Chapter 23

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March 4th, Tuesday

Sitting in class, the teacher is talking away. I couldn't be bothered to listen, not when my head is filled with the whole fiasco in mementos. What was Morgana doing past the first door of Mementos? I thought he couldn't get past it on his own. Or was he running away from the velvet room for the first time? I don't understand. I want to go back and check if the door is still open, but honestly, I'm too afraid to go back. Not only because of that close encounter with that Reaper, but also because it's raining today. On raining days, the shadow blobs get stronger. What's worse is that I didn't bring an umbrella either. I can already tell today is going to be difficult.

The bell for lunch. The class erupts into chatter. Some students crowding around desks and others running out immediately to go buy lunch. Luckily, Sojiro had given me some lunch today too. Everyone is in their own groups, eating and laughing amongst each other. It's all the classic clicks. The 'popular people', the 'weebs', those who study all the time, the athletes, and then the loners. Some are alone by choice, more often though, are ostracized. Take me for example, I am in the corner seat, with the criminal record, I'm a perfect example of getting the cold shoulder. Doesn't matter though, I have more important things to sort out. What I should do going forward? Should I go back to mementos? Despite being terrified of the place after almost dying yesterday, I can't let fear stop me from training. I need to get as strong as I can to get home. The rumbling from my stomach, I plop my head onto my desk. If I keep thinking about this stuff, I'll probably get indigestion. What's a semi-quiet place that I could eat my lunch. The roof is out of the question, since still raining. Library is a no, no food allowed. Gym is a no-go. Is there an empty classroom I can maybe hide inside of? Probably not. Ugh! Why is there no place I can go to!? Alrighty, Nurses' office it is. Quietly rummaging through my bag, pull out my lunchbox then make my way to the nurses' office. Making it outside the room, I softly open the door and peek inside. It's quiet inside and there is no one in sight. Great, I can just sit on these sofa chairs, even better it that there is a small coffee table that I can place my lunch on. Opening my lunch, there are multiple small portions of side dishes and a large portion of rice in the middle. Not exactly curry, but I'm not going to complain. Now that I realize it, I don't think I've had Sojiro cook anything else but curry for me. He'd make the curry and I'd save it for a couple of days, renditioning it into other dishes when I remember to eat. I'd be so busy some days that I would pass out immediately after coming back to Leblanc, so eating something probably every other day or so is a bit of a constant. I should probably practice cooking more. I usually eat the leftover curry with pre-made food from the grocery store nearby. As far as my skill in cooking goes, I can barely boil water safely. Still, I'm grateful for the food that Sojiro took the time to make for me. The bottom of the rice is still slightly warm. I dig in, happily enjoying my food. In a matter of minutes, I have one more bite left. I don't think I've ever ate something so quickly. "Sojiro's cooking really is heavenly." If there was a cooking God, I'm sure it was Sojiro. Behind me, the door abruptly slides open. I sit still as stone. "Tch, Those damn jerks." I hear a familiar voice. So familiar in fact that when I turn around, I know who it was. "Ah," Both me and Ryuji say in unison. Ryuji stops in his tracks and is just standing there, with cuts, bruises and a bloody nose that is still flowing. "M-my bad- "

"You!" I quickly get up and grab the boy, surprising him. I drag him into the room and shut the door. Pulling out a handkerchief I hold it up to his nose with it. "Hold."

