It all happened in the blink of an eye, but what had just happened was undeniable. There was no way around it. No excuses. No alibis. Nothing.
Kashima had just punched someone in the face.
Not the greatest way to end one's day, but it had to be done. There are some actions that are necessary, actions that must be taken. This, Kashima believes in strongly. It wasn't anything drastic, really—just some mild physical contact between a classmate's face and her fist . Sure, he bled a little bit , but that's normal, right? The kid just not a nosebleed, and Kashima may or may not have broken a finger. He did also punch her back, though. Fair trade.
Kashima huffs before sharply inhaling as gauze and bandages are applied to her face. "Ow, that hurt!"
"That hurt?! Maybe you should've thought about that before you punched one of our actors in the face!" Hori hisses before carefully rubbing alcohol on her hand and wrapping a compress wrap around her bruised knuckles.
"So?" he asks, raising a brow and almost wanting to sock Kashima in the face after seeing her countenance shift to one of incredulity.
"What?"
Hori groans in frustration, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Why did you do it?"
"Punch him in the face?"
"Does it look like I'm asking you about anything other than that incident?"
Kashima averts her narrowed eyes from him, and if Hori's eyes aren't deceiving him, there's something which he can only describe as seething rage in her bright green eyes.
"He... insulted you and questioned your authority. 'Why is he our president when he doesn't even act?' he said. He also called you short and implied that you were a bad actor when he's never even seen you on stage before!"
"Kashima... that's why you punched him in the face?!"
She slowly nods in response and refuses to speak.
"You... You idiot! Do you think that I care if anyone insults me? The answer, in case you were wondering, is hell no. Now you know what Icare about?! Your well-being."
"It's okay, senpai, really. These injuries will heal in time for opening night—"
"You are a colossal idiot. You think I'm worried about the show right now? I'm worried about you. You get in a physical fight, come up to me from out of seemingly nowhere when we don't even have club activities today bleedingand tell me, 'Don't worry, senpai! I've defended your honor!' before passing out! And you have the gall to think that I'm worried about the show?!"
"H-Hori-senpai, I didn't mean—"
"God dammit, Kashima, you fucking scared me!" He slumps over in his chair and rests his forehead in his hands before getting up and sitting next to Kashima on the bed instead. "You were bleeding and passed out, and I started to panic so I picked you up and ran to the clinic as fast as I could! Your hand was bleeding and super bruised, and one of your fingers just looked off, and your face. Your face was bleeding and bruised and was starting to turn kinda white, and you passed out."
Kashima opens her mouth to speak but nothing audible comes out when their eyes meet and she sees nothing but genuine worry and concern etched into his visage. She swallows the lump in her throat. "I'm... sorry."
"You better be," he says, tightly gripping her arm, and she almost thinks that, for some reason, he's about to fling her all the way across the room, but she's terribly mistaken because if her eyes aren't failing her like her hand is now, he is crying. Her one and only Hori Masayuki, her everything, is crying because of her. "You fucking scared me!"
His grip on her arm tightens, and she believes that his hands are shaking. It kind of hurts, but Kashima can't even bring herself to care about the pain right now. Instead, she gently places her hand over his, the one clenched tightly around her arm, and carefully motions for him to let go. It takes a while, but when he does, she clasps it between her hands, broken fingers and all, and rests her forehead against his.
"I'm okay, Hori-senpai."
"I know that, but still."
She scoots closer to him so that their knees and thighs are touching and wraps him into a hug, allowing his head to rest in the crook of her neck. Something finally clicks, and now he's sobbing . His breath is shaky against her ear, and his tears are drenching her shoulder, but she couldn't care less. She runs her not-so-injured hand through his hair in an attempt to soothe him.
"You're a fucking idiot, you know that?!" he chokes out between sobs. "Never ever scare me like that again!"
"I understand, senpai."
And they sit there like that until the sun sets, his hands clenching and pulling against the back of her sweater vest, shaky breaths hot against her neck, until his sobs slowly begin to subside. When he's strong enough to finally lift his head, his eyes are bloodshot, but Kashima doesn't care because she never knew it was possible for someone to look so beautiful after crying. She wipes a tear from his face, similar to how she would with one of her many princesses, and caresses his face with her non-broken hand before giving him a chaste kiss on the lips, which ignites something within the two of them.
Despite the fact that Hori had been bawling for a solid half hour earlier, he still manages to smirk. "You call that an apology?"
"My, my, senpai. Was that not enough?"
"Shut up, Kashima. I'm expecting something better than that once you get out of this goddamn forsaken room."
And he gets up and leaves, no longer caring that his eyes are bloodshot, waving back at Kashima before sliding the door shut.
Kashima recovers in record time, and the first thing she does when she returns to school is sweep Hori off his feet (literally and figuratively) before he attempts to fling her all the way out the window and across the courtyard. It appears that he has returned to his normal, angry and in-denial self, but Kashima knows better because when he waits for her at the school gate, she knows that something is different now because now, he can take her hand without fear of hurting broken fingers and rubbing against bruises.
"So, you expecting a better apology from me any time soon, or?"
"Nah, this is good enough for me," he replies with a smile.
She kisses him anyways.