Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
unedited ---
1st Person ●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●
I walked up the steep set of stairs, making my way to the glass doors of the school building. Mukudori's freshly painted mantle was partly covered by a banner, celebrating the victory of the volleyball teams. Both had made it to Nationals as the girls won the finals yesterday, so I decided to pay them a visit.
I walked down the empty hallways, now void of students, until I stopped in front of the open gym doors. The girls were playing a game together as I stood in the doorway, almost hitting the top of the frame. When they went to break, I approached Ace, giving her a wave. "Hey! I heard you guys won yesterday! I totally wish we could've been there!" I nodded, "I wish I could've seen your game too. Ruby has been getting better, so you say?" "I told you to stop talking about me!" Ruby grumbled, walking off.
"What's up with your face?" Ace asked, lifting her hand, unable to touch the bruises on my skin. I shook my head, sitting down where she quickly joined me. Her cold fingers were finally able to touch my face, where Ace was far from gentle. "Ouchie." "Sorry, Sorry. Are you okay?" "Yeah. I-well-I ran into Tōsō in the bathroom back in Miyagi." "Tōsō did this?! That bastard! He should know better!" "Guess both of us fight with him, huh?" She crossed her arms, before shaking her hands out. "No, Jun. I've spoken with him about this and he's still-!" "I told him, Ace. I told him I knew his secret."
Her eyes widened. "What?! I blurted that out accidentally!" "Yes. I didn't mean to say it. I regret it a lot." I leaned back on the bench, my head pressed against the wall. "Remember when Terushima Yuji went to school here?" "Yeah," she rolled her eyes, "top of the class." "Exactly. Yuji was always the center of attention. Tōsō was a benchwarmer until his brother left." I sat up, "hell, Ace! I didn't even know they were related until he left!"
She waved her hand around, questioning my point. "Tōsō is taking out his anger on me because it's easy." "Are you seriously making an excuse for him?" "No. It's not an excuse. It's a reason. Two different things." I ruffled up her bleach white hair before standing up, signing my goodbyes.
Heading outside, I saw him about to head into the boy's gym down the hallway. His eyes glued to mine, I waved. "What a coincidence," I said, "I was just thinking about you." His hesitation for any sort of comeback made me assume that he planned to never see me again after our last meetup. He had reason to, I suppose since I did tell him that nothing he did had any effect on me. "You should leave," he signed, walking closer. It always surprised me that he bullied in sign language. I should've seen it. Tōsō stopped a distance away from me, his feet shuffling as they debated whether to come closer.
"I'm sorry for what I said," I admitted to him, "it was out of my place to say something like that." His skin started to turn a rosy color. "Where-where'd you even hear it from?" "Ace." "Matsuoka," he hissed, "I'm sorry, it's just-I liked Juni for such a long time. She was the one thing I had that my brother didn't." I definitely felt bad for my signing outburst. Mentioning his secret was so easy and I mistakenly let myself lose control. After mentioning my scar and whatnot, I had said something along the lines of: how could I be afraid of a - someone who started questioned their-themselves because I changed my name? I had gone into further details, displaying the absurdity and I guess my own anger. After calling me a name in a fake apology, it was the last straw. At the time, I thought it was the only way to get him to believe me. I'm not sure if I was right. "Juni isn't some other person," I hummed, "I've always been Jun. Being myself was better than living a lie."
