First Encounter

Gal

/gal/

noun

1 The English transliteration for gyaru, which refers to a girl or woman who dresses in a very flashy, and often salacious, manner. Typical traits include; tanning the skin, wearing lots of vibrant and flamboyant make-up, lots of jewelry and accessories, and fake nails. Other traits attributed to a gal also include wearing tight or short clothing, dying or bleaching the hair, having piercings, and showing cleavage.

2 Due to many of these attributes, namely the bleached hair and tanned skin, having been associated with prostitution in the pre-and post-World War Two Asia, the typical gal stereotype is of a lustful and seductive girl who sleeps around with many different men.

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        “You done with that letter yet?” “Shut up, Mirho! I’m writing as fast as I can!” “You do know that there is only five minutes left before we’re released for gym class? We need to have that done so that we can put it in The Gal’s locker before we leave! She takes forever to get re-dressed after gym, so it will give us more than enough time to get into place!” “How come I have to be the bait guy?” Sora whined as he and his three friends huddled together at a library table. This was such an awful idea! Play a prank on The Gal and embarrass her? What the heck? Normally he loved messing with people, but this was a whole other can of beans! Even interacting with someone like her…ugh! Just the thought made his skin crawl! Someone as smutty as her didn’t even count as a girl, as far as he was concerned. Not only that, but the things they wanted him to say…yuck!

        “You got to admit, sending The Gal a love letter, crushing her heart, and then exposing her immorality to the whole school was a rather genius idea, was it not?” En-Kun pushed his think, black glasses up on his nose with a confident smirk. He was the smart-guy of the foursome. He was at the top of their class and the fourth ranked student in the whole school, even though he was only a sixth-grader like the other three!

       “Well why didn’t you write it, Mr. Shakespeare?” Snapped Ryo. He was the rebel, as well as the artistic, among the group. He had pierced ears and long, spiky pink hair that he had to keep back with a headband. He was an aspiring manga artist who had a steadily growing fan-base for his internet manga. While he wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, he wasn’t bad with words as he had written many songs. While he wasn’t on his way to becoming an idol anytime soon, he had self-produce a CD album of his best music and it was pretty popular among their fellow Mitthaki middle schoolers.

        “Because you’re the one who is better with non-academic writing, Ryo!” Mirho smiled widely. “All En-Kun would ever be able to write is an ode to math or something!” The two snickered. Mirho was the start athlete, class representative, and all-around popular guy. He was very attractive with his lavender colored ponytail and giant turquoise eyes. All the girls in the whole school were in love with him. That’s what they were banking on. And then there was Sora.

      He had no clue where he fit in with his three buddies. His grades were average, he couldn’t draw a straight line to save his soul, and he could easily win the award for ‘most average-looking Japanese schoolboy.’ He had no glaringly epic talents. He ate junk food, watched anime, played video games, and generally just sat around like a total bum. It was easy to rope him into pretty much anything, which probably explained why he had the most perilous role in this whole operation.

       “Okay, let’s go over the plan one last time.’ En-Kun prompted. “We slip this fake love letter from Mirho into Aki’s locker before gym class. The plan is that she’ll think that he wrote it and come meet him on the roof after school.” He clapped Mirho on the shoulder. “Sora-Kun will be there waiting for her. He’ll pretend that Mirho asked him to come with him to the roof and that he is waiting for him. After they talk for a while, then Sora-Kun will ‘confess’ to her and say that he wrote the letter and signed Mirho’s name because he thought that someone like her would never like someone bland like him-”” Hey!” Sora didn’t appreciate it when people called him boring, even if he actually was was.

        “Then we’ll just let her true character come out! When she throws herself on Sora just because she thinks he offered himself to her, then the three of us will get it on camera! We’ll post it on Twitter, and she’ll be the biggest joke in the whole school!” “Uh, En-kun?” Sora asked apprehensively. “What exactly am I supposed to do after she throws herself and me? And what if she doesn’t react like you say she will? And what is the point of all this? The whole school knows what a skank she is already, right? This just sounds like a big mess and embarrassment. For me!” En-Kun sighed in exasperation and flicked his friend on the forehead. “Well, duh! Just make something up! Be a real jerk about it! Say that it was a big joke! That Mirho would never like a hussy like her and that you know what a slut she is! I can’t do all the thinking here!” En snapped in frustration. “Well, if you think I’m such an idiot, then how come you’re giving me the part that includes the most thinking, you jerk?” Sora screamed back. “Guys, chill out! We’re in the library, you know! Someone’s going to come see what’s going on back here if you don’t shut up!” Ryo whispered furiously.

