"Come, on Juudai! Let's get that little rogue!"
"Ready or not, here we come!"
Manjyome let out a yelp and quickly swung his head around, searching for a hiding place. His vision landed on the gray-haired boy who was currently trying to suppress a yawn with his hand. Misawa stopped yawning and stared blankly at his. Manjyome pointed a finger at his face.
"You. Ra boy. SAVE ME!"
He dashed behind him and used him as a human shield before a trainload of water hit him head on. Manjyome watched morbidly as his last remaining defense sunk into the water, revealing the forms of Juudai and Fubuki who was still grinning sadistically at him.
"Oh, Manjyome-kun…" the Blizzard prince sang. He blanched.
Clinging onto the soaked towel around his chest, he waddled as fast as he could to the edge of the pool and took a fateful leap out. Victory soared in his heart as he felt his feet touch the solid tiles—only to have it wretched away from his. Manjyome did a graceful face plant on the slippery floor. Juudai had grabbed hold onto one of his legs.
"GOTCHA!"
"Wasn't that fun?" he chirped joyfully as he pulled his black shirt over his head. Juudai then slipped on his red jacket and glanced at the others. "What did you guys think of it?"
His response was a thumbs-up sign from Fubuki, a sweatdrop from Misawa and a mutinous glare from Manjyome. Even from where Juudai was standing, the huge bump on his head was quite obvious.
Of course, the brunette being the most oblivious person on the face of the earth, ignored Manjyome's injury—which was quite paradoxical because it was HE that caused the bump in the first place by accidentally slamming his head against the pool wall.
"We should do it again sometime!" Juudai beamed and glanced to his left where Misawa was buttoning his blazer. "Thanks for inviting us, Misawa!"
"Eh…"
Misawa shot a feeble glance at Manjyome, slightly reluctant to take credit for the situation seeing as he valued all his internal organs in tact. The black-clad boy merely huffed and Misawa took this as a sign he would live to see another day.
"…you're welcome," he replied turning back to Juudai and returning his grin sheepishly.
Fubuki intruded on the awkward moment by stretching out cat-like and yawning heavily.
"I don't know about you boys, but I'm starved. Listen, I've got to head back to the Obelisk dorm and grab a snack, so I'll see you tomorrow, you hear?"
He headed towards the exit and waved genially at the younger boys.
"Bye!" the brunette called out. Fubuki flashed a peace-victory sign before disappearing out of sight.
Juudai turned back to remaining two. "I guess we should head our separate ways as well, ne, Misawa?"
"I'll see you tomorrow in class." The Ra Yellow nodded and left as well. Juudai watched his departing form before facing his roommate.
"Now it's just you and me, Manjyome!" he exclaimed as if it was not the most apparent thing in the world.
"Hmm…" Manjyome rubbed the sore spot on his head and said nothing, though he continued to glare at him.
"Hurry up and we'll go!"
The glare amplified in intensity. "Let me finish dressing," he muttered and pulled up the collar of his black turtleneck. Manjyome then proceeded to thrust his arms into his old, tattered North Academy uniform.
Once he was finished, he stalked out of the building on his own, vaguely hoping Juudai was too stupid to follow him without oral calling. He pulled open the glass door and let it go, waiting to hear that satisfying 'thunk' of the door closing behind him. Instead he received a, "Thanks for holding the door!" Damn. He should have known better. Juudai ran over next to him, grinning like the weird little fool he was.
"Now didn't that make you feel so much better?" he asked cheerfully.
"No, not really."
"Don't lie," he sang back.
"I'm not."
"You're lying," he pointed out.
"Shut up."
"You'll get wrinkles if you frown too much."
"…"
Manjyome stuck out his foot and tripped Juudai, sending the brunette sprawling face flat in the dirt. A smirk graced his lips. Now that made him feel better.
"You're evil," Juudai muttered after spitting out a mouthful of grass and soil.
"Actually, this is evil," he replied briskly.
Manjyome walked over his body like a floor mat. Juudai felt his spinal cord crack and made a mental note in the back of his mind to see the doctor for an arthritis checkup sometime soon. Then Manjyome's foot planted on the back of his head and that thought lead to seeing a doctor for a cerebral checkup as well. He was no lightweight, that's for sure.
Juudai leapt up and tackled him from behind, sending them both into the dirt. It soon became a fight for dominance, or in more precise terms that could shove the most dirt into the other guy's mouth. After fifteen minutes of throwing chunks of nature around Juudai managed to pin Manjyome's wrists to the ground and shove a large clod of soil into his open mouth. The expression on Manjyome's face was priceless.
