April 26, 2011

Forecast… Cloudy

"I heard there's weird animal is dwelling in the shopping district area." Mrs. Nakayama, or in my mind… Mrs. Depressing… yeah, no joke. If I wasn't in a weird place, to the point that I couldn't even focus on school… her lessons might have made me depressed again. She needed a real chill pill. "Supposedly, it knows how to search the change dispenser of the vending machines. How amazing is that?"

I whispered quietly to Chie. "About as amazing as how pessimistic she is." She had to try and stop herself from laughing out loud. I thought it was funny as hell too, but I held my voice better than Chie did at that moment.

"Even animals can learn the value of money…" I almost face palmed, go figure that the one good teacher at this school tried to dress like an Egyptian, this place was so messed up… "I guess, I'll have to keep my wallet more secure from now on. Students, at your age might not understand, but money is very important! You can't do anything without it!"

Chie looked over to me as I was clenching my fist, the most money had ever done for me is make me want to die! So I really didn't want to hear this. "And you know, smarts don't guarantee wealth. Anyway, I guess I should do what they pay me for and lecture you."

"Please do so I don't lose it…" I sighed and placed a hand against forehead, while looking to the ceiling of the class. "I don't wanna be here today…"

"Let's see, we left off talking about the properties of whole numbers…" Chie was glad to find a reason to jump to another topic. And she used it well, unless it was a teacher that asked her… School was not Chie's strong point. "Well, Miss Satonaka. Tell me which of these don't exist."

"Uh…" Chie was actually scared that she would get it wrong. "Which one was it? Do you know, Kreed-kun? I don't think I've heard of any these!"

"Marriage numbers…" I whispered it to her and she quickly blurted the answer out without even asking if I was sure that I was right! I actually did face palm now.

"That's actually correct. Next time, Miss Satonaka, please just say honestly if you don't know the answer." And we were found out just like that, Yosuke smiled at us, like he knew about a joke that we didn't hear… I didn't listen to anything that she said after that. Yet, Chie's voice grabbed my attention again.

"Guess she knew I was asking you…" Chie looked at me with a smile on her face, even though I just wanted to get the hell out of school at that moment, her smile still made me smile back. "But… thanks, Kreed-kun!"

"No problem…" my smile was bright again. "Miss Hero…"

Time Change: Morning to After school

"I was going to take a break from training today, but," I rubbed the back of my head as me and Chie stood at the flood plain. It was Tuesday, so Yosuke had to work and Yu had started music club… How many freaking clubs is he gonna be in? "I figured it was better than ignoring you."

"Wh-what!?" Chie got flustered as the joke left my mouth; her face got bright red as well. I laughed at her and held my hands up in defense.

"I'm joking!"

"Whatever," Chie smiled back at me. Though she quickly changed topic as we just stood there, finishing up the training for the day. "Oh yeah! I forgot, I hung out with Yukiko after we ate yesterday. She'll back in school in a few days! Though she's well enough to walk around now."

"That's cool," I smiled as I walked to the nearby bench and sat down. Today Chie was the only one who really practiced. Though it was fun just to talk to her, and you know… not get the shit beaten out of me! "Man, it sucks that it's gonna rain for the next few days though…"

"Why?" Chie titled her head at me, obviously confused by what was happening.

"We can't really hang out for the next few days…" I sighed as Chie's face turned the pinkish color again, though I really didn't get to see it as I was looking up.

"We-well, in the movie I watched the other day," Chie was quick to change the subject as fast as possible… which made me look back up at her. "This guy knocked down a tree using only his leg! How does someone kick that hard…? Just practice?"

"Steroids…?" I shrugged as she raised an eyebrow at me… I couldn't help but laugh at the face she was making. "I-I'm sor-sorry, I wa-was joking!"

"Ch-Chie!" I stopped laughing almost immediately as the voice reached my ears. I looked up to see none other than the asshole who stole my money… Takeshi! He owns me ten thousand yen!

"Oh," Chie didn't pissed off! What. The. Fuck!? "Hey Takeshi… W-were you robbed again?" WHY DID SHE WANT TO HELP HIM!?

"No…" Takeshi had his hands in his pockets. "I took off right after that, right? So I thought I'd apologize…"

"Good!" I stood up next to him. "I want my ten thousand yen back." Before he could even respond Chie spoke up.

"Why don't you be a man and admit you ran away?" Takeshi actually seemed upset about that…

"Wh-what…? Were you this anal before?" Oh, he was really asking for a beat down! You do NOT say that about Chie… wait… um, girls… damn… I fucked up! "Tch, if you lose that sunny attitude, you won't have anything left."

Just before I punched him, which would have been in like two seconds… Chie actually yelled at the asshole! "Shut up!"

