Today is Neko’s turn to pick the game that we should play for the day. After we all arrived in the playground, she immediately showed us a hand-held gaming console with the title of the game already on-screen.

“So...you want us to play Uekimon...Black?” I asked after reading the text on it.

“So you’re playing Uekimon too,” Prince reacted with a slight surprised face.

“You’re playing that game too?” I curiously asked to him.

“No. I don’t have the gaming console but I know it’s a popular game in my class and in the whole school. Do you know it?”

“Well, just a bit,” I answered.

It was popular to the boys in my high school days after all.

“Then, let me explain it,” Prince volunteered with a smile. “Uekimon is a game involving catching plant creatures called uekimon. You raise it, train it, evolve it, make it battle other uekimon and even trade it to others to get a new uekimon. The goal of the game is to defeat eight ‘Garden Leaders’ across different towns and reach the ‘Uekimon League’. There, you’ll have to defeat the ‘Garden Emperors’ and the strongest gardener, the ‘Garden Master’ to become the new ‘Garden Master’. After that, it’s up to you if you want to collect all species of uekimon exclusive to this game or not. But completionists try to get them all to get a certificate in-game. It’s a perfect chance to collect them all because in this game, the previous generation’s uekimon can’t be obtained.”

“I see, that’s an interesting game alright,” I responded and looked at Neko. “But both of us don’t have a gaming console to play Uekimon, Neko. How can we play it with you?”

Then, she magically brought out another two of the console, making it now three.

“Wait, you have two spare consoles?” Prince reacted, astonished.

“Don’t tell me you even bought that for us?” I asked anxiously.

She then shook her head.

“I see,” I muttered with relief. “But if the other one is a spare? What makes the other one?”

“Is it perhaps a spare for the spare?” Prince asked curiously.

Hearing that, Neko nodded to agree.

This girl can really be weird sometimes. Wait, isn’t wearing a mask and not talking already makes her weird in the first place?

After that, she gave us one console each and we started playing the game.

“Thank you for letting us borrow these, Neko,” Prince and I said with a smile and Neko nodded.

We then decided to play in the table set so we could sit down near each other.

“So you have to choose between the three starter uekimon,” I commented as the screen shows us three different uekimon.

“I’m gonna pick ‘plantasaur’,” I said with a smile, picking the frog-like creature with a flower on top of it.

“I guess, I’ll pick ‘weedmander’ instead,” Prince followed and picked the baby dinosaur with a single leaf on the end of its tail.

Then, Neko showed us her screen and she picked ‘grasstle’, the turtle-like creature with a shell covered in moss.

“To think that we’re gonna pick different starters,” I commented with a smile. “Then, how about we race to see who’s gonna be the first ‘Garden Master’ among us?”

“That’s a good idea,” Prince responded with a smile. “And it’ll be fun if we can trade as we progress the game, right?”

Neko then nodded, agreeing to both of us.

“Then, let’s go!” I said and all of us started our own adventure in each of our consoles.

For days, we continued playing the game, even battling each other sometimes to see who became the strongest after days of training our respective uekimons. Of course, I always come on top being the only one who doesn’t need to sleep. Spending more time in the game makes your uekimon much stronger after all.

“Wait...I caught a shiny ‘sakurabbit’,” I muttered with a surprised face. Hearing that, Prince and Neko immediately went so close to my screen to see if it was real. Shiny uekimon is a palette swapped version of the usual one, making it rarer.

“It’s true. So the shiny is really orange-colored instead of the usual pink,” Prince reacted. “Can you trade it to me? Please?”

Then, Neko also nodded continuously, telling me she wants to trade too.

I then gave them a smile and answered, “I’ll trade it to any of your uekimon if you managed to beat me in a uekimon battle first.”

Then, both of them groaned in protest, knowing that they won’t manage to beat me.

“I’ll defeat you in a uekimon battle someday, Rosa,” Prince murmured with a smile.

That’s the Prince I know alright.

“We’ll see about that,” I followed with a grin.

