Dark Walker - Chapter 1

Dark Walker

Chapter 1

The dreams I have when I'm sleeping aren’t real. No matter what happens in my dreams, it's not real. And when I wake up...all that's waiting for me is the start of another ordinary day.

He was in a flower garden illuminated by softlight. The faint scent of flowers drifted in the air, and, even though there was no wind, flower petals would sometimes flutter down from the sky. Tomoki Naruse sat in that peaceful landscape, hugging his knees absentmindedly. He was still wearing his pajamas. His body was slender as a young boy's and he had soft, chestnut-colored hair. Long eyelashes framed his big brown eyes, which were a shimmering amber color in the light. A flower petal touched his pink lips, and then disappeared like a fleeing illusion.

Where am I? I don’t know why I'm here.

The flowers that spread out upon the ground were s soft as a cushion, and when the white petals touched his skin they felt as smooth as silk. Tomoki softly lay down on his luxurious bed of flowers. He opened his eyes and saw that the sky above him was pearl grey with flower petals flying down as if they were being born from the glittering sky. It was a mysterious scene like a dream...

XXXwill be here soon...

He knew that he was waiting for someone, but couldn't think of their name. If XXX cloesnt come soon, I'm gonna fall asleep... The air he breathed in was sweet, making him drowsy.

He's always hurt, so I should give him a hug, lie thought vaguely, and tried to fight off his sleepiness. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t remember who “he" was. His eyelids grew so heavy that he couldn’t help but close his eyes, and then suddenly he felt a warm hand on his cheek.

"Tomoki...”

He heard “his” familiar voice. He smiled happily, yet still couldn't open his eyes. Tomoki felt a heaviness on his body and “his" breath against his ear. The sensation of the pajamas he had just been wearing disappeared, replaced by the feeling of naked skin against skin. "His” smooth skin felt so good. Tomoki sighed softly. A warm tongue slid into his mouth, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. The kisses, the searching fingertips traveling downward—he knew them so well. And he also knew what was about to happen next.

“You're so cute,” “he" whispered softly, and Tomoki’s lips trembled. “His" fingers and tongue teased Tomoki, and he quickly became hard. He lifted his hips up naturally, as if begging for “his" hard rod which pushed against his abdomen. Since he couldn't see anything, his body was even more sensitive.

“Ohhh...”

“His” hardness entered Tomoki roughly, and Tomoki let out several small gasps, as if trying to escape the pain. At that moment, his eyes opened slightly, and “his” face should have been there...

Tomoki arched his back as their lips pressed hard against each other’s and “he” pushed in as deeply as he could. “His” movements had become faster and rougher. Tomoki felt a tremor of pleasure race through his entire body. At first he had been afraid of this painful, scary thing, but now he was used to it.

“Remember me. Hurry up and remember...” "He” said between gasps.

“I will,” Tomoki answered, clinging onto "his” back desperately. He felt as if his consciousness would be washed away. “XXX!” Tomoki called "his” name between rough, trembling gasps.

“Ohhhhh!” His body arched violently backwards, making the bedsprings bounce. “Ow...” Tomoki had hit his head on the wooden headboard. He had just woken up. He combed his tangled brown hair back and shook his head, dazed.

He sat up in bed and timidly looked inside his pajama pants. “Oh, crap!” he whispered. Another wet dream. He couldn’t help but feel guilty. Why was he having so many wet dreams lately? Was he touching himself while he was asleep, like some kind of sleepwalking thing? “Damn, my back hurts...” The whole lower half of his body was trembling. He couldn't clearly remember the dream he had just had, but at the very least he knew his partner hadn't been a girl couldn't remember his lover's face, but he knew he had had sex with a man who had a very nice body. A shiver ran down his spine.

This isn't the first time I’ve had that dream. I think I've had it before...a lot. Did I feel that guy entering me? They say your dreams represent your desires, but then that means I... Does that mean I secretly want to be raped by a guy or something?

“No way...”

