AN: Oof. This chapter was supposed to be released during the last week of October. Mixing in work and school while trying to write is not a good idea.
Why do teachers give so many essays and projects at the same time? But luckily, I'm going to be out of a job soon since this is my last week (yes, I'm somewhat happy that I'm losing my job.) so I have more time for writing and more importantly for myself to enjoy my last year of highschool instead of working all the time.
Anyways, y'all know the drill. I don't own anything and constructive criticism is always welcomed, just go easy on me. Some words are italicized, so scroll down to see what they mean. Review responses are also down below. Enjoy!
Text- Regular text.
"Text"- Dialogue.
'Text'- Inner thoughts.
"M-monika…Please..." I say as I caught my breath to let out a large sigh, my face somewhat flushed.
How the hell did it really come to this?
The ponytailed brunette slightly turned her head to me and opened one of her eyelids, revealing her clear, bright emerald eyes, "Hmm? What is it, Bahamut~?" she questioned with a flirty tone with a small smile forming on her lips.
"C-can you please…" I say as I set the desk down and pushed the chair in.
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"HELP ME OUT HERE WHY DON'T YOU? AND STOP SAYING THAT NAME!"
For the past few minutes, the club president had ordered me to help her fix up the classroom by moving all the desk back in exact perfect order. From the duel that had happened only, I'd say around more or less half an hour ago, most of the desks were pushed to the edge of the room. Some of them were in the middle of the class to create "destructible environment" as Monika Tachibana would like to call it as, hence why a certain petite had tried to use it for her advantage but backfired on her greatly.
Instead, what she met by "help her" was instead me doing all the work, as she "supervised" me as if she were an overseer who focused on making sure that their slaves were doing the hard work properly. But her focus was on scenery outside of the school and not on me as she drank out of her can of green tea that she made me get from the vending machine from the other side of the school.
The desks, of course, aren't really heavy, but it was still a hassle moving them all around the room in correct formation with Monika saying things like "Three more inches to the left." or "No, no, this one belongs to the other side of the room" only for her to change her mind. She's basically going to make a five-minute job into a half an hour type of job at this rate.
Did it really matter on what side it belongs to?!
I can only hope that these girls won't actually try to have another duel tomorrow so I wouldn't have to be forced into this.
As Monika sets down her green tea drink on the teacher's desk she looked at me with a serious face. The maiden covers her face with left hand, only revealing her right eye as her right hand held her left side, "I'm sorry, but I must recover my mana by resting! I, The Lady Who Knows All, must regenerate all of my lost mana from today! As a former swordsman of the emperor, this just a simple task for you!" She quipped with small hints of pity in her last sentence.
Monika turns her back onto the window, observing the world beyond as she places a few fingers on it. Both colors of light orange and crimson from the sunset now illuminated the classroom. The afterglow of the sunset dances on her face, making her long coral brown hair shimmer; her smooth and fair white skin glow; her captivating emerald eyes sparkle.
My heartbeat's tempo began to increase as blood started to move slowly onto my face. It was at that moment that I truly thought this girl right in front of me was truly a sorceress, casting a spell to captivate me in her beauty.
Monika Tachibana is the number one model student, being blessed with smarts, looks, and athleticism. Yet just like the rest of club members, she chooses to act out her character born from her imagination.
In other words, she was still a girl who is blinded by her own delusions she had made up. What was the deal with the club president being like this anyways? In fact, what was the deal with all of these girls in the club? Considering our school being the top school in our area, or possibly even in the prefecture, it's a fact that these girls are smart; yet they choose to believe in their delusions.
Alleviating my thoughts away with these questions, I answered the question in my mind; anime and manga. It would be easy for them to fall under that kind of delusion at a young age. More specifically during their middle school years.
Excluding Sayori (since I know for a fact that I influenced her), it's a possibility these girls saw an action filled show airing on their TVs and said to themselves, "maybe I have some special powers like these guys!" and pray that one day it could be awakened. And when it did came, they would be put into a situation that depended on themselves to save the whole entire universe.
...or was that just me who only thought of that?
Regaining my focus with the shake of my head mixed in with a sigh, I started to walk towards the still maiden staring into the outside world. Picking up a piece of paper on the floor, I rolled it up and lightly hit the crown of her head.
She flinched in response, losing all her focus on the beauty of nature all around our school and latched her eyes onto me with her eyebrows scrunched. Her mouth starts to slightly open up to say something. But before she can say anything, I put my hand out to interrupt her.
"Oi, oi, don't you want to leave already? The sun is setting and I can't afford to be late for the next train ride you know. Family matters."
The club presidents face began to look a bit conflicted when I mentioned I had family matters to attend to. More specifically, my big brother senses were kicking in, telling me I needed to get home so that Haru isn't alone in the house. Even though she is in the last year of middle school, I really do care for her, even if she teases me about my past much to my own chagrin.
Her mouth is slightly agape, raising a finger to retort what I said, but an audible silence was the only thing that came out from her mouth.
"Common, these desks aren't heavy at all but with you making me put them down in a specific spot, it's taking a bit too long. Just look at the number of papers on the floor we have to pick up too!"
As the pouting club president holds the hem of her blazer, she averts her eyes away from me in slight disappointment, "But I thought that we should spend…" suddenly as she faces me again she forms a smug but small smile. She leans in forward and puts her hands behind her back causing me to slightly move away from her, "Oh? Your face is pretty red right now you know~"
My eyes widened in realization as I cover my face with one hand, "D-don't mind it, it's just that well…" I stuttered as I tried to find the correct words in this situation.
"I wonder why is that~," she said with a giggle, causing my face to flush more. But with another chuuni-ish pose, her smile becomes a confident one, "It must be because of the lingering aura of the Demon King! It seems that the jaws of oblivion maybe coming close- Hey!"
I interrupt her by hitting the crown of her head once more with the rolled up piece of paper as my weapon of choice once more, "Just help me out here…" I sighed.
"I suppose I, The Lady who Knows Everything, shall help you out in your predicament." She sighed in defeat, resorting to starting to pick up the pieces of papers scattered across the room.
