A/N: COFFEELATTE HERE! :D Hi, all. Yeah, I've gone crazy these days. And I did a collab fic with Grenny851. XD Yeah. Yeah, I know. I KNOW. X) Well, Aiko is my character, so…you can probably tell in our conflicting writing styles, but…teehee. I'm kind of nervous about this, so please read and review well, my loves~!
Grenny's Note: Helloooo, everyone. Well, this is a story that's been "in the works" for a while. My first time doing a collaborative fic, so we'll see how it goes. Apologies for how scattered it seems here, but we'll work it out for the next chapter. With that, I leave you to read!
Disclaimer: I do not own PoT.
Morning was a time that most people dreaded, old and young alike.
For adults, it meant yielding to the never-ending cycle of dull, monotonous work for hours on end for meager pay. For others, it meant the return to that horrendous location known as "school." Either way, dragging one's self out of bed was never pleasant. Yes, morning was a horrible time indeed, and anyone who said otherwise was insane.
Everyone hated it. Especially the Izumi sisters.
Woken by the shrill, infernal beeping of her alarm clock, Izumi Ruri toppled out of bed, knocking the contraption off the stand. This did not stop it from beeping though, and instead led her on a treasure hunt in order to stop the sound. She found it at last, switching it off and breathing a sigh of relief.
Finally!
Quickly, she made her way to the bathroom and brushed out her tangled hair, tugging it up into a low-maintenance ponytail. She'd been growing since the first grade, out of boredom, really. But sometimes, times like these, she was sorely tempted to lop it all off...
She finished off her other morning rituals and made her way downstairs to eat a quick breakfast. Her parents had already gone off to work, leaving behind a meal for she and her sister, along with a note.
She ate in silence, then retrieved her school bag from upstairs. She didn't want to wake her younger sister. Aiko was probably still asleep in her room down the hall. After all, it was still a good hour before she would even need to get ready.
Ruri decided to use that time to check over her homework again, and perhaps rewrite any that contained errors. She would admit that she had sort of...rushed it. She had to turn in her very best work if she had any hopes of getting high marks in her class!
There! Halfway down her History homework, she'd started to daydream, and there were several scribble-y doodles decorating the page. The work was done, yes, but she wasn't quite sure that her teacher would appreciate an...artistic interpretation of it.
Ruri frowned; that would need fixing.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
"Mmph…Five more minutes…" Izumi Aiko burrowed deeper into her pink blankets, her fluff of tangled, curly brown hair disappearing underneath the frilly comforter. A slow hand reached out from under the blanket to slam it down on the bell ringing on the plastic pink alarm.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
"Mmphhh," Aiko groaned, grabbing her alarm and shooting up on her bed. She glared at the face, before realizing…
…7:40...
Oh!
Aiko scrambled to get herself untangled from her sheets, groaning; she'd already been late twice that week!
Her homeroom teacher would kill her!
"Kya!" Aiko stumbled to the floor, her hand clutching uselessly at one of the posters on her bed. She groaned again, rubbing her hip and staring forlornly at her bed…oh, how inviting it looked…
But no, she had to go to school; her sister would probably already be waiting for her downstairs.
Aiko ran into the adjoined bathroom, one foot ambling after another on the cold floor of her bathroom. She stared at herself in the mirror for a moment, flashing a smile at her reflection; looking good, even in the morning…oho.
That's right. Aiko was, in reality, quite vain-not that she realized it.
She grabbed her toothbrush, letting out a frustrated cry when she saw the state it was in. "Himeeeee!" Aiko shrieked.
'Hime' was the name of her beloved white cat. And Hime had happened to find herself a new toy in the shape of Aiko's toothbrush. Aiko pursed her lips at the mangled piece of plastic and bristles, and sighed.
She rubbed her head tiredly; ahhh…she was going to be so late!
In the barely-lit morning, Ruri began to rewrite her homework (frowning all the while) as she waited for her sister to wake. A while later, she heard a thump, followed by a cry of pain from upstairs, and a shriek of "Himeeee!"
Chuckling quietly to herself, she closed her book and made her way up. Aiko had finally gotten up, and by the sounds of things, was working on getting ready. Keywords being "working on." She was running a bit late, but that was nothing new. Ruri gently knocked on the bathroom door, smiling lightly when she heard another thump from within.
