A/N: I'm sorry this update took so long. Next time I'll try to update faster.
Thanks to all you who read and reviewed the previous chapter, you are all greatly appreciated. Getting feedback is very inspiring, so please don't forget to review!
This chapter is written from my favourite Neko-jin's point of view! And that would be Rei Kon.
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters, just the story.
It's a very ordinary Wednesday morning. I'm late, as usual, and running through the empty hallways of the school.
It was yesterday Kai Hiwatari came. The first impression I got of him was that he's… well, not so friendly. Trust me, I could say something much worse about him, but I won't because I'm a nice person and I really don't know him, yet. I'm saying yet because I intend to make friends with him. If he allows me to, that is. Yesterday I tried to talk to him once after he stole my spot at the windowsill at the fourth floor of the school but it didn't work out too well. I gave up pretty soon as I noticed he wasn't on a chatting mood, which he well proved by answering everything I said with 'hn' or something as creative. But today I'm filled with new energy and I won't give up! He will be my friend whether he wants it or not. He really has no choice.
Now, that sounded awfully pathetic. Why am I so determined to get to know him? I do have reasons, actually. The reason number one is that he is very interesting. There is something special about him. I don't know what it is, but it definitely is there. I saw it in his eyes. They are absolutely amazing. I think I have never seen crimson-coloured eyes before. That colour is so fascinating, and my favourite, by the way. Along with white and other shades of red.
But let's get back to the business, which is why Kai Hiwatari is interesting. The way he speaks is interesting. And his voice too. Actually, his whole essence practically screams 'interesting'.
Okay, done with that. The next reason is much better than the first one, believe me. At least I think it is. He is my new neighbour. I found it out yesterday as I went home and saw him there shouting curses at some men who were carrying furniture from a truck to the house next to where I live. It was weird somehow, to see him acting like that. Earlier at school, he had been almost annoyingly calm and just barely reacting if someone made a contact with him. Perhaps he has a split personality or something.
Anyways, that's a pretty good reason to make friends with him if you ask me. I mean the fact that we're neighbours, not his split personality. It's so cool, I've always wanted to have someone of my own age living next door. All my other friends live much further and it's really annoying. It makes me somewhat lonely, because almost all of my friends – two-third of them, actually – live in the same neighbourhood, which is far away from where I live and are therefore able to spend more time together. Then I feel like a third wheel when we are all together and they talk about some things that I have no idea about. It's not that I don't like them being friends, but I can't help feeling a bit jealous about their closeness. They are best friends after all. That is something I haven't experienced since my early childhood when I lived in China.
I stop running as I reach the familiar dark wooden door. Panting heavily I move a few escaped strands aside off my golden eyes and knock on the door.
"Come in, Mr Kon," I hear Mr Garnett's voice through the door and open the door slowly, expecting shouting or something more horrible to come. But the teacher just motions me to come inside and close the door. I do so and walk over to his desk eyeing my classmates on my way. They are gathered in small groups and are reading newspapers.
Mr Garnett gives me a paper as well and says we are supposed to read news and then discuss about them in groups.
"You're with Mr Kingston and Mr Hiwatari," he says and I nod. Without anymore said I turn and glance through the class, searching for my group. Then I spot them at the end of the classroom. They are also reading. Or it's more like Kai is reading and the other boy with fiery red hair has his arms folded on the desk over the newspaper and his head buried in his arms.
I walk behind the boy and lean closer so that my lips are almost touching his ear, "Hey, Brooklyn," I say getting only a raised eyebrow and a mumble with some yet-to-be-discovered language as an answer. I straighten and turn my gaze to the dual-haired boy sitting opposite to Brooklyn, "And, Kai," I say smiling. He gives me a 'hn' without even lifting his gaze from the paper of his. I roll my eyes and sit down next to Brooklyn. I quickly browse through the pages of my newspaper until I find what I was searching for. I take a pen out of my bag and start doing crosswords.
"Did you know that people who do crosswords are easily manipulated?" I hear a cold voice saying and look up at Kai whose eyes are still glued to the paper. I raise an eyebrow at him.