Setting down the last desk in the proper position, I let out a satisfied sigh, finally finishing cleaning up the mess that the girls had made. I took out my smartphone, checking the time. "Thank god, the next train ride comes in the next 20 minutes…"
If I had missed this next train ride, I would've waited around a half an hour for it to come back. I wouldn't want poor Haru to stay in the house alone since it's usually only the both of us in the house most of the time anyway. Having both parents who worked almost all day, go on business trips, and sleep almost all day during their days off, we really only relied on each other most of the time.
I looked over to Monika who was finishing up tidying the teacher's desk, "Alright then. Well then, shall we leave?"
A look of disappointment had appeared on her face. With a hand resting on her forehead, she let out a sigh, "I suppose. Though I wanted to spend…" she said as her voice starts to trail. My left eyebrow raised up in curiosity, but I soon disregarded it as I grabbed my student handbag. With her own student handbag resting on her shoulder, we both walk out of the classroom.
Disappointment suddenly dissipates as a confident smile suddenly forms on her face as she faces with her hands behind her back. "Did you forget anything? I'm going to lock the room now."
Rummaging my hands through my pocket, I made sure that I wasn't missing anything, "Uh… nah, I don't think so. Go for it."
With an agreeing nod, she turns around and with a swift movement, she takes out the key to the room from one of her pockets. Putting the key in, she turns the lock to the left. She held the handle of the door, moving it to make sure it was locked.
"Okay. Well then, I'll see you tomorrow then." I said with a sigh as I headed the other way. All felt good in the world as I was finally able to go home from the day. That is until a certain someone, more specifically, the club president had stopped me by grabbing the sleeve of my blazer.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"Huh? I already told you I needed to go home."
"I have to return this to the scholars of the Place of Everlasting Knowledge. We shall be condemned if we don't return it to them in time. So it is your utmost duty as my personal swordsman to escort me towards the council of the higher-ups." She said in a matter-of-factly-tone.
I looked at her in both confusion and discomfort, trying my best to understand what just came out of her mouth. Seriously, some needs to give her- no, all four of those girls a reality check! Then a sudden wave of realization hit me as she was referring to the teacher's room all the way downstairs towards the first floor of our school. "First off, please stop with the chuunibyou language. It's actually killing me on the inside. Secondly, there's no need for an "escort" towards the teachers' rooms so-"
Silence only came out of my mouth as I saw Monika calmly smiling towards me, but was mixed in with anger as I saw her eyebrows scrunched. It might have been just me, but I swore that I saw a vein forming on her head.
Seriously! This woman right in front of me is scary when she gets all serious!
I started to scratch the back of my head with my left hand, "A-actually, I might as well come along with you Monika! Haha…" I said in a nervous laugh as I feared for my life.
Putting her two hands behind her back, she leans in forward with a smile, "Good! Thank you for understanding. Now, come my swordsman, we must get there with haste!" She said as she once again grabbed the sleeve of my blazer, causing me to slightly blush as we both head down the stairs.
As she led me down the stairs, I thought that I saw a particular person with blue hair reaching towards her shoulders around the corner.
"Please excuse us." We say as we both perform a bow without fault towards the teachers grading papers in the room right before we slid the door close.
I gave out an exhausted sigh.
It's amazing how this girl right next to me is praised by everybody so much, including teachers. The moment we entered the room, the third-year teacher who owns the classroom had treated her just like royalty, basically kissing her feet.
"Ah! Monika Tachibana, thank you for returning the classroom key yet again! If there's anything else that you want else, just let me know!" said the third-year teacher who owns the room with a praising tone in his voice.
At this point, I began to feel as though that the teacher right in front of me is seeing his Goddess for the first time with the way he's speaking to her.
She bows in return, "Oh, no, no, it's my pleasure! Anyways, thank you for letting me use the classroom again for my club once again, Mr. Yamada."
"Oh no, no, it's MY pleasure!"
That's the power of the number model student for you.
And as for me? My presence was basically ignored; heck, I don't even think that he even knew I was there inside!
If only they knew how she truly acts, then perhaps their opinion on her would be much more different.
"Ahem. We're finished now, so let's go home now, okay?" Monika sweetly said with a smile as she put her hands behind her back and held her school handbag. "Thank you for your hard work today!"
"Likewise," I say as I scratched the back of my head, heading out to the front entrance of the school. Monika soon followed shortly right behind me, humming towards herself a simple tune.
"How did you enjoy your first official meeting today, Bahamut?"
I scoffed at her question, "It was… eventful. Please let's not do that ever again."
"Nonsense! It's my duty as the leader to make our club meeting as interesting and fun as possible while training ourselves to level up in our respective fields of powers!"
I shook my head in disbelief, knowing nothing would convince her chuunibyou infested mind to say otherwise, "Right."
She looks off to the side, "Though, I am wondering what came over the Wielder of the Third Eye… I never see her like that before. Maybe she was trying to impress you..."
"Impress me? Why would she… bah. Never mind that, anyway, there's something that's been bugging me for a little bit: why don't we have an actual club room?" I asked knowing that nonsense was bound to come out of her mouth.
An "hmm" sound emitted from her lips as she thought about the answer, "Ah, well is being under the guise of a Literature Club instead of the Mystic Art of Magic Club, the scholars of The Place of Everlasting Knowledge suggested that we don't really need anything special like funding or having an actual clubroom. If we just had the funds, we would have been able to upgrade our gear to the max level..." She answered as she shook her head with a downcast expression, "But by lady luck's blessings, this is much more beneficial to us! The size of the battlefield is much more than we needed, which allows us to have all these glorious battles for the Gods to observes! Surely they will-"
Having enough from listening to her spew out nonsense, I cut her off by lightly chopping her forehead, "I get it, I get it."
At this point, I wouldn't mind going deaf. Listening to my teachers all day and having to deal with these girls takes a toll on my mental state. But seriously her, or rather these four girls acting out their delusional character might just be the cause of my death one day.