"Are you having trouble?" she called out.
"No! I'm fine!" came her answer.
"Well, if you insist. I'll be waiting for you downstairs."
She could only imagine what was going on within the room, smiling at her thoughts. It was only later, when her sister finally did join her downstairs, that she would find out that the thumps were caused by Aiko somehow putting her shirt on inside-out (and trying to fix it). How she'd managed to somehow trip while doing so, Ruri would never know.
Aiko breathed a sigh of relief as she slammed into her seat just before the bell rang. Puffing up air in her cheeks, she let her chin drop down on her desk and let her limbs hang loosely by. She blew upwards on her bangs, pursing her lips.
Ahhh…she needed to start sleeping earlier.
And she had after-school track practice, too. Ugh.
"All right, class, take your seats and I'll take role…" the teacher announced as he took over the center of the room in front of the podium.
Aiko sighed once more and leaned down in her seat, sinking down. She wanted sleep. Badly.
Not to mention, she was a bit worried about her sister; she always had some security issues about her grades. Since their parents were busy, Ruri had taken up the duty of being a sort of mother, and always thought she had to be the perfect role model for Aiko.
She'd tried time and time again to say it was okay, but Ruri just didn't understand!
And she was freaking out about the day's test results…ouch.
Just as the bell rang signaling the end of homeroom, one of her friends pounced on her desk, grinning excitedly.
"Hey, hey, Aiko," the girl whispered loudly (Aiko rolled her eyes; what was the point of whispering when she did it so loudly like that?).
"What?"
"Did you hear?" The girl exclaimed, shaking from excitement.
Aiko blinked. "About what?"
"Ohtori Choutarou-sama won the second round of the concours!"
Aiko laughed. "Ohtori Choutarou? The boy on the tennis team?" Aiko had heard his name, but had never had a chance to actually see him; he was kind of like the president. Everyone knew his name, but rarely ever saw his face.
She didn't know what all the fuss was about, though; wasn't he just really good at tennis?
School was a drag, something that society forced people to do in order to make them so bored that they pulled their own hair out. People who liked school were called crazy too.
In that sense, Ruri was about...average.
She enjoyed her classes, her teachers, the subjects they taught, and the general organization of the school environment. Of course, attending one of the most wealthy schools in Japan certainly helped.
Like any student, she had her problems; worrying about being on time, turning in your homework, and hoping that you'd remembered to put your name on it in the first place.
She'd done that once, and it had cost her a great number of points, a fact that she hid shamefully from her younger sister. She sighed just thinking about it; she'd worked so hard on that, too!
Well, there was no sense in worrying about it anymore. It was in the past. No, she had bigger things to think about. The results of last week's testing would be posted that day, and she was eager to see how she'd done. Unfortunately, she wouldn't be able to see them for a while; not until after lunch.
She was nervous, yes. Nervous and excited. She'd spent countless hours studying for the tests; she'd forsaken any after-school activities in favor of going over notes, cut back on her sleep to stay up later, and had even forgotten to eat a time or two.
It had been absolute torture she'd endured, but surely, all the studying had paid off? This time, this time for sure, she'd move up a spot or two, higher and higher towards improving her marks. She would prove herself worthy of her sister's admiration! Nothing could stop her!
There was no way that guy could beat her.
He was insufferable; always smirking confidently, as if to rub in the fact that he always scored above her. She didn't have anything against him, really, but it was his fault she couldn't focus as well as she wanted! Yes, all his fault! How could she possibly focus when she was busy sneezing all the time?
There was something about him, something that always made her wrinkle her nose and feel slightly itchy and fidgety. She wasn't sure if it was something he wore; a cologne, a hair product perhaps? Ruri had spent so much time trying to figure out what it was that eventually, she decided that it was just him that she was allergic to.
Sighing, Ruri made her way to her desk, oblivious to the fact that her fellow students were scooting away just a few inches to make way for the "weird girl," as they referred to her.
She hardly talked to anyone, she tended to mumble to herself, and the constant sneezing and fidgeting... she was creepy! Ruri was oblivious to the nickname, as she was far too busy trying (desperately) to get a decent grade in the class. With all the effort, all the pain, all the devotion she put into preparing, she didn't really have time to worry about that.
She only hoped that he might be absent that day, so she could actually get some work done.
