New school, New friends & Complicated relationships.

New Freshmen year.

Mahiru Shirota, age 15, first year of highschool, likes anything simple and nothing complicated. But setting eyes on an unusual looking male in the hallway was anything but simple. Now having a secret crush on a popular third year was going to make him do things he'd never done before to gain his attention from gawkers who will try to take him before Mahiru can.

**

It was early, around 6am, Mahiru quieted his alarm clock and quickly got dressed into his new uniform. Today is his first day of high school and his childhood friends are going to be there, hopefully in the same class. Smiling and walking to the bathroom, he quickly brushed his teeth, brushed his hair to a fluffy mess, and took a moment to look at himself in the mirror, pumping himself up to check the class assignment sheets in front of the first classroom through the doors. "I hope Ryuusei, Koyuki and Sakuya are in the same classes so it's not so lonely." Mahiru spoke to himself, but feeling ready now, he grabbed his bag, made himself breakfast to eat and a bento for lunch and left. Locking the door of his apartment behind him. Maybe he'll meet new friends too, he won't mind that. Mahiru rushed to his new school, stopping in front of the gate to greet his childhood friends who waited for him to arrive so they could all check if they're all together or not. "Hey guys, sorry about being kinda late, this is nerve wracking." Mahiru chuckled, but his friends reassured him by a pat to the head and shoulders. "Nah man it's cool, we just got here too. You ready to see where we're going?" Ryuusei grinned, turning his heel to start heading for the doors. Mahiru nodded excitedly and walked side by side his three best friends to the board. "Oh, we all have the same home room, 2nd period, 3rd and lunch." Mahiru frowned, but replaced it with a smile when Sakuya spoke up with a joke. "Hey don't worry MahiMahi! We'll still see each other passing by to classes. Who knows, you might meet people you like too." Sakuya grinned, winking at the brunet. Mahiru gave him a look before he spots red. Looking over his shoulder, he sees a male with icy blue hair, pale skin and red eyes with dark bags under his eyes. 'It looks like he hasn't slept in years..' Mahiru thought, watching the strange man look to the third year chart for his assigned classes. Mahiru felt bad for him, he looked sickly and miserable. Maybe a bad family? He suddenly wants to know more about his senpai, the poor guy looked like he needed a friend. And if nobody else will, then simply he should right?



 

His thoughts gets cut short when a hand is waving in front of his face, bringing him back to reality. "Mahiruu? You here with us? Come back man!" Sakuya grins, glancing to the male that his buddy was staring at walk away to his homeroom before the bell rang. "Huh? Oh sorry Sakuya. What did you say?" Mahiru blinked, raising a brow to his best friend. "I said nothing, you were just staring at that blue haired guy. You know he's actually pretty popular among the girls. His looks attracts men and women alike! Yet, he always turns them down. Maybe you should try." Sakuya smirked, poking his brunet friend on the forehead. "Shut up! I'm not going to make this first few days awkward! And for that guy? I have to say he is indeed attractive, but it doesn't mean I'd have feelings for him! Now come on, we have class!" Mahiru scolds, grabbing his friend's wrist and dragging him to their first class of the day. Something in Mahiru wishes he could see the bluenet in the hallways or maybe even lunch. So he could become friends with him, he looked too lonely.

Classes passed quickly than he thought. Now it's 12pm and it's lunchtime, Mahiru sighs and takes out his bento, not choosing to stay in his 5th period class for first and second years because he wants to see that man. Getting up, he makes his way to the lunchroom, running his eyes left and right to locate that third year student. He finds him. In the back of the lunchroom with his head in his arms, almost as if he were sleeping. There were three girls with him, smiling and giggling at who-knows-what. Stepping forward, aiming to sit with the lonely man to hopefully give the guy a break from the girls who are touching his arms casually. He was stopped short by Sakuya, tugging his shirt from behind to get his attention. "Mahiru, you're not eating with us?" Sakuya frowned, taking his hand back from where it gripped his friend's orange shirt. "I am, just meet me with that guy over there. He looks like he needs a break from girls bothering him." Mahiru answered, smiling and pointing to the direction of said man who has his head lifted a bit so he could look at the third year girls who are offering snacks to him. "Oh, alright! Let me tell Ryuusei and Koyuki. We'll meet you there." Sakuya grinned, "When MahiMahi has a mission, he'll do whatever it takes to complete it, isn't that right?" Sakuya added, smirking this time as he turns away. "Don't call me that! But yes, I want to be his friend and I want him to trust me. If nobody else wants to do it, then it should be me who'll do it!" Mahiru pointed his thumb to his chest, proud as ever with his simple thinking. Sakuya laughed but nodded, "Of course! Hero Mahiru to the rescue! We'll be there in a sec, I have to find Ryuusei and Koyuki." Sakuya waved as he left the lunchroom to find the other two. Mahiru huffed, but smiled. Continuing his way to the miserable man who seemed to be more miserable the more the girls bothered him. "Excuse me? Can I sit here too? If you don't mind the company. My three other friends are coming as well." Mahiru spoke softly, it was awkward at first, catching the eyes of the girls and the deep red eyes of the unknown third year male. "Ah...Do what you want. What a pain.." the male answered. Mahiru could feel anger rising, how can this guy be so rude? And act like he doesn't give a care to the world! Just who does he think he is?!







