SENIORITIS (Ishimondo)

3. Blanket Stitch Buds

[TW this chapter- marijuana usage mentions
Emotional abuse
Also I write Chihiro as nonbinary in this specific story. If you leave enby hate in the comments I'll come for your knees]

Friday morning arrived, and Taka was headed out to school right as his father was getting into bed. He cringed at the thought of arriving home that afternoon and the attitude his dad would be in, having worked that much overtime.
His Dad would never be violent or anything, he was in reality all bark and no bite. But every last thing that Kiyotaka would slip up on would be used against him, even a single unwashed dish. After his father was removed from the police force because of his family name, he had gotten increasingly more bitter as the years passed. Kiyotaka understood, sort of. It was unfair, without justice. He was having to work two jobs, over 80 hours a week, in order to make ends meet, when he could've stayed on the force and made a comfortable living doing what he was good at. It was the curse of the Ishimaru name, he supposed.
Taka found a seat near the front of the bus, the safest place in his eyes. There was a petite girl sitting in the corner of the seat that he almost hadn't noticed. Taka cleared his throat.
"May I sit here, miss?" He said awkwardly.
"Y-yeah, sure....ah, but....I'm not a girl!" They said, seeming to conjure all of their strength to say the words.
"Oh, my apologies, I didn't know." Taka said. He sat next to them, tucking his bag under the seat in front of him. "What- um.....I mean, are you...male?"
"I'm nonbinary, actually." They said. "My name's Chihiro, Chihiro Fujisaki!"
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Chihiro. I'm Kiyotaka Ishimaru, but people call me Taka." He said with a slightly nervous smile.
Chihiro smiled back. They didn't say anything about his last name, and it seemed as if they weren't used to having friendly bus interactions at all.
Taka tried his best to be mindful.
"If you aren't comfortable with such a question, please let me know, but I would like to know more about.....non binary. I ah- I have been meaning to do some research and would like more education on the matter." Taka said, eyes darting towards the floor.
Chihiro smiled and gave a bubbly laugh. They fluffed out their uniform skirt and turned towards Taka slightly.
"Of course! Where should we start..."

Taka and Chihiro had a lovely conversation about gender expression and the LGBTQIA community.
They grew a little closer today.

"If you'd ever like to come to study hall, I'm in 207 every morning!"
"Oh, I help in the tech department before class, but if I ever get some free time I'll definitely be there!" Chihiro said, walking up to Hopes Peak next to Taka, and letting him open the school door for them. "Here..."
Chihiro (much to the horror of the hall monitor) ripped off a random corner of a notebook page and wrote a phone number down on it. They gave it to Taka.
'Huh, I suppose exchanging numbers is something that acquaintances do...I did not know that.' he thought.
"If you ever want to talk more, shoot me a text! I'm never AFK. See you around!" They said with a wave before strolling towards the computer lab. Taka smiled.
He continued straight down the hallway and opened the door to 207.
As expected, the classroom was empty. Taka began flicking on lights, and once again, had to use the standing lamp to get enough light to see what he was doing. He hadn't expected any lights to get fixed though, it was basically an abandoned classroom that went unused.
He signed in on the clipboard and began unpacking his bag.
Mondo hadn't made any promises to show up, Taka reminded himself that as the first 10 minutes ticked by.
He kept replaying the conversation he'd had with Chihiro. Taka had learned so many new terms!
He felt comfortable in his gender identity, but there were some other terms that caught his interest.
He started writing them down.
Asexual
Bisexual
Homoflexible
Demisexual
Homosexual (Gay)
Those were the ones he could remember that could pertain to him. He added little notes next to each, and stowed it away in a deep corner of his backpack. Maybe he would text Chihiro later for more information.
Taka wouldn't allow himself to think about that right now, not while there was still his own homework to be done.