2: Precautions from a Best Friend
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"I'm tiredddddd.." I complained, secretly shooting pointed glares at Aomine. I was currently stretching my sore limbs and was about to take off my jacket when I did a double take. I would hear to no end of Aomine's remarks about my chest if I did so. I couldn't take the risk. That pervert.
I'd just finished giving Aomine a tour around the school, which he responded with bored "hmphs", loud yawns and nods here and there. It irked me, but nevertheless, I kept myself patient and showed him everywhere. That was important, of course. If he got lost in the school grounds, I would be the one responsible.
"Kaecchi!" An overly excited male voice suddenly interrupted our walk back to the dorm. Even without turning around, I already knew who that voice belonged to.
"Kise!" I smiled and hollered back, finally turning around. There he was, standing in the middle of the hallway, in his model clothes. Immediately, I broke into one of my hockey sprints, toward him. His chuckle bounced off the hallway walls, and he spread his arms out wide to welcome me, which I gladly ran into. He embraced me tightly and picked me up, earning himself a yelp. "Just finished modeling?" I asked.
My finger darted out and felt his cheek, how soft his porcelain skin is and the feel of the powder his make-up artists used on his skin. Jealousy filled me as I pouted, wanting so much for my skin to be like his. A skin that's hard to break out.
"You can put me down now." I said, slapping him playfully on the arm. He complied, gently lowering my feet until they kissed the ground. Kise then proceeded to give me one of his breathtaking smiles.
"Ah, you're wearing the jacket I gave you, ssu?" He looked at it, an amused smile on his face. I nodded, playing with the zipper. There was a small cat face imprint on the left chest, with words engraved below, the words being "Kaecchi". Who else would call me that?
"Aaaaaand I noticed that you're wearing the belt that I gave you too." Despite still being in his model clothes, he still wore the yellow belt I gave him. It contrasted perfectly with his khakis. It was great, I had to admit. His agency actually give out permission to wear clothes other than their's, but even though Kise just started modeling, he had big hits. So they gave him as an exception. It looked perfect though.
Silence fell comfortably, before the both of us bursting out laughing on a sign that only best friends can understand. "Guess today's a lucky day huh."
"Aw, don't you come and remind me of Midorimacchi!" He whined like a puppy, and I gave him an fairly hard smack on the bicep.
"He's special!" I retorted.
"But his lucky items..."
"They're fun to tease him about!"
"Today's lucky item is a toy frog, nanodayo." Kise imitated Midorima, perfect with his frowning face and slightly pouty lips. All he need is Midorima's bandages around his left fingers, and he's all set.
What can I say, he has his perfect copy after all. We laughed a little more, completely ignoring our surroundings.
"Midorima will kill you if he sees you imitating him." I wiped the tears from my eyes, sighing happily.
"But Midorimacchi's in the Green Dorms! That's quite far from here. He will never hear us!" Kise stopped to catch his breath, looking around just to make sure.
Let me tell you something. Our school is abroad and sort of special. The dorms are arranged by colors, ranging from Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Pale Blue, Dark Blue, and Purple respectively. Blacks are for the repetitive rule-breakers and those who need extreme discipline. Whites are restricted for seniors only, who aced at practically everything. They're nicknamed as the "angels" of the school. But there are some students, however, earned themselves a spot among the Whites as early as Freshmen.
We have to wear something that at least tells us which dorm we belong to, because with nine hundred and thirty-six students here, you can't expect all the teachers to remember each student's dorm. And yes, thirty-six is because of that transfer student right there. Anyways, by our sort-of "symbol", we can either get demerit points or reward points, which is then calculated throughout the year and evolve into either a punishment or reward. They vary from punishments of cleaning the gardens(believe me, the garden is HUGE, and we have, like, three of them) to rewards like having a permissions in holding a Dorm party, and things like that.
And of course, Dorm parties are held in the multi-purpose rooms, and all dorms has one. Bonus, if Reward Points exceed 450, the teachers or principal will sponsor anything. Awesome, right?
Kise belonged to the Yellow Dorm, while I, Dark Blue. I don't get why he still has to wear something yellow, despite his hair and eyes already being the color. But then again, sometimes I wonder if it was really natural or dyed. But then again, that didn't bother me. He's still awesome just the way he is.