As he remembered more of the dream, his face grew red and then pale. “No way...there’s no way it’s true.” He tried to make excuses, and shook his head furiously with tears in his eyes. “Yeah. I probably just fell off my bed in the middle of the night or something.” He tried to explain away his back pain, and went to the bathroom to take care of his dirty pajama pants.

Tomoki sat in the classroom before homeroom began. The view of the mid-April sky from the window was clear and blue and the wind that blew in was refreshing. It had been two weeks since he started high school. He didn’t know all of his classmates’ names yet, but he was relatively happy with his class and the school. He didn’t really have any worries.

“I wonder what it all means...” he muttered from his seat by the window. “I just feel so sluggish...” he murmured, putting his head down on his desk. No matter how hard he tried, he just didn't have any energy.

Was it just a regular sex dream like everyone else has during puberty?

Tomoki thought he was pretty much a realist.

So why did he have that flower dream, like he was a princess waiting for her prince to come?

What if I really like guys?!

“Maybe I’m just frustrated...” He tilted his head and sighed. He wished he would have dreams about girls, but for the past two weeks he had had frequent dreams where he was having very realistic sex with another man.

This isn't good...Every time I have a dream about him having sex with me I know I’m actually feeling it.

“Tomo-kun, you look exhausted!” A few of his male classmates came up to him, peering at his face teasingly. They had only been in the same class for two weeks. The only one among them that was able to talk to him with such familiarity was a kid he had gone to middle school with.

“Yeah, I had a bad dream last night,” Tomoki answered, still face-down on his desk.

“You poor thing!” The boys said sarcastically, messing up lomoki's w'avy brown hair.

“Knock it off!" Tomoki sulked, putting both hands on his disheveled hair.

“Whatever," his middle school classmate. Tashiro, said. “Hey, do you have the math homework for second hour?”

"Oh, crap!” Tomoki quickly raised his face at Tashiro’s request. “Ahh, I forgot it!” His big brown eyes gleamed amber in the sunlight. “I’m screwed!” he said in a pitiful voice, scratching his head. Tomoki was the kind of person whose emotions showed clearly on his face and in his eyes.

“Maybe I should let you borrow my perfect notes?” Tashiro said teasingly, holding out a paper and shaking it around. He was the only person from Tomoki's junior high who was in the same class as him. He was extremely intelligent, and the two of them had only recently become friends.

“Seriously?!” Tomoki held out his hands and his eyes shone bright with expectation. Tashiro looked like he was having a lot of fun at Tomoki’s expense. “Thanks! I owe you one," Tomoki said happily as he took the notes in both hands.

“Okay, then maybe you could make it up to me with some, uh, physical labor."

“Yeah, just tell me when!" Tomoki said seriously, and the crowd around him erupted with laughter.

“Isn’t he hilarious? He’s been an airhead like this ever since middle school!” Tashiro said, pointing.

Everyone nodded emphatically. Tomoki was 167 centimeters tall, and from his looks alone seemed like he would be popular with the girls, but he was still completely a child.

“It’s pretty funny to bully Naruse, isn’t it?” Tomoki didn’t realize what was going on. He hadn’t thought it was bullying. But he was the kind of person who trusted everyone, no matter what.

“Little Tomo-kun still isn’t interested in girls, huh?” Tashiro teased.

Tomoki pursed his lips together indignantly. "Actually, I like girls a lot,” he countered, and looked at the group of girls across the aisle. They were chattering each other animatedly, each one cute in her own way. They wore the high school uniform all the neighborhood girls longed to wear—a grey blazer with a red tie and a green tartan miniskirt.

There was a tall boy who stood out among them, standing right in the middle. It was Tomoki's classmate, Yuugo Oda. He was tall and slim, with a fearless, mature face. He had a very strong-sounding name, but his smile was friendly, and he reminded Tomoki of a big, gentle dog.

