Toshi heard a scream.

 

 

 

At the moment, Toshi's thoughts had been preoccupied with recent events involving Harou, Naora, and his own romantic future. He absentmindedly flicked his finger across his cell phone screen, not really absorbing any of the information. The classroom buzzed with the usual morning chatter, but the undercurrent of tension from the fight still lingered. The girls' conversations were about how Toshi's sister was coming back. It was a stark contrast to the boys, who seemed more focused on fashion and gossip.

 

Typical Monday.

 

Another distant, yet unmistakable scream pierced the air. It was a scream filled with anger, not fear. Toshi glanced around to locate the source. Then, a second, even more piercing, cry was heard. It was longer and left no doubt that it originated from beyond the classroom walls. Just as Toshi prepared to rise from his seat and rush to the window, his phone chimed with an incoming text message.

 

It was from his sister: [Hey. Did you borrow any games you forgot to return?]

 

Toshi eyed the text with a quirked eyebrow. He had not borrowed any games from anyone. He typed, [No], then hurried over to the window. Nobody seemed to be reacting to anything unusual. Nobody was screaming. Whatever was going on, was over.

 

Toshi frowned. His phone vibrated. He checked it.

 

[kthx]

 

Toshi was about to text a question when he heard the scream again. It was clearly a girl. She sounded frustrated. This time it was coming from the hallway. She was screaming in short bursts now. Occasionally the sound of a locker being kicked could be heard. Whatever was going on, it was coming closer. Two things stood out; First, Nobody was paying attention. Second...

 

Toshi's teeth were starting to itch.

 

Toshi glanced at his phone, slipped it into his pocket, then swiftly returned to his seat. Something told him this was bad. REALLY. BAD. He kept his head down and waited for whatever it was to pass, hoping that this disturbance would resolve itself if he just ignored it. the unsettling noises only grew louder, reminiscent of a scenario from a horror film he had once watched. In the movie, a grudge haunted a school's corridors, but only those who saw or heard it fell victim to its malevolence. It would periodically cause a great disturbance in hopes of tricking someone into noticing it.

 

Your only defense was to ignore it.

 

The door burst open with a force that suggested an angry entity's presence. As the door swung wide and collided with the door bumper, Toshi sensed a peculiar energy, though he couldn't quite pinpoint its nature. It resembled the feeling of serendipity that sometimes washed over him, yet this was far more subdued. Like a gentle drizzle rather than a sudden gunshot. Toshi kept his head down and didn't look up. He ignored whatever it was along with everyone else. Sweat started to form on his brow. Something walked... no.

 

Something STOMPED in.

 

Silence.

 

Toshi kept his eyes locked on his phone. As the silence dragged on, he glanced to the side and saw nobody else was reacting.

 

There was a loud bang, like a wooden stick hitting the chalkboard.

 

Toshi flinched.

 

His eyes went wide as he realized he had reacted to whatever was in the room. He could hear it, shuffling around. It was trying hard to be noticed and nobody cared.

 

"HEY!"

 

Toshi blinked, ~Wait a minute... That sounded like...~ He risked looking up.

 

Ruri was standing at the front of the room, holding a long wooden stick. It looked like something you might pick up off the ground. She was swinging it around as she hopped up and down, obviously trying to get people's attention.

 

For some reason, nobody was looking at her.

 

Toshi straightened up in his seat, glancing around to gauge everyone else's reactions. There was none. He was just about to call out to Ruri when, with fierce determination and gritted teeth, she gripped the stick like a baseball bat and ran up behind one of the girls engrossed in conversation. Ruri swung it at the back of a girl's head but pulled her punch. It was clear she was doing this more to get attention than to knock someone out. At that moment, serendipity surged through Toshi like a struck gong.

 

Ruri immediately hid the stick behind her back and turned to look off in a random direction with an almost cartoonishly high level of acting casual.

 

The girl at the receiving end of the blow turned around with a loud exclamation, rubbing the back of her head, "HEY! Who threw that?" Her two friends, previously engrossed in conversation, began scanning the room in search of the culprit. Toshi's left eye twitched in disbelief at the surreal scene playing out before him. Ruri was standing right there, putting in little effort to hide the stick, yet everyone seemed to be willfully ignoring her.

 

"Toshi!" Ruri's victim called out to him.

 

Toshi swallowed deeply before he replied, "Yes?" His eyes darted from the girl to Ruri and back several times.

 

"Did you see who threw that?"

 

Toshi arched an eyebrow, his gaze fixed openly on Ruri, who stood right there, out in the open, for everyone to see. He opened his mouth to speak, raised a finger as if to point something out, but found himself at a loss for words. In the end, he simply shook his head, opting not to say anything.

 

The victim went back to talking to her friends, occasionally glancing around, wary of another attack. Meanwhile, Ruri, having sensed Toshi's ability to perceive her actions, hurried over to his desk. When she spoke, there was a sharp edge to her voice, like a rubber band stretched to the breaking point. She leaned closer to him as she desperately questioned Toshi, "Can you see me?"

 

Toshi looked at Ruri, the girl she just whacked, then back again. He pointed a finger at Ruri, "What... the... actual... Hell?"

