Impressions
Kazuo x Reader
.:One:.
The sound of the bell pulled Kazuo from his daze. Turning away from the window where he'd been watching cars drive by, he stood up smoothly from his desk and slipped out the classroom door. As he merged with the crowd of students milling about the hallway, he heard Mitsuru's voice calling for him, asking frantically where "The Boss" was.
Kazuo ignored it.
Throwing open a door, he headed up the stairs and stepped out onto the rooftop. It was quieter up here, away from the noisy students. Below him, scattered on the grassy lawn, he could see teenagers eating their lunches as they chattered, backed by the low hum of traffic. From the corner of his eye, he spotted Mitsuru, along with the rest of the Kiriyama Family, stalking out the front doors. Ryuhei shoved some hapless student as he walked by, laughing as the kid's lunch went flying.
Kazuo didn't smile. He merely sat down on the roof as if he hadn't seen anything, stretching out his legs before him. His eyes closed.
It was then that the door to the roof opened, quiet footsteps approaching him. The person stopped a few yards away from his spot and spoke up in a feminine voice, "Kiriyama-kun? I'm sorry to disturb you, but may I sit here?"
Kazuo's eyes remained shut as he simply replied, "I'd prefer that you didn't."
.:Two:.
He looked out over the river, one of his legs dangling over the railing of the bridge he was perched on. The other was pulled up to his chest, his chin resting on the hand that was propped up on his knee.
A storm was approaching; he could smell the rain in the air, but Kazuo didn't bother to move. It was just rain. Just more water, falling from the sky into the river, where it would then flow down to join the sea. The gray sky churned above him, dark clouds roiling as the wind picked up speed. A few strands of hair escaped from his usual slicked-back hairstyle, fluttering into his face. And then the first drops of rain fell.
It started out slow—Kazuo could see where each individual drop fell, leaving dark spots on the concrete rail he was sitting on. He could feel it too; refreshing drops of rain fell on his face, his head, his shoulders, soaking into the black material of his school jacket. It was coming down harder now, torrential streams of it, lashing against the bridge and splashing up. Within minutes, he was drenched.
The river will probably be flooded, Kazuo thought idly as he watched the rain pepper the surface of the water.
No sooner had the thought crossed his mind when the downpour over his head abruptly stopped.
"You'll catch a cold like this, you know," a familiar voice remarked lightly from behind him.
Kazuo turned around, eyes settling on the petite girl standing there, one hand clutching the large purple umbrella currently shielding him from the elements. He vaguely recognized her as one of the girls who sat in the front of his classroom, but couldn't recall her name.
She smiled as he stared at her silently. "Come on, Kiriyama-kun. Let's get out of this storm."
xxXxx
They took refuge in a small café nearby, the bell above the door ringing cheerfully as they stepped inside. "I'll get us some tea, okay? Can you find us somewhere to sit?" she asked as she closed her umbrella.
Kazuo nodded slightly and walked toward the first empty booth he saw, sliding into the cushioned seat. Water dripped from the ends of his jacket and soaked into the seat, but there wasn't anything he could do about that. Directing his gaze outside, he watched as the rain pelted the glass window he was sitting next to.
"Here," the girl said, handing him a steaming cup before sitting down in the seat across from him. "I don't know how you like your tea, so I left it plain."
"It's all right." Kazuo wrapped his hands around the warm cup, feeling the heat seep into his numb fingers, slowly warming him up.
It was a pleasant feeling.
.:Three:.
"Boss!"
"Where have you been, Boss?"
"Kazuo-kun, we've missed you~"
Kazuo joined the four delinquents lounging on the steps of the school, taking a seat on the top step. Mitsuru, dedicated follower that he was, immediately scooted over so that he was closer to his leader. "You haven't been around lately, Boss. Is something wrong?" he asked worriedly, his brows furrowing.
"It's nothing you need to concern yourself with," Kazuo answered coolly.
