Ducktales

As the bell chime finishes, you trod over to your shoe locker and open it, only to find a white envelope stamped with a love heart fluttering down from your locker. After standing there letting your brain load for a moment, you sigh and pick it up. The surrounding students who noticed all stare at you intently as you peel open the envelope, extra slowly to spite them but also because… you wanted to put off the inevitable for as long as possible.

“Aomi-san, huh? She was from 2-B if I recall correctly.” You mutter to yourself. “And she’s really sweet as well dammit.”

You sigh even harder and start heading towards the location mentioned in the letter while trying to ignore all the eyes glued onto you.

“I really hope this love letter trope dies out.”

***

Aomi-san was super sweet. She was also relatively cute and what little conversations you had with her had always flowed really well. So why did you find yourself rejecting this girl who had tears in her eyes? What was wrong with you? Why couldn’t you bring yourself to like her? Aomi-san bows to you and apologizes for calling you out of the blue then proceeds to dash off into the distance, clutching the envelope in her hands. A wave of sadness washed over you and you closed your eyes. It never felt good, rejecting somebody. Many people may think it feels good to be confessed to, and that rejecting someone can really stroke your ego. But it’s nothing like that. It hurts like a bitch to turn someone’s heartfelt feelings down.

While getting confessed to wasn’t exactly common for you, it wasn’t uncommon either. Once in middle school, twi- three times now in high school. And you had rejected every single one of those poor girls. Why? Because you could never bring yourself to like anyone. On school trips and sleepovers with friends everyone would always talk about the girls they liked in their class, or the date that they recently went on. When the questions came to you however you could never bring anything interesting to the table. Not once. You didn’t understand, and still don’t, why you couldn’t just be normal and find a girl you like. You knew for a fact that you were straight but every girl that you had met just… didn’t feel right to be your girlfriend.

Your thoughts are interrupted by a large impact on your back, causing you to grunt in response.

“IIII seee a gloomy looking person!” Subaru exclaims, twirling around and jumping in front of you, giggling in her high pitched, excited voice.

You force a smile back. “And I see someone who’s always too hyperactive.”

Subaru laughs. “Huh? This isn’t even hyperactive at all!” She cries.

“Yeah, at least not by your standards.”

Subaru pouts ever so slightly, something you don’t normally see from her. “I… saw the envelope from your locker by the way.” She says, slowing down to match your pace.

“Oh, that? Yeah…” You trail off.

The two of you walk in silence for a few seconds.

“Huh!? Isn’t this the part where you tell me how it went!?” She says breaking the silence, turning her head to you.

“Why do you think it’ll be any different from the other times?” You sigh. “I rejected her. I’ve already told you that there’s never been any girl on my mind.”

“Are you suuuuure? That may have been your last chance!” She says, almost bouncing around.

You just roll your eyes and continue walking, and can’t help but notice a small smile on her face, a face that almost looked relieved.

Before you can study her any further, she perks up. “Wanna go to the baseball pitch today?” She asks excitedly.

“No, not really.” You say flatly.

“Ehhhhhhh? Come on!” She says, tugging your arm as the two of you continue to bicker on and on.

Oozora Subaru was a bright and outgoing personality, and was often compared to the sun (and a duck, but that’s another story). Extremely extraverted, Subaru loved interacting with many people and also loved sports, despite having a rough childhood of being brought up in a hospital. You on the other hand, while not gloomy and introverted, was definitely more reserved and chilled out, making you wonder how you and Subaru had stayed such good friends since elementary school despite being polar opposites.

“Hey, hey! Come on!” She shouts in broken english, bat over her shoulder.

Winding yourself up, you throw a cutter, catching her off guard as she twists her body to hit the oncoming ball and sending it rolling across the worn out pitch.

“Surely that would count as a single!” She says, watching the ball as it rolls to a stop.

“Buuuuuu! Out!” You reply, causing her to laugh and send you her famous ‘oooooi!’ in response.

Chuckling, you look out at the golden sun that is starting to sink behind the great skyscrapers of Tokyo. The feelings of guilt and sadness that you felt from the events of today begin to melt away, and you find yourself wishing for this kind of life to go on forever. Just you and Subaru, childhood friends hanging out and having fun.

As the sun continues to set, you walk Subaru back home and continue to make small talk, while also doing your usual bickering and banter. As you approach her house the feeling you felt earlier while looking at the sunset hits you again, and you turn to look at Subaru as she cheerfully talks about her strange experiences with a moving company. As you study her intently you accept that this life certainly wasn’t going to last forever, and that you had possibly been taking Subaru for granted. She had always been there for you, and her cheerfulness would always at least bring a smile to your face even in the roughest of times. You begin to imagine a life without her and instantly dismiss the thought, noting that that would be the last thing you ever want. But said life could be fast approaching, with only a year and a half left of high school to spend time with her.

“W-what is it?” Subaru asks, her face slightly red.

Your eyes widen as you realise you had been staring at her this entire time. “N-nothing. I was just spacing out, sorry.” You say as you look away.

Subaru lets out a small giggle, only to be followed by an awkward silence that floats around until you reach her house.

“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow! Make sure to get some sleep, we have P.E tomorrow!” She says, opening the gate to her house.

“Uh, wait.” You say.

Subaru turns back to you, her head slightly cocked. Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck why did you say that? What do you plan on saying to her?

Looking down at your feet for a moment, you scratch your head before looking up at her. “Listen, I just… wanted to say that I appreciate you, Subaru.”

“E-eh?”

“Ah, dammit. I don’t really know what I’m saying but I felt like I need to tell you how much you mean to me. You always cheer me up and have always been there for me so… yeah. I just. Y’know… Thanks. Thanks for putting up with me for this long. I hope we can… I dunno, continue to be friends?”

You’re staring at your shoes again, too embarrassed to look up. This is REALLY not your style, and you begin to regret making the air so heavy.

You hear a shuffle from her direction. “O-oi! It’s fine! You’re my friend as well, and, I guess I appreciate you too!” She says in her usual cheerful voice.

You look back up at her and realise you must have been making quite the face, because her eyes widen, and then her expression softens from a grin into a small, melancholic smile. She slowly shuffles up to you, and keeps getting closer until her face is nearly touching your chest. This may be the closest she’s ever been to you.

“You know, this isn’t like you at all”

Your breath catches in your throat and you open your mouth in surprise. The voice that just came from Subaru’s lips was nothing like any sound she had ever made before. You didn’t dislike her usual high pitched duck voice, it was kind of cute but this… this was something else. It was as soft as silk and more beautiful than any voice you had ever heard before. The small sample that you had just heard hit you hard, and the world around you seemed to disappear. The only things in existence right now were you and Subaru.

“But thanks for saying that.” She continues in her new calm voice. “I really appreciate you too. I doubt anyone else could put up with me for this long. So.. thanks to you too.”

By now you’re sweating bullets. THE Subaru you had known for such a long time had suddenly showed a completely new side of herself and you had no idea how to react to it. Before you can, however, she pulls away from you and skips back towards her house.

“Alright, see you later for real this time!” She says, her normal voice returning, as well as your senses. Her door shuts and you stand there stunned for what felt like hours, trying to take in what had just happened. Finally, you kick yourself into action and begin walking to your house. Then jogging. Then running. Then full on sprinting. You had realised. Realised why you could never fall in love with anyone. Why no girl could make your heart flutter. It was because Subaru had always been there with you. She had always been the one. And for the first time ever, on this fated day, you had seen her as a woman. You had fallen in love with Oozora Subaru.