They are investigating when Kiyotaka Ishimaru quite literally runs into Touko Fukawa.
She screams, stumbling back a few steps and pressing her hands to her mouth, shaking. Ishimaru does not know what to do. What does one do with a possibly mentally unstable new classmate? Really, if that bear was going to lock them up in this school, he probably should have made sure that all of them were of suitable mental health.
"Yelling is not permitted," is what he manages to say. "We must work hard to make this school no worse than it seems to be!"
At this she just looks at him, confused. Her hand makes its way up to her face and she bites down on her thumbnail, chewing nervously. "Have you seen him?" she asks, her voice a bit too low for Ishimaru to be exactly sure what she was saying. Now she was going to the other extreme, it seemed.
"Who?" Ishimaru asks, because he's still not quite sure of the relationships between all of his new classmates. All he knows is that Hagakure should wash his hair and Oowada is probably going to be a problem.
Of course, even after knowing his old classmates for so long, he wasn't sure of the relationships between them, either, apart from the fact that none of them had any relationships with him.
She mutters something that sounds vaguely like 'Byakuya Togami,' and Ishimaru is fairly certain he knows who she is talking about.
"Ah, the Super High School Level Heir?" he asks, and she nods, blushing. "I am not sure! Have you lost him? I could have been certain that the two of you were in the general vicinity of each other."
She shrugs. "Who are you?" she asks finally, and he is appalled. He has learned her name, and he is almost completely certain that her talent has to do with books, and she hasn't remembered anyone apart from Togami.
"Kiyotaka Ishimaru, Super High School Level Hall Monitor," he says, standing straight as he says his title. He was already standing straight, of course, he just made sure to straighten his spine even more. It wouldn't do for him to be slouching. That would set a bad example.
"Oh," she mutters.
"You are Touko Fukawa, correct? Super High School Level…" he hesitates. It has something to do with books, he's sure of it. "Author?" he guesses.
She sighs. "It's close enough, I guess," she mutters. "Not that anyone would even want to know what my talent is. You all hate me anyway."
"I am certain that nobody here hates you," Ishimaru says, frowning deeply.
"I'm going to die here," she says, and it's like she's forgotten he's there.
"Are you alright?" he asks, hesitant, not quite sure what he should be doing. Should he find Togami? Will he know what to do? Or if not Togami, perhaps Naegi, he seems to know how to deal with people.
"Why do you care?"
"I simply want to help," Ishimaru says, and she pauses. It's like she's never heard this before in her life, or if she's trying to gauge how serious he's being, because she's just looking at him now, practically murdering her thumbnail, eyes squinted. "A-are you sure you are alright?"
She takes a step closer to him and now she is far too close. He takes a step back, and then another one for good measure.
"We must be sure to keep a school-appropriate distance!" he says, tacking a laugh onto the end of it. She blinks at him, as if she's unsure if he's even real. "Now, how about finding your lost companion?"
"O-okay," she says, and they walk side-by-side, always a good distance apart, glancing at each other every few moments. For some reason, Ishimaru finds himself blushing, and tries to order his face to stop turning pink. He can always attribute it to the louder tone of voice he must often use to make people listen to him. It is true that his appearance helps with that – though he could be a bit taller, he has to admit – but, mostly, it is his loud voice.
They continue to walk in silence, glancing at each other. She still has not taken her thumbnail out of her mouth. His hands are at his sides, and he's walking perfectly, with even strides and back straight. She's slightly hunched forward, clutching herself a bit.
"You should work on your posture," he suggests, and she jumps, like she forgot that he was there. "It will save you back pain later in life if you keep your back straight!"
She looks at him dubiously, and if it weren't against the rules to straighten her back himself he would do so. But physical contact in the hallways is not permitted. "W-why do you care?" she asks, and he wonders why she won't just stop with the subject of why he cares.
"I am simply trying to help you better yourself!"
"You're trying to distract me so that you can kill me later," she mutters, though it's with much less conviction now than her claims that he hated her earlier had. "You're just trying to get me to trust you."
He blinks. "Of course you should trust me," he says. "I am the hall monitor, after all. What do I do but keep the peace?"
"Yell a lot at people," she mutters, but she gives him what he supposes might be a smile. He's slightly offended, but it occurs to him that she might be 'joking around' with him, as if he had become her friend in this short period of time. He manages a deep laugh.
"I suppose I do," he says, trying very, very hard not to be offended. It is good that he is focusing on not being offended, because if he was not, he would probably be crying tears of utter outrage. When they see Togami, she looks like she is about to run off immediately, but he calls to her to stop. "Perhaps we can speak again sometime?"
She looks between him and Togami, who isn't paying the slightest bit of attention to either of them, and nods so quickly Ishimaru isn't quite sure that he saw it before rushing away.
Ishimaru stands in shock for a few more seconds, then shakes his head slowly. Although he is not the best at 'reading people' per say, he knows that Fukawa is going to bring some surprises to their school life.
I think I'm starting to get attached to this pairing.
But, uh, anyway, an anon on Tumblr wanted another fukawa/ishimaru, so here it is!
