Whew! At last, finished with the third chapter…
Got tangled with requirements so it came late…
Well, enjoy the chapter…
and the mystery begins...
White Walls Chapter 3 - Doppelganger
October 13, XX59 ----- 07:23 hours – Namimori Middle High School Main Grounds
Nothing's changed.
Gokudera thought as he set his feet inside Namimori Middle High School. The school was still the same. The main school building that stood in front of the gate remained the same school building that always welcomed the learners with warmth. He saw the enormous clock on the building, heralding the start and end of classes. His eyes also did not let the landscape escape, noticing the beautiful ornamental plants and the old sakura trees. Lastly, he noticed the students walking alongside him towards the school. Some were sad, some were happy; some are quiet but nevertheless noisy.
A group of girls grabbed his attention, mainly because they were noisy bragging about their latest fashion accessory. He took a glance at them, as if he wanted to see what they were bragging about. As he found out, it was their earrings that shone brightly on their ears as sun's rays hit them. Gokudera was attracted to the earrings, especially to the color of sapphire that they refract. He thought that the earrings should not be worn by those girls, and added to the fact that all of those girls have homely faces. Unluckily, the girls saw him and immediately assumed that after a moment, his ears heard something that rocked his world,
"Gokudera-sama is back!"
Fuck, just as I need, he mumbled as the attention of other girls went on him. Aside from the girls crowding on him, the screams of admiration spread like a wildfire. He heard his name being shouted almost everywhere and he was not happy about it, especially that his eardrums get smashed at that instant. As annoyed as he might be that his eardrums were starting to break, he got pissed off when the girls started to tug on his shirt, as if the girls had never seen a man for years.
"Stop tugging my shirt, you useless bitches! Tug whoever you want but not me, goddamnit!"
Suddenly, he noticed that the screams of admiration became screams of fright and they started to leave him. He had sighed on relief on the fact that students actually listened to him but little did he realized that he was not the cause of their dispersal until he saw a figure emerging from a distance, meters away.
He proceeded straight to the school building and saw that the figure was no other than the notorious Disciplinary Committee chairman, Kyouya Hibari, shoving an innocent student that happened to be on his way. As their eyes met, the prefect chairman walked towards him with an unwanted expression, with hands holding the tonfas in attack stance.
"Hey, what are you doing here? Non-students roaming around the campus will be bitten to death."
"What the-? I'm freaking going to the registrar's office to confirm my status, bastard!" and he started to walk away towards the registrar's office when he heard Hibari's monotone voice,
"Stop."
"You don't have a right to stop me, bird-singer."
Gokudera ignored it and continued walking towards the registrar until he heard footsteps going quickly towards him. As his eyes took a look, it was Hibari rushing towards him for a hit. Instinctively, he shielded his body by forming a cross block with his forearms. However, the force that Hibari applied was too strong for him and his body fell on the ground.
"When I say stop, stop. Understood?"
Gokudera rose up from the ground and sensing that there was no point of arguing, he said, "Fine. So what do you want?"
As Hibari opens his mouth, the Disciplinary Vice-Chairman Tetsuya Kusakabe ran towards them with documents in his hands,
"Kyou-san, there is another Namimori Middle student sent to the hospital. According to th-"
Hibari's eyes narrowed at Kusakabe, bringing him into silence. The man gulped at his stare, bringing shivers in his skin.
"Who was the student?"
"Matsumoto Ryou, 2nd year, Class 2-A, member of the baseball club."
Hibari just yawned and said, "Just a herbivore, nothing to worry about. Anyway, let's go." As he turned around to go somewhere, Gokudera held his shoulder and turned him.
Gokudera growled, "Hey, bastard! Don't turn your back on me without telling me what would you want to say!"
"How. Dare. You. Touch. Me."
The next thing that Gokudera knew was that a tonfa hit his gut that made him fall on his knees and put his hands tightly in his abdomen to relieve the pain. He looked angrily at Hibari with teeth grinding in anger while the other man stared coldly, but with obvious hints of disappointment in it.
"Never mind what I said a while ago, herbivore. Everything had changed and figure out for yourself what had changed."
Without any word, he turned his back and stormed out from Gokudera, along with Kusakabe that was a little relieved that nothing happened. As Gokudera saw them leaving, he felt something, something disturbing. He felt a puzzling sensation that everything was just an illusion that he was forced to perceive. He wanted to ask many questions, to clarify many things and justify many irrational thoughts but all he got were footsteps moving away from him.
But just like Hibari said, he should figure it out for himself.
October 13, XX59 ----- 07:37 hours – Namimori Middle High School Registrar's Office
Gokudera entered the registrar's office with caution. He just didn't want to destroy his comeback in Namimori by being in detention again and besides, that would lessen his chance to be with his beloved boss. As he entered the office, he immediately approached the counter and presented his documents that Reborn fixed for him and gave it to the person stationed as he finished his mission in Italy.
