The fic will be changing its rate to M due to some scenes. Now, to the chapter!
Chapter XX
Coldness
Sunday night, in the obelisk boy's dorm, Ryou rubs his hair with a towel, droplets of water flying over the air as he dries it, he's already dressed in his sleepwear. His piercing green orbs are cast to the chair near his study table, his jacket dangling on it, his mind thinking back on the day.
"Rie doesn't know anything about her father, huh? I didn't expect that, though she did say professor Daitokuji is the reason she came here before. She may have said she doesn't want to know who her father is, but I doubt that's true."
His thoughts are set back to her expression at the time, she seemed rueful and distraught as if she herself wasn't convinced or satisfied with what she told him. He rubs his hair a bit more, analyzing the situation. It worries him that she's neither being honest to others or to herself, but again, she also avoided adverse situations with other people before.
Should he do something or should he simply ignore that? It took some effort to get her to say something meaningful and try helping them in their search, but even so there are things she doesn't seem fully willing to tell or admit.
Back in the city, she even scared those guys away by fighting them off, he's convinced she's capable of dealing with problems, but she seems unwilling whenever it comes to issues in school. Why is that? Maybe he should give her a small push? Like when Asuka talked to him before, Rie might need someone to help her out of her shell a tad more.
Letting the towel flop around his shoulders as he grabs his PDA from the study desk, walking to the balcony of his room, the curtains flapping gently at the wind as he supports one of his elbows on the railing, checking the time, it's past midnight. Did he really spend this many hours at the lighthouse?
A sound of leaves rustling startles him, coming from the side, a shadow grapples onto the trees, someone is trying to jump towards the building, a few balconies across his. It's too dark for him to see it clearly, but he can tell it's a girl, his eyes widening, that room is…
She leaps towards the targeted balcony, almost failing the jump, and rolling to the entrance of the room. It doesn't take a few seconds before a high-pitched yell is heard through the whole dorm. Ryou grimaces covering his ears temporarily and rushing out of his room. As he thought, that room is…
Next morning
Rie opens her locker, despite trying to get her belongings, it's impossible to ignore the bustling chattering in the corridor. Her eyes scan around, stopping when a familiar figure comes right beside her.
"Ryou, good morning." She greets him with a smile before asking: "Do you know what this is all about? Everyone seems to be talking about the obelisk male dorm…"
"So you didn't hear it yet?" He crosses his arms. Letting out a troubled, deep sigh. "Someone intruded Edo's room yesterday. A girl from your dorm."
Her eyes almost pop out as he reveals it, he can see her lips quivering to make a sentence, but someone else interrupts them:
"Talk about unwanted attention."
Edo closes his locker annoyedly, they can see the bags under his eyes. Did he get any sleep at all? For someone so beloved by fans, he could go through quite crazy situations with them.
"What happened last night?" Rie winces while looking at him, in some sort of empathy.
"Just a fan that wanted to take a picture of me sleeping. For whatever reason someone would want that." He blurts out, folding his arms. "Thanks to that I didn't get much sleep because we were settling the matter with professor Chronos after the incident."
"What will happen to the said girl?"
Rie's question sounded innocent, a curious glint in her eyes, she probably never heard about such stories is what they thought in unison at the moment. They stare at her blankly, before Ryou makes the statement, as if sparing the silver-haired boy from having to explain it:
"She will be expelled. Breaking curfew is already bad as it is, and her reason was not justified, it also goes without saying that taking illegal pictures of someone when they are unaware is a crime. The school had warned her before for other deeds it seems, and she still broke more rules, they won't tolerate someone like that."
She feels a shiver just imagining why someone would go to this extent knowing the consequences and remembering both her and Ryou got this close to expulsion once. A wry smile plays on her lips:
"It must be scary to be an idol."
"You get used to it, but once in a while those things can happen." The professional duelist shrugs off, he has accepted that as part of his job already.
She waves her hand quickly after taking her belongings and leaves them both alone. Ryou follows with his eyes until he feels stared at by Edo.
"Is there anything you need to say?"
"I talked to the director about it." His tone is low, to not call attention. "He says it's maybe best if I switch rooms with someone else for the time being."
"You don't mean-"
"Well, he could have assigned someone, but he insisted I should personally ask a friend or acquaintance before asking him to give such an order."
"I would be elated if this wouldn't mean someone could as well invade my room."
"It's mostly a formality so the school can say they're taking proper measures, they'll probably increase the security around the dorm, so you shouldn't worry about a girl invading the room again. Can you just help me this time? I'll duel you or whatever later, I really can't deal with this now…"
He puts a hand to his forehead, it's clear he's exhausted and it doesn't seem to hail only from last night. It's rare enough that Edo himself is openly asking him for assistance, he looks like he's on his limit.
"Fine by me. How long exactly will we have our rooms switched?"
"A week maybe, anyways, it's just until things calm down."
"Right. In the meantime, try to get a hold of yourself."
He gives a light tap on Edo's shoulder. Finishing the talk, he sets off to his classroom. Around the corner, Ayako and Izanami walk in shock, exchanging a tense glance, their palms sweating in nervousness. They hear more and more comments about the past night from everyone around. The leader of the two nibbles her nails.
"You gotta be kidding me, someone tried to invade his room right now?!"
"Iza-chan, this is terrible timing, do you think our plan will still work?" She exclaims in a jumpy tone.
