(Wind Breaker) The Green Rose's Thorns

Part 17

The next morning, before Aoi could even head for the classroom, Sugishita flagged him down and pulled him upstairs to the rooftop. They were given a small list of things to go get, and sent out by an overly excited Umemiya. Aoi was missing his jacket, wearing instead an extra layer of a white hoodie under his t-shirt. He wore ripped, baggy jeans instead of his usual shorts, too. Sugishita noticed that he was moving a little slower, and quietly insisted on carrying the bulk of the bags they had back to the rooftop.

"I'm fine," Aoi tried to assure his classmate, who was still trying to set everything up himself. Sugishita just shook his head, and Aoi gave up on pushing the issue. He sat down at the picnic table in the corner, under a little vine-covered canopy. The sky had been overcast earlier, but was clearing up now with the sun sparkling in the stray puddles.

"There you are."

His quiet rest was interrupted by Suo, who had popped up beside him at some point with a drink in hand. Aoi sat up and glanced around, spotting all the other captains and their vices scattered around the rooftop. Sakura and Nirei followed Suo over to the table, and the two of them sat across from Aoi. Before Suo could sit down, someone else had spotted Aoi finally and pulled everyone's attention over.

"A-o-i~!," a booming, but sweet voice called his name from near the large tree. Aoi sighed and excused himself from the table, heading over to one of those ranked directly under Umemiya.

"Tsubaki, you don't have to-"

"Aoi! Oh my gosh, are you really okay? I heard you got into it with a classmate! And you fell into the river, did you catch a cold? You even had to face down those two cretins from Shishitoren again, you've been so busy and the year just started!," Aoi was pulled into an iron grip of a hug by the same one who had called out to him. The long hair, tipped in bright red, tickled his cheek as an old friend gushed over him.

"Tsubaki-"

"Oh, is that Suo? Is he treating you right? Ume said you two looked like you were fighting, but is it fine?," Tsubaki glanced over at Suo, who waved back with his usual smile. Aoi went to push his way out of the crushing embrace, only to have his face turned upward and something warm pressed into his cheek. His face went bright red as he processed the kiss Tsubaki planted on his mask. Red lipstick left a mark on the white cloth of it, just a shade or two deeper than the hue now washed over Aoi from the neck up.

"Tsubaki, you're gonna kill the poor kid," one of Tsubaki's vices spoke up. It was one of the twins, though Aoi could never tell them apart very well until they said something. With a pout, Tsubaki released his little friend finally. Aoi staggered a bit, held steady by the shoulders for just long enough to return to the land of the living. Then, in an instant, Tsubaki's attention switched over to his long-time crush and leader Umemiya.

"Thanks," Aoi waved to the twins and made his way toward Sugishita who was helping to set out drinks.

"What's with that?," Sakura asked, face burning crimson again after witnessing that kiss. Nirei had gone full panic mode when he saw Suo's demeanor change upon witnessing it, though the grin on his face remained.

"What's with what?," Suo mistook Sakura's question for one aimed at him. Sakura made a weird face before clarifying his meaning, Suo's expression reverting fully once the misunderstanding was cleared up.

"It makes sense why he's here," Sakura pointed to Sugishita and the two exchanged dirty looks as the other handed a cup to Aoi. Aoi started walking in their direction, getting pulled aside by Tsubaki once again.

"But why's Aoi up here? He's not a vice, and he doesn't seem like he's crazy about Umemiya like Sugishita is. He's been gettin' special treatment from day one," Sakura finished explaining. Tsubaki traced Aoi's chin with his red manicured nails and shot a look over at their table again, before Aoi smacked his side and snapped at the older boy.

"Jealous?," Suo teased Sakura, who responded with a flustered fumble of words. Aoi finally escaped Tsubaki's teasing and rejoined them at the table, sitting on the very end of the bench Suo was on. His face was still somewhat red, and his brow was pinched tight in the middle.

"What're you idiots yappin' about?," Aoi asked. His tone was kind of harsh, but for the most part nobody took it as a direct offense.

"Sakura was wondering why the upperclassman all treat you different from everyone else," Nirei gave a quick report and Aoi raised a brow at Sakura.

"I dunno, it's probably Tsubaki's fault," Aoi shrugged and leaned over the table. He rested his chin on his hand, purposely looking away from Suo and covering up the kiss mark on his mask with his fingertips.

"Huh?," Sakura wasn't entirely following, and Aoi wasn't in the mood to explain. Suo sighed, the task of explaining falling on him.

"Tsubaki, you know who that is Nirei?."

Nirei nodded, and gave Sakura the briefest run-down of the hierarchical structure again along with Tsubaki's positioning in it.

"Right. They've been friends with Aoi for a while, and are sorta overprotective of him. I think they haven't been able to talk much lately, so Tsubaki probably asked Umemiya to drag him up here for the grade captains' meeting," Suo finished his explanation and Aoi nodded to reaffirm what he said. Aoi spun around on the bench so his back was to everyone else, and Suo closed his eye briefly while Aoi fiddled with something. He turned back around, wearing a different mask. A plain one, just a standard medical mask with no pattern. The old one he held up in front of his face, brow furrowed again as he inspected the red mark.

"That's gonna stain. Dammit," Aoi grumbled and stuffed the mask into his pocket.

"You saw how Umemiya was when he fought Tomiyama, right?," Suo asked the other two, continuing his explanation. Nirei and Sakura nodded, though only one of them was truly picking up on his meaning. Nirei took over here, stating how Umemiya might be concerned about Aoi. Because of the reasons behind his no fighting rule, and how it made everyone else have to cover for him if he got caught up in something.