Summary: Suoh Mika reached out a hand, and Munakata Reishi took it, sealing their fates together on one autumn day.
Beginning Note: I know that K: Displaced King isn't finished, but I couldn't resist.
"Hey, don't let those assholes try to make you less smart, you hear? Munakata Reishi-san, right? I'm Suoh Mika."
Suoh Mika wasn't sure when she first noticed the younger boy for the first time. Maybe it was during biology, near the window that overlooked the track field.
It was like her eyes had immediately strayed to him, noting how the bright sun of the afternoon reflected off his dark blue hair.
Maybe it was the way he played with the other kids.
...
Well, 'played' would be an overstatement.
Even though the guy was participating, none of his classmates seemed to like him. How boring.
Mika's gaze followed him, an eyebrow raising when she noticed how pale he was when his face tilted up, brushing sweaty bangs from his eyes. She couldn't really see their color, but even with the sun in his face, the boy had a flat expression, panting when he stopped running.
The amber eyed girl's shoulders fell, glancing back at the front of the room before she closing her eyes, half listening to her sensei droning on and on about how the body got its energy from eating food. Or, something like that, she mused, pursing her lips.
Opening her eyes again, she looked out the window, her pencil twirling around and around in one hand.
"Suoh-san!" she heard Ryouta-sensei bark out her family name, drawing her attention away from the gym class outside.
"Pay attention," her sensei warned, and Mika shrugged, smirking while her classmates snickered between themselves, enjoying the sight.
"I thought I was, sensei?" she asked innocently, her eyes wide and her voice mocking.
"One warning, Suoh-san," the dark-haired man held up a finger, "Now, could you tell me what I just said?"
Mika's head tilted to the side, drawing up the memory of the monotonous lecture.
"You were saying that the body converts food by breaking them down into sugars. Candy is mostly made of simple sugars, and is broken down so fast that the sugar content you get from eating it makes you feel jittery if you eat too much," she replied.
Ryouta-sensei huffed at her, begrudgingly accepting it as an answer.
The kids around her snickered even more, and the teacher finally started talking again.
Once more, Mika's eyes drifted to the window again, this time noting that the boy she was watching was sitting on a metal bleacher, swinging a water bottle to his mouth.
It was a week into September, swiftly approaching her favorite season. There weren't blooming flowers making her sneeze all the time, and the bugs were going to die soon. The second semester of her first year had only barely begun.
But man, it was just boring. School was boring.
Munakata Reishi nearly forgot the first time he saw a fiery redheaded girl at the Entrance Ceremony for the newly admitted middle schoolers.
His brother Taishi was with him, talking about how it was interesting that they had moved from Setagaya to the outskirts of Shibuya only a few weeks ago, both Munakatas taking their time in getting comfortable in their new environment.
Granted, Reishi wasn't used to the fast-paced hubbub of the city, and he felt a little like a tourist, after he walked through the Scramble Crossing for the first time.
A shock of vibrant red hair had passed by him, and he found that his eyes drifted to the girl that had just stalked past. An older man, most likely the girl's grandfather, followed after her, Reishi's eyes tracked her retreating back.
"Ototu-san?" Taishi got his younger brother's attention, snapping Reishi out of his thoughts, and brought him back to his senses.
"Hai, Onii-san?" he blinked at him, the sun glancing off his glasses when he looked up.
"Were you listening to me? I said that they're letting the kids in," Taishi continued, the black haired sixteen-year-old gesturing to the door.
And indeed they had, kids Reishi's age forming into groups and filing in.
"Did you remember the class you're going to?" the older boy prodded, and Reishi nodded.
"Yes. Class 1-A, on the second floor. My homeroom sensei will be Nakamura Yukino-san."
"Great. Anyway, see you at home, okay?"
The fourteen-year-old grimaced when Taishi reached over to ruffle his hair, and thankfully, his glasses weren't knocked askew.
The younger boy made to follow after some of the other freshmen, hiking his rucksack on his shoulders.
"I will see you at home, Nii-san," Reishi dutifully nodded, before turning his head away from the older black-haired boy and going forward.
"Detention, Suoh-san," Nimura-sensei reprimanded, and hazy amber eyes opened from an impromptu nap.
Mika's head had slid from her palm, which was the noise that alerted the teacher to the fact that she had fallen asleep. Her pencil also clattered to the floor, which didn't help matters.
"Hmm…" she mumbled, "Hai, sensei."
