Alright, Chaps I managed to make a second chapter, mind I'm terrible at this editing bit, but read if you wish.
Some major plotholes will appear in a tick and i´m just warning, i wanna write how i write and the excuses i´ll give are a bit flimsy.
Morning came and Ichika knew that the headache greeting him was a sign foretelling of the coming day, dealing with an egotistical brit, a conniving Brit, and maintaining the lie he´s lived for the past few months.
Laura was already up alongside him, she was somehow even groggier than he was.
¨yawn ¨ what are your plans for today? ¨ she said with a tired tone.
¨ Training with Charlotte, we make a better team than I hoped we wouldn´t be¨ he said casually, it didn´t help his aching at the thoughts of what she was planning for him.
¨ägh, poor you! you need to spend your time doing what you were trained to do.¨ she said with an understanding and pittying face with a tone of sarcasm added in.
¨ẗhank you for understanding laura¨ he responded back dryly
As they headed to breakfast ichika considered what his future was, serving up his plate with some simple oatmeal, grule that reminded him of his fond time of training. Nostalgic in a way he never wanted to experience again but also slightly missed. He didn´t carry as much of an appetite as he should have should´ve, but the staring, the memories, and the uncertainty ahead made him nauseous.
He´s experienced something similar to this before on his first few operations, he learned to eat as if it were just a motion not an activity. Just blanking out.
¨Are you… doing ok?¨ She said a bit too uninquisitively, as if tended she wasn´t as interested as she really was.
¨fine and well as I´ve been¨ he said with the same forced casualty.
¨I was just asking.¨ She said calmly, too cooly. A hint of recognition could be seen in her eyes.
He decided to ditch the uncertainty by switching the subject.
¨What was Chifuyu like when she was training ya´ll?¨
She seemed taken aback by the sudden use of his sister and his unruly dialect
¨Well... ¨Partner¨ she said in a very poorly emphasized fake American accent
¨she was an inspiration, she pushed us to our very limits and forced us to master our skills with expertise that would never be shown in school. If anyone else put us what she put us through we might´ve openly revolted!¨ She said with a little hin idolizing tone behind it as if she really did believe what she spoke.
It was jarring to Ichika in the way of how similar they both were in that aspect. Although he´d change the wording. He still needed to clear at least some suspicion about him by asking about his sister to, she seemed like one of her biggest spies here in the academy.
Or maybe that was just his curiosity spilling in.
¨She is the best isn´t she?¨ he said with a slight amount of genuine admiration. He was always reminded of her unending journey to find him, he never knew what to decide on that, she was just like h
Ja¨ She said with admiration relied on her just like him, maybe even felt like a little sister to her, just like how he was with his squad. Those who you go through hell Whath are always family.
¨ What are you planning on doing?¨
¨Some basic training¨ she said curtly.
¨" I wish I could say the same¨ He said with a faint depression.
¨say the same about what?¨ he heard come up to the both of them, cringing internally at the familiar voice.
He turned to spot the yellow-haired ally he found, she wasn´t bad at all. Smart and skilled, but she had ulterior motives, ones that would be dangerous no matter how they ended.
Victory felt guaranteed but he could it afford to soil it with regrettable mistakes to achieve it.
It would be one where he used the least amount of skills and techniques he learned. He loved Trade-offs.
¨Nothing much Dubois, we were just discussing training¨ he said quickly trying to cut the conversation short.
¨And wouldn´t that discussion involve me?¨ quickly cutting out the flimsy cover.
¨You don´t seem worried now do you?¨ he said with a bit more aggression than needed at this annoying Frenchie.
She seemed taken aback but quickly covered it up with a new layer of sarcasm.
¨You help save a man´s life, and the very next day he insults you behind your back, classic Americans!¨ the smug tones made him itch for a fight, but he knew that she was hurt to even a slight degree.
¨But we are working together as allies! and don´t you ever forget one thing.¨ she said as she came up too close to his face.
¨Ÿou need me, and I need you. And we both know you can´t disagree with that simple fact¨
A simple taunt back, effective as it was by the sheer mention of truth. He rared at her, he wanted to retort back, but should he?
¨But one of us would be in far more trouble to the suits we call family now, wouldn´t we?¨ An open anger he instantly regretted.
It lit a fire and seemed like it was about to burn a bridge, he could tell.
Just as she opened his mouth he was interrupted.
¨An army can fight separately but not divided.¨ Laura quickly interjected.
