Shadow Assistance

Those words were deep.

"See you around tomorrow."

For someone like Mayeda, a chubby man who had been looked down on all his life, well except by one person.

That was the first he's ever been told to see someone else again.

Such a feeling would keep him up.

Well, I guess today wasn't all that bad.

The boy smiled before remembering what events of before.

How was he supposed to forget about that?

The blood.

The fists drenched in it.

The bodies.

The terror.

Miyasaki.

Everything felt so surreal.

How was he supposed to forgive himself?

Mayeda tossed around in bed during the middle of the night at home, lost in thought.

Should I tell that guy what really went down tomorrow?

Well maybe he was just being friendly and didn't mean his words earlier perhaps…

Such thoughts made him overthink those simple words.

"Damn, I need to sleep or else I might not even be able to wake up to see him tomorrow." Mayeda quietly mumbles before snuggling even more into the sheets and closed his eyes.

***

Next morning.

The usual routine would go on once Mayeda was awake from his sleep.

Clock reads 6 AM.

Just an hour before middle school starts.

Though the simple reminder that it was less than a week before school ends made him feel better.

The fact he had a person to look forward to seeing was even better.

Mayeda gets up from his bed to do what he always does every morning.

Change into his school uniform.

Eat breakfast.

Brush his teeth.

Say goodbye to his older sister for the day.

Go to school.

The same cycle repeat.

Man, I wonder if things are gonna be like this when I reach high school. These days are so boring.

Those thoughts would occur every now and then while he was in the middle of changing, he'd often to hide his fat behind his clothes as best as he could.

Mayeda goes down for breakfast and sat down in a chair while watching the girl make breakfast.

Mm, that smells good.

The woman, Mayeda's older sister to be exact, would be in a white apron at this current moment making them breakfast.

She wore her own clothes underneath, getting ready for work. A white button up shirt with a black pencil skirt behind that white apron and her black hair was tied up in a ponytail behind her head.

He personally always found his older sister to be very beautiful, though she would always deny it.

"So, um, what're you making?" He politely asks her with a curious tone behind her.

"Eep!"

The frightened girl jumps a little and nearly took the spatula to smack him from behind her before realizing it was just her little brother.

A look of realization settled in and quickly pinched the fat boy's round cheeks with a scolding tone.

"Don't scare me like that again! I nearly sent you to hell with that!" Yamamura exclaims to him.

The girl was almost very embarrassed for being scared and making such a sound to her little brother.

Mayeda sighs with a roll of his eyes before nodding in her hands.

"Yeah yeah, I promise I won't."

Wait, did she just say I would go to hell?

The black haired boy sniffs the smell in the air.

His sister smiles and puts one of her hands to the back of his head, having his face pressed up against her chest.

"Did you notice it? I put on new perfume today. Do you like it?"

Yamamura looks down at him with a look of hope and purity, keeping him tight against her chest for a better smell.

"Well uh, I didn't know perfumes started to work on the scent of burning waffles." He responds with a thoughtful look.

Eyes widened from the girl.

"Burning waffles?" Yamamura turns around to see that the waffles were in fact, turning really black and burnt.

"OH SHIT!"

Yamamura lets Mayeda go and quickly tried to take the fire out before she splashed water onto the pan with a cup.

Well, damn.

They ended up with nothing to eat that morning.

After brushing his teeth and hugging his sister goodbye before parting ways for the day, he goes to walk to school now.

The sidewalk was empty, the clouds loomed gray as he passed by all the houses.

Well great, no waffles for today and I'm already starving.

He pats his stomach.

Though it's best to lose all this weight.

Mayeda was in fact, extremely insecure about his body.

He eventually makes it to large school gates made of steel.

Welp, here it is. School. Again.

Mayeda began to walk before he sees a familiar face emerging from behind the right gate towards him.

Those glasses.

That smile.

Wait, that smile…

It was Usui Sato.

