Completed Chapter 15: "Confrontation"

Chapter 15 of Completed

Hiroyuki was sitting in an outdoor cafe. He laid his cheek on the palm of his left hand. He was lost in thought and kept thinking about what Itsuki said. He shook his head and said to himself, “I am not a coward. I just don’t know what to do. How can I get along with Eiko at school?” He grabs his drink and sips through the straw. Hiroyuki looks off the distance and notices something familiar.

It was Eiko. There was a girl wearing glasses standing behind her in fear. She was yelling at a group of young girls. One of the girls snapped at Eiko and punched her. Another one joined and started to pull her hair. Then the rest of the girls started to gang up on her. Hiroyuki almost chokes on his drink. He coughs a bit and wiped his mouth. He gets up from his seat and runs to Eiko’s direction.

Eiko sends one of the girls flying into a nearby garbage can. She gets into a boxing position and knocks one girl after the next. Two girls with baseball bats try to attack her from behind. Eiko uses her arm to move the girl with glasses behind her away from them. One of the girl swings and she kicks her in the stomach. The other girl swings from behind and she grabs the bat. The girl tries to pull the bat away from her hand. Eiko forces it away from her hand and throws it away into the distance. The girl’s leg starts shaking as Eiko walks to her direction. Her nose starts to bleed and she wipes it with her hand. The girl falls on her bottom onto the floor. She starts to go down on her knees and begging for her forgiveness.

Eiko kneels down to meet the same direction to the girl’s face. The girl looks up at her. Eiko breathed in and out. She said in a loud voice, “If you want to apologize to someone, don’t apologize to me!!! Apologize to the girl you were bullying!!” The girl flinches in surprise. Eiko said boldly, “Look here, I know you probably have your own problems and you wanted to take it out on her. Or whatever problems you have with her. Bullying and ganging up on someone isn’t the answer to that. It just makes you look a pathetic person. Why don’t you try to talk it out normally instead of doing stupid stuff like this.” The girl looks down on the ground.

Eiko stands back up and walks to the girl with glasses. She pats her shoulder and said in a calm voice, “Try not to hold a grudge against them and next time, don’t just let them beat you for no reason. You need to stand up for yourself or people like them would constantly run you over and take advantage of you.” Eiko starts to walk away from her. The girl with glasses cried out, “WAIT! I still haven’t had a chance to show thanks.” She said, “No need to.”

Hiroyuki can’t believe what he has just witnessed. He stood in awe. Eiko was walking to his direction. She noticed him and continued walking. He calls out her name. She stops. He asked, “Can you stop avoiding me?” Eiko continues to walk again. He walks after her and grabs her arm. She slaps his hand away. The sun starts to set and both of their shadows appear in the concrete sidewalks. She yelled, “What do you want from me? Why do you insist so badly that we become friends in school? If we became friends, do you know what will happen to your reputation or what people will think of you?”

Hiroyuki said calmly, “No, I don’t know what will happen and I don’t care what happens. Our classmates’ thoughts don’t matter to me as much as yours. I decide who I want to associate with. To be honest, I always wanted to be your friend for the longest time. I just didn’t know how to tell you. People always flocked to me and I never had to confront anyone. You were the first person who seen me for who I actually was. It was very fun to play Conqueror with you. I want to get to know you better and become close friends.”

Eiko turned around to face him. A tear starts to slide down on her cheek. He was astonished by the expression on her face. She tries to speak and becomes overwhelmed by her emotions. She spoke in a low tone, “How can I push you away when you say things like that? That makes it so much harder. You never listen and always just do what you want. You’re not fair.” Hiroyuki smiles and pats her head. He said in a soothing voice, “Are we officially friends now?”

She said, “Maybe…” He gasp and said surprised, “After I let all my feelings out, all I get is a maybe???” Her lips start to form a little smile. They started to walk together. He said, “I had no idea you were that strong. You beating those girls caught me off guard. I need to remind myself to never piss you off ever again.”

Author's Note

ignore grammar problems, please tell me what you think of it? I hope you enjoy chapter 15 and thank you for waiting patiently for each chapter!