A/N: As I said before each chapter features a random moment with the boys and one of their crazy plans. Although in this one the plan was not that crazy. Again, this is a distraction piece so next update will revolve around my need for "slightly more grown-up musings".
Warning: This may be offensive to some people. No disrespect is intended. Also, keep in mind this is strongly based on the manga with a bit of flirting with the drama. If you haven't read the manga you might not understand the part about Miura-sensei, but (hopefully) you won't be totally lost.
Disclaimer: Gokusen isn't mine but this story is
Rumors
...On the rooftop
"I met the most beautiful girl at the market yesterday", said Ucchi with glazed eyes.
"Uh huh... That makes how many most beautiful girls?", asked Noda sarcastically
"I think ten this past week", said Kuma mentally counting while eating some cracker jacks.
"Yeah. You know there can only be one holding that title, not ten." Minami said raising an index finger to illustrate his point.
"You fucking idiots! If you don't shuddup I won't tell ya the best part!"
"Fine. Fine" The three said in unison.
"She agreed to go out with me on Friday if I bring some of my friends to entertain her friends. Here, I printed the pictures I took of 'em with my cell."
"Girls!", said Minami while he passed the pictures around.
"Count me in!" Kuma managed to say between mouthfuls.
"Alright!" Noda grabbed a picture. It wasn't until the fourth picture was passed around that a thought crossed Noda. "What about Shin? Do you think he'll come?"
They all thought for a second.
"Nah! He won't come."
"Why not?" A female voice was heard.
"Geez, doncha remember?" Noda said engrossed in the picture he had in his hand.
"Yea, the one time he went on a date he was not very happy and the girl was a bit dangerous", said Kuma looking at another picture while grabbing a handful of cracker jacks.
"I see... Well that's not good", replied the female voice while grabbing some cracker jacks from Kuma's box.
At this point the boys froze on the spot as they became aware of the intrusion. Only Ucchi failed to register that the female voice did not belong to the group.
"Besides Shin likes..." Ucchi was interrupted by an elbow that landed hard on his stomach
"Ugh! Why did ya do that for?" Ucchi demanded. Minami pointed at the intruder.
"Shin likes who, Ucchi?" Yankumi asked with interest.
'Shit! Shit! Shit! What to say? What to say? Don't say her name. Don't say her name.' And at that moment he just said the 1st thing that came to his head.
"g-g-guys?!" said Ucchi only aware that at least he did not say Yankumi's name. The three boys were nonplussed by Ucchi's idiotic reply.
"Nani?" They managed to mumble in unison.
"Are you sure? I mean, if that girl was dangerous..." Yankumi trailed off. The memory of a busty girl gaily tiptoed through her mind. That was the time she bumped into him at Tanukibara's Kumichou's sucession ceremony.
"But we've never seen him with another girl...", she said. She remembered she was a bit surprised to see him there on a date. What was even worse was when she told him she would not allow it. 'What was I thinking?... Why was I so upset?'
The four boys silently watched as she mentally wrangled with herself.
Biting her lower lip, she shook her head as if to erase the event from her memory. She had been ready to punch him out for being on a date. "Tch" She chastised herself.
"Still, I've never seen him looking at a guy with any interest either." She said more to herself than anyone else. She paced around the rooftop. Her right arm folded under her left one while her left hand propped her chin up in contemplative thought. All the while Minami, Noda and Kuma just glared at Ucchi.
"Ucchi don't know what he's talkin' 'bout. Ain't that right?" Noda said.
"Yah", said Kuma. After which he mouthed to Ucchi, "Fix this before it gets out of hand"
"Uh, er... yeah... I might be wrong." He fidgeted. "You know what? You're right Yankumi. He's never shown interest in guys either. Maybe he is just not grown up and mature like us to be interested in anyone." He pointed at himself and his three friends who covered their backpedalling friend's ass with three idiotic grins. This, of course, only worked to their disadvantage as it reminded Yankumi of the kumi when they were hiding something.
