>"Man, screw those guys"
>A teacher asked for your help, you couldn't say no
>"I wasn't even gone for *that* long"
>You look around the classroom, your friends didn't want to wait for you
>You sigh, resigning yourself to eating alone
>It's lunchtime so everyone's outside
>Everyone except for one kid
>A girl with blue hair wearing glasses
>She's playing something on her phone
>Have you ever seen her before?
>*Wait... she's that transfer student*
>She enrolled a few months earlier
>Your classmate's interest in her died pretty quickly when she wasn't responding to any of their questions
>Clearly, yours did too since you don't even know her name
>She turns to look at you
>You lock eyes for a second, then she goes back to her phone
>*That was weird...*
>You try to pay her no mind and focus on your food
>After lunch your friends come back and you yell at them for leaving you alone
>"Calm down man, it's not like you only have *us*"
>They're right
>You're the kind of kid that gets along with everyone
>But you don't really feel like you belong to any of the cliques at high-school
>"...Forget it"
>You go back to your seat just as the teacher comes in
>You fail to notice her looking at you
>The next day, you decide to pay attention when the teacher goes down the attendance list
>"...Ouro Kronii?"
>She raises her hand
>*So that's her name...*
>You repeat it to yourself to make sure it sticks
>When lunch begins, you try to approach her
>"Um... hey"
>She looks at you
>"...H--"
>"Hey Anon!"
>Some classmates were behind her
>Kronii hides herself from the embarrassment
>She thought you were talking to her
>"Wanna come with us?"
>"Uh... No thanks, I'll just stay here again"
>"Suit yourself"
>Everyone leaves the classroom
>You're alone with her
>This time, she's not budging from her phone
>"...Sorry about that, could we start over?"
>She turns to you
>"Hi... I'm Anon"
>"...Kronii"
>"Oh, that's a nice name! Haha..."
>Wow you're good
>You try to make small talk with her
>She only gives short responses like "uh-huh" "yeah" "no"
>She doesn't continue the conversation
>She would very much rather continue playing on her phone
>Once the chat dies out, you start eating by yourself
>You try talking to her for a few more days after that
>She clearly doesn't trust you, but you keep at it
>"...Why are you talking to me?"
>Kronii asks one day after pestering her again
>"I... don't know"
>"I just got interested for some reason, sorry"
>You lock eyes again
>"Hey, Anon!"
>It's one of your friends
>"What are you waiting for, dumbass? Come here!"
>"Yeah, yeah shut up"
>You get up and follow him
>Your friend notices her staring at you
>
>The next day, you stay in the classroom again
>*Why am I doing this? I'm such a fucking creep*
>While you're berating yourself, you hear something
>"...Hi"
>It was Kronii, she actually said hi first
>"Oh... hi!"
>Neither of you say anything for a few minutes
>"...What did you do yesterday?"
>"You mean, at lunch?
>She nods
>"Eh, nothing important. I promised them I'd play with them against another class"
>"You play sports?"
>"Kind of? I just play because I'm bored"
>"...I see"
>She goes back to her phone
>She actually talked to you
>You don't want to miss your chance
>"So uh... what are you playing?"
>"It's... this one...."
>She shows you her screen
>"Oh! I play that too"
>"REALLY???"
>She turns to you, with a very excited look on her face
>What a miracle, she showed an emotion
>"Y-yeah, I haven't gotten far though, the third stage kind of sucks"
>"Ohhhhhhh yeah that part, it's no big deal you can do different strategies to get by..."
>She starts chatting up a storm
>She gives every tip and strategy possible to help you
>Too bad she's not that good at explaining things
>You can barely keep up
>"Isn't the art so nice? It's the reason I even started playing"
>"It is, I really like this character"
>"Yeah she's so cute! I also really like the music too, I even found the soundtra--"
>She realizes how much she's been talking
>Her entire face is red
>She tries to hide herself again
>"I... I'm sorry..."
>"For what?"
>"I just... I'm weird"
>"No, no it's fine"
>You can't help but laugh a little, adding to Kronii's dismay
>"You're an interesting girl"
>She's bewildered by what you just said
>
>You manage to keep talking to her after that
>You find out more things about her
>She also asks you questions
>She's just a normal girl who is a bit socially awkward
>Be that as it may, you're still interested in her for some reason
>Might be the face she makes when she's talking about things she likes
>Or how attentive she is when you're telling her your stories fucking around with your friends
>Speaking of, their interest in her comes back
>They start trying to talk to her
>She clams up from too many people talking to her
>You try to act as a mediator to help her out
>It does, she seems more calm when you're around
>She manages to make a few more friends, but just like you, she doesn't fit in any cliques
>So you just keep talking to each other
>They notice how much you stick together at school
>Also how she keeps hiding behind you when someone tries to talk to her
>"Is she your girlfriend, Anon? For how long have you been going out?"
