Micchi Versus the New World - Chapter 123 (Patreon)

Alt link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18EjmDtmmeeAHicgHX1hgCnXw4EDqecJva-adu56YUtg/edit?usp=sharing

Chapter 123

Some people were just cruel for the sake of being cruel. I hated it so much that I didn't want to exist anymore. Why did I have to be on the receiving end of it? Just because I wasn't pretty like those sluts? I thought my whole life would be at the mercy of others, until a special someone showed me that I could change. I didn't have to take it.

After all, I became proof of that at Ise Girls' Academy.

Throughout elementary and junior high, I'd often be among the ones ranked most unattractive. The only saving grace that kept me sane was that my name didn't show up at the very bottom. It was always some other girl. Fat, face full of pimples, and a loner.

I was none of that. I was just beyond average, but in the more attractive and popular girls' minds I might as well be the worst. My hair was wiry and didn't have any volume to grow it out nicely. My eyes were a little smaller compared to the average person, and my prescription glasses were thick to make up for my poor vision.

Just those meager characteristics made me a prime target for bullying.

Today, just like any other day, I was trying to look as unassuming as possible on my way to class.

"Riko!"

I turned around only to have someone snatch the glasses right off my face. The girl skipped ahead while another shoulder checked me, knocking the textbooks out of my hands. Other students walking by lowered their heads or pretended not to notice so they wouldn't be next.

"Please…  Can I have my glasses back?" I quietly asked, trying to sound as meek as possible in a vain hope to draw pity.

Without them, even the person in front of me was blurry. I could make out distinguishable shapes and colors to tell what things were, but the finer details were lost to me. The pair of girls giggled mischievously.

"I have an idea. I'll put it right here and you try to find it, okay?" The girl that took them placed it on the floor ahead of me.

Fearful of tripping or stepping on them, I knelt down to feel for my glasses. Relief welled up in my chest as I saw the vague shape, then someone's shoe crunched down on them.

"Ahaha! Holy shit, Maiko. You're so savage."

"Oops. Sorry, Riko. Wasn't watching where I was going. Maybe don't accidentally drop your glasses next time, but hey, you look better without them. Let's go, Chie. Class is about to start," Maiko said, turning to leave with her friend.

"Dumb bitches." I sighed with relief as soon as they were out of earshot to hear it.

The first bell rang, but I lost all motivation to go to class. Instead, I picked up the pieces of my broken glasses, headed for the bathroom, and locked myself in a stall. Thankfully, this was my decoy pair bought cheaply from a convenience store. I poured the pieces into a tiny plastic bag, then put on my real prescription glasses.

This had been going on for some time now, and they hadn't caught on. How stupid were they? It ate into my allowance, but losing my prescription glasses would have been worse.

I was about to leave until a group of chattering girls entered the bathroom. They parked themselves in front of the sinks. Fear rooted me back to the toilet. If I left now, they were definitely going to screw with me.

"Ahh, man. Takashi won't stop texting me. I don't wanna go out with him anymore. I wanna go out with Shin! Someone take him off my hands, please!"

"That's your mess to untangle. Don't rope us into it."

It sounded like they were putting on makeup. At a time like this? Class was about to start. Just get out of here already! They were just more like bitches Maiko and Chie. Dolled up mannequins for other people to look at. What was so fun about looking pretty when you're faker than plastic?

The second bell rang.

"Ladies, I can hear you in there!" a teacher shouted into the bathroom. "Class is starting. Hurry up!"

"Tch. Alright, we're on our way out!"

The group of girls quickly packed their things and hightailed it. Finally. I was going to be late, but at least I wouldn't lose another pair of glasses.

When I peeked out, the bathroom had been abandoned. Sitting on the edge of the sink was a brush and a thin, rectangular box that looked like a painting palette at first glance. There were circles of varying colors in it to make a rainbow.

I'd seen these before. It was an eyeshadow palette. Curiosity got the better of me. I took the brush and applied it to my upper eyelid, coating it in a gentle pink color.

"They were painting themselves? That's so stupid," I muttered to myself.

"I don't think it's stupid."

My heart stopped beating.

A girl was standing at the entrance. She wore her skirt a little high to show off shapely thighs, the top two buttons of her uniform were unbuttoned, and her painted nails had unique plastic decorations. Her hair was a shoulder-length bob with slanted bangs that covered her right eye. The left eye that was showing had the same color eyeshadow on the brush. A gentle pink.

"I-I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to use your makeup!" I ran away without turning, hoping that she wouldn't catch up and bully me if I made it to class.

Throughout the rest of the school day, my chest pounded like drums. I kept an eye out for that girl in case she tried to ambush me for using her makeup. During lunch, I even hid in a rarely used bathroom to eat my bento. By the end of the day, however, nothing happened.

Maybe I was overthinking things. Why the hell would she even remember my—

"You the girl who used my eyeshadow, right?"

