"I can't believe I came to school early," I grumbled to myself, walking through the school's almost ghostly halls. Barely anyone was here yet, and the few who were were the quiet, no-nonsense studying in the library alone type. Honestly, who would wake up early on their own free will? Isn't sleep one of the few luxuries human beings have?
An exasperated sigh left me as a blank nameplate came into view, a feeling of dread accompanying the sight. I wasn't typically scared of flat pieces of metal, but there was one flat piece of ice I was wary of.
Of course, the ice in question was Yukinoshita Yukino—also the one who called me here.
After my naive attempt at displaying some courage, she demanded I come to school early the next day without explaining why. It didn't take much head scratching to wonder what she wanted to do, however; I could scratch 'doing couple-like things' immediately off the list.
In all likelihood, she wanted to discuss her future plans and set rules for this deceit. In an unmarked storage room. I wouldn't expect any less from a person like her. She could murder me and easily hide my body in that room if exposing my list and getting me expelled wasn't enough for her.
I slowed to a stop in front of the door, taking a breath before I slid it open. With the meager resolve I gathered, I grasped the handle; its cold touch sent shivers throughout my body.
The ice queen was definitely here.
Sliding it open, I braced myself, though it wasn't enough to prepare me for the sight that greeted me.
The room was certainly a storage room: desks and chairs were stacked atop each other in the corners, boxes of various sizes and contents placed on the floor with no real care. A window was at its back, opened to the world.
It was a storage room, nothing surreal, nothing dreamlike about it.
However, the person in the center of all of it was, unquestionably, both of those things.
Yukinoshita Yukino.
She was simply standing there, back turned. Nothing more, nothing less, yet it was enough to leave me transfixed, frozen at the sight. If the world were to end, then she would surely still be there, looking at its end through the window.
A breeze swept through the room, animating her raven hair as she turned around, the movement like the breeze in its fluidity. Her cobalt eyes instantly found my own, and she began to walk toward me.
"Ah…" I let out a meager breath as she neared, no sign of her stopping even as she came within arms-length of me. With wide eyes, I watched as her arm reached out, flashbacks of our previous meeting invading my mind.
I squeezed my eyes shut in anticipation, expecting another brush of wind against my ear with a thundering sound with it, but nothing happened. Opening my eyes, I looked to the side to see her hand indeed beside me, though it was gripping the handle of the door.
"Move aside please," she instructed. "Since you won't close the door, I'll have to."
I swallowed, shuffling to the side with a heavy breath leaving me. "I thought you were going to do a kabe-don again…" I muttered.
"A kabe-don?" She looked perplexed, as if she were in thought. Then, like a light being turned on, something shifted in her expression. "Oh, I suppose you mean this."
DON.
In a flash she closed the distance I had put between us, her thin hand now beside my head and pressing against the wall. Her face was only centimeters away, and I could feel her breaths on my face, each exhale leaving a lingering touch on my lips.
But before I could say anything, she slipped back to a more comfortable distance, looking as if nothing had happened.
"U-uh yeah… that…" I coughed, trying to gather my thoughts and composure. "Why are you so obsessed with kabe-dons?"
"Kabe-dons?" She placed a finger on her chin. "Wouldn't kabe-down be a better name?"
"Who are you, Shirogane?" I muttered, her eyes narrowing as she crossed her arms.
"I don't know of such a person." Her pointer finger tapped against her arm. "I did a kabe-don—as you call it—yesterday so you wouldn't escape. That's only natural, isn't it?"
She tossed her hair, smiling as if she were an angel, something she was anything but. "You should be grateful. I wouldn't do that for any other. For you, however, I'm more than certain I'd be able to subdue you if you tried anything. I have your list and my aikido."
"Hey, maybe you have my list, but I wouldn't be so sure about your aikido. I ride my bike to school—everyday if I might add." I gave myself a thumbs up. "I'm not unhealthy. In fact, I'm one of the healthiest people you may ever meet."
Komachi's meals were certainly on the healthy side, though I wished she would stop putting tomatoes in everything. If Yukinoshita found out about my weakness to tomatoes… I banished the thought.
"Yes, I know." She rolled her eyes. "One of the people you wished to kill had apparently placed trash in your bicycle's basket. I was able to piece together that you rode a bicycle to school since you didn't want to be with your peers on public transit."
"Whatever," I grumbled, averting my eyes. "Why did you call me here, anyway?"
"I wanted to discuss our future." She gestured for me to come closer, so I begrudgingly did.
"Today, I'm certain I'll be confessed to with a crowd watching because of it," she continued, an irritated expression spreading across her face. "Once that happens, I'll announce I'm seeing someone. When they ask who, I'll be sure to say your name. Three things may happen."
She lifted her hand, raising a finger with each possibility as she continued. "One, they'll all wonder who you are; two, they'll all gasp and start gossiping; or three, they'll all be repulsed and disgusted, leaving me alone. Either way, the confessions should stop, and my school life will have some normalcy."