I held the door for her as we head out the front door and towards the courtyard, we made our way to the gates of our school. Hearing her movements stop behind me when we passed the gate, I turned around with a confused expression, "Did you forget something?"
"Why yes actually. It will only take a second, my knight." She turns around facing the school and lifted her arms way up the air as she closes her eyes in concentration.
'Oh boy.' I looked around if anyone could see us at the front gate of the school. Luckily besides the people inside of the passing cars who paid no mind and focused on the road ahead, no one was looking.
Slowly she starts moving her arms in a circular motion and gradually goes faster. "Haaaa…." Suddenly a serious expression appears on her face as she opens her bright emerald eyes and swings her arms downwards, palms open, "BARRIER!"
I wish I could unsee that.
She then wipes off the make-believe sweat from her forehead as she huffs in exhaustion. The club president then without looking at me gives a thumbs-up in my direction as I slowly start to head towards the train station, "As the Lady who Knows Everything, the greatest sorceress of all time, it is my duty to protect the Place of Everlasting Knowledge- Hey! Wait up, don't just leave me!"
And thus finally marks the finish of my first club meeting.
"I'm home…" I say in exhaustion as I leave my outdoor shoes in front of the doorway. To my own curiosity, my dear little sister didn't greet me back as the only sound I heard in the background playing was the television all the way in the living room.
Haru, who had brought out the kotatsu table out since it was slightly starting to get a bit chilly, was enjoying the heat as most of her attention was currently on the television.
"Oi Haru, what are you watching?"
Silence was her only response as she leaned in more forwards towards the blaring sounds and lights from the television.
"That doesn't necessarily answer my question…"
"Ah? Oh, welcome back big bro, I didn't notice you there. Now shush."
Getting under the blanket of the kotatsu, I sat right next to her, enjoying the heat it was emitting.
"What are you watching anyway?"
"It's a show from that a friend suggested me that I recently started to binge watch. It has 4 seasons, totaling up to forty-five episodes each, two special episodes and even a spin-off. My only regret is that I started watching this at 12 am…"
"I see… And what episode are you on?"
"The last episode."
My eyes widen in surprise, "Oi, you watched forty-plus episodes already? What time did you sleep last night? How did you even make it through the day without falling asleep!?" I bombarded with questions, worry in my tone.
"Okay, okay, shut up already big bro. You're too loud." She said with an annoyed face as she looks into my direction as she paused her show. Averting her golden gaze from my own, he rubbed the back of her head, "I...I kinda accidentally slept through most of my periods today."
With a heavy sigh, I lightly hit her on the crown of her head, "Haru. Stop doing that to yourself. School should be your priority first."
She pouts, "Like you have room to talk, Bahamut. You always put your "training" first!" Haru retorts as she stuck her tongue at me.
In response, I pinched her cheek and pulled as she squirms in pain, "Oi. Stop bringing that up already."
"Okay, okay, I give up! Just let me watch, I promise I won't do it again!"
I let go of her cheek and as payback, she punches me on my arm while rubbing the affected cheek. That's tough love for you. Even if my sister is in the last year of her middle school and is capable of taking care of herself, I still want to look out for her and not let her end up becoming like me. Luckily, she shows no signs of it.
"So 4 seasons huh? It must be pretty good to have that many. What's it about?" I asked as she resumes her show with a simple click of a button.
"Ah, well. The main character's friend gets caught by some evil organization and he has to go out and save him. The organization sends out 3 spies to watch him but they eventually fall in love with him. But then- Oh, oh! It's the final fight, be quiet!"
Both of our attention is focused on the fight scene displayed on our television. As the camera pans in on who I am assuming is the main character, I raised my eyes in curiosity, 'Huh? What's this?'
The first thing that I noticed about the main character (besides his matching raven black hair and dark onyx eyes), was his familiar masculine face. His tight black t-shirt indicated that he had an athletic build as it showed off his muscles.
"I think I've seen him before somewhere…' I looked over to Haru to ask the name of the actor on screen, but her awe-filled face told me otherwise not to disrupt her by asking.
So instead I continued watching with her. Weirdly enough, the main character was fighting a familiar looking ponytailed brunette surrounded by some sort of dark energy special effect as she was on all fours, ready to pounce onto her target.
'Hmm. If she had on a ribbon, she would definitely look like an older version of Monika…'
Again, as much as I wanted to ask Haru what was going on, it would be better for me to shut my mouth before she starts yapping at me to shut up. The quality of the battle was spectacular, the special effects, the background music, and the action were extremely face paced as the main character of the story was holding his ground against the maiden.
I should remind myself to ask Haru what's the name of the show.
The battle ends as the main character blasts some sort of sound-wave like energy through the palm of his hand as his final trick up his sleeve. In response, the actress surrounded with the dark energy started to convulse in pain as she collapses onto the floor.
"NO! How can this be? HOW DID YOU DEFEAT ME?!" Slowly but surely, the dark energy surrounding the woman to evaporate, "N-no rather... WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME!?" she furiously said in a demonical voice.
The athletic man only had a pitying look on his face as he shook his head, "Just don't worry about it."
"NO! I HAD ALL THE POWER! THE POWER TO FINALLY ESCAPE WITH THIS BODY! CURSE YOU, VONES! DAMN YOU AND YOUR LOVER!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." He raises him the palm of his hand once more, "Return the one I truly love back to me!"
My dearest little sister then leans her head on my shoulder, "Haah~ he's so dreamy…" she cooed.
I rolled my eyes in response, "Yeah, yeah."
"Oh, big brother. If only you knew how a maiden's heart worked." She sighed as she rolled her amber eyes, "Ah. What am I saying? Like you would ever get a girlfriend." she harshly teased.
"Ouch first of all. Secondly, leave me be."
My devilish little sister then starts to silently giggle, "Remember the time when you asked me how to confess to a girl in middle scho- Ow, ow, okay I'll stop! I'm sorry!"
I interrupted her by pushing her forehead with two of my fingers with enough force, "Better be." I got up from the kotatsu, stretching my body, "Anyways I'll cook in a little bit, okay? Just let me know if you need anything. I'll be upstairs."
