"I still don't understand. Actually, what were you doing with him? Why are you strangling each other?"
"I don't understand either, Akio-san. When he came in, he asked me to do a friendship ritual. I just agreed, and he immediately strangled me."
I saw his face that still hadn't woken up from his stupor.
"Do you know? I saw a dagger under his desk earlier. I panicked, and came straight here because I was worried about you, Fujitora."
"Fujita, desu. You're worried about me, Akio-san?"
"Of course."
"Heh~ thank you."
"We're friends, aren't we?"
"Yes."
We smiled at each other. But when Andre Yasir woke up from his sleep, we immediately stood up and got up from the body that we were sitting on.
"He woke up."
"Yes."
"Ouch." Andre Yasir seems to feel a little dizzy, he holds his head when he wakes up. "Where am I? Why is it so bright in here?" Andre covered his head with his hands due to the glare of the sun.
"Because we're in the middle of the field."
Seeing the dirty back of his uniform, clinging to so much grass, I cleaned it by wiping his uniform.
"Your uniform is dirty."
"Ah~ thank you. So, why are we in this field?"
"In fact..."
Fujita explained what happened that we were being punished for just dropping out of the current lesson. The penalty was ordered to run 5 times around this field. Fujita and I helped Andre to run while he was still unconscious.
We were a little overwhelmed, but finally managed to run 5 times around this field. In other words, Andre didn't have to run because he had run with us in a cradle. And we decided to take a break by using Andre's body as a seat.
"Sorry, I'm giving you trouble. Because I-"
"It doesn't matter." Fujita cut him off.
With that sinister face, I didn't expect that Andre could apologize too. I thought it would be the same as his face, but it didn't. I misjudged.
I showed him the brush, he was a little surprised to see it and immediately took it from my hand.
"Why did you take possession?"
Hearing that voice, I got scared and took a few steps back.
"U-Umm… I-I…"
"Akio-san just took it. He thought you needed it." Fujita explained what I wanted to say.
"I see."
Andre looked at the brush for a long time. He seemed to remember something about the brush.
"This brush… it's a relic from my father. My father is an artist painter, I also have talent like him. I always carry this thing with me everywhere, even to the toilet."
"Gross." I wiped my hands on Fujita's uniform quickly.
"Hey, why are you wiping my clothes?"
"Your clothes are cool. The material is also good. So, I want to try holding it."
"Aren't we the same clothes?"
"..." I was silent for a while, as I was looking for another reason for this. "My clothes are made of other materials, while yours are not."
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
"Let me hold your shirt."
When Fujita wanted to hold onto my shirt, I immediately backed away.
"Why are you avoiding?"
"It is nothing. But it's just, my clothes are sensitive when touched. I'm afraid you'll get electrocuted."
"Okay, I won't hold it."
With a sly smile, I looked at Fujita who was looking at Andre.
Hehehe...
"So your father is an artist, are you an artist too? You have the same talent, don't you?" Fujita asked.
"I… until now, I didn't know if I was an artist or not. I only have talent, but I didn't hone mine." Andre looked up at the clear sky with a slightly sad face. "Am I an artist painter, father?"
He still doesn't know about himself. This shows that he is hesitant in choosing his life. Even though he has lived for decades, he has not yet determined the future he wants to pursue.
If I were in his position, maybe I would have become an artist because I have artistic talent.
"You doubt?" I asked.
"That's it," he said, turning to me.
He will continue to revolve in his circle of doubt. This is not good for him. Life is indeed sometimes like to doubt, but there is nothing wrong with choosing the right path. Maybe if he chooses an artist, he will become a great person by entertaining people with his talent.
"So far, I'm still hesitant in choosing whether I want to be an artist or not. If I didn't become an artist, my talent would be wasted. If I become an artist, I will no longer be able to live in peace."
"Eh? Why?"
His words took me by surprise, his life couldn't be that calm. I don't understand what he means.
"All this time, whenever I wanted to become an artist, the image of my father's face being eaten by Astral Being would appear. I thought back to my past trying to become an artist, it made me uneasy."
"Your father was eaten by Astral Being?"
