It is risky, yes indeed. Character development pushes through anything. It cannot be invalidated by any other factor. It shifts the gears of the plot and the focus also shifts to them.

  I think further, menting the possible consequences.

  But… it’s only a one-time use. The story cannot disregard the character development once it is in pce, else it’ll give the sense that you’re leading the readers on. There are only a set number of lessons to learn and…

  I see a fraction of my reflection showing the expression on my face.

  I look real pathetic right now. For that reason, I shake my head and shrugged off all my worries.

  “Ah, who am I kidding?”

  What? Is crazy old me going to stop someone from developing? No. Although, it does beg the question… what lesson must he learn? What virtue, what moral must he gain? What is there that he has been having problems on?

  “Um, Kibe? You still there?” he asks on the other side of the call.

  “Hang on, I’m formuting the solution. Please remain silent for now.”

  I dig through my memories, making me scratch my head in frustration.

  AAAHHH!!! I DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT THE RECENT ISSUES! I’M STILL PRETENDING TO BE SICK!

  I eventually recall being with them and remember our interactions.

  Ever since I got into their ranks, they have been progressively relying on me more and more. Is that something I should point out? But is there really a bad thing beginning to trust a stranger? Isn’t the point of relying on someone in a social group a point of this genre?

  I ponder and end up with nothing.

  Most of our interactions are really filled with only fooling around. So what can I say?

  It didn’t take me too long to answer my own question. Eureka! I snap my fingers at the brilliance of my idea.

  I don’t need to think or lead him down the lesson he needs to learn! In the end, it always comes back to the person themselves. They lead themselves!

  Overjoyed, I smirk.

  “Masaru, I’m not sure what I can tell you, but all I can say is… protect what you hold dear.”

  I hang up suddenly and I see at my monitor that I had made a smug expression unconsciously. Feeling confident pnting the seeds, I continue scrolling through the pirated manga site.

  “I absolutely don’t know how it connects to anything! But as long as it is a lesson, the plot has to make do with it.”

  He’ll make do with ambiguity.

  …

  ..

  .

  I eagerly await his response and all he tells me is this:

  “Masaru, I’m not sure what I can tell you, but all I can say is… protect what you hold dear.”

  H-Huh? What does that mean?

  “W-WAI-”

  He hangs up before I could crify what that was supposed to mean.

  Silence.

  “Darn it.”

  My legs melt to the toilet seat.

  “Protect what you hold dear…”

  Just… just what the heck is that supposed to mean?!

  I reminisce about my past.

  “My… past…”

  I was once an optimistic young boy who wanted to do all kinds of things…

  …

  ..

  .

  There was once a young boy, with a rge and bright smile.

  I was childish, but it was fitting for my age. There was absolutely nothing wrong with it, but I absolutely loved the world so much. It was so fun, so bright, so lovely. It would be no short to call me optimistic. But in the world nowadays, people mature at much earlier ages, and for them, maturity, means emotional stability and for them… optimism was childish and immature.

  “The sun is beautiful again…”

  It wasn’t until I reached the age of 12, that I noticed that excessive optimism annoyed others.

  The young boy was inside a cssroom, showing other kids his age a paper filled with nothing, but scribbles. He had a rge smile on his face. In another instance, this young boy bugged others and wanted to py with them.

  They found it weird and unrealistic, so they distanced themselves away from me. I wouldn’t really notice until I looked at the window one day during break.

  “No one’s… looking at me.”

  He looks at his other cssmates, merrily chatting without him.

  “I’m… lonely? S-Since when?”

  The boy sulks.

  I started to doubt everything I wholeheartedly believed to be beautiful. I doubted.

  The boy rips apart the childish scribbles.

  I became skeptical. This newfound pessimism would contradict my optimism forming the views I have right now. A banced person, seeing the positives and the negatives. A realist.

  A few years ter…

  That same boy attempted to talk with other people.