She starts to rub the affected area to soothe the pain, "Okay…"
Walking up the stairs and into my sanctuary I call my room, I slumped onto my chair right by my computer desk and released an exhausted sigh. Moving my head back to stare at the light grey ceiling, I start to recollect the events that transpired on this unusually long day.
Having to help organize our class' activity for the festival with a particular blue haired girl, getting in trouble by my club president indirectly, getting hit with a pop-quiz in algebra that I was totally prepared for and going to my first club meeting definitely took its toll on me.
Sometimes, I wish I could just escape from this reality of having to do all of this work altogether and live my life in a gentle bliss without having things to be worried about things like getting blackmailed for my past, but we can't have everything in life I suppose.
Taking out a few books from my student handbag, I quickly went to work to finish my homework. The only sounds in my room were the lead quickly scribbling along the paper as I was completely focused on-
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?! IT WAS A SIMULATION THE WHOLE TIME?!" My dear little sister yelled from downstairs in the living room, both interrupting me from my work and startling me much to my annoyance.
In response, I hit the floor with my foot three times to warn her to be quiet.
"Sorry…" I faintly heard her say down below.
Honestly, this little sister of mine.
After finishing my homework and comforting my sister from experiencing the shock when she found out about the plot twist of her beloved show by cooking her favorite food (which was curry), I lay on my bed, enjoying the coolness of my pillow as I was involved with the warmness of my blanket.
In about a minute, I started to feel a heavy weight on my eyes causing me to slowly shut them. At this very moment in time, all felt right in the world as I let my body finally relax with the only sound in the room was my soft breathing.
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'Now, then my knight! You've mustn't forget to write your poem upon this very night! It is very essential for the survival of our stronghold of literature and mystic magic! If you don't…
There will be consequences of course.'
"WHY DID I JUST REMEMBER THIS NOW?! I HAVE TO WRITE A POEM!" I quickly scrammed off of the warmness of my bed and quickly reached into my handbag for any random piece of looseleaf that I could find. As I found one I quickly took a seat by my table, turning on the lights in my room.
Okay. I took a few breaths in and calmed myself down to focus on whatever poem that I was going to make up. But then it hit me, 'Do I even know how to write a poem?'
I stared at my looseleaf for God knows how long as I moved my pencil quickly back and forth between my thumb and pointer finger.
Sure, I've made up a few poems but that was just for a few assignments for school. But it was just something that was required for me to do and not something that I did on my own. Even then I had a hard time doing it since I had no type of creative talent at all.
In other words, I'm screwed and won't be getting enough sleep tonight.
"Okay then, my eternal rival Bahamut! When the time is right, we shall clash once more in the battlefield! You better not get assassinated! See ya~!" My chuunibyou infected childhood friend said with a hop and a skip towards her homeroom class.
I let out an exhausted sigh as I gave a small wave goodbye, "Yeah, yeah. See ya."
The weight on my eyelids felt like they were ready to fall at any moment as dark rings formed under eyes. If someone had asked me if I was cosplaying as a zombie, I would have had said say "yes" because of my current state of fatigue really did make me feel dead inside.
I spent the whole night writing and scraping poems until probably 3 am in the morning, messing up my beloved sleeping schedule. Having not being blessed with any type of literacy talents, it made me go insane. But despite my struggles with it, I ended up finishing it by taking twenty words related to each other in some way and based it on that.
I have to it is pretty mediocre. But that blackmailing girl named Monika is getting what she gets with this poem since at this point I don't give a flying fu-
'W-what the hell?!'
As I opened my locker to take out my indoor school slippers, literal piles of papers flooded out of the small box locker. A couple of students who were passing by started to stare at both me and the pile right before heading off towards their classes. I slowly bent down to pick one up to read what it said.
'IF YOU TRY TO DO ANYTHING BAD TO HER,
YOU'RE DEAD RYOTA SHUJINKOU. -The president of the M.T.F.C'
My eyes widen in both surprise as I shivered in fear from the bold threat. I gripped the paper harder as dents started to form on the bottom edges as I stared even harder at the message, rereading it multiple times to see if I wasn't hallucinating.
Multiple questions started to form in my head as I started too quickly pick up the rest of the papers on the ground. Reading all of them, they practically had the same type of message as the first one but had different harmless threats.
Who were these lunatics and who were they talking about?
As much as I wanted the answers on who sent these harmless threats, I folded the first letter I received and put it in my pocket, leaving the rest on the ground for the school janitor to clean. First period was coming closer and closer.
Sorry, Mr. Janitor whoever you are.
Moving through the hallways of Dokisai, the chatters in the hallways between students started to quiet down as they started to stare at me with their scrutinizing eyes.
"Hey, hey look… it's him!" a random female student mumbled towards her friend.
"Really? Did she pick someone like him?" Her friend responded.
"I thought she would of went for some else besides him. He looks pretty average.." Said another random student.
"I thought I really had a chance with her, and he comes out of nowhere!"
"To think someone of her caliber… I guess some people have their flaws."
"I guess he's kinda cute. I had my eye on him for a while. Oh well."
Quickening my pace, I gripped my student handbag and held it closer towards my body, trying to hide my face that was beginning to crack with nervousness. I felt their ugly stares piercing through my back as I turned the corner, only to encounter even more people stopping whatever they were doing to stare at me as they talked amongst themselves.
As much as I wanted to run away, wanted to hide, wanted to become invisible to them at this very moment, I tried my best to keep up a calm face.
'Why is this just like middle school with their stares?'
"There he is!" I overheard one student from my classroom mumbled towards another group of students.
I set down my student handbag and sat on my chair, resting my head on the cold hard desk as I covered with my arms.
'Okay, okay. Think, Ryota. What the hell did you do? Did someone start rumors about me? Or did someone find some dirt on me?
Wait, if someone finds dirt on me… would that mean Monika-'
My thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of footsteps approaching me. I looked up to see a student around my age with messy black hair and dark red eyes, donning the same male uniform as me and his round-framed eyeglasses. My initial worried and freaked out mood was alleviated and was replaced with relief as I saw the face of my friend, Shiro Takahashi approaching me.
