W I N G I T [Souji]

Souji finally decided to leave the real world after spending a while in the digital world and after he learned the he is woefully not prepared for the hardship that the digital presented, he decided to actually train and prepare for operation help spirit. And to do that, Souji gathered up the items he thought was neceissary for such an occasion, which are a first aid kit, flashlight, some batteries for the flashlight tissues and finally his digivice. Oh and he trained, by throwing some knives around which he convinced his parents that it was to impress a girl who likes bad boys? which is a lie no girl likes bad boys right ? anyways the time to go back to the digital world for real is now. After convincing his parents that he is going for 2 weeks camping with the school,with his backpack and the most boring yet effective outfit he has, he headed to the place that started this all, the river.

he reached there late at night, no one was there save for one girl that sat alone on a bench, but Souji did not see her yet as his gaze was fixed on the dirty river no matter how much he tried to hate falling there, he simply could not. No matter how pathetic the way he was thrown in there was, it did lead to him finding out about a whole new world and meet a lot of nice people. but enough thinking time to go to the train station.

But before he could go there, he noticed a girl sitting on a bench and looking at the stars. His thoughts went to many places as he wondered what is she doing here at night, the irony of him doing the same was lost on him. He then decided to go to her just in case she needed help, when he reached to the girl he clearly struggled to talk "Um C-can I s-sit here, if that is okay with you of course" He said, mainting eye contact with this stranger was one of the hardest thing he had to do, hopefully she says its ok so he can put the heavy backpack away and take a breather himself.

Souji chuckled nervously as the girl made a sarcastic comment after she made room for him on the bench, he took of his backpack gently placing it on the ground using the bench as support for it before sitting down next to the girl "haha well thats true, but I thought maybe you were waiting for some one to show up." He said with a light but sincere smile on his face. He would turn to her only to notice her gazing at the stars, he then did the same as he looked up.

Souji never honestly sat down and appreciated the stars in the skies before in his life, most of his outings were with his parents and those took place inside bulidings and mansions filled with people who could not be honest to themselves, but then again he is not sure if he his honest to themselves "Yeah, the sky's decorations are defiently fascinating it was always there, but we still get marveled by their beauty." Souji said his bright innocent eyes were fixed gazing at the stars.

His gaze would be broken shortly as the girl comments on his baggage and being blunt about it, Souji hated the fact that he had to lie, but there was no other option he needed to help his spirit regain his memories and he can't let the girl know cause that might put her in danger "Oh n-no, nothin-g of the sorts. I-I am just waiting for a friend we are going camping for 2 weeks." If someone looks at Souji's face they can tell he was lying as he failed to maintain eye contact with the girl and kept on scratching the right side his head. Souji waa nervous as he knew he was not a good lier, the only reason he managed to trick his parents was because they did not care that much about him other than forcing him to follow the path of his mother as an actor, which is ironic.

Souji got nervous when the girl said she was waiting for someone and that person might be him, for a second there Souji thought the girl was a psychic, the idea was insane but given the things he experinced recently this would not be the weirdest thing he will have happened to him. But luckily she was joking, he then chuckled with the girl "Hahaha, you scared me for a second. Thought you were a psychic and I just entered your territory." Maybe refrencing a shonen jump manga was not the best thing to do, but thats what came to Souji's mind and he said, he does not work well under pressure.

Souji took a second to ponder the question asked by the girl, "whats beyond the stars." He muttured his gaze getting ever so distant thinking about the stars and whats beyond, is it the solar system, or the galaxy, or even the infinite universe. Frankly thinking about too hard about the subject won't do him any good would it now ? So he turned his gaze towards thr girl with a satisfied look on his face " well that is the beauty of this world, the freedom of exploration and the sweet prize of the unknown. We are truly blessed with the ability of grabbing hold of the unknown and understand it." Souji said as for he was trapped in the upper class society of people, un-able to escape their narrowminded measures of beauty and success but finally he found a way to do so via the digital world.

But that did made him wonder was he going there to help his spirit, or is he being selfish and wanting to escape all of his problems ? Souji then quickly shook those idea out of his head, now was not the time for them.

But then the girl ambushed him with a couple of questions, he was shocked and did not know how to answer her. "Umm Kouan campsite." He only had this answer ready cause he had to tell that lie to his parents "And uhhh, I would love to have you, but its kinda of a friends get together. I do not know if the guys will be okay with that." Souji said as he failed to maintain eye contact, that coupled with tense body language tells the tale of a lying man.

But was there any other option really ? Souji did not want to risk exposing that world, so he had to resort to one of his least favourite things telling a lie.