“Oda’s tall, so our uniform looks good on him,” he said enviously. In middle school they wore a black uniform with gold buttons. The only thing different about the high school uniform was that it had gold clasps in place of the buttons. The girls’ uniforms were cute, but the simplicity of the boys’ uniforms looked cool in a different way, depending on who wore them. But those that looked best in them were stylish guys with long legs. Someone tall, with broad shoulders, like Oda.

“He has a nice face, and he’s tall, so I guess that's why the girls like him.”

“And he’s really smart, too.” Suddenly the boys around him had started to join in the conversation.

“Every time we have a day off, I heard some older girl goes to his apartment.” Their voices started to lower.

“Guess they’re on pretty familiar terms, huh?"

“Even his name sounds snobby.”

“Hey, it’s not his fault what his name is!” Tomoki said, feeling bad that this gossip had started because of him.

“Yeah, when you actually get to know him. he's pretty cool,” Tashiro added.

The school bell rang, and the girls around Yuugo went to sit down in their seats. “He’s so nice to everyone, but I heard Oda-kun has a girlfriend!”

“A different girl asks him out every day, but he won’t go out with any of them!” Some of the girls grumbled as they walked past Tomoki.

“I guess Oda’s a good guy after all.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty rare for a guy our age to be so serious about one girl,” Tomoki said as he noticed his friends’ attitudes becoming more favorable to Yuugo.

As he walked back to his desk, Tomoki felt someone’s eyes on him and turned around. His gaze met Yuugo’s. He was sitting at his desk with his head in his hands. They smiled at each other, and Tomoki scratched his head with embarrassment, turning away.

Yuugo Oda, huh...

Their seats were far away from each other, so they didn’t have much of an opportunity to talk to each other. But Yuugo had been on his mind since they started school.

“Tomoki, I came to see you.” Those were the first words Yuugo had ever said to him. It was right before they had introduced themselves to the class during homeroom, and Tomoki had been startled when the unfamiliar boy had called him by his name. Of course, Tomoki had never met him before. Yuugo had just moved from Shikoku. He had never heard of the town Yuugo had grown up in, and they definitely weren't related. At any rate, Tomoki had never even been to Shikoku.

“Urn, who are you?” Tomoki had tilted his head and asked.

Yuugo’s eyes had widened with surprise. “You mean you don’t remember me?” he had whispered and sighed.

“Have we met somewhere?”

“Just...Never mind.”

It had bothered Tomoki so much that he had chased after him and asked again, but Yuugo had just smiled and shook his head.

“Here, Oda-kun,” a tan, blonde girl said during a break, handing Yuugo a drink and some candy. He accepted them with a smile, and the other boys in the class looked on with amused expressions on their faces. Tomoki also couldn't help staring at Yuugo, who in turn was staring at the can of soda the girl had given him. He narrowed his eyes.

Maybe he has a thing for that girl? Tomoki wondered.

Yuugo opened the can of soda with a serious look on his face. Tomoki watched as he brought the can to his lips and drank from it. Suddenly Yuugo yelled. “Ahh! There’s some kind of foam in my mouth!!”

What?! Tomoki’s eyes widened with surprise.

“Is this really a drink?” He pulled the can of soda away from his lips with a disgusted look on his face, and Tomoki noticed the whole class was just as dumbfounded as he was.

“Are you for real. Oda?” a boy nearby said incredulously, which prompted the whole class to join in.

“Don’t tell me you’ve never had soda before!”

“So, what, it’s carbonated or something?” Yuugo asked the boys around him, scratching his head.

“Wow, Oda is hilarious! I can’t believe him!” Tashiro said, laughing. It seemed that whenever someone as “perfect” as Oda made such a mistake, his likeability factor increased among the other boys.

But it all seemed rather strange to Tomoki. He tilted his head, laughing, and stared at Yuugo, who still had a confused look on his face.

At lunch, Tomoki sat down with Tashiro and his friends. “Pudding tastes good with today’s menu."

“Pudding goes good with everything. You really love pudding, huh, Tomo-kun? Tashiro laughed at Tomoki, who had two containers of pudding on his tray.

