The second chapter of the Art of Friendship. Hope you guys like it!
Disclaimer: I unfortunately for my white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, do not own DN Angel. It is unfortunate for these cookies because I will eat them out of despair. But still, if I owned DN Angel, which I'm not saying I do, I would eat those white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, but that would then be out of happiness and joy rather then in grief and despair. Which is happy, because then this author would be very happy!
Satoshi surfaced from sleep gently, the way a leaf would surface from the bottom of calm pool.
With much trouble and almost a zero percent chance that it would make it to the surface. In fact, how
had it sunk in the first place? Why would it be going back up when it was already at the bottom of
the pool? Leaves shouldn't be able to surface after sinking. There was just no way that they did that.
And how long would that take? Ages? Centuries even! Satoshi's surfacing from sleep was almost
like that. Highly unlikely that he would wake immediately. Yes, Satoshi liked to wake up early. He
would like to wake up early, but found that slightly problematic, seeing as he would have to devote
half an hour of each morning to just trying to wake up. His low blood pressure just annoyed the
heck out of him. Annoyed the living heck out of him. Just killed him. He would like to kill his low
blood pressure, but that meant trying to kill himself, which Satoshi just wasn't too keen on. But what
about what he did in the bathroom? All that slicing and dicing of his arms? Satoshi blinked slowly,
slowly registering the morning light seeping in from under his curtains. Right, what had he been
thinking? He blinked again, blue depths disappearing, and then reappearing. His face scrunched in
distaste. Satoshi utterly despised forgetting things. Hated it with a passion. If the antipathy of life was
death, then the antipathy of Satoshi was forgetfulness. But oooo, that low blood pressure. Just did
things to Satoshi that he hated. Slowly he blinked again, the room was getting clearer. With the speed
of a snail, his thoughts began to focus. Slowly, then faster and faster. When Satoshi could a) glance at
the clock faster then he was blinking, b) register what it was saying, and c) understand what it was
saying, he deemed himself sufficiently ready for getting up. He pulled himself out of bed slowly, the
white t-shirt that he had been wearing for bed hanging haphazardly off of his thin frame and his blue
hair sticking at odd angles from his head. Snatching his glasses off of his bed stand, Satoshi stumbled
his way to the bathroom, turning on the tap and began scrubbing the last vestiges of sleep away from
his eyes. He grabbed his toothbrush and began brushing his teeth, glancing at his watch. It cheerfully
announced the time of
FR
9-30
6:31
45am
"I see you're cheerful today" muttered Satoshi, still not certain what to make of his watches moods.
Or if his watch even had moods, and that he wasn't just imagining things. He finished brushing his
teeth, and made his way to his immaculate bedroom where he selected one of the school uniforms
from his closet and threw it on. He made his way back to the bathroom, and began the five second
process of straightening out his hair. Five seconds later he exited the bathroom, his five minute ritual
of preparing himself for school completed. Satoshi glanced at his watch again.
FR
9-30
6:36
50am
"Ooo Satoshi, five seconds off today. I swear that hair will be the death of you!"
"Shut up."
"No I won't."
"Why not?"
"Because I like annoying you."
There it was again, the annoying voice that lived inside of Satoshi's head. Except that it had made an
early start today. Usually it didn't wake up until sometime during one of his classes and wouldn't stop
until dinner time. The times when it went right on, right through the night, not letting Satoshi sleep,
were the times that Satoshi went to the extreme and cut himself. The voice had been living in his head
for sometime now, ever since he was twelve Satoshi estimated. It had tortured Satoshi through
countless sleepless nights, invading his dreams and turning them into nightmares. This had been to the
point where Satoshi had been swaying in class with sleep deprivation. The revelation of cutting had
come to Satoshi when he had turned fourteen—which had been about four months ago. He had
gotten fed up with the voice and had finally threatened to end it all. They had had an hour long
argument, the voice telling him that he couldn't and Satoshi telling the voice that he could. In the end,
Satoshi had grabbed the razor and cut and slashed his arms until he had quite literally been clothed in
blood. After the cutting, the voice had fallen silent. Satoshi didn't know why, but it had, and that's
what had counted. So Satoshi resorted to this type of treatment in order to shut the voice up every
now and then. Of course the "treatment" left scars, but it worked well, so Satoshi stuck with it.
