Hands shot out from the darkness - hands covered in mud and moss and wet earth - and grabbed me by the shoulders, and the boy's face - his terrible, terrible face - loomed close to mine. I could smell him, like rot and earth and shadows, and I thought I could hear words rising up from his throat like a gurgling river, sticky and wet.

"Hungry... so hungry... need... eat..."

"Get away," I cried, trying to twist away from him, but there were brambles and twigs snagging at my ankles, and his fingers dug into my arms like thorns. He drew closer, and that's when I saw he had no eyes, just dark, dark hollows. His mouth cracked open, teeth glinting like bone, and then-

-your pen stilled against the page as a shadow fell across you, cold and sudden, plunging your world into darkness. You looked up, and froze, meeting dark red eyes.

"Hi [L/N]-Chan," Tendou said, grinning down at you, teeth glinting like bone. Threads of cold sunlight wound through his hair, casting strange shadows across his face, dark hollows where his eyes should be. "Mind if I sit here?"

You tore your eyes from his, apprehension fluttering in your stomach like moths around a candle, before giving him a small nod. You could hardly refuse him, seeing as you were the one who had accidentally encouraged him to seek you out. You shuffled aside to make room for him, only just realising that the maple tree under which you were sitting was his usual haunt.

Tendou's eyes glanced curiously over your notebook, the story scrawled across the page in spidery ink, and you quickly closed it, hoping he didn't see too much. You still couldn't be sure if he'd already glimpsed through your notebook or not, but you'd always been self-conscious about people reading your stories.

He looked away, and began humming quietly as he dug through his bag, pulling out a book. You snuck a glance at the cover, and felt a faint smile ghost your lips. "Is that Junji Ito?" You blurted before you could help yourself.

Tendou's eyes found yours, and you were suddenly trapped in that glistening red gaze, curious and intelligent. It reminded you of the crows that nested in the tree outside your window, silently observing everything around them.

"You know him?" He said after a moment, his eyes flicking away from your face to look down at his book. Kyōfu Hakubutsukan (Museum of Terror).

"Y-yes. I mean, I've read a lot of his work. He's my favourite mangaka."

Tendou arched his thin eyebrows, and you felt his eyes on you again, even as you refused to meet them. Something about it was unnerving, like he saw more than he should. "Mine too," he said, giving you an almost sheepish smile. "Hm, do you want to read? I have more books in my bag."

You stared at him, hesitant. You'd told yourself not to get yourself involved with someone like Tendou, but here he was, offering you manga to read. Maybe you'd been wrong to feel so nervous around him. He was already being kinder to you than other students were. And he shared a similar interest in horror. You returned his smile more confidently. "Sure."

Pleased with your answer, Tendou rummaged around through his bag and pulled out a handful of books, the edges frayed and tatty. You studied the titles, and eventually picked one that looked interesting. Kiben Gakuha, Yotsuya-senpai no Kiadan.

"Thank you," you said softly.

Tendou lifted his shoulders in a lopsided shrug, returning to his manga, but you saw his smile widen a fraction from the corner of your eye.

You slid open the cover of the book and got lost between its pages.

"Huh," Tendou muttered to himself after a while of reading in silence, bringing the book closer to his face. You caught the movement from the corner of your eye, and watched as he scanned the page with almost feverish excitement, quickly flipping to the next page. You'd never seen someone so engrossed in manga before, and it made your heart skid a little in your chest.

When Tendou realised you were watching him, you quickly looked away, your fingers trembling in embarrassment.

"Hm?" He prompted, staring at you.

"N-nothing, sorry to disturb you," you mumbled, shaking hair over your face to hide your blushing cheeks.

Tendou narrowed his eyes a fraction, as if trying to connect a puzzle, then shrugged and returned to his book. You found it hard to concentrate on yours. You really didn't understand the boy beside you. He was odd, from his appearance to his mannerisms to his hobbies. But something about him intrigued you. You'd never met someone like him before, so curious and morbid in his own way. And all because of one fateful afternoon - like a scene straight out of a manga - here you were, getting entangled deeper into his life.

"Hey look, it's the two freaks sitting together."

You looked up sharply, your thoughts shattering into pieces as another thick, heavy shadow fell over where you and Tendou were sitting. Three boys were standing in front of you, arms crossed, dark sneers twisting their faces. You recognised the boy in front as someone who had often tried to trip you up and lock you in a toilet cubicle during your first year. You scowled darkly at them, noticing Tendou freeze up beside you.

The boy in front opened his mouth, exposing teeth as white as bone and sharp as thorns.

"What do we have here, huh? Some kinda freak party? Wouldn't surprise me if you were planning a murder."

"We're just reading," you muttered quietly, but your voice was lost beneath the sound of Tendou shuffling to his feet. He rose slowly, his arms dangling forward, his long legs stretching him up to the sky. You glimpsed his face, and saw his usual calm veneer - but also something else, something in the cracks below the surface. Something dark and bloody and-

"Murder?" Tendou said calmly, lifting his eyes to meet the boy's. He was more padded out with muscle than Tendou, but the redhead towered over him by a couple of inches, casting his features into shadow.

The boy's sneer shifted, and you caught a flash of uncertainty in his eyes. Up close, Tendou could be intimidating. The two behind him shuffled back a few steps, sneaking a glance towards each other.

"Maybe," Tendou continued, rolling his shoulders into a loose shrug. "Maybe we are planning a murder. Doesn't matter to me whose it is though."

The boy's face blanched so suddenly you thought he might faint, and you felt a smile spread uneasily across your face. That's one way to scare them off.

"Fucking freak," he spat, then turned on his heel and stalked off, his thick shoulders trembling - with fear or anger, you couldn't tell. The others jogged after him with a troubled glance over their shoulders.

Tendou turned and sat back down without looking at you, a stiffness to his movements that hadn't been there before, and a shadow marring the space between his brows.

You decided not to say anything.

Neither of you spoke for the rest of lunch, until the bell rang for next period.

"Thank you for letting me read your book, Tendou-San," you said as the boy stood up, the joints in his arms clicking as he stretched them over his head. You also climbed to your feet, brushing down your shirt before holding the manga out to him. He cocked his head and stared at you with narrowed eyes.

"Did you finish it?" He asked after a pause.

"Uh, no, not quite. I think there are a couple more chapters left."

"Then keep it for now," he said with a mild shrug, swinging his bag over his shoulder. He was already walking away. "You can return it to me tomorrow."

You quickly stuffed the book in your bag and stumbled over your feet as you tried to catch up with him. "H-hey, Tendou-San? Uhm, I was wondering, how do you manage to... to get rid of bullies so easily?" You blurted, twisting your hands together as you wondered where the question had come from. From his lanky frame, he didn't seem to have a lot of physical strength, and yet he always emerged from fights victorious.

Tendou looked back at you with that odd little grin of his, and once again your stomach was filled with moths, beating their silky wings against your ribs.

"You just have to know how to make them bleed."

Lol did anyone spot the references?

The passage at the start is taken from another fic of mine (House of Crows), and Kiben Gakuha, Yotsuya-senpai no Kiadan is a horror manga also by Haruichi Furudate (which I highly recommend! Furudate can honestly do no wrong when it comes to manga ♡)