章節 4: Explanations (1)
Ryunosuke stared out the heavily tinted window, observing the activity on the other side with mild boredom. Throngs of uniformed students passed by his limousine, conspicuously looking at the vehicle before turning to their group of friends to gossip before heading through the front gate towards the school. He took a sip from his wine glass, the contents too thick to be wine by the way it sloshed around in its container. Humans were annoying, little more than vicious wolves allowed to roam as they pleased, so that they may rip each other to shreds by their greed. A blond hair teen walked past his town car, paying it no attention as he went by, a bubble of space around him and the other students. Well, maybe not all of them.
"Are you certain you wish to do this, young master?" his driver asked.
"Your reputation alone will be enough to cause a stir."
On the top floor in the east wing of the school, Ryunosuke could make out the sharp hazel eyes of a busty, brunette principal staring at him through a partially opened window. "This is my best lead, and I have already made the necessary arrangements and compromises with them."
"If you keep talking like that, young master, they'll never think you're just 18 years old." His driver turned in his seat to give him a dopey grin.
"You're a teenager, remember."
"Hn, I'm well aware." Tilting his glass back, he finished the rest of his beverage, placing the empty glass down.
His driver looked worried, nervous even. "About the boy…" he trailed off.
"He will be dealt with. I just let him go on a whim." He smirked a little. "Maybe he'll lead us to whom we are looking for." He opened the door himself, ignoring the indignant sputtering of his driver about not letting him do his job.
"I will be here by noon, young master," the driver called out after him.
Ryunosuke closed the door without bothering to respond.
Eyes were on him as he walked the path to the entrance. Not unexpected. He was prepared for this much. It was the eyes that weren't directly following his every move that he had to be wary of. Shouldering his bag, he followed the students inside.
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Kaito hit his head against his shoe locker.
The morning had started out fine. Krista came over to make pancakes for his birthday which he managed to devour in record time. His school uniform was wrinkled, and he forgot his blazer, but he didn't think it was a big deal. He always borrowed the school sweater vest from Daisuke on days like this, except his friend didn't show up at his doorstep that morning as he usually did.
Kaito had waited for Daisuke as long as he could, even getting scolded by Krista about being late for school, but he stayed until he could not wait another second. Somehow, he still managed to get to school on time, taking his bike to the bus stop rather than walking.
Despite the late October air, it felt hot. Sweltering even. He loosened his tie and unbuttoned the top, but it didn't help. By the time he arrived at school, he felt extremely tired and surprisingly hungry.
With lethargic movements, he opened his locker, pulling out his indoor ones, and changed shoes.
He just put on his last shoe when his side was poked, making him jump in surprise.
"Happy birthday, Cherry-kun."
The fake smile Takumi gave him was enough to irritate Kaito let alone the nickname. He hated when he just appeared out of nowhere like that.
"Morning to you too, asshole," he murmured, not putting up a fight.
He yawned, not bothering to cover his mouth before he did so.
Takumi was watching him with such concentration it was beginning to him uncomfortable. "Where's Nijima?"
Takumi stared at him for a moment longer before answering. "I would guess at the station. We were caught trespassing last night."
"And you're out because…"
Takumi gave him another fake smile that was borderline creepy. "Let's just say, it is simple to escape the custody of the Japanese police force with the right bargaining methods."
The way it was said made it difficult not find a sexual meaning in it, so he decided not to ask. If anything, it was probably just his family's influence again, just like most of the students here, not that many of them got into frequent enough trouble to use their family name.
Takumi continued to stare, the discomfort growing until finally, Kaito could not take it anymore, rounding on the teen. "Is there any reason why you're staring at me?"
Takumi didn't even blink. "No," he said slowly after some time. "I just thought you looked a bit pale. You'd usually be yelling at me by now."
"Must be the lighting," Kaito said, waving him off. "I'm just tired."
"Right." Takumi was looking at him strangely, even for him. "Have you gone to see Saigo-kun yet? He looked to be in pretty bad shape last night. I thought something may have happened to you too."
