Author's Note: This chapter's a bit longer than the other's. I'm introducing more of the main cast. I don't have a specific time set up, so this may actually be a bit AU in the aspect that Strega are around. It's pre-summer break, I believe. Whatever. Enjoy.
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"Hidetoshi." I heard my name and glanced up from the papers I was stacking. A tall, beautiful girl stood before me, her arms crossed over a book she had in her arms. There was nothing shy or timid in her demeanor, and she seemed to command attention and respect. Her eyes were carefully guarded and gentle, and it struck a bit of a soft chord in me. I was fascinated by how dominate she was, but never had a say a single word to get that across. I usually had to do more than stand with my own arms crossed to call attention to myself.
Maybe that was because I didn't have gorgeous red hair or breasts.
I bowed quickly in greeting, and then leaned back, folding my arms over my chest. "What is it, Kirijo-san?" The young lady briefly brushed away her bangs, before she gave me a bit of a look. I was so curious what was on her mind…It made my frown deepen a bit. Finally, she pulled a paper from the book she was carrying. She held it out to me expectantly.
I eyed it suspiciously. "What is that, Kirijo-san?"
"The Student Council will be the leaders in the upcoming project, Odagiri-san, if you recall. You are to be in charge of setting up the rules for the occasion. It would be a shame if lawlessness ruined our Sports Competition day," Mitsuru Kirijo replied, her voice completely pitched in the tones of 'know-it-all' and 'collection'. I smirked, impressed. She never failed to impress me when we spoke.
"Arigatou, Kirijo-san," I said, bowing again. She rolled her eyes, a small smile appearing on her calm face. It was surprising, but I gave her one of my short smile-like smirks. I don't recall ever directly smiling to anyone, but I could create something similar when my lips pulled one way. I glanced briefly over the paper, and then huffed a bit. "Why do we have a Sports Competition day?"
"It was what was voted on by the students a while back."
"Ah. I recall," I said, thinking back a bit. I glanced to my watch briefly, and her head tilted inquisitively. I replied before she could ask. "I need to go catch some bullies. My source says they make appearances at about six in the afternoon, but only for a minute or so. I've been late the last few days." I should've gone then, but Mitsuru suddenly looked aside for a moment, an unusually unfocused look passing through her eyes. Curiosity got the better of me, so I gave her a small frown. "What is on your mind, Kirijo-san?"
For a moment, she didn't seem to hear me. Then, without warning, she moved forward. I took a step back in surprise as she came around the desk that separated us. I unfolded my arms, feeling unbalanced moving with them crossed. She paused when we were barely two feet from each other. I got really nervous very suddenly. I was about to spit out what I'd heard from Minato last Sunday, worried that this was an attempt on my life--I mean, to try and ask me out. I should've thought more wisely about the daughter of the Kirijo Company.
"You are to stop sticking your nose into bad business, Odagiri-san," she said, her eyes steely when they turned upon me. It made me blink twice. Her fingers tightened around her book. "Your bullies are no regular punks. I will assume full responsibility for them and make them my own problem. That was what I really came to say. That is an order from the president of this council, Hidetoshi." Then, as quick as that storm had come, it had vanished. Mitsuru moved out of the room with swift determination. I stayed there, frozen up in sheer surprise. Shocked by the removal of my after school responsibility, I tightened my slack jaw and bitterly moved back to my desk.
After packing up, I left school in a hurry, insulted by her words and indignant at having my case taken from me. And worst of all, my respect for Mitsuru receded a bit. She had never intervened before, not even when I was dangerously close to having myself thrown off of the Council. She told everyone at the beginning of her presidency that if we got ourselves into trouble, she was not going to save our hides. So why now was she getting in my way and stopping me from stalking those bullies? I needed to teach them a lesson, or find out for sure that they were bullies. Mitsuru had just proved that to be true, but now I was even more curious.
Just why had she stood up and taken the responsibility? Was this a personal matter for her as well? Well--actually, that almost made sense. Minato and she apparently had kissed, so maybe they were actually dating. Then it would make sense why the Student Council president would intervene, but it was still oddly uncharacteristic of the girl.