"W-wait, I don't." He stammers. "Hold." He silently holds the handkerchief and stands still. I shove him onto one of the sofa chairs. Then go towards the back of the room and look for the disinfectant, petri dish, band aids and gauze. "Found them." I walk back to the boy, who is stiffly sitting on the chair. I walk past him, over to the coffee table. Since the table is closer to the ground, I kneel. I place everything down onto the coffee table and pour a good bit of disinfectant into the petri dish. I clump some gauze together and lightly dunk it into the disinfectant. I turn back around to Ryuji and tower over him; he looks like he's going to hull over with how pale his face is. He is not moving a centimeter and I doubt he's even breathing. "Excuse me," I grab his face by his chin, him flinching and his breath hitching. "This'll hurt." Before I can let him say anything I dab the gauze onto his cuts. "Gah!" He jumps and tries to escape my grasp. "Staph!" He grabs my wrist, trying to pull it off his face. "Keep moving and I'll make it worse." He shuts up and sits still again. I make sure to get every cut I could see and then put a clear band aid. Depending on the size, I use bigger ones. Ryuji still squirms around each time I touch the gauze to his skin, but it's better than him fighting me off him. I swear, he's got to take care of himself more. He must have gotten into a fight with the members of the track team again. Probably let their words get to him too. Eventually, I am done, and I release his chin. There is still so much dirt and dust on his face and uniform. Man, this goofy kid doesn't deserve to get treated like this. "Don't move." I go back to the other side of the room and grab a paper towel. Luckily, there is a sink here too. I lightly dampen the towel and return to the boy. He is clearly shaken and wants to leave already, but he doesn't get that choice just yet. I crouch down to eye level to him and stare at this face. Seriously there is so much dirt on him. I trail down and there are literal pebbles stuck on his uniform and.... mud? He's got to wash up when he gets home. Looking back at his face, he looks flustered. He must be angry by now; well, I'm almost done anyway. Seriously though, they are so immature for fighting like this. Sighing, I grab his face and rub the towel on his face. "Wha-!" He gets muffled by the towel and is angrily saying something. He grabs my wrist again and pulls it off his face. "I can do it myself!" His face is red in frustration. He grabs the towel out of my hand and rubs his face, the handkerchief on his nose falling. His bleeding seems to have stopped already, but just in case. I grab some more gauze and cut it into two nostril-sized clumps. I face the boy, who just finished wiping off his face, and I stick two clumps into his nose. "Augh!" He yelps up. "Seriously! Why are you doing this?" Ryuji rubs his nose. "Because you were hurt and walked into the nurse's office. So obviously you needed some first aid." I dust off my hands. It's as simple as just helping him out a bit. "What are you? Trying to play doctor?!" He angrily pushes me as he walks past me. I try to catch myself by putting my foot back, only to hit the table and stubbing backwards. Stretching my arms out in front of me to balance myself so I can force myself upright, instead getting my arms yanked by Ryuji. Maybe he was trying to pull me upright, maybe it was revenge, either way it hurt and did nothing but drag him down with me. I hit the table with my head and my back is getting stabbed by the disinfectant bottle. "Gah!" I squeeze my eyes tight as I rub my cranium. Frig that hurt! Not only that my shoulder hurts from getting yanked. Why does it feel so heavy too? I reopen my eyes only to see blond hair beside me and the owner of the blond being on top of me. God could this get any worse. Sure enough, soon as we both realize out positions, the door opens, and someone walks in. I can't see with all of Ryuji obstructing my vision, but in this kind of situation it doesn't matter who it is, but to not get caught. "Oh my god!" I hear a female voice squeal. I'm sure I know that voice. I can't see Ryuji's face, but I can see his ear and it is bright pink. He quickly picks himself up and runs out the room. Is this why they say not to swear on God's name? Man, frig him. Got me in this situation in the first place. I pick myself back up and hear the bottle of disinfectant roll off the table and onto the floor. "Are you alright!?" I get shaken by the shoulders and observed by another blond, this time platinum. "I'm fine Ann, what are you doing here?" I stop her shaking, but everything is still spinning. "Well, I was looking for you to have lunch together, since you always disappear, but by the time I was about to ask you, you had already left out the classroom. And even when I went out the door, it was like you had disappeared since you weren't in the halls." Ann rambles. "Are you sure you're, ok? Was he forcing himself onto you!? I'll go kill him for you right now!" She begins to make a charge for the door. "Hey, calm down! I'm fine. This is a whole misunderstanding." She worriedly eyes me up and down, only for them to shoot open in surprise yet again, as she passes me and picks something off the floor. "Why is there so much blood on your handkerchief!? He made you bleed!?" Her bloodthirst rises again. Please stop jumping to conclusions. "That's my handkerchief, but not my blood. Please just calm down and let me explain." I swear with how long it's been I wouldn't be surprised if lunch already had ended. As luck would have it, the bell for the end of lunch rings. Seriously why is today so terrible. "I'll explain on our way back. For now, could you help me clean this up?" I point to the disarray of items on the ground and miscellaneous trash. "No problem!" Ann rolls up her sleeves and begins with me behind her to help.

In no time at all, we put everything where it needs to be and head out the room. "So, what was the situation back then?" Ann turns around at me. "It was nothing, I was just...." As I tell her the details, I swear I can see two shadows behind one of the curtains. Probably just my head whacking out from hitting it on the table. I turn off the lights and shut the door, returning to classes for the day

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Merp here. 

I just wanna put this out there. This is in fact a Akira x reader. I know I'm being slow with the juicy stuff but that is due to come...some time. 

Alright thanks for listening to my ted talk.

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