The rest of the first week after the attack, dragged by at a tedious pace. Kise went to school every day and attended most of his classes more out of a sense of obligation to his family and team than anything else. It was all so utterly redundant.
He spent most of his free time day dreaming about basketball. Thinking about playing with his friends, having fun. He thought about the Vorpal Swords and how much of an awesome street team they were. He thought about his own team and how he was determined to win the Winter Cup this year. But, thinking too much of his team made him think of Hiroki.
And thinking of Hiroki made him upset. So he tired not to think about his team.
School was honestly a waste. Kise didn't know why he keeps showing up when he knows he doesn't want to be here, though he suspected that it had something to do with his mother. His mother knew what he was going through at the moment but, he just knew that if he showed how deeply affected he really was, then his mother would worry.
Kise didn't want that. His mother was gorgeous and deserved only laugh lines as she aged, not worry lines.
He sat on the school roof by the railing and looked over at the students buzzing around. The roof at his school was oddly enough, not popular among other students, he's never seen anyone up here, not even around lunch. Kise was grateful though.
He needed breaks from fangirls and other people from time to time.
He was lost in his thoughts grieving for his underclassmen, his teammate, his friend. Hiroki looked up to Kise, the first-year was charming and enthusiastic. Kise saw a bit of himself in the boy and maybe that's why he got so attached so quickly.
Though others might argue that Kise always gets attached quickly, that's not really the case. Kise is smart, and perceptive. Many didn't give him much credit for it but, he really was. Being serious all the time wasn't suited for him though. He wanted to have fun.
But, right now nothing was fun about this. He even missed practice with his team. Both teams. He just couldn't face anyone yet. His teammates often hang together and no one has been giving Kise any trouble for skipping, so he knows they understand.
A flash of platinum blonde hair brought Kise out of his depressive trance. There across the courtyard he saw the new foreign girl. He had finally learned her name after their strange encounter two months ago.
Honda Etsuko. Long platinum blonde hair, nicely shaped thick dark eyebrows, eyes large crystal blue in color. She was his underclassmen as well. Class 1-A. She had club with Hiroki. Debate Team specifically. Hiroki always said she was a bit strange, and Kise agreed.
Though their interaction was brief, he remembered it clearly. How she scared all those other girls away despite being so small. When she looked at him, she really looked at him. As if she could see all his secrets, and faults. Plus she had the bluest eyes he's ever seen. Even more than Kurokochii's.
Kise will admit after meeting for the first time, he never really saw her much. He tried looking for her, at the time he was still convinced she was a shy fan and that he needed to give her his apology gift, but it was like she didn't exist.
Then one day about three weeks ago he saw her again. She was walking next to Hiroki, the dark haired boy was smiling and laughing. Talking animatedly to the group around him. The group consisted of first years, Etsuko herself, Hiroki's girlfriend, and Chihiro Makoto one of Kise's . . . more persistent fangirls.
Even though Kise hadn't spoken up, hadn't even made a peep, Etsuko's eye gravitated toward him the longer he looked at her.
He was standing near his sempai from the basketball club, and even surrounded by these burly teenagers, these young men, Kise felt a spike of ice cold fear shoot down his spine.
Maybe it was the way she stared at him without blinking, maybe it was the composed look on her face. Whatever it was, it had honestly shook him.
Later that day Kise cried to Hiroki about how he shouldn't be hanging around such a scary girl, he cried, with tears, so this meant business. But, then again no one takes Kise seriously when he's like that. And that's exactly what Hiroki did, he laughed Kise off, calling him dramatic and saying though, yes, she's a bit strange and intimidating, Honda Etsuko was harmless.
Hiroki's dead now. Not even. More like slaughtered. In his own home.
Kise's not saying Honda Etsuko did it. No, absolutely not. He has to be reasonable here. But, what he is saying is that, what if someone Hiroki considered as harmless, did this to him. Someone harmless, and with Hiroki's complete trust within them.
Because one thing that police disclosed was that it was a brutal slaying. That meant knife, that meant close contact, that meant personal.
Kise can't stand the fact. It made him sick.