I froze up. It was the same one from the bathroom. A thousand different scenarios flitted through my mind. Groveling on the ground, making up an excuse, or trying to run for the school gate where a teacher was surely around.

Even if I did escape, it wouldn't stop her from finding me tomorrow. I did the only thing I knew to do. I lowered my head and begged.

"Please, don't hurt me… If you want to, can I at least put my glasses away first?" I asked.

"What? Girl, I'm not gonna hurt you! Chill," she said.

"Y-You… aren't?"

A hand entered my field of vision while I was still bowing. I saw all the pretty decorations on her nails, filling me full of envy.

Maybe since I took too long, she grabbed my hand instead.

"Seriously, I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm Eri. You?"

"Riko," I answered timidly.

"Riri, then. It's cuter. I know we only just met, but what do you say we go to my place? Let me finish the rest of your makeup. It won't look as nice with just one eye having eyeshadow," Eri said, pointing to the only eye I put eyeshadow on.

It had completely slipped my mind I still had it, but did I hear that right? Eri wanted to hang out with me? This had to be a trick. No way. Not with someone like me.

"I-I don't know… Aren't your friends waiting for you?" I asked.

"They're going to watch a horror movie of all things. I'm not interested. Come on!" Eri tightened her grip on my hand. She didn't let go until we got to her house. A quaint, two-story place among hundreds in this neighborhood.

Everything happened so fast, I didn't even register that I was at a popular girl's house until Eri sat me down in her room. A picture-perfect bedroom of a teenage fashionista, furnished with a vanity desk and closet bursting with clothes.

I still remembered how I looked when Eri finished and urged me to check myself out in the mirror.

"Oh, I like this look. Might've outdone myself." Eri nodded to herself.

Most of my hair had been straightened out and tied to a bun behind my head. A cluster of curls framed my face. Makeup had been applied to make my cheeks appear fuller, eyeshadow to bring out the color of my deep brown eyes, and light lipstick to redden my lips.

"Is this really… me? Just some makeup did this?" I asked in disbelief.

"Hold on." Eri reached for my glasses, causing me to flinch out of instinct. She smiled reassuringly. Somehow, I felt like I could trust her, so I let it happen when she reached for them again to pull off and set aside.

Everything became blurry again, but I wasn't scared.

"Uhm… What now?" I asked.

"Say, cheese!"

A camera shutter went off. Eri put my glasses back on for me, then showed me the picture she took on her phone. It was me without glasses. I looked so pretty in the makeup, too.

Tears rolled down my cheeks, ruining the makeup Eri had done for me.

"Aw, shit. What did I do? Should I have not taken the picture? I'm sorry, Riri!" Eri apologized.

"It's not that." I shook my head. "I just didn't know I could look so nice… If I looked like that all the time, then I probably wouldn't get picked on."

Eri sighed. She put her phone away to help wipe the tears from my face, consequently removing the makeup in the process.

"What are you saying? You always looked nice. The makeup just made you hotter. Hey, wanna try some of my clothes? I bet you'd be smoking hot with some of them on," Eri said.

We spent the entire day trying on different outfits and combinations. Eri had me wear things I'd never consider putting on, like crop tops and skin-tight jeans.

For once, I felt happy.

"Hey, tomorrow we should paint your nails. I noticed you were staring at mine earlier. Any color or design you got in mind?" Eri flipped through a fashion magazine on her bed.

"I'm fine with anything, but… Eri? Why me?" I asked.

"What are you asking?" She sat up in bed to look me in the eyes, seemingly genuinely confused about my question.

"I mean… I'm just a nobody. Up until after school, we didn't know each other. I actually thought you were going to bully me. Or that maybe at the end of this, you're going to play some elaborate dirty trick… Please don't hate me for saying this, but even now I still feel like you might be scheming something…"

Eri sucked in a deep breath through her nose, then hopped off the bed. She scooted over to a shelf, pulled out a yearbook, and beckoned me over. The yearbook was on a page full of portraits of elementary school students.

"Can you tell which one is me? No, right? Here. The boring girl who looks like Edna Mode from the Incredibles. Can't even see my eyes because of the stupid camera flash. Bet you can imagine how my school life went. It wasn't much different than yours," Eri explained.

"You mean you were bullied, too?" I hesitated to ask.

"Believe it! I cracked in sixth grade. Beat the ugly into my bullies and got sent to a school in Tokyo called Motonari. Tough as nails kind of place with delinquents ready to bloody your face with their fist. After my first year, I was given a choice. Shape up or stay. I shaped up. Not for anyone else. For myself. So my folks moved us up here to Hokkaido.," she said.

Motonari. That school was regarded by a lot of people as a shit hole. Delinquents from all over Japan were thrown there as a glorified daycare. For Eri to have attended even one year of Motonari…

The yearbook slammed shut, and Eri returned it to the bookshelf.

