A Dull Shade of Purple
Chapter 1
At this one moment, he was completely happy with just fiddling with his shoelaces, legs brought up close to his torso, nothing to distract him. Only wanting to know just how quickly he could tie a knot with one hand.
Days on end would pass like this now: finding something meaningless and utterly pointless to do and immersing himself in it for hours. Once he got bored, he would move onto something else and waste time doing that.
The last, faint rays of the winter sun sparkled over the horizon before vanishing; Odd Della Robbia would watch, half-disinterested and half-fascinated at the end of yet another day before returning to his worn out, one-size-too-small, purple Converses.
Grumbling to himself at how hungry he was, Odd began to regret that he skipped dinner, despite the fact he had a pile of unfinished homework that needed doing within the next two days. He looked resentfully over at his best friend, Ulrich Stern, who was allowed extra portions of dinner after soccer training, thanks to Jim. Ulrich, who was snoring softly and only halfway out of his soccer gear before collapsing completely, twitched in his sleep, followed by a quiet grunt. Odd froze for a second, watching him to see if he would awaken. After half a minute, however, snoring resumed and Odd relaxed, glad he didn't wake his friend.
For some particular reason, which he hadn't been able to fathom for himself, Odd preferred solitude more often, disregarding his usually extraverted, jokey persona. It had been two months since the defeat of the logic and power driven virus, XANA, and recently Odd had been feeling obsolete more and more with every passing week since. He didn't know why it was only him feeling this and not any of his other friends (at least to the extent of his knowledge), but he knew for sure that XANA wasn't the only contributing factor.
He thought of speaking to Jeremie; to ask him for advice, before realising it would be the equivalent of trying to discuss politics with a brick wall. Jeremie love for writing programs or creating logarithms that only he could understand had not waned since the supercomputer was shut down. He paid little attention to his supposed girlfriend Aelita, at least none he could see in comparison to their group, and hardly showed any interest in anyone or anything unless it concerned computers.
If Odd needed to consult someone, Ulrich would be his go-to person. But Ulrich, alike to Jeremie, was more introverted and liked to bottle his feelings up rather than deal with them. Yumi was the same, perfectly functional in small groups, but socially awkward when faced with situations involving many people. Odd knew that this trait wasn't bad, it allowed for everyone in their circle of friends to have their own unique style, but for him right now, it couldn't have been more useless.
Odd's eyes, which had been casually drifting over everything in the room, fell upon a photo of him and the four other ex-Lyoko Warriors outside the factory in which they spent half of their time in over the past two years. There was Jeremie, leaning casually on the factory wall, an arm around his shoulders belonging to Ulrich whose other arm was around Yumi's waist in a hug that seemed a little too close than what would be considered "just friendly". On Yumi's other side, sitting on the grass was himself, tongue poking out through his trademark smile. One arm was connected with Yumi's via fist bump, and the other was used to give bunny ears to...
Aelita.
He could consult her for advice; Aelita, the naïve girl they freed from the supercomputer, the girl that has evolved so much over the past year and a half since her freedom from Lyoko. She was no longer the shy, fearful child with frequent nightmares but now the disc jockey for the Subdigitals. She was now the girl that had lived through problems yet still kept the group one and a whole. Odd realised that he could relate to her so much more now that she was as human as he.
He needed to talk to someone, and Aelita was his best bet. He didn't care if she wasn't able to help, but Odd felt the need to talk to someone, for the humour of Kadic Academy was fading away, and he was the one to see it first.
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The following day:
An unusual event that occurred for Yumi Ishiyama was to be alone at home, especially on a Sunday. But her father had gone on a small course for his business and her mother had decided to tag along to give him some company. Her brother on the other hand, had stayed the night at Kadic in Johnny's dorm. Johnny stayed in a double room, yet he had no roommate so a spare bed was available whenever it was needed. Nevertheless, Yumi relished in her solitude and the fact the usual morning noises were replaced with an eerie silence, just the way she liked it.
Yumi stared out the window at a sparrow that had taken abode inside a tree on her front yard, thinking about how she would pass the day. Maybe with Ulrich... a voice said inside her head and she blushed slightly at the idea despite there being no-one else in the room. With the recent defeat of XANA, she had more time to do things she only wished of before now. She had more time to study for her exams and finally was getting eight or more hours of sleep every night.
Finishing the last of her cereal, which she had always preferred over a traditional Japanese breakfast, Yumi slid off her chair, dumped her bowl into the sink and grabbed her bag. Taking one last look at the house before it was once more besieged by her family, the geisha made her way out of the house, and towards Kadic Academy. It wasn't a school day, but at least she would be doing something.
pgb
It was a miracle that the buttons on the only vending machine in Kadic had not yet broken, but they were looking worse for wear nowadays. However, this did not stop Ulrich from smashing the hot chocolate button relentlessly, hoping to get his drink dispensed faster. Luckily enough, a cup fell from the machine and thankfully was filled with steaming deliciousness; Ulrich grabbed the cup and breathed in the alluring scent before taking a small sip.
"Morning Ulrich," said a familiar voice from behind him. Ulrich turned to see Odd walking up to him and frowned at the lack of a terrible joke followed by a laugh. Odd's demeanour was also strange, his shoulders were hunched over, Ulrich noticed, as he got closer and he seemed to shuffle instead of walk. There were bags under his eyes and the almost non-stop grin wasn't there either.