She cocked a dubious eyebrow at the four boys. This caused Minami to slap Ucchi's head. Shin was going to kill them for sure. If it had been any other woman, Shin would not have cared but to say this to Yankumi was out of the question.
"Hey guys!" Shin said as he entered the rooftop. All eyes rested on him. He sat down on one corner. Eyeing the audience, he opened a can of soda and drank. Each gulp disturbing the silence that had befallen the rooftop. Minami, Noda, and Kuma looked at him horrified. Ucchi looked at him with a guilty expression. Yankumi, on the other hand, looked at him with curiosity. This scene was beginning to worry him.
"What have you guys been talking about?" Shin braced himself for the worst.
"Uh..." Ucchi sweated profusely. "Who's talking?" Ucchi said looking around with arms outstretched, shoulders hiked up in a shrug.
"Yep. Nobody talkin' here." Minami flitted his eyes around the rooftop.
"Quiet as a mouse." Noda muttered while Kuma just resorted to shoving chips into his mouth, seeing as he'd run out of cracker jacks, so that he wouldn't have to say anything.
'Definitely not good', thought Shin. He directed his attention towards Yamaguchi who seemed to be studying him with measured interest.
"Well, Ucchi wants you guys to go meet these girls", said Yankumi still studying Shin.
"Not interested", said Shin.
"...not interested... hmm...", said Yankumi stroking her chin. She narrowed her eyes, mentally examining the likelihood of a gay Shin. She supposed it was possible he was gay but it was not probable. And the more she thought about it the more her thoughts converged on one particular thought: 'He just can't be gay.' It was this thought that had her wondering why she was so determined to prove to herself that Shin was not gay.
She decided she was being stupid. So, what if he was gay? He was still her student. Shin's sexual orientation had nothing to do with her. 'Right.' She thought as if that simple word settled the matter. She sighed and said, "Well, it's time for next period."
Once she closed the door behind her Shin asked, "What was that all about?"
"Er... how should I know?" Noda's voice cracked.
"You know Yankumi, she's weird!" Minami said standing up. Ucchi took this opportunity to sneak out.
"We better get going. Hey, Shin-chan! Are you going to class?", asked Kuma trying to distract Shin.
"Nah! I'll see you during last period. I'm gonna take a nap." He said as he put a racing magazine on his face and replayed the last few minutes.
-o-
...during last period
In any given class, on average, the boys only listened to 50 percent of the lecture which explained their poor grades. Today, however, that percentage had dropped to 10 as they clustered their chairs together away from Sawada, as if he had the plague. Forming a huddle they alternately glanced at their fearless leader.
"You think he suspects?" Noda tossed a worried look at Shin who seemed oblivious to their attention.
"Nah. How's he gonna know?" Ucchi, ever the optimist, whispered.
"I dunno. Shin's pretty smart." Kuma pointed out.
"He may be smart but he's not psychic." Ucchi countered.
"Still he may know something's amiss" Minami raised his head from the huddled group. The other 3 boys followed suit.
Out of the corner of his eyes, the red-headed one noticed the 4 boys looking at him from their huddle. Shin couldn't help but stare at this odd behavior.
Shin's gaze was met by 4 nervous smiles which caused Shin to raise a suspicious eyebrow. He felt his emotions bubbling over until they threatened to reach his normally emoteless face. Willing his emotions to simmer down, he decided to wait it out until things elucidated themselves rather than to try to wrestle an explanation out of his 4 friends.
Shin directed his attention to the front of the class were their teacher was talking about violent chemical reactions. "How ironic", Shin muttered sarcastically.
"In any case, it was only us and Yankumi" Ucchi tried reasoning.
"You don't think Yankumi will tell anyone?" Noda wondered in a barely audible tone.
"Nah. She's not the gossipy type." Kuma responded.
"Yah, that's true" Minami agreed.
"Anyway, just look at him!" Ucchi pointed at Shin.
The 4 boys looked at their leader for a few seconds. Shin was lazily resting his right elbow on his desk, his right hand cradling his chin, his eyes drooped as if he was about to fall asleep.
