I finally got my key in the lock and stumbled into my apartment. My whole body felt like one giant bruise. I slammed the door shut and the sound echoed in the quiet space.
'Home,' I thought. 'Finally.'
I dropped my backpack right there on the floor. My crutches clattered down next to it. I didn't even care.
I limped over to the living room and just collapsed onto the couch. My jaw throbbed, and every breath made my ribs ache. I just lay there for a minute, staring at nothing.
What a completely insane day. It didn't even feel real.
'Did all that really happen?' I wondered. Tyler punching me, Nina crying, our talk in the park. It was like a week's worth of drama crammed into a few hours.
And at the center of it all was Nina.
I kept replaying our conversation in the park. 'We can just be friends,' she had said. I agreed. It felt like the right thing to say, the simplest path.
But was it really that simple?
'And what about that moment on the bench?' I thought. The one where she was touching my face and we were so close. My heart started beating a little faster just thinking about it.
It was so damn awkward after that. But then we actually talked. And it felt… easy.
Right then, my phone buzzed on the coffee table. I grunted as I leaned over to grab it. The screen lit up with my mom's picture.
'Oh, great,' I thought. 'What am I supposed to tell her?'
I swiped to answer. "Hey, Mom."
"Kofi, honey, are you okay?" she asked immediately. "You sound awful."
"Just a long day," I said, which was true, I guess. "I'm just tired."
"Are you still in pain? How are you getting on at school?" she asked, her voice full of that worry I was getting used to.
"It's fine, Mom. School is school."
There was a pause. "Did you talk to that girl, Nina, again?"
My whole body tensed up. "Yeah," I said, trying to sound casual. "We talked a little."
"That's good," she said, sounding relieved. "It's nice that you're making friends. You sound different when you talk about her, you know."
'Different how?' I wanted to ask, but I didn't. I had a feeling I didn't want to know the answer.
"I have to go, Mom," I said. "I've got homework."
"Okay, sweetie. I love you. Get some rest."
"Love you too," I said, and hung up. I tossed the phone back onto the table and let my head fall back against the cushions.
'Making friends,' I thought. My mom had no idea what a mess it was. It felt less like making friends and more like surviving a natural disaster.
But then I thought about Nina's laugh in the park. How for a few minutes, it didn't feel like a disaster at all. It just felt nice.
As if on cue, the air in front of me shimmered. The translucent blue window appeared, floating silently over the coffee table. I instinctively braced myself for another impossible mission.
But the words on the screen were different.
[Mission Complete: Become friends with Nina Shoka]
I just stared at it, my brain trying to catch up. 'Wait, what? It's complete?'
More text appeared, bright against the blue background.
[Friendship Status Confirmed: Sincerity and mutual understanding parameters met.]
[Reward: 5,000 NAD has been deposited to your bank account.]
'Sincerity and mutual understanding,' I read. So it wasn't just about saying the words. It was about that moment when we were both being honest. About feeling alone.
The system wasn't just checking boxes. It was actually reading the situation. That was… kind of weird.
The blue window vanished, leaving me in the quiet of my apartment. My phone buzzed again, a notification from my bank. The money was already there.
I let out a long breath I didn't realize I'd been holding. It felt like I'd just beat the final boss of some crazy, emotional video game.
I finally made it upstairs and just sat on the edge of my bed. Man, my ribs were killing me. Every little movement sent a fresh wave of pain through my face.
The doctor gave me some kind of balm for the pain. I opened the little jar and started rubbing it on my ribs, trying to be gentle. It was cold and smelled like medicine, but it felt a little better.
I grabbed the painkillers from my nightstand and swallowed two of them with the last of my water. I figured I'd just take a nap and try to sleep off the worst of it. Yeah, that sounded like a good plan.
When I woke up, the room was completely dark. I groaned and rolled over, my whole body feeling stiff and sore. My phone was lit up on the nightstand, showing it was 21:00.
'Damn, I slept for hours,' I thought.
I reached for my phone, my eyes still blurry. The screen was covered in notifications. Two missed calls and three texts, all from a number I didn't recognize.
'Who the hell is this?' I wondered. I swiped the screen open, my heart beating fast.
Unknown: hey kofi, it's nina
Unknown: i got your number from the class group. hope that's ok
Unknown: are you feeling ok?
'Oh, shit,' I thought. My hands were already starting to feel clammy. 'What am I supposed to say?'
I just stared at the screen for a full minute, my thumb hovering over the keyboard. I didn't want to sound like a jerk, but I didn't want to sound too eager either.
Me: hey. im fine. Body still hurts
It was stupid, but it was all I could think of. I hit send before I could overthink it anymore. Her reply came back almost instantly.
Nina: i'm so sorry. i feel like this is all my fault
Me: it's not. i already told you that
Nina: i know but still. did you eat anything?
I looked around my empty room. The idea of trying to chew anything sounded awful.
Me: no. probably just gonna drink some soup or something later
Nina: you should eat. you need to for the painkillers to work right
I stared at her message. 'She sounds like my mom,' I thought. It was weirdly comforting, though.
Me: i'll find something. don't worry about me.
I didn't want her to feel like she had to take care of me. That was just going to make her feel guilty again, and we were finally past that.
Nina: Ok, if you say so. But if you start puking again, I'm going to say I told you so.
I actually smiled at that. It was a normal, teasing kind of message. The kind a friend would send.
'This is okay,' I thought. 'We can do this. We can be friends.'
My mind went back to our talk in the park. The nerdy stuff. I decided to take a chance.
Me: so that band you were listening to. the lumineers?
Nina: Yeah?
Me: are they any good? or just 'mom music'?
I waited, my heart pounding. I felt like an idiot for being nervous over a text.
Nina: Hey! They're good! Their songs tell stories. It's nice. You should listen to 'Ophelia' sometime.
Me: maybe i will. if you read a manga i recommend.
Nina: Deal. What's it about? No weird tentacle stuff, right?
I laughed out loud at that, then immediately regretted it. "Ow," I muttered to myself, holding my ribs.
Me: no tentacles, i promise. it's a fantasy one. about a guy who gets reincarnated as a sword.
Nina: He gets reincarnated as a SWORD? That's the weirdest thing I've ever heard.
Me: it's good! trust me.
We kept texting like that for what felt like forever. She told me about the fantasy book she was reading, something about a school for assassins. I told her about the open-world RPG I was playing, and how I'd spent three hours just fishing instead of saving the world.
She thought that was hilarious.
This was easy. I had forgotten how easy it was to talk to people.