Watanabe walks quickly, chasing after his friend. He almost trips on his shoelace, but he's too distracted to even notice, to even care. "Irie," he calls, still trying to catch up. "Irie!"

Irie sighs, stops walking. He looks behind his shoulder at his classmate, disheveled, frantic, on edge. "What is it?" He asks, a little concern seeping into his tone.

"It's that girl," Watanabe huffs, catching his breath. He's never been the athletic type, so it takes him a while to regain his normal breathing pattern. Irie waits. "She's robbing you!"

"What are you talking about?"

"No, listen, I swear, she's got your notebook, your notes, and even your pen!" Watanabe's frantic, waving his hand. Irie watches him, feeling a little panicked himself. He's never seen his usually composed friend like this. It's unnerving. "She's even inside Class 3A, like, the actual classroom, I swear, that girl is seriously — "

Irie starts walking, storming back to the classroom. Kotoko, he thinks, fuming. Does she live to humiliate me? Showing up at my class, rummaging through my things, talking to me in the halls…

He can't take it, none of it. Everything, big or small, seems to set him off. Her, Watanabe's gasps for air, the annoying way his shoes squeak on the floor, Kinnosuke's face glaring at him as he passes by.

Wait.

Ikezawa?

Irie turns around. "Where's Aihara?" He demands, glaring back at Kinnosuke. The anger is mutual, it seems.

"How should I know?" He spits back, whipping around dramatically. "She's living with you, isn't she? What kinda question is that?"

Watanabe turns his head at Irie, slowly. "Huh? You — You never told me she was living with you! You told me her family was just visiting yours — "

Irie ignores Watanabe. "Tell me what's going on," he says, addressing Kinnosuke. "Otherwise I'll deal with her myself. Is that what you want?"

"Are you threatening me? No, no, you're threatening Kotoko," Kinnosuke says, trailing off. "Whatever! You can't just go around talking like that," he says, a warning hidden in his voice.

"You don't even know what's directed at who," Irie comments, slightly amused, despite himself.

Watanabe kicks at Irie's heel.

"Aren't you scared of this brute? Just drop it!" Watanabe hisses. "He could fight you!"

"That's exactly what I want," Irie replies, folding his arms. He raises his voice. "Class F can't do anything but fight. Pretty pitiful, don't you think?" He turns to Watanabe, expecting his usual, solemn backup.

Watanabe's long since left. Irie squints at the retreating figure at the end of hallway, resisting the urge to scream after him. Fucking traitor!

"Looks like even your nerd sidekick's abandoned you," Kinnosuke says, laughing.

Nerd sidekick? Irie can tell that the only books Ikezawa reads are action mangas. No one speaks like that in the real world.

"Don't blame him one bit," Kinnosuke continues. "He might score lower, but he's smarter than you for sure."

Irie snorts. "And why's that?" He asks, despite himself. He can't believe he's actually having a conversation with Ikezawa.

"He knows when to give up," Kinnosuke says, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He leers down at Irie, swaying in his shoes.

Kinnosuke takes a step closer, pushing his face closer and closer to Irie's. He pauses, only a couple inches away. His voice is low. "What about you, Mr. I-Know-It-All? You don't ever give up, do you? It's the one thing you don't know. How to give up. Your ego just won't let you."

He's setting himself up, Irie thinks, keeping Kinnosuke's gaze. "Could say the exact same about you," he replies, cooly. He watches Kinnosuke's eyes twitch, and Irie smiles to himself. It's so damn easy to rile him up, so damn enjoyable.

He stares back at Ikezawa, blinking back at him. He's a little too close for Irie's liking, but just for amusements' sake, Irie will indulge him. He raises an eyebrow back at Kinnosuke, smiles at him. It's like holding a large candy in front of zoo animal, and then pulling it back right at the last second. Irie almost chuckles.

"I should punch you in the face right now," Kinnosuke says, a terse whisper. "Right here. Right now."