The girl in the counter grabbed his documents and placed it on the table. Then, she got her glasses from the bag beside her person and wore it. After a few minutes of glancing and reading, she adamantly said,
"All papers are confirmed to be true. Please wait for about 5 minutes. We'll just wait for the principal to arrive."
Gokudera shouted, "What? Wait for that damn principal to arrive?"
"Yes."
"Can't you understand? I have classes at 8:00!" he reasoned out but the real reason why he was rambling was about he wanted to see his boss and the baseball idiot so bad.
The woman just "You cannot be considered enrolled without his signature in your documents. Aside from that, you need to attend all your classes today and make them sign in this paper. If one of the teacher did not sign this paper, you will not be admitted and will be expelled immediately. That's all."
"What about my classes?"
"Don't worry, your tardiness will not be recorded since it is your first day and it was the principal's fault. Why don't you sit there for a while until the principal comes?"
The lady's forefinger pointed a chair that was behind him. Having no other option, he sat on the chair that the lady pointed. After sitting, he crossed his legs and started rocking his feet on the floor and made a rhythm on it.
After a while, the door opened and a middle-aged man appeared. The man looked tired and stressed at the same time, loosening the tie in his shirt as he set his foot in. The man spoke in a tired voice,
"Mitsuko, do I have a schedule at 10:00?"
The girl in the counter replied, "You have a meeting with the Board of Trustees at 10:00 on the Conference Room. Why, Mr. Principal?"
"Cancel that meeting. Set an emergency summons to the student council organizations and to all the teachers. There's another student being beaten by some gang in the neighborhood. It is the third time for this week that a student got hospitalized and the parents started to get worried," the principal said and went inside his cubicle.
After a moment, the girl got on the principal's cubicle and handed him some documents. Gokudera watched as the girl entered the cubicle until he could not see her and contentedly listened to them as the two had their conversation,
"Ok. Oh, before I forget Mr. Taniguchi, I want you to sign this document of confirmation of status. Gokudera Hayato of 2nd Year Class 2-A returned from Italy."
"Did you say Gokudera Hayato?"
"Yes."
"Call the boy. I want to talk to him."
After a while, Gokudera saw Mitsuko came out of the room only to call him to go inside. Gokudera stood immediately from his seat and went to the principal's cubicle.
"So, are you the famous Gokudera Hayato from Class 2-A?" the principal asked him with a smile in his face.
"What if I am?"
"I just want to give you a little piece of advice," he said as he scanned the documents given to him by Mitsuko and after a while, he got a fountain pen from a penholder and signed the necessary documents for Gokudera's confirmation.
Gokudera retorted, "Is this about the Matsumoto Ryou student who got beaten up and sent to the hospital?"
"How… did you know?" The principal's mouth dropped open since he did not expect that this newly returned student knew about it.
"I heard some of the students talked about it earlier."
"Okay," the principal replied and gave the necessary documents to Gokudera. "Just take care of yourself, especially that the victims all came from your section. That's it. Enjoy your studies."
Gokudera became worried by the principal's warnings about students from his section was beaten up one by one. In his mind, he could picture Tsuna being beaten by the delinquents mainly because he was not there, Tsuna's right-hand man that would risk his life and do everything for his boss. Without any adieu, he grabbed his documents and rushed out of the room to attend the class.
October 13, XX59 ----- 07:55 hours – Namimori Middle High School 3rd Floor
Gokudera walked on the familiar corridor towards his room. In both his eyes, he saw everything that he expected to see. He saw some students talking to each other about the latest happening. Others were gossiping, whispering juicy bits of gossip to the ears of the expectant listener. Some were running along the corridor, throwing things up in the air. Lastly, there were some people staring at him as he passed by. Eyes of estrangement, admiration, envy, and jealousy coming from the other students analyzed him from head to toe. He was a little annoyed but he just ignored them as he entered the room.
"Gokudera-kun is back!"
That was the first greeting he received from his classmates although he the one that he expected was Tsuna's greeting and warm smile. All of a sudden, the admirers swarmed him like honeybees in a beehive, asking about his vacation in Italy. Some even asked about if he had found a girlfriend in his vacation. He just ignored the girls and proceeded in his chair, waiting for Tsuna.
His eyes glistened when his eyes saw his boss, walking happily inside the room. He figured out that the reason why he left their house earlier was because he fetched his girlfriend, Kyoko, from their house and walked with her. His assumption suddenly become debunked when there was no beautiful Kyoko Sasagawa that entered the room but a smiling Yamamoto Takeshi. He saw the two entered the room while talking about something. Tsuna went to his seat and Yamamoto just crouched down near Tsuna's seat with his hands on the desk.
He did not know what to do to talk to Yamamoto. He was very nervous and at the same time, scared. He knew for a fact that he was the one who ended up their relationship for a ridiculous reason and he wanted that relationship be fixed. He was still hoping that Yamamoto had not found a replacement for him, and he stuck on to that belief like a mountaineer holding on a rope just to survive.
Gokudera stood up from his seat, shoved the girls crowding in him and went to the side of his boss. And like he usually does, he bowed in front of Tsuna and greeted his boss,
"Good morning Juudaime. I'm back from my vacation in Italy."
