Rumours ~ Ruikasa

Meeting Kamishiro!

Tsukasa Tenma grew to be a popular, spirited boy. He had quite the reputation at his high school, he was sure everybody had heard about him.

But he had an ego, and quite a big one at that. He cared about his reputation almost as much as he cared about his own health.

After all, why live if you're well-known for a bad reason?

This was the question he had whenever he heard anyone speaking of Kamishiro Rui or whenever he even passed him by in the hall. Rui was a quiet boy, only Nene and Mizuki ever spoke to him. Sometimes, rarely, you could catch glimpses of Shiraishi, Aoyagi or Shinonome speaking to him, but those conversations never lasted very long.

Tsukasa felt just the slightest bit of empathy for him, but that was generous, seeing that he only cared about himself and his reputation.

Rui was known for his weird hobby of building robots that sometimes went haywire through the hallways. Sometimes they even exploded! Rumours say that he's either insane, a mad scientist, an arsonist or a pyromaniac, maybe even a mix of all four! Nobody felt comfortable around him. Everyone knew where his locker was and which classes he had next. They only learned it so that they could avoid him.

Amongst the chaotic, loud, overlapping chatter in the hallway, he could hear insults thrown behind his back as he walked by.

What a loner.

He's ugly...

Weirdo!

I bet he's got a criminal record.

He's such a freak!

Loser!

Why's he so skinny?

He's so creepy!

It happened every time.

He didn't care, though. He didn't want much attention, or any attention at all. None.

He didn't care what others had to say about him. He was perfectly fine the way he was. He thought his life couldn't get better than the way it already was, just him and Nene hanging out every day, sometimes even Mizuki, and him performing for little kids! He loved seeing them smile.

Most of that wasn't even true.

The reason why he performed at Phoenix Wonderland was mainly because little to no teenagers visited the park for fear of being regarded as childish. The only thing he had to worry about were the children hearing those rumours that were circulating around Kamiyama High or being caught by someone that went there. These children that listened to his singing, their eyes sparkling with interest and amazement, even looking up to him! They didn't think he was crazy, they didn't judge him. They liked his cute little robots and their tricks. Rui was more than thankful for that.

Since he didn't really know anybody from his school, he just ducked behind anything that hid him completely whenever a teenager walked by, just in case.

Luckily for him, they never passed by whenever he was singing to the children, until Tsukasa just happened to catch him telling a story to a group of children ranging in age from what looked like 3 to six years old.

"Kamishiro?" Tsukasa mumbled to himself, observing the scene as his shoulders tensed up. "Why's he with those children? He better not be thinking of blowing them up...!"

In his head, Tsukasa began imagining some action-filled fantasies of him saving those poor, little children from the insane, dangerous and malicious Kamishiro Rui.