“What’s wrong with it?” He was about to open a container of pudding when his eyes met Yuugo’s, who was just entering the cafeteria. As usual, he was surrounded by girls. Still keeping his gaze on Tomoki, Yuugo waved them off and began to walk alone.

“Can I sit here?” He pointed to an empty seat beside Tomoki, smiling.

“Um, sure...” Tomoki said with a spoonful of pudding in his mouth, his face turning red. Yuugo was undeniably handsome. He had black, almond-shaped eyes that lit up when he smiled.

“What’s with that smile? You tryin' to sell us something?”

“Oda, do you seduce guys, too?” The boys at the table asked seriously. Their chopsticks had all stopped moving, and everyone’s faces were bright red. Yuugo’s features suggested he might be wild, but his smile was gentle and flirtatious, which sent a shiver down Tomoki's spine.

"What does ‘seduce’ mean?”

“Oda always smiles like that, right?” Tomoki said convincingly from beside him, trying to defend him.

“Yeah," Yuugo nodded and smiled. “I always smile like this." He stared at Tomoki, who was still holding his pudding container. He felt his cheeks growing hot.

“I bet the girls always misinterpret it, huh?” Tomoki nudged Yuugo, trying to hide his embarrassment.

When they had first met, Yuugo had smiled at Tomoki normally, but up close his smile was very flirtatious. Even though Tomoki knew he was another guy, it made him feel strange inside. It was so enticing; he couldn’t tear his eyes away from Yuugo.

“I guess guys can be sexy, too.”

“Your smile is so flirty it's embarrassing!"

"Flirty?" Yuugo tilted his head, puzzled at everyone's comments.

"Hey, Oda. Don't tell me you’re an airhead like Naruse!”

"Don't you realize when you're hitting on people?”

“Hitting on people? Hey, I'm against violence, guys!" Yuugo said with complete seriousness. Everyone at the table stared at him, amazed.

“...Oda is seriously hilarious.”

"If you're that friendly to everyone, people will start to think you like guys!” As Yuugo and the others exchanged friendly conversation, Tomoki was still confused and absentmindedly started to eat his lunch.

I guess he just smiles at everyone like that... He felt himself get a little disappointed at this.

He had thought he was special, the only one Oda smiled at like that. His eyes had looked so familiar.

But I guess everyone else feels the same wav...

“Naruse hasn’t been getting very good sleep lately.” The boys brought up the subject from earlier that morning.

“Ha ha ha! I guess Tomo-kun’s been having some perverted dreams!” Tashiro said after he saw Tomoki blushing. “Don’t worry about it. Our bodies get stimulated by every little thing at this age. It’s worse when we sleep!”

“Yeah, you can’t help it if you dream about having sex with some random businessman or the old lady from the convenience store. Or even a dog or a motorcycle!” Everyone solemnly agreed with Tashiro, but Tomoki tilted his head doubtfully.

“Just be thankful it’s not real and just jack off or something. You shouldn’t let it built up. I heard that causes pimples.”

“So it’s okay as long as the person you have sex with is human?” Tomoki asked, confused.

“I dunno, but I heard hot ramen noodles feel really good.”

“Yeah, the point is to get something as warm as body temperature.”

“What does this have to do with my dreams?"

Tomoki fell on the table, exhausted, and just listened as Tashiro and the other boys talked about sex.

When the bell rang signaling the end of lunch, everyone around him stood up and he heard someone say, ‘Tomoki." Yuugo had been quiet until that point, but leaned over and whispered his name in his ear, like a secret. ‘‘Wanna walk home together today?"

"Okay,” Tomoki answered quietly, still lying on the table. He didn’t raise his face until after Yuugo had left. He put his hands over his hot ears. He knew his ears and face were probably bright red. His heart thumped wildly in his chest. He felt his whole body responding to the echo of Yuugo’s low voice in his head. It felt like he had just been asked out on a date by his crush.

