Underneath the Red Trees

CHAPTER 2: THE ARCHER

Annoyed, exhausted, and still immersed in sleep, Hayate ignored his alarm.

Buzzzzzz!

He groaned as he grabbed his phone from where it lay beside him. "Yeah?" he grumbled.

"Where are you?"

"What?" he wiped the sleep from his eyes.

"Our class starts in twenty minutes. You know Ikeda's going to lose his shit if you're not here."

Hayate forced his eyes open and looked at the time. 12:09.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit." He stumbled out of bed. He never should have gone to that damn party. It was a bad idea. He knew it was, but he ignored his better judgement.

He rushed to put on his clothes. Within five minutes he was running outside to the garage. He usually took public transportation but there was no time today.

For his seventeenth birthday his father got him a black BMW motorcycle and he had gotten his license as soon as he turned eighteen. He disliked taking it to campus because the motorcycle was his baby, but today was a necessity.

He arrived on campus within twelve minutes. And he sprinted to the lecture hall. When he entered the professor looked up. "That's two minutes, Mr Igarashi."

He bowed respectfully to Professor Ikeda without giving an excuse. He was breathing too heavily to say a word.

He sat down beside the person who had saved his ass. Her name was Kimiko Nishimoto. They were in the same year, but she was a year older than him. She had taken a gap year to travel and only started university last year.

She was pretty with bottle blonde hair and a pixie cut. Her lips were thin, and she was of medium height.

Her brows were scrunched up. "You look sick," she whispered.

Hayate pushed the heels his hands into his eyes. He was exhausted. He had only gotten home in the early hours of the morning last night. "Yeah. I'm fucking hungover." He squeezed his eyes shut. "Let me copy your notes later."

She nodded and turned her attention to Ikeda at the front of the lecture hall. The class was supposed to be only an hour long, but it felt longer. Much longer.

He did not know when, but he fell asleep at some point.

He felt someone touching his shoulder. He was softly shaken.

He awoke with a start. He sucked air in through his nose and stretched his arms above his head.

"Hey," someone next to him started, "are you all right?"

Hayate met the eyes of Touma Kirigaya. This was the first time they had spoken. Ever. They were closer than they had ever been.

He looked him up and down. He was even more attractive up close. His nose bridge was straight. His eyelashes were long, casting shadows over his face. He had piercing holes in both earlobes. But the most shocking attribute was his eyes. His irises were a piercing amber.

He seemed to be waiting for something, staring at Hayate with his head cocked to the side. "What?" he asked after a while.

"Are you okay?"

Hayate rubbed his neck. There was a knot in it. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Touma chuckled. "Here." He placed a ham and cheese sandwich on the table. "You should eat. And go home to sleep."

With that he turned around to leave.

Hayate felt like he was lagging. Why had Touma done that?

Just as Touma was about to walk out the lecture hall, Hayate spoke up. "Hey." Touma turned around and raised his chin in an inquiring gesture. Hayate waved the sandwich in the air. "Thanks."