>Of course these questions would come up
>"Shut the hell up... we're just friends"
>"Suuuure"
>*Just friends, huh...*
>Were you even friends?
>You might as well be, since she doesn't talk with anyone else
>But does that mean you could be something else?
>Something more than friends...?
>*...Why am I even thinking that?*
>You try to ignore your own thoughts
>It's not like she'd be interested in that
>
>One day, you keep talking after school
>She always said goodbye before that and walked straight home
>"Kronii. It's getting kinda late"
>"Oh wow, it is"
>"...Wanna walk home together?"
>"...Yeah"
>You keep chatting while walking
>You learn she really likes Pokemon, though she hasn't been able to play much recently
>Strangely enough, the both of you follow the same path, you don't part ways
>*Wait... am I bringing her to my house???*
>You start to get nervous
>Kronii doesn't notice while she keeps telling you about a new game she found
>"Oh, Anon. I live over there"
>She points to a house really close to yours
>"Wait, what?"
>"What's wrong?"
>You point to your house
>"We live that close????"
>"Huh!"
>You laugh for a bit
>"What a nice coincidence"
>"No kidding"
>You look at Kronii
>"Maybe we could also walk to school together"
>She's startled from the offer, but she manages to make a smile
>"I wouldn't mind"
>And that's exactly what you do from then on
>Except you have to yell at her to wake up
>This is how you met her parents, you're a bit embarrassed *this* is the way they find out about you
>They do thank you for helping them with her
>"Do you stay up late studying or something?"
>You try to ask her while walking to school
>Her grades are average, so that seems a bit weird
>She blushes
>"No I... I stay up reading other things"
>"Such as...?"
>"Don't worry about it"
>She walks faster
>"H-hey wait up!"
>She refuses to talk about that topic, moving to games or anything else
>That night, you receive a message
>It's from Kronii
>It's... just a link?
>The url looks weird... You decide not to click on it
>The next day, she asks you about it
>"Sorry, Kronii. I couldn't tell what it was for so I didn't click it"
>She pouts
>"...It's a link for a manhwa"
>"A what?"
>"T-the reason I stay up late..."
>"Ohhh..."
>You check it out
>You can't make heads or tails of what's being said
>...It's in a different language
>You now recall where she's from
>"Kronii..."
>"Do you like it?"
>"I don't know Korean..."
>"OH"
>Guess she got too used to you and just assumed you knew
>She's frozen, trying to find a solution
>"Can you explain it to me?"
>"Huh?"
>"Or like.... narrate it?"
>"Y-yeah! Yeah I can do that"
>She goes to the first chapter and begins narrating
>She's... really good at it?
>Her narration is great, and even tries to use different voices for the characters
>"Kronii, have you tried voice acting?"
>"What? No, I just do this while reading sometimes..."
>"You're really good at it!"
>"Really?"
>"Mm-hmm"
>She smiles, she's happy you said that
>She keeps narrating the chapters until you catch up
>"Thank you Kronii, this is cool!"
>"I'm... I'm glad you liked it"
>You notice her breathing a sigh of relief
>She did seem pretty nervous talking to you about her hobby
>This becomes a weekly thing for the two of you, waiting for new chapters to show up
>Sometimes, she'd call you at night whenever she found a new series
>There's one thing that bothers you, though
>*Wait, since she says they're popular, wouldn't they have translations of some kind?*
>Sure enough, when you look up the titles, you find translations for all of them
>*...Nah*
>You decide not to read them
>Hearing Kronii's narration is a million times better
>Her voice is really nice, you love the effort she puts into voicing the characters
>*...Love...*
>Here come those thoughts again
>You try to shake them off, but you can't
>You enjoy spending time with her
>So much so, you've been looking forward to seeing her every day
>The more you think about her face, the weirder you feel
>And yet, all of that disappears when you actually look at her
>*What the hell is this?*
>You toss and turn in bed, trying to make sense of what you're feeling
>You aren't able to sleep that night
>
>"Did you have a nightmare, Anon?"
>Kronii notices your eye bags and gets worried
>"What? Oh no, nothing like that"
>"You sure?"
>"Mm-hmm"
>You talk about other things
>She stays worried the entire day
>Walking back home together she tries to ask again
>You stay silent for a bit, then try to work up the courage to say something
>"Kronii, have you ever... thought about love?"
>"You mean like... loving a game or a series?"
>"...I don't know... liking a person?"
>"....Like friends??????"