Another thing is that both the girls and the boys mix in the dorms, but they live in separate floors. The girls conquer the upper floor, which is the fifth, the boys lower, the third. And yes, I stay in the fifth, though you have to cross the long hallway and turn left to my room, so I have the whole corner to myself. Sometimes I feel a little bit lonely, but most of the time I liked the privacy. There's also a staircase beside my room, in case of emergencies.
The fourth floor is the floor that separates the girls and the boys. It consists of a mini cafeteria and toilets, lounges and small rooms for the bookworms, etc. There's even a room filled with vending machines. I loved the one with instant noodles. They're my absolute favorite. Another thing is that boys and girls can mix there, and strictly there only.
A deep clear of the throat brought me back to reality, and Kise seemed to have noticed too, since by then he was staring right at the tanned male.
"I'm still here you know." Aomine zeroed his eyes onto me, not bothering to return Kise's stare. Guilt seeped into my bones.
"Kaecchi.." Kise began, his tone curious yet cautious. "Who's he?"
"Ah, he's the transfer student named Aomine Daiki. He just transferred here yesterday. We just got back from the tour around the school." I explained. I contemplated to say what I was going to, but thinking twice, Kise is one of the trusted people after all. Well, to me. "He's.. also my room mate."
The silence was an absolute torture.
"Eh?!" Kise finally shouted, looking at me with wide eyes. "You're kidding.. right?"
I shook my head, and the next expression that crossed his features was that of a concern. It then went to shock.
"Why didn't you tell the principal?! Boys and girls can't be room mates!" He squinted his eyes at Aomine.
"Hah? Who says they can't?" Aomine finally peeled his eyes off me and set his eyes onto Kise. Secretly, it felt good that he wasn't staring at me anymore, because I finally felt like I was free from a cage for some reason.
"The school rulebook!" Kise said with obviousness lacing his voice. Not wanting the both of them to fight during Aomine's second day, I gently touched Kise's triceps. They tensed, but slowly relaxed under my touch.
"Kise, it's okay. I can cope with him... I hope." I gave him a reassuring look, but he didn't seem like he wanted to let it go. I don't think he ever does.
"What do you mean "I hope", ah? You can!" Aomine grumbled, before turning around. "Ah, whatever. I wanna sleep. C'mon, Kaede."
"Yeah, I guess so. Kise, you've got to return. I have a pass to show to the Night Security, and I don't want you to get Demerit Points." I slightly pleaded him.
"... Fine." He scratched the back of his head. His was observing Aomine before his posture suddenly turned slightly stiff, and he looked at me. "Kaecchi.. Be careful okay? I have a feeling about that guy..."
"Oi, Kaede! Come on! You don't want to get left behind don't ya?"
"Okay. I'll remember that." I winked and hugged him one last time before jogging to catch up with the walking Aomine. When I was beside him, I turned and gave Kise one last wave before seeing him disappear from my line of sight.
"Oi. Who was that?" Aomine asked, looking infront and uninterested.
"I have a name, you know." I retorted. "And why were you using my first name?"
"That's cause I don't know your family name."
"It's Sugahara."
"Like I care. I'm still going to call you Kaede." My name rolled off his tongue. Up close for the first time, too. I felt a little giddiness inside of me, hearing my given name roll off his tongue so.. casually. So... smoothly. While feeling so.. special. Whoa there, Kaede, what the hell? Since when are you like this? "Are you ignoring me?"
"Ah? Oh, sorry. I didn't hear you. Come again?"
"Who was that?"
"Kise? Kise Ryouta? Yeah, that's him. He's from the Yellow Dorm."
"I can see that." He yawned loudly. I blinked. Just now... What..? Did he just... could've sworn I could hear his voice having a different tone, one that doesn't hold his usual smugness. He turned to look at me. "Aren't you gonna open the door?"
I hadn't realized we arrived, so I began to fish around for my keys. "What about you? Where's your key?"
"Inside. I wasn't the one pestering the other to go out with them." He uttered with bore and waited for me to unlock the door. I whispered some sort of colorful words under my breath before finally pulling out my keys, turning the lock open.
Wordlessly pushed open the door, I instantly making a grab for my towel as well as my night essentials and my spare clothes, before entering my bathroom and locking the door shut. Heaving a sigh of relief.
Is he always such a pain in the ass?