This woke Kaito up, making him stand a bit straighter when he asked, "What do you mean last night? What happened?"
Takumi froze with a subtle "I shouldn't have said that" expression that he tried to hide. Kaito was about to press him for more details when the bell rang. "I have to get to class."
Before Kaito could say another world, Takumi had left.
It didn't really matter. They were in the same class so he would corner him eventually, but he was worried about Daisuke. The dream he had last night came back to him.
He swore he went to the mansion last night. It had definitely been very vivid in his memory and felt real, but he didn't remember going home, so he assumed it was just another one of those dreams. But in the dream, Daisuke had escaped. On the off chance that it was real, what could have happened between Daisuke's escape and now?
He shook his head. The entire dream was ridiculous to begin with.
Besides, he was still alive, wasn't he? In the dream, he had died.
He walked into class, still deep in thought, but took time to notice who was there and who wasn't. As usual, there was disorganization that usually came with homeroom, with the majority of his class not at their assigned desks. As always, their science and homeroom teacher Yamada-sensei was nowhere to be seen. The only thing consistent about Yamada was that he was late to homeroom period every morning, so everyone was huddled with their friends in small circles looking at magazines, playing games, or listening to music.
Atsuko was chatting away with Nijima, Sayuri, the younger cousin of Nijima, Yuji. She had long black hair pulled back into a ponytail with her bangs partially covering her face. Like Yuji, she had the same strange colored eyes, but she was quieter and more reserved than her cousin with a soft and pleasant personality.
The girl looked up at his entrance and smiled shyly at him before resuming her quiet conversation with Atsuko. While normally he would have at least greeted his girlfriend, he wasn't quite in the mood, especially since she was squealing over some guy in a magazine with two other girls.
His eyes wandered over the class until he found his target. Akira was lying his head down on his desk.
As usual, there was a bubble around Akira that screamed, "Do not disturb." A warning majority of the class took to heart, proven by the surrounding empty desks. Naturally, that meant Kaito had to disturb his friend. Hanging his bag on the hook attached to his desk, he moved the piece of furniture closer until it was touching Akira's.
"Another sleepless night?" he asked.
Akira, turned his head enough so a green eye could peek out from the comfort of his arms. The permanent bags under the redhead's eyes were darker than normal, clearly telling Kaito that he hadn't been able to sleep a wink the night before. "Care to explain why you look dead, Takeda?"
"I'm exhausted." Kaito laid his head down on his desk too. "I overslept, Baa-chan wouldn't wait to give me a ride, something happened to Daisuke, and I have no idea what, and the girl I'm dating is obsessing over some guy in a magazine," he whined like a young child.
"You also got a 32 on your science test."
Kaito groaned. "How do you even know that?"
"I had to grade papers with…for Yamada." Akira sat up and rested his chin in his hand, watching the blond sulk with his apathetic face.
Kaito sighed, turning his head to the side. "How'd you get detention?" Akira sat quietly for several minutes. Kaito figured he wasn't going to answer, letting his thoughts wander when Akira spoke up. "I stabbed someone's hand with my chopstick during lunch."
Kaito tried not to laugh, but the smile kept widening on his face. "And you did this why?"
"They wouldn't stop talking to me," he said. It was said with such little inflection, it could almost make one believe that it was a legitimate reason to harm another student.
Shaking his head in a combination of amusement, fascination, and exasperation, Kaito lifted his head. "How'd you convince them not to suspend you this time?"
Akira's eyes darted off to the side. "I told them it was an accident."
This time Kaito did sigh disapprovingly. "You threatened them again didn't you."
"More or less…." Akira's tone stated that the conversation was over, and he was finished speaking which was okay with Kaito. Akira was the one person he could be with and not feel obligated to say something. His eyes pulled closed as he basked in the classroom's idle chit chat.
"Teacher," Mori, who was also the class representative called out as Yamada walked in. Everyone hurried to put their desks back to their proper place and stand for the teacher's entrance. "Bow," he called out.
Kaito ignored the morning greeting, already dozing off into his morning nap. Akira also ignored the greeting as it was usual for him to do. A few students sent them a glare which Akira returned much more effectively, unnerving the other students into looking ahead.
