Shizuo shuffled in his chair uncomfortably. The humid air outside had seeped into the classroom and was making his skin sticky. His shirt clung to his back in patches. In front of him, the familiar large mass of black wavy hair on Corvi's head had swollen. She already had enough to be considered a lion's mane but with the thick air, it had almost doubled in size. It looked like she was sporting a hairstyle from the 80's and she was obviously conscience of it. Every other minute, her hands would fly up to pat, flatten or mash it down.
He had grimaced as soon as he opened the front door of his home. It was October for fuck's sake! Weather like this, completely off season, pissed Shizuo off. Shinra didn't seem to mind though. He was just glad it was warm again. It was a chance to try to get Celty to "dress appropriately" which just ended with a punch in the stomach from the dullahan. A bikini, he said, was the right thing to change her shadow into. Shizuo and Corvi had just watched as Celty locked the boy into a sleeper hold.
Corvi had finally given up and used her notebook as a fan, her frizzy midnight hair blew back from the artificial wind. She huffed and placed the book down. It wasn't helping. It was just too hot, too humid, too sticky.
Who ever had decided it would be a good idea to have gym class outside, Shizuo would hunt them down and- Those shorts, she could tug on them as much as she wanted but it was futile, were even shorter than her skirt. Corvi cycled between patting her hair down and trying to make sure her bottom didn't pop out of her shorts across the yard. Try as she might, she was not a skinny girl. Compared to other females in their class, she was the heaviest one. Shizuo shook his head at the thoughts. Corvi may not have been thin but she was tall, only a few inches shorter than he, which lended to her extra meat. If he really thought about it, she was the same body type that women had in pin up magazines. A little bit more that lead to a lot more when it came to curves.
The gym teacher had made sure to keep the genders separate but that didn't stop the blatant gawking from both sides. It was high school after all. Who else was staring at Corvi besides him? Shizuo tilted his head to see down the line of males in front of him. None. He looked over his shoulder at the ones behind him. Nope, not a-
There he was. Their homeroom teacher was trying to hide behind the cement wall while ogling from afar. The man had to be at least 15 years older than them but it did not seem to deter him at all.
"That man really does like them young, huh? But he has good taste." Shizuo had been trying to ignore Izaya's existence but it was hard when he was standing directly behind him, "Karasu-chan does have quite an hourglass shape for her type."
"Her type?" Shizuo had been baited. With a smirk plastered on his face, Izaya continued, "Oh, you didn't know? She's not really human."
Those rumors again. It was almost every other day someone had said something about the girl being some sort of alien. Why? He had no clue. It had probably started with the girls that did not like her. They snickered and whispered in groups whenever she passed. Corvi had not noticed but he had. Shizuo had gritted his teeth, clenched his fists but let it go. It was not his place. Besides, all types of rumors about their friendship would bubble up. He was not ready for that just yet.
As if he could read minds, Izaya started up again, "You two seem pretty close. Is there something you'd like to declare?" Shizuo would need some serious dentistry work after grinding them so much. The only thing that stopped him from throttling the shorter boy was the threat of detention. Unless she had it with him, Corvi did not wait.
Vault jumping. Seemed easy enough. It was only a direct vault, nothing fancy. Also seemed pretty dangerous. The teacher had gone through the safety steps. Make sure to aim for the middle of the springboard. Don't jump at an angle. And for the love of your ankles and all the bones in your body, land on the mat after.
When it came to physical stuff, Shinra would take a pass. Unfortunately, gym teachers rarely give passes. With stern words barked into his face and a blaring whistle in his ear, he took off. Skinny pale legs that could only run so fast carried him to the worn blue springboard. Calf muscles tensed, ready for the jump and relaxed as he veered off the path. With the vault to his right, Shinra collapsed in a heap of sweat. No way was he going to do it. The thought of being detached from the earth and flung through the air was not something he could do. Maybe if he laid on the ground enough, the pitbull man that was their teacher would send him to the nurse's office. Shinra rolled over onto his back and wheezed loudly. That would get the man's attention.
Nope.
He was content leaving the student right where he laid.
"Hewaijima!" The name fell on deaf ears. The boy was busy. A group of girls wearing too much makeup had cut in front of Corvi. They were currently waiting in the countdown to the girl's rage.
The angry whistle cut through his thoughts.
What was he supposed to be doing again?
Oh yeah, vault.
Dirt kicked up from his feet as he started out slow and built up momentum. A line was marked at a point on the ground, signifying where to jump. As soon as his left foot landed on the marker, his right leg lifted, followed by the left, to his chest. When they came down in unison, it was perfectly placed in the middle of the springboard. It rocketed Shizuo up and over the vault, his hands only grazed the surface. His body landed in a crouch with feet still under him.
It was perfect.
Gaping mouths closed and a slow clapping rose from the group of students behind him. By the time he had stood up completely and turned, the clap had changed into a fevered cheering. Even their teacher had joined in. Shizuo's eyes darted back and forth, trying to find Corvi's light brown face. She was there, behind the clump of girls who were now blowing kisses his way. She was smiling. A real smile and not her normal grin until their eyes locked and she suddenly became preoccupied with the length of her shorts again.
