A/N:
Alright, so I made a slight mistake in my chapter-planning. Since I had slightly changed the previous chapter from my original plan, I unintentionally pushed it forward in my story's timeline. This next chapter technically should have been chapter 7, but since I already wrote and uploaded that chapter yesterday, I'll just have to make due with this. Just know that the prompt for this chapter takes place a good amount of time before the previous chapter…
8. First Day of School
"I look dumb!"
"You look fine!"
"Come on, Kido! You're just nervous!"
"I am not, Kano! I just can't stand this dumb uniform!"
Thus was the content of the bickering young Tsubomi and Shuuya upheld that morning. Tsubomi had just stepped out from her and Ayano's room in her new school uniform, and the first response she received was a poorly-hidden snort from her blonde foster brother. At that, Tsubomi had immediately retreated to her room and slammed the door shut. Shuuya attempted to coax her back out, but to no avail.
"Kano, we're going to be late…" Kousuke whimpered nervously. He was just as anxious as the rest of them for their first day of school, but simply did the worst job of hiding it. He fumbled with the straps on his school satchel, and his feet shifted uncomfortably.
Shuuya looked back at him and smirked. "Don't panic, Seto. We won't be late." He then raised his voice and called in a mocking tone, "I guess we'll just have to leave without her!"
"But, Kano—"
"Now, now, Seto~ You just said we'll be late if we don't leave now, so if Kido still needs time to make peace with her skirt, she can just catch up later!" He shrugged his shoulders and turned away from the door, making especially loud footsteps towards the staircase. The door violently swung open suddenly, making Kousuke jump as Tsubomi stormed out, clutching her bag and her back hunched over as she stomped past Shuuya. She muttered words to herself as she made her way down the stairs, and Shuuya beamed at Kousuke and gave him a thumbs up.
The three of them joined Ayano at the front door, whom had just received their lunches from Ayaka, and smiled at them sweetly as she noticed the nervous air surrounding them.
"Don't worry, you three! I'm sure you'll all have a lot of fun!" The trio nodded, but still showed signs of their persisting anxiety. Ayaka approached them with wide arms and hugged each one individually, but was clearly just as nervous as they were. Her voice wavered slightly in a rushed tone as she instructed them.
"Alright, remember to be safe when you walk to school! Ayano, I'm counting on you to keep track of them to and from—Please, behave in class, all of you, make lots of friends, respect your teacher, eat your lunch, don't be scared to ask to use the bathroom, I love all of you so much…" She herded them out the door and waved, watching them with concerned eyes as they walked down the road towards the middle school. "Have a great day!" They each waved back, chuckling helplessly at her behavior.
However, Tsubomi's face was still slightly flushed, and her hands were clutched into tiny fists over her skirt protectively. Shuuya's face was contorted into an expression of contained hysteria as Kousuke watched the two of them warily. Ayano was too busy feeling like a grown-up to notice. She strutted onwards, leading her troops onto their next mission.
As they approached the school building, their nerves tingled with excitement and growing anxiety. Ayano reluctantly said goodbye to the trio after pointing them in the direction of their classroom, and they each headed in their own directions.
When they reached the classroom, they hesitated and loitered outside until they were found by the teacher and ushered into the classroom, where they introduced themselves to the class and were assigned seats.
Tsubomi was intent on the lesson, but she felt the eyes of several other kids in the class burning the back of her head throughout the day. At lunch, she, Kousuke, and Shuuya were bombarded with questions from their new classmates. However, Shuuya took the brunt of it, and answered all their nosy questions fluidly, smiling at them as Kousuke and Tsubomi took a back seat and watched silently.
Shuuya was a natural at pleasing the other kids. He was an instant hit among them, and even though they crowded him to an extent that looked uncomfortable, he seemed to fit in right in the center of them, and still managed to swing his arms out in great gestures without hitting anyone. Tsubomi watched him, slightly in awe of his natural sociability, when she spotted a certain group of girls standing slightly off to the side.
They were standing in a circle, but their eyes were gazing in the direction of the blonde boy's performance. Their mouths were moving at a rapid pace, but Tsubomi could make out a few words. "Cute", "handsome", "sweet", "funny"… Were they describing Shuuya? Tsubomi's jaw opened a bit as she realized what was going on.