As if on cue, the very subject of her irritated thoughts walked into the classroom, settling himself languidly at his desk. Ruri frowned, shuffling her papers again to distract herself from the annoyance. Her nose crinkled as she tried to hold back her sneeze. Ruri buried her face in the papers, holding her breath. It was all in vain. She sneezed loudly and violently as soon as he settled in, and several students turned to stare at her. To her dismay, he leaned over to speak to her.
"Are you alright? You've had those horrible sneezes for ages now. Allergies?"
"...something like that," Ruri replied miserably, sinking lower into her seat.
She just wanted the class to be over so she could see her test scores.
Class dragged by for a horribly long time. Though Ruri usually enjoyed classtime, she was anxious to see if her efforts had paid off. Lunchtime couldn't come soon enough. When the time finally did come, she all but ran from the classroom, in a hurry to find Aiko and tell her about her worries.
"No worries," the younger girl had said to her. "no one can possibly beat you!"
So she said, but Ruri was still a little nervous.
What if she not only failed to improve at all, but had in fact done a terrible job? What if she completely failed the tests? All that preparation was for nothing! Antsy with anticipation, she started to bite at her nails.
"Ruri, relax! You're the best, I just know it!"
"Thank you, Aiko." Ruri smiled slightly at her sister's encouragement.
The girl had always looked up to her, assured that she would not fail. Even when she did do badly, Aiko was convinced that it was someone else's fault, not Ruri's. Unbeknownst to her, that was precisely why her sister worked herself so much.
She tried to eat her lunch slowly, reasoning with herself that there was no sense in hurrying. All she could do was jiggle her knee impatiently, inhale and exhale, and wait. It would come soon enough. She was quite glad that after lunch was a study hall.
It would give her time to collect herself, to catch her breath, and maybe not throw up...
Eager to be the first person to see the results, Ruri all but sprinted to the bulletin boards when the bell rang. Not that it was really necessary. No one else was rushing to them, no one had crowded around them, and indeed, it was almost as if the boards weren't even there at all!
For this, Ruri was grateful. For once, she would be able to be the first to see, the first to shout out in triumph at seeing them. Sucking in a deep breath, she placed her finger at the bottom of the sheet. Slowly, she read the names, moving her hand up as she searched for her name.
There, under the same spot as last time; Izumi Ruri. She frowned slightly. Well, that wasn't bad, but it wasn't good, either. Number one in the class was a flamboyant, extravagant classmate that everyone in the universe seemed to know. That was no surprise to her; he'd always gotten that spot. She was not aiming to topple him or anything, but it would have been nice to move up at least one spot...
Ruri held her nose as a familiar smell assaulted her nose. She all but screamed as she clapped a hand over her face to keep from having another sneeze-attack. She turned, wanting to see if she was really smelling it, or if she was hallucinating. Nope. Not a hallucination. There he was.
Oshitari Yuushi.
Why, of all times, did he have to show up then? Argh, he seemed to have horrible habit of sneaking up on her, the only indication of his presence being that smell. Even after sitting next to him for most of the year, he never failed to make a stealthy arrival.
A horrified, twisted look planted itself on her face.
"It can't be..." she murmured.
"Ah, so he placed at the top as usual," he spoke casually, as if she wasn't holding her nose.
There he was; the origin of her despair, with his stupid glasses and his stupidly long hair and his stupid smirk. He stared at the board as well, frame slightly slouched. Ruri, meanwhile, was debating whether she should run away or not.
Ugh, can't take it! she thought to herself.
Oshitari had no idea that the girl was having any sort of crisis. He knew her as "that girl who sat next to him and sneezed all the time." Honestly, with all her fidgeting and whatnot, he was half-convinced she had some kind of chronic illness. He hardly knew anything about her. Heck, he couldn't even remember her name (he would shamefully admit), even though she sat next to him. Nevertheless, she seemed nice enough, if a bit quiet.
At the moment, however, she was casting him a wary, cold glance, almost like a glare. He blinked, slightly taken aback as she turned on her heel and made her way down the hall. Her retreat left Oshitari rather confused, but he quickly recovered and was on his way as well. There was no sense in worrying about why the "weird girl" had suddenly looked at him like a stain on the bottom of a shoe.