"No, that’s not it!" He smacked his own cheeks. “It s just two friends walking home together!" He shook his head, again making up excuses. Oda was friendly to everyone. And everyone misunderstood it as him flirting with them. “He has a problem." A big problem. And that was his sweet voice and smile. “I should warn him... As a friend!" He wasn't exactly sure what he should warn him about, but he made up his mind to do so, nevertheless.

After school, Tomoki cheerfully gathered up his belongings.

“Tomoki, can you wait a bit?”
“Sure.”

Yuugo was writing in the cleaning log, so Tomoki sat in an empty seat in front of him to wait. Yuugo always addressed him without honorifics, and even Tomoki thought it was strange that the familiarity didn't make him uncomfortable.

“Oda, can I ask you something?” The classroom was almost empty, with only a few of their classmates remaining. “How did you know my name when we first met?” While Tomoki was talking, Yuugo had written something in his notebook and handed it to him.

“It’s YUUGO,” he read the big letters he had written seriously.

“No, I know your name, Oda...”

“Yuugo!” He pointed to the notebook again.

“C-Can I call you Yuugo?” Tomoki asked helplessly. Yuugo smiled, looking satisfied. “You’re so weird.” Yuugo had suddenly looked so childish; it made him feel strange.

Many of Yuugo’s friends talked to him as they left, and they all called him "Oda,” but he seemed not to care. Does he want only me to call him that? Tomoki’s mood began to improve, so he didn’t notice that Yuugo had completely dodged his question.

“About my dreams..." Tomoki said as they walked out of a convenience store they had stopped by on their way home.

“Hmm?” Yuugo looked up as he drank his coffee.

“Do you ever have sex dreams, Yuugo?" he asked hesitantly.

Yuugo smiled cheerfully. "I have good dreams all time, just like you.”

I feel like mine are bad dreams, though."

I'm sure of it!

“Really?”

“Really,” Tomoki asserted.

“I have dreams about having sex with a really cute lover.” Tomoki was taken aback by Yuugo’s frankness.

“That sounds pretty intense. Is it someone you’re dating in real life? Your girlfriend?” Even though he was drinking cold orange juice, when Yuugo smiled at him like that, he felt hot. But he couldn’t read too much into it. It was just a habit of Yuugo’s. “So I guess you've had sex with her in real life.”

“No, I’ve never even held hands with anyone in real life.”

“Seriously? So it's a one-sided affair? Even though all the girls want you?” Tomoki asked with surprise.

Yuugo laughed. “It's not exactly one-sided. In the dreams, they always have their eyes closed and never even try to look at my face!”

“Like Sleeping Beauty?”

“No, more like even though they’re awake they can’t face reality, so they won’t open their eyes.”

“Won t face reality? But it’s a dream, right?”

“That doesn't mean it’s not real,” Yuugo smiled.

Tomoki blinked repeatedly. “I have no idea what you’re talking about," he said, exasperated.

“Tomoki.”

“What?"

"Doesn’t the sex you have in your dreams fed good? Yuugo suddenly whispered right into his ear Tomoki was so surprised he dropped the sandwich he had just bought.

"Yuugo!" He exclaimed as he turned bright red and covered his ears.

Yuugo picked up the sandwich that had come unwrapped and threw it in the garbage can. "Don't get so mad. I'll buy you another one.”

“That's not what I mean!”

Yuugo put his arm around him and they went back inside. Only now, Tomoki was bright red with anger.

It was growing dark as they approached the park near Tomoki's house. It was heavily wooded and the streetlights were already glowing blue-white. As he listened to Tomoki chattering on, Yuugo casually looked towards the comer of the park. His eyes quickly narrowed, but he kept the smile on his face. "Impossible...” he whispered in a low voice so Tomoki couldn't hear. Two red lights glowed in the midst of the dark trees. "Why?” He had seen them before. But they were not supposed to be here.

The red, reptilian eyes were staring at him. waiting for an opportunity. Yuugo stared back harshly, and the two red eyes slowly shifted downward. It was almost like watching a snake slither away on the ground.

