Shadow Assistance

Nice small breeze remained relevant from earlier.

Flowing through his black hair and clothes being subtly flapped out every few moments.

The empty rooftop, where both of them were standing, felt the best place of all for this talk.

"So what is it that you wanted to talk about?" The brown haired boy asked before walking to the tall, steel fence to lean back on.

Mayeda walks towards Usui and stood right in front of him, keeping eye contact.

"Usui…" His voice calls.

For some unknown reason, the air grew palpable in these moments of silence before he goes on.

"I already forgot."

…

Usui looked at him with a confused look.

"Wait, are you being deadass?"

"I'm being completely deadass."

Mayeda immediately doubles down with a nod of confirmation of his forgetfulness.

…

The taller friend swindles in fingers as if he was nervous in front of him, almost on purpose.

His confused friend was quick to notice before looking back up into his eyes.

"You're nervous for some reason, why?" Usui questions with a smile of amusement.

Mayeda is never usually nervous, maybe he didn't actually forget and rather trying to buy time of what he wants to say.

"Come on, you can tell me." He persists and walks up in front of him, now just standing three feet away.

Mayeda looks down at him.

So it seems he took the bait, Usui is usually emotionally intelligent with others paired with his good charisma but to read the emotion I was trying to give off quite quick is good.

Of course he'd have no problems with talking to women as well if he can body language to this certain extent.

But… will I still be considered a good friend at this rate if I'm purposefully testing and playing with friend's love?

Mayeda sighs before looking down at him.

Can I really do my friend like this…?

***

Nearly 3 years ago…

A week before middle school graduation, a time that should be celebrated and filled with smiles of relief that their hard work has paid off to the next level.

All for but one that afternoon, an event that changed the course of one boy's life.

In front of the basketball storage's warehouse was a boy with light clear eyes yet something was off.

A terrible scene.

Too much for details to go into.

He would emerge from the door and outside.

Quickly hiding behind any walls as if he was on a mission of stealth, not wanting to be seen by anybody.

His large body would be quite hard to hide from others though, but after all, nobody really cared or paid attention to a fatass like him.

After several minutes of sneaking around outside behind anything he can try to hide behind, he would make it into the building.

Drip, drip.

Something kept spilling.

Eyes down on the floor.

Silent footsteps.

Fuck…

FUCK.

The boy's eyes widened in frustration, reflecting everything that's happened.

His school ID fell onto the floor, but he could care less about that. It was clean without anything on it anyways, he'll just get it later since nobody would care to pick up things for a pig like him.

Mayeda Shin.

The name that the card read with a picture of him next to it.

Chubby cheeks, messy black hair and very pale skin.

The boy's uniform looked like it was barely hanging onto his body, as if it was trying its best to fit him.

A photo that he had taken in the beginning of the year.

An expression that attempted a nervous smile that tried to stay enthusiastic.

Of course, nothing ever goes as planned.

You could almost mistake him for a vampire with how little he seemed to go outside.

His middle school uniform, a white and red coloring on his jacket, helped blend hiding what he had just done.

"Fuck, what do I do now" Mayeda murmurs to himself as the water was running down the sink.

He looks back up at the sink, looking at himself back from the mirror.

Red stains on his face.

Some would be on his uniform as well, but thanks to the coloring, it wouldn't be too recognizable.

An absolute mess, a monster in his eyes.

A failure.

Sniff, sniff.

Tears would form on his face, a distorted look of sadness would wash all over him.

He wipes his tears with his hand in attempt to stop the flood, but the dams had already broken seconds ago.

Sobbing all over the sink, his tears falling on the running water below him.

His knees felt weak and clung to the edge of the sink for support as he cried in the restroom.

A pathetic mess of feelings.

I..

He covers his face.

I'M SO WORTHLESS!

He wanted to cry out his heart yet he could only scream this in his head, not wanting to be heard, let alone seen at such a vulnerable state.

If only I could take back earlier..

He grovels down on the floor, not caring how dirty it was and cried there to himself, silent and alone.

That was until…

"Oh, it's you." A voice calls out to him from the entrance of the bathroom.

"Huh?" The silent boy frantically looks back the voice, wondering if they had just been caught.

Shit, someone found me out like this.

The brown haired boy would start to walk up to him, looking down at the one groveling on the floor just seconds ago.

He looks down at the red stains on him, unable to really give a good excuse of what it was on him.

Blood.

"I-I can explain this, this is just-" He tries to make an excuse anyway, anything to save himself.

Suddenly before he knew it, a wet yet warm white towel was applied to his face.

"Huh?" A surprised gasp would escape his mouth.

"Honestly, if you're going to cry, make it the most beautiful cry you can muster out."

The boy's voice light scolds in a playful tone, eyes full of a lighthearted aura as he was kneeling down to his level.

Mayeda would just stare at his eyes, unable to understand what was going on.

What is this guy talking about?

That was one simple thought that was crossing his head about this person.

"I'm Usui Sato, I'm about to graduate middle school. What about you, kid?" He introduces himself with a small smile, encouraging some small talk.

The boy hesitates to respond yet enjoyed the other boy's appliance of towels on him to clean himself up.

Almost felt like a mother was washing her son.

Kinda odd, but whatever.

"Mayeda Shin…" He quietly murmurs his name before standing up.

That small smile would widen a little more.

"Ah, so you're that guy who loves anime a lot, huh?" Usui teased at the response.

!!?

"You have a waifu, I assume?" He continued on with a smirk.

!!!!?????

