Completed Chapter 10: "A sudden request"

Chapter 10 of Completed

The weekend passed and it was monday again. Eiko and Rie was at school. The homeroom teacher announced, “In the cultural festival, our class made the most sales! The principal really enjoyed the cultural festival this year and decided to throw a party for the students’ hard work on friday! The party will be located at a karaoke place. The karaoke place is near the train station. The party starts at 4 pm.” Everyone in the class became excited and cheered loudly. They were praising Hiroyuki. Hiroyuki smiled and said, “It’s all thanks to everyone working hard.” Everyone was happy by his compliment.   

Everyone kept complimenting him. They surrounded his desk and he lays his cheek on the palm of his right hand. His mind starts to wander. Their voices grew distant and his eyes wandered. He notices Eiko and watches her talk to Rie. Eiko was smiling and then she turns her head. She spots Hiroyuki staring at her. They stared at one another for a moment and he couldn’t stop staring. A female classmate suddenly waves at Hiroyuki and calls out to him. She said, “Hey Hiroyuki! Are you listening?”

Hiroyuki snaps out of the daze. He blinks and said a bit confused, “h-huh? What did you say?” She becomes pouty and said slightly annoyed, “Jeez! I can’t believe that you weren’t listening this whole time!” He apologizes and laughs it off. He pulls off a fake smile and said, “Can you repeat what you were saying before?” She said, “As I was saying,..” He becomes distracted again and sighs.

The school day ended. Eiko was at home, and playing her rpg game like usual. She sees that Hajime was online. She messages him, “Hey! There is an obtainable rare item and you can only find it in the underworld! Do you want to join me to find it?” Hajime replies, “Yeah sure. Hey Emiko, I was wondering something.” Eiko types back, “What is it?” He asked, “Have you ever wanted to meet me in real life?” Eiko jumps out of her chair and said loudly to herself, “EHHHHHH!! I didn’t expect him to say that.”

She replies back, “Well sometimes. It would be nice to have a real life gamer friend. Why do you ask that?” He said, “Because I would like to hang out with you sometime. You’re a fun person.” Eiko said, “That’s kind of you to say! Thank you!” He said, “Can I invite you to meet me next saturday? It’s okay, if you don’t want to.” Eiko said, “It’s fine! We can definitely meet next saturday! What time and where would you like to meet?” He said, “We can meet up at 11am at Shibuya shopping district. Is that fine with you?” She said, “Yeah that’s good. How about we trade numbers? It would make it easier to find one another just in case we get lost.”

They traded numbers. She said, “You know, sometimes you remind me of someone I know.” He said, “Really? Who do I remind you of?” She said, “I don’t know, just something about you seems familiar.” He said, “Hm.. is that so. Well you never know. I might be someone you know.” Eiko paused for a moment and said, “True, but we will see. Now let’s find that item” She thought to herself, “Hm..that’s a strange thing to say.”

The next day at school. Eiko told Rie about how she was going to meet Hajime in real life. Rie was worried and warned her to be careful. Eiko reassured her that it will be fine. Rie said, “Have me on standby! Just in case!” She nodded. She thought about what Hajime said about him being someone she might know. She scanned her classmates and shook her head. She said to herself, “Nah, it’s not someone from my class. No one plays that game.”

Hiroyuki comes in the classroom and as always, gets greeted by his classmates. She look at Hiroyuki and said in her mind, “I don’t know if he plays that game. He probably might have , but he can’t be Hajime. Hajime is more considerate than that prick.”

Throughout the rest of the week, Eiko kept trying to figure out who Hajime might be. But in the end, she couldn’t discover who is actually was. It became late afternoon on friday. It was almost time for the party. All her classmates headed to the karaoke place. Rie was excited about the party. They walked to the place and all the students and teachers were there. There was music blasting and students were singing together. Everyone was having fun.

Eiko was eating food and Rie was talking to some female classmates. Eiko said, “Rie, I am going to get some fresh air. I will be back.” Rie said, “Alright! Come back soon!” She walked out of the Karaoke room and headed outside of the place. She sat at the stairs in front of the Karaoke place. She watched cars pass by and looks up at the night sky. Then, she hears the door closing behind her. She turns around and sees Hiroyuki. She turns back and breathes out some air.

Hiroyuki stands near her and stares at the cars passing by. They both didn’t talk for a couple of minutes. It was quiet between them. All that could be heard was the city sounds. The cars bustling by and the train approaching the station. People walking around and talking on their phones, Eiko starts to feel awkward. She hugs her knees and thinks about what to say. Hiroyuki speaks up and said, “Are you here to get away from the loud crowd too?” Eiko said, “Yeah. I wanted some silence.”

He nodded and said, “I wanted to thank you for the juice.” She was a bit touched by his words and said softly, “I also want to thank you for taking that creep out of the school.” He starts grinning. Then she said in aloof voice, “But.. I didn’t need your help. I could have dealt with the creep myself.” He suddenly laughs and said amused, “That’s funny. Last time, you said I was stubborn. But who is really being stubborn now?” A flashback of Eiko not refusing his money appeared in her mind and she folded her arms. She starts to sulk and said stubbornly, “Whatever… I still don’t like you.” He looks down and said casually, “Yeah. yeah I know that. I am going to head back to the party. See you.” He walks back to the party. Eiko waited for him to be gone and yelled to the night sky, “He’s so infuriating!! Always getting on my nerves!”

Author's Note

ignore grammar problems, please tell me what you think of it? I hope you enjoy chapter 10 and thank you for waiting patiently for each chapter!