My Brother's a Jinchūriki!

Chapter Forty- Unspoken

"You don't eat ladylike at all."

Kiri turned her attention from her bento lunch with a large bite still in her mouth and her cheeks stuffed. Recognizing the owner of the voice, her eyes narrowed at him. She swallowed, then turned her face away with her nose in the air.

"Kotetsu."

The boy frowned and put a fist on his hips. "Kiri."

Kiri shoveled another large bite into her mouth with her chopsticks and kept herself turned away from him.

"What are you doing here?"

Kotetsu took another step forward, and then sat beside her. "I heard you were injured on a mission, so I came to see for myself."

"Hmph." Kiri swallowed the bite. "What, so you could rub it in my face?" She glanced down at her left leg, which was in a heavy cast. "I don't need you to add insult to injury, you know."

He made a face and crossed his arms. "You're just as ungrateful as ever."

She scoffed. "Ungrateful?"

"You know, it's been five years since you left our class and no one's really seen you at all since." His cheeks warmed slightly and he looked away from her. "Maybe I was just curious to see what you looked like now."

"Hmph!" Kiri stuffed her mouth with another bite. "My hair's longer now, I'm a few inches taller than you, and I'm still dark like 'burnt toast.' Nothing's really different."

Kotetsu flushed at the phrase and he glanced toward her from the corner of his eye, noticing the way her dark hair slipped from its place behind her ear and quickly looked away again.

"Yeah, you're right. Still as plain as ever."

Kiri's brows furrowed and she whipped her head towards him, elbowing him hard in the side. "Ass!"

"Ow!" He rubbed his side with a scowl. "You got even meaner."

Kiri rolled her eyes. "No, you're just a bigger baby than you were before."

"I am not!" He clenched his fist and leapt to his feet. "I'll prove it! Let's fight; right here, right now!"

Kiri's eyes darted back toward her leg, then she returned to eating once again, muttering under her breath.

"Ass."

He blushed slightly, relaxing as he scratched the back of his head. "R-Right... we're on the hospital roof... and your leg is..."

Kiri glanced up at him with her eyes narrowed. "Even with my leg like this, I could still take you out! In less than a second!"

They scowled at each other, and after a while, he sat back down beside her. After another pause, he looked at her chewing aggressively and spoke.

"So... what happened to your leg? When I went to your room to see you but you weren't there, your dad said I could find you up here, having lunch. But he wouldn't say what happened to your leg."

Kiri's chewing slowed, and then she gulped. "It kind of... got smashed."

Kotestu raised a brow. "Smashed? How?"

Kiri chewed on the inside of her cheek for a moment. "...A sledgehammer."

His eyes widened. "W-What...?!"

Kiri rested her hand on her lap and fell quiet. Kotetsu's expression softened and he stared at the cast.

"How did...?"