Author's note: Long chapter. Bear with the digression and emote lines. I'm completely mushy and terribly cheesy at this moment.
Disclaimer: I don't own SD boys, Inoue does. The events that follow are not included in the original plot but enjoy anyway.
What happened the night before didn't come as an impediment for a good practice game. In fact, Rukawa and Mitsui acted perfectly normal and unruffled. They did steal glances at each other but the frequency of such instances couldn't be considered excessive or anything more than necessary.
It was morning, around 9:30. The whole team still had to attend classes so there was the usual commotion inside the locker room as the boys hurried themselves to get packing for their next subjects. Rukawa was the only one who didn't bother to join the scuffle; what did he care if their math teacher threatened to fail him after incurring another tardiness?
'Hurry up, boys! Bell's ringing in 5 minutes,' Ayako told them. She was already in her school uniform.
'Tensai coming through! Give way or I'll crack your...' Sakuragi was shouting at everyone as he struggled to put his under shirt on.
'Damn! Who got my towel? I swear I placed it here before I went to the showers. Yasuda, hand one over!' Ryota Miyagi bickered.
'Hey, who stole my undies?' Mitsui was addressing the freshmen on the bench who gave him a we-don't-give-a-fuck-about-missing-underwear look.
'Kakuta, put your shoes inside your locker, for Christ's sake! Kuwata, your shirt! Sakuragi, where are the floor mops?' Their captain Akagi was observing them tightly, he was the first to get himself prepared as usual.
After 10 minutes the whole team was ready. Rukawa headed to the 3rd floor for math and found out that their austere, ancient teacher had begun delivering his inapplicable and completely text based lesson on numerical sentences and representations. Listening to that kind of discussion with your palm on your chin is as sickening as removing your socks and putting them back on for a hundred times.
'Oh well. I guess I'll loiter around some more,' Rukawa said to himself as he turned his back on his classroom's door to walk about aimlessly on the empty corridor. He looked at the clock; he had exactly 43 minutes and 35 seconds to roam and kill time. 'There's plenty of minutes left. What the hell can I do in 40 minutes without stuffing myself with senseless boredom?' He thought. Only one place came to his mind; the infirmary. He could lay down on one of the beds and take a nice nap for God knows how many minutes more and no one would ever dare throw chalks at him while he was doing so. Perfect.
He strode quietly down the flight of stairs with his hands on his pockets, emphasizing the uselessness of the railing beside him. Assuming that stance for uncounted years, he could actually walk with his eyes closed without tripping over or stumbling upon something. Yeah, he'd mastered his habits well enough to earn him a doctorate in any prestigious university that offered the kind of curriculum, only there wasn't any.
He reached the first floor quite safely ('Great, the mousy supervisor isn't around invading other people's business!) and went straight for the infirmary. A young and prissy nurse answered to him.
'What's your problem?' She asked Rukawa in a stern and unchanging tone which aroused for needless intimidation. Rukawa didn't need to think for a moment; he had a cogent excuse for missing school hours at the moment.
'Anemia.' Rukawa answered tersely. He didn't dare display hesitation whatsoever otherwise, he was done for.
'Let me check.' She studied Rukawa in all angles and after a long and uncareful observation,
'Looks like a positive case. Your skin is paler than ordinary. I suggest you try eating iron and iodine rich food and take some of these at least once a day,' she brought out a set of tiny white pellets which reminded Rukawa of unpolished cultivated pearls. ' And you can lie on the bed beside the kid with glasses.' She pointed behind the divider and went on with her work.
Rukawa walked in and sat on the bed assigned to him. The boy with glasses stirred and smiled at the sight of Rukawa. Kogure was lying on the bed beside his. He had unwittingly injured his right toe earlier after grabbing an offensive rebound. By the look of it his fall was ugly and undeniably clumsy, the whole team thought he must've twisted an ankle but it turned out to be a lucky day for him; he only received a misplaced toe joint and would be recovering in a few days.
'Why are you here?' Kogure looked at him. Strange enough, his face didn't contort in dubious confusion but rather looked sincerely concerned.
'Late for math.' Rukawa answered in his ever hollow and original manner of speaking.
'Oh, I see,' Kogure said with an okay-I-get-it sort of smile. 'I suppose you want to doze off a little, don't you?'
Rukawa just nodded and stretched himself comfortably with his shoes still on. He didn't want to trouble himself putting them back on once the time was up. He thought of the boy beside him. Didn't he want the world to get rid of him? Wasn't he the one who vied with him to win Mitsui's affection? Or was there rivalry at all? Perhaps. But what would it be like if Kogure hadn't met Mitsui? Would he want somebody else other than Rukawa? Perhaps also.
He strove to answer each of the posted question, slowly, carefully, and justly. In the most objective mode of answering the questions of dilemma, he learned that the odds were against him. If this were a gladiator match, he would be an unexperienced warrior versus a whole horde of starving lions fresh from their bloody, steel den. When would the circumstances turn their causes to a more favorable position for someone as desperate as Kaede Rukawa? When would time sacrifice itself to provide for a crucial opportunity to bring about reason and sense? Was there a price to pay for dreaming after all the anguish this dangerous obssession had borne?
It was no longer in his hands to provide for answers. Mitsui alone had the right to do so. Rukawa kept his lids still. He knew that no stroke of drowsiness could defy the rushing adrenaline flowing inside him. This was the result of his breakdown, of his stressful meditation that deteriorated both his physical strength and cognitive abilities. His brainwaves stopped flowing in every vessel inside his body; he must be really sick after all.
40 minutes had gone by when somebody appeared at the portal of the infirmary. Mitsui Hisashi had dropped by to fetch Kogure.
His eyes fell instead on Rukawa who had just gotten up to leave them alone. Mitsui looked at him listlessly but deep inside, he was dying to know what went wrong with him.
'What happened?' He asked Rukawa before he could control himself.
'Late for math,' was Rukawa's reply. Mitsui nodded and smiled,
'Well, that should pose a warning to you. You should try to move a little faster next time,' He said, still wearing the nameless smile on his oh so gorgeous face. 'You want to walk with us to your next class?'
'I'm staying.' Rukawa changed his mind as he watched the two take leave of him. He heard Mitsui ask Kogure how he was or was he feeling strong enough to walk without support or did he need something to drink and so on. 'A sick flirt, that Mitsui.' Rukawa said whose anger knew no bounds at the moment.
'Why the fuck does he act like that? Talking to me like we just had a nice coffee together. But how would he handle it otherwise? It's so typical for someone who tries his best to hide something that may ruin him. Yeah, men act like that in front of their boyfriends after cheating on them. But the way Mitsui takes it; natural above all banalities, and yet so common and...' Rukawa couldn't find the words, it was upposed to be so common and well, obvious.
TBC
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