It’s ending.
This year is ending.
Damn it.
Aki’s sitting on his bed. 2010’s ending and he feels so empty. There’s no accomplishment worth being proud of, no sweet memories to smile at, no hatred to curse, nothing. A cold, silent fear creeps in him, the fear that time passed with him feeling nothing at all.
***
“Oh, Matt. Come in,” the lady warmly greets her guest. She’s in her 40s, looks can be deceiving indeed.
“Thanks Aunt Rachel. Aki’s inside?” Matt politely asks.
“It’s Sis, Matt. Anyway, he should be in his room. Do me a favor and take him out,” Rachel says, looking a bit worried. “He hasn’t come out all day.”
“Haha, that’s Aki-ish alright. I’ll go see him,” Matt says, entering the house. “Oh yeah, you’re as hot as ever Aunt Rachel. Uncle Jack’s so lucky to get to do such a hot woman.”
“Ohoho… you want me to rip yours apart, Matt?” Rachel asks, her face is slightly red.
“No thanks. I still wanna use it.”
***
Matt enters the room. “I dunno how you can stay inside for so long. You’re scary sometimes, Aki.”
“Sup?” Aki asks without looking at him.
“Just visiting my buddy. Aunt Rachel’s worried about you.”
“I couldn’t have known. Mom didn’t say anything,” Aki replies.
“As if saying it makes any difference…” Matt shrugs, sitting next to Aki. Finding a box of darts near him, Matt takes one out and throws it to the dartboard.
“Dangit, not even in the triple ring,” Matt grunts.
“Gimme,” Aki says, throwing one. It’s very close to the bull.
“You’re not even looking at it. Amazing.”
“Not really. I know where the dartboard is.”
Minutes pass, only silence fills the room. Matt occasionally glances at Aki. “Sometimes I wonder how I became friends with him…” Matt’s unable to name anyone more silent than him.
“It’s time,” Matt says, there’s 1 hour left until midnight.
“I have no say in this?”
“Nope. You’re just gonna read or lurk Fakku anyway. Celebrating the New Year with me is way better.”
“I don’t understand. It’s just another day,” Aki says.
“It’s supposed to be a new beginning, a new hope,” Matt says, sighing at his gloomy friend.
“Yeah right. Lurking the net is better than some empty hope,” Aki grunts out, thinking this is a hassle.
“Say what you want, as long as you’re coming with me.”
***
“Oi, Aki,” Matt calls out as they’re walking to the celebration grounds. “Why bother joining a forum you’re not gonna post in?”
“Fap material,” Aki answers simply. “I’m not interested in being crazy popular like you.”
“Ahaha, that’s exaggerating it.”
“You give talks at cons and stuff. That’s crazy popular to me.”
“Well, maybe. But we all love the same thing, just in different ways,” Matt says, smirking. “You should give talks too man. Your anime reviews are awesome. Share them!”
“No.”
“I knew you’d say that.”
“Then why ask?”
They’re walking silently again. Minutes later they encounter two girls from their class.
“Oh my, where are you two going? Another cartoon convention?” the blonde girl asks in a condescending smile.
“……………………” Aki looks at them silently, feeling uncomfortable.
Matt feels the same way as Aki. He hides it better than him though. “Ahaha… we’re gonna celebrate New Year at the square. You girls?”
“Wow, I didn’t think you two would do that… well, you know why…” the brunette says, her stretching of the last part annoys Aki greatly.
Matt lets out a relieved sigh after brushing off the girls. Forget about Aki, even he felt like snapping right there and teach them a lesson. Aki’s still silent, his eyes reflects the hatred in him.
“Whatever. Let’s get this over with,” Aki says, continuing his walk.
***
The festival has just finished, it’s a new page of the calendar now. The two are having coffee.
“So what do you think, Aki?”
“Crowded. Annoying.”
“Hey, come on. People were so cheerful back then, even you gotta be touched a little.”
“If anything, I’m curious. Tell me why you made me go through all this.”
“It’s fun hanging out like this.”
After a while, Aki suddenly asks, “Say, Matt. When you said about hopes, new beginning and stuff… do you really mean it?”
Matt looks at Aki, surprised. After thinking he says, “Not as seriously as you think but yeah, I do feel positive towards the concept. Why?”
“You do know that it means nothing right? It’s not like anything will change just by being hopeful.”
“Indeed. But your feelings will change. By looking at things more positively we get the strength to push on,” Matt says after carefully choosing his words.
“Yeah right. How convenient would the world be then,” Aki says, annoyed at Matt’s words. He gulps his coffee down and says, “I’m outta here.”
“Wait, Aki!” Matt says, quickly following him.
***
Aki bumps to a girl and fell down. “Sorry,” he says by reflex and quickly stands up.
“U-um… A-Aki-senpai!” the girl yells.
“…?” Aki stops, feeling very strange. Who in the world uses –senpai in public? This isn’t Japan!
“Aki…!” Matt catches up to him. Aki doesn’t hear him, his eyes are too fixated on the girl. “You…”
“You’re here. Good. Aki, she’s Mina, our junior.”
“Okay…”
Mina stays silent, unable to look at Aki.
“Come on, Mina. You have something to say right?” Matt urges her.
Mina nods timidly. Then she softly says, “A-Aki-senpai! I love you, so can y-you be my b-boyfriend?”
***
“Damn it, you have a lot of explaining to do Matt,” Aki says, annoyed. One can tell that he sounds livelier than before.
“She was watching you for some time. I investigated a bit and staged the whole thing with her. She has no chances otherwise,” Matt smirks. The Aki a few hours ago would definitely turn her down.
“Mind your own business.”
“Don’t say that. I just wanted my loner friend to have a new beginning.”
Aki smiles.