Anything to shut the damnable voice up. The blue haired boy moved out over to his study desk,
sweeping all of his books in to his bag and slinging it over his shoulder. He marched out of his
apartment, feeling slightly annoyed that his voice had started up so early in the day. It proceeded with
its usual ranting; informing Satoshi what things he should kill in the near future, regardless of whether
the object was animate or inanimate. That part, Satoshi could deal with. The part he couldn't deal
with was what sometimes came later on. When it didn't come at all, Satoshi could only express the
feeling inside of him as pure joy. Satoshi consciously tried to shield his mind from the voice; a
technique that rarely worked, but was worth a try every now and then. He was rewarded for his
efforts with silence from his usually very talkative voice. Sometimes the voice had laughed at his
efforts to silence it, but today it seemed that the voice was cooperating with Satoshi or had just gone
back to sleep for now. The blue haired boy adjusted the strap of his bag on his shoulder, slinging it
diagonally across his chest from his right shoulder where it came to rest on his left hip. He checked
that he had his keys and also his wallet before locking the apartment door and stepping out in to the
early morning September sunshine. The air was slightly cool-- after all, it was autumn. Multi colored
leaves lay strewn about on the ground as trees began dumping their reach green summer robes on to
the ground in preparation for the cold winter. Satoshi started done the steps of his apartment,
following the gray cement path until he reached the sidewalk. He then paused. Left led to school,
while right led somewhere else. He glanced at his watch. Cheerfully –much to Satoshi's relief, he
couldn't explain why though—it announced the time as
FR
9-30
6:40
35am
School started at 8:30. He was by no means, going to go to school right away, he didn't want to wait
for an hour and a half for it to start.
"Might as well get my lunch" Satoshi mused, turning right. He strolled leisurely along the path, making
his way to a bakery that he knew very well. After all, he had been buying his lunch there for the last
two and a half years. It was called the "Happiness Bakery," a Chinese bakery that sold—you
guessed it!—Chinese baked goods. The owner had mourned over not getting the name "Golden
Happiness" because the other Chinese bakery down the street had snatched the name up before he
had been able to get it. The baker still complained about it to this day. Satoshi usually just ignored
him.
Fifteen minutes later, Satoshi entered a smallish shop, filled with the tantalizing smells of baking and
baked goods. A little bell connected to the door chimed cheerily as Satoshi opened the front door
and the entered the shop. It was lit brightly, with counters running along the left side of Satoshi and
the entrance. These counters stored and displayed the various goods that the bakery had to offer to
its customers. Further back, a bunch of chairs and tables had been set up for anyone who wanted to
eat their purchase inside of the bakery as opposed to eating it elsewhere. A line of coolers ran on the
wall opposite of the counter, displaying an assortment of drinks customers could purchase to go with
their meals. Satoshi took those familiar surroundings in, in one glance before proceeding directly to
the counter. He stood and waited. Then waited some more. He waited exactly five minutes before a
plump, black haired woman with a sour expression stepped out of a hidden door way, making her
way to the cash register where Satoshi waited. He stared. She stared. He blinked. She stared. Then
he looked away. "Who is this woman?" Usually, it was a scrawny old Chinese man with a yellow
toothed smile who came and served Satoshi. It had been for the last two and a half years. Nothing
had changed that, until now.
"Where's the other guy?" Satoshi had never really found out the name of the other baker.
