Hiro didn't even glance at the class president, focusing on putting his notebook back into his bag. "So what do you want, Yukihime?" he asked in an annoyed tone.
Yukihime stopped walking, before sighing and setting her hands down on his desk, as she had done many times when she still acted like a tsundere, though it was clear that she didn't have the heart to do it properly from the fact that she didn't slam the wood, though that could also be due to the spiderweb cracks across that side of the desk from when Hiro had punched it weeks before.
When she spoke, it was obvious that she was trying and failing to maintain the demanding tone she'd used back then, though once again, it was painfully obvious to Hiro that she had lost her touch.
"I'm not standing aside anymore." she said firmly, and Hiro finally acknowledged her enough to glance in her direction, though from his expression it was obvious that he wasn't happy. "I want to help, and I don't care if you try to push me away. It's as much my problem as it is yours."
Hiro sighed, shaking his head and crossing his arms. "Look, I don't have a problem with you attempting to negotiate your way into a spot fighting Tsubaki, but do you really have to do it here? We're still in the classroom."
"Question, Nakamura-kun!" came a voice from beside them, and they turned to look at the boy who'd spoken, and Hiro was met with the grinning face of Okamoto Rin.
"I heard a rumor about you a while ago and was wondering if it was true!" the other student said in his usual excited voice. He glanced at Yukihime. "And I doubt it matters with you since you probably know it already too!"
Hiro blinked and Yukihime tilted her head. "What is it?" Hiro asked irritatedly. He knew there was no shortage of rumors about him and his friend group, and none of the ones he'd heard actually were even close to truth, so he wasn't particularly worried, though Okamoto tended to have a knack for picking out things from him that he didn't want to mention.
"Well...It's kind of dumb, but I've heard it claimed that you and Nemesis aren't actually cousins."
Instantly, Hiro and Yukihime both freezed, while Eve, sitting between the three, simply looked to see Hiro's reaction. Even across the room, Nemesis seemed to realize what Okamoto had said, because she too reacted as they did.
"W-What?" Yukihime asked, panic rising in her voice.
You idiot. Hiro thought, glaring over at her. That reaction just makes it obvious it's true.
He lowered his glare to face Okamoto, holding it for several seconds before the other student looked away, the result he expected from his stares. "Who told you that?" he asked calmly, though his voice held barely-concealed anger.
"Er...Nobody, really. I just overheard Saero-sensei talking to Mikado-sensei about her a while ago. I didn't really understand most of what they were talking about, but that part was pretty obvious."
"You're not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, Okamoto-san." came a voice that Hiro couldn't remember hearing in a while. A girl walked up to them from the window side of the classroom near the back. She wasn't very tall, but definitely not that short either at about 5 and a half feet tall, though her blue, almost turquoise, hair that reached down past her waist and stuck out from all sides like a pinecone made her seem shorter than she was. She wore a similar perpetually-happy expression to Okamoto's, though on her it made her seem like a child. Hiro took a few moments to try to recall her name. Kirishima Tabane. Yeah, that's it.
Okamoto pouted to her. "Oh, come on, Kirishima-chan, that's mean!" he said, and she simply laughed and looked straight at Hiro.
"She's not only not in your family tree, she isn't human." she said blatantly. "In fact, she isn't even from this planet. Isn't that right, Nakamura-kun?"
Hiro bit his lip to hold back the sudden feeling of rage that spiked in his gut, his hands balling into fists as he attempted to calm himself down. "What do you mean?" he asked through gritted teeth. Crap, did she really figure it out?
Okamoto blinked, and tapped an open palm with a fist in an expression of realization. "Oh, yeah, I forgot about that whole theory!" he said.
Of course, before Hiro could confirm or deny it, Nemesis decided to shout across the room. "Yes and no, Kirishima-san. I am indeed not human, but I was in fact conceived on Earth!"
Seriously? You couldn't even TRY to deny it? Hiro thought, though he could tell from Okamoto and Kirishima's triumphant expressions that it was too late.