Having similar likes in common, we both found friendship with each other last year after finding out we had the same interest in both games and anime. Ever since then, we always talked or even debate on certain aspects of our favorite series.
He was my first friend I ever made here in Dokisai, but thankfully he never found about my dark past and nor do I intend ever telling him since I can't risk that information spreading.
Noticing the paperback in his hand, I took it upon myself to start the conversation, "Yo, Shiro, new series you picked up from the bookstore? Oh by the way, why weren't you here yester-"
Shiro interrupted me by slamming both hands on my desk, causing me to flinch in surprise, "Dammit Ryota, when did you become a damn raijuu?! Go explode!"
"W-what? What are you talking-"
He looked away from me as he furrowed his eyebrow as he adjusted his eyeglasses upwards, "Tch. And here I thought we were the same with being outcasts... And you had to betray me!"
"O-outcasts…?" I shook my head, "Shiro, calm down. I don't know what you're talking about!"
"Don't play dumb Ryota! Everyone in this school knows!"
"Can you just tell me already?!"
"That you're dating THE Monika Tachibana!"
My eyes widen in surprise as I froze for a couple of seconds as silence filled the air between the both of us. At that point, I could imagine hearing tumbleweeds rolling in the back round. Slowly but surely, blood started to rush into my cheeks forming a hot red blush on it.
"WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, WHAT?!"
"Someone saw you two after school yesterday..." His expression began to grow darker as he looked away from me yet again, pushing his glasses upwards, holding his paperback in his hand harder, "You two were flirting with each other upstairs on the third floor where you thought no one would see you. Then you went all the way downstairs with her while you two kept flirting away. Then you kept flirting with each other as you walked out of the school and even on the train! Tch, disgusting! You bring shame to the name of an otaku with that amount of flirting!"
"But you're the one being disgusting…" I mumbled under my breath.
He looks at me again with a serious face as he puts his hands on my desk yet again, causing me to move back in my seat, "We were supposed to be comrades! Brother-in-arms!"
"Brother-in-arms in exactly what-?"
"Yet…yet you get with someone like you get with someone like her!" He interrupted.
"Okay, okay Shiro, calm down. This is just one big misunderstanding-"
He puts his pointer finger in from of my face to interrupt me once more, "Silence you damn traitor! You're lucky you're going out with Monika Tachibana, the girl who seems to have it all ranging from looks, intelligence, and popularity! Most would kill for those type of blessings! Hell, she even has her own fan club!"
'Fanclub…? Wait a minute...'
As Shiro talks more about Monika's accomplishments that mostly everyone here in Dokisai is aware of, I quickly took out the piece of paper filed with threats that were placed into my shoe locker.
Rereading over the paper, I was bewildered over my sudden realization, 'M.T.F.C… Don't tell me this stands for Monika Tachibana Fan Club! Is she really this popular that she has her own fan club?!'
He then grabs my shoulders, forcefully grabbing my attention and bringing me back into reality, looking at me straight into my eyes as his breathing gets more erratic, causing me to be slightly afraid of him, "And that's not even the best part about her…"
"W-what is it?" I gulped fearfully as I tried to wiggle my way out from his clutches.
"Ryota, my former brother-in-arms..." Shiro pauses for a moment before continuing. "Do you know what the term "absolute territory" is?"
I tilt my head in thought for a moment. 'Absolute territory... haven't I heard that before?'. Giving up, I shake my head no only to receive a pity laugh from him.
"Haha! Looks like you have much to learn my former brother-in-arms!" His face starts to become more flushed as he begins to explain. "Absolute territory! An area where most otakus like us live for in our two-dimensional waifus or in those three-dimensional posers cosplaying! It is our Holyland for some of us, even if we do get called out for having a fetish!"
I start to move away from him in disgust from his behavior. "Oooh-kay... Keep going Shiro..."
Both Shiro's grin and blush began to grow even further as he continued. "Basically, it is the area of skin shown between over-knee socks and a skirt or even shorts! In summary, it is the..."
"THE THIGHS?!" I interrupted him as my face began to grow a cherry red.
He extends his arms as if he was priest preaching in a church. "PRECISELY!" He ecstatically exclaims. Somehow, blood starts to drip from his nose as he continues. "Nine out of ten boys in this school wants to be sandwiched between those beautiful thick-"
With a flushed face, I cut him off to protect the dignity of my club president. "Alright chill out you creep! Get a hold of yourself! Anyways, I think you got the wrong idea!"
Shaking his head and wiping his nose with a handkerchief, he sighs. "Hmph. No point of saying otherwise, you damn traitor. Everyone in the whole school knows, Ryota."
"Shiro, that's why I'm saying-"
PIN-PON-PAN-PON
As the Westminster chimes echoed throughout the whole school, indicating the start of the first period, Shiro simply ignores me with a glare and heads back towards his respected chair as he pushes his glass upwards, leaving me both dumbfounded and alone to think about this whole situation.
First off, who saw us after that club meeting when it was just Monika and I in the hallways? I was positive that no one was there besides us! Could the possibility of Monika's chuunibyou personality be also revealed to the public?
Wait… why am I worried about her? She's the one who blackmailed me!
Okay, moving on. Secondly, who exactly spread these rumors around? Was the person in question following us around and misinterpreting the whole situation?
Well… they aren't that bad of rumors, right? Having them know my actual past is actually even worse… plus Monika really is...
I felt the blood rushing to my cheeks once more. I need to snap out of it! Finding out who said all of these rumors is more important!
...then again, what would it be like actually going out with her?
"Bahamut! Do this for me!"
"Bahamut! Go do that for me!
"Bahamut! Fetch that for me!
"Huh? You're not going to do it? Are you sure you don't want to?"
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..
Yikes. Considering how she forced me to clean the club room as she threatened me with a pissed off expression, I might just be more of a slave instead of an actual boyfriend.
Anyways… where do I even begin to figure this all out?
My attention is turned to the sound of the door sliding open and the footsteps of my teacher entering the class, "Alright everyone… bring out your textbooks and turn to page 75."
