Guys Don't Like Me

Chapter 13

  Ryuu was, quite understandably, fairly pissed off at Kazu, and he was ready to yell at his kouhai the next day at school (although, to be honest, in their relationship, Kazu often seemed older than Ryuu), but Kazu was questioningly absent from their normal spot on the rooftop.
Curious, Ryuu went down to Kazu's classroom while they were on break to look for him. He stood in the doorway, scanning the class, but...
"What are you here for?" asked a female classmate of Kazu's, eyeing him suspiciously.
"I'm just-"
A light of recognition flashed in her eyes. "Oh, you're him. You're looking for Kazuhiko, right?" she asked, immediately at ease.
However, Ryuu was confused. "Wait, how do you know me?"
She sighed, irritated. "Because Kazuhiko won't even talk to any of us, but he's always on the roof, playing around with you." She glared at him jealously.
"What, did you guys spy on him?" Ryuu asked, half-jokingly, but the girl's quick avoidance of eye contact cut his laughter short.
Holy crap. It's like his mere presence converted all of the females in his class into stalkers. Ryuu shivered. Kazu's got some creepy power.
"That's not important," she answered after half a second. Then, "We only do it because he won't even look at us when he's in class. All he does is sleep - and then he leaves and ignores us all to go sleep somewhere else. I bet that's what he's doing today, too - probably sleeping at home."
"Wait, Kazu's not here today?" Ryuu asked quickly, and her eyes widened.
"He lets you call him KAZU? No freaking way!"
Uh oh...Ryuu thought in dread, but it was too late. Multiple fan girls had already caught on to the conversation and were deciding what nicknames they were going to give Kazuhiko.
Ryuu escaped before they decided to capture him to use as a hostage against Kazu...
...not, in any case, that Kazu would go to any effort to free him if such an event occurred.
***
Ryuu decided to go over to Kazu's house and check on him after school, but then he remembered that he had to make dinner for his little sister first. After eating, he walked over to Kazu's house, which was a good twenty minutes away by foot.
By the time he got there, the sun was already setting and was just about to disappear into the horizon. Ryuu knocked on the front door. "Kazu? You home?"
No response.
The sun vanished, but there was still a bit of light from the streetlights, so Ryuu decided to go around the back and enter through the back door near the kitchen.
"Kazu? I just stopped by to check on you," Ryuu called out as he entered. "Pardon the intrusion..." He took off his shoes and looked around the house's dark interior, fumbling for a light switch, but as he'd only been in the house once (and 90% of that time, he'd either been unconscious, tied to a chair, or a combination of the two), he struggled to no avail.
Giving up and just proceeding based on what he remembered of the layout and the small amount of light from the windows, he passed the kitchen and knocked on the nearest door. "Kazu?" he asked, opening the door to find an empty bathroom.
Ryuu kept going and tried the next door - a closet filled with linens and bed sheets. He pulled out one of them and laughed. "Only Kazu would be so dedicated to sleeping that he'd buy 600 count thread Egyptian cotton sheets!"
He put the sheets back and closed the closet, moving to the last unopened door. He didn't bother knocking this time since he'd already made a small racket searching the rest of the house. Instead, Ryuu just opened the door. "Kazu? You in here?"
Bingo. This room appeared to be a bedroom, as Ryuu had expected (although part of him expected to just find Ryuu sleeping on a couch, and the lonely image hurt his heart). He walked deeper in the room toward the bed, and, seeing a figure beneath the covers, Ryuu went over and shook Kazu lightly on the shoulder, only Kazu's shoulder seemed a bit thinner and less muscular than normal. Hmm? I'm just imagining it...I think...
Shaking of his concern, Ryuu shook Kazu a little harder. "Kazu? Kazu, wake up, man!"
A second later, then figure stirred and turned over to face Ryuu, who hesitated for a second before his eyes widened and he took a quick step back, tripping and falling on his butt, his mouth open in shock. "I-I-I'm s-so sorry t-to disturb y-you," he choked out, panicked. "Sorry! Please don't call the cops! I swear I didn't mean to break in! I thought this was my friend's house! Gomen!"
The girl in the bed looked close to Ryuu's age, and her eyes were narrowed as she stared at him, probably assuming him to be some sort of pervert.
Only...
Maybe it was an effect of the darkness or Ryuu's confusion that this had been Kazu's house, but...
Doesn't she look a bit like Kazu?
A worse thought announced itself to Ryuu's mixed up head. What if this is Kazu's house, and he had a girl over, and that's why he wasn't at school? AND I JUST TRIED TO INTERRUPT THEM? Holy hell Kazu is going to kill me... "I'm so sorry about this. I'm going to leave now," Ryuu said quietly, nearly tripping himself again as he stood up and made his way back to the door, too scared to turn his back to the girl. If this is Kazu's house, and if that's his girlfriend or lover or something, then I need to get out before he wakes up!
Then, before Ryuu could escape, the girl spoke.
"Ryuu? Is that you?"
Ryuu turned to the voice in surprise. "How do you know my name?" he asked, blatantly terrified. "Please don't report me! This was an accident, I swear!"
The girl was silent for a moment before putting her face in her hands. "Well, f**k."