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Rei's mouth fell agape, but with a quick "Yes, Rin-sempai!", he threw back on his school uniform and jogged out of the locker room to match Rin's pace. Once he cleared the doorway, Rin shut and locked it, returned the keys to the teacher's office, and-

walked away.

Wordless, and without looking back. The footsteps grew quieter and quieter. Rei stood there for a few minutes, unmoving, just staring ahead. When he was sure Rin was far ahead of him, he adjusted his glasses and made his way outside, hiding his slight limp as best as he could. He should have known better. What did he think would happen, anyway? When he felt many eyes upon him and heard whispers as he passed, he seized up with anxiety and embarrassment. Rei wasn't sure what he was expecting out of today, but he found a small corner of the school grounds and rooted himself there, pulling out a book to get lost in. This was all he could do from now on.

xx

"So, how was swim mentoring for the first years?" Seijuro asked, not really paying attention. Rin scoffed and bit angrily into his lunch, obviously annoyed. "Shit, all of them. Even that new guy, built like a swimmer but he'd be the first damn one to drown." Nitori looked up, quizzingly, and said, "The new first year with the glasses?"

"Yeah, is he in your class or something?"

Nitori waved his hands nervously and stuttered, "No, not in my class! But I did, um, hear some things about him."

Seijuro and Rin looked at each other, before Rin looked back at Nitori with a bored, raised eyebrow. "What, that he was a fucking nerd?"

Nitori seemed to get more and more fidgety. "N-No, that he was picking fights and, ah," Nitori looked away, "some students were saying that he needed to learn his lesson. I-I'm not sure what they meant by that, though."

Rin looked back at Seijuro for a few moments before sighing and standing up with a huff.

"So fucking lame" he grumbled to himself as he walked away from the lunch group, hands in his pockets.

xx

There were a handful more this time. Rei stood in the middle of the circle, slowly turning his head to look all the around at the students encasing him. The anger bubbling in his stomach told him to fight back, but the pain of his sore body and stress-ridden mind told him to take the first opportunity he could to run and avoid it, lest a teacher found them and called home.

"We're here to make up for the trouble you caused yesterday." The ringleader said smugly, arms crossed over his chest.

"You seem to be remembering it incorrectly." Rei glared back, "It was you who started the fight with me."

"That's not what you all heard, right?" The rest of the students snickered as the ringleader laughed and shrugged. "See? It's obvious to see who needs to be taught their lesson."

Rei slightly adjusted his stance, calculated to give him a little bit more leverage, but not enough to provoke a reaction just then. "No lunch, huh?" the other boy said as he scanned Rei. Taking his own lunch out of his bag, the fellow student walked slowly up to Rei until they were eye to eye, then proceeded to take the top off and dump the contents on Rei's head, food sliding down his hair, face, and staining his shirt. Rei stood white knuckled as the offender leered at him, and Rei knew that he was about to snap.

A firm grip was taken at his collar, and as the other boy wound up his arm to strike, Rei discretely made his own fist. The second the racing hand got close enough, he would block with one arm, and with the other, he would unleash hell. Rei's body jerked, his knuckles growing even whiter than before with his clenched fist-

Rei saw a flash as the other student was punched clean in the face, the force sending him practically through the air. One by one, each other students had their turn getting a punch to the jaw, a kick to the stomach, and as they ran off, the ringleader was personally grabbed by the back of the collar and thrown after them.

Turning back to look at the food covered underclassman, Rei made direct eye contact with Rin's sharp eyes and averted his gaze. Absolutely burning with the shame of being found a second time, covered in wet food, Rei found his body shaking uncontrollably with anger. Wordlessly, Rei picked his backpack off the ground and made a sharp pivot away from Rin when he felt a large, calloused hand grab his wrist. Instinctively, Rei shuddered and tried to rip his arm away, unsure if was fear of being hit, pain from his covered bruises being grabbed, or both, but Rin was a bit stronger and managed to pull Rei back and force Rei to face him.

"Fucking trouble everywhere you go!" Rin barked, exasperated, and dragged Rei to the closest bathroom. "Wash your jacket in the sink. There are dryers by the pool for towels and shit, if you hurry then it'll be partially dried by the time lunch is over. Rei followed the directions without a single word, trying to scrub as hard as he could with hand soap to get the stains out of the white uniform. Once Rin left with the soaking wet jacket, Rei washed his hair and face in the sink. The tattoo cover held fast to his skin, but perhaps to comfort himself, Rei made sure to apply just a little bit more.

Rei stood hunched over the sink and waited for what felt like hours. School at Iwatobi had been his escape from home, but if thing continued the way they had been going, there would be two hells for him. He thought about Makoto-sempai, Haruka-sempai, and Nagisa-kun, and how he would have to show up to swim practice every day and make up stories about how nice Samezuka was. What good would come out of telling them the truth? All it would do was worry them. His time with them was too precious to waste like that. It was the only time he had in the day to be happy, and God damn it all, he was going to be as happy as humanly possible.

His skin came in contact with a damp softness and he jerked back and looked up. Taking the half dried jacket from Rin, Rei murmured a "Thank you", and brushed past the older boy, walking back to class. A large hand grabbed him by the back of the neck and yanked him backwards.

"R-Rin-sempai, what are you-"

"Come on."

Rei stared warily and tried to turn again, but Rin walked in front of him and physically blocked the way.

"I said," Rin started, through clenched, razor pointed teeth, "come on."

After everything that had happened the past day, the past week, the past few year, everything, Rei wanted to yell that everything and everyone could just fuck off; but he didn't. Rei was too tired. Rei was absolutely exhausted. So he faltered, and let Rin lead him to the front gates of the school.

"Rin-sempai, the lunch period is about to end. What are we doing here?"

Another harsh look from Rin, another annoyed sigh, another raised eyebrow, and another hand wrapping around Rei's wrist and pulling him along.

"I said come on. We're skipping."