"Who's gonna believe he's gay?" Ucchi added.
"Uh-huh. Girls fall all over him without him doing a thing", whispered Kuma. The other 3 boys nodded in agreement.
"That's true, he does nothing." Minami agreed.
"Nothing" Noda muttered in a conclusive tone.
They fixed their eyes on Shin once more. He had shifted positions and was currently slouching way down in his seat, his bangs draped over his eyes cloaking the direction of his gaze. His arms were folded across his chest. Of course all this inaction gave birth to one particular question.
"Why do they like 'im?" Minami wondered aloud.
"Because he's fucking good looking!" Kuma and Ucchi whispered in unison. Their eyes welled up with tears of admiration.
"And he's sooo coool!", Kuma added with a slight blush. Ucchi nodded with a matching tinge on his cheeks.
"Stop that! What are you... in love with him?" said Minami kicking their shins as if to get them out of a trance. Of course, this was not the case. The two boys just admired him. That their admiration bordered in awe was an understatement.
Now, their shuffling and kicking motions attracted the attention of Shin who glanced at them wondering what the commotion was all about. Feeling themselves being watched, the four boys looked up only to meet Shin's open stare. They quickly averted their eyes.
"Oh, that can't be good." Shin grumbled.
-o-
Now rumors, by definition, are unverified reports of uncertain origin. It is this unsubstantiation that feeds speculations, and through the sheer force of word of mouth they gain the semblance of facts.
"Yamaguchi, so is it true?" Fujiyama moved her chair towards Yamaguchi's desk in the teachers' office.
"Is what true?" Kumiko was still reeling over the boys' revelation and had not noticed the busty teacher approaching her.
"Sawada."
"What about Sawada?" The bespectacled teacher looked puzzled.
"You don't have to pretend! I was looking for you so I went to the rooftop and overheard the boys talking..." She said meaningfully. She leaned in and darted her eyes about before whispering, "Is Sawada gay?"
"What are you talking about?" Yamaguchi-sensei asked not wanting to out Sawada until he was ready to out himself. Besides Sawada wasn't gay. He just couldn't be gay.
"It's always the good-looking ones that are gay" Fujiyama-sensei ignored Yamaguchi-sensei's question and continued her train of thought.
"Ah, I knew there was something wrong with the boy." Iwamoto-sensei piped in fixing the inserts of his sneakers only to end up sniffing his fingers.
"Who are we talking about?" Hatta-sensei, who'd come in late, asked.
"That Sawada kid." Kouda-sensei replied.
"What's wrong with Sawada-kun?" Principal Kouchou asked concerned.
"He's gay." Vice-Principal Kyoto said with a self-satisfied grin on his face. It was the kind of grin that bragged about being in the know-how of everything that went on in the teacher's office.
"Hold on one darn minute. Nobody said he is gay!" Yamaguchi-sensei needed to stop this rumor.
But as with any piece of juicy rumor, everyone only heard what they wanted to hear. Yamaguchi-sensei's protest fell on deaf ears.
"I betcha he's with one of those four boys he's always hanging around with." Another teacher said.
"Frankly, I don't believe it for a minute" Kouda-sensei concluded.
In the back corner, Miura-sensei was enjoying this new development. For a second he toyed with the idea of luring the scared little bunny. He'd have to be vewy vewy quiet to hunt this wittle wabbit. After all, he didn't want to scare him...
The thoughts of accidentally scaring Shin Sawada prompted visions of Sawada's lovely face infected with whatever that Inuzuka kid had. He flinched at the catfish whiskers on that smooth face. He nixed the plan. He let his head slump in defeat and concluded, 'It's too bad he turns ugly when he's scared'
"STOP!" Everyone froze. "Don't you guys have anything better to do than to speculate on a student's sexual orientation?" Kumiko frowned at the lot in disapproval.
"Nope."
"Not at the moment."
"Lesson plan's all done."
