PHASE 3 - NERD SQUAD, ASSEMBLE!

You know the drill. Every day I struggle to get to my school. My house to school travel time is one thing, the traffic jam is another. But it's completely different when your bus driver has anger management issues and proceeded to brawl another driver in the middle of the highway. I had fun watching this street fight since I'm in the front seat, but deep inside I know I'll get screwed once again. One and a half hour late.

"I'll get scolded by Macho Steel again..." I muttered while panting and running in the hallway all at the same time.

I drifted in the corner, still maintaining my full speed. But unfortunately, a girl with the same speed as mine, who have this toast hanging on her lips, was running towards my direction. A head-to-head collision happened!

I can’t see anything. It’s because the buttery toast was slammed to my face. When I removed the sticky breakfast, I realized that my face is now full of butter.

“Aauuuu…” There was a soft cry in front of me. It sounded like a Japanese girl’s moan in some dirty anime.

And guess who. It’s Tiara. I think I’m being tested by fate.

She was covering her head with both of her hands due to excruciating pain. Because of the said impact, she was sitting on the ground, so I accidentally saw her panty.

“M-Mister Alaric?” She finally realized it was me.

“H-Hello, Tiara…”

“I-I’m so sorry that I bumped you!” She immediately stood up and pulled a white handkerchief, and attempted to wipe my buttery face.

“I-It’s okay.” I softly slapped her hand away from me and pulled my own handkerchief. I cleaned my messy face on my own. “Let’s go, Macho Steel...errr Mister Kent will be yelling at us.”

“R-Right!”

It's convenient that we're already in front of our classroom, and no one heard us colliding on each other's heads. We hurriedly opened the door and saw Macho Steel glaring at us as if he was waiting. It seems like he used his x-ray vision to detect his unpunctual students coming. He has these hands on his waist as if he's showing off his huge biceps. Maybe he's really Superman.

"WHY ARE YOU TWO LATE!?"

I reasoned out that I woke up early and just unlucky to be caught in a traffic jam and in a road rage, which is totally true. But still, my excuses are unpardonable. Meanwhile, Tiara's justification is that she has this 'part time job' during the night, so she overslept. But unlike mine, Macho Steel unfairly accepted the woman's explanation!

Gender equality my ass.

<>

We went to our respective seats and the class went on. Macho Steel's lectures about math are sure boring, so I got myself spinning my pen in my hand just to survive this hellish hour that seems like an eternity. I had a side glimpse of Tiara, who is somewhat uncomfortable on her seat. She's just slowly shaking her body, and her face looked pale.

Then there was this loud roar. All the students and our teacher got startled, wondering if there's an earthquake. But there isn't. I'm the only one who knows the source of that uproar.

It's Tiara's tummy. I'm the nearest person to her and know for sure that she missed her breakfast because of me. I feel slightly guilty for her flying toasted.

I reached a pack of biscuit on my bag and carefully watched her face and wondered what she would look like. She noticed me and got her puppy gold-brown eyes fixated on the biscuit. She observed every movement I made from cracking the biscuit from entering my mouth, chewing it, and gulping it down. She really looks like a dog wagging her tail for some food right now, and I know she's telling me to toss some for her.

She's even drooling like hell.

It’s so fun to tease her, but I think it’s enough. I grabbed another pack of biscuit from my bag and secretly passed it to her like a drug dealer. She softly expressed her gratitude by saying thanks.

“Thank you so much for this biscuit, Rikkun.”

“Ric-kun?” There’s a big question mark on my face.

“I’ve read in a book that you call your friends by their nicknames. I was up all night formulating a nickname for my first friend. Is Rikkun okay with you?”

“Y-Yes.” I forced a smile. That nickname is cute but cheesy, and it doesn’t suit a masculine man like me. I just agreed to end this annoying conversation.

If I didn’t, I might get punched in the face once again. This Japanese girl has unstable mood swings.

<>

During the lunch break, I side with the nerds who have the same interest as me; games and anime. We all have antisocial attitudes which made us sociable to ourselves only. There are five of us:

Chrisprel; the short white handsome fella who broke up with her girlfriend a month ago because of a certain DotA gang war. He’s handsome and white, but I have a leverage which is height.

Ranley; the fat big guy who is a seller of lewd anime merch. He’s just your regular Indian guy, except that his body build is like a bouncer who got locked up in the kitchen for five months.

Daughty; the ugly thin bastard who got rejected by her crush and attempted to commit suicide by drinking ten sleeping pills. His weabonese talk would sometimes give us extreme anxiety. You have been warned.

Heushac; a chunibyo or a guy who mistakes anime from reality, who spends his whole time in class drawing awesome swords and badass characters on his notebook. Did I already say that he smell like a hobo?

And there’s me, Alaric; who has the largest collection of waifu pictures on my phone. At least waifus don’t break your heart.

All of them are good persons and are still single. This is where I belong and also where I feel at home. Sometimes we get teased by idiot hunks and get laughed at by bratty hoes, but no one dares to bully us because we five are smartasses.

“Did that nose got broken yesterday?” Heushac asked after gulping her spoonful of curry. “That punch was solid!”

“That’s what you get from harshly rejecting Lushie! You’re so lucky that there are a lot of people who like you!” Daughty sermoned. “Just because you’re a heartthrob doesn’t mean you have to reject girls in that manner!”

“Who’s Lushie?” I tilted my face, and then reasoned out. “That freak stalks me from school to the bus terminal! You should put yourself in my shoes! Being handsome is hard!”

“Daughty will never experience that, so no hope.” Ranley chuckled, having breadcrumbs erupt from his mouth. All of us except Daughty laughed.

“You should pay your attention to the new girl.” Daughty made a smug at me. “That Tiara Hikari is like a kawaii waifu hime-chan. I even saw you giving her some biscuits. Do you know each other?”

I was silenced for a long time, trying to make up a story inside of my head. I took so long to answer so Chrisprel resorted in teasing me.

“Don’t tell me that you will be trying to hit on that girl?”

“O-Of course not!” I defended. “I’m just returning a favor, that’s all!”

“What favor?” A follow-up question by Daughty.

I cannot tell them the truth. I promised to keep Tiara’s secret because she’s the one who saved my life. But enlightening these dudes will surely cheer them up, knowing that magical girls or Gate Guardians like Tiara are real.

I never had the chance to answer. The four kept silent, and they were looking behind me. Just like a scene from horror movies.

“U-Ummm...Rikkun…”

The four nerds had their eyes widened. I can read that their faces are protesting “Why is that Arrogant Alaric being chased by that kawaii waifu hime-chan!” and “Rikkun? That’s a cute nickname! Are they close friends?! Impossible”

We five turned our attention to her. Tiara’s cheeks are completely blushing, maybe because of her shy nature. I could never forget that I am her ‘first friend in the outside world’.

“I-I-I n-need you t-to come with me.” She mustered all the courage she got.

<>

I followed her until we reached an empty classroom. She immediately locked the door when we were inside to ensure that we’re the only ones here.

Tiara pulled out a pen-like hairpin from the back of her hair. It looks like a staff where there is a figure on the tip; a red fox embracing a transparent orb. “Please hold this.” She said.

As soon as I got my hands on the hairpin, the orb glowed with blue light.

Tiara’s eyes became brighter than the glowing hairpin. “It’s what I thought.”

“W-What?” I was puzzled.

“You have the potential to become a Gate Guardian.”