Chapter 5: Best Friend To This Black Haired Magician!!
"Look... Calm down, stop crying...Please... If you stop, I will tell you the secret to get more friends, okay?"
At this point, Yumi was bluffing. He never had any friends in his school, due to his pathetic reputation. He was rejected twice and many people were talking behind his back, so it was pretty impossible to make friends. Who would want to be friends with such a zero?
Well... Although he didn't know how to make friends in real life, he had tons of online friends. The Internet was a great world. No one knew how much of a bad reputation you had, and they only judged people based on their actions, personality, and in-game abilities.
Yumi was a great gamer. He played many games, be it MMORPG or First Person Shooters. He was known for his gaming skills across Japan in many games, yet due to his toxic nature of blaming his teammates and complaining about bugs and glitches in games, he wasn't allowed to become pro and play competitively. Not a single team wanted to have him on their team even though he was a prodigy.
This broke the hearts of some of his admirers and followers. He was popular online, yet he didn't have a single friend in real life.
Maybe he should change in this world.
The naive Yunyun believed him immediately.
"R-Realy? I-Is there a way I can make friends instantly?"
'She believed it!'
*Cough* "O-Of course there is! T-There are tons of ways to make friends. I have plenty of friends from different countries! If you want to, I can give you some...tips and tricks!"
Yunyun nodded as if her life depended on it.
"Yes! Please!"
Seeing how energetic she became, Yumi tried to think of some tips.
'Easier said than done...Um...I am pretty sure I read a tutorial about that somewhere on the internet...'
"Um...Yes! The first thing you need to do, if you want to make friends...is to...um...get to know each other better! That way, you can understand each other better, and you will find topics to talk about. Finally, if you find out that the other person likes something you do, then tell him and you can discuss that!"
Yunyun's smile grew wider and she took out something that looked like a diary and a pen.
"That's useful! Thank you so much! Do you have any other tips?"
"Ehm...Are you writing them down?"
"Yes! I've never met anyone who knew how to make friends. All of them said that it just comes naturally. I need a better description to understand stuff like that, as I am not the brightest person around. The things you were talking about were really profound!"
'Profound? That was just some blabber and gibberish from a website I used to visit when I didn't know how to socialize myself...I see now...we are pretty similar...'
"Um...Should we start then?" Yunyun asked.
"Start...with what?"
Yumi felt as if he made a mistake. He shouldn't have told her that.
"I-I really wish to have a friend...S-So...since you already have tons of friends...with that appearance...I figured that you might be my first one...H-How about it?" The look on her face was a mix of anticipation and sadness.
"Wait, what? Wait a second... What do you mean by that??? What's wrong with my appearance?"
Yunyun stepped back once again. She was afraid to speak up but she still told him.
"Um...y-your eyes are a bit scary... w-when you grin at me like that with those shark teeth, I feel very uncomfortable, scared even. Y-Your face is that of a person who already murdered someone before...and I've never seen someone with white hair before, that wasn't at least a grandpa and also...please don't kill me..."
Yumi's face slowly changed with every word she spoke which naturally, made Yunyun even more afraid than she already was. Yet she still wanted him to be her friend.
In the past, she even summoned a demon just to be her friend, so why shouldn't she try to make a friend with someone who looks just like a demon?
'Is making a friend...a bad choice? Or should I...go for it? But it's a girl...' Yumi mentally sighed and thought.
While Yumi didn't trust women, that didn't mean he wasn't attracted to them...He just didn't want to enter a relationship with them, as he wouldn't want to be betrayed again, but making a friend...was possible, right? If a friend betrayed you, it wouldn't hurt as much, right?
His online friends never betrayed him, yet making a real-life friend was a hard choice. He didn't know how it felt to be betrayed by a friend, as he never experienced it, but he was sure it might happen at some point in his life.
'Geez, what should I do...'
While Yumi was seriously thinking about his choice, Yunyun was patiently waiting. She didn't want to rush him, as he might be her first friend ever.
