"I'm going to go get a drink, do you guys want anything?" Ryou asked, pushing himself out of his seat.
"Only if you're paying- Ow!" Jonouchi cut off as Anzu slapped the back of his head.
"I'd like a lemon tea. I could come with you if you want, Bakura-kun" Anzu said, picking up her change purse and pulling out 200 yen.
"No, it's fine." Ryou smiled, accepting the coins. "Anything else? Yuugi-kun? Honda-kun?"
"Could you get me a Coke?" Yuugi asked, digging for the coins rolling around loose in his school bag.
"Sure," Ryou said, waiting patiently for Yuugi to fish out the right change.
A minute later, he stepped out into the hallway, where a number of students were strolling casually in or out on their lunch break, headed towards the back stairs and out the door adjacent to the paved basketball area. Nobody was playing today, since the weather had turned gray, and the clouds held an imminent threat of rain, but there was a pleasant crispness in the air that Ryou enjoyed. He took a deep breath and ran his fingertips lightly along the texture of the bricks as he strolled down the wall.
When he turned into the alcove that held a long, trough-style sink and two hot/cold* vending machines with nearly identical contents, he noted three other students had taken shelter there to smoke. It seemed rather bold of them, since plenty of people, including faculty, tended to visit these vending machines during lunch hour, but apparently they were trusting the bad weather to keep any teachers with a mind to punish them indoors.
Ryou ignored them and walked toward the vending machines. Apparently, however, the boys took offense to being ignored, or maybe they were just bored. "Hey fag!" Aida Sumio, class 3B, shouted. Ryou clenched his teeth and his hands tightened into fists, the change digging into his palm. Fucking high school. He kept walking and stopped in front of the vending machines, scanning the rows to find a lemon tea like Anzu had asked for.
A hand landed on his shoulder and spun him around violently, before shoving him into the front of the vending machine. "Y'deaf? I was talking to you," Aida demanded, the other two, also third years, Ryou thought one of them was named Shima, laughed, standing a few paces away, cigarettes in hand.
"Sorry. Didn't hear my name," Ryou responded in a low monotone.
The other two laughed again and Aida grinned maliciously. "Oh no? That's funny, I think I said 'Hey fag'," Aida sneered, shifting his grip on Ryou and shoving him back into the vending machine again.
"Well then I think you have me confused for someone else, because that is not my name," Ryou growled.
The other two howled. One of them called, "Oh damn, Aida, she sure told you!"
"Oh really? I heard you're shacked up with that foreigner who looks like he lost a fight with a weed-whacker." Aida grabbed Ryou's chin, forcing his face up. "So what are you, huh? Top or bottom?"
Ryou glared back silently as the other two kept laughing and heckling nearby.
"So what's up, little girl? That trashy foreigner your boyfriend or not?"
"Actually," a new voice broke in and Ryou's eyes widened in surprise, "it's more like the mentally-unstable stalker he's resigned himself to being unable to shake." A heel landed against the plexiglass front of the vending machine on either side of Ryou's head. Aida dropped his chin and reeled back a few steps, staring, and Ryou turned his head up to see just a little bit of the underside of Thief's face from his perch on top of the vending machine.
"W-when- How the fuck did you get up there?" Aida demanded.
"Oh, it's not really hard. I mean, what is this thing, maybe two meters tall? That's nothing," Bakhura answered, and then a moment later he threw himself off of the vending machine and landed in a graceful crouch between Ryou and Aida. He straightened up, his back to Ryou, as Aida stumbled away a few more steps and his back-up singers stared, having apparently forgotten how to heckle.
Bakhura made a short laugh that sounded two steps away from a giggle and continued. "Y'know, I think it was when leaving Odate didn't get rid of me that he just kind of gave up. Of course, he wasn't just trying to get away, really, I think he really left Odate because of the rumors, the looks, you know, how people kept ending if they bothered him."
Ryou gaped, Thief wasn't really going to tell them about that, was he?
"Okakura was really lucky he was wearing a helmet when the breaks on his bike failed. They say he might actually walk again. Eventually."
Wait, what?
