chroniclesoffireflies:

stickfingercorps:

chroniclesoffireflies:

stickfingercorps:

“Akiyama, Kaede. Also class 1-C. Why do you ask, sensei?”

He beamed at them and clapped his hands together, “Nice! I guess I won’t have to teach you how to work this one, then? You’d be surprised how complicated some people make stargazing. And you’re both 1-C’s too!  That’s mighty convenient. My name is Mr. Chapman but you can call me Dave- oh wait. Never mind that would get us all in trouble: I guess Chapman-Sensei’s fine. What was I saying again?”

“You asked if we were-”

“Right, right sorry. I’m the newly assigned homeroom teacher for 1-C, that’s why I was interested. Speaking of which,” he looked down at his watch, “We should get to that class before I set a bad example with tardiness.”

He waved them to follow him out of the room as the five minute warning bell rang. Kaede dropped back so that Makoto could catch up and they followed him to the top of the stairs. Barely anyone was in the main hall at this point, and the upperclassmen had all dispersed to their homerooms, so the stairs were empty save the three of them. It was when Kaede and Makoto were on the third step from the top that it happened.

A crash sounded from around the corner behind them, and as Kaede turned to look, she saw a girl with long, dark hair and bright blue eyes run down the steps, bump into Makoto, and shove something (it looked like a leather bound notebook) into his hands before leaping down the steps: taking them two at a time.

Not a second after she hit the bottom landing, a messy haired blond boy skidded drom around the corner to the balcony at the top of the steps. He spotted the fleeing girl and yelled a foreign obscenity. in a single, sweeping, movement, he launched himself over the banister by using his hands as a fulcrum with which to swing the rest of his body over. He landed with less of a thud than was expected, and took off without barely any pause. In three running strides, he had caught up to the girl, and he tackled her to the ground.

Kaede cried out in shock and looked around for Mr. Chapman, but he had disappeared into his homeroom.

He stumbled back in surprise when the mysterious running girl had shoved the leather-bound journal shut into his arms. Not quite studying what the item was yet, he snapped his head back to top of the staircase where Makoto caught sight of a foreign-looking boy.

As this said boy launched himself over the banister, with wide eyes, Makoto couldn’t couldn’t take his eyes off of the boy, entranced by the boy’s gracefulness. Of course, the whole ‘wow-he’s-really-good’ moment ended in a flash once Makoto caught sight of the boy tackling the mystery girl to the ground. Wincing that how that had to hurt, Makoto forgot about getting a teacher for chasing the short distance after the chasing-running pair.

He slid to a stop at the scene of the two wrestling, the journal still nestled in his arms. “H-Hey! Stop it!” He exclaimed, panting slightly. “W-Why are you two fighting to begin with?!”

“Give it!” the Blonde growled at the girl, as soon as they went down.

He  sat on her back with his legs wrapped around hers, locking them under him and pulling one of her arms back as if to break it. She whipped her head back strategically, bashing him in the nose, hard. He winced but held firm. She turned to another strategy, then.

“Aiee! Get off of me, you pervert!” She cried out in a squeaky, high pitched voice, struggling against him to no avail, “I don’t even have it anymore!”

She heard the red haired boy’s call and turned to him as much as she could, in the other’s embrace “Oh run away you dear child! Can’t you see what a terrible brute he is? Run you clever boy- yach!”

The blonde shoved the girl away from him, popping her arm out of its socket, and stood. He turned to Makoto and strode over, deliberately. Blood trickled from his nose and the area around it had purpled already on his complexion. The flourescent light seemed to turn his green eyes to steel: metallic as the rings on his right ear. 

He completely ignored Kaede and instead walked up to Makoto, sretched out a hand, and spoke four, gruff, punctuated words.

“Give. Me. The. Book.”

One thing, Makoto hated about himself: he never reacted well under pressure. And when he was put under pressure, he rarely made the decisions that would most likely keep him out of trouble. The sole reason he always thought got him schoolyard bullies.

He took a step back with wide eyes and tightened his grip around the book. Bad enough the girl seemed a bit out there (not that he was any better), but the guy, though slim, was glaring at him. “Um…uh…I-I don’t know if that’s a good idea…”

“She doesn’t want you to have it, but…you might h-have a good reason for chasing her, I guess?” Timidly, he glanced up at foreign-looking student and then at Kaede behind him. Help…please? This guy’s scaring me!

Finally though, he studied the leather bound notebook, unable to withhold his curiosity. Gingerly, Makoto lifted the cover. “W-What’s so important about this book anyways?”

“Don’t!”

The blonde lunged forward to grab the book, but Kaede took hold of Makoto around the waist and lifted up and back: swinging him behind her. The attacker nearly lost his balance, but he hit the step with his palms, braced himself and steadied back to his feet. He glared at Kaede with gritted teeth.

“I don’t want to fight you, Akiyama, just give me the book and I’ll go.”

She winced in surprise; had her reputation preceeded her? So much for a blank slate.No matter, she wasn’t going to let some guy threaten her new friend.

“Nah.”

They locked eyes. His narrowed. He looked behind her at the tiny red head, rolled his shoulders and sighed.

“Look, kid. That is very personal material and I would greatly appreciate if you returned it.”

The hurt girl moaned in pain. “Owwwwwww…. my arm HURTS you meanie!”