A/N: My mind is going to explode if I write too much again, I just know it. That being said, I'm currently doing this, the final chapter for Unseal, and two Hunter x Hunter fics that I plan on uploading this month if my schedule allows it. WHY DID SCHOOL HAVE TO START SO SOON ugh I'm losing sleep—and my brother's dog just ran out of the room, that can't be good.
Wanna thank Spring Zephyr for helping me out with this chapter, I have never used Skype so much in my life.
Chapter 9: It's fine
Apparently, the "project" Tegami had planned was a collaboration novel the club had to write in preparation for the school festival.
Which is on the same week as nationals, Kyou noted silently. How ironic. At least with this, he had something to keep his mind off Vanguard.
"As the literature club, we're required to write a 100-page novel with each chapter being done by one member each. Since there's only five of us, we'll do twenty pages each, with five chapters." He looked around from where he stood in the middle of the room. "Any objections?"
Kyou couldn't imagine a person who could object to that tone and glare, although he supposed Madoka probably could. Said boy was staring at his shoes, looking like they were the most interesting things in the world. While he was probably listening, he was sure Tegami was going to drill it into his head after everyone left.
"We'll start with the plot of the story, and chapter one will be written by..." He looked around slowly, and Kyou felt like laughing every time one of the other club members stiffened when his gaze lingered on them. He raised an eyebrow when Tegami smirked at him. "Yahagi."
Asshole. He felt his eye twitch. He did that on purpose.
"For the story, let's just throw ideas around until we get all the bad ideas out of the way." He said, sitting back down in his seat. He huffed. "Well, what are you all waiting for?"
There was a shuffling sound to the left and Kyou was tempted to glance over, until someone spoke up.
"Maybe we could do something with knights!" One of the other members, whose name Kyou could not remember, said. "You know, a brave knight saves the princess from an evil king..."
She paused at Tegami's bored look, and Kyou rolled his eyes. He could see Madoka shaking slightly, possibly trying to hold in his laughter, and almost laughed too. The idea was so...
"I see we're getting the bad ideas out of the way already." Tegami said, grabbing a piece of paper and writing something down. He then crossed it out, slamming the paper down onto the table. He continued to glare around the room, as if daring anyone to come up with more cliches.
There was a long silence that settled in the room, possibly due to the fact that Tegami looked about ready to snap and reject any idea. Kyou was honestly interested in what he and Madoka had in mind, but refrained from speaking.
Several Vanguard unit lores slowly came to mind, and he was tempted to pull some ideas from them, but stopped himself.
No Vanguard, no Vanguard, no Vanguard... He repeated the two words in his head for several minutes before the door slammed open, causing him to jump. Luckily, no one noticed. He glared at the doorway while Tegami stood. Hagane and two other students stood there.
"Waht the fuck, Hagane. Can't you open the door normally?" He shouted, and Kyou never thought he'd see the boy so angry. He was probably thinking about his own ideas for the book, so Kyou could hardly blame him.
Hagane merely glared back at him, sniffing. "As bad tempered as usual, Tegami? You'd think the president of the literature club would be a little more composed than that."
"I'm only pissed because not only did you decide to show your face in my club, you made me lose my idea for the novel." Tegami growled. Kyou watched as Madoka shifted, ready to jump in if need be. "Now tell me what you're here for before I decide to report this."
Hagane scoffed. "Report what? I'm only here because we're looking for someone." His eyes scanned the room, lingering on Kyou for a moment before shifting to his right. Madoka flinched. "You." He said, motioning for the boy to stand. He didn't. "You're coming with us, there's something we need to talk about." He stepped forward, reaching out, before Tegami stepped in between them.
"I don't think so." He said. He had calmed down slightly, but was still very one edge. Especially after seeing who Hagane had come for. "If you haven't noticed, we're in the middle of club activities."
"Activities? All I see is five people sitting awkwardly in a circle while you glare at everything that breathes." Hagane said, and Kyou was tempted to punch the boy in the face just because of the 'Holier-than-thou' attitude he was emitting. Tegami seemed ready to do the same.
"We're planning for the school festival, leave."
"The festival isn't for another two weeks, you have plenty of time."
The two glared at each other, neither willing to back down. Kyou glanced at Madoka, who quietly sighed and stood up. Their attention was immediately drawn to him.
