Ironies of life

CHAPTER 4: My painful shade

Naoki left his history class to find Loin and Gala waiting near the door for him, ready to go to lunch together. They went across the hallway, talking and complaining about their teachers. The jacket jutting out of Loin´s backpack came loose and fell to the ground on the way, going unnoticed by them for a few seconds before Loin noticed and spun around to go find it, shuffling his crutches to move forward when Naoki stopped him with an easy smile.

“Don’t worry, I’ll go get it. You go on ahead.”

Gala nodded and took a step in their original direction to the cafeteria.

“We’ll pick a table before they run out and wait for you there.”

Loin nodded and the two went on while Naoki took off to get the jacket, which he could see on the floor a short ways down the hall. As he got closer, an arm shot out from a classroom door next to the fallen jacket and scooped it up. It disappeared through the doorway and Naoki sped up, his heavy steps making his hair bounce against his face annoyingly.

Naoki immediately started talking as he reached the doorway.

“Excuse me, sir, that jacket belongs to…” Naoki froze as he stared at Dante, the missing garment held in his hand, “...my friend.” Naoki finished his sentence without worry, it almost seemed like he found it funny, as if he were referring to Dante as his friend. Oh, the irony.

“I know.” Dante replied.

“Sorry, my bad. I forgot I was talking with the new Einstein, brought from his tomb to enlighten this century.”

“I meant that I pulled his jacket to make it fall out on purpose.” Dante clarified calmly.

And that drained Naoki much more. ‘How can he say it so calmly? Is he looking for a fight? That’s what he’s aiming for, right? A physical confrontation?’

“And do you feel better after messing with an injured boy? Who’s next? A little first grade girl?” Dante’s expression remained the same, not offended at all by Naoki’s words.

“I grabbed his jacket because you weren’t wearing one,” Dante explained. “So it’s your fault.” And there he was, the manipulative snake poking his head out of his burrow.

“There are almost 3,000 students in this school, so give me the jacket and go find another one to bother”

Dante stepped toward Naoki, who instinctively stepped away from Dante’s direction. Naoki thought he was going to be punched, but Dante simply shut the door beside Naoki, setting the jacket on the doorknob before leaning on the door casually.

“No,” Dante smiled for the first time in the conversation. “I want you to be that one.”

Naoki considered himself calm and patient, but in that moment he was feeling unbelievably hostile. He couldn’t hold his tongue any longer.

“Why?! Why do you hate me so much?! What do you want from me?!”

“Hate you? I don’t hate you.”

“So why are you chasing me then? Why don’t you just leave me alone once and for all? Are you enjoying this?”

Despite Naoki’s accusations, Dante’s expression was not that of someone who was enjoying the moment. He looked bored, tired of talking to Naoki.

“Stop yelling.”

“I’m going to yell as much as I want! Now give me that jacket and answer!” Naoki stretched his arm out, hand open to grab the jacket, but in the blink of an eye his nemesis grabbed his wrist, twisting it tightly behind his back, and pushed him up against the door, pinning him there with his face smushed annoyingly.

“Calm down for a while.” Dante demanded, his voice harsher than before.

Dante’s squeezed Naoki’s wrist tightly for a moment, gaining an unintentional groan of pain from Naoki in reply. ‘Does he know also martial arts?! I’m gonna kill him!’

Despite Naoki’s bold thoughts, another spike of pain from his arm told him otherwise.

“W-what do you want from me?”

“The prom. You are going to go.” Dante murmured quietly into his ear.

Naoki tensed his jaw, clenching his teeth.

“No.” Naoki growled.

‘Why is he saying that? He knows there isn’t a girl I can invite, he made sure of that.’

“It wasn’t a request. You’re going to invite Gala and you’re going to go with her to prom.”

“Enough!” Naoki stomped hard on Dante’s foot, pivoting around and punching him in the chest to make him step away. “Do you never get tired of torturing me? What do you want? Do you want me to look foolish when she says no? Is that what you’re trying to do? Do you want to see my miserable face after being rejected?”

“I’m giving you an opportunity. If you don’t ask her before this Friday, then I’ll do it. And I’ll go with her on Saturday to prom. I assure you that after that, she will never be the girl you knew. Do you want me to ruin her life? You have five days to make a decision, Naoki.”