“Yuugo, what’s wrong?” Tomoki looked up at him, watching as he stared somewhere into the deserted park.

After dinner, Tomoki took a long bath and sighed. The spring nights were still chilly. It was already pitch black outside the small bathroom window. He stretched his fingers out in the warm water and stared at them. Then he thought of Yuugo. “This house with the blue roof is mine,” Tomoki had said, pointing to the house right next to the park. “Wanna come in?” He wanted to invite him in, but all Yuugo had said was, “Oh,” and then, "Okay, Tomoki. I hope you have good dreams again tonight.” He had waved, then started walking down the sidewalk
between Tomoki’s house and the park. He lived in a brand-new condo complex on the other side of the road, also by the park, about three minutes away.

I didn't know he lived so close..."He's so cold. Well, I guess he’s not exactly cold, but still...” Tomoki mused as he held onto the sides of the bathtub. He was nice to everyone, so that wasn't really the case. "I guess ‘indifferent’ is a better word.” He splashed his hands into the water, and then yelled, "No wait—that’s still not right!" He wanted to describe Yuugo’s simple behavior earlier, but he figured there wasn't a word to describe that sort of behavior between men.

Maybe I 'in just excited because I want to become closer to him?

He tilted his head. He didn’t know why he was feeling so impatient. Yuugo was his classmate; he'd be able to see him again the next morning.

As he dried his wet hair with a towel. Tomoki headed to his room on the second floor. He climbed the stairs then walked down the hallway. There were two rooms there, and his was the room to the right. The one to the left was his older brother's room, but he had died when Tomoki was very young. His parents hadn't touched it since; it was still exactly the way his brother had left it.

It happened when Tomoki was only one year old, so he had no memories of his brother. “Tomo-kun, you look so much like your brother, but your personalities are the exact opposite!” his parents and relatives always used to tell him. Unlike Tomoki, who was lively and mischievous, his brother had been quiet and well-behaved. Sometimes he felt angry at being compared to his late brother. But when he saw the room that wasn't being used, he sometimes thought how fun it might have been had his brother still been alive.

He opened his door and searched for the light switch with his lingers. He felt the hard sensation of the switch, and, just as he was about to turn the lights on, Tomoki casually looked up—and was startled at what he saw.

The silhouette of a human form with large wings was outlined in his dark room. Tomoki only saw it for a split-second before he blinked. He quickly turned on the lights, and the fluorescent light flickered on overhead. Under the bright lights, his room looked completely normal. There was no sign of any disturbance around his window. His blue curtains weren’t moving a bit. "What the hell..." Tomoki decided it must have been some kind of optical illusion, but he remembered how realistic the figure had looked. It was the size of a normal human, but its wings were so large when spread that they barely fit in Tomoki’s small bedroom.

"A demon..." He suddenly blurted out the thing that most closely resembled what he had seen before in books and movies. "No, there’s no way..." He smiled at his own wild imagination. Suddenly, Tomoki heard a loud fluttering noise like the beating of wings from the roof. His heart pounded. The sound of wings soon grew quiet, as if whatever it was had flown faraway into the night. Tomoki was a little pale and sighed loudly. He switched on the radio near his desk and felt relaxed as the familiar sound of the DJ’s voice filled the room.

“Had to be an optical illusion!” Tomoki flopped down on his bed. As he finished drying his hair, he started to feel embarrassed by his fear. He had thought he wasn’t the type of person who had dreams a lot, whether it was while he was asleep or even dreams for the future. He thought himself a realist.

But that night, Tomoki slept with the lights on. He had been about to turn the lights off when he remembered the figure he had seen, and chills ran down his spine. “I’m not really scared or anything,” he said aloud as he slipped into bed, even though no one was listening. He felt his cheeks grow hot.

It was a moonless night. The houses were all dark and the air was quiet, as if even it had stopped, too. Just before dawn, a faint shadow emerged from the darkness behind Tomoki’s house. At the same time, there was a fluttering sound, and from his back he spread two giant wings that were each about two meters long. He quietly glanced around before folding his wings neatly into place. If anyone had seen this mysterious sight, they probably would have screamed. But the owner of the black wings quietly slipped into the night and disappeared like an illusion.