The brown haired boy gave a small wave as a gesture.

"Good morning, Mayeda."

Mayeda's eyes slowly began to brighten up.

His first good morning from a classmate would indeed, come true.

He quickly regained himself.

"It's you from yesterday." Mayeda politely spoke.

Usui smiled and nodded.

"Yup, it's m-"

"What was your name again?" The black haired boy asks with that same unbothered tone.

…

Pout.

"Well damn, fuck you too I guess." Usui mumbles.

So harsh already?!

Their school day would pass by just as normal.

English.

Math.

Science.

But that would be around when lunch came around.

The lunch was large, white walls would surround the room. Numerous tables would be laid out for students to eat.

A bundle of loud chatter would arise during this time.

"I-I really like you! Please be my boyfriend!"

!!?

There would be a crowd of students surrounding the two.

Usui and one girl would be in the center.

What was going on?

Mayeda pushes through to see the scene, realizing what was going on.

Did Usui just get confessed to during the middle of lunch time?

Eyes dart to him and then the flustered girl.

The girl was considerably cute, she looked like she was part of the school track team.

Damn it, this is exactly why I hate good looking guys. This would've been a dream come true for m-

"I'm sorry but I'm not really looking for a relationship right now." Usui would give his answer after a moment of silence.

…

Silence would fall.

"It's not you or anything. It's just that I'm not currently ready for a relationship, I'm still learning and studying for high school. I'd like to take it seriously."

Usui bows a little.

"So please forgive me, but I can't be with you." He finally ends it off before walking out of the circle.

Silence again for a moment would reappear before chatter all at once would emerge.

"Dang, poor girl."

"Is that guy crazy? I would've totally said yes!"

"That makes it the 33rd rejection this year."

"That jerk, embarrassing a girl in front of everyone."

But to some others, that was the perfect way to respond to someone.

Including one boy.

Mayeda quickly follows where Usui was leaving off to and down the hallway.

He could call out for him, but he was too shy to.

So he just silently followed where Usui was speed walking towards.

Stairs upon stairs.

He sees that the boy with glasses was walking up towards the rooftop.

Huh? Why is he going up there by himself?

Does no staff secure this location or anything?

Doors pushed.

The breeze hit both of them like a truck.

"You're so creepy, man, honestly." Usui sighs before looking back.

Eyes remained contact.

"You're just gonna keep following me without a word? You'll give off the wrong impression to everyone."

Usui smiled with a sarcastic tone.

They both walked out the doors of the rooftop and sat down on the floor.

Gray concrete coloring. Looked to be cleaned only once a month.

But who cares?

"So I'm gonna assume you're gonna wanna talk about earlier." Usui crossed his arms.

Mayeda nodded.

"Well, yeah actually." The fat boy would nod in response.

"Well, what is it you wanted to say?" His glasses reflected on the gray clouds, only seeming to get darker.

Mayeda would think about how to approach the subject, not wanting to mess his words up like he always would.

"It's that, um.." Mayeda stutters.

From this boy's lack of experience and confidence for interacting with another classmate, it was due to the fact he really had nobody to talk to.

"How do you do it?" He finally asks.

A confused look.

"How do I do what exactly?" The brown haired boy questions.

A small sigh would form from Mayeda's mouth.

"How can you remain so calm after just rejecting someone? That girl was quite cute too? You know?" He rubs the back of his head sheepishly while he asks.

Ahh, that's what it is.

"Well to be honest, it's very simple." He shrugs in response.

Mayeda looks back up at him.

"I stay true to myself everytime I make a decision." Usui continued on.

Huh? What does he mean?

"Well… what do you mean by that?" Mayeda softly spoke.

"What I mean is that I don't give answers to things that the Usui Sato I am wouldn't give."

Huh…?

Mayeda was even more confused.

The brown haired boy would notice this even more and tried to make him understand what he means even more.

