SULIVANS

Buddy

Sena stepped her feet out of the building while taking a deep breath.

He was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief after two of his most stressful hours.

So tense it until the boring entrepreneurial lesson can be passed without sleepiness at all.

His eyes continued to open as his brain was running nonstop.

His mind was caught up in the events in the laboratory, precisely under the long table closest to the door.

A hiding incident that made him feel paralyzed spread throughout his body when it ended.

Although the event only lasted for ten seconds, all of his small details were still vividly drawn in his memory.

How his eyes were tightly closed, his lips were pinched to stop trembling, the legs he had tightened to cover his chest that was pounding.

Making Sena unknowingly awaken a special ability that can only be obtained in emergency situations.

Like asking the location of the hall to one of the teachers who passed by without feeling confused and agitated.

Walk into the canteen and then turn around naturally without feeling embarrassed because of the wrong direction.

Then greet some upperclassmen who recognized him for watching his match without any nervousness at all.

When she reached the classroom, Sena entered grumbling because the seating format in the hall was no longer free like the previous lesson.

It was necessary that he would not want to sit next to the person he wanted to avoid the most at that time.

Make him shift his chair further away from Zalva's chair; up to the corner of the table that makes him sit with his right leg out of the table.

The awkwardness was so pronounced, it flowed into his bloodstream, confusing the brain to program the direction of his eyes.

Looking at the blackboard for two hours was excruciating.

Looking at an empty book or a full module of writing will torment his nape.

Looking at the back garden from the glass wall tormented his heart.

Because he had to see the scene by turning his head towards Zalva.

Whereas Zalva is the most unwanted person caught by his current neutrality; intentionally or unintentionally.

Neither his form, his possessions, nor anything else that reminded him of Zalva.

Finally he decided to take turns staring at the blackboard, books, walls, windows, paintings, and any objects that might be interesting to see.

Many times he took turns staring at the wall clock and his watch.

Many times he was frustrated to see the clock moving very slowly.

After successfully repeating all of those activities until it was time to stay another ten minutes, he cheered in silence.

Sena packed her things little by little, preparing to go home.

Starting from inserting the ballpoint pen back into the container, closing the open module unreadable and tucking it slowly into the bag, ending with wearing the bag to the shoulder exactly one minute before the bell.

When the bell went home, he ran as far away from Zalva as he could.

Who subconsciously led him onto the path towards the field where he was training.

Although this road was the furthest route to the gate, he was relieved to know that the chances of meeting Zalva would be even smaller.

Sena walked slowly while humming a little, feeling the strength of her knees increasing.

He can now straighten and bend his knees faster without having to groan.

Presumably eating yogurt does affect the healing process.

Therefore he was also able to squat bend his legs longer in the event of laborat-

Oops.

He patted his mouth tight, then turned his gaze from his knee that evoked unpleasant memories, towards the indoor sports hall in front of him.

From the door of the building located five meters away, Tina came out with two other people.

Making Sena open her mouth and cry out happily.

"Tina!!"

Well, it's been a long time since I met this close friend of his.

If only his knees had been better, he would have run to hug him.

Wasting his happiness to meet his best friend and training friend.

But Tina's face said the opposite.

He returned Sena's call with an unpleasant look; not with happy eyes.

Tina talked for a while to two of her friends, then told them to leave first.

The event was reflected by Sena's eyes then processed by the brain and displayed in a slow state.

Reminds him of events shortly after his orientation as his new student is completed.

It was a time when he had just met and befriended Tina.

At that time they were walking towards the gate while comparing the sports field at this school with their respective school fields.

Then their conversation was interrupted by the voice of a woman calling Tina.

The woman stood not far from their position, waving her hand with a laugh.

He seemed very happy to meet Tina.

Sena smiled back her greeting, wondering if she was Tina's Junior High friend.

But Tina told him to walk first and wait for him in the corridor to go home together.

Tina's face look unpleasant, very contrasted with the woman who looked at her sparkling.

Sena walked while looking at the woman with a wondering look.

At the end of the screening, the face of Tina's friend's woman who appears blurred in her memory becomes much clearer.

He is Rere.

Sena widened her eyes while turning back to the real world.

This time, his net caught the exact same eye expression as his past memories.

