"Mitsuru-senpai says she wants a man who makes good grades."
"She's so high class…she's not like us normal people."
"I wish she would notice me."
"She's way out of my league."
"She scares me."
He'd heard it all before. Watching her walk so proudly through the halls of Gekkodan, or sitting like a queen holding an audience in the lobby at their Dorm, he knew that he was absolutely, without a doubt, the last man Kirijo Mitsuru would ever consider looking at. Akihiko-senpai or even Minato would have been perfect. But not him. He didn't have the brains, didn't have the looks and he certainly didn't have the manners.
But the nights were getting cold and all the world was falling down to ruin under everyone's feet without their realizing it, and Junpei had one thing going for him. He had absolutely nothing to lose.
He'd watched how everyone handled things when the shit hit the fan. The way no one moved to comfort her when her dad died, for example. They were too scared; hell, he'd been too scared. It was okay to go after Yuka-tan when she ran off to go cry about her dad. It was okay to squeeze Junpei's shoulder and tell him to keep on living out of respect for the gift Chidori had given him. But it wasn't "okay" to approach Mitsuru. She didn't need a strong shoulder to cry on, that kind of thing was for other people.
Junpei was pretty sure after observing her for long enough that all that was complete and utter bullshit. She was alone, even worse now than she had been, and it was clearly getting harder for her to deal with. He kept expecting somebody else to step up, but everyone had taken heavy emotional losses recently and so no one did. Reading between the lines, he thought Yuka-tan had talked to her at some point, but that was different. That was girl-stuff and it only went so far. Mitsuru had lost her dad. Junpei wasn't great with psychological things but he was pretty sure that meant she could use a Man to talk to.
Yeah, to talk to. That was all he was planning, wasn't it?
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~
A knock came at the door.
"Enter," Mitsuru said mechanically. When she glanced up expecting to see Fuuka or Yukari, however, she froze with shock. A moment later shock had become rage.
Junpei prudently left the door open. He figured it'd be less threatening that way, although he was perfectly aware that in any death-match Mitsuru would be the one left standing over his mangled body in those spike-heeled boots of hers.
Mitsuru's voice shook as she addressed him. "Boys are not allowed on this floor."
"Yeah, I know. I made out my will before I came up here." Junpei grinned.
She stood up and walked over to him, arms crossed over her chest. "Why did you come up here?"
Junpei rubbed the back of his head. How to proceed…? Well, he knew Mitsuru had no respect for him at all as a person anyway, so he supposed he couldn't really do anything to lower her opinion of him, at least. He took a deep breath. "I thought you might be lonely."
"WHAT?!"
Junpei nodded. "Yeah. I mean, here you are with problems like everybody else, and yet we all expect you to be able to handle it on your own. So I thought, 'well, that's not really fair.' And I came to offer you my services." He beamed.
"…e-excuse me?" Mitsuru backed up a step.
Junpei remembered to take off his hat. "You know…like, if you want to um…talk, or cry, or whatever. Or I mean I guess if you really want you could 'execute' me again. It only took me…what, a week to recover last time." He tried to look brave.
Mitsuru's lower lip was trembling at this point. Junpei blinked and clutched at the rim of his hat uncertainly, but she only started to laugh. Her hands slid down just a little to clutch at her sides as she laughed and Junpei did his best not to stare at her heaving bosom too obviously.
Finally, she wiped her eyes and smiled and Junpei put his hat back on. "…thank you. But, that really won't be necessary."
Junpei frowned a little. "Are you sure, Mitsuru-senpai? It isn't any problem, honest. Not like I have anything better to do."
She put her hands on her hips. "You should be studying."
Junpei shifted his feet. "Oh, well. You know how that goes."
Mitsuru sighed. "Regardless…I appreciate the offer, but I don't need your help. Now, do I have to remind you again that it's against dorm rules for you to be here?" She smiled at him gently but authoritatively.
Junpei put his hand on the knob. "Alright Senpai, I get the hint." He started to close the door. "But if you change your mind, you already know I never lock my door." Then he did shut it, leaving Mitsuru standing there open-mouthed at his audacity.
