Truth

Ekko and I meet up after sunset. By now, most people were indoors and winding down for the night, so the risk of getting caught was low.

The two of us were going to explore a nearby forest preserve. This preserve didn’t have any paths or access ways, it was exclusively for nature. Ekko claimed she had a nice spot we could sit and chat away from any prying eyes.

A very thin fence wall protected it from the city streets, but it was easy for us to climb over.

I’ve never been out this late. Crickets chirping and the faint wind brushing past the trees was a new experience, a soothing one.

“Nobody should find us out here…” Ekko turned back, “but let’s be quiet until we get deeper in.”

“Got it.” I nodded.

I noticed as we walked, she and I would trade positions of who was taking the lead. That was because I was faster then her, but she was the one with a destination in mind.

“I have an idea.” I said, thinking up an answer for our problem.

I held her hand. That way we’d both stay at a steady pace. I'm sure I could have come up with something else, but I didn’t want to.

“Huh…?!” she squealed. “I…um…”

“Seems like a pretty logical way to stay the same pace, wouldn’t you say?” I smiled.

She met my beam with one of her own.

“You’re a funny guy, you know that?” her head cutely tilted. “Maybe this logic thing isn’t so bad.”

We both shared a good laugh. I don’t think I’ve thought something was so funny in my whole life, I was almost out of breath from laughing this much.

Eventually, Ekko brought us up to the very peek of a hill. A full moon was shining over the whole preserve. Accompanying it were stars, plentiful and pretty.

“It never crossed my mind how nice a view like this is,” I said. “Why look up and wonder, when your own home planet is perfected?” I had a slightly sarcastic tone to my voice.

“When we’ve always been spoon-feed how perfect the world is, what else could we believe?” Ekko sullenly spoke. “I don’t think it was perfect before, but it certainly isn’t now.”

Peace and perfection aren’t the same thing. Chaos isn’t perfect either. Both the old world and this one had plenty of problems, but also both had some benefits. I wouldn’t hate the idea of taking the good from both and truly making somewhere worth living in.

Questions I’d been holding off on decided to reemerge in my thoughts. It was time to finally understand what sort of mystery revolved around Ekko.

“How long have you been off it?” I asked. She knew what I meant.

“I've been off it for a while,” she admitted. “It’s been at least…a little over a month? Maybe a bit more actually.”

“So, what convinced you to stop?”

“I'd heard one of those crazy street preachers shouting about how great the old world was. Good food, lots of fun things.”

I couldn't even imagine what good food tasted like. The only modicum of flavour we got was that awful sour paste we ate every day.

“That was enough to convince you?” I asked.

We had to deal with those street preaching types often enough that we just tuned them out. Anyone would have just ignored them without a care. Something else must have triggered her.

“N...no. You see, I'm coming to the age where the government will assign me a husband soon. That street preacher told me that in the old world, girls could pick a guy they liked and marry him, or vice versa.”

We were both hitting that age where marriage would be mandated. Not everyone was given permission to marry if they weren’t worth passing on their genes. It was a sobering thought, considering I’d probably want someone who had some emotions in them.

Ekko kept appearing in my thoughts whenever I considered who I’d want to marry. I think my body was already making the decision for me who it wanted.

“Maybe my pill hadn't fully kicked in when the guy was talking to me…but I just started thinking about stuff, you know?” A warm smile dawned on her face, and she turned her head to me.

“If you were influenced by a street preacher, why was the guy on the bus scaring you so much?”

“Uh…” her face soured, “He smelled like a dumpster and was acting super creepy.”

Thinking back, I don't blame her for that one. Just because he was off his pills, it didn’t mean they were going to get along.

The strangest thing was that now that both of us are off it, I see how wrong my views of our kind were. I'd thought anyone off their meds was crazy, loony, driven so mad by emotions that they couldn't hold a conversation, or were too emotional to communicate at all. Crazy guys like the ones on the bus were in the process of losing their minds. That's probably why I didn't suspect her all this time.

