The bell rings, and I wake up. Everyone starts putting everything back into their backpacks, and some of them get up and leave.
And Sotoka-chan's one of them. WhatshouldIdowhatshouldIdowhatshouldI?
I get up and follow her.
"Hey, guys, don't forget your homework; is due tomorrow," says Horinomi-sensei while I get farther and farther away.
"¡Sotoka-chan!" I yell.
But Sotoka-chan walks away faster and faster.
"¡SOTOKA-CHAN!" I get closer and closer to her.
But she starts running away.
"SOTOKA-CHAN" I run after her, and we both run through the stairs and the hallways, until Sotoka-chan gets into the ladies' bathroom, and why does she? I almost never get there, and when I do it's almost always to be alone and cry...
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Wait. Is Sotoka-chan crying?!
I get in there and:
"Who hurt you?!" I ask her.
No answer.
"Sotoka-chan, what happened?!"
No answer.
*Sigh*
"Who did this to you?!"
"It was you… you dummy," Ino's at the bathroom door. She has her hands on her knees and she's gasping for some reason.
"Man, what happened to you?" I ask her.
"What you think? You two were running… non stop for a while. Don't you get... tired? Especially you. How can you run so much… if you're eating, sleeping and watching anime all day long?"
"But we weren't running that long: you're the one who can't run at all. And I thought you exercised a lot; I mean, you're so thin…"
"And why should I do that? You sweat, you run out of… air, your body hurts and you end up stinking. Exercising is just suffering, plain and… simple. And what for? A couple of muscles on your belly? It's not like they'll last… forever or anything. No matter what we do or how much we take care of our… body, it's rotting at every second."
"Yeah, I guess, but why you are in such a bad shape?"
"What? You're the one in such a great sha…pe. You jog every day or what?"
"I dunno, most of the times I have to run to school so I don't get late. Maybe I just got used to it."
"Yeah, it figures."
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Oh, yeah, Sotoka-chan.
"Sotoka-chan, who hurt you?!"
"I told you it was you, Izumi."
"How could it be me?! >:("
"Who else, then? She was getting away from you, by the way."
"It wasn'te Izumi-san," says Sotoka-chan from inside her cubicle.
CHAN! IZUMI-CHAN! But now you're suffering, so I think I'll let it slide this time.
"So who was it, then?" I ask Sotoka-chan.
No answer.
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*CLICK*
The cubicle's door where Sotoka-chan locked herself opens.
And she comes out. Her face's soooooooooo red, and she look sooooooooo uncomfortable
She stares at me.
Sighs.
And:
"Please forgive me, Izumi-san, for everything I said, it's just that you wanted to get rid of Ino-san and I panicked, and I have a lot in my head right now, and—It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. It was my fault. I shouldn't took it out on you. Please forgive me, Izumi-san, it was my fault."
"Oh, don't worry, Sotoka-chan… it happens to the best of us."
"No, it just happens to me," Sotoka-chan says with glassy eyes.
Awwwwwww, she looks SO cute! XD
"SOTOKA-CHAN!" I run towards her and hug her as hard as I can, and she yells (she always does) and tried to slip away, and I squeeze her and start crying. "I WAS SO SOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSO SAD! ¡LET'S NOT FIGHT EVEREVEREVEREVEREVER AGAIN!"
Let her go, Izumi," says Ino. "can't you see you're making her uncomfortable?"
"But I wanna hug her, and what should I do with all this love I have?"
"Keep it to yourself; you really need it."
Shut up, Izumi, you don't know me.
And look who's talking.
>:(
You surely are a nuisance.
"I'm not making her uncomfortable, right, Sotoka-chan?" And I turn towards her. She turns as uncomfortable as ashamed.
Well, I guess I can loosen up a little.
I let her go, and Sotoka-chan gets far away from me.
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Oh.
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"Do you hate me?" I ask her.
Sotoka-chan turns toward me.
And shakes her head.
"Are you mad at me?"
Sotoka-chan shakes her head.
"I'm mad at you," says Ino but:
"I don't care," I turn towards Sotoka-chan. "You don't like me to hug you?"
Sotoka-chan seem kinda angry.
"So you don't like me to hug you, Sotoka-chan?"
