Chapter 38 - Facing Fears Together

Chihiro stared at me from the doorway, mouth agape. His eyes went to me, then the jump rope, then back to me."Why?"That was the only word Chihiro could muster.I lowered my eyes to the ground. "Because no one will miss me on the outside. All of you have someone waiting for you to come home. I... don't."Chihiro shook his head, slowly approaching me."But... I am. I mean, when Monorakun outed both of us in front of everyone, I wanted to just... disappear forever. Never leave my room again."Chihiro gulped, then continued, looking nervous. "But then I'd think about you and what you must be going through. And Kaito, saying it was no big deal. And... I'm sorry, I just... Please, don't do this."I glanced at the jump rope and the loop I made into the end."I know I'm not strong enough to stop you, and I'm sorry. But... you were there for me when I needed someone the most. Let me... let me be there for you. As your friend. Please."Chihiro looked at me, pleadingly. I looked at the jump rope, then Chihiro, then the jump rope again, where I had tied the other end to a locker.Finally, I nodded."Okay."I untied the jump rope from the locker and let that end of the rope slide upwards before falling to the ground."I'm sorry. I just... I don't know," I slowly stammered, suddenly having trouble putting things into words.Chihiro slowly walked up to me, staring at the jump rope now on the floor, before stopping a few feet away."Bera..." Chihiro nervously asked. "Are you gonna be ok?"I take another deep breath, then nod.Yeah... I'll be fine. Sorry."I gave Chihiro a hug, and then we got dressed. We each got into a changing stall and changed into our swim clothes.Chihiro was wearing a yellow pair of swim shorts, with a fluffy blue tank top. As for me, my swimsuit was more like a wetsuit, but without sleeves or legs on them. It was blue, with three wavy red lines going down the back side of it. I remembered there was a zipper within the middle wavy line, which was still there, and went about two thirds of the way down the back side, so I could put it on and take it off.I grabbed my beach towel, which was blue and red with a sewing needle, white thread, and a pair of green scissors like an emblem in the middle of it.Chihiro had his beach towel as well, and we walked out of the Boys Dressing Room together, headed towards the pool.Kaito was in the pool, not so much swimming, as moving around within the deeper section of the water."Hi, Kaito! What are you doing?" Chihiro asked."Sup, guys? Did you know that astronauts spend about 10 hours underwater for every hour they spend walking in space? So swimming pools are useful for practice, too."Chihiro and I exchanged glances. Neither of us had known that.Kaito held his breath and went underwater, then began walking on the bottom of the pool. Meanwhile, Chihiro and I got into the pool.The water was somewhat warm, not uncomfortably so, but it was nice not to get hit with the initial shock of stepping into a cold swimming pool.While Chihiro watched Kaito in the pool, I started swimming. It was the first time swimming since my... change, so it took some getting used to at first. I didn't have to worry about my top coming off or weird guys staring at me with dirty thoughts.After swimming around a little, I took a look back at Chihiro, who was wading about waist-deep in the water."You alright, Chihiro?" I asked.Chihiro nodded. "Yeah, I'm alright. I just don't swim very often."Kaito emerged from the water and got out of the pool."Hey, I'm gonna head out. You two enjoy yourselves, alright?"Chihiro and I nodded at him. Chihiro waved goodbye while I said my goodbyes to him. I then turned my attention to Chihiro."So, what do you want to do now, Chihiro? I'm enjoying the water in this pool, I must admit."Chihiro looked at the water, up to his waist, and then nodded to himself slowly."I'm fine, just wading in the water. I'm not a very good swimmer, like you. I'm sorry.""Hey, it's alright. I just want both of us to have fun, alright? No stress," I replied, swimming slowly towards Chihiro.Chihiro smiled, a weight seemingly lifted from his shoulders.Chihiro and I swam and waded in the pool for almost 45 minutes before leaving the pool, getting dressed, and leaving the Boys Locker Room."I'm gonna go back to my dorm and work on Alter Ego some more. Bye, Bera!""Sure. Take care, Chihiro. I'll talk to you later."Chihiro departed towards the dorms, leaving me to contemplate what I should do next.After some thought, I decided to stop by the School Store.I looked around the School Store for a while, wondering what I could buy with the Monocoins we are allotted.There was a lot of seemingly random stuff in here: perfumes, hair clips, books, dolls and action figures, and a few models and puzzles to put together. There were even a few articles of clothing, like tights, scarves, and a Monorakun light jacket, included in here.Deciding I didn't want anything in here, I decided to head up to the Fourth Floor and check out the Carnival Room.To my dismay, I would find more than just games in there.