"Tone down, will ya?" She rolls her eyes. "Of course it will work, we didn't intend to invade his room anyways."
"Also, I didn't tell you before, but there were other rumors I heard while passing by some girls before." She puts a hand to block her mouth on the side, telling a secret.
"I hope it's nothing serious or we will have to plan something again."
"People say they saw the Kaiser coming back from the ferryboat that goes to the city with that pink-haired girl."
"No way!" She fumes from her ears. "I knew something was going to happen when they started walking everywhere together, that little vixen!"
"What do we do?"
"Give a moment, right? For now the most important thing is to make our little science experiment, the rest, we will see with time!"
She shoves her arms to the sides aggressively, requiring more personal space and making her friend step away. Then walks from one side to the other, finally asking:
"Did you put the concoction in that smaller sample flask like I told you?"
Her friend confirms, Izanami takes a peek around, the corridors still bustle with people, she grabs the first obelisk boy she can see.
"Hey, you, if you take this envelope to Edo Phoenix's room, I'll be very glad."
"How about no?" He replies annoyedly. "You all girls are giving Edo a hard time, let the man be alone."
"Y-you're misunderstanding it! This letter is for…" Ayako starts the lie.
"It's an apology letter on the behalf of the other obelisk girls who are his fans, written by his whole fan club."
"True, we feel sorry for what happened, that's why we're sending an apology!"
The boy sighs, taking a second to analyze the proposal, then he accepts it, hiding the envelope inside his coat's inner pocket. When he's gone, she smirks and high fives Ayako, the first step of their plan is a success. Now, all that's left is Asuka's letter.
"Shouldn't we put the second-"
"Shh!" He gestures with a finger. "Let's give it some time, we don't need to rush, it would be suspicious if we gave the two envelopes too close. Let's just go to the classes for now!"
First years' classroom
Junko is sitting on the row under Asuka, and Momoe is by her side, they both turned around to talk to their friend. Edo arrives in the classroom, stealing many glances.
"Asuka, did you hear what happened? It seems a girl from our dorm barged into Edo Phoenix's room."
"She what?" She gasps, her eyes turning away from the book she was enthralled by. "You can't be serious, how did she enter?"
"Climbing the balcony." Junko sniggers. "Don't you know it's a classic from movies?"
"I can't believe it."
Her eyebrows coil up, last she remembers, he was sleeping soundly when she left his room, and it could have been bad for her if she was there when it happened, whether she should call it luck or not, it's hard to say. His face displays all the grumpiness for one to understand he didn't bat an eye last night.
"Sometimes I wonder if being famous is all that great." Momoe lets out in a moment of meditation.
"The girl will be expelled, but to go to those lengths, I don't think we're that crazy, right, Momo?"
"Yeah, Asuka would put some sense into our heads if we were, though." She giggles as they both look at the blonde.
"I'm glad I don't need to and your heads are just fine."
The three of them have more small talk before the classes start, Asuka glances over to Edo's seat, he's not interested in the lectures and seems unsettled enough to keep a permanent frown between his brows for hours. How can he even do that?
After the class, the students leave for their middle-day break, the blonde is one of them, walking to the meal hall in the main building, a message ringing on her PDA. A quick glance is enough to steal her smile from her lips.
"I'm sorry you two, I just remembered I had an errand to do and I should finish it before the afternoon ends."
"Can we help you with it?" Momoe suggested with a smile.
"No, you don't need to!" She dismissed by waving her hand. "I'll talk to you girls later!"
She rushes off, not giving them time to react, they gape in silence and look at each other worriedly right after. The blonde soon vanishes from their sight, entering one of the side corridors. Edo is waiting for her there, leaning his back against the wall, he tilts his head for her to tag along. She makes sure no one has seen them and follows him. Outside the main building, behind some of the duel monster card statues.
"You don't look like you got much sleep last night…"
"And I won't have any sleep tonight either. We will be on duty, if we want to get the timing right, we need to know the schedules of the guards."
"Are you sure this is fine? I mean…"
She pauses a moment, hesitating before formulating her questions. He stares at her wondering if she'll just stop there.
"I heard a girl invaded your room last night, is that why you couldn't sleep?"
"What do you think?" He huffs, but she knows the bad mood might be part of his sleepiness. "I had to hear a long explanation about why she was there and report it to the teacher responsible for our dorm…"
"Don't you want a break?"
"It will just delay our plans, moreover I already made some arrangements, I'll be switching rooms with your dear Kaiser Ryou for the whole week. This might be good for us since people will get confused on who is in which room and it will be harder to tell if I'm not there."
"Did he really accept it? To switch rooms with you for a while?" Her eyebrows arch in surprise.
"Yeah, he was very chill about it."
"I'm happy to hear you two are getting along."
A light-hearted chuckle escapes her lips, Edo's gaze linger around a second longer in awe, most of the time Asuka had this earnest, placid expression because she's been focused on her goals. It struck him for a moment to see her smile like a normal girl for once. Turning his face away in a grumpy pout, he continues:
"I'll repay him for this later, I just asked him that because it will also come in handy for our own plans in studying the surroundings of that lab. No one saw us yet and we should keep at that, as you can see my fans are crazy enough to boldly jump into my room for pictures."
"Pictures? They wanted your pictures?"
"That's celebrity life for you."
