Chapter Four
What time was it? The room was still dark with nothing but the dim night light in the bathroom peeking through a halfway closed door. Although feeling worlds better than the night before, Chihiro came in contact with the consistent drilling within his brain. His stomach had settled but now he felt like every movement was a shot to his skull. The dark room was disorienting and he couldn't see a clock anywhere in sight. His laptop had been perched atop his dresser across the room, so he couldn't quickly check there either. If he had to guess, it was probably sometime before noon. He slowly sat up, letting his small legs dangle over the side of the bed. There was clothing and shoes strewn everywhere and he became aware that he was only wearing one stocking. Grumpily jerking it off, he tossed it towards the chair across the way. The sheer stocking snuck over the biker's coat. The boy stared for a long while. He was going to have to return that.
He stood up, reaching his hand out to snatch up the coat. In a fit of childish rage, he swept it off the back of the chair and threw it across the room. Violence wasn't something he succumbed to often, with his timid, quiet nature, but every now and then, screaming and throwing a fit felt like the answer. The chair kicked over with the sudden force, dropping to the floor with a heavy thud. Shivering all the way up his legs, past his spine, and into his head, the sound caused the ache to grow fiercer and despite the memories of last night flooding his brain, Chihiro knew getting angry wasn't going to fix a thing. What had been done was over now. He was stupid, he made a seriously stupid mistake, and now all that mattered was trying to fix it. And maybe getting some breakfast and ibuprofen to suppress this headache.
After taking a quick, warm shower to wash the sweat and dirty memories from his body, he collected himself in a pair of very baggy pajama pants and an over sized sweater. Normally he wouldn't have come out so sloppy, but he had seen most of them the day after a night of drinking. They all looked like a mess, and most of the time, some of them showed up to breakfast in whatever they fell asleep in. He would fit right in. He stumbled down the hallway, noticing that not a single person was in sight. If he wanted to, he could easily return and toss that jacket into the hallway like it had never been in his room at all. But he was already too far from his room, and as he slowly slipped past the last few doors, he noticed Mondo's. It was shut, as everyone else's and for a moment the blonde felt his stomach bubble in anxiety. What if the man was in the cafeteria? There was no way he could sit in the same room as him, regardless of how big that room was. Not today.
Trudging past, he kept his nervous attention forward, noticing that it was unusually quiet this morning. Quiet except the pounding in his head. Normally there was chatter and loud hollers from the cafeteria after a party. Usually those loud hollers belonged to Ishimaru and Mondo, however… meaning one of the two must not be in the cafeteria. With a heavy sigh, Chihiro pushed his way inside, wincing at the bright sunshine that enveloped the room. Once he could settle his attention without feeling like his retinas were burning, he saw a small collection of his fellow classmates spread about various tables. The mess from the previous night had been cleaned, most likely by those who had not been drinking the night before, and possibly a sweep through by the headmaster and a few other staff.
Sweeping his gaze over, he noticed that both Mondo and Ishimaru were absent from breakfast this morning. To the far left of the room was Togami, facing away from the crowd with a book perched in his fingers. As much as he didn't enjoy breakfast with everyone, he made it a point to come join the day after an event because being around the moaning hung over fools was entertaining to him. Chihiro made sure not to glance towards him on his way towards the kitchen to avoid any mockery. Fukawa sat across from him with her head low, scribbling down some words in a decrepit looking notepad, also only joining breakfast when her white knight would. She most likely mocked in her head as well.
Entering the kitchen, Chihiro spotted Sakura and Asahina within the kitchen, making tea as they always did in the morning. Asahina, however, was perched in a chair, her forehead pressed firmly against the counter, not even aware that anyone had entered the kitchen. Chihiro frowned briefly to the much bigger woman, keeping his gaze lowered, careful not to make much noise. If Asahina was feeling in any way that he was, he didn't want to cause any further headaches. "Good morning, Fujisaki-san," the fighter murmured kindly, reaching out to gently grace the swimmer's back with her large palm.
"M-m-morning…" Chihiro grunted, not wanting his grumpy attitude to rub off on everyone. If this was another side effect of drinking, he definitely didn't want to do it again. He popped open the fridge, and stared at the contents inside. He wasn't sure what he wanted, but anything edible sounded like a good idea.
"I noticed you partook in the activities last night, Fujisaki-san," Sakura then added, causing the small blonde to peek over his shoulder. He stared for a long while before an embarrassed blush spread across his cheeks. The fighter had been tending to Asahina all evening; he had assumed she hadn't really been paying much attention to anyone else. Hopefully she didn't see anything suspicious happening between himself and Mondo. "I suggest you drink lots of water. Your body is probably dehydrated."