"Thanks." Mahiru sat down anyways, taking a deep breath and exhaling through his nose. He's going to have to be patient with this guy if he wants to get to know him better. "I'm Shirota Mahiru. I'm a first year. I can already tell you're a third year...but what's your name?" Mahiru asked, blushing as his unsure voice as he introduced himself. The girls looked at him as if he kicked a puppy, what the hell did he do? Were they that jealous and want the man all to themselves? "Kuro...but yes I'm a third year." the man answered, sweeping his eyes to his female classmates and to Mahiru, confused on how to deal with this much attention. "Nice to meet you Kuro! If it's not too much, could I sit next to you when my friends come over?" Mahiru tries, Kuro rose a brow, looking down at his arms in thought for a moment. Looking back up, he nods. This guy, Mahiru, didn't seem that bad. At least he wasn't like these girls who are desperate for any type of attention from him.




"Huh? We've been asking you if we could sit next to you? But you let him? Why? That's so unfair Kuro-kun..." One of the girls pouted , crossing her arms under her breasts to make them look bigger, as if she were trying to seduce him to let her sit beside him instead of Mahiru. Mahiru was about to open his mouth to defend Kuro, but the other male beat him in that race. "Sorry...I'm just not good with this type of thing...Girls are such a troublesome species and I don't know how to deal with them..No offence.." Kuro spoke lowly into his arms, hiding his face with his bangs so nobody could read his face for any type of lie or excuse he just made up to get rid of them. The girls just sigh in disappointment, one of them, the first female to speak had blonde hair, dark brown eyes, soft milky skin and pink painted nails. She was a head smaller than Kuro if he were to stand up straight, and her chest size would make any male stop thinking and allow them anything. Good thing Kuro wasn't like all those guys. The second girl was smaller by a few inches than the first girl; Long black ponytail that reached her mid back, black rimmed glasses, light hazel eyes, gentle tanned skin and a smaller body size than her friend. She doesn't seem the type to use her body to seduce men like the blonde does. It was okay, he honestly wouldn't want to be around these girls anyways. "We'll see you in class, also the teacher said he wanted to talk to you after class about something. Honestly, you were so much better the last two years..What happened?" The blonde frowned, looking sadly at the older classmate. Kuro hummed and shrugged at the last part, making the blonde girl run a hand through her straight hair with a sigh. "We understand. If you need to borrow any notes from us this year, just tell us okay?" the girl smiled softly, Kuro lifted his head once more, nodding to her gentle offer as they took their things and left the table to meet their friends at other area. Mahiru stayed silent, listening to information he could use to know more of Kuro. It seems like he knew these girls for his first and second year of high school, and he was different. Different how? Did he act different? Treated others differently than now? Did he look much better those two years? He didn't know, it might be something he'll need to ask of him. They got along as well, borrowing notes like the other two years? These girls must be his friends from first year. So he could've been much nicer and more open than what he is now. Maybe he might ask those girls about Kuro?






"Mahiruuu I found them!" Sakuya shook the said boy's shoulder, shaking him out of his thoughts since all he was doing was staring at his bento intensely, lost in thought to whatever got his interested piqued. "Huh? Oh good! Sorry, was lost in thought." Mahiru chuckled softly, getting up from his seat to sit next to the quiet teen, watching his friends sit down once he picked his chopsticks up from his lunch. "Sakuya, Ryuusei, Koyuki. This is Kuro. Kuro, this is Sakuya, Ryuusei and Koyuki. My childhood friends." Mahiru pointed to the four as he named them. Kuro nodded his head silently in greeting, not wanting to get too friendly with them since he'll be off to college next year and he won't have time to meet with them. So troublesome. "Woah! You mean.. The Kuro!? The one who threw chopsticks like they were knives at his brother and can fight like a pro?!" Ryuusei spouted, getting up from his seat to lean over, checking Kuro's features for proof that this man is the real thing. "Huh-" "Oh my god! You are him! Man that was amazing! You made bamboo chopsticks look like they could kill somebody! You never saw the video?" Ryuusei smiled, fumbling for his phone in his pocket to search for the video, showing it to Mahiru and Kuro as it played.