His smug tone doesn't even bother her anymore, it's true he's popular enough to warrant those episodes. Through the whole break, they discuss details of their nightly research. Rie hides behind one of the rocks too, observing them, as promised, she has to keep an eye on Edo, gladly his investigations won't lead him to the truth about her uncle. She sighs relieved.
During the afternoon
The whistle of the teacher soars, squeaky noise of water splashing under the students' feet leaks in the air as they come out of the pool. The boys start going under the showers while the girls prepare for the class.
Ryou looks around discreetly while putting on a shirt to find Rie engaging in some sort of argument with Ayukawa again. He doesn't need to hear to understand what it is about as she disappointedly whirls around and sits down on the bench, still in her swimsuit because she couldn't convince the teacher to let her skip the lesson.
Her lowered head lifts upon seeing a shadow drawing closer, overlapping her figure. The teal-haired has a rather stoic semblance, a towel hanging onto one of his shoulders.
"I take it you couldn't skip the swimming class today either?"
She takes a short breath before nodding, he can hear some gossiping across the room from some girls and from the boys too, his orbs spare such a brief glance that no one ever noticed, he decided to disregard them. Subtlety isn't one of his talents and people take him as a cold, harsh person because of that, he knows he's being blunt, but for him it's more important to be honest and clear than to be liked by others, ironically enough this attitude instilled both love and hatred towards him.
"Where is your PDA?"
Rie points at the girl's locker room, to make it even worse she can't even carry the device around.
"What do you intend to do about this, Rie? You can't forever mope around here because the teacher doesn't let you off the hook."
His posture looked strict, his shadow covering her figure menacingly as he inquires her. She knows he means the best, but Ryou had this skill to be quite intimidating even when he didn't mean to.
"Uncle."
Her lips purse after using the word, as if she didn't want to bother Daitokuji with those trivial matters. He can't understand that. Why she'd go out of her way to not "bother" people when the person losing the most is her.
"And why are you making that face as if it's wrong?" He takes a seat beside her, ignoring the gazes curiously aimed at them. She does appreciate his care.
"I'm sure professor Daitokuji wouldn't be happy to hear how uncomfortable this whole matter is to you and I doubt he'd be angry at you for wanting to change that. You should try to be more open about your troubles, Rie, not just hold them to yourself, especially with your family."
The gossiping becomes louder, they can see some girls putting a hand to their mouths as if saying something bad, the boys are more than just intrigued at this point. His aloofness to all that impresses her, on the other hand, she can't stop switching glances between the people who seem to spectate them and him.
"Ignore them." He quickly glances over his shoulder, his voice is ice cold. They couldn't hear him, however she saw them jolting in fear under his glare.
"Back then in the city you defended me, right? You do have the willpower to settle those issues with your bullies too if you want. Why does it matter if we're in school or not? You shouldn't let things like warnings and rules stop you from defending yourself. The same for asking to get class skipped if it's a health issue."
Her posture tenses up, why does it feel like she's getting a scolding? Her lips open to form a sentence, but she can't. She did tell her difficulties with the swimming classes, but she didn't expect him to come to encourage her to do something about it nor to hear about the bullies again. Her hands fidget a bit while she tries to say a word.
"Right, you don't have your PDA…" He sighs resigned, supporting his hands on his knees and pulling himself up. "I'll be outside after your class is over, there's something I wanted to ask you, but it's better to do that when you have your communicator. See you later, Rie." His gaze lands on her one last time, she's confused at his sudden statement.
Ryou could be a very odd character when it came to talking to people, eliciting conflicting feelings about his intentions or what goes through his head. She's been around enough to know he generally expects one to take certain courses of action that are more logical and he won't spare their ears from the truth either if he thinks someone is wrong. It could be both a charming and frightening side of him.
She's glad he's on her side and not an obstacle to her plans, but if Ryou were to find out anything, or Asuka… How would they react? The thought sends a chill down her spine.
From afar, Izanami and Ayako observed the scene, their eyes following Ryou's back as he walks into the boys' locker room. The brown-haired girl squints her eyes irritated at it.
"He's talking so casually with her! Since when did this happen?!"
"You can't complain, Iza-chan, we nurtured it ever since the hut, we messed up, you have to admit at least that."
"It doesn't matter whether we messed up or not! I'll fix it right away! You come with me, Ayako!"
"But the swimming class-"
"Whatever, I'll do it alone if you don't come!"
She stomps her way to the locker room and her friend clumsily tags along while the teacher inspects the last boys who're going out of the shower to start the girls' classes. Ayukawa makes the calling for all the students.
"Does anyone know where Izanami Yuto and Ayako Mori are?" She glances around, the girls simply chatter somberly in a low tone.
She frowns at them while marking a big red "x" on her clipboard; she'll have to deal with the skippers later. A whistle roars in the gym, the girls dive into the pool. Rie sits idly, observing as they exercise, a shade cast over her eyes.
Even after the class is over, as the other girls go to the showers, she sits there, lost in her own world until a hand lands on her shoulders. It's Ayukawa, greeting her with a kind smile:
"You can go now, Rie-chan. All the other girls have already left."
The pink-haired girl nods, standing up at once and leaving, when she's entering the locker room, she bumps into two people who are coming out, the two missing girls.
"Ah! Here you are! You two!" Ayukawa puts her hands on her hips. "Where were you?!"