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~
After that evening Mitsuru-senpai suddenly started going out with Minato. She made it perfectly clear (to Junpei) that she had finally accepted Minato's advances because he had gotten the top score on the last exam and she found his determination and resolve to be impressive. She didn't come out and say any of this, of course, both her and Minato were quiet enough about the whole thing that no one else in SEES probably even knew about it. But somehow or other she found ways to let Junpei know that she already had someone to talk to, someone more "mature" and "reliable."
He was perfectly aware that she was only doing it to punish him but he knew there was no reason to feel sorry for his buddy. By his count Minato was dating at least two other girls casually on the side. Perhaps Mitsuru-senpai knew it too. So Junpei just quietly watched it play out until there came a point when Mitsuru had to decide what to do if she didn't want the whole thing to go too far.
He knew it had gotten to that point one day when he saw her in a corner of the lobby, looking worried and distracted. Again, having nothing to lose, he walked right up to her. "Her Majesty is troubled…eh? What's eating you, Mitsuru-senpai?" He said it softly, so no one would overhear them.
Mitsuru glared at him with such force that he felt his heart speed up. Somewhere along the way he supposed he had acquired a taste for the dangerous ones. "Nothing is the matter," she hissed between clenched teeth. "And if you insist on speaking to me in such a manner I will Execute you."
"Got a date tonight, doncha?" Junpei smiled innocently. "So…are you going through with it?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You know if you have a date you should look happier than that, Senpai."
Mitsuru opened her mouth to answer but just then her cell phone rang. Still glaring at Junpei, she snapped it open. A moment later her face changed though and she said one or two choice things into the phone that were perhaps influenced by how angry Junpei had already made her. Then she slammed it shut.
Junpei shook his head. "Too bad. I guess he decided to go with Yuko or Chihiro instead tonight…well, on the bright side, now you don't have to worry about it, right?"
Mitsuru spoke slowly and calmly, using his name in an almost friendly manner. "Junpei, report to the fifth floor this evening at ten. You may wish to bring a First Aid kit. I will expect you to be prompt."
"Is this gonna be like last time or can we try something different?"
"Get out of my sight!!"
Junpei scuttled off, almost colliding with Akihiko-senpai.
Akihiko blinked and looked at Mitsuru enquiringly. "Is anything wrong?"
She sighed and rubbed her forehead. "I have a slight headache. I think I'll go lie down."
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~
That night Junpei was there at 9:50 since he had always heard it was impolite to keep a lady waiting. He hadn't wished to get blood all over his school uniform, so he stuck with the old tank top and jeans combo instead. It was hardly something he would have worn to impress a girl like Mitsuru, but he didn't really have anything else in his closet. At 9:55 Mitsuru arrived with a small suitcase, apparently with the efficient idea of coming in a little early to "set up." He put his hands in his pockets and smiled at her, while she frowned at him and went over to pull down one of the dusty chairs being stored in the corner.
Junpei moved to help her out. "Please, allow me." She crossed her arms and watched him pull one down and carefully set it in the center of the floor. He didn't dust it off. She thought distastefully of his room and decided that he must like things to be dirty. Well, she would break him of that…and some of those other habits of his that wore on her nerves so much. Speak to her with disrespect, would he?
"Sit in the chair," she said firmly, and he sat down obediently. He didn't protest when she started to rope him to it, either…but then, this wasn't the first time a girl had tied him up. She pulled the ropes as tight as possible without cutting off the circulation, planting one heel in the middle of his chest to do it. They settled into the different little depressions in his arms, between each tanned muscle there, and crisscrossed his chest and stomach. Lastly, she whipped off his hat and let him watch her grind it under her boot.
As she expected, he frowned. "That wasn't very nice."
"Am I going to have to duct-tape that big mouth of yours?"
"Where would be the fun in that? I'm pretty sure your goal for tonight is to make me cry like a little girl or something…right?"
"…well…" Mitsuru had pictured something along those lines.
"S'what I thought." Junpei looked unpardonably smug.
Mitsuru slapped him across the face, but not too hard (it was early yet). "You are NOT the one giving orders here."
"Nn…sorry." Junpei looked up at her with the appropriate amount of contrition and Mitsuru drew in a breath.
Then, she began.
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~
She stopped when she finally got tired. The weird glow outside the window told her it must be Dark Hour now. Everything was inhumanly quiet. She threw open the door to the roof to give them a little more light, and lurid green and red painted the edges of the ropes…the chair…and the boy in the chair.