>"No! I mean like... like more than... ughhhhhh"
>You struggle trying to explain
>You've never felt anything like this before
>"Forget it, it's not important"
>Once again you don't notice her looking at you
>She was looking at your hand
>She tried to reach for it
>She stops herself, and keeps walking with you
>You try to forget about what happened
>
>Some days later, you go shopping with your parents
>You've been saving up for a game for a while, you immediately go buy it
>While going back home, something else catches your eye in a thrift store
>It's a Piplup key chain
>You remember Kronii saying she really liked it
>Thankfully, you had enough money left to buy it
>*...Thankfully?*
>You look at it
>*When the hell would I even have a chance to give this to her?*
>You put it on your desk in the meantime
>
>You're chatting with Kronii as normal at school
>"Oh yeah, I bought smash a few days ago"
>She turns to you, she looks excited
>"Not to brag, but I'm kiiiinda good at it"
>You've never seen her play anything other than mobile games and she *is* good at those
>You blurt out something without thinking
>"...Wanna come over to play?"
>*...What did I just say?*
>"Lemme ask my parents first"
>She fiddles with her phone a bit
>"Oh!"
>It seems they replied instantly
>"Yeah! Let's go!"
>She's smiling a lot
>While walking home your worries keep piling up
>*Have I even cleaned my room?????*
>*FUCK it I'm bringing it to the living room*
>*Wait my family is gonna be there*
>*What if I get them to stall her while I clean???*
>*Actually, won't she be nervous with them?*
>You're screaming internally
>You pull out your phone and message your mother
>When you arrive home, Kronii slows down to a crawl
>As expected, she realized what she agreed to do
>"Uhhh I...."
>"It's fine, only my mom is around"
>"She's a nice person, don't worry"
>She trusts you and goes inside
>You introduce her to your mother
>"Aww is this Kronii? She's adorable!"
>"Calm down, mom"
>"Now, Anon, you go do whatever you messaged me about while I chat with this cutie"
>"I... yeah..."
>*I literally told you to not say that...*
>While you go upstairs you catch a glimpse of Kronii's face
>She was silent but you could tell she was screaming for help
>You clean up your room as fast as you can
>When you come back down, your mother is already showing her pictures of you as a kid
>You immediately grab Kronii's hand and lead her upstairs
>"Awww I was about to tell her another story!"
>Upstairs, Kronii takes a moment to recover
>"I'm so sorry"
>"No it's okay"
>"Did she tell you anything weird?"
>She smiles
>"Nothing, don't worry"
>This just makes you worry even more
>
>You start playing some matches
>She's... not as good as she said
>You keep beating her
>"I can beat level 8 cpu's though..."
>You hear her mumble to herself
>In one of those matches she's actually really close to beating you
>You start to hear strange noises
>You dodge her last attack and counter, ending the match
>"**GWAK**"
>...?
>What was that noise?
>"Kronii did you hear that?"
>"H-hear what?"
>"...Nothing, nothing"
>The noises might be from the sleep deprivation
>Looking at Kronii, she's visibly upset
>"...Wanna take a break?"
>"NO, I'm beating you next match"
>The exact opposite happens
>This time, you try looking at her right as you send her flying
>"**GWAAAK**"
>It was her
>"Kronii?"
>She realizes she's been caught
>"...Please forget it..."
>"No... it's fine"
>"Huh?"
>"...It's kind of cute"
>"...Oh..."
>You now realize how close you are to each other
>You're both blushing and don't talk for a while
>"Kids, wanna eat something?"
>*Saved...*
>You go downstairs with Kronii to eat dinner
>You put the key chain in your pocket
>Your mother bombards her with questions about the two of you
>You feel bad for her, she just wanted to play
>Once it got late, you walk her home
>"...I'm sorry about my mom, I didn't expect her to be like that"
>"Don't worry... I still had a good time"
>"Even though you didn't win?"
>She pouts
>"Just you wait, I'll kick your ass next time"
>"Sure you will..."
>You stop walking
>"...Oh, wait a second"
>You grab the little Piplup
>*Might as well give this now*
>"...Here"
>She stares at it
>"I... bought it on a whim..."
>"How'd you...?"
>"I'm pretty sure you told me you liked it one day"
>She grabs the key chain
>"You remembered, huh..."
>"Hm?"
>"Thank you, Anon"
>She smiles at you
>The sunset shines on her face
>She's beautiful
>"Y-yeah, no problem"
>You leave her at her front door and say goodbye
>Once the door closes you go back home
>You sit in the living room
>"You okay?"
