"KAMI-SAMA-CHAN, TASUKETE KUDASAI! SOTOKA-CHAN ABANDONED ME AGAIN, AND I MISS HER SO, SO MUCH! AHHHHHHHHHH! KAMI-SAMA-CHAN, WHAT I'M GONNA DO?! I FEEL SO LONELY I WANNA DIE, I WANNA DIEI WANNA DIE, I WANNA DIE, I WANNA—
"Shut up already, Izumi! We just have to find her!" Yells Ino. God dammit, Ino. Just let me cry alone.
"BUT WHY DID SHE ABANDONED ME?! IS SHE MAD WITH ME AGAIN?! BUT WHY?!"
"Why would she be mad at you?"
"SO, WHY DID SHE LEFT, THEN?!"
"Like I know. Maybe she's hanging out with her friends.
"BUT WE'RE HER FRIENDS!"
"Yeah, but it's not like she doesn't have more."
"BUT I'M HER BEST FRIEND! ¡SHE DOESN'T NEED ANYONE ELSE!"
"Says you. Or has she ever told you you're her best friend?"
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"Our relationship goes beyond words."
Ino starts laughing. What a nuisance.
"Oh, Izumi, you really say the best crap."
"Shut up, Ino. It's not like you have friends at all."
"Whatever, but at least I'm not fooling myself with all that 'Sotoka-chan's my best friend' crap."
"But we aren't best friends!" I correct her. "We're something more!"
"Wait, what?" Ino stops laughing and stares at me like how everyone else stare at me when I say anything. Sometimes I think maybe I talk too fast or something, 'cause no one ever understand me. "Hey, Izumi, do you like Sotoka-san?"
"Sure, its Sotoka-chan."
"Yeah, but I'm asking if you like like her."
"Sure, we're gonna stay together forever".
"Sure, but, you know, like like, Sotoka-san and you, more than friends…"
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"You know what? Forget it. Let's just look for her."
"Ok," I take my new flyers and stand up from my desk. "Let's go, but let's make it quick; I'm very hungry, and we're gonna get back, right? So I can leave my lunch here."
"Well, yeah, right? We'll just find her and get back."
"Ok."
We get out of our classroom.
And now, where do we go?
I don't know, but I run throgh the hallway
"SOTOKA-CHAN!"
and come back (Ino follows me, but walking. Goddammit, you're so slow),
"SOTOKA-CHAN!"
go up the stairs, run through the hallways
"SOTOKA-CHAN!"
and come back (Ino's barely going down the stairs),
"SOTOKA-CHAN!"
go up the stairs, run through the hallways
"SOTOKA-CHAN!"
and come back (Ino just got up the stairs),
"SOTOKA-CHAN!"
go up the stairs, run through the hallways
"SOTOKA-CHAN!"
and come back
"SOTOKA-CHAN!"
But Sotoka-chan's not anywhere.
Whereisshe?Whereisshe?Whereisshe?Whereisshe?
There's some girls nearby.
"Hey, you," I talk to them, "where's Sotoka-chan?"
They look at me like how everyone always look at me.
And laugh.
"U mean Hamano-san?" Asks me one of them. "She's on the roof with Kitamura-kun."
And they laugh even more.
Wait, what's going on? Who's Kitamura-kun? Why they are at the roof? Are they friends? They hang out there? Was she with him before class? Are they best friends? Are they something more?
I'd better check it out.
"Gotcha," someone grabs me by the shoulder. And that someone can only be Nagai-san. So:
"KAMI-SAMA-CHAN, TASUKETE KUDASAI," I yell and start running as fast as I can, "KAMI-SAMA-CHAN, DON'T LEAVE ME ALAHHH!" But Nagai-san catches me and knocks me down and gets on top of me, and I twist and twist but can't move.
"STOP IT!" She yells at me close to my ear. "OR IT'S GONNA GET WORSE!"
And that's true, so I stop yelling and twisting.
She stands up and tells me "SIT!" and point at the stairs and I sit there, and she gets behind me.
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!" She asks. "RUNNING AND YELLING THROUGHOUT SCHOOL! AND NOT ONLY TODAY; YOU'VE BEEN DOING IT ALL WEEK LONG! ¡4 TIMES I'VE SEEN YOU RUNNING AND YELLING, AND I'M TIRED OF IT!"