Kumiko's left eye twitched at their lack of shame.
-o-
Of course, rumors —whether based on truth, half-truths or utter lies— tend to have a life of their own, spreading like wildfire.
This is how the following day Shirokin's student body greeted Sawada politely with grinning faces. Sawada, being popular, didn't become aware of the added attention. That is until one of the Shirokin boys tried to pinch his bottom. After that, Sawada moved warily around the school.
He had an inkling that his friends had something to do with it. Evidence to that was the respectful distance they kept away from him. So, he tried approaching his 4 friends who in turn scurried away like roaches suddenly exposed to light.
Eventually, Shin had found out that a rumor was going around about him being gay. It had been bad enough fending off Miura-sensei when he was after his ass (literally) but this rumor will have him fending off a few of his schoolmates. He just hoped they were not as... persistent as Miura-sensei.
Once the proverbial 'cat was out of the bag', the 4 boys confessed the incident that may have triggered the rumor. Shin realized that was the time he saw a slightly disturbed Fujiyama-sensei while on his way to the roof. He figured she must have overheard the conversation and that is how the rumor was spread. It didn't matter.
The odd thing, and the one he didn't understand, was how he had managed to ingratiate himself to the entire student body now that they thought he was gay. Of course, the reason was obvious to the 4 friends who explained that now that he was out of the running it gave the others better odds in attracting the opposite sex. Though the few that weren't interested in the opposite sex were just happy to add him to their team.
"Aaaargh!" Shin left frustrated. He needed to be by himself.
"So what are we gonna do?" Kuma said as he watched the red-haired one leave.
"We need to build Shin's reputation as a ladies' man" Ucchi waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
"And how do you propose we do that?" Ucchi paced around the room. Three pairs of eyes followed him.
"We can have some girls follow him."
"Girls follow him all the time!"
"Yeah, the problem is he doesn't pay any attention to them."
"We can ask one of the girls to pretend they went on a date with him."
"And how is that going to help?"
"It builds up his street cred. as a ladies' man."
"Won't it be suspicious?"
"Yeah, he didn't pay attention to any of these girls before and all of a sudden one of them will claim he's gone out with them."
"That's right! People might start saying she's just a beard."
"Nah, it'll just make 'im look like a player." Ucchi said as he dialed the number of one of Shin's very persistent fangirls. The three boys resigned themselves to listen to the one-sided conversation wondering if this had 'disaster' written all over it.
"Hi, Nao! This is Ucchi."
"Whadda ya mean Ucchi who?! Shin's friend."
"Yeah, thought you might say that." He said slightly irritated.
"Ah, you heard the rumors." He gave the three guys knowing looks. "Well, about that..."
"No."
"No." He rolled his eyes impatiently. "It's not true!"
"Geez, woman! Could you keep the squeals to a minimum?" He took the receiver away from his ears until the squeals subsided.
"Yes."
"I've got a proposition for you..."
The boys patiently waited until Ucchi finished explaining the plan to Nao who (not surprisingly) readily agreed to it. She'd arrive during the last period and wait for them at the gate. With that, Ucchi hanged up his cell phone, a self-satisfied grin upon his face.
"You know this could backfire and cement the rumors of Shin being gay." Noda pointed out as soon as Ucchi started grinning.
"Ah, you worry too much." Ucchi said waving a hand at them.
-o-
Meanwhile...
Shin was wandering around the school grounds. He needed to calm himself down. O.K. so the entire school thought he was gay. He wasn't one to worry about what other people thought. The trouble was having to turn down the odd number of guys now interested in him. He thought having a group of fangirls watching his every move was annoying. He shuddered at the thought of a group of supposedly delinquent gay schoolmates as his... fanboys.
He was surprised to find out there were that many gays in Shirokin. Though he knew the count may be skewed as he may have counted more than once the few very smitten boys that were now following his every move.
Then a sudden thought struck him. Ucchi would try to come up with some lame-brained idea to fix this. Giving a wry smile to one of his new admirers, he turned around and hasten his steps to find his 4 idiot-friends.
