"It was our pleasure presenting in front of you all." 

Both you and Hideaki bowed simultaneously, the clapping of the audience being the only thing that was ringing inside your ears. It was a job well done, and you wouldn't be able to put into words how jovial you were currently feeling because not only did you two seem like you were going to get high marks with how the teacher was pleasantly smiling, but also because you were now able to cut all ties that you had with Hideaki.

But you did admit that all those times that you'd spent with him after school hours weren't all that bad. Sometimes, he could be a pain in the arse, but having said that, he did have his own redeeming moments. He would explain to you everything that you didn't understand and intermittently, he would just throw you a snack that he had gotten from a vending machine that sold moderately priced goods for students in Royal Brix that weren't able to buy lunch from the cafeteria because as much as the food tasted like heaven there, some weren't privileged enough to have the cash needed to buy them every day.

Hideaki both had his good and bad sides, the hindmost being exposed more often than the aforesaid. With this in mind, would you still want to hang out with him after the reason that the two of you were gathered together had reached its end? 

Yes, but actually no. Would you explain your answer further? No.

Because you two were done, it was time for the duo to clean up after the visual aids that were taped on the blackboard. And for the reason that you two didn't have the greatest of distance separating you both, your hands had come in contact with his several times. You glanced at him sideways whenever the touching occurred, and each time, it had greatly frazzled you that he didn't even flinch considering that he often wore gloves to prevent catching the bacteria that other people carry with them.

No, you weren't making shit up because he actually said that to you during the times in which you had requested for a break while making the charts you two used today. Did his nonchalance meant that he was opening up to you and that you now weren't just one of the extras that filthied hs life?

You weren't too sure if you should be happy if that happened.

Once finished packing things up, the both of you returned back to your seats as you waited for two more pairs to present. After this, it was another vacant for you. You didn't really feel like you were going to school at this time around, excluding works like this one, because you had so much free time in your hands. You should be relishing this liberation though because once the exam weeks were soon to come, you would be bombarded with different projects from teachers and you wouldn't have the time to relax once that moment has arrived.

Leaning back on the support of your wooden chair that seemed like it was still freshly painted after being used for a couple of months now, your e/c eyes were directed at the bulbs attached to the ceiling. You should be listening right now to other reporters, but you couldn't really focus on them right now even if you wanted to.

As of the moment, you could feel some of your classmates peeping at you every now and then, presumably because of the incident that had happened the day before this one. Some were even whispering to themselves and they weren't even trying to hide that fact. This was also why you were not looking forward to your free time. You were certain that no matter where you went, you would be the subject of attention because of your little 'brawl' with Clementine. You couldn't even call it as that because the slapping that you received was so weak that it just felt like a mosquito was biting your cheeks and you were absolute that the punch that you had thrown at her face was 10 times more impactful than hers. It did crack her nose and all. 

You couldn't really find it in you to feel sorry for her and feel even an ounce of guilt. You just defended yourself from being bullied and it wasn't your fault that she was a weak asshat that couldn't slap for what's her worth. Going to your father and whining about something that didn't have anything to do with them wasn't your thing since you preferred doing and solving things on your own.

Minutes after minutes of mulling, the bell's chimes were heard all across the academy. That was how loud it was. Thanks to its sheer intensity, you were able to free yourself from your thoughts that were slowly confining you.

Righting yourself up on your feet, you had slung your gray messenger bag on your shoulder. It wasn't your favorite color out of the bunch, but when you went to a store that sold different kinds of bags, you were bummed to know that not only was black's stocks were still zero, no other color of which you had favored were available. Beggars couldn't be choosers, so you just took this one since it seemed like it was the only color left that was tolerable for you. Never in a million years would you let anyone see you in a light pink bag. No offense to the pink lovers out there, but the gaiety of that color just didn't match your taste. 

"Ah, wait," you heard Hideaki say. What else did he want from you? The presentation was already finished and there was no need for you two to ever converse again, unless there was another pair project that took place.

"Yeah?" 

"Are you free now? There is something that I want to discuss with you." Sentences like this always never failed to shake you to the core. Why not tell it now? Why make you feel agitated with what he was about to say?

You were curious, and it might be an exaggeration to say this, but you wouldn't be able to sleep until you learned as to what it was.

"Sure."
.
.

He was right beside you when you two walked within the stylishly modern decorations of the hallways even if the year 2000 wasn't here yet. The walls were of an ivory color, paintings of the different headmasters that ruled this school were pinned and they looked fairly new even if they were bound to have reached a couple of decades already.

You had only noticed the beauty of this whole establishment because before, you were too busy worrying for your life albeit after the many attempts of you trying to convince yourself that dying was natural and it would happen to everyone, regardless of age, race, ethnicity, and upbringing. 