      “Of course this will work!” En whispered furiously. “Why wouldn’t it? Everyone knows what she’s like. How could she not take the bait? And why shouldn’t we mess with her? It’s her own fault for being such an immoral girl!” “Ok, I think I’m done!” Ryo announced in triumph. “Cool!” Mirho said, slinging his arm around his buddy’s neck. “Let’s put it in her locker!” “Yes, we better hurry, or else we’ll be late for gym class!” En-Kun added.

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       “I’m going to barf!” Sora sang to himself. “I’m so nervous! How did I get sucked into this situation? I really must be the stupidest guy on earth!” He sat on a bench on the roof. How did he always get pulled into the most ridiculous of situations? He could have been at home eating pocky and watching the new episode of One Piece instead of helping his friends make absolute petty fools out of themselves! His pocked vibrated and he pulled out his cellphone.

En: Could you kindly stop making a scene? You’re going to Scare her away!

       Sora internally groaned to himself and glanced at the toolshed. There was a nice garden on the roof that was maintained by the gardening and cooking clubs. His friends had wedged themselves in the shed so that they could secretly video tape him and The Gal. Actually, didn’t she have an actual name? Ever since 3th grade, everyone had referred to her as The Gal. What was her name? He felt like it started with an A. “Akkira…Ami…Akima…Umm…Aki?” He thought out loud.

       “Hey, you know my name!” ‘Wha-!” Sora blushed furiously and jerked his head to the side. She’d actually shown up! His face grew even hotter as he looked at her. Geez! This girl had no shame whatsoever!

       Her sailor top was far too tight on her. It had to take some serious skill to turn such a modest piece of clothing into something with a scandalously low neckline! The fact that she wore a black tank top underneath did nothing, as it was also too tight and only made her cleavage more noticeable. She didn’t bother wearing her yellow cardigan and instead tied it around her waist. He’d venture a guess that it was also too tight. Her skirt was far too short and it was a total miracle that no one ever saw anything underneath it. All of Sora’s brain cells immediately melted in his skull.

        “Uhhh…yeah?” “You can just call me Aki-Chan, okay?” She said enthusiastically as she got really close to his face. “y-y-ye-ye-yeah! Yeah! Sure!” He stuttered. She had tried to bend down to match his eye level, but what he got instead was a nice eyeful of her chest. ‘B-b-b-b-b boobs!’ He thought in a panic. This was so pervy and wrong! He would have clobbered any other guy that he caught in a similar situation, yet here he was! Some friends he had!

       “We’re in the same class, right? Class 2A?” She tossed her head to the side. Her long, waist-length hair was so blond that there was no way in heck that it was natural! The front of her hair was pulled into a small side-ponytail with a glittery scrunchy. She also had some shiny pins shaped like stars accenting her hairline. Combined with her dangly earrings, she was very flashy and distracting. “Uh-uh-yeah! Yeah, Yeah!” He nodded yes rapidly. “I’m Sora!” He yelled in her face. ‘And now she probably thinks I’m nuts.’ He cringed to himself. He could literally feel the waves of annoyance and disappointment radiating out from the shed. “Hey, I’m supposed to be meeting someone, but he isn’t here yet. Would you mind if I joined you until he shows up? “Uh, sure! Be my guest!” As Aki sat down, Sora turned to the side in embarrassment.

        Oh, God! She actually showed up! What was he supposed to say? He’d never been alone with a girl before. He was torn between nervous elation and disgust; elation because he was actually talking to a girl, and disgust because she was immorally and showy. Wait-the prank! Yeah! He was supposed to get her to bring up that fake love letter! Yes! But…how? He didn’t want her to catch on to what was really going on and, if he didn’t do something soon, En, Mirho, and Ryo were going to run out and smack the crap out of him!

        Suddenly, a burst of music pierced the silence and Aki pulled a pink smartphone out of her schoolbag. “Sorry, I just gotta check this text.” She stared at the phone, tapped the screen a few times, then slid it back into her bag. “Sorry about that. My grandmother just wants me to pick up a few groceries on my way home.” “Wait, wasn’t that the punishment rocket theme song from the first Danganronpa game?’” Sora blurt out before he could stop himself.

