Andromeda

The Inner Man – Episode 4 – Boys

The first week of school had been rough for Chiko, as rough as he figured it was going to be considering his crazy teacher and students that were completely enamored with him. After the first day, he had tried to remain relatively quiet in the class, fortunately the teacher rarely called on him to answer questions, especially during mathematics. She probably did not want to go toe to toe with him in another battle of the equations. That suited him fine since he needed everyone to hopefully forget about everything that had happened and with luck he could pretend to be normal.

However, as he was learning it was going to be more difficult than just being quiet to be normal. Thanks to Mashiro’s handy work, everyone already knew his sob story, which had them all crying the first day. Some of them still gave him watery eyes from time to time. The girls would always try to comfort him, saying that he was putting up a brave front when he did not have to. He hardly had something to be sad about, actually he did, but he was not going to let it get to him.

In spite of the crazy teacher and him knowing most of the answers, he had managed to get through the week with a relatively uneventful time. It was terribly boring for him sitting in the classroom doing nothing more than doodles on paper. He did notice a lot of changes in how he drew though, like the doctor said. The flow and elegance that he had was gone, probably lost forever, he could only resort to hand sketches that would impress children and those with little artistic eye. Which unfortunately was the entire classroom, as he quickly had to learn. He gave up drawing anything that looked something they could recognize and just exercised his hand mainly. It was about the only thing that he could do to keep his mind from falling asleep in class.

During today though he had been feeling like he was being watched all day. Though he always had that feeling, it was just a little more singular and stronger this time, like it was just one person and that was all that they were doing. Unfortunately every time he looked around hoping to catch them there was no one looking at him. He was always too slow to catch who it was, but his entire body felt warm. There was not a lot he could do about it, but it was making him uneasy and decided to talk to a few of students during lunch to hoping find out who it was that kept staring at him.

Chiko began his investigation with Sakura, she sat next to him and thus had the same view that he did, so she might have seen something. It was a place to begin at least; he leaned over to Sakura who was picking through a few of her things in her pack. “Hey, umm…Sakura can I ask you something?”

“Huh? Sure what is it?”

“I’ve been having this strange feeling that someone has been looking at me all morning. Have you noticed anyone?”

“Really, that is weird. I’ve been having the same feeling myself, but I don’t know. Lets ask some of the other girls they might know.”

“Well umm…” He knew that needed to talk to others, he just was not that comfortable talking with them all yet. The best thing for him was to let Sakura do the talking and play it shy. Considering what they knew about him, it was probably the safest and most believable thing he could do at the moment. And so the two walked over to the small grouping of girls by the window. They like to let the breeze come in and blow their hair around to look pretty. It was a little embarrassing to see girls so young doing something that like. Chiko did not really care except that they also happened to be the coldest, rudest one in the classroom too. And to top that, they were supposed to be the most popular until Chiko had knocked them from that spot in the light. It was this reason he wanted to avoid them, they had been giving him stares of death in his back all week and he knew it. That was unpleasant, but he knew that they were doing it all the time he knew there was someone else besides them.

Sakura bravely approached them almost like she did not really notice the conflict that existed between Chiko and these girls. The moment they saw him they were already glaring at him. Instead of having to take their constant visual assaults he stood behind Sakura hiding the best he could.

There were four girls, two on each side of the table. On his left was Hakuro Mahoshi she was the one that was in charge more or less. They all worked as a group and nearly talked in unison to the point of being scary. So it was hard to actually tell who was the one that they followed, but it was pretty clear after a few days who it was that they followed.

Then on Hakuro’s left, next to the window with long black hair was Katsumi Chofuru. She always had a blue ribbon tying her back in a ponytail, there seemed to be some importance to it. Chiko did not really care, but it was the details that he would notice. While not as ill tempered as the rest she was just as spiteful against Chiko as the rest were.

Now on his right were the evil twins, and while they were not really twins that was his nickname for them. Their names rang similar and were usually found together when not in the company of the other two. If you left them alone they seemed like a nice pair, though Hakuro probably had a hand in tainting them. They always talked and probably the most gossipy women he ever knew in spite of them only being eight years old. If they put their talking talent to actual use they could probably solve the mysterious of life. Unfortunately they would probably come to the conclusion it had something to do with dresses and hairstyles. The evil twins were Mariko Miwara and Masako Heihashi who matched the description of being twins down to nearly looking and dressing a like.

“Hey, umm Hakuro,” Sakura started.

