FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

I left Shin-kun's house right around two in the afternoon. Before I left though, he gave me a small box of gingersnaps for Grandma and Grandpa, warning me not to take even one from it. I felt a little offended though, seeing as he already knew that I hated anything with a strong gingery taste. But at least he knew how to make sure a gift was delivered. Leaving the place, I was once again on my aimless wandering.

When I got to the bus station, Kenji was standing there wearing a wrinkled gi. It looked like he just came back from his karate training. Had he sported a frown, I could've mistaken him for Juuichi-san.

I went near. "Yo Kenji! How was training day?"

"Hiro-chan!" The bear picked me up for a quick hug. "Training ain't too special today. Just some drills and light sparring. Legs hurt like hell from all them high kicks though. Anyway, have you had lunch yet? I'm starving!"

I nodded sheepishly. "Yeah... But I could go for another one if you're fine with that."

The bear raised his arms in joy. "Alright! Let's go to Raimon then. My treat."

"Well now you just gave me a reason to not say no."

With a cheeky grin, Kenji grabbed my arm as we went on our way to Raimon. Once there, he ordered a large serving of chashu don while I, still feeling a bit full from lunch, ordered tamagoyaki for the time being. Obviously we were too young to order alcohol - not that we wanted any - so both of us had lemon iced tea. And since there weren't much people at that time, most of what we could hear there were staff yelling out orders to each other, and the sizzling of pans coming from the kitchen.

"You sure you're not gonna order anything else?" Kenji asked.

"This'll do for now." I said. "Though maybe I should've gotten the most expensive thing on the menu."

Grunting, Kenji pouted. "We're not on a date here."

"We could be," I said, laughing.

The bear's pout changed into a pensive frown. To lighten up the unexpected change on mood, I tapped him on the shoulder.

"I was just kidding, Kenji," I said. "Didn't think you'd take it seriously."

"No. It's not you Hiro-chan," he said, petting my hair. "I just remembered something that happened a few years ago."

A waiter came to our table and served us some tea, saying that our orders would be coming shortly. As we waited, Kenji told his story.

"It happened right around when me and Bro were in our second year of high school," he said. "Wandering around the school halls one day, I met this cute little otter, a chubby one to boot. He was an underclassman of mine."

"Ah. So you had someone calling you 'senpai' around campus, huh?"

Taking a sip of tea, Kenji nodded. "We met and got to talk to each other. At first, it was just small talk like the weather, homework and stuff. But after that we started hanging out more frequently. We were pretty much close friends. It helped that I took a liking to him."

"Then, why were you frowning when it was something good?"

He sighed. "One afternoon in campus, I stayed later than usual since I had stuff to do. When I was done, I went down and was about to leave when I saw him running around the halls without noticing me. I got curious and followed him to where he was going."

"Then...?"

"At the back of the school building he met with some of his friends from the same year he was. I hid at the side of the wall near them so I can listen to their conversation. That's when everything turned sour."

I gripped my cup tight. "What? What did they say?"

Kenji bowed his head, his hand shaking. "He was talking shit about me. 'Fatass', 'Blabbermouth', 'Big-ass Fag', I heard every insult he spat out. And they were all laughing at it."

My grip loosened. "Kenji..."

"I couldn't believe it. A person I trusted, I liked, saying things like that behind my back? I thought I was only imagining it, but there it was. When I had heard enough, I ran to Kazenari's bus station sobbing. The next day, I avoided him and we never spoke to each other again ever since. Months later, he transferred to another school."

"I... I'm sorry to hear that."

The bear shook his head, letting out a breath as he looked up. "I learned my lesson after that. That you can't be friends with everyone. Guess we both learned the hard way, huh?"

Not saying a word, I nodded.

"Still..." Kenji put his right hand on the left of his chest, clutching the fabric of his shirt, tears coming out of his eyes. "It hurts, you know? You fall in love with someone, and that person trashes you behind your back."

I held his hand and stroked his back instead. "There, there. It's alright, Kenji. Don't cry. Just forget about that asshole. I bet he doesn't even know how awesome you are."

Wiping away his tears, the bear smiled. "Thanks, Hiro-chan. Sorry, we were supposed to have a good time here."

"No. I should be sorry for bringing it up."

"Though I don't think I'll be looking for anyone for the time being. Tatsu-nii's hot and all, but I have a feeling someone's already taken his heart."

"Wait, what?!" I widened my eyes. "Who is it? Do you know?"

"It wouldn't be fun if I told you now, would it?" he said, grinning.

"Fine. But I'll find out soon enough. Just you wait and see."

Just then, the waiter arrived with our orders. Kenji's order was a steaming bowl of chashu don and mine was a plate of golden-yellow tamagoyaki. Saying "Itadakimasu", we stopped our conversation there.