"Your name's Eliza, right?"

"Lucas," I paused and looked him in the eye. He reciprocated the eye contact. "I didn't sign up to be a babysitter."

The boy laughed, "Eliza, you can't get friends if you keep pushing everyone away."

"I don't need friends." A reply that automatically came out of me without even thinking about the possible answers I should give.

"If you can't get friends, you can't get married either. That's how socialization works," he says as a matter-of-fact.

"Jokes on you, I'm AroAce."

Lucas looked surprised and stopped for a moment before questioning, "What's that?"

"Someone who neither feels any romantic or sexual attraction," I briefly explained, still dusting the books without wasting a breath.

"Is it because you're in love with anime characters?"

The strange question terminated my ongoing process of ridding his bookshelves of dust. It left me flabbergasted. How did he arrive at such a verdict? Over the short time we've spent together, there were no memories within me discussing anything related to that in his presence. So, naturally, I was confused. "How did you know that?"

His reply was a rather bland one. "Took the wild guess, hit the jackpot." He stuck his thumb to the air, proud that the conclusion of his so-called 'deduction' had borne fruit. A smile accompanied his happiness.

Using the power of my lower limbs, I straightened myself up and proceeded to deal with the next nest of papers filled with words. A strange feeling surged within my body; something that couldn't be identified at the moment. Was it the growing irritation? Probably, I could already sense that he was getting on my nerves.

Before silence could successfully disperse itself into the room like mist, Lucas took a deep sigh. One that was completely unnecessary, and he made sure it reached my ears.

"Come on, I nailed it. Gotta give me credit for that!" the boy cheerfully declared.

I rolled my eyes and sarcastically remarked, "Yes, Sir Lucas. You are very smart. Now, shut up."

"Geez, what's with the Sir?" Nothing really passes this brat. He makes sure that there's always something to talk about.

Due to the growing frustration, my voice came out way louder than I intended, "Lucas, let me do my job, okay?" Annoyance raked through the words. It was neither a request nor a plea. It was something far more than that. "OKAY?"

"Alright, I'm sorry."

For a strange reason that destiny had, this boy started treating me like an acquaintance ever since the arcade event. He would start random conversations about absolutely anything, a despicable trait that never fails to make introverts frown. Sadly, this was a natural characteristic for the people on the other side of the spectrum. One time, he even went so far as to say that the sun was very pretty. I replied he could burn his eyes staring at it if he was so mesmerized.

It's been a few weeks ever since then, and the attempts are showing no signs of slowing down. In fact, they're increasing.

So when he found out that discussing Mathematics, especially Trigonometry, would kinda bring him to the neutral zone, the brat gladly made full use of the opportunity.

"Math's very hard, you know! How did you get good at it?" Lucas complained as he stretched his hands out after a long day, supplemented by the supposed sounds of the completed activity.

"It wouldn't be that much difficult if you actually tried to understand the lesson instead of complaining 95% of the time. I could buy more books if I had a coin for every time you whined like a baby." Scowling, my gaze directly landed on his recent test result.

37/100. A growth of ten points from the previous ordeal.

Tsk. Kid here's been receiving all my gorgeous hand-written Math notes partnered with necessary illustrations and graphs. Most of which took nights of effort and dedication. Yet he only increased by 38%? Preposterous! It's not even half of the overall score. This is the type of number that would never even dare to come close to a passing grade. After all my efforts. After all the time I've sacrificed. The time I could have spent reading. The time I could have spent watching anime.

I've come this far and yet... and yet!

"What's wrong? Your face is red."

Eye contact was intense during those moments, and the tension in the air only grew with each passing second. As if in a heartbeat, Lucas leaned back and pumped his fist down to his palm. The same posture universally acknowledged as when a light bulb magically appeared right above their heads.

"I see, you must be embarrassed because we're alone together in my room." He laughed, further igniting my fury.

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna do anything stupid. Rest assured!"

Just like he did when he claimed to have hit the jackpot back then, Lucas cheerfully stuck his thumb in the air. His grin was as wide as it could be. White teeth glistened under the influence of the chandelier illuminating the enormous place.

Coupling this outrageous remark with the regrets spiraling in me, the gates of my wrath instantly opened and wreaked havoc. And they made sure to destroy everything in their paths.

Some girls might find this cute and sweet, but no. Not on my watch.

"aAAaAaaAH! Okay, I get it! Stop throwing the pillows at me!" he yelled as he threw his arms in front of him in defense.

The nerve of this fool!

To my great dismay, my aim was inaccurate and it barely caused the enemy damage, if it ever did.

Soon, the heavy downpour upon him ceased. My breathing was in a frenzy, and controlling it proved to be a struggle. That course of action quickly consumed more than half of my remaining energy. Thankfully, I was done with all the cleaning.

