Wait, wait- hold on a second, what?!
Shiro, the neighbor in which you encountered only yesterday-- was standing in your classroom like his appearance was meant to be some sort of coincidence. Seeing his face created a nervous knot in your stomach.
"Hello everyone, it's nice to meet you." Announced Shiro. He bowed at a low angle, similarly to you, and then stood straight while he started to readjust his schoolbag strapped along his shoulder. The crowd of students were as silent as you, but for other reasons, however. Whispers immediately filled the room, all of which were revolving around the male standing there with a currently content expression. In his eyes, a look of utter boredom was made apparent.. Apathy was his closest, most trustworthy companion.
"Hey," Spoke a female student, leaning over to the side to gossip with one of her friends who also pulled in close. "The new guy looks just like Seiichiro! He never mentioned having a quiet brother." She whispered to her friend whose cherry lips curled deviously at the mention of one man in specific. The girl she's talking to in particular? None other than Kirigiri Yatsouba. She smirked and tilted her head to the side, flicking her long hair behind her shoulder to perhaps get the attention of the oldest Yuuki brother who you failed to spot until now. "Well, clearly they're brothers you idiot. But twin or not, my Sei will always be number one..~"
Located on your right and sitting at the middle row desk was Seiichiro; fortunately he had his head buried in his arms to sleep, so he couldn't deal with Kirigiri's delusions even if he wanted to. 'S-Small world, I suppose??' You fought to pinch yourself. As much as you'd like to call this reality, this was simply too surreal to accept. A bead of sweat trickled down your cheek and you quickly shot your head down in intimidation seeing as Shiro finally walked towards his desk one gap away from yours.
He stringed his bag along the hook attached to the desk itself, training his priorities on preparation before class. During this time he didn't look or utter a peep towards you, thankfully--because you had a feeling you wouldn't be able to handle his thoughtless prying eyes right now.
With that came the first bell of today, officially marking the start of this class session. You were pretty prepared to face an intense lecture on your first day, so you took out your books and blank sheets of papers, getting to work efficiently.
For what you felt like hours, you endured a long lecture from your teacher. Surrounding you were those inattentive students that were either pretending to focus, or were focused on not pretending at all. Within a few more minutes, the bell let out a rhythmic, sang-song ring, causing you to exhale a breath of relief and sit your pencil down. You were already so afraid of falling behind, and the workload here was beginning to make it worse.
'I seriously need to work harder.. i can't afford to be left behind. Dad would literally murder me.' You thought, shivering upon imagining the wrath of one of your father's never-ending scoldings, leading to your destressed sigh.
In the midst of thinking about your deep troubles, a tousling sound came from beside you. When you glanced over at your right it was Shiro who watched you before narrowing his eyes onto something. Following where his red irises landed, you saw that there was something in his grip; a bland student's notebook signatured in his brother's name. "Do you want to use this? It's Sei's notes from-"
Shiro quickly silenced himself upon the loud burst of energy from the surrounding students who approached him within a heartbeat. Genuine interest arose from their faces while questions flew at him from every possible angle--and you could see by his perplexed expression that he was genuinely not expecting this. He retracted the notebook and sat it down due to the overwhelming series of inquiries, making you snicker.
"Seiichiro never brought you up before."
"Shiro's such a cute name!"
"Your red eyes are so handsome!"
"Were you home schooled?
Why'd you not show up to school till' now?"
You saw that the attention was beginning to make him uncomfortable. Was this, perhaps, his first time making friends? The boy next to you fell into a more reserved personality, yet that didn't stop them from intruding his personal bubble to gain his attention. "...I was home schooled pretty much all my life-.." Shiro muttered, avoiding eye contact.
"Alright alright.. that's enough," Came Seiichiro who stood out of his seat, rubbing the nape of his neck as he casually strolled on over, "Leave my brother alone, he's introverted as it is." He shooed the mix of gregarious classmates away-- to which a few of the girls who were first to prop themselves on his desk dispersed respectfully. Then the rest of the crowd followed suit.
The youngest began packing his utensils such as pencils and erasers quietly, no longer interested in the subtle offer he'd made to you seconds prior- only because he'd known his brother well enough to predict he'd draw in the attention.. even if it was involuntary. "You should've transferred to this school way earlier, Shi. I knew everyone wouldn't just let you slip by." Seiichiro stuffed his hands into his pockets, wearing a sly smile. He noticed his brother jolt in anger at the mention of that nickname-- provoking his unhappy grimace, leading Seiichiro to whistle and shift on next to you for protection.
"We're not kids anymore, you childish excuse for an older brother."