 

Ruri had a look of relief and joy at Toshi's question. Quickly, she handed him her stick, "Watch this. Figured this out last night at home." Ruri calmly approached the girl she had recently struck and meekly cleared her throat, "Excuse me?"

 

The girl glanced at Ruri, "Huh? Oh. Ruri. What?"

 

Ruri bowed her head slightly, "Do you have a pen I could borrow? Toshi forgot his today."

 

The girl blinked, "Toshi? Oh, Sure." She held out a pen to Ruri, but looked away and turned back to her conversation, not bothering to check to see if Ruri even took the pen.

 

Ruri took the implement of inscription and returned to Toshi. She dropped it from eye level onto Toshi's desk in a rather dramatic fashion. It bounced a few times before coming to a rest, "The more meek I am, the more likely people are to notice me." She took out her phone and tapped it a few times. A flash went off and she turned her phone around to show him the selfie she had just taken, "I still show up on cameras. Otherwise, everyone is ignoring me."

 

Toshi let out a loud, "WHAT?!?"

 

Everyone in the room turned to look at him.

 

Toshi looked around at everyone, at a loss for how to explain his outburst. He glanced at Ruri, then back around the room, before offering a nervous smile. "Sorry! Sorry..." He apologized as he scrunched down in his seat. The others in the room just shrugged and returned to whatever they were doing, with a few muttering, "Typical Toshi."

 

Ruri was just about to speak when the teacher walked in, announcing, "Morning, everyone! Let's take our seats." Ruri looked down at Toshi, then, without a word, went over to her desk and dropped heavily into her chair. They would have to wait for their free period to continue this discussion, which was about two hours away.

 

 

 

Toshi would count every second.

 

---

 

Harou watched Toshi head to school from down the street.

 

 

 

Harou checked his cell phone and the notes he made as he muttered to himself, "Mom has already left. So dad will be leaving in about... thirty minutes... hopefully." He looked up, squinting against the morning sunlight, and waited. Hirofumu eventually stepped out, yelled some parting words inside, then walked down the sidewalk to the street corner to wait. A few minutes later, a bus arrived and left with Toshi's dad for parts unknown.

 

Harou looked a little surprised, ~Five minutes early. Must have somewhere important to go.~ He checked his phone, considered that he had at least a two-hour window, then slipped it into his pocket. Harou took a deep breath and mustered his courage. "Okay, Harou. We're going to march over there and take a shot at stealing Hinako's underwear," He said to himself with a grin. "And cross getting Honey Whitefox's panties off my bucket list."

 

He took a moment to close his eyes, folded his hands, bowed his head, and then thought of the special shrine he had set up in his closet for where he would place the panties, once acquired, ~Oh, Honey Whitefox, we may be separated by dimensional barriers and in different universes but...~ His eyes glowed like stars as he leaped into the air and punched the sky, unleashing his Inner Otaku.

 

"I SHALL NEVER STOP SIMPING FOR MY AIDORU!!!"

 

He stepped out from around the corner of the building he was hiding behind, looked both ways before crossing the street, then approached Toshi's front door, ~Well, her doppelganger's panties, at least. Close enough.~ He reached into his pocket to pull out a little device he bought off the internet; The Remote Control Fake Door Knocker.

 

Great as a gag, the remote fake door knocker comes with Bluetooth so you can synch it up with your phone. With a single touch of a button, you can trigger this small box from up to two hundred feet away. Once triggered, It was an exact imitation of a traditional door-knocking sound, like someone was tapping their knuckles on the front door. A plain, black box with an M3 sticky strip on the side, you can stick it anywhere you want the sound to come from for hours of fun.

 

 

Fool Your Friends!

Laugh At Their Expense!

Alienate Your Loved Ones!

Level Up As A Hikikomori!

 

 

He discreetly glanced around to make sure there were no onlookers, then carefully positioned the Remote Control Fake Door Knocker right behind the door-light, where it was least likely to be detected. He knew on his way out, he might not have a chance to retrieve it. Hopefully, it would go undetected and he could simply retrieve it during his subsequent visit to Toshi after school.

 

Once in place, he took a deep breath and pressed the doorbell. A minute later, the house's current and sole occupant, Hinako, opened the door wide. She eyed Harou suspiciously, "Shouldn't you be in school?"

 

Harou bowed deeply while explaining, "I have today off for a medical appointment later this afternoon. However, while I was waiting at home, I was going to practice Killer Kombat," He straightened up, "When I realized I let Toshi borrow one of the games I was renting. I need to return it, TODAY." He pointed to the stairs, "You mind if I just pop up and get it?"

 

Hanako gazed at Harou with a sense of uncertainty. She looked distrustful. After scrutinizing him up and down, she finally hooked a thumb over her shoulder toward the stairs. Harou gave a grateful nod, "Thanks! Won't be a minute." He sprinted up the stairs, taking two steps at a time.

 

Hinako pulled out her cell phone and proceeded to text Toshi a question.

 

A minute later, she got an answer: [No.]

 

She quickly tapped out a reply, not wanting to waste time getting into the details. She slipped her phone into her pocket as she looked up the stairs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~I wonder who he's working for.~