She reached out to me with her outstretched hand, the fluffy cuff of her hoodie’s sleeve rolling back. She wrinkled her eyes and nose and flashed a wide, toothy smile, heavily reminiscent of a pure-hearted Shonen hero. Except, of course, the protagonist was a teenage girl.
“Wait, why did you choose me of all people in the first place? If you’ve been properly observing me, you should know that I’m single for a reason.”
“Well—how do I say this,” she began. I noticed a new subtle tremor in her voice, rolling her eyes a bit at the ether to come up with a proper answer. “I suppose it’s because we’re the same. So maybe you can help me answer a major question.”
“Hmm. So, I’m interesting in the way a textbook is interesting. I’m not entirely sure I’m interested. I’ll need to know a little bit more about these special journals of yours.”
She took out one of the notebooks she kept in her open book bag, a red moleskin with a single black leather strap that kept it bound together when it wasn’t in use. Written in bold black marker on a white piece of adhesive tape was the title, Experience Journal—Kenta Edition.
“Kenta Edition, huh. I imagine this is common enough that you need names to tell each journal apart,” I said, scoffing as I smiled.
“It’s more important than it sounds. I promise,” Kotonoha said, poking the air around the journal in my hand with her curled index finger. “Look inside the journal’s pages, please.”
I was impressed with the level of quality for an amateur personal project. The first page was a full color page illustration drawn with colored pencils. In bold, bubbly letters on top were the words Code Name and then a subtitle below it, read as Super Ravager Actors.
Below the perfectly shaded titling was a suburban backdrop similar to the richer district that was a simple seven minute train ride from our school. Standing in the foreground were four teenagers in civilian clothing, with a blown up version of their expected ranger masks hovering over them, symbolizing their respective ranks in the hero group.
I was surprised that one of the characters was a faithful reproduction of my personal profile, but in a young boys comic style. But one thing confused me.
Why was she using designs from an older hero kids show?
“I didn’t know you were a fan of Super Ranger Ravagers,” I said with genuine interest, absorbing the details of her shaded, detailed sketch.
“Well, it gets better. Start reading the next few pages.”
I took a look at the journal entry, and before I knew it, I was held captive by a story that I’d be a willing, unknowing participant for the next hundreds of pages.
***
I spotted them again, speaking amongst themselves. We now lived in a world without the invisible hand of the alien Empire of Ameliora, but I argue that the Ravagers were still needed. There were still clueless souls that didn’t know the true universal definition of love. And as luck had it, I had found the new faces that represented the Super Ranger Ravagers, but there was nothing particularly extraterrestrial about them. In fact, they are far more human than their predecessors.
And of those that still didn’t know the universal definition of love, I was one of the humans among them to learn all I could from them.
I’m Fumiko Kotonoha. And I’m one of the students of Roppongi High that’ll one day stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the new Super Ranger Ravagers.
I wasn’t sure what to make of the beginning of the entry. But there was no doubt who the subjects were based on the conversation.
A tall, tan boy with sport-related battle scars shook his friend, who was still in the thrall of his deep sleep. The slumbering hero had dark black hair, a large amount of the fringe at the front untidily framing the right side of his face.
Once his eyes finally opened, he immediately wiped the drool from his face, trying to preserve his remaining dignity. He instinctively tried swatting his friend away and tried to go back to sleep.
“What is it, Hayato,” the heroic Ravager asked, trying to position his arms on the desk.
“The Academic Organization has done nasty work to you, my friend,” his friend said.
“And I see you’re still on your crusade to change the Organization on the inside. Tell me, is Mamoru still paranoid about sharing the spotlight?”
“Believe it or not, my hard work is actually being rewarded with a central role in the school’s ranks. It’d be effortless for someone as talented as you--well at least for the hungrier version of you that first tried out for the position.”
“You know how to satiate my ego, friend. Thank you, Hayato.”
“Don’t mention it. Though I have to say, the anti-romantic version of you is kinda boring.”
There wasn’t much to see at first glance, but there was plenty of space for heroism under that distant exterior. Who better to learn romance from than someone who intentionally distanced themselves from it. He’d be the first hero who was closer to Amelioran than human in terms of experience.
I think this girl took a lot of liberties with my character, and the choice of words is a bit different, but I felt that this could be very interesting with time. If this date didn’t work out, at the very least, I had something interesting to read when the experiment was over.
The remaining half of the entry detailed the entirety of our introduction, with a disturbing level of prescience. And of course, the ending of the chapter ended with me agreeing to her terms.
Rather presumptuous of her. I didn't want to fall into the trap of self-fulfilling this fanfiction narrative she had for me. If I agreed to this arrangement, I wouldn't have the freedom my new lease on life allowed me. Maybe now was the time for me to nix this proposal before it could go anywhere.
Fumiko eyed me up and down as I conversed amongst my own thoughts, her full, bright-blue eyes swelling with a growing concern.
"What is it, Kenta? Do you want do it--or not?"
"Okay. Kotonoha, I'm not sure how to say this, but I've come to a decision."
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