Izaya had a way of vanishing at the most opportune times. He could have done the vault with ease but, "Business comes first". Whatever the hell that meant and he was no where to be seen when it came to his turn. No one noticed though, except three people. If they cared was another matter entirely.
"Oh! Corvi's up next" Shinra did not really need to say anything. Shizuo had not lost track of her in line again. She had pulled her hair back into a ponytail. It must have been taut because her eyebrows were raised as if she was surprised about something. He tried to think of what it could be while she slipped off her black sneakers.
Wait. What?
A sharp whistle meant their gym teacher had noticed as well.
"Put your shoes back on Karasu!"
She picked them up, turned to the barking man and chucked the shoes his way, "Watch these for me." Never had Shizuo seen someone's face turn so red. Cartoon steam should have streamed from the man's ears. He licked his lips and drew in a deep breath at the same time she did. Corvi's eyes were set ahead, directly at the vault. The extra loud, extra long shriek from the whistle did not faze her as she started her sprint.
"So what was that called again?" Classes were done. Shoes were collected. Homework was assigned. A scowl was carved deep into Shizuo's face as he waited for the black haired girl to answer Shinra's question. He was a few steps ahead of them, completely content not being so close to either of them at the moment. With a shrug, Corvi answered, "Double twisting Yurchenko."
The blonde grumbled a curse to himself. She had to show off, didn't she? She just had to one up him. And then that grin she gave him after landing it perfectly-
"Hey. Hey! Don't be like that," She had caught up with him and pinched his forearm, "Thought you didn't care about that stuff anyways." It was true, he didn't. But she had shut him done with her own stunt. He flashed a sneer her way before snatching his arm away. A small hiss started it's way from Corvi's mouth before Shinra stepped between the two. A fight could mean an entire neighborhood being demolished. He offered an olive branch on Corvi's behalf, "How's about we get some ice cream?" With how hot it still was, they could only grumble their approval.
Ever since they had let Corvi hang out with them, she and the blonde had butted heads regularly. Shizuo's obvious crush on her had not stopped him from getting pissed. Their friendship was a roller coaster and Shinra was a willing watcher.
Shizuo's brown eyes were downcast, staring intently at his chocolate chip ice cream and not at-
Why did she take off her jacket?
Corvi's midnight blazer had been covering the low cut black camisole she wore underneath it. The exposed caramel skin of her oversized chest was all he could look at so he had chosen to watch the dairy treat melt instead. Her back was hunched and her cleavage spilled out to rest on the table. In lieu of all the other crazy flavors, she had picked vanilla bean and then proceeded to dump the store's entire stock of sprinkles on top. When asked, Corvi had shrugged and said, "I like sprinkles. Lots of sprinkles."
Shizuo tried his luck as his eyes moved up from his ice cream.
Bad timing.
Maybe he might have been able to look at her face or her hair if he was lucky. But he wasn't and he could not have stopped staring, even if he wanted to. A generous amount of her creamy white ice cream had fallen off her spoon. She looked down at it, vanilla bean and sprinkles were melting right into her cleavage.
"Whoa!" Shinra had noticed right after his spoon was refilled with "Birthday Cake". His arms flew up and his scoop flicked out. Even more conspicuous white liquid splattered onto the exposed skin of her breasts. Scenes of adult films came to Shizuo's mind in an instant and he could feel something twitch to life in his pants. The false shutter of a phone camera was heard. Izaya stopped short of the table and leaned in, "Didn't know you liked bukkake, little crow." Corvi was floored, her mouth gaped open and her face burned. Her eyes darted away from the boys as she frantically searched for a napkin. Even after she found one and had wiped away the ice cream, the image was already burned into Shizuo's brain.
After looking down, he noticed he was going to have to take care of it when he got home.
The next day was just as hot, just as humid and Corvi cringed the whole way during the walk to school. Her phone buzzed in her blazer's pocket. It was Izaya. She wondered how he had gotten her number. She had never given it to him.
A picture message?
Did she really want to see it?
This looks much better.
Corvi almost dropped her phone. Izaya had taken a picture the day before and edited it. The splashes of ice cream on her chest had spread to coat much of the exposed skin and a layer of semi clear white liquid covered almost all of her face. She looked like the end result of a two hour gangbang bukkake film. Her mouth closed as her mind tried to figure out a reply. What was she going to say to that? Was he going to send it to other people? Was he going to post on the internet? She had come to Raira to get away from-
No. Corvi was not going to think about that.
A sigh escaped from her lips as her mood deflated. The rest of the walk was forgettable with too many thoughts for her to sort out. The sky seemed to darken with her mood. Thunder clouds had rolled around and with only a few more blocks to go, it was too late for Corvi to turn back home.
She slipped off her shoes to swap them for her school slippers in her locker. A right turn to twenty three, left turn to seven and the last right turn to fourteen and out poured countless pairs of shoes. Men shoes, women shoes, toy shoes, baby shoes, even a pair of socks fell out in a heap. Each had a little piece of paper attached that read, "Watch these for me".
