Chapter 6
A week had passed by since Edamura’s new look and attitude developed. Edamura had been hanging out more and more with his friends and his grades dropped more each day. It got so bad to the point where the school had called Linda.
“What’s this about?” She asked as she sat in a chair in the office. Edamura sat beside her, staring at his lap.
“We’re a bit concerned about Edamura’s grades. They’ve been dropping a lot lately. He went from being a straight A+ student to getting many F’s on his assignments. His grades have already dropped to D’s in all his classes.” The principal frowned.
“I see.” Edamura could hear the disappointment in Linda’s voice. He sighed.
When the meeting was over, he continued walking out of the school with Linda. She had a frown on her face. He had told his friends to wait for him after school, but maybe he should’ve told them to go without him.
“Edamame!” Cynthia waves to him with a smile. He looked over to see his friends standing at the entrance of the school.
“Edamura, we’re going home.” Linda said sternly.
“But-“
“No, Edamura! This is completely unacceptable!” Edamura was shocked. He had never heard Linda yell. She looked worried and upset for him. His friends seemed to catch on after hearing Linda yell. They waved goodbye to him as he walked with her to her car. As soon as they got into the car, Linda began yelling immediately.
“Makoto, I’m glad you’re making friends, I really am! But, you need to keep up your good grades. They’ll get you into college-“
“I don’t wanna go to college.” He replied blankly. She stopped for a moment in shock.
“Well, what do you wanna do then?” She furrowed her eyebrows.
“I don’t know! Nothing! I can’t even see a future for myself. Nobody wants me. I’m gonna be stuck in the orphanage until I’m 18 and then I’ll be kicked out. I’m never gonna have a family. I’m gonna end up homeless and depressed on the side of the road somewhere.” Edamura frowned as tears began to gather in his eyes.
“Makoto, you don’t actually believe that, do you? I’m never going to kick you out. I don’t care if you’re thirty living in the orphanage. Until you’re adopted, I’m your family. I’m not going to let that happen to you.” She pulled him into an embrace. Edamura finally let his tears out. He clenched the back of her shirt as he began to sob into the fabric.
“Why do we have to wait for him.” Abby groaned.
“Because he’s our friend! It won’t be fun without Edamame.” Cynthia replied. The three of them stood at the entrance to the school. Edamura hadn’t told them anything, just that he had a meeting with the principal after school.
After waiting for a while, they finally saw Edamura walk out with a woman. They assumed the woman was his mother, but they didn’t really look alike. Edamura and the woman were both frowning.
“Edamame!” Cynthia yelled, waving. The woman said something to him with a stern expression. When Edamura opened his mouth to talk back to her, she interrupted him with a yell.
“No, Edamura! This is completely unacceptable!” The three friends glanced at each other and took the hint that Edamura wouldn’t be joining them that day. They waved goodbye to him as he followed the woman outside. They followed behind at a safe distance, until they saw them get into a car.
“Shall we head to the student parking lot then?” Laurent asked. Cynthia and Abby were busy looking at the car. Laurent looked to see Edamura sobbing into the woman’s shirt. It worried them to see Edamura break down like that. They thought he was doing fine. They wondered what the meeting was about, but decided not to ask him about it.
When Edamura showed up to school the next day, he looked tired. His friends thought they had all come to a mutual agreement to not talk about it. Apparently Abby hadn’t thought the same.
“Get yelled at by your mom yesterday?” She asked.
“Something like that.” He smiled slightly. Linda and him had talked about Edamura’s plans for the future after that. Edamura told her he had no idea what he even wanted to do after high school. She told him that was completely okay, and that college wasn’t always necessary for a happy and healthy life.
“Ugh. I don’t even know why I decided to come to school today. I’m not feeling it.” Cynthia sighed.
“Let’s skip.” Laurent suggested.
“What?” Edamura frowned.
“You don’t have to come with us. I’m in.” Abby said.
“Yes! It’s been a while since we skipped together!” Cynthia grinned.
“You in, Edamame?” Laurent smirked.
“Yeah, sure.” Edamura responded immediately. The three of them nearly gasped in shock. They hadn’t expected him to go without a fight.
“Let’s sneak out through the gym hallway. There aren’t any cameras at that door.” Laurent informed them.
When all was said and done and they had successfully gotten to Laurent’s car, they were faced with a decision.
“Where to?” Laurent asked.
“Oh! I just downloaded this app called randonaut! Apparently it takes you to weird and creepy places. I’ve seen a lot of people doing it on TikTok. Some people even found dead bodies!” Cynthia grinned devilishly.
“Cynthia?” Abby began.
“Yeah?” She replied.
“Open the app.” Cynthia did as she was told and they had their first set of directions.
The first place it brought them to was the board of education building. They pulled into a parking space behind the building and began walking to where it led them. It ended up leading them to a rusty old swing set in the grass. A single dirty glove sat beside it in the grass.
“Creepy.” Edamura shuddered.
“You guys think a kid died here or something?” Abby asked.
“Maybe, you never know.” Laurent shrugged.
“I got the location of the next place when you’re ready.” Cynthia told them.
The next three locations were burnt down sheds. It was a bit odd that they all led to burnt down sheds of all things. On the way to the next location, there was a graveyard off to the side of the road.