“What you do you want Namimura?” Hakuro said roughly, “And why is Kitayama behind you?”

“Me, no reason…” Chiko said trying to avoid those evil stares. It was scary being this close to them.

“Kohana was wondering if you might have noticed someone staring at her, she says she has been feeling weird all morning.”

‘Man, she is brave,’ Chiko thought, ‘Or just dumb.’

“Sure it is not your breakfast? Heh hah heh.” The other three girls laughed in unison with her.

“So you don’t know anything?”

“Maybe someone has a crush on Kitayama, she is the new girl.”

“Really, you think so?”

“I honestly don’t know or care. Buzz off, we were enjoying our lunch in private until you came along.”

“Thank you,” Sakura said bowing politely to Hakuro. Chiko then quickly followed Sakura away from them hoping not to feel their glares in his back for the rest of the day. Once he felt that they were far enough away from that group of girls he stopped, which Sakura stopped a quick moment afterwards noticing Chiko’s paused state.

“You’re pretty brave talking to them, Sakura.”

“Oh, you think so? Should I be afraid of them?”

‘Oh well, ignorance is bless.’ Chiko did not say anything more to her just sort of shrugging and looking around for someone else to speak with. Sakura and him went around the room asking people, though neither of them learned anything useful. Everyone either had little to say or did not know what they were talking about.

Lunch was coming up to be halfway done, which meant that a lot of people would be outside now. Chiko decided to make his way outside and look around and Sakura decided to follow him. She seemed to be following him around a lot during the week and he did not really know why. It seemed like it should be the other way around, but he did not really pay it too much mind, Sakura did not bother him like most children did. Once outside the two wandered around the main playground area, Chiko casually looking around seeing if anyone might be looking at him.

The playground was full of mostly boys playing games, though there were a few girls walking around or playing with them. Usually the girls would just stay to the side watching or sit around talking. There were a few that would get up and play with the boys, the ones that did not think ‘ew’ at the thought of boys. Not all of them had reached the point yet, though Chiko figured that they would soon. Then they would be watching the boys for another reason in a few more years. He was hoping he would not have to be around for that time that was definitely something that he was not looking forward to.

The two wandered the playground for a bit and stopped under a tree in the corner of the area to take a rest. There were a few other students taking a break there as well. From what Chiko could tell they were playing some game with a ball and tossed it back and forth to different people. They seemed to be focusing on something that was on the ground as well, but at the distance he had been never made it clear. Since he was not paying very close attention it did not make a lot of sense to him, but everyone seemed to enjoy it.

A couple of the students tried to get him to join them as they returned back to the game. Chiko however, refused them preferring not to get to involved with the students in the activity. He did not understand the game and hoped that staying uninvolved would help him blend in. Whether it was working or not, he was not really certain, time would tell as the weeks would go by he figured. It was definitely too early for him to know if they would not notice just by ignoring them all for a week.

Sakura had been asking around a little outside while Chiko was thinking. She returned empty handed as he figured. Hopefully it was nothing to worry about, he knew that there were a lot of people still staring at him for one reason or another. This was just a little weird, but he shrugged it off and decided to try to ignore it. They returned back to the classroom with lunch coming to a close.

As they walked back to the class a couple of the girls join them talking about things from home. Chiko was not paying much attention until the boys came up and started making noise as well. They were excited about the game and then started talking about some movie that was coming out. He did not really know what they were talking about it, something that interested eight year olds. It was all just childish things to him that he did not really care about, though he did notice a strange excitement in his mind about what they were talking about. He tried to shrug it off as simply the eight-year-old part of him that seemed to confuse things.

“Wow that sounds cool,” he found himself saying all of sudden. He wanted to slap himself at that moment. The stupid eight-year-old in him was taking over in the excitement. He did not understand what it was that was happening, but that was all he could really justify it as. ‘I thought that this was supposed to be me inside. That doctor…’

“You think so, I did not know you like it too, Kohana,” one of the boys said.

“Aw, come on she is just a girl, I doubt she likes it.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“She is probably just teasing you.”

The boys started walking up further ahead, Chiko was so embarrassed by the stupid comment he made. But his body was still so excited; it was hard to keep from simply bouncing around. He could not understand this strange feeling of uncontrollable excitement. He was nearly doing a dance around the hall that looked like he was partially drunk or senile from his attempts to reign himself in.

“Are you alright, Kohana?” one of the girls asked, “You’re acting a little strange.”

“I’m just so excited! Gah! Quit talking.”

