No matter how many times Kenichi stepped into a classroom, he never felt more confident. Maybe it was the expected glare from another student always keeping his confidence down, or maybe that was just an excuse for incompetence on his part. Regardless, school was hard. Harder than it had to be sometimes, too. With drama stacked on top of just typical schoolwork and such.

Rising from his desk, it was still crazy to him that he took a pretty solid lead in size over most of the students he was around. Made it easier to keep them from bothering him too much; Though it was used against him sometimes, too. People trying to pick at it like it would be some kind of insecurity wasn't going to work however: At least it was better than the usual spiteful insults.

Turning his head to look out, he noted the rain coming down. 'It's a good thing I brought my jacket.' It wouldn't entirely keep him dry, but it was definitely better than nothing. He liked the rain, honestly: Made the air smell nice, and when it wasn't freezing outside it wasn't that terrible to be in. He just had to hope he wouldn't end up too soaked before his day was over. Maybe he'd go to the arcade for a bit, see if the rain passed. Though by the look of things outside, he had no real idea of how long it'd last. He assumed most of the day would be like this, at best.

He grabbed his back and began to take his leave. He noted a specific glare from a desk that had a few boys grouped up in a conversation: Not a guy he knew well, or... Wanted to know well, at least. Sugei Lao... They'd shared classes for years on end at this point, but the relationship was always the same. Sugei insults Kenichi, Kenichi would either ignore it and leave or a fight would start if Sugei pressed too hard. Regardless, having them near each-other with no supervision was usually bad. Thankfully for Kenichi, class had just ended. So all he got was a large, toothy grin from the smug bully as his small group looked over as well, seeming more annoyed than amused like Sugei himself.

Kenichi kept his head down, simply intending to get out and not deal with anything potentially happening. He stepped faster; His increased pace almost causing him to bump into a female student; One he sort of recognized, but not really? She had others occasionally asking her for help with their work. Having some help sure sounded nice, but Kenichi always had a bit of an uncertainty when approaching people unless it was for something in-the-moment: He wasn't very good at asking for things.

"S-Sorry, excuse me." He muttered quickly, stepping ahead and exiting the classroom. He just wanted to go grab his coat and get out of here. Nothing beneficial here; If he stayed around too long Sugei would show up for sure, and Kenichi didn't need trouble today. The semester was just getting started, if he started getting in trouble things would turn out bad for him. So avoidance outside of class was the best solution at the moment, and so far it had been working. Kenichi just hoped his 'luck' didn't run out terribly soon.

---

Haruki tapped his foot, leaning up against the alley wall next to the arcade. His client should have been here almost an hour ago. He glanced down by his ankle, where a neatly-wrapped stack of books sat. He sighed, looking around and jamming his hands into the voluminous pockets of his jacket. He hated waiting. Especially when he didn't have to. He grit his teeth, checking his beat-up flip phone again and scowling at the time displayed. He better be here soon, or else--

"Yo, kid."

Haruki turned toward the mouth of the alleyway, where a stout, balding salaryman stood, looking around nervously. Haruki glared as the man finally approached.

"You're late, Sojiro. Again."

"Had to make sure I wasn't being followed... you weren't followed, were you?"

"You know I wasn't. Would I be here if I was?" He picked up the package, shoving it- perhaps a little roughly- into Sojiro's flabby arms. "As important as these books are to you, you'd think you'd show up on time for once."

"Come on, I'm here, aren't I? What's a little waiting?" the man said, handing a wad of yen notes to Haruki.

"Time is money. Especially for me," he said, grabbing the bundle of notes and counting it. His frown deepened. "...You forgot my fee."

"I-it should be all there--"

"Late fee. You know the drill. I can't afford to wait on you like this every time, I have other deliveries I could be making."

"...I'm short this time. It's a rough month for everyone, kid."

Haruki snorted, making toward the street. "Then maybe you can find someone else to dangle like this, next time. Or you can do without your precious deliveries until things get better--"

"Nonono, wait!" The schlubby man cut Haruki off, almost panicked. "C'mon, kid, no one's better for deliveries like this than you, I can't wait that long!"

Haruki's glare was uncompromising. And distinctly unimpressed. "If you know I'm the best, then you know what I'm worth." He held up his phone. "Up to you."

Sojiro looked as though he wanted to argue. Until, with a defeated sigh, he fished out an extra couple of notes and pressed them into Haruki's hands.

"Crook."

"It's only thievery if you're not getting something out of it. You said it yourself, I'm the best." Haruki counted out the bills, neatly folding them into his wallet. "Can't say I know why these are that important to you."

"Ignorance is bliss, my friend. Shouldn't worry yourself over it."