The confused and wondering expressions were pinned on the faces of the two friends of Tina.

And Tina's ominous expression was now aimed at him.

De javu experienced this makes him goosebumps.

It felt more intense as Tina's footsteps approached her.

Sena felt the conversation that would happen the next few seconds sounded unpleasant.

"Hi Sena," Tina raised her hand in greeting.

"How are you? How's knee?"

Sena shifted her gaze from Tina's eyes to her knees covered in a long uniform skirt.

Contrast with Tina's sweatpants.

"...good." okay."

This contrasting difference somehow made him feel unfamiliar.

"I'm sorry I didn't go see you.. You, you know, right, how busy our rehearsals are.."

Sena responded with a faint smile.

"You fit in a school uniform to know! So pretty! Too bad your running shoes aren't kepake.."

Sena stared at her black and white shoes that were starting to stain.

Remember the blue shoes given by Tina, whose rope did not come off when she wore it on Friday.

"It can still be, really, on Friday."

Strange questions then surfaced in his brain about the cause of shoelaces that always come off when he runs, but are tightly bound when he is used to learn.

"Ah, yes! You played here last Friday, right?"

Tina clapped her hands together and conversed with her eyes twinkling.

Tone of speech and facial features that Tina installed when she wanted to discuss something that did not match her expectations.

Makes Sena's heart beat slower.

Spurred the brain to suspect the direction of the question.

"Get a new friend, here. The Rere."

Ah, so that's the direction?

At once something inside Sena burst out, feeling obligated to explain something that happened between Rere and him.

"Rere's a good man.."

Tina's glowing smile began to fade, staring at Sena with her fiery eyes.

"..and you're still my friend, Tina."

Tina raised her voice to reply to Sena's calm reply.

"No! We are no longer friends!"

Tina's high tone shocked her, activating Sena's brain to search for a sedative word in anticipation of an uncontrollable state that might ensue.

"Why? Is it because of Rere?"

Sena answered him as calmly as possible, trying to brush off the flow of Sena's emotions that dominated the situation.

Making the pause that occurred before Tina answered felt tense.

"Yes! Because you're friends!"

Silence instantly cried.

Sena felt the oxygen around her thinning and made her choke.

I couldn't find the right words to answer.

"Hey.. Rere is not what you imagined! He's really good-"

Sena said it with trembling and stammering.

"Because of you, the two people I want to defeat, are even friends!"

Tina brandished her hand and pushed Sena's shoulder while saying so.

The slow push that hit Sena's heart hard.

"You don't realize, yes, I'm friends with you because of your talent!"

Tina advanced her steps while ruffled around her waist, approaching Sena's body which moved backward involuntarily.

"Because now you can't run away, making friends with you is no longer profitable!"

Sena just silently listened to Tina who rained a stab in a row to her heart.

Make his brain overload because it receives various heavy tasks that are required to be completed as quickly as possible.

"Isn't everyone friends because they expect something?"

The sentence of the question formed a huge hole without a lid, left behind in Sena's mind.

Tina then turned around leaving him with a leg that was stomped hard.

Flowing anger that will explode if not immediately channeled.

Leaving Sena who was still processing all the events; still not believing the sentences he heard.

Unbelieving with the angry look Tina who feels foreign despite having often seen.

Can't believe the situation turned around like a mess.

In the eye shadow that captured Tina's movement of walking into the building, her brain again twisted the past scene created from her fleeting vision.

The scene where Tina finished conversing with Rere then caught up with her from behind.

The scene where he in the past turned his head back, curious about Rere's state.

The one standing with the face looked pitiful, exactly like his current self.

The scene that is repeated in the present.

The silence that occurs next is used by the brain to cool down, repress due to emotional outbursts that affect the mental.

Keep a recording of this incident in a folder titled painful memories in one of his brain cells.

Sena wishes all this was just a dream.

Nightmares acquired due to sleep fatigue.

But the figure of Rere who ran up to him five minutes later faded all his hopes.

He returns to the real world after five minutes of confusion between reality and dreams.

"Hi, Sena."

Rere waved his hand as he managed to catch his breath as he continued to run uninterruptedly from the field up to this place.

The greeting that made Sena flinch long enough.