There were enough feet that between you and the glasses-wearing male to ensure that this wouldn't spark controversy. You had enough drama in your life which was: the reveal of Yukio's masochism, Enki's confession to you, and the most recent one which was you bitch-slapping Clementine. You didn't want the fourth one to be about you being in contact with another male even if you were already in a relationship with someone else. Hideaki wouldn't like it as well and you did not aspire for other people to reach the same level of misfortune as you.

The staircase was coming near, and you were so deep into your thoughts that you didn't notice someone creeping behind you.

"Y/n! We haven't talked in so long that I feel like you were trying to avoid meee. You weren't actually trying to do that, were you?" Ruri had clung unto your arm and pulled you even further away from his brother. Graciously, no one was around here that much which meant that you could lower your down guard a bit and revel in the experience of not having almost everyone watching your every move.

"Of course not. Why would I when I have no reason to?" Now that Ruri had mentioned it, it did felt like it had been so long since you had talked to him. Were you like this with your other friends as well? Why had you only noticed it just now? It was now only dawning upon you that after Takuma's appearance, you were spending less and less time with the people that you genuinely cared about. Enki, Kane, Jiryu, and Ruri... 

"Of course! You're too kind to even do something like that," Ruri cooed, the biggest grin on his face. A week with now interaction with you was too much for someone like him. He longed to see you every single day, and the more he didn't, the more he felt his rationality wavering. Why were you so hard to interact with nowadays? It irked him that whenever he was looking for you, you were nowhere to be found. 

"Oh, you are now wearing the boy's uniform?" You had only seen it on him when you had wiggled yourself away from his hold with no effort at all. This was why you liked him. He might be clingy and all, but he would let go of you when you had shown signs of wanting to regain your personal bubble once more.

His eyes seemed to gleam and he nodded. "Does it look good on me?" He asked you, waiting for your response eagerly. It was irritating enough that the other juniors and seniors kept on latching on him without any shame at all. They thought that he was a transferee and some of the girls from before tried to seduce him. Disgusting. Some were even rubbing their bosoms on him! For dear's sake, couldn't they try to control themselves within the sights of an attractive fellow? The only reason why he had worn this, after all, was because he had wanted to impress you and all.

"Yes, it does. You even look more beautiful than me that I'm starting to question that maybe I was meant to be born as man," you said with a small smile on your face. You weren't trying to appease him, you were simply being honest. If someone had asked you the same thing and that the clothes they're wearing were unfitting of them, you would say that it's ugly at once, with no hesitation. But for Ruri, even with the school uniform on, he still looked as dashing as ever.

"Nonsense! You're still the prettiest! More than that goblin-looking Morris that acts so high-handed. I have heard of what occurred within that day and it was unfortunate that I wasn't there to protect you," he sighed wistfully. It was so unlucky indeed. He spared a glance at his younger brother and it almost made him smirk how Hideaki was showing his impatient facet again due to him being forgotten that he was actually there.

"Brother, L/n and I have something important to discuss. If you would just excuse us," you felt the leather of Hideaki's gloves grazing your skin as he held on to your wrist, ready to pull you away from his sibling.

"Oh? But couldn't you just say that over a text or something? It's been a while since we've hung out and if you can just spare me the time..." Ruri had clasped your other free wrist. You felt like you were the rope used in a tug-of-war and it wasn't a pleasing feeling. 

Hideaki sighed. "Aren't you gluing yourself too much to her? She has a lover for pete's sake." This topic wasn't being the one that's being talked about, but Hideaki was slowly losing his temper because of Ruri. He was being too overbearing and just by being in the same area as him was exhausting him.

"I am recognizant about that information. But does it seem like I give a damn? I've met her before he did and it is only rightful that I am able to spend time with her as much as I want to," and now you were slowly going to the side of Ruri, until you were pulled again by Hideaki.

"But-"

"I believe that she's going with me," someone hugged your waist from behind and if you hadn't said this before, you really loved Kane for saving the day and getting you out from this fiasco. The two brothers jolted and because of that, their grips had loosened, enough for Kane to be given the chance to drag you away from them.

She dragged you down the stairs and thankfully, your clumsy ass hadn't decided to act up now or else you'd be rolling down the stairs. Some students that were passing by looked at you two weirdly, wondering why you two were in such a hurry.

Once finished going down and after finally reaching the lowest ground, you were panting because moving that much wasn't healthy for your body. It was, but the amount of energy that it took for you to even run a mile was unhealthy for your form which was not used to all this moving.

"T...Thank you," you panted for a bit more. Kane had tugged you all the way up to near the entrance of the school which was a huge round platform to accommodate large amounts of students without having them bump into each other accidentally if graced with a lack of space restricting them from moving about.

""sal good, 'sal good. Saw that you were in a pretty difficult situation so a friend's gotta do what a friend's gotta do," she flashed you her pearly whites, and because of how infectious it was, it made you return it.

Kane was a literal godsend and nobody would be able to change your mind.

–

A/n: The calm before the storm. ;)

Unedited.