Chapter Three:

Stereotypical Judgment

"Himitsu, hey Himitsu-chan! Hello, Earth to Shibutani Himitsu! Come on girl, don't space out on me, I can't fly you know!" Sayuri's voice broke through Himitsu's boggy haze of thoughts. She blinked twice, her eyes slowly coming to focus on a finely manicured hand waving mere centimeters in front of her face. Her clear blue eyes slowly trailed upwards to look into a pair of mildly agitated, but smiling jade eyes.

"Oh… I'm sorry, Sayuri." Himitsu muttered sheepishly. A light shade of pink dusted her pale cheeks. "I was just… lost in thought." She continued quietly, as she tried to hide her evident embarrassment in her thick Composition 1 course book. Their Comp 1 teacher, Mrs. Kurosawa Atsuko had suggested that they use an English language book. She had said that it was so they could understand the language better and it helped that she was also their English Language teacher. The essay Himitsu was previously trying to follow, before she slipped off into a daze, was a rather tedious one called 'Ode to Thanksgiving' by Michael J. Arlen.

"Yeah, I could tell." The platinum blonde teen laughed good-naturedly. Sayuri intently picked through her food with her chopsticks, plucking bits of onions, bell peppers and mushrooms from her dish. After finding and removing every piece of the unwanted food from her plate she evenly distributed the three foods between her friend's plates. Miyu got the onions, Yoshiro got the bell peppers and Himitsu got the mushrooms. It was an everyday ritual they had acquired in middle school. Or rather it was a ritual Sayuri had developed.

"Eh! What the crap does 'mollified' and 'provenance' mean?" Miyu ground out through clenched teeth. Her hands shook in aggravation as she looked over a long list of previously unknown words that Mrs. Kurosawa Atsuko had given them to study over for their next test. "And just who thought up the words 'kowtowing', 'inextricably', 'picayune', 'undeleterious' and half the other words one here that probably don't even show up in a freaking dictionary!" The tanned girl continued to rant, as the innocent off-white paper in her hands starting to rip at the edges where her hands held on to it.

"Don't stress over it Miyu, it's just words. Oh and if I were you I'd loosen that viper grip you have there. You're going to need that paper in one piece." Yoshiro laughed, subtly scooting closer to Himitsu and away from the 'go-to-hell' glare his lavender eyed friend was shooting his way.

"Yoshiro, don't provoke her or you'll have two black eyes this go round." Sayuri sagely informed the handsome prankster, after swallowing the large chunk of grilled chicken without taking the time to chew. Yoshiro grimaced at the thought of Miyu's punches and at seeing Sayuri's less than feminine eating habits. He had been around the three girls since forever it seemed. However, he still hadn't gotten used to the platinum blonde's tomboy traits. The girl had an appetite like a starved wolf and she ate like one too.

"Nah, she won't hit me," Yoshiro grinned cheekily at the disbelieving look Sayuri sent his way and the glare he was receiving from Miyu. "Himitsu will save me from her wrath. Right, Himitsu-chan?" He grinned rather charmingly, looping his arm around Himitsu's shoulders before he turned to the quiet bespeckled girl to his right.

Himitsu glanced up from her book and looked at each of her companions. When she turned back to the grinning black haired boy, she gave him a piteous smile. "As much as I absolutely love to be your shield Yoshiro, I don't think now is the time for me to stand in-between you and Miyu's anger."

"Ow! That really hurts Himitsu!" Yoshiro clutched at his chest in mock hurt, as if her words had solidified and pierced him in the chest. The big grin on his face made his act look more humorous that it should have, as he faked a heart seizure. Miyu rolled her eyes with a huff, before she reached over and clipped him in the back of the head, while Sayuri just ignored him.

Himitsu chuckled lightly, marking her place in the book with a white feathered and beaded book thong. There was no way she could read that essay with all the commotion going on around her. Not that she really wanted to read it in the first place. She needed to read it, but they had all ready been in and out of that class, so it could wait. She'd rather mess around with her friends and eat anyway.

Himitsu's arms cradled her stomach when it let out a pathetic growl. She hadn't touched her food yet. Glancing down at her plate she silently gauged what she might want to ingest from her pre-chosen menu. Himitsu hadn't actually had the privilege to get her own plate, thanks to her friends. They were worried that she wasn't eating properly proportioned meals, because of her slender form. She wasn't a vegetarian and she wasn't bulimic. Her long time family pediatrician and another Doctor she had been sent to said she was suffering from a small case of Anorexia nervosa.

