This is a long one
xxx
C h a p t e r 5
(Third person POV)
The past few weeks have been relatively uneventful for Solomon.
He woke up at 4 am everyday to talk to his grandfather and his friends, so they would be able to speak to him at a reasonable hour.
He did a lot of reading, continued to practice his Japanese with a virtual tutoring app, did his hair, did extreme amounts of writing, reorganized his Spotify playlist thirteen times, and didn't leave his room unless it was necessary.
Which was easy to do, considering the bedroom included an entire bathroom the size of the bedroom itself.
Kyoya and him haven't spoken much since Solomon's first night being there, and Solomon was perfectly fine with that. The only times he would see the Ootori boy were during breakfast, dinner, and sometimes lunch. Kyoya would be there for lunch occasionally, but most of the time he would be (forced to hang out) with his friends. When they would speak, their conversations would be brief and about the matter of Solomon being the club's journalist.
Other than that, they just ignored each other.
Solomon also met, Fuyumi, Kyoya's sister when he was eating lunch one afternoon. She was extremely nice to him and they only person who didn't stare at his hair in disgust.
She just told him it was pretty and asked to play with it.
And naturally Solomon told her "no".
Quite harshly.
Solomon was... extremely rough around the edges when it came to people he didn't know.
One issue Solomon had was that he was extremely hungry, all the food they served him weren't the food he liked. He doesn't eat with much variety. His diet consisted of cheese pizza, coffee, fruit snacks, and other simple snacks.
He ate like a five year old with a caffeine addiction.
He started make Botan, the maid who attempted to steal from him, go on coffee and snack runs for him so he wouldn't starve, because he refused to eat what they served him. He even started forcing Botan to eat his meals so the staff wouldn't get too upset about him not eating the food they prepared. Botan, of course, had no choice but to oblige, due to the fact that him keeping his mouth shut was the only thing keeping her from getting fired. That was the only reason he made Botan do those things.
Even after two weeks, Solomon still couldn't understand why the staff constantly avoided making eye contact, and even looking at him. Even his gift of reading people and extreme whit couldn't help him figure it out.
He would occasionally ask Botan, but she would either change the subject or respond with "it's above my pay grade." in which Solomon would respond with "no wonder you were trying to steal from my allowance."
Burn.
He hasn't heard much or has even seen Mr. Ootori since their first meeting, and Solomon was perfectly ok with that as well.
All in all, Solomon was feeling content. He was still feeling extremely homesick, but since he wasn't around people and didn't leave his room more than three times a day, he was feeling.. neutral.
All until the day before the first day of school.
(Solomon's POV)
I slammed the back cover of my journal shut and stretched my cramping hand. I finished that one in three days.
That had to be some type of world record.
I tossed that notebook towards the foot of the bed and stretched my limbs that have been compressed into a hunching position for the past hour.
'Writing is going to ruin my posture forever.', I thought as my spine popped.
I got off of the bed and walked over to the shelf where I kept my spare notebooks and almost shit myself when I saw it was empty.
"No, no, no that can't be right," I tell myself in English as I rushed to look under the bed, where I store my used notebooks. "I remember buying five composition books before I left Florida,"
'Well I'll be damned.' I thought to myself.
There, underneath the bed, were four used composition marble notebooks, staring back at me.
I was right, I did buy five.
And the fifth one was on the bed, filled to the brim.
"Damn it," I cursed as I clutched my head in my hands in frustration.
That was my last notebook, and not just for doing my writing in. I needed notebooks for school, which started tomorrow. This was horrible planning on my part.
I was going to have to go out.
I didn't want to go out.
Everyone here irritated me to no end and I would prefer to have as little social interaction as possible.
'I don't even know how close the shops are! I don't even know how I can get there! This is bad,'
I briefly, and I mean briefly, considered walking down the hall and asking Kyoya where and how I could get to a store, but I would rather eat my own fucking foot, right off my left leg, than talk to his ass.
I heard the door open, but didn't bother to look up because I already knew who it was.
"Um, Solomon. May I ask why you are on the ground?" I heard Botan's voice ask.
A light bulb went off in my head.
I sat up quickly, making myself dizzy.
"Botan, perfect timing." I stood up off of my spot in the floor and looked at her tall form. "Do you have a car?"
She looked confused at my question.
"Yes, but it is the car we are required to use for work," she said, placing my coffee down on my nightstand. "I actually just got back from your "lunch" run, it's none of my business but you should really consider eating mo-"
"Yes, it is not your business. Anyway, can you take me to the store?" I cut her off.
I know that was kind of rude, but I hate people talking about my eating habits.
Especially when they don't fucking know me.
"I suppose I can," she answered, unfazed by my rudeness. "What time would you like to leave?"
"Uhhh, I will be ready in around.. ten minutes"
"Ok, I will come to retrieve you in then,"
And with that she left.
I looked down at my current attire. Dark green, plaid pajama bottoms and a plain black tee.
I looked like a bum.
I peeled off my black shirt and went into the bathroom to look in the mirror. My hair looked a mess and was in desperate need of a re-twist, so decided to just pull them back into a pony tail. I also noticed that my undercut was growing back and I was in desperate need of a haircut.
I'd handle that tonight.
Once I finished straightening up my hair, I walked out of the bathroom and grabbed a grey tshirt out of my drawer and a pair of faded jeans out another. I threw on my a black hoodie and an oversized, burgundy flannel from Goodwill, and quickly slipped on my beat up, red converse.
Just as I sat down and took a sip of my coffee, I heard a knock at the door.
"Come in,"
Botan peeked through the door with a smile, showing me a pair of car keys.
I grabbed my beanie and phone of my nightstand, and walked towards the door with my coffee.
