May 7, 20XX
8:00 AM
Today’s Friday, which is right before a weekend. Because that’s the case… I’m almost certain there are afterschool activities today.
I snicker.
“Hehehehe.”
I should stalk them.
|
Note: Did he really just say that? |
…
..
.
4:00 PM, After School
By the school gates, the four Slice-of-Life Boys huddle together.
“Hey Takashi, can you tell me a joke? A good one,” Madoka requests.
Takashi forms a riddle.
“What do you call a table which doesn’t have any legs?”
“Uh… What?”
“Dis-tabled.”
“…Corny.”
Masaru and Katsuro both stare at Madoka in disbelief.
|
SFX: ジー (Stare…) |
“What did you say?” Masaru asks for confirmation.
“Did I say anything wrong?” Madoka wonders.
“Yes, you did!” Katsuro accuses him, his finger pointing at him, “you violated Brother Code #1!”
“Wha- What even is Brother Code #1?!”
Masaru and Katsuro are in utter disbelief.
“How dare you… It’s to always laugh at Takashi’s jokes!” Masaru explains.
“You guys just made that up, didn’t you?” Madoka declares in the absurdity of the situation.
“You take that back! Or we won’t be friends anymore!” Katsuro yells out loud.
“Takashi’s not even saying anything about it!”
“This friendship is over,” Arata announces.
“Fine, fine. I take it back,” Madoka responds.
“Not enough!” Masaru yells.
“What else am I supposed to do?” he groans.
“LAUGH!” Katsuro screamed.
“Uh… haha?” Madoka laughed unenergetically.
Takashi is dejected from the Madoka’s sad performance.
“MASARU, HE’S MOCKING THE ACT OF LAUGHING!” Katsuro screams.
“LAUGH LIKE A TRUE MAN!” Masaru instructed.
Here I was watching them from behind an electric pole, narrating the whole event.
What on earth are they doing? They won’t give me a chance to intervene.
Mocked by his group, Madoka takes another attempt at laughing.
“HA HA?”
“MORRRRREEEEEEEE! LAUGH LIKE A TRUE MAN!” Masaru yells.
“AHAHHAHA?”
“DON’T QUESTION YOUR OWN LAUGHTER! YOU’RE OFF BY A NOTE!”
“AAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHHA!”
“MORE! LAUGH LIKE A MADMAN!”
“AHAHAHHHHHAHHAHAH!”
His maniacal laughter carries on for eons.
It was so emotional; Masaru and Katsuro are moved to tears.
Click.
“Huh?” he wonders.
The sound of a flash enters his ears. He tries to search for its origins and comes across Takashi who had his phone up in his direction.
“Saved,” Takashi declares.
“Hey, Takashi…”
“Yes?”
“Please don’t tell me you have a picture of me.”
“I don’t.”
“NOOOOOO!!! PLEASE DELETE IT! GIVE ME YOUR PHONE!”
“No.”
Madoka attempts to reach Takashi’s phone, however, Takashi dodged every time he did.
“GIMME,” Madoka insists.
“Ok.”
He finally grasped the phone. He started tapping on the phone.
“Yes! The gallery!”
Pressing the phone like there’s no tomorrow, he eventually clears all evidence of his embarrassing act.
“DELETE! DELETE! DELETE! DELETE! DELETE! DELETE! AHAHHAHHAHA! IT’S ALL GONE!”
He hands the phone back to Takashi.
“My dignity has been restored.”
“Oh, it hasn’t. It’s saved in my personal drive,” Takashi explains.
“Wait, what? Th-Then why did you let me delete your photos?”
“Oh, I thought it was a pain to delete all of them, so I had you delete all of them for me.”
“WHEN DID YOU-”
“When you tried to reach my phone.”
“HOW- NO! YOU THOUGHT OF DELETING MY PHOTOS AS A PAIN YET THE PROCESS OF UPLOADING THEM TO YOUR DRIVE ISN’T?!”
“Cake.”
“Cake? Huh?”
Masaru deciphers its meaning.
“He wants cake.”
Madoka kneeled to the ground.
“Just kill me already.”
“Oh, I also had a video of you along with those photos,” Takashi declares.
Madoka’s limbs lose all strength and he drops to the ground. A few seconds later, his mouth begins to foam.
“MADOKA??!” Katsuro panicks.
HOW LONG ARE THESE IDIOTS GONNA STOP YAPPING?
…
..
.
The four of the Slice-of-Life Protagonists were at the mall. They stood in front of an arcade.
“Arcades! A man’s best friend!” Katsuro declares.
“Arcades are dogs?” Takashi responds.
Visibly disappointed by the airhead, Masaru facepalms.
“Let’s just go play some Street F*ghter!” Madoka insists.
Dude, if you’re gonna censor, at least make it consistent.
