My Friend the Harem Protagonist

Chapter 25: School the next Monday

Gingerly, I eased myself into my seat. I hadn't felt that bad since my family's disastrous skiing trip. Nothing was broken, but I'd have bruises for at least a week. The worst part was having to hide it from my family. There was no way they'd understand why Karin, the school's judo champ who I'd never brought up before, would throw me into a tree.

Shin walked in just as I got in the least painful position I could find. He seemed just as out of it. On the way to his seat he bumped into someone's desk. Once he sat down I noticed that the bags under his eyes.

"You okay dude?" I managed to choke out. Hopefully it sounded somewhat natural.

"Huh? Oh, Haru. I didn't see you there." I guess it didn't matter if it sounded natural.

"Why are you talking like that?"

He took a deep breath and looked out the window. "I had a strange weekend."

So did I. "How did things go with Aya?"

He looked at me. I'd never been to war, but I'd heard about young men coming back. I saw the trenches of no man's land in Shin's eyes. "Kind of weird. Things were pretty normal up until we got to her house. I set up a movie and she went outside to put food in her cat's bowl. When she came back she started acting really aggressive."

Oh, this should be good. "What did she do?"

"She uh...," he glanced around the classroom, but no one was paying any attention to us. "She took my innocence."

I nodded. If I could lift my arm without crying I'd pat him on the back. "I'm proud of you Shin. It's been a rough journey."

He looked at me, eyes full of surprise and a bit of hurt. "You knew?"

"I had a hunch."

"Why didn't you tell me she was planning to... you know?"

"Because I didn't want you to freak out. Look on the bright side, now you never have to worry about losing it again." He still looked a little hurt. "Was it nice?"

"It was pretty good, except she kept saying some weird stuff about winning?" We stared at each other or a second. I could explain it, but nothing I could say would be nice to Aya. Besides, I heard how hard she could punch. Finally, Shin just asked how my weekend was.

"I actually spent the weekend at Juri's house."

"Oh? Did anything happen?" He raised his eyebrows without a hint of subtlety.

"No, I couldn't really move."

Shin brows slowly knit together. "Why couldn't you-?"

Just then our homeroom teacher strode into the classroom and pointed at me.

"Haru, are you busy right now?"

I glanced at Shin, who shrugged helpfully. "Uh, no. Mr. Honda."

He placed a large box of jerseys on my desk. "Could you take these down to the gym?"

Oh, I really hoped Mr. Honda ended up totaled. "Sure, just give me a second."

After he left I slowly pulled myself out of my desk. Everything ached as I lifted the box, but I had appearances to keep up. I only had three floors to get down.

By the time I reached the gym break was nearly over. I dropped the jerseys next to the office and turned to head back to class. I would have made it if not for a strange noise coming from the practice room.

As I got closer I noticed flickering orange light from behind the door. Someone had lit candles for some reason. I eased the door open and stared into the gloom.

Masaki sat cross legged on the ground. She'd surrounded herself with half a dozen tall candles. The room had an eerie seance feeling. Her hair was pooled around her like oil. In front of her was her katana which she must have gotten out of the swing set. In one smooth motion she picked up the blade and placed it level with her stomach.

I'd seen movies, I knew what was about to happen. I shouted, "Stop!" and hobbled toward Masaki as fast as I could. My legs hurt, but I managed to get my foot high enough to pin Masaki's blade on the ground.

"What are you doing?" I hissed.

She slowly looked up toward my face, and let go of her sword. Her eyes were missing their usual ferocity, and now there was just the lifeless glaze that's usually reserved for dead fish or people in the service industry.

"Oh, hello Haru. I was just leaving."

Masaki was insane, and had threatened me numerous times. Plus she'd tried to kill Juri. Maybe the world could use one less of her. But I didn't want the baggage of letting her do it in front of me. I couldn't stomach it.

"So I guess you heard about Shin?" I remember a movie where this happened, and they said to just keep the person talking. Beyond that I wasn't sure what to do.

"Yes, your girlfriend is quite the fighter. I was the only one who wasn't there when Aya showed her true colors."

"Yeah I was pretty surprised too. I was unconscious at the time, but Juri told me later."

"So I've lost purpose. I'll remove myself and all of this will cease to matter." She pulled a second sword out from behind her. It was the bottom half of a saber.

Shit, think. "You know Karin nearly turned me into a pretzel. If you go now you'll never find out which one of you is stronger."

"No need. I'm positive I could destroy you too if I tried."

Oh God, what else was there for her? What else could make her stay? "You'll never fence again! You'll never get to throw knives around! You'll never find a decent hairdresser! Miyu will never see you take the state champs! Miyu would be sad!"

Masaki paused. I must have touched a nerve somewhere. "You're right. If I was gone Miyu would have to deal with all of you by herself."

Masaki let go of the blade. "You know, you aren't a bad guy. You're my enemy, but I don't really hate you."

What do you even say to that? "Thanks Masaki. Now go to class, or the nurses office and lie down. At least get out of this room." She just nodded.

Masaki seemed to be alright so I turned and left. The last thing I saw was Masaki putting her candles away in the equipment closet.

I shuffled back up to the classroom, feeling awful. That was a lot to unpack, but it could wait until my muscles weren't burning. I only had a few more minutes of break, and hopefully I could just sit still for the rest of the day. Shin was waiting for me when I got there.

"Oh, I meant to ask. Are you free tomorrow night?" Shin said.

No chance in hell. "Why, what's going on?"

"Aya is having a boxing match and I wanted to go support her. She's been doing really well this season."

That's it. That's the piece Juri and I had been missing. How had it never come up once? "Yeah I can come. Can I bring Juri?"

"Of course man." Shin smiled. I smiled too despite the pain. Now I understood how she'd won.

With one hand I began typing a hasty message to Juri.

Aya does boxing, Shin just told me, she has an event tomorrow night, come with me so we can scope her out

After hitting send I realized there was one thing I forgot. I'm sure if I was feeling 100% I wouldn't have sent it, but today I was too tired to care.

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