———
"What time would you like me to pick you up?" Botan asked through the window of the black car.
"In around an hour is fine." I stated, ignoring all of the looks I felt myself getting in the 0.5 seconds I've been out the car.
She nodded and drove off, leaving me standing on the curb.
I was currently in an area surrounded by many shopping areas, cafes, and restaurants.
And people...
Who clearly don't know staring is rude.
I shot a woman, who was gaping at me, a dirty look and noticed her quickly put her phone away.
'Was she seriously taking a picture of m- I got to get out of here!'
I threw my coffee cup in the garbage and began searching for a sign that said "supply store".
I could read and write Japanese better than I could speak it. I'm a sucker for literature in all languages and forms, so I prioritized learning how to read and write in Japanese, over learning the proper way to form sentences and pronounce words.
Which was pretty dumb on my part.
As I walked down the side walk, I kept hearing people talk amongst themselves about my appearance, to my surprise all of it wasn't bad.
An old lady called me handsome.
So that's good I guess.
I stumbled across a bookstore and walked inside, bell over the door chiming as I did so. It was relatively empty. The only person there was an old woman half asleep at the counter. I guess the bell startled her awake, and she let out a greeting.
I did a quick wave and went over to the place where the journals should be kept. I grabbed three extremely thick journals for me, three thinner notebooks for school, and a couple of cool looking pens, and walked to the counter.
"Ah, hello. Where are you from? Visiting?" She asked me in broken English, in a cheery tone, as she wrung me up.
"The United States. I can speak Japanese." I tell her in Japanese, ignoring her other question.
Her eyes widened and a shocked and a happy expression took over her features.
"Ah, your Japanese is so good," she praised me with a genuine smile, shocking me.
My ears heated up as I handed her the money.
"Thank you," I said, still taken aback at how nice she was being.
"No problem, no problem," she handed me my change. "Come back again!"
I walked out the store, still thinking about the encounter.
She treated me like I was a normal human being, and was genuinely nice. I mean, she did assume that I wasn't from here, which is understandable, but that's the only time she really focused on my appearance.
She was just happy I spoke her language.
I felt a small smile take over my face, but quickly straightened it back into its neutral expression.
I checked the clock on my phone and saw that barely half an hour has gone by since I've been dropped off. Instead of calling Botan to come pick me up early, i sat down on a bench in front of a cafe and put in my headphones.
The smooth voice of Biggie flowed through my earbuds as the cool breeze blew through the air. I decided to go ahead and put my purchases to use, and started filling the pages of one of my journals.
I was at peace until I heard the sound of someone talking extremely loud, to the point where I couldn't hear my music.
My music was at maximum volume.
"Who in the hell is being so..." I trailed off when I turned to my left to see a familiar face.
There, in the flesh, was Kyoya with some other people I've never seen before.
Upon seeing him my entire mood went back sour.
He was being dragged by the arm by some blonde dumbass who was screaming at the top of his lungs.
Strange how everyone looks at me when I'm minding my own business, but no one bats an eye when he's disrupting the peace.
"MOMMY, LET'S GO TO THE CAFE!"
'Wait, did he just call him... Mom?'
What kind of circus act is this guy?
Kyoya had a tired and annoyed look on his face.
They were walking in my direction and I didn't feel like dealing with anymore people today, so I tried to quickly gather my things and run, but the pair of twins in Kyoya's group noticed me before I could move.
"Whoa, look at him!" They both yelled in unison, pointing like I was a wild animal.
Kyoya and the rest of the group finally took notice of my presence, and i watched as Kyoya's face twisted into one of displeasure and mine did the same.
The feeling was definitely mutual.
The twins ran towards me and started poking and prodding me, asking questions.
"What's your name?"
"Do you think he speaks Japanese?"
"Where did he come from?"
One of them had the fucking audacity to take off my beanie.
"Whoa! What's up with your hair? Are these worms?! Haha, hey Kaoru he has worms on his he-"
I cut him of by snatching my beanie out of his hands and shoving both of them away from me.
I was fucking livid.
"Are you both out of your damn minds?! Personal space!" I shoved my beanie back on my head and was about to storm off before I went ape shit, but got interrupted by the blonde coming out of nowhere and getting in my face.
"Might I say sir, you are the most fascinating and beautiful being I have ever seen," he started off, staring at me like I was some type of rare plant. "Never before have I seen, such smooth cocoa colored skin. Oh you must tell me where you are from. The Isles? The beautiful continent of Africa? Somewhere exotic of course,"
My eyes widened, utterly appalled by him and what he said.
What. In. The. Hell?
Did he really just do that? I honestly felt like I have the right to punch him in his fucking eye!
So, before I did just that I grabbed my bags and sped off.
Are you fucking kidding me?
All I felt were eyes on my retreating form. I felt eyes from every direction, just looking at me. This is exactly why I didn't want to leave the fucking house. The fucking room! I felt so embarrassed, so angry, and just fascinated about how rude and ignorant people can be.
'"The Isles? The beautiful continent of Africa?"- are you fucking kidding me?'
I sped walked until I got to the place where I was getting picked up and stood there, holding back tears of anger.
'I was having a good fucking day! I had my first positive encounter here with a very nice woman, I had a good coffee, and I got my journals, but those ignorant ass fools had to fuck everything up!'
I noticed a group of teenagers looking at me from the table they were sitting at and glared at them.
"The hell are you looking at!?" I half yelled, causing them to giggle whisper amongst each other.
'Idiots,'
Just then Botan pulled up to the curb and I quickly got into the passenger seat.
She shot me a pleasant smile.
"Did you find what you were-"
"Just drive." I demanded, cutting her off, and turned my music all the way up once more.
xxx
You can probably tell I got a lil lazy lmao