"We were not feeling good!"
"Right, teacher, if she gets a free pass to just watch lessons, why can't we?" Ayako points at Rie.
"She's a different case, don't use your schoolmate as an excuse for your laziness! You two just earned some hours cleaning the pool!" She frowns at them, reproving their tactics and demeanor. "Grab the cleaning tools and you'll not be leaving this place until you've finished!"
They whine in complaint, but the teacher stands firm in what she said, a call comes to the teacher's PDA, from the director in person, she casts a glance back to check if the girls are working and leaves to the side room.
At the time, Rie arrives at her locker, her eyes opening wide, the door is bent out of shape, she sees the white cloth of her uniform falling between the opened door, as soon as she yanks it open, her obelisk uniform drops to the ground.
It's torn in pieces, clean cuts made by a sharp object, she touches the insides of the locker, gasping when she can't find her PDA. Her eyes distance off from reality for a moment, who could have done that? Who…
Her blue orbs become empty, a flash of enlightenment reaching her brain, how Ayako and Izanami were missing during the whole class, her brows furrowing, her fists clenching. They went over the limit. Ryou's face crosses her mind and the talk they had before. He's right, she shouldn't just let them have their way any longer.
From outside the locker room, the two bullies stop mopping the ground, a smirk forming on Izanami's lips as she hears the consistent splashing of water under Rie's heavy footsteps.
"Lost something?"
The leader supports both hands on the straightened pole of the mop, her vile lips opening from end to end of her face. Her friend shrieks and hides behind her, uneasy after seeing Rie's deep scowl.
"What do you want? Found our present? That's what you get for trying to be so special."
Gritting her teeth, Rie pushes Izanami back, so strong the girl tumbles a few steps back, near the borders of the pool, the mop drops to the ground with a woody thud. Ayako gulps, stepping aside, the tension growing by the minute.
"Would you look at her?" She puts her hands on hips, a defiant tone to her voice. "What? Can't speak so you're resorting to violence, cow?"
Rie grabs both her shoulders, shaking her as if demanding an explanation, she relishes the anger she incites, but even more, that Rie can do nothing about her schemes.
"Speak louder, I can't hear you." She's jerked once more by the other girl. "I thought since you're such an attention seeker, you could walk out dressed for the occasion!"
She retributes the gesture by grabbing Rie's wrists, removing it from her shoulders and shoving the pink-haired with a firm push to the chest towards the pool. Rie flings her arms, tumbling backwards and falling down into the water.
A loud splash soars. Through the turvy, transparent water she can see the scared face of Ayako and the grin of Izanami, and hear their muffled laughter. Bubbles float up to the surface as she stretches her arm in an attempt to reach it.
As she slowly descends to the bottom, her eyes widen, flickering wildly, losing their gleam, a mix of confusing scenes overlapping, as if her mind had lost its sense of reality.
In the backseat of a car, the pink-haired girl bends onwards, ranting at her mother who drives; there's the unnerving grin of the white-haired man on the passenger seat beside her mother; she can see the man and her mother arguing, there's a car behind them; then, a bright light spreads from behind, they are all compelled to look at it as it swallows everything in sight; a loud crash roars and then… All the sounds just became muffled, before she knew, she was drowning into that murky, freezing water.
She doesn't know how long she's been there, and she can see this trail of blood floating up, she has no sense of time. Like now. Everything is entangled inside her head as if someone knotted her brain.
Her back hits the bottom of the pool. From up there in the gym, Izanami snorts and beats her hands together, shaking the dust out, feeling her job was well done.
"Iza-chan… S-She's not coming back…" She switches glances between the pool and her friend.
"Not my problem!" He raises her nose high. A few seconds pass. "You don't think she…" A nervous sweat starts slipping down her body.
"Iza-chan, what if she didn't do the swimming classes because she doesn't know how to swim…?"
Their eyes almost bulge out in shock, Ayako dives immediately, when she's back, Rie is with her, seemingly unconscious, coming closer to the edges of the pool, Izanami helps the pink-haired up, leaning her down on the ground, her soaked bangs covering her eyes. They sit on their legs, beside her body.
"D-Do we need to do that CPR thing?" She winces at the idea, almost desperate.
"I-I don't know, calm down, will ya?!"'
While they bicker, scared of how they'd explain how they bullied a girl into the pool and drowned her, Rie's finger twitches, her eyes open in a startle, the other two girls immediately shut up to look at her. Ayako hesitantly touches her shoulder:
"Hey, are you al-"
A jolt runs through Rie's body as if the other girl had done something terrible, her mouth open in a silent scream, she flings her legs up and down, her hands frantically scratching her throat where her scar is, she seemed out of breathe, but the other two students just fall to their bottoms, crawling away, frightened at her panic attack.
Suddenly, she sits up straight coughing unstoppably some water, her hair swinging, her chest burns as if it's about to burst. Supporting her arms, she stands up, her legs wobbling as she walks away to the exit of the gym, she embraces herself, shaking.
It's cold.
"Where are you going?! Come back here!" The voice of one of the bullies tries to call her out.
It's so cold.
"Are you deaf now?! Hey!"
I hate…
Using her full weight, she opens the double doors, the brightness of the daylight outside coming through, her feet slither into the corridor full of students, her eyes squeezing at the brightness, her hands coming to shield her orbs from the sun rays, her orbs tearing up.