"And then what happens to me? I'm sure they'll want to ask me questions as well."
"Thinking quite highly of yourself, aren't you?"
"Oi."
She sighed. "Well, in any case, you'll need to respond rather vaguely. We cannot come up with an exact answer for everything, after all." Her cheeks flushed faintly. It was almost unnoticeable, but certainly there. "However, there will be… certain questions that may be asked, so we'll come up with a solution to coordinate."
"Certain questions?" I tilted my head to the side, feigning ignorance. The hesitation in her voice and the slight reddening of her cheeks made it clear she found the topic embarrassing to say.
"Like…" She coughed. "K-Kissing, going on dates…"
"I see." I rubbed my chin, repressing the urge to smirk, though a bit of heat surfaced on my cheeks as well. "You should come up with everything."
She cleared her throat, regaining her composure to my disappointment. "I think we should just remain silent, as if those topics were private, something we wish to keep to ourselves."
"Can't we just do that for everything?" I pointed out.
"No. If we stay quiet about everything, it'll be suspicious. I'll be announcing I'm seeing someone publicly after all, so they would expect at least some information regarding said relationship."
"Right…" I sighed. "Anything else I need to know?"
"No, nothing else."
"Then can I ask something?"
She narrowed her eyes. "I suppose, though I have no obligation to answer anything."
"Mm. How'd you find my list?"
The last time I saw my list was exactly a week from yesterday. I was rearranging the items inside my bag when I pulled out my list, and at that exact moment, Hiratsuka-sensei called out my name; I tossed it into a recycling bin on instinct. I was later taken to the teacher's lounge, and when I came back to the recycling bin, everything inside of it was gone.
I initially assumed the recycling bin was emptied, my notebook with it, but I was clearly wrong.
"How did I find your list?" She paused. "I suppose there's no harm in telling you. I was simply tossing out a love letter when I glanced inside the recycling bin, finding your notebook open with the words 'People to Kill' written on it, so of course I was intrigued. Using a pair of medical gloves, I took it out and read it. You know the rest."
"I do," I grumbled. "And medical gloves?"
"I didn't know what disgusting things you may have touched. You never wrote if you washed your hands."
"I was wondering why you had medical gloves on you, but I don't want to—"
I was interrupted by the rough sound of a door sliding open. I instantly turned around, looking at the entrance of the room where a lab coat-wearing woman was standing. Her hand, bare of any rings, rested on the doorframe as she looked at me with perplexed eyes.
"Hiratsuka-sensei, knock," Yukinoshita chided.
She ignored her. "Hikigaya? What are you doing here with Yukinoshita?"
"We were having a discussion," Yukinoshita quickly answered for me.
"I see." The corners of her mouth curled upward slightly, but quickly plummeted. Certainly because her hand was bare of any rings. But please! You're misunderstanding! It's anything but that! We're anything but that!
I tried to convey those words with my eyes, but I was quickly stopped by a pinch at my side making me twitch. I looked down, Yukinoshita's hand receding from her barbarism to Hiratsuka-sensei's narrowed eyes.
"Well, leave. Class is starting soon." Hiratsuka-sensei stretched out her arm, her hand open. "The key."
Yukinoshita grabbed onto the cuff of my sleeve, dragging me with her as she walked toward Hiratsuka-sensei. Pulling out a key from a pocket, she dropped it into Hiratsuka-sensei's hand. "Thank you for letting me use the room."
"Sure, now go."
As we left, I gave Hiratsuka-sensei one last pleading look before I was quickly pulled out of the room. I was now walking down the hall with Yukinoshita against my will.
"Already being unfaithful, aren't you?" She glared at me. "Anything you would like to admit to before we become public?"
I shook my hand free from her grip. "You know it's not like that." I returned her glare. "I have to go to class now. And by the way, Hiratsuka-sensei is my homeroom teacher."
"Only a teacher, I hope."
"Bye."
I turned around and began for my classroom without the slightest intention to look back. However, even without that intention, I was forced to look back by a firm grip on my shoulder.
"Wha—"
"Do you know Hayama Hayato?" Yukinoshita asked sternly.
"Of course I know him." Blond, the most popular guy in school who all the girls had a crush on—but on second thought, maybe one person didn't. "Who doesn't?"
"If he asks about us, be as vague as possible. Say that rumors are rumors and avoid all questions."
"Ah…" The intensity in her voice left me uneased, wondering what the deal was between the two, but I wouldn't dare ask her. Not right now, at least. "...Okay."
"Okay." She let go of my shoulder, a breath leaving her. "Let's go, then."
" 'Let's?' "
"Yes, 'let's'. You'll be walking me to my classroom in case a confession happens on my way there."
She clamped onto my sleeve, dragging me along. Other students had arrived at the school now, and they gave us… glances, to say the least.
"Are you sure about this?" I whispered to her.
"Of course I am." She stopped in her step. "I'm always sure."
"I really have no choice in this, do I?"
She smiled coldly, foretelling of the future to come.
"Not at all."