A New Game (EDITING)

Chapter 21

V and Akane stood up from the booth.

"You may want to have a seat, Neku Sakuraba." Akane said to me in her monotone voice. I did as she said.

"What's going on?" I whispered Shiki, who was next to me.

"Beats me, V just came in here and only talked to Akane while Josh was getting you." she whispered back

"V has something important to tell you all." Akane said flatly before looking at V.

"Yeah...So, um...I..." V stumbled with her words before Akane reassuringly squeezed her bandaged hand and whispering what sounded like 'It's okay, you can do it' into her ear.

"Truth is...Everyone, I haven't been perfectly honest with you all...and I'm sorry for putting you all in danger because of that... I should have just told you all the truth...and the truth is that; the rumor about me is true. I'm...I'm actually a girl." V's words echoed through the quiet cafe as bugs chipped and hummed outside.

"I know that may be a surprise to most of you, but...that's not the only thing." She continued.

"I recently realized I have a mutation. You've all probably heard of it, Prodigiosus. But it's because of my Prodigiosus that I wear this mask. It terrifies me to take off the mask, it terrifies me to show people the real me...But, I've decided that if we're going to make it out of this game alive, I can't keep up this. I need to face my fears, I need to open up, and I feel like you all have the right to know...so...that why I'm going to show you all the real me..." V said, pulling her hood back and reaching to the back of her head with one hand on the mask. I could see her hesitating, her shaky hand clutching at the mask while the other one fumbled with the clip in the back. Finally, the mask clicked before the wings fell to the sides and the mask fell into her hand. She lowered her hand slowly to reveal her face. Her mismatched eyes looked down as she bit her lip.

"I...I understand if you all think it's weird..."

Silence. I could feel the air becoming tenser.

"Wait, what? You're actually a chick!? I thought Bates' was just pullin' our leg!" Beat blurted out.

"Guess not." Rhyme giggled.

"Uh, Well...I'm not really good with these kinds of things. But, for what it's worth, V, I'm just glad that you're getting out of comfort zone." Mr.H spoke up

"I agree, and I don't think any of us blame for last night. I think we 're more worried about you than anything else." Shiki reassured

"You...You were worried about me?" V asked doubtfully.

"Yeah, why wouldn't we? You're our friend." I responded

She looked up with a glimmer in her eyes, a new found hope. She met the word with wide eyes and faded breath as she clutched at her heart through the hoodie. The word was clearly foreign to her, her ears new to the sound of a new identity.

"Fr-iend...?" The word came out of her mouth strangely. Like trying speaking in a language you only started learning.

"I'm your friend?"

"Of course you are, I don't see why you wouldn't be."

"Wow..." V rubbed her eye. "I...Thank you..."

After we wrapped up our debrief of the confession, everyone started to head home. I started to gather up my things before hearing a small voice behind me.

"Neku?"

I turned around to see V.

"I...I just wanted to say thank you."

"Oh, No problem." I responded.

"No one's ever called me their 'friend'."

"Really? What about Akane?"

"I don't think she knows what a friend is." V lightly laughed.

"Well, fair point." I laughed with her.

We exchanged a few moments of silence.

"But, seriously...Thank you..."

"Don't mention it." I smiled gently at her, she smiled softly back.

Seeing a smile on her face was strange, I don't think I've ever seen it before, but it gave me a sense of deja vu for some reason. A distant memory that I never had.

"See you tomorrow, Neku" V said before smiling and walking away towards Akane.