Lie 4:

"Best Friends Forever"

Megumi's Point of View

The lunch break bell rings exactly as I arrived inside the school building. Classroom doors on my left and right are immediately widely ajar as students flock out of the rooms and start stuffing in the corridor. All the noises and conversations fill the air. I barely even remember what I was doing here until a tall man almost bump into me. We are both startled and I immediately look up to see who it is. Unfortunately for me, he greets me with his dazzling smile that's too bright for my dark soul to bear.

"Oh, hi, Megumi!" he says casually as if we are good old friends—which, we're not, actually. I just had the unfortunate luck to know him longer than the rest of the students. "Long time no see. How was your summer?"

I roll my eyes at the man—Gojo Satoru, the Physic teacher who also used to be my violin tutor back in the day. I thought that my days of putting up with his ridiculous behaviors has ended as I suddenly lost any interest in the violin. But what do I know? I met him again here. "Hi, Sensei. It was good. How was yours?"

"Oh, glad you ask, cause you know, I've been visiting—"

I turn my head to the open classroom behind him and immediately shout for Nobara when I see him still tidying up his desk. "Bye, Sensei," I say to Satoru before scurrying away into the classroom. The white-haired man with black sunglasses just mumbles, "Huh," as if it's the first time I ever ignored him. He just shrugs it off and walks away, though.

I reach Nobara's desk in time as he picks up his Prada leather bag. He shakes his head melancholically in a troubled expression, and says, "I swear, Gumi, that man couldn't be even more annoying."

I chuckle. We walk together to the door. "What was it today?"

"A pop quiz right on the first day? Who does that?" I could hear the desperation in his voice. But then he shoves me a piece of paper. I look at it and realize that it's his quiz sheet.

"Ara, you get 100." I narrowed my eyes.

He just shrugs. "Yeah, so? Hating on the teacher doesn't mean hating on the subject."

I look at him funny before just shrug it off.

We walk down the corridor along with the other students. Only when we pass a girl with a pink backpack that it suddenly dawns on me about something that I have forgotten because of Satoru. "Right! Where's Yuuji?" I turn my head to Nobara.

The orange-haired boy just looks at me back in scepticism. "I thought she was with you?"

"No, we're not. Don't you remember that I—"

"Yeah, you hate P.E. My bad." He shrugs with an exasperated face. "Well, you know what they say, 'follow the trail of men then you shall find her'."

I furrow my eyebrows. "Who said that?"

"It doesn't matter, Gumi. You're looking for Yuuji, right? Look." He points in the direction of a group of boys that crowding at the end of the corridor. They are hovering and talking over each other like they are desperate to show off. Some of them are the captains of the sports clubs in the school, like that one tall and bulky dude named Todo Aoi who is the captain of the Judo club, the golden-ash mullet hair guy named Jean Kirstein who is the captain of the soccer team, the short but rowdy looking guy named Porco Galliard who is the captain of the volleyball team, and many, many others.

They stand in a circle forming a wall of protection around something, or someone. But instead of protecting, it's more like they are gatekeeping whoever is poor enough to be surrounded by them from leaving. And that poor girl is Yuuji. It was hard to be sure at first because the tall figures of the boys really shielded her from the outside few. But after a couple of seconds of standing on my toes—and for the record, I'm already wearing high-platform leather boots—I could be sure that the pink-haired girl that looks troubled is indeed Yuuji.

And what can I say except that I'm not as surprised? With her sweet disposition, bubbly personality, and kindness to literally everybody, it's not a far-fetch idea that Yuuji is extremely popular and close to anyone. It's not a strange occurrence if you see her talking to either a guy or a group of them—there's no in-between; they always surround her like ants to a drop of honey. They would go out of their way to do the things she likes just to make small conversations with her. They would shower her with gifts and presents even though it was nowhere close to her birthday nor Valentine's Day or Christmas. They would literally ask her out every time they see her in the hallway just to be turned down by her time and time again.

Do you think she enjoys the attention? Maybe. This far, she never blatantly walks away from any of them if they strike up a conversation with her. But does she hate it? That's another question to ask. You see, even though she's a rather innocent, head-in-the-cloud kind of girl, she knows that she is attractive. She knows her curvy body, big boobs, and thick tights are what they want from her. Yes, it is disgusting, I know. Nobara and I have been telling her to set a firm boundary with the guys if they even slightly make her uncomfortable. But she never had the heart. She always puts herself second in the matter of others.

This time, however, she is blatantly asking me for help. She catches me peeking through the crowd of boys and, between the nonsensical laugh and half-hearted "Hu-uh, and then?" in response to the boys, she sends me an S.O.S. by gesturing with her mouth, "Help me." I catch it immediately. I gesture back to her, by hand, that I will call her phone. It's a move we already agreed upon that I will call her pretending to be her mom just to get her out of an unfavorable way. She gives me a quick glance as she nods to the boys, trying not to alert them to our plan.

I draw out my phone and immediately call her—who, by the way, has the contact name of 'my child' in my phone because she puts mine as 'mommy' in hers. Not long after, you can hear the opening of the song Primadonna by MARINA booming from her pocket. She laughs nervously as she draws out her phone, shows the screen to the boys, and says, "Sorry, guys, I have to take this. If you excuse me." Then trying to find her way out of the crowd.

But one of them says, "It's okay, you can take it here." And the others add, "Yeah, we'd like to talk to your mommy too, Yuu-chan." And instead of giving her free passage out of there, they tighten their grip around Yuuji, to the point that one of them even grabs her waist and brings her closer to him.

And that's it. That's the fucking line for me.