“No, let’s play some basketball,” Katsuro suggests.
“In an arcade?” Masaru queries.
I butt in. I couldn’t take any more of their idiocy.
“How about some air hockey?” I suggest.
“Huh?” Katsuro questions.
All four of the Slice-of-Life Protagonists were staring at me who was now beside Katsuro.
All of them except Takashi reacts to my presence.
“HUH?!”
“YOU!” Masaru points at me, “Why are you here again? Are you a stalker?!” Madoka asks.
“Come on dude, can’t we just play some games?” I tell him.
Masaru whispers to Madoka.
“Did he just call you a dude?”
“This guy just called me a dude,” Madoka replies.
“I can hear you,” I exclaim.
“SECURITY!” Katsuro screams.
“NO NO NO! Can’t we just play some air hockey?” I ask again.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
“Takashi, is that your phone?” Masaru taps his shoulder.
“My phone is in Silent Mode,” Takashi answers.
“It’s mine,” I reply.
From my pocket, I take out my phone. It was my little sister calling me. Of all times, she had to call right now… I contact her back and place my phone beside my right ear.
“ONII-CHAN! I NEED YOU TO COME HOME FAST!” she screams.
“Oh, you managed to use your phone this time, well goodbye.”
I end the call and place my phone back in its rightful place.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!
I pick the phone up again.
“What is it? I’m quite busy right now,” I ask reluctantly.
“Onii-chan, I know how lonely you are an-”
Upon hearing keywords, I instinctively hang up from my phone and set it to ‘Silent Mode’. I put it back in my pocket for good this time.
Masaru ponders what the commotion was all about.
“Who was th-”
“Let’s play some air hockey,” I cut him off.
“Don’t you have to-”
“Let’s play some air hockey,” I repeat.
“Uhh, was that yo-”
“Let’s play some air hockey. ‘Kay?”
“Fine.”
…
..
.
I and Katsuro were up against each other playing air hockey. The puck slides into the enemy goal.
“HIYA!”
Clink.
“Score. Player 1 Wins!” the air hockey machine broadcasts.
“YEAHHH!” I celebrate.
Katsuro is down in the dumps, well, it’s understandable after what I did to him.
“He beat me… again.”
“Don’t feel down. He beat me 10 times,” Masaru attempts to comfort him.
“Noobs. Watch me win against this amateur,” Madoka boasts.
Next thing we knew, I and Madoka were up against each other. We set our positions on the air hockey machine.
Madoka had prepared some cringey monologue.
“As you can see...”
He posed arrogantly.
“…I’m the best out of these three amateurs,” he declares to me.
“I hate to admit it, but he’s right,” Masaru answers.
“Why, so competitive? We’re only here for good fun,” I try to trigger him.
“Competition makes things more interesting. Watch me win.”
“Show me my place then.”
…
..
.
15 minutes passed by.
“I’m tired. Are you really the best?” I mock.
“I CAN WIN! HIYA!”
The hockey puck was knocked to my side while Madoka completely opened up his goal .
Checkmate. Just watch the angle, and then see the hit which causes the greatest opening or attack his blindside. I’ll go with the…
“BLIND SIDE!”
Ah, the classic ‘say your move’ cliché of protagonists. I’ve been practicing a whole lot. This will definitely boost my position.
The hockey shoots speedily into the goal.
“Score. Player 1 Wins!” the air hockey machine announces.
“Wow… Madoka, you suck,” Katsuro comments.
“Noooo! You must be cheating!” Madoka yells.
“He didn’t, Madoka. What? Are you gonna accuse him of aimbot?” Masaru jokes around.
“I felt quite sorry for you that you didn’t even win once,” Takashi replies.
“FINE! THEN YOU HAVE A TURN!” Madoka grunts whilst offering the puck.
Takashi was my next opponent. We set our positions on the air hockey machine.
“Sorry to break it to you, Takashi, but you don’t stand a chance against him,” Katsuro warns.
“Y’know, I’ve never once considered trying my best because I think it’s just a waste of time,” Takashi explains.
This cliché. I’ve seen it thousands of times already. I can tell…
He continues, “But seeing you, maybe I can start giving it my all too.”
He’s the hardest one of them all…
Takashi hit the puck and I hit it back.
The game begins!
…
..
.
We still kept playing for an hour.
His movements are very fast. His reaction time is meticulous, being able to respond to any instantaneous shots.
“Um, I know this is fun and all, but aren’t you guys taking this a little too seriously?” Madoka queried.
As expected, Takashi puts up quite the challenge. We exchange pucks, often leaning from one to the other, but it would always even out. From our intense concentration, we begin sweating. But…
In terms of reacting… I, remain supreme!
