Not Your Average Ghost Story Ruikasa

04 I Thought We were Friends

Rui POV:
When Tsukasa isn't home, I normally just do whatever. Like watch his tv, eat his snacks, one time I went to the park. But it started to get boring after a while. I needed something to do...

Another thing I noticed, Tsukasa came home with a black eye the other day. He told me he didn't wanna talk about it but, by now I'd say we're friends. What is it that he isn't telling me?? Then I got an idea.

I'll follow him to school today. It won't be a problem of being caught because I learned I can shift into ghost form so nobody can see me.

I wait 10 minutes after Tsukasa leaves for school then I make my move.
I follow him to school in ghost form. I noticed that nobody talks to him and he's always by himself. He's a lot different at school then he is at home.

I get bored of sitting in his class so I wander around. I fly around the hallways to see a boy with orange hair skipping class. The more I think about it, he seems familiar. That's when it hits me, as soon as he opens his locker, I see a picture of Toya. Toya told me about him, Alito I think?

He seems to be locked in a trance with the photo. It seems to bring up past memories he doesn't want to remember. He aggressively shuts his locker to most likely avoid the photo.

After I was done analyzing Akito, the bell rings and students fill the halls. It's 4th period by now, I assume based on a loosely taped paper of the classes scheduled barely hanging on a pillar in the cafeteria. I go back to following Tsukasa.

Tsukasa opens his locker and grabs a dull orange textbook then shuts his locker when he has what he needs.

I didn't notice before but he seems to have a bruise on his arm that wasn't there before, something about it made me feel cautious. What is going on with him?? And why won't he tell me??? I drown myself in thoughts about the situation. But when I finally snap out of it, Tsukasa is gone as well as most other people in the hallway that was once littered with high schoolers.

I float around looking for my friend. I find him. But, he wasn't in class..

I turn the corner to see Tsukasa get pushed against a dead end in the hall by a guy that I couldn't catch the features of well. He has some friends with him who are snickering like sickos. They start to beat him up. They punch him, kick him and stomp him to the ground. But he just sits there. A tear rolls down his cheek.

That's where I couldn't take it anymore. I turned into human form and grabbed the main guy and threw him to the floor. His group runs away. "What the hell, do you think, YOU'RE DOING?" The guy yells, standing up and brushing off dirt from his jacket.
"And I could be asking you the same." I scoff, keeping a cocky grin on my face. Tsukasa looks at me, holding back more tears. It just gets me angrier. I punch the guy right in the nose then kick him to the ground. He sits there, dumbfounded.

I turn around and scoop up Tsukasa into my arms. Normally, he would complain and squirm, but he was so hurt and out of energy that all he could do is hold onto me and cry. A pit formed In my stomach. Why didn't he tell me? I could have stopped this.

I take him home and lay him down in bed. I looks round for some medical supplies and find a roll of bandages. I wrap up his left arm witch had bloody scrapes all over it. Then I clean his other injuries and leave him to sleep. But he just stares at me. Then, he utters the first word hes said to me ever since he left for school, "Can you.. Lay down with me?"

I'm surprised at the request and I just stand there. "Please.." He begs. I feel bad so I hop in bed with him and put my arms around him like I did the night before. "No homo, friends do this sometimes.." He tries to laugh a bit, then hands me the remote to choose what to watch. I turn on, "Invader Zim."

He looks at me, really.. I smile. He ends up enjoying it even though his reaction at the start was the opposite. We eventually fall asleep a little after Gir's song in the movie.

I awake in a dream with Tsukasa. I'm holding another blue shard. He looks at me and nods.

The world around us starts to fade to a quick white flash, then we're transported to my bedroom. Hologram Rui stands in the center of the room with a sheet over some sort of creation.
Then Nene enters the bedroom. "What was it you wanted to show me so badly Rui?" She said sarcastically, "I was on my swing."

Hologram Rui just chuckled at the greeting. It seemed to be a usual thing.