…. This light.
A few seconds later, Ayukawa comes running, the two girls almost jump in place, getting even paler.
"Hey, you two! I heard loud splashes! What happened?"
She looks at the open door of the gym, her eyes following the trail of wet footprints that ventured to the outside, then stares at the girls awaiting for an explanation, crossing her arms in a demanding posture.
Out of the gym
Edo comes to his locker, the Kaiser is already there talking to some first year students who seem to admire him. The air shifts densely, voices fly across the corridor, perplexed whispers.
The two students talking to Ryou gasp, flabbergasted, their eyes are not sparkling at him anymore, but looking over his shoulder, he flinches upon hearing wet, soft footsteps drawing closer from behind. Whirling around, he finally understands the reason of all the noise:
"Rie…?"
She's still in her swimsuit and a gloom air around her, he can see the water droplets falling from the edges of her loose hair and accumulating on her eyelashes as she stops in front of her locker, her body shivers mildly. Is she cold? Not just normally cold, she's freezing with how pale she looks.
It doesn't take but a few seconds for him to access the surroundings, all the eyes of the boys are on her, some of them blushing, even those first years stare intently at her and the girls have judgmental glares.
The teal-haired clears his throat to call the attention of the first-years near him and opens the door of his locker, to block the sight of the students, throwing them a berating glare of "what are you looking at", they roam their eyes to the side ashamedly and make themselves scarce.
Rie's blue eyes oscillate, somehow her mind is off, not noticing the unwanted gazes she receives, opening her locker. Her communicator slips out of it, dropping to the ground, she removes her feet from its way by reflex, staring at it for long seconds without a sketch of a reaction.
"She seems completely out of it… But what happened?" Ryou gulps worriedly.
Ryou and Edo exchange a concerned glance. A drop of sweat rolls down the Kaiser's cheekbones as Rie bends over to fetch her PDA on the ground, despite the small cleavage of the school's swimsuit not being too revealing, he could hear the "oohs" from the boys around the room waiting to get a good angle on her figure. How old are they?
"Wait!" He blurts out in a hurry, making her stop the movement. "I'll get it for you." He says the last part in a lower tone, kneeling down to take the object.
She stares at him in a daze, her sight is unfocused, but she puts her palm up to receive the device, there are some weary marks under her eyes, if she wasn't drenched in water, he could swear she had been crying.
"Rie," He hands it back carefully, coming closer to speak in a lower tone, his eyes softening. "What happened to you?"
She flinches, awakening from her slumbering state, facing him uneasily, considering if that was the time and place to explain everything. Both him and Edo have this concern in their eyes underneath their aloof façade, she knows they're genuinely trying to help from this warmth in their eyes.
If it all could just stop. Those memories that keep coming to her head. When her fingers finally decide to weave a message, someone snatches her device brusquely, startling the three of them.
It was Sakamoto. He's on her side, looking at her PDA quickly before raising his hand high, stretching his arm as much as it's feasible. Rie frowns at him, and stretches her hand up to reach up to her PDA, the height difference does not allow her to grasp it, she has to stand on the tip of her toes, occasionally falling down on her soles and trying again, they can see her muscles straining as she does her best to retrieve her belonging.
Her expression twisting in a mix of discomfort and annoyance, a hint of sadness in it. Now of all times, she had to meet this insensible jerk who found love in pestering her. She wishes it would stop.
The black-haired boy smirks maliciously, bending his torso back slightly and making it harder for her to attempt getting it from closer, an obnoxious way to make compelling her to get closer to him, her curves accentuate even more as she uninterruptedly stretches over, her chest almost bumping into his in an almost choreographed move, a delightful chuckle spurting from him.
"Yeah, just like that." He looks down, peeking at her cleavage, she gasps, recoiling a step. "What? Why don't you try a bit more so I can see you properly?" He licks his lips excitedly.
Edo is about to act, his fists clenching and his brows angling in disgust, but before he gives the first step, a hand wrenches Sakomoto by the wrist, bringing his arm down forcefully and pulling him away from Rie.
"Why don't you take on someone your size?"
Ryou's voice is grave, his eyes sharpening, the boys around all gulp, stepping back, things are getting heated, the Kaiser has such a riled expression, his blood seethes. They can feel it. A fight is about to break out.
"I was just joking, no need to get so worked up." He pulls his arms free from Ryou's grip, massaging it and flaunting the PDA right after. "I just thought I'd get a good look at her. I mean, she came out like that on her own, not my fault if it's so tantalizing! Admiring is not a crime, you should know that from personal experience with your fans."
He speaks louder, his intentions of publicly shaming her and him are clear here, Ryou's eyes narrow in contempt, this guy has no boundaries, some boys thumbs up at him while others send reproving gazes his way. Sakamoto comes to her side again, leaning towards her:
"Come on, girl! Be honest, if you didn't want some attention you wouldn't be coming out of the gym in these clothes. You do like to be stared at, don't you?"
Her forehead wrinkles at his statement, she hugs herself to hide her torso as much as possible from his sight, he laughs at the glint of despise in her blue orbs. He casts a glance at Ryou, to make sure he's watching, not surprisingly, the teal haired teenager threads closer, pulling his collar:
"Give back her student PDA and stay away from her, Sakamoto."
