Wingman ⌠Cell Phone Novel⌡

reason

⌠ 1 ⌡

 Takeshi doesn't talk to me anymore.

I... think you're the only one who

he would listen to anyways.

Do me a favor...?

I would've done it anyways.

I run up the stairs,

squeaking from the moisture

trapped inside the school.

Lunch break is almost over,

I need to hurry.

Wait for me.

I'll help you.

⌠ 2 ⌡

I burst through the door to the roof,

breathing hard.

Looking around,

I don't see the traces of smoke

made by his sizzling cigarette.

Instead, he's on the ground

surrounded by three people.

Three seniors.

"You just can't pull that shit

on my girl and expect to get away with it," one of them say.

"She made the first move on me,"

Takeshi says weakly.

"Shut the fuck up! Isn't killing one girl

enough for your sick ass?"

They begin to move in on him.

"Stop!"

I hear myself shout.

My legs move.

I tackle 

the first guy.

"Keichi?!"

"Get off me!"

I'm pushed off,

I can already feel a bruise on my right arm.

A flurry of kicks into my side,

I can't breathe,

I feel myself get pulled from the ground,

and slammed down again

and again.

Pain spreads across my body.

Something warm,

sticky,

blood?

It hurts.

"Underclassmen don't

fucking respect us anymore!

Don't mess with us again Takeshi.

Tell that to your friend too."

I hear the door slam shut.

Then silence.

Except for the small

drops of rain

hitting the floor.

⌠ 3 ⌡

"Why?" he says.

Already, the familiar scent of

tobacco in the air.

"No, I know why."

The smell drifts closer,

and he helps me sit.

"You look like a mess," he says, chuckling.

"You do too."

His lip, busted.

Red around his eye,

sure to blacken later.

A defeated smile on his face.

Not at all like the confident

Takeshi I knew before.

"Ai asked you to do this,

didn't she?"

"I would've come for you anyway."

He laughs.

"You're strange.

Don't you hate me?"

"Yeah."

"Then why... help me?"

⌠ 4 ⌡ 

"Reason..."

"What?"

"Do I need a reason?"

He throws his cigarette on the ground.

"You're a strange guy, Keichi."

"Yeah."

"So what now?"

"We're already late for class."

"Just skip it. No big deal.

But that isn't what I meant."

I look at him.

He smiles.

"You like her."

"Who?"

"Who else!"

Ai.

"...yeah. I do.

But she still likes you."

Takeshi chuckles.

"Sure she does.

All she talked to me about

was you.

Asking about our double dates.

What kind of girls you liked.

Always."

Then why?

What was her reason

for telling me

I was just her Wingman?