My Arata Complex

For Ruby to use the word 'judge' was enough for him to listen. To be honest, it was natural for anyone to see the wrong in her story. How Ruby- was wrong.

She started from a faint memory in middle school. Ruby, unlike the queen known to most of the students, had her fair share of being a normal girl in school. She laughed and cried with her friends; she celebrated and cursed life moments with them. One of these people was a wonder girl who was capable of doing almost everything lawful, and she was the group's treated leader: Hamada Tohru.

Tohsaki Ruby and Hamada Tohru shared the same middle school, the same classes, the same circle of friends, and the same source of happiness. In their circle of friends, these two were inseparable. Most of them thought it was because Tohru leeches on Ruby's money to get all the things she wanted, while some thought it was because Ruby showered herself with Tohru's golden reputation. They were dubbed Alexander and Thais* behind their backs, but the two cared so little they even laughed as they ridiculed those who wanted to destroy them.

However, they were still normal middle schoolers who get crushes. These was one of the few things that they did not share: the ultimate crush on this guy named Morikawa. Morikawa was the school best basketball player, leading to Tohru's fondness of playing the sport- and cementing her dedication to heal herself through the game. However, Ruby was not interested in the man. He was nothing but a musclehead in her secret opinion.

"Ah, look! He's passing by!" Tohru, who was still a giddy girl back in her younger years, quivered in excitement. She turned to Ruby and asked with fear. "I-Is my hair fine? It is good?"

"Don't worry, you're so pretty today. I'm sure he'll like you!" Ruby patted the blond locks Tohru had. She hated the way her best friend bleached her hair just because the guy said he will only talk to blond girls. However, she felt the urge to encourage her still. "Don't forget to smile!"

"Morikawa-kun!" Tohru soon ran to him as he got closer. "Are you available tomorrow? The athletic meet will start, and we have tickets for the opening ceremony."

"Ah, the athletic meet? Really? Must be a pain to get them." He only chuckled, forcing to interact with one of the school's most popular girls. His gaze strayed to Ruby before shifting it back to Tohru. "Are you two going to watch?"

"Yes! We have an extra so do you want to come with us!?" Tohru showed her enthusiasm so much, that her voice had gotten rather loud.

That was not the last time Tohru had asked Morikawa to come along. For some reasons, he just kept on coming... only when Ruby was with them. It did not take long before Ruby discovered that nightmare unfolding before her.

It was one of the times when Tohru invited him to eat with them. Since the she-jerk was the one fetching the orders, she left Ruby and Morikawa together in their table. There was not much people in the place, and so they got a table with a long seat that was shaped like the letter C. Ruby was fiddling on her phone while waiting for her friend to come back. The man, who was sitting across her, scooted to her side as if hoping to strike a conversation. Ruby was not interested so she only glanced at him and brought her gaze on her phone.

His hand suddenly flew to her thigh, just above the knee. Ruby froze at the action and glared at the man next to her.

"You know you're a lot prettier than Hamada. Why do you stay behind her all the time?" Morikawa trailed his hand higher, caressing the skin exposed by her skirt. "A lot more guys would be after you."

She was silenced by fear and confusion. Her hold on phone tightened. The rich girl took a deep breath before picking his hand up and tossing it away from her leg. "Don't touch me." Her voice was soft, but not weak. Anger flared inside her auburn eyes as if wanting to sock him right in the face.

"Haha, I like feisty girls like you." He blew some air against her ear.

All she could do was let out a sharp, terrified gasp before taking off. The man tried to grab her, but she evaded his hand. She ran outside of the restaurant, only to find the man chasing after her. The poor girl had to run towards the police station, while her best friend stood in front of an empty table. Tohru picked up Ruby's phone from the floor, and proceeded to eat by herself.