That stranger's laugh was kind of infectious as Souji started to laugh as well, "hahaha, yeah that would have been crazy. But you know how those stories go, it will be revealed that I am also a psychic and how psychic are destined to cross path. " he said still laughing although in a quiter more contained way when compared to the girl but still enjoying himself "yeah, pity stuff like that does not happen in the real world. But I guess a quite life with a loving family is the thing most fantasy heroes want. So there is that." He stated as his mind quickly went to the fact that he is heading to a different world, where monsters and he has to borrow the power of an ancient spirit to help him regain his memories, but no need to bring that up right now.

The boy then turned to face the girl, and after a sincere nod "risking your life for something you truly believe in surrounded by people you love, then even the most dangerous obstacle becomes irrelevant, or atleast thats what I read, never been in that position myself to be honest. " has he said too much ? Probably, but he would not know, not like he has had any chance at a normal conversation with people his age most girls talk about how cool it is for him to hang out with celeberties and all the boys talk about how hot his mom is, so yeah its still uncharted territory for him.

He then turned towards the girl as she stated that she was interested in the campsite, this was not part of the plan. Worried souji began to think of the worst possible scenario that could happen and what the girl said was worse than he imagine "huh, what friends ? Oh yeah waiting, sure you can try to talk to them. "

((Damn it!! I screwed up, why must you be such an idiot Souji.)) Souji thought to himself, as he wondered how will he get himself out of this mess.

After a moment of silence Souji turned to the girl, looking her in the eye for only 2 seconds before taking his gaze elsewhere "So, I uh haven't introduce myself have I ? The name's Souji Himura I am a highschool student. How about you ? " Souji said as they waited for his "friends", usually he would have asked for advice from the mean spirit but he was asleep, now was not the best time, but them the brakes. He just hoped he can figure out a way to get out of this mess.

Souji laugh peetered out as he listened to the young girl talk about destiny, the girl seemed to dislike the idea of destiny. While he understood why she and some others dislike fate, the idea of being 100% in charge of one's own destiny is certainly way more appealing than having a great force controlling it, but Souji did not agree with her, he does believe in fate and does not view it with contempt. "I do not know, I do not hate fate. I believe everything happens for a reason, we just do not know why yet. But I could be wrong, after all no one can tell if fate exisits or not. I wonder can someone see the future ? If so would that be good or bad." Souji said as the idea was stuck in his mind for a while now.

He then thought about Ooi statement and how it might be true, can a hero who lives his life in the battlefield and is rewarded daily with glory ever stop and appreciate the simple things in life. "Huh, I guess you might be right. Its kinda like smokers, even though you tell them why stopping would be good they insist on Smoking like my dad for instance." He stopped for a second. "I guess we won't know thanks to our normal lives huh ?" He said as gazed at the river, honestly the fact that he has not slipped up and told her about the digital world is a miracle, hopefully it lasts.

Souji then thought about the girl's statement, can an ideal be more important than life ? Or is that selfish, can we hope to acheive a great cause without losing lives ? Those question were too much for a 17 year old boy, who lived most of his life secluded from the rest of the world, confined to meeting Japan's rich and famous for the most part. " I guess only the person who risked his life can tell if something is worth dying for or not. But life is a precious and beautiful thing, so I would hate to see someone throw it away. But what do I know, I am yet uneducated in such topics." He said looking down on the palm of his hand, maybe one day he will be able to travel the world and be able to answer such complicated questions.

Souji then chuckled nervously as the girl displayed and announced her excitement to meet his "friends", Souji did not know alot of things but he knew that he messed up and he needed to stop this thing from going further south. The girl introduced herself as Ooi, a 18 year old girl. So one year older than him. "I do hope we become friends, Ms Ooi. And I am 17 by the way still in highschool, but graduating is not too far away. " he said with a gentle yet weak smile, as he thought about how he regrets most of his highschool memories.

Souji was confused for a second when Ooi mentioned a strange name Souji could not realize, but he quickly figured what she was talking about."Oh favourite genre as in novels, I have not read only a few novels so I have no favourite. But if I have to choose it would be Yoshiki Tanaka, author of a couple stories including the heroic legend of Arslan and my favourite the legend of the galactic herors. But I gotta admit, I only know about him thanks to the anime adaptation of those two books." He said as he rubbed the back of his head nervously chuckling, Ooi seemed like a smart girl so he was worried that his next statement would make her laugh at him. " I am more of a manga, Anime and video games type. Although I would love to start reading classical stories, both from here and the west." He claimed, hoping that might help his case.