He found them where he had last left them. Currently Ucchi was waving his hand at the other 3 while he allayed their worries about something. This confirmed his worst fears and he quickly asked, " What are you planning?"
The 4 boys looked at him dumbly. Although Ucchi —who always had a quick recovery time when rendered aphonic and being deliberately obtuse— replied, "Who's planning anything?"
Sawada fixed a stern look on Ucchi. He could force his friends to spill it but by the look on their faces it seemed as if he'd arrived too late to stop their plan. 'I will just have to deal with the aftermath.' He thought warily.
-o-
Now, the funny thing about rumors is their tendency to spin out of control as if having a life of their own, leaving a trail of battered reputations in their wake...
So, the following hours saw Sawada receiving love letters left conspicuously in his locker. It seemed every time he went to his locker he'd find a love letter which caused him to dread opening it. Now, at the sight of each cologne drenched love letter he'd show Kumai who was consistently beside him.
This is how the rumor of Shin being gay snowballed into Kumai being Shin's lover. This particular rumor sparked the courage of one of Shirokin's delinquent gay students who admired the gentle bear from afar.
One lone, blue, cologne-drenched letter was found by Kumai Teruo. The confession was just an act of courage, the confessor explained, as he had no intention of coming between him and Shin. Poor Kumai was peeved. He had never received a love letter before and now that he had, his very first one, it happened to be from a guy. Of course, this earned him constant ribbing from Noda, Ucchi and Minami.
Shin had his own problems. He thought that this new development would have decreased the number of fangirls after him. In reality it seemed to have quadrupled them. As if that wasn't bad enough he now had to add the fanguys though at least the number of guys was small.
So far, he had gotten three anonymous love letters. The fourth one had been signed. At the sight of this one, Shin glared at Ucchi who smiled sheepishly at him. This did not go unnoticed by the Shirokin student body. By the time the sixth signed love letter found Shin, an unforeseen and even bizarre twist had been added to the snowballing rumor: Shin was cheating on Kumai with Ucchi. Shin's glares directed towards Ucchi at receiving the last three love letters fueled the rumors of this supposed affair. According to the rumormill, it explained the two boys' adulation for Shin. This new twist didn't sit well with Ucchi...
"It was fine when people thought Shin was gay. He can recover from that." Ucchi paced madly around the rooftop. "And it was all fun and games when people thought Kuma was gay." Ucchi stopped his manic pacing and with an open palm gestured towards Kuma. "But now they think I am gay." He threaded all ten fingers through his hair in exasperation.
"Why are ya so upset? It's not like it's true"
Ucchi ignored Noda. He knew he was not good-looking and now people were saying he was gay. "At this rate, I'll never get a girlfriend." Ucchi grumbled to himself.
"Pfft. At least you didn't get a love letter from a guy." Kuma tried to encourage Ucchi.
Ucchi had forgotten about this little piece of information. The realization bothered him a bit. Noda, who had noticed his friend's displeasure, ventured to ask a question.
"Um... you're not g-"
"Of course not!" A horrified Ucchi interrupted Noda before he had a chance to finish the question.
"Then what's the fucking problem!"
Ucchi fidgeted and let his eyes drift towards the floor. "Well, it would have been nice to be asked." Ucchi said with a pout on his lips.
"You've gotta be kidding me." Minami said in disbelief.
"Hey, Shin got 6 letters... and even Kuma got one!" Ucchi flailed his arms about as he resumed pacing. "KUMA!" The three boys followed him with their gaze.
"Maybe you're just too ugly" Noda offered.
"Uglier than Kuma?" Kuma was surprisingly undaunted by Ucchi's remarks as he gleefully munched on a bun. Noda and Minami studied Kuma and Ucchi. It was a close call, they concluded, so they shrugged.
Slightly wounded by their uncertainty, he said, "But he's a fatso!" Ucchi could not believe that he was neck in neck in the looks department with his incessantly eating friend.
