When Ritsu opened his window to stop the incessant tapping, he could do nothing more than stare, utterly confused as to what he was seeing.
"Hey, Ritsu. I have a bunch of boring studying to do, so lemme in, already."
Shou floated just outside the window as per usual. What gave Ritsu pause, however, was Shou himself. He somehow had gotten a hold of a Salt Middle School uniform and appeared to be wearing a styled, dark-colored wig.
"...Shou, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Ritsu finally asked once he'd gotten over the initial flabbergasted feeling. Shou simply floated past him and sat on the bed, then used his powers to grab some books from the desk without having to get up. Ritsu stared at him for a moment as he read (or pretended to read, he wasn't quite sure) before moving to sit in his desk chair adjacent to him. He tried to focus on his homework, but something felt off and odd and just plain missing. Almost as though, even though he now had company, he was completely alone. After rereading the same passage four times without gleaning anything from it, he finally shoved his work to the far end of his desk and turned in his chair to face his friend.
"Are you gonna explain why you're pretending to be me for some reason?" he finally asked, irritated and at his wit's end. Shou glanced up calmly, then shut Ritsu's book and sat up.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Screw you!"
He appeared to consider Ritsu for a minute before chuckling quietly to himself.
"Easy up there, Kageyama-kun~. I'm just doing an experiment," he finally replied, still as nonchalant as ever. If Ritsu was confused before, he was completely befuddled now.
"Experiment? What do you mean?" A new wave or irritation, albeit a small one, washed over him. "...What exactly are you trying to figure out?" He didn't receive a reply right away, as though the flame-haired esper was beating around the bush. He hummed a little bit until Ritsu pounded a fist against the desk. "Dammit, Shou!"
"Chill, dude! I just thought I'd… how do you say… 'walk a mile in your shoes'? I've actually been wearing this outfit all day."
"You WHAT?!"
Suddenly, Ritsu's mind was filled with irrational but completely justified thoughts. No one could possibly have seen Shou and thought it was him, right? What if he had committed some heinous crime, and now Ritsu was going to take the rap for it? The life he'd built for himself and worked so hard to achieve was now potentially squandered at the hands of his moronic best friend, and Ritsu could almost feel himself short-circuiting from the anxiety.
"I know what you're thinkin', and the answer to all of that is 'no'. No, nobody recognized me, and no, I didn't do anything 'bad'," he made air quotations with his hands on the last word, then leaned back on the bed, proud of his feats. Ritsu, on the other hand, was less than impressed.
"And you let me stress out over it for how long? Why didn't you say anything sooner?" Shou waved off the burning glare easily, far too used to his friend's judging eyes.
"You stressed for about a minute and a half. I dunno, it's kinda funny to watch, if you ask me."
He was going to kill him. The itching in the back of his mind told him to kill this stupid kid right here, right now. But he took a deep, calming breath and relaxed in his chair.
"Okay, so now it's the end of the day. The end of your experiment, hopefully. So what did you find out?"
Shou wasted no time answering him immediately.
"That you're incredibly boring? You're so studious, and you're a goody-two-shoes that can barely even bend a rule!" He tucked his hands behind his head and laid back on the bed entirely. "I swear, how can you keep up a reputation like this? It's almost admirable. I can see the contrast between us now more than ever."
Ritsu was about to retort, but paused and thought over Shou's words again. In a sense, it appeared that Shou was offhandedly praising him for how different he was than him, while criticizing him at the same time. Shou's lifestyle, on the other hand, was definitely more carefree, but the lack of routine probably brought more tribulations than he'd thought. Ritsu probably wasn't giving him enough credit for everything he'd been through in comparison to his own upbringing. He was quiet a little longer before turning back to his homework and picking up his pen.
"Just take the stupid wig off, already. Black doesn't suit you."
"Can't, bro. It's dye."
He groaned as his face fell helplessly into his hands. It was probably going to take forever for his hair to go back to normal, but until then he was going to continue being shocked every time he saw him. Shou stood up and stretched, then headed to the open window.
"Well, I'd better get a move on! But hey, give your brother a message for me, will ya?"
"And what is that?" Ritsu responded, voice muffled in his hands. Shou grinned mischievously.
"Tell him I'll make sure to give his gakuran back before school next week!"
He only narrowly avoided being tackled out the window by Ritsu.