The glare returned, and Sojiro even took a step back from the force of it. "I mean it. Next time you're late, you're off the list. I can't do this every time." Without waiting for a response, Haruki stomped off, mounting his bike in one smooth moment, and darting off at shocking speed. What a night. It was gonna be a hell of a day tomorrow at school.

This is why I need to stop doing these deliveries on school nights. He was interrupted by his stomach growling, as he bolted in the direction of his rail connection to the residential district. He laughed humorlessly.

...If only I had that option.

---

---

Haruki jumped in his seat as everyone started to shift out of their seats, cursing himself for falling asleep in class. He should be able to do better than this. At least he had some grocery money now. Enough to last him and his mother for the week, at least. He started to stand up, withering slightly under the teacher's glare. Yeah, he'd noticed. He'd probably pay for dozing off later.

Nooot looking forward to that. Especially since he had to find out somehow what the homework was. And going to the teacher first was a last resort. He looked around for someone who might know better.

There. A girl headed toward the door, away from the teacher, conveniently enough. He darted through after her, speaking up.

”Hey, miss. Could you give me a hand? I didn’t catch what the assignment was for homework before we were dismissed.”

For all the fanfare that accompanied his shift from middle schooler to high schooler, Kazuki didn’t really feel as if anything had changed. Outside of the smarter kids from his graduating class, most people stuck with the elevator school option of heading from Fukuyu into Hyakusawa, and as a result, Kazuki more or less knew everyone in his class already. That was a good thing, really. Didn’t have to worry about any new troublemakers popping out of the woodwork, and so long as he stayed on the first floor of the building, there was basically a zero percent chance of him having a random encounter with those troublesome upperclassmen delinquents, the ones that were literally just a year above him. Rumors had a habit of trickling down, after all, and by Friday, Kazuki knew all about it. The American giant, the ‘delivery boy’, and the Warden of the council. All bad news of varying sorts, but at least they had obvious tells to their identity. Red hair tended to stand out, after all, and being a tree amongst saplings did too.

Looked like he’d be able to coast through school too, if the lesson pacing continued this way.

With the impeccable punctuality expected of a Tokyo U mathematics major, Mr. Seishiro finished the last of his notes for the day with a flourish of his chalk, before pushing up his glasses. “We’ll be advancing to the next chapter on Monday, class. Please read ahead and do the exercises to prepare yourselves. As always, if you have any questions about the content we’ve covered today, you can speak to me in the teachers’ room.” The young man paused, his thumb and middle finger pressed together in anticipation. “Class is adjourned. Have a productive weekend, everyone.” And with a snap of his fingers, the school bell rang, the silent classroom suddenly filled with the noise of chattering students.

It impressed Kazuki every time, how well Mr. Seishiro kept track of his time. The lessons were never rushed, he always had just the right amount of time to answer questions during class, and above all…

“Um, Mr. Seishiro, do you mind going over the material with me again?”

…the teacher was handsome.

Normally, Kazuki wouldn’t really mind watching his female classmates fawn over the most eligible bachelor in Hyakusawa Academy, but this time, he was on class duty with one of them. Which meant he would soon be on class duty alone. Which meant he’d be late to the Bodybuilder’s Club today. Which meant he’d start his workout late too. And that’d mean he’d have to bust his ass biking to Royo’s Necessities, if he wanted to have any chance at all of getting there before all the discounted groceries were sold out. Which would suck.

…

Not that he’d do anything about it though. Wasn’t a fight worth fighting.

Casting another glance at the Seishiro Fanclub, Kazuki shook his head and sighed deeply, sliding his textbooks and notebooks into the bag he had since the first year of middle school. Maybe there was a friend he could rope into helping him? Yuuki had already left for his part-time work, Banri had scampered off immediately to the Literature Club, Rin still had a broken arm from when he broke Hanami’s heart, and Fumio didn’t even show up to class today.

Which meant Kazuki would have to give him class handouts today too. Good, if he remembered this now, he wouldn’t forget this later.
Rising from his seat, the brown-haired boy strode towards the blackboard, ready to clean up the erasers first. Along the way, one of the classmates he didn’t recognize looked at him. He looked back. They both looked at each other, but neither of them said anything. He tilted his head awkwardly. “Uuh…”

The stranger stood up suddenly. “Oh, um, like, do you need help?”

Kazuki took a step back at this, bumping into the desk behind him. The response came automatically though, before he even thought about it. “No, I’m fine.”

“Oh…”

“Yeah…thanks though?”

Kazuki rubbed the back of his neck while his classmate sorta just deflated. Very awkward now. Maybe he should have accepted her goodwill after all? But now it’d be even more awkward to just go back on what he just said moments ago. So in lieu of further embarrassment, the boy made an awkward smile and shuffled sideways away.

Work. Right, he had work to do! Hell, he had twice the amount of work to do, so he definitely had to get his act together now!