“You feeling alright, those boys say something to you?”

‘Enough of this already shut up you stupid little girl! I’m sorry; a little lightheaded sun must have gotten to me. I’m alright now.”

“Well, okay, let’s get back to the classroom.”

‘What is with this body, gah? Now I have to keep myself in check from being invaded by the mind of an eight-year-old.’ That was enough excitement for him for one day. Chiko just wanted to sit down in his seat and hopefully completely forget that happened. There were too many weird things happening, he feared what the next strange thing was going to be that he would have to deal with. It was almost too much for him handle, he was endlessly getting caught up in things that he did not want to even be around.

It was fortunate though that class went by smoothly as it could considering the circumstances. The four girls were glaring at him as usual and he had that strange feeling of someone watching him still. Sakura was still next to him asking him for help on the work that they were doing. All of the other students gave him looks infrequently throughout the day. It almost seemed normal to feel like a caged animal for everyone to watch but not touch. He sighed relief as he always did when the classes finished. It was time to leave finally and he wondered how much longer he had to enduring this slow torture.

As he was leaving the school Sakura was following him as usual when Mashiro suddenly came bolting around the corner in his car. In his usual fashion of complete recklessness, he drove far faster than he needed to be in the neighborhood. Everyone watched as he narrowly avoided the parked cars to come a quick, immediate stop in front of Chiko and Sakura. Chiko’s had an expression of exhaustion and exasperation; he really wanted to beat Mashiro senseless.

“Hey my little Kohana, how are you doing today?”

“What are you doing here Mashiro, I walk home remember!”

“Yeah, I know but I felt like picking you up today.”

“Right, got some ulterior motive?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about, Kohana.”

“Sure, lecher.”

“What?! I dare you to repeat that!”

“Lecher!”

“Why you, Kohana, you think you can talk back to me like that!”

“Yeah,” Chiko said as he kicked him in the shins.

“Gah. You know my leg still hasn’t recovered from the last time.”

“Oh my! Please, you two should stop.” Sakura said, though at that point neither was listening.

“Quit whining.” Chiko continued to beat him while Mashiro tried to grab Chiko to hold him back when Mrs. Toki came to find out all of the commotion

“Mr. Takama!”

“Oh, hey Mrs. Toki,” Mashiro said.

“What is going on?”

“Just friendly rough housing.”

“Err…yeah,” Chiko said hoping that Mrs. Toki would not stay around to ask questions. Thankfully she left without much incident. Though it did leave Chiko on edge, but not satisfied with Mashiro, he still wanted to smack him again. “Look, you made the principal come over here. It is already bad enough she found me fighting on the first day.”

“Yeah, yeah. Stop trying to pick a fight with me.”

“Grr…”

“Umm…” Sakura said meekly, finally getting noticed.

“Oh, I’m sorry about that little family squabble you had to see. Kohana is usually a quiet girl, but sometimes her past gets her emotional. You understand.”

“I guess.”

“Stop it already, laying it on thick aren’t you?” Chiko whispered to Mashiro.

“You going to be alright, Kohana?” Sakura said looking genuinely worried.

Chiko hardly knew why she was so concerned, but he did not have much else to say, “I’ll be fine, don’t worry.” He then got into the car hastily dropping his backpack on the seat. Mashiro politely nodded to Sakura and got back into the car. They drove away equally as reckless as before, Chiko would never get used to his driving, not that anyone could. The guy was a complete maniac in a car, no idea why. It was not as though he actually crashed or even scratched the car, which was pretty amazing. The man just loved to drive on the edge of safety for no apparent reason. All Chiko could do was hold on for dear life, they unfortunately have to do some shopping as he found out.

The two went to the clothing store first, since it was obvious that they needed some new clothes for Chiko. He hated wearing all of the fancy dresses that the doctor had, they were far too much for him to wear or even to deal with. Some of them he could not even figure out how to put on they had too many strings and zippers that it confused him. How that doctor was able to have a hobby like that Chiko would never know and hoped to never learn. Unfortunately because of him, he had to find more suitable clothes since he found himself wearing the school’s uniform everywhere almost. While the uniform was more comfortable, it seemed a little ridiculous for him to be wearing it around everywhere.

Chiko started to head to the men’s department when Mashiro stopped him and made him realize his mistake. It was embarrassing, even more so that he had to go into the women’s department. Though more exactly, the girls department for clothes. It also meant that he had to figure out what size he was since he had no idea. Mashiro and him looked through the clothes both about as clueless as what would look good for him. In the end they decided that practicality would have be the way they would go, Chiko did have to wear it after all. There was no part is buying something that Chiko would never wear because it was uncomfortable.