"What? Can one not even look at girls in this school anymore? Do I need your permission to appreciate an endowed beauty or what? Am I the only one sensing some ulterior motives here?"
Ryou pushes him back aggressively, letting go of his collar. Edo steps closer ready to also act if necessary, they can see in Sakamoto's smirk he's up to something and he's enjoying all the attention as well as the reactions he's getting from the so-called frivolous Kaiser.
"You and I are having a trip to the principal's. You're not escaping this time." He says between his teeth.
"Man, what a snitch…" He clicks his tongue. "Fine, I'll do as you say, mein führer."
He flops the PDA to the side, on a height average enough for Rie to catch it, her defensive posture is disrupted, she stops shielding herself, gawking baffled at how there was a sudden change of mood, as if his will to provoke them had dwindled.
Her delicate fingers approach the device, to finally get it, in a quick movement, he takes it back, saying with a wicked grin:
"Just kidding! You wanna get it back, you'll need to pay the toll!"
His claim strikes her with dread, his hand sleazily making its way to her back, he delivers a soundly slap to her butt, making her jolt, her muscles hardening in pure shock, she freezes.
"I don't see your name written on her ass, Kaiser!"
He guffaws at himself, some boys show their approval by smiling, others shake off their heads as if he's the stupidest for making such moves on a girl. Ryou feels an inner shiver run through his body, a blazing, terrible feeling creeping under him, his blood running a marathon in his veins.
He's been impairing his emotions for a long time, but right now, he doesn't know if he's capable of it. His eyes become bloodshot.
"Tell me he didn't…" He swallows his saliva dryly.
"Oh, he so did it…" Edo is in as much of disbelief as his companion, vexed at the obnoxious student.
"Sakamoto!"
The Kaiser exclaims angrily, the other boy stands in front of Rie, walking closer to his classmate, defiantly as if he'd won whichever battle he made up in his head.
"Why the pissed look? Did that bother you so much?" He bobs his head once in provocation, a shrewd smirk spreading on his lips. "Oh right… You two went alone to that hut before, didn't you? And even spent a night there… Oh-la-la. Our Kaiser is not as pure as he says…"
"You-"
Ryou's lost his patience at this point, yanking him by the collar again, he's bringing up something completely unrelated after harassing her in public. Not only that, he's doing everything in his power to sully Ryou's image and harassing Rie while at that.
"Did you taste something there you liked in that hut, huh? Come on, if you liked it so much, you should at least share with others. But I guess the great Kaiser doesn't deal well with loss or sharing his-"
He stops upon feeling a hand firmly grabbing his shoulder, Ryou lets go of him, stepping back uneasily. They look over his shoulder to see the pink-haired girl behind him. Her glare is razor sharp, she's done listening to his insults to both of them. With a swift movement, she grabs his arm and before he knows, he's being thrown into the air, everything around swirling as he drops face-down to the ground.
Her PDA drops and skids away from him after the impact, halting after hitting Ryou's feet, stunning him for a second before he picks it up.
Sakamoto's hands try to get a grip on the ground so he can stand up, but a soft plump soars in the air as Rie sits above his back, mounting on him, her legs blocking the sides of his torso, trapping him down there. He flushes instantly, is this girl serious?
Without a single second delay, she pulls his arm upwards and back, then bends his it in an obtuse angle, her eyes are stone cold, as if he'd set her heart aflame in fury, he stutters before letting out a pained scream.
The boys in the corridors and the girls can't hide their surprise with "Wow!" and "You deserved it!". Some wish they'd been in Sakamoto's place about now. Edo whistles, it seems that the bully messed with the wrong person and he's getting his lesson.
"A-Argh! You're hurting me…!"
Her lips curve down sourly, she bends his arm even more off its natural course, this time also targeting his hand, forcing his palm down towards his wrist ruthlessly. At this point some of the boys are beyond scared, sweating bullets while relieved by the fact they're not in that position.
"Y-You'll break my arm!"
He swings his body in an attempt to escape her grip, she forces his arm and hand even more after his complaint, her determination to go through with it wavering along with her eyes, it's clear she didn't want to be doing that. They can hear a small crackle of his bones starting to give in.
"I-I give up! I give up! I'm sorry! I'll stop!"
He slams his free hand on the ground repeatedly, she stands up and lets go of him, walking over his body, disregarding his state and pouting at him, her gaze filled with repugnance.
"What are you all looking at?! This isn't a show!"
Edo shouts out loud, startling the curious observers, they turn around and pretend they didn't see a thing. They'd better not be spreading strange rumors.
Ryou's heart skips a beat when she comes closer, he offers back her PDA, she casts a glance at him, her brows furrowing up in a saddened manner, accepting it somewhat ruefully. His semblance is collected, unlike many of the other people watching the scene, he isn't scared of her, but of how she seems more hurt than the person she tried to harm right now. He's afraid she's just trying to be strong, but can't keep up the act for much longer…
"Rie, what happened during-"
He stops asking when her fingers quickly type a message for him, a faint smile blossoming on her lips and an assuring nod of her head:
"Thank you for standing in for me… But you shouldn't dirty your hands with people like him. I can fend for myself."
He gapes subtly, awestruck by those words as she walks past him, her smile disappears once they can longer see her face, her hair flopping heavily sending off some drops of water into the air, he follows her silhouette with eyes, smitten with it as she walks towards the classrooms, her bare footsteps only heard softly.
