Visual Shock

Yasuhiko pressed his cheek against the familiar advertisement for the new wireless neurogoggles. He ignored the price for the moment and simply continued to drool all over the glass.

"One day, my love….ONE DAY." not only were they expensive, but his current pair were completely functional. His parents also no longer funded his 'game addiction', but as long as he was doing well in school, he didn't consider himself to be one of those junkies. Not really…

"Hahahaha! That's not true!" Yasuhiko perked up at the familiar voice, "That's awful, she's not that bad. Plus, you're the best in the class, how could you say that?"

"She's awful!" a feminine voice responded, "If I wasn't already a genius, I'd need me to tutor me, too!" the speakers laughed.

"Oh, you humble swan!"

Yasuhiko couldn't believe it until he saw it. Just across from him was the stringy, shaggy-haired Shouta beside a dark complexioned girl smiling up at him. Their arms were locked suspiciously and the teen was tempted to call him out, but he instead followed them into the trend store nearby.

The girl was dressed in the same stripes and studs the store was advertising, and although Shouta wasn't nearly as eccentric, being a biker it somehow made sense that he was with someone like her. The fact he was even with a girl was what was truly shocking, especially with how awkward he'd been with Akira. Since when was he this confident? Unless…they were just friends?

"Yasuhiko?" the teen clasped his hand over his mouth to muffle his gasp. He then spun on his heel to meet a furrow-browed Kaoru Ichinose, "I didn't know you liked visual kei."

Visual kei? Yasuhiko took a second glance around the store and, as well as the music videos of pretty boys screaming into microphones, he noticed the range of dark costumes with bright accessories of things like hearts and cupcakes. It was a fashion he'd never really understood, but some people could pull it off.

"Kaoru?! Dude, what's up!" he almost forgot to whisper he was so excited to see the formerly missing boy. He surprised him with a hug and Kaoru lightly chuckled at his enthusiasm, "Dude, what's-" he quickly dodged Shouta's glance behind a shirt rack, pulling Kaoru's tall figure down with him. good to see that you're doing better."

"…Are you hiding from someone?" Kaoru inquired, and the teen confirmed this with the explanation that he was spying on Shouta, "Oh~-Ooooooh! He's with a girl~ But why don't you approach them?"

"Because I've never seen him like this before! Plus, I don't want to ruin whatever they have going, I'm just curious about how he acts when I'm not there."

"Aaah…" Kaoru replied with a slow nod.

"….Is that creepy?"

"A little." he confessed with a shrug, "But I people-watch all the time, so I can't say anything. Haha! I'll see you later."

Yasuhiko quickly dodged another potential revelation and slowly made his way to the other end of the store. He peeked behind the hat rack to see Shouta now being fitted by the mystery girl.

"I think this suits you!"

"Haha! I don't know, it's a bit bold." the girl then put the striped shirt against herself and spun around, "It's more up your alley."

"Then I'll buy it and you can borrow it if you want!" Shouta laughed at this and lightly ruffled her hair, which had been cut into a cute pixie style.

"Buy something for yourself. You deserve it. I'm too ordinary for this sort of stuff."

"No way!" the girl argued, "You're super cool, Shouta! Trust me, you'd have to be pretty amazing to catch Scryptic's attention. Give yourself some credit!"

Yasuhiko's breath hitched. Scryptic?! The famous hacker in 'The World'?! Balmung was hooking up with HER?! Scryptic and Balmung were known rivals across the web; she'd made a game of terrorizing the knightly figure, often subjecting his character to awkward and sometimes extremely embarrassing glitches. Maybe it wasn't that much of a shock considering how school children flirted.

"You're not a bad on the eyes, either! Haha!"

Shouta heavily blushed at the comment as he was then led to the register. There, Shouta briefly greeted Kaoru and made small talk while Scryptic completed her purchase. She'd bought a lot more than Yasuhiko had realized.

"Oh, so you're one of the dot hackers, too? Wow! That's so cool!" Scryptic exclaimed, "I've known Shouta for a while now, but I never knew his screenname until recently. I should've figured he was gamer, though."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Shouta playfully interrogated, but his pouted lips were only kissed in response. The young college student nearly fainted from the sudden gesture. Yasuhiko had never seen his friend so red! Scryptic really wasn't that much different from how she was online—at least, as far as her bold reputation. Perhaps it wasn't that Shouta didn't understand girls, but that he simply needed to find one who was straight-forward with her emotions. How long had this been going on, though? And why hadn't Shouta mentioned anything?