It took some time for the racing heart to calm down. In my pursuit of doing so, a once again smiling Lucas emerged in my vision. This guy just loves flaunting his teeth so white that he probably brushes them twenty times a day.

Gotta admit though, I was jealous. Why can't mine be like that too?!

"You're kinda cool. Wanna be friends?" Ah, yes. A question befitting an extrovert.

I raised an eyebrow, "Didn't you just say that I had an annoying aura on me?"

Is this the underlying product of humiliation shrouding a guy's heart that suffered defeat at the hands of someone they wished to straighten out by emerging victorious?

"Come on, that was a few weeks ago." He continuously swayed his hand near his face, a smile still lingering on it. "Besides, we're pretty close now."

"Who decided that?"

Rolling my eyes, I switched my gaze to the crumpled part of the test paper on my left hand. This is exactly why avoiding frustration when handling such fragile creatures is a must for me. It rarely ever goes well.

"Nothing wrong about it now, right?" His poor attempt of convincing me wasn't going to work anytime.

"Extroverts are weird beings," I uttered. It was a sentiment that I've had for a long time.

He didn't reply, so I kept going. Maybe he was waiting on an explanation. "We've barely spent months together, and you're telling me right now, we can be friends?"

"Uh... is something wrong with that?" He didn't understand where this was coming from.

A silent but deadly mist of both mystery and spookiness enveloped the room in an instant, replacing the normal atmosphere it once hosted. As my gaze was planted on the ground — the test paper still in my hands — a sadistic grin began to etch itself on my lips.

Without realizing it, I burst out laughing; gaze now directed towards the ceiling. If this was a drama, there would be no doubt that I'd be mistaken for a villain. After all, evil laced through my voice. Amidst all that, my mind was too occupied to discern what the other party's response would be.

Except for the insane vocalization of my feelings, the site remained still. Lucas didn't say anything. Not even a single sound came from his direction. So, over time, it became awkward. Realizing that it was enough, reality hit me.

"Lucas," I called out. He responded with a confused look, "I could be a secret assassin who spent eight years of my life planning your murder. Yet, you're saying you want to be friends?"

My grin widened as I looked him dead in the eye.

"Nah, that's impossible," he quickly retorts. A deadpan expression diffused on his face. If only this guy was an anime character, he'd be a F-I-N-E gentleman.

Sadly, he's not.

"For starters, no assassin's as lame and predictable as you."

An arrow struck me in the gut.

"You also don't know how to communicate properly with others. Therefore, your networking skills are trash. That means you wouldn't fare properly in the assassin world."

And another one.

"Plus, you've got no friends."

Was that even necessary?!

I coughed in an effort to regain my poise, a feeble attempt that he easily saw through. Nevertheless, giving up so early in the game would be the true definition of lame. "So, what? I can still be an assassin despite being lame, predictable, and having zero social skills!"

If only I had realized sooner how cringy of a statement that was.

"Also," he paused, "aren't female assassins supposed to be hot in case they have to resort to seduction?" He placed his fingers on his chin and briefly scanned me from head to toe, "You... you're not even a four."

Dying there and then would have been the easier way out, permanently shielding me away from the atrocities of this world. But I refuse to die just like that.

This is war!!!

"I don't care if I don't qualify as hot by your standards."

Lucas gently spins his expensive desk chair, the sound filling in after my words. He stops in front of his desk and said, "Fair enough."

The guy folds his hand behind his head before speaking. "But weren't you the one who brought this up?"

That's when my mind was instantly filled with a flood of embarrassment. How had it not occurred to me earlier? All bark, no bite. One of the things I specifically despised the most. It's like offering a business plan, but having neither evidence nor result to show for it. Before I could be further locked in a stalemate, an interruption ensued. 

"By the way," he said, "if you don't do well with strangers, what about family?"

"I have a cousin in New York," I murmured, just enough for him to hear me.

"Parents?"

"Don't know."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'm not comfortable discussing this matter."

"No other relatives?"

A surge of anger filled my blood. For a mere stranger, his questions were very intrusive; it was as if he wished to deprive me of the privacy I was relishing myself. What did it even matter to him whether I had a loving family or not? What even is it to another stranger if I have a social life or not?

"If such convenient people like relatives existed in my life, then I'd probably not have been homeless for years and racked up debts in my name just to get a diploma." If only they knew. If only someone knew.

"Eliza," he uttered, seemingly hesitant before continuing his statement.

Therefore, it left me puzzled, "What?"

"Have you ever considered that you might be a shounen manga protagonist?"

"No. I don't have a harem."

Q: Lucas certainly qualifies as a full-time extrovert. If he was real, would you be friends with him?

Author's Notes commented inline here ➵