"Magical Boy?"

 

 

 

Toshi was surrounded by all the boys in his class who were interrogating him over the events over the weekend. At first it was a non-issue. Apparently everyone just assumed that the most beautiful boy in school would go out with the most popular girl in school and that was it. Toshi going out with Meiko was a 'Pity Date'. Everyone knew that, hence why nobody thought to bring it up.

 

Kenko and Hinako had already worked everything out, you see.

 

Meiko and Abi were a formality. Their dates were there because Hinako had tried to get Toshi to go out with Madoka and he kept turning down the blind date. Eventually she came up with the story that it was 're-socialization'. As soon as Toshi agreed, Hinako went to Kenko and they worked very hard to set everything up. It looked like everything was going swimmingly.

 

Then Meiko came sauntering into the middle of the master plan and fired off a declaration of war.

 

Toshi looked a little worried as he glanced around at the crowd, "Well, uh, I'm not actually a magical boy." He let out a nervous laugh, "I mean, Magic? Who said I could do magic?" he started to rub the back of his neck while breaking out in a sweat, "It's just a nickname she started to call-"

 

Kenko smacked his forehead so hard the rest of the room looked up, "Oh course it's a nickname!" He noticed he had gotten everyone's attention and lowered his voice, "Why did you let her call you that?"

 

Toshi narrowed his eyes, "I... dunno. I never had a nickname before. Nobody picks a nickname, people give you one, right?"

 

Kenko closed his eyes and grasped his hands together so tightly his knuckled turned white. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly before opening his eyes and smiling with infinite patience, "Toshi? That was not a nickname. THAT... is a PET name." He gritted his teeth as he continued, "You can't just let a girl give you a pet name. It means you are in a relationship." He pointed at Toshi with both index fingers at the same time, "Are you DATING Meiko?" Kenko looked like he was on the verge of exploding.

 

Toshi had no idea why Kenko looked so angry, "Uhhh... But sometimes other girls call me Pochi-Kun."

 

"That's because That's a Demeaning-" Kenko cut himself off, licked his lips for a moment, then continued with a softer tone, "Girls say that to boys that they are hitting on, not as a sign of affection." The other boys nodded and echoed the sentiment.

 

Toshi nodded slowly, "Oh. Okay. So if she calls me Magical Boy...?"

 

Eizan smacked his own forehead, "Dear God, are you serious, Toshi? She's all but announcing she's your girlfriend!"

 

Toshi furrowed his eyebrows, "Uh... I wouldn't go that far."

 

"But what about Madoka?" Kenko glared at Toshi, "What do you think she's going to do when she finds out about Meiko with that... that stalker Shirt she was wearing!"

 

Toshi frowned, "Stalker Shirt? I bought that for her."

 

All the boy's jaws dropped open at the same time.

 

Toshi looked around, "What? I bought a matching set. Thought it'd be a cool souvenir." Eizan covered his mouth and looked at Toshi in horror. Toshi looked back, "It's just a shirt!"

 

Kenko pitched the bridge of his nose and squinted hard, "I... I don't know where to even begin. I knew this was a bad idea. I knew it. Your-" He cut himself off, "Never mind." He turned to Eizan, "Okay. We're-"

 

Just then Juba Okuda walked in, "Alright. Take your seats everyone." Kenko cursed under his breath then moved to take up his seat. As the crowd dispersed, Toshi could finally see the rest of the room. He noticed something was out of place.

 

Ruri wasn't at her chair.

 

As roll call began, Toshi felt a growing sense of terror. After the events of the weekend, anything out of place made him extremely nervous. He texted her about four times before she replied that she was fine, she just had a cold. She'd be out for a few days, if you could take notes, that'd be great. Now leave me alone, I need to sleep.

 

This wasn't a good time to be going without his security blanket.

 

Toshi was already dealing with the sudden and unusual mood swings that came about from getting in touch with his inner Toshi. The very thought of Ruri not being here had him on the verge of a panic attack. He desperately wished that meiko was here to hold him and help him calm down.

 

~What?~

 

Toshi had a positively surrealistic moment where he felt like there were two people in his head at the same time. He found the aggressive attitude of Meiko, normally something that Toshi found off-putting in a woman, actually causing him to get an extremely awkward boner. Yet he STILL found it unattractive. He was experiencing both emotions at the exact same time. She was off putting, yet he wanted her to dominate him.

 

~WHAT?~

 

Toshi broke out in a cold sweat and hunched over his desk as he tried to focus. This was too much. He didn't count on this, so he tried to push it all back down. However, it was far too late to put this genie back in the bottle. The more he tried not to think about it, the stronger his feelings got. He was so wrapped up in his intense emotional struggle, he didn't even notice that the Teacher had been standing next to him calling his name.

 

He jumped when she lightly touched his shoulder, "GAH!"

 

Okuda stepped back and held up her hands defensively, "Toshi? Are you okay?"

 

Toshi looked up at her and his head started to spin. He had always thought she was sort of hot. He certainly felt it was natural to be attracted to her more than the children around him. However, for the first time he felt disgusted at the idea. She was far too old and ugly. How could anyone be attracted to such a woman?

 

The completely contradictory set of emotions superimposed on each other caused Toshi to fall out of his chair and scrambled away from her for a moment before he could regain control of his senses. Okuda looked very worried, "Are you having another seizure?"

 

Toshi covered his eyes and shook his head, "No! No. I... no. I-" he took a deep breath, "Sort of. It isn't as bad as that. It's..." He turned away and stood up without looking at her. He kept his eyes on his desk, "I think I'm remembering stuff. It's not that bad but it's still disorientating."

 

Okuda reached out to gently touch his shoulder, "Let me take you to the nurse's-"

 

As soon as she touched Toshi, the two contradictory sets of emotions flared up and he was overcome by vertigo. He reflexively pulled away from her, "I'm Fine!" He started heading for the exit while at the same time giving her a wide birth, "I can take myself there! Thank you." As he got near the door, keeping his eyes covered, "I just need to go lie down." He didn't wait for a reply and rushed out the door.

 

As soon as he got out in the hallway, he started moving towards the nurse's office, but as he got closer he started to speed up and abruptly turned to the emergency stairwell. He was feeling overcome by an ever growing panic attack and at this moment, there was only one person he truly wanted to talk to. As he climbed the stairs, heading for the roof, he started to Text Naora.

 

MEET ME ON THE ROOF

NOW

PLEASE

 

Getting to the top of the stairs, he fumbled with the combination lock and practically ran out. The wide open space normally would help him calm down, but it didn't help much at all. He slumped down next to an air conditioning unit and proceeded to type PLEASE and hit send.

 

 

 

 

Over.

 

And Over.

 

Again.