They spent an hour or more trying on clothes figuring out his size and what would work for him. Chiko unfortunately was feeling like a doll again as he would go into the room to change and come back out for Mashiro to look at him. Neither had much of an idea so they would examine it together and discuss it. After an hour Chiko noticed that they had company, apparently the two of them had drawn a crowd. The women were gathered around Mashiro talking to him after he explained their situation. They were giving him ideas and telling Chiko to go back into the changing room a lot. He could hear laughter from inside and he knew what was going on.

When Chiko would come out all of the women would remark how pretty he looked having him turn around. It made him feeling like all he was a display model for them to look at. And across from him was Mashiro talking the women up laughing at his jokes. It made him remember himself and how he would be with women. Always the life of the party and everyone around him listening to what he had to say. Yet now, almost no one cared, they just ignored him now. He was nothing but a little child that no one paid any attention to or cared about, just someone to look pretty.

Before he realized it he started to cry, he hardly even knew what he was doing. He came running out of the changing room half dressed and jumped on Mashiro, not to punch him but rather putting his arms around him. Chiko cried in his shirt not really paying any attention to what he was doing, but reacting on instinct at this point. Mashiro hardly knew what to do completely taken back by what happen, he just sighed embarrassed and held him.

“What’s the matter, Kohana?”

“I want my daddy!”

“Huh…um.”

“Aww, she is so cute.”

“Yeah, umm, well I think we should be going. Thank you for your help ladies.”

“I want my daddy!”

“Hey, easy with the daddy,” Mashiro whispered. They purchased the items that they had decided on and quickly made their way back out to the car. Mashiro completely out of sorts and confused by Chiko sudden change in demeanor could only try to get out of sight as quickly as possible so that Chiko did not create a scene. Once they were back in the car, Chiko was smiling, unnaturally happy when Mashiro looked back at him.

“Daddy!” Chiko said hugging Mashiro around the neck a little painfully.

“What gotten into you, no need for the charade in the car. And you say I lay it on thick. That is pretty cheap playing on your innocent appearance as a child.”

‘Heh heh, I think I might actually enjoy having you around, whatever it is that you are. I don’t know what you are talking about. I’m just an eight-year-old, I just wanted to spend time with my daddy.”

“Right…and guardian remember.”

“Close enough. I’ve had such a tragic life; I’m just trying to fill that empty void where my parents had been. I’m so young and to have lost my mommy and daddy, I need to feel that I have him back.” Chiko went on his speech putting false emotions into it to make sound better, even pretending to shed a tear.

“Now that is laying it on thick. I think someone is getting carried away in their role.”

“Well, what can I say, it is just a tragic tale of love and loss.”

“Ok, Shakespeare, that is enough from you. We still need groceries.” The two left to get groceries, this time not really doing much more than going in and leaving. Chiko did not really want to be staying long and Mashiro was probably tired from the ordeal with the clothes. Once they had the food that they needed they returned home.

From there Mashiro went about making dinner, Chiko had tried to help a few times before. But it was quickly apparent that Chiko was too short to do much more than look cute and hold things for him. Those were two things that Mashiro did not really need in the kitchen. So Chiko went to do the little homework that he had, he usually finished it quickly at the table waiting for dinner to be made. The two sometimes raced to see who could finish sooner.

Dinner was ready and as usual, it surprised Chiko that Mashiro could cook so well. Chiko always bought the pre-made foods that you just heat and eat when he was living at his apartment. If he were really feeling like eating something good, he would go down to the soup shop nearby or a restaurant.

With dinner over and Chiko’s homework finished, he laid about the house lightly drawing whatever came into his mind. He eventually went to sleep and morning came soon afterwards waiting for him to return to school. It was a dreadful thought for him, but he had to go back to school. After his usual banter with Mashiro, he left for school.

On the walk a couple of the girls found him and were talking about things he did not pay much mind to. Though a few boys joined them not along after and they all got talking about school then. It seemed strange their change in subject, but it was something that Chiko could at least relate to since he knew something about the classes now. He still did not talk much with them, but he did seem to gain the interest of the boys for some reason. Whatever it was, the girls ended up pushing him up ahead leaving the boys behind a little puzzled.

“Heh heh, silly boys.”

“You know you don’t have to talk with them if you don’t want to, Kohana.”