Shaking off whatever the hell that was, Kazuki began again his duty as classroom cleaner-upper.

"Kohaku-senpai, am I in trouble? Please don't tell me-"

"Stop being a pain in the ass."

Minase Kohaku hated the difficult ones. They would never immediately listen to his direction, which wasted more of his time; he had better places to be than the school, after all, and the faster that the boy could see his quarry to the student council room, the sooner he could leave. Even if it was Gamma who always issued the requests, there were obviously plenty of reasons why the student council president would want to meet an individual student besides being in trouble. Over the years, he'd noticed how much Gamma truly cared about the school and its population that frankly, he couldn't see how it was even possible. He always made a point to sit down with every single student at least twice each year, discussing subjects ranging from any personal troubles to academic futures; it was all for the sake of their own good, after all. It was something that Minase respected from his best friend; meeting all those people took a hell of a lot of time and energy, something that he would've found too exhausting. He heard enough whining at the arcade and his work, anyway.

Of course, this distinction was something that these first-years wouldn't know. The moment that they heard 'student council president' was when they began to write their own insecurities. Minase dropped his shoulders with an agitated sigh, digging into his pocket for a notepad that contained a list of names that were crossed out except for the last one. Class 1-D, first-year, Sasaki Tohru... short girl with black hair. His vision darted between the scribbled note and the student before turning away from her, motioning the girl to come along. "Just... follow me, Sasaki-chan."

As he looked through the corner of his eye, Minase was relieved to see that Tohru was finally cooperating, albeit still reluctantly from the way she quaked in her steps. 'Smooth,' he buried both hands and sarcasm into his pockets, keeping to himself as he could feel a dozen eyes watch them turn down the hallway.

"Kohaku Minase?"
"That's the Warden?"
"He's kinda scary looking..."
"I hear Nishimura-senpai makes him beat people up!"
"A delinquent in the student council?"
"Don't get in his way."
"Shh!! ..or you're next!"

He didn't give a shit about what small talk and rumors other people tried to spread. His student council duties were one of the few things that Minase enjoyed; it was only Gamma and the others who truly cared about him, who truly accepted him. People enforced his image as the Warden of Hyakusawa Academy like it was a bad thing, yet if it was to uphold his best friends' virtues, he would gladly embrace that title. Ensuring that Tohru was still following him, they were eventually met by the warm smile of the student council president.



Very eloquently dressed beyond ordinary student standards, Nishimura Gamma stood a few inches shorter than him, roughly average in height. His features were well-sculpted and handsome, his neatly-combed black hair just shy of falling over dark blue eyes. His complexion was naturally darker compared to most, nearly considered exotic in that regard. Every aspect of his best friend's appearance screamed student council president. "You've done such a good favor for me, Minase. As always, I apologize for putting this responsibility on you."

"For you, it's no problem," Minase stepped off to the side to allow Tohru to come forward, seeing Gamma study the girl intently before looking back up to him in the ensuing awkward silence. "Well, uh... I'll leave you to the meeting. Smell ya tomorrow, Gamma."

Just before the boy could start towards the stairway, Minase felt a surprisingly firm hand plant down onto his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. "Before you leave," the hushed voice of the student council president lingered close to his ear in a whisper. "For tomorrow..."

---

Class was always a hit or miss for him. Depending on the content of the subject, Minase was only truly invested in their History teacher's lessons; on the flip side, he did not welcome the migraines that Mathematics wrought upon him. His grades weren't even too bad for someone who was as disinterested and allergic to studying as he was, and more often than not, he found himself being scolded by the faculty for not applying himself. The boy just didn't see a point to all of it if he was just going to end up competing with others for the chance of having a future, anyway.

When the time finally came for their dismissal, Minase was the first to gather his belongings and shuffle out of the classroom. Though, instead of throwing himself into the downpour, the boy perched his back against the wall parallel to the classroom's doorway, pulling out the notepad to see who he was looking for.



Chihara Seiya was in the same class as he was, though the boy only knew her by name and the fact that she was a rather quiet girl that his classmates often sought assistance from with their schoolwork. To Gamma's surprise, Minase didn't even know what she looked like other than his fairly useless notes. Just about every other girl has black hair, you dumbass. A finger tapped against his temple as the boy carefully looked over each person who exited the classroom, drawing an exasperated sigh before opting to call off his search for the day. The notepad in his hand cycled with a cell phone, tossing a quick text message to Gamma about postponing the meeting for tomorrow before watching a certain someone bump into a girl at the doorway.

"Don't scare off another student, please. The student council already has enough problems to squash." Minase chided in the direction of the half-blooded offender, shaking his head with disgust towards Kenichi Richards before disappearing down the stairwell. He was not particularly fond of the other boy, in part of their heritage but mostly from their history of causing trouble. With the thought starting to get on his nerves, Minase plugged in his earphones, shifting his mind to ponder on which arcade he would go to for the afternoon.