"Oh, really?" I ask, my voice monotonous. Now his crimson eyes slowly turn to look deep into mine.
"Yes," he says staring at me intensively. After a while I start feeling uncomfortable and turn my gaze elsewhere.
"I think we should concentrate on this task," I say in a lack of better ideas. Kai smirks briefly.
"Speak for yourself," he sounds slightly amused, "Last time I checked I'm the only one working," I restrain my urge to stick out my tongue at him and instead take a hold of Brooklyn's shoulders shaking him gently.
"Wake up, Brooklyn!" I command. They boy frowns and tries to shove my hands away, "I mean it!" I say a bit louder. Now one turquoise eye opens sleepily and looks at me.
"Who are you and what have you done to Rei Kon?" Brooklyn asks lifting one hand to hide a yawn that escapes from him, "Rei would have let me sleep," he closes his eye returning to his previous position. I chuckle at my friend.
"Well, I'm sorry, but the teacher is already looking at us so poisonously that we should really do something," I say, "which is reading these newspapers."
"I hate literature and I hate this course," Brooklyn complains against his shirt's sleeve.
"Come on, it's not that bad, really," I object, "In fact, I think this course is rather nice. I can't wait until we start creative writing."
"Yeah," the redhead snorts and finally lifts his upper body from the desk and stretches yawning, "very nice," he opens his newspaper and starts reading. I take a quick glance at Kai before following my red-haired friend's example.
-
A few hours later I am standing at the cafeteria and looking around. The whole cafeteria is filled with students and there are hardly any seats unoccupied. Just great. I can only imagine what kind of an idiot the guy, who designed this building, was. Simply because this cafeteria is ridiculously small. There never is enough room for all the students.
I let out a deep sigh and continue scanning the big room in a hope of finding a familiar face and an unoccupied seat close to it. Then I suddenly see it; my opportunity, everything I asked for. Well, at least almost. There is a small round table in a corner and there are actually three free seats. The familiar face close to the seats is the only thing that gives me cause to doubt. It's Kai. Only that is already a good reason why there are three free seats in that table. For some reason I am not surprised he hasn't found friends from here yet. He almost has an aura that says 'stay away' around him. But perhaps I could take this as my chance to get to know Kai better. If he doesn't bite my head off first, that is. The way he shouted at those men yesterday was very scary. I don't want to experience that.
Despite my uncertainty, I set a smile on my lips and walk to the table. Kai is writing in his notebook again and listening to music with headphones. I wave my hand in front of him, trying to get his attention. He looks up at me and slowly removes the headphones from his ears.
"Do you mind if I sit here?" I ask him, feeling slightly nervous. I like my head where it is! He stares at me for a while and then shrugs turning his attention back to his notebook.
"Do as you wish," he says indifferently. I take that as sitting is granted and mumble a 'thank you' and sit down across from him.
"So, what are you writing?" I ask trying to make a conversation, "Is it a diary?" Kai raises an eyebrow but doesn't lift his eyes from his notebook.
"No," he simply says. I don't expect him to say anything more so I open my mouth to speak, but he chooses to surprise me and continues, "It's a song."
"You write songs?" I ask intelligently, "Are you a musician as well?"
"I guess you could say that," my slate-haired companion mutters. Ah, I said he is interesting. Musicians are always interesting. Should I ask what kind of a musician he is? Will he think I'm an idiot if I do? Probably.
I give him a small smile and take a bite from my apple. I wish I could be a musician as well. I would play drums or keyboards. Singing would be fun too, I think. Someone once said I should sing. It must have been my friend Max. He always says what people want to hear, even sometimes when it's not true. But it's only because he's so nice. He doesn't want to hurt anyone and wants to see only the good features in everyone, even more than I do. I made it sound like he is a liar, but he's not. Actually, he is more honest than most people are.
I wish he wasn't just being nice when he said I should sing.
I let out a deep sigh and rest my chin on my palm, thoughtfully staring at nothing in particular. I know Kai is watching me from the corner of his eye. He has this strange silent way of observing people, so I've noticed by now. He pretends he's not interested, but still he is. The one who keeps their distance, but still knows it all. I wonder if he's like that?
