CW: caps, shouting --- TW: v10lence and injury, reference to d34th
Beep, beep, beep, be-
"OI ANSWER THAT STUPID THING ALREADY!"
"Fine..."
Groaning, Isen reached for his phone, looking at the screen with bleary eyes. Suddenly alert, he gaped at it for a few moments before whispering, "Flip, it's Arlo."
"I don't give a damn about who it is, just turn the blasted thing off."
Shivering, Isen stumbled out of bed and into the kitchen, where he pressed the green button with shaking fingers.
"Yes?"
"4 minutes and 31 seconds..." The voice of Arlo muttered from the phone.
"Eh?"
"4 minutes and 31 seconds... That was how long it took you to pick up."
By now, Isen was 100% sure he was going to die.
"Sorry? I've been busy lately with all the fake Jokers running around."
"..." By the sound of, or rather, lack of it, Arlo wasn't very impressed by his excus- his answer.
After a few nerve-wracking seconds (Isen was sure his lifespan had decreased dramatically within those few seconds , considering how fast his heart had been beating) Arlo sighed and Isen could imagine him shaking his head as well.
"I need you to do me a favour. It won't take long."
Screw Arlo and his 'favours', Isen had other stuff to do (not like he was going to actually say it to Arlo's face, of course.)
"Sure, as long as it doesn't take off a good chunk of my free time."
"Alright."
Hmm. Did Arlo just sound relieved? Nah, Isen's ears were probably just playing tricks on him. Too many Jokers running around and too much responsibility must REALLY be getting to him. Maybe he should ask for a break?
"So I want you to go and stalk someone."
"Right, who do you want me to stalk-"
Arlo's words finally sunk in.
"Wait wait waaaaiiit! Hold. Backtrack. You? Want ME? TO STALK SOMEONE??? AND YOU'RE ACTUALLY PHRASING IT LIKE THAT THIS TIME???"
Isen decided that his ears were indeed faulty. Arlo, phrasing Isen's investigations like that? And after what had happened last time with John?
"No beating up random 'cripples' at Turf Wars and making a psychopath attack the school and dethrone you this time?"
"..."
The other side was silent. Isen sighed exasperatedly.
"Fine. I'll do it. But one day, okay? ONE. DAY."
"Good. His name is Naruto Uzumaki. I think he transferred here a few days ago."
"And what did he do to incur your holy wrath?"
"Nothing."
"...eh? Nothing?"
"No. He was just suspicious."
Isen almost facepalmed. Almost. He was holding his phone, after all. Sure, with all these fake Jokers running around, Arlo should be more paranoid, but wasn't this too much? However, because he valued his life, Isen decided to not question him.
"Okaaaaaaay. So, what does he look like?"
"Kinda tall, blonde hair, blue eyes..."
"Um, Arlo? You realise a load of people fit into this category? Heck, even you fit into it!"
"Yes, but he has whiskers."
What? Whiskers?
"Are you sure? Do you need to get your eyes checked or wha-"
"Can you just do it?"
Isen could feel the killing intent emitting from the phone. How did that even work? Once he had finished wondering about how he could fear for his life while on the phone, for flip's sake, Arlo had hung up.
"Ugh, I guess I'll just get my incognito suit out and go find that Naruto guy. Where's my morality when I need it?"
---------------------------------------
Naruto was sure that someone was stalking him.
It was kinda obvious now that he thought of it.
After all, when he woke up, there was this suspicious orange haired dude lingering outside of his door. Why was he suspicious? Because he was reading a book. Upside down. But Naruto didn't put much thought to it, since John might have actually just found a friend, or maybe the guy was just practicing reading upside down and was coincidentally next to room 13? Considering John's attitude to ...well everything, the second one seemed a whole lot more likely.
And then there was first period. When Naruto went to put his books away, he found the same orange haired person peering into Naruto's open locker which someone had cut the lock off. Once Naruto had announced his presence with a quiet cough, the boy had (unsurprisingly) sprinted off down the hall. Luckily, the contents of Naruto's locker consisted solely of about 50 biro pens that he had stocked up for use as both weapons and writing utensils for his clones, all of which the boy had left there, so no harm done. It was a pity about the lock though.
By break, there was no longer any realistic excuse as to why the guy was still following him around. Since he had cleared up the fact that he was being stalked, Naruto thought he had the right to mess with the guy, now dubbed 'Orange Juice'.