"I'll go, so just shut up already." He said in a low voice. Kyou raised both eyebrows.
Yup, tooootally bipolar. He thought. He'd need to confirm this later, maybe with someone he thought was less likely to kill him on the spot. He watched as Tegami stepped out of the way, watching the shorter boy warily. He didn't seem willing to stop him, which was probably due to his sudden change in attitude. He'd been so quiet earlier...
The air was suddenly much heavier.
"Well? I thought you needed to talk to me." His tone hadn't changed, and Kyou was startled at the way his eyes gleamed. He'd never noticed before that one was gold while the other was green. "I'm waiting."
Hagane seemed to be as shocked as well, and Tegami looked as though he was fighting a smirk. Perhaps this was something only he knew about. Now Kyou was curious.
It wasn't until the door closed after the four that he let go of a breath he hadn't known he was holding. There was whispering beside him, and he didn't have to strain his ears to hear them.
"Yamato-sempai was pretty scary..."
"Yeah, he's usually so quiet..."
He didn't want to listen, he'd heard too many whispers lately and he was getting tired of it. He looked up at Tegami, who was slumping into his chair, leaning into it. He looked tired.
"Club is dismissed for today, report tomorrow on the dot and we'll continue with ideas." He said, closing his eyes. The two other members stood quickly and hurried out the door. Kyou leaned forward, resting his elbow on his knee and his cheek in his hand. Tegami cracked open an eye.
"Aren't you going home?" He asked, and Kyou gave an airy laugh.
"Not if I can help it. Club doesn't officially end for another half hour, and I wanna use whatever excuse I can to stay out of my house." He smirked. He didn't care if it seemed like he was purposely avoiding his family, he didn't care who knew. And he knew Tegami wouldn't say anything, even if he had to.
"Suit yourself."
It was another forty-five minutes later when Madoka returned to the club room, and was surprised to see both Tegami and Kyou waiting for him. While Kyou waved when he walked in, Tegami merely stood up and handed him his bag, walking out the door past him. Kyou followed, Madoka at his side. He was oddly quiet, and Kyou was tempted to ask what was wrong, when Tegami beat him to it.
"He still bothering you about that?"
Kyou wasn't sure if he was meant to hear this conversation, but seeing as neither was telling him to leave nor being secretive about it, he supposed there was nothing wrong with listening in. Madoka nodded.
"He said the club is in danger of disbanding anyways, and that I'd be better off somewhere where my reading skills could be used..." His voice was quiet, and he shook his head. "After I said no he suggested I join kendo or the karate club, but..."
"You said you want to stay in the literature club, right?" Tegami's voice rose a little, and he glanced down at the boy. Madoka nodded. He sighed. "Then it's fine."
"Hey." Kyou spoke up, and Madoka jumped, as if just noticing him. Tegami looked over. "Is Hagane bothering you or something."
Tegami sighed again. "It's been like that since last year, since I made he lit club he's been trying to make my life a living hell. Madoka just happens to be caught in the middle." He said. Madoka's grip on his bag tightened. "I don't know why Hagane's started targeting him though, but it's been happening a lot more lately."
"Can't you report him for harassment?" Kyou asked, surprised that neither boy had thought of it. Tegami shook his head.
"I tried, but..." He looked over at Madoka. "This guy won't let me, he thinks it'll pass over eventually." Madoka frowned.
"I don't want to take any risks." He said. "Besides, he's got more influence with the teachers. There's no way they'll believe us."
Unless you have a third party intervene. Kyou thought. It was something he knew well, back at Foo Fighters. Whenever someone was being bullied, they'd try to tell the instructor, but they were never believed if the person doing the bullying happened to be a higher rank. Unless they had another three people to back them up, they weren't even taken into consideration. That guy is using his status to his advantage.
Well, if he was going to make anyone's life harder, he knew just who to target now.
They were almost out the school gates when he heard someone calling his name. He looked up, frowning as a familiar black car came into view.
"Fuck my life..." He mumbled. All three stopped in their tracks, Tegami and Madoka giving him odd looks. "My dad is here, this can't be good."
"Your dad?" Madoka asked, looking over to the man. "Is that a bad thing?"
"For my sanity it is." He snorted. Then he sighed. "Sorry, looks like this is where I make my leave."
"It's fine, Yahagi-kun—"
"Kyou is fine." He grinned. "I don't like my family name much either. So from now on, you guys are calling me by my first name." Because it's one of the few things thats mine...