Towards the end of April, Tomoki had adjusted to his new class and formed friendships with a group of his classmates. Some lived near him, and sometimes they would even walk home with Yuugo and Tomoki.

"It's a bit of a detour, but do you want to go check out the new video games there?” Tomoki pointed to a large electronics shop. “Do you play video games, Yuugo? What kind do you like?”

“I've never played any. What kinds of games are there?” Yuugo asked curiously.

Tomoki took him over to the video game section of the store and showed him a few. He was happy when Yuugo seemed enthusiastic to talk about popular CDs, video games, and movies. “Okay, I'll buy some."

“Yeah, let's trade sometime, too!” Tomoki nodded cheerfully. Yuugo started putting all the games Tomoki recommended into his shopping basket. “Yuugo. you need a game console or you can't play those."

"Oh, I'll just buy one, then,” he said, heading towards the register.

“But shouldn't you ask your parents first?” Tomoki asked as he followed behind. But Yuugo not only ordered a video game console, but a TV. VCR, and a computer right on the spot. "If you buy all that at once, won’t you get in trouble?”

“Nah. I live alone anyway, and I don't have anything in my apartment yet. I just moved in."

He must be pretty rich if he can buy all that with a credit card, Tomoki thought.

“Oh, yeah—how many TVs should I buy?” Yuugo asked an employee, who, along with Tomoki, stared at him in disbelief.

“Wait a second, one TV is enough!” Tomoki, beginning to get worried, took Yuugo by the arm and led him to the comer of the store. There were a lot of TVs there, each with a different show playing on them. He explained that if you change the channel, the show will change, too. Yuugo seemed genuinely impressed by this.

“Seriously...where the hell did you used to live?”

“I told you, out in the country in Shikoku,” Yuugo answered. He really seemed like he had never seen a TV before. Tomoki asked him more questions, and Yuugo seemed to know about newspapers, magazines, and how to work appliances like refrigerators and washing machines.

“Were you from a really poor family or something?”

“Not really. We just didn't have a TV is all,” Yuugo said with a smile on his face, but that still didn't ease Tomoki’s worries.

"If you’re gonna buy something expensive, can you at least ask me about it first?” Tomoki asked with a serious look on his face. He felt like he just couldn't leave Yuugo alone. Yuugo was intelligent and got good grades, but he had never had a carbonated drink. He didn't know anything about mainstream, popular culture. It just didn’t make sense. I need to he with him. Tomoki was suddenly filled with a sense of duty.

“By the way, are you eating right at home?”

“I’m eating what I like.” Yuugo answered with a smile.

Tomoki had even started to worry about his eating habits. Yuugo explained that he was eating things from the nearby convenience store and restaurants. At least he's not eating anything weird. “I won’t tell anyone about this, so you shouldn’t mention it either."

"Okay.”

Tomoki figured if their classmates got wind of exactly how oblivious Yuugo was they’d be merciless, so he decided to keep it a secret. He was also secretly happy that he was the only one who knew Yuugo so well. Every time they saw each other at school, Tomoki would ask. "How are your studies going?”

"Good,” Yuugo would answer with a smile. His "studies” were of TV, games, and other popular, mainstream things. After about a week of this, he became more like a regular high school student. Thanks to the TV and the computer, he was usually able to keep up with normal conversation.

“If you have any questions, just ask me."

“Thanks for helping me so much. Tomoki.” Yuugo was always overly impressed by Tomoki's knowledge.

Tomoki thought it was fun recommending this favorite CDs. and they’d often go shopping together. At school, the two became inseparable. Yuugo wasn't that close to anyone else, and he hadn’t joined any clubs yet.

I have to stay near him. He needs me! I want to be his best friend. We have so much fun together. He's so unique...and so charming. But maybe everyone else thinks that, too...