1. First Degree Romance
“Sometimes I wish a woman would go crazy for me, like in a manga, you know?”
I stare at the comment, trying to discern if he's being serious or just made a comment without even thinking about it. In the end, I just give him a neutral stare, waiting for him to go on with what is probably fetishistic verbal diarrhea.
“You know what I'm talking about, don't you? The kind of girl who would kill or die for you. I'd be the most loyal boyfriend in the world, so I'm not worried about anything bad happening. A girl like that would be perfect for me, for real.”
“From love to hate is only one step.” I reply. “A girl like that would be a ticking time bomb. At any moment the tables could turn, and when you least expect it your life would be in danger.”
“Ah, yes. I suppose...”
He sighs with disappointment at the bucket of cold water I just threw at him. The reality is that you can't project a long-term relationship with someone this unstable. Of course, he couldn't know that, he's still young and inexperienced in relationships. I am too, but unlike him, I'm able to think with my head up.
“But don't you think it would be fun?” he says to me.
“What would be fun?”
For a moment, he opens his mouth with the intention of saying something, but only by my expression was I able to make it clear to him that I wasn't willing to listen to his delusions.
It was getting late, so we each went back to our apartments. With my dose of mindless chatter at full throttle, I climbed into bed. Before falling asleep, I smiled thinking I could sleep easy knowing that no psycho girl was after my head. What nonsense.
When I arrived at school the next day, there was a letter on my desk. On it I could read only one sentence: “I'll be waiting for you in the cellar behind the gym at the end of class.” and next to it, a heart. A confession, apparently. My first thought was that it was a joke. I mean, who would write a letter like that? It sounds like a romance manga cliché, real people don't do this sort of thing. I didn't rule out the possibility that someone might be interested in me, but in this way I could do nothing but doubt.
In the end, I ended up giving in to curiosity to see what kind of joke was cooking here. There is only one way to get to the cellar, so at the end of the day I sat down far enough away to see if anyone was going in that direction. To my surprise, someone did pass by. I couldn't get a good look at her face, but I could confirm that it was a girl. It gets complicated. I mentally prepared myself and also headed towards the cellar, expecting anything but a confession, that's for sure.
When I arrived, she was standing, waiting for me.
“You did come.” She threw me a giggly smile. She was a short-haired girl with deep black eyes and somewhat disheveled, quite attractive despite her unkempt appearance.
“I read the letter. Do you... want to tell me something?”
“That's right. Let's go somewhere more private, shall we?”
The girl opens the cellar door and steps inside, losing sight of her. As I approach the door, I stand still for a moment, watching.
“I'm waiting!” she says to me in a playful voice.
I decide to go inside. She appears behind me, closing the door.
Without a second's hesitation, I heed my intuition, and dive in to grab her.
“What are you-!” The girl tries to wriggle out of my grip without much success. I waste no time and start checking her up and down. A shiver runs through my body when I feel a metallic touch. A knife. This can't be happening. The girl seizes the moment to break free. I prepare to defend myself, but she just stands there in the doorway.
“How did you know?” she rebuked me.
“The plate on the door. It was forced.”
“And that's all it takes for you to throw yourself at a girl like that?”
“I thought I'd apologize in case I was wrong.”
The girl seems to be thinking about something. I however don't let my guard down and start questioning her.
“Who are you, who sent you to kill me?”
The girl tilts her head, seemingly confused at the question.
“Did Goro send you, by any chance? You'd better answer, I have ways to make you talk.”
I try to keep control of the situation, but here the one who is more confused is me. Is it possible that they noticed my facade? I try to think of what could have given me away, I swear I haven't missed any details, I even managed to get myself transferred to this school, fake ID included. What has gone wrong?
“Are you one of those chuunibyou*? Agh...”
The girl quickly approaches me with obvious anger. I point the knife at her to keep her at bay, but she doesn't seem to mind.
“It was going so well, it would have been a perfect murder! Why did you have to ruin it!”
...
What?
"I had it all planned out! Even the monologue I'd give while you were bleeding out! And now it's all gone to shit..."
The girl starts pacing while biting her nails. Right now, I am unable to process what she just said. I simply stand frozen, waiting for some of this to make sense, somehow.
"Well, what are you going to do now?" she says to me. "Are you going to stand there or will you apologize?"
"…excuse me?"
"Apologize! Apologize for ruining the moment!"
Maybe out of frustration, maybe due to the strangeness of the situation, and still having no idea who this girl is or even what is happening, for some reason, I decide to respond.
"Apologize for 'ruining the moment'?! Apologize yourself for trying to kill ME!"
"Huh?! Do you really have the nerve to say that?! You're an idiot!!"
Stomping hard, the girl opens the door angrily.
"Next time I'm going to kill you, and you better not ruin it! Got it?"
And with that, she slams the door in my face, leaving me alone in the cellar, knife in hand, completely lost and unable to process what had just happened.
When I got to my apartment, I lay down on the bed, staring at the ceiling. After several minutes, I clear my mind. I don't know who she is or what she wants, but I can make one thing clear: This girl wants to kill me. Literally.
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Chuunibyou (中二病): A Japanese colloquial term used to describe teenagers with delusions of grandeur, who desperately want to stand out and have convinced themselves that they possess secret knowledge or hidden powers. (Wikipedia, lol)