Nodding slowly, the boy let out a small grunt in agreement, figuring he would down a few cups of water before trying to eat. He didn't want to upset his stomach, although it was growling in insistent hunger at the moment. "Maizono-san was kind enough to make breakfast. There is toast and eggs in the cafeteria," the fighter continued to explain quite calmly, her voice quiet, but strong. Sometimes Chihiro was incredibly ashamed to be around such a stunning woman. Because of his complex, he used dressing as a girl to make his weakness acceptable. Sakura made it very obvious that women could be very strong. All the girls here, in fact, had incredible strength in some way or another. Chihiro just felt inferior, regardless of his gender. He cursed his stupid thoughts and slammed the refrigerator door shut, hearing a few things clattering around inside until they settled.
Asahina jerked up from her position, narrowing her bright eyes and groaning loudly. "Why… would you do that?" she murmured before shaking her head rapidly, realizing that it was little Chihiro in the kitchen with them. The blonde quickly filled a cup of water before dashing out of the kitchen, embarrassed by his irrational fit. Breakfast and then right back to his room sounded like a great idea. Less risk of bumping into anyone with this sort of attitude. Less chance of crossing paths with Mondo. He needed a day of sober thinking before fixing this problem.
As soon as he stepped out of the kitchen, a pair of hands roughly grabbed him by the shoulders. "So I saw you and Mondo last night," came a devious voice as he was blindly led towards a table on the far right of the cafeteria. Without looking, he knew it was Junko who was guiding him and within seconds, he was plopped down at the table with Sayaka and Celes. The three who had caught them last night in the kitchen. Bringing his cup to his lips, he began to sip his water in hopes that any questions could be answered in silence. "Saw you both go into your room last night…"
Choking loudly on his water, he pulled the cup away from his lips and pressed his hand beneath his chin where the water began to dribble down. "W-w-w-what…?"
"Yeah, saw him carrying you into your room last night," Junko smirked, leaning into the young boy and growing awfully close to his blushing face. "So, lose your v-card last night?"
"Interesting term," Celes murmured after a sip of tea.
"Junko, that's so rude," Sayaka snapped, offering Chihiro a serving of toast.
Growing an even deeper red than before, the boy reached out for a piece of toast, attempting to get up from his chair, but Junko was keeping him in place with an arm strewn over his shoulders. "It's not rude. I'm just curious," the blonde murmured with a puckered bottom lip, patting the programmer on the head. "Of anyone, I didn't expect you to be bringing boys back to your room…"
"I-I-I-I-I didn't do… anything like that… I swear," he only half lied. No, they didn't have sex, but they were well on that track had they been any more drunk… and if he were a girl. "I had gotten sick upstairs and… threw… up," he mumbled in embarrassment before taking another sip to clear his throat. "And he helped me back to my room so I could grab my toothbrush. Really…" Junko was one for getting in everyone's business, but she had never asked such intimate details of the boy before. The most personal thing the girl every asked was the kind of shampoo he used. Chihiro chose to keep his personal demons inside, so to the model, he was boring. She wanted to go where the drama was.
The model stared at him for a long while as the smile dimmed on her face. "Seriously? Like I'm going to believe that."
"Junko just wants to confirm she isn't the only one here who has lost her virginity," Celes said in a catty nature and the blonde immediately huffed loudly, thrusting her finger in the other girl's direction.
"You know that's not true. My virginity is a serious matter and it's got a lock on it!" she exclaimed while pointing below, drawing the attention of basically everyone in the room. Togami gave out a muffle chuckle without even looking up from his book, doubting her heavily in his mind. "Well, whatever you did, you pissed him off," she then murmured, sliding back in her chair, wrapping her arm back around Chihiro's small shoulders. The smaller of the two huddled down further in his chair, keeping his cup against his lips in an attempt to hide behind it. Judging by how nonchalantly the other two girls were taking the news of Junko having seeing Mondo and Chihiro go into his room together, the programmer guessed that the word was already out. Not a moment was spared in letting the other classmates know there was a fling springing between two of them.
"Nonsense, he is probably just hung over…" Sayaka then stated to ease the situation, noticing how uncomfortable the young programmer had become. The boy set his cup down on the table and picked at the crust of his toast before popping it into his mouth. Coming out of his room was a horrible, horrible idea.
Celes cocked her eyebrow as she pulled her cup of tea away from her pursed lips. "Junko should know better than anyone about being a ray of sunshine in the morning," she smirked, eliciting a dirty look from her gorgeous classmate. "I have never heard such fowl language so early in the morning than I did when you woke up from under the bleachers in your undergarments."
"I thought someone would at least help me to my room or give me a towel! But no, just leave me there!" the blonde yelped, shaking her fist in the gambler's direction. Now that Junko's arm wasn't wrapped around his shoulder, Chihiro found this as his chance to escape. Grabbing a second piece of toast for his upset stomach and snatching up his cup of water, he jolted out of the chair and made haste towards the cafeteria door, wanting to get out of the eyes of his fellow classmates. He could feel the way Fukawa was glaring at him from the corner of the room, most likely thinking what she thought about all the other girls. Whore. Harlot. Hussy. Whatever her creative, fiction brain could muster.