Madoka repeated the name under his breath several times before grinning back, and Tegami let a small smile slip.
"Kyou-kun it is then." Madoka said happily. He held his hand up, and Kyou stared at it for a moment before pressing his palm to the other boy's. This was his way of saying bye? He didn't mind.
"Then, see you tomorrow, Kyou." Tegami said, patting his shoulder. He and Madoka waved past him, walking in the opposite direction as him down the street. He waved back for a moment before turning to his father, who was watching from across the street.
"What." He said as he approached. His father shook his head.
"Nothing."
He locked himself up in his room the moment he got home, glad that the drive was quiet. He couldn't help but feel like his father was planning something, and was going to ask him about Madoka and Tegami, but let the thoughts drift away. He didn't need to think about his family any more than neccessary.
There was a knock on his door thirty minutes later as he opened the bottom drawer of his desk, and he groaned.
"Kyou, mom says it's time for dinner. And if you say you're not hungry, I'm calling bull." Mamoru said, and Kyou could practically see the smirk on his face.
He quickly pulled out a small box and placed it on the desk, walking over to the door. He hadn't changed out of his uniform yet, but it wasn't like he cared about his appearance at home. But some people did.
Mamoru frowned as he looked him up and down. "You didn't change."
"Does it matter?" He asked. His voice had been improving a little, and there was just that dull pain at the back of his throat now. That could change the moment his brother decide to argue with him, however.
"No, but... you know what? Nevermind, I don't really care." Mamoru said after a moment. Kyou hoped the surprise didn't show on his face.
"Neither do I..."
He didn't like this change, as small as it was. But he'd have to put up with it.
It was fifteen minutes into dinner when his earlier suspicions were confirmed.
"Kyou, who were those boy with you?" His father asked. He nearly choked on his food.
"What... do you mean?" He asked slowly. His father cleared his throat.
"The two that were with you at the gate, you were talking with them." There was a suspicious tone in his father's voice, but Kyou didn't dare point it out. He focused instead on thinking about how to explain Madoka and Tegami. They were watching him expectantly, even Mamoru.
"One's my classmate and the other is the president of the literature club." He said simply. They didn't need to know more than that, after all.
"What are their names?" His father continued. Kyou's eyebrow twitched.
"Why." He didn't want to know, but at the same time, he didn't want to answer either. His father frowned.
"If they are your friends, I think we should at least know their names." He said, and it was Kyou's turn to frown.
"It's not like I'm going to talk about them to you, if that's what you're implying. And I never said they're my friends." It was a lie, by now he thought of them as such. But he didn't need to let them know that. Besides, his parents would probably snoop around if he let them know. "I don't have to tell you anything that you don't need to know."
"If they're not your friends then you should have no problem. You told us Suzugamori Ren's name."
That was it.
Kyou slammed his chopsticks on the table, standing up so quickly his chair nearly fell over. Mamoru caught it as it tilted back.
"Never—" He started, and he could practically feel his pupils thinning. "—mention that name to me again."
He turned around and walked back to his room, the kitchen silent for once.
He opened his laptop, immediately logging into his email. He'd redirected all his subscriptions(the non Vanguard ones)to his new one and changed the ones on any accounts he had on other sites. He'd also re-submitted it to the literature club with no explanation, but it wasn't like Tegami had asked for one.
There was only one message, which barely surprised him. It was from Tegami, probably something about the club.
Sender: Yoshiro Tegami
Subject: Madoka
Kyou blinked. He blinked again. He re-read the subject box several times before scrolling down to the message.
Message: Won't be in school tomorrow. Hagane said something to him. Going to his house after school. You're coming.
It wasn't a question, nor was it a request. It was an order.
Kyou let a grin slowly spread over his face. He never thought he'd be taking orders from someone again.
This time, he really didn't mind.
.
xXxXxXx
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A/N: Chapters have been getting longer and longer, I've noticed. That's a good thing, right? One or two more chapters before we get out of the school-home life jumping and actually get to the plot. As you can see, Madoka and Yoshiro are getting a little(or a lot) more screentime, but Kyou is still our main character. Besides, it's still really early, it's not like I can do much... wish me luck on the next chapter. Until then, I'm going to re-watch HxH Phantom Rouge. Two times was not enough for this movie.