He had just hoped to withdraw coolly; Not cause any issues among the class. But it seemed his apology, however scarce it might've been due to him hurrying, wasn't enough to save him from Minase Kohaku. His mere existence in the general area was enough to send shivers up spines; And Kenichi was weak willed enough at his words to find himself stiff and stopping in his tracks; A nervous expression taking over his features as his head turned, then followed Minase's movements for a moment: Kenichi couldn't manage a response to the individual labeled as the Warden. He tried to respect authority, but most of the problems he found himself with weren't things he started. Though finishing them made him a part of it, so it was fair enough to judge him on it.

Though this was just a slight mishap of not being fully aware of where he was walking; He hadn't even actually bumped anyone. He thought the words were unnecessary, and that lack of necessity for Minase's input melted whatever chill the he had and left a bit of annoyance in it's place. Though his annoyance with someone in Minase's position didn't mean much at all, giving that he was more so the prey rather than the hunter in these conflicts.

. . . Shaking his head, the tall lad had prepared to take his leave as a decision to ignore what had just happened to instead carry about his day to try and keep out of anymore trouble. At least, until a voice caught him as he tried to once again coolly withdraw from the classroom: Despite it being rather soft and kind, Kenichi's current annoyance and general defense mechanism with people he didn't know caused him to slowly turn, his eyes darkened with a stern glare straight at the person talking to him, and the short boy next to her.

This was very brief, however: Just getting an actual sight of who was talking to him was enough for his guard to lower. He had just stepped past her, yet she had picked up a pen he dropped on accident. Maybe it happened when he was bothered by the Warden... He scolded himself in his mind; Little too childish to be blaming a guy over a dropped pen, Ken... He accepted it back; Free hand scratching the back of his head as he felt like a bit of a goof for both dropping it and turning to assume everyone around was a threat. It certainly wasn't the case, but it was a habit he unfortunately had. He needed to break out of that.

"Oh, my bad!" He apologized, a grin on his face. Was he apologizing over the pen, or the glare? Nobody probably knew for sure, but the large young man wasn't currently passing off any aggressive or threatening aura aside from his sheer size compared to the two people in front of him. "I was kinda short while passing you; I'm sorry about that, I've, uh--" He held back the urge to look over at Lao, not wanting to instigate anything between anyone. "J-Just got a lot on my mind." Hand lowering from the back of his head, he might've offered to shake had it not been a weird thing to offer when there were two people in front of you. Despite him not holding a conversation with the short red-haired lad Kenichi had him included mentally for one reason or another.

"Thanks for telling me about my though! I appreciate you grabbing it for me."

Mentions: @Darcs

It took a second for the weight of the entire situation to settle in for the tall woman standing in the hallway. Now that it was clear that this wasn't destined to be a tragic event, with nurses being called in and papers having to be filed and a bunch of other stuff that would have been a complete waste of time, Shiori could full appreciate the silliness of the situation she now found herself in. Holding onto another girl, Shiori's arms carefully keeping her suspended above the floor, the two looking at each other with a long lingering stare. If there wasn't some idiot writing yuri fanfic about this moment, it would be a monumental upset. Not that Shiori knew anything about yuri fanfics. Nope. Definitely not.

As the girl opened her eyes once more and stared back up at Shiori, it was easier to get a good look now that things weren't moving in a blur of annoyance and fear. Those brown eyes she saw a moment before were clearer, the secrets moved off to the side and now operating in more of a survival mode, considering the way they were readjusting to the light. But they were definitely big, and confirmed what Shiori thought on first glance. This girl was cute. Almost unbelievably so for the area. If she actually was an American spy, she definitely had some weapons had her disposal. Of course, what info was she gonna get out of someone like Shiori? Oh noes, all my knowledge of basketball players that are one-tenth as good as the players in America! Exposed to the enemy! Yeah, there wasn't much at risk here.

The girl below her was definitely trying to play the entire thing off. As if she meant to swoon like an American-built bridge and tumble almost to the floor before Shiori's save kept her from that fate. The smile on her face was one that hid embarrassment. "So hey, before that whole "fainting spell" business, I was actually going to ask you out for coffee! Would you want to get coffee sometime? _{if you want, you don't have to though.}"

Coffee? So this was a ploy after all? Was she really coming up to me just for that? I mean, none of the dudes have even tried to approach me for something like coffee, let alone another girl. I figured I just put everyone off by being a freaking giant. She's got guts, I will give her that. And she can take a hip check, even if it isn't a very solid one. Fuck, who do I even know here? Besides the other girls on the team? Hmmm... maybe I do need to start making some other friends. Can't be too late for that. It's only... well April, but still. That's time enough, right?