Smirking, Naruto turned down an empty corridor, fully aware that Orange Juice was on his heels, then did a quick shunshin behind his stalker, and started walking the other way.
Naruto could feel OJ's confusion. After an, "Oh shoot, did I lose him?" and what sounded like some frantic motions, Orange Juice had located Naruto again and was back to following him.
'A little trick like that won't shake him off. Play with him some more, I'm actually having fun for once in my miserable life.' Kurama chuckled, shoving some XXL popcorn into his mouth.
"Are... are you eating popcorn?" Naruto stated incredulously, startling Isen. "Look, I don't care where you got it from, just stop the crunching, it's driving me insane."
Isen doubted Naruto's sanity could go any more downhill at this point. At least he could now add Naruto to his growing list of 'lunatics who need to see a therapist', featuring mostly John - and, honestly, himself.
---------------------------------
Five minutes of following the Naruto guy around (he DID have whiskers!), or at least trying to, Isen had once again lost the guy. How? He knew that his physical 'I'm an innocent bystander' spying skills weren't as good as his online stalking skil- I mean his online information gathering skills, but this person couldn't have caught on so quickly, right?
Sure, he would admit that maybe being caught snooping around the door of Naruto's room was suspicious. It wasn't like he didn't TRY to look inconspicuous! Naruto's brightness just... startled him. Heck, even Arlo's hair wasn't that shiny!
Or maybe it was when he was caught breaking into Naruto's locker. Yeah, it was probably that. Not that it was worth it. Who keeps just biros in their locker? Lockers were for books and folders! This Naruto person was getting more and more confusing. He'd have to do some proper research after school, seeing as he couldn't really spy through the guy's window or anything.
So far, however, the hasty official research Isen had done that morning was insisting that Naruto had no ability. True, it was just his Wellston records, which had proved to be very false for a certain deranged hierarchy-destroying someone, but still. Isen let out a tired sigh.
SMASH!
Startled, the boy activated his ability, getting into a fighting stance and glancing around to find the source of the chaos. There! Outside, something had crashed into a wall at considerable speed, considering how half the thing had been destroyed. Isen couldn't tell what exactly had happened because of the dust, but began sprinting towards the commotion. Screw stalking Naruto, this was more important!
It was only once he was safely hidden behind some rubble about a few metres away from the fight that Isen actually turned his attention back to the scene. It was a wreck. Activating his ability again, he searched the crater for signs of life, which he found, surprisingly, then turned his attention to the attacker.
He let out a gasp.
There, standing just feet away from him, was John. As Joker. The person who singlehandedly took down all the strongest members of the school and beat them to within an inch of their lives. The one person Isen would definitely not appreciate being a few feet in front of, staring at his fight.
Isen gulped. He'd deactivated his ability the second he found out that he was near John, reflexes serving him well, but the Joker had probably sensed him already and copied his ability, so he was dead anyway. It was too late to run, so Isen stayed in his hiding place, feeling sorry for the kid who had been attacked, but even more sorry for himself, who would probably never get a date now he was about to die.
The rubble shifted.
A figure lay there, groaning.
It was Naruto.
END OF CHAPTER
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a/n I guess its pathetic that last chapter I said we'd update every week and the very next chapter we didn't.... sorry.... Let's have a skim over our excuses this time!
Having a cold... check
Homework overload.... Check
Getting sidetracked every few minutes with basically anything....check
Making an extra long chapter and having to split it up because otherwise there would literally never be an update....check
Having to draw posters and think of comeback and lectures for transphobic teachers....check
Anyway, KevinDaGlorb has been quarantined for a week and has basically unlimited time on computer so YOU'D BETTER BE GETTING SOME WRITING DONE GLORB
Yeah I hope we manage to stay on target in the future and yeh... thanks for reading, do comment and vote!
-treezooks
KevinDaGlorb here. Contrary to what Treezooks says, I DON'T have unlimited time on the computer. It's a quirk of having Asian Parents. And there's also HOMEWORK BECAUSE SCHOOL SUCKS BUT I HAVE TO WORK BECAUSE I WANT A GOOD GRADE AND GET A GOOD JOB SO I CAN BE RICH AND TAKE OVER THE WORLD MWAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHJSV AISTYDCF SIEADUYVAI SUODG FJASYIDUOTAD YFVG!!!
I think quarantine has gotten to my head...
"I shall now express my utter disgust and anger with you through the piano *proceeds to play Chopin*." – Austria (Hetalia)