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Teruhashi Kokomi’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day started not with a bang, but a whisper.
“Score!”
Kokomi frowned, her brain still waking up. Who was in her room? It took a few precious seconds to recognize the voice. Makoto . Her stomach dropped.
She opened her eyes slowly, not making a sound. It was better to pretend to be asleep then deal with her brother’s nonsense this early in the morning. The room was still dark, but the kind of dark that meant that the sun was going to rise soon. Kokomi could make out her brother’s outline. He appeared to be hunched over…
No.
“WHAT THE HELL, MAKOTO?”
“Ah, my sweet Kokomi! What a lovely morning we are having.”
“Makoto. It’s—” she checked the alarm clock on her desk “—5 am in the morning. Why the hell are you in my room?” It was way too early for this. How was she supposed to be the perfect, pretty girl if she can’t even have a perfect, pretty morning?
“Well you see, dearest sister of mine, I was...concerned? Yes, concerned that there was some suspicious activity in your room. As your amazing older brother I took it upon myself—”
“Why. Were. You. Searching. Through. My. Laundry. Basket?”
“Well, you see—”
“Out.”
“But my sweet, little Kokomi—”
“If you don’t leave right this second I will never speak to you again. Out .”
She glared at her brother until he left the room, crying about how his “sweet Little Kokomi was so mean today”. Her perfect morning was ruined. She was awake an hour before her alarm was supposed to go off, she had to deal with Makoto at 5 am, and her brother decided that today was the day to escalate his perviness.
Kokomi wasn’t the perfect, pretty girl for nothing, however. The public loved her, God loved her, hell, the universe loved her. Today was going to be another perfect day for her. She would force it to be.
Okay, Kokomi thought to herself, It seems that I need to work harder to make today perfect. After she kicked Makoto out of her room, she tried to go back to sleep. Unfortunately, every single time she closed her eyes all she could see was her brother shifting through her clothes, doing God knows what...Whenever she managed to relax, her mind would flood with what-ifs. What if this wasn’t the first time Makoto snuck into her room? What if she hadn’t noticed? What if she hadn’t convinced Makoto to leave?
Since sleep refused to come, she decided to get ready for the day. Kokomi did her hair, donned her uniform, and made sure that she had everything to have a perfectly productive day.
Then she realized that her brother was pacing outside her door.
Thanks to years evading the paparazzi that were determined to know everything about her (and could she really blame them for wanting to be close to perfection?), it was laughably easy to parkour down the side of her balcony onto the soft grass below. She walked quietly and slipped past the gates of her house, effectively leaving her brother behind. Of course, this plan came with a few downsides. Mainly that school wouldn’t be open for another hour and she skipped breakfast.
Nothing that a quick trip to a local cafe wouldn’t fix. Except that quick trip ended up taking forever due to the sheer amount of people who followed her. She knew that the populace of Japan depended on her to brighten their day, but it was 6 am on a school day. No, she didn’t need help carrying her bag. No, she couldn’t skip school to go on a date with you. And she most definitely didn’t want a sip of your coffee, thanks. Still, she kept up her smile and made polite conversation. Regardless of the hour, the perfect pretty girl had to be kind to her fans; after all, where would she be without them?
She walked through the front gates of PK Academy five minutes before the bell rang. This gave her just enough time to greet her fellow students, put on her school shoes, and touch base with Yumehara. Normally, she’d be in the classroom fifteen minutes early in order to interact with her classmates. Everyone deserved to start the morning with a bright smile from their resident pretty girl. Today, however, it was all she could do to keep the smile on her face.
Don’t dwell on what happened this morning, Kokomi . Just think about how much happier you are making everyone with your presence!
“Good morning, Teruhashi!”
“Good morning, Yumehara. I like what you did with your hair today.” Kokomi pointed out, politely.
Her friendship with Yumehara was a breath of fresh air. The girl was cute, honest, and wasn’t afraid to speak her mind.
“Are you doing okay, Teruhashi? You look a bit...frazzled.” Yumehara looked at her with concern.
“Frazzled? Me?” Kokomi laughed. It sounded awkward to her ears. Damn it, she’d practice her awkward laugh in the mirror too many times for it to sound this bad.
“Huh, even the perfect pretty girl has her days,” Yumehara said, slyly.
She took that back. Her friendship with Yumehara was like choking on smoke.
“What do you mean by that?” The words were sharp, too sharp. What was wrong with her today?
“Nothing, nothing.” Yumehara held her hands up placatingly as they approached the door of their classroom. “You’re right. A perfect girl such as yourself would never have a bad morning. That’s only reserved for us mortals.”
Yumehara’s tone was joking, but Kokomi sensed a kind of...bitterness lying underneath it. Her stomach dropped. Where had that come from? What had she done wrong?
“No, I didn’t—”
“Oh look, the bell is about to ring,” Yumehara’s tone was flat, dismissive, “We should probably get going. You wouldn’t want to ruin your perfection by being late, right?”
Kokomi gaped as Yumehara walked in, without her. She scrambled to keep up, legs unsteady. The world had tilted on its axis, leaving her unbalanced and out-of-touch. Why was Yumehara so mad? It wasn’t Kokomi’s fault that she had to be perfect. It was her duty as a perfect pretty girl to make the people around her smile, to give the denizens of PK Academy hope on a slow morning. She slid into her seat, giving out half-greetings that hid her true thoughts.
Is your ‘perfection’ really helping those around you if your best friend hates you?