Yikes! Shiro was a lot more harsh than you thought. Yet you weren't surprised.. this cruelty of his, you were used to it already. "Ah, what a compliment." Replied his brother with a smile and a wag of his finger. "You see that, [L/N]? If that's not brotherly love, I don't know what is." This guy's goofiness was a break from the stress, that's for sure. Now that you thought about it, the twins weren't bad company at all, and that realization made your lips tug into a smile when watching them argue habitually.
"Really, the both of you are just ridiculously silly." You said after stifling your laugh using your hand. Seeing them instilled a layer of confidence; you met these men for a reason.. so you weren't going to pass up the opportunity of getting to know them more. Your interest in them was piqued. "It's reassuring to know that I actually have some friends here." Your sweet sentiment was uncalled for, yet Shiro expressed his gratitude through a faint smile-- gentle with you, but cold to anyone else who witnesses it.
"Oh lookie here~ This arm looks pretty lonely, huh Sei?" Creeped in Kirigiri, suddenly swooping in to cling onto Seiichiro's arm. She brightened up tremendously in the presence of the guy she wished to marry-- but that clearly was never going to happen.. just judging by the twin's cringe in disgust alone. "What the- can't you keep your hands to yourself for only a second?!"
You and Shiro also began cringing in unison while watching the young lady intrusively lean close to him-- threatening to give him a smooch on the lips as he was vulnerable enough. And in doing so, Shiro pointed towards Kirigiri.. excluding utter disappointment in the midst of his icy, judgmental stare. "So this is the kind of girls you're into ... You're worse than I thought." You also nodded in agreement, shaking your head in shame and deliberately overlooking the fact that his consent was ignored by the harasser; the cause of this commotion in the first place.
"C'mere Sei, lemme snag a wittle kiss! You know you wanna!" Kirigiri continued to pester him, much to his dismay-- it's like the girl had no idea what personal boundaries are! So Seiichiro had to try and pry her off, only she just kept returning like some sort of magnet-- coming back more tenacious than ever. "You're crazy, y'know that right?? Now let me go before y-" The slightest stagger backwards out of impulse to create distance had created a resounding bump. He ended up bumping the desk behind him quite roughly, making it tip over for a split second. The force of the impact ejected a few of the belongings out of the desk--and what toppled by your feet were a couple of pencils, papers--but amongst the small litter you only saw one thing;
There, laying on the polished wooden flooring, was a student's name tag written in bold letters. Your eyes widened just a bit, more so in a perplexed manner.. because it happened so suddenly. "What's this stuff? Looks like it hasn't been touched in forever." You were the first to react and decided to reach and grab the name tag. The other three were pretty dismissive about the ordeal, but still expressed something nonetheless.
"That's a desk no one uses at all," Said Kirigiri as she finally let go of Seiichiro, "I guess the teachers forgot to throw their things away." It was a mere guess, so her statement wasn't dependable in the slightest. You hummed in response, simply inspecting for now. Initially you were just going to say whatever and put it back where it came from.. but when you flipped the tag over, peculiarity arose from the depths of your stomach while you scanned the name thoroughly.
Neiji Iisei.
'Huh..?' You were sucked into your thoughts, and in your eyes was an distinguishable blank void which dulled your [E/C] optics. Your heart rate steadily started to accelerate. This name.. you were one-hundred percent certain you've seen it before.. but where? That question was eating at you from within, and you seriously couldn't bear this rotten sensation giving you anxiety.
"[L/N]? Are you alright? You sorta' started blanking out there..." Shiro knitted his brows in obvious worry- though rather than reassuring him you stood up and showed the rest of your new acquaintances what recent discovery you'd made. "Who's this..?" You asked, causing them to go quiet. For such a simple question, you didn't expect to start confusion.. but that's exactly what you'd done. Seiichiro placed his hand on his chin and squinted his eyes, giving you an odd glance like you were being overly sensitive over a person's tag. He stared at it in his hand, both front and back, concentrating long and hard on what the point was here.
Kirigiri also joined the oldest in inspecting it. She brushed her hair behind her shoulder like always, and then placed her hand onto her hip with a bit of sass slipping from her demeanor. "What the hell are you so hung up over, new girl?" She hissed, "I mean really? Iisei? What a horrible last name."
Seiichiro handed the tag right back to you, ignoring the redhead's rude commentary. He scratched his cheek in almost an apologetic manner-- narrowing his doubtful yellow eyes onto your hopeful face, desperate for a bone to catch.
"Sorry [L/N], but this name.. it really
doesn't ring a bell."
[Chapter END]