"Of course, Hideki wasn't as lucky, turns out he didn't have fire insurance. Careless, so careless," Thief went on in a cheerful tone. "And it was just awful when Shizuma tripped down the stairs like that. It took seven titanium pins to piece his femur back together. I can't remember how many they put in his arm... Left a nasty scar."
"Thief!" Ryou exclaimed. Where the hell was this tripe coming from? Ryou didn't even know a Shizuma!
"Oh don't worry, Ryou, those pins are high quality stuff. They've found that bone fuses to titanium and it's not even magnetic so the doctors can still use the MRI machine if his seizures come back." Bakhura chirped brightly, glancing back to Ryou with a grin.
"Stop it!" Ryou said; this was completely ridiculous and stupid –although... it was kind of funny to watch the expression on Aida's face...
"The strangest one was definitely when Nogi found his pet dog in a rice sack on the kitchen table though," Bakhura continued. "Poor creature really didn't deserve that. If only it had a more thoughtful master, maybe it would still be alive."
"THIEF!" Ryou shouted, grabbing his arm and pulling him back, glaring. "That is enough! You're not even supposed to be here! This is a closed campus! You could be arrested!"
Thief laughed. "Arrested? That's ridiculous! All the times the police came over to ask me questions and I've never been arrested! I think they just like the tea I make."
"It's a crime just being here! If anybody sees you-"
"Well then, I suppose I just have to make sure nobody sees me," Thief said with utter confidence, giving Ryou a jovial little smirk before looking back at Aida. "You wouldn't tell anyone right? I mean, we're all friends here, aren't we! What was your name again? Oh, never mind, I can find out."
"Thief..." Ryou growled. This was getting completely out of hand. No. It had never been in hand to begin with. "Get out of here!"
"I'm sorry, Ryou," Thief said, giving him a horribly insincere apologetic face. "I know I shouldn't bother you at school, you have to focus on your studies... It's just so hard, when I get an idea in my head I just have to do it. I really need to learn some impulse control..."
"GO!" Ryou shouted, giving him a shove.
"Bye, Ryou! See you later!" Thief sang happily, before jumping to the top of the trough-sinks, running along the top and making a leap to the ledge of a second story window. He managed to land a foot on the two inches of ledge that stretched out past the side of the window and out of view from inside the building. From there clawed his way up to the roof and disappeared.
Aida and his friends stared at the spot where Thief had last been visible, standing absolutely still and saying nothing. Ryou groaned and turned back towards the vending machines, pushing in a few coins and mashing the selection button with more force than was strictly necessary. Lunch period was going to be almost over by the time he got back to the classroom.
...
Aida Sumio groaned when his alarm went off in the morning. He hadn't slept well.
It took a few tries for his flailing hand to find the alarm clock and turn it off. He debated the merits of skipping school for about two minutes, like he did most mornings, and then, like most mornings, pushed himself up and glared around his room.
A flash of red caught his eye and he leaned forward to find a small envelope on top of his comforter, near his feet. He stared at it for a little while, puzzled, before picking it up and pulling out the note-card inside.
Aida Sumio
Attends- Domino High School, Class 3B
Birthday- February 3rd
Residence- 84659 Block 18 Domino City, Toyama Prefecture
Parents- Aida Motoki and Okuda Fumiyo - divorced
He stared at the note-card for a very long time that morning, and considered skipping school again very seriously.
...
...
*Most drink vending machines in Japan dispense both hot and cold beverages. And sometimes soup!
A/N: O hei, Bakhura is in ur hous, fuckin' terrifying u.
I hope it was clear that Bakhura was completely making shit up... This is actually a spring-board for some hilarity/angst to come very soon. Next chapter, probably. The sociopath act was planned from a couple months ago, but the note only came up this week when the next bit of plot came into my head and delighted me. Oh yeah, here I am, teasing you with vague hints. Don't worry, the next chapter is pretty much finished, I'll put it up tomorrow.
I placed Domino in Tomoya prefecture because it has a nice natural harbor, and we see a lot of docks in canon, so I think shipping is important to the city.