The fourteen-year-old didn't even bother to argue, already feeling exhausted by the last few periods. There was only so much she could bother to learn in a day, and the boring lessons only made her sleepier.
Thank Kami-sama or whoever that she could just cruise by with her grades, which weren't too low, but weren't the highest, at an even eighty.
The class bell rang after another twenty minutes, and Mika packed up slowly, grabbing a pencil that had fallen off her desk, and arranging her worksheets into a sort of semblance of a pile.
She glanced at the red 83 that was circled at the top, clicking her tongue at the red kanji that said that she made easily avoidable mistakes that would've gotten her at least a 90.
Whatever. It wasn't like she'd never have a calculator at home, and the idea of memorizing pages and pages of formulas was such a slog.
Ever since her Okaa-san had passed due to liver cancer, and her Otou-san was nowhere to be found, Mika just couldn't bring the energy to care about her grades, and it wasn't like her gramps would care too much anyway.
"Suoh-san, talk to me here," Nimura-sensei had approached, the middle-aged homeroom teacher's kind eyes focused on the perpetually exhausted fourteen-year-old.
"Sensei?" Mika looked up, and her amber eyes met Nimura-sensei's brown.
"I will consider canceling your detention if you speak to me about your grades."
Mika had to withhold a groan.
"Mm," she nodded, and Nimura-sensei gestured up to the front, the girl tugging over a chair that was nearby the teacher's desk.
"How are you doing, Mika-san?" her sensei asked, and she didn't know if she should lie or stay silent.
"…Mmm…" she muttered instead, before saying, "I'm fine."
Nimura-sensei didn't seem to mind her student's reluctant deflection, aware of her student's circumstances.
"Your grades have been dropping, compared to your elementary school scores," the older woman started instead.
"…" Mika didn't answer at all this time, biting at her lower lip.
"How has your Oji-san been doing?" Nimura-sensei went toward a different direction, picking another concerning topic.
"He's…not well," the girl answered, her voice quiet. It was limp like an overcooked leek, and a gloom had started radiating from her when her grandfather was brought up.
"Who watches you when you're home? The nurse said that he was admitted to the hospital."
Nodding, Mika answered, "I'm mostly home by myself. Why?" She resolutely looked down to the floor, unwilling to see her sensei look at her with pity.
"None of your worksheets or homework are ever fully filled out. I know your scores on the final exams are usually in the higher eighties. The latest exam was a little better than your previous three."
Nimura-sensei pulled out a drawer, taking out a folder that was crammed full of incomplete assignments.
"If you can go to after school tutoring, I'll let you nap during class. You can complete your missed work then," Nimura-sensei bargained, and Mika's eyes rose, taken aback by the sudden offer.
"Huh? Is that even allowed?" she asked, the fourteen-year-old frowning.
"At least until your Oji-san is better," her sensei clarified, "I can't, in good conscious, allow one of my students to be wandering around Shizume Town and possibly getting into danger. Not to mention, I wouldn't want you to also be wandering around half asleep."
Mika didn't know how to answer, a slight warmth coming to her chest. She didn't know the last time she could've trusted an adult at all. Not for…a while, to say the least.
"Do you need to think about—?" the woman continued, only to be cut off by Mika.
"I'll go, sensei," Mika sounded sure of herself, and for once in her Kami-sama forsaken life, she just wanted to relax for once. To not be bothered by the sudden silence in her and her oji-san's apartment complex, to listen to the news with her gramps while doing homework.
"Great."
Nimura-sensei sounded happy that Mika was taking her offer, that maybe, this bright, but exhausted teenager would be safe. Tokyo, for all its luster of shiny windows, and tall skyscrapers, still had their dark and dirty corners where the sun couldn't reach.
She took out a form for afterschool tutoring, handing it over to the amber eyed, redheaded teen.
"You may go, Mika-san," Nimura-sensei dismissed the girl, picking up her own things to put away, and picking up the folder of Mika's assignments.
"And another thing," the woman said, and the girl looked over again, "I'll leave these with the study hall sensei. If you complete these by the end of the month, I will accept these as completed. You can read the form over and give it to the sensei in the library after your oji-san signs it."
Mika nodded, swinging her backpack over her shoulder.
"I'll see you tomorrow, then, Sensei," she bid her teacher goodbye, hearing a responding "You too, Suoh-san."
Mika decided to cut through the park that was nearby, deciding that she didn't want to wait for the light to change. Plus, it was faster than going on the sidewalk.