"Chen?" She looked at Satoshi again. The look saying she didn't want to serve him or see him or talk
to him, but had to because he was a customer, but that she wasn't doing this out of her good will but
only because she had to. Satoshi adjusted his own features so that they mirrored hers almost
perfectly. His look told her that he didn't want to talk to her, see her or smell her (because she really
did smell something awful) and he wasn't doing this out of his own good will but only because he
would only get his lunch through talking to her. He stared at her this way for longer, before briefly
nodding, deciding that "Chen" was the name of the old man who had given him his lunch for the last
two and half years.
"He's sick." She stared at him some more. "May I take your order?" She added on almost as an
after thought. Satoshi stared at her some more, wondering if he stared at her long enough, would she
melt on the spot. Much to Satoshi's disappointment, she remained whole and solid
"I'll have a pork bun." The woman looked at him. He looked back.
"Anything else?" Her question sounded almost like it had been tortured out of her mouth. Her lips
twisted in to something of distaste and displeasure as they moved; almost liked she loathed Satoshi,
even though they had met only just then. He opened his mouth, about to answer her question with her
exact lip movement, when it dawned on him. He was going to have breakfast today! He
remembered his small decision that he had made yesterday, the one that had been forced since he
hadn't been able to eat dinner. The one that involved him actually eating breakfast. Breakfast.
Breakfast. BREAKFAST! Hiwatari Satoshi was having breakfast today! What was this world
coming to? Passer bys fainted, birds fell out of the sky, the icebergs began to melt and a chorus of
angels descended from heaven, singing praises to god knows what. Hiwatari Satoshi was going to
have breakfast. The world gasped.
"AND" he emphasized the "and" until the women's expression changed from a I- don't- want- to-
serve- you- or- see- you- or- talk- to- you- but- have- to- because- you- are- a customer- but-
I'm- not- doing- this- out- of- my- good- will- but- only- because- I- have- to look a what- the-
fuck? look.
"AND I would like one of those pineapple- coconut buns." The woman blinked at him, then nodded
briefly. She moved to the displays, grabbing a pair of tongs and a small paper bag marked on the
front in red with the bakery's logo. Satoshi waited triumphantly, grinning an almost maniacal grin. He
couldn't help it. He was going to have breakfast. It disappeared almost two seconds later, when the
woman turned around, her own strange smirk of triumph plastered onto her face. Satoshi frowned.
"What evil is this woman up to?" He did not understand. He was going to have breakfast,
nothing bigger then that could happen today, NOTHING! He looked at her, opting for an
expression of questioning, rather then the maniacal grin that was pulling very hard at his facial
muscles. Her smirk grew.
We don't have any more pork buns." Satoshi froze. The passer bys outside froze. The whole world
froze. The chorus of angels froze. All of time froze. "WHAT? NO MORE PORK BUNS?"
"Wh- wha- what?" Satoshi stuttered weakly. "No more pork buns?" What was the world coming
to? "Don't you have more being made?" The damnable woman's smirk grew, almost like she was
reveling in her customer's obvious dismay.
"None at all." She almost cackled. "I forgot to make a fresh batch this morning." She seemed to be
trying her to look apologetic. Satoshi decided that she looked more like she was sneering at him. "I
know what you are up to, you evil woman! Depriving me of my pork buns!" Satoshi growled
inwardly. This woman was going to get it, some how she was going to get it! Taking a calming
breath, while his world crashed to pieces around him, Satoshi looked her full in the eye and said
"I'll take the other type of pork bun then." She stared at him.
"The one with the cheese?"
"Yeesss!" Satoshi hissed, half- grinning manically, half- frowning. His face glowed with victory as her
face changed from one of evil triumph to one of defeat and submission. Yes! He had won! Take that
you evil woman! There are other types of pork buns out there in the world you know! Not only that
one! Satoshi schooled his face in to one of pure and utter calm. He watched as she roughly shoved
the cheese pork bun in to the little paper bag and then stabbed the register keys mercilessly.