A barely noticeable smile forms to my lips and he doesn't miss it. He raises an elegant eyebrow to ask a silent question without looking at me.
"Nothing," I say. At first, I think to stay silent, but then I change my mind, "How do you like being here, Kai?" Sure, it may not be the most ingenious question, but it will do. After all, my goal is to get to know him.
Kai shows his incredible use of words by shrugging. At moments like this, I can't help thinking, should I even try? Nevertheless, I'm determined to push that thought aside and try again. If the fish intends to take the bait then it will, sooner or later.
Maybe I should just ask about the music then. He seemed to be a bit more open about that topic. At least I hope so.
"So, umm… what kind of a musician you are then?" I ask.
"It depends," he says. I tilt my head a bit to the left.
"On what?"
"On what I want or what is required."
"Oh, so you're like," I think for a short moment, "multitalented?" At last, he lifts his crimson eyes from his notebook and looks straight into my amber ones. Congratulations Kon, the fish has taken the bait.
Just when Kai opens his mouth to speak I hear running steps approaching and almost immediately something blond dressed in bright green attacks the table I'm sharing with Kai who, by the way, has now closed his mouth and is currently staring at me questioningly. I ignore him and turn my head to my left where is now sitting a blond boy grinning triumphantly. I follow his eyes to my right where I see another boy panting heavily and holding a tray with huge amount of food in his hands.
"Ha! I won again, Takao!" the blond boy yells grinning more widely, "Already the second time today," the boy called Takao shakes his head slowly, "You're no match for me anymore…" the boy continues and throws a hinting look towards his friend's form.
"Wha-? With this perfect athlete's body?" Takao exaggerates a shocked expression.
The blond boy rolls his eyes, "My point exactly…"
"Hmph... it just wasn't a fair race," Takao objects sitting down between me and Kai, "My tray is heavier than yours, so it's only natural I can't run as fast as you can," The blond boy snorts and turns his attention to me, smiling brightly.
"Hi, Rei!"
"Uh, Hey, Max," I answer the smile and glance at Kai who is currently staring at Takao with disgust evident in his eyes. The mentioned navy-haired boy is stuffing food into his mouth with incredible speed and I can guarantee it's not a pretty sight. I let out a small sigh, "Kai, these are my friends Max Tate," I point at the blond who looks like he only now noticed the dual-haired teen sitting there, "and Takao Kinomiya," the said boy now offers his hand for Kai to shake it and mumbles some incomprehensible greetings with his mouth full of food. That is even less pretty sight than Takao eating, as I'm sure you can imagine, "Guys, this is Kai Hiwatari," I nod towards the boy sitting across from me.
"Hi!" Max yells also offering his hand to Kai, "Nice to meet you!" Kai takes the hand and squeezes it slightly muttering something that sounds suspiciously like 'Yeah, whatever', "So, you're new, right?" Max asks politely.
"Hn," comes Kai's cold reply as he puts his notebook into his black shoulder bag and stands up. Oh no! They scared off the fish.
"Are you leaving already?" I ask. He nods.
"I've got a meeting with a music teacher," he says before turning around and leaving.
"Wow," I hear Takao saying, "he seemed really nice and talkative," I can tell by the tone of his voice that he's not meaning it. I shoot him a warning glare.
"He actually might be, we don't know it yet," I say. Max nods in agreement and looks down to his plate.
"Takao?" he says slowly. The blue-haired boy looks at him innocent expression written on his face.
"Yes, Maxie?"
"Did you touch my food?" Takao blinks.
"Of course not!"
"Then why is my plate empty?" Max asks raising an eyebrow at his friend.
"Why do you always think it's me?" Takao whines and points at me with his index finger, "Maybe it was Rei," Max shakes his head, "Or that Hiwatari guy!" Now Max and I both break into laughter, "What? It's possible, you know. I'm not the root of all evil!"
"Sure you're not," I say chuckling and patting his head as if he was a child. He shoves my hand away and crosses his arms over his chest closing his brown eyes and hmph'ing. This causes a new laughing fit for Max and me.