Junpei had his head down now and his forehead and neck were beaded with sweat. He was panting, hard; no doubt he was in a fair amount of pain or at least extreme physical discomfort. Mitsuru turned back to survey her handiwork and uttered an exclamation of anger. The deep shadows in the room before had managed to make everything a little blurred and ambiguous, so she hadn't realized. "How long have you been like that?!" she demanded sharply.
Junpei gulped and licked his lips once or twice before he was able to speak. "…Awhile. Don't exactly know."
"You…you…disgusting! Sick!" Mitsuru trembled with rage.
Junpei looked up at her and his expression made her bring her knees a little closer together unconsciously. He tried to move in his chair and the legs scraped against the floor slightly. "Does it bug you that much…Senpai? Why don't you come sit on my lap and tell me about it?"
Mitsuru's face went white with fury and she clenched her fists. She strode over to him. One well-placed spike heel would make him sob like a little girl all right…she poised her foot to strike.
"I can see up your skirt."
She hesitated for a bare moment and he planted his feet and tipped the chair forward, clamping her belt in his teeth and pulling them both backwards. The chair crashed back to the floor with him on the bottom and her, startled, straddling him and keeping her balance with her long nails dug into his naked shoulders. He wasn't at a good angle to get at her lips so he tugged the ribbon at her throat loose and managed to lick her neck…once. His bottom row of teeth grazed the skin and he felt the pulse hammering there.
She jumped back, her eyes wide with shock, and took off down the stairs a moment later. Junpei blinked and craned his head to see, but didn't have very much range of movement. Then he sighed and closed his eyes. If she didn't leave him here to rot he would most likely be spending the rest of the night here at least. But in the heat of the moment he had thought of defending his manhood from certain destruction first, and any possible consequences second. He supposed that when he thought of it like that, things could have gone worse.
He woke up to the feeling of gloved hands untying him. Junpei nodded at Akihiko and stretched once he could sit up. He was so incredibly sore it was almost funny. Meanwhile Akihiko-senpai was staring at him in frank amazement. "How did you…live?"
Junpei made a dismissive gesture with the one arm he could still move. "Heck, it wasn't that bad. 'Course, she was probably going easy on me."
"You're insane." Akihiko shook his head sadly and helped Junpei stand.
"Lemme get my hat." Awkwardly, still holding onto Akihiko, Junpei picked up the crushed and crumpled thing on the floor and tried his best to dust it off. He also spotted Mitsuru's ribbon and stuffed it into his pocket, making Akihiko-senpai's eyes bulge with curiosity. Junpei obviously had no desire to kiss and tell, though, and so Senpai helped him down the stairs and into bed without asking any of the questions hovering on his tongue.
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~
Junpei had been lying in bed most of the day (it was Sunday, Mitsuru would never have picked a day where he would be unable to go to school the next morning) when a knock came at his door. It was Akihiko again and he seemed embarrassed. Junpei tried to sit up a little in bed and asked, "What can I do for you, Senpai?" in an exaggeratedly weak voice.
Akihiko-senpai looked at him guiltily. "Mitsuru wanted her ribbon back."
Junpei wrinkled his brow a little. "Ribbon… … …ribbon?"
Akihiko went over to him. "You're not being shitty, right?" He felt Junpei's forehead, concerned. "Man…what if you have a concussion or something? Maybe we should take you to the hospital after all."
Junpei shook his head. "…I hate the hospital, Senpai…you understand, don't you?"
Akihiko nodded quietly, then looked around Junpei's room. "Would it be okay if I looked around for it then?"
"Oh yeah, of course. I'm sorry if I picked it up and don't remember where I put it…" Junpei frowned helplessly.
Akihiko reassured him and dug around in the pile on Junpei's floor for a minute or two, but truth be told if Junpei had lost Koromaru in there, they probably couldn't have found him either. Ultimately Akihiko told Junpei to rest up and left empty-handed.
Junpei was just about to take his advice, in fact he was already half asleep, when his door banged open.
"What do you mean by not giving me my ribbon back?!" Mitsuru was flushed with indignation.
"You know, you really are beautiful when you're angry."
"WHERE IS IT?"
