Rumours ~ Ruikasa

Things Sure Have Changed, Haven't They...

It was different again. Rui could feel it. It's been different for two weeks now.

     He knew it, yet he couldn't tell how. How was this different?

     "Rui?" Ms. Kamishiro poked her head into the doorway of her son's bedroom. "Are you awake?"

     "Yes," He replied, looking at his mother as he finished pulling his uniform onto his body. "Why? Do you need help with something?"

     "No," The woman responded with a brief shake of her head. "But something's missing, and by 'something', I mean your daily mental breakdown."

     So that's what was missing!

    "Oh," Rui said, everything so clear to him now. "Ohhh! Yeah, I guess I didn't start crying the second I woke up. That's nice."

     Rui's mother chuckled. "It really is," She walked over to her son and placed a hand on his shoulder, hugging him close. "Are things getting better?"

     "I... I guess so," Rui smiled. "It doesn't feel like everybody—save for a few people—is against me anymore, and it's been like that for a few days. It's nice to know that more than two people at school are actually willing to talk to me."

     "What?" Ms. Kamishiro said. "Is that what's been happening? Everyone's been bullying you?"

     "Bullying?" Rui repeated. "No, not bullying!"

     "Yes, it is bullying," His mother frowned, her voice laced with pain. "Exclusion is a form of bullying, Rui."

     "They're not excluding me and they're not trying to make me fee bad!" Rui let his voice trail off as he inhaled sharply, tearing his gaze away from his mother's. "They're just staying away from me because they think they to protect themselves from me."

     "Oh, sweetheart..." She nuzzled in close to her son, her head leaning comfortably against his. "What have they been saying about you?"

     "...I don't wanna say," Rui wove his fingers together, feeling the clamminess of his palms as he squeezed them close.

     Rui's mother didn't say anything. Instead, she pulled her son into a tight yet soft hug. Rui's insides became mushy and wobbly, and he felt that strange feeling he always got when he cried, that feeling like his brain was dissolving and melting.

     The consoling sensation of his mother's hand rubbing his back gently only made him feel worse as he sobbed silently into her shoulder. He'd taught himself how to cry silently at a very young age.

     How could I have kept all this from her? She's the one that supports me after everything and the one that will always love me most, even though I find it hard to believe... If anything, she should have been the one I spoke to, not the one I hid things from. I'm sorry, Mom.

     "And this has been going on for how long?" She said in a tone that sounded menacing, but not towards Rui.

      "I can't remember exactly," Rui admitted, letting go of his mother and wiping away his tears. "But I think it started when I was in middle school."

     "Middle school?!" His mother repeated frustratedly. "Middle school! That was years ago!"

     "I know it was!" Rui half yelled.

     "Who," Ms. Kamishiro said, making it sound more like a demand than a question. "Who started it?"

No, I can't tell her that...

     Rui's mother didn't seem to like it when she was met with silence from her son instead of an answer.

     "Rui, who!" She said again, more anger seeping into her voice and her impatience starting to slip out.