"195 yen. Please." She held out her hand, staring at Satoshi with a look of pure malice. He stared
back at her, equaling her stare with one of his own. The blunette handed her the money before
snatching the bag and making a quick dash for the door. Outside he paused, cheering silently; he had
defeated the evil baker woman! He began to walk back the way that he had come. Slowly, his hand
reached into the paper bag, dragging out the pineapple- coconut bun that he decided he would have
for his breakfast. He brought the bun to his lips, his mouth shaping in to the "O" human mouths made
when about to bite in to something. The whole world froze again, all attention turned to Satoshi as he
made to bite in to the pineapple-coconut bun. As if in slow motion, he bit in to the bun, and began to
chew, very slowly. Passer bys fainted and had heart attacks, the birds fell out of the sky as ready to
serve chicken roast, the icebergs melted then refroze this time with little monkeys encased in their icy
depths and a chorus of angels descended, singing their praises to god knows what before choking
and fainting. Hiwatari Satoshi was actually having breakfast. The whole world gasped, and then
fainted. Nothing bigger then that could happen today! NOTHING! It would be all over the front
pages of Azumano's newspapers. Headlines reading "HIWATARI SATOSHI HAD BREAKFAST
TODAY!" Satoshi swallowed. The world went back to normal. An old man in a wheel chair rolled
by, giving Satoshi a dark look of malice. Satoshi did not react, too wrapped up in the ecstasy of
having breakfast for the first time in nine years. He continued to eat and walk.
The baker woman stared after the blue haired boy in confusion. She watched as he disappeared
out of view, before sighing. What was wrong with that boy? She had been polite and kind to the boy,
but there he had been, glaring at her, then glaring at her some more and finally breaking out in to the
most maniacal grin ever. Then he had been all nice and polite, and then had switched back to glaring
daggers at her. Finally he had dashed to the door, hugging his purchase like his life depended on it.
She shivered, rubbing her arms for extra warmth. If this was how dealing with customers was, then
she didn't want to do it any more.
"Chen!"
She was going to force her husband to do the customer service from now on. She was scarred,
mentally, for the rest of her life. It was irreparable.
Satoshi arrived at school approximately half an hour before it actually began. During the half hour
he had before school, he had sat and thought about what it was like to have friends, what it meant to
have friends and how one would go about making friends. In that following half hour, he had come up
with the following points:
HIWATARI SATOSHI'S GUIDE TO THE ART OF MAKING FRIENDS
Find out their name first.
Make conversation.
Learn similarities between each other.
Learn differences.
Hang out.
(Not needed if avoidable) Conflict/Arguing.
Making up, thereby learning more about each other.
Find out more about each other.
Hang out some more.
Go through the BIGGEST conflict of all.
Make up, thereby learning even more about each other.
If one was able to make it through the previous 11 steps, then you have become fast friends.
Satoshi leant back, observing the piece of paper in front of him. The list seemed logical enough to
him. There was no evidence contrary to what he had written down. He glanced up at the sound of
the classroom doors sliding open. Satoshi was always the first person to be in class room, so he was
able to observe all of his class mates walking in to the classroom. The first one to walk in today was
a boy with spiky brown hair. He had a mischievous look to him and an armband wrapped around his
left arm that read "School Newspaper: Editor." Satoshi blinked, he didn't know who that boy was.
The brown haired boy was deeply engrossed in a piece of paper that he was holding before him.
Satoshi observed him as he walked in to a total of three desks, tripped twice and narrowly avoided
the wall three times, all without looking up once from the piece of paper. It piqued Satoshi's
curiosity. He wondered what could be so interesting that going through five consecutive injuries and
narrowly avoiding the wall thrice didn't warrant any attention. The door slid open again, two girls
walked in, both identical in appearance, though one had longer hair then the other. They appeared to
be arguing. Satoshi had forgotten their names. Something that started with an H and ended with an A.