Her parents and friends had freaked out when they noticed she wasn't eating as much as she once did, but by then it was too late. She hadn't become skin and bones, but her body weight was well under what it should have been. She wasn't that underweight anymore, but four years of not eating much had caused her friends to get her food for her. Just to make sure she didn't slip back into the habit. With a heavy sigh Himitsu broke her chopsticks and began to eat, while Yoshiro and Miyu started a small scuffle.

"So, Himitsu do you know whose arms you fell into today?" Sayuri asked with a teasing grin, as the four friends made their way to their next class, Sociology. Sayuri was sure that Himitsu had no clue as to who the cherry-haired male was or just how popular he was. But she did and she wanted to see what Himitsu knew, before she spilled the beans. A little playful teasing never hurt.

"No… well maybe, I think I might have a clue. I'm not one-hundred percent sure though." The blue eyed girl thought aloud as she tried to place a name to such a noticeable person. She was acutely aware of the pink that had begun to grace her cheeks at the memory. She couldn't deny that he was handsome. Hell if anything 'handsome' was almost an insult to his looks. He was almost certainly the incarnation of some ancient deity because of his confidence and perfection.

"Wait, you fell into some guys arms?" Yoshiro asked with a laugh, shaking his head in clear disbelief. "Dang girl, I didn't know you had it in you to make the first move! So who was it?" He said looping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her into a playfully teasing hug. Himitsu's face instantly flamed.

"N-no it wasn't like that, Yoshiro! The boy behind Miyu made the girl behind him push me backwards and-and he just caught me, so he wouldn't fall down too!" She sputtered trying to defend herself and correct Yoshiro's assumption of what really happened. Yoshiro just laughed and shook his head, as he kept the blushing girl in his arms.

"Who was this 'prince charming' anyways?" Miyu asked curiously, entering the conversation after she noticed the grin that Sayuri was sporting. She must have known something about the guy that Himitsu would find interesting or embarrassing. Either way, she was beyond curious as to who the mystery guy was.

"Oh, you guys are really going to like this, trust me." The smirk on Sayuri's face was almost evil and Himitsu couldn't stop a shiver that raced down her spine or the feeling of impending doom that had begun to settle in her stomach. Himitsu wasn't sure she really wanted to know his identity anymore, but Sayuri was going to tell even if she objected. "Our, little Himitsu-chan managed to fall into the Akaba Hayato's arms. Can you believe that?" She chuckled.

"Oh my god, are you freaking serious?" Miyu stopped dead in her tracks and gaped openmouthed and wide-eyed at Himitsu, who was still in Yoshiro's arms. He had stopped to, his reaction mirroring the dark haired girl's. Sayuri grinned like Christmas had come early and nodded her head in conformation, while Himitsu looked down right mortified. The four friends stood in the middle of the hallway. An eerie silence enveloped the four teenagers, until suddenly both Miyu and Yoshiro broke out into hysterical laughter.

"Oh god, that is so great!" Miyu gasped out, still laughing hysterically. "You-you fell into that guys arms? Oh, Himitsu that guy is like the most popular and well know guy to ever attend Bando High! And if that wasn't sweet enough, the guy is on the football team, the Ace player at that!" Tears now freely rolled down Miyu's face as she gasped for much needed oxygen.

"Not to mention the way he acts, looks and speaks! He's the one who always uses musical metaphors to state his opinions. Dang girl, you sure know how to pick them don't you?" Yoshiro finished, his laughter slowly dying down. He had released Himitsu when he started laughing and was unaware of the many odd looks he and Miyu were receiving. One of the people giving them a weird look was Himitsu. She didn't see what was so funny about accidentally falling into Akaba Hayato.

Himitsu flushed crimson, out of both embarrassment and slight anger. She hadn't known that he was the Akaba Hayato. Everyone knew that name and associated him with several things. The first and most important would be American Football. He was Bando's acclaimed Ace and MVP after all. He was also a top student, making some of the best grades and he was known to play and carry his electric guitar everywhere. He was also one of the more well-off students moneywise. There was nothing wrong with having money, or not having much. Himitsu couldn't careless either way. Money wasn't what defined people, anyways. But as far as he acted, looked and spoke, well she found nothing unusual, strange or funny about it.