Um. I feel like I'm saying a lot, am I saying a lot?"

Shiori smiled. No but I was definitely thinking a lot. Kinda missed the rest of that... She shook her head. "I think you're all right," she confirmed as she pulled the nameless girl back up to a standing position. "I'd rather hear you talking a lot than not at all." Shiori brushed her arms clean, making sure her uniform was still presentable enough to get her out of the building without a stern look from one of the other teachers. "Coffee sounds like an acceptable reward since I saved you from picking up a concussion. If you want, I'm free now to grab a cup. I was going to head to the court to see if there were any fools I could dust, but I probably should do something a little more low-key after all that."

Did you really just agree to go out with someone you just met? Shut up, brain! I can do whatever I want! You don't even know her name! Well I... I should probably know her name... You should know a lot of things before doing stuff like this! I said shut up! This is a compromise, OK?

Shiori pointed those unnaturally blue orbs back at her no-longer distressed damsel. "I'm sorry, I don't know if I ever got your name..."

The good thing about Mr. Seishiro, beyond his good looks, calming voice, and articulate speech, was that the teacher took exceptionally good notes. They were easy to read, easy to understand, and filled the entirety of the blackboard. Somehow, he always found a way to put an entire day’s worth of notes onto the blackboard without erasing a single thing, meaning that the less motivated students could simply take a picture of the board after class and not have to worry about missing anything at all, beyond the subtle disapproval of the fashionable educator.

That meant, though, that Kazuki had to erase everything, and by gods, there was a lot to erase. Pulling a stool underneath him to reach the very top of the board, the youth held cloth erasers in both hands and swept away calculations and notations with the full rotational range of his arms. Trails of blurry white followed the devastation of knowledge, and once the erasers had been so saturated by dust that they weren’t erasing anything at all, the brunette hopped off the stool and pushed open a window with his shoulder. The classroom was empty now, and he could probably slack off if he wanted to, but Kazuki knew that criminals and procrastinators were always caught when they least expected it. He allowed himself one breath of the fresh, spring wind, before clapping the erasers together. A cold, stony stench polluted the air, and he closed the window soon after, nose scrunched up.

A wet cloth worked to clean what residue remained on the chalkboard, and he soon shifted towards cleaning the desks. The surfaces were laminated, thankfully, and whatever scribbles found upon them were easily removed with the power of fabric and water once more. Predictably, someone had a crude penis drawn on it, not that Kazuki was going to report that. Someone else had scribbled down a couple notes on the surface, doubtlessly to aid them in the closed-book literature quiz the class had before lunch. The notes didn’t look all that useful though; someone hadn’t been paying attention to the quiz contents yesterday. He didn’t report that either, only dutifully scrubbed the evidence away. There were cute doodles too: a cat chewing on fish bones, an umbrella with two names under it, a repeated image of a flower that was missing another petal with each repetition. Real cute. Real nice. He erased them all anyways.

He also erased a death threat on the corner of a desk near the center of the room. Looked at that spot. Marked the location of the desk in his mind. Then kept his head down as he finished off the rest.

All that was left for the day was sweeping, and that…could have been half-assed, if people had actually used the goddamn cafeteria instead of their classroom. As it was, Kazuki hummed a quiet little tune as he used a straw broom to sweep all the trash into a great big disgusting lump of fried noodles, dried rice, tomato stems, apple seeds, infinite hair strands, and ew was that a booger? Yeah, he wasn’t going to scrape that off the floor. Some of the dust bunnies looked cute at least. Like the felt ornaments that Touko made before. He crouched down, reaching to his pockets for his smartphone. Then Kazuki stopped and felt very silly about wanting to take pictures of afterschool trash. What was he, an artist?

He stood up, gathered it all up into the dust pan, dumped it into the trash, put all the cleaning equipment back to where they belonged, groaned at the extra fifteen minutes it took to get everything done, and marched right out of the classroom towards the Gymnasium.

…

Five minutes later, Kazuki ran back into the classroom, snatched his bag off his desk, and ran out once more.

…

One minute after five minutes later, Kazuki, now definitely warmed up, ran back to close the classroom door properly.

Mentions: @Darcs

It felt like a silly question the second it left Shiori's mouth. This girl had been her classmate for how long? The basketball starlet was never the most attentive person in class, but still, there had to have been a role call at some point to spare her the embarrassment of admitting to this... this beauty that she didn't even have a name to put to that face with the cute little freckles dotting it around her nose. Her face had so much personality, so much going for it to spark conversation. So much better than the pale skin that never seemed to show signs of tanning, just going from blank to scorched whenever she played basketball outside in the summer. It was inviting, down to those full lips that seemingly beckoned to...