Days passed, and Ruby received calls from Morikawa more and more. He began using Tohru as his entry point to her body. Knowing how much Tohru liked the man, the rich girl committed a mistake she did out of good will and desperation. Her best friend managed to go out with Morikawa, and stayed that way unless Ruby stopped letting him have his way with her. The soiled woman had become a bed warmer of a man who got so shrewd, and because of a friend who was blinded by infatuation.

Graduation was approaching, and Morikawa started getting bored with his fun with Ruby. It was when he played with her grades and school reputation. He threatened to destroy her permanently through the lie she lived. However, the red stone had hardened, and so did her heart.

"Go ahead. I've already lost everything."

Chatters exploded along with the news of what was happening behind the back of Hamada Tohru, the greatest wonder girl in school, and the very best friend of the whore. Tohsaki Ruby walked the school hallways with whispers and chattering announcing her presence. Soon, she stood in front of Tohru with the rest of their friends in the school grounds.

"How dare you do that to me!?" The blond yelled at her, eyes and cheeks stricken with tears. "I trusted you! You were like a sister to me!"

Ruby stood quietly, her cold auburn eyes staring at her best friend. She did not say anything to defend herself, or even made the man look bad. She only stood there... until Tohru grabbed a stone from the grounds and threw it on her head. Blood dripped from her wound, but Ruby stood still. Soon enough, their other friends began stoning her.

The two women separated in bad terms, and they had gone through their lives, changed.

After sitting through a long story, Arata barely had any time to think. He had always thought that Ruby was a classy cruel duchess ever since she was a little child. He wanted to console her after going through the trouble of telling such a painful story. Then again, there was something else that stormed the back of his mind.

Instead of a sorry statement, he began to chuckle. He cared so little that Ruby frowned at his direction. He then waved his hands at her, plastering a grin to stop himself from giggling. "I'm so sorry! I don't mean any offense!" He huffed and scratched his head. "It was just I kept on noticing that you two were too similar, but are like two faces of the same coin. Hearing about your background..."

"You're not going to say anything about me?" Ruby pushed away his thoughts and asked for something more important to her.

"About that, I'm pretty sure you knew you made a mistake, but you chose not to apologize and accepted your punishment without defense." Arata hummed as he pulled his knees to his chest and held on them out of the searing cold. "I don't know why you chose to delude Tohru instead of giving her the harsh truth. Is there something you're scared of?"

"...I... don't want to lose Tohru," she whispered under her breath. "I thought that garbage excuse of a human was more important to her than me. I didn't expect her to see it differently."

"Differently?"

Ruby moved her head to the side, but her wet hair failed to follow. "After what happened to me, I heard that Tohru broke Morikawa's jaw and his right arm. She was allowed to graduate, but she received rehabilitation for her violence." She closed her eyes. "The next thing I know, we're in third year high school. We ran into each other on a rainy evening like this.

"I could remember the shock in her eyes. I think she was waiting for her boyfriend." Ruby opened her eyes and stared at the wall before her, as if seeing another glimpse of the past. "Her eyes never left me until the man took her away under his umbrella. He was with this other girl you knew; Wakaba, was it?"

"Did she call you?"

"Hm? Yes, she greeted me and offered me their spare umbrella. Tohru shared with the man after all." The queen leaned against the cool table, her uniform already dried from the wind and the time they had spent there.

'Council president?' Ruby remembered the first words she heard from Tohru after almost three years of separation.

"Your fight with her... is connected to this?" Arata hummed as he dug inside his bag. "The one last Tuesday?"

"Y-Yes. My birthday is in three weeks, and so my father asked me to invite some people from our school." She hooked some hair behind her ear. "I'm sorry if I did not prioritize inviting you. I was hoping you were not hard to convince to come."

"You invited Tohru?"

Ruby sighed and ran her hand through her hair as if finding the mood to attend to it by then. "Yes. It had been a while; and since you will be there, perhaps she might want to come. The other girls would be there, too, I guess." She smiled at a small thought. "I was planning to have a grand one this year because of everything I had achieved. Especially because you are here with me."