Aiko pursed her lips and pouted, staring petulantly at the numerous glass beakers arranged neatly in front of her. Various liquids in arrays of colors bubbled away quietly in several other glass containers, and tubes were wired from here to there and from there to here.
She stared down at her white lab sheet, eyes glazing over when the seemingly foreign symbols danced around her eyesight. What was this? This wasn't eighth grade chemistry, that was for sure.
Aiko cried out in frustration; geez, it wasn't as if she messed up that badly in class…che.
"Mei-chan, leave this part to me; I think I got it," Aiko grinned, lower lip bulging with her tongue being pressed up against it from the inside.
She was in a hurry to finish the dang lab and finish her math homework for the next period! And her partner was just taking so, so long, measuring the stupid levels of liquid; it wasn't that important to get the quantity right, was it?
She pushed aside her lab partner, Asakura Mei (also known as the top student in class), and took her partner's position in front of the bubbling beakers.
Alright, then…blue with the green…red with the purple…
"And there we go…" Aiko mumbled, sliding the blue liquid into a small vial that contained a clear red liquid solution.
BAM!
When the dust from the minor explosion cleared, the teacher stood in front of them, enraged and sporting a blackened lab coat. "IZUMI! YOU'RE STAYING AFTER SCHOOL TO COMPLETE THIS LAB-ALONE!"
"Uwaa...I tried so hard, too!"
Seated on one of the soft, plush couches in the expansive library, Ruri was quite busy beating herself up. All the studying in the world couldn't ease her woes, though a large stack of materials sat beside her.
She'd worked so hard! And for what? Nothing! Her face was buried in her hands, her toes curled in frustration. The librarian was rather concerned. She'd seen Ruri in the library frequently as of late, but never so...distraught. Suddenly, the girl stood up swiftly, her hair swinging to her front.
"No, it must not end this way!" she declared.
She would just have to start anew! She would study twice as hard as before! One way or another, somehow, she'd find some method to score higher. Even if that "method" fell under the "questionable" category...
Perhaps not, she mused as she noticed the time. Study hall was over, and she needed to head back to the classroom. Being late sure wouldn't help her score higher.
She checked out a couple of the books from the stack (not really paying attention to them. It was only later that she'd see that she checked out a book entitled "Growing Gardens in a Shoe"). She thanked the librarian, and made her way back to class.
He was there, again, along with a few other students. Speaking with the flamboyant Atobe Keigo, neither he nor any of the other students really took note of her presence.
Nor did they notice the cold stare she directed at his back as she settled into her seat. All the better; she wouldn't have to explain her plan for victory to them. These sorts of things were best carried out alone, without any help at all...except perhaps some advice from Aiko. She'd have to ask her later.
Oshitari Yuushi, from this day forth, we are rivals! She declared to herself. I don't care if I'm allergic to you! I will achieve greatness!
Ohtori Choutarou sighed in resignation as he pushed up the sleeves of his uniform further up his arm. He gave a wry smile at the lab sheet in front of him and set about to work; but really, it wasn't his fault he'd been excused from class to practice for the concours on the day they did labs.
Why did he have to stay after school and work on it alone? Oh well…
Not to mention, Atobe-buchou had thrown a hissy fit, because this was the third practice he was missing that week! Something about how he should stop spending so much time with his senpai in the music department and more time with him…or something along those lines.
But if he finished the lab fast enough, he'd be able to make it for a little bit of practice, hopefully appeasing his captain. And the lab wasn't that bad; it wasn't too hard.
Actually, he thought it was kind of easy, and he grinned lightly with enthusiasm as he worked, almost to a silent jaunty tune inside his head.
But it wasn't that bad; the lab wasn't too hard.
According to the other girl in the room, however, the lab seemed to be some sort of high-level college problem. She kept sighing wistfully and staring dazedly at her lab sheet; was it really that difficult of a problem?
He was just about finished, now. All he had to do was to go home and type up the lab report, and he'd be all done!
He smiled happily at his lab, before looking over at the girl two tables away. She was frowning helplessly, poking at a glass vial. She looked as if she were choosing a bottle through some random means, like using 'eeny-meeny-miney-mo.' Choutarou stared, appalled.
Was she crazy? Didn't she know that the wrong combination could be deadly?
She finally picked one, about to dump it into the beaker; uh-oh.
See, that one and this one mixed together were supposed to equal a tiny explosion.
