Guys Don't Like Me

Chapter 14

  Ryuu stared in shock at the girl who stopped being pissed only long enough to yawn before she untangled herself from the bed sheets and stood up, revealing her night clothing - which appeared to consist only of a man's shirt that came to her very very upper thighs.
Ryuu wasn't sure whether to look or to look away...After a moment, he realized how much of a pervert he already seemed like, so he quickly blushed and looked away, his eyes going slightly to the right of her...revealing an empty bed.
Wait, then where's Kazu? So...this isn't his house after all? But then how does this girl know me?
He glanced back at the girl, temporarily having forgotten her lack of concealment, but even as he blushed again, she didn't seem to care as she walked right past him and into the kitchen.
Ryuu, confused as heck, just aimlessly followed her, taking a seat at the table as she reached up to a high cabinet and struggled to grab something. In the process, the shirt she was wearing pulled up even farther, and...
Ryuu blushed. Pink. They're pink with bunnies. Realizing how much of a pervert he really was, he shook his head just as she muttered something that sounded like, "Damn, Kazu," before finally reaching whatever it was.
Kazu? So she knows him? Ryuu hesitated. Is Kazu letting her stay here, then? But...where is he?
Five minutes passed as Ryuu let his thoughts run in circles, and by then, the girl came back to the table with a bowl of ramen, eating it while staring at him.
Needless to say, he was extremely uncomfortable.
"So..." Ryuu began, avoiding eye contact with the strange girl.
"What?" she asked before shoving more noodles into her mouth, still staring at him with lazy yet intense eyes.
"Um...where's Kazu?" Ryuu asked, swallowing the lump in his throat. "I mean, he lives here, right? So...where is he...and you...um, why are you..." He trailed off, stumbling over his words in his haste.
The girl just stared at him and finally set down her fork, the bowl now empty. "You're stupider than I thought, Ryuu," she said, and Ryuu leaned back, eyes wide.
"Huh? And...how do you know me? You never...said why..." Ryuu looked away, blushing. He couldn't stare at her for more than five seconds without reflexively blushing. It's not everyday that you come across a hot, half-naked girl...and I have little to no tolerance for these kinds of things! Damn you, Kazu! I could use some of your help right now!
The girl sighed. "You mean you haven't figured it out yet, you dumbass?"
Ryuu scowled. "Figured what out! I go into my friend's house to find some stranger sleeping in his bed! Just what am I supposed to understand?"
The girl just rolled her eyes and stood up, walking towards the edge of the kitchen.
"Wait, what are you doing?" Ryuu asked, but she didn't respond, just flicked the light switch.
Ryuu's first instinct was to look away, because staring at a half-naked girl in the dark was bad enough - he didn't think his heart could handle seeing everything in high definition, but the girl snapped her fingers.
"Do you get it now?" she growled, and Ryuu instinctively glanced over at her, only for his eyes to freeze.
Her hair was an incredibly familiar shade...
Her long, dark lashes and angular face...
Her sensual lips...
And, of course, the biggest giveaway was the unique shade of her eyes...
"You're...Kazu's..."
The girl waited, clearly impatient.
"Sister?" finished Ryuu, and the girl glared at him before walking right up to him and punching him in the jaw.
"Ow!" yelled Ryuu, stumbling back slightly. She punches better than I expected...not that I expected that! "What was that for?!"
"If I was him, that would've hurt a lot worse," she muttered, and Ryuu just stared at her, confused.
"If you were who?"
"There's only one way to convince you," she murmured to herself before turning around and unbuttoning her shirt.
"WAIT! THERE'S NO NEED FOR YOU TO START TAKING OFF YOUR CLOTHES!" Ryuu yelled, immediately worried sick that Kazu would walk in and catch Ryuu with his sister.
He began to cover his eyes with with his hands, not trusting himself to not look, but after a moment, he heard her voice.
"Do you understand now?" she asked, her voice devoid of her earlier scathing tone, and Ryuu hesitantly opened his eyes to see the girl, her back to him, only she'd unbuttoned her shirt and held it coiled around her waist, revealing her bare back to him -
and holy crap she's not wearing anything underneath the shirt, was Ryuu's initial thought, but through his blush, he looked closer and realized what she was trying to show him.
After a long moment, she pulled the shirt back up and buttoned it haphazardly and turned to face Ryuu.
"Wait," he said softly, stepping closer and grabbing her shirt. "You buttoned them all one over." With trembling fingers, he started to fix her buttons, but she lightly smacked his arm.
"It's fine," she said, and then there was a silence between the two of them as they stood facing each other, Ryuu pale and the girl unusually quiet.
After a moment, she said, "So? Do you finally get it?"
Ryuu bit his lip, remembering the image of the thin white lines tracing paths across her back, lines he'd already seen once in his lifetime, lines that he couldn't forget.

~flashback~
Alone in the locker rooms, Kazu sat stubbornly on the bench. "I'm not doing it. You can't make me."
Ryuu sighed. "Why not?"
"Because I hate swimming."
"You never told me that."
"Well, then, I can't swim," Kazu tried.
Ryuu narrowed his eyes. "Really?" he asked slowly, and Kazu crossed his arms, turning away.
"My skin is highly sensitive to chlorine."
"Uh huh."
"We'll be swarmed and murdered by fangirls."
"It sounds like you're just making up a ton of bad excuses, although I half believe that last one. C'mon," Ryuu said, helping Kazu take his shirt off. Kazu struggled against him, but after a few moments, Ryuu stopped. "Is this why?" he asked softly, his finger resting on Kazu's back, which was criss-crossed with scars.
Kazu had gone still, but after taking in a deep breath, he stood up, pulling his t-shirt back down and letting Ryuu's hand fall away as he walked off, leaving the locker room and heading to the chairs beside the pool so he could take a nap.
~end flashback~

Ryuu took a deep breath. I have to be wrong about this, but... He looked into the girl's eyes and exhaled slowly. "Kazu?"
The girl yawned and blinked wearily. "Cool. I'm going back to sleep," she murmured and headed back to the bedroom, leaving Ryuu alone in the kitchen.
What
the
literal
hell?!