“Huh?” Chiko said.

“You know if they are bothering you, boys can be strange at times.”

“Really and annoying too.”

“Oh, I don’t know they seem alright.”

“Hey, whose side are you on?”

“Well, I did not mean to start an argument,” Chiko said.

“Oh, don’t worry about that. It is just boys.”

“Have you heard?”

“What?”

“The boy in the back, they say he has a crush on someone in class.”

“Really? Nobu?”

“Yeah.”

“Who is it?”

“Don’t know, they said he was staring at the front.”

“Boys are weird aren’t they.” They all started laughing, Chiko sort of laughed with them. He was concerned though that it might had been that boy who was giving him that strange feeling the other day. If it was, he was going to have a serious problem on his hand if that boy was going to confront him about it some day. He really did not know what he would do in that situation. Pretending is one thing, but how could he actually even pretend to like some boy, it seemed like he was some pervert or something. ‘This could be a long day.’ He sighed and started to slouch a little thinking about how much trouble he was going to be in.

“You feeling alright, Kohana.”

“Huh, yeah I’m fine.”

“You just look a little tired all of sudden.”

“Oh, sorry about that.” He immediately straightened up laughing slightly, embarrassed hoping to have it ignored. But thankfully they were at the gates of the school now and they entered to their class. The walk had left him with a lot of to think about. It was troubling for him to think about if it was serious. He remembered those girls from the other day making the same off handed comment; maybe it was a rumor that they started. Maybe, they were trying to get even with him in some strange twisted manner. None of it really made a lot of sense to him, but he just hoped that it was all just false information at this point.

The day started about as normal as it could for class. The teacher went through her lessons and Chiko went through his efforts of avoiding her. He still felt that strange feeling from the day before, though as he expected. Whenever he looked in the direction of Nobu he was not looking at him, usually at the front. He did not know if it was because the boy was not looking at him or if he was and just avoiding him. Chiko knew that he had to do something to try to at least confront him during lunch. He did not really know what he would say, but it was getting annoying knowing that someone was staring at him. He could not even draw thanks to how disrupting it was for him.

When lunch finally came he followed Nobu outside. Nearly the entire class was following behind Chiko unknowingly to him. Enough of the rumor had spread to the class that they were all curious to find what was going to happen now. Chiko was focused on trying to find out what was going on and knew that Nobu sat at the root of something. He did not even notice all the students that were behind him that were now in a mob on the playground.

There were already a few students from other classes outside playing that Nobu went to join. But Chiko was already behind him and was about to ask him a question when there was a loud noise from across the street. Everyone looked over to see a large dog in someone’s yard that had gotten loose. The dog knocked over some things in the yard before he was chased out of the yard into the street. Before a car could hit the dog it ran across into the schoolyard.

Some of the students tried to get close to it to be friendly, hopefully catch it, but it bared its teeth at them. The dog was probably scared, but none of them knew that. The students started to run away and the dog chased them barking at them. No one knew what to do, Chiko tried to get its attention unfortunately it jumped straight at him with its teeth bare ready to bite. Chiko tried to block the in coming attack with his arms when Nobu stepped up in front of Chiko. It surprised everyone on the playground that he protected Chiko.

Nobu had a ball in his hand ready to throw at the dog, but before he could throw it the dog was already on top of him. The dog’s teeth came down on the ball, not puncturing it, but it did halt the dog. However, Nobu was knock to the ground from the impact and was holding him off with the ball. Nobu pushed back against the dog getting it off of him and allowing him better balance. The dog jumped back staring down Nobu. Though before the dog could attack again, all of the boys and a few of the girls suddenly gathered around Nobu and glared at the dog with eyes that made even the dog sweat. It quickly ran off the schoolyard leaving the students alone.

The students then suddenly disappeared to the sidelines talking between themselves.

“Dumb dog how dare it interrupt this.”

“Really, dogs have no manners.”

“Hey, quiet.”

Nobu turned around to find Chiko on the ground looking slightly embarrassed and dusting himself off. “Are you alright?” Nobu put out a hand to help Chiko up off the dirt.

“Oh, umm, yeah. Thanks.”

“The dog is gone now.”

“Err…thanks for protecting me. I probably would have beaten it senseless for interrupting me.’

“Did you say something?”

“Oh, heh, nothing.” He said smiling and looked around hoping not to have to look directly at Nobu. It was then that he realized that the entire class was staring at them. Chiko entire face turned red in an instant and he did not know what he was going to do now. Everyone was watching him; they probably heard the rumors and knew he had been asking around yesterday. ‘What am I going to do now, they are all watch me?’