...

...there were things happening that Shiori was not fully prepared for at this time, and she had to stop herself to at least get some presence of mind back so she could pay attention to what those lips were saying.

"Oh, you didn't. Remember, I passed out drowning in the endless pools that are your eyes? You had to save me like one of those sexy lifeguards? It was all very dramatic."

Holy shit, did she actually just say that? She just said that! She is seriously laying the flirt on! This is what it's like to be outright flirted with! And it's not some creepy business student doing it! I...do I flirt back? Did I flirt first? I... Shiori's mind was racing now.

"I'd love to see you play sometime! I'm a statistics nerd when it comes to games like basketball, and I might not look it, but I'm an athlete myself. Gymnastics. I was even considering joining this school's team when they opened up tryouts for new members."

Already wants to see you play! This girl is so into me! I... oh wow, how do I even do this? Like, do I just take this? Do I give her a clear path already? Get her the courtside seats? Does Hyakusawa even have courtside seats? Shiori took a second to take in the girl's body some more. I guess it makes she is an athlete. She definitely has a gymnast's body. At least from the size and the fitness...

"Anyway, my name! Jazzy Cyra, back home they call me Jazzy Belle for... 'reasons.' But for you? Jazz works just fine."

Jazzy...even that name sounds musical...so exotic...It suits her well.

"And what about you? In my head I've just been calling you 'Mystery Classmate.'"

Right. My name. Ugh, it's going to sound so much lamer by comparison! Thanks a lot, Dad. Couldn't name me something cooler like Namiko or Akari or something...

Shiori finally let out a sigh that she didn't know she had been holding in during that whole exchange. "Right, well, as much as I'm honored to be THE mystery classmate out of the entire grade, I suppose it makes sense to give a name to replace that. My name is Hasegawa Shiori, but I've never been a fan of honorifics, so you just call me Shiori. Makes things a lot easier." The girl was certain to make sure Jazzy didn't fall into the same trap that many of the other students here did, referring to her by her last name and thinking of her father so much they accidentally use his name when addressing her. It happened two too many times for her liking. "I knew you had to be some kind of athlete the way your arms felt."

Fuck's sake, Shiori. Just admit you were feeling her up. Good work.

"Anyway, I'm not too sure of my lifeguard skills, but hopefully you don't go falling into that cup of coffee or anything so I have to find out, huh?"

Shiori closed her eyes and smiled, as if to try and make sure that Jazz knew that her offers and flirts had found a home here. Given the lack of attention since she arrived in Nashiro, it was nice to have someone take such a relatively pure interest... and even nicer to have that person be cute as all get out as well.

---

Haruki nodded gratefully as he caught up to the girl, and she started to fill him in on the assignment he needed. Awesome. No need for an awkward meeting with the teacher, he mused to himself, pulling out a notepad and writing it down. Then, to his surprise, she invited him to a cafe, to do the assignment with her. He paused. ...Does she not know me or something? That's... kinda refreshing. Not many people would be willing to do anything with the so-called "Red Dog" if they could help it.

Stupid nickname. But it's better than it could have been...

Still, before indulging, he should make sure he didn't have anything else that required looking at. Sojiro's late fee would keep him tidy for a few more days on its own, but it never hurt to check. He pulled out his flip phone, checking for any messages.

...Hm. No deliveries yet. I guess I do have time. He started to speak--

Until the gaijin showed up. Apparently he'd dropped his pen, and was now grabbing it back from his new compatriot. His eyes narrowed as he stared at him; not quite a glare, but certainly not friendly. He shook his head- he was being stupid. He had other things to do other than stare at the giant white boy. He turned toward the girl, ignoring the interloper entirely.

"A study session sounds awesome, thank you. I'm Akamine Haruki, by the way. Nice to meet you."

Mentions: @Darcs

It was a bad joke. Such a bad joke. So bad Shiori's dad would have been proud of her for making such a joke. Why did I say that? I don't know how she is going to take something like that. She knows I'm talking about her being clumsy, right? Ugh, I'm stupid.

Luckily, Jazz was taking it well in stride. "Oh you don't have to worry about that, I'm half-mermaid on my mother's side, you know. I'm quite the expert in not having to come up for air." VERY well in stride. Shiori didn't catch the full intonations of Jazz boasting about her lung capacity. Well, I suppose mermaids don't surface too often. Ariel was the exception, not the rule, right? Always lounging around on that rock? Shoot, summer needs to get here soon. Maybe if I try really hard I can find that happy medium between ghost and lobster...

The tall girl was so caught up in her own thoughts, she almost missed the reassurance that her new friend had offered. "Shiori is a really pretty name by the way."

