Childhood Part I – The Girl by the Benches – Start
Middle-school is a important time for a child's development, it's where you start to learn how to work together and how to be more unique, more yourself.
It's when we make our firsts real bonds outside of family.
In my case, this bond was formed with a lonely girl, sitting by the benches playing on her handheld.
The first years of middle school aren't anything special to the older Naegi. Although all of his preschool friends had gone to different middle-schools, that wasn't much of a problem, Makoto being the social butterfly that he is, was able to make new friends rather quickly.
In a short amount of time, the little brunette had achieved more or less the same status on his new school as before, being the teachers unofficial helper and the 'big brother' of his class.
His home life also didn't change that much. Outside of the addition of Yuki, a dog, to the family and the start of Makoto's love for hoodies, the Naegi family was still essentially the same.
One important aspect of childhood is the development of personal interests. Which the siblings are starting to develop.
Recently Komaru had taken a interest on drawing, she always did draw, but now she was starting to actually get good at it.
Meanwhile Makoto had a interest on something completely different: Video-games.
It started when one day, after getting home from work, Daisuke gave Makoto his very first console.
A 'Game Girl' device, more specifically the advanced edition.
Whatever he was at home, Makoto wouldn't let go of the device, the only moments where he didn't had it at his hands was at school, mainly because his parents didn't allow him to have it there.
And he wasn't the only one with that interest, most of the boys on his class also started playing on their own consoles.
Which leads us to a very interesting friendship that blossomed between Makoto and 'the girl by the benches'.
One day while getting out of school, a 10-year old Makoto stumbles upon a interesting sight. A girl sitting alone at one of the benches in the park.
She has pale mauve hair and pink eyes, not that the brunette could make out that last detail, as her eyes are completely glued to the Game Girl in her hands. She is wearing a simple pink shirt with the drawing of a cat and a dark blue skirt.
Now, it wasn't strange to find children waiting for their parents in the park, after all it was just in front of the school and playing at the playground was a lot more appalling than waiting for your parents in the classroom.
Still, Makoto couldn't shake the impression that something wasn't right.
Normally the children would join together to play around on the playground or on their Game Girls, yet that girl was sitting alone, playing by herself as the others are on the park.
While the brunette wanted to go and talk to her, his mother was already on the way to pick him up.
Still, he kept that girl in mind.
By the next day, there she was, sitting alone playing on her handheld.
And the next day too, and then the next.
By the time Friday came, Makoto had made a decision.
He was going to talk to her.
The older Naegi asked his mom to come pick him up a little bit later that day. Thinking that he wanted to say with his friends a little more, the woman allowed it.
So, when classes ended and everybody was going home, Makoto looked at the park and saw her there again, sitting alone.
Marching forward like a little man on a mission, the young brunette approached the girl and said confidently. "Hello!"
No response.
His confidence started to wave. "Uhhhh, hi?"
Still not an answer.
Looking at one side, then the other, he taps on her lap. "Hey?"
With that, the girl finally looks at him. "Uh?" She tilts her head cutely. "Can I help?" She asks and Makoto nods.
"Yes!" Makoto exclaims happily. "Why are you here alone?"
She look down at her handheld again. "I'm waiting for Otou-san to pick me up." She replies turning her game on again.
Then silence.
Although still feeling a little awkward, Makoto jumps on the bench and sits by her side.
Pausing her game, the girl looks at him. "What are you doing?" She asks.
"You looked lonely, so I'll just sit here with you until our parents come!" He replies smiling, before quickly waving his hands. "But if you want me to go away, just say it!"
The girl analyzes him for a little bit, before shrugging and resuming her game.
Taking that as a yes, Makoto puts his school bag on his lap and looks around. After some minutes, the girl pauses her Game again and turns to him.
"Aren't you bored?" She asks, pink eyes crossing with his hazel ones.
"Yes, a little bit." The brunette replies honestly. "But I said that I would keep you company didn't I?" He smiles.
She turns to her console again. "You don't need to do that… I think." The mauve-haired girl resumes her game again.
'She thinks?' The boy blinks slowly before shaking his head. "I mean, yeah I don't need to, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't."
With that silence comes back, the only sound around the two is coming from the girl's handheld.
After some more minutes, she pauses the game again and look at him, sleepy pink eyes crossing with hazel once again. "Want to play?" She offers and the boy's eyes sparkle.