He was obviously the serious type and probably didn't mind telling people what he thought of them, exactly what he thought. But there was nothing wrong with that either. As for how he looked… well, despite his unusual eye and hair color, he was simply downright gorgeous. There was nothing wrong with that either, besides the unusual color seemed to suit him somehow. As for the way he spoke, she couldn't quite understand why they had said that in the first place. She noticed that he had an unusual sigh-like hum catchphrase, but when he had spoke to her she hadn't noticed anything weird and what was wrong with him using musical metaphors when stating his opinion? It was a bit unusual sure, but nothing to make fun of.

Himitsu's eyes narrowed slightly at her friends jesting. They were the last people who should have been making fun of someone's oddities. After all they were often labeled as Bando's most bizarre students or in some cases the Bando freaks. Turning her back to her still laughing friends, Himitsu silently stalked off to her next class. Sayuri watched with sad jade eyes as her blonde haired friend walked off giving them the cold shoulder. The instantaneous silence that followed the bespectacled girls leave was spine-chilling.

Sayuri turned to glare at the two guilty looking teens. "You two should have known better." She bit out angrily. The two flinched at her harsh tone and looked elsewhere, silently acknowledging their grave mistake. "Apologize to her immediately after class." Sayuri ordered, before swiftly stalking away feeling just as guilty as Miyu and Yoshiro, because she had brought it up. Miyu and Yoshiro silently collected themselves and their things before wordlessly following after Sayuri.

Himitsu stepped into her next classroom and took her usual front row seat. Not really paying attention to the happy chatter or people around her she didn't notice that the cherry red-haired teenager she and her friends had previously talked about was sitting in the corner seat of the back row with Juri and Kōtarō. The aqua haired girl was sitting in-between the two boys with a thoughtful frown on her face, as she silently looked over her syllabus. Kōtarō leaned on his desk, his head propped in his hand with a bored look on his face as he casually flipped through his Sociology book.

Akaba meanwhile, had taken to observe the quiet blonde-haired girl at the front of the class. Who had, interestingly enough walked into the room alone. He could tell something had happened. Probably a fight between friends, he guessed. She was clearly disturbed from whatever it was. She had such a readable face. Her every emotion was so obvious and currently she was somewhere between slightly angry, thoughtful and sad.

Akaba quirked a questioning brow at the last emotion he saw flash across her face. He could only speculate about why she was sad. But to him, that particular emotion just didn't suit her at all. True, he didn't know anything about her, other than her name. Maybe it was her overly expressional face or blatant fragility. He didn't know why, but sadness wasn't something he wanted to see on her face or in her eyes ever again.

Himitsu flipped open her introduction to Sociology book and started re-reading on the chapter's they were going to go over today, after she pulled out a notebook and three pencils. Their teacher Mrs. Kazumi Mami was relatively forgiving of mistakes, but she didn't allow any horseplay in her class, unless she started it. Interestingly enough, she was the rare type of teacher who would often bring sweets to class and share them with the students. Students were also allowed to have capped drinks in her class as well. Out of all the teachers in the school, Himitsu liked Mrs. Kazumi Mami the best, but so did the rest of the student body.

"Hello class," The bright voice of Kazumi Mami greeted her students, as she walked into the classroom with a wide smile. Himitsu saw her three friends walk in sulkily behind the young happy teacher, but said nothing. The three teens took their regular seated positions around their silent friend, as they twenty-five year-old teacher started class. Her customary tradition of passing out a bag of sweets for the student's picking pleasure was already beginning. Sugar was a bad thing for a teenager for several reasons, but Himitsu loved sweets as much as she strangely loved her vegetables and fruits. So when the vast bag of goodies came around to her seat she couldn't help but get the variety pack of Pocky. Himitsu rarely splurged of candy or unnecessary things like most teenagers, but when she had the chance she soaked it up for all it's worth and Pocky was her secret addiction, along with Pretz and several other snacks.

"Today, I'd like to place some of you in small study groups for the week. So to be fair, I'll pass out study sheets and straws of different colors and whoever gets the same color straw will be in partners in that color's study group." Mrs. Kazumi Mami made an apologetic face when some of the class sighed at the prospect of being split from their clicks. Himitsu was a little nervous at being separated from her friends, as she was one of those people who though always kind and polite never really ventured from her band of longtime friends.

"I'm sorry, but I thought it would be fair this way." The brown haired woman apologized, as she shuffled a stack of papers and a hand full of different shades of neon straws. As Mrs. Kazumi passed by the front row Himitsu visibly sunk in her seat, as every one of her friends were handed a different neon shade straw. Himitsu was fitted with a blinding hot pink straw, while Sayuri had bright yellow, Miyu a lovely shade of light blue and Yoshiro was given a lime green straw.