"Hidetoshi-kun! S'up dude?" came the obnoxious voice I didn't want to hear. I glanced over my shoulder. By this point, I was just passing through the main gates while Junpei was stumbling down the steps leading up to the school. He rushed to greet me, a wide and stupid grin on his face. He slapped my back, which raised my anger levels by twenty points. "Hey, Minato asked that you drop by later. He was sick again today, because he's been working out really hard lately. I tell him to slow down, but hey--the kid's got a brick for a brain. I'm way smarter than him in everything, you know!" Junpei sighed, shrugging and shaking his head.
"I think he's the smartest kid in your class, isn't he?" I replied in Minato's defense, clearly agitated by this moron's presence.
"Dude, you are no fun," Junpei said, pouting like a child. "You're so uptight, Hide-kun!"
"Do not call me that," I snapped, voice turning vicious. "Or I will make your life a living hell." That would be the best day of my life. I hated this kid. I hated him because of his easy-going lifestyle and slacker qualities. His blatant disrespect for the dress code would some day come back to haunt him, and I would so love to be there the day that that would happen. Junpei laughed, holding up his hands, and then shouldered his bag better.
"Anyway, dude, I'll take you to the dorm. You don't mind, right? Minato doesn't invite many people over, so perhaps your stupid uptight-ness appeals to him," the blue-capped male sighed, shrugging again. Unwillingly, I followed Junpei to the Port Island station. I paused, telling him to hold a moment while I went to glance behind the station. The reek of pot filled my nose and I could practically taste the alcohol it was mixed with. I hated that place more than anything in the world.
I caught sight of a few punks, a horny couple making out passionately between drags of their joints, two people just standing, as well as a tall, white-haired male who was thinner than a rail. Was this the guy? Was this the guy my source had called me about? A slap on my back made me turn away, only for a moment, but when I gazed back, the male was gone. I rounded on Junpei, but before I could snarl at him, he jerked his thumb to the monorail.
"The thing's leaving, dude. We got to go," he said, his eyes momentarily darting past my shoulder. "What're you looking for? Oh, jeez. Look at them go. If we wait long enough--"
I had already dragged him onto the train before he could finish his thought.
That guy was creepy. I hadn't seem him for long, but something about him didn't say 'bully'. My stomach screamed 'murderer' instead. It was a judgment based on no proof, but my gut instincts weren't usually wrong. What surprised me more was that he had not been wearing a shirt to cover his ghostly and haunting appearance. His flesh had been pulled tighter than leather on a drum across his ribs and the slope of his stomach was generally concave. His arms were stick-like and the bones jutted out more than handlebars on a bike. His hair, though a soft shade of white, was long and unhealthy looking. It draped the sides of his face, which I had not caught a further glance of.
Junpei guided me to the dorm from the Iwatodai station, passing several people who he seemed to know. He greeted them all respectively, until he rushed up to a boxer hanging around on the steps leading up to a dorm. I hung back, uncomfortable as hell being brought all the way out here. I knew who the boxer was--he was Akihiko Sanada, a male in his senior year and was extremely popular with the ladies. The male glanced up as Junpei approached and he chuckled.
"Where have you been?" he asked, and Junpei jerked his thumb to me.
"Minato asked for him. You two met?"
"Not formally," I said, approaching, and I held out my hand. "Hidetoshi Odagiri. And you are Sanada-san, correct?"
"Indeed," the-silver haired male stated, giving me a firm handshake in return. I always appreciated good handshakes. "Minato's inside. He's having some dinner, I think. He was talking with Yukari last I checked. Thanks for dropping by, Hidetoshi-san. Junpei, before you head in for the night, drop by the police station. You're falling behind us."
"Fine," Junpei sighed, looking as though he'd been eager to return home. He waved at us, then turned on his heels and rushed off to catch a monorail back. I watched him, nodded my head at Akihiko, and then moved into the dorm. Instantly, a wave of coziness and comfort washed over me. A scented candle was lit on the main desk, a green-haired girl standing over it and watching the fire with interest. She glanced up to me briefly, and then quickly looked back down.
