We saw Roan in the middle surrounded by a gang of people, as usual, most were girls. “Hey!” he shouted when he saw the two of us walk in. We went over to him. “So, how was it? He didn’t try to kill you with his penetrating glare did he?” He said, impersonating Sensei’s hard stare with an uncanny similarity.

“Not quite,” I said, thinking about whether to tell him or not.

“Don’t be so modest,” Midori said and elbowed me in the ribs, “You’re going to be so happy with him Roan.” She said mysteriously.

“What? What? You can’t just let her say that and then not continue…” he complained like a five year old child.

“Well, I’m not sure if I should tell you…” I said vaguely.

“Aww, c’mon!” he whined pitifully, looking at me with puppy dog eyes that he’d used to get his way with countless girls.

            I laughed at him, “Not the puppy dog eyes, no, save me!” I yelled in mock horror. He stopped them and looked at me blankly. “Okay, okay, well, erm…” I got slightly self conscious at that point as I noticed that most of the eyes in the room were looking me way.

“Oh, why are boys so stupid! You like being the centre of attention when it’s about something pointless like entertainment or making a fool out or yourselves, but when it comes to something actually worth shouting about, you go all quiet and shy! You’re all hopeless.” Midori said, exasperated.

“Fine, fine, there’s no need to be like that,” I said and kissed her on he forehead, “I’ve got private lessons with Sensei.” I said quietly without taking my eyes of Midori’s, the whole room fell into a hushed silence, I looked at Roan, slightly worried for some strange reason.

“Well then,” Roan said loudly, a slight gleam in his eye, “This is cause for a celebration… Let’s PARTY!” A cheer rang through the common room; Mine and Roan’s parties were legendary, even though I say so myself; everyone wanted to get into them, but it was strictly on invitation only.

I smiled at Midori as we watched Roan organise the usual people into doing different jobs, “Right, it’ll have to be tomorrow night now, it’s too late to do it tonight, let’s get started people. Jobe…”  I watched him tell Jobe what to do and smiled as the ‘regulars’ began their jobs.

The people that were always invited were my group of friends, well our group of friends, Roan’s and mine; There was always Jobe, Kristian, Orion, Craig, Joshua and Leon for the boys. For the ‘regular’ girls there was usually Jamelia, Yaoi, Zana and Heath and then in the last year or so Midori and her friend Arian. Roan usually invited some more pretty girls and then some more boys. The smallest party we’d ever had was about fourteen; just the regulars, the most we’d ever had was over a hundred, I’m not completely sure how many exactly, but a hundred is where I lost count.

I left Midori helping Arian and Heath sort out invites and walked over to Roan, “Anything that I can help you with?”

“Don’t even try it.”

“What do you mean?”

“This is your party, I’m not letting you lift a finger.” He said smiling at me.

“But I always help arrange them,” I said pulling a face, “it’d feel wrong if I did nothing.” I frowned and looked out over all the busy people setting things up for the party.

“I’m sorry but I’m putting my foot down, think of it as punishment for throwing my sword half way across the combat field yesterday.” I could see the gleam in his eyes as he smiled at me. I smiled back sheepishly and said nothing, knowing that it would be hopeless, once Roan had set his mind to something it was almost impossible to change it.

“Just one favour then?” I asked him

“One.” He said smiling

“Don’t invite any of the lads from the table on the left of ours in the eating hall.” Roan gave me a questioning look, “They were eyeing up Midori yesterday when she walked over.” He smiled at me and shook his head.

“So should I ask Midori who she doesn’t want to invite as well?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re so oblivious!” I raised my eyebrows not understanding what he getting at. “You’re worried about, what three lads, that were eyeing up Midori yesterday? If I was Midori I’d been driven completely insane!”

“Roan?”

“Yeah?”

“What the hell are you on about?”

“God, I kill to be you sometimes Shig! You must live in completely a different world to me!”

“If you’re trying to make me feel stupid right now then it’s working, I’m not following you at all.”

“You have most of the girls in this year making gah, gah eyes over you all the time!”

“Whatever.” I said dismissively, “I think I’d know if that was happening.”

“Well, obviously not, you’re so wrapped up in Midori that you hardly notice any other girls, let alone actually think about them for more than ten seconds.”

“Sure Roan.”

“When was the last time you actually took note of or spoke to another girl except for Midori?”

“Last night, I spoke to Arian, and yesterday at evening meal I spoke to Heath.”

“Shigeru, I heard every bit of your conversation with Heath, you spoke to her about Midori.”

“Not all of it.”

“Shig! You said four things to her, you told her you were fine, refused to confide in her, asked where Midori was and then said ‘Oh right.’ That hardly counts!”

“Fine then! I spoke to Arian for a while yesterday night.”

“When Midori was asleep in your arms, and what did you talk about?”

“That’s hardly consequential.” I said, trying to think of the last time I’d had a decent conversation with a girl that wasn’t Midori, or didn’t involve Midori in it. I was quiet for a while and Roan just looked at me looking at me pointedly.

“You can’t think of a single conversation can you?”

“No” I said, defeated. He laughed at me good-naturedly.