Chiko looked at Nobu embarrassed and at a complete lack of words. He hoped that something would come to him, but nothing was coming. This was exactly what he hoped to avoid and now he was stuck having to find a way out. It was going to be hard to handle though, he had no idea what Nobu was thinking let alone what he was suppose to say. He just hoped that Nobu was not thinking what everyone else thought he was thinking. ‘I want to cry. Gah, I got to stop that. There is no point. Quit resorting to crying, it’s pointless. Gragh!’

“Why are you so red all of sudden, Kohana?”

“I…I umm.”

“You aren’t hurt at you?”

“No, no.”

“Oh, good. Well, since you are here. I wanted to ask you something.”

‘Oh please don’t, please don’t.’

“I know you are new to the school and just moved here. So I was wondering…if you…”

‘Someone do something, dog! Dog get back here!’

“If you had any friends yet.”

“Huh?!”

“I see you alone a lot, so I was wonder if we could be friends.”

The students that had been watching sighed and started to disperse into their normal activities during lunch. But Chiko sighed with relief. It was definitely not what he was really expecting, but would gladly take it. There were still some worries that he had, but overall he could deal with him wanting to be friends. “Yeah, friends is good.” It was about all he could muster at that point, but he was just glad to know that he would not have to deal with this anymore. “I need to rest.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing, I’ll see you in class.”

“Oh, okay. Talk to you later, Kohana.”

Chiko walked off back to the school, he needed to sit down and just rest. It was exhausting being a child, especially with all of the problems that he had. When he returned back to the class, everyone was talking between each other. However, when he walked in the doorway they all stopped, he knew that they were talking about him. But at that point he really did not care he just wanted to sit down and eat his lunch not having to worry about much more than a starving stomach.

“Where did everyone go off to, Kohana?” Sakura asked him.

Chiko nearly feel out of his seat in disbelief, “You did not know why they all left?”

“No, was I supposed to?”

Chiko sighed, “Don’t worry about it, everything is alright.” He really did not know what to think about Sakura, ‘Wow, she is clueless.’ Chiko did not care at that moment to explain things to her. He just returned to eating his food and letting the rest of the class go about its normal business, gossip or otherwise. It was definitely a long day, but at least the longest part was over and he could move on with the rest of the day without incident. Well, he was not sure about incident, but at least one mystery was solved.

Fortunately, other than a little math debate with the teacher he was able to get through the rest of the day without too much trouble. It seemed to go by quickly for him, he was happy to have that feeling gone. He was able to rest at ease not having to worry about what it was that was nagging at him. Class ended quickly for him and he left the school to walk home, since Mashiro would not be picking him up.

On the way home he ran across that dog again, it stared at him. Chiko was not certain what it wanted, though it growled at him baring its teeth again. It seemed like it wanted a fight, though Chiko did not really know if he felt like it. “You know you caused me a lot of trouble. No thanks to you, you have really bad timing. Even more you did not come back when I needed to you. Useless, just leave stupid dog.”

The dog stared puzzled at Chiko as he passed by not giving the dog a second thought. Though as misfortune had it, the dog was suddenly darkened by numerous shadows. It looked back to find several students looking at him, their glares made the dog sweat again.

“Dumb dog, you interrupted a perfect moment and yet made the moment even better.”

“If Nobu was not a coward…”

“You tried at least.”

The dog was even more confused as they started to hug him and pat him on the head. The students scared the dog completely as it ran off down the street with the students running after it. Chiko walked on completely oblivious to the events that had happened behind him. He was simply glad to have the day over and deal with Nobu.

“Today was a better than I expected. But life is so rough as an eight-year-old, who would have guessed. And boys…boys, oh boy, boys.”

Preview for the next episode:

"Now that Chiko and Mashiro have settled into their lives in Osaka everything seems to be going well for them. But a new dark cloud looms over head, someone has come seeking Chiko."

"Hey, Mashiro what's with the serious tone all of sudden."

"Who is it that is seeking Chiko and what will happen-"

"Hey, I'm talking here."

"Quiet, it’s the preview."

"Hmm? Oh."

"Yeah, anyway, what will happen-"

"It’s almost over, the next episode of The Inner Man, Hostage!"

"Stealing my lines!"

"Better not miss it! I am going kick someone else in the shins! Teehee!"

"Someone else..." Mashiro sighs. "Glad it’s not me."