The schoolroom was as noisy as usual in the morning. Kenji was lying across his desk groaning over the results of the math quiz.
"I'm doomed. Doomed! They ought to have my grade on a gravestone.
Aoi scowled and struck him with a notebook. You are a failure, since you never study. Do not pull us down with thy whining.
Kenji pouted. "Cold, Aoi. Heartless. No wonder you're single."
"Excuse me?!"
The two of them were bickering and the room laughed, but Ryuzi sat silent at his desk by the window with his head resting on one hand. He stared at the floating clouds beyond, and everything was drowned.
Or at least, he tried to.
"...Takeda, right?" a girl in the rear whispered not-so-low. "He doesn't talk to anyone. It's creepy."
Another voice snickered. I heard that he punched a teacher in his old school.
"Really? It was about some girl, my cousin said--
The lines cut in the ribs of Ryuzi like glass. He gritted his teeth, acting deaf. Same old. Doesn't matter. Don't react.
Then, as usual, sunshine pierced through the storm.
"Good morning, Ryuzi!"
Suki sat down beside him in his chair and grinned blindly. He leaned over Ryuzi's desk. "Guess what? I passed the math quiz!"
Ryuzi arched a brow. "...Barely?"
"Hey! It was a solid sixty percent."
"Pathetic."
Suki screamed, and clutched his chest. "How dare you! That sixty per cent was earned with blood, sweat and your notes. I would be expecting cheers, not insults.
Ryuzi twitched his lips,--so quick, behind his hand--despite himself.
But the whispers were ever more, stinging now.
"Poor Suki. Stuck next to him."
He is simply attempting to appear cool by hanging around with the scary guy.
"Bet he'll get bored soon."
Ryuzi's chest tightened. He looked at Suki, expecting the laugh, the embarrassed excuse, the flight--which all the rest finally made.
Suki instead swiveled around in his seat smiling at the gossips.
You guys green-eyed or something? he asked cheerfully.
The room fell silent.
Kenji burst out laughing. "Oh my god, he went there."
Suki continued to go, smiling uncontrollably. Actually, why, when you have time to fabricate tales about Ryuzi, have you also time to do your homework. Right, Aoi?"
Aoi smirked. "He's not wrong."
The whisperers frowned, cowering in front of their schoolmates. Ryuzi watched, stunned. Not only had Suki been his defender--this time, too--but he had done it with laughter, and had bounced the taunting right back without anger.
The bell had rung, and further tension had been cut off. But Ryuzi could not help looking at the boy next him.
"...Why?" he muttered under his breath.
Suki blinked innocently. "Why what?"
"Why defend me like that?"
Suki shook his head with a smile. "Because you don't deserve it."
Ryuzi scoffed, looking away. "You don't even know me."
Suki came nearer, and the voice lowered in a teasing way. "Then let me."
Ryuzi's pulse skipped. He hastily pushed his notebook in his face, feigning attention. "...Annoying."
However, the word did not bite like this time.
During lunch, Suki dragged Ryuzi out once again. This time to the courtyard, where Kenji and Aoi already sat and ate bentos.
Oh, Ice Prince at last comes with us," Kenji wagged his eyebrows.
"Shut it, Kenji," Ryuzi muttered.
Aoi snorted. "Relax. You're not that scary."
Suki dropped down in between them, and opened his bento. "See? Progress! He didn't leave right away."
Kenji bent over to Ryuzi, and spoke conspiratorially. "Careful, Takeda. He has you in his sunshine trap. Once you're in, you can't escape."
Ryuzi glared. "...Good. Probably he will not bother me anymore, provided that I allow him to win once.
Suki's eyes sparkled. Oh, was that to continue harassing you at all times?
Ryuzi stood still and knew what he had blundered into. "...No."
"Yes."
Kenji and Aoi broke out into laughter.
Ryuzi did not want to leave, as he had never wanted to leave before.
The Aoyama house was swarming again that night.
"He defended you again?" Hana inquired, as Suki told the tale, with an uplifted brow.
"Yep!" Suki grinned and filled his rice with mouth.
Emi smirked. And you are still telling me you do not like him?
Suki's face heated. "It's not like that!"
The eyes of Rika gleamed. Then why do you say, you know me, like it was in an act?
Suki grumbled and hid behind his bowl. "I didn't mean it like that!"
Yet just inwardly his heart was still galloping at the sight of the face of Ryuzi before--the twitch of indecision, the slightest cracking of his frozen walls.
In another part of town, Ryuzi was sitting on his bed, scrolling. He hesitated over the photo of Suki yesterday, with the stupid peace sign. His thumb was floating over it, after which he quickly closed the screen.
But he found himself wondering--but to the first time in years--
What if he really means it?