The programmer's feet were quick as he fled from the cafeteria, knowing that if he didn't keep a good pace, the model would come chasing after him begging for more answers. He thought no one saw. They had all been in the pool. And what does she mean that Mondo was pissed off? Did she see him leave the room later? What did the other students think? Chihiro shook his head rapidly, seeing his room up ahead in the darkened, red hallway. Before he could duck away, safely, however, there was someone blocking his way.
"Fujisaki-san, good morning," Ishimaru yelped in a persistent voice, standing before Mondo's door and actively ringing the bell. Chihiro nodded and quickly rushed by, but as he guessed, the prefect was not going to easily let him go. "How are you feeling? The other students reported that both you and Brother were sick last night and retreated to your room."
The blonde awkwardly attempted to swerve around his adamant school mate, feeling the nervous sweat begin to gather in his palms. He knew as well? After the drinking game at the table the night before, Ishimaru had actually disappeared to bed as the result of drinking too fast and feeling ill. That was probably why he was so alert this morning. He had crashed a lot earlier than the rest of them, had rested up, and was now ready to be himself the morning after. This meant personally checking on each individual student to ask their status. Ishimaru continued to tap the doorbell, waiting for his best friend to come out. "Did he sleep in your room…? Because that is prohibited in this school, you know."
"He didn't… I'm fine…" Chihiro grunted with his head low so that his shaggy bangs covered his red face. His eyes nervously searched the floor for a path around the prefect, but it seemed with each sloppy dodge to the left or right, Ishimaru was easily able to counter it, standing right in his way. "Ishimaru… please… I…"
Suddenly, the door beside them whipped open with a loud crash against the wall, Mondo standing angrily in the door. "Stop ringin' the damn bell, man! My head hurts bad and-" The biker's violet eyes widened when he noticed the small programmer desperately avoiding eye contact, trying to disappear down the hallway.
"Sorry. I was just making sure that everyone was feeling alright after last night's activities. I rang earlier but you had not answered. You and Fujisaki-san were the only remaining students I had not seen," Ishimaru informed him and the blonde easily slipped by, heading towards his own room. He didn't catch the look on Mondo's face. He didn't even have it in him to look the man in the eye. He didn't want to see the anger, disappointment, and shame lurking in those piercing eyes. "You know sleeping in another student's room, especially a girl's, is prohibited."
Chihiro choked on his own breath as he finally reached his door, lingering his hand over the door handle, waiting on the other man's response. "Who said I slept over in that kid's room? I'm too tired for this," Mondo groaned before slamming the door shut, shaking both the students in the hall down to the bones. Kid? That's what he called Naegi and a few of the other guys. Not that he had ever given Chihiro any sort of affectionate nick name before, but kid was definitely not what he wanted to be called now. With a quiet huff, he twisted the door handle and pushed the door open, despite Ishimaru's calls from behind him.
"I'm fine," he grunted absently, pushing into his own room before quietly shutting it behind him. With his back pressed against the door, he slid all the way to the floor until his bottom hit the ground, his knees up against his chest. He wasn't fine. He was worse off now than when he left his room before. Not only did Mondo seem not pleased to be awake, it was obvious that in his tone alone, everything had changed between them. Whatever flutter of a chance Chihiro once held in his heart that maybe things between them could work had dissipated and he knew that try to fix it was more than likely a lost cause. He was just one of the guys now. Just a kid. A kid that Mondo was going to ignore more than what little conversation ever happened between them before last night.
And even worse, apparently the entire school knew they had been together last night. Who knew to what extent, though. Hopefully everyone just assumed Junko was being herself and spreading awful rumors to keep the attention off of whatever embarrassing situation she found herself in the night before. It was only about half the time that people actually believed her nonsense. Hopefully she wasn't going to attempt to play match maker like she did last time there was accusations that one student actually liked the other.
Resting his chin against his knee, Chihiro stared towards his feet where Mondo's jacket was in a bunch by his toes. Until he got rid of it, it was just going to be a consistent reminder of what happened. A reminder of how close they had gotten, a reminder of how for a second, he felt so safe and protected in someone arms. He felt attractive and confident. And now it was just nothing but a sharp reminder that his weakness had ruined something that could have been so great. Keeping the jacket wasn't going to solve his problem.
He slowly got to his feet, picking up the jacket as he stood. He folded it very neatly, taking in a long breath. Sitting in his room all day wouldn't solve anything, either. Chihiro knew that he would just sit here, letting the memories of last night fester within his brain until he went to sleep crying again. He had to talk to Mondo.
Author's Note: Sorry to keep everyone waiting again. Today was my first full day off from vacation, so I spent the time off getting a few creative things out of the way. Been working on some drawings for an upcoming convention where hopefully I'll have my own table to sell work. And then I wrote this. Not a whole lot happened in this chapter, but hopefully you guys enjoyed it. Thanks for the reviews, favorites, and what not. Well appreciated.