"Yeah, but he is nice and quiet most of the time." Minami countered in defense of their portly friend.
"Girls like that in a guy" Noda said in agreement with Minami.
"Apparently guys like that also" Minami snorted and Noda followed suit. Ucchi was about to lunge for Minami when Kuma interrupted.
"Nah, I think it's 'coz you're the home wrecker." Kuma said thoughtfully wiping his bun holding hand on his school shirt. The three boys instantly stopped on their tracks at Kuma's statement.
"What're ya talkin' 'bout?" Noda was puzzled.
"Doncha see?" Minami glanced between Ucchi and Noda. "Ucchi got between Shin and Kuma." Kuma nodded in mute agreement.
"Ah, I see. He's the mistress!" Noda said excitedly at the sudden realization. Of course, after that statement, it was their duty to tease Ucchi.
"Aaaaarrgghh!" Ucchi said frustrated as he stormed out of the rooftop passing by Sawada, who had just recently arrived, without so much as a hello.
Sawada stopped and looked at him out of the corner of his eyes before continuing the steady trek towards his other three friends.
"What's wrong with him?" Sawada mumbled.
"He don't wanna be the mistress." Minami explained.
Shin shook his head in resigned frustration. He really didn't want to know what that meant, so he went to lie down in the corner of the rooftop furthest away from his three friends.
-o-
After storming out of the rooftop, Ucchi tried to forget about the rumors by calling the girl he had met at the market. Not many girls were willing to go out with him so he was looking forward to their date on Friday.
'I only need to find one more guy willing to entertain her 4th friend.' He thought as the phone rang.
Unfortunately, the girl had heard the rumors. After a curt greeting and an awkward exchange of pleasantries, she asked "Are you gay?"
"Eh? Um... No. Of course not!" He stammered which didn't help make his statement any more believable.
"I've heard rumors..." She countered.
"Lies, all lies!" Ucchi raised his voice slightly trying to compensate for the previous hesitation. A long uncomfortable silence ensued.
Now Ucchi may not understand many things but there was one thing he knew for sure: the date or outing or whatever the hell it was, was cancelled.
"Um, about Friday..." She hesitated.
'And here it comes.' He almost stopped her with an 'I'm looking forward to our date on Friday' hoping she'd be too polite to cancel it but that sounded too pathetic. So, he waited.
"I don't think we'll be able to make it."
"O.K." He mumbled. "Maybe... some other time?" He asked hopeful.
"Ah... I'll have to check with my friends."
'And there it was.' He thought in self-deprecation.
"Sure, sure. Check and let me know." He didn't wait for her to hang up before he did the honors. He leaned against the side of the building and slid down to the floor. His head slumped forward while his elbows rested on his knees. He sighed in resignation. This is how his three friends found him.
"Hey, shithead! 'Twas just a joke" Minami prodded him with the tip of his shoe.
"I know, I know" He lifted his head and looked at his friends. "Where's Shin?"
"At the rooftop, where else? He's taking his time coming over."
Ucchi stood up and dusted himself.
"You shouldn't worry so much. It'll blow over." Kuma assured him.
"Yeah until then no girl will want to go out with me." Ucchi paused and then added "or you, Kuma, for that matter."
"Well, it's not like you were getting any girls anyway." Ucchi chose to ignore that.
"Shin-chan is the only one that can be outed and still have a bunch of girls after him." Kuma replied. They all nodded in agreement.
"OK. So we need to do something to change this." He clasped his hands with a renewed sense of purpose.
At this precise moment, Shin-chan approached the boys. Hearing Ucchi trying to come up with a plan caused him to hasten his steps. As soon as he reached them, before they could register his presence, he said, "Whatever you're planning... DON'T!" This startled the four boys until they saw Shin walking towards the school gate without another word. Shin didn't ask them to play hooky with him. For that matter, he rarely asked them to do anything with him. He just did, and somehow (whether he wanted them to or not) they followed. This time was no different as the 4 boys followed the red-headed one towards the school gate.