The next thing he knew, he got a mud mask. And not one of those regal ones in the beauty salons or anything—this one was covered in saliva. Manjyome spat the remainder of the mud in Juudai's face and wiped his lips clean with a sleeve.
"You DIE."
As he was trying to clean off the dirt in his eyes, Manjyome unlatched his wrists and pounced on Juudai. However, what they didn't realize was that the ground they were wrangling about was actually downhill slope. It didn't occur to Manjyome they were moving unwillingly, until he was on the bottom and a half-blind Juudai was sitting over him—but not for long, because the order switched again…and again…and again. Then they were rolling downhill so quickly that the environment around them became a swirl of green and blue.
"What in theeee—MANJYOMEEE!"
Out of animal instinct, the two clutched to each other to prevent the continuous chain from breaking until they reached the bottom. Juudai was the first to let go and flew a few feet in the air before landing on his stomach in a patch of grass.
"Ugh…"
He cracked open an eye and the world blurrily came into view. The bones in his body seemed to be in tact and his muscles seemed to function. That was good enough. Shaking off his dizziness, Juudai quickly jumped up, looking around for his companion.
"Manjyome!"
The spiky-haired boy looked as if had got the shorter end of the sick and had crashed into rock some feet away from him. His was lying on his side his body was limp, his face pale, and he showed no signs of life. Juudai dashed over to Manjyome and picked him up by the collar, shaking him madly.
"…Manjyome…please don't die on me!" he cried, hot tears threatening to spill on his cheeks. No response. Juudai pulled Manjyome into a hug. "DON'T DIE ON—"
"I'm not dying on anybody."
Juudai blinked. Manjyome was apparently alive.
"Oh."
The hug suddenly felt wrong. Manjyome slapped him in the back.
"Let go off me!" he shouted and pushed the brunette away. "Shoo, shoo! Don't touch the jacket! Actually on second thought, don't touch me ever again!"
Juudai quickly complied. However, without any stable support to hold him up, Manjyome fell down again. His head missed the rock by an inch and landed on the soft ground next to it. Red liquid oozed from the back in a small puddle and it was then Juudai realized Manjyome wasn't alright.
"You're bleeding. Was it from the rock?" he said softly, leaning out to touch it before drawing back when Manjyome opened his eyes and scowled.
"Flesh wound. I was hit twice twice, remember?" he snapped, indicating the incident back at the hot springs.
"…but it's on your head."
"Do you want me to give you a wound to match?" Manjyome fought back a wince. "Don't answer that. Let's just leave already."
With great difficulty, he pushed himself up only to have his throbbing headache double and his knees surrender. Controlled by instinct once again, Manjyome wrapped his arms around the closest thing around for support…which happened to be Juudai's waist. Oh, that was just wonderful.
Blink. Stare. Blink.
"…umm. So do you want me to never touch you again?" Juudai asked innocently.
Unintelligent words of exasperation.
In the back of his mind, Manjyome was glad this was Juudai and not somebody else. After all, only Juudai was stupid enough to ignore a sexual innuendo if it danced around him in a tea cozy.
"Your stupid is hurting my brain."
Just as Manjyome thought things couldn't get any worse, the skies darkened and thunder crashed overhead, signifying rain was heading this way. Juudai placed his free palm face-up to check the weather. Sure enough, raindrops pattered his hand.
"Huh. Shou said it was supposed to be a warm and sunny day."
Manjyome sighed heavily and let out a grumble. He staggered away in the other direction, ignoring his weak legs and roaring pain in his head. The rain really began to pour then and each raindrop that hit his bleeding wound only intensified the pain by tenfold.
"Hey, wait up! You can barely walk…you'll get sick...oh…"
Suddenly, the rain stopped pouring. Startled, Manjyome looked up only to see that Juudai had taken off his coat and hung it over his head like an umbrella. He frowned.
"Stop that!" he ordered.
Juudai shook his head.
Manjyome frowned, moving out of Juudai's space and took off his own jacket and draped it over his head. "I don't want your charity. I can do things himself."
A second after saying those words, Manjyome tripped. His two-time injury now became a third as he fell on his head and the world turned black. The last thing he heard was another "Manjyome!" but this time, he had no strength to correct Juudai.
"I hate you."