>Your mother sits next to you
>"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine"
>Nothing goes past her
>"Just so you know, she was smiling a lot when I talked to her about you"
>"............that doesn't help"
>...At least you gave her the gift
>You go upstairs and focus on anything else, then go to sleep
>While walking to school, you talk acting like nothing happened yesterday
>Your heart skips a beat when you see a little Piplup hanging from her phone
>
>Time goes by in a flash
>You become best friends with Kronii, you do everything together
>You keep talking to everyone, and they keep trying to talk to Kronii
>She's more receptive, even going out with the friends she made
>Helping people out, giving advice
>She even narrated a play one time after the theater kids begged her to
>You recorded the entire thing and she keeps asking for you to delete it
>You're happy she's come out of her shell
>Even though she still prefers to hide behind you when talking to more than one person
>You sometimes give each other gifts "on a whim", small things like key-chains
>You keep every single one of them
>You celebrate each other's birthdays too, coming over to eat some cake
>There is one day the both of you avoid, Valentine's
>You pretend it's not a thing
>Which is something difficult when it lands in a school day where you *have* to interact
>You know how you feel about her now, and it fills you with anxiety
>*Does she think the same way?*
>Of course, anyone else would tell you that she does
>You just can't muster up the courage to talk to her about it
>Still, every day is enjoyable thanks to her
>One day, you play with your friends after school
>You finish up early cause someone got hurt
>After taking your friend to the infirmary you go to the classroom to pick up your stuff and meet up with Kronii
>You see the girls talking to her
>She's blushing and looking down
>"Don't you like him, Kronii? Just pop the question!"
>"N-no I can't do that..."
>"Why not? I bet he feels the same way"
>"You've been together for so long too"
>"Yeah, I'm surprised you aren't going out *already*"
>*Oh god*
>She looks up finally
>She notices you
>She grabs her things bolts out of the classroom
>"Anon I thought you were outside!"
>They're actually upset
>"S-someone got injured and we stopped early..."
>"Well what are you waiting for??? GO!"
>They push you out of the classroom and throw your schoolbag at you
>You're stunned
>*What...*
>So it really *was* that obvious for everyone, huh
>You try to find her
>What will you even say to her?
>It seems she *does* like you
>Is it okay to go further?
>What if you screw up?
>What if she just stops liking you?
>*It's too late to think about that*
>You find her sitting down in the park, staring at her Piplup
>You sit beside her
>You don't talk for what feels like hours
>"...Kronii?"
>"Hm..."
>"Are you scared?"
>"Mm-hmm"
>"...Me too"
>You look at the park
>"...Remember those days you thought I had nightmares?"
>"Mm-hmm"
>"I'm guessing you already know what happened"
>She nods
>More time passes
>"...I just... don't know what to do"
>You let her talk
>"When you tried to talk to me... The first time... I didn't like it"
>"Then you kept doing it... Like I was a new toy or something"
>"I thought you'd stop eventually, especially when I tried to talk to you"
>"But you didn't think I was a weird person"
>"You slowly made me open up"
>"I was so happy to have a friend at school whom I could talk to about whatever"
>"Then it turned out we lived close"
>"My parents were so happy that someone else was around to wake me up"
>"Eventually, I started to feel strange"
>"Whenever I thought about you..."
>"You felt anxious?"
>"...Yeah"
>"But all those feelings go away when we're together, don't they?"
>She nods
>You both went through the same things
>You can't help but laugh at that
>"This is so dumb..."
>"At least we're talking about it now"
>"Yeah, but..."
>You look at her
>"All this time we spent together, I wouldn't trade it for anything"
>"But these feelings won't go away"
>"And I get scared thinking about acting on those feelings"
>"I don't want to lose you because of them..."
>"You won't"
>She turns to you
>Tears are welling up in her eyes
>"How do you know that?"
>"...I don't"
>"I just know I want to be with you... For as long as you let me"
>She hugs you
>You hug her back
>"...You took your sweet time, Anon"
>"You too"
>You walk back home holding hands
>You start to talking about whatever
>Game releases, how she can definitely beat you now
>You laugh at the dumb jokes you come up with
>It's like nothing changed
>You arrive at her home
>You say your goodbyes
>You start to walk away
>"Anon!"
>You turn around
>You feel something on your lips
>A few seconds pass
>She walks back, blushing
>"...I told you I can beat you now"
>She runs to her house, never looking back
>You stare dumbfounded for minutes
>You go back home in a daze
>You eat dinner then go to your room
>She got you this time
>All the anxiety is gone...
>All you feel is happiness
>Neither of you have an idea of what's going to happen now
>You simply want to stay together
>And that's just what you'll do
>Until the very end
t. Nameronii
[School uniform](https://twitter.com/kukakacom/status/1448796859732881427)
[Pain](https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/93297237)