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The wind was so strong that it raised her hair high over her shoulders but the girl paid it no mind. Instead proceeding to stare at the ground below her
‘Just like the air from back home’ Osaka thought
She crouched down in front of the roof fence overlooking the entrance to her high school. It had just ended a few minutes ago as the sky was still blue and crowds of students had only begun lingering around the school gate.
Osaka stoically scanned for her target, she peered through crowds of students, all doing their own thing, before laying her eyes onto a schoolgirl around her age. Osaka didn’t know her nor was she certain that they were even the same grade. She just stared at her as she loitered by the gate with some people- friends, rivals, lovers- whoever they were didn’t matter to Osaka.
She’d watched this girl’s movement for a while now- the way she would laugh, the way she put a hand over her mouth if she were laughing too hard, the way she would playfully swat at her associates- just the overall way she would display herself so effortlessly had Osaka transfixed.
“Amazin’~!”
Osaka praised, although it would soon become faint as she laments her inability to -just like that girl- laugh without weirding her friends out, walk with grace, and be able to do all these little things with ease
To be normal.
“Osaka-san?!”
Osaka jolted, she looked to her sides before craning herself backwards. She looked at the little roof access hut that she’d went through earlier and noticed that the door was being held open by some kind of minute little creature
“Wha’ in tarnation?” Osaka muttered to herself
She had her eyes half-lidded, exerting full concentration. And just as she furrowed her brows a little more; it finally hits her
“Chiyo-chaaaaaaan!” She raised her arm up lazily
“Osaka-saaaaaaan!” The little figure quickly raises hers in reply
“Chiyo-chaaaaan!”
“Osaka-saaaaaaan!” The little figure closes the door, steadily approaching towards Osaka
“Chiyo-chaaaaan!”
“Osaka-saaaaan!”
On account of her being 6, it takes Chiyo a while to get to the other side of the roof, in fact, right in the middle of their back-&-forth Chiyo had to take a couple of breathers before she’s able to reach Osaka
“Osaka-san!! *huffs huffs*, what are you doing here?”
“I’m fixin’ to ask you the same thing, Chiyo-chan”
It’s as though a cloud had loomed over Chiyo as her eyes grew dark
“Osaka-san, y-you’re not thinking about…”
Osaka just stared at Chiyo with a blank smile, having no clue of what she’s talking about. Osaka then began to look at the roof fencing, then she returned to face Chiyo who had her tiny face cupped by her tiny hands, then turned to the roof fence, then Chiyo, then…
‘Wha’ does she think’ll do? Jump off the buildin’? Hehe….
Wait’m… “
“Oh…! naur Chiyo-chan!- I mean, bless your lil heart Chiyo-chan but I would’nt do such a thi- oh?”
Chiyo gently squeezes Osaka’s hand, so tightly that if it weren’t for her 6-year old frame and mild temperament it would almost hurt
She clings onto Osaka’s hand with all her might, however little it may be, as if Osaka will fly far far away from here if she doesn’t.
“You promise?”
Osaka gives Chiyo a truly thoughtful smile
“I promise, cher”
She places her palms over the child's
That seemed to calm Chiyo down a bit as the little girl started to weaken her grasp
“What are you doing here anyways, miss Osaka?”
Osaka sighed before leaning her back against the fencing
“Well… hmmmm. I dunno, just sorta’ hangin’ ‘round I guess”
“O-on the roof of the school?”
“Well you’re here aint’ ya?”
“Ah…” Chiyo made an expression of embarrassment-turned-humility “that’s fair”
“Speakin’ of… why are ya here Chiyo-chan?”
Chiyo began to sigh, as she moved to rest her arms over the gap of the fence just next to Osaka, it had seemed as though her disposition began to dwindle.
“Osaka-san” she began, her face overlooking the schoolgrounds “I’m not feeling very well at the moment”
“What’s wrong? you sick?” Osaka too, rested her forearms against the gaps of the fence, facing the grounds along with Chiyo
“Mmm… no, I… …” Chiyo checks her surroundings before beckoning Osaka to come closer, she does, then Chiyo starts to whisper into Osaka’s ear
“I’m being bullied”
“BULLIED!!??!”
“OSAKA-SAN PLEASE KEEP IT DOWN”
…
“Sorry ‘bout that Chiyo-chan… but bullied?! By who?”
Chiyo’s face scrunches indignantly before she sighs “...Tomo”
“TOMO?!?!!!”