"You think that cuz you're such a smart ass you're better than us, huh?!"
Reishi grunted when his back hit the gate, the breath knocked out of his lungs.
Taishi was supposed to pick him up, but he got a text that there was something wrong with the trains, so his older brother might be a bit late.
Even though he was already fourteen, Reishi's parents still worried about how their son was adapting to the big city after living in the outskirts. It also didn't help that he was wiry in comparison to his older brother, so that only made things worse.
"Hey! I'm talkin' to you!" the older bully yelled in his face, and it took some effort not to grimace at the spittle flying at him. It looked like the ringleader was a borderline failing student named Yusei Kensuke, who never completed his homework, going by the red ink covered papers that poked out of his half open backpack.
"Hah, he talks so big, Munakata-san," the second bully sneered, a black-haired boy with beady brown eyes Reishi vaguely remembered as 'Nakae Tetsuhiro'.
"I am well aware," the younger boy answered, only to get punched in the gut, making him hit the gate again, the crisscrossing blue plastic covered wires pressing into his back.
"You like talking a big game, but you're just a weakling," Nakae continued, and Reishi's eyes narrowed, before the violet eyed boy kicked out towards the bully's legs.
"HAH! You kick like a girl!"
"Hey! What do you guys think you're doin'?!"
The three boys could barely blink before a red blur slammed into Yusei, and the boy was knocked off his feet.
Reishi could only stare as a pretty girl with long red hair showed up, his violet eyes widening with shock.
The tie that held crimson locks back fell to the ground, and it took a second to realize what, or who he was looking at.
It was the girl from the entrance ceremony, the one that his attention had stuck to before Taishi pulled him out of his daydreaming.
"Suoh-san?" Nakae's dumbfounded address came out of a slack jaw, as a grin formed on Suoh's face while her amber yellow eyes burned with rage.
"You think you guys are so tough, picking on someone by themselves?" she mocked, the grin turning into a sneer. "Beat it."
"Didn't know he was your friend, Suoh," Yusei snarked back, hand wiping at the split lip the girl had given him, getting to his feet, "Mind your fuckin' business! It's guy stuff!"
Suoh's eyes widened, before her gaze sharpened with barely veiled anger.
"Is that right?" she spat, before dropping her bag and roundhouse kicking the offender in the side, making him fall the ground.
"You guys got two options. One, you run away like a smart pair of idiots and tell no one. Two, I beat the shit outta you and get all of us suspended."
"Who'd you think you are!?" Nakae yelled, taking a step forward before flinching when Suoh held up a fist.
"What? Are you scared?" she turned her nose down at him, "I heard what you guys said. About girls."
"N-no!" Nakae tried back tracking, a minute trembling to his words. He heard of the fiery Suoh and her penchant for beating up bullies, how she sent herself and other students into detention.
"Then. Take. A. Hike. Now," Suoh snarled, and the two boys turned tail, running in another direction while yelling back.
"I won't forget this!" was Yusei's promise, while Nakae cursed a few times.
"Geeze, what a bunch of wimps," Suoh sighed, rubbing her fist, before looking down at Reishi, who sat there with a slight dumbfounded expression on his face.
"Hey, don't let those assholes try to make you less smart, you hear? Munakata Reishi-san, right? I'm Suoh Mika. Nice to meet ya."
Mika growled when she saw two boys beating up another one. Not to mention, wasn't that kid the one she was watching in the middle of Ryouta-sensei's class? Huh…if she remembered right, this same kid was one smart aleck, or at least that's what her year mates said.
Munakata Reishi was a guy that nearly everyone knew, and she was impressed that most of the teachers were terrified of him. She almost envied how he just went about insulting people in a bland manner, so it was no wonder her gaze always wandered to him.
Hmph…picking on a kid as scrawny as Munakata was just asking for a beating.
"HAH! You kick like a girl!" The instigator seemed to be a kid she recognized as a lazy classmate of hers, Yusei Kensuke. He was even lazier than she was, or maybe he just didn't like doing his homework.
Mika didn't waste any time rushing forward, the drowsiness of class falling away, a shout bursting out of her.
"Hey! What do you guys think you're doin'?!"
She had launched a punch straight at who appeared to be the leader of the two's faces, her hair band snapping as she slammed into Yusei. The boy fell to the ground, the other two boys staring at her with disbelief.
