Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ Bitter And Murky ❯ Rude Awakening ( Chapter 1 )

“Please accept my affection!” confessed Yoshiteru. My friend and fellow middle school nerd was confessing to Orimoto, in the classroom. He’d admitted to wanting her four weeks earlier, privately, and had been working up the nerve to ask her out. As a dude-bro I backed off and let him, because men are meant to compete over things that matter, and something about her universal friendliness had raised the hairs on the back of my neck. Something was off. And her expression, one of fear and embarrassment, and her look at the girls and her followers in the classroom told me the truth. The things I’d read by Arthur Schopenhauer had resonated with me, probably because both mom and dad gave most of their affection to my cute little sister Komachi. And she is cute and likeable, and I’m the best big brother I can be, but she gets most of the parental affection. And what I’m seeing in Orimoto’s face right now… she’s been milking the system for power over other people, using her looks to control others. Her face is a lie.

And in that moment of despair for my friend, a moment that broke his mind, I learned the truth. Women do not love men. They love power. And most of all, they crave validation. A man can be happy, or he can get married, but he can’t be both.