♡ ♡ ♡
Love is a dangerous flame
♡ ♡ ♡
"Is there anything else that happened?" Gojou asked the student he had known the longest.
Megumi seemed to be deep in thought about something if his glaring at the floor was anything to go by.
"I..." He trailed off, unsure of his words.
Gojou gave a fruitcake wave with his right hand in a dismissal motion. "Aiya, Megumi-kun, no need to hesitate. You can say whatever you want, you depressed child."
Megumi gave a long burdened sigh, whether from dealing with the pain is the ass that is Gojou, or from whatever is on his mind was unknown. "I couldn't really do anything. And Hanzō... it was indescribable—he was indescribable... it was like he had no control of what he was doing, but it was all so purposeful... it was like he was drunk on something."
"Drunk?" Gojou pressed a bit, his mind wandering to something Hanzō had said before.
Megumi nodded and Gojou was left with too many thoughts.
He then recalled the conversation he had with Hanzō and Yuuji and what Hanzō's had mentioned about his consumption of booze. His brows furrowed. "Did he drink anything?"
Megumi thought back on all that had happened, even the parts filled with bathtubs of blood and no light hearted soap bubbles. He shook his head in response to the question.
"He... he hurt himself—when he was 'drunk.'" Megumi swallowed. "That was the wound on his arm. I don't think he has any control in that state."
It took Gojou a minute to digest what had been said. He nodded. "What would you judge his strength to be when in that state?" He tried to gloss over what had been revealed, it wasn't something he could solve right now, He didn't care if Megumi noticed.
Megumi didn't. Either that or he didn't address it, which was much more likely. Gojou found himself surprised that Megumi had even talked this much to voice his concerns for Hanzō's wellbeing. They had either hit it off or Megumi had given the other teen his respect during the detention center debacle.
Megumi snapped him out of his inner musings with his answer. "Second grade. Maybe semi-first grade."
And if Gojou was surprised, he didn't show it.
♡
"He told us to live long."
"But all your problems vanish when you die," Kugisaki murmured beneath her hand, the mood somber. "Is this the first time one of your comrades has died?"
"It's my first time for a classmate." Fushiguro replied even though the question could be counted as insensitive.
"Hmph, you seem oddly fine."
"... You too."
"Well, I only knew him for about two weeks. I'm not such a soft woman that I would cry over the death of someone like him."
Fushiguro noticed her lips quivering, he said nothing.
"The other guy is his brother, right? Where is he?" 'Is he alright?' Her voice wavered faintly, and he didn't comment.
"I don't know."
"It's hot."
"... Yeah. I wonder when we'll get our summer clothes."
"What the hell? You're more depressing than ever. Is this a wake?" A stern voice disrupted the nonchalantly solemn conversation, almost dispersing the heavy atmosphere completely, but ultimately only making things awkward between them all.
"Zenin-senpai," Fushiguro greeted simply and Maki huffed.
"Don't call me by my family name."
"Maki. Maki!" Someone else whisper-yelled, trying to be both discrete while also being attention grabbing enough to make Maki notice him. A panda poorly hiding behind a tree continued, "He really did die. Yesterday! A boy in first year died!"
"Katsuobushi flakes!" A dead-eyed cute boy frantically added on, confusing Kugisaki even more.
Maki flushed a bit, sweat gathering at her brow and running down her face. "Say it earlier!" She yelled, "I'll seem like a cold heartless devil!"
"Actually, that's exactly what you are, you know?!" Panda yelled back just as heatedly, just as flustered as a slandered maiden trying to defend her honor.
"Tuna mayo," Inumaki once again added a wonderful point to the conversation, unfortunately none of them could understand it completely, though Fushiguro was the closest to figuring out the mysterious language he used.
"Those people," Kugisaki started almost hesitantly, the strange group making her somewhat unsure. "Who are they?"
"They're our second-year senpais." Fushiguro gave a rather deadpan response, the group's entrance rather disappointing. "There's Zenin-senpai, she's the best at handling charms out of us students. A specialist in spells: Inumaki-senpai. His only vocabulary is onigiri ingredients. That's Panda-senpai." Fushiguro gave a final point to the panda like he wasn't an actual panda sorcerer.
"There's one more; Okkotsu-senpai. He's the only one I can openly respect, but he's overseas now."
"Are you seriously gonna leave the panda's introduction at 'Panda?'" Kugisaki scowled at the lack of explanation.
"Oh, sorry guys. You're still in mourning. But I want you to attend the Kyoto sister school exchange." Panda clasped his hands in an apologetic gesture, but continued on with business.
At Kugisaki's inquiring, Maki explained the tournament styled competition that would take place between the two rivaling schools and why the first years had to participate.
After the two agreed to fight in the thing, Panda realized there was supposed to be another student amongst them. "Where is the other first-year?"
Fushiguro and Kugisaki both gave each other a glance, but Fushiguro answered truthfully. "He's the brother of our classmate who died. We don't know where he is."
Maki gave a nod and Inumaki gave a sagely, 'salmon.'
"That's okay. He can join whenever he wants."
♡
The next time Gojou walked into Hanzō's room he was greeted by the classic tunes of Ra Ra Rasputin and light fog.
"Is this Ra Ra Rasputin?" He asked even despite already knowing the answer.
Hanzō took a drag from the cigarette hanging from the corner of his lips and rolled his eyes. "Obviously."
"How long have you been listening to it?"
Hanzō shrugged. "It's a ten hour loop."
"Well that isn't a good sign." If Gojou knew anything, it was that Ra Ra Rasputin was a break down song and listening to it for that long didn't spell anything healthy.
"The hell do you mean?"
"Nothing!" Gojou sing-songed playfully while discreetly trying to look around the room. The pills he had cleaned up yesterday haven't been moved—a good sign—but there were cigarette butts littered on the floor around his casually slumped sitting position on the floor as he leaned against the bed frame, and even a few on the bedding.
"W-what the hell are you doing?" Hanzō did not squeal when Gojou suddenly picked him up and carried him with his arm wrapped around his waist, but he impressively kept the cigarette in his mouth.
"We're gonna go see something informative!"
♡
Hi. Fushiguro is so out of character so just kindly ignore that.
Damn I feel good. I pumped this chapter out in around an hour's worth of time.
Here you go ohnoiamhere ask and you shall receive.
Stay frosty, ciao~♡
Word Count 1131