A Firefly's Glow

Chapter Nineteen: Part Four

“Hanabusa!”

Hinata turned towards his teacher’s overly enthusiastic voice along with the rest of the classroom. There were students scattered across the classroom, either standing or sitting—in groups or alone. Whatever chatter filled the room before Keitaru Hanabusa walked into the room disappeared immediately once he stepped past the doors.

Hanabusa.

Hinata repeated that name a few times in his head before he caught on. This was the boy who was also going to the library after school.

He had known Hanabusa’s face, but he had simply forgotten his name. Now that Hinata spotted his face, he recognized who Hanabusa was.

“Hanabusa, you are able to come to the library after school today to make up your unfinished classwork, correct?” Haruka’s voice was so excessively and unnecessarily loud.

Hanabusa’s face did not morph into a new expression. He stiffly nodded his head, saying, “Yes, sir.”

The chattering through the room slowly and gradually started back up, but the conversation subjects seemed to change. Hinata could hear them clearly enough.

“I can never get over how handsome he is,” he heard a girl murmur in a combination of giggles.

Hinata peered back towards Hanabusa. He didn’t have the eyes of a girl, so he didn’t exactly see Hanabusa as attractive. But was his face the sort of face that was classified as handsome?

Haruka was murmuring something to Hanabusa, gaudily gesturing his hands around like some sort of angry octopus. It was amazing how Hanabusa didn’t change his expression towards amusement or horror towards Haruka’s gesturing.

Hinata studied Hanabusa’s face. His pale skin did sort of glow in the sunlight that was shining through the windows of the classroom, but how did girls find that attractive?

Hinata did not expect Hanabusa to notice him staring towards him, so when Hanabusa whipped his head towards Hinata, he nearly jumped out of his seat.

There was something about the way Hanabusa’s eyes. The way they weren’t showing much emotion sort of made him look like a dead body.

What made his eyes morph into something like that?

It gave Hinata the chills. It gave him a sort of freezing sensation down his spine, and Hinata quickly turned away.

 

Out of the corner of his eye, Hinata watched Hanabusa saunter towards his seat. It was sort of like his seat was isolated away from everyone else. It was further towards the back of the room, just a row away from the windows. If Hinata turned around, he would have a perfect view of Hanabusa. But didn’t try such a thing.

He looked even more isolated, sitting in the pose he was sitting in. His elbows rested over the desktop, and his hands were set, loosely entangled, in front of his mouth.

 

Once the bell rang, the students quickly assembled into their seats. Haruka gave a cheerful smile, chirping, “Alright, let us begin class, shall we?” as he sashayed to the front of the room.

 

It was probably during the lecture Haruka was giving about the novel they were currently reading, or it was probably during the periods of time where random, individual students had to read the novel aloud. Hinata had gotten bored enough to the point where he wasn’t exactly trying to focus on paying attention anymore.