       Aki immediately brightened and jumped into his personal space. “You’ve played it, too?” She asked excitedly. Her face was too close to his for comfort! “Y-yeah!” He flailed in embarrassment. “It's my favorite visual novel!” “Mine too! Have you seen the anime?” “Uh, yes. But I only watched until the end of episode 3, then I got bored and dropped it. The story-flow in the game is better and there is a lot more information on the characters and stuff.” This was weird. He never in a thousand years would have pegged The Gal as a gamer or anime fan! “I know, right? I'm personally one of those dry old traditionalists who prefers the original games over their anime. The anime is so overrated. I bet you the majority of the current fan base never even watched the PV's for the game, much less played the sequel before The End of Hope's Peak High School was released!” Aki bounced in excitement in her seat. “But not me! I played all the games, even UltraDespair Girls! I read all the manga and supplemental books, too!” “Really? Did you see the sequel anime series that they made for it, even though it wasn't based on a game?” “Yeah. I liked it so much better than the first one, but it made me cry a ton! I’m glad the first game's characters got their happy ending but, geez! Too much death and sadness! ”

        All thoughts of the prank and Aki’s lewdness quickly evaporated. Sora was now totally focused on the fact that he had found someone who shared his one and only hobby. “Do you like any other anime or games?” “Yeah!” She nodded furiously. “I love both!” “Me too! What other games do you play?” “Well, let’s see… Obviously, I’ve played all eight games in the Higurashi series. I’ve also played Amnesia, Angeles of Death, and Fate/Stay Night. I’m also really into Yu-Gi-Oh!. The mobile app is okay but I don’t think anything can beat the original, physical game! I really like video games in general. And mobile games. Board games, too! And I’ve kind of always wanted to try out table-top RPG’s, but I’ve just never had time…!”

“whoa! You’re such a nerd!” Sora laughed. “H-h-hey! “ Aki blushed and shrunk away. “D-d-don’t go making conclusions like that!” ‘Huh. She’s kinda cute!’ Sora smiled to himself. ‘Wait, what the hell am I thinking? This is The Gal! Why am I actually enjoying talking to her?’ “What about you, Sora-Kun? What games do you like?” “Well…” It felt strange sharing such personal things with her, but it was nice to meet someone who liked what he liked. None of his buddies were into gaming. En-Kun was into games that involved numbers or trivia, Ryo claimed to be the Lord of dating sims, and Mirho occasionally played mobile games, but that was it. They didn’t read manga or watch anime any more than any other casual consumers of the two mediums. He was the odd man out because his friends thought he had no real hobbies or interests. To them, anime, manga, and games were illegitimate, lazy bum activities.

“My favorite game series is the Danganronpa series. I like playing video games and mobile games, in general, too. I like visual novels, too, but I think you like them more than I do. Other than Danganronpa, there really aren't that many visual novels that really interest me. I love video games, but I prefer physical games, like board games and arcade games. I don’t like spending a lot of time staring at a screen. It makes my eyes hurt.” “Oh, awesome!” Aki clapped her hands together. “I love arcades! Have you been to the one downtown, ACE games?” “You gotta be kidding me!” Sora exclaimed in shock.

At this point, he no longer remembered his friends, who were hiding in the shed waiting for some scandalous humor to post online. He had long since forgotten why he had been forced to meet with Aki in the first place. Despite his hesitation and resistance, he was drawn to her. Even though they had only formally met ten minutes ago, she somehow seemed to understand him better than the guys who had been his friends since kindergarten. He was still a bit repulsed by her, but she didn’t seem to be anything like he thought she was. She was lively and fun. Besides, anyone who was a fellow gaming nerd could be entirely bad!

“I love that place! It’s my favorite arcade! The have the best game variety and there are a lot of good places to get food nearby! I go there every week!” “Really? Me too! Funny that we’ve never bumped into each other there!” Aki paused for a moment, as if she was thinking, and then jumped up. “I just thought of something! They finished installing the new, updated version of Dance Star yesterday! We should go!” “Wha- us? Me? You? Now?” Sora became even more flustered. He’d never gone anywhere with a girl before! He wasn’t expecting this development when he had dragged himself out of bed as usual this morning!

“Yeah! You don’t have anything going on today, right?” “No…” “Well, then let’s go! It’ll be fun, I promise!” Aki was literally bouncing in anticipation. “…Okay. Fine. I’ll go.” Sora decided. It wasn’t even a real question. As soon as ACE Games came into the equation, he was all in. That was his favorite place on earth! He just was very shy and awkward and didn’t want Aki to see it.

“Yay!” Aki grabbed Sora by his arm and yanked him of the bench. “Gah!” “Come on!” She took off running, dragging him by the hand. She looked back at him and flashed a giant smile. “It’ll be fun, I promise! I’m really excited to finally have someone to go with for once!”