"Suoh-san?" the other bully, a guy she thought was Nakae something-something said out loud, his mouth wide open.
"Think you guys are so tough, picking on someone by themselves?" Mika sneered, her fist starting to get the itch to hit him, "Beat it."
"Didn't know he was your friend, Suoh," Yusei spat back, picking himself off the ground, and spitting at the ground in front of her, "Mind your fuckin' business! It's guy stuff!"
Mika could feel her anger flaring, her amber eyes narrowed, yellow-brown hues darkening.
"Is that right?"
Without missing a beat, she kicked him, leg snapping back to the ground after a roundhouse kick, which sent Yusei down again, this time looming over him with a snarl on her face.
"You guys got two options. One, you run away like a smart pair of idiots and tell no one. Two, I beat the shit outta you and get all of us suspended."
"Who'd you think you are!?" Nakae yelled, taking a step forward to defend Yusei, but backed down quickly when he saw Mika raise her hand in a fist.
The girl's snarl turned into an amused smirk when her amber eyes caught the flinch.
"What? Are you scared?" she mocked, then remembered what Yusei said about the Munakata kid kicking like a girl, "I heard what you guys said. About girls."
"N-no!" Nakae took a step back, his face paling rapidly. The boy's voice wavered, and his arms raised defensively when he saw Mika's fist start to pull back.
"Then. Take. A. Hike. Now," Mika growled, leaning in quickly to make the taller boy jerk back, and from the ground, Yusei picked himself up again. The brown-haired bully tugged at Nakae's arm, then they both turned tail and ran.
"I won't forget this!" was Yusei's yelled promise over his shoulder while running and Nakae cursed a few times.
When they were long gone, Mika's shoulders fell, a sigh coming to her lips. She looked to make sure they weren't going to come back, and her arms fell too.
"Geeze, what a bunch of wimps," she sighed, rubbing at her fist, which had reddened after hitting Yusei in the face.
After realizing that the kid hadn't said anything, Mika looked down.
Amber-orange eyes met stunned violet-blue, the girl noticing that Munakata had the stupidest expression on his face.
"Hey, don't let those assholes try to make you less smart, you hear? Munakata Reishi-san, right? I'm Suoh Mika. Nice to meet ya," she grinned, and held out a hand. Her crimson hair spilled over her shoulders when she bent down, the waning sunlight reflecting in her eyes. She relaxed her posture to appear more friendly and waited for the kid to grab her hand.
Munakata didn't answer, his eyes still wide as he looked at her outstretched hand. Two pink blotches spread on the boy's pale face, making Mika tilt her head.
"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" she asked, "You're looking a little red…oh, hold on, maybe I should take you to the nurse or something. And don't worry about those guys, if you wanna teach them a lesson I can do that later."
Blinking, those violet eyes crinkled when he shot her a small smile, "Sure, though I wouldn't want a reprise of these events."
Mika burst out laughing, shocked that it sounded like Munakata still had some sass left in him even after those idiots decided to bully him.
"Yeah, this is going to be something beautiful. Come on, let's be friends."
Finally taking her hand, the boy let Mika pull him up, dusting his clothes off.
"Alright, Suoh-san. Though, you might also want some ice for your hand," he made a pointed stare at her reddening knuckles, though a blush was still on his face.
"Don't be a wuss, Munakata. It was a little price to pay for a punch," the girl rolled her eyes, picking up Munakata's shoulder bag from where it laid on the ground.
"If you're sure…" the navy haired boy trailed off but was cut off by a smug Mika.
"Well, I'm not gonna lie to you, but it's nothing I can't endure. Plus, this isn't the first fight I've been, ya know? Though, if you weren't careful, your glasses woulda flown from your face. You should probably get spares."
Mika started walking back towards the school, swinging Reishi's bag on her shoulder so he couldn't back out of going to the nurse.
"Come on, Ohara-san doesn't leave until 18:00, ya know, because of cram classes…"
Reishi couldn't believe his eyes and ears.
Suoh…that was the first time he could associate a name with a face.
The girl he had seen all those months ago…that was Suoh Mika? The same Suoh Mika that had a reputation of fighting back against bullies?
The rumors never mentioned how beautiful she was.
Her words echoed in his mind.
Friends…
She wanted to be friends with him?
Mika smiled at him, and his breath hitched.
Reishi looked away, his cheeks darkening into a cherry red blush while they walked back to the school.