"Yes!" Makoto exclaims, a little more excited than he wanted.
Shuffling herself closer, the girl joins shoulder and shoulder with him and resumes her game. "As soon as I lose, it's your turn okay?" She says and he nods.
She was playing a shoot'em up game, one that Makoto didn't knew about. At first he was just watching her play, not noticing anything peculiar, that was until he saw her score.
682800
He blinked once, then twice. "Wow, I never saw a score that high!" Makoto comments and the girl flinches for a second, making the spaceship on the screen get hit and explode.
"Y-Yeah." She says handling him the handheld and looking to the side.
Makoto notices it. "Did I say anything wrong?" He asks, looking at the now saddened girl.
"No…" She replies, still not looking at him. "It's nothing… I think."
Makoto still wasn't sure, but she didn't want to tell him, so he wasn't going to insist.
He returns his attention to the handheld on his hand, pressing the restart option, he starts playing.
After just some minutes, the amount of shots on the screen becomes too much and his spaceship gets hit, exploding right after. "Man, this is a lot harder than I thought!" Makoto says giving the handheld back to the girl.
"It's on hard." She replies, quickly hitting the restart option and starting to play.
"You play games on hard?" Makoto asks surprised and she flinches again, getting another game over.
"Yeah… maybe." She turns her head to the side again and Makoto lifts a eyebrow.
'Okay, that's weird.' The brunette thinks, but before he can say anything, gruff voice calls in.
"Chiaki?" A tall man with mauve hair and beard of the same color calls.
"Otou-san?" The girl replies looking at the man.
He gets closer to them and turns his gaze towards Makoto. "Who is your friend?" The man asks with a friendly smile.
The girl jumps out of the bench and shrugs. "I don't know."
Just as the man was about to ask, Honoka walks into the park while holding Komaru's hand.
"Oh Makoto! There you are!" The brunette woman smiles softly, getting closer to he bench. "Uh, who are those people?" She asks finally noticing the others by her son's side.
"Are you this boy's mother?" The man asks and Honoka nods. "My name is Nanami Higashi." He bows slightly before holding onto his daughter hand. "And that's my daughter, Nanami Chiaki." The girl rubs her sleepy eyes.
"I'm Naegi Honoka." The brunette introduces herself. "That's Komaru." The younger Naegi does a little bow. "And that's Makoto."
The brunette jumps from seat and bows. "A pleasure to meet you Nanami-san."
Higashi smiles softly. "What a polite boy!" He comments, earning a giggle from Honoka. "May I ask what are you doing together with Chiaki?"
The mauve-haired girl replies first. "He was making me company… I think."
Honoka blinks once, then twice. 'She thinks?'
Higashi laughs. "Sorry about that, it's a little quirk that she has." He then turns to Makoto. "So you're making company to my little girl?" Makoto nods. "May I ask why?"
Makoto looks to the side and replies. "I thought she looked lonely here sitting all by herself."
Everything then clicks on Honoka's mind and she smiles. "So that's why you asked me to pick you up a little later today!"
The mauve-haired man smiles and gets down on his knees, ruffling Makoto's already unruly hair. "That was very nice of you little guy!" The brunette giggles and Higashi gets up. "Well, it was a pleasure meeting you." He bows again and grabs onto Chiaki's hand. "Let's go Chiaki."
As the two start walking away, Makoto starts waving his hand. "I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow!" He smiles and Chiaki slowly waves back.
The Naegi family then go their own way, while Higashi turns towards his daughter. "Guess you made a little buddy today." He smiles as his daughter looks at the handheld on her hand.
"Yeah… I think." Chiaki says with a soft smile on her face.
From that day onwards, it became a part of my routine.
I would get out of school and wait by the bench with Chiaki.
Even so, we didn't trade a lot of words while we 'hanged out', so in a way, you could say we are just casual acquaintances.
At least, that was how I saw it.
It's been two weeks since Makoto started hanging out with Chiaki.
After his little change of routine, Honoka allowed him to bring his Game Girl to school, but he could only play with it after classes with Chiaki.
Not that the limitation stopped the little boy from being ecstatic, he was going to play with a friend!
Outside of that, the parents also became casual acquaintances. Sometimes when they had time, Honoka and Higashi would watch their children playing while talking casually and when Daisuke was the one to pick Makoto up, the two fathers would talk about their children to one another. Even Komaru started hanging out with Chiaki.