──◈─▣─♕─▣─◈──

Days later, as Prince played uekimon in class while on recess, some boys approached him.

“Hey, Prince, so you play Uekimon too?” one kid asked with a smile.

“Well, yes,” he answered shyly.

“How much did you progress in the game?” another asked curiously.

“I already beat 5 ‘Garden Leaders’,” Prince answered.

“Really? I’m still at the 4th ‘Garden Leader’,” the other one reacted with a slight surprised face.

“Well, I’m already at the 7th leader already,” one boasted with a proud smile.

“Isn’t that a ‘pepperian’? That’s hard to find, you know,” one pointed out after seeing Prince’s uekimon party. “Want to trade? I have a shiny ‘carroach’ here.”

“Really? Then, let’s trade,” Prince agreed with a smile.

“Then, Prince, look at this ‘harleybird’. Do you have something worthwhile to trade for it?” another one asked to Prince.

“To think that a game would lead to Prince having new friends on his class,” Pixie muttered with a smile as we watched over him right outside his classroom.

“Well, hobbies can lead to friendship after all,” I responded with a smile of relief. I then looked at the three bullies and noticed them looking at Prince in a bad mood. “I just hope that it won’t lead to something bad in the future too.”

──◈─▣─♕─▣─◈──

After less than a month of playing, we finally defeated all ‘Garden Leaders’ and we’re now on our way to the ‘Uekimon League’.

“To think that we’ll all reach here at the same time,” I said with a smile as we play Uekimon in the playground. “So how about we call it a triple tie and become ‘Uekimon Masters’ together?”

Prince and Neko then looked at each other and smiled. Then they both nodded to me and we started playing. After some minutes, the three of us finally beat the game.

──◈─▣─♕─▣─◈──

The next day after we cleared ‘Uekimon Black’, I decided to head at the playground early because of my excitement.

“I can’t wait to show them this shiny ‘pepperian’,” I muttered to myself with an excited smile as I look at the screen of my console.

“You really got engrossed to that game,” Pixie commented with a smile while floating beside me.

“Well, it is fun to be young once again after all,” I responded happily.

♛ Prince’s Point-of-View ♛

Just before I stood up from my seat, the three bullies surrounded me, preventing me from leaving the classroom.

“Did you have fun these past few days?” Leo, the fat one asked with an evil smirk.

“We decided to leave you alone for a while so you could concentrate on your uekimon hunt and now that you’ve gathered a fair amount of rare and shiny ones, let’s start trading now,” Rick, the one with glasses said and brought out his gaming console.

“Don’t worry. We’ll trade you one ‘grobat’ for each of your uekimon,” Ronald, the skinny one followed with a laugh and brought out his gaming console too.

“What? That’s the most common uekimon in this game!” I complained with furrowed eyebrows.

“Give me that!” Leo shouted and grabbed my gaming console. Then, he started checking out my UekiDex in-game, the master list of all the uekimon I caught. “Oh~ So you already have the legendary uekimon Leaftwo.”

“Give me that!” I groaned and tried to grab my console back but Leo just pushed me away, making me fell on my butt.

That’s right. I’m not alone anymore. I’m sure Arron and the others will help me!

I then looked around for help but immediately saw the Arron and others watching, afraid to say or do something. They were the ones I traded uekimon with last time but no one tried to help me. As for the girls, some only said ‘stop it’ but didn’t do anything further.

“Oh,” the fat kid reacted after accidentally letting go of Prince’s console for using two consoles at the same time. The console then hit the floor with a thump and the fat kid immediately grabbed it back. “Wait, did I perhaps destroy it?”

Hearing that, Prince stood up and looked at the three with emotionless eyes.

“I thought they were my friends,” I muttered and bit my lip in frustration.

I guess was wrong all along.

“Give that back, fatso,” I continued with a serious tone.

“Did you just call me fatso?” Leo exclaimed angrily and went before me. He then tried to grab my collar but I immediately kicked him in the crotch as hard as I could.

“Ouch!” Leo yelled in pain and fell on the ground while held his crotch with both hands.

