Two teenage shouts suddenly bellowed in the room as frigid water was poured upon them on the bed. Yuu shot up, blindly trying to scooch himself away from the source of the attack. Saint quickly rolled the other way, coughing as some of it had entered his lungs.
The nun glared with her nose flared, old hands on hips. "Get up! Get up right now! I rang the morning bell! You're going to be late! Why're you in the same bed?"
Anna.
Yuu rubbed his alerted eyes, fatigue burning behind them. He stared up at the blurry nun. Her face never appeared so frightening. Nose snarled, muddy brown eyes widened and that stupid wart glaring at him, too. He looked over nervously at Saint who was still collecting his wits, wet curls draping around his face.
"I..."
"I don't need more of you Yuu in this orphanage. Leave him alone! And get dressed! Now!"
She stormed from the the open room, bucket rattling in her hands. When her footprints had descended out of sound downstairs, he left the bed, nearly slipping on the water.
Saint got out his final cough, watching Yuu drunkenly make his way towards the bathroom. He shook his curls, joining the boy as well on his feet.
"That was my fault," he claimed, holding open the bathroom door. "I fell asleep next to you."
"No. It's nobody's fault but hers. She's mean. She doesn't like me because I like boys. She wouldn't do that to anybody else here and she knows it, too," Yuu pouted as he reached for his toothbrush.
He was far used to this kind of treatment. It only stunk because now someone else was being dragged down with him and he was tired of feeling guilty.
He coated his bristles in the paste, handing the tube off to Saint afterward.
"Maybe she's jealous of us," he suggested as he put paste on his own brush.
Yuu's face burned with embarrassment, but a good embarrassment... He gazed at his friend from the corner of his eye, a slight smile on his face.
At least somebody else here was with him.
~
"If this little shit does not hurry the fuck-" Mika was interrupted as the door to the orphanage slammed, the two boys racing out. Blue eyes locked on the couple, his nose flaring.
He angrily bit into his bagel before speeding out of the alleyway. He honked his horn, Yuu nearly falling down the stairs completely.
"Mika!" he beamed happily, racing towards the vehicle across the street. Saint stood in confusion, fixing his book bag on his shoulder. "Hi!" he chirped, poking his head through the window.
"I'd ought to close this shit on you. The fuck took you so long?" the blond barked, reaching over the compartments to open the door for his smaller friend.
"Sorry! I slept in. But, a small request if you aren't too mad at me?" Yuu hopefully began as he climbed in the seat.
Mika looked at him, just about to pull off when Yuu clamped his hand over the gearshift.
"What?"
"Can you drive him to school with us?" Yuu gestured to Saint gazing back from across the street. He couldn't appear more awkward, anxiously playing with his fingers as he acted like that conversation clearly was not directed about him.
Mika pursed his lips and squinted with a sigh. He couldn't believe he was even the slightest of envious at Yuu having friends, forgetting that was a thing he could actually have. Not to mention he had to share his car. Yuu was quite enough of the vehicle's capacity.
"Really?"
"Yes, please?" he tilted his head, a wide grin on his lips. "He doesn't know his way. It's his first day at our school."
Don't complain, don't complain... "Yuu, you're the only kid I honestly prefer in my car at the momen-"
Yuu pouted. The blond just rolled his eyes in response. "Just for today, Yuu..."
"Thank you," he grinned, signaling for Saint to cross the street.
The boy hesitated slightly, but took a deep breath and crossed the road, joining them in the car. He tried not to look at the blond, only exchanging a small smile with Yuu while the tension haunted the air.
~
"I'm gonna show him to his first class," Yuu told Mika as they had entered the main hall. For a strange reason, it reeked of cigarettes.
Already Mika was having an issue with Yuu having a friend. They'd entered the danger zone of school and they were already being separated. He bit down on his lip, looking into Saint's nervous gray eyes.
"Fine," he muttered to refrain from bickering, wishing this Saint kid hadn't come into play this soon. Especially when the blond had claimed to take on responsibility of Yuu.
Can't be that bad... Can't be bad...
He walked off, giving Yuu a brief glance over his shoulder.
He felt like his heart snapped in two.
Yuu stared back helplessly, utterly disgraced with himself. How dare he piss off his one and only coolest friend?
...What did I do wrong?