In the distance they could hear Yankumi urging them to attend their last class of the day...
"WhAT tHe HEll arE yOu GuYS doINg HeRE? DoncHA haVe a CLasS tO go To?"
...in her ever so subtle way.
As Yankumi walked towards them, a young woman who had been waiting outside the gates of Shirokin Gakuen waved at them, or more precisely at the red-headed guy.
"Oi, Sawada-kun!" The girl squealed delighted. The red-headed guy abruptly stopped walking at the sight of Nao. He stood there with a slight slouch, his hands deep in his pockets. The girl ran over to Sawada who tried to avoid her without much success.
Slipping her arms around Sawada's right arm she said in a throaty voice, "I've been waiting for you. I had a wonderful time last night."
Sawada scowled at her but the girl didn't budge. Sawada looked at Ucchi who hid behind the other three boys.
"You know young lady..." Yankumi tapped the girl on the shoulder. The girl looked at the woman without letting go of Sawada. "The guys still need to go to their last class. You can wait outside the gate but I'd suggest you go back home" She looked at the girl with an almost predatory grin while her eyes grew chilled in open challenge. After all, she needed to protect her students' innocence (or so she told herself).
Now, the look on Yankumi's face was new to the five boys. It was scary on a different level than what they'd seen before. This was the reason why Ucchi muttered something to Nao which only she could hear. Nao, grudgingly, unhooked her arms from around Sawada's right arm and (with a huff and a pout) she left.
Once she was gone, Sawada directed his attention towards Ucchi.
"What're ya tryin' t'do, Ucchi?" Sawada asked accusingly.
"Why d'ya always assume it's me?" Sawada half snorted, half scowled at Ucchi's question.
"We're trying to squash the lies that have been running around." Noda answered for his overly-enthusiastic friend.
"So, you mean he's really not gay?" Yankumi interrupted slightly confused.
"Baka." It was Shin's only response.
"Of course not!" Shin's four friends said.
"Hmm..." Yamaguchi approached the red-headed one still unconvinced. She had spent the best part of the day coming to terms with Shin's gayness and now they were saying he wasn't. She had to see for herself. She leaned into him. Her face merely inches away from him as she studied him. Her gaze methodically combed his features inch by dewy inch, as if gay was a mole that could be seen with the naked-eye. The proximity was ruffling the impassive demeanor of the red-headed one as breaths mingled into one. His breath hitched. He backed his head an inch to increase the distance between the two and consciously made an effort to keep his gaze fixed on her eyes. She cupped his chin and moved his face to the right... then the left... in careful examination. Shin, surprisingly, did not protest mostly because he was spending all his energy in maintaining his signature bored exterior with little success.
The four boys couldn't believe what they were seeing.
Yankumi being... well... Yankumi was oblivious to his discomfort. After several minutes of mingling breaths and careful analytical touches, she was satisfied. He wasn't gay. Somewhere deep inside she was glad though she wasn't quite sure why. She took a step back and smiled as she said, "You guys better go to your class before I make you run laps around the school." With that, she left.
Shin, still affected by her earlier proximity, could only watch her retreating form as it ambled towards the teachers' office. Though there was a second there were he almost followed her like a puppy... a damn puppy. 'Stupid hormones.' He really wanted this day to be over.
"Tch." He said and like an obedient pup he walked towards his last class followed close behind by four confused boys.
His walk was subdued by thoughts of Yamaguchi unabashedly invading his personal space. Each replay threatening to make him lose all semblance of control. With a ragged intake of breath followed by a slow controlled exhale, he sought to calm himself.
'Oh, the things she does to me'.
This thought was quickly followed by a scowl as a self-reprimand.
A/N1: I know, I know... anyone that has read a manga should now these
1.kuma - bear
2.nani - what
3.baka - stupid or fool
4.gakuen - school
5.kouchou- principal (yeah, I am aware it means principal so in essence I am saying principal principal. I admit I did the minimum to find the principal's name. As soon as I find it I will change it. For now it is a place holder.)