"𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬," Bachira teased as you walked into class. Your eye throbbed from behind your sunglasses, and all your cuts and bruises burned from under the bandaids and makeup you had used to cover them up. The only reason why you hadn't skipped school was that you couldn't risk them calling your grandfather.
"Leave me alone," you growled, sinking into your chair.

"Y/n L/n, please report to the Principal's office." Bachira's smile suddenly fell at the sound of the intercom.
"Is everything alright?" He asked, eyes growing serious and brows furrowing with concern. Something about you was different, but he struggled to place it with your glasses blocking his view of your eyes. "Did something happen—" You stood up, ignoring his and the rest of the class's curious eyes on you as you exited the classroom. Your eye itched as you recalled the previous events from yesterday.

Was that what this was about?

You wondered as you opened the door to the front office. You walked past the guidance counselor's office, and you weren't surprised to see that it was still closed. Just as you began thinking she may have gotten fired or an accident happened, you came upon the Principal's office. You knocked unsurely on the door.

"Come in!" You opened it to see the principal sitting at her desk and Mai sitting across from her with tears in her eyes and tissue in hand. You almost jumped with excitement.

She was getting punished for what had happened!

"Please sit down and remove your glasses," the woman said, and you did so, removing your glasses to reveal the bandage you had used to cover your swollen eye. "I've been told by numerous witnesses that you attacked Miss Mai after school yesterday when she was trying to ask a favor from you." Your heart dropped. You turned to look at Mai as she wiped her eyes. Unlike you, she didn't attempt to hide the injuries you gave her, and her swollen jaw stuck out painfully against her pale skin.

"That's not what happened at all!" You all but shouted. "She got mad at me because I wouldn't give Reo that stupid love letter, and she and her friends attacked me!"
"Really?" The Principal asked skeptically. "Because Mai seems to be in far worse condition than you are. From the looks of it, you attacked Mai, and the injury to your eye was from her trying to fight back."
"That's bullshit," you said. "I covered all that up with makeup because I'm not trying to go around looking like I just got my ass kicked by five girls—"
"Watch your mouth, young lady!" You flinched as her shout echoed through the office. She scoffed as she stood up. "You may be new here, but I've looked at your records and seen where you're from." She picked up a piece of paper and slammed it on the desk in front of you.

Five-Day Suspension Notice.

"Violence will not be tolerated at this school, under any circumstances," she said. "And once you return, we will have a long discussion about your possible explosion. Do you understand?" You bit your tongue, knowing you wouldn't have been able to say another word without bursting into tears, and instead snatched the paper and stormed out. You grabbed your phone from your bag as you walked home and dialed a number.

"Hey, this is GF/n. Leave a message, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can." Tears finally fell as you hung up, instead pressing on another contact.

Dad

"The number you called cannot be reached at the moment—"

You walked into your house and slammed the door, throwing your bag across the living room as you leaned back against the door.

Go ahead, and expel me. I didn't want to come to this school anyway.

You sank to the floor as you hugged your knees to your chest, closing your eye and hoping you could wake up and be back home again.

Two days later, three weeks before the winter formal.

If your grandfather wasn't back by then, you already decided that you wouldn't attend that thing. Hell, you were somewhat hoping they'd expel you. You lay on the couch in the living room watching your favorite anime that the explosion had allowed you to catch up on, only to sigh as your phone vibrated.

I bet it's...Isagi

You had been getting so many texts since the day of your explosion, you made a game out of it. If you guessed right, you would get yourself a snack this time, but if you were wrong, you'd have to take the bandage off your eye. While the swelling had gone down, you wore it more to hide the ugliness of it rather than to keep it protected. You checked your phone.

<Unknown Number>

Hey, Y/n, it's Chigiri. You weren't at practice on Monday and now you haven't been to school. Is everything okay?

Dammit.

You left him on read like you had done with the rest as you reluctantly got up and went to the bathroom.

So far, you had six missed calls and four texts from Isagi, two texts from Reo and Bachira, and this was your first from Chigiri. You didn't even want to know how Chigiri and Bachira got your number, but you ignored them all. On your way to the bathroom, you checked the clock.