He'd check it up later. For a while, the four of them were the only ones in the class, Satoshi musing
how he was going to go about making friends, the brown haired boy reading and the girls arguing. At
one point, the brown haired boy had looked up and shouted, "Oi, Shut up!" The girls had responded
in kind, telling him "Shut up yourself Takeshi- kun, it's important what we're talking about!" Satoshi
had zoned out most of their argument, it had had something to do with which side of the room was
theirs and who used whose stuff more often. Nothing important. Ten minutes before the bell, the door
slid open again, revealing a red haired boy. He was panting, and looked slightly flushed. "Niwa
Daisuke…" Satoshi thought, looking at the red head speculatively. Takeshi sprung in to action then,
bonding across one end of the classroom to the other and reached his astonished friend in one leap.
Which was no mean feat, seeing as the classroom was a good twelve meters long from the door to
the wall opposite of the door and Takeshi's desk sat by the furthest wall from the door. Many
speculated that Takeshi should have been in either the high jump or the long jump events of Track
and Field. The boy leaped on to the red haired boy and crowed happily, something about the biggest
news story in all of Azumano's history ever having come in to his hands. Satoshi looked up, startled.
"Did he find out I had breakfast?" The red head had chosen that point when Takeshi was about
to tell him what it was to collapse under the weight of both him and his friend.
"Itte, Takeshi-kun!" Daisuke whined. "Get off of me!" The brown haired boy noggied the other boys
head, laughing.
"Hey, not my fault, you were the one who fell down." He got off friend, dusting himself off and
reached out with a hand to help Daisuke up. The smaller boy took the hand, pulling himself up.
"Well, if you hadn't jumped on top of me, I wouldn't have fallen!" Daisuke glared. Takeshi grinned
evilly.
"Ohayou Daisuke-kun!" One of the twins had spoken. Daisuke face immediately turned red.
"O-ohayou Risa-chan!" Daisuke responded, blushing furiously. He looked down at the floor, clearly
uncomfortable. Satoshi quirked a brow. It seemed that the red head had a thing for one of the twins.
The blue haired boy glanced speculatively at the twins; it was the long haired one who had spoken.
"So her name's Risa." The shorter haired twin spoke up then.
"Ohayou Daisuke-kun. Ogenki desu ka?" The red heads blush receded visibly.
"Ohayou Riku-chan. Genki desu. Anata wa?"
"Genki desu!" Satoshi returned to his own world after that. Their conversation had become rather
pointless to listen to. It was not until the first bell had rung did Satoshi look up from the book that he
had been reading. Daisuke was making his way from Takeshi's desk to his own desk, which Satoshi
realized then, was right in front of his own. He glanced at Daisuke before looking back it his own
book.
"Ano…" Satoshi glanced back up, frowning slightly. Who had spoken?
"Ohayou Gozaimasu Hiwatari-san." Satoshi's eyes shot up to Daisuke. That was who had spoken!
He blinked slightly at the red head in surprise. This was the first time that the boy talked to him in a
while. Satoshi glanced back down at his book. Daisuke was still looking at him. The blunette almost
decided to say nothing in response to Daisuke when he remembered his list. Step1: Find out their
name. That should be changed to Step1: Acknowledge their existence in this case Satoshi took a
deep breath. He suddenly felt himself hanging over a very deep and very black abyss. He looked
back up.
"Ohayou Gozaimasu Niwa-san." Satoshi responded.
There you guyzors have it! The second chapter of the Art of Friendship! Satoshi may seem a little OOC, but that's because this is what happens inside of his mind. When I switch POV's with other characters, you'll see the Satoshi that we all know and love. frowns I am having some trouble with getting the little voice thing inside of Satoshi's head to work the way I want it to. Something like how Krad is inside of Satoshi's head. But somehow, the way I'm writing it makes it sound it's just a voice that tells him to kill things. That doesn't make for something that Satoshi would cut himself over, so my little author gears are turning and I'm trying to figure something that will work. Anyway, ja matte ne. I will see you guy's next chapter! Love you all and please R&R!
PS. I'm thinking of having a pairing in here, but I shall elave in you suspense about it because I am evil and jsut that way!