Starry Sea

2

The next day, your brother went on a business trip and had no time to drive you. You lived relatively close to the Stand-wielding boy you'd seen the afternoon before, so you walked with your head ducked low into the collar of your jacket.

You were the delinquent type, no doubt. You fought often, a trait also passed from your brother to you, and you insisted on wearing a black jacket over your irritatingly purple school uniform. If you disliked a teacher at all, you'd either skip their class or ignore their instructions, and you only ever paid attention in science class. This was another trait you'd gotten from your brother, as well as your habit of dine-and-dashing whenever you were served shitty food at restaurants.

Everyone except your brother always had their hands full with you.

You lived in 1987, after all, and in Japan, which was a country well-known for having a history of conservative females. Your classmates typically didn't know what to do with you, and so you were simultaneously distained and worshiped by a vast number of people. Either way, you fit in with neither the delinquent nor the regular students, and spent all your time by yourself.

The thin cloth of the jacket pasted to your skin, which was damp with nervous sweat. You took no notice, because right now you were desperately hiding your face from the tall, handsome boy just a few paces ahead of you.

He was close enough to touch. If you extended your arm all the way, you could perhaps brush the slightly fluttering sleeve of his gakuran. The lack of distance was tantalizing, and you almost fell into a daydream mid-step about how you might even walk next to him, then and there, if you quickened your pace a little.

What was stopping you from starting a simple conversation? Perhaps you could feign tripping, and if you injured yourself he would stop to help. Or, if he was a little on the politer side, you'd simply say good morning, and that would be that.

Indeed, what kept you from this easily-achievable reality?

The impenetrable wall of fangirls, for one.

They surrounded him the way dead leaves might encompass a blooming flower, boundlessly irritating you from where you stood.

Your plans for approaching him were dashed, and so you hatched new plots to rid him of that crowd, perhaps through methods of violence. There were only six or seven girls, and you were sure he wouldn't mind their absence one bit. Of course, if someone discovered it was you doing it, you'd be in a fair bit of trouble, but it wouldn't matter even if you got arrested so long as he didn't find out, and you certainly had enough cash on hand to keep some mouths shut.

It was dangerous, sure, but it was definitely a risk you were willing to take. You wondered, briefly, if there was another method to keep only yourself around him...

You were snapped out of your thoughts by the sound of something falling to the ground.

You swiftly un-buried your face from your jacket, alertness briefly flashing across your apathetic features as you watched the Stand-wielding boy tumble from the stairs. Blood poured from a bleeding gash in his right leg, a sight that replaced your calculating musing with a brief flash of icy fear.

You watched the boy's stand extend its arm to alter the trajectory of his descent. He landed safely atop a cluster of branches next to the stone staircase, his countenance calm as ever.

Your heart thudded harshly against your ribcage.

If he hadn't reacted in time, or if he'd fallen a few centimeters off, he would've been a bloody mess on the pavement.

Your short-lived panic was immediately doused by irritation as you watched the girls that instantly swarmed him.

It was rare for your mood to fluctuate like this, a fact that you dimly registered but did not think much of. The mood swings and possessiveness, which you had never felt before, seemed almost as natural as if you'd been like this your whole life.

You lowered your head and silently walked down the stone staircase. Although he was eventually far behind you, you kept your head down in your collar all the way to school.