He glanced down at the schedule at hand, attempting to shake it off. "Okay, let's see..."
The two boys walked in silence to the class as the tense aura Mika had left on the two was speaking for them.
Yuu couldn't seem to figure out for the life of him why he felt so guilty.
"I'll see you at the end of the day, or... In math class. Or maybe at lunch, I dunno," he finally spoke as they approached the doorway.
Saint nodded, giving Yuu a final hug. He felt his cheeks heat up but not in the same way as before.
"Bye, Yuu."
Yuichiro waved, watching the boy awkwardly enter the class that was doing their usual morning routines of texting, making paper airplanes or just sleeping. Learning took place never.
~
The boys didn't have a chance to speak during first period as they were assigned groups to complete an obstacle course. Yuu was inside while Mika was outdoors.
He decided to consider it a break.
Even the changing rooms had a cold atmosphere.
The day was painful, but it was coming to an end.
As he passed a stairwell railing, he heard familiar commotion ahead, specifically crowd sounds of a fight. He swallowed hard and braced himself, knowing better to walk in the very outskirts of it. What were the odds he always entered the hallway with some war going on?
Then again the entire district was a war zone.
The audience cheered as the sound of a body hitting the floor echoed, curses, threats and punching following. It went for only five measly seconds, and then... panic. From everyone. Yuu wasn't sure what hit him as he was abruptly pushed aside, his head colliding with a locker. He winced, his senses suddenly coming to life at a crying announcement.
"Gun! Gun!! This fucking kid's got a gun in his-"
He jolted in panic as the sound of the barrel locking into place had everyone running, trampling over one another as they started firing off. He tumbled to the floor as kids were fighting to get past, not wasting a second to attempt to get back to his feet. Tears stung in his eyes, heart pounding wildly as he with a hundred other kids were racing towards the exit. Gym class paid off here.
He exhaled - all hope draining from his face - as one of the nearest exits out of the building was already blocked off with kids trying desperately to escape.
Shouts of hysteria and weeping - chaos, ear-shredding pleads and footsteps; it all reminded him of last year's shooting... All too familiar.
And the boy was killing more than just his enemy. He was killing everyone.
The result of many years of bullying.
A cry of surprise left Yuu as someone had latched onto his arm, yanking him from the crowd. He spun around, staggered to see Saint's face.
"Saint? Saint! Get out of here, find an-"
He already knew what word was coming, dragging Yuu away from the crowd and through the kids running in the opposite direction. Once they reached clear area to run, the junior with the gun didn't waste a second finding them out, temptation traveling in his fingertips near the trigger. He slowly followed them down the hall, insanity already poisoned in his brain.
Mika followed Sully down the stairs to the main floor, cursing that this was the one day he only carried a knife on him. Luckily Sully always had a gun. The crazy boy's Bullmastiff was enough to sum him up. The kid played no games.
"You know which class he's in?" Sully asked him, careful with which route he took as bullets were still going off in the hub.
"Yeah, he might be running though, too, so look out for him, please," Mika shakily directed, both of them turning the corner where the commotion was. Chaos flooded their ears.
"Got it. Stay safe buddy."
Mika maneuvered past the children sprinting in the other direction, tears of worry pooling in his eyes.
Yuu... Yuu... Yuu...
He entered the hub near the auditorium, one of the pillars lodged with a bullet. He glanced at the two dead bodies on the floor, pools of blood created into red bootprints.
Saint lead Yuu back towards the hub, the lights suddenly flickering dim.
"Saint, there's no exit near here," Yuu explained in a whisper, alarmed when he heard a gun click again further down the hall. His head whipped at the sound, no one to be seen however in the bluish lighting.
"This isn't the way we came in this morning?"
Yuu shook his head at him, alarmed as he made eye contact with a tall figure rounding the corner over Saint's shoulder.
Ettan turned around, and slowly stepped out of the way...
"Mika?" Yuu whispered shakily, a scream suddenly tearing through his throat as a bullet ripped through his upper thigh. Blood shot out the other end, splattering to the floor.
Mika had just rounded the adjacent hall's corner at the sound in perfect time to watch Yuu tumble to the ground paralyzed, Saint's horrified gaze meeting his past the shooter's.
The gun fell to the floor, metal clanks and the hitch of the shooter's breath the only sounds heard in that cold second before real hell came loose.