Right now was she trying to defend him again? Rie proved now that she wants to fight for herself, Sakamoto probably won't be bothering her for a while, yet… She looked unhappy. Is it because of what just happened or is there something she didn't tell them?
"Should I hold your jaw for you?"
Edo's voice drags him out of his bewilderment. His friend's answer is a grunt of discomfort, he knows Ryou wasn't looking at her improperly, but would take the chance to joke about it.
"She's into you." He analyses bluntly, a tad amused at the whole scene.
"Would you stop saying that?" His brows have the slightest angle down, annoyed at the insinuation.
"It's the truth." He rebukes Ryou's grievance. "Anyone with eyes can see it. And someone wants to pose as competition. I doubt they have a chance, though. But you know this guy is doing this with her because he's also noticed it, right?"
His eyes drop slightly at the pathetic sight of Sakamoto that rolled onto his back and now faces the ceiling. The black-haired boy sits down, his cheeks still red, his heartbeats haven't calmed down yet.
"I think… I think I want her to sit on me again… Damn, she's smooth…"
He catches a glimpse of Ryou shaking off his head in disapproval, laughing as if it was a pitiable display from the Kaiser himself.
"Don't be hypocritical, Kaiser, you were looking too, weren't you? You're no different from us mere mortals, so don't act as if you're on a pedestal!"
"You deserve every bit of pain, Sakamoto."
Ryou retorts, his fists clenching slightly. He leaves the place, his patience had tests enough for the day. Edo follows, but doesn't miss the chance to talk back at the black-haired:
"You'll die alone and in pain, you know?"
Both duelists follow the pink-haired girl that stopped in front of the second-year's classroom, knocking on the door. Coming out of the room, Daitokuji almost shrieks, slapping both his cheeks with his hands, his glasses disheveling as he looks at Rie from up to down, she puts her hand on the arm across, playing with her toes shyly and averting her gaze, her body shivering slightly, feeling unnaturally cold.
He grabs both her shoulders firmly asking for an explanation, she can see his brows arching sorrowfully.
"Someone ripped off my uniform during the swimming classes." The words on her device simplify it.
By the time Ryou and Edo come closer, their professor is fuming from his ears, looking around hectically to find out which animal would do something so terrible to a girl. Some boys still chuckle and cast glances at her, blushing. His glasses crack at the sight.
"You all there that just looked right now!" He shouts at every student in the corridor, looking around. "Since you all have so much free time, you're getting a practical alchemy test next week, you better study for that! Now, scram!" The students gasp, muffled protests floating all over as their teacher panics. "And you!" He points at Edo. "Give me your tailcoat!"
The silver-haired points at himself, bemused by the mention, the teacher demands it by swaying a hand forth and back. Edo undresses his coat right there, much to his fans' pleasure, he can hear them swooning behind him.
As soon as the teacher grabs the cloak, he flaps it over her shoulders, covering her figure, she fidgets at how he just casually extorted a student right in front of them, Edo just swings his hand for her to not feel bad, the coat wasn't important anyways.
"We're going to the principal's office right now, Rie-chan!"
He gently puts a hand around her shoulder to guide her there, she didn't seem happy about it, but followed his order regardless. They watch quietly as the two vanish from the corridor.
"Hey!" A familiar female voice lures their attention. Asuka beckons at them. "I heard some noise and people were commenting something about a guy being beaten by a girl… Do you two know anything about it?"
She was looking around, people still gossip about the fresh occurrence, her eyes stop on Edo, looking him from bottom to top, her brows raising:
"Are you trying a new look?"
The two obelisk boys exchange a glance, sighing deeply as she confusedly stares at them. Who is going to explain everything?
In the meantime, Ayukawa scolds the girls again after hearing their made-up story about one of them dropping into the pool and the other going to help, this until the teacher gets yet another call from the principal, calling her to the office immediately.
"You two better stay here and finish the cleaning, I'll come back to check on you and lock the gym."
Her firm voice makes them gulp, but as soon as she is out, Izanami frowns disrespectfully.
"Quick, let's get our plan going, we don't have much time if she's coming back."
"But, Iza-chan, we're already in big trouble…"
"One more small add-on won't make a difference, then!"
Ayako holds up the second letter they prepared. Unfortunately for them, an announcement is made, soaring through all corridors, an invitation for them to be present at the principal's office.
When the doors open, Ayukawa and Daitokuji are there with scowls, their gazes filled with reprehension and the main guest, sitting across from the principal, also turns around to look at them. It's Rie, her eyes are glazed, plunging their insides with a chill.
They argue in their own favor, but ultimately their arguments crumble as they had no alibi as to where they were during the swimming classes and it was during that time Rie's uniform got ripped off.
The gravity of the accusations earned them a week of suspension plus a call to their parents to decide whether they'd get more weeks of suspension or possibly transfer out of the academy, but since there was no proof of them physically harming Rie, they weren't judged for more. Meanwhile the pink-haired left with pats and wishes for her adapting period in school to go better after this.
Outside it's already very dark, they spent hours talking and even after that, another person was called to the principal's office, some boy. It seems Rie had problems with him too, but they couldn't stay. They were sitting for a couple hours listening to Ayukawa admonishing them until it was night.