My blood boils beyond belief. Not once in my life had I ever felt so much like puking but at the same time wanting to punch someone's face. I roll up my sleeves and storm up ahead with wide steps. But before I could stretch my hand to her, Nobara has already dashed from my side to the crowd, piercing his way through the wall of athletic male bodies to grab Yuuji's hand and pulls her out of there.

She stumbles and falls to my arms, where I immediately hold her shoulders that tremble even if it's only slightly. Nobara shields us from the boys, one hand still holding onto Yuuji's wrist.

He turns to them and snaps, "Don't you see that she's uncomfortable? You buffoons smell like shit, but you didn't even give her a space to breathe. Know your place, you fool! She would never ever be with disgusting dicks like you!"

And with that, without even waiting for the response of the boys, he turns over and leads us away from there. We stride fast down the hallway, each of us holding Yuuji tight. But before we can get any further, I turn my torso to the gathering of fools who still stand in bewilderment just to give them the middle finger.

I swear if I wasn't with Nobara and Yuuji right now, I would curse them literally and magically.

We walk to the garden and sit on one of the benches under the Sakura trees because we know it will be too crowded in the cafeteria right now. The shades from the lush green leaves and the early autumn wind help us to cool down. But suddenly I feel Yuuji shaking, her shoulders up and down like she's about to cry. I instantly tighten my grip on her, with Nobara instantly on his knees trying to look at Yuuji's face who hangs her head low. We are patient enough not to say anything, letting her feel her emotions in her own time.

But that shaky breath and trembling hands make up for a frantic laugh. Yuuji literally throws her head back and laughs to her heart's content.

"Disgusting dicks," she says not too clearly while still laughing, "You called them disgusting dicks!" And she laughs some more. Nobara and I just exchange glances before we laugh along with her.

"Damn, girl, you scared the shit out of me back there!" reprimands Nobara. "Gumi even looked like she might murder them all!"

"You're not wrong," I say, "I was really thinking to commit arson."

We go into another laughing outburst, this time it's so loud even I could feel a few students who happened to be around turn their heads on us. After a minute, we calm down. Nobara sits back on the bench on Yuuji's left side while I sit on her right. We still hold each of Yuuji's hands in ours. Her perfectly manicured fingers move adorably to fill in the silence between us.

Then I say, "But, in all seriousness, are you okay, Yuu?" I try to peak at her, but she still looking down at our hands that she places on her lap.

She nods slightly. "Yeah," she answers, voices a little hoarse.

"Really?" now asks Nobara. "Because you didn't seem okay back there."

"I'm good." She nods again.

"You know, it's okay not to feel okay right now," I involuntarily raise my voice a little. "In fact, you should not feel okay at all! What they did to you is horrible!"

"But it's not like they were touching me—"

"Are you kidding?" Nobara snaps. "They touched you!"

"Yes, but it's not like they mean any harm." As she says that, Nobara instantly groans and mumbles, "Seriously?" that makes Yuuji jerks a little. Her voice trembles as she continues, "and… and… I know them. They're good guys."

Feeling that the situation might get worse any moment now as Nobara is looking like he is about to erupt, I quickly cut in, "Yes, that might be true," I say firmly. "But that doesn't mean you have to put up with them if you're uncomfortable."

I tighten my grip on her hand. She raises her head up to look at me. "Say it, Yuu! Say it if you don't like it. Say if you feel uncomfortable. Say it if you feel their behavior is too much. You don't need to put up with them just because they're your friends or they don't mean any harm. It's you who are important. You are important, Yuuji. You matter. And… I love you. Ara loves you. We don't want to see you like that anymore, Yuuji. And… it's okay to feel awful. It's a normal response. You don't have to act tough all the time. We got you."

I don't even realize the tears that slide down my cheeks. My eyes are already blurry and it's already hurt to breathe now. Yuuji hangs her head lower and wails. She goes into a hysteric sobbing and the first instinct we have is to hug her tight as if to make sure she's not going to crumble down.

"I'm scared! I was so scared!" She desperately howls in between the outburst. "I'm so scared, Gumi! I didn't know what to do!" She lets out an agonizing scream to the world. Her voice is unclear and trembling, but we can hear her say, "Ara… Ara pulled me out. I didn't know what to do if you didn't!"

I couldn't do anything but rub her back gently. Then Nobara says, "I'd do that again, Yuu. I'd do it again if it means to save you. Just be brave enough to ask for it." Yuuji nods. "I got you, girl." Nobara caresses her head and brings it closer to him. He kisses the top of her head softly. "I got you," he repeats as if to cement his vow to her.

I know this is our moment—the three of us. But sometimes, I couldn't help but feel that some moments are supposed to be theirs and theirs alone. Like this one. Call me an over-thinker or anything, but I know what's the difference between loving someone as a friend and as something more. And the way Nobara caresses her, the way he kisses her; he clearly loves Yuuji as something more—and, hell, she might also feel the same. But neither of them is willing to see it for themselves. They are too comfortable in this illusion as friends to risk breaking it up for something uncertain.

And I understand. I can be selfish too, and I am selfish! I admit that I don't want them to realize their feelings for each other and actually fall in love. I don't want them to leave me alone. This friendship has been my lifeline, my only safe boat when I feel like drowning, and I don't want to let it go. I want time just to freeze to this small moment and let us live and relive it over and over.

Because I don't want to be left behind again.

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To Be Continued

Hi! It's Audrey Lea.

What do you think of this chapter? Please be kind and share your thought in the review/comment box. You can also find some cover arts I made, the wardrobes of the characters, and their 'actors' on my Twitter and Tumblr : /ladyambrose2.

See you in the next chapter!