Choutarou darted forward with a frantic "AHH! STOP!," capturing the girl's hands before she could continue.
He saw the bewildered expression on her face, and blushed. How embarrassing; he supposed he could have just told her to stop, instead of acting out like this, but he'd been so scared that she was actually going to mix those two liquids together!
He laughed nervously. "Um…would you like some help?"
Aiko blinked, appalled, before staring at the boy who was holding her hands-woah! He was really tall! And good-looking! And kind of…glamorous?
She didn't know how to describe him; he looked like one of those people that glittered back at you from glossy pages of magazines, from screens of televisions. Certainly not a person from the dull, boring reality of real life, Aiko was sure.
And he was offering to help her! How nice of him, Aiko thought happily.
But why exactly did he look so frantic? She was just doing her experiment…sheesh.
"Uhh…okay, thanks…but let me just finish up this one step…" Aiko tugged her hands away from the boy's, and before anything could be said, poured all the contents of the vial into the bubbling beaker.
Choutarou's jaw dropped open, eyes horrified. "Ohmygod," was all he could fit in, before…
…KA-BOOM!
Shishido whistled a jaunty tune as he strolled down the hall leisurely, hands shoved deep in his pockets, cap turned around on his head. He grinned at the expectation to see his doubles partner soon; he was planning on treating Choutarou to some cake or something later-after all, he'd been working hard on that music competition or something.
Not that Shishido actually went and watched the competitions, something almost every other student on campus did.
He didn't know why everyone made such a big fuss; it was just stupid, boring classical music.
Shishido was nearing the classroom Choutarou said he'd be in when something loud boomed, where he stopped dead in his tracks. …What the hell was that?
Worried, Shishido sprinted towards the door.
Choutarou blinked a few times through the clearing dust, coughing. He heard the other girl cough too, and he reached for his handkerchief to give to her.
When he pulled it out, he offered it to the girl, who was staring in shock at the experiment on the table.
Choutarou pursed his lips. Really, why was she so surprised? Those two chemicals mixed together were bound to create such a mess. Jeez. And he'd tried to stop her, too!
Aiko turned to face Choutarou with wide eyes, bringing her eyes to stare numbly at the offered handkerchief. She didn't even realize that it was him who was offering the cloth. She just took it, wiped some of the dust off her face, and handed it back to Choutarou shakily, without consciously being aware that the handkerchief was even his. "Um," she cleared her throat. Wow. This was embarrassing. "That was-"
"-Choutarou! What's going on? Choutarou!" And a rough-looking boy burst through the door, panting heavily and looking ragged and out of breath.
Aiko blinked, glancing at the boy next to her. So his name was Choutarou. Huh.
…Wait, Choutarou? Aiko freaked; she had not just blown up two chemicals in the face of the first most-popular second year boy! Oh, dang, she just always had to mess up in the most grand way!
What if he told people?
What if people thought her as a moron and an idiot who blew things up in popular people's faces?
Oh, but as a side note, it really did make sense why he was so popular, now. He wasn't just good at tennis, he looked like an idol!
But, she'd ruined his face! It was caked in soot and dust!
Oh, dam-
'Choutarou' straightened up and dusted off his sweater vest, smiling sheepishly. "It's nothing, senpai; why are you here?"
Shishido narrowed his eyes, frowning. He looked around: shattered pieces of glass from broken beakers and glass tubes littered the floor and the counter tops; black streaks ran across the steel tabletops and liquids of various colors slid across the floor.
It was a mess.
"This is not 'nothing,' Choutarou," Shishido huffed. He walked across the room quickly to push past the girl that stood next to Choutarou to check if he was hurt anywhere.
Aiko frowned when she was pushed aside, quickly widening her eyes in surprise when her foot slipped on a piece of large glass.
Wind rushed past her ears as she began to fall backward, and she shot out her arms trying to fumble her fingers onto something.
Nothing.
Oh, crap!
The end of class couldn't come soon enough for Ruri. Sitting in the room, having to be within a thousand feet of that guy, was pure torture. Did he even realize that he was killing her sinuses?
When she was finally able to escape, she felt relieved. It was suffocating to be near someone who didn't even realize how much of a criminal he was. She intended to pick up Aiko from her class and then go home, but there was one thing she had to take care of first. The books, the pair that she'd borrowed from the library, needed to be returned before she headed there. This would likely delay her for a few minutes, but she knew Aiko wouldn't mind. Her sister was never one to complain over a slight delay like that.
