Chapter 7: When Friendship Isn’t Optional

【Eksu PoV】

This girl, Elizabeth, took her sweet time waking up—several slow, meandering hours that felt like an eternity. It was already dawn—more precisely—when her heavy eyelids finally surrendered to sleep, and she opened her eyes to the pale, almost ghostly morning light.

My mother stayed there, fussing over her like she was the most delicate flower in the garden, while simultaneously scolding me as if every mishap in the world had been my fault… damn…

She kept saying,

“Eksu, why did you hurt a lady?”
or
“Eksu, you can’t hit a woman even with a flower petal…”

But I was only defending myself—nothing more than that. I wasn’t the one at fault; it was this girl who had burst into our home uninvited. She came to our house, tried to hit me, and if I hadn’t stepped in to stop her reckless assault, who knows what disaster might have befallen her…

Damn…

Well… back to…

I was still in my room, being punished for having won the fight—more precisely, for having knocked out Elizabeth. As for her… she was in my mother’s room.

After she finally woke up, still groggy and a bit disoriented, she came to me…

…Yes.

This crazy, deranged, mentally unstable girl—complete with wild eyes and a manic grin that bordered on adorable madness—approached me in the soft light of early morning. I was already on the defensive, ready to dodge another of her unpredictable moves, determined to avoid sparking a full-blown fight.

“Eksu-san… you don’t need to worry… I already saw what you wanted… you are really stronger…”

Her tone was a bizarre mix of apology and admiration as she offered her own strange kind of amends.

Well… in a strange way, her apology was both heartfelt and utterly offbeat.

But seriously… where did this “san” come from, and why all this sudden formality?

“Is something bothering you?”

Seeing my doubt, she asked softly, her eyes searching mine for an explanation.

“Well… why are you being so formal?”

“I’m being formal because I think you’re worthy of it… of being my friend… Eksu-san.”

“Exactly… why the ‘san’?”

“A sign of respect?!”

“I mean, isn’t a little extra formality a way to show you really care?”

“Care? I suppose, but it feels like you’re trying too hard.”

“Too hard? No way! I want our friendship to be as unique as you are, Eksu-san!”

“Unique, huh? More like unnecessarily stiff.”

“Stiff? Maybe, but I believe a touch of formality adds flavor to an otherwise plain interaction!”

“Hmm… that might be true in stories, but in real life, it’s a bit over the top.”

“Perhaps, but I’ve always learned to value every polite word. It’s in the books I’ve read!”

“No… friends don’t use ‘san’… damn… who did you learn to interact with…”

“Alone… reading books…”

“That explains it…”

This girl probably only witnessed interactions in stories, and knowing her family’s ways, those stories were always drenched in overly formal manners. I wouldn’t be surprised if she had spent hours with The Tale of Genji, where every greeting sounds like a ceremony. Maybe she even got hooked on Soseki Natsume’s Kokoro, where even a simple word is wrapped in delicate respect. Perhaps she lost herself in the dramatic gloom of Osamu Dazai’s No Longer Human or admired the cool, elegant dialogues in Yasunari Kawabata’s Snow Country. That’s probably why she ended up speaking so stiffly, even in a situation like this…

“Then… are we friends?”
“hmmm….”

And now… if I say yes, this crazy girl will be in my life forever—with all her over-the-top manners and unpredictable antics… I want to say no… no, more than wanting to, I really need to say no…

“N….”

Before I could utter another word, my hand appeared suddenly, as if it had materialized out of thin air. I was sure she had been listening to every word of our conversation…
No, I’m certain she was listening, her attention locked in like that of a detective on a wild case…

“N….”

I tried to mumble, “N-no, I don’t want to—”
Before I could continue, my mother’s icy glare stopped me in my tracks.

“Of course my son accepts…”

She declared, her furious look leaving no room for debate.

“Nonsense, Eksu! You must accept her.”

My mother added, her voice sharp and unyielding as she glared at me with a stare that could freeze fire. I opened my mouth to protest, but my words were swallowed by the overwhelming pressure of her disapproving eyes.

The way my mother looked at me really scared me; I had never seen that look before. She looked at me as if I were committing the worst crime in the world, yet I just didn’t want that crazy girl as my friend. What good would it do to be friends with a girl who seems to be addicted to the moon? More fights? A future like my father’s and mother’s—with marriage and more fights? Seriously? No, I don’t want that…

“Don’t try to argue, Eksu. Elizabeth is exactly the friend I’ve always wanted for you,” she insisted, her tone a mix of authority and an odd, possessive warmth.

“Really⁉️”

Elizabeth looked at me like a whining puppy, her expression a mix of stubbornness and that odd, affectionate desperation only she could pull off. 

She seemed to be trying to appeal to a good side of me—a side that I couldn’t show, not now, not to this crazy woman.

If I weakened now, if I let her win, she would continue, she would come back, and she would challenge me again—over and over again.

On one side was her tearful eye, and on the other was my mother’s furious eye.

I did not know what to do.

“Yes…”

There was nothing else I could do.

I thought about everything: if I tried to refuse, my mother would simply shut me up and force her way through. 

Again… again… and again, until I finally gave up. 

That was my only way out…

Well… whatever.

It is what it is…