Nagisa made friends easily. He couldn't exactly claim that everyone loved him, or that he was particularly popular, but friendships came easily to him. He could talk to anyone about almost anything, for as long as his tragically diminutive attention span would allow.
That being said, Rei Ryugazaki was a mystery to him. Several weeks had passed since his meeting with Ryugazaki on the train, and although they were in the same class, they had exchanged no dialogue. Certainly Nagisa had offered several 'good mornings' to him, but each time he was met with not so much as a glance or a head-nod.
Ryugazaki wasn't quite as silent and withdrawn as Hibiki had originally made him out to be; he participated in class and was incredibly intelligent, (Nagisa had been imagining him to be the brooding type that hid himself away in the back of the class in a shroud of dark oppression, like in cartoons,) and he did speak to people, but it appeared to be only out of necessity.
At the end of every period, as the rest of the class paired off to chat or tap on their phones, Ryugazaki pulled out a book and Nagisa would see the bubble form a second layer. Only rarely did someone try and speak with him, but when they did, they were met with the same treatment Nagisa had received on the train, and then the interaction was over before it began. It really was amazing, watching it happen. Hibiki was right, though. Nagisa occasionally heard the girls swoon over his cold, stoic behavior, and Nagisa could only wonder when a trait like that had become such a desirable one.
They took the same train home every day after school, and got off at the same stop. From this, Nagisa could only assume that they lived close to one another, not that it mattered. Ryugazaki was every bit as reserved on the train as he was at school, so there was no sense in trying to talk to him. Even when the other people thinned out and they were the only Iwatobi students left, Ryugazaki wouldn't even lift his head until he was at his stop.
It was a rainy May afternoon when Nagisa had his second interaction with Ryugazaki.
Nagisa had not yet chosen a club. Hibiki had convinced him to give the tea ceremony club a try, although Nagisa was incredibly aware that Hibiki was only joining because one of the girls he fancied was the club leader. It was surprisingly fun although Nagisa had nearly broken a tea cup on two occasions, and because of this, he had quickly been demoted from 'host in training' to 'junior flower arranger'. Somehow, he had wasted two hours learning how to properly hang scrolls and arrange seasonal flowers, and all he had to show for it was a belly full of matcha and two papercuts.
It was just starting to sprinkle when he left school. By the time he reached the train station, it was downpouring. Nagisa was in a full sprint toward the station, stopping only when he was covered from the rain under the shelter beside the train tracks. Hands anchored on his knees, Nagisa fought to catch his breath, swiping some wet hair from his eyes.
When he had composed himself, he was surprised to see Ryugazaki standing several feet away. He appeared to have also gotten caught in the rain, his hair and shoulders damp as he busily wiped his glasses on the hem of his track shirt. Nagisa was sufficiently surprised that Ryugazaki had joined any kind of club; he assumed that clubs existed primarily for social interactions, and it was an understatement to say that being social was not Ryugazaki's strong suit.
Against his better judgement, Nagisa casually moved closer. Ryugazaki didn't seem to notice, or at least he didn't seem to care, so Nagisa shimmied closer still until he was just outside the bubble. He cleared his throat, and this was when Ryugazaki showed the first signs of annoyance.
"This rain, huh?" Nagisa said, feeling distinctly too young to be chatting idly about the weather. "You got caught in it without an umbrella too, Ryugazaki-kun? I didn't know it was going to rain, or I would have-"
Ryugazaki sighed. "I believe I asked you politely before not to speak to me. Nothing has changed since I made that request, so I hope you can continue to honor it."
It didn't seem polite, not then and certainly not now, Nagisa thought. If this was polite for this guy, Nagisa shuddered to think what he was like when he was rude.
"Listen," Nagisa inserted, trying his best to be understanding, "I get it, you don't like me. That's okay, you don't have to like me. But we are in the same class, so I think it would be nice if we could at least get along?"
"There's no reason for us to get along. We don't even sit near each other." Ryugazaki was alarmingly good at not making the slightest bit of eye contact when he spoke with someone. To the discerning eye it might seem like this was a superior behavior, as if he viewed everyone beneath him and not worthy of looking at, but Nagisa tended to try and look at things more optimistically. Maybe he was so incredibly socially awkward that eye contact made him queasy?
"You can't make friends with that kind of attitude," Nagisa pointed out with a friendly grin. His elbow was dangerously close to touching the outer lining of Ryugazaki's personal bubble, but this was corrected when the other boy took a calculated step away from Nagisa.
"Friends are not necessary."
Nagisa couldn't suppress a giggle. "What are you, a robot? Everyone needs friends! I mean, what everyone says about you can't be completely true." Shit. Well, so much for subtlety.
Ryugazaki turned and fully regarded Nagisa for the first time. Nagisa finally got a chance to look at his face, really look at it, and (oh no, crap crap crap) he was so classically handsome that Nagisa nearly forgot that he had most definitely just offended him. His features were sharp but beautifully drawn together in an arrangement that was probably one-hundred times more lovely when he wasn't scowling. His jaw was strong but didn't distract from the curve of his face that lead to a full mouth that looked criminally soft and inviting. The red frames of his glasses brought attention to his eyes, which were the most lovely shade of deep purple that Nagisa had ever seen.
"And what does everyone say about me?" Ryugazaki said, breaking Nagisa from his inappropriate reverie with a painful abruptness.
"Oh, wha-? Um. Well…" Nagisa fidgeted with his tie, pretending to wring water from it although barely a droplet appeared. "You know people, they just talk about all kinds of weird stuff. I sort of heard that you don't have a lot of friends because of a jinx or something." He spoke the last words so quickly they nearly melded into one word. He laughed nervously. "Stupid stuff, really."
Ryugazaki was stonily silent. He glanced away finally, mouth set in a frown. "Don't speak to me again." he said, dangerously close to a warning, and Nagisa opened his mouth to object as he watched Ryugazaki jog out into the pouring rain and disappear along the tracks.
Later, Nagisa saw Ryugazaki from the window, still jogging and absolutely drenched. He watched him until the train had sped so far past him that he was only a dot on the darkening horizon.