Just moving it over from my Tumblr (the three parts were posted almost a year ago, incidentally). I do have ideas of what comes next but haven't got around to writing them. These are meant to be brief, connected snippets anyway.
It's a week after the incident when Sho, now sans armband, walks into class.
The volume dips when he pokes his face through the door. A forced laugh swings the conversations back to where they were, but Sho can tell the effect he had.
There had been the briefest moment of shock on both Kanzaki Urumi's and Aizawa Miyabi's faces, before they returned to their conversation with Nomura Tomoko, resolutely not looking in his direction. Other members of the class aren't as good at hiding their surprise. Murai Kunio and his gang aren't even trying, though Murai himself is the worst of the lot. There's open hatred on his face. His nostrils are so wide you could drive a train through them. Murai slams one hand on his desk, quieting the class, and gets up.
Ah. He's got everyone's attention now.
"What're you doing here?" Murai stalks towards him, and Sho takes a deep breath. He turns slightly towards his desk, angling his body against Murai's approach. The left side of his mouth turns up.
"School," Sho says. He shuts Murai's next outburst up by continuing to speak. "Education. My compulsory 9 years." This wasn't how he'd planned it would go. Wasn't he supposed to apologise? He'd told himself that he would, anyway. His gaze flickers over from Murai to Kikuchi for a second, and he hates that he's seeking somebody like him for reassurance.
An expressionless Kikuchi inclines his head almost imperceptibly. From him, that's as close as it gets to encouragement. Sho starts to make his way to his own desk, shrugging off Murai's grip. Fuyutsuki's entrance prevents it from escalating when Murai pulls him back.
"Sensei, is this okay?" the ever-belligerent Murai asks. Some of the class murmurs their agreement, and Aizawa Miyabi speaks. To his surprise, her voice is hard. It doesn't tremble. Hadn't she been a weak, stupid girl just last week?
"Sensei, this person called a group of thugs to our school with the intent of causing us great physical harm. They hit Onizuka-sensei on the head and sent him to hospital. He even stabbed Kikuchi. How can we let this person back into our classroom?"
Kikuchi's smooth voice silences the following dissent, but Sho can imagine him rubbing his leg as he speaks. "It was a shallow cut. We are not pressing charges."
When Fuyutsuki speaks, her voice is also full of authority. "Murai-kun, Shibuya-kun, please return to your seats." As Sho does so, she continues to speak. "Onizuka-sensei is seeking treatment for a chronic medical problem. While the incident last week certainly contributed to it, it didn't cause it."
Sho can only stare forward at the blackboard as the class erupts into discussion, until Fuyutsuki-sensei enters his field of vision. She leans down and stares straight at him, with an expression that can only be described as kind, though he's sure she's faking it. Didn't he send her boyfriend to the hospital just a week before? What was he even doing in this school still? Why did they refuse to expel him?
She seems to read something in his face, and he narrows his eyes and composes himself, staring coolly back.
"Sho-kun," Fuyutsuki says. He doesn't reply.
"Sho-kun, it seems that you have something you want to say to the class, but you're not ready yet. Am I right?"
Sho grits his teeth, presses his lips together, and shrugs. He's not going to lose this staring contest.
Fuyutsuki smiles at him again, and walks back to the front of the classroom. "We'll be waiting, Sho-kun," she says, before launching into the start of her lesson.
But Sho can feel the glares from all four corners of the room, and wonders if it was really such a good idea to come back.
Basically these three snippets mean that I loved Shibuya Sho in the drama way too much. orz And then he went and didn't appear in the SP...
