Tale of the Antonym of Friendship

V#1 Chapter 1-Building of the Battlefield(Part 3)(+extra)

"The bonsai plants are fun to watch, you know."

"Are you an old lady?"

"Wanna get your ass whooped?" Seriously, these high schoolers have no mercy, right? I am just a young and beautiful, and charming and talented, and kind and careful, 24-year old maiden. How dare a little brat like you call me old. Kids seriously cannot understand adult charm.

"Kyaa! Perv...."

"Shut up. What do you want?"

"There is a phone call. Some person named Kadenokoji Tatsuya-san called and wants to talk to you."

"Whoa, really???!!!!"

Kyaa! What a surprise! Tatsuya, after so long! Seriously, this guy.....just because you got married does not mean that you forget about your middle-school friends. Did we not attend the same middle school in Okinawa? And I heard that he married the person he dated in high school! So dreamy situations like that happen in reality? And you did not even introduce me to your wife. So irresponsible. I am gonna complain today.

As I move through the long corridor to pick up the phone without disturbing the kids, who are still in dreamlands, today being a Sunday after all, I can only think of my long lost friend, whom I have not talked in ages.

Now that I think about it, Tatsuya was a rather intriguing kid back then. He was always silent, never the type to initiate conversation. Such people, unfortunately, end up being usually ostracized. But Tatsuya was a different case. Everyone was always eager to hold a conversation with him. The biggest reason was his way of talking. Seriously, I doubt that any middle school kid can talk such heavy words as him. It was almost scary in certain situations. I still remember the day when a stray cat entered the cage and killed our school rabbit. Every student was gathered around the rabbit's corpse, some even crying at its condition. Apparently, the student in-charge of the cage that day had left the cage door open. The in-charge that day was Tatsuya. When everyone, filled with rage and contempt, surrounded Tatsuya and asked him the reason, they were frozen on hearing his out of the ordinary justification. He said, "You all used to feed that rabbit, right? Everyday, every single day, without skips. Well, the cat also has the right to be fed."

"Hello-Hello?"

"Shiori!! Wassup? How have you been??"

"Tatsuya, why, aren't you an irresponsible one? Seriously, you did not even give me a single call since mom passed away. How cruel!!! And here I thought we were buds!"

"For that I apologize. Honestly telling, I have not been able to cope up with my life itself. All I do is work, eat and sleep. And then repeat. It is Hell, you know, Hell! Also, what is up with Shishio? How come he did not recognize me? Seriously, he was like-'Who the heck are you?' when I called."

"What do you expect? He was really tense during mom's funeral, crying and crying. In that state, we cannot really blame him for not interacting with you properly."

"But didn't I visit you when we were at school? Even though I agree he was a kid back then, but still he should at least remember my face, right? Treating me as a complete stranger kinda hurts ~ "

"Maybe it is because of your personality, which has like, zero presence?"

"You wanna get slapped?"

"......"

"Anyways, I called you today to discuss a certain matter. Before that, tell me, are you still handling the orphanage?"

"Hmm."

"Good. What if I say, I have a potential candidate to your orphanage?"

"Huh? You mean, an abandoned kid?"