That was the first thing he had said as the two of them made their way—one dragging his feet, the other skipping cheerfully—through the campus and to the building where they were going to serve their detention. Again. For the eleventh time that month. The hunched figure of Manjyome Jun stalked up the hill, the torn fringes of his trenchcoat billowing behind him this way and that like black flames caught in a breeze. His body deliberately radiated off a dark aura that made other people avoid him, so it was really a wonder how he managed to get a companion anyhow.
Behind him was the innocent Yuuki Juudai who was completely blissful to all the hardships, misery, and loathing in the world including the fact his rival had just pledged his eternal hatred to him mere moments ago.
"This is all your fault, dropout boy," Manjyome said loudly enough for Juudai to hear.
The brunette looked at him. A slim brow went up. "My fault? I was just trying to help, but you had to be all stubborn...and now we ended up in detention because Daitokuji-sensei thought we were ditching class 'cause you were unconciocious for the rest of the day!"
"I hate you."
"Say what?"
"You know what I mean!"
Juudai backed away, regarding him with an unimpressed look. "Heh, that's what got us in detention in the first place. You thought that I can some how magically read your mind" —he wiggled his fingers in mock spookiness— "and know what you're talking about!"
Manjyome momentarily stopped chasing after the brunette in order to glare at him. "Stop playing stupid!" he snapped.
Brown eyes sparkled with enjoyment. "I never played stupid in my life. My E-heroes have won me every single duel ever since the beginning of the year. Don't you remember? I beat you twice, Manjyome!"
Wrong thing to say. Upon hearing those words, Manjyome lost his temper and snapped, pouncing on the other boy and pounding his fist against every part of Juudai's body.
"Ack, yeow! Thunder, that hurts! This is child abuse, I tell you…child abuse!"
After a minute and a half, Manjyome managed to subdue the brunette into a state of swirly-eye dazedness, salvage his notebook, and walk away with some dignity left. But not before Juudai recovered and got the last word.
He propped his chin on his hand. "Geez, you sure get defensive when it comes to that notebook of yours," he said slyly, a devilish glint in his eye. "Going back to before…who was that girl with the name starting with A? It doesn't happen to be Asu—"
Juudai face-planted into the ground again when Manjyome stomped a foot on his back. He then climbed onto the shorter boy so that he couldn't wiggle away and began rapping his knuckle into his head in an attempt to give him a version of his own personalized noogie.
Bam. Bam. Bam.
"I'll show you child abuse!"
"I was kidding…ahh…get off me!" Juudai cried and flailed his arms around as Manjyome's knees dug deeper into his back. "You're too heavy, Thunder! You're too—"
BAM.
"OWW!"
Juudai got pounded extra hard just for that comment.
It was a wonder how the pair actually managed to arrive at detention on time. It was more of a wonder how Juudai actually managed to get up again after being brutally noogied, then kicked, chased around a tree, kicked again, had a notebook smacked in his face, and kicked for the third time—before he was FINALLY allowed to walk in peace without Manjyome attempting the beat the lights out of him.
Of course, it didn't stop the verbal insults.
"Does it hurt, dropout boy?" Manjyome smirked quietly, deliberately nudging Juudai's badly bruised arm as Daitokuji led the two to the secluded room where they were going to serve their punishment. "Because if it doesn't I'm sure I can fix that."
Juudai looked at him, his eyes wide and open and shining with curiosity. "You mean our bathrooms sink?" he asked blankly, completely missing the nail on the wood.
Manjyome shook his head. What? How in the world was Juudai able to get 'bathroom sink' from the threat of 'painful noogies'? Only somebody as dense Juudai was able to inference an insult so wrongly. Stupid idiot…
However, the brunette took his actions as a silent approval and tugged at their teacher's sleeves in order to get his attention. "Hey, Daitokuji-sensei, Manjyome here" —Manjyome instantly regretted opening his big mouth— "says that our bathroom sink is broken. Can you get a janitor to fix it or something while we serve our detention?"
Daitokuji glanced mildly behind him. "I don't see why not. I'll send somebody up to your room when I get the chance, nya."
Juudai turned back to the spiky-haired boy and gave him a reassuring smile. "You see? Problem solved."
"…"
Manjyome deliberately missed a step as he walked, leapt a few inches from the ground, and kicked Juudai in the shins.
"Oww…what was that for?"
"Because one: I never SAID the bathroom sinks were broken and two: Janitors don't fix the sinks—they clean them. Plumbers fix the sinks, numbskull."
Juudai winced slightly and rubbed his leg. "Ok, ok, geez…no need to be so violent, Manjyome."
He received another whap on the head for that remark.
"–san da!"
