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"Alright, you guys start pairing up! Dancers, please join a pair of singers!"
"Wanna be in my group, Shouyou?" Itokawa smiled at the confused little ginger, who could only nod. A small tug on his shirt made him turn around.
"Uh, can I be in your... group..? Please?"
It was a petite girl with light blond hair that was to the side in a small ponytail. Her eyes were a deep hazel, much like Shouyou's, and her clothing consisted of a skirt and a button-up. It reminded Shouyou of the uniforms they had to wear in high school.
"Sure thing, Hitoka! Here, you can do the singing first if you wanna!"
She nodded, but Itokawa sighed as her eyes traced circles on Shouyou's body. "Uh, I'm Shouyou, by the way. I guess we'll be in the same group today, haha..."
Hitoka squeaked and hid behind Itokawa with a deep blush. "Uh, um! Thank you! I mean, uhm?!"
Her behavior drew a laugh from Itokawa's mouth. "This is Yachi Hitoka. She's really shy before you get to know her. Calling her Hitoka is fine, though. She just transferred here last month."
Shouyou hummed in understanding and reluctantly held a hand out to her for a handshake. "It's nice to meet you, Hitoka-Kun."
She stuttered and awkwardly grip at his hand. "Y-Yeah! Yeah, nice to meet you!"
"Okay, draw your number and get your stuff together!" The teacher exclaimed happily, holding a bucket of marked sticks out to everyone.
"Oh, I'll go grab our number!" Itokawa scurried off, leaving Hitoka and Yachi alone. She was about to speak, but she yelped instead as someone towered of Shouyou from behind and gripped his shoulder. The little ginger was also frightened.
"Shouyou, I'm not messin' around anymore, let's get the hell out of this pig stall. It's too loud and annoyin'." Atsumu paid no mind to the blond in front of Shouyou, his only goal was to leave this place with him in hand.
"I already told you to leave me alone," he grumbled, trying to keep his voice low so Hitoka wouldn't freak out anymore. He tried to pull Shouyou back, but the little ginger sidestepped out of his grip and snarled.
"What Bokuto did with ya has nothin' to do with us."
"You're just as bad."
Atsumu crossed his arms, reminding Shouyou of a pouting child. "Don't lump me in with that nutjob. Why do ya have to be so damn stubborn?"
Itokawa was still speaking with the teacher, but, thankfully someone stepped between them before Atsumu did something to Shouyou.
"Back off, buddy boi," Harp nearly growled, "I don't know what you guys do in the dancing department, but here we talk shit out after class. Don't go dragging everyone else into your problems."
Atsumu wanted to wring her neck, but Shouyou glared at him from behind, and he could only dip his head in anger, eyes boring into Shouyou's.
"Jus' ya wait, Shouyou."
He stomped off back to Osamu, who was sitting on a desk in the corner looking about as bored and upset as Atsumu, though he showed it less, his aura said otherwise.
Shouyou sighed in relief and thanked Harp just as Itokawa came back with their number. "Don't mention it! That guy's been giving you the stink eye this whole time! Anyway, I gotta head back to my group!"
"Ah, th-thanks again!"
She nodded to the little ginger and rushed back to her awaiting peers. "What was that about?"
"Oh, uh, it's nothing..."
But Hitoka didn't think it was nothing. She pursed her lips and turned back to Osamu and Atsumu, who were angrily typing on their phones and pointing to Shouyou from time to time like they were discussing something. IT gave her a bad feeling.
"Anyway, Hitoka will be singing, I'll add in the music, and Shouyou can, well, dance! We'll switch it up afterward!"
"I'm... confused..."
"Oh, well, we have this game where we pair up and sing. Well, one person sings and the other makes the music to go along with it, and it's all off the top of your head! It's really helped us come up with some good hits! Now that we have a dancer as good as you, I'm sure we'll come out on top today!"
Yachi added in, "And-And we only have 2 and a half minutes per group!"
A competition, Shouyou loves those. "Don't, uh, Don't worry about sounding bad or anything! We laugh, but we don't judge!" Yachi tried to comfort Shouyou, and he smiled at her gratefully.
"Yeah, there was this one time Niko over there couldn't think of anything, so he just made fart sounds the whole time!"
"Hey, Ito, you dick! Don't go telling that to Shouyou! I was having a brainfart that day!"
"Yeah, and you imitated the sounds with your mouth, you weirdo!"
Shouyou chuckled into his palm as the two argued back and forth, both on different sides of the room.
He couldn't remember the last time he smiled and laughed so much. It made his face hurt, but he loved it.
"Um... Shouyou..?" Shouyou turned to Yachi in question as the first group went to the front of the classroom and began performing.
"Uhm, I-I really don't... I really don't want to pry, but... There's, uh, What happened to your... neck..?"
Instinctively, Shouyou's hand fell onto his neck where he was sure he had covered all the marks with concealer. "Uh... What do you mean?"
Yachi fiddled with her fingers, glancing around before speaking again, a bit quieter. "There's... a handprint on it..?"
His blood ran cold, and he quickly sputtered out a lazy excuse before excusing himself and rushing out of the room.
He was tagged immediately, but that wasn't his top concern in the slightest. He raced down the stairs and to the dancer's floor before busting open his locker and grabbing his bag, then proceeding to rush into the bathroom.
Upon taking his jacket off, he realized, in fact, that his concealer was wearing off, probably because it was on his neck. It always wears off there because he moves his head so much.
The handprint, colored purple and blue, brought back bad memories, and his bag slipped from his hand. It... Well, he didn't know what was going on.
He... It felt like his throat was being gripped at and he couldn't breathe. It felt painful. His body weakly sank to the floor as he tried to catch his breath.
This sucks, what's going on? Is he seriously having a panic attack right now? He was having such a good time, though, why'd this have to happen now?
"Ugh..." Shouyou tried to find something still to focus on, but his eyes were blurry and filled with swirls and his eyes refused to focus.
