Kamui glanced across the classroom to where Corrin was sitting (separated again as always even though she didn't look like him anymore). There was a boy there. It was the same boy as always, the one who was there with her brother all the time, the one that Corrin really didn't want to talk about. She tried not to look like she was staring as she sized him up. He looked like he was a little taller than Corrin and he was definitely broader, which was worrying. She hoped Corrin wasn't being bullied by him. His skin was fairly dark and his hair was- wait, was he wearing an eye patch?
Kamui forced herself to stop staring as the teacher came into the room. She'd ask Corrin about the boy later, again. She hadn't been able to see what they'd been talking about, and the boy's back had been to her for most of the conversation, shielding Corrin from view, so she couldn't tell how Corrin was responding to the conversation, either. She was worried because she kept seeing Corrin walking away from him every single time she got into the area where they were talking.
She sighed and just tried to concentrate on the lesson. Maths was easy and she could do it with very little effort, but if she kept thinking about this she would never get anything done. The boy who was intimidating her brother would have to wait for the punch in the face (maybe she'd make it a punch in his working eye for good measure).
"Hey, Azura, do you know who that boy with the eye patch is?" She asked her best friend that break time, looking across the playground to see Corrin with the boy yet again, this time accompanied by one of the Nohr boys (Leon? She never remembered all their names correctly).
Azura followed her glance and laughed in response. "Who, Niles?" She started laughing even harder. "Let me guess. He kissed you?"
Kamui spluttered and felt her face start to heat up. Why was Corrin spending time with a boy who did that kind of thing? He wasn't like that. In fact, she was pretty sure that Corrin was just as gay as she was. And that was something that really didn't bear thinking about when she was near Azura. Corrin would never be disrespectful to a girl or a boy in that way and he definitely wouldn't condone one of his friends doing it either. "No, no!" She shot another worried glance at Corrin. "He's been talking to Corrin a lot but every time I go up to him while he's there, he just disappears!"
"He stands next to Corrin in choir practice," Azura said, giggling. "He's new, a bass. He asked to be put there so people stopped accusing him of touching their butts, but I think he was actually doing it." That worried her even more. Was Niles forcing his presence on Corrin? Was he being rude? He sounded like a thoroughly crude person. That did it. She was going to find out why he was talking to her brother today and she'd kick him in the balls if it was anything sinister.
"Corrin!" She ran up behind her brother, who had walked off without her and gone with this new pervert friend of his. "Who's your new friend?" She knew exactly who he was, and he definitely wasn't the kind of person Corrin would make friends with. She'd asked a handful of people who this Niles person was and what he was like. They all gave the same frankly disturbing answer, that he was sexual, that he didn't talk to people nicely, and one person said he was a legitimate sadist.
Corrin jumped as she put a hand on his shoulder. "Oh, hi Kamui! I didn't know you were there." Lies. She'd been standing exactly where she stood at the end of every other day to walk home with Corrin, he'd just chosen not to look over at her, knowing she'd be there and that if he saw her he'd really have no excuse. "This is Niles," he said, indicating the boy who, on closer inspection, was just muscular enough in his upper body that he could be easily intimidating without looking like a thug.
"Oh, Corrin, is this your sister?" His voice made her skin crawl and when he smiled she wanted to punch him in the tooth in the front that was already chipped. Hopefully it had hurt when that happened. He was a lecherous creep and he didn't deserve to be anywhere near Corrin. "It's nice to know there are two of you."
Corrin laughed, and Kamui looked at him in disbelief. She couldn't believe that Corrin would laugh at something like that. "Stop, Niles, you're giving her a bad first impression."
"Damn right he is," she said. "I don't know what you want, but stop creeping on my brother. And me." She was ready to punch him if he refused.
"Kamui!" Corrin sounded…upset. He probably hadn't known what he was getting into. She'd always told him that not everyone was as nice and polite as he was. "Niles is my- my friend!"
And now she didn't know what to do. She'd expected that after she confronted Niles, Corrin would be glad. She'd hoped that he'd tell that creep to leave him alone and then they'd go home together and then they'd email Mr Ford and ask him to move Corrin away from Niles during the choir practises. That was her plan, in the short term. She hadn't even considered that Corrin didn't find Niles as creepy as he actually was.
She huffed and walked away, shooting Niles a glare that she hoped properly communicated her feelings of loathing.
"Kamui?" It was Corrin's voice, accompanied by a knock on the door. "Can I come in?"
She sighed. Corrin probably wanted her to apologise for insulting his new best friend or something. She wasn't going to. She'd offer to punch him, though, if Corrin had changed his mind. What if after she'd left, Niles had been rude? What if he'd gone too far and it was just because she'd left? The thought made her blood boil. "You can."
Corrin came in and it looked like he had been crying. The urge to punch Niles in his smug little face filled her again. "Kamui I think I need to tell you something," he said, and he bit his lip.
"You can tell me anything," she said. She knew they'd just had an argument of sorts, but they were still meant to be close. They'd been close forever.
"I think I like Niles," he said. "As in, like like. I like him and not just as a friend like I said, he's really…" He trailed off and just shrugged.
Kamui wasn't sure if she should feel angry or upset or sorry or anything. It was harder to know what to do now than it had been earlier. Now it was so much more complicated because she hated Niles. She hated him, and he was clearly terrible for Corrin, but Corrin liked him. She couldn't just tell him he wasn't allowed to be with him. She couldn't. That would be wrong, even if Niles was a piece of shit. "Do you think he likes you?" She asked.
Corrin nodded. "He's been flirting with me but honestly Kamui he's really nice, please give him a chance." It was like he was asking her for permission, and she really wanted to tell him what other people had told her about Niles, but she couldn't.
"I'll give him a chance," she said, and Corrin's face lit up. "But if he steps out of line for even a second, I'll chip the rest of his teeth."