 In the video, all was quiet at first. Until someone started yelling. The video turned to face Kuro, who looked a lot younger than he does now, eating while talking to some blond haired male, possibly his brother that Ryuusei told them. Kuro grabbed his chopsticks then, getting up from his seat to stare down his sibling. There were a lot of shouting but he could clearly hear the two shouting at each other.







"Oh Nii-san! How cruel to leave your brother alone in such a place! Don't you know how scared I was? Cruel Nii-san! I'm hurt! Wounded!" The blond said, dramatically resting a hand over his heart and clutching it, using his other hand to swing around as he spoke. Mahiru watched the younger Kuro glare and position his chopsticks between his pointer, middle, and his ring finger. Looking tense since now his brother is bothering him and he has all eyes on him, shouting "fight! fight! fight!" constantly.






"Maybe if you hurried up a little more, then maybe we wouldn't be in this situation now, would we? You're such a troublesome little brother." Kuro spoke, throwing the bamboo sticks to pin his brother to the nearest wall so he wouldn't get away, grabbing the blond by the shirt and dragging him out of the lunchroom to speak alone. The video ended with the camera turning to face it's owner, who has a hand covering her mouth in shock. Ryuusei took his phone away with a grin, sitting back down to his own lunch.







"Ah....I remember that, it was my first year and it has been a week since the beginning ceremony. My brother took forever to get ready for his classes so I left. I didn't want to be late. And that happened...Such a pain.." Kuro sighed, glancing to Mahiru who is awe struck at what he just watched. Kuro seemed way more active and not so tired like he is now. Maybe something did happen to him before this year started?







 "I see, everyone thought you left him at some abandoned place for punishment for disobeying you since you are his older sibling. I would actually do that too, make them scared so they will listen." Ryuusei grinned, finally taking a bite from his lunch. Mahiru could already see some type of friendship starting between them. "Mahiru is staring into space again." Koyuki waved a hand in front of said boy's face, the other two looking over to watch Mahiru blink with confusion on what's going on. "That's the third time today! Mahiru, learn to relax! Stop thinking so much! You're going to wrinkles if you keep this up." Sakuya patted his head, laughing at the dumbfounded look that the brunet had on his face, tilting his head as he slaps Sakuya's hand from ruffling his hair. "Shut it! I just have a lot on my mind! I can't help it!" Mahiru chided, taking a moment to look over to the exhausted male, who's hiding his face in his arms again.







"Hey Kuro, aren't you going to eat? Snacks won't keep you full until dinner. Do you want me to get you something?" Mahiru asked, resting a hesitant hand onto his new friend's back. Kuro tensed, Mahiru could feel it, but instead of pulling away, he rubbed slow circles on his mid back for comfort. It worked as the icy blue haired friend slowly relaxed, lifting his head up to let out a soft sigh. "Nah...Not hungry.." Kuro replied tiredly, closing his eyes to get at least a few minutes of sleep, turning his head away from the others so he could rest his right cheek onto his elbow. Mahiru frowned down at the hood of Kuro's jacket, refocusing on his half eaten bento. Maybe he could offer it so the other could eat, he looked pretty skinny, but he wouldn't know for sure due to the blue jacket covering his body. Shame...What? Why did he think that? It's his choice to show his body to those he trusts, they just met so of course he wouldn't let anyone see it. Wait, does anyone know what his body looks like? "Here." Mahiru slid over his bento in front of his friend's arms, Kuro lifted his head once again to look at the food being offered to him. Confused, he turned to face Mahiru with a raised brow. "I told you I wasn't-" "I know, and I don't care. Eat. I made it myself." Mahiru smiled, watching Kuro's face change from nervous to relaxed. Mahiru couldn't help but watch Kuro's red eyes look at him with softness. It looked really nice on him. If only he would smile. Damn these thoughts though.He didn't notice Kuro slowly sit up to a slouch until he blinked when he heard chopsticks knocking against each other. Kuro started eating slowly, like he couldn't trust it.






He looked.. Soft, vulnerable and sad. Mahiru felt bad for him, worse than before. He felt concerned on his well-being. Without realizing, he started to rub Kuro's mid back once again, soothing the other male as he ate. "This is good.." Kuro spoke softly, almost in a whisper. Mahiru brightened up, he's happy that the other liked his cooking, maybe if Kuro doesn't bring lunch tomorrow, he'll cook him something. "Take all of it okay? You need it more than me. I have a question if you don't mind.." Mahiru smiles gently, hearing a soft "Hm?" from the bluenet. Mahiru takes that as a sign to continue with his question. "Can you cook?" Kuro nodded, eating the last bite of Mahiru's lunch. Closing the lid with the chopsticks inside, sliding it back to its' owner. "You can? Cool! It's nice to meet someone who can cook as well. Do you cook for yourself or for your family? Or both?" Mahiru beamed, finally happy to find a nice subject to talk about with Kuro. "I cook for my siblings, we don't have parents so I'm taking care of them. Hyde lives with me along with his troublesome angel-chan. Lily and Hugh don't live too far so they visit. Okami and Wor-kun live a block over and Tsubaki lives in the house beside mine. I'm the oldest so they rely on me too much. I cook Hyde's and Angel-chan's breakfast in the morning so I don't have enough time to cook one myself.. So I just eat snacks that my classmates give me.." Kuro answered, sounding somewhat interested to the subject. Mahiru nods, it's understandable, no wonder he looks sickly. He's been taking care of his siblings more than himself. The perfect older brother he wished he had.







