly insane.
"H-Hey! Everyone be quiet! We still have class and…" As the teacher was yelling at everyone to stop talking, a small gap in the door was made. And from that, came something that was more of a lifesaver than anything else at the moment. The sight of it made everyone stop yelling out requests as it came towards me and landed on my nose.
"Haaaaa~…"
"I-Is that…a butterfly?" Marvett asked.
"Aw, geez. Venom got out again." Klug said with a facepalm.
"V-Venom? Venom the Butterfly?" The whole class asked while completely dumbfounded.
"Venom the Poisonous Butterfly."
"Huh."
Meanwhile, I was completely zoned out from the rest of the class. My only focus was on the butterfly sitting on my nose making me as calm as possible.
Thanks, Venom. You're the best!
*LATER THAT MORNING…*
"Oh, wow. I spaced out for a good while back there…I didn't even realize it was close to 11. You're really good at relaxing me, Venom."
…
"I know. I missed you, too."
I was walking back to class from the bathroom after finally noticing that was still spaced out from earlier. I felt so relaxed from it all. So shocked, in fact…
"Wait…where am I?"
…that it took me a while to notice that I was lost.
I looked around my surroundings to try to retrace my steps…and it didn't help at all. As I didn't recognize any part of the area.
"*whine* I'm so lost! I wish Shigu was here!"
"GAH! HEY! GET BACK HERE!"
"Huh? Who said that?"
"N-NO! D-DON'T TOUCH…OH NO, IT'S BROKEN!"
"Is someone here?"
After hearing more things break, I realized that it was coming from a nearby room. As I walked over to the door, the noises were getting louder and more frequent. So I knew I was right. But I also wondered just what was in there that was causing all this noise.
I turned the knob and opened the door to see…
"Meow!"
"GAH!"
I managed to dodge out the way of a weird red thing that was heading towards me. When I got a better look, I saw that it was a cat. A red cat that looked really…2D.
"What the…"
"AH! NO! DON'T LET IT GET AWAY!" I heard the voice of a girl yell out to me. I didn't even look at her because I immediately went after the red 2D cat. And it was fast, too. I could barely catch up with all the jumps it was doing.
That's when I got an idea. It was a risky idea, but I didn't really have a choice at the moment I was in.
"Nebula!" I shouted.
Then…I teleported.
I teleported far enough to be in front of the 2-dimensional cat. Then, when it realized I was there and tried to turn back…
"Lacteus Orbis!"
I shot an energy ball at it, but it didn't hurt it. Instead, the ball formed into a hand and it grabbed the cat. It then came back to me and I grabbed the cat with both of my own arms.
"Gotcha!"
"Meow…" It sounded like the cat was complaining. I wasn't sure. I may speak a bunch of different languages, but cat isn't one of them.
I then teleported back to the room from before and saw the girl crying on the floor.
"Hey, I got your cat back." I said.
"Y-You did?! Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!" She cheered as I gave the cat back to her. "You've been a naughty boy, you! Apologize to this girl!"
"Meow…"
"He said he's sorry."
"Ah, it's okay. I didn't mind helping." I said.
Now that the cat chase was over, I was able to get a good look at the girl. She had short pink hair and deep blue eyes. Her skin color was really similar to mine. And so was her height.
It looked like she was wearing a red shirt, but it was covered by a pink apron that had a lot of paint on it. What I also noticed was the fact that she had a lot of cat accessories. A cat-themed artist's hat, a hairpin in the shape of a cat's paw, a cattail for a tie, and tiny cat heads on her pink shoes. Surprised her grey socks aren't cat-themed in any way.
"So, I see you like cats a lot, huh?" I asked.
"Yep. Sure do. They're just so cute and cuddly. Right, little guy?"
"Meow." The cat meowed.
"So, it's a boy? What's his name?"
"Akaineko."
"Akaineko…that's a nice name. Especially since he is a red cat."
"Huh? Wait, you know Japanese?"
"Yeah, I can speak it really well."
"Hontōni hontōni yoku no yō ni?"
(Like really really well?)
"E e hontōni hontōni yoku."
(Yeah. Really really well.)
"Dakara, moshi watashi ga iu yō ni randamuna koto o iunara... "Sōsharunettowākingu wa, baipōra jiki hanten riron to onaji genmitsuna koa genri ni motodzuite imasu.", Anata wa sore o rikai dekimasu ka?"
(So if I were to say something so random like say..."Social networking is based on the same exact core principle as Bipolar Magnetic Reversal Theory", would you understand that?)
"Un. Subete no tango o rikai shimashita."
(Yeah. Understood every word.)
"Totemo kūru..."
(So cool…)
I giggled to myself from having a full-fledged conversation in Japanese. It's been a long time since I've done that. And it brought back some good memories, too. The girl then giggled with me.
"*sigh* That was fun. Oh, yeah…my name's Chu Duranné."
"Mine's Chetta Koneko. Nyanice to meet you."
I held in my laughter from the sudden cat pun. It almost got me.
"Koneko, huh? Even your last name is cat-related."
"Aw, come on." Chetta started blushing from a little embarrassment. "Yours is demon-related."
"W-Wait, you know I'm a demon? How?"
"When you gave Akaineko back to me, I felt some of your power on him. Probably because you got some of his paint on your hands."
"Huh?" I then looked at my hands to see that I did have red paint on my hands. "Oh, wow. So, is Akaineko…"
"No, he's not a demon. Just a regular 2D cat made out of red paint."
"Meow." Akaineko meowed.
"See?"
"*giggle* Yeah, I see."
*INSERT CLASSIC SCHOOL BELL CHIME HERE*
"Hey, look at that. It's lunchtime." Chetta said.
"Oh, man. I've been here the whole time. I was supposed to go back to class."
"Oh. Sorry about that."
"Don't worry about it. I didn't want to go back, anyway. It got rather crazy in there because they found out that I'm 11-years-old."
"W-Wait, you're 11?!"
"Yeah, why?"
"I'm 11, too!"
"No way! Really?!"
"Yep! And it's my first year in high school, too!"
"No way! It's my first year, too!"
"Totemo kūru!"
"Totemo kūru!"
"Meow!"
"Okay, okay, Akaineko. I know you're hungry."
"He can eat?" I asked.
"Of course, he can eat. He may be a 2-dimensional cat, but he's still a cat."
"I see…" I didn't question that much further. "Hey, you wanna eat lunch together? You can even meet my friends and brother."
"Really? Sure, we'll come. Right, Akaineko?"
"Meow."
"Alright, then. Let's go!"
"Yeah!"
"Meow!"
Chetta and I then walked together to the cafeteria to eat lunch and meet up with the others. Hopefully, we don't get lost again. I really want to show Shigu that I've made a new friend.
And that Special Ed can suck it!
Author's Note: More changes were made in this one than in the previous two. Most importantly, the addition of a new character. Who's name will be revealed in the next chapter. And also a (possible) new relationship. But we'll see.
FYI: Galician will be a language that will be used a lot in this story. Alongside Japanese and French. This was a change that I thought of way before this rewrite was even conceived. And I'm glad that I finally get to execute it.
Thanks for reading. Later.
