8.30 A.M
"Orihara Izaya came!"
Hiroto tugged at the hem of Yuuma's shirt, causing the boy to follow his friend's gaze. There stood their target, clad in a rather oversized white shirt and black shorts—plus an additional garment. Izaya was wearing a black hoodie. He warmed up without a care, stretching and oblivious of the two boys talking behind his back.
"Ei, look at him, wearing that," grimacing, Yuuma leaned towards Hiroto, "he really likes to stand out."
Hiroto nodded and scanned over Izaya's outfit, then his own.
"Should we wear something like that too?"
That comment only earned Hiroto a smack to the head. He rubbed his temple with a small wince. Maybe keeping quiet would be a better choice to make than compliment your rival's clothes.
Nevertheless, they kept their gaze locked on Izaya as though they were predators waiting for the right time to jump on their prey. They'd been hoping that this would happen. For years!
Today
…is the day!
They could finally seek revenge on Orihara Izaya, who'd done a number of things to them.
Izaya, who was popular among the female students, causing them to be single despite being seniors in their final year.
Izaya, who made Shizuo break their desks and chairs.
Izaya, who made such a ruckus during the week before examination but aced the tests while they suffered from low grades. It must've been Izaya's fault for distracting them!
Yuuma recited each of Izaya's faults, folding his fingers one by one with his crinkled nose indicating his mild annoyance towards their mischievous classmate.
"We need to get back at him." Hiroto gave his friend a nod.
A whistle was blown and they snapped out of their trance.
Heavy footsteps made their way to them. The students quickly straightened their backs, looking at the man approaching.
"Everyone, I hope you've warmed up enough!"
"Because today, we'll be playing…" Mr. Fujiwara juggled the red ball in his clutch, a smile playing on his lips, "…dodgeball."
YOOSH! This is our chance!
Hiroto and Yuuma high-fived each other as excitement surged through them. They could already imagine Izaya getting hit by the ball they throw. How good would that feel?
"Dodgeball… you say?"
An eerie silence took over as everyone turned their heads towards a certain student's way, whose aura was so strong Hiroto could've swore he saw fire burning in Shizuo's eyes. The grin replacing Shizuo's usual scowl didn't help soothe their frightened souls either.
Mr. Fujiwara let out a small laugh that sounded rather forced. He didn't want his gym to be destroyed today.
"H-Heiwajima! You'll be in a team with Orihara."
Eh?
.
.
8:35 A.M
Threading his fingers through his raven hair, Izaya knew they would undoubtedly win today's game. The only opponent he deemed to be strong would be Shizuo. And Shizuo was in his team this time around. Not only did he not need to worry about a bone crushing fight, but having Shizuo on his side would come in handy.
He exhaled a contented sigh and shifted his gaze, meeting Yuuma's whose lips were stretched into a mischievous smile.
"We won't go easy on you." said Yuuma.
The daring move seemed to intrigue Izaya. Yuuma watched as Izaya arched a brow as though contemplating something before moving back slightly. Could it be that I've intimidated him? Yuuma thought to himself. Izaya didn't even participate in the first grab, in which Yuuma had won the ball over before Kadota did.
Got you.
It turned out to be a bad idea to make eye-contact with Orihara Izaya, he noted as he threw the ball in Izaya's direction. His target immediately moved to the side and as if that wasn't taunting enough, Izaya only stepped away just slightly. The ball nearly grazed his shoulder but it hit Shinra who was standing at the back.
With his hands tucked into the pockets of his hoodie, Izaya tipped his head back and let out a mocking laugh,
"Too predictable."
Yuuma seethed in frustration. When the ball came back to him, he captured it to try the throw on Kadota. He succeeded in eliminating Kadota. This only meant that it wasn't because he was bad at dodgeball.
After that first mistake, he'd been relentlessly aiming for Izaya and though he tried not to look Izaya's way -as a new tactic of his- Izaya was skilled as ever at dodging. Even with Hiroto and his friends' attempts, they couldn't even let the ball touch Izaya's hood which was billowing to and fro whenever Izaya moved.
"Shouldn't you be protecting your teammates?!" Yuuma shouted. The constant failures were getting on his nerves.
Izaya wore a confused expression as though Yuuma was speaking nonsense. He skipped to the side when another person from Yuuma's team aimed for him (he wasn't sure why everyone was coming after him), and held his hands out. He was only focused on saving himself, and Shizuo. Shizuo was a special attack of his, thus he'd been pulling Shizuo out of the way when the ball came shooting towards the blond.
