Guys Don't Like Me

Chapter 17

  "There's kind of a side effect," Kazu said, shrugging lazily. "Whenever someone kisses me, or vice versa, I'm stuck in that form for twenty-four hours."
Ryuu just gaped at her. "Wait, you mean-"
Kazu yawned and nodded. "You're stuck with me as I am."
Ryuu frantically tried to figure it out. "But wait! Momo kissed you that one time-"
"-and I stayed home from school the next day," Kazu finished for Ryuu, staring at him with disinterested eyes.
Ryuu bit his lip. "Well, then just stay home for today!"
Kazu stuck her tongue out. "That's not exactly going to work."
Ryuu narrowed his eyes. "And why not?"
Kazu shrugged mock-innocently. "I sort of used up all of my undocumented absence days."
Ryuu just sighed, exasperated. "So what?"
Kazu raised her eyebrow at Ryuu. "So, if I ditch today, then there's the possibility that they'll fail me and I'll have to transfer schools again." She shrugged, leaning against the counter. "Well, I was thinking of maybe going back to Katsu's school anyway-"
"NO," Ryuu immediately protested, putting his hand over Kazu's mouth, but when he remembered the last time he'd done that (and consequently had his hand licked by Kazu), he quickly pulled away. He turned away, running a hand through his hair. "Well, what are we going to do?"
He turned around to see Kazu digging in a drawer and pulling out a pair of scissors, casually holding up a section of hair in one hand. Ryuu moved quickly and separated Kazu from the sharp object.
"You're NOT cutting your hair!" he said, holding the scissors away from her. For some reason, it just seems like a crime for a girl to cut her beautiful hair...Wait! Did I just call Kazu beautiful?! Crap...I'm screwed up...
Kazu shrugged. "Fine, then. I'll just stay home today."
"No!" Ryuu instinctively protested. I'm not giving you away to Katsu! Wait, giving away?! What the heck am I thinking? "You're coming to school today," he said sternly, and Kazu just shrugged.
"Fine."
Ryuu, not trusting Kazu to develop her own cover story, turned around, his hand tapping his chin. "Okay, let's see...we'll introduce you as Kazu's twin sister. Um, name...we need a name...It should be kind of similar in case I mess up and almost call you Kazu...how about...Kazumi?"
Kaze shrugged. "Sure. Whatever."
Ryuu exhaled slowly, trying to calm himself down from panicking. "All right, then, Kaz- Kazumi. You need to get ready for school," he said, more or less dragging Kazumi towards the bathroom and closing the door so she could take a shower.
Then he decided to make a quick breakfast (as had been his original intention).
***
Fifteen minutes later, Kazumi came back wearing a haphazardly-put-on school uniform, or at least, part of it. She had taken Kazu's top and was wearing that, only it was a little big on her slightly narrower frame (while she hadn't lost any height, her body structure was slightly different), and it hung at an angle, giving her a slightly disheveled appearance. That, added to the fact that her hair was still wet and had clearly not been attempted to tame in the slightest...
...plus the fact that she was wearing a skirt that, while not part of the school uniform, was a close enough color, minus one detail - it was short. Extremely short.
Ryuu took one look at his apathetic warden and muttered something under his breath, leaving the kitchen temporarily and returning with a towel. He immediately started drying off Kazumi's hair, mumbling something about a respectable appearance and whatnot while she just stood there, looking either bored or tired. Well, the latter was always a given, so it was probably a combination. When her hair was decently dry (or as close as it would ever get), Ryuu grabbed a piece of toast and put it in Kazumi's mouth and patted her on the head. She kind of reminds me of a little sister...In fact, she's almost kind of cute...
A second later, as though reading Ryuu's thought, Kazumi punched him in the chest with enough of Kazu's strength to make it difficult to breath for a few seconds.
Damn...definitely...not...cute.
***
Fortunately for Ryuu, Kazumi didn't decide to make fun of him for acting like a newlywed-wife.
But he was.
And he deserves to be made fun of, hence this aside...
***
When they got to school, Ryuu decided that it would be best if he smoothed over the way for Kazumi in case Kazumi's teacher questioned her and Kazumi was too apathetic to give him answers.
Ryuu walked Kazumi to her classroom, and at first, nobody really noticed, but then they got more and more weird looks. All out of nowhere, a girl flung herself at Kazumi, tears in her eyes.
"Kazuhiko! Did you really get a gender change? Please, don't let it be so!"
Kazumi just stared down at her, looking like she didn't feel the need to acknowledge her existence, so Ryuu gently pried the girl off and quickly led Kazumi to the teacher before they were swarmed by Kazu's despondent fans.
"Um, Sensei?" Ryuu asked, getting his attention, and the bespectacled man looked up.
"Hhmm?" Then he saw Kazumi and his eyes widened. "Eh, K-Kazuhiko?!"
Ryuu forced an awkward smile on his face, rubbing the back of his head. "Uh, yeah, about that, Sensei. Kazu couldn't come today...um...so his twin sister came to sit in for him and collect his classwork," Ryuu explained, only stumbling a little bit.
"Is that allowed?" the teacher asked, apprehensive, and Ryuu fumbled for an answer.
"Um, well, they said Kazu might be forced to transfer otherwise, so...and I mean, he's really sick today...so..." Ryuu had no idea what to say, so he patted Kazumi on the back. "So this is Kazumi!" Ryuu bowed. "Arigato, Sensei," he mumbled hurriedly before leaving the room. Already, he could hear sighs of relief from the girls.
But that wasn't all he heard.
"Damn, she's hot..."
"No kidding! Looks like it runs in that bastard's family..."
"Do you think she's single?"
"Who cares?"
Those were some of the less crude comments he picked up from the male population, making his fists clench. He turned around inside the doorway and smiled at Kazumi's classmates. "Oh, and I forgot to mention, but Kazu said that if any of you touch his sister, he'll kill you," Ryuu said, and most of the male students blanched.
Satisfied, or at least partially, Ryuu left.