It was night and Group 4 was ready to return to the SOMA headquarters after a long day of hard work. They were currently sitting on a table outside a convenience store in Setagaya eating some instant ramen and having a few glasses of cold drinks.
"Do you understand me now, brat? There's no way you could have heard another person's thoughts without possessing some kind of a unique ability, you got that?"
Takeru, still visibly disturbed, replied, "Yeah, I got it."
"Then make sure you understand this, never say that bullshit about me being a child killer ever again. All right?"
"I won't."
"Good.", Yabo said with sharp eyes. He then relaxed and looked over at Hina. She was reading a book called "You Are The Only In The Universe".
"What're you reading, Hina?", He asked. Hina didn't reply.
"Come on, Hina. Why do you always gotta be like this? We're friends, ain't we?" Hina sighed and said nothing.
"Geez... brutal.", Kohei said. Yabo looked annoyed. "Why do you always gotta butt in when I'm tryna talk to Hina, you fucking bum. What? You gotta crush on her or something? You getting jealous that I'm the one talking to her and you're there doing nothing like always? How about you get some passion or hunger for something in life, you edgy little cornball. Just looking at you and your empty eyes drains one of their energy."
"Watch your mouth, Yabo."
Yabo looked amused. "Really? I should watch my mouth? How about you give me a goddamn reason to, huh!?"
Kohei felt an immense urge to beat the shit out of Yabo. Just as he was about to get raise his hands...
"Whatever..." He went back to scrolling on his phone.
"Boring...!", Yabo replied. He began loudly slurping his soda and glanced at Takeru still looking mortified. He sighed. "Quit it, brat. Now, lets get down to business. Have you figured out your unique ability yet?"
"No..."
"Ughhh... Go talk to The Chairman about it tomorrow. Maybe he'll figure something out or maybe he won't and we'll have to finally start the experiments on you or something... heh." Yabo chuckled. Takeru stayed silent.
HONK!
"Look, our car's here. Lets get the fuck out of here, I'm tired as hell.", Yabo said as he sat up and headed to the car. The others followed soon. While they were walking towards the car, Kohei got close to Takeru and asked, "Are you sure you heard that little girl's thoughts?"
Takeru looked surprised. "Huh? I don't know, Katsuragi-san. At the time, I was sure but now not so much. This alternate stuff is weird and I only became a user around a week ago. My body does all sorts of weird things now and I'm apparently a special case on top of that, maybe those thoughts I heard really was my body just messing with me." "Lets hope it was.", Kohei replied. Then, they both got in the car.
The car ride was silent like always. Yabo fell asleep and started snoring obnoxiously and Hina was still reading that weird book. Takeru got intrigued by its title though and asked, "Asano-san, what is that book about?" Surprisingly, HIna spoke up. "You don't have to try and talk to me, kid."
"I'm just interested about that book, Senpai."
"No you're not." Hina went back to being quiet.
"Ichino-kun, don't try to talk to her. Its pointless.", Kohei said. "Alright, I guess...", Takeru replied.
"Why're you interested in that book, anyway? I thought you were into manga and stuff."
"I dunno, the title is just captivating I guess."
Kohei looked out the window. "Captivating, huh? You're still a person that can find new things interesting and get passionate about them."
"Hmm? Isn't that possible for everyone, Senpai?"
"No its not, kid. Life breaks some people down, you know? That happened to me but I guess it ended up working in my favor eventually."
"How?"
"By the time I awakened, I had already failed in life. I got kicked out by my parents, my girl left me and I wasn't able to get my dream job. Knowing that I couldn't do what I had wanted to do since I was a child, knowing that my dream would never be accomplished... It broke me. I lost my passion, my will to live and my hunger for anything at all. My life was already devoid of anything so when I awakened and was forced to become an alternate-user, I didn't really care. It didn't matter to me. Every day, I go out on a mission that could lead to my death but it doesn't matter. My life was already over anyway."
Takeru didn't know what to say, he felt sad for Kohei but couldn't express his feelings properly. "Why... Why are you telling me this?"
"Because I feel bad for you, kid. You were still young when you awakened, you still had that privilege to dream and to hope yet you're forced to do this. Your youth was taken away from you and now you're struggling to adjust to your whole life being turned upside down. You must be suffering so much."
"..."
"I'm not saying that you should become like me but I just want you to know that if things get too hard, there's a way to mend the pain. Just let it all go and live your life as shell of your former self until you inevitably die in some fucked up way in our missions."
"Uh... That's so..."
"Depressing? Yeah, I guess so but its the only advice or help I can give you. I figured I should give you advice at some point since I'm your senpai."
"Thank you... I guess."
"Your welcome, Ichino-kun." Kohei went back to scrolling on his phone. He ended up coming across a video about how men should shave their beards to look better and more young. In most other parts of the world, people love beards on men and think it makes them look masculine and attractive but people in east asia aren't big fans of them and think it makes men look untidy and unprofessional. "I guess I'll give it a try."
Takeru looked outside his window and began gazing upon the beautiful night sky and the many shining stars. He pondered about how different his life had gotten so suddenly and wished he could go back to this regular days. Looking at the night sky, he remembered how much Aiko loved looking at the stars.
During a school camping trip in the first year of his high school, Takeru got out of his camp to take a piss and suddenly saw Aiko standing next to the lake gazing at the night sky above.
They were in Kawai Camping Ground located in the Nishitama District of Tokyo and it was lovely place where everyone was having fun but not Takeru. That whole trip, all he could think about Aiko.
After a while of just staring at her like a creep, Takeru decided to man up and began walking towards her.
"Hey, Aiko-chan. What're you doing?"
Aiko looked surprised hearing someone else's voice but got relieved the instant she saw it was Takeru.
"Oh! Its just you, Take-chan."
Takeru began blushing. "Geez... stop calling me that, its embarrassing."
"Hehe, nope! It sounds too cute." Takeru couldn't help but smile after hearing that.
Aiko looked back at the night sky and said, "I just came out for a bit to look at the stars. Aren't they so beautiful, Take-chan?"
"Yeah, they sure are...", Takeru said softly while still looking at Aiko.
"To think that every single one of those little dots has their own group of entire planets surrounding them. This universe is so grand and beautiful that it makes me feel like we don't matter sometimes."
"No! That can't be true, Aiko-chan!", Takeru shouted. Aiko looked shocked. "Take-chan, stop shouting! You'll wake everyone el-"
"I don't know about me, Aiko-chan but you... you definitely matter."
They both stopped talking and were just staring at each other. Both of their hearts were beating fast and Aiko didn't know what to say. "Take-chan... that's so sweet. Do you wann-"
Takeru dashed back to his tent immediately not wanting to hear Aiko's reply. He began rolling around covered in his blanket. "THAT WAS SO CRINGE!!! GEEZ!!! She'll never like me now..."
"Good times..."