Ishimaru's day only got progressively worse.

Over the course of eight hours, he'd had to put out a small fire in the chemistry lab, head off a minor food fight that had almost gotten out of hand, and break up a fight between the super high-school level animal breeder and the super high-school level mechanic (though, to be fair, that last one was so common of an occurrence he wouldn't have been fazed had it not been for the prior events that had set him on edge).

By the time he made it back to his room, he was exhausted. He pressed his forehead against the cool wood of his door and rifled blindly through his bag for his key. After a few minutes, he finally found it and let himself in, stumbling through the doorway.

His eyes fell on the mess on the table, and he felt the anger from the beginning of the day come trickling back. The original source of his anger, the original problem that had set this disastrous day in motion—the crumbs seemed to taunt him, especially when he realized that he hadn't had a chance to actually eat all day. By this point, however, he was too frustrated and agitated to even feel hunger, and so he busied himself with clearing the mess away.

As he worked, he found himself always returning to the same thought: this is Mondo's fault. At first, he tried to dismiss the idea—he disliked the idea of blaming his problems on others. The more he thought about it, though, the more he fixated on it, and the more he came to agree with it. The delinquent had gone out of his way to make Ishimaru's life more difficult than necessary. He left his dirty clothes lying around. He left dishes strewn about. He ate the last of Ishimaru's toast.

Ishimaru clung to this thought, playing out various scenarios where he gave Mondo a piece of his mind, told the man exactly how he felt about the living arrangement. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts he didn't notice that someone had been knocking at the door for nearly a minute. When he realized where the rapping sound was coming from, he jolted upright, hastily opening the door.

"Please, accept my apologizes for keeping you waiting!" he said hurriedly, aware of how flustered he looked.

"I-it's quite all right, Ishimaru-san," the small, brunette girl standing in the doorway murmured, looking up shyly from under her bangs.

It took Ishimaru a moment to realize who was standing there, but when he did, his face split into a friendly smile. "Ahh! Fujisaki-kun! What a pleasant surprise." Ishimaru's words were genuine—Chihiro Fujisaki was one of the few students who gave him no trouble. The super high-school level programmer was pleasant to be around, albeit rather shy, but she was a good student. "What may I ask brings you here?"

Chihiro glanced awkwardly over her shoulder before motioning behind her. Ishimaru looked to where Chihiro pointed and frowned. Sitting in a heap were several small duffel bags, two suitcases, a large array of computer monitors, a pair of CPUs, a large mass of wires and chords, and several other pieces of electronic equipment Ishimaru couldn't have identified if he tried.

"I'm m-moving in," Chihiro murmured quietly, looking down at her feet.

Ishimaru stood in stunned silence for almost half a minute before he regained control of his mental capacities. Even then, all he could manage was, "B-but why…?"

Chihiro fidgeted, not meeting Ishimaru's eyes. "W-well, there was a minor mishap…with my computers and the dorm's e-electrical system…. And the school officials d-deemed my room unfit to live in until all the f-fire damage is gone—"

"Fire damage?"

"—and M-mondo offered to let me stay in his room, a-at least until this all blows over! I-i hope that's…o-okay."

"B-but you're a female. A-and this is the male dorm. How are. Why are. F-fujisaki-kun, I understand that you need a place to stay, but I'm sure it's possible to find an acceptable roommate of the same gender who has a place to stay?" Ishimaru was only dimly aware of the fact his voice was increasingly rising in pitch; he was too busy reeling from the idea of a girl staying in his dorm. InMondo's room.

"Oi, Ishimaru. I told her it was cool for her to crash in my room for a while. Let it go."

Ishimaru wheeled around—he had been completely unaware of Mondo's presence since he'd returned. Well, then. He still hadn't addressed the issues of this morning, and while this wasn't the ideal time, he'd take any opportunity he could get. He opened his mouth to say something, anything, to make Mondo fully aware of how irritated he was with the entire situation.

He wasn't expecting Mondo to emerge from his room wearing only a pair of sweatpants and ruffling a towel through his hair.

A single unbidden thought crept through Ishimaru's mind.

Oh no, he's hot.

"P-put a shirt on, Oowada-kun!" he managed to sputter, feeling his cheeks tint with an unwelcome warmth; he hastily added, "Th-there's a lady present!"

"Oh, n-no, it's fine!" Chihiro piped up. "I-i've seen him shirtless, it d-doesn't bother me."

Ishimaru spun around, his eyes wide with incredulity. "Y-you—you what?"

"Dude, calm the fuck down, it's not what you think," Mondo rolled his eyes, but it was too late. The gears were already spinning in Ishimaru's mind, and he was, of course, assuming the worst.

"H-how have you seen him topless? Why have you seen him topless?" Ishimaru was only dimly aware of the fact his voice had increased in pitch, now almost a strangled squeak. "You're a dainty young lady! He's a thug! A villain! ASCOUNDREL."

"HEY. Who the fuck are you callin' a scoundrel?!" Mondo snarled, glaring at Ishimaru.

"H-he's really not that bad!" Chihiro interjected hurriedly. "H-he's…h-he's my best friend, and I w-wanted to live with him, and—"

"B-but he's a man!"

"And don't you fucking forget it," Mondo muttered irritatedly.

"H-he's still my best friend, though." Chihiro glanced up at Ishimaru apologetically. "I-i'm sorry…."

Ishimaru started to argue, but Mondo cut him off. "Don't apologize, Chihiko, it's fine. More than welcome to stay in my room." He elbowed Ishimaru out of the doorway, grabbing several of Chihiro's duffel bags and shoving a computer monitor under his arm. Ishimaru could only gape as the super high school level delinquenttoted the luggage back to his room.

And he still wasn't wearing a goddamn shirt.

Ishimaru stared mutely, his mouth twisting down into a frown, his brows knitting, his cheeks blazing. Everything was happening at once. In the past week, he'd gotten two roommates, one of which was a delinquent and the other of which wasfemale. He'd gone all day without actually eating a meal. His day had been a series of unfortunate events playing in a domino effect-like fashion.

And to top it off, his roommate was attractive.

Everything was Mondo's fault. Everything.

Ishimaru turned on his heel and stormed off to his bedroom, feeling tears prick the edges of his eyes. Once safely behind closed doors, he threw himself on the bed, burying his face in his pillow and letting out a long, muffled scream of anguish. Everything was going wrong and he couldn't deal with it.

As Ishimaru adjusted his head on his pillow, he felt something hard and rectangular underneath it, and he grimaced. Oh, no. He had to add him, didn't he.

With a begrudging sigh, Ishimaru withdrew a small, black notebook from its hiding spot. Inside was a small, short list written in tiny, neat penmanship; it consisted of several ladies' names and short blurbs about each one.

"aoi - such a very well developed and powerful woman, who knows discipline very admirable."

"celestia - a proper lady, rather intelligent, very beautiful. she knows the rules well."

Now, Ishimaru scrawled something new on the page. His writing was rougher than it had been on the previous entries, an angry scrawl that marred the list of people he had romantic interests in.

"mondo - FUCK THAT GUY"