Introduction (June 2023)

As the first season of "My Clueless First Friend" was starting to get close to the end, and the manga is updating rather slowly, with translations having a backlog, the idea came up to try writing a story for this cute and charming series.

Since the manga so far has only covered the main characters being in fifth and sixth grade, I chose a setting where they have moved up and are in Middle School now.

Personally, I hope the anime will get a second season, in my humble opinion it totally deserves one.

Note: If you want to comment on this story, or any of my other stories, you're welcome to leave a review, preferably as registered member, as I can then reply and for instance express my thanks to you for taking the effort to leave a review. Thus allowing for more interaction with the people who read my stories.

Chapter 1

"Revelations"

"Maybe we can go to the roof to eat lunch, I sure need some more of that 'curse power' to make it through this boring school day…" Taiyou Takada suggested to his classmate, Akane Nishimura.

Ever since Taiyou transferred to the same grade-school as Akane, a little over two years ago, these two youngsters had been just about inseparable. He was the one who had pulled her out of this lonely and isolated position she had in their class, the result of years of bullying. But all this had changed a lot since then, little by little.

Taiyou's relentlessly positive attitude and assertiveness had even gradually started to rub off on the others in their class, with some amazing, positive results; Though Akane had undergone the biggest transformation of them all.

Now that both had entered middle school, these gloomy days seemed a thing of the past. Although Akane did still occasionally remember it hasn't always been like this.

"S-sure…" Nishimura nodded in agreement, a slight blush forming on her cheeks, as she knew what Taiyou meant with 'needing some more curse power'.

They climbed the stairs till reaching the top and stepped outside, to the roof terrace. Takada was as energetic as usual, immediately running up to the tall fence that surrounded the terrace, which had been installed for obvious safety reasons.

"Nishimura-san, look! You can see soooo far from up here!"

Before she could respond, Taiyou had already rushed back to Akane, grabbed her hand and almost dragged her to the edge of the terrace area.

"See!? See!?"

"Y-You're right, Takada-kun," the dark-haired girl replied, after regaining her composure; "The fog is totally gone and the sea sure looks pretty today."

"This view is even better than that time we climbed the jungle gym, back in grade school!" Taiyou cheered, with a beaming face.

Nishimura nodded briefly, but didn't say a word, as she turned her head away.

"What's wrong?"

"It… it's nothing…"

"I didn't hurt you when I pulled you to over here, did I?" Taiyou asked, with a slightly worried look upon his face.

Akane shook her head.

"Wait… could it be you're still feeling a little bad over that accident with my arm? But we won the race back then, remember?"

"Hmmm…"

"And everyone had a great time that day, right?"

"Well, y-yeah…" Akane somewhat reluctantly greed, as she tried to smile.

"Mom said that a healed broken bone ends up a bit stronger than it was before. So now I'll be even better prepared to handle 'Dark Dancer' when the time comes, don't you think?"

"I-I guess so…"

"It must have been your 'Grim Reaper' powers which helped me heal in record time back then."

"Ehhh, T-Takada-kun… "

"What is it, Nishimura-san?"

'Should I be saying this? We are more mature now, right? Being in middle school, Takada-kun should be able to handle it… at least I hope…'

"T-Takada-kun… uh… m-maybe we are getting a bit too old for that 'Grim Reaper' thing? You know by now that I am just a normal human being, right?"

"Y-You… you are!?" Taiyou wondered, with a very shocked look on his face.

'Huh!? He really hasn't realized it by now? I guess I was wrong about him being more grown-up. Then maybe I should not have started about this…'

Akane looked at the baffled expression on her classmate's face, while frantically wondering how to fix this awkward situation.

Suddenly, Taiyou started to smile.

"Hehehe, I was just kidding. I might be acting a bit dumb at times about many things, but I've known for a while that you are not really the 'Grim Reaper', but just a super-duper cute girl."

Not prepared for this sudden praise, Akane's face flushed totally red..

"Wh-When did you figure it out?" she finally asked.

"I guess over two years ago…" Taiyou started.

'Huh? But that is close to when we first met. Has he known for that long already? We did have a talk after visiting mom's grave, but Takada-kun didn't behave much different since then. Could it be he has been pretending all this time?'

"… about you being such a cutie, I mean, ehehehe," Taiyou finished his sentence, as he laughed sheepishly.

"Huh!?" Akane responded quite startled, while blushing profusely again; "Th-Then what about the other part of my question? About me not really being a 'Reaper'?"

"That? I think that was… ehhhh…" Taiyou put on a serious face, as if he was thinking hard; "… that must have been about three weeks ago, I guess."

'Three weeks? That recently? But how?' it flashed through Akane's mind.

"So, shall we eat lunch now?" Taiyou Otherwise there will be only very little time left for holding hands, right?"

Akane nodded, as they walked towards one of the benches, sat down and started enjoying the food they had brought with them.

(To be continued…)

Story Afterthoughts (8 July 2023)

I know it's not a long first chapter, but it's at least a start, right? Also, the manga for this series often has short, episodic chapters, so hopefully this one will feel a bit like the original in that aspect. Anyway, may this little story still manage to bring a smile to your face.

Disclaimer

Btw, since I am not a native speaker, there will likely be some silly mistakes in this story. Hope you can bear with me and see through that. Helpful tips and suggestions for improvements are welcome.

Stay safe, and maybe until soon!