"A cup of tea, you say?"
I was surprised by that sudden invitation. I looked at him, remaining my emotionless face expression. But, somewhere inside of me I could feel he was able to read through my eyes. The longer I stared into his grey orbs, the longer I felt my mind sinking into another dimension. 'Why? Why is he standing there, smiling without any hesitation or fear? Doesn't my red hair scare him off? I thought everyone knew I was a Bookman apprentice. How is it possible, that he invites a stranger for a cup of tea? What in the world is he? No- I shouldn't think about this..', I thought.
"It's okay, Lavi-kun. I just want to get to know you and make sure you'll have a good time here. Sorry for Tyki Mikk's behavior", Allen innocently itched his head. 'He has the same eyes as me', Allen thought. 'This is bad.. I want to help him.'
'I see, that's why. Allen Walker. Damn. That naïve and innocent nature. I am guessing he's raised with lots of manners, grown up in a 'perfect' environment. He's small, and his delicate body makes him a perfect prey for anyone. I wonder how many times people have tried to lay his hands on him. Well, it doesn't matter to me anyway. He probably hasn't seen anything scary in his life, or just doesn't know real pain and fear. If he tries to invade my life, I'll just have to teach him that life isn't as easy as he thinks it is.'
"After class, where?", I replied, uninterested.
Allen, who was ready to return to his seat, walked a few steps from my desk, thinking. He stopped in his tracks and turned his head around to face me and reply. "Hmm.. we'll see. After our last period, I'll just grab my things and join you to search for your locker. What do you think of that suggestion, Lavi-kun?"
'But.. I should stop brewing over unnecessary things. Sorry, geezer.'
"That's no problem."
Allen smiled and returned to his seat. Immediately people were trying to communicate with him, asking him stuff about me. How popular. I could hear it, but pretended not to notice.
I opened my book when the bell rang and the teacher came back in the classroom. I should pay attention. I should. Tsk. It wasn't working. Throughout the lesson, I tried not to stare at Allen Walker. He was for some reason more interesting than class. Plus, Bak Chan next to me wasn't helping either. He soon enough had to be carried out of the classroom to the doctor since he broke out in hives for the sixth time.
'Why? Is it because, I, despised by everyone, still received a smile? No. Foolish. I don't get it. I don't even know what to think anymore except that.. this is most intriguing. Thinking of ways to hurt such an innocent face, ruining his dreams. I want to see how long his fragile body can hold out while he's tied on my bed, being tortured all night long. I want to break him so badly until his soul cannot handle it anymore. Crawl under his skin and become his worst nightmare. I want to see his tears roll down, screaming out my name. Screaming for help, with no one to save him.'
After all of my classes, I packed my bag and sat down on my chair. I sighed, feeling bad about the fact I barely focused on class. I didn't have the slightest clue how I would face Bookman after I graduated if each of my classes would end up like these. Well, whatever. I never planned on writing full reports with only truth. Too troublesome. I touched my eyepatch with a finger, which made me think a bit back into my distant past.
I shook my head when I suddenly remembered Tyki's futile threat. I had to focus on my stuff, not on other people. I got up from my seat and without any thought I accidentally bumped into the white-haired teen. I didn't notice his presence. I looked a bit down, where I saw the small boy losing his balance. Quickly, I got hold of his wrist before he fell, giving him some support by pulling on him. His wrist.., no, his body.. it felt so fragile and lightweight, I thought I ripped his arm off of his body. Why? Why did he feel so lightweight? That wasn't normal. Was the boy eating properly?
I glared at him. "What are you doing?", I asked him coldly, without releasing his wrist. Allen just looked at me with a stiff smile. He was thankful I saved his little ass back there.
"So sorry, Lavi-kun! I.. I was in your way.. I wanted to.. well..", Allen started. He became a little embarrassed when he noticed Lavi still had a firm grip on his wrist.
"Hm." 'Why is he looking at me like that? Those eyes.. like he is trying to understand me. They're annoying.'
"My wrist.."
"Oh", I let go of his wrist and looked at the boy's actions. I could tell he was thinking about what he should say or do next.
"By the way.. Lavi-kun. Before we shall go and have a cup of tea, do you already know at which dorm room you're staying?", Allen asked him. His normal smile had returned as if nothing happened. "I could lead you there when we return."
I sighed. "Dorm room, huh. I received a paper with numbers and a letter, supposedly my dorm room number, so mhm. I don't know. This school is too damn big." I stuck my hand in my pocket to see if I could find the paper. When I found the paper, I handed it over to Allen who had a curious expression written all over him like a child.
'I hope one without a roommate.'
"Let's see..", Allen read the paper and started to think for a moment. It was silent. His face turned somewhat pale and his cheerful expression vanished. He frozed in his tracks and looked at me as if something just startled him to death. Poor boy. I couldn't help it but seriously try to refrain myself from smiling sadistically.