I would be at practice right now, you realized as you stood in front of the mirror. You reluctantly peeled the bandage back. You still couldn't fully open your eye, but it was past time for you to take it off. The rest of the cuts and bruises you had received were now ugly scabs, and while you could still feel a bit of swelling on your lip on the inside of your mouth, there were no physical signs of it. You sighed, wishing they had gone more for the gut or somewhere rather than your face. You picked up some Tylenol PM, making a mental note to grab some regular Tylenol as you took some.

Ding!

You frowned at the sound of your doorbell ringing.

You ventured into the living room, hoping your grandfather had sent you some gifts from wherever he was. You opened the door and were surprised to be met with the almost frantic eyes of the snowy-haired striker you had been sharing a project with. He was still in his practice clothes, but they were dirty or wrinkled, making you wonder how much practice he even made it to. His eyes widened at the sight of you. He opened his mouth and closed it, seemingly in shock.
"Your face..." He stepped forward, reaching a hand out only for you to slap it away.
"Go away, Nagi, go practice or something—" You tried to close the door on him, but he roughly forced it back open.
"Who did this to you?" He demanded, voice deathly calm. The look in his eyes sent a chill down your spine, and you couldn't stop him as he placed his hands on either side of your head, keeping you still as he ran his thumb over each cut and bruise.
"What happened to your face?" Tears filled your eyes at the memory and the frustration that came with it. The last thing you wanted to do was look pathetic, and you used all your might to shove him away. The most it did, though, surprise him and force him to let go of you.
"It doesn't matter!" you cried, and Nagi felt like the air had been punched from his lungs as he watched you attempt to wipe away your tears.
"Leave me alone. It's your fault anyway so just go away!" Now the tears wouldn't stop coming. Nagi stood there for a moment before approaching you slowly. He closed the door behind him as he pulled you into the living room onto the couch.
"What are you—"
"Chainsaw Man?" Nagi read the title of the show you were watching. "I've been meaning to try this." He sat down, pulling you to sit in between his legs with your back against his chest.
"Nagi—"
"Hush." ​​He wrapped a blanket around the two of you before draping his own arms to wrap around your waist. "It'll be okay."

A few hours later, you were out cold, and Nagi didn't know when he had gone from watching the show to watching your resting face. He doubted he had ever seen you look so peaceful. He removed one of his hands from around you to trace his hands over the blemishes on your face.

One, two, three, four...

He stopped when you flinched against him running his hand over your eye, grip on you tightening as he tried to quell his anger.

Whoever did this is gonna pay.

All he had to do was figure out who that person was. He looked around before noticing a half-empty bottle of Tylenol PM. It must've been for your eye. Nagi extended his arm over you to grab it. He turned the box over to look at the back, scanning it for a particular ingredient.

Acetaminophen.

He vaguely remembered this being mentioned in medical science class to cause drowsiness in some that used it. Thinking of a method Reo had used on him (or at least Reo told him he used), Nagi nudged you gently.

"Y/n," he said softly, nudging you again. "Y/n." You hummed tiredly, somewhat awake despite your eyes being closed. "I need you to tell me what happened to your eye." He nudged you again. "Can you do that for me, pretty?" You whined tiredly.
"Mmm...Mai..." You mumbled, but Nagi had already turned the TV down so he could hear you. "I... dunno the rest..." You mumbled, curling into him tighter. Nagi pulled the blanket further over your body.
"Good girl," he whispered, stroking your hair softly. "Go back to sleep now, 'kay?"
"Hurt..." You muttered, and Nagi looked down at you as you whimpered, clutching the hand around your waist. "Hurt, Nagi..." He shushed you, holding you tighter against him.
"I'm sure it did, angel," he whispered, pressing a kiss to your head. "I'll never let it happen again. Just Go back to sleep." After a moment, your pained face relaxed, and you began snoring lightly. Nagi waited until he was sure you were asleep before taking out his phone and pressing the number that was always at the top of his contacts.

"Wassup Nagi?" Reo's groggy voice came through the speaker, obviously tired from practice.
"Need you to find someone named Mai that goes to our school and anyone close to her," Nagi said quietly.
"Why?"
"I'll explain later, but track them down," he said. "It involves Y/n."
"I'm on it," Reo's voice grew serious at the mention of your name, and Nagi thanked him before hanging up. He looked down at you, pressing another kiss to your head as he closed his eyes.
"It's okay, pretty," he whispered. " 'm gonna make sure no one touches this face again."