"So cold, Kazuo-kun~" Sho remarked with a giggle. Ryuhei turned to him and made some joke, and all four boys broke into laughter.
Kazuo merely sat there, silently watching the other students.
He wasn't looking for her—why would he be?—but he still noticed that the girl he had shared tea with was nowhere to be seen.
.:Four:.
She was absent from school for a week. Then suddenly one day she was back, sitting in her seat in the front of the classroom as Kazuo walked in, followed by his fellow delinquents.
She caught his eye and smiled, waving a hand in greeting.
.:Five:.
"Hey, Kiriyama-kun."
Kazuo didn't look up from watching the students and cars down below, but he did shift his seated position on the roof slightly. His black school jacket was folded neatly beside him, leaving him in a simple white button-down shirt.
"Mind if I join you?"
Kazuo didn't reply for a while. Then, in a voice so soft, she could barely make it out over the laughter of the other students, he murmured, "Go ahead."
.:Six:.
Kazuo wasn't sure why this girl came up to him that day at lunch. He wasn't sure why she had insisted that he join her in the café for a cup of hot tea. And he wasn't sure why she was here now, lying on her back beside him and talking to him. She confided in him about her hospitalized mother—the reason for her week-long absence from school. He listened as she went on about how worried she and her father were, and how desperately she wished that her mother's situation would improve. She talked about anything and everything, and Kazuo was interested to discover that he didn't mind that much.
"The grass makes me itch," she remarked casually, scratching at her legs, which weren't covered by the skirt of her uniform.
"Then sit up."
"Nah." She rolled over onto her stomach. "This is more comfortable."
Kazuo didn't grace that statement with a response.
"Then again, you could always lend me your jacket to lie on," she joked cheerily, grinning up at the boy. Then she rolled back onto her back and focused on the periwinkle sky above them, finding pictures in the fluffy white clouds.
To her surprise, Kazuo shrugged off his jacket and handed it to her.
.:Seven:.
"May I call you Kazuo-kun?" she asked out of the blue one day.
"Sure." Then he paused, seeming to realize something important. "I don't even know your name."
She laughed and told him her name. "You never bothered asking before."
Kazuo shrugged and continued walking down the street. She kept up with his long strides easily, and they walked in silence for a while, going nowhere in particular.
"Kazuo-kun?" He didn't show any signs that he had heard her, but she knew he was listening. "What are you doing tomorrow?"
"I don't know."
"I see." She pursed her lips and straightened the collar of her shirt before continuing, "You should come with me to visit my mother in the hospital."
He was silent for a moment. Then Kazuo pulled a coin from his pocket. "If it comes up heads, I'll come with you. If it comes up tails, I'll spend tomorrow with Mitsuru and the rest of them."
She had to laugh at this bizarre decision-making method. "Okay then."
He flipped the coin.
It came up heads.
.:Eight:.
He was already leaning against the wall of the hospital when she showed up, greeting him with a smile. "Ready to go? Were you waiting long?"
"I'm all right," Kazuo responded, pushing off the wall and standing up straight.
She smiled again. "Let's go then." Her hand reached out and grasped his larger one, slender fingers twining with his.
Kazuo's sharp gaze locked on her face, which was currently turned toward the hospital entrance. The feel of her hand in his was unfamiliar, but he found that it managed to trigger that strange, elusive feeling in his left temple.
And he found that he didn't really mind.
A/N: I recently finished reading Battle Royale, and I must admit, it was probably one of the most fantastic books I've ever read. Therefore, I started writing fanfiction for it. Huzzah.
That said, I had major issues characterizing Kazuo here. He's a hard person to keep in character. I feel like he's a combination of like, Aizen from Bleach and Hibari from Katekyo Hitman Reborn! Or something along those lines. I don't really know.
And then I kept trying to write in second-person. I've been writing on Luna for way too long. *sigh*
Hope you enjoyed. Do drop a review if you'd be so kind.