No, that wasn’t true. Yumehara didn’t hate her. She was just mad, that’s all. Kokomi would just have to be extra-perfect to make it up to her.
Wasn’t it your obsession with perfection that made her mad?
She tuned the homeroom teacher out as she mulled it over. She wasn’t obsessed with perfection. That was like saying that someone with blue eyes was obsessed with blue eyes. They couldn’t be obsessed with something they just were . But...she did put a lot of time into being the perfect pretty girl. Was she actually perfect if it took so much effort?
This line of thinking was useless. It didn’t matter why Yumehara got mad—she still said something mean. She shouldn’t have said that.
You shouldn’t have gotten so defensive about it either .
Why did she react that way? All Yumehara did was...imply that she wasn’t perfect. That something wasn’t going well for her. If Kokomi was perfect, then why did that hurt?
The rest of the school day seemed to drag on as she kept repeating that question to herself. By the time lunch came around, she wasn’t any closer to getting an answer.
She squared her shoulders and prepared for the crowd. Just because she was questioning her position as a perfect pretty girl didn’t mean that she couldn’t put on a show for her fans.
The hair on the back of her neck prickled. Reflexively, she turned around. The only person who could have possibly been staring at her was Saiki, but he was still packing up his things. Maybe Saiki had been staring at her the whole time, but was too embarrassed to be caught in the act. Poor Saiki, she should sit by him during lunch to make him feel better.
“Oh, wow!”
“Teruhashi-san…”
“Did you see that? She smiled at me?”
A cacophony of noise greeted her as she walked out. She smiled, but it felt crooked. Off. Ever since she was a child she was in the spotlight. It was a simple fact of life: the Earth was round, the Sun set in the east, and Kokomi Teruhashi caught the eyes of anyone she walked by. Never in her life had the attention felt so suffocating . There were so many people staring at her. Did they know that her smile felt fake? That she felt like a fraud?
Did they care?
Next thing she knew, she was in the cafeteria, more oh wow! ’s trailing behind her. Her eyes scanned the tables, looking for her friends. The place was lively, full of chattering teenagers. Were they talking about her? Gossiping about her?
“I’m sorry about this morning. That was a total bi-jerk move.” Yumehara whispered in her ear.
Kokomi jumped.
“Ah, sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“Don’t worry about it. I was just...thinking. About what you said.”
“What I said was mean. It wasn’t fair of me to take out my own insecurities on you.”
She knew that Yumehara was insecure about a few things. Her looks, her weight, her crush. That admission still made a pit in her stomach form.
“Yumehara, please be truthful. Do I make you insecure?”
Why did she ask that?
Yumehara blinked. “Of course. You’re our resident Perfect Pretty Girl, the Great Teruhashi Kokomi. Who wouldn’t be insecure next to you?
Kokomi felt like crying. It was only natural, but the thought made her more uneasy. Was her perfection hurting her friends? Did she even have any friends if they didn’t feel comfortable around her?
“Then—”
“But that’s beside the point. Sure you might be pretty enough to make me feel like a lump potato in comparison, but that’s not why we’re friends. I’m friends with Teruhashi Kokomi, the girl who can’t talk to Saiki without dying. Not Perfect Pretty Girl.”
What?
Her shock must have shown on her face since Yumehara started laughing.
“Oh God, do you think I’m actually that shallow?”
“What? No, Yumehara you’re amazing. It’s just...aren’t Teruhashi Kokomi and Perfect Pretty Girl the same thing?”
Yumehara started laughing harder. What was going on?
“Pfft, of course not, silly. Here, I’ll show you.”
Yumehara grabbed her hand and dragged her over to a table. A table full of their closest friends—Kaidou, Kuboyasu, Nendou, and Saiki.
No! She couldn’t face them when she was like this! What were they going to think? Oh god, what would Saiki say —
“Hey, guys! Are you friends with Teruhashi or Perfect Pretty Girl?”
The table blinked back at them, frozen.
“I don’t know who Perfect Pretty Girl is, so Teruhashi,” Kuboyasu said, slowly.
“Perfect Pretty Girl sounds like the perfect cover for a Dark Reunion agent. Thank the forces that be Teruhashi is safe here with us.”
“Teruhashi is my buddy!”
“I’m acquaintances with Teruhashi, yes.”
“See! I told you. We all love Teruhashi Kokomi. Perfect Pretty Girl can suck it.”
Kokomi felt like crying again, but this time for an entirely different reason. Her friends...her friends cared . They cared so much and what did she do to deserve them?
“It’s Teruhashi appreciation hours—”
“—Isn’t that every day—”
“Shut up, Kaidou, I’m making a point here. Name your favorite thing about Teruhashi, go!”
“Yumehara, that really isn’t—”
“She is quite intelligent,” Saiki said without looking at her.
She felt dizzy. Saiki...thought that?
“She gives great advice,” Yumehara winked at her.
Kokomi felt her face burn. “Guys, you don’t actually—”
“She’s chill,” Aren shrugged, “and pretty badass.”
“Teruhashi has an impressive amount of charisma, making her a perfect target for Dark Reunion.”
“My buddy likes to eat ramen!”
“That’s not…” Yumehara started but ultimately gave up. “Anywho—oh no, I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
Kokomi couldn’t stop it. “I love you guys so much.”
“Awww, we love you too, Teruhashi.”
Teruhashi Kokomi’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day may have started with a whisper, but it ended with love .