An embarrassing look flushed over his face.

"W-WHAT? N-NO!" The once quiet boy quickly stammers out in defense.

The boy with glasses just chuckles.

"Come on, no need to be so embarrassed about it. My waifu is Asuna Yuuki from Sword Art Online." He casually spoke with a shrug of his admission.

…

Why is this guy so casual about this?

Mayeda quickly regained his composure yet couldn't help a small smile from cracking onto his face.

This wouldn't go unrecognized.

"Hah! Look at that! You're smiling now!" Usui beams and patted his shoulder rather gently with some firmness.

The fat boy would hide his face.

"N-no I'm not…" He refused.

"YES YOU ARE! Why are you smiling all of a sudden?" The playful guy retaliated.

Sigh.

Mayeda looks back up at the boy known as Usui Sato.

"I mean, Asuna just seems like a basic white bread option for this kind of thing." He responds with a slight smile.

The boy quickly smacks the back of his head in response.

"Don't judge a boy by his waifus!" Usui tells him and shook his shoulders, a bigger smile appears.

Finally, as if another dam had broken compared to earlier, Mayeda starts to laugh.

Ah, there it is. He seems to be happy again.

Usui smiles at the sight, his mission accomplished.

"But I do have a question…" Mayeda's laugh dies down yet his small smile stayed onto his face.

The brown haired boy tilts his head in curiosity.

"Go ahead."

The boy thinks about how to word his question.

"Why are you so kind?" He finally asks.

Huh? Why am I so kind?

Confused now from the guy's question.

Mayeda noticed their reaction and waved his hand to give him more time to word it better.

Does this guy have hard times wording things or something?

The two boys just stayed there in silence, still on the floor, but who cares?

"Why are you helping me? I mean, it's just…" He finally asks and looks down at himself.

Usui would also look down at him when his head turned down, understanding the real intent.

He would stand up and look down at him.

"Because nothing's expensive about being kind."

The answer would come out.

And that answer, left him quite stunned and more so confused.

Usui sighs and adjusts his glasses before going on.

"Being nice to others isn't something that comes with a price, it's free and easy to do. Plus you make more friends that way."

He crossed his arms.

Mayeda took a moment to digest his words before responding in kind.

"But, those who are bad to others, being mean is also free-"

"Wrong."

Their glasses reflect the light after his quick reflect.

Huh? Wrong?

The boy who was still kneeling was still kept in a confused state.

"Keeping a negative attitude stems from a negative mindset. So in a way, you're also only hurting yourself and others around you. It comes at a price bigger than anything, and that would be your own true self."

…

He was right. Maybe this guy was more than he thought of a simply weird guy.

Mayeda felt gears turn into his head which had halted before Usui leaned down and asked.

"Did I look cool from saying that?" He whispers with a small smile of anticipation.

That once small forming smile became a straight face from this.

Yeah nevermind, this guy is just like any other guy out there, huh?

"That was possibly the most cringiest thing I've heard all school year." Mayeda closed his eyes and looks away from him.

Shock!

The boy takes off his glasses and facepalms himself before wiping his face.

"Damn it, I thought that was like, super cool for a second though!" He whines a little as he washed his face.

The fat boy would stand up again and also begin to wash his face as well to the sink next to him.

"You're a good guy, you know…" Mayeda mumbles as he rinsed his face.

"You really think so?" A small hum in response from the other.

The black haired boy paused his cleaning to speak.

"I mean, you're funny, kind, good looking and seem to know what to say to get people to smile…"

After all, you even made me laugh too despite…

The earlier events of what happened still dreaded in his mind. Of course, even if he was temporarily at ease, he'd never forget.

Usui would notice this and wipe his face with a towel before speaking.

"Hey, don't beat yourself up over it. The past is the past and things can't change what happened before." He encouraged and puts his glasses on.

"I'm not saying you should forget the past, but I'm saying maybe you can learn how to accept it." The boy with his glasses back on continued with a smile.

Accepting it, huh?

"I'll think about it…" Mayeda responds before he also began to wipe his face.

Usui was thinking about leaving the restroom to let Mayeda recover before one final question came into mind.

"By the way and sorry if this question comes out as insensitive… but why is there blood on you?" The boy curiously asked with a head tilt.

…

The black haired boy went silent.

"Ah, sorry, I should've never asked-"

"I was jumped earlier by a group of boys." Mayeda softly spoke in response.

!!!

A soft gasp escaped his lips before a sympathetic smile appears.

"O-oh my godc I'm so sorry to hear-"

"But it's fine though, this blood isn't much and the jumping was short since a teacher happened to be nearby." Mayeda quickly finished with a showing of a small smile to him.

This display seemed to have put an ease to the boy with glasses.

"Ah, I see… that's good…"

Usui nodded before turning around and walked next to the door that led back to the hallway.

"I'll see you around tomorrow, yeah? Best for you to wipe that blood off now since nobody is usually here at this hour for the bathroom." Usui began to leave.

"By the way, my waifu is Rem from Re Zero." The would tell him from behind before he left.

A surprised look would spread before laughing a little at their late admission.

"And you told me that I had a white bread choice." He teased a little in kind.

Mayeda gives a small nod with a mood that seems a bit better than before.

A nod with a kind smile from Usui was the last thing he saw from him before Usui left.

Now he was back alone again by himself, but things were better this time.

"See you around tomorrow?" Mayeda repeats before looking back at the mirror.

A thoughtful look appears on his face at the idea of talking to someone during school.

"I guess that wouldn't be so bad…"