Saving the best for last.
"I don't care for them." retorted Izaya, finally capturing the ball in his palms. His eyes were smiling from his cheeks due to the big grin plastered on his face, his head angled to the side.
"Ne, looks like it's my turn. Let's have fun, Yuuma-kun!"
.
.
8.50 a.m
Shouldn't having lesser people mean easier to beat?
Yuuma doubted that when the remaining members of the opposite team being Heiwajima Shizuo and Orihara Izaya. Ever since Izaya caught the ball the first time, he'd been catching it more and more. Not only that, he'd been eliminating Yuuma's teammates with precision (including Yuuma himself). Every single throw he made hit.
"Shizu-chan!"
Hiroto gulped. He still had a few members on his team. It sounded comforting and since Yuuma had been eliminated, it came down to him to play captain and save the day. But that's easier said than done— especially when Orihara Izaya is standing right behind you. Wherever he moved, Izaya followed.
"Isn't this cheating, Orihara-kun?" He could only laugh and hope Shizuo would end up hitting Izaya instead. Oh, such wishful thinking!
"Hiroto-kun, I'm not touching you. It can't be considered a foul!" Izaya shook his head, giving him the sweetest smile he'd ever seen, "I'm merely visiting the other team."
Hiroto looked over to Yuuma and mustered a smile.
"Here, here!"
Izaya flailed his arms cheerily from behind Hiroto while Shizuo raised the arm with the ball in his clutch, eyes only targeting his arch enemy.
Ready to attack.
.
THUD.
.
The last thing Hiroto remembered before everything went black was panicked screams and Mr. Fujiwara calling out his name.
Ah, there was also Heiwajima Shizuo apologizing to him.
Or was it just a dream?
.
.
9:55 a.m
"Don't be loud!"
Chatters died down as soon as Mr. Toshio gave his warning, only hushed whispers remaining— most speaking about unimportant things instead of carrying the weight of the assignment they'd just been handed over.
"Hey, I think you need to do this part. I don't really understand it. Why did we even get Thailand?"
Hiroto unceremoniously dumped the textbook onto Yuuma's desk and took a seat next to his friend, holding an ice pack to his bruised cheek with a pained moan. His friend, however, paid no heed to a word he just uttered. Yuuma only had interest in the scene currently folding out before his eyes.
Tapping sounds resonated as his fingers drummed along the wooden surface, and his smirk widened when Izaya went back to his seat.
"Look, Kishitani is pairing up with Kisaragi."
"Kisaragi Chihaya? Are they that close?"
"He's doing that to spite Orihara." with a roll of his eyes at Hiroto's question, Yuuma leaned back against his chair.
Hiroto nodded and furrowed his brows, gaze scrutinizing the two boys for more information. The project he wanted to discuss with Yuuma was long forgotten.
To see in close proximity when they're seated at the back would be an impossible task. Only Shinra's face was in view and the bespectacled boy was wearing that usual happy demeanor of his. There was really nothing to see there.
"Oh? Orihara doesn't seem to care." Hiroto muttered.
Despite the fact that he was facing Izaya's back, he could see that Izaya had a leisure posture and Hiroto had never seen him upset nor angry (whoever tries to anger Orihara Izaya must have a death wish, with the exception of Heiwajima Shizuo).
"Satoshi, aren't you in baseball?"
Hiroto averted his attention to Yuuma, who was handing a crumpled ball of paper to Satoshi.
"Throw this at him."
"Well, I'm not that good—"
"It doesn't matter!"
"It didn't hit!"
"Yuuma…?"
"I think it hit someone else."
.
.
Slam.
Shutting the door and leaning against the wall, all Hiroto could think about was how relieved he was to have escaped from the class when Heiwajima Shizuo threw a chair at Yuuma and Satoshi.
NOTE:
( I'm sorry I'm a bit slow. It's so hard to have me feel proud and satisfied of a chapter. As for the honorifics, I just think Izaya would be that person who calls everyone by their first name even if he's not close to them (I'm bad at this but I still want to try, please forgive me). I read everyone's reviews and I'm sorry I can't really reply apart from sending PMs about it. Thank you so much for them, they make me happy. I love you all. Anyway, I hope this is good enough! Enjoy! ( ˘ ³˘) ❤ )