Shiori smiled at the unexpected compliment. "Awwww, you're sweet. Thank you," she said, blushing a little bit. Even the slightest tinge was noticeable on her skin. "My father was adamant that all his children have names that start with Shi. I'm thankful he didn't take that one step further. Shiori, I can handle. Shigeno, I don't think I could have pulled that off. I would have to come up with an alternate name or something."

Is that too much info off the bat? Fuck, I don't even know.

She did her best to keep at a pace that Jazz could keep up with, but it was hard to do. She wasn't used to going slow. On the court it was all breakneck speed, all the time. She had a full-court game. It's part of what made her such a valuable player. And she usually was traveling by herself afterwards. So walking with other people, especially ones that she had nearly a foot on, it was something she was a bit out of practice on.

But the fact that she had to practice this was a welcome change. It was hard to try and maintain the same level of social happiness with all her friends being back in Sapporo. It wasn't the same having to get the dirt from Chie, Setsuko and Kazumi over the limited amount of internet that the Americans had allowed. There wasn't the same camaraderie when the physical aspect was removed. Plus, most of the others, Takako, Mitsuko, the like, they already had well-established circles of friendship. There was no reason to have the mercenary brought in when Shiori was only going to be there for the year. So having Jazz take such an interest in her and be willing to try and keep up with Shiori, it gave her a sense of happiness she didn't have outside of basketball in a while.

That said, feeling Jazz's hand brush up against her own was a sensation Shiori definitely wasn't expecting as quickly. Wow. She really tried that? Did she mean to try that? She looked over at Jazz, who now opened up a little more distance between the two of them, the same red visible on her cheeks that she was sure she had on display not moments before. Awwwwww, she's shy! That is so cute! I mean, would I be holding hands with someone this quickly? How long was it before Chie and I first tried something? Probably a bit longer than 10 minutes... still. This is gonna be fun. I can feel it.

Shiori was thinking about closing the gap between the two of them, until some kid, a boy from the looks of it, went tearing down the halls. Jazz seemed to be fully supportive of the impromptu track meet, shouting encouragement as he tore through the halls like a kamikaze wind. Shiori just stood, watching him disappear. Damn. He should really try out for track...

As they reached the door though, it became clear that he brought the rain with him as well as the rain. The downpour didn't look particularly threatening, but it was sufficient enough to make people think twice about braving it without some form of protection. It was clear Jazz was one of those people.

"Wanna steal someone's umbrella?"

Shiori thought for a second, then a sly smile crossed her face. "I actually do know of a quaint little coffee place just a couple blocks from here. It's run by the sweetest old couple. I think we can make a break for it there." She turned and looked over at Jazz. "You know, if you're not afraid of getting a little wet." She winked as she said that last sentence. Just tell her you want to fuck already, jeez She turned her attention back to the situation outside. "C'mon. I'll race you!" With that, she took off, uniform be damned if it got soaked or not as she intended to lead Jazz to their desired destination. As she stepped out into the weather, the rain felt good. It felt cleansing. As if the introduction of this Jazz girl into her life was the start of a new chapter in Nashiro.

Kazuki jumped when someone suddenly began shouting in the hallways. Whipping around, he looked frantically for the source of the aural explosion, but all he saw around him were two older students chatting about older student things. The windows then? Or maybe from another classroom? It was all very perplexing, and after wasting a good thirty seconds wondering if he was going to get inducted into some delinquent gang, the brunette decided that he was safe, and bolted off once more. Warm up, work out, grab the handouts from the teachers’ office, get those discount groceries, and then off to Fumio’s.

Easy peasy.

…

In another five minutes, Kazuki was amongst his lift buddies, the second and third year students that had muscles akin to a half-giant. With the mechanical certainty of hydraulic presses, they pushed and pulled and flexed and groaned, taking shots of ginseng protein shakes as the clanging of weights rang clearly throughout. The Bodily Health Maintenance Club was as aggressively positive as always, and their president was flexing at the mirror once more, isometric exercises boosting his self-esteem greatly. Impressive as always, Kazuki always felt a little bit impotent around him. If the president went full mache chad mode and said something like “Yeah, I fucked your girl. Whatcha gonna do about it?” Kazuki would probably end up just doing nothing.

Not that Everyone’s Muscle Bro™ was actually that sort of person, and not that Kazuki was going to get a girlfriend before the president graduated, but still…

“C’MON ZUKI-NI, PUT YOUR BACK INTO IT!”

“WAIT, NO, DON’T DO THAT! ENGAGE YOUR QUADS AND GLUTES MORE INSTEAD!”

“YEAH, BACK INJURIES ARE NO JOKE. AND LET’S SEE THAT SMILE, BRUDDA!”