Opening up my student handbag, my hands rummage through it to find my English textbook, 'Well… I guess I'll figure it out after class…' As I was looking for my textbook, I couldn't help but feel uneasy. Looking up, I found my answer.
The whole class was staring at me.
'Oh boy.'
"Alright, class, that's it for today's lesson." My teacher says as he closes his own textbook, "Don't forget that your essays are due after the festival. I'll be right back." And like that, he quickly leaves the room.
I start to slowly rise from my seat after putting my textbook away, 'Okay… maybe if I ask around-'
My thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of multiple chairs and desks screeching along the floors of the classroom. In an instant, almost everyone in my class with expressions of both curiosity and excitement had gathered around my desk. Some had even pulled up chairs to sit near me. And right in front of me was Amy Fujisawa, putting her desk across of mine. She sat down slowly, her determined light mandarin orange eyes staring into my own amber eyes as she scrunched her eyebrows.
"Ahem. Soooooo… Ryota!" Her determined placed is replaced by a calm and soothing smile, "You seem to be the erm…the talk of the school! Seriously, your popularity rank practically shot up!"
Did her eye just twitch when she said that?
I scratched the back of my head nervously, "Y-yeah…I guess so..."
"So when did-"
"WHO CONFESSED FIRST?" A female student interrupted by shoving Amy with a crazed look.
"H-hey! I wasn't done-"
"HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN DATING HER?" Said another female student in the back, trying to get through the swarm of students.
"HOW DID YOU TWO MEET?"
Far off into the front of the classroom, I heard someone slam their fist on the table, "DAMN YOU RYOTA, YOU TRAITOR! DAMN RAIJUU!" exclaimed a familiar voice.
Suddenly all at once, more and more students start to rapidly question me all at once, causing me to walk back towards the wall in fear as they moved forward. My eyes wander to Shiro who was watching this all unfold with a glare as he shook his head in disappointment.
'Shouldn't he be proud of me instead of disappointment if these rumors were, keyword, 'were' going out with each other?!'
My eyes then wandered to the poor blue medium length haired girl who was currently drowning in the sea of students, with a hand reaching out from the crowd, desperately begging someone to pull her out.
"Okay, enough is enough!" I exclaimed with resolve, "Everyone, I'll answer all your questions if you all shut the hell up already!"
And in an instant, the crowd suddenly stops talking, attentively ready to listen to me. The only sounds in the room were Amy catching her breath.
"Oh my God, I thought I was going die…" I heard her mutter.
"Okay…" I sighed, "Guys, I think you all have the wrong-"
"Excuse me, is Ryota in today?" All of our heads turned towards the door to the right and looking towards the source of the voice was the girl in question, wearing her iconic white ribbon tied by her light coral brown hair in a ponytail. The Sweetheart of Dokisai High School herself.
"Monika…? What are you-"
"KYAHH! IT'S MONIKA!" Shouted one student from the back of the crowd, pointing at her. And just like a dog hearing their owner come home, they all quickly start to surround her.
"Monika, Monika!" said one of the students in the crowd, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"How long have you been with him for?!" said another.
"MONIKA-SAMAAAAAA! WHY WOULD YOU PICK SOMEONE LIKE HIM?!"
As my wide-eyed in surprise club president kept getting bombarded with questions, she quickly made her way towards me, hiding behind my body.
She both hands behind my right shoulder and peaked at the crowd, "Ahaha… sorry Ba- I mean, Ryota. D-do you mind filling me in?"
"I-idiot! You putting your hands-!"
One of the girls from the crowd pointed at her, "AHHH! LOOK! SHE'S PUTTING HER HANDS ON HIM! SO YOU GUYS ARE GOING OUT TOGETHER HUH?!"
Both of our faces flushed in embarrassment. Who the hell spread these rumors around! Monika, who was trying her best to maintain her calm and confident face cleared her throat to whisper to me, "I see the problem here, my personal swordsman. It seems the corrupt ones of the Place of Everlasting Knowledge had planted their seeds of deception upon the atmosphere of magic here. To think they had broken my barrier that fast…"
And at that moment, I wanted to slam my face into the wall multiple times for hearing her say something like that in this type of situation.
"Do not fret Bahamut! I shall quickly cast the dispel enchant quickly!" She whispered with confidence.
'Thank god… at least this silly rumor will be done with…'
She stepped forward with confidence, two hands behind her back and firmly stood her ground, "Okay everyone! If I can have your attention!" She raises her left hand and motions, everyone, to quiet down as if she truly was the queen of this school, "So it comes to my attention that there are some rumors about me and Ryota here."
She looked behind and gave me a small wink and a smile, causing me to slightly blush. Yet in spite of this, I couldn't help but feel a wave of relaxation hit me. Knowing that this rumor that someone caused is going to be over in a matt-
'Wait. What the hell is she doing with her other hand?'
With her right hand, she rapidly yet gracefully starts to make some sort of hand signs behind her back which thankfully no one but me saw. It's only homeroom right now and yet, I feel like tearing my eyeballs from seeing her 'casting magic'. I stepped forward, standing right next to her so no one would be able to see it from the side.
Someone strike me down.
"This ends all right now." She says with a stern voice and stops her hand signs. I don't know if that was supposed to have a double meaning or something. "My relationship with Ryota over here is…"
The whole classroom goes quiet once more. All movement in the classroom had stopped and at that moment, it felt like all time had stopped. The silence was deafening as everyone and for some reason including me was anticipating the answer.
"A secret~!" she said with a wink.
..
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..
..
..
..
..
..
"MONIKA, WHAT-"
Everyone stared wide-eyed at us, "WHAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"
The club president quickly turned to face me with a satisfied smile plastered on her face and shot me thumbs up as if she did something good.
"HEY, DON'T GIVE THEM THE WRONG IDEA WITH THAT DAMN WINK!" I quickly retort.
"A secret?! But wait she winked, so that would mean-!"
"AHHH, SO IT'S TRUE! THEY REALLY ARE TOGETHER!" Squealed a female student from the back.