"Tell me when! I'll give you a good gift!" Arata laughed before pulling out two Minis from his inventory. It was the same pair he let Tohru keep. "I got these from somewhere. Do you want to have them?"

"It's Tohru..." She ignored the other one and took Tohru Mini from his hand. She stared at it for a while before looking at the other one. Ruby twitched as she saw herself as a small stuffed toy. She took it, but she gave suspicious eyes at the man. "You commissioned someone to make these for you? How shameless."

"Well, you can say so." He laughed out. He reached out and took her head and rested it against the crook of his neck. "I'm sorry things had gone for the worse. If you like, I'll talk to Tohru for you."

"It's fine. I took her rejection." She smiled at Arata, before leaning forward to kiss his cheek. "You're so kind, Arata. You're lucky Attei can stop herself from slitting the throats of all the girls you talk to."

"Yeah, I'm so lucky she' understanding." He petted Ruby before staring directly on her eyes. He received a peck on his lips, but it was all he got. It was satisfactory though, and so he pulled away and watched her muse over the Tohru Mini. "You must have missed her a lot."

"...She's more than a bitch Attei will ever be, but she's still the person who understood me the most." Ruby hummed, soon reaching for her bag and dropping the chains inside. "However, our friendship had been soiled. There's no way for us to be how we were before."

As Ruby spoke, Arata's gaze went to something else. A woman walked under the roof and stood nearby the maroon-haired lady, listening to her. She then lifted the dripping umbrella and tilted it just above Ruby, spilling some rain water on her drying hair. The queen screamed as she felt the kiss of sold water yet again.

"Ew, seeing you so sentimental." Tohru laughed out as she swiped the umbrella away from reach of the queen. The jerk lifted her gaze to the man who stood up as the queen screamed. "Someone called me and asked what I told you, Acchan. She knew you aren't home yet- so I came to get you."

"How dare you wet me with your umbrella!" Ruby abruptly got up and yelled at her. "And I don't need you to take me home!"

"Whoa, easy. The cab is for Acchan." Tohru made the most ridiculing face she could make to rile the queen. "Who said I came to fetch you?"

Ruby's breath hitched before taking a deep breath. She picked up her bag and hugged it before turning away from the two. "Alright then. I'll just wait out the rain on my own."

"I can-"

"Nah, your girl's off to check your house. Go home, god of the living!" Tohru waved her hand as if dismissing the man, even to the point of cutting him off from talking.

Arata glared at the she-jerk to complain, but the look her smug face dissolved into made him quiet. He only sighed and whisper as he passed her by. He ran up to the street and looked at the two women at the wet banks. He stared at their images, hoping that they would only be talking. He had not heard any notifications for a while, so he was scared a Challenge mode might happen.

Honk! The cab sounded its horn, only to make Arata leave them in good faith. He got into the car, and felt it drive away from the Magazine Bay. He brought out his phone and sent a message to Tohru.

The phone in her pocket vibrated. The she-jerk looked down at it, but she only pressed it through the fabric. She looked at the other girl before her. "Acchan must be very worried. Haha, but he still went to meet his girlfriend. Doesn't that make it feel funny for you?"

"I don't care about what you think." Ruby huffed, taking a deep breath. She sat on the table they hid and turned to Tohru. "So why did you stay?"

"..." -Tohru stared at the dark horizon- "I realized I don't belong next to Keita... so I came to your school to diss on you and your job in the council." She laughed for a second before turning to face her once best friend. "It's just now that it hit me... I just kinda wanna see you." She did an apologetic squirm towards her. "Do you want to sing the night away, Ruru?"

"How irresponsible." The school queen sighed with a glare. She huffed as she whipped her hair back and fixed her soaked uniform.

Ruby wore her bag and walked towards the other girl. Tohru opened the umbrella and let her walk beside her as they shared it. They continued to walk in silence, feeling the calmer yet cooler winds of the night.

However, Tohru twitched aloud. "Damn, I forgot to ask money from Arata!"