"Do it," Irie says, taunting. "That's all you can do, right? Punching? Hitting? Yelling?"

He watches Kinnosuke, watches his face tighten and his jaw lock. Irie's eyes widen when Kinnosuke…backs away from him. Irie feels the adrenaline from earlier morph into confusion.

"Scared?" Irie continues, walking closer.

"I may not know when to give up," Kinnosuke says, serious for once. "But I damn well know when to stop." He side eyes Irie. "That makes me a better man than you. A man that Kotoko needs!"

"So fuck off," Kinnosuke spits, and for once, Irie is stunned. He's swearing and cussing, behaving so rudely. It's so unlike him.

"You're only like this when she's involved? She's that important to you?" Irie is genuinely invested, though he supposes it only comes off as sarcasm. Still, this sheer display of raw emotion is fascinating to say the least. Fascinatingly irritating.

"Why wouldn't I be? Kotoko is everything to me. I've got no reason to hide it. I've always loved her. I've always known she's the one for me. It's cuz — It's because I'm the better man, I'm better than you," Kinnosuke's babbling now, his breathing much harder, "so she got no reason— she shouldn't like some, someone — "

"Someone like me?" Irie finishes, raising an eyebrow. "She shouldn't love someone like me?"

Kinnosuke raises his hands to his hairline, his fingers just barely touching his greased hair. "There's no fucking way she loves some evil fucking bastard like you!"

His voice is abnormally high, strained. He's distraught. Overly emotional. Irie almost feels pity, but Kinnosuke is just so overdramatic, it's hard to take him seriously.

"Well," Irie says, after a moment. "She likes me much better than she likes you." He is blunt, unrelenting. "That shouldn't bother you so much, really. The fact that she'll always like me better, that is," he repeats, just to rub it in. He starts to walk away, but Ikezawa's voice is chasing him even then.

"You don't even care about her," Kinnosuke yells after him, and if Irie didn't know better, he'd think Ikezawa was crying. "You don't give a damn about her!"

"Is this the only thing you're here to discuss?" His back is already turned to Kinnosuke. Irie can't take anymore emotional meltdowns.

"You came to me first," Kinnosuke reminds him, and Irie shakes his head.

"What does that matter? I've got better things to do."

"Fuck you," Kinnosuke spits, harshly, and Iris pauses. The air inside is light, breezy, but for some reason unbeknownst to him, Irie can feel it on the back of his neck, as if it were a winter wind breathing on him.

"You can't say things like that to me," Irie says, turning around slowly. He feels his anger from earlier finally resurface. "Watch yourself," he warns, when Kinnosuke straightens.

"Scared?" Kinnosuke asks, a callback from earlier.

He ignores Kinnosuke's mocking comment. "Go have your breakdown somewhere else," Irie replies, waving off in the distance. "Don't ever get me involved in your bullshit again."

"You might think the only reason I hate you is because of Kotoko," Kinnosuke says, adamant on continuing the conversation. He's clenching and unclenching his fist as he speaks. "But you're just a damn asshole. Even if Kotoko never…even…liked you, I'd still hate you and your entire class."

Irie watches as his fist stays clenched. He thinks about Watanabe, wonders if the Class A room is locked by now. Still. Kotoko's in there. Plus, he's got Ikezawa to deal with.

"You think you'd even be talking to me if she didn't like me?"

Kinnosuke falters.

"You don't know a damn thing about me, so stop acting like you do." Irie says, brutely. "You don't make any sense at all. The only reason you hate me is because of her. You hate the fact that she likes me more than she likes you you. Grow the hell up."

Kinnosuke is still quiet. His hand drops to his side, limp.

"No, no, that's not right," Iris says suddenly, bringing his hand to his chin. "You said you'd hate my entire class, regardless of Aihara, right? Well, maybe she's not the problem then. The problem is…you don't like me because I'm better than you. Isn't that right? Isn't that what you think?"

Kinnosuke still does not say anything.

