1 Chapter 1

I spent my life studying and rooting to be a consistent top student in middle school. I focused on studying and my life has not enough past time or entertainment aside from reading books for my studies; Sciences, Mathematics, Language and History. Only Literature allowed me to view some parts of what they called "fantasy"

I graduated from middle school as the valedictorian of the class so that some say that I am a genius. Well, genius isn't the applicable word for me, maybe hardworking is.

I got my scholarship in a prestige academy for high school where the entrance exams can't be passed by seventy percent of the top students from different middle school.

I got lucky by enrolling myself in the pilot section.

First day of school is always really boring. I sat on a seat of my choice - located at the back of the room, beside the wall opposite the windows - before the orientation. I went to school thirty minutes early for me to have a rest before the start of the class...

...until...

...a girl with orange-yellow headband with ribbons on both sides opened the door and sat beside me. She looks weird and full of confidence. She looked at me and suddenly snubbed.

The time to introduce ourselves has come. I introduced myself with my name, age and school where I came from. This seatmate of mine introduced herself with her name, school where she came from and a phrase which I find weird. "I am not a normal boring person so if there is anyone weird here, come and i might befriend you!"

There were some who got their attention and there were some who just stayed silent.

At lunch break, I found her taking out her lunch pack designed with some bunnies and stars. She took out her phone and giggles while she was eating the food with her red chopsticks. She looked and snubbed at me again.

The class has ended and we needed to buy some textbooks for reference in our subjects so I decided to drop by the shopping district to buy some. Before the teacher leaves, my seatmate was already packing her things up and hurried out when the teacher went out of the door. I also went my way to buy my books.

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In the shopping district, I went straight to the biggest bookstore where I can find variety of books. I noticed my seatmate running towards the... Man..ga? Ma-nga? Whatever it is- read- section.

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaa~!!!! I got the manga release early!!!!! Yay!!!!" she shouted loudly enough to make the people around look at her. She didn't care whether she got everyone's attention and rushed to the cashier. She didn't even buy the reference books that we need.

The reference books that I need were already in my hands, so I paid for it in the cashier and out of my logic, I followed my seatmate. I assure you that I wasn't stalking her; I just wanted to know why she is like that – ignoring people at one time then shout for joy at some time. She stopped by a convenience store so I decided not to follow her inside and waited outside the store, sat on the chairs and read one of the books that I bought.

I heard the chimes of the convenience store's door and saw my seatmate eating a slim snack stick while holding a bag of goods. I was on the midst of following her until she reaches home when a crowd of students showed between us. I lost sight of her so I decided to go home and read my books in advance.

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I arrived home at seven and I ate dinner with my family; my mother, my father, and my little sister. After dinner, my sister and I go to our respective rooms to study. I took out the books and read the lessons for the first quarter. I can focus on my studies as long as I am in my room that is surrounded by three bookshelves. I slept at ten in the evening.

I woke up at five in the morning to be prepared for school. I took a bath, wear my uniform, and eat breakfast with my family. I walked to my school and arrived at six thirty. Surprisingly, my seatmate was wearing an eye patch on her left eye, so I asked her. "What happened to your eye?" she replied, "Don't talk to me, I don't exist" in a very gloomy manner. My mind went "what do you mean you don't exist?!" I think she's the weirdest girl I've ever seen.

I was really curious about her so I decided to talk to her during break time. I found her at the roof deck in the fifth floor and I approached her. "Hey, are you with somebody? What are you saying you don't exist?" After she heard me, she glared at me and said, "I said earlier that you shouldn't talk to me because I don't exist. Now, you are also cursed. I warned you." And she left me alone with a lot of questions in my mind. Is she just suffering from PMS or is she a bully victim? Does she have a condition wherein her personality changes in every nth hour? I got a lot of questions in my mind that makes me want to know more about her.

She didn't talk to me on the following periods and I noticed that she was listening to the teacher carefully during our last period so I focused on listening as well. She suddenly took her pencil and wrote something on her table. After the last period, as everyone went home, I peeked on her table and there was a question saying, "Who is dead?" I think that statement freaked me out so I ran back home and drank a hot tea to calm me down. I was thinking, is my seatmate a ghost? Can she talk to ghost? All I can say about her is she's like a freak or someone with psychological disorder.

I went to my room to make my assignment and read the next chapters of the subjects earlier but I realized that I forgot those books under my table. This is the very first time that I forgot something because of thinking of someone unrelated to me. Fortunately, tomorrow will be our first meeting in P.E. class so everyone can bring things of their favorite sports and wear comfortable clothes before the school release of assigned P.E. uniform – because our uniform depends on the sports that will be taught to us. I prepared a shirt and jogging pants so that if the teacher asks me to choose a P.E. lesson, it would be track and field. Then, I slept for the night.

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It was another morning and another day to get to know my seatmate, uh. No. I mean, it's another day to get to know the next lessons. I did my daily routines and went to school. I went straight to the gym for our P.E. class. As usual, I got first in our class but this time, I'm as early as six fifteen. It could be because I slept early last night when I didn't do my daily-before-going-to-sleep routine which is reading in advance. I went to our classroom to get my books that I left and went back to the gym to read the books since I still have time. Fifteen minutes later, I heard someone was walking towards me. I didn't take a look since I was busy reading my forgotten book. Suddenly, I felt someone's hip touched my hip – someone sat beside me.

"Hey! What are you reading? You are my seatmate, right?" I was curious when she said seatmate so I looked. It was really my weird seatmate who is now a friendly girl who approached me and confirmed if I was her seatmate. She looked normal now – her hair is twisted upwards and secured by a clip and wearing a black choker… which actually looks like a large armband wrapped around her neck. She was also holding a blue bat that in my reasoning is actually a hockey stick.

"Do you play hockey?" I asked

"Actually, I play alone but it doesn't mean that it's my sport. I'm not that sporty anyway, I just wanted to enjoy life" she said. Enjoy life huh, that may be the reason why she acts different everytime. I think I like this side of her. She is now approachable.

"You don't seem to have many friends, do you?" she asked. That question could make me laugh especially if she's the one who said that - ironic isn't it? She doesn't seem to have many friends also. "Well, what you see is what you get." I replied.

"Hmmm, your name is Ken right? My name is Mysteri, it's how my parents named me. Little weird right? But you can call me Eri for short. If you don't have someone with you, I can be your friend. It's difficult to survive high school if you are always alone and besides, we're seatmates anyways and are always early for school."

"Well, you have a point there." I was really surprised with the way she acts. She was very friendly so I cannot reject her that instant. Since I already accepted her as friend, I took a deep breath and took courage to ask her few questions. "Since we are going on this relationship, I mean this friendship, can I ask something?", I started. "Sure, any questions. What is it?"

"You act differently every time and I found you one time in a bookstore screaming for joy in a particular section. You said you don't like boring people but you came to me offering friendship. You put an eyepatch one time and you said you don't exist and then you wrote on your desk the phrase who is dead. Now you came to approach me in a friendly manner with a hockey stick in your hand which also looks like a death sickle and a large arm band around your neck. What exactly are you?"

I wasn't sure if I asked her in a polite manner but my curiosity made her smile as she answered…

"I am an otaku"

"Alright. You are an otaku… Wait a minute, what does that word mean?! I haven't heard of it before!"