Living A Dead Dream (Baji x OC)

5

"Hey, Daju," Sayu started as we made our way to the gym.

"Yeah?" I replied, looking away from my now-healed tattoo and not so healed hand.

She quickly stopped and bowed, dishevelling her unnatural hair. "Can you please help me study?! Math is totally killing me right now!"

Huh, I actually forgot that she had trouble with math, I thought with a chuckle. "Yeah, of course." She sprung up with a big smile. "You owe me some ramen though."

"A small price to pay for freedom."

"Yeah, your parents are kinda strict," I recalled as we resumed walking.

"Strict is an understatement. As long as I get good grades, I can do pretty much whatever. A single bad grade, and..." She shivered. When we were thirteen, so last year, she got a 70 on her finals, and her parents made her go back to her natural hair color for a whole two months and only let her go out for an hour after school. She certainly looked hideous at the time. In the present time, though, she wouldn't look right with unnatural hair.

"Definitely."

"Traumatizing memories aside... How's the whole coyote among wolves thing coming along?" she asked with a new glint of curiosity.

"That's what we're calling it now? I think it's the other way around."

"Well, whichever," she waved off. "So?"

"I'm gonna do it tomorrow."

"You gotta give me all the tea."

"You think I wouldn't?"

~

The hours went by and we ended up skipping the gym, opting to get more study time in. I had always gotten good grades in school, but I still needed to brush up on some things. Then, soon after some fireworks started, everything went black before I found myself staring at a somewhat familiar ceiling. On top of that, my ears were filled with a familiar cry of despair.

"What the heck, Take?" I asked as I sat up, interrupting his cries.

"It's not my fault!" he exclaimed with tears still in the corners of his eyes. "It's his!" He pointed to Naoto. "What were you doing there, Man?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Naoto asked, just as confused as I was. "Well, anyway, at least we know my hypothesis was correct!"

"Yeah, good for you, I guess."

As Take explained what happened on his end to Naoto, I looked at my phone to see that Sayu had tried texting me at least twenty times during my "inspirational vacation," as I had told her. Technically, that wasn't wrong. Most of the texts were her asking about certain parts of the story that I drew running on no sleep.

Sighing to myself, I stood up. "I'll be back, I have to make a call." I went to the bathroom and closed the door before calling Sayu and explaining everything the best I could while looking at the pictures I had thankfully taken of the pages.

After about half an hour, I cleared up everything and was finally able to see what was going on. "Sorry that took so long," I said as I stretched my aching arms. "So, what now?"

"We're going to my place to find Akkun's number. Turns out he's part of the upper echelon of Toman," Take said. "Wanna come with?"

"Pfft. Not a chance. I know what your place is like." Seriously, it's a trash heap. "I gotta do some stuff for work anyway."

"But this is more important," Naoto said as I grabbed my light jacket.

"As a mangaka with ADHD, I'll either never forget these ideas, or never remember them. At least if I get them written and drawn, I'll remember," I continued as I slipped my shoes on. "Let me know how it goes!"