Kazuki sorta wanted to die, but it was also nice not to think about anything other than dying from muscle fatigue. As the only first year in the club, everyone was nice to him, so it was always pleasant. Lifting up twenty pounds of weight with one hand, he sucked in a deep breath, imagined all his power welling up, and LIFTED!

Or, well, he tried to.

The reality of it was that he stayed in place, shaking and concentrating and not actually being able to lift up that weight after all. Who knew one’s muscles could be so rebellious when in the face of strain and effort? Kazuki knew. He experienced it every day.

…

Skipping the shower meant that Kazuki was a smelly boy by the time the bell rang for the end of afterschool activities, and skipping the shower also meant that Ms. Yamaguchi gave him a weird look when she handed Fumio’s handouts over to him, but his body odours meant that all the housewives in the grocery store he frequented kept themselves at a respectable distance. Enoki mushrooms, get! Instant dashi, get! Assorted greens, get! Cheap beef? Hell yeah! And can’t forget tomorrow’s lunch of today’s dinner bentos, either! Yay! With the efficiency of someone who had shopped way too many times at the same place, buying the same things, Kazuki breezed through everything, got bottlenecked at the cash register, and burst free, ready to do his final chore for the day. His schedule was shot to pieces, of course; he was half an hour behind everything.

But Fumio lived close by, in a two story apartment, with a mom who worked night shifts downtown. Kazuki turned the corner, entered the gates, bowed at the chainsmoking landlord, ran up the steps, regretted running up because his sore calves doth protest at such abuse, an-

“Oh, hey, Fumio, heading out after all?”

A blond youth, his dark roots showing on the crown of his head, turned towards Kazuki. His eyes were bagged again, his gaze listless. Lips were cracked. Had he not been eating? Still in slacks too. “Mm,” was his response.

Kazuki grinned. “Glad you see you feeling better then.” Wanna come over for dinner? He wasn’t going to say that.

“Naw.” A slow shake. He smelled of something oily, sticky. “Still shit.”

“Hope you, uh, get better soon.”

A blank stare, then a nod.

“So, am I blocking you?”

“Not really.”

Kazuki raised a brow. “You’re heading out though?”

Fumio remained unaffected. “I’ve headed out.” The pajama-clad youth took in a deep breath, eyes reflecting a rosy, golden suburb. “And now I’m done.”

“Oh. Kay.” Kazuki blinked twice, before quickly rummaging through his pack. “Right, your handouts. There’s readings to do for next week, but it’s still fairly chill so far.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

“I’ll go now.” Fumio stepped in and closed the door. A moment later, there was a click as the bolt locked in, and a moment later, the chain rattled as well, slid into its own slot.

Kazuki blinked a third time. He took in a deep breath as well, but only drew in the residual oiliness that tracked Fumio. That was gross. The boy shook his head, rubbed his nose, and headed back home.

He didn’t have time for this.

It was on dreary, rainy days that Kazuki wanted nothing more than to sleep in, but he was old enough to know better. He had been up before his alarm rang for 6:15AM, flicking the digital clock off so that it didn’t ring and wake his father up. His mind was still fuzzy, and his muscles were sore from the hellzone that was doing drop sets, but that was nothing a glass of cold milk couldn’t fix. Shrugging on a jacket and slipping on his fuzzy slippers, the brunette began cooking. Rice, instant miso, fried eggs, microwaved mackerel, and salad greens. There wasn’t much variation when it came to breakfast with the Magases, but it looked nice at least.

Not Instagram-worthy, but fuel was fuel, and his mom ate fast enough that it didn’t matter anyways. For her eating habits, Kazuki made sure that the miso and mackerel were lukewarm, and she guzzled it down like it was a competition. Unlike Kazuki, Ayumu Magase did have a habit of sleeping as long as she could. It wasn’t a normal morning if she wasn’t rushing to get to work on time, after all. A quick word of thanks, a quick word of farewell, and she was off, still skipping on one foot as she tried jamming her shoe onto the other. Kazuki held onto her lunch and her purse patiently, and approximately seven seconds later, his mom burst back into the suite, an awkward grin on her face as she took what she forgot, pecked Kazuki on the cheek, and booked it the hell out again.

He washed his face later; her kiss smelled of miso and fish.

His father was still asleep by the time Kazuki had finished eating and was ready to go. No reason him to wake up this early, not when the drama he followed didn’t start till 11AM. Kazuki had poked his head in the bedroom a couple of times, just to see if the man had woken up or not, but without any indication of consciousness, the youth cooked some extra meat, put everything on the stovetop, and decided that his father would probably be eating brunch instead.

Rain still waterfalled from the rafters when Kazuki left for school, dressed in his middle school raincoat. Another morning, another day. He yawned, pulled his plastic hood lower over his face, and marched off towards school.

He had forgotten his rain boots, of course, but there was no helping that.