"I-I can't believe it…" cried another male student.
I gave Monika a glare, and in response, she only gives me a light giggle. "HEY GUYS, WAIT! YOU ALL HAVE-"
My attempts were all for nothing as I tried grabbing everyone's attention. Yet they all continued to ignore me as the crowd of students started to share their thoughts about this situation.
But from the corner of my eyes, Amy Fujisawa was staring at me with a confused look on her face as if she was trying to make sense of this situation.
PIN-PON-PAN-PON
One by one, everyone starts to quiet down as they all went back to their respective seats, texting and chatting away.
"Ah, looks like I didn't have enough time to discuss a few things with you Ba- I mean, Ryota." My troublesome club president said. She stands on her toes to reach my height, placing one hand on my shoulder to lightly push me down and another to cover her mouth movements from outside observers, "Rendezvous at the sky dragon's nest at high noon today. Your reward from yesterday's quest is waiting for you." She whispered, feeling her breath tickle my ears, causing my face to grow deep red.
"G-got it."
I heard a few students in the background sporting a few whistles and "awwws" in our direction, causing me to blush. Yet, despite this Monika seemed unfazed by this.
"Well then, Ryota I'll see you later," Monika said as she waved goodbye.
And like that she gracefully turns and leaves the classroom.
I slowly made my way up the dimly lit stairway, holding onto the railings as it leads me to my destination.
Through deductive reasoning and my past experiences and terminology of middle school, I figured what she meant by 'sky dragon's lair' was the school roof.
I gave out an exhausted sigh as I made it to the top of the stairs, not from walking of course, but instead due to the constant teasing and the constant explanation I tried giving to those who were curious.
It took almost two periods straight to explain to everyone that we weren't dating, but yet most of them still were convinced that we actually were together when she had brought up our relationship as a "secret". What the hell does that even mean?
My hand approached the doorknob before stopping midway in reluctance; what was I even being reluctant for? It was just my chuunibyou infected club president up there anyways.
Or perhaps maybe it was just her behavior that reminded me of myself back then was the reason why I felt this way.
I turned the doorknob and gently open the door, the light had quickly gleamed on my face, causing me to slightly flinch back right before regaining my sights.
And there she was, standing all alone on the rooftop, holding the fence with one hand as she looked off into the bright baby blue sky as her hair gently flows in the light breeze.
"Yo."
She doesn't respond at all. I started to move forward, "Monika?" I asked with concern.
Yet again, she doesn't respond. I gently placed a hand on her shoulder and in response, she flinches and takes a battle ready stance.
"Who's getting deleted first?!"
"No one, silly," I say by lightly flicking her forehead.
She rubs her forehead in response, "Ah, Bahamut! Welcome, I suppose you're here for-"
"Wait, wait, wait. Before anything else, why did you say that earlier?!"
She tilts her head in confusion, "Huh? What do you mean?"
I sighed as I placed my hand on my forehead, "About our relationship being a so-called "secret". What those that even mean?"
She giggles as she puts her hands behind her back and leans in forward with a smile plastered on her face, "Well that's what our relationship is, is it not? I think I told you already; you are my personal swordsman whose soul is bound to me. Your purpose is to serve me in exchange for your protection against the assassins of the Place of Everlasting knowledge who's after your bounty. Don't you remember?"
My memory shifts back two days ago when I first got blackmailed into joining her club. "As stupid as that sounds…" I reluctantly said as I shifted my gaze away from hers, "I guess you're kinda right in a sense."
She put her hands behind back and looked at me with seriousness in her eyes, "Plus, you shouldn't lie about certain things Bahamut."
'So lying is bad, yet you're blackmailing me?!,
I sighed, shaking my head. "But aren't you concerned with these rumors?"
"Those silly rumors? They're just silly lies in the end anyways spread by the corrupted ones. I'm sure they'll blow out eventually since my dispel magic is in the works as of right now, so there's nothing to be worried about anyways. Not that I don't mind it."
"What-?"
"Anyways. Come, my swordsman! Your reward awaits you!" She states as she gestures towards a bench with her student handbag resting on it.
I shook my head, disregarding what she said as I followed her. She sits down first and pats the seat next to her and I soon follow shortly. "What was that rumor spread around again Bahamut? That we're dating?"
A small blush forms on my face, "Y-yeah."
"I see…a couple, hmm?" she starts to stare off into the distance, "That's silly. You only joined a few days ago and people start jumping towards conclusions…" I heard her quietly say to herself, "Bahamut. Turn around."
Surprised by the sternness in her voice, I followed her command as a few seconds go by.
"Okay. You can turn back around."
As I shifted my head towards her, I quickly felt the blood rushing towards my cheeks as the vision of Monika leaning in forward with a Pocky stick in her mouth. On instinct, I move away from her, flustered "W-W-WHAT ARE YOU-?!
"Well we are a 'couple', am I right?" She said with a wink as her smile becomes more flirtatious.
"W-WHAT ARE YOU-!"
She bites half of the Pocky and covers her mouth, the other half in her other hand as she starts to laugh uncontrollably, "Sorry, sorry! It's just that your face…" As her laughter starts to die down, I look away in embarrassment, "Ahem. Anyways, I've always seen couples do these types of things so I wanted to tease you a bit, sorry."
"Y-yeah, yeah. Don't do that again or people will get the wrong idea again…" Monika nods as she hands me the other half of the pocky. And it wasn't even the part with chocolate on it. "So… this is my reward?"
"Of course not, Bahamut. Give me a second."
Rummaging through her student handbag, she pulls out a pulls a small rectangular box and hands it to me. My eyes widen in surprise when I found out it was bento box covered in a pink and white polka dot furoshiki in my hands, "It was my first time doing something like this, but fear not! I had both the blessings of Lady Luck and an enchantment that increases my cooking ability by tenfold! You should be thankful Bahamut."
Besides my mom, I think this actually the first time I received lunch from someone else! I feel really thankful for this but… This definitely makes us look like a couple! But after scanning the rooftop for a bit, I don't think that there's no one here besides us.
I hope.
