~ Day 27- Sore Spots ~
It had taken everyone by surprise.
In the otherwise quiet classroom, the sound of a slap echoed off the walls.
With wide eyes, Ayano and Takane both stared at the prospect in front of them. Shintaro was frozen in shock as his pounding, aching cheek slowly turned red, five long and slender fingers becoming clearly visible against milky white skin.
"Don't ever say something like that again", Haruka said slowly, deliberately. His face was scrunched up in what Takane believed to be honest, raw anger, and the way he towered over the desk made him, for the first time, seem downright intimidating.
Shintaro brought a cold hand to his cheek, looking at his usually kind and forgiving upperclassman in shock. This was not the outcome he had expected when he started bickering with Takane as usual. He had hit a sore spot, maybe, but never had he expected sweet and nice Haruka-Senpai to hit him. For that idiot's sake, nonetheless, he mentally added.
Then he felt Ayano tug at his sleeve, her somewhat pouty expression telling him to sit down again. When he was back in his seat, she turned to Haruka, who was still standing up tall, succeeding in making Shintaro feel tiny and helpless. "Haruka-Senpai, please calm down. We all know that Shintaro can be inconsiderate. But he doesn't mean what he says when he and Takane-San are arguing with each other", Ayano said in a soothing, motherly voice, and Haruka sat down again, his expression slowly softening until he looked close to tears.
Takane then placed a hand on the boy's knee. "Haruka, look, it's fine. He didn't offend me. You don't have to get so worked up about it, okay? It's a risk on your health", she told him and patted his leg. Haruka looked at her for a while, his bottom lip quivering like a little child's.
"Still...", he hiccupped pathetically and Shintaro wondered why he had found that man scary a few minutes ago. It must have been his height. "You can't just say that it would be the same without someone around. It's the same as telling them to go die", Haruka said and shot a glare in the shorter male's direction.
Takane sighed. "You're an idiot", she muttered dryly and Ayano smiled at that, hooking her arm into Shintaro's.
"Hey, how about we all apologise and then go on? Because I need help with this maths problem", she laughed and leaned into the dark-haired boy next to her. "Shintaro, get along with Haruka-Senpai again and then you two can help me."
"Using your stupidity as an excuse...", Shintaro growled and pulled his arm out of Ayano's grip. Then, he looked at Haruka again, his own, cold demeanor back in place. "I'm sorry, Haruka-Senpai, Takane. I should consider my words better, next time", he said faintly, no emotion lacing his voice whatsoever.
Takane snorted and shot him a glare. Haruka's face lit up with a gentle smile. "I'm sorry, too, Shintaro. I didn't mean to hit you. And sorry to Takane and Ayano-Chan as well, because I was being so angry", he chuckled quietly and the air around the four of them got lighter again.
True to her word, Ayano made the two boys help her with her maths homework, while Takane listened to some song on her headphones as she sloppily wrote down an essay for her Japanese class. And so, they passed their time until they started heading home.
Ayano was the first one to go. Takane followed a while later, saying goodbye to Haruka and shooting Shintaro one last glare.
"You like her, don't you?", Shintaro asked as he was about to finish up his own homework.
Haruka looked up from the sheet in front of him, the solved questions adorned by small drawings of little dinosaurs playing football below oversized palm-trees. "Who do you mean?", he asked the younger male and furrowed his brows.
"Takane, obviously", he said and tried to identify the races of the reptiles who were enjoying a good game of soccer. Most of them were triceratops. They were also the most adorably drawn ones.
"I do like her. She's just so cool! How she is so good at games and-"
"You're hopless", Shintaro groaned and put his pen down, deciding that he couldn't even write properly with the person who got physical with him only a while ago across from him. "I'm heading home, then", he declared and started packing up.
"But I also think that I love her", Haruka said as Shintaro was putting his pencil case away. Now it didn't land in his bag but on the ground.
"What?"
"Have a safe trip home, Shintaro."
A/N: This is kinda similar to the 6th Day. But, well. They don't have to make sense in some chronological order, do they? They're all independent drabbles.