one [sachio ueda]

f i v e : m a i

"Did you beat Ciro up?" I fumed as soon as I found Fujio outside Oya's campus. "Is hitting people all you can do?"

"I could've tied them up but I thought that would be a bit too much." He turned away from his friend, Tsukasa. Tsukasa was calm and I had never seen him hit someone first. Why can't Fujio be like that?

"A bit too much?" I scoffed. "You shouldn't even have met them. Do you know how embarrassing it is?"

"Why do you think everything I do is embarrassing? Are you ashamed to be my friend?"

That question hit me hard. I couldn't say anything openly to him either since Tsukasa was watching us right behind him.

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

"Then why are you angry at me all the time?"

"I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"Maybe because you do weird stuff all the time that will get both of us into trouble."

He stared at me for a while and then looked down heaving a sigh.

"What if the owner found out about this and fired me?" I continued.

"Well, I didn't think of that." He admitted, not being able to look at me in the eyes.

"Just..." I shook my head. "Just don't use your knuckles all the time."

"That's all I can do. I'm not even smart."

"Well, neither am I."

"You're smart."

"If I was, I'd be in a good university with free scholarship but here I am, still stuck at Oya."

"I meant you're smarter than me."

That I agree. Fujio never thought before doing anything. He just did what he felt like doing.

I nodded. Fujio suddenly opened his arms, to signify the end of the argument.

"Nope. Nope. Nope." I shoved him off making Tsukasa giggle from the back. He's such a babygirl to be honest.

I do not like hugs. I do not like anyone touching me. Especially my hair. Since I had curly hair, people would keep touching it. Fujio used to do that too when we were kids. He stopped when he realised I didn't like that.

"Okay." Fujio pulled back his arms in surrender.

"We can hug once I'm sure they won't get back at us for this." I assured as soon as it struck me that he might take it the wrong way.

"No way." He laughed. "There's no way they're going to hurt us."

But Koa's stare was still whirring in my mind. They're not the type of people to let it go easily either. Maybe they didn't or couldn't do anything because Fujio is the most famous person in Oya.

"Man." I breathed. "I'm scared to even go to work now."

"If they say something again, just come to Fujio." Tsukasa walked towards me.

"No. Fujio," I turned towards him. "My problems are not yours."

Fujio bit his upper lip, pondering for a few seconds. Then he agreed.

"Just stay away from trouble, alright?" I added before turning away.

"Are you worried that they'll hurt me?" Fujio stopped me. I looked back at him and he raised an eyebrow.

Fuck you, Fujio. Why does he keep asking questions like these? He knows it makes me uncomfortable.

"Yes, I guess." I snorted.

"Did I tell you about my friend Rao?" Fujio started punching the air. "He's so strong. He'll pick up ten of you."

"That's an exaggeration and it's still not a valid reason why you shouldn't be worried about Ciro and Koa."

"It's not an exaggeration!" Fujio defended. "I'll make you meet him. Then you'll see how strong he actually is."

"I'm fine. I don't want to see any more of your friends." My mind went back to those Housen students. And Sachio. "And he can't be that strong anyways."

"He's stronger than Fujio, alright?" Tsukasa butt in. "I know you can beat Fujio in arm wrestling but you can't beat Rao."

I narrowed my eyes at his words.

"I think Sachio can beat him up." Fujio started punching the air again. "You know, if he's fast enough. It would be fast versus strong."

"Rao is both fast and strong." Tsukasa argued. "Sachio stands no chance." He clicked his tongue.

I remember when I saw Sachio fight for the first time. I was jobless as usual, stalking and following him late at night and ending up in some mysterious building. Thankfully, there were many people there and nobody noticed me... Well, all their eyes were on Sachio who was punching people.

I figured it was a place where people hooked up because a drunk girl tried to stop him, pleading him to stay with her. Seeing that made my blood boil. The way she touched her... Like get in line bitch. After me. But she didn't know any better. She was drunk and she didn't see that Sachio was kicking other people's asses.

"You're right." Fujio continued throwing punches at the invisible man. "I wish I was Rao. Tall, buff and handsome."

"You're more handsome, I think." Tsukasa commented, making Fujio stop and grin.

"You think?" He asked joyously.

"All y'all do is talk about fighting and who's stronger. Get a life." I spat, making Fujio and Tsukasa glance at each other before they started cackling.

"We also talk about who's more handsome." Fujio added.

"You have a terrible taste so I don't believe you. You said Sachio was a nice person too." I hissed.

"That's because Sachi is a nice person!" He blinked. "I'll show you a picture of Rao and you'll see how handsome he is." He took out his phone and started scrolling through his gallery. He suddenly cleared his throat. "I don't have any pictures of him but he's good looking, okay?"

"That's because he is probably ugly." I smiled.

Fujio gasped dramatically. "How dare you?"

"He can't be that pretty. Sachio is prettier." I blurted out.

Fuck.

Why did I say that?

I think I still had a small crush on him. I wasn't completely over him and I hated myself for that.

What if I was still delusional? That would be horrifying. I remember when I used to think I had a chance with Sachio just because his sister, Yui started dating her stalker. The most bizarre thing about it was that the stalker was Shoji. It's like dating your brother's best friend and personally, I think that's a terrible cliche.

Fujio and Tsukasa both stopped to look at me.

"He is, isn't he?" Fujio burst out with a grin.

Tsukasa was still scrutinizing me. He has always been a competition for me. He has that ability to find out I am an obsessed stalker. I won't let him though.

"I mean yeah, according to beauty standards, he's pretty." I looked away. And he has pretty lips, I thought to myself.

"Beauty standards don't matter. I've seen people thinking their ugly partner is beautiful." Tsukasa eyed at me.

He knew something was wrong. He said 'partner' where he could've just said 'someone'.

Come on. You're a great actress. You can make Tsukasa believe you have a crush on someone else.

"I'd like to meet Rao." I straightened myself. I had to make myself seem interested in other guys.

"You need a ticket for that" Fujio smirked wickedly.