“Osaka-san!”
“Oh right… sorry…”
‘I can’t believe Tomo and Chiyo-chan have so much friction in their relationship! Ev’ry time she ain’t with me, she’s with Tomo! And ev’ry time they’re together they always get up to some hijinks; like that time where Tomo hit Chiyo-chan with a volleyball, or when Tomo stuck some gum onto Chiyo-chan’s hair, or even that time where Chiyo-chan was dead asleep and Tomo put a chair in front of her and OHMAHGOODNESS BY THE HAIR OF A TENGU’S NOSE SHE DO BE BULLYING CHIYO-CHAN.’
Osaka was in disbelief that her best friend Tomo
Okay she didn’t really have a hard time processing that out of her two best friends, Tomo’s the one bullying a kid; she’s Tomo, she’s pretty much a renowned bum as is.
Osaka may be slow but it’s not like she’s wrong for more than half the time.
‘What do I even do… aw darn it all! Outta’ all the times I gotta make use of myself why on earth does it have to be about them toxic relationships? Why can’t it be about insect trivia or local riddles or the different ethnicities of that dang ol’ Austro-Hungarian empire?’
“Osaka-san? You’re zoning out…”
“?!- Oh sorry ‘bout that, I’m just thinkin’ is all”
“Have you been bullied before Osaka-san?”
Osaka pondered to herself, ‘I haven't had I?... I HAVE… well I’ll be, if I can just ‘member what had transpired to quell my troubles, I’d surely be able to help Chiyo-chan out!’
Her mind drifted back to her hometown right in the heart of Japan’s kitchen. Although she grew up all her life in Osaka, it still feels like a distant memory (although that could be attributed to her ditzy nature). Sometimes she thinks to herself that her real life started here when she met her friends.
‘Let’s see…’ she thought hard and thoroughly ‘Aha! My first day at school…’
Osaka went back to that moment, she was around 6 and this was when her family lived in Nose- one of the more rural parts of Osaka. Although it was a bit fuzzy to her, she still remembers the vibrant greeneries and simple structures of the town.
She tries to remember the scene as accurately as possible. It was breaktime and everyone was either scattered about the classroom or was out. She remembers sitting at the very center, not interacting with anybody. That was until…
She remembers it being P.E now, she was poking at a trail of ants until someone called out to her. It was one of her classmates, Osaka didn’t remember her name but she remembers her being one of the sweeter kids in her class. She looked a little nerdy with her mismatched prescription glasses and her hair all neat and maybe…
‘My first friend’ Osaka was wistful ‘Guess I did leave some things behind’
The girl smiled at Osaka and it's as though it were her entire world, Osaka starts to feel bad for forgetting such a person in her life
“Ayumu…” she spoke in that Kansai twang but still her voice was as sweet as the fruit that grew there.
Present-day Osaka starts to wonder what ever became of that girl; ‘did she get out of Osaka? Does she work as a teacher or something of the sorts? Did she perhaps get married to a handsome man? Or… a beautiful woman?’
As soon as Osaka started getting all red in the face, she started brushing her thoughts away
‘Nah… it’s too late anyhows… but anywho, thank you’
“... I dare ya’ to eat those ants”
‘Huh?!’
6 yr. Old Osaka blankly stared at the nerdy girl,
She rolled up the ants in her stick that she was using to poke at them
‘What?!’
She looked at the ants, crushed and twitching against the wood
‘What on- no, NO NO lil Osaka, DON’T!’
She slurped up those ants like a skewer that day
‘Oh man… I think I’m gonna puke, that was my friend? Heck, well who needs enemies in that case? Darn… no wonder I didn’t remember that til’ now I rightfully resent this’
As Osaka began flipping through her childhood she soon realized that not only did she in fact have ZERO friends, it seemed as though everyone was trying to torment her!
Most of the torment has to come from her ditziness, with her classmates playing jokes and tricking her while she’s none the wiser. But other times some would go as far as to chase her down the street with stones and sometimes they would even bring their dogs… and that was only the kids! Even adults would often refer to her as ‘that retarted girl from down the street’ or ‘that SPED dropout’. She can even recall her homeroom teacher smacking her with a ruler more times than usual so she can “learn quicker”
‘OHMAGAWD- No wonder I barely ‘member anything from back home! But with that being said how did I deal with all- OH DARN IT ALL TO HECK I REMEMBER; Mama moved us to the city in Osaka and when those people weren’t any much better she finally moved us here!’