I look away from her, rubbing the back of my head in embarrassment, "T-thank you, Monika."
"Not a problem Bahamut." As I turned around she placed her cheek on her hand, smiling at me. "This is for everything you've done for me anyways..." I couldn't help but blush to notice her attractive facial features.
I raised an eyebrow in curiosity, "Everything-?"
"Ah! Oh no!" My wide-eyed club president says as she looks at her rose gold colored smartphone. "Sorry, Ryota! I forgot one of the teachers asked me to do something! I have to go now!" She takes her student handbag, slouching it on her shoulder and quickly heads for the door, opening it. Right before she closes it, she peeks through, "I'll see you later!"
And like that, she closes it. Leaving me all alone with her lunch she made.
I smirked as I blew air through my nostrils, 'Huh. Looks like she slipped up and called me by my actual name instead of THAT one.'
"Oh well. Thanks for the food…" Unwrapping the furoshiki and placing it on my lap, I open the lid of the bento box, admiring the assortment of foods separate that she made; from the… somewhat excessive amount vegetables, the meat and even the small pickled plum that was perfectly set in the middle of the white rice.
Holding the disposable chopsticks she added in, I ultimately decided to start with the meat, 'Let's see how good the model student good is at cooking…'
Chewing the piece of meat, I expected my taste buds to be in heaven with flavors. After all, she was the model student that can do anything said by everyone. But maybe I put my expectations a bit too high because it never came.
Instead, my mouth buds tasted something else; bitterness, hardness, and disgust.
"It's… burnt…"
Kotatsu- Basically a table, a futon (a thick blanket) and some sort of heating device. The blanket covers the table and the heating source is under the top of the table.
Raijuu- Used by mostly otakus (a geek), it's internet slang for people opposite of a stereotypical otaku; someone who has a successful social life. (getting a girlfriend, a job, etc.) Basically a normie.
Absolute Territory- Translated as "Zettai Ryouiki", it's otaku slang for the area of skin shown between over-knee socks and a skirt or shorts. Basically the thighs and someone has to make a joke about Monika's thighs at one point, right? After watching a certain scene in an anime, I had to include it somehow.
Furoshiki- Tradition cloth used to wrap boxes, gifts or in this case wrapping it around a bento box as some sort of a bag to hold the box.
Waifu- Do I really need to explain myself?
AN: Wow, this chapter was around 8k words. I wanted this to be a bit short, being around 5k but I guess I write too much and want to put down ideas.
Anyways, if you guys don't know the show that Haru was watching was a big reference to Enigma2187's fic named Letting Go. Go ahead and read it if you have the chance, it's a pretty good read.
Welp, it's time to hop into the reviews!
Randomidiot1816: Hmm. You might have given me an idea for a scene for a chapter. I would need to find out how to implement it though. Thanks for the review!
TheForgottenRune: Basically summarized the past few chapters nice lmao, anyways me and my best friends always put up with each weird shit all the time. How our friendship rolls. Anyways, he does get mad at them but he justs puts up with it since they're always involved with their delusions. With Monika, he HAS to deal with it due to him being blackmailed and since she's the school idol, everyone is going to believe her of course even though she herself is a chuunibyou. Thanks for the reviews!
Mark the Mark: Thanks for enjoying! Glad to see that you were liking it. Anyways, sure I wouldn't mind you making this into the mod and give credit of course, but only until when this story gets a bit more developed as it is only in it's beginning stages. I plan on going up to the festival as it first arc of the story, then after that make something else up. Thanks for the reviews!
ZombieSlayers: yes thank you kind sir
Engima: noice job lmao. Anyways time to hop into this huge one!
Yeah. The DDLC fandom is slowly falling off, even though at the time I posted this chapter, the subreddit hit 100k users on it lmao. But there is bits of content coming out like merch on it's official website and clothing collaborations.
AH, YOU MADE ME THINK OF A CHAPTER IDEA WITH MONIKA WRITING A FANFIC THANK YOU
he gon bahaNUTT everywhere
I saw a scene in a certain anime called Seitokai Yakuindomo (hilarious anime filled with perverted jokes and puns) about radio exercises so I wanted to add it in. It's basically what it sounds like and it's pretty popular in Asian countries so why not and put it.
Expect more references to games in general
Actually I made up Radiant Soul Strike by combining two different attacks from a certain MMO that I used to play a lot called Maplestory. I miss my old friends there…
You dirty little mind LMAOOOOOOOOO NICE
Sorry boss for giving you diabetes with the amount of Sayori fluff lmao. Anyways, I wanted to make it seem that literally everyone who was at the park was staring at him saying his attacks lmao, so in a sense, the woman is basically stopping him from embarrassing himself even more. Should of added in a bit more details though.
Thanks! I actually want to revamp mostly all DDLC scenes of Act 1 but I feel like people would get bored of it. That's why I have something else planned for the next chapter lmao
Hmm what would Val do? Probably try and avoid them if he didn't know the girls that well since he would probably think they're crazy or some shizz
Don't worry, Natsuki is going to call Ryota a different nickname soon.
Ah yes Nisekoi. One of my top 10 favorite anime, I just didn't like the fact that THEY BLOCKED THE KISS SCENE FOR THE ENDING WHAT THE HELL MAN.
Go for it, I want to see Val pulling this stunt on one of the girls (EVEN THO I NEED TO CATCH UP AHHHH)
Tbh I should of made them not argue for 15 mins, it was an exaggeration. LMAOO AT THAT POINT ONE OF THEM WOULD OF BEEN SWINGING IF IT WAS 15 MINS I WASN'T THINKING STRAIGHT
frick that frost troll in High Hrothgar seriously, made me rage so much back in the day. I had to chug like 50 potions ONLY TO GET ONE SHOTTED, LIKE WHAT?
I tried to write that in the beginning but I don't think I did that well lmao. Anyways I enjoyed your review as usual, so I should drop some reviews on Holding on if I have free time today. Thanks again!
Anyways, thanks for reading. Have a great day/night. Hopefully, next chapter comes in sooner.
Edited as of 1/27/19. Only a few parts changed.