The Osiris held up his hands in surrender as Manjyome glared mutinously at him.
"Alright, Manjyome Thunder, I get the point! Anyway…" Juudai started, trying to turn to another subject, one that hopefully didn't involve him getting hurt. He placed a finger on his lip, staring thoughtfully at the ceiling. "Speaking of plumbers, whatever happened to that Gorg guy? He always worked for our dorm…"
It wasn't even the fact that Gorg was a janitor, not a plumber, and that they weren't speaking of janitors, but plumbers—that completely pissed Manjyome off.
"He was a Dark Scorpion!" he hissed violently. "Our duel was two weeks ago!"
Juudai zoned out for a moment. "Oh yeah…" He snapped his fingers and grinned excitedly. "…and you beat him, right?"
"No, how long did it take for you to figure THAT out?"
The brunette ignored Manjyome's complete lack of enthusiasm and continued to babble fervently, still unbeknownst to Daitokuji.
"I remember that duel! The whole Ojama King belly flop attack with 3,000 attack points because he ate up the Ojama tokens was awesome!" Juudai calmed himself for a moment, nodding earnestly. "But the Armed Dragons were cool as well. Spinning spiked arms. That's so uber-cool!"
Manjyome felt his anger slowly subside. He stared at Juudai, a mixture of bewilderment and disbelief on his face.
What was up with this guy? Juudai had clearly hinted how he had never lost a duel in his life and then half an hour later, he squeals over how 'uber-cool' Manjyome's duel was like some rabid fanboy. And did Juudai just admit that his Armed Dragons were stronger than Juudai's E-Heroes?
Manjyome crossed his arms and glanced away. "Whatever."
Luckily for Manjyome and the fact he could no longer think of anything to say, the three of them suddenly stopped walking.
"We're here, boys."
After fiddling with the doorknob for a few seconds, Daitokuji opened the door wide enough for everybody to slip in. Manjyome glanced around.
Rows upon rows of desk lined the room and there was a chalkboard in the front. A projector was hidden away in one corner and the teacher's desk was present in the other with a wastebasket sitting beside the desk. It was a typical classroom.
Daitokuji jerked his thumb at the clock behind him. "Forty minutes. Opposite sides of the room. I expect neither of you to say a word, nya."
Juudai grinned. "Right-o, sensei!"
He ran off to the left corner of the room as if being motivated by the sheer thought that two-thirds of an hour doing nothing but staring at a wall was actually entertaining.
Their teacher smiled at the Osiris placidly while Manjyome snorted.
"Stupid dropout boy."
Ten minutes into the detention, Manjyome thought he would go crazy.
"Hey Thunder, hey Thunder, hey Thunder…"
Manjyome winced again as another paper ball hit him squarely on the head and rolled onto the floor, settling next to the half a dozen paper balls (actually there was a cube in the pile as well—apparently Juudai was quite gifted in origami) that had been thrown in his direction before.
"Hey Thunder, hey Thunder, hey Thunder…"
Manjyome stared at the wall in front of him in a feeble attempt to shut Juudai out of his mind. Perhaps concentrating hard enough at the flaking paint chips would block out Juudai's voice from his thoughts.
"Hey Thunder, hey Thunder, hey Thunder…"
It took all his willpower not to swerve around and throttle the other Osiris until he turned blue.
"Hey Thunder, hey Thunder, hey Thunder…"
Willpower…slowly…slipping…away…
"Hey Thunder, hey Thunder, hey—"
Manjyome's self-control snapped. "SHUT THE HELL UP!" He threw his own paper ball at Juudai's head. "Don't make me go over there and beat the crap out of you!"
Juudai completely ignored his outburst, the paper ball that missed his head by a few inches, the profane language, and the fact that Manjyome looked as if he was intending to carry out his threat.
"I just wanted to tell you that you had a leaf in your hair," he indicated harmlessly, pointing to a small, crinkled maple leaf lodged in the spikes of Manjyome's hair from the previous events outside.
"…"
Before he was able to go forward and strangle the other boy, Daitokuji's voice interrupted his homicide scheme.
"That's an extra fifteen minutes for the both of you, nya!" their alchemy teacher stated sternly from the front of the classroom. "Manjyome-kun, go back to your seat and stop playing around. No more talking, Juudai-kun, nya!"
Juudai saluted him. "Yes sir!" he shouted in a cheerful manner that did not suit most detention students.
Manjyome slapped his forehead. "Damned idiot…"
Twenty minutes (not including the extra fifteen) into the detention, Manjyome had decided that Juudai would have made a painstakingly good origami teacher in the future. Saying that he didn't become pro-league duelist, of course.