Izanami kicks the door of her locker, it bounces open with a creak. Ayako shudders seeing an aura of anger pouring out of her friend. The teacher gave them some minutes to fetch their things before they went with her and start a video talk with their parents.
"The little bitch snitched on us…" He nibbles her nails. "Regardless, we still can see the potion's effect! We may not be able to go to classes and have a week of Ayukawa's sensei watching us, but… We're still doing it, Ayako."
"I-Ieek!"
"Don't fall apart now! You just need to put the envelope in Asuka's locker or we put it in her room, send her a message through someone to come pick it up, I saw her on the library earlier! The other letter is already in Edo's room by now. Give it to me, I'll do it… Before we're locked forever in the female dorms because of the suspension…"
"Are you sure the potion will work? I mean, all we put in his letter was a small amount."
"It will work! Have some faith, will ya?"
She smirks, her hands ominously approaching the openings in Asuka's locker door, then, they see some mist in the air, it's odorless, but their senses become hazed, soon they fall unconscious. From behind one of the locker walls, Rie steps ahead, she's dressed in a fitting obelisk uniform that was arranged for her at the meeting earlier.
Her eyes are foggy and sly. She makes a full body search on the two girls, biting her lips in frustration, she can't find the main flask. She overheard them talking about the letter too, just to make sure, she rips it open, gasping at the contents.
It's an invitation for Asuka, to meet her outside of the Obelisk male's dorm at 12 PM and the sender was written as Edo Phoenix. She heard them mentioning that the "other letter" was in his room and a "sample" of a concoction. If he also got one of those and it has the flask, then…
Quickly tucking the envelope into her pocket, she rushes to the obelisk male dorm. She has to get that letter away from everyone if it really has the vial like the girls said, preferably without resorting to meeting Edo in Asuka's place if it comes to that, otherwise, suspicion will arise for her.
It will be risky to invade the dorms at this hour, but she doesn't have time to make a plan. Her eyes narrow considering the possibilities keenly as she runs as fast as she can.
At night,
Ryou walks calmly through the corridor of the dorm, carrying a bundle of cloth consisting of a blanket, some bed sheets and pillow sheets. A third year student watches him with inquiring eyes, asking when he passes by:
"Are you moving somewhere, Kaiser Ryou?"
"I'll be staying in another room for a couple days." He barely moves his head to the side to answer his classmate.
His tranquility amuses the other students who chatter about why he'd switch to Edo's room, some weird rumors about him and Edo are seeded from there, although Edo isn't back ever since their meeting during the afternoon, he left after talking a bit to them and Asuka left not long after. Those two are bad at hiding things from his cunning eyes.
They tried to make it look like they're going somewhere separate, but they were just trying to erase trails and make sure no one would find out they're going somewhere together, but this "no one" doesn't include him. A deep sigh as he shakes off those thoughts. He doesn't like to pry, but he's starting to worry what those two could be up to without him and he has the impression it's nothing as innocent as having secret dates in the library.
He makes the bed with those fresh sheets neatly while harboring his worries intimately, someone knocks on the door, two first year students who require his attention, he leaves the room to talk to them, turning the light off and closing the door behind him.
Down in the woods around the dorm, Rie pants heavily, hiding behind a tree trunk. The lights of every possible room are on, but what choice does she have? She has to invade the dorm now if she wants to get that flask out before Edo finds the letter, if he didn't find it out already.
Climbing the nearest tree to the balcony, she stands on a high up branch, almost losing her balance when she sees a student from a nearby room come to their balcony. Using her arms to keep her equilibrium, she jumps skillfully to the balcony of her target, dunking to the ground and hiding behind the fancy railing before ascertaining her surroundings are clear.
Silence permeates the whole ambience, only the crickets can be heard and the muffled voices of the students inside the building. Her breath paces down.
The room is dark, but she can see very clearly with the moonlight trespassing to the inside. Her soft steps barely make a sound, her posture relaxes as if the tension of breaking into the dorm. She must be quick before Edo comes back, last she spied on him after she went out of the principal's office, he went somewhere with Asuka, she doesn't have the time to worry about where right now.
Her eyes investigate fast, spotting the letter in a minute, walking happily towards it, with the sense of a mission fulfilled, she halts as she hears voices drawing close, she tries to find a place to hide, perhaps the bathroom?
A flinch. Her insides set into turmoil as the door opens with a long creak along with her eyes that almost bulge out, the person entering isn't Edo, but the Kaiser. His head is turned at the two students following him. As soon as he puts a foot inside the bedroom, as if the air shifted, or perhaps, because of his good instincts, his gaze instantaneously lands on her.
"Rie…?"
He gapes, pronouncing in an inaudible tone, still holding the doorknob, it all takes but a second before he enters hurriedly and closes the door behind, impeding the other boys to see her there, the worried voices of the students confusedly talking to him from the other side can be heard as they knock on the door.
Rie's face loses its hue, flabbergasted, as if she'd seen a ghost. From all the people she could meet here, did it have to be him? What is he even doing in Edo's room? Dozens of questions amount into her head, she feels dizzy under all the pressure, his eyes squinting in distrust, if she ever had a guilty face, that's it.
Now that he has seen her, there's no escape, she used her sleeping potion earlier on the girls and nothing is left. Her lips unseal bitterly, an acidic taste into her mouth, feeling like a criminal caught in the act.
Uncle, I'm sorry.
I'm done for.