"Speaking of which…" Oh, I was ready to take out my baseball bat and beat the fucker down myself! "What's up with Yukiko-san? I saw her with you the other day… She seemed weirdly cheerful… She had this funky laugh, y'know…?"

"That funky laugh…" I could tell Chie was also at her limit, so I was gonna let her have the honors of beating this asshole to bits! "That's how she really is."

"Oh, you've rubbed off on her, huh?" If Chie didn't do something soon, I was… The only reason that comment bothered me… he seemed MAD about that! There was NOTHING wrong with Chie! "I can't believe it… That's not Yukiko-san… She was better gloomy…" Again Chie beat me to the punch.

"Look." Wait… she didn't sound pissed, WHY!? "If you get into trouble again, I'll step in and help." I looked at Chie with a look of concern in my eyes… I figured it out, she loved him once. It was the only reason she put up with the bullshit he was pulling. I felt a slight tug at my chest as the words left her mouth. I didn't want to admit I knew why, but I did… I was still scared, ever more so now… that she would run.

"Huh?" The fact that he didn't even know how Chie had felt… It made it even worse, I was calm now, just sad… "Oh, uh… Thanks…"

Then Chie pulled out a trump card, it freaking scared the ever loving shit out of me, I actually fell flat on my ass! "So why don't you shut your mouth about Yukiko!? You don't know anything about her! She's a good person, got it!?"

"Wh-what the hell?" at that moment, Takeshi realized that Chie was no longer wrapped around his little retard finger. And he turned into an Olympic runner to get the hell away from us. I smiled again, and yelled after him… It just made him run faster.

"You still owe me ten thousand yen!" When he was out of ear shot, I turned back to Chie, she looked sad to have kicked him out of her life, yet even sadder about the stuff he said about Yukiko… "You okay…?"

"Way back, I saw Yukiko sitting by the road, holding a dog. I asked her what's up and she said she ran away from home…" Chie didn't look me in the eye, though; she did look at the stairs nearby. That told me that she made the most important friend she had ever had here… Where she was training with someone who was almost a stranger to her. It felt good to know that she was able to share her past with me like I had with her. "She'd picked up the dog, but her parents told her she couldn't have a pet, and that she'd have to get rid of it… She looked like she was dead or something… I tried everything I could think of to make her laugh." Still looking away from me, Chie sounded like she was about to cry… I thought I was gonna cry too. Funny huh? The guy who thought that killing himself was the best option in life was about to cry to a story of a reason for living… "And that's how we became friends…" Chie turned to me again with determination in her eyes! "From that moment on… I told myself I'd protect Yukiko… But… Somewhere along the way, I messed up, and that Shadow popped out…"

I wanted to make her feel better anyway I could, but I knew she had to get everything off of her chest at this exact moment… "After that, I thought I'd try to focus on what's good about me. I swore to quit being nothing but the girl Yukiko can rely on… So… I just tried my best." I could see everything that she had pent inside of herself… it was time she opened up, that way… another Shadow didn't appear, she wasn't doing it for that reason though… she was doing because… because she trusted me. Me… I fucked up more in my life than she thought she had, and she trusted me. "At finding the culprit and stuff… just generally being more reliable… That's all. I feel like I missed the point…"

"You faced yourself a lot better than I had…" I dropped my head down in shame about what happened when my shadow had gone berserk… "That's the first step Chie, it really is…" I looked back up to her to see her face light up with the bright pink blush again, I was still too scared to dive into the meaning behind it… God, I was a coward.

"Thanks." Chie was smiling behind the blush, I was fighting myself not to blurt out like an idiot, how I was feeling… "You're too kind. Maybe… half a step?" Her smile faded as she back to the ground. "I wonder if there's anyone out there… who can say, 'This is what makes me worthwhile!' I guess everyone's looking for it…"

"I know I am…" I sighed, but smiled again… I had an idea that she might have killed me for, but I still wanted to give her the idea. Yet she started to talk.

"I bet. Oh yeah…" Chie laughed as she continued to talk. "That dog Yukiko picked up? It's gotten really fat at my place. Come by and see it sometime! It smells, but it's cute!" The blush actually appeared again as she said this. "Maybe I'll walk it over to your house."

"We-well" I blushed a little as well. "Why don't we spend so time together tomorrow night?"

"Wh-what?" The blush turned a dark red as I proposed my Idea.

"I mean we can't train…" I rubbed the back of my neck, I was scared shitless that she would run. "S-so, we could wa-watch movies or play video games…"

"Ye-yeah," The blush returned to its pinkish glow. "I'd like that…"

"O-o-okay…" I started shaking a little, she actually agreed to this! "So, tomorrow, if you can… Let's go get some more steak skewers, I'm hungry."

"Yeah…" I swore that the next day we practiced… the next day we practiced…

Wow, I actually got a chapter in today… I didn't think I would. Oh well, here is chapter 14, I hope you enjoyed!