Souji was honestly kinda suprised at how direct the girl was, figured she might have strong feelings towards this subject. "I see, well that certainly would be crazy if you did that. But you would be just crazy, since you can't see the future you would be just an insane person. Honestly its a good thing we can't see the future, that would have led to chaos. If you could actually see the future then it might be okay? " he said still unsure of his statement, honestly he likes the idea of fate, the idea of him being a part of something bigger than his worldly troubles something that confirms his existance and give him the courage to explore the world. But maybe the girl was right, maybe fate does not exist and he has had the ability to control his life this whole time and him being thrown in the digital was not destiny but coincedence. "But then again, you could be right. I do not know, but maybe in time I will.......hopefully." the boy voice was filled with a mixture of confusion and doubt, he was still too inexperinced for this debate yet he wanted to participate.

He chuckled nervously with the girl before genuinely chuckling as she mentioned the knife again "oh yeah, I did not think for a second you actually had a knife. Now I think I should have been worried." He said before laughing in a more open manner, "I am just kidding." He said as he waved with his hand, for some reason the boy was comfortable joking, maybe it was influence of the people he met inside the digital world.

Souji was then shocked by the girls statement, did she know about the river portal. That would make things easier on him, Souji shook those thoughts away he can't risk it its too dangerous. "Haha, yeah like a portal that takes us to a different world how funny would that be. " he said as a joke but it was filled with the truth, honestly Souji is still overwhelmed with information but he can't wait to get back there.

"Ahh yes, fantasy is not for everyone but its still a great read focused more on the poltics behind the world as opposed to the fantasy. But his sci fi book The Legend of the galactic heroes is my favourite even though I do not like sci fi that much. " he said with a smile on his face, now this is a topic he can discuss comfortably.

"Final fantasy Tactics is a game I have not played but I have heard great things about. Maybe someday I should play, as for my favourite I would sepreate them into RPGs and fighting games. For fighting games I would like to say Guilty gear franchise, its fast based good character design and music the elements all fighting games need. As for RPGs I would pick Dragon quest 5 hand of the heavinly bride, it has a special place in my heart." He said with a kind and gentle smile, Souji could have talked about this topic for hours, but he didn't he did not want to bore Ooi. The fact that she did not make fun of him for not being as mature as her made him real happy.

Souji shook his head when Ooi apologized, yes she may have been more direct and might have come of as a little pushy but the young man did not see that as a bad thing. Infact having a heated debate was something he really likes, sadly he is only option was internet forums as in person most people agree with him thanks to his social status as the son of one of Japan's most famous actors Mika Himura so having Ooi get fired up in a debate was a nice experience for him. "No no, its okay. Debates that have alot of passion behind them is fun, people are different so its normal we would disagree at somethings. But if we can respect eachothers point of view things will be alright, right ?" He asked as he was doubting himself and the things he said, looking at the girl for approval.

Souji couldn't help but chuckle when the girl felt like explaining how she did not want to hurt him, he honestly never doubted the girl. Nor has he thought about the possibility that she would hurt him, whether trusting a complete stranger was a good thing or not was something Souji was not sure of as up to this point he has been acting on gut feelings, hopefully that does not come back to bite anytime soon "haha, no dont worry about it. I never suspected you or anything, I was just joking." Souji said with a smile on his face, honestly if it wasn't fot the fact that he had to lie this would have been a real fun encounter for him.

He then paid attention to the girl as she talked about the ficticous world where monsters live that was not remotely true, like a portal to that world does not exsist especially not on the river infront of them. He then could'nt help but to lower his gaze as the girl critcized fantasy for being a form of Escapism, it was not a new idea dwell on the internet enough and you will find people saying something like Ooi and she was not wrong but he did not see that as a bad thing, when he was down stories that helped seperate himself from the world, a place where he is not the son of a succesful person and there is no pressure on him that was something he could find in the stories that people call escapism, but his personal feelings aside he could see why stories like that could be exploited and overrun the market "I see what your coming from, even the shonen genre had that problem. Alot of Jump's titles have started to become stale, two of the new titles that peoe love are rather generic in my opinion so I kinda understand your point of view in the matter" Souji was amused with his convetsation with Ooi who even though is only 1 year older than him sounded alot more mature.

"Oh yeah retro games are really fun, they have this charm to them. But newer titles have alot of creativety as well, I think the problems you just mentioned are things that plague the western market more than it does here. Do not get me wrong there are a couple of Japanese games that boring and have zero creativety but there more good ones than bad in my humble opinion" Souji said with confidence, this was the topic he felt more comfortable with.

But then Ooi asked about his "friends" honestly Souji was at the end of his wits the longer he lies the more he sees that the whole he is in getting deeper, unable to maintain the pressure Souji decided to do the unthinkable and confess the truth and was even prepared to tell her about the digital world, "Uhhh" Souji tried to look the girl in the eyes when he told the truth but after one look he immediately took it away and looked at the ground, he then started twiddling his fingers his face blushed red from embarasdment. "Umm Can I confess something Miss Ooi, and I hope you would please understand." He said filled with feeling nervousness and Shame.