TW: strong language, light mention of dr*gs.
A week had passed since the incident. Everyone at school was still talking about it: students feared the possibility of sharing classes with Jotaro Kujo and teachers started being tenser when in class. Even two professors resigned for the lack of security within the school.
Rumor has it that Jotaro Kujo was put on trial after what happened, but nothing was confirmed. It was only obvious the history teacher would press charges, and Jotaro could face jail time if family court was to be overruled. No one had seen him since that day, and the school felt more silent than ever.
As for Noriaki, he was having the best week of his life. Word got out that he had fought Jotaro to the point where he had broken his hand and made him cried like a little kid (which wasn't true at all; but Kakyoin wasn't going to debunk that). In the school hallways, people would move out of the way to make him walk freely. Some boys would invite him to their tables at lunch, and he would eat with them but he would keep quiet in order to maintain his new image, even if his heart was filled with happiness about it. He even got a few love letters on his desk which made him unbelievably confident.
He was considered now as one of the guys you shouldn't mess with, or if you were looking for a boyfriend, he was definitely the one you had to compete others for.
It all was going smooth, but it won't last long, for Jotaro Kujo is walking down the school entrance. Noriaki is drawing a sword on his notebook when some students head to the window. Soon, everyone in class is trying to poke their heads out and see for themselves how Jotaro walks confidently into the building, with both of his hands perfectly fine.
—Kakyoin, there's bad news. —one of the students who had been acting like a pet around him announced.
The red head knows exactly what's unfolding. This is what kept him up at night, and he has come up with two choices.
1. Facing Jotaro and fight him in front of everyone, so that his social status doesn't suffer much changes. If he wins, he'll be praised until he graduates. If he loses, he would be seen as weak, but no one would pick at him knowing that he knows how to fight. In this case, he could lose everything he just gained but it wouldn't be as bad as before.
2. He avoids Jotaro Kujo. This would only work if the guy didn't actively search for him, meaning, if he didn't have a grudge against him.
All he knew, is that everything was at risk now. He didn't know how Kujo wasn't expelled, how he wasn't in juvenile prison nor why was he returning to school just now.
Noriaki Kakyoin reminded himself that life sometimes gives you a hard time. But he had to keep pushing. There's no way he could ever be the same, unnoticed nerd as he was before.
He had to fight Jotaro. And he had to win.
~
At lunch, Noriaki is sitting with some other popular kids who ask him too many questions. He doesn't know how to react to this kind of attention, but he tries to seem unbothered. His right leg keeps jumping up and down in effect of the thought of Jotaro walking through the door.
Kujo was way taller than him, not to mention, much more formidable. Noriaki could tell he had his share experiences in fights, and he himself only used to practice martial arts as a kid. Other than that, he was pretty sure he would lose in a fist fight. He had to be smart about it, which was his strength.
Nonetheless, lunchtime went as usual with no Kujo in sight. Kakyoin heads to his next class after saying goodbye to the kids he shared a table with. His class is in the fourth floor, the highest in the building. In there it's found only the arts club and some potted plants; other than that, it's mostly there for storage. For this reason, not a lot of students walk in that hallway. He carries with him his art supplies while walking up the stairs, unnoticed. His footsteps get louder and louder, while the innumerable voices of teens stay behind him.