“Oh! Can we go to the graveyard? I like looking at graves!” Cynthia exclaimed excitedly. Laurent parked and they went into the graveyard. Some of the graves were as old as the 1800s. Edamura thought that was fascinating. Once they had looked at all the graves, they went to the next location.
This time, they were led to a warehouse of some sort. It was leading them to a place in the woods behind the warehouse. There was a sign on the fence that said not to enter, but the gate was wide open. They walked down the path and towards the woods. There, they found animal bones. Laurent identified them as deer jawbones. They continued down the path into the forest, but they couldn’t find a way into the place the app was trying to lead them to. After getting bit by tons of mosquitos, they decided to turn around and go to their final destination.
The last place led them to someone’s house. Before Edamura could warn them not drive into the person’s driveway, Laurent did anyways. Once they saw the house, there was another burnt shed in front of it. A man stood outside the house and waved to them. Behind him, they noticed the skull of an animal hanging from his front door. As he started coming closer to the car, they began to panic.
“Turn the car around!” Abby yelled as the man got closer.
“I’m trying!” Laurent yelled back. Finally, he turned the car around and drove as far away as possible.
“That was terrifying!” Edamura yelled.
“Anyone else see the animal bones on that dude’s front door?” Cynthia added.
“Holy fuck I hope he didn’t get my plate number.” Laurent chuckled.
“Should we get a new location?” Abby asked.
“I think that’s enough for today.” Cynthia chuckled.
“More like enough for a lifetime.” Edamura muttered under his breath.
“What time is it?” Edamura asked when he realized the sun was beginning to set.
“It’s six. Need to be home at any particular time?” Laurent asked. He wasn’t sure if his curfew had changed after getting yelled at by his mom.
“My curfew is midnight.” Edamura reminded him.
“My mistake, I forgot. How about we go to the beach for a while?” Laurent asked.
“Sounds great!” Cynthia grinned.
By the time they got to the beach, the sun had already set. It was pitch dark there, aside from the moonlight and stars. They were the only people there. They took their shoes off before making their way onto the sand.
“I wonder what the water feels like.” Cynthia wondered aloud. She walked closer to the water and dipped her feet in.
“How is it?” Laurent asked.
“Perfect for skinny dipping!” Cynthia replied as she began taking her clothes off. Edamura blushed bright red as he watched her slip her shorts off and take her shirt off. He thought her nudity would stop there, but she unclasped her bra and slid her underwear down.
“What the fuck!” Edamura covered his eyes.
“What? I can’t get my clothes wet or else it’ll get Laurent’s car wet. And wearing wet underwear under my clothes would just suck.” She giggled as she stepped deeper into the water. Once she was fully submerged, Edamura uncovered his eyes.
Edamura blushed even brighter when he saw Laurent unbutton his pink Hawaiian shirt. After throwing that onto the sand, he pulled his pants off and his boxers. Edamura tried not to stare at him too much. Laurent noticed and winked at him before running into the water.
“Abby, this is insane!” Edamura turned to her, only to become mortified when he noticed she was taking her clothes off as well. Once the three of them were in the water, it was Laurent who told him to join.
“Come on, Edamame! The water feels great!” Laurent smirked at him.
“No way!” Edamura blushed.
“We won’t make fun of you for your little dick.” Abby yelled.
“Hey! My dick isn’t small!” Edamura defended.
“Sure.” She rolled her eyes.
“Prove you’re packing then!” Cynthia giggled as she splashed some water towards him. Edamura debated it for a while. They did look like they were having a lot of fun. Maybe he could go in with his clothes on? No, Laurent’s car would get ruined. Maybe he could leave his boxers on? Although as Cynthia mentioned, that’d be extremely uncomfortable.
In the end, Edamura sighed as he pulled his black sweater over his head. He heard a wolf whistle from Laurent and blushed deeply. He didn’t have anything to be ashamed of. He was pretty proud of his body, actually. It was just awkward having his friends watch him undress.
When Makoto unbuttoned his jeans and pulled them down, he stopped after reaching the waistband of his boxers. The last time someone had seen him naked was one of his father’s clients. Edamura shook his head. His friends were different. They wouldn’t hurt him. With that thought, he pulled his boxers off and ran into the water.
His first thought was that it was freezing. His second thought was that he was glad he had done it. It was a lot of fun splashing around with his friends. Abby almost drowned him a couple times, and Laurent’s hands might’ve “accidentally” brushed up against his ass a few times, yet Edamura still felt safe with them.
After they had gotten tired of swimming, they laid on the sand completely nude. Edamura gazed upon at the stars happily. He never thought he’d be doing something like this. Oddly, he felt so much more free than when he was with anyone else. He was also happy that he didn’t feel uncomfortable with people seeing him naked anymore. Maybe his next step would be to lose his girl virginity.
After they had gotten dressed, they got back into Laurent’s car. Laurent went down the familiar path to Edamura’s neighborhood.
“Address?” He asked once again.
“Park.” Edamura replied again. Abby huffed beside him. He ignored it.
“Are you sure?” Laurent asked as he went to get out of the car.
“Positive.” Edamura gave them a smile and a wave before beginning his walk home.