It might be rude to ask this, but because I was curious, I asked it.
"Yes. When my father was painting for a woman in Eboy City, my father had no idea that the woman was an Astral Being in disguise. When the painting was finished, the woman turned into an Astral Being and killed my father. If only I could fight back then, maybe I would have helped my father and prevented that from happening. But when I was only 7 years old, I couldn't do anything. I'm such a loser."
Fujita and I contemplated for a moment when we heard the story. Neither of us knew what to do to help him, we were silent for a while.
"I always remember that incident. Every time I want to paint, my brain immediately remembers my father's face being eaten by Astral Being. I can't be an artist like my father, but maybe I can get revenge for him by going to school here."
He's probably been suffering all this time, he keeps thinking about his father's past being eaten. He cannot become an artist if the memories of the incident are still in his mind. Maybe this is quite sad for him, but he tries to stay strong by taking revenge.
The reason he went to school here might be because of that, but his soul still wants to be an artist like his father. But even so, he also did not want the shadows of the incident to be remembered again. It hurts, I know that.
"Relax, Mr. Yasir," I said in a low voice and looked up at the clear sky.
Fujita approached Andre and hugged him.
"Friend, I'm sorry. But don't worry, there's me and Akio-san here who will avenge you. So, we will fight together."
Andre cried in Fujita's arms, maybe those words made him sad.
After Fujita let go of his embrace and after Andre wiped his tears, I saw Andre glared at me and open his mouth.
"Akio-san, let's do the friendship ritual first."
"I do not want!"
I refused. What's with the ritual?
"Why?"
"This is it. Becoming friends does not require any ritual. Friends are easily earned if you do good to others. It's pretty easy. But... a friend who can truly be called a "friend" is someone who will always be by your side and help you. Many people think of them as a friend, but in fact, that person betrayed and hurt their own friend."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. And actually, who taught you the ritual, huh?! It doesn't need to be done."
"The one who taught me was my father. He always choked me when I spilled the paint, and asked me to strangle him back. So, what my father taught me, I imitated it and made it a friendship ritual."
"..." I wanted to badmouth his father, but I held back because he would be annoyed and hurt if I vilified his dead father. "Oh, I see. Hahaha. Don't do that ritual again. Remember, you can't do that ritual anymore!"
"Okay, I won't do it again for the sake of my friend."
"Good."
There is one thing that until now I do not understand, where the dagger came from. Under his desk was a dagger, he hid it openly without fear of being discovered by others.
I better just ask.
"By the way, under your desk, there is a dagger, what is it for?"
"Dagger? Oh that… that if I don't like the person who hurt me, I'll kill them."
Hearing that, Fujita and I took a few steps back in fear.
"No, I was just kidding."
"Just kidding right! You frighten me."
"Yeah, that's right, it's a good joke." Fujita stroked his chest in relief.
"That dagger is just in case I run into an Astral Being. So, I am ready to fight it without panicking and prevent an incident like my father from happening."
"You can fight?" Fujita asked.
"Of course. I've been practicing to prepare everything before entering this school. I am ready to fight against Astral Being at any moment. And yesterday, that incident at the hospital, I didn't do anything because I was hiding in the basement with the others."
"..." Fujita looked at him with a straight face, so did I.
"Do you know? Just like the others, I also have fear when I see Astral Being in person. That being has a scary face…"
Your face is scarier.
"So I couldn't approach them out of fear. Even when the 1st Division Commander pointed out Astral Being earlier, I was the first to run around."
Even though his face is scary, but he still has a sense of fear towards that being. In contrast to Fujita who had an innocent face, he wasn't afraid at all when he looked at the being face to face, even daringly approached the being face-to-face.
Fujita and I nodded at each other, we agreed to what we wanted, which was to leave him here and walk to class.
As Fujita and I turned and walked, Andre asked.
"Where are you going?"
"We want to go to class. Forget about that conversation earlier."
"Oi, wait for me! Aren't we friends?" Andre walked quickly after us.
We both turned around and smiled at him.
"Yes, we are friends."
We hugged him together and walked together to class.