Ekko's personality is proof that feeling emotions isn't really the problem. I'd even go as far to say that feelings can go hand in hand with logic, if we let it.

I don't know what that would look like. But right now, I think it's something to consider.

“At first, things were just so overwhelming,” she said. “I wanted to jump back on the pill, but I remembered that the street preacher said to give myself time to accept those feelings. Before I knew it, I just felt so...good.” She had a warm smile. “I just had to see if I could rope someone else in with me. Sorry one of them had to be you.”

“There’s more?”

Ekko stayed quiet, considering the words she wanted to say.

“I’m…not…I’m not a good person,” she said. “People in this world are so trusting, so honest. It’s so easy to take advantage of them. Once you take away their pills, you can play their emotional storm like an instrument, if you know the right cords.”

Come to think of it, everything she said makes a lot of sense. I didn’t think twice about letting her into my house, and that’s likely when she tampered with my pills. Ever since then, I’ve noticed she pretty happily keeps me close to her.

What a beautifully brilliant girl. She could probably have the whole school wrapped around her finger in no time.

“I’m assuming you did something to my pills when you came over.”

“Kinda. I actually just replaced them with fakes and threw yours away.”

I figured as much.

“And, you did the same for my sister, then?”

“Huh?” she had a confused expression. “Y-you're sister?” Ekko shook her head. “I never touched her pills. I swear.”

“You have to be lying,” I sat up.

“N…no. Seriously, I couldn't even find her pills.”

Then, was my sister actually still on her pills? Something about that didn’t make any sense. Unless, I consider the possibility that she stopped taking them all on her own…

That’s an issue for another time.

“So, why pick me?”

“Well…” her head turned away. “You…you’re…eto…sono…”

She mumbled a little before finally answering.

“Your grades!” she smiled, pointing to me. “Yup! Super great.”

I couldn’t help but doubt that was the real case. She was part of the student council. The most prized students of the entire school. I hardly stood a chance against some of those people.

Whatever her true reason was, I had to admit, she really managed to do a lot for one person. Seeing her in action this morning showed that she knows what she’s doing.

“You’re really impressive when push comes to shove,” I said.

“Don’t say that.” She gained a sad look. “I’m actually a horrible person…”

I shook my head. “You’re amazing. Kind. And you’re pretty.”

“Ehh!?” she squealed, turning red in the moonlight. “N-nnn…annnii?!”

Her body shot up into a sitting position, then her face fell into her palms.

“I didn’t mean to offend you.” I said.

She stood still, not making a sound, possibly not even breathing. She could have been mistaken for a statue with how stiff she was.

Then her hands fell to her side and she jerked her body toward me in one quick motion. Her face was so serious, but kinda’ cute.

“Daisuki!” she shouted. “Daaaiiisuki!”

She looked like she was about to blow a gasket. I felt her forehead to check her temperature.

“You alright?” I asked.

“Umm!” she hummed out in a positive tone.

Finally, as if releasing all her pressure, she breathed out a single sigh and fell backwards on the grass.

“That word doesn’t mean much to you, does it?” she asked, defeated.

“It sounded Japanese.”

“Never mind…” she rolled over to her side, facing away from me. “Look…I need to tell you something…” she spoke normally. “Tomorrow, somethings going to happen. I…can’t tell you what, not yet…but I want to ask you a favour…if you’re willing."

“Shoot.”

“When we turn in the paper, I need you to stand by me. Don’t say anything, don’t do anything. Just stand there with me. Can you do that?”

Her words worried me, like this was going to be an earth shaking event.

“Is anyone going to get hurt?” I asked.

“Not exactly,” she replied. “But when I’m done, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Her question worried me. I wasn't just worried about others, I was worried about her. Was she about to do something that would destroy her reputation? And what about my life after being associated with her this long? Saying I was scared was an understatement.

“If you help me, I’ll teach you what Daisuki means.”

Was that the best incentive she had to offer? I'll admit, it wasn't a bad one. Regardless, I didn’t like the thought of her doing something big alone...