"You're telling on yourself," Irie says, blinking at him. "That's what you think, isn't it? I know I'm right."

"Wrong," Kinnosuke says, finally choosing to speak. "I don't care if you've got better marks, or got more friends. I don't care. That's your idea of better. I — I don't care about all that. I'm not anything like you, and everyday I thank God I'm not." Irie watches as Ikezawa raises both hands slightly above his head, as if he's…actually thanking God.

Irie feels his eye twitch, involuntarily. He feels like Ikezawa (of all people!) is treating him like a joke. His face burns at Kinnosuke's smile, and Irie's own jaw locks when he makes eye contact with ihm.

"Thank God I'm nothin' like you." Kinnosuke repeats, bringing his hands down.

Irie watches him, grimly. "Really? So then I suppose you're happy that she doesn't like you, considering you're thrilled about not being like me."

Kinnosuke fixes him with an irritated stare. "I'm not talking about all that nerd stuff," Kinnosuke replies, still frowning at him. He's entirely contradicting himself, Irie thinks, beyond confused. And nerd stuff? What?

"All I'm saying is that Kotoko is my idea of better. It's her. She's…she's my better," he finishes, his voice trailing off. Irie stares at him.

Kinnosuke recovers quickly. Irie knew this kind act of his could only last so long. "So that's why I can't fucking stand you! You're gonna… you're going to taint her! You'll ruin my Kotoko! I can't stand for that! A horrible guy like you, and a sweet girl like Kotoko…" Ikezawa places his hands on his temples, as if the thought physically hurts him.

"You can't blame me for her feelings," Irie replies, finally fed up. Kinnosuke looks at him, moving his hands away from his head. "Why don't you get mad at her for that? Just leave me alone." he says, finally walking away.

"If you care about her so much, tell her to leave me the hell alone," Irie adds, just to make it clear. He leaves a stunned Kinnosuke alone in the hall.

He walks back to Class 3A, slowly, and to his chagrin, a few of his classmates are still there, crowded around his desk. Watanabe is there too, waiting for him.

After Irie collects his items, checking to see if he has everything — he does, surprisingly — he asks Watanabe about Aihara.

"Why was she in here?" Irie asks as they walk to the school gates. "I don't think she'd even remember her way back from Class 3A to Class 3F."

Watanabe squints. "Class 3F? Are you talking about Aihara? The girl who asked you out?"

Irie looks at him warily. "Does Alzheimers' run in your family?"

Watanabe still looks confused. "What about her?" He asks, ignoring Irie's question.

"You said she was robbing me. Earlier. That she was inside the classroom."

"Oh. That wasn't Aihara," Watanabe says, eyeing Irie. "It was that second year girl, the one who followed you home last year."

Irie pauses. He feels his head throb.

"I should have been clearer," Watanabe is saying, sheepishly. "Sorry, just seeing her made me feel scared. She was relentless! Memories just kept flooding back, and I just sorta lost my cool. Sorry about that."

"It's fine," Irie says, eventually, pressing his lips together. He can't blame anyone but himself.

Watanabe is quiet for a moment, wiping his glasses on his shirt. "So," he says, holding his glasses up to the sun. "What'd that one guy want?"

"Ikezawa?"

"Yeah, him. What was he so angry about? He looked like he was about to beat the shit out of you earlier, you alright?"

"I'm fine," Irie says, feeling a sense of deja vu. "Don't worry about me."

"What'd he want?"

"He was just pissed that his girlfriend likes me," Irie says, and he can't keep the smugness out of his voice.

Watanabe nods, pretending to understand. "That's…weird," is all he says.

They walk towards the station, silent for the most part, until Watanabe speaks up, eyebrows raised.

"Wait, he's dating Aihara? The girl that asked you out? Gosh, I thought she really liked you, why would she move onto him, and why so fast? Oh, and why didn't you tell me she lived with you? I really thought her dad just stopped by to say hi…Irie?"