I rolled my eyes, moving forward a bit, my arms crossing over my chest. I inched my way around until I could see past the divider that separated the dining table from the main part of the room. There, I could see that blue-haired male eating some instant ramen, but he didn't look particularly hungry for it. Across from him sat Miss Yukari Takeba: a kind, popular brunette who had a strong affinity for pink and snapping at people who displeased her. She was another one of those anonymous people who I knew, but didn't really care about them. They were just another face in the sea of students I saw every day, and I had no reason to seek them out from the crowd.
"So, you asked for me?" I said more snidely than I'd meant to. I had a hard time using my tone correctly when trying to be friendly. I was trying to become more kind, more open, but Rome wasn't built in a day. I needed some time to change and fix myself as Minato had taught me to. I would become a generally kinder and more merciful person, but I would do it steadily.
The male glanced up when he heard his voice, and for a moment, he looked guilty. I winced, quickly apologizing for my attitude. His gray eyes lightened a bit, and he stood. After throwing away his half full ramen cup, he gestured upstairs.
"Hey, we're talking!" Yukari suddenly snapped. I had a feeling that we would not be good friends right from the get-go. "Minato, about tonight--I can't patch you up. I need to study and sleep; we have a test in my class. Will you be okay another night?" My eyebrow quirked, and though I was pretending to merely be moving for the staircase, I was listening very intently. "Please, keep it clean until I can. It's going to scar if you don't."
The other nodded, and he sided me. We walked up the staircase together, and then sat at the table and stools set up there. It was more private up here--it was the landing of the boys' floor, and I was actually pretty comfortable. There was a vending machine against the wall that carried rip-off brands of pop and energy drinks, a small decoration set up in the corner, and warm-colored furnishings. It was much friendlier than the ramen bar could ever be.
"I want…to be pulled from the Sports day," Minato said very suddenly. He didn't beat around the bush--ever. I enjoyed that very much about him. It was so hard these days to get a blunt statement from anyone. "Kazushi will be let down, but…"
I didn't force him to continue. "Don't worry about it. I can take care of that for you, Minato-kun. Is that all?" I added, hoping very much so that it wasn't. Thankfully, my hopes were correct. The other male shook his head, looking off to the side nervously.
"…Don't…tell Kenji or Junpei about this wound," he finally stated, getting up. I almost did so myself, a little alarmed. "They know of it, but haven't seen it. I've been swimming with a shirt on, so Kazushi doesn't either. You wanted to see, correct?" He spoke a lot, and in a very soft and hard-to-hear voice. I nodded a bit stupidly, not able to mentally catch up. He was about to show what I needed to see! I was going to know! I was excited!
Minato rolled up his shirt and pulled back a few layers of bandages, shutting his eyes in disgust, and turned his head away. Across his stomach was a horrendously deep, horrendously angry, and horrendously large cut. It wasn't a regular cut--not like a knife or a scalpel, or even a saw. It was angled, like the skin had been cut out in a slab. What it looked like was an animal scratch, except that the animal that had 'scratched' him had done so with claws four times bigger than anything I'd ever seen. It was raw, but looked very tender. It would scar in the most awful of ways. It'd leave a single scar, but the most deep and angry I'd ever seen.
The viewing was short, and I didn't have the time to look beyond the mar upon his body. I hadn't noticed his beautiful soft and pale skin, or his strong but slim and gentle looking body. I knew I'd never get a second chance to either.
"What did that to you?" I asked him, voice a little shaken from the sight. "That can't have come from a fall. Not unless you fell into a bear's cage at the zoo." I wasn't surprised when he didn't answer. "Was it a bully, Minato? Was it…" I hesitated. Mitsuru shared the dorm with Minato. If she heard what I was about to ask, I would get into trouble. But never before had I let threats or interferences get in my way, so why would I stop now? "Was it that pale, underweight man who lurks behind Port Island station?"
Minato only met my eyes for a second. It was only for one mere second before he stood up and cast his gaze aside. "I think you need to go home, Hidetoshi."