"Hey, Odd. Up all night? You look terrible," Ulrich replied as he took another sip of his hot chocolate.
"Yeah, I couldn't sleep for some reason. How'd the soccer practice go?" Odd asked.
Ulrich narrowed his eyebrows, Odd had seemed to redirect the topic of conversation away from himself too quickly for his liking, "It was good," he shrugged, "if we continue like this, we should win our next match."
"Cool, hang on one sec," Odd said, and he stepped round Ulrich. He inserted a coin into the vending machine and pressed the "Coffee" key. The machine made a whirring sound before they heard a loud bang. The light on top went out, and neither cup nor coffee was dispensed.
Odd groaned, "You have got to be kidding me!" And he kicked the machine hard, "Why do you always break down?" He kicked it twice more, before storming off to the cafeteria.
Ulrich watched as this took place, completely shocked seeing his best friend react in such a way. "What was that about?" he thought. Taking it as just Odd being tired, Ulrich followed after him. But something in the back of his mind said there was something extremely wrong, and upon entering the cafeteria his suspicions were confirmed when he saw Odd near on throw his tray down in front of Rosa. The cook, who looked completely taken aback, gave Odd his serving of porridge without comment and Odd, who was glaring at the floor, took the tray and walked over to their usual table and slammed it down.
Something was definitely wrong with Odd Della Robbia, and Ulrich was just about to walk over to him and find out, when someone lightly punched his shoulder, "You need a haircut, y'know."
Ulrich turned to face the owner of the voice and saw Yumi there with a smile on her face, "Hey Yumi, what's up?" Ulrich grinned as he saw who it was.
"Nothing really, you?" She replied, reaching to push one of Ulrich's bangs out of his eyes. Ulrich blushed slightly as she did.
"Err," Ulrich was eyeing Yumi now, suspicious of her actions, "We- Well, I'm aching from last night's soccer practice but apart from that nothing."
"Great, you doing anything today, because I was thinking we could go watch a movie?" Yumi winked, "It can be your choice, I'm just up for something to pass the time."
"Just the two of us? Like- like a date?" Ulrich stammered and Yumi frowned.
"Not like a date silly, Odd, Jeremie and Aelita can come too if you want. That's if they're up for it as well." Yumi sighed.
"No," Ulrich said and Yumi looked shocked, "I- I mean, I'm cool with it being just us two." Ulrich added quickly and Yumi relaxed. "Great!" she exclaimed, "You having breakfast then?"
The suggestion of breakfast immediately reminded Ulrich of Odd, "Yeah, I was just about to get it," Ulrich stated. "Hey Yumi, have you noticed something off about Odd recently?" he asked as he made his way over to the serving counter with Yumi tailing him. Yumi glanced over at Odd, and shrugged, "No, not really, but..." Yumi tailed off.
"But what?" Ulrich prompted.
"Well, he has seemed a lot less jokey lately, and he's stopped trying to date every girl in the school." Yumi thought out loud, "He's probably just realised he run out of girls to dump and it hit him hard. Why, you think something's wrong with him."
Yumi grabbed two croissants and passed one to Ulrich while he was served some porridge, "Yeah, just earlier the vending machine broke on him, and he quite literally freaked out and kicked the thing."
"I'd kick it too, that stupid thing drives me crazy," They made their way over to where Odd was sitting playing with his porridge. He put some onto his spoon, lifted it slightly over his bowl, then flipped it upside-down, letting the food fall back into his bowl with a small "plop".
"Morning Odd!" Yumi greeted as she sat down, "What's up?"
"Nothing." Odd mumbled, barely flicking his eyes up to see who it was that was talking. Once again he scooped up some porridge, and let it fall into his bowl, not eating any of it.
"Jeez Odd, are you ill?" Yumi joked, "You're not eating anything. Rosa's food not up to your standards or something?"
"Not now Yumi." Odd said, quite harshly too Ulrich noticed. "Are you sure you're alright Odd?" The older boy quipped, "You haven't been your usual self lately."
"I'm fine, OK." Odd's voice was louder now, as if he was getting fed up with the conversation. "Just leave me alone."
And he stood up, glared at Ulrich and Yumi, who were looking utterly confused, and walked quickly out of the cafeteria. Ulrich watched as Odd moved across the courtyard, stopping at the dorm building and throwing the door open, letting it bang loudly against the wall. The brunette saw the younger boy glance sadly back at the cafeteria for a few seconds, before walking through the open door, and out of sight.
"What on earth was that about?" Yumi said after a minute of shocked silence.
"I don't know, Yumi, but it isn't good, whatever it is." Ulrich grimaced, staring at the door Odd had just passed through.
"Should we tell someone? Could Jeremie and Aelita help?"
"Yumi," Ulrich sighed, and both pairs of eyes caught each other in their gaze, "I really, truly don't know."
A.N: So, what do you guys think? Is it too cliché for you, or does it need to be more so? Leave a review telling me what you thought of the chapter and how I should improve. But please, no flames.
I don't know how many chapters long I should make this story. If I find myself running out of ideas, then the chapter quality won't be as good, so the story will be shorter. If you guys keep on liking it, then I'll try to keep it going!
This (hopefully) should be the longest authors note, so don't worry about having to read even more, post-chapter.
Thanks for reading! - BreadLoaf
...And don't forget to REVIEW!