“You’re so hopelessly wrapped up with her Shig, you don’t even realise all the other hundreds of girls that are practically worshipping you and jumping at you any time that Midori isn’t there…”

I cut across him, “Like who?”

“Heath for one…”

“No way, she knows that we’re just mates!”

Roan laughed again, “You are so blind! Do you even know what you look like to a girl?”

“What do you mean?”

“Have you ever thought before, ‘I wonder what I look like to her?’ or ‘What does he think of me, am I an opponent to him?’”

“No why would I?”

“Most lads do. Here,” Roan dragged me to a mirror “Tell me what you look like.”

“Erm, I’ve got blonde hair, dull blue eyes,” I lifted my hair up over my forehead, “A spot under my fringe, darkish circles under my eyes from lack of sleep, erm, I don’t know.” I said looking at him confused.

“You… are truly hopeless.” He said smiling and shaking his head.

“What did I miss?”

“From a girls point of view, practically everything. Look I’m doing this as your friend, you need to know what you’re missing. I’m going to describe you as I would someone that I’m trying to compete against to get a girl, okay?” I nodded, unsure on what he was really on about, but interested anyway.

“Right, so you have blonde hair, tufty and slightly fluffy at the back, but your hair also hides part of your left eye; this gives you a slightly mysterious look, girls go for that.” He began knowingly, “Your eyes are a deep blue grey like the sea and your skin is practically flawless. Your body has practically minus fat and is basically made out of muscle. And all of that, is just for your first impression! I have to admit that even if you were a total stranger, I would never even attempt to go against you for a girl!”

“Roan?”

“Yeah?”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because you need to know what you’re giving up.”

“What do you mean?”

“How can you still not get it? Let me explain this in a simple way, you know all the girls that I’ve had?”

“Yeah.”

“If you did things the same way as me, you’d have twice as many, if not more!”

“But why?” Roan looked to the sky and sighed, exasperated.

“Because to girls, you are the dream boy.”

“Why?”

“I have no idea! But even if I don’t know the reason, I do know the fact that you have about fifteen girls after you at this very moment in time.”

“How do I get rid of them?” I asked him, worried.

Roan grimaced and closed his eyes “’How do I get rid of them?’” He put his hand on my shoulder, “I’ll say it again, I’d love to live in you simple world, I’d kill to be in your position Shig and you’re ready to just throw it all away for one girl? Don’t you want to think about it, just a little bit?”

“What do you mean?”

“You could have any girl you wanted, as many girls as you wanted, probably one per week if you wanted, or more than one at a time, but you’re just with one girl, all the time, don’t you want to try something more? Experience a wider range of girls, you wouldn’t have to break it off with Midori you could just…?”

“Are you trying to say that I should cheat on Midori?” I demanded. He looked at me without saying anything, recognising the fury in my eyes. “How could you even suggest something like that Roan! That’s just sick, it’s so heartless, it’s, it’s…” I was so angry I was lost for words.

“Look Shig, I was only trying to show you what you’re missing, I hadn’t realised…”

“No Roan, you hadn’t.” I said cutting him off and walking away, furious; how could he even suggest that I could do something like that to Midori? I walked through the school, storming past younger kids and going out into the martial arts training area. There was no one there, I grabbed a training dummy and started to practise on it. I started off controlled, but as Roan’s words floated round in my head I began to pound it more and more and eventually found myself kicking and punching it for all I was worth. I was so angry.

I eventually collapsed onto the floor and sat cross legged with my head in my hands, panting loudly. I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder but did nothing. The hand left my shoulder and I could see a small pair of feet on the ground in front of me, but refused to look up. The feet turned into a pair of knees as she knelt on the floor. “Shigeru, what’s the matter?”

“I can’t do it.”

“Do what?”

“I can’t do that.” I said, trying not to tell her what Roan had said.

“I don’t understand what you mean.”

“I thought I knew Roan, I thought he knew me, how could he even suggest something like that?” I said, partially to myself.

She lent forwards and put her hands on my cheeks, guiding my face to hers, “Shigeru, what did he say?” She asked me, I could see the concern in her eyes.

“He, he… I can’t tell you.” I said closing my eyes, “All I can say is that I’d never do it. Never.” Shaking my head in her hands.

“Why can’t you tell me?”

“Because I don’t want people to think of him like that, I don’t want people to suddenly not like him.”

“He told you didn’t he?”

“Told me what?” I asked, opening my eyes to look into hers.

“About all the other girls.”

I looked away from her and stared at a grain of sand on the floor, “Yes. I’d never realised before, but then he…” I looked at her and then to the floor again, ashamed of what Roan had said.

“Did he suggest doing something with other girls?”

“Yes.” I could see the hurt in her eyes “But I would never, could never, not to you Midori, you mean to much to me, I… I love you.”

She smiled, “I love you too.”

I put my arms around her waist and pulled her close to me, just smelling her scent; it sent tingles down my spine, no other girl could ever mean this much to me. I held her close and thought about how Roan could even imagine cheating on someone that he cared this much about, what would he do if he was sitting here instead of me? Would he so easily break her heart? I suddenly thought about Roan and realised how little I knew about him, even thought we were meant to be ‘legendary’ best mates.