Manjyome twirled a paper flower between his fingers and glanced at the pyramid of paper that was slowly starting to rise above the desk itself. There were at least fifteen different models in that pile including a boat, a fish, a turtle, a swan, three different versions of a paper crane, four different variations of a box, and something that resembled a very deformed cicada.
Not that he actually liked any of Juudai's creations, but they sure helped pass the time. As if on cue…
"Ow! Ugh."
Another one?
Manjyome held up the newest creation that had fallen on his head mere moments ago. It was…well…a triangle thingy with what seemed to be wings and horns…in lack of a better description. Manjyome quirked a brow. He had expected more complicated, perhaps a paper dragon or a well-decorated star or something fancy at the very least.
It was garbage either way around. Manjyome threw the triangle-shaped paper into the pile.
As he stifled a yawn with one hand, another origami piece hit him on the head. He growled lowly underneath his breath and snatched it from his hair. That dropout boy couldn't have been THAT quick in making another model, could he now?
Manjyome stared at the paper. It was just a carelessly crumpled ball—no folds or anything. Had Juudai gone back to throwing random paper balls again?
"Open it," came the hushed whisper from the other side of the room. Juudai waved at him.
Manjyome shot him a sideways glare before unfolding the piece of paper and revealing very untidily-written message.
How could you have thrown it away? It was an Armed Dragon!
His eyebrow furrowed and he leaned over to pick up the triangle pieced misshapenness from the floor. This was supposed to be an almighty Armed Dragon? Now that was just insulting his cards. After observing the supposed origami duel monster for a few moments, Manjyome whipped out a pen and began scribbling some words furiously on Juudai's creased paper.
It's ugly. I don't want it.
He crumpled the paper up again—ignoring the carefully folded lines and effort Juudai had put in—and tossed it to the other side of the room, hoping Daitokuji had bad sight. Juudai's response came quickly.
Mah…you're so mean! I worked hard making that!
Manjyome frowned. He wrote another message down.
Go to hell. Now.
Two minutes later, another paper ball flew over his head.
…I can't. I have to stay here in detention with you. Anyway, I don't know where it is. Is it on this island?
Manjyome felt like crying.
Thirty minutes, still not including the extra fifteen, into the detention, Manjyome had come to a conclusion: he was screwed. Juudai was a good duelist, an origami expert and apparently had art skills that were just a level below Hayato's. Juudai had abandoned his origami for the time being and was now sketching very accurate portraits of him. Or something among those lines anyway.
"Stop drawing pictures of me!" Manjyome hissed between clenched teeth as the brown-eyed boy held up a portrait that oddly resembled him in every way except he didn't have buck teeth, horns on his head, or demon wings growing from the back of his body.
Juudai snickered.
"Erase that now!"
"Ok, ok…"
Manjyome watched feverishly as Juudai turned over his pencil and began rubbing out the picture. Then he began drawing a new one to Manjyome's great distress. A few minutes later, Juudai was finished with his second picture.
"Does this look better?" the brunette whispered and held up another portrait where he was wearing…
Manjyome's eyes budged. He fell over in his seat.
"Ojama Yellow will love this pic!" Juudai stated happily and rolled up the picture for safe-keeping. "You're in his clothing, Manjyome!"
After forty minutes had passed with only fifteen left, Daitokuji announced he was going to the bathroom and that he trusted the two enough not to cause any mayhem when he returned.
"I'll be good, Daitokuji-sensei!" Juudai said with a bright smile as he continued folding a tiny piece of paper (he had gone back to origami) and waved to his teacher's back.
The moment Daitokuji was out of view, Manjyome briskly stood up. "I'm out of here."
Juudai glanced up from his paper and looked at Manjyome confusedly. "Huh? What do you mean? Daitokuji-sensei didn't dismiss us yet. He just went to take a leak."
Manjyome scowled. "I'm not going to stay another fifteen minutes here. Detention was supposed to end at five—not five-fifteen! And if you say anything…"
He stopped his threat midway. Juudai was staring at his desk and chewing on his lip.
"Five-fifteen…ah…darn. The extra fifteen minutes," he muttered softly. "The extra fifteen minutes…"
"What happened?" Manjyome asked forcefully and scrutinized his rival. Juudai looked unusually crestfallen at his words and that was saying something because as that boy was rarely ever disturbed by even the most alarming events. What did he say wrong?