Junpei grinned. "…behind my pillow."
Mitsuru stormed over to the bed and then hesitated. "How do I know you're telling the truth?"
"Mitsuru-senpai, this is me. I'm sure you can guess why I'd keep it under my pillow."
Mitsuru gasped. "I will not have part of my uniform used in such a manner!"
Junpei sighed. "Yeah, well, no worries. I haven't had the strength to put it to good use yet, anyway." He drew himself up painfully and dug around under his pillow.
Mitsuru reached out for her ribbon but Junpei smiled and held onto it. "Uh-uh…gotta come and get it…"
"Iori…if you make me come over there, what I do to you will be nothing compared to last night."
Junpei blushed. "…honest?"
Mitsuru planted one knee in his chest and snatched the ribbon out of his hands, twisting it around her knuckles, which were white at this point. Junpei looked up at her and the thoughts running through his head were so obvious that she pressed it to his throat with the half-serious fantasy of throttling him then and there. He merely tilted his head back and stretched himself out a little, though, and she frowned.
A moment later Junpei blinked and looked back at the headboard. The ribbon was apparently just long enough to tie one wrist firmly to one of the posts. He was impressed at her ingenuity. Mitsuru was meanwhile locking the door. She came back wrinkling her nose with distaste at the spectacle of his messy room. "How can you bear to live like this? It's…"
"Disgusting…right?" Junpei smiled. "That's really why you're here though, isn't it, Mitsuru."
The familiar use of her name didn't escape her and her jaw set. "And what, exactly, do you mean by that?"
Junpei let his other arm rest above his head with the bound one and continued in a calm, reasonable voice. "I'm disgusting…dirty…I don't have any class…right? I don't make good grades, I don't belong to any clubs. I'm aimless and disorganized." He paused. "And you…like that."
Mitsuru shook her head, chuckling a little at his 'logic' in spite of her normal desire not to be rude or insulting to anyone no matter what. "I don't know where you got an idea like that, but it's absurd."
Junpei wasn't put off in the least. "Your world…your life, is completely ordered and perfect. Weakness isn't an option, neither is losing face. And you get tired, don't you? Admit it…you hate it sometimes, right? You want to escape?"
Mitsuru swallowed and shifted her feet. Suddenly she didn't want to listen anymore; it wasn't so funny when he put it like that.
Junpei went on ruthlessly, though. "I finally figured out why it can't be one of the other guys. They're caught up in it too, being strong, excelling, burying their weakness. They're trapped just like you. But not me…nobody'll ever call me 'perfect.' I'm too damned flawed for all to see." He paused and then leaned forward, his eyes looking the same as they had briefly last night. "I'm your escape."
Mitsuru stood very still. "That's not true. I…I don't need to escape anything…" Then something happened which took Junpei completely off guard and made him feel like a huge jerk. She started crying. She didn't make any noise, of course, and she didn't cry much…this was Mitsuru. It was only a couple of tears that slid silently down her cheeks. But he knew that he had caused him.
His first reaction was to try and jump out of bed and he very nearly sprained his wrist. After he realized that he was still tied to the bed he automatically reached over with his other arm to try and tug the knot loose. Making a girl cry was unacceptable and he needed to be over there apologizing instead of lying here like an idiot. Intent on undoing Mitsuru's very impressive tying job, he didn't hear her come up to him.
His free hand was immediately arrested by one of hers and gently forced back down against the bed. Her voice was subdued but still firm. "I didn't give you permission to get up."
Junpei locked his fingers with hers and pulled her forward, at the same time leaning up a little. She blinked as she felt his rough lips brush against her face. "Shh…don't cry, princess." When he drew back again the tears were gone. She wanted to be angry, but for some reason she just kept staring at him.
Junpei looked back at her, wondering why she hadn't slapped him yet. Maybe it was too much of a shock; he was pretty sure nobody else had ever dared to do something like that with her. Or maybe…hell, it was worth a shot. He leaned up again--she hadn't really moved away--and kissed her. He wasn't dumb enough to make it a long kiss, or a deep one. It was an offer, just like the offer he'd made her earlier. And he knew full well she'd probably refuse this one just like she had the last one. So he pulled back and waited.
"You're impossible," she murmured, and tightened her grip on his hand.