"You asked me why you?" Eri stood up and walked over to the vanity mirror where she began wiping off makeup with a facial wipe. "It's because you said makeup was stupid. Makeup saved my life. Gave me a second chance after Motonari. You got a little more confident when I showed you how pretty you looked with makeup, right? But your first thought was that other girls wouldn't bully you anymore. Never wear makeup for someone else. Don't give them that satisfaction. Wear it only for yourself."

When Eri turned around, I gasped so harshly that I choked on my own spit. A three inch scar ran down the side of her right cheek. It had long healed, but just looking at it was giving me phantom pain.

"Did you get that… in Motonari?" I asked.

"I did. It's ugly. It's a constant reminder of the mistake I made letting someone else's stupid opinion about me affect me. If I didn't lose it and beat up those kids back in sixth grade… I never would have ended up in Motonari and gotten this." Eri clenched her fists.

Something came over me. I rose to my feet and pressed a hand to Eri's cheek with the scar. She leaned into the touch, and we gazed deeply into each other's eyes. The scar didn't make her look any less pretty to me.

Before I realized it, the two of us were on her bed and kissing. It was my first kiss. We had only known each other for half a day, but that was all the time it took for her to save my life.

And apparently, I had only learned this much later, for me to save hers.

Eri and I started dating in secret after that. She was in her third year, and I was in my first year. I joined her friend group with a new look. To everyone, we were just good friends. To each other, we were everything.

Life started looking up. I looked forward to going to school everyday. After school and on our days off, we went to arcades, mixers with the all boys' school, and sang karaoke. I cherished those days so much. My bullies must have forgotten about me, because I stopped seeing them after that day.

Until…

Maiko brought me to the back of the school and shoved me up against the wall. Chie and their other friends were behind her, sneering at me.

"Riko? Is that really you? I thought you transferred out or something! Turns out you just put on makeup and took off your glasses, and that was enough for you to become a different person," Maiko said.

"People are calling you Riri, too. Cuuuute~" Chie teased from behind. "But you know… It kinda— No, it really pisses me off that you've been hanging out with Eri and her gang of sluts."

"Don't call them sluts! Those are my friends!" I growled.

Maiko shoved me harder against the wall with one arm and plucked the toothpick from her lips with her free hand.

"I wonder if they'll still be your friend when I ruin your face." Maiko pressed the toothpick to my cheek, deep enough to puncture the skin.

"Stop… it hurts! Please, I'll do anything!" I cried.

"Riri, you don't have to do anything." Eri rounded the corner with a piercing glare, startling the other girls. "Let her go or else."

Chie and her friends surrounded Eri, numbering her five to one.

"Or else what? You're alone, Eri. Maybe this is a good chance to put you in your place. Always acting so high and mighty like you're better than us. Maybe I'll scratch up your face instead," Maiko taunted.

"No, leave her alone… Eri, get out of here!" I whimpered.

"I tried to put my violent past behind, but I guess it was always going to catch up. If Chika was here, you bitches would be groveling. Kinda pisses me off that she was right: you gotta break some noses to keep them in line. Come on then!" Eri shouted.

The fight was one-sided. I stood there dumbfounded as Eri beat everyone to a pulp. While the girls pulled hair and slapped to fight, Eri buried fists into their faces and kneed their stomachs.

"You fucking bitch!" Maiko let me go to charge Eri with a switchblade.

"Eri, watch out!" I cried.

Eri sidestepped the swing, grabbed Maiko by the arm, and twisted the knife out of her hand. She slammed her face first into the wall, then let her drop to the ground unconscious.

"Eri… Are you okay?" I threw myself into Eri's chest in tears, and her arms wrapped around me.

"Of course, I'm okay. More importantly, how's your face? I'd hate to see that pretty face of yours ruined." Eri smiled and brushed a thumb over the small cut on my cheek.

That happiness didn't last very long.

One of the girls we beat up must have been the daughter of someone important in the Sapporo school district.

Eri was expelled from Ise Girls' a week later. Since she was eighteen, the police arrested her on charges of assault and battery. I didn't hear from her again after that. Her parents moved. Our friends were just as lost as I was and leaderless. It seemed like she had just… vanished.

In the years that followed, delinquency and violence erupted in schools all over Japan. It was like an all out war. One familiar name was whispered commonly among them, thrown around like the boogeyman. Chika. The same name that Eri had mentioned on the day that ended up ripping us apart. Although I had no proof, some part of me was sure Chika knew what happened to or where Eri had gone.

I loved her after all. Eri changed me for the better. Because of her, I became the Blizzard of Hokkaido that everyone respected and feared. That's why, no matter how low or dirty I needed to get, even after coming to this stupid fantasy world, I'd find a way back to you somehow.

Eri, wait for me.