Yeah, it's always like this: she yells at me and tells me to comb my hair and whatever, and she's a nuisance, and I never listen to her, and she gets mad and chases me and catches me and:
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! ¡DON'T PULL THAT HARD, DON'T PULL THAT HARD!"
I'm not watching her, but I know she pulled a comb out of her pocket (she always has one there, don't ask me), and now she's combing my hair.
"HOW CAN'T I PULL THAT HARD IF YOUR HAIR'S LIKE THAT?! I HAVE TO UNTANGLE IT!"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! KAMI-SAMA-CHAN, TASUKETE!" I feel how Nagai-san's pulling all my hair out with that damn brush.
"AND IF YOUR HAIR'S LIKE THAT BECAUSE OF YOU! HOW MANY TIMES I'VE TOLD YOU TO COMB THAT GOD DAMNED HAIR OF YOURS AND FIX THAT GOD DAMNED UNIFORM?!"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I'M GONNA END UP BALD!"
"AT LEAST YOU WOULDN'T BE THAT DISHEVELED ANYMORE! AND WHY DON'T YOU FOLLOW YOUR FRIEND'S EXAMPLE?!" My friend? Who? Oh, Ino. She's not my friend, and since when did she arrive? Why does she look so exhausted? It's not like we ran that much. "LOOK: HER UNIFORM, HER SHORT AND BRUSHED HAIR, HER FACE WITHOUT MAKEUP: SHE'S IMPECABLE!"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! INO-CHAN, TASUKETE," please, have mercy on me for once in your life.
"Sorry, I don't speak otaku."
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! INO-CHAN-SAMA, ONEGAISHIMASU!"
"I don't speak otaku!"
"AND WHY THERE'S THAT MUCH STUFF IN YOUR HAIR!" Nagai-san yells. "YOU SLEEP IN A GARBAGE BIN OR WHAT?!"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" And I can't do anything else but cry.
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"And done!" says Nagai-san and she finally leaves me alone. "I did the best I could, and I think it's good enough. I just need to…" she gets in front of me and starts to remove my sweaters's wrinkles, adjust my shirt collar, straighten my skirt and I dunno, my head hurts so much." That's better.
"Now we only need to work on those eye bags," says Ino with a smile.
I hate you, Ino. I hate you so, so much.
Nagai-san laughs.
"Yeah, right? But that's not on me. She just needs to go to bed earlier."
"Bed? Yeah, about that…" I'm *this* close to tell her the truth, but:
"Oh, you look so cute, Izumi-chan," is she who I think she is?! I turn my head towards whoever said that, and yes, it's Sotoka-chan!
I hug her as hard as I can, and she yells—she always does—and I cry all the tears I haven't cried yet.
"SOTOKA-CHAN, YOU'RE SOSOSOSOSOOSOSO MEAN! WHY DID YOU ABANDONED ME?!"
"STOP YELLING!" Yells Nagai-san.
"LOOK HOW I ENDED UP, SOTOKA-CHAN! I'M ALMOST BALD!"
Sotoka-chan laughs just a little.
"There, there, it's ok," Sotoka-chan puts her hand on my reciently combed head and strokes my hair (her hand's so warm, and her uniform's so soft and smells so good, and her breasts are so comfy, and her voice is even more gorgeous when she calls me "Izumi-chan"). I hug her even harder. "And you're so cute, Izumi-chan. Your hair's so long and pretty. Maybe I can combi t one of these days."
"No, it hurts so much!"
"We have to untangle it first, you dummy," Sotoka-chan bonks my head tenderly.
"Yes, and it hurts!"
"But there's spray, conditioner and so many thing we can use to help us out."
"Sotoka-chan."
"Yes, Izumi-chan?"
"Who's Kitamura-kun?"
Sotoka-chan stops stroking my hair.
"Why do you ask?"
"WHO IS HE, SOTOKA-CHAN?! IS HE YOUR FRIEND?! IS HE YOUR BEST FRIEND?! WHAT WERE YOU TWO DOING AT THE ROOF?!
"AT THE ROOF?!" yells Nagai-san. "THAT'S FORBIDDEN! WHAT WERE YOU DOING HERE?! ARE YOU A COUPLE OR SOMETHING?!"