"Okay," Mrs. Kazumi spoke with a smile as she moved to stand at the front of the class, her hazel eyes shimmering in genuine happiness as she looked over her mostly crestfallen class. "Now that everyone had received their straws, I'd like everyone with a green straw to move to the right back corner and please do so in an orderly fashion." The hazel eyed instructor requested as several students made an unnecessary ruckus as they left their friends and seats.

Several minutes later, Himitsu sat quietly huddled in the left back corner with her hot pink group. She glanced around at the four different color groups. Himitsu saw that Yoshiro had ended up in the same group as that spiky purple haired boy Sawai Juri-san had been arguing with in Algebra. Yoshiro had ended up in a rather animated group as he was already laughing heartily with them. Himitsu sighed disheartening, as she nervously clicked her fingernails together in a fast rhythmic tempo. She wished she had a way with people like her friend did. He could make anyone laugh and he was never shy or quiet in a crowd. He just seemed to thrive in a boisterous environment. Himitsu wasn't exactly shy, but it took her a little bit to warm up to people, but when she did she was hardly shy. Thoughtfully quiet at times, but not exactly shy.

Glancing around Himitsu saw that Sayuri had end up in the same group as Juri-san. The group of solely girls carried on a quiet conversation, but every single one of them had friendly smiles on their faces as they chatted quietly among themselves. Why hadn't she been so lucky, she wondered with a despondent frown. She was the only girl in her group and by all appearances none of them appeared to have even a vaguely pleased expression. Apparently none of them wanted to be in this particular group. She couldn't exactly blame them. None of them had probably ever even acknowledged one another before now. The atmosphere around them was dark, like someone had pulled an ominous cloud over their heads. It was very unnerving to be squished between so many unhappy guys.

When she noticed a lanky teen boy with black shaggy hair and thick dark eyeliner that shaped his dark grey eyes giving her a rather irritable look Himitsu abruptly stopped clicking her fingernails and bowed her head in silent apology. It didn't take more than a few seconds before she grabbed her hot pink straw off her book, slipped her hands under the table and into her lap so she could give her fidgety hands something to do. The heavy silence that surrounded her was unnerving and she refused to lift her eyes from staring blankly at her textbook. If she had chosen to lift her gaze she would have seen a pair of eyes watching her reactions with a glimmer of interest shining in his calculating cherry-red colored irises.

"All right class now is the time you should introduce yourselves to your study partners." The kindly voice of Mrs. Kazumi rang out through the dank atmosphere like a large ray of sunshine through heavy clouds. Himitsu gave a small thankful smile when the teacher walked over to their group and laid a comforting hand on her shoulder, before doing the same to the others that looked quite perturbed. All of the edgy students seemed to calm. With a pleasant smile and a secret wink sent in Himitsu's direction Mrs. Kazumi walked over to another group.

"Okay, whatever I'll go first." The boy to Himitsu's left said as he moved his long black shaggy bangs away from his dark grey eyes. "The name's Kazutaka Jouichirou, nice to meet you an all that." Even though his introduction was a little rude Himitsu noticed that most of the other guys smirked and chuckled and with that the tension in the group disappeared altogether as the boy to Jouichirou's left introduced himself. The rest of the group follow suit and Himitsu had a small smile playing on her lips, until the boy straight across from her spoke.

"Fuu… Akaba Hayato," When he spoke Himitsu felt goose-bumps arise on her skin. His voice was a beautiful mixture of deep baritone with a smooth and somewhat aloofly arrogant finish. It was a near perfect match to his faultless appearance. Except Himitsu couldn't help but think his voice would be perfect if there were traces of happiness intermixed within his tone and a genuine smile on his face. Shyly she let her gaze drift upwards to meet his gaze, which she could feel piercing through her. When their eyes met Himitsu's breath caught in her throat. He was breaking her down with just his gaze again. She felt so insignificant and small when his eyes fell on her. Oh, but his eyes were so very beautiful. The color contacts, for she was sure it could not be his natural eye color, were the same shade of red as his hair, which was almost cherry pink, yet it wasn't quite the same shade.