"Good morning, class. I have an announcement today. A new student will be joining us." The teacher went on about where transfer student was from and his accomplishments or something. Kaito had zoned out after the first word.
What happened to Daisuke, he wondered. Maybe he could skip after lunch. He could give Krista a pack of her favorite beer as an apology, surely, she couldn't stay mad at him for checking up on his friend, right? He really hoped so because he really couldn't handle being smacked around by her this early in the morning.
"Please become good friends with Himura, Ryunosuke."
Kaito's head shot up at the name. In front of the room stood a tall teen. His skin was clear and smooth without a single blemish, his body thin but with lean muscle that made him look graceful but still masculine, his hair was a fine black, neatly trimmed, and his eyes a captivating, obsidian black.
It was the eyes that Kaito recognized. The chill he got when looking into them as if he was staring into the eyes of a predator.
Himura smiled at the class, but it didn't reach the depths of his eyes. "It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Himura, Ryunosuke. My hobbies are reading and listening to classical music. I will be your classmate from now on, so please take good care of me," he bowed.
Kaito stood up, knocking his chair to the floor, scuffling back in terror into the desk behind him, a long stream of curses streaming from his mouth in his shock. The action drew the attention of the entire class, even Akira, but they didn't matter. He couldn't get his eyes off that face smiling at him in the front of the room.
"Takeda-kun, is there a reason why you found it necessary to curse out our new student?" Kaito's eyes glanced at Yamada then back at Himura. The teen's mouth worked wordlessly, gaping like a goldfish, unable to find any other words.
"I'm sure it's just because he's never seen a celebrity before, Sensei. I have a lot of fans like him." Himura, Ryunosuke walked towards him.
Everyone around them seemed to grow further and further away as the distance between Himura and Kaito shortened. Each step echoed in Kaito's mind as if it wanted Kaito to know, to feel, that each passing moment his chances to escape were dwindling into nothing.
Himura stopped beside his desk and bowed deeply. "I'll be in your care from today onwards, Takeda-kun. I hope we get along."
"Um... yeah," was the only thing Kaito could offer. Himura righted himself, still smiling politely.
"Well since you're over there, you can take the empty seat behind Takeda-kun. Our class representative, Mori-kun will show you around."
"Yes, Sensei," Himura said, continuing past Kaito to take the seat behind him while Kaito picked his chair off the floor, his hands shaking.
"Move your desk back to its proper place while you are at it, Takedakun," Yamada tacked on, already turning to write on the blackboard.
He chuckled at himself shakily, trying to laugh off his nerves. Really. Vampires didn't exist. He hadn't even really gotten a good look at the attacker in the dream. It had been too dark. He was just projecting his fears onto Himura since he just so happened to transfer.
Besides, the way he spoke was different in the dream. Then it was cocky and condescending, not to mention way out of date. This one was polite and modern. So what if getting a transfer at this time of year never happened before. There was a first time for everything.
He sat back down, and the teacher started class.
Today's lesson was on mental disorders. Normally, Kaito would sleep or daydream through his early morning lessons, but today he steadily took notes, chewing on the end of his pencil as he did so.
Something touched the back of his neck, a feather soft touch similar to a soft breath of air.
Fear racked up his spine and the side of his neck began to burn. The same spot where he dreamed of being bitten. Fear locked his joints, making him unable to turn around. No, he was unable to move at all, unable to bring himself to even breathe. Surely someone saw what was going on, right?
Then the voice whispered into his ear, "Meet me on the roof after class."
There was no mistaking that condescending tone. It was him. It was definitely him.
No.
He refused to be controlled by fear. Not again. Gathering his courage, he spun around in his seat only to see Himura taking notes without a hair out of place. Himura looked up at him and smiled. "Is something wrong, Takeda-san?" he asked politely.
Kaito faced forward once again. His hand went to his neck, ensuring the skin was really smooth. It had to be a dream. It had to be….
But he was afraid.
For the first time in his life, he never wanted the class to end.
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