Back at the Crimson Academy, she thought she found friends, yet her rival, Megumin, told her that they were only using her to get the things they want. She also told her, that it wasn't a true friendship and that she shouldn't listen to them. In the end, Yunyun did as she was told, and didn't talk to them anymore, yet she was still lonely.
'Is it even possible to be friends with someone?'
Animals hated her, people avoided her, even plants ran away from her when she tried to talk to them about her problems. She had to play games for two players all by herself. Her birthdays were always lonely, not even her parents were at her birthday party, as they were the leaders of the village, and they had plenty of work on their hands.
She spent her childhood in solitude. The only person she ever talked to, was Megumin. She tried getting closer to her, by telling her that she wanted to be her rival. She even lost on purpose a few times, so that she could talk to her a bit longer.
As a last resort, she decided to summon a demon. She thought that if no one will be her friend, then a demon surely will. They got along pretty well, yet she couldn't call him a friend because even the demon didn't want to be her friend. He just called her the summoner.
The demon was eventually killed by her clansmen and she was alone again. That's when she heard that her rival, Megumin, decided to leave the village to spread her fame across the world, as the strongest magician.
She saw this as an opportunity and went on an adventure. She also saw this as a perfect way to get more friends, as people inside of her village didn't really like her all that much. She hoped that she would have more chances of getting friends outside of the village.
It took her two weeks to get into the beginner's city of Axel, usually, the adventure wouldn't be that long, as you only needed to travel for two days at most, but she was a clumsy person and she misread the map. Once she got into the town, she searched everywhere, yet she couldn't find her rival... She never really talked to anyone along the way. She was searching for her everywhere. After a week of trying, she tried to expand her searching area to nearby forests and villages, as Megumin was from a really poor family, and she might have slept somewhere outside.
Today was her last attempt and she met this man, she wasn't sure what to think of him. He looked scary, acted weirdly, yet she was happy that he wanted to tell her the secret about friendship. And seeing him hesitate, whether he should be her friend or not, really pained her heart.
'P-Please...' She silently crossed her fingers behind her back, hoping for the best.
"Well...Fine. I don't mind being your friend. But we need to establish some rules, okay? Just a bunch of friendly rules."
"R-Really?! A-Are you really sure?!"
Yumi sighed and replied, "Yes...Don't worry. As for the rules, I will tell you about them once I...once WE explore this cave, okay? But we need to be careful because something dangerous might lurk in this cave."
Yunyun was overjoyed and happily walked inside the dark cave.
"You can count on me! I will protect you from anything... My friend!"
She looked towards the dark passage and chanted, "Fireball!"
A giant ball of fire shot towards the ground, it spread towards the sides of the cave wall and illuminated the dark place.
Yumi watched all of it in amazement.
'Magic sure is amazing...'
Yunyun turned around and smiled.
"We don't need torches, now."
Seeing her smile, Yumi didn't know what to think.
'This girl...honestly...' he nodded as a response and both of them entered the deeper parts of the cave.
It didn't take them long before they found a dead end.
Yumi was a bit disappointed as he expected to find some kind of treasure inside, but Yunyun was happy, as the moment they will leave the cave, her new friend will give her tips and tactics about friend-making.
Just as they were about to leave, Yumi noticed that there was something wrong with the wall. The wall was colored differently from other walls in the cave.
'It's suspicious.'
He pointed towards the wall and said,
"Yunyun...do you have some kind of magic that could destroy that grey wall?"
Yunyun nodded and replied, "I can cast plenty of spells, but using magic inside of the cave is a bit reckless...The ceiling might collapse on us."
'Oi...Didn't she just use a Fireball? Wasn't that dangerous as well?!'
"I see...well...I am pretty certain that this wall in front of us, is fake. There has to be some kind of mechanism that would allow us to pass. Try to look around."
"I understand! Leave it to me!"
Both of them were touching the walls of the cave in hopes of finding some kind of switch but in the end, they couldn't find anything. They were just wet and cold walls of the cave.
"Jeez...this is hopeless...Yunyun, you found anything?"
"No. I am sorry I wasn't of use."
"It's fine. you don't need to apologize so much. Hm? What's that?"
Yumi spotted a black button in the corner of the cave. He clicked on it and the fake wall slowly inserted itself into the ground, revealing a hidden entrance.