In my early days… I always played rhythm games, because of my constant playing, my fingers have developed unimaginable reaction time! Naturally, I tried extending this application to more physical means (only if I had time). Of course, it hasn’t gotten to the point where I could catch a bullet, but I could say most of my skill has already been translated.
|
Note: I don’t think that skill translates like that. But oh well, anime logic. |
“I’ll never lose!” I declare with a raging fire in my eyes.
I hit the puck.
“Neither will I,” Takashi replies monotonously yet burning the same passion as I.
He counters my hit. I hit the puck and it went into the goal.
“Score. Player 1 Wins!” the air hockey machine announces.
“YESSSS! PROTAGONIST POINTS FOR ME!” I cheered.
“Good game,” he tells me.
“Good game.”
“We took too long…” Katsuro complains.
The two competitors shake their hands for a good show of skill.
…
..
.
5:30 PM
We head out of the mall.
It’s almost nighttime.
“I guess it’s time to go, huh?” I ask.
“Yeah… we wasted too much time on air hockey,” Masaru grunts, “Urgh, I wanted to do much cooler stuff.”
“I wanted to eat fries,” Madoka grumbles.
“A small sacrifice,” Takashi utters, “for a heated exchange of a game. It was… exhilarating.”
“You two need to touch some grass, I swear,” Katsuro exclaims.
“Kibe… I had fun. Let’s play again sometime,” Takashi says.
“Well… see ya round, Kibe,” Katsuro said farewell, “We go this way,” he points to the opposite of the direction of my home.
They all begin walking back.
“Mark my words, we have unfinished business, Takayuki-san,” Madoka threatens me.
“See ya,” Takashi says with a bright mood.
The four Slice-of-Life Boys left and went home.
“That was some nice progress. They now consider me as someone to look up to or to rival.”
Note: Promotion from Mob Character to Side Character of Slice-of-Life!
Honestly, I didn’t think it’d go so well. I suppose the genre itself has a bearing with its focus on interactions. While that sure seems fine and dandy…
“…It seems like my position as Main Character hasn’t been sealed yet.”
“Wow, Nakatani-chan was right, you ARE lonely,” a girly voice behind me mocks.
“EH?”
I look behind in surprise and I spot a girl a few years younger than me.
“Who are you?! Where did you come from? How do you know Nakatani?” I interrogate the girl.
Nakatani steps out of the limelight, hiding from the corner of an adjacent building to the mall.
“She’s my friend, onii-chan. We were friends ever since kindergarten. How come you don’t know Mie-chan?”
“Just call me, Mieko-chan,” the girl behind me orders.
“I brought her to our house many times already, don’t you remember?” Nakatani asks me.
I try to recall, but trying to remember any other person in the past aside from my family when the times were still dull is a lost cause.
“I don’t remember,” I bluntly say.
“Now that I remember, you were always playing your games every time I invited her onii-chan,” Nakatani remembers.
“I guess that explains i- WAIT THAT’S NOT IMPORTANT. HOW DID YOU FIND ME? DON’T TELL ME YOU WENT ALL AROUND THE MALL JUST TO FIND ME?” I panick.
“Oh no, we would never do that in a million years.”
For some reason, that kind of stings.
“We had Mie-chan here hack your phone and determine your location with the satellite or something like that?”
Mieko nods in agreement.
“Yeah, that’s correct Nakatani-chawwn. I’m a hacker!” she declares.
“That doesn’t exactly sound reassuring, in fact, it makes me worry even more,” I speak out my true thoughts.
“You weren’t very nice to your little sister. She only wanted you to meet up with someone,” Mieko explains.
SOMEONE?!
“IS IT A GIR-”
She cut me off, “Guy.”
“Darn. Fuck that, I’m not meeting up with this person.”
“Guess I’ll have to do it. Nakatani-chan do you agree?” Mieko asks for her permission.
“If it’s to convince onii-chan, then okay,” Nakatani nods.
“Sorry that I have to do this onii-chan, but...”
With no regards to personal space, she playfully walks toward my right ear, “Hey… onii-chan… I’ll have to delete all your e-r-o-t-i-c files~♡”
“I just have to get some new ones then,” I reply acting unaffected.
“Ooh, a tough one… are you sure? Even if I have to delete what’s in your ‘Super secret do not touch’ file? I decoded the password.”
“Go ahead. I don’t mind, I told you. If that’s all you have then you’re pretty bad at persuading.”
“Fine, then I give up. Guess I wouldn’t have to give you extra files instead, and they’re pretty new too, with 4k resolution.”
“REALLY? Wait-”
I clear my throat.
I continue, “…that’s not enough to persua-”
“Maybe, I’ll insert a pretty cute picture of me, with a bonus of an erotic one,” she offers.
“I’m in.”
|
Note: Moron. |
END OF EPISODE 14
