(Wind Breaker) The Green Rose's Thorns

Part 6

Sakura was back at Pothos the next morning, bright and early even though school didn't start til noon. Aoi had just finished eating when Sakura busted in with an old lady on his back. They exchanged quiet, short greetings as Sakura took a seat at the counter. Not long after that, another familiar face bursted into Pothos' door. Sakura was immediately bombarded by the loud boy, making Aoi chuckle with some of his wild assumptions and remarks. His phone dinged, and he checked the clock with a knot in his stomach all of a sudden.

"Freckles, you're so loud," Aoi finally said something to the boy when he hopped out of his seat.

"Freckles?," Sakura looked from Aoi to the boy just introduced by the name Nirei.

"Oh! You're running late, huh?," Kotoha glanced at the clock when Aoi nearly tripped over the stool. A sly grin spread over her face as she addressed the boy with a taunting tone. Aoi stopped to give her a sidelong glance that made Nirei flinch.

"A date before school, how cute. Have fun!," Kotoha kept her teasing, and the tips of Aoi's ears went noticeably red.

"It's not a date!," Aoi stomped toward the door. His aura completely changed when he pulled the door open, and he called back to Kotoha. "Oh, I'll be home late."

"Work?"

"Mhm."

And with that, Aoi stepped out into the sunlit street. Nirei went just a few moments later, with an extra Furin jacket in his hands and a new request.

"Wait. Really? That kid's...in high school?!," Sakura was flabbergasted at the new information. He was judging Nirei hard, and his brain finally caught up to the other bit of information among that overload. Kotoha laughed at his shock, well aware of the misunderstanding.

"He sure is. You'll be in the same grade, so you'll see him later."

...

"Oh, Aoi! Can you help me change the light? It finally went out," one of the older store-owners called out to Aoi as he walked. He didn't exactly have time, but he didn't want to be rude either. He stepped into the shop, grabbing the light bulb from the lady and stepping up onto a step stool that had been put out under it. On the topmost step, Aoi froze with a sudden realization.

"Ah, can you not reach it?," the woman reached the same conclusion that he had.

"No, I got it," Aoi groaned, placing one foot on the bar that served as a handle for carrying the stool when it was folded up. It was a shaky perch, and one that wasn't even a guaranteed success if the gamble paid off. The stool lurched suddenly when Aoi tentatively lifted his other foot, then got slammed down so suddenly that he almost toppled over.

"If you can't reach, you can ask someone a little taller," a young man's voice startled the shorter boy. His head whipped around and his face flushed somewhat as his eyes trailed up from the foot holding the stool steady to the face framed by deep brown hair and tassel earrings. It was the very person Aoi was supposed to be meeting up with, nowhere close to their agreed upon rendezvous point.

"Just stay there for a minute," Aoi muttered through a pout that no one could see. He tried again to stand up on the handlebar, using one hand on the ceiling to further steady himself as he removed the old bulb and screwed in the new one. His vision flashed white once the connectors hit, and he blinked down toward the ground until he could see again. He hopped down from his precarious perch, but a spot in his vision hid a small box on the ground that stole his footing. He fell onto his back with a loud clang as the stool was swiftly moved out of the way.

"Oh! Are you alright? I'm sorry-"

"It's fine," Aoi rolled up to a sitting position, rubbing the spot where his head had smacked into the ground and blinking away the numerous blind spots from his sudden view of the ceiling lights. He let his friend handle calming the elderly woman down while he waited for his vision to fully clear, shaking his head in a useless attempt to speed up the process. When he stopped, there was a hand extended in front of his face. He pulled at the embroidered cuff of the sleeve there, and pulled himself up off the floor.

"Thanks," Aoi mumbled begrudgingly.

"Hm?," his friend leaned down as they walked, a hand cupped behind his ear and a big sunny smile on his face.

"Suo, I know you heard me," Aoi bumped the boy with his elbow, and he dropped it. That smile remained there for the rest of the morning though. Right up to when they were in the graffiti-covered classroom of the institution they'd be spending the next three years studying in. Aoi sat at a desk near the windows, Suo standing up next to it and looking outside.

"Did you forget your jacket?," Suo asked finally. He had noticed earlier, but chose this moment to bring it to Aoi's attention. Aoi flinched at that, exclaiming loudly just as the door flung open. Standing there was an odd pair, Sakura and Nirei. The latter whipped out the little notebook he always had and started on introductions, in order of who he saw first.

"Tattoos, and a mask. Plus that wicked bedhead, that's Aoi. Next to him," Nirei's eyes lit up. "With the neat hair, eyepatch, and tassel earrings. That's-"

"Leonardo Dicaprio. Nice to meet you," Suo cut Nirei off and spoke in perfect english. His obviously bullshit introduction made Aoi snicker beside him, nearly going into a full on laugh as Sakura flailed to figure out how to respond in english before Suo stated that he was Japanese.

"This eyepatch seals away an ancient Chinese spirit, too!," he went for another off the wall statement, but there was no reaction from Aoi this time. Sakura got mad, barely calmed down by Nirei. Aoi yawned and rested his chin on his hand while the trio at the front of the classroom talked. He was just about to doze off when something big and hard careened into his face and crashed to the floor, knocking him straight out of his seat and into the wall under the windows.