"I didn't realize the fifteen minutes…" he trailed off. Juudai stared at Manjyome in a way that chilled him to the bone. Sadness was not an emotion that suited a typically cheerful person like him.
"Asuka agreed to meet me at the ocean side at five 'o clock. You wouldn't believe how much she had to cut from her schedule just to fit me in and I can't just stand her up…" He sighed softly. "Lords, I don't think I can handle seeing her disappointed face tomorrow morning."
Manjyome could only close his eyes.
It was just ridiculous. Perhaps ironic was better, but then really, there was no right word to describe his emotions right now. He just stood there, his entire body frozen and his mind blank. Asuka had always had an uncanny interest in Juudai; it was a very well known fact. Sometimes he just didn't think it was fair. Despite being an Osiris, Juudai had everything—everything Manjyome ever wanted. The dueling status, the respect, the girl…
Hadn't he ever noticed how much harsher his insults were whenever Juudai spoke of Asuka? Manjyome supposed it made him feel better to snap back at the brunette, that maybe he actually stood a chance at obtaining her heart. He always pushed Juudai around and mocked him on a daily basis, yet Juudai had never said anything against his ruthless insults.
Juudai had always been so kind, so friendly to him…
—oh stop being such a Johnny rainstorm and start living a little!"
A playful slap on the arm.
"You know, Manjyome…frowning to much will make your cheeks hurt…"
Two fingers probing the sides of his cheeks.
"Gah…why do you ask that? We share everything. What do you mean 'why do we share everything'?"
A sincere smile spreading across his face like melted butter.
"Because we're friends, aren't we—
…and no matter how hard he tried, Manjyome just couldn't get that image of a beaming Juudai out of his mind's eye.
"Go."
It was a simple monosyllable whose meaning probably surpassed all levels of sagacity and rationale but Manjyome ignored the twangs of pain stabbing his heart as he said it.
Juudai blinked. "What?"
"You heard me. Then go already." Before Juudai was able to inquire as to why, Manjyome elaborated on his words. "I'll tell Daitokuji-sensei that you ran out of the room…because I beat you up."
Manjyome sat back down in his seat and closed his eyes. He brought his hand to his mouth and did something unexpected—he bit into his thumb. Juudai darted forward instantly but he stopped as beads of blood began to drip down Manjyome's hand.
"I'm good at faking things," he said in a forced-causal tone as he smeared the blood all over his desk. "And anyway, he believes in you more than me and it wouldn't be unlikely if you came over to my desk, rather than me to yours."
The spiky-haired boy rolled up his sleeves and dabbed some of the red liquid onto his knuckles as well. He looked up at Juudai who was staring in shock.
"A bloody nose, remember? You think I'm going to be spotless clean?"
He could tell that Juudai was struggling with his words. There was a very strict policy against any sort of physical violence on academia grounds and there was a very large possibility of Manjyome getting expelled even with his high social status and all. In which he would never be able to return to the island again.
"Stop worrying, dropout boy." Manjyome ran his bloodied fingers through his hair so that it looked ruffled and thoroughly dirty. "Daitokuji's not nearly as bad as Chronos so there's a chance I might actually stay in school."
Manjyome then stood up and turned his desk in such an angle that the only natural explanation was that a fight had occurred and the desk was causality. "I'm supposed to punch your head into here," he stated emotionlessly and pointed to the corner of the desk. "I'll add more blood for the finishing touch."
"…Manjyome…"
He avoided the other's gaze and looked away. "Whatever. Just don't be late for your lovely date with Asuka…" he trailed off bitterly and brought up his other hand to pierce it.
There was a scuffling of shoes and Manjyome suddenly felt his hand being wretched away from his mouth. Juudai was standing in front of him, gripping his arm tightly with his eyes shining in concern.
"I never said date," he said in soft, but firm voice. "It's a duel. She challenged me to a duel by the ocean side. A rematch, that's all."
The brunette gently lowered Manjyome's hand and opened it softly, sliding something into it before closing it up again.
"No more…it's fine…" Juudai whispered. He smiled for a brief second and Manjyome swore a ray of purest light flashed on his face during that moment. Before he had a chance to conclude whether or not he was hallucinating, Juudai turned a heel and fled out of the classroom.
Manjyome stared numbly at the closed door for a couple of minutes as waves of shock ran over him. Then he slowly unfurled his fingers and gazed down at the item Juudai had slipped into his palm. It was a paper heart, now soaked red with his blood. But the liquid hadn't yet reached nor marred the message written in the middle.
Thanks, Manjyome.