Himitsu instantly snapped her gaze away from Akaba's when the boy to his left started to speak. Subtly she took in several deep, calming breaths to cool her rattled nerves. Silently she started to reprimand herself for her behavior and thoughts. Sure he was handsome, so very handsome, but handsome men were nothing but trouble especially when they are popular and so well known. She didn't have a chance with him anyway. They lived in two separate worlds. He was merely interested in her because she had hit him twice in the same day and because of how she acted when they first met. His fascination with her would end soon enough and he would go back to not acknowledging her existence. It was really that simple. It was a rather harsh truth, but that was how it worked.

Finally it became her turn to properly introduce herself and much to her embarrassment everyone at her table was watching her. "I'm Shibutani Himitsu and it's nice to meet all of you." Her voice came out quiet and meek, not at all like she wanted. The guys just nodded their heads at her greeting before they went back to chatting amongst themselves about only god knows what. She wasn't particularly interested in most conversations guys had between themselves, as most of the time it was about sexual things or just something she found rather boring. Himitsu supposed she was in a nice group. For the most part they were all polite, in their own way of course.

"Alright, now that everyone is acquainted with their group partners I'll explain a little bit about Sociology and what we'll be trying to accomplish this year. You all better listen up because we'll be going through a lot of material and if you fall behind you probably won't be able to catch up, so pay attention." Mrs. Kazumi announced sternly, giving everyone in the class a hard stare. When she was satisfied that all of her students were focusing solely on her she nodded and began to speak. "Alright, now everyone here should know that Sociology is just a branch of social sciences that uses systematic methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop and refine a body of knowledge about human social structure and activity, sometimes with the goal of applying such knowledge to the pursuit of social welfare…"

As Mrs. Kazumi continued on Himitsu began to take notes of almost everything the teacher said. It would probably be more of a word-for-word pamphlet by the end of class, but that didn't matter. Even if it was a very long booklet of notes Himitsu did better in her classes when she wrote notes and studied over them instead of just reading from books. Reading the text was strenuously boring and teachers had a habit of using repetition on the more important things. Sometime later Mrs. Kazumi took a quick break and began to look through her teacher's book in order to find more information.

Himitsu dropped her pencil, leaned back in her seat and rolled her stiff shoulders thankful for the short reprieve. Somehow her eyes and mind wandered to the mysterious boy sitting directly across from her. For some reason unknown to her, she began to wonder what he was like outside of the rumors and football façade. Surely he was just like every other eighteen year old, she mused. Only he wasn't a normal guy. He was unique, beautifully unique. Himitsu slowly began to reflect on what little she knew of him, which wasn't much. It was mostly what she had witnessed at times without even knowing and had forgotten up until that very moment as she silently studied him over.

She knew for a fact that he wasn't very social outside of the football club. Everyone knew of him, but only the football team really knew him. At the very least they knew more than the rest of the school population. Himitsu found herself intrigued by the shroud of mystery he cloaked himself in. Did he do it simply to keep people away? Or was it simply a test of sorts to see who would be brave enough to actually try to get to know the true him behind the blue eyeshield and fame? Then again maybe it was who he truly was. She could only speculate, but stereotypical judgment would get her nowhere. If she wanted to know him, then she would have to be willing to let him see who she really was. However she was unsure if she was ready to trust someone that fully again.

Suddenly as if he felt her eyes on him, the red haired footballer's head turned and inquisitive, yet shy clear blue eyes met guarded crimson. Instantly Himitsu felt heat rise to her neck and face, but she couldn't bring herself to look away. His eyes, though covered by colored contacts were mesmerizing and she wanted to get a good look at them. Himitsu held his unflinching gaze for several long seconds, studying him, trying to see if she could find what was behind the mask. When she realized exactly what she was doing she blinked and forced her eyes away from him and onto the teacher, who was already deep into another part of their lesson.

Himitsu felt her blush brighten further. She could still feel his eyes on her and much to her embarrassment he was clearly amused by her behavior. From her peripheral vision she could see that his eyes held a flickering shine of amusement in them as he watched her and the small tell-tale quirk of his lips seemed to grow slightly, before it all but faded and he turned his attention back to the teacher. 'Why did I do that? He's going to think I'm a freak or something! Stupid, stupid, stupid!'

Himitsu wanted to take her thick text book and bang it against her skull repeatedly. That had to be more embarrassing than when he had his arms wrapped around her in Algebra… No, wait now that she thought about it she had openly gawked at him then too. Okay so both incidents were about even on the embarrassment scale. 'How am I going to last a week with him?' She groaned inwardly, knowing that she was somehow going to humiliate herself further before the week was through.