"Please give her a break," Sotoka-chan says still mad at me.
"Give who a break? Ino?"
"Just apologize to her."
I don't see why I should but, well, I mean, if Sotoka-chan wants it that much…
I turn towards Ino.
She's smiling. (Of course she is.)
"Gomen," I tell her.
"I told you I don't speak otaku," she says.
"I'M NOT —calm down, Izumi, calm down.
Inhale.
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Exhale.
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"I'm sorry," I tell her, but she pretends to be surprised.
"But why are you apologizing? What did you do to me or what?"
Oh, Ino, you're really such a nuisance. >:( I should've kicked you outta ANIME LIFE.
"I'm sorry to try to kick you outta ANIME LIFE."
"Oh, that, right. It truly hurt my feelings, and your apology isn't enough to forgive you. But, ok, I'll do it this time."
Thanks for nothing, Ino. I'm never EVER apologizing to you anymore.
And why did I apologized for, in the first place?
Oh, right, because of Sotoka-chan.
Anyway, I turn towards her.
"Sotoka-chan, you don't like me to hug you?" I ask her.
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And she shakes her head.
"Arigatōgozaimashita, Sotoka-chan!" And I run towards her and hug her, and she yells (she always does,) and wait. She said no, right?
I let Sotoka-chan free, and she gets far away from me.
"Sorry," she says, "it's just that I don't like to be touched."
Oh. Well, in that case:
"Gomen." I tell her. "I'm not hugging you that much anymore. Is that ok?"
Sotoka-chan nods with her head.
"Friends?"
Sotoka-chan nods with her head.
"Hug?"
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Sotoka-chan nods with her head, and I run towards her and hug her very, very tightly.
"Oh, Sotoka-chan, daisuki, daisuki, daisuki desu! And we'll be friends forever, and we'll be the best friends on this goddamned universe and—
"Yeah, yeah, that's very cute and all," interrupts Ino, "but didn't we agree to meet at the school's entrance after class or something?"
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We get outta the ladies' bathroom and run to the school's entrance.
We get to the locker room, and Sotoka-chan and Ino each open theirs and take their shoes, take off their slippers and put their shoes on.
I already have mine on.
Ino glances at them and then glances at me and:
"So it was you, it was you! ¡You're the reason why the classroom's floor has so many shoe marks! Why don't you take them off when you get in?!" Ino approaches me and starts slapping me lightly with both her hands. "Don't you know how hard is to clean those marks off?! And why hasn't anyone scolded you yet?!
"Yeah, they already lad. A lot."
"And then?! Why aren't you still taking off your shoes when you get here?!"
"'Cause I don't get here. I get in by jumping the fence at the soccer fields. Hey, knock it off," her slaps are starting to annoy me.
"I don't care, you're leaving so many marks at the classroom floor, and nobody cleans them off, so I always have to do it, always me and always alone!" And she's still slapping me.
So I start slapping her back.
"Hey! What's wrong with you?!" Yells Ino. "First you leave all those marks and now you're slapping me, you freakin' psycho?!"
"It hurts, huh, so now you see how it feels!"
"Hey, you two, stop it," Sotoka-chan gets between us.
And we stop slapping each other.
"It was her fault," accusses me Ino.
"Nuh-uh"
"Ya-uh."
"Nuh-uh. And, for the record, I almost never have my shoes on inside school; almost always someone finds out, and I have to take them off, that's why I have an extra pair of slipper right here in my backpack," I take my slippers off my backpack and show them to them.
"What?! Why?!" why does Ino always startes at me like I'm crazy or something every time I tell her anything about me?
But everyone always does the exact same thing.
And it still bothers me a lot. >:(
"'Cause I get in by jumping the fence at the soccer fields, and I'm not walking all the way to here every time."
"So, instead of leaving them in your locker, you always carry them on your backpack?"
"No, there one pair in my locker," I show them the dusty slippers inside my locker. "But I have an extra."
"But it's just one pair for each one. How did you get the other ones?"
"I bought them."
"From who?"
"I dunno, some dude online."
"You're weird, Izumi."
"Ready?" Asks Sotoka-chan. "Let's go."
And we walk to the school's entrance.