  “Hello! It’s me, Arata, Arata Masaru! Yeah, about the group project, I was thinking we could do something like a fshy presentation to make the audience lively! It’s a good idea, isn’t it? Pair it with loud voices and we’ll-”

  He notices that the people he was talking to were getting distant by the second, so he switches his tone drastically.

  “Y-Yeah… I-I’m sorry, I might have spoken a bit too much. My bad…”

  I tried making friends, but no one would still accept me. I could not bance excessive optimism and pessimism back then and I was thrown in a slump.

  “I want to be loved. I want someone to accept me the way I am.”

  So I started online dating as a result. I went on to py many girls trying to tell them my insecurities and they came to accept me as they came.

  “I love this feeling. These girls love me. I want to be loved even more.”

  Even when it was wrong… I knew it was wrong… I kept on messaging… one girl after the other. But I was experienced. I accidentally sent the wrong message to the wrong girl, sent my real face, sent them money… but they left. No one was actually there for me.

  …

  ..

  .

  Wandering aimlessly along the halls one day, I see a group of three boys before me. I was busy texting to multiple girls at a time. Seeing their ‘I love you’ messages gave me life, yet… I couldn’t help, but be jealous of the three before me.

  A group of friends…

  That thought lingers in my mind and I intentionally slow down my pace to listen in on their conversations.

  “Ah, Madoka, I heard you didn’t get the limited character in the gacha?” one of them utters.

  “I know… I swear I have the worst luck ever. Cursed blues. Why can’t I get a damn purple?!” the other replies.

  “1 pull. Purple,” another, seemingly a mute, answers.

  “TAKASHI?! WHAT UNGOLDY LUCK DO YOU HAVE?! No, no, nah… you have to pull in my account, you have to share some of that luck.”

  The subtle absurdity of this conversation… it’s absolutely dumb… but… it’s refreshing. I want to be able to talk to someone about something nonsensical too.

  “Hey, look at that guy!”

  When I hear them say that, I look at what that guy points at, and notice that they refer to me.

  “A-Ah, m-me?” I ask.

  But now that I see it, there’s no one else in the hallway aside from us four.

  “Yeah,” he points at the keychain hanging outside my bag.

  It was Arona from the hit mobile gacha game Blue Archive, which I had forgotten to keep from judging eyes. Only then that I notice that they talked about that game too, just earlier.

  “Hey! You were a fan of that game, too?!” the other asks.

  “Y-Yeah, I started recently and I loved the game.”

  “Really?” the guy asks, “How many students do you have now? I think I have around 30.”

  “Hey! Let’s be friends in that game!”

  He proceeds to pull out his phone.

  “O-Oh, sure,” I reply while doing the same.

  Then the others follow suit.

  “Me too!”

  “Friend.”

  A few minutes ter, we successfully become friends in the game.

  “Yes! Now I can borrow your students! Please set them in the Assistant tab… I hope you do…”

  “Don’t worry! I set them appropriately depending on the event!”

  “Good!”

  “So then…”

  We got caught up in the spur of the moment, but I totally don’t know any of their names.

  “Oh yeah! I got too excited, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Yoshida, Yoshida Madoka, nice to meet you.”

  The other introduces himself along with the mute.

  “My name is Katsuro Hara, I say the same!”

  “Ishimoto Takashi.”

  It was now my turn to do the same.

  “My name is… Masaru, Masaru Arata.”

  “Hey, were in the same css!” Yoshida-san decres.

  “Wait, you’re right! You’re that guy in the corner,” Hara-san replies.

  “Y-Yeah, that’s me,” I answer.

  If you say it that way… what am I supposed to say?

  “Hey, we should head back to css now, break is almost over,” Yoshida-san tells me.

  “Oh, you’re right,” I respond as I see the time on my phone.

  The three of them begin walking back. Even though, we share the same css, I was unsure if joining their side would be too intimate, so I remain behind.

  Yoshida-san wonders and turns around.

  “Hey, we’re gonna be te to css, you coming?” he asks again.

