Kimchi never really fit in. She always felt a bit separate from her classmates at school and her family members at home. Then she met Soro and Hana and suddenly her world was complete. Or was it?
Now that she had found her best friends, she started...
"Meet us on Friday by Oshisaka's shop. We can give you a proper orientation and get you certified as a Gifted," Soro said.
I nodded and left the gym. I walked home and was greeted by Jun Ho.
"Annyeong!" he shouted from his room on the top floor. His window was open.
I waved and proceeded on inside. When I got inside the rotten smell of foot odor filled my senses causing me to cover my nose.
"Jun Ho why does it smell like your socks?" I shouted.
"Gee, sorry lil' sis," he said sarcastically as he came down the stairs.
He picked his gym socks off of the counter and threw them in his laundry hamper.
"That doesn't get rid of the smell," I whined. He rolled his eyes and put them all the way in the laundry room. I gave him a thumbs up and went up to my room.
I passed a girl coming out of his room in his shirt and boxers. Once she was out of sight I made the gagging expression. When I got in my room I began playing Candy Crush™ until it was time for bed.
The next few days flew by and when Friday finally came I could hardly wait for school to end. I made up the excuse for Mom that I was going to go shopping with H and Soro.
And I was I guess I was going to get some Gifted gear and talk with the elders.
When I was crossing the street to Oshisaka's manga shop I could see H and Soro. They both had changed into some regular clothes.
Soro had a Rilakkuma shirt:
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
And a black miniskirt that came up to her mid thigh. A small satchel was slung from her shoulder.
H just had a regular red hoodie and some basketball shorts on. He had a black and white checkered snapback hat.
"Yo!" H said walking up to me. We began walking past the shop and into an alleyway. We stopped half way through and H looked at me seriously.
"So there was a part of this we didn't tell you about."
"What is it?"
Soro pulled out 3 syringes from her bag and handed one to me.
Each syringe was filled with a clear liquid.
"These are special drugs that will help you see the real world," H explained.
He handed me one and I hesitantly put it in my skin softly, pressing it so that the fluids would flow into my blood stream.
I pulled out the needle and began feeling lightheaded. I held onto the wall to brace myself but I ended up having to hold onto H as well.
I felt too sick to realize I had pulled H really close. Once I had recovered I looked back at him and became extremely embarrassed.
"Sorry," I said my cheeks feeling as hot as the sun. H just smiled and let go of me. My heart fluttered for a second when he smiled.
"All better?" Soro asked. I nodded and we proceeded down the alley.
It slowly got darker until we reached a school bus. It had barbed wire running across every window like a fence. The bus itself looked so beat up and gross I was a bit scared to go into it.
The doors opened and a gigantic man came out of the bus.
"What is the special word?"
"Hikikomori."
The guy began to grin and I caught a whiff of his rancid breath. He moved aside and gestured for us to go inside. Inside the bus was a young man and a homely looking woman. She began speaking what I thought was English but I didn't know for sure. The young man translated:
"Hello, my name is Priscilla Longhaven. I am from America. I have been in contact with the rest of the Elders for quite some time and I was the only one free at the time." The young man spoke fluently while she stuttered over her words even in English.
"I am here to meet you and make sure you are fit for this occupation and to give you this little starting journal. Usually newly recruited youngsters like yourself have some trouble with handling all that they've seen and this is a place to right all of that down." She handed the young man the journal and he passed it to me.
"A-Arigatōgozaimashita," I thanked her quickly and took the journal.
"Oh, um your wel-" she was about to say in Japanese, when a loud siren began ringing from her phone that was in her pocket. Her face nearly turned white and she began speaking really quickly to the young man in English. Before he could translate it the big man came in.