So this brings us to today, a chilly Saturday afternoon where the two are playing against each other on a game about catching and training pocket monsters.
Makoto shudders a little bit, even with his trusty green hoodie, that Saturday was quite chilly.
"Crap. I lost again!" The brunette says as both of their games boots then back to the health center. "And I only took one of yours down!"
Chiaki is quick to talk with the NPC in front of her to enter the battle mode. "Well, your team is very unbalanced… I think?"
Chiaki uses strategy criticism!
"And you only have damaging attacks, moat of them not even being the same type as your mons… maybe." The mauve-haired girl says putting a finger on her chin and looking up.
It's super effective!
"Also, your mons have very bad stats… I think?" She finishes, looking back at the boy, that is having his destroyed soul leaving his body.
Makoto fainted.
"Are you okay Makoto-kun?" She asks and he shakes his head, looking back at her.
"Y-Yeah I'm okay." Makoto replies before talking with the same NPC that Chiaki did. "But wow, you sure know a lot about the game." He compliments and she shakes her head.
"It's not that complicated really." She presses the yes button and pushes some hair behind her ear. "You can learn all that just by playing the game."
"Hehe, I just captured whoever I found cool." Laughing slightly, Makoto also presses the confirm button.
"That's a completely valid way to play… maybe?" Chiaki replies as the battle jingle plays and the battle starts. "Actually, I think that's more fun." Suddenly she shudders a little.
The brunette notices that she is dressed in a simple pink t-shirt. ' She must be feeling cold.' He thinks.
As the animation for Chiaki's attack plays, the older Naegi takes his hoodie off and puts it on her shoulders.
"Naegi-kun?" She asks surprised by the gesture.
Makoto doesn't reply, now focused on finding a strategy to not lose as awfully, even though he is underleved and doesn't really knows the weaknesses of her monsters.
After another painstakingly easy win for Chiaki, the girl's dad walks in. "Good afternoon Makoto-kun." He greets and the young boy nods. "Ready to go Chiaki?"
Quickly turning her game off, the girl pulls the cable connecting the handhelds and puts it on her school bag.
Chiaki jumps off the bench just as Honoka and Komaru walk into the park.
"Good afternoon Nanami-san!" The brunette woman greets.
"For you too Naegi-san." He greets back.
"Bye Nanami-chan!" Makoto says also jumping out of the bench.
Before the mauve-haired girl can ask to give his hoodie back, her father says. "Actually, now that you're here Naegi-san I wanted to ask you something." Honoka nods, signaling for him to continue. "Seeing that little Makoto-kun and Chiaki have become such good friends, my wife wanted to meet all of you." He then smiles as he puts his hands on Chiaki's shoulders. "So she wanted to know if your family is free tomorrow?"
"Oh, really?" The brunette woman asks smiling. "I believe we don't have any plans." She crosses her arms and thinks. "I'll see with my husband, could you please give me your number?"
"Of course!" Higashi and Honoka quickly exchange contact information. "If you're free, just let me know!" He says with a wave.
"Nii-chan?" Komaru calls as the family starts heading back home. "Where is your hoodie?" She asks and Honoka notices the lack of it too.
Makoto scratches the back of his head. "Nanami-chan seemed cold, so I gave it to her."
"But what about you?" Honoka asks. "Aren't you feeling cold?"
The boy nods, before smiling. "Yeah a little bit, but our house is close by anyways." He then sneezes.
Honoka rolls her eyes and laughs.
Typical Makoto, always caring more for others than for himself.
"Kaa-san!" Komaru now turns to her mother. "Are we going to Chiaki-chan's house tomorrow?"
"I don't know yet, but we'll see." Honoka replies, turning to Makoto that is holding her other hand. "Are you excited to visit Chiaki-chan's house?"
Makoto thinks for a little before smiling. "Yes!" He says enthusiastically, then sneezes again.
After all, that would be a opportunity to be even better friends.
Childhood Part I – The Girl by the Benches - End
So we get into the middle-school portion of the story.
Taking inspiration from Putain de Plagieur's 'The Conquering Hope: Monochromatic Path' , one of my personal favorite fics, I decided to introduce some students from the other classes early, starting with Chiaki.
Putain de Plagieur isn't the only author I'm taking inspiration from, as you'll see going forward, but everything in due time.
Anyways, hope you enjoyed! see ya around!