  “O-Oh, sure thing, Yoshida-san,” I answer.

  “Yoshida-san? Nah, just call me by my first name, Madoka! It feels distant if we talk that way, so let’s remove all that right now, alright?”

  “Oh, s-sure.”

  “Make sure to do the same for the bunch of us, call them Katsuro and Takashi.”

  Once he finishes his sentence, I catch up to them walking back to the cssroom, but g behind still feeling a little bit out of pce. I didn’t want to intrude.

  “Oh?” Yoshida-sa- I mean, Madoka wonders.

  He lifts his arm and forcibly pulls me along.

  “Woah!” I yelp.

  “Why are you gging behind now? We’re in gacha! Through hell and high water, we’ll be together no matter what, AHAHAHAH!”

  He ughs galntly without as much as a care to the world.

  “Too bad, you don’t have any luck, Madoka,” Katsuro teases, “You’re gonna be in debt!”

  “Shit! Stop reminding me of my cursed luck, Katsuro!” Madoka replies.

  “I got her in 1 pull,” Takashi comments.

  “Okay, you don’t have to tell me again, Takashi!!!”

  This feeling… it’s nice…

  Talking about luck in gacha. You should always expect the worst. It makes me chuckle a bit listening in their conversations.

  “PFFT- I got the banner character in like 10 pulls,” I joke.

  “Not you too, Masaru!” Madoka gasps.

  He wraps his arm around my neck and nudges my head.

  “Ow! Ow! Ow! What can I do?! I’m simply lucky!” I urge while pleading.

  “Curses! You lucky people!”

  This was how we met. It wasn’t all that special. We only knew each other because of a gacha game, but even then… the fact that it was so ordinary… so mundane… makes it all the more special to me.

  Inside that group, I felt at home. I could be myself without being judged. I could consider myself lucky for meeting them, for saving me.

  Honestly, I can vividly remember their stupid antics. One time, Madoka was so thirsty, he rushed for my drink immediately.

  “Don’t drink that, Madoka! That’s too hot!” I plead as he reaches begins to drink my container.

  “AAAH! MY TONGUE! MY TONGUE! IT BURNS!”

  “What did I tell you…”

  Another time, Katsuro tried to cheat in an exam, and since I happened to be in front of him, he asked to copy my answers. Though, I told him not to, he pleaded. The reason for that was because the teacher was literally watching us. I would have no qualms otherwise. As a result, he received a zero for the test.

  “I’M GONNA FAIL!” Katsuro screams.

  “What did I tell you… You should’ve been patient, I would’ve given you my answers if you waited.”

  Takashi too. He tried to flirt with a girl by telling dark jokes… which of course, ends up how you imagine it.

  “What did I tell you…” I tell him.

  I can barely strictly remember what we’ve done through our friendship. Maybe because most of my memories were filled with happiness and ughter. Yeah, I mostly remember the dumb things we did.

  After reminiscing about these things, my mind returns to the bathroom stall.

  “Protect… those which you hold dear.”

  I… don’t need to be accepted anymore. I don’t need to text anymore girls.

  I remember the time when Kibe busted me.

  “Even when that was complete secret, you managed to find me out, huh, Kibe?”

  Right now… we’re fighting for the rooftop. Even if it seems meaningless… that rooftop… served as a reminder of our friendship, of us, five.

  “No matter where we are, we can be happy.”

  Right here, right now. I’m happy to be in their group. I truly thank God to have met them in my life, even if I never said it straight to them myself.

  I gently smile remembering the fond memories.

  Right now… I don’t need a girl to love me… I’m happy as I am. To do that…

  “I know what to do now.”

  Opening the bathroom stall, I go out feeling like a changed man.

  “We will fight for our precious pce. As absurd as it may sound, I will give it my all.”

  So, you too, my friends. I hope you’ll fight alongside me in this losing battle. No matter what may come, I hope you’re there to keep me company.

  END OF EPISODE 36