Tsuna smiled and replied, "Welcome back, Gokudera-kun. So how was Italy?"
"It was fine, Tenth. I wished you were there."
Both of them laughed until a loud noise broke it. The noise came from Yamamoto's hand that banged the desk a while ago.
"So Tsuna, have you done your assignment?"
"Nope. How about you?"
"Nope. We could get scolded together."
The two let out a soft laughter on the fact that they did not have made their assignments made Gokudera furious. He shouted,
"Hey baseball-freak! You should be helping the Tenth with hi-"
Yamamoto just ignored him and asked Tsuna who was listening to them, "So, Tsuna, how was Kyoko? Is she doing well now?"
"She's fine, I guess."
"So Boss, what happened to Kyoko?"
For the second time, Yamamoto interrupted Gokudera. He was quite pissed at the Rain Guardian, as if he was treating him like a non-existing person in the room.
"Hey Tsuna, I heard a joke from Dad's radio yesterday. Want to hear it?"
"Sure."
"Knock-knock."
"Who's there?"
"Riverboat."
"Riverboat who?"
Yamamoto breathed deeply and sang, "Riverboat so young when I first saw you, I close my eyes…" (1)
Yamamoto could not help but to laugh his heart out at that joke. Gokudera found it corny and remarked,
"So retarted, moron. Could you think of other jokes?"
Gokudera then noticed that Tsuna was also laughing at that joke. He just kept silent and let the two have their fun. He thought that Yamamoto was still angry with him, to snob him like that. When the two stopped laughing, Gokudera asked but was interrupted by their English teacher that entered the room. Gokudera returned from his proper seat and so was Yamamoto, who was still sitting on the same seat two months ago.
The teacher went immediately on the front and talked,
"Class, I have something to tell you. Your monthly examination will be three days from now and I want you all to review, especially those people who could not differentiate an oboe from an elbow."
Gokudera sensed something that was not right and he looked at his classmates, who were all amused. When his eyes turned to Tsuna, he saw his boss's face frowned a little. Afterwards, he glanced at Yamamoto who lost his smile and started to stare at the teacher. Gokudera instantly deduced that the teacher was pointing towards his boss. His teeth gritted in irritation but suppressed it since he needed to observe first.
"You know yourself, you who do nothing but to give jewelry to their seniors to gain respect. Please remember, my dear students that respect is earned not asked. SO, if you want people to respect you, you must do honorable and respectable things or since you are fond of giving rings, why don't you give us one to earn a little bit of respect, even you don't deserve one."
Gokudera saw that almost all his classmates laughed, in exception of his boss who looked embarrassed, Yamamoto whose hands started to clench and a transfer student who was just looking at the window.
The teacher continued, "So, before-"
CLASH!
Gokudera turned around to see where the noise had come from. He was shocked when he saw where it came from. It came from Yamamoto's chair that was pushed and fell onto the floor. Many were shocked to see that Yamamoto did it, even Gokudera gasped to see that it was Yamamoto.
Yamamoto, unmindful of all the stares by the other people, stood up and said,
"Let's go, Tsuna. The discussion's gets boring."
Gokudera looked at Tsuna as his boss stood up from his seat and walked away with Yamamoto.
"Juudaime-" was the only word that Gokudera could mention as he saw Yamamoto and his boss walked away from the classroom. He could not follow them since it would cost him his enrollment. Besides, he thought to himself that Hibari was right on what he said earlier and it would be best for him to follow his advice, even though he would not be with Tsuna for a while.
Everything had changed and figure out for yourself what had changed.
And before turning to the teacher, he saw the transfer student walked away from the classroom.
October 13, XX59 ----- 08:27 hours – Namimori Middle High School 2nd Floor
Two people meet in a hallway, one was going to the right, while the other one was going to the left,
"Yamamoto Takeshi, any student who cuts classes should be bitten to death."
"C'mon, Kyou-kun. Don't be mad."
"..."
"..."
"I'll be waiting. Same time, same place."
"Yep."
"Just make sure you'll satisfy me. I abstained for days just to have this..."
"Okay. Okay. I am also feeling the same today..."
"..."
"I hope you still know..."
"Yeah, just meet me later..."
"Sure..."
They passed each other as if nothing happened.
October 13, XX59 ----- 08:27 hours – Namimori Middle High School Rooftop
Yamamoto and Tsuna went to the rooftop and sat there. At the moment they sat, Tsuna burst into tears. The taller man comforted him by putting his arms at the smaller man's shoulder as a sign of his presence and support.
"Don't cry. I'm always here. I'll never leave you unlike all the others did."
"Really?"
A nod was all he got from Yamamoto but it was enough to calm his heart and his body was pulled closer by that warm being.
Notes:
(1)– lines from Talyor Swift's song, Love Story
A/N: Please try to review the fic (either positive or negative comments will be lovely) for me to improve my writing and to know what I should not do…
Thanks for reading…