…
‘SO I DIDN’T EVEN OVERCOME ANY OF THAT?!’
Osaka was now in a rough state, seeing as she had to revisit her repressed past in order to help her best friend and it didn’t even yield any solutions.
“Osaka-san?”
Osaka snapped out of her trauma cage. She blinked and took in her surroundings before she exclaimed “Why’s the sky so orange?”
She instinctively looked down to not see Chiyo there
“Over here, Osaka-san”
Osaka quickly turned back to see Chiyo sitting on the floor, back against the fencing.
“You took quite a while to get… whatever it was, in order *yawn*”
“Oh goodness- I’m truly sorry Chiyo-chan please forgive me…”
“It’s alright Osaka-san, so did you find it?”
“Er…. well’m…. Uh….”
Chiyo does her best to hold down her sigh, she didn’t seem to mean it, it’s just that all that waiting seemed to bog her down as it did Osaka who is unable to help her little friend.
Defeated, Osaka makes her way towards Chiyo then sits right next to her
“I’m sorry I couldn’t help ya’ Chiyo-chan, it’s just that- y’know? For a gal like me I have to be extra careful what to say otherwise I might say the wrong thing”
Chiyo looks up at Osaka “I’m sorry too Osaka, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad, you’re a really good person, thank you for trying”
“So are you Chiyo-chan!”
The two let out little, comforting giggles and it is at that moment after that Chiyo had noticed something
“Hey… speaking of which, how did someone like you get mixed up with a meanie like Tomo anyways? You’d think she’d pick on you aswell”
“Oh… well, I suppose I never quite thought of it like that…”
“So she never picks on you?”
“Well… not never- heck the whole reason why ev’rybody calls me Osaka was cuz she’s the one who done called me that in the first place!”
“So… why do you hang out with her?”
Osaka raises her head to gaze at the sky, the clouds are barely moving like someone had stopped time
“Hmh”
“Hmh?”
“Guess I feel bad for her”
“Feel bad?”
“Yep. I mean, you weren’t there of course cuz if you were, then Tomo would’ve went ham on you. But there was this time during lunch when all of us knuckleheads were eating but Tomo didn’t have anything to eat so we shared meals- it was like a picnic! I’ll tell you that much”
“Tomo wasn’t eating? So… she forgot her lunch money?”
“Hmmm… maybe… if that were the case then she forgets it often- I barely see the poor girl eat. Course, me and Kagura-san would be more than happy to share but she always gets really prideful and refuses”
“Huh.”
“Mhm! Speaking of pride, " Osaka proceeds to check for any potential onlookers before shifting herself closer to Chiyo, she whispers “she cries sometimes…”
“WHAT?!”
“Oww… Chiyo-chan, that was in muh ear….”
“Oh-! I’m so Sorry Osaka-san”
“Ain’t no thing, cher. Anyhoo- since only us Knuckleheads had to take summer classes, it allowed us to have a greater feel for one’nother, y’know?.... And boy did she cry, we were at a sleepover at my house… mama gave us all biscuits and milk so we were tuckered out. I ain’t easy to wake me and Kagura-san but there she was, cradling against muh arm like a baby”
At this point, Osaka had looked away
“I dunno’ nothin’ from anythin’ but even I could tell she was in a bad way… I know she ain’t done right by you but I hope you can forgi- oh?”
‘Damn Chiyo-chan, that was the 3rd time today…’
Osaka was cut off yet again when Chiyo was quick to embrace the yokel; by the arm- much like her fellow knucklehead did. The child didn’t really say or even make much noise so Osaka was at a loss at how to respond to the situation, it was much like the situation earlier with Chiyo
“I… I didn’t say anythin’ wrong again did I? If so, then I’m sorry Chiyo-chan”
“No Osaka…” Chiyo smiles up at her friend “you said all the right things, thank you”
Osaka was quick to return both the smile and the embrace now knowing that she’d helped Chiyo.
“I’m going to give Tomo a super duper big hug like this tomorrow!”
“Hehehe I’ll be there, y’know? Just in case…”
And just like that, the day ended off on a good note, the two best friends were giggling now that all their troubles have been quelled
They felt some pressure wrap around their bodies which caused some confusion, when they looked to check
“KAGURA-SAN?!”
“Oh hi Kagura”
Kagura sniffled before hugging the two tightly. “That’s just… so touching, man…”