Besides, she was eager to get rid of that "Growing Gardens in a Shoe." Who the heck wrote that thing in the first place? What kind of moron would plant something in a shoe in the first place? She shook her head in disgust.
Ruri glanced at the clock on her way out, noting that it had taken a bit longer than she intended. She hoped Aiko would understand. Regardless, she strode just a bit faster down the hall towards her sister's classroom, shoes clacking loudly against the hard floor.
"Gah, I knew it! Just my luck! I lost track of time...again." she complained to herself.
Would Aiko be upset with her? It wasn't often that Ruri was late for anything, even if she hadn't really been given a time to show up. Her ponytail whipped against her back as she walked, giving her frame a more hurried air.
She neared Aiko's classroom, expecting to see the girl waiting anxiously outside for her.
However, that was not the case. It was at least twenty minutes after class had let out; where was she? The door, normally shut and locked by that time, was wide open, and Ruri thought she heard voices from within.
And was that...the smell of smoke?
She heard Aiko's hushed tone, a soft male voice, and was that...another male? Alarmed, she trotted to the door, turning quickly to enter the room. She could have sworn she heard a small "boom." Entering the room, she finally saw them; her sister lay sprawled on the floor, on top of shards of glass. There was a boy with lightly-colored hair and near him, a boy with a cap worn backwards on his head.
The room was an absolute mess; broken glass littered the floor, and there were black streaks that indicated some sort of charring. Any chatter stopped as soon as she walked in, and her sister was looking up at her. They looked confused at her sudden appearance. Judging by the scene, someone had pushed Aiko. Her eyes widened momentarily before narrowing as she looked around, a stern air about her form.
"Aiko! What happened?" again she looked to the boys. "What did you do to my sister?"
"R-Ruri?" Aiko's eyes widened as she stared up at her sister. Aiko's mouth was still parted open, as she was lightly dazed from everything.
"I'm sorry I'm late. Are these two...troubling you? Are you hurt?" Ruri's gaze flickered from the boys to her sister, then back again.
Aiko stared with wide eyes at her angry sister, before she bit her lip nervously. "Um, well..."
"We didn't do anything. She fell, that's all," Shishido shrugged.
"Fell? It does not look that way. Are you certain you didn't push her?"
Shishido narrowed his eyes and spluttered; who was this girl to just start claiming he did such things? "Wha? Listen, you, I don't know who you are, but who the heck just comes in and starts accusing people of-"
"What happened here, Aiko?" she interrupted.
Aiko gulped nervously; the truth was, this was actually entirely her fault, except for the part where she was pushed aside by the upperclassman. Her sister would be so disappointed that she'd blown something up…gah.
"W-Well, I had to stay after class because I messed up the chemistry lab, and so I was trying to fix it, a-and I w-was mixing some chemicals, something kinda went 'kaboom' so he," Aiko pointed at Shishido, "came running in and rushed to get to his friend." Aiko explained, hardly breathing.
Ruri looked skeptical.
"'Something kinda went kaboom'? Oh? Where is this friend?"
The other boy, who had been silent up to that point, sheepishly raised his hand halfway.
"Shishido-san was only coming to—Um, why are you here, senpai?" the boy asked of his capped companion.
"Regardless of that, it's not alright to push people." Ruri stated matter-of-factly.
"Are you even listening? I didn't touch her!" Shishido snapped.
"It seems," the girl said while fiddling with the end of her ponytail. "that you rushed in, probably not paying attention at all. Either way, she ended up on the floor because of you."
"Wha?"
Shishido was flabbergasted. What in the world was this girl talking about? He opened his mouth to offer something in retort, but froze at the sound of a soft chuckle from the hallway.
"She has you there, Shishido."
Ruri, Aiko, and the two boys in the room all looked to the source of the voice.
Gah! Again? How many times a day did she have to endure this suffering?
Ruri sniffed a bit, but didn't make any remarks. She wasn't about to point out how creepy it was that he always managed to sneak up on people.
"Oshitari-san, what are you doing here?" the other, thus-far unidentified boy asked.
"Oh, I was simply stopping by to see what was delaying Shishido. Practice started already, and Atobe wanted to know where he was. Of course, I knew that he would be looking for you," Oshitari replied.
