Chapter XX: The Changes
One day, Masashi texts Kota and wants to know if how is he doing. Kota is still down from what happened. Masashi feels bad to say this and reveals that Kota has limited time to say this. He tells him that after 2 years, Akiko will be leaving Japan and will go to America. Kota is surprised by this and feeling that time is ticking fast and is chasing him. He has no other choice but there are two ways to say it which are either online or in person. He still feels nervous to talk to her. Masashi might be going to the same school as her, though her choice of school is still yet undecided.
However, Kota is also in doubts if she would still be willing to listen to her and if she would still like him. He also texts Asahi how is he doing. He video calls Asahi. Asahi shows him his set-up and the other equipment for gaming. Kota asks if he'd watched the latest episode of Money vs Girlfriend. He tells him that he had never watched anime for the whole week. He also says that maybe he'll quit on anime. Listening to this, Kota feels down again and feels stupid. He still thinks that he's caught up since everyone is leaving the anime or weeb stage and moves on to others. Of course, we have our own life in which makes us different from others. Not everyone are the same and has the same talent. Asahi then tells him that maybe he'll be going to a different school. To get this out of his mind and tries to cheer up, he asks Asahi if they could still play chairs wars on Craftsburg. Asahi accepts and also invites his friends from Accord to play with them. They all play and during their 5th match, Kota begins to think about her again. The internet connection appears to be unstable. He tells Asahi about this and he'll play with them later.
He tries to execute Plan B which is doing it again on another date. Asahi asks Akiko again but no reply at all. He tells Asahi that it's been awhile that he'd got a reply from her although they are close in real life. Their conversation feels cold as of now. Kota also jokes that maybe she's very cold as the Antarctic Ocean. Asahi says that she's still the same Akiko they know though she's not insensitive or anything. On the group chat, it turns out that they're in the middle of an event in the famous RPG, The Twins. Although Kota played the introduction of the game and still can't find time to finish this so he is apparently caught up with the game and still doesn't understand what they're talking about. Asahi tells him that Akiko wants to be more of an extrovert than of a introvert. Kota makes a point,
"How can she become an extrovert, given that type of personality she has, mainly being shy. She is not even brave enough to text me or text other friends in the middle of a game? An extrovert is called an extrovert because he/she is very open to his/her friends which in the context means, texting them and talk to them."
Yet she is caught up in the game together with Masashi, Enmei, and 4 other guys. Feeling sleepy, Kota goes to bed and thinks to himself,
"I rather prioritize my friends than games although games are where you makes friends or get scammed. What is up with that girl?"
He looks at his clock which tells 2:10pm then sleeps. An earthquake happens in Akiko's area and she sneezes. He wakes up to find this but he does not seem to bother.
While inspecting the Truth or Dare on Accord, Kota comes across a question.
"What do you dislike about the opposite gender?"
He looks up the one who answered that and it turns out that it's Akiko. She answered,
"Sensitiveness and Masculine"
Although, he was primarily like this, he felt kind of offended. But in his mind, he simply answers,
"On what you see in a person, it isn't about being sensitive or masculine. The important thing is the content of their behavior and other unique quirks."
His mother then calls him, coming from the kitchen so he goes down to help her. Meanwhile at the Chisai residence, Akiko seems to be in a nice slumber. A wind from her window topples down a loose manga from her bookshelf then it opens her closet a bit. Inside the closet, a Haori-patterned jacket that has a design of the scales of a butterfly's wing and has a pinkish tint at the bottom is hanging. On one of the pages of the manga, it appears that the character that wears that Haori is shipped with the character who wears the split-Haori.
"Everyone can make a change.
You only need time to accept it."
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