Well, the cat's out of the bag now. Too late to go back on it.
"See? Told you." Kirishima said smugly, crossing her arms and grinning, looking at Hiro. "Did you really think you could hide something like that from us? Honestly, this is the school well-known for the fact that 90% of the transfers are aliens, and even if that wasn't the case, there were dozens of people at the school at the time of the Darkness Incident, and I doubt anyone would forget a face like hers after the role she played in it."
Okamoto laughed. "Yeah, Nakamura-kun, the secret was kind of out before it started. We didn't ask until now because it was kind of confusing that someone with as strong xenophobia as you would be living with an alien who sparked that incident, but when Yami started following you, it got a little more suspicious."
"I was wondering when someone would mention that." Eve said from her spot on the floor, making the two other students look at her. "I had a feeling the memories of that incident had been repressed, for nobody to even mention her obvious similarity."
"..." Yukihime was silent, simply staring at the two, unsure of what to say. Neither had mentioned that she was obviously already in on the secret despite few people in the class being willing to mention it to the generally-disliked loudmouthed class president. "So everyone already knew about her?"
Kirishima nodded. "Well, obviously! We didn't, and still don't, really know what KIND of alien she is, but it's not like that really matters, right? I mean, if the guy who hates aliens trusts her, why should we care?"
"And you're not really one to talk, Yukihime-san." Okamoto said. "It was obvious you were in on it since you came back to class after Nakamura-kun passed out that one time. You weren't very good at hiding that look on your face like you'd had some sort of epiphany."
"...Was I really that obvious?" she asked, to which she only received a nod from the other students. "I'm an idiot." she said, looking down.
Hiro glared at her. "Yes, you are. Now, leave me alone. I don't need your help with anything, you will only get in my way."
"Oh, come on, Hiro-nii." Nemesis said, walking up to them. Hiro's eye twitched at the nickname, which she hadn't used in a while and he'd hoped she would never use again. She grinned at his reaction but said nothing of it. It was normal for him, after all, despite the fact that he'd obviously come out of his shell quite a lot since they'd first met. "She just wants to help, and I bet she wants revenge on Tsubaki just as much as you do."
"Tsubaki?" Okamoto asked, and Hiro glanced at him.
"She killed my parents." he said smoothly, with no expression in his voice. "Though in the news and police records she's listed a a male named Sakakibara Seito. I don't really want to give any further detail on it, but basically, I don't think she's dead."
"So you're going to go after her." Kirishima said, and he hesitated before nodding. She chuckled and turned around to walk away. "Well, I've lost interest now. Not getting involved with killing people, no matter how much they may deserve it."
"Oh, come on, Kirishima-san!" Okamoto complained. "It sounds interesting, I want to get in on it too!"
"You do what you want, it's not like we're close friends or anything, Okamoto-kun." she replied offhandedly before leaving the room to head home.
Okamoto groaned and shook his head. "She always acts so invested until she gets bored, then she just leaves…" he said, turning to face Hiro again.
"You're not getting involved." the silver-eyed kid said. "Both you and Yukihime won't be of any use, you're just regular humans, after is an alien, and a highly experienced killer at that, so I don't want to risk the lives of any more people than i have to."
One of his hands started to tap his desk, his fingers creating an angry rhythm as he slowly got more and more annoyed. "So both of you, stop bothering me. I don't need your help and I don't want it. I can take Tsubaki down without either of you getting in the way."
"Hiro-san." Eve said, and his head snapped to face hers. He was about to snap at her as well before he noticed the expression on her face.
She was staring at him, her eyes as large as she could make them in a puppy-dog expression. Or, her mostly emotionless equivalent of the puppy-dog look. It seemed that Eve still carried some characteristics of Yami.
Hiro stared at her for several seconds, before his face softened, and he let a small smile play across his features. He reached a hand to pat her head. "Sorry, I shouldn't be yelling. I should conserve my energy for training later. That reminds me, we need to start training you too so you can get used to your new abilities."