"But how did you know to look here?" the boy seemed confused.
"I thought I heard an explosion. I believe Oshitari-san must have heard as well and decided to investigate," she paused. "And perhaps if you weren't so busy bullying my sister, you would have been on time to practice."
Aiko grimaced. Okay, her sister was kind of going overboard here…she wasn't exactly bullied. Technically, she did the bullying, since she kind of blew up the room in the popular boy's face, but…
Aiko wisely chose to hold her tongue.
"Bullying? Look, brat, I don't know who you think you are, but your mouth is starting to piss me off!"
"Is that how you speak to your classmates?" the girl retorted. Something about her tone sounded very condescending. Shishido didn't like that one little bit.
"Say that again!"
"Shishido-san!" the other boy protested.
"Choutarou, stay out of this. Please."
"Your friend seems much more polite than you are. Perhaps you could study his ways." Ruri hissed.
Aiko, meanwhile, was still sprawled on the floor. She took a sideways glance at 'Choutarou,' who seemed to be fretting badly at the argument her sister and the other third-year were having.
Aiko laughed at him; it wasn't that big of a deal, her sister was always fighting someone or another whenever Aiko landed herself in trouble.
"You little-!"
"Now, now," Oshitari cut in. "Is that any way to speak to a lady?"
Having been mostly ignored up to that point, he was a bit surprised when all four heads suddenly whipped in his direction again. He quickly recovered, clearing his throat.
"Besides," he continued. "she does have a point."
"Wha?" Shishido was flabbergasted.
"As it is, Atobe's going to have us all running laps when we get there. Ah, what an unfortunate situation." Oshitari sighed dramatically for emphasis.
"I suggest you stop dawdling and go then." Ruri deadpanned.
Now, it was Ruri's turn to be stared at. Unfazed, she continued.
"I'll let the incident with Aiko go. We have things to do as well, so there's no need for drama."
At this, she turned to her sister, who looked downright bewildered at the situation. Aiko saw the angry glint in her sister's eyes, and was momentarily surprised. She looked angrier than usual when someone had hurt Aiko; was there something else annoying her? She took the hint, though, standing up and gathering her belongings.
Within a few moments, she was at her sister's side.
"We should clean up the glass first. Then I'll try to help you with your lab."
With that, she fetched the broom from the corner and began to sweep. Aiko helped, smiling sheepishly as they worked. She was glad to be getting help, but what if the teacher walked in to find her sister there? She was supposed to be doing it alone, what if she got caught?
Once the glass was swept up, Ruri sat Aiko down again to look over the lab sheet (slightly burnt from the explosion). The sisters were doing a fine job of ignoring the presence of the three tennis players in the room. Choutarou was a bit shell-shocked and confused, Shishido was angry, and Oshitari was passive.
Well, Aiko wasn't really ignoring them. She was shooting 'Choutarou' glances every few seconds, feeling extremely apologetic. She saw the guy's lab sheet that he'd been done with; it was black with soot.
She took the small fragment that was still clean, which was actually really small. Sheepishly, she dusted off whatever she could, and shuffled over to the tall boy.
"Um…uh…well, here…I'm so sorry," Aiko ducked her head in embarrassment, offering the sorry slip of paper to Choutarou.
Choutarou blinked, before giving a rueful smile. There was really no point in getting angry at the poor girl; her own lab was ruined, too. "It's alright. I'll just come in tomorrow to redo it," he smiled.
Aiko looked up at the tall boy with a superior grin. "You want me to help? I mean, I know I messed up this time, but I'm sure I can get it right with a few practices-"
Choutarou gulped. Sure, she might, but what did those 'few practices' entail?
"It's…it's fine. I'll help you, though," he offered.
Aiko's eyes widened; wow, he was so nice! "Really? Thanks, I'm-"
"Aiko. Come on, we have to get home soon; I've finished cleaning," Ruri motioned at the floor; it looked better.
Aiko laughed sheepishly, a little apologetically; her sister was always cleaning up after her!
"Right…sorry, Nee-chan," Aiko waved cheerfully at Choutarou, picked up her bag, and ran out the room after her sister.
They left the room, leaving Choutarou to stare in confusion, Oshitari to smirk in amusement, and Shishido to catch flies in his still-gaping mouth.