 "If you don't mind, could you show me? Well, I mean show me what you can cook. There are stoves in the pre-home ec room for third years. First and second years aren't allowed there yet.. But I want to see you cook." Mahiru took back his bento and set it back in his bag, looking to the quiet friends who're sitting across from them. Before he could ask what was wrong with them, Kuro replied in a low tone. "Okay.." "Can we see too! I don't know what a home ec. room looks like and I also want to see you cook as well!" Ryuusei smiled, turning his head to Sakuya and Koyuki to see if they would agree. "Oh? Two housewives who can cook?" Sakuya grinned, flicking his eyes to Mahiru and the Bluenet. Mahiru glared and Kuro shrugged. "I wouldn't call myself that. I at least teach my brother and his crazy Angel-chan how to pick up after themselves so I wouldn't have to do all the work." Kuro sighed, turning his head and pointing to Mahiru. "Don't know about him though." Kuro added. Mahiru gave him a raised brow, he doesn't look like the one to clean a house, maybe he's judging a book by it's cover, seeing this guy is actual very responsible when he's not in school. "I-"








"Nii-san! Nii-san!! Angel-chan is bullying me again! Scold him!" Hyde comes running in, along with Licht who is currently trying to kick him. "Huh? What a pain..." Kuro sighs, turning around in his seat lifting a leg to block Hyde from the Angel's kicks. "Licht, stop trying to kill my brother. You two behave better at home, but why not here? So annoying.." Kuro glares, but it doesn't have much heat to them. "This shit-rat said he was going to drop the neko-chan out the window when we get home! I cannot let a demon touch Mr.neko so he must die!" Licht lifts his leg to prepare a kick, but Kuro was able to lean forward and hold the limb before he could. "Hyde, don't drop my cat out the window, Licht, I know he's a troublesome brother but that's an empty threat. Now would you two stop stressing me out? It's bad enough that you two argue and I have to knock you both out at 4am." Kuro drops Licht's leg, turning to rest his foot on his brother's lower stomach before the blond could speak up and get cocky. "And Hyde. If you keep this up, I'm kicking you both out of the house until you get along. Don't test me." Kuro added, glaring at his brother, watching the male deflate in loss. "Aww, Nii-san you wouldn't do that-" "Shit-rat! Of course he would do that and it'll be your fault!" "Oh yeah Angel-babe? You are the only one who bullies me with his graceful kicks-" "That is because - I'm an angel"





"Enough!" Kuro interrupts, running a hand through his hair in order to be as calm as he can. Not noticing his hood fell down to reveal his shoulder length hair. "Thank you for the meal Mahiru, and you three for the company. I have to take care of this...If you're still here after school.. I'll show you. Meet me there later." Kuro told them, getting up to drag both his pouting housemates to an empty classroom to scold properly. Mahiru couldn't help but smile, chuckling softly as the four friends waved goodbye to the older male.







"Man, I wouldn't want to mess with that guy. He goes through too much." Sakuya chuckles, looking to the other three friends. "So, are we going to meet him later or what?" Sakuya raises a brow to Mahiru. Of course, Mahiru nods with a beaming smile, "Of course we are! Let's meet at our last class and then we head down to the home ec. room where Kuro will be?" Mahiru told them, they nodded as they finished their meals and packed up for their next class. "Okay Mahiru, see you there!" Koyuki went out first, followed by Ryuusei. Sakuya grinned with an all-knowing look to his face. "You like Kuro don't you?" Mahiru glared and got up from his seat as well, flicking his friend on the forehead. "As a friend! Of course I do! He may look lazy as hell but he's actually a responsible brother for his family and his brother's friend. Don't read into things too quickly!" Mahiru grabbed his empty bento and started to leave the lunchroom. "Oh come on Mahi! Be truthful to your feelings!" "No Sakuya, I don't like him in that way! Only as a friend so stop thinking such ridiculous things!" He chides, pushing his green-haired friend to the direction of his next class while he goes into his own. "See you later Sakuya! And remember to meet at our last class!" and with that, Mahiru went in to sit at his seat, watching more students pile in before the bell rings. He really couldn't wait to see how Kuro cooks his meals, is he a pro? He's old enough to be, maybe he'll learn from him.