"What?"
Allen nearly wanted to faint. "Y-You.. err.. W-well..", the boy shaked a bit. He tried to communicate, but for the first five minutes it wasn't going smoothly. I became curious what made him so afraid. "Have.. you.. heard of the boy yet.. that's.."
I sighed again. "Tell me already." 'Am I in deep shit?'
After Allen calmed a bit down, he decided to explain the situation. "There's this boy that everyone's terribly afraid of. He's a class higher than us. He has very long hair and always treats everyone as an enemy. His eyes and his aura.. as if he is the devil itself. They're j-just rumors.. but.. people are saying he killed a lot of people and murdered his own best friend when he was younger.. and.. well.. that in the night, you can hear the sounds of his weapon rumors say he once had carried along.. B-but..! Don't tell him! No, don't speak to him at all! I am telling you now, heed my words, do not interfere with him. I don't even want to know how he entered the school! He'll really kill you..! I beg you!"
I smiled inside of me, but kept on showing my emotionless face. "Hm. Boo-hoo. How 'scary'. So, what's the problem?", I replied casually, with a somewhat annoyed tone.
"Y-you're not afraid..? After hearing all this?", Allen blinked. "Well.. you're going to be staying in the same.. dorm room.. Years ago, when someone was in the same room as him, that person vanished after 3 days and 3 nights.."
I yawned. "Look. That isn't scary. If simple rumors are enough to wet your pants, what the hell are you even being alive for?", I blurted out. "I hate the weak."
And there.. I felt like I just destroyed his innocence.
'What's this.. feeling?'
Awkward. It was complete awkwardness. So here I was, sitting on a chair next to a window in the *HC Tea Shop, with a beautifully decorated porcelain tea-cup on the table. Well, Chinese green tea, I guessed. The white-haired teen was sitting in front of me, staring outside of the window with a depressing expression. How amusing was that. He hadn't said a word since we entered the HC Tea Shop, he didn't want to look at me or anything of the sort. I stared at my tea, which was still hot.
"So, what exactly did you want of me?"
I looked at the boy with my cold stare, waiting for him to answer my question. He still kept on focusing all of his attention outside. When he didn't answer, I got up from my seat without having finished my tea. For what reason am I brought here? Stupid.
"Tsk. I don't have all day, wasting my time. I'm going back."
"No.. wait.."
When Allen finally decided to face me, he smiled at me as if nothing happened. I became confused. Either this guy was a true idiot, or he was playing around with me.
"I mean, I'm sorry for my rude behavior. I.. well.. first have a seat again, please?"
My mind told me I had to turn him down harshly, and walk away. But, something else told me I had to sit down and hear him out. Why couldn't I just stick with my mind? Fuck this shit.
I sat down on the chair and glared at the boy.
"What do you want?"
"I want to get to know you."
A tall guy walked through the hallways of the University. He was searching for something. He wasn't sure what though, because the truth was he wasn't that smart and always relied on his instincts.
Either it would've been food, or an object. Or both. He was hungry for soba, but he also felt like trying to get his confiscated katana back. Who knew life could be so hard for the tall guy that never did anything wrong, having so much misfortune he always had to wake up with a grumpy face even if he didn't intend to. More importantly that the fear of other people around him wasn't helping a bit, it only made things worse. Asking people for help would only cause commotion; people misunderstood that for actually being marked with 'death'. Telling the truth was out of the question, no one would ever believe the poor man. That's exactly why he became even more angry than he already was and inside of him he always waged wars with his mind.
Youth these days. The tall guy was never able to comprehend the smallest, simple things unless he had some interest in them; which happened rarely, but it wasn't completely impossible. He eventually stopped caring about what the people around him thought about him and started doing his own things to pass each year successfully. His family had high expectations.
He was more interested in the Japanese culture, which was his background, than the Western, but he wasn't allowed to openly speak about it. It was a rule within the school. The reason he was able to enroll was because he had a noble status since he came from a Japanese noble family. He spoke at a very high level English and he was quickly able to adapt to the Western lifestyle.
Despite all this, he still felt at ease being all alone. He was able to focus better and do his own stuff properly, without any interruptions. That's what he wanted. A quiet lifestyle without any disturbances.
That soon enough changed when he got to hear he would receive a roommate. It didn't only make him mad, he immediately complained and wanted to change rooms. His demand was rejected. Well, he thought it wouldn't be all too long before the newbie was gone after seeing his face. If his prediction, like always, came true again; he'd have no problems. But, he heard the rumors about the new Bookman apprentice transfer student.
Thus leaving the confused, clueless, short-tempered and angry man with only one choice: scaring him off.