"Suoh-chan!" Ohara-san immediately locked onto the girl's bruised knuckles, dithering over the bruising skin.
"How did this happen, Mika-san?" the nurse pressed an ice pack with a towel wrapped around it on her knuckles, a band-aid put on a few seconds before.
"Ahahaha, same old, same old," Suoh laughed it off, "Some bullies, as usual. You know I can't stand around when someone's getting pummeled for no reason, ya know?"
Ohara-san set her sights on the Munakata, the older woman looking at him up and down. Her dark brown eyes narrowed, blatantly studying Reishi's still rumpled shirt collar and although his posture was ruler straight, he was leaning back a bit.
"And you, Munakata-san?"
"I am adequate," Reishi said, shifting himself away from her, only for Suoh to scoff at him.
"Didn't look like it when you were shoved into the gate," she ratted him out, and in a few minutes, an ice pack was stuck over his throbbing back.
After ten minutes of fussing, the nurse decided to let them go, giving them a stern warning before they could leave her office.
"So, you said you moved here a little while ago?" Mika asked, the pair of teens walking down the hallway, "How do you like the main drag of Tokyo, anyway? Exciting, huh?"
"It is…different," Reishi admitted, a sigh trying to make its way out of his throat, "But not in a negative way."
The girl hummed, a spring in her step cropping up after they passed another corridor.
"Uh huh. Bet school's different here too," she commented, and when they came to a door, pushed it hard enough that it slammed into the wall.
"Oops."
Mika made an embarrassed face, her mouth forming a grimace when she could still hear the slam echoing down the empty hall. Fortunately, most of the students were either on their way home or at a club.
The two continued in silence, before coming to the doors that opened up into a courtyard.
"Um, I'll see you tomorrow, Munakata-san," Mika scratched at her chin, a thoughtful expression coming over her face, before she twirled on her heel and pointed at him. "Don't get pushed around so easily! You should probably take some self-defense classes too, if you're gonna keep pissing people off."
Taking a step back, Reishi laughed, pushing the finger out of his face.
"Do you have any suggestions?" he asked, and this time the shoe was on the other foot, Mika ducking her head at his forwardness.
"I'm part of the judo club here. But I kinda fell off going…ehehehehe…" the girl bashfully trailed off, shoe scuffing the concrete, "I can go with you if you want!"
A smile had grown on Mika's face, her amber eyes brightening with new excitement.
The younger boy returned it, his heart fluttering in his chest. "I have no objections. However, I was thinking of joining the kendo club this semester."
Without missing a beat, Mika grinned at him. "Then, maybe I'll join the kendo club too! Since you're my friend and all, right?"
Navy eyebrows raised, a mask of indifference settling over a startled expression when he simply nodded.
"Then it's settled! Meet me after classes…oh right, uh, I'll be in the library after class. Uh, yeah! Tomorrow! Bye Munakata-san!"
Mika turned on her heel, the brash redhead walking away with a spring to her step.
A ring from Reishi's PDA had him pull it out of his pocket, reading the text from his brother. Apparently, the trains had sorted themselves out and Taishi was going to be there in a few minutes.
Staring back out at Mika's retreating back, a smile curled at Reishi's lips, a huff of amusement escaping him.
The teen stood there, before looking at the hand that Mika had grabbed when she pulled him up earlier. A blush returned to his face when he realized that the feeling of that hole in his soul seemed to be fuller by the older girl's presence earlier.
Perhaps, the move to the main part of Tokyo was a sign of luck, and the encounter with his schoolmate was a stroke of fate…
Hm.
How ridiculous.
Munakata Reishi was never one to believe in fate, nor did he believe that anyone, not even Kami-sama themselves could ever deter him from his chosen path.
This newfound friendship would be interesting.
He never had time for friends, not after spending his time reading about old philosophers and preparing to have himself run for class president. Perhaps, this was only a taste of what was to come.
It will be interesting to see how the pieces would fall into place.
Mika broke out of her hurried, cheerful walking when she felt like there was enough distance and where she left Munakata-san behind.
Man…
A stone felt heavy in her chest the further she walked from school, and she thought about her oji-san. She should see him, talk to him about the afterschool tutoring so he knew she was safe.
She could think about Munakata Reishi later.
After all, they were basically friends now, weren't they?
Mika hoped so.
Please, let something good happen to her. She was still surprised about Nimura-sensei offering the chance to make up for her incomplete assignments and tutoring.
Oh, Kami-sama, she needed more friends.