¨Excuse me?... Oh...¨ Charlotte said simply as if she realized the simple yet effective meaning being given.
¨Exactly, Your sister taught me that when I couldn´t get along with my friends back home. Maybe that will be put into both of your heads now.¨ She said firmly.
She was right...
¨Sorry, I went too far¨ a slight amount of noticeable bitterness to it, but a genuine effort around it. He really DID mean it.
¨it´s fine.¨ She said with a similar note but with somber sadness and a slight amount of betrayal, it pierced a small needle into Itchika´s heart over her reactions, Perhaps he needed to step a bit more, to make himself seem as at least an ally and maybe even pretend to be friend´s if he tried hard enough.
Funny, he never really thought about friends outside of those put through hell with him.
Did he see laura as a friend? CoLaurae anymore? Maybe, he could just settle with allies just to make removing the nail of his presence in the academy and his soul easier. But he didn´t want to continue this conversation, he decided to end it here.
He openly sighed deeply as if he were calming down.
¨Thanks Laura, I´ll put in an extra good word for you with my sister, you helped a lot. ¨ He said.
Now THAT was a good way to draw her atteItion.
¨Oh! No- No- problem¨ She was puzzling together the consequences of his response. it worked well enough for him to escape.
¨it´s about time that I head to class. See you after Charlotte?¨
¨wait what? What did you call me?¨ She seemed put off balance with this like he slapped her in the face.
Laura had a look of surprise and stared at him as if he said something completely idiotic, then realized what happened.
He said something wrong.
¨Oh I'm sorry dubois.¨ he said quickly, an unexpected amount of anxiety flaring up.
¨yea… thanks." She looked at him with a worried yet puzzled look.
He took his tray and walked to the garbage can, ignoring the new army of stares that came across him all across the hall. He lost his hunger again.
Just as he closed the door he heard a very audible ¨THEY NEED EACH OTHER!?¨ from a table close to theirs.
He hated this place.
¨ITCHIKA!" The Chinese representative yelled out, as he entered class. Lingyin was it? She was out for blood after he admitted he forgot about her. Half of him said she was in the right, the other half considered how much of an issue and pain having another set of watching eyes on him would be.
It grated him how his day decided to t off and a bit of her voice as well. He felt even worse about that.
¨yes?¨ he said weakly.
¨I´ve decided that we will be friends again!¨ she stated boldly, proudly even.
Dread filled him as much as… well, he didn´t know how to react. How would Owl defuse this situation? A bad idea is given out by monika and he needs to find a way to stop her without getting into an argument.
How about going ahead with the idea but changing a key aspect? That might work.
¨Oh really? how? ¨ offhandedly responding.
¨¨Ÿes really, How Lingyin?¨ came the more familiar voice of houki. From the shadows
The whispering that already existed became a slight tone higher than crescendoed. He could feel how much of an impact this made on the watchers.
¨" Past knowledge of each other..?¨
¨ How about we go to a resturaunt together later and talk about what happened over these past 6 years?¨ the same tone was there albeit with a slight hint of shyness.
This was a genuine effort to connect with him, oh no... he´d have to ruin this in some way. He needed to maintain a more distant relationship with her, this much lying wasn´t good for him.
¨öh my god.¨ one of the girls behind him said with a faint whisper it sounded like she was enjoying every second of this. He heard the rapid texting on her phone.
¨didn´t you hear about what happened at the mess hall?¨ another one whispered, think. think. think. Going in alone would be a mistake he might slip up a lie. How would one ruin this in the most civil way possible?
¨Sounds great! Mind if I bring along some friends with me? My partner in the tournament is cool! and I know some other people that would enjoy this!¨
Good, less lying. And some people he can predict.
She looked at him with slight shock, good this wasn´t going according to her plan.
¨well -¨ she was about to speak before she was briefly interrupted.
¨That sounds like a great idea!¨ Houki interjected again even more violently than before.
Ah, right. She was similar, but he didn´t make the same stupid slip of the tongue as her.
He should have expected this.. but it´s not the worst outcome.
Then the teacher came along and shut the class down.
He relaxed a slight amount even with this new forced friendship upon himself,
How would he handle this? Maybe he shouldn´t. Maybe just going at it how a normal person would be the best ending, but he knew that he didn´t think or act ¨normally¨ especially here.
But as class progressed he could feel the looks of interest circling all around him, different thoughts of agendas ranging from the genuine to the entertained.
He´ll get used to it. Hopefully.