"You did it, Yumi-san!"
Yumi smiled and entered the hidden passage. The moment he stepped inside, he saw the leftover bones of a human, together with a diary that was lying on the ground next to him.
He went forward and examined the body.
'That's an actual skeleton... This was a person who once lived...Damn, skeletons and bones in games are funny but seeing it in real life isn't all that pleasant. How is Yunyun faring.' He looked at her face and noticed that she was relatively calm.
"Um...Yunyun...Are you okay with this?"
Yunyun tilted her head out of confusion.
"Why wouldn't I be? Oh, because of the bones? Well, I've seen worse things. Seeing a dead person only comes as normal to me. This is a dangerous world and adventurers die all the time. But you are a traveler, right? Have you ever seen the leftovers of a person before?"
Yumi shook his head and replied, "Negative. It's a shock, that's for sure."
He picked up the skull of the man and lifted it up. "So this is how I might end up if I am not careful enough, huh."
Yunyun revealed a lovely smile.
She patted him on the back and replied, "Don't worry! I will protect my friend! You can count on me!"
'This girl...Honestly...You are making it too hard for me. If those terrible things didn't happen to me in the past, my heart might have moved just now...'
Yumi sighed and put the skull back at its place, following which he frowned and stopped moving.
"What is it, Yudai-san?"
"...Wait a minute... Does that mean that you are scared of my face, but not the dead body? How bad is my face then?!"
"I-It's...not that bad...Yes, it's not...but I was really surprised that you were uncomfortable with the dead body as I thought you were used to ...killing other people..."
"Oi...I can't ignore what I just heard! I am not a killer! Do you hear me?!"
"I-It's fine! I-I will be your friend no matter how you look like!" Yunyun replied but kept her gaze fixated on the ground.
'God damn it!' Yumi shouted inside his mind and picked up the diary on the ground next to him.
(Please, if you find this, give it to one of the heroes from another world!)
'Hm? The first part is in this weird language, but the rest is in Japanese...Was he summoned into this world as well?'
Yumi read on further and the more he read the diary, the more his expression changed.
[My name is Ryouma Raikiri! I've been summoned from Japan by this elegant, beautiful and gracious goddess called Aqua-sama. She was simply too divine and kind.]
'OK! Let me stop it here! Elegant? Divine and Kind? Is there another goddess called Aqua? Is this guy blind? How is that woman anything he just described?!'
Yunyun saw his reaction and was concerned about him.
"Is everything alright, Yumi-san? You don't have to force yourself to stay in one room with a deceased person, it's fine. We can leave!"
"No! I am completely fine. Just let me finish this real quick, okay?"
He brought his attention back to the diary and read.
[This is my last message. Unfortunately, I won't be alive by the time you find this diary. I've been attacked by Alexei Barnes Alderp, the current lord of the Alderp family because I found out a terrible secret about this world and I wish to share it with you. From what I've learned, there isn't only one Demon King, but there is a lot of them! About fifty. ]
'FIFTY?! I was told that I need to defeat one Demon King in order to get transported into this world...How am I going to kill fifty of them?!'
[The last thing I wish to say, is that Alexei Barnes Alderp has a high-level demon in his basement. I almost didn't manage to survive his attack. As a result, I lost my arm but luckily, it wasn't my dominant arm so I could still leave you this message. To the lucky soul who finds this diary, you are free to take everything from my pouch and use it as your possession. I can feel that my time has come, so the last thing I am going to do is to pray to that beautiful goddess. May I see her again. Goodbye.]
'Ah, I am done reading.' Yumi tore the diary in two and threw it away.
"Um...Yumi-san? What was written inside? Could you understand it?"
From behind of Yumi's back, he heard Yunyun's question.
"Yes, of course, I can. This is Japanese after al-"
Yumi realized he just had a slip of a tongue and looked at Yunyun who was too stunned to move.
"B-But that shouldn't be possible...There are similar symbols in our village as well, but no one knows what they mean...Not even my father, who is the chief...does...So how can you know..."
'Geez...how am I going to explain this...'
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