They liked him. She couldn't believe it. They had been there for one day, and these girls liked him. Then again, she could say the same thing about all of their classmates. As she looked around, she saw the same sort of admiration on all of the faces of the students. The more she looked, the more her heart twisted. She couldn't explain the feeling, but it was something similar to the way she felt when she was sick. She felt her face heat up, and her stomach twist.
Her gaze switched back to the swarm of girls off to the side, and her heart skipped a beat when she saw that several of them were looking straight at her. But not with the infatuated stares they had towards Shuuya. Their eyes held a sort of sudden darkness to them. It almost felt like… hatred. Their ice-cold glares pierced her as she saw their lips move again. She knew their words were directed at her.
Now she really felt sick. Her breath failed to come to her. Her vision blurred before her eyes as she stood up from her seat suddenly. She tried to focus on the ground to steady herself, and she took a few steps forward in the direction towards the bathroom. She placed one hand over her stomach, as if that would stop it from feeling like it was trying to push its way out through her esophagus. She heard Kano's voice quiet down behind her as she stumbled away from the table.
But, as she was nearing the entrance to the girls' bathroom, the toe of her shoe dragged on the ground, and she fell forward. The world seemed to spin about her, and her chest heaved. Blackness crept into the corners of her vision, and she felt her body begin to topple over onto the cold tile of the cafeteria. She thought she heard her name being called out in a panicked tone, but everything faded to black too quickly, and she fell unconscious.
...
When Tsubomi's eyes opened again, all she saw was white. A blinding whiteness that made her close her eyes tightly again. But a familiar voice caused them to snap open again.
"Kido~" She instantly knew who it was, and turned her head until her eyes met his yellow ones. "Hey there, Kido! Are you doing better now? Anything I can get you?" Tsubomi simply stared at him, confusion filling her face.
"What…What are you doing here?"
"Hm? Don't be silly, Kido~" he chuckled back casually, "You passed out in the cafeteria suddenly, so you were brought here."
Tsubomi looked back up at the ceiling, trying to recall what had happened. She could remember when she started feeling sick, and trying to get to the bathroom… But that was all. Shuuya continued. "The nurse said you got a small fever after having an anxiety attack. She thinks you were just overwhelmed because it's our first day! Oh, speaking of the nurse, I was told to go get her when you woke up!" Shuuya stood up, still smiling at her as he began to turn.
Tsubomi's eyes widened as she looked towards him. She didn't want him to leave yet! Extending an arm, she griped the cuff of his uniform jacket between her thumb and forefinger. Shuuya turned slightly and looked down at her. "Hm? Is something wrong?"
She didn't respond. She realized that she didn't really have a plan, and looked away, slightly embarrassed. But, as she was still clutching his sleeve, he continued to wonder. "Kido, could it be that you got upset about before?
Tsubomi looked back up at him in surprise, but quickly concealed her face by looking away. "Of course not… Stupid Kano…"
"Oh, so you were upset about it!" Shuuya teased and turned fully towards her again, grinning. "Were you jealous, Tsubomi?"
Tsubomi's eyes snapped towards him in fury. "I-I was not!" Shuuya smirked at her and leaned down towards her, placing one hand on either side of her and coming in until his face was inches from hers. Tsubomi felt her face flush red as she stared at his eyes. His smirk remained stationary on his face as he said, "Now, I hope you're not thinking that I'm going to forget about you because I'm popular. I'm not. You know you mean more to me than that."
Tsubomi's face went redder at these words, and she broke their eye contact, turning her head to the side. "I… I know… Don't be stupid…"
Shuuya smiled from ear to ear and stood up straight again, turning back around and walking towards the door, waving to Tsubomi. "Good. Get well soon!"
Tsubomi stared after him as he left, still trying to push down the blush in her face. "Stupid… Shuuya…"
A/N:
I had something I wanted to say… Oh well, maybe I'll remember it later~ Eneway, I want to thank my friend for helping me with the ideas for this chapter (you know who you are ^^).