Wait, a couple? Why would they be a couple? And why would Sotoka-chan be some stranger's girlfriend? And if she's someone's girlfriend I'd know it, and she can't be anyone's girlfriend 'cause we're gonna stay together forever, and no one and nothing will EVER tear us apart and—
"NO!" Yells Sotoka-chan. "He's not my boyfriend or anything; he's just a friend."
"SO HE'S YOUR FRIEND, THEN!" I'm so outraged I could stop hugging her, but I do it her even harder instead to express my indignation and to punish her for everything she's done. "SINCE WHEN, SOTOKA-CHAN?! SINCE WHEN YOU'RE SEEING HIM BEHIND MY BACK?! ¡¿IS MY FRIENDSHIP NOT ENOUGH FOR YOU?!"
Ino laughs as loudly and annoyingly as she can.
"It's not like that, Izumi-chan. He just wanted to see me and—
"I DON'T WANT YOUR EXCUSES! I DON'T WANNA HEAR 'EM ANYMORE!"
"It's not what you think, Izumi-chan."
"I DON'T WANNA HEAR IT ANYMORE!"
"HE ASKED ME OUT, AND I REJECTD HIM!" Yells Sotoka-chan.
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"So, that means you're not friends?" I ask.
"No, not even" she replied, and I'm relieved "He left me a letter on my locker."
"Wait, wait, wait, wait," says Nagai-san. "Kitmura-kun asked you out just now? Why not after class? He's gonna be depressed all day long, and everyone will find out and pity him."
"Well, he actually asked me to see him aftre class, but I asked him after class is we could see each other at recess."
"Why, though?" Asks Nagai-san.
"Because after class we have our ANIME LIFE meeting."
"Oh, so you're the flyer girls, right? That explains what happened earlier today."
"Yeah, anyway, so Kitamura-kun asked me if he could see me at the roof."
"That's nice," says Nagai-san.
"Didn't you say the roof's forbidden?" Asks Ino.
"It is, but Kitamura-kun was willing to break the rules out of love, and I respect that. I don't justify it, though, and I'll have to report you two. But I respect that."
"That doesn't make any sense."
"Of course it does," says Nagai-san. "He's passionate about something, and that's more uncommon as time comes by. People now don't really care about anything, so they don't respect anything; they just go through life without any real purpose. I hate those assholes."
Ino and Sotoka-chan stare at Nagai-san the same way everyone look at me.
"Yeah, right," Ino says. "Sotoka-san, Izumi and I'll stay at the classroom after class, so you'll have go to the school's entrance and recruit some new members."
"And you can give out these flyers," I let go Sotoka-chan and give her my flyers. "I made 'em this morning."
[NEW FLYERS.jpg in the first comment]
"I made 'em like our report, but I didn't know what to put at the bottom and I put a big ANIME LIFE."
"Let's see," Nagai-san takes one of my flyers. "The idea's great, but you didn't make an effort: you barely wrote anything, your drawings are very simple (at least you should have gave them some hair or whatever), you didn't even tear the page off your notebook, yous only have a real reference and two unfunny comments. No, no, do it again," she crumps the flyers into a little ball and throws it to the garbage bin, "and why you didn't use the free space to put your phone numbers or whatever?"
"I don't have a phone," I tell her.
"Let me guess. You sold it, right?" Asks Ino.
"Yup," I reply.
"But let's better not give out our phones," says Sotoka-chan. "Or at least just one. Ino, could it be yours?"
"I guess, but I never use it, and don't we better use yours?"
"No, they'll text me all the time."
"I never check mine; it surely ran out of battery a while ago."
"Charge it, then, and check it more often."
"And why should I do it?"
"You can give out mine," says Nagai-san. "I don't care. And if someone talks, I'll let you know. After all it is not hard to find this disheveled little girl, especially because she's always yelling and running (even though she shouldn't)," and Nagai-san puts a hand on my shoulder.
"Really? Thanks a lot, Nagai-san," Sotoka-chan approaches Nagai-san and take her hands. "I really, really appreciate it. What's your number?"
"Let's go back to our classroom, then, so Nagai can write her number in all those flyers," says Ino.
"Yeah, but let's eat first," I say, and the bell rings.
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"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! KAMI-SAMA-CHAN, TASUKETE KUDASAI!" And I run as fast as I can to our classroom so I can eat as fast as I can before Horinomi-sensei arrives.
"GOD DAMMIT, YOU'RE RUNNING AND YELLING AGAIN!" yells Nagai-san as she starts to chase me.