“I don’t care what you do to me but if you steal or destroy the property of my friend, I won’t forgive you!” I shouted angrily, enough to be heard by everyone who was still there.

“Wh-what was that for? Are you really picking a fight with us?” Rick asked nervously.

“If you try to make an enemy out of us, you will be even more isolated in this class, you know!” Ronald followed in irritation.

“If I’m gonna be friends with the likes of all you, then, I don’t need any friends for my whole life!”I screamed, releasing my pent-up anger that was stored in me for a long time after getting bullied countless of times.

“Why you--!” Ronald said and ran towards me, prepared to punch, but suddenly, someone deflected his arm with a quick swing of her palm, making him falter and lose balance. But he managed to maintain his footing after a couple of steps and looked at the one who deflected his punch. ‘Wh-who are you?”

“Neko,” I reacted with an astounded face after the masked girl appeared before me. Neko then looked at me and nodded.

Neko… That’s right. I…

“I don’t need friends anymore. I’ll be fine alone because I already have ones worth bragging for!” I announced with serious eyes. Then the three looked at me with shocked faces.

“Hey! What’s happening here?” the teacher suddenly yelled after arriving at the scene. It looks like some girls decided to call for him to stop the fight. Because of that, everyone involved got called to the principal’s office to discuss what happened.

♦ Bella’s Point-of-View ♦

I waited for the whole time in the playground but both Prince and Neko didn’t show up. The night sky is now completely dark. As the post around the playground started emitting light one by one, I decided to stand up from the swing.

“They’re really late,” Pixie commented with a worried expression.

“It looks like they won’t show up for today. I’ll just ask them tomorrow what happened,” I whispered with a sad smile and suddenly, two figures from far away started calling me as they approach me while running. It’s Prince and Neko.

“Sorry for the wait, Rosa,” Prince said after the two of them arrived before me while panting heavily.

“Hey, did something happen?” I asked worriedly.

“I...” Prince suddenly said with a serious face. “I stood up against them. And Neko helped me.”

Those words were enough for me to understand what he meant.

“I see...” I said with a warm smile and placed my hands on each of their head. “You did great, you two.”

After that, Prince told me everything and the two of them went home afterwards.

The next day...

“That Prince...I won’t forgive him,” the fat kid angrily muttered as the three bullies head towards the school together.

“But wouldn’t it be bad to start a trouble once again? I don’t want to be called in that office anymore,” the kid with glasses complained with a sigh. “My parents got angry to me, you know.”

“Yeah, I think it’s really better to leave him alone now,” the skinny kid followed in a pessimistic tone.

“What are you saying? Have you turned into cowards?” the fat kid retorted in a bad mood.

“Good morning, you three,” I greeted with a smile as I waited for them while leaning on the wall near the school’s gate. Seeing me, the three got surprised and stopped from walking.

“Wh-what are you doing here?” the kid in glasses asked nervously.

“Are you perhaps here to stop us from bullying Prince again?” the skinny kid followed with furrowed eyebrows.

“Of course not,” I answered with a smile and went before them. “I’m just here to support you in doing what you want.”

“Huh?” the three reacted with confused yet surprised faces.

“You saw what he can do now, right? If you really think that he’s still the same back when you started bullying him, then, you’re completely mistaken. So if you still want to bully him, be my guest. That’s everything that I want to say. Goodbye,” I said, still smiling and left.

After that, the three looked at each other with anxious faces.

“Let’s...just leave him alone?” the kid in glasses and the skinny one whispered.

“That’s right,” the fat kid followed with an evil grin. “At least not directly anymore.”

“What are you planning to do?” the kid in glasses asked curiously.

“I have a plan for the upcoming Trinity Grand Race.”

As for me, as I walked towards the school, Pixie suddenly flew next to me and said, “When are you planning to tell them?”

“Well, to think that I only have a week to stay here,” I muttered with a sad smile as I look at the blue sky.

Pixie then looked at me solemnly.

“Let’s do this, Pixie...for the future that we want,” I said to her with a smile and she nodded.