Behind The Mask

Chapter 5- Kian

We all silently hopped on the bus after a long day of school, each sitting in the same seats we sat in this morning on the way to school. I took the window seat with Akari sitting next to me and Kio and Akai in front of us. As the bus started moving, I felt a weight settle onto my shoulder and turned to see that Akari had fallen asleep. He looked so peaceful and at ease when he slept, I just couldn't bring myself to do anything about it. It was almost a comforting weight to me, even if this was only my second day knowing him. I made a vow to myself then and there that I would protect him at any cost. No one would ever hurt him again.

I heard a small click and looked up to see Kio holding her phone camera in the gap between the seats, taking a photo. Normally I'd get annoyed and demand she delete it but given the circumstances I figured I'd let it slide. We'd all had a big, hard day. Most of the remainder of the bus ride was spent with Akari sleeping on my shoulder, the little hobbit talking constantly to Akai, who just sat there listening and smiling, while getting the occasional comment in between the chipmunk's chatter. Even if they didn't know it yet, I knew they'd get together one day. It was known that Akai is a lesbian (which is why no one hit on her), and Kio is bi but with a preference for females- which didn't stop some boys from trying. But I was a lot more closed off about the fact that I was also bi but with a preference for males. No one knew about Akari's preference though, since he is still the new kid.

But I knew that something would sprout from the 2 girl's friendship, and I was prepared to be there for when they wanted help figuring it out. Before we knew it, we were nearing the stop that Akari hopped on and off at, which happened to only be a few stops away from where the rest of us hopped off. Akai took it upon herself to shake the sleeping boy up and let him know that we were close to his stop. As soon as he realised how he'd been sleeping, he instantly turned a bright red and started apologising as quickly as he could. I just told that it was fine and that I understood. It had been a hard day for all of us, and I didn't mind it.

After he hopped off the bus, the 3 of us started talking about the day had just passed. "Did you see the way Akari froze in sport though?" Akai asked, "It's almost like he had some trauma."

"He was similar in health- he kind of shrunk in himself," Kio added.

"it's not our place to know right now," I informed them. "If he wants to tell us, he will do it when he's ready. All we can do is build a support system for him."

They nodded, showing their agreement, and understanding in what I said. "Here's an idea," I added, "if we're all so worried about him, why don't we go visit him? I'm sure Kio could find out where he lives."

And so we did. Kio hacked into the school records and found his address, so we all went there. When we got to the front gates, our mouths all dropped at the sight of it and Kio went quiet and looked like a child in a candy store. Sitting in front of us was a massive mansion that we had all seen when we had visited Akai's house (which happened to be a 5–10-minute walk away from Akari's house. I noticed the look of recognition in Akai's eyes as well and assumed that she recognised the building as well.

We walked through the gates up to the front door and rang the doorbell. We sat there for 30 seconds before this teenage looking girl with bright blue hair and violet eyes opened the door. "Can I help you?" she asked, obviously not expecting to see a group of teens when she opened the door.

"Yes," Akai responded while Kio and I gained our bearings, "We were wondering if Akari was home? We're some of his friends from school."

"Oh!" She exclaimed excitedly, "Yeah, he's here. Come in, come in.". She reminded me of Kio with the way she was acting. "I'm Sophie! I'm one of Aki's cousins, come with me, I'll introduce you to a few people."

"Why do you have blue hair when Akari's is black with red?" Kio asked her.

"Oh, Aki, Jade- his other cousin- and I all dyed our hair at the same time. Me and Jade have naturally brown hair like our mother, and we dyed ours different shade of blues." She replied while guiding us somewhere in the house. "Akari dyed his hair from his natural black to the red that you see as well."

As we walked through what appeared to be the entertainment room, we saw this boy with blue hair and a fringe that looked to be roughly the same age as Sophie. She introduced us to him as Akari's new friends, and he looked up and gave a neutral glance towards the girls, but his gaze hardened when it landed on me. I knew in that moment that I was not liked by this person, even if he didn't know me. Sophie decided to get us moving after seeing the stare being directed at me.

She then pulled us behind the house to where a brown-haired lady with a green apron was kneeling, doing what appeared to be garden work. "Mother!" She called to her, "These are Aki's new friends! He's making friends already, I'm so happy for him!"

The lady then got up and walked over to us. "Hi," She greeted us, "I'm Akari's aunt, Elizabeth. I'll take them from here, Sophie, why don't you go back in and keep Jade busy." The she turned back to us as Sophie left. "Akari didn't tell me he was having friends over; I would have made the house more presentable otherwise."

"It's fine," Akai being the groups mother figure replied, "we wanted to surprise him since we know he's never really had many friends."

Kio decided to step in and add in her enthusiastic voice: "YOUR HOUSE IS SO BIG AND COOL! I WISH MY HOUSE WAS AS BIG AS THIS!"

Elizabeth just laughed and told us that we were free to visit whenever we wanted, as long as we'd told Akari prior to it and she was aware of it happening. We then asked where Akari was, and she told us he was in the music room and gave us the directions to get there before heading back to her gardening. So we followed her directions and headed up the staircase, walking past the room which held the sign "Akari's Room" and towards the door next to it which read "Music Room". While outside the door, we heard the faint sound of a violin being played.

I opened the door, ready to surprise him, but what I saw horrified me to no end as he turned around. His expression went from excitement (thinking someone else was walking in), to confusion at seeing me, to fear as he realised his mask was off and his face was open for me to see. I pushed the girls back so that they wouldn't see what I was witnessing, told them to stay outside, and closed the door behind me. When I turned back to Akari, he had his mask put back on, but his eyes... his eyes showed a fear that I hadn't seen in anyone else. He meekly begged to me "please, don't tell anyone. Please."