Tomoko: Unauthorized Adaptation of the Manga WataMote

Since I'm Not Popular, I'll Have a Conversation

Mid-terms are coming up, Tomoko reminded herself. She heard the other students laugh about how little they had studied, how they weren't nearly ready for the tests. An opening!

That's when it will all turn around for me. I'll do so well on the tests, that they'll all start coming to me for help. They'll realize that I'm like a big sister. They'll ask me to teach them the things they don't understand, and I'll reassure them that it's all very simple, in the end. And I'll get the respect I deserve.

She smiled and sighed. Sure, I'll be their big sister. They need me, after all.

"—going there tonight to study."

"Sounds good! We'll come along."

"I said we're going there to study!"

Fuck them, Tomoko snarled. Giggling bitches and airhead bozos.

She looked out the window, and fantasized about the school being taken over by terrorists. It's only a little dream, she said to herself, but if terrorists or aliens would show up just once and wipe out all the idiots...it doesn't have to be a long, drawn-out ordeal, just douse them all with sulfuric acid and be done with it.

The bell rang, and she packed her books in her bag. As usual, she was the last one out of the classroom. Most everyone else had clubs to attend, or friends to date. She would just go home, and be alone.

"Ah, Kuroki — be careful on your way home."

What? Tomoko was passing the gate, and didn't notice that her homeroom teacher was still there, seeing students off.

"Hm?" He was a little puzzled at the girl staring at him, like a deer caught in headlights.

"Buh-buh-buh-buh," she stammered. "Buh-buh-buh—"

She abruptly bowed and ran.

One word! I go for months without talking to anybody, and then when the time comes, I can't spit out one simple goodbye! How stupid am I?

She had no trouble talking to her family. But even a psycopathic recluse with gore in his teeth can talk to his own mother, right?

Still, maybe that's the way to go. I need to learn how to talk to people. Mom won't do, though. I need somebody closer to my age. And it has to be a boy. And I do have a boy about my age available for just such an exercise, after all.

Unannounced and unexpected, she pushed open her brother's bedroom door.

"Little brother," she announced cheerily. "Let's talk."

"Get out," he told her, annoyed at the interruption. "Why are you making yourself comfortable? I told you to get out."

Tomoko had simply flounced in and sat on the floor next to his bed, where he was reading a sports manga.

"There's no problem, is there? I'm your sister, after all."

"You're the problem. Get out."

Tomoko was a little taken aback. She and her little brother Tomoki weren't as close as they used to be when they were little, but this was cold. She tried to think of a way to thaw the ice that had built up between them. She noticed the game console under his television screen. "Hey, uh, you want to play a game, like we used to?"

"No. Get out."

She swallowed, a little. "Um, how was practice? Didn't you play soccer, today?"

"We had the day off for tests. Get out."