"It just means that whatever the me is telling me to do, I do it. Regardless of what anybody else says or does about it, I do what I truly believe I can and will do, or else that answer I would give is not a real answer." Usui would tell him.

Mayeda processes these words.

If I don't believe the answer that I would give, it's not a real answer…

I think I understand it now.

"B-but what about what others do? Surely, it's impossible to actually ignore every-" The fat boy would ask another question.

But the boy with glasses shook his head and stood up.

"You can if you out your mind to it." He doubled down.

…

This guy is awfully stubborn as hell.

"Not everybody can live life without regrets. We all make decisions that we really don't wanna do but end up doing it anyways regardless of the worst or for the best." Usui talks and looks back at him.

Drop.

A rain drop would fall from the sky.

But this didn't matter right now to them.

"If there's one regret I would have by the time my life is done, that would be that I didn't live it the way I believe I should've lived it."

He clenched his fists with a determined look on his face.

This reminded him of the scene of a main protagonist from an anime to Mayeda.

He looks so serious… and his words…

"Usui…" Mayeda says.

The boy would look back into his eyes again, their gaze at a standstill.

"Are you really a middle schooler?" The fat boy asks.

…

"Wait, what." The brown haired boy tilts his head in profuse confusion.

Panic.

"Ah, sorry. What I meant to say is that you have such a serious mindset and more matured than everybody else in middle school…"

Mayeda shyly spoke.

"It kinda reminds me of an anime protagonist when they give a motivated dialogue…" He subtly added.

Smirk.

"Oh that's because I was aiming for that type of look! I took those words from a manga I read from somewhere!" The brown haired boy casually said with a ring of laughter.

HUH? So that shit wasn't from his heart?!

Before he knew it, rain would start to fall over them. One by one at a growing rate, rain would soon pour down.

"Oh shoot, come on, let's go back inside." Usui looks up before quickly rushing back through the doors with Mayeda coming in behind.

They both made it inside and closed the doors.

Luckily they weren't too wet, only a bit of water on their heads and uniforms, but it would dry minutes later.

"Oh man, I should've said everything I said before in the rain to look cooler! Oh damn it!" Usui whines a bit from the missed opportunity.

That's what this guy is worried about?

"Wait, how do you plan to deal with everybody asking you about earlier after lunch then?" Mayeda asks him about the plan.

Smile.

"It's simple really, I just give more of those real answers Usui Sato would give." He responds with a chuckle.

…

God, this guy would actually be cool if he wasn't actively cringe.

"But thanks a lot man." Usui smiles more.

Eyes widened a bit from his sudden appreciation.

"Huh? For what? I didn't really do anything." The fat boy responds with a curious look.

The brown haired boy with glasses straightened his back, his height being nearly the same as the fat boy in front of him at the time.

"For being the first friend I can be myself with." He bows a little.

Mayeda's eyes widened a little more.

Friend…?

"I know it may not seem much, but you're the first real friend I could open myself up to without any judgement. I usually try to keep the appearance of a cool guy to others, but you give off the impression of a nice guy." Usui stood up straight again.

Mayeda was stunned still.

These words…

They were words he had longed to hear before.

"B-but we don't know much about each other and stuff…" Mayeda sheepishly added.

Usui puts a hand on his hip.

"So let's try to know each other now so we can become true friends." He suggests.

The black haired boy looks Usui's eyes, a small surprise would reflect from his clear crystal eyes.

"Wanna come by my place later? I was planning to watch Re: Zero after school, but after what you said yesterday, I'd like to watch it with you." He gave a small warm smile, an encouraging one of company.

"Well, if you'd want to.." Usui added in case if he seemed like he was pressuring him.

…

Finally, a small smile would grow on his face.

"Yeah. I'd be grateful to." Mayeda responds with a small warm smile in return.

A genuine smile.

Of the fact that one of his dreams.

That seemed normal to anybody else in this school.

Finally came true.