𝙁𝙍𝘼𝙈𝙀𝘿 | chigiri hyoma

𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗻𝗲

You panted as you reached the door of the Bachira residence, it was way too hot for a September morning. The fabric of your uniform sleeves was beginning to stick to the glaze of sweat that gathered on your skin—it wasn't even seven yet.

Knocking lightly on the door to the comfy house, you adjusted the straps of your backpack as you waited for the answer. You could hear the sound of shoes sliding against the flooring along with multiple shouts of 'one moment!' coming from the other side.

Yuu swung open the door a second later with a smile on her face, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand. "Good morning, honey. Sorry—I forgot to put the sealant on the canvas you painted last night, I was trying to get it on before I forgot," she said with a light laugh.

"It's alright. Can I pick it up after school?" you asked while peeking over her shoulder slightly, wondering where Bachira was. You had a tight schedule to make it on time and there was no way in hell you were showing up to your first day at a new school late. That's just bad for your image. 

She nodded and stepped so she could allow space through the door. "Yes, yes, of course. Anyway, I'm not sure if Meguru's awake yet. I don't even try to get him up anymore." She placed her hand on your shoulder, pushing you into the house. "You can try your luck, though," she winked before disappearing into her office. 

You sighed as you stepped toward his room, resigning to the fact you'd be stuck dragging his ass out of bed. Then, of course, yelling at him for not being ready. You went to grasp the handle before you had to quickly jump out of the way, narrowly missing a swinging door to the face.

"What the hell!" you shouted, placing a hand over your rapidly beating heart as you looked over to Bachira. He'd barreled out of his room fully dressed in his uniform, hair combed, backpack on—the whole nine yards. 

He looked over in your direction, "Why are you just standing there?" he asked like he expected you to know better. "We're tight on time, are we not?" Taking your wrist, he dragged you through the house, onto the sidewalk, and set the fastest walking pace he could toward the school.

After the first couple of steps, you were finally able to grasp your surroundings. All this, and yet it still wasn't even seven in the morning. You pried his fingers from your wrist, rubbing it stubbornly with your other hand. "Good morning to you, too," you mumbled.

"It is isn't it," he grinned. "The sun is shining, the birds are singing. Today's gonna be great."

You stared at him from the corner of your eye for a long moment before ultimately deciding it was easier to just brush off whatever was going on in his head. "Right. How come you were up, anyway? You used to always be late to school."

"Would you believe me if I said I was a changed man?"

"No."

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and you watched him read his notifications expectantly, quickly typing about a response with his thumbs. "Uhh..." he said distractedly before he shoved the device back into his slacks, "Yeah—no, right—I mean, that's rude! How come you're expecting the worst from me?"

You kicked some of the stray pebbles on the concrete into the passing lawns, shooting your counterpart an exasperated look from the side. "Alarms aren't made loud enough to wake you up."

"Wrong! My alarm woke me up this morning, actually," he stated proudly.

"Uh-huh...And how many exactly did you have to s-"

Your question was cut off by the blaring ring of his phone and the scrambled yelps he blurted in his frenzy to pick it up as quickly as possible. He held it up to his ear, biting his lip as he listened to the other end of the line. With a quick nod and brief click to end the call, he smiled as he looked back over to you. It was obvious gears were turning behind the yellow of his eyes, the calculating way he examined your questioning stare.

"Well, it seems we've arrived," he giggled under his breath. With a quick pivot on his foot, Bachira was behind you, using a grip on both of your shoulders to lead you into the gates of the schoolyard. 

You stumbled slightly over your steps as he pushed you toward a group of boys, all of them huddled around something. Other incoming students didn't pause as you looked around frantically for help while Bachira whistled loudly. The only thing you saw was the brief second it took for the boys to disband, scattering in different directions in a blur of messily buttoned uniforms. The next thing you knew, your shoulders were shoved forward—causing you to screw your eyes shut in preparation to eat dirt. 

You landed parallel to the ground, suspended above the grass by your palms. It was a miracle you wouldn't be going into class with a few missing teeth and a broken nose. Slowing peeling open your eyes, you had to suppress a scream that shot up your throat. With wide, surprised eyes you looked down at a similar state of red ones, staring back at you in shock.

You both stayed frozen in your position, stalling a deadlock of the orchestrated "misfortune". Function finally returned to your brain after a moment too long and the only response you could manage was scrambling as fast as you could from the awkward arrangement. Both sitting on the ground trying to gathering back as much pride as you could, the two of you couldn't meet eyes—just fixating on random posters plastered on the sides of the buildings. 

With a thick swallow of shame, you decided you (probably) gained back the ability to speak. "Uh, sorry. My friend's...kinda, um—clumsy, y'know," you laughed uncomfortably, trying to shine whatever bit of lightheartedness you could on the tension.

"It's alright," the boy next to you mumbled. You could see the long red hair he had braided from the corner of your vision, still lacking the courage to properly look at him. You had to admit how strikingly pretty he was—even just by the basis of the quick look you had gotten in the middle of a tumble. His long eyelashes had been perfect frames, even while his lids were blown wide in surprise; his lips were moisturized and shiny, even while parted open to release a gasp. 

That's so fucking sappy. It also wasn't the time, you still had classes to get to—for the first time in the school, at that. You shook your head, breaking the mindless stare you had on a wall to take a proper scan of the schoolyard. 

Deserted.

Bachira and his little buddies had ditched—as did all of the other students, nowhere in sight. Which was lovely, really. Because the one person you knew who would be able to guide you around your schedule left you high and dry. A great friend.

You bit back a wince of embarrassment and looked over to the still seated boy on your left. "What's your name?" 

He turned his head to face you, slightly deflated in his expression. "Chigiri Hyoma. You?"

"[Surname][Name]. Now, do you know how to get to room 109?"  

"Yeah, do you not?"

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i was gonna finish this yesterday but ive been speed running google slides all week