He gave the thought of not going to school about ten seconds' worth of consideration, and then sighed and admitted to himself that the idea was pussying out of what he had to do. He wondered idly if he'd get into a fight – he certainly wouldn't say no to one; while he didn't necessarily always want to be punching another guy in the face, there was something about it that he really loved. Something primal, instinctual, and almost sexual.

This was maybe where his problems had started.

He ignored Yutaka's texts – they had come all yesterday, Yutaka wondering where he was, if he wanted to talk, or hang out, or forget it all. Shinji had ignored all of them. It was weird, but he was pretty sure that Yutaka Seto wasn't going to be able to make him feel better this time. The only thing that would make him feel better was… well, nothing, probably, but he wouldn't say no to a cup of coffee.

He finished it on the way, tossing it at a garbage can and not bothering to stick around to see if he'd made it. He had, of course – he was Shinji Mimura, and he didn't miss a shot, even when he was feeling weird and was pretty sure that his hair was only spiked to half-perfection and had his shirt buttoned one button off.

But, hell, it made him look hot.

He didn't really listen during class, figuring that he could get everything from someone else later. It wasn't like he was a phenomenal student, even though he was fairly certain that he was a certifiable genius, but you didn't really need to be good at schoolwork if you were Shinji Mimura. He didn't sweat it. He passed, and that was all that mattered.

He didn't really talk to anyone during the entire day – he was pretty sure that Shuuya had tried at one point, but considering that Shuuya was the root of all of his problems, Shinji brushed him off. Stared out the window, tapped out codes on the desk with his fingers. Eventually Shuuya must have given up, because even when the two of them headed to basketball practice together, he didn't say anything other than 'that girl's cute, huh?' or 'Yutaka fell into a trash can this morning.'

Okay, that one actually sounded entertaining. Maybe that'd make him feel more like himself.

"Hold up," Shinji said, holding out his hand. "Yutaka what? How do you accidentally do that?"

Shuuya grinned. "Glad to see you back with the living," he said. "He was walking backwards, talking to me and Nobu about whatever it is he talks about, and he fell backward into a trashcan that someone had pushed out into the walkway for whatever reason."

"Nice to see he has such good friends to warn him," Shinji said, and Shuuya snorted.

"Oh, like you would've warned him if you'd been there," Shuuya said, and there was almost an accusatory tone to his words. Shinji managed a grimace. "Seriously, man, you've been sort of MIA-"

"And you're wondering why? You know, Chisato came by, after you guys left. Apparently he sent it to all of them. Hell if I know how he had all of their numbers – even I don't, some by choice, some by 'Sugimura won't give me Chigusa's' – but if he got it to her… he got it to everyone."

"But we've got different classmates now," Shuuya pointed out, and Shinji grimaced. "I mean, it's not like we're still with them all the time."

"True," he said. "But I don't want to live with the fact that people like Keito Iijima have seen that."

"What do you have against the guy, anyway?" Shuuya asked. "Every time you mention his name you almost hiss it. Like he's the devil or something."

"He's a coward," Shinji said, leaving it at that. "Don't like him."

They didn't talk again that day. Shinji hung back after practice – for some reason he'd missed about half of his shots, and eventually Tanaka just shook his head and headed in, leaving Shinji to continue shooting from the same spot on the three-point line, watching the ball bounce off of the rim each and every time. He had, however, managed to find the right trajectory for it to bounce straight back toward him, so it had turned into him chucking the ball at the rim, catching it, and going again. He did this for a solid twenty minutes when he heard the gym door open.

He didn't bother glancing back. It was someone like Tanaka or Mizushima, telling him to hurry it up and leave, so he'd just continue shooting until that happened. It didn't, though, so he frowned and glanced back.

It was Mitsuru Numai.

He blinked a few times, ducked the incoming basketball from the rim, and crossed the gym toward him. "You don't go to school here," he said, his voice flat, and Numai nodded. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Got a picture from Tsukioka the other day," Numai said. He pulled out his phone.

"I don't need to see it," Shinji said. "I was there."

"Damn right you were," Numai said. He stretched, arching his back like a cat, and Shinji averted his eyes. "I asked Boss where I could find you. He said probably here, and he was right."

"Why do you want to find me?" Shinji said, quirking an eyebrow. "I don't plan on sleeping my way through Kiriyama's lackeys, actually. Tsukioka was an accident – and I didn't actually sleep with him, by the way."

"I don't care what you do with Tsukioka," Numai said. He grabbed Shinji by the collar and brought him close. "But you stay away from him. I hear you've done anything to him-"

"Chill," Shinji said, shoving Numai away and ignoring the flicker in the back of his mind that mentioned that he'd been admiring Kiriyama's looks for the past few weeks. "I'm not after Kiriyama. And like I said, Tsukioka was an accident. I like to save Little Shinji for the ladies."

Numai snorted. "Sure," he said. He cracked his knuckles, little pops like firecrackers. "But I told Boss to tell me if you do anything. And you know, you might have a little training when it comes to fighting, but I'm sure your little friend doesn't."

With that, Numai turned and left, and Shinji was left to contemplate his words. Though it wasn't even necessary; he hadn't planned on doing anything with Kazuo Kiriyama. Either way, it was douchey of him to threaten Yutaka – because what he'd said was true. Shinji wasn't so delusional to think he'd get out of a fight with the entire Kiriyama gang or even Numai unscathed, but he could put up a fight, and probably even beat Numai. But Yutaka… after pissing on people bigger than him, he didn't really have anything else in his arsenal.

He'd tell Yutaka to watch out, and pointedly not look at Kiriyama ever again. Good plan, Mimura – plan to ignore another guy you've had feeling in your dick for, all while convincing yourself that your crush on Shuuya Nanahara will go away. Abso-fucking-lutely brilliant.

So, I re-read Battle Royale